Japanese Festival: Sumo Edition

One of the things I most wanted to see at the Japanese festival was the sumo. A while back I blogged about the basics of sumo and why it's so awesome, so I won't repeat myself here. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who wanted to see big men wrestling -- the place was packed.

The three rikishi (wrestlers) that were there had wrestled professionally in Japan but were from Hawaii, and they were introduced by a woman who wrote a book about sumo. I don't recall her name, but I do recall the crowd getting visibly and audibly impatient as she sucked up valuable wrestling time with fun facts about sumo, like, sumo wrestlers are big because they eat a lot! Really? We had no idea.

Okay, done being snide now. She did say some interesting things, and I realize she was gearing her talk to people who have no exposure to sumo, but in all honesty, she needs an editor. (Interestingly, though, she never once used the word "fat.")

Eventually she introduced the rikishi, ending with the biggest one, who elicited gasps and comments from several people around me. They went through their stretching exercises as the woman continued talking about how much weight they'd lost and what there did no (one of them is a surfing instructor). Then, finally, hallelujah, the two smaller ones settled in for a bout:

They brought a bunch of kids up to go through the stretching and strengthening exercises:

They asked for a kid volunteer to wrestle with one guy:

Then came an older kid, whom they put in a mawashi, which was funny both because they had to spin him around three or four times, and because I knew everyone there was thinking, "Hey, look at the kid in the diaper."

He got the initial squat just right.

He was very serious about the bout.

But he did not win.

Watching all of this only strengthened my jones to attend a real sumo basho (tournament). And while there are annual "sumo opens" in California (this year's happens to be next Saturday), I have a feeling that wouldn't quite do it, either. Because with sumo, as with ice cream, NASCAR and high-end hair products, there just ain't nothing like the real thing.

Lolita: More than a Fictional Character

A week and a half ago, we went to the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and I've been writing about it ever since. I lived in Japan for nearly three years, right after college, and I experience enough nostalgia for it that getting a big cultural fix was soothing.

One of the things I really wanted to see was Taiko drumming -- big drums, lots of them, and impressively coordinated people wailing away at them. The event was packed, and we picked our way along the back of the crowd until we found a spot against the fence with a decent view.

A little while later, two frill-bedecked young women walked by, and I immediately knew what their deal was, though I couldn't recall the name for it. Here they are, from afar:





After a while, I realized I was excited to see two intrepid Midwesterners taking fashion chances at an event that's not necessarily crammed with open-minded people. Recalling an early photography teacher's advice that it's always better to get your subject involved in a shot by (gasp!) talking to them, I worked up a bit of courage. I said I liked their outfits and asked them what they were called. Lolita, they said, and they seemed both excited and envious when I mentioned I'd lived in Tokyo and seen the groups of people that hang out in Harajuku park in their Loli outfits.

Despite the name, most Lolita practitioners will tell you that dressing this way has nothing to do with Nabokov's book or anything sexual. It's a way to escape, indulge a love of fashion, and express themselves. There are clothing lines dedicated to this mode of dress, and there are sub-modes: Gothic, Black, Elegant, and so on. Outside of Japan, followers often make their own outfits because ordering these items online is time-consuming, expensive and fraught with size-translation peril. I wish I'd asked these ladies about that, because I'm betting that made at least some of what they were wearing, and they'd have been really happy to talk about it.

Well, the one on the left, anyway. The parasol gal was less enthused, though she was pleased about looking tall in the photo.

Other posts in this series:

People-Watching
Bonsai, Ikebana and Fish Banners

People-Watching at the Japanese Festival

The people-watching at the Japanese festival was unexpectedly rewarding. The place was just crammed with people of all description, most of them wearing traditional Midwestern summer garb, but some splashing out a bit with Japan-flavored outfits or items. The best outfits deserve a post of their own, though, so come back on Wedesday to check that out.

Umbrellas were quite popular.

So were fans.

These pointy hats were everywhere. I think of them as Chinese coolie hats -- what manual laborers wear to keep the sun off. So it was funny to see them on so many well-fed Midwestern kids.

It was also possible to spot the occasional actual Japanese person wearing traditional Japanese garb.


It's a little hard to see, but this lady is wearing geta -- wooden flip-flops that have you up on two vertical chunks of wood per foot. That means she's almost certainly wearing tabi, the heavy socks with a split that puts the big toe off on its own. It was about 85 degrees and humid that day, too, so between the footwear, kimono and obi, I'm sure she was really toasty.