How five days of sumo 'charmed' Britain

Why did nan sumo wrestler transverse nan road?

To recreate nan iconic screen of The Beatles' Abbey Road album, of people - conscionable 1 of nan galore times nan wrestlers, aliases rikishi, person gone viral complete nan past week - successful betwixt bouts astatine nan Royal Albert Hall successful London.

For 5 days, sumo fever took complete Kensington arsenic nan Grand Sumo Tournament came to nan UK for nan first clip successful much than 3 decades.

For the devoted, ever-growing organization of fans who mostly travel nan athletics online, nan tourney represented a uncommon opportunity to drawback nan action successful person, since nan six yearly honbasho events - which determine wrestling rankings - seldom return spot extracurricular of Japan.

But nan rikishi brought plentifulness of excitement to nan uninitiated, too, pinch erstwhile England prop Joe Marler calling it an "incredible spectacle".

Though rich | pinch detail, nan purpose of nan crippled is enticingly elemental - make your force touch nan crushed pinch immoderate portion of his assemblage which isn't nan sole of his foot, aliases push him retired of nan ring, aliases dohyo, altogether.

Rikishi train intensely from a young property successful bid to maestro nan precise rituals and 82 different winning techniques, aliases kimarite, but it was done their adventures extracurricular of nan dohyo that they stole nan hearts of aged and caller British fans.

Because nan 40 rikishi who travelled to compete successful London crammed plentifulness of quintessentially British traditions into their visit.

Accustomed to taking connected committee up to 10,000 calories per time successful pursuit of their eventual title weight, successful London they swapped their accustomed high-protein chankonabe stew for food and chips and pints of Guinness successful betwixt tours of Harrods and photograph opportunities extracurricular nan Houses of Parliament.

Wrestlers were seen visiting Platform 9 3/4 astatine Kings Cross, made celebrated by nan Harry Potter series, and immoderate moreover made it arsenic acold arsenic Stonehenge successful Wiltshire.

Most-loved, though, were nan photos snapped of nan immense frames of nan rikishi getting astir nan superior successful achromatic cabs, reddish buses - and moreover by bike., external

But backmost astatine nan Royal Albert Hall, among nan sporting highlights of nan unsocial spectacle were nan magnificent kainahineri - a two-handed limb twist down, external - pinch which 21-year-old Ukrainian Aonishiki Arata defeated Ura Kazuki, and nan region successful play instructed by nan referee, aliases gyoji, who intervened to spare Ura's blushes successful beforehand of a capacity crowd arsenic his loose loincloth threatened to travel disconnected altogether., external

Accommodating nan rikishi hasn't been straightforward, according to Matthew Todd, nan Royal Albert Hall's head of programming, who told nan Guardian, external that nan venue "actually had to root and bargain caller chairs which tin return up to 200kg successful weight", arsenic good arsenic reenforce nan toilets.

After 5 days of slapping, pushing, and purifying rituals, nan title was won by Mongolia's Hoshoryu Tomokatsu, who went location pinch a jumbo Hello Kitty plush and a elephantine vessel of soy condiment - arsenic good arsenic nan glory.

Hiroshi Suzuki, nan Japanese ambassador to nan UK, said nan wrestlers had "charmed nan British people", while president of nan British Sumo Federation, Steve Pateman, told BBC Radio 5 Live nan Royal Albert Hall was "probably nan top venue for sumo extracurricular of Japan".

"It has been nan top sporting spectacular of nan decade without a doubt," added Pateman, who won a bronze badge astatine nan World Sumo Championships successful 1993.

"There's been a fewer small problems successful Japan, pinch heckling among nan audience, but [grand champion] Onosato [Daiki] was really complimentary astir nan British. And nan existent winners present this play were nan British group and nan rikishi.

"They mixed pinch nan public, nan group loved them and nan rikishi loved nan people. What a fabulous 5 days."

All 40 rikishi participated successful nan closing ceremonial connected Sunday, pinch nan tournament's last remarks near to Japanese yokozuna Onasato Daiki.

"London is great. See you again."

Sumo's world entreaty has grown a batch successful caller years, and for galore European fans this was nan first clip seeing it unrecorded and a unsocial juncture to meet chap sumo-lovers.

In London enthusiasts had a benignant of entree to wrestlers that they apt wouldn't person successful Japan - hundreds of group waited for them to time off nan arena each nighttime for a selfie aliases an autograph.

Each time nan assemblage was fascinated by nan galore rituals and traditions connected display, from brackish throwing to ring-entering ceremonies, and participated enthusiastically erstwhile prompted to outcry astatine each yokozuna ft stomp.

There were stare-downs, mendacious starts, belts almost coming loose, and limb lifts that near everyone successful awe.

The Grand Sumo Tournament successful London felt for illustration a memorable event, and it surely near aged and caller fans quiet for more.