Sumo Tournaments?????

[Uncle Frank]

Don't they start this month? Anyone going ? Anyone able to put ticket prices in US dollars, just curious how much someone pays to be next to the mound and get sumo's in their lap.

Frank

:? :clueless:

[DoctorP]

Started this weekend Frank...unfortunately I can't go! (A little too far away!)

[epigene]

The seats closest to the "dohyo" are sold in boxes (4 persons per box) and sell at $400 plus. They are very hard to come by. Other seats are easier to purchase because of the recent decline in interest in sumo. (No particularly great sumo heroes now. The curent grand champion Asashoryu seems to overwhelm all others now but has offended oldtime fans with his un-Japanese habits stemming from his Mongolian background. Personally, I am impressed by his fluency in Japanese, as well as his agility and power in sumo wrestling!)

Grand Sumo Association website (http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/)

[mr.sumo.snr]

The Grand Sumo Tournaments are held every two months, usually commencing the second or third Sunday in the month. The Hatsu Basho is in January, Haru Basho in March, Natsu Basho is in May, Nagoya Basho in July, Aki Basho in September and Kyushu Basho in November. Hatsu, Natsu and Aki are held in Tokyo. The others are obvious except the Haru event which is in Osaka - the one tournament at which the local governor's trophy can't be presented personally by the governor herself, Fusae Ota, since she's a woman - and women may not enter the ‘sacred’ sumo ring.

True, ringside prices are pretty steep - about 15000 to be on a cushion right next to the dohyo - certainly within crushing distance. I sometimes see gaijin in those seats - but never big guys like myself. The seats in the stands are not too far away and it's a great place to really appreciate the entire spectacle.

I used to go along for an entire day - starting at 9.30 in the morning. Once you're in the gymnasium tickets aren't checked. You can spend a good five hours sitting right next to the ring watching the low ranked wrestlers fighting. When the actually ticket holders turn up you just stand up, bow politely and leave, being carefully not to have 'soiled' the area too much. Then you move to your assigned, cheap-seats for the last three hours of action. It's a fun day out - the arena is always air-conditioned and if you take a break from the action you can walk around, stand right next to the wrestlers in the hanamichi – the entrance to the main arena, or stand outside and take photos of the top ranked guys as they arrive in their people-carrier limousines (sumo wrestlers are actually banned from driving).

[Uncle Frank]

we get better answers to questions here than Google; maybe the Forum should go public with stock options! Thanks everyone for your help. I hope we get to see it here on TV.

Frank

:cool:

[senseiman]

Hatsu Bashho just started, I've been enjoying it on TV. Kind of dissapointed to see Kaio take a fall yesterday, there goes his chances of promotion unless he really kicks butt for the rest of the tournament.

I'm hoping to go to a bout during the haru bassho in Osaka. How much are the cheap seat tickets, roughly? I went over to the convenience store the other day to check the ticket prices but the cheapest ones they listed were 15,900 yen. I take it those are for the good seats, but that is way out of my price range.

[thomas]

We'll be going there on the 21st. Ticket prices range from 9.200 to 11.300 yen (36.800 - 45.200 yen/4 persons) on the ground floor (already sold out), and from 3.600 to 8.200 yen (2F).

[senseiman]

Thanks for the info, 2nd floor sounds good to me. How did you book your tickets?

[thomas]

Someone from our office phoned the Kokugikan

=> http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/ticket/honbasho_joho/tokyo.html

We managed to secure three seats in the 2nd row (northern part). :-)

[senseiman]

Thanks for the info, that site is pretty useful. Maybe I'll try dragging a couple friends along so we can split the cost of a 4 person box.

[mangaman]

I've gone to the Osaka basho several times. I think the really close seats are almost impossible to buy directly. I'm not sure but there are agencies that buy up blocks of seats for each basho so you might have to go through them if you really want to get close. I found all the masu seki seats were good in the end. (A little small for 4 foreign guys however!)

[mr.sumo.snr]

I've gone to the Osaka basho several times. I think the really close seats are almost impossible to buy directly. I'm not sure but there are agencies that buy up blocks of seats for each basho so you might have to go through them if you really want to get close. I found all the masu seki seats were good in the end. (A little small for 4 foreign guys however!)

I very definitely echo the scepticism about buying box tickets - unless you've spent your whole life sitting 'seiza' you will be uncomfortable. You also miss a lot of the action in the box seats - maybe not the fighting, but certainly a lot of the non-verbal palaver that constitutes a sumo basho.