Sumo Fanclub

[Morning 85]

https://fanclub.sumo.or.jp/

By the Kyokai, with various membership grades cheapest is 6600 Yen per year offering the least goodies, most expensive is 33000 Yen. There's also a monthly thing.

I didn't check whether it's open to residents of Japan only or world wide.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

Poking around it seems the main purpose of the fan club is early ticket purchase opportunity. Unfortunately that means buying through ticket pia just became even harder…

 

And morning, you missed a digit. The Yokozuna course is 330,000 per year, or over $3k dollars.

[Churaumi 745]

$3K? Seems like the main purpose is raising funds for the Kyokai. At least the low tier isn't bad, assuming you get something for it.

[Godango 1,015]

Over $4k down under. Crazy.

...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious though.

[Churaumi 745]

I know, right? That's got to come with some meet-and-greets or something.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

The yokozuna $3k level comes with a vip event, and other levels have some normal event. However all details are coming soon. The only thing detailed are the gift trinkets and they look quite lame.

You do get a signed birthday card from a rikishi at yokozuna level. 

Considering that amount usually guarantees tickets for other koenkai but not here is a bit lame.

[Kaminariyuki 500]

I suppose for wealthy fans it's a way of making some contact without the hassle of finding an introduction or direct connection.

Oh, wow, a signed birthday card from seemingly a random rikishi! Where's my credit card? 

I was actually contemplating joining a koenkai about the time the pandemic struck. Alas, it seemed like a good time to cool my jets and save a few yen.

Edited August 17, 2021 by Kaminariyuki

[sumojoann 1,268]

I'm assuming the $3,000 is the ANNUAL cost for the VIP membership.  Even if I got a PERSONALIZED signed birthday card from Terunofuji or Hakuho, that's seem kind of excessive.  You can get an original Terunofuji Tegata on Ebay for $150USD  https://www.ebay.com/itm/133839710896?hash=item1f2977eab0:g:JwEAAOSwNThhC4n2

Edited August 18, 2021 by sumojoann

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

Now I'm somewhere with sane internet and a keyboard I'll translate all the fanclub levels:

Makuuchi Level (550 Yen per month ( 5 USD)):
- One week before general sales ticket lottery (if you win the lottery, you get a chance to buy I guess).

Komusubi Level (6,600 Yen per year ( 60 USD)):
- All of the above
- Membership card
- Original Eco Bag

Sekiwake Level (33,000 Yen per year ( 300 USD)):
- All of the above
- Two weeks before general sales ticket lottery
- Choice of one free good (Choices: two plates, floor mat, fan, furoshiki (thing you can wrap bento in etc))
- Your chosen shikona is displayed on the website (as a recognized donator)
- Entry into lottery for limited attendance fan club event
- New year's card signed by random rikishi/oyakata
- Paper banzuke delivered to your door

Ozeki Level (110,000 Yen per year (1000 USD)): Limited to 100 people! (additional spots may open up)
- All of the above
- Your shikona will appear on the website in SUMO-JI font instead (holy shit!!)
- Choice of two free goods instead of one
- Membership card is now metal

Yokozuna Level (330,000 Yen per year (3000 USD)): Limited to 30 people! (additional spots may open up)
- All of the above
- Birthday card from your favorite rikishi/oyakata
- Choice of THREE free goods instead of one
- Invitation to VIP event (different from fanclub event)
- Guaranteed invitation to fanclub event, instead of lottery
 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

Again, I don't really 'get' the yokozuna level. The typical iji-in sponsor for a basho is $2k per basho (so as a osaka sponsor, that'd be per year), and you get really nice seats. Sure, its a 6 year commitment but maybe I'm misunderstanding how that system works. Anyone know better about iji-in seats?

[Jakusotsu 6,050]

They forgot Dai-Yokozuna level, getting adopted by a Nigerian prince for only 6000 USD more.

[Athenayama 1,080]

2 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

They forgot Dai-Yokozuna level, getting adopted by a Nigerian prince for only 6000 USD more.

Someone probably receives that kind of emails often.

[Seregost 132]

Fan of the "Limited to 100 people! (additional spots may open up)" xD

[Mightyduck 67]

For $3k a year I'd expect Hakuho to turn up and kachikage someone I dislike

[Seiyashi 4,108]

5 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Again, I don't really 'get' the yokozuna level. The typical iji-in sponsor for a basho is $2k per basho (so as a osaka sponsor, that'd be per year), and you get really nice seats. Sure, its a 6 year commitment but maybe I'm misunderstanding how that system works. Anyone know better about iji-in seats?

Do you mean the yokozuna level is too cheap or too expensive relative to the iji-in sponsorship? I'm guessing too expensive for the lack of stuff you get? There's a lot of cumulative perks though, so I guess it's an alternative to being an iji-in sponsor for someone who doesn't really mind masuseki and wants to spread their largesse, as it were, around a little bit more.

Plus one thing I haven't seen mentioned much: you need a Bitfan ID or something along those lines to participate. I might be misremembering the name and some details a little, but I had a bit of a gander round the JP site yesterday and it basically seems to be a digital fan platform. I'm guessing the target audience for this ozumo sponsorship is not going to be your traditional tanimachi audience, but instead the more digitally savvy youth.

2 minutes ago, Mightyduck said:

For $3k a year I'd expect Hakuho to turn up and kachikage someone I dislike

That reminds me of the Roald Dahl short story Vengeance is Mine Inc. Try not to pick someone commonly disliked!

Edited August 19, 2021 by Seiyashi

[rhyen 1,846]

Perhaps, they are also fishing for future potential tanimachi patrons if the current group membership declines or doesn’t get passed on to the next generation?

how different is this from the NFL/Premier league pandering to the corporate sponsors with their corporate suites in the stadiums?

[Yamanashi 3,904]

12 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Makuuchi Level (550 Yen per month ( 5 USD))

 

12 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Komusubi Level (6,600 Yen per year ( 60 USD))

Say, Makuuchi level feels more like Juryo level.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

The sumo fan club was introduced on the morning wide show. All hopes that the fan club is targeted to youngsters were smashed as what self respecting youngster is up and watching TV at 6am on a weekend??

Anyway they showed the yokozuna and ozeki level membership cards. Apparently your shikona (in the upper right of the card) is not just Sumo-Ji font, but hand written by a gyoji in sumo style characters. Anyone want to sign kintamayama up to see if they'll do it?

 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

On 19/08/2021 at 12:19, Yamanashi said:

 

Say, Makuuchi level feels more like Juryo level.

There's a Juryo level but its free and you just get solicitation emails.

[Benevolance 2,511]

On 18/08/2021 at 20:56, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Again, I don't really 'get' the yokozuna level. The typical iji-in sponsor for a basho is $2k per basho (so as a osaka sponsor, that'd be per year), and you get really nice seats. Sure, its a 6 year commitment but maybe I'm misunderstanding how that system works. Anyone know better about iji-in seats?

Wait, wait, wait! It's like 2k to be a sponsor? And you get seats for that price? Just for one day, or multiple days? 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

51 minutes ago, Benevolance said:

Wait, wait, wait! It's like 2k to be a sponsor? And you get seats for that price? Just for one day, or multiple days? 

It must be for only one day, otherwise it doesn't make any sense - it would be cheaper to be iji-in than buy single person b-masu.

Again though, its per basho, and is required commitment for 6 years. So if you want to sponsor the tokyo basho, that's gonna be like $38k.

It makes you wonder about how much funds the people who sit in the same seats everyday down there put up.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=https://sumo.or.jp/IrohaKyokaiDonationSponsor/wrap/&prev=search&pto=aue

 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

The fan club is holding a sumo festival for thanking the fans on Oct 6th and 7th at the kokugikan.

It seems like a typical sumo fan experience, but there was one interesting thing. You can buy one of the panels used to indicate the day's matches in the arena for this event.

If you buy one, you can specify an active sekitori or 'donator's name'. It will hang on the board during the fan event then afterwards it is shipped to your address. (So, its not gonna be cheap). But anyway, this is a chance at a unique piece of memorabilia if you are in Japan these days.

For the sekitori names, these will be freshly made it seems, so you are not buying a used one, I think.

[Akinomaki 40,814]

I just noticed a nice feature on the fanclub site, so far also available for the free juryo course members like me, lower div torikumi 2 days in advance, for the last round of 3 days, 3 days in advance. Each basho a new page, Aki basho:  https://fanclub.sumo.or.jp/contents/556763

The makushita and below rikishi usually appear on 1 of  2 consecutive days, the torikumi for the 2nd day are determined in advance. Kyujo and returns, especially in above divisions, may cause some rescheduling and the advance torikumi to become obsolete, but it still is a nice feature, especially for the last 3 days.

The course for which this is available may change, so for Kyushu the free access (after login) may be gone.

Edit: the pdf files (images, no searchable text unfortunately, but much better than the files on the NSK site, esp. the pages with kensho, no ads) are accessible without login

Edited October 15, 2022 by Akinomaki