Japan Day 7 – Sumo – Cordina Family

In Kyoto we continued our typical morning approach. Matt went on a run and we got 7-Eleven for breakfast. Matt’s run was along the Kamo River, which was very popular with bikers, runners and people doing tai-chi. It had concrete blocks in various shapes (like turtles and boats) that you could use for crossing. After we got ready, we packed up for our day in Nagoya. The plans for the day were visiting Nagoya castle and attending the National Sumo tournament.

Fun way to cross a river – turtle blocks

Beautiful river front – too bad it was 85F even early in the morning.

We took the bullet train to Nagoya and walked to Nagoya castle in 100F+ heat. On the way we were stopped by 3 middle schoolers to practice their English. The castle was absolutely beautiful. It was built in the 1600s, but destroyed in WWII and rebuilt. The painted screens and carvings were impressive.

Japanese middle schoolers asking Belinda questions.

We then made our way to the sumo tournament, it was the 11th day of a 15 day tournament. There are 6 tournaments per year and we were able to attend this one in the IG Arena. There was a lot of pageantry associated with Sumo and it was good to have a guide to help explain it to us through headsets that we wore throughout the event.

One year old IG Arena – for concerts, basketball and of course Sumo!

After the Mt Fuji climb, everyone is glad for a day of rest

This was the Makuuchi wrestlers – the highest level of Sumo(similar to regulation in soccer). The aprons they wear are all sponsorships from different companies. Lower level matches were earlier in the day, but still fun to watch.

Then we made our way back to Kyoto and had special wagyu cutlet steak dinner(Gyukatsu-typical of Kyoto) and did a little shopping. It was 9:30pm before we arrived back at the hotel. It was a full day!