11/26/2023 Sumo Wrestler vs. Bonsai Master

We spent an interesting, informative, and hilarious hour visiting Mr. Bungonishiki, a man unafraid to lecture, wearing only a mawashi (loincloth).

Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Pro Sumo wrestlers train intensely all morning, including stretching and calisthenics, hundreds of “shiko” (leg lifts), multiple warm-ups, and dozens of matches. They eat 10 times what a typical male eats, and all of it's done in two massive 10,000-calorie meals.

Only Paula and Mica were flexible enough to squat like a sumo and stand up afterward.

Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal sumo training stables, known in Japanese as heya. 

A Yokozuna, the highest rank in sumo, can never be demoted and never forced to share space with another sumo. As of September 2018, just 72 men have attained the status since it was first created in the late 1700s.

 

We had an enjoyable time trying to budge our host.

Sumos can be found everywhere in Tokyo. Three yokozunas were honored with sculptures near a busy intersection. My favorite one was across the street from McDonald's - perhaps there are better promotions for a healthy outcome. 

 

Many retired sumo wrestlers open restaurants that cater specifically to other sumos in training.

After lunch, we visited a local Bonsai garden with a young apprentice learning and maintaining the unique cultivation technique involving placing small trees in containers and pruning them to mimic the shape and scale of a full-size tree. My favorites were worth more than a million dollars.

Tokyo at night. Dinner and a festival.

Miso, rice, sashimi (could use more wasabi).

I didn't care for this course. Looked like bugs in the bowl.

Now you're talking...soup, shrimp and veggie tempura, lots of soy.