Sumo Training
There are a few students at my schools who instantly stand out from the crowd. One of the most distinctive students at Tsurukawa is Shota Anzai, who practices sumo wrestling. He's in Grade 8, and weighs 170kg. The heaviest I've ever been is 85kg - half of what he is now!
He's got the sweetest, most docile personality, too. Recently, I asked whether I could go and watch one of his training sessions. He's busy training for the junior high school championships, to be held in two weeks, at Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni shrine.
So last Saturday, on a rain-sodden day here in Yokohama, Kathleen and I met Anzai and his family at Tsurukawa, where they drove us to the sumo dojo. The dojo trains elementary and junior high school students, and is located in Tachikawa, in Tokyo's outer-western suburbs.
Anzai's family were fantastic hosts. Mr Shota is heavily-built, with the physique of an ex-rugby player. He was very amused when I asked whether he also was a sumo wrestler. Anzai's brother, 9 years his junior, sat quietly in the back seat and read comic books, in contract to Anzai, who talked virtually non-stop. "Oka-san?" "Oto-san?"
After almost an hour of driving, where it was discovered that Kathleen spoke better Japanese than me and so received most of the questions, we stopped in front of a small building in a suburban street, in the grounds of a small temple. In the shadows, with water dripping from the trees it made for a very mysterious setting.
The dojo itself consisted of two rings on a dirt floor, with a raised tatami seating area. On two of the walls, the traditional sumo nishi (west) and higashi (east) kanji, whilst a third housed the dojo's impressive trophy cabinet. Especially interesting was the photo, taken at a tournament, of the stern-faced instructors and, in the background, students bursting to be in the picture, all with the ubiquitous v-for-victory pose. Next to nishi was another calligraphy, which Mr Shota explained as itakunai - no pain - the sumo wrestler's creed.
The sight of 15 elementary schoolboys in their sumo mawashis was enough to make Kathleen blush, as they stretched and practiced their moves. The older boys moved to one ring for serious practice under the watchful eyes of Ishira, a former junior high Tokyo and Japan champion, now a high school student, and Gohara, who studies at a sports college in Tokyo. The younger ones had a less formal series of practice bouts. Ishira's nephew, at 4 the youngest student, didn't let constant defeat phase him, as he windmilled his way around the ring.
Anzai's easily the largest wrestler in the dojo. This counts against him though - once he gets momentum, it's difficult for him to stop. Other wrestlers, with more speed and explosive power, wait for his attack and sidestep, then counterattack. We could hear his sharp intake of breath just before he hit the dirt. As Kathleen and I cringed in sympathy, his mum laughed it off - he has a lot of padding, she explained.
With the doors open to the humid evening air, the lights attracting moths and insects, the steady sound of the rain outside, and the slaps of the wrestlers meeting head on, it's hard to imagine a sport more representative of Japan.
