6. My husband treated me to a special "Sumo Trip" to watch the last 8 days of the Aki basho this past Sept. I was able to watch my favorite, Hakuho, as well as the other Makuuchi rikishi, some of the Juryo, and the occasional Makushita (Ishiura). I first got interested in sumo in March 2013 and soon became hooked. The Aki basho was my first "live" basho. Every day was exciting but when Hakuho defeated Ichinojo, the entire Kokugikan erupted. For 5 minutes, the crowd screamed, shouted, cheered and clapped. The atmosphere was electrifying!!
The highlight of my trip was meeting Hakuho at his stable on Day 12. It was such a privilege to watch him train for an hour. He practiced mainly tachi-ai, using a hapless, short, low-ranked rikishi as his "opponent". Hakuho slammed him into the wall again and again. Finally, the poor rikishi could no longer hide the terror in his eyes. Hakuho patted him on the arm to reassure him, but then slammed into him some more.
Afterwards, Hakuho talked to the assembled news media for about 10 min, and then I was introduced. I knew my chances of meeting him were small but I prepared ahead of time anyway. I speak very little Japanese and knowing he speaks barely any English, I decided to learn some Mongolian phrases!! I was able to say in Mongolian, "Hello, how are you?, My name is Joann, I have come from America, from Texas. It's nice to meet you, I admire you a lot." Then, I said (still in Mongolian), "You are very handsome!" He groaned loudly (probably embarrassed) and looked away momentarily but I think he secretly liked it.
Hakuho was polite, reserved but not particularly friendly. I don't think he quite knew what to make of me, a 65-year-old American female sumo fanatic, with him being my favorite. He looked at me apprehensively, once while training and when we were introduced. At first, I thought it was dread, but I think he was apprehensive for some reason, maybe because he thought that "Granny" was going to criticize him about something!
What a morning! The highlight of my trip, of course. Later in the day, he went on to defeat Kisenosato.
