Featured Club / Dojo - Funabashi Star Sumo Club

mikawa · April 3, 2018

Carrying On a Tradition

Location - Funabashi Martial Arts Center (船橋市武道センター), Funabashi, Chiba
Keiko - Sundays (9am - 11am)

About 15 minutes' walk north of Daijingushita Station, Funabashi Star Sumo Club (船橋市スター相撲団) is located on the second floor of the Funabashi Martial Arts Center. They are represented by Murai Takao (村井隆夫), and are coached by Fukazawa Eiji (深澤英治). They are a relatively new sumo club, having been founded in April 2002, and currently have 19 members.

Funabashi Star Sumo Club are so named because their original team captain wanted club members to "become a shining person through the training of their body and heart through sumo". Their best results have come in the biennial National Chinju-no-mori Kids Sumo Tournament, though one of their members, Komatsu Kaito (小松海斗), has gone one step further by finishing in the top 16 at the Wanpaku Tournament two years ago, losing to the Mongolian phenom Sosorufu. Komatsu is probably better known for his appearance at the Hakuho Cup, where he faced Kinboshi Sumo Club's Yasuda Hikaru in the second round.

However, Funabashi Star Sumo Club are probably best known for their involvement in the annual Funabashi Shrine Ceremonial Sumo Tournament, which is held over a weekend in October (usually around the 20th), with the adults tournament on Friday, and the kids tournament on Saturday. The tournament is always held at the Funabashi Shrine, which is in the vicinity of Daijingushita Station, and is a major tradition in Funabashi.

Legend has it that back in 1590, whilst on his way to hunting animals in Togane, Tokugawa Ieyasu stayed for a bit at Funabashi Palace. In order to entertain the warlord, the people of Funabashi arranged for some fisherman's children to sumo wrestle in his presence, and so this tradition was started. Videos of the event can be found on YouTube.

Below are some photos I took whilst visiting Funabashi last summer. They were taken at the Martial Arts Center and at the Funabashi Shrine.