Following the highs of the Special Edition, comes the inevitable lows of ‘well not much happened’, which is pretty much what week 6 was all about. The kids are really settling in and me settling into a routine around them. Serena has really taken to the cat tower, which pleases me. I have, in fact modified it twice now to make it more suitable. Cat tower engineering…

One slightly more unusual activity I undertook during the week, was to try out a yuzu bath. Yuzu are Japanese citrus, which are fairly bitter but very aromatic. It is the practice at some onsens to have whole yuzu in the baths. What is an onsen, you say? Essentially an onsen is a hot spring (related to volcanic activity) as well as being the name for the accommodation and bathing facilities associated with them. They are more often in country areas and can be quite expensive and exclusive.

I don’t recall us ever having stayed in one, although when we stayed at Yudanaka, near an area where there are snow monkeys, the accommodation we stayed in did have their own hot spring. Also, as I recall, they had an automated piano in the breakfast room which played continuously while we were having breakfast. It was somewhat weird. Also, we were the only people in the breakfast room because it was 2011, just after the tsunami – but that’s another story.

Anyway, back to the yuzu in the bath…apparently it is good for protecting against colds, to treat rough skin, to warm the body and relax the mind! Whether or not any of these claims is true, I decided to try it out. It was very aromatic and quite pleasant on a winter’s afternoon.

So, onto week 7, and what an important week! It is the first of two weeks of the first honbasho of the year!!!!!!! Yes, it’s sumo time! Technically, the basho runs for 15 days, so a bit over 2 weeks. They are held at different venues around Japan – this one is in Tokyo. Come 4:30 every day during this period, you will find me in front of the tv watching the sumo, unless something prevents me from doing so…but it would have to be pretty important.

Being the first honbasho of the year, the Emperor and Empress made a special appearance on the first day. They appear such nice people and the crowd absolutely loved them. There was a special area for them to sit in, in large orange chairs. They are not huge people, and the chairs made look even smaller, and as to why orange? I took some photos of them for this blog and later, when reviewing, found one photo with a ghostly overlay of Hakuho, who happens to be my favourite sumo wrestler (see below). How did this happen – I have no idea. Somewhat strange.

There is a lot of ritual involved in sumo, in part because it is related to Shinto. The wrestlers sip water to cleanse and throw purifying salt into the ring before they enter and they clap their hands to summon the Kami. The referee dresses like a Shinto priest, which adds to the spectacle as they can be very colourful, and a Shinto shrine hangs over the ring (literally, from the ceiling).

Before the rikishi (sumo wrestlers) actually get to the business of wrestling, they usually spend several minutes in a preparation ritual, extending their arms, stamping their feet, squatting, and also generally trying to make the opponent unsettled. Each rikishi has their own movements or postures they like to do. Hakuho tends to stamp his feet on the edge of the ring (dohyou) 5 times and he always does some hamstring stretching and back twists. Another of the rikishi bends backwards, usually once, and the crowd always love that. I have to say, for a large man, he can bend quite a long way back!

 Stretching...

After all that posturing and bending and stretching and staring at the opponent, the actual bout can last less than a minute, in fact seconds! Certainly I haven’t seen one go more than a couple of minutes. Last night one started and then finished when one opponent slipped and fell.

Today is day 8, and so far Hakuho and one other rikishi haven’t lost…and I’m not a big fan of the other rikishi, so I’m on tenterhooks. More on the sumo next week.

Oh, there was one other thing of some importance this week, I signed the contract for the block of land on behalf of Craig and myself this week. Next week is settlement.

Finally, today Kyoto awoke to quite a lot of snow, and it is still snowing at 11:30am, although not that heavily. I was planning to go out to an archery tournament at Sanjuusangen-dou, a Buddhist temple about 15 minutes walk away. So, I got up early, got ready and went outside briefly to check out the street…

Luckily I have a pair of boots which have ripple soles, so I decided to wear them, knowing how dangerous it can get when there is a lot of snow and then people walking on it. It basically compacts to ice (for those who haven’t experienced this). I had experienced this once before, and nearly came a cropper – legs and feet going everywhere. After that, I held onto Craig to stay upright, but even then I was slipping…

Anyway, I went up to the temple, thinking maybe there wouldn’t be so many people there…wrong. Apart from the multitude people there to have their shot, as it were, all dressed in traditional clothing, there were many spectators. I ended up seeing the target and some arrows flying (and mostly missing), but that was it. So, I decided to walk down to the Kamogawa (Kamo river) which is very near our flat and is the main river through Kyoto. It was very nice, a winter wonderland, (*o*).

I must say, walking that carefully and slowly, picking your way through the snow (about 15cm deep in spots) and avoiding the ice, while keeping away from cars on our road, which isn’t overly wide, was more tiring on the legs than I expected. Especially as I am doing so much walking at the moment.

Finally, it comes to photo of the week, and what else would I choose than a snowman! This one is the right way up and had been created by staff at the local Lawsons convenience store. Cheers