I recently started learning this song; Honjo Oiwake (本荘追分). It's one of my favourite shamisen songs, and I’ve been looking forward to my teacher showing me how to play it for a long time.
There is a reason he didn't show me earlier though; it's quite a difficult song! He said it usually takes people about a year or so to learn! So it's just as well I like it!
Sunday July 12th was the 5th annual Akita International Sumo Basho (秋田国際相撲大会). It took place at the Kenritsu Budokan (県立武道館) in Akita city. This charity event is in aid of Room to Read.
After arriving at 8am and meeting up with other ALTs in the prefecture that we rarely see, we got our mawashis put on. I had bought my own last year so that we could practice. Though unfortunately we didn't get any practice in this year before the competition, mostly due to my trip back home in June.
We had plenty of time (hours in fact) to practice and warm up before the competition began. I wanted to get in an much practice as possible, without wearing myself out! We began with stretches then some light practice, slowly building ourselves up. I challenged as many people as I could. Often a bout (fight) will only last a few seconds, though sometimes it can last a few minutes, and they are the ones that really tire you out.
As the various rikishi (wrestlers) practiced on the ring outside, I was looking on trying to see who the stronger people were. One fight I watched had a guy fall slightly awkwardly and he didn't get up quickly. I looked down to see what the problem was and I noticed that his left toe was pointing in the wrong direction! He was taken to hospital; luckily it had only been dislocated. But unfortunately for him he could not take part in the tournament.
I was delighted to be there though, and anxious to try to best my ranking from the previous year (joint 5th). There were going to be only 22 men competing this year, down from 32 last year. We were divided into 4 groups, and after a round-robin system the top 2 rikishi would progress into the semifinals. The draws for the groups had been announced the previous day. I was in group B which had 5 people. Unfortunately group B also had by far the biggest rikishi in the competition, James Jones. There was also another guy that was into various martial arts, and although he was smaller that me appeared a lot more muscular and fit than I!
After a 4 hour wait, and about 3 of those in a mawashi, it was time to start the proceedings. After having all the rikishi introduced to the audience, Noshiro Berabo-daiko gave an amazing taiko performance. And finally, at about 1pm, we were ready to begin sumo!
My first bout was the 4th bout of the day, and it was against the big man, Jones. I was well aware that I could not beat him head on, so I had devised a strategy to beat him. I had been watching him practice earlier and noted that he always put his right leg forward first, so my plan was simple: kick his leg from under his body, and when he is off balance push him over. That was the plan. What I had not factored into this plan, was that his legs were like that of an elephant, and with plenty of weight on his leg to keep it in position I didn't kick at all hard enough to take the leg from under him. I think I just pissed him off a bit. I went ahead with the next step in my plan anyway, which was to follow through and push him off balance. I pushed him back a few feet before he regained himself, got a hold of me, and flung me around like a rag doll out of the dohyō (ring). Landing on my left hip did me no favours and that hurt quite badly. That was one loss for me.
My next fight was against an Indian, Harsh. He is taller than me, but not as aggressive. At the tachi-ai (start of the fight) I went straight for him. I think I made contact with him before his forward motion kicked in. I pushed him back to the straw ring and over without too much effort.
In the same round James Jones took on the smallest rikishi in our group; Matt Kuehl. It was definitely one of the more funny fights of the tournament!
After getting a short rest while the other fights continued, I was called up for my next encounter. This time I was facing a Hawaiian by the name of Nakashima. Although he was a little shorter than me he was a lot more muscular! I knew that this was a really important fight for me, as the winner of it would more than likely be the one, along with Jones, to make it to the next round. So again at the tachi-ai I made sure to attack him as fast and as powerfully as I could. My initial charge stood him up and had him moving backwards! I pushed him back as far as the straw. And it was easy from there to push him over the straw for my second, but all important win!
My last fight in the opening round was against the smallest guy in the group who was still chasing his first win. I didn't charge at him as I had done in the previous two fights for two reasons. The first being that I expected him to jump of of the way, and the second being that I didn't want to hurt him either. I took my time and easily pushed him out for my 3rd win.
I didn't have to fight in the last round, but just got to watch the Jones vs Nakashima fight. This was a very important bout for me, because Jones was undefeated and Nakashima had only 1 loss, the same as me. If Nakashima won, the 3 of us would have had to had a 3-way play-off. Luckily for me, Jones destroyed his opposition. Flinging him across the dohyō in a way that had Nakashima spinning around 360 degrees before falling over!
I was through to the semi-finals!
After the men's 1st round was finished, the ladies took to the ring. This was the first year we had a women's tournament, 10 women took part. Two women from my city took part; Abby and Jez. The women's tournament was divided into 2 groups of 5 people, with the winner of each group going into the final. Unfortunately neither of two women made it to the final, they both put in a fine effort.
Next was the semi-finals of the men's division. I had though we were going to draw straws to decide who was fighting who, like last year. But a different system was in place this year. At the time I had no idea who I was going to be fighting. But I was called up first, and I was fighting Dan.
As we squared up behind our respective white lines, I stared at his forehead just between his eyes. Apparently this is a good place to look to make someone feel uneasy. An indeed he did feel uneasy, to the point where he though he'd lighten the mood by winking at me! And everyone behind me saw him doing that and started to laugh, and then I could no longer hold my straight face either. I laughed for a bit, composed myself and put my fists on the clay.
I decided to keep with my winning strategy of hitting hard and fast. And with adrenaline pumping a lot of what happens seems to happen almost automatically. About one second into the fight I was pushing Dan backwards, my right hand on his throat and my left hand on his right shoulder with my fingers under his armpit. I kept pushing and had him over the straw with more ease than I had expected. One down, two more to go.
My next fight was against Phil, the only other guy from my city to take part again this year. Out of all the people I had practiced with, I definitely practiced with Phil the most. Unfortunately my tract record was far from perfect. He had the weight advantage over me and also he wasn't shy about fighting. So I decided to change my strategy and go for a tachi-ai henka, basically jump out of the way and then try push him from the side. So I jumped diagonally forward to my left and tried to get a grip on the back of his mawashi to continue his forward motion. Unfortunately for me his right arm caught enough of me to prevent my plan from materialising and he was able to push me out for an easy enough win. I should have used this much simpler technique!
My last fight was against a guy called Chris Parkins. I decided that I would one again return to my tried and trusted winning technique, which has an official name of oshidashi. I executed it as I had done before. But this time as I pushed him to the straw and we both started falling towards the ground he resisted putting his foot out or his hand down to break the fall. And because of that I also could not do it, or I would have lost. So I braced as the two of us fell towards the ground, both of us fighting against the instinctual urge to put a hand out to break the fall. Looking back at the video now I see that I did put my hand out at the last moment, which made it pretty close. But I won!
Phil had won all his fights in the group, so he progressed to the final. In the other group the winner was a guy called Doug Heller, who is big into judo. Doug went on to with the final, with a fine oshidashi move. So the winner was Doug and runner up was Phil. James mountain Jones and myself tied for 3rd place. And considering my size and weight I am very proud of coming 3rd.
In the early hours of the 11th of June 2009 I arrived in my home country after being away for almost 2 years; by far my longest time away from home. I was interested to see how I would feel about Ireland and it's people. And whether or not the safety I had become so accustomed to in Akita, one of the safest places in Japan, would cause me to be robbed of at least my wallet or phone.
The day after arriving in Ireland I headed to Spanish Point in Co. Clare where a friend from college got married; Dave Hackett and Rosaleen. We rented a house near the hotel where the reception was for 3 days. It was great to meet up with all the old gang from college. I was also reminded that in September this year it will have been 10 years since I started college, and met all my friends at the wedding! It really doesn't seem like that long ago. The day after the wedding we went swimming at a local beach in ice cold water. And a dolphin, Dusty, came and swam around the people in the water! It was my first time to see a dolphin in Ireland.
Next I headed to Kilkenny, where I grew up. After my mother collected me, we went straight to see my brother Adrian's first child, Abby. She was just 6 months old. A very easy going child, who didn't seem to mind who was holding her. Unfortunately I only got to meet her the once, and didn't get a photo with her.
I hung out in Kilkenny with my mother and the rest of the family and visited my friends in Kilkenny for the next week. While at home I sorted through my old belongings and sent most of it to charity shops. Now I have my whole possessions down to about 3 shoe boxed worth of stuff and a bass guitar that I havent played in about 5 years! It was really nice to hang out at home though. A week is definitely the longest period of time I have spent at home in the last 10 years. It was great to meet up with my granny again too.
I saw many babies while in Kilkenny. My eldest brother Paul has 3 daughters; Niamh 3.5 years old, and the twins Aoife and Clodagh 2.5 years old. The last time I was home Niamh was just starting to talk. So there was a huge change! I had to try and befriend them. I think I succeeded with two of them, Clodagh remains quite weary of me. Perhaps she has a great judge of character! Their mother Sabrina is due to have another baby tomorrow, so that's going to be one busy household!
I met up with Dave and Cara, and saw their kids; Eoin and the twins. And I met my friend Laura and her new baby Isabelle. I'm not sure where the whole baby craze came from, but it sure seems to be popular in Kilkenny!
I headed next to Limerick to meet up with Russell, had a great night out in Limerick and experienced the worst hangover of my life the next day! I also got to get new music from him including the Fleet Foxes, which are my new favourite band! I got to call into my old workplace and meet up with some of the crew I used to work with, and spent a fortune on supplements not available in Japan. I went to Galway to see Listo and Camilla's new house. I called to my old bosses house in Portroe in Tipperary for a BBQ. Headed back to Limerick for one last night before heading to Sligo. I was having a pint with Eugene in the Black Swan in Limerick when I left my phone on the table and went to the bar to order a pint. A guy who was passing my table picked up my phone (Eugene was outside) and asked whose it was, I said it was mine - thinking it was ringing or something - I had totally forgotten that that is not something you can do in Ireland, or anywhere other than Akita to be more exact!
I next headed north to Sligo for Listo and Camilla's beautiful wedding. The weather for the wedding was perfect, and the company even better. I had to take it handy at the wedding though, partly due to a cold, partly due to the fact that I knew I had to make a 3.5 hour journey the next day across Ireland to Dublin airport.
I arrived just in time to meet my sister at the airport and return to her the car that she very kindly had lent me for the previous two weeks, without which I wouldn't have been able to meet half the people I did.
After catching my Aer Lingus flight to London and sleeping on the floor I continued on my way back to Japan. My head cold seemed to be a Godsent as it enabled me to sleep on the flights, which I can't normally do.
On entering Japan I got given a leaflet saying that if I had any of the outlined symptoms that I should go to the hospital to be checked out. I had all outlined symptoms! So the next day I went to get checked out for swine flu, but was given the all clear. This is not something I should be disappointed about, but having a 10 day home quarantine period would have given me plenty of opportunity to catch up before heading back to work!
I recently watched an amazing film called Home. It is a free documentary composed almost entirely of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. It's well worth watching.
