Banzuke anybody?
The 6 a.m. release of the sumo banzuke ranking sheet, taking place just under a fortnight before a basho gets underway, always attracts a few diehard fans to the Ryogoku Kokugikan's Sumo Museum entrance. Numbering around 20 and almost always male in gender, just one foreigner regularly appears at this hour and is seen here picking up his own few copies of the March Haru Basho banzuke on the morning of Feb. 27. A great many are put up for sale to the general public and over the course of the day of release and the days following, the majority are sold -- many to individuals and others to businesses related to sumo such as chanko-nabe restaurants where they are used as gifts for customers. Listing the more than 700 currently active rikishi and the rest of the present day sumo 'names,' a banzuke always makes a great souvenir at a very reasonable price -- just 50 yen per copy.
