And as the afternoon went on, the crowd caught on fast.
Appreciating Takanohana’s subtle mastery of the sport he
was born into, a middle-aged women sitting nearby
exclaimed, “My God, that fellow is good.”

This, in spite of all the differences.

Even the press was stymied by the sport.

In press conferences, most of the questions from the floor
were abrasive and not particularly original. When one
reporter asked Akebono about his former sword-bearer
Kenko who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly this past
spring, Akebono paused thoughtfully to answer the question.
“His death was hard for me to take,” said the yokozuna.
“And actually, I've known a few people that are close to me
pass away in the last couple of years.” As his answer trailed
off, he nodded to the reporter, and seemed to have appreci-
ated that he was asked a question besides “How much can
you eat?” or “Are you going to win or not?”

After the last official press conference, when the men had

army of strangely-small barbers, barked their orders at their
attendants and gathered their manbags, the reporters were
handed small envelopes as they left the room to chase the
rikishi down. Each envelope contained a single loonie.
“What the hell is this?” the reporters asked aloud.
Appropriately, there was an explanation on the outside of
the envelope. “Oiri-bukuro—A red and white envelope con-
taining a coin passed out to reporters and special patrons of
sumo on days during a regular tournament when the stadi-
um draws a full house.”
The Canada Sumo Basho seemed to surprise everyone.
And that, besides a few bucks for a country in an official
recession, was the impact that the Sumo Kyokai were hoping
for: the next time these Canadians see sumo wrestling they
wont be thinking “fat guys—weird sport.” Rather, they'll be
thinking, “hey, I like that guy’s technique.” Just a little bit of
an altéred perception was what the kyokai were hoping for.
And they seem to have gotten it.

  
   
  
  

dumo Guys
Wrestle with
Tough Crab
Claws and Too
iiuch Female
Touching

MONIQUE TAMMINGA

ost Vancouverites became
IK quite curious, fascinated
really, with the brief visit

of the Sumo wrestlers. Vancouverites
got to know the wrestlers through ~
newspaper articles, television and

general media hype, but one lucky

July 1998 Page 20 SUMO

all changed their clothes, had their top-knots retied by an

second year Douglas College student,
Jo-Anne Hickey, got to know the
Sumo wrestlers on a more personal
basis; she got to feed them.

Beyond the press conferences,
media frenzy and wrestling matches,
the Sumo wrestlers, and the twenty or
so members of their wrestling
entourage, managed to find some time
to eat lunch. They chose a fine dining
restaurant nestled in trees, away from
media and overlooking our fine Fraser
River. The sun was shining and they
chose to sit on the patio.

“They were very polite and friend-
ly. They made a real attempt to speak
English but I could barely make out
what they were saying. Some of the
time they had someone to translate
for them” says Jo-Anne.

Jo-Anne served them crab as the
main course. She recalls that they had
some trouble cracking open the claws
of the crab, “The next thing I knew
they had put the crab on the concrete
and they just started breaking them

 

David Tam Ph«