Kotooshu in Himeji

After Megumi's mandolin concert on Sunday, we headed over to a different building in Himeji where a pair of sumo wrestlers were giving a talk. Our friend Yumi had offered to get us tickets to the talk, but we declined so we could go to the concert instead. We decided to meet Yumi after, however, to see if we could see the wrestlers after the talk. There were two wrestlers: Kotoshogiku, who is probably the top Japanese wrestler at the moment, and Kotooshu, who holds the second rank of Ozeki and is one of our favourites.

We got there just after the talk ended and waited outside the hall until they emerged. They are big guys. Kotoshogiku is actually not much taller than Chelsey or I, but he is quite big. I told Chelsey he looks like the classic image of a sumo wrestler.
We got our picture taken with Kotooshu thanks to Yumi. He is a really big guy. I mean, you would expect a sumo wrestler to be a big guy, but it was really surprising to see it up close and in person. The picture doesn't even do it justice. We're both relatively tall, and we barely reached his shoulder. It was kind of unnerving being next to someone who towers over you like that. I guess that's what it feels like to be a short person.
I got a Kotooshu t-shirt when we went to sumo in Osaka last year. Chelsey was wearing it, which impressed him. After the photo, Yumi told him that we were coming to watch in Nagoya so he should try hard. (It sounds better in Japanese).

-Jason