Last week’s column detailed how regional tours continue to provide wider access to sumo in an era when demand for regular tournament tickets far outstrips supply.
But while the jungyō are an excellent introduction to the sport, and feature all kinds of interesting aspects of sumo not seen in regular meets, there is one element of the tours that sometimes leaves hardcore fans dissatisfied.
No matter how entertaining the matchups may be, the fact that there is little at stake in what are essentially exhibition bouts means the intensity of jungyō matches falls well short of what is usually seen during sumo’s six yearly honbasho.
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