Re: Where are the fans?

I believe Joe S. has strongly hit upon a point I was making to my wife
yesterday while watching the current day's basho (TV JAPAN): the audience
was primarily composed of OLDER folks. I did not see that many younger
people, and certainly not the "rock concert" set. I had noted this
previously, but did not really focus upon it. The large amount of empty
seats during this current basho captured my attention.

Please allow me to insert some slight basis of authenticity for my own
observations: I neglected to mention my wife is originally from Japan. I am
a life-long student of the martial arts: (dan ranks in judo, karate, kendo
... obtained in Japan). I am also a life-long student of Japanese history,
with a degree in same. I also served another 3-year assignment (after the
Air Force gig) with the Embassy in Tokyo (Foreign Service). Though not a
"noted expert," I am pretty well familiar with Japan and its customs. This
said, I agree with Joe S. (and Prometheus' insightful comments) that the old
traditions are very much behind the curve with respect to video games, rock
concerts, etc.  Not wishing to bore anyone further, and I will end this now,
but:  I was happy to see the huge amounts of young (and very young) people
still engaged in the study of kendo. That martial art has tradition,
encourages respect, and instills discipline. Not everything, I guess, is
"going the way of the buffalo."

Best regards to all "sumo fans."

Sumofan

"Joe S." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "sumofan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > I started watching sumo in 1965 while stationed in Japan with the Air
> Force,
> > and have been following it ever since (we have the TV JAPAN option with
> DISH
> > TV). The thing that has struck me lately is the sparseness of the
crowds,
> > particularly during the weekdays. I NEVER recall half-empty arenas in
the
> > past, even on weekdays.
> >
> > Forgive me if I am touching upon something that has already been
> discussed,
> > possibly many times ... I'm new to this group.
> >
> > Sumofan
> >
> >
>
> Here's a question:  What is the average age of Japanese sumo audiences?
Is
> that age creeping up and up?
>
> This is why I ask.
>
> I lived in Japan July 1990 - July 1993 where I was one of 11 Army guys at
> Yokota Air Base, an hour out of Tokyo (or four hours, depending on
traffic).
>
> During those three years, I watched every sumo tourney on TV and attended
> several tourneys in Tokyo.  My assignment was to work with the Japan
> Self-Defense Forces and my counterparts were Japanese.  They saw to it
that
> my wife and I spent most of our time with them, doing things that real
> Japanese do, eating at restaurants where real Japanese eat, going to
> traditional Japanese plays, taking in bonsai exhibits, and the like.  I
even
> visited the Yasukuni Shrine where I went inside the Yushukan.
>
> One of my recollections was an event that occurred shortly after I arrived
> in Japan in July 1990.  I was watching Japanese TV (we could also receive
> CNN International, BBC TV, and StarTV, all in English).  I don't speak
> Japanese but it was clear what was going on -- the reporters were visiting
a
> beach in southern Honshu where young Japanese were lolling around on the
> beach, in the sun.  Most of the young women were wearing bikinis and
> sunning.  The reporters had with them a complete kimono ensemble -- I
don't
> know the Japanese terms but the reporters had the kimono underclothes,
> belts, sashes, and kimono.   They would hand the kimono to the young
> Japanese women and ask them to put it on.  I watched the show for its
> entirety and in the course of 30 minutes, they could not find a single
young
> Japanese woman who knew how to don the kimono.
>
> I got my weekly haircut from an older Japanese lady barber at the air
base.
> She had been a child during WW II and told me stories of how GIs gave food
> and blankets to her mother -- her father died in the war -- that kept them
> from freezing and starving.  In Japan, January 15 is "Coming of Age Day."
> Young men and women who have turned 21 in the preceding year go to the
local
> city hall and are given their adult ID cards.  Young men dress in black
> suits and young women in red kimonos.
>
> I mentioned to the barber lady that I had seen this TV program in which
> young women did not know how to don the kimono.  That was all she
needed -- 
> she then proceeded to elaborate in her broken English the sad state of
> tradition among young Japanese.  She then told me that to be licensed as a
> hairdresser in Japan, a prospective hairdresser must be tested in being
able
> to put on a kimono -- because women who don't know the proper way to put
on
> the kimono go to their hairdresser who dresses them.   She said that on
> January 15, young women stream to their hairdressers to be dressed -- 
> because neither they nor their mothers knew how to dress in a kimono.
>
> January 15 was a couple of months after we had this conversation. I made a
> point of going downtown early in the morning -- young Japanese women were
> walking, driving, going in taxis to beauty shops -- accompanied by their
> mothers, carrying bundles containing their kimonos.  Young women, in red
> kimonos, were coming out of the beauty shops.  Amazing.
>
> So, after all this tale, my question is -- What is the average age of
> Japanese sumo audiences?  Is it possible that we are seeing the growth of
a
> young Japanese population that has little connection with its own
> traditions?  After all, sumo's origins are shrouded in the mists of
Japanese
> history, culture, and myth -- just like the kimono, and young Japanese
women
> don't even know how to put on a kimono.
>
> I live in central Appalachia, a region steeped in very old and important
> history and tradition.  My wife's high school students do not know, do not
> want to know, and do not understand such Appalachian traditions as:  old
> Christmas; Jack tales; and Elizabethan ballads.  They prefer the latest
rock
> band to the Carter Family. For example -- this will mean nothing to most
on
> this newsgroup, but -- I live 30 minutes away from the Carter Fold, the
> homeplace of the Carter Family.  The Fold has an old, barn-like theater
with
> a dirt dance floor and every Saturday night the Fold features old-time
music
> bands -- no electric instruments, all old-time music and dancing.  The
> crowds are all gray-haired, very few young folks.
>
> Not that sumo will ever disappear from Japan.  Appalachian traditions will
> not disappear -- but they are quickly becoming the province of a small
> number of purists and people with gray hair.  Is sumo headed in the same
> direction?
>
>
> -- 
>
> ----
>
> Joe S.
>
>