The Roving Ronin Report

Culture Day (Bunka no Hi) is a National holiday in Japan on November 3rd. Culture Day as the name implies is a celebration of culture. It's actually three commemorations at once. Besides culture, November 3rd marks the date when the post-war constitution was publicly announced in 1948. The real roots of the holiday though is the birthday of Emperor Meiji (1852-1912). Meiji oversaw the modernization of Japan and a return of governing power to the Imperial Court which had not ruled since the 12th Century. At Meiji Shrine in Tokyo there are a number of cultural activities as a result. Behind the main shrine, a number of martial arts demonstrations are held. One can a variety of weapons like katana, naginata, and spear. Also you can see yabusame - mounted archery - and old fashion matchlock guns including a small cannon.

Every year on January 6th, to celebrate the coming year, the current sumo champion(s), Yokozuna, come to Meiji Shrine and perform a Dohyo-iri or ring-entering ceremony. For Yokozuna there are two styles - Unryu the more common is seen as a defensive stance and Shiranui is a more offensive stance. They are named after Yokozuna by those names - though there is debate that there was a mix up and that each wrestler actually performed the other's style. Anyway, Hakuho performs the less common Shiranui style dohyo-iri and wears a Shiranui style rope which has two loops in the bow. I read somewhere there is a superstition that Shiranui has brought bad luck to previous Yokozuna who performed that style. It remains to be seen if Hakuho will escape such a fate. -