Natsu Basho 2014 PR (pics)

[Akinomaki 40,811]

Hakuho as chairman of the rkishi-kai proposed for sekitori to buy masu-seats on weekdays when attendance is low and invite spectators to sit in the “rikishi-seats”, aiming to start at the Natsu-basho. It was approved by the rikishi-kai and now will be discussed with the NSK.

The number of seats to be bought is to be decided according to the banzuke.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2013/12/25/kiji/K20131225007268600.html

The Keiko Soken open for the public is on April 29^th.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Akinomaki

[Yubinhaad 11,761]

Basho poster.

There will be two kimono days during the Natsu basho, falling on Shonichi and Nakabi I believe. Participating spectators will receive a yobidashi-themed hand towel, as modelled here by tate yobidashi Hideo and some rikishi.

Kakuryu.

Chiyomaru.

Takarafuji.

Osunaarashi.

Gagamaru.

Myogiryu.

Brothers Chiyootori and Chiyomaru.

[Akinomaki 40,811]

The papers focus on now NSK no.3 Taka - detailed info in the kabu topic
He continues like he did for the Haru-basho - there will be a Takanohana-ticket for the Natsu basho, with his signed yokozuna "motto" fushaku-shinmyo (pic) as a present and having a photo taken with him.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/04/04/kiji/K20140404007905560.html

The paper today


Nikkan

Jiji

Hochi



Sponichi

Daily


Sanspo


Yomiuri

Tokyo-np


at last a pic of the no.2 Hakkaku
chunichi

[Akinomaki 40,811]

ticket sales start on the 12th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7JGQM1T4QE

[Akinomaki 40,811]

A talk battle again: this time Goeido with Chiyootori, on the 30th - live on Niconico (no page yet)
http://www.sumo.or.jp/ticket/event_detail?id=137

[Akinomaki 40,811]

Since many 1000s want to be carried by Endo in his arms, the kyokai sets up 2 panel in the kokugikan to take a photo like that.
FNN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pU6pRVzdRk
Princess Takarafuji (Hakuho refused)

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/sumo/news/f-sp-tp3-20140425-1290654.html
Sankei

Hochi



Jiji

Mainichi

Daily

[Akinomaki 40,811]

A talk battle again: this time Goeido with Chiyootori, on the 30th - live on Niconico

http://www.sumo.or.jp/ticket/event_detail?id=137

Niconico page: http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv176269662

I made the time shift reservation - who knows when I have the time to watch: I have the 4 jungyo ones and Endo's asa-geiko in line before that. After this weekend my forum activities will drop quite a bit for over a month till after my return from Japan.

[Akinomaki 40,811]

Next day ones
Sponichi

the rival

Jiji

Asahi

Hochi





Nikkan

Sanspo

[kuroimori 1,634]

Endo really has to carry a lot - now he can even carry himself.

Weird stuff...

[ALAKTORN 346]

Have fun in Japan, Akinomaki. :-)

Edited April 27, 2014 by ALAKTORN

[Akinomaki 40,811]

The NSK published a very useful (for me) guide to watching sumo in the kokugikan on their niconico channel (login maybe). The guide there is Nakamura-oyakata (Kotonishiki), apparently filmed at the Hatsu basho. A must (for me) is the radio to rent for 100 Yen and the small yakitori pack for 620. Nakamura gives a glimpse of the souvenir shops - I'm fond of the small rikishi nobori for 760 yen each, but I don't know how much the stand for 5 of them costs.

I like the banzuke display frame, but with 7000 Yen and maybe too large to transport I will have to have a closer look at that first - the banzuke for 55 Yen is of course the absolute must (several).

[au4040 0]

Greetings Akinomaki! I am traveling to Japan next week and very much interested in attending the Natsu Basho. Which days would you recommend for first- timer? I am very honored to be there during this time.

Thank you.

[Akinomaki 40,811]

Welcome to the forum.
As I wrote before I'll go on days 2 and 5 because the attendance is the lowest and I can move around a bit into the empty masu seat boxes. I take one east (5) and one west (2) day of the first week to have a good chance to watch all of my favorite rikishi at least from sandanme onwards and have the entering ceremonies etc. from different sides. In the first week the makushita and below are more likely to really appear on alternate days and hopefully no one is kyujo yet.

I'm not sure of entry policy right now and got me one-person masu seat tickets to be sure to (re-)enter the first floor at any time. In the Nakamura-oyakata guide I mentioned he explains that remaining standard 4 person masu seat boxes on the actual day get sold for one person (=quarter of the price). The cheapest way to enter are the tickets of the day (tojitsu-ken - jiyuu-seki) for the last 14th row in the kokugikan, but the 200 of them are usually quickly sold out - even on the days I go, now in the dawn of the Endo era it may be hard to get one.
You can exactly check which seats are not sold yet, but only by exact type of seat and with a tedious login procedure for each type with trying to reserve a seat on-line from http://sumo.pia.jp/ticket05.jsp
I like the first floor view, Nakamura proposes the 2nd floor seats as best for an individual spectator. I brought an inflatable cushion with me for better sitting in the empty masu seats - had I seen the video with the Hiyonoyama cushion on sale for that purpose I had rather chosen that.

It would be great if I could meet other forum members in the kokugikan on the 2 days I'm there - any PM about that is appreciated. I don't like to change my daily routines and also hate the morning rush on the trains, so I will be there at around 11 a.m. (I have no hope of getting an old-style Endo strap at that hour).

Edited May 6, 2014 by Akinomaki

[au4040 0]

Thank you very much for the information. Unfortunately I see that the Special Box seats for two are completely sold out for every day of the tournament. That is the preferred seat for me because it is just my wife and I and we wanted to sit close. Is there any chance that more seats will become available like that?

We will not be arriving in Tokyo until Day 6 or I would definitely like to meet someone very knowledgeable of the sport. I think we may get Arena A chair seats for the 9th day. My ideal day was the final Saturday (14th) but every single seat is sold out then!

[Asashosakari 19,669]

There will be two kimono days during the Natsu basho, falling on Shonichi and Nakabi I believe. Participating spectators will receive a yobidashi-themed hand towel, as modelled here by tate yobidashi Hideo and some rikishi.

Incidentally, I believe this is new: These hand towels are now also available for sale, 500 yen apiece or 1000 yen for the whole tokoyama/gyoji/yobidashi three-piece set.

("While supplies last", according to the Kyokai's promotion page, so this might be a Natsu-only deal.)

Edited May 10, 2014 by Asashosakari

[Akinomaki 40,811]

Some more information on watching:

The banzuke sold at the BaseBall-Magazine-sha booth at 55 Yen goes with a BBM Endo card as extra - anything bought there gets the Endo card with it, for the online Ozumo-card battle game from GREE.

The Endo special edition of monthly "Sumo" gets an extra Endo two sided poster (same as the one folded in the inside).

The Ozumo Daijiten is sold there for 5000 Yen instead of 5730 - I guess a new edition is coming for all the changes in the NSK. Amazon has it second hand, very good preserved for 3500 Yen now (used to be around 5000).

The A4 size basho pamphlet at 550 has excellent pics: as usual all sekitori in kesho-mawashi pose, the yokozuna ozeki with a full page size photo, the yokozuna with an extra page, the ozeki with less data and on the same page, sanyaku two on a page, all other 4 on one page. And all gyoji for juryo and above in their gyoji wear.

The English torikumi-hyo you likely will get at the entrance lists only juryo and above bouts - ask for the Japanese one as well, basically the same as the NSK publishes as PDF the day before, but in addition all sponsors listed for the bouts which have kensho: the 5300 Yen the NSK now keeps of a kensho are also for printing this.

A very useful thing I found out is that you can add the cha-ya service also to a ticket you bought elsewhere, I don't know if for 2nd floor seats as well.

You can select from the things on this page and order by phone, no additional charge. I don't know if they accept orders of say just the small yakitori and the pamphlet, I ordered the オードブル (hors d'oeuvre) as well , which you can't buy in the bento shops otherwise. I thought the 180 for tea were the hot one the cha-ya got their name from, but it was an extra bottle of cold tea.

Having the cha-ya service gets you an additional print of the torikumi-hyo, they lead you to your seat, which is already equipped with the set of tea cups that indicate a masu seat handled by the cha-ya (like a sign: "reserved") and they bring you the hot tea in a teapot - I got one refill, the usual customers surely get more, but I practically never was at my own seat, so I guess they ignored it afterwards.

[Akinomaki 40,811]

On to meals and souvenirs
I recommend the small yakitori: enough for the whole day - it is still delicious in the evening.
The best you can get is the Shikoroyama-beya chanko for 250 Yen.
Served from 12-16 : I picked a streak of not so interesting (for me) bouts after 12 for the first and rushed there after the yokozuna dohyo-iri and just made it for a second serving before they closed the entrance at 16. 3 types for each group of 15 days - meaning I had the same again on day 5 after day 2.

I got my set of rikishi nobori - they have practically all popular rikishi who made it to makuuchi - except Endo: all are with oicho-mage.
That means I got e. g. Osunaarashi, Takanoyama, Wakanosato and they still had Kotooshu.
Each nobori can be attached with a suction cup, but the wooden stand for 5 is only 580 Yen.

T-shirts with all kinds of design and cartoon portraits are not that cheap, but to my delight the ones with only the shikona in golden kanji - on black or white - for all yokozuna and ozeki (and still for Kotooshu) are available for only 1080 Yen - but only sizes L and LL (=XL), at least for me it's perfect.

The banzuke frame didn't look that good to me to spend 7000 Yen, the mage-less Endo is still available as a small towel for 540 Yen in his two kimono colors, pink and blue.

[jdombrow 0]

Basho poster.

There will be two kimono days during the Natsu basho, falling on Shonichi and Nakabi I believe. Participating spectators will receive a yobidashi-themed hand towel, as modelled here by tate yobidashi Hideo and some rikishi.

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of this poster? It was my first basho, I had a great time, but my only regret was not getting a copy of the poster as a souvenier.

James