In sumo, apart from fighting there are lots of symbolic gestures that come from ancestral times. This is in what they spend most of the time, and not fighting at all. The funny thing is that each gesture is done going back from the initial position in the center of the “ring” to the respective corner… Some of these things are done “by default”, but some other times, they go back to the corner by their own initiative, in what japanese explain as “mind game”.
In each corner, the sumo wrestlers have a box with salt and some transparent liquid (maybe water, maybe sake,… O_o).
One of these gestures is taking grab some salt with the hand…
…and throw it to the ring.
They also drink the liquid… whatever it is…
And of course, they show how athletic and flexible they are.
Quite interesting spectacle, but quite slow for my taste…
People love it, though. Although, the situation of sumo in Japan, is quite similar to the Bull Fighting in Spain. Yes, it is a popular event, but not many people like it. Specially, not many young people, which is what happens here.
They also have sponsors which suddenly show their names on the ring… and people scream excited because of that! (I don’t get yet where the excitement for this comes from).
But, of course, there are some people who cannot be full-time focused in the sume and also keep track of what is happening in other fields… Like this one, following the horse races in his mobile phone, while the sumo guys do the show pre-combat.
