It's morning in La-La Land, and the usual characters are roaming the star-studded sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard. Supergirl is here; so are Catwoman and Zorro, clad in black and trademark masks.
Suddenly, an entourage of massive men in long robes, split-toed sandals and greased topknots stride down the sidewalk and stop before Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The crowd of tourists stares uncertainly. Then they get it.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, June 09, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 29 words Type of Material: Correction
Sumo: A photo caption in Sunday's California section accompanying an article about sumo wrestlers visiting Los Angeles gave the wrong name for one wrestler. He is Kotoshogiko, not Shogiko.
Sumo wrestlers! Real ones.
For the first time in 27 years, Grand Sumo -- the All-Star Game of this ancient sport -- has come to Los Angeles. And with it, 40 or so of Japan's biggest and brightest sumo celebrities. These aren't the amateur guys who wrestle in boxing shorts or the entertainers who show up at parties in inflatable fat suits.
Dressed according to rank, toned by intense training and bearing miens both dignified and playful, these men are the authentic heirs to Japan's 1,500-year-old iconic sport of sumo.
"They're real!" shrieked Mary Luca, 28, a Hollywood sidewalk entertainer clad in a red pirate costume. "I thought they were just dressing up!"
With grand spectacle steeped in vestiges of Japan's ancient Shinto religion and martial arts, the sumo wrestlers opened their two-day sumo tournament at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Saturday to a crowd of more than 10,000 fans.
Solemn wrestlers paraded down the aisles and onto the small stage at the arena's center, elaborate ceremonial aprons strapped over their mawashi, or sumo belts. To the clicking of a wooden instrument, they circled, turned outward and circled again.
The two grand champions, who are Mongolian, were by far the biggest crowd-pleasers, judging from the roars as they were introduced.
Two by two, stripped to their belts, the wrestlers faced off in an ages-old choreography.
Each match began with a polite bow and a graceful squat. In a flash, the pair were bound in a fierce grip, one man attempting to force the other to the ground or outside the ring. Once, two wrestlers toppled in tandem to the floor while wrapped together. Three dignified dark-gowned judges appeared on stage and conferred briefly. The men fell at the same time and would face off in a rematch, they deemed.
The intense matches capped two lightweight days on the tourist circuit: visiting Hollywood Boulevard, touring Universal Studios, attending a Dodgers baseball game, hitting parties and shopping for extra-extra-large clothes.
