Las Vegas "Koen" thoughts...

[Ryukaze]

How was the tourn for everyone? Aside from the WWF "esque" seemingly staged matchups " (kakizoe being lifted 6'8" in the air by Kotooshu and Takekaze doing likewise to Iwakiyama), as well as the assurance of victory to the Yokozuna and 2 Ozeki there was some notably spirited (and real) competition among the lower rankers, most notably I thought Kisenosato. Here's my sansho-list lol...

Kanto-Sho - Kisenosato

Shukun-sho - (no one really)

Although didn't Miyabiyama beat Taikai and Azuma?

Gi-no Sho - Ama/Hakuho

[Datchayama]

hmm. trying to decipher my scribblings...

Chiyo beat Miya on the 2nd day-quarter finals

but yes Miya beat Chiyo on day 3 quarter finals..Oshidashi.

He didn't fight Tochiazuma on day 2 or 3...maybe on day 1...am not sure at this moment.

Just got back in from the flight from Vegas a half hour ago... but I had problems that 1st day (didn't have anything to take notes with at the event). I have camera pics of every bout however....but man, it's a lotta pics to go thru right now...(at least 2/3 gig of pics....)

Anyways, I definitely enjoyed it... I was in section 106 -T row all 3 days.

Slightly cheesed off that what I "thought" I was getting...row D....

was a heavily-indian voiced salesclerk that sold me these over the phone.

Row D would've got me some better pics...my camera would only zoom into full-dohyo sized shots.

No good rikishi closeups.

Also was told about it being the same seat all 3 days... my seat shifted every day in the row.

On the last day Magicians/Comdeians/whatever-ians Penn & Teller were in that last row in the bottom of my section...(I think that was the row D line).

On the first day the news crew gathered together people on the one side of the section (made them move/clump together to make it look more "filled") but I had an opposite side seat from that.

On the last day the TV crew grabbed some brief footage of me wearing my "Asashoryu" T-shirt while waiting for the doors to open. Have no idea if the footage was used...

The bouts were great....most looked authentic...only a few looked like they might not have really been trying. I also agree...needed some zabuton to throw on the first couple days.

Only negatives: eh...it's the "purist" aspect I guess...quickly got tired of the "hype" during each match...

'is it going to be East? or is it West?".... Wonder if it made the announcer yobidashi annoyed to be talked over his callups....

Anyways, that kind of killed some of the "tradition" mood.. but it's a Vegas show so what can ya expect ;-).

The 2nd "mood killer" was thanks to Toshiba... I'm all for the supporting advertising,etc.. but you go into the arena, listen to the Japanese flute music for the hour beforehand, they show that festival footage also... great. you're in a Japanese mood. Then all of a sudden Blues Traveller music blares in for part of their ad..... it could've been done better with the same advert "result".

Even later, after the nice Taiko drumming (even tho the acoustics to me weren't the best....made it all rumble together too much at times...) gets you in the mood again...there was another "pause".... in blares Blues Traveller again. Their ads/video footage also ran about 2x as loud as the flute music too.. :/

Other misc: wish I could've been there "earlier" to see the dohyo construction/blessing ceremonies (if they let people see it.... maybe they only let press see that. Saw a pic of it from AP I believe). I got there on early Friday morning.... was to have been Thurs night but I missed my first flight :/

Also would've liked to maybe have met some of the sumoforum'ers. I don't have a laptop (and didnt want to use their pay terminals) so kind of was in the dark about any specifics of anyone from here.

Kind of wish I also had stayed at the Mandalay.... maybe could've had more rikishi sightings myself. Saw a few.. most of the time they were too swarmed by people so I didn't try to approach any.

Oddly enough...most I saw seemed to be near that buffet... (Sign of approval)

I ended up staying in the Excalibur so most of the time when I was over at Mandalay it was when the crowds were already heading over...

Anywho, that's my take on the whole thing. Was nice to even see some kensho giving.... guess the supporters figured that they'd need some $ to spend (after the casinos already got the most of their moneys at the slots/whatever ^_^) so it was nice to see that. Got kensho counts as well...although I need to shuffle thru all my photos for that first day's counts. I'll see if I can throw together a list by later today sometime.

On another note.... a question. Does the Takasago Beya's trophy case have electrical outlets in it??

What you can't see too well is that the overall championship trophy:

has fully working neon in that star and lights all around it.... (Eh?)

It's gonna need power.....

Edited October 11, 2005 by Datchayama

[Sasanishiki]

My pick is that Asa left that in the airport rubbish bun as it would have been too big (and ugly) for cary-on luggage. (Applauding...)

What is it with taiko drumming and sumo? The two international amateur torunaments that I`ve been to in Germany both had some taiko group performing to "entertain" the crowd. I for one think that silence is golden sometimes.

[Asojima]

What is it with taiko drumming and sumo? The two international amateur torunaments that I`ve been to in Germany both had some taiko group performing to "entertain" the crowd. I for one think that silence is golden sometimes.

Taiko (or Daiko) playing is a part of the daily rituals in and around the Kokugikan during hon-basho. The start and end of the basho are also signalled by daiko in the yagura tower outside the gikan. The taiko in Vegas may have been some examples of daiko. Then, again, taiko players tend to show up at formal Japanese ceremonies in the U.S., so this may also have been an itinerant group.

[Jonosuke]

The taiko in Vegas may have been some examples of daiko. Then, again, taiko players tend to show up at formal Japanese ceremonies in the U.S., so this may also have been an itinerant group.

The San Francisco Taiko Dojo is the oldest Taiko group established outside Japan. They were pretty impressive but I thought it went on a tad too long. I guess I felt that way because I heard it three days in a row.

[Datchayama]

The San Francisco Taiko Dojo is the oldest Taiko group established outside Japan. They were pretty impressive but I thought it went on a tad too long. I guess I felt that way because I heard it three days in a row.

Well.. the 3 day repetitiveness was kind of bad in a way. Their performance essentially was more of a full stage/show performance than more specific to the Sumo drumming....

The biggest thing I saw with them however, is that the rhythym patterns which normally have great accents along with the show artistry of the players moving alll around the stage was really kind of not so hot. Especially for the 2nd half when they played that bigger drum. Due to the ringing acoustics in the place, you couldn't hear any "definition" due to the big drum only sounding like a constant big rumble... I could "see" the players hitting out patterns on that drum but you couldn't tell it.

Due to this you ended up with just too long of a big constant "rumble" rather than a good sounding beat pattern...and that gets pretty tiring quickly.

(yeah, I dig drums ^_^)

[sekitori]

Just a word about Konishiki who was the announcer. He played to those in the audience who knew little or nothing about sumo and I thought his commentary was great. He was informative and also very funny. Since many in the crowd knew little or nothing about the rikishis, he gave a brief description about each of them before each bout. For example, he said that Miyabiyama likes to play pachinko and another rikishi enjoys fishing. If they faced each other, Konishiki's routine would be, "Are you for the east side or the west side? The pachinko player or the fisherman? Let's hear it for the east side! Let's hear it for the west side!" And he got a loud response from the audience each time. Once, after his "let's hear it" routine got what he thought was a fairly quiet response, he came back with, "Let's hear it for me!" And the audience did.

He made the Las Vegas Koen that much more enjoyable for me. All I can say is, "Let's hear it for Konishiki!" (Shaking head...)

[Ryukaze]

LOL yeah but after hearing the SAME EXACT comments night after night it got a little played out. I did appreciate his "light hearted" approach to the whole thing though, and it was interesting to hear what rikishi like to do on their free time (i.e. Ama enjoys oil painting etc.) Also as a side note the phrase "frontal force out, crush out" etc don't really translate that well into english lol, heard alot of snickers in the audience lol.

Edited October 13, 2005 by Ryukaze

[ilovesumo]

What is it with taiko drumming and sumo? The two international amateur torunaments that I`ve been to in Germany both had some taiko group performing to "entertain" the crowd. I for one think that silence is golden sometimes.

2003, 2004 in Riesa? I liked the Taiko bum bumm bummm, but it really was a bit long, but, maybe that's the same feeling like the "hours" before the Tachi Ai. We can't catch all the beauty. (Shaking head...)

[Takanorappa]

Also as a side note the phrase "frontal force out, crush out" etc don't really translate that well into english lol, heard alot of snickers in the audience lol.

There were actually some chanting "Frontal force out...Frontal force out..." on the second day. Probably the same ones who chanted "Spicy Tuna" on the first day. (Shaking head...)

[Kathy]

Just a word about Konishiki who was the announcer. He played to those in the audience who knew little or nothing about sumo and I thought his commentary was great. He was informative and also very funny. Since many in the crowd knew little or nothing about the rikishis, he gave a brief description about each of them before each bout. For example, he said that Miyabiyama likes to play pachinko and another rikishi enjoys fishing. If they faced each other, Konishiki's routine would be, "Are you for the east side or the west side? The pachinko player or the fisherman? Let's hear it for the east side! Let's hear it for the west side!" And he got a loud response from the audience each time. Once, after his "let's hear it" routine got what he thought was a fairly quiet response, he came back with, "Let's hear it for me!" And the audience did.

He made the Las Vegas Koen that much more enjoyable for me. All I can say is, "Let's hear it for Konishiki!" (Shaking head...)

I agree. Konishiki did an excellent color commentary. The only thing I didn't like was "Are you for the East or the West?" Oh, I didn't like the singer that mutilated the National Anthem. The people that applauded for her were either glad she was almost finished singing or they didn't recognize the song!

Kathy DeShong

Brighton, IL

[_the_mind_]

i completely agree, the woman who did the American national anthem was terrible. but the lady who did the Japanese National Anthem was wonderful. she knows what singing is (as she was a professional opera singer im not surprised that she was very good). clearly alot of thought was put into getting the singer for the Japanese National Anthem, and some lounge singer was obtained for the American Anthem.

[Ryukaze]

Yeah I wasn't a big fan of the "soul" version of that National Anthem either. If your gonna sing our countries national anthem sing the the damb thing right.

[Jakusotsu]

I didn't know the national anthem of the USA is a damb thing. One never ceases to learn new words.

[Yaezakura]

I enjoyed the koen a lot. A whole lot. Wow, seeing sumo live does not compare with watching it on video, let alone watching the internet stream. I mean, I knew it didn't compare, but actually seeing it was amazing. The exaggerated staredowns were strange at first, then kind of amusing to see one rikishi trying to start a staredown with an opponent who hadn't noticed and had already gone back for the salt. The matches were great to watch. They seemed a bit longer than the honbasho matches I've seen, not that I am complaining about that. Maybe the rikishi felt like they could take their time a little bit, and did not need to go all out for the quick win...though Roho made sure I got to see a live henka! (Henka!!!)

Definitely agree with everyone on the awfulness of the "singer" of the U.S. national anthem. Konishiki was hilarious the first night, amusing the second, and okay the third after I'd heard all his jokes twice already, but overall he was good enough. I wish that everything hadn't been dumbed down quite so much for "the Americans who wouldn't know any better." Half the crowd was either Japanese or Mongolian, and I'm sure most of the rest of the crowd understood the basics. Maybe it was dumbed down for the American press more than it was for the fans, because I'm going to scream if I see one more article that calls rikishi "sumos". :-S And the gaudy trophy with the lights in it was perfectly representative of Las Vegas. I just hope visitors don't think that the U.S. is actually like Las Vegas.

I'm picking nits, though. I really really really really enjoyed it. My throat is still slightly sore from yelling so loudly. I left Vegas wondering how long it would take for me to save up enough cash for a trip to Japan.

[_the_mind_]

I left Vegas wondering how long it would take for me to save up enough cash for a trip to Japan.

someone asked "whats the point of the overseas tours?"

theres an answer

nice one

see you when you get here.

Nish if she goes im going. my sister cant go to a honbasho without me or i will not be happy!!! so you might have to entertain the both of us LOL. lots of liquor will do.