kodomo sumo 2007

Kodomo Sumo in Tokyo Last year Eric and I went to the local kids sumo tournament and Eric did really well. This year we went to a local kodomo sumo tournament here in Tokyo. It was a lot different, well organized with stands selling Japanese food, and places to set up if you want to sell stuff. At noon we got in line to sign up. There were about 50 kids for Erics age group. I paid my 200 yen and then Eric was in. Special thanks to Momo-chan and her mom for coming to make sure that Eric and I got signed up correctly and cheer Eric on. After a group of young girls did a Hawaiian dance routine Eric and all the other kids in his age group got up on the stage and they grouped them from biggest to smallest. Eric being 4 feet tall at almost 6 years old was one of the tallest so he was put in towards the end. At Eric's age group they didn't appear to take it as serious as they took they other kids. They just paired them up, put them in the ring and said Go and then declared a winner. The kids were then hustled off the mat and each given a bag of small consolation prizes. Eric lost his first match to a hip toss from his opponent. Luckily he was towards the end and there was a uneven number of kids so they asked him if wanted to wrestle again and he said yes, the 2 other kids they asked said no probably because the other kid was the same height as Eric but had him by at least 10-15 kilos. Eric got in the ring again and went right at it with the bigger kid. I was yelling and screaming so hysterically that I did not even see who won. Eric said he did but I thought I saw his knee on the ground before he pushed the kid out of the ring. Either way it was a good hard fought match by my boy so I rewarded him with a puzzle that he saw that some one was selling. I hope we can go next year and I hope Eric can compete in the next level where they have brackets and run offs and kids get real prizes based on how well they do. E./