and Takasago.

Entering through double glass doors you walk down a hallway and turn to the right into a viewing area and dohyo which are overshadowed by one of the full size yusho portraits of the oyakata. At the end of the entrance hall are a variety of items including a statue of the oyakata (former ozeki Asashio) holding up a large fish as well as a very unusual statue of a prairie dog in a kesho mawashi and several new years’ good luck arrows. The dohyo has no tawara and the rikishi practice on what is basically a flat earth surface.

Keiko started with the usual seemingly endless shiko. Later in the morning, first Senshuuyama, then, Asasekiryu entered and each began warming up. Pretty soon I realised that the yokozuna had gone for degeiko, which was disappointing but not surprising as he hadn’t gotten in much worthwhile keiko up to that point. As the morning wore on, quite a few foreigners, including one large tour group, started to come in. Many were obviously attending asageiko for the first time as they were breaking some of unwritten
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--Friday May 6th  2005

When initially presented with this assignment I wondered about its longevity, as, in a sense, all heya visits could appear to be the same. You wake up at an ungodly hour, knock back a couple of canned coffees on the way to the station, then spend 4 hours sitting cross-legged watching young men beat up on each other while cursing those same coffees and hoping that your bladder holds out.

And yet each visit to a heya is a stand-alone experience. Even were you to go to the same stable 5 days running you would find something different each time. The visit that is the focus of this article took place just prior to the May Natsu Basho, on Friday May 6th 2005 at Takasago-beya.

Takasago is a 10 minute walk south of Honjo-Azumabashi station on the Toei Asakusa