New Sumo Blog

So, I just got a comment from a sumo fan who is living in Japan to learn Japanese. She's starting her own sumo appreciation blog. Would you like to check it out? It's going to be pretty sweet!

Thanks for the intro, Francesca! Wave to Hakuhou for me if you see him, will you?

http://the-sumo-aesthetic.blogspot.com/

Oh, and she does sumo doodles, too. Excellent!

Sumo Delights

A friend of mine on Facebook found these gems while perusing a bookstore yesterday.

Baby sumo wrestler salt and pepper shakers. For just $18.99. Does every home need a set of these classic items? Probably. (The one in white is the lower ranked, by the way.)

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!