Monday, April 2, 2012

New Ozeki Last Week

So, the rank below Grand Champion (yokozuna) is called Champion. (Imagine.) The sumo term is ozeki. Last week at the end of the March tournament in Osaka, the Nihon Sumo Kyokai (JSA) met in council and opted to promote Kakuryu to the rank of ozeki.

There breakdown of stats on Kakuryu can be seen here. He's a Mongolian, just like the yokozuna, Hakuhou is. He weighs 148 kilos, which translates for us on the English system as 325 pounds. Kind of a lightweight, as sumo guys go.

Meanwhile, I have this friend on Twitter, @kanryuyuu, who is a huge sumo fan and posts pics all the time. I asked if I could repost one of his pics, and he said yes.




Sumo and vending machines. Two things that are oh-so-Japanese. How perfect. Thanks, @kanryuyuu!

2 comments:

  1. Kakuryu is my favorite wrestler and I was so happy to see him do so well at the Osaka Basho and proud that he got promoted to Ozeki; he totally deserves it. I only wish I had been able to see that final bout live.

    I just started a sumo appreciation blog: the-sumo-aesthetic.blogspot.com and was browsing for other sumo fan blogs to connect with and found yours. Like you, I'm an American sumo fan, but still learning about the sport. I'm currently living in Japan and want to improve my Japanese while reading about it. Check out my blog if you get the chance.

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  2. @Francesca- Thanks so much for checking out this blog. I'm super novice when it comes to individual wrestlers. I know I like Hakuhou, though! There are some cool sumo fans to follow on Twitter. (Especially great if you can read Kanji! Which I can't. Hahaha.)

    Oh, how I hope you're LOVING Japan. I'm so jealous! (Except I have 5 kids and I wouldn't leave them, even for a fun stint in Japan.) Eat some yakisoba for me. And wave to a sumo wrestler for me when you see one, please. Thanks!

    I'll check out your blog!

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