Mainoumi’s danpatsushiki
(top notch cutting ceremony)
(Click to enlarge)
I have spent a wonderful 4 hours at Ryogoku kokugikan, in a masuseki in the 2nd row West, virtually right opposite the dohyo in the company of your wife and her 2 children. The box was quite full with the 3 people and the omiyage bags but I had the fortune of sitting in the box just behind them as those people did never show…
There were juryo matches on as we came in. Mitoizumi (injured during the May tournament) was just throwing his huge handful of salt into the air as we arrived. Before the actual top notch cutting began, two professional hair dressers showed how to style sumotori with his chonnage. Over 400 people cut Mainoumi’s hair; the most famous being some baseball players, Yokozuna Akebono, Mainoumi’s father, and the final cut was made by his stale master Dewanoumi oyakata.
Then, Akebono came in with about 6 attendants who showed how to bind the white ‘Yokozuna’ rope around the large belly of the Grand Champion. Very interesting and hard work. Then, we had the makunouchi dohyo iri ceremony with all active wrestlers in the wing, followed by the 3 Yokozuna ceremonies. Yes, you read correctly: naturally, Akebono and Takanohana did their ceremony but as last came, to our big surprise, Yokozuna Wakanohana. He got a tremendous welcome, and in all truth, he made the best impression among the 3. He should never have resigned that soon.
Before the makunouchi bouts started, the sumo taiko was brought in. It was the drum that one normally hears when leaving the sumo stadium at 6 PM, after the day’s performance is over. Very impressive in the arena. We stayed only for the first few bouts, and I was happy to see that veteran Terao got a beautiful win over his much heavier opponent. Though he will battle in juryo next tournament, I hope he will bounce back to makunouchi so that at 37, he can continue to try to beat his father’s old record of longest grappling rikishi (Tsurugamine, retired at age 38, when he become Isuzu oyakata).
It was a day full of surprises. I wanted to stay for the cutting only as I had many years ago for Ozeki Wakashimazu. There, as the third in line for cutting his hair (after a top Government minister and a Diet Member), I was even shown on NHK midday news. The wife of a friend saw this and was very excitedly shouting to her husband that he believed she had a health problem. The only thing she tried to tell him was that she saw me on NHK…