The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-16

A wrestling Iatcli-The Champions.
.Fg L. TrupaIIgr

CORRESPONDENCE Of the Boston Traveller.
KOBE, Japan, April Ion sunday the
day after our arrival, the Govern or sent an
invitation to the American vessel.t Go attend
wrestling match the following d.ay;- ~
In large vacant lot near the Governors
palace, at Osaca, was a sort of raised circus
ring covered by a shed, the pillars of which
were wrapped in red and white paper, spirally
arranged, like BARRIERS pole. AT little dis
tance on one side was another elevated stand
which appeared TO be the place of honor, since
saw there the American Consul and DR.. H.
among a great crowd of Japanese officials. In
front of. and between these and the ring, were
n number of chairs, also occupied by Japanese
officers Finding that we were late, and that
all the seats were occupied already, we selected
standing place and prepared to view the per-
formances at ease.
A JAPANESE GOVERNOR.
Presently approached no less person than
Ito. the Governor himself shook hands with
us all, addressed us in excellent English, made
n lot of Facanins get out of their chairs and
bring them to us, sent for tables, sherry,
champagne, and cigars and sat down by and
entertained us during the three hours which
we stayed. He was as courteous gentleman
as have ever met.
Ito was once Prince Satsuma's servant. and
went to England some time ago III a sailing
vessel. There he learned English quite well,
and 10y his talents and application has since
risen to his present position. Such advance
ment is rare in Japan where occupations de-
scend from father to son, and the son of a
servant will surely remain a servant to the
end of his generation, unless his extraordi-
nary talents and extraordinary opportunities
for exhibiting them enable him to rise.
WRESTLING MATCH.
The performances themselves are very odd
to stranger. The ring, which is raised to
oh fho Of tbo cf in,
chair, is made of fine sand. An officer, pro
vided with fan of a peculiar shape, presides
over the contests, and places the combatants.
giving the signal of attack by turning his fan
over and urging them on with shouts and
cries The wrestlers are seated in two par
ties, one on either side of the raised platform
and before match, fellow with fan in his
hand comes up from one side, squats down,
opens his fan, and cries, with every evidence
of internal pressure, in a high singing voice,
the name of the wrestler on his side like
performance is gone through with from the
other side, and then the heralds salute with
their fans and retire The cOmbatants enter
the lists together, stop at the outer edge and
salute, while the master of ceremonies pro-
claims their names again. They then pick
up little sand and throw it into the air, raise
their hands and get off a little prayer, and
each goes to his own corner and takes
mouthful of water which he atomizes by some
legerdemain, and spirits all over himself
BY the water ladle hangs a little basket of
salt, few particles of which he sprinkles on
the ground, and begins to snort and below
like bull, to stamp around the inclosure, and
to try the suppleness of his muscles in various
ways. He is clad only in very long blue scarf,
which passes around his waist several times
and. subserves such decency as Japanese
moraltyrequires After more than sufficiency
of these performances, the opponents finally
squat opposite each other in the middle of the
arena looking as unconcerned as they can
the while. Presently one pushes the other
over on his back, and to show there is no ill
feeling brushes the sand from his bare limbs
as he rises. This is false start, so the entire
programme of drinking, salt sprinkling, bel
lowing, ETC., has to be gone through with
again, perhaps several times over but finally
the contest begins, and during the time it
lasts is sufficiently interesting
But it only lasts about five seconds, at the
end of which one is thrown out of the ring
and retires defeated, while the other squats at
his end of the ring and raises his right arm.
while his name is intoned again by the master
of ceremonies.
THE CHAMPION OF JAPAN.
The Governor explained to me that the
poorest wrestlers came first, and the quality
of the contests would improve as the exhibi-
ton proceeded. So, after looking on awhile,
we went to see the second strongest man in
Japan-an immensely fat fellow, with a big
belly and great dewlaps hanging from his
jaws. He took great fancy to my cane, and
asked me if / thought it would support his
weight. did not think it would. From him
we went to see the champion Fi-ma-ku who
is the strongest man in Japan. He was a tall
fellow, heavily built, weighing l should
think, about three hundred and fifty pounds,
with deep bass voice. great dignity of man
ner, and a peculiarly rich fruity laugh After
seeing his points and talking to him for
awhile, we went back to the lists, where the
contests were taking a new character, the
winner in each fight holding the ring against
all corners until defeated.
After these there was solemn procession
OF little boys, gorgeously dressed in aprons
which were heavily bordered with gold lace.
These went through variety of gyrations and
motions, meaning | don't know what. Then
followed older men, who went through similar
performances, and finally the magnificent FL
ma-ku himself, preceded by herald, who bore
the emblem of championship a beautiful
sword, heavily crusted with gold, and followed
by numerous retinue. He wore also an
apron much more gorgeous and much more
heavily orusted with gold lace than the others,
anu challenged any five men in Japan to
attack him at once. The challenge not being
accepted, he snorted and stamped around for
whlle and retired without wrestling. The
NO = however, wrestled and threw his adyer-
sary, large and very tall man. and it was
InosI surprising to behold the amazing celebrity
WIN winch that great corporation bobbed
around the ring. 80 the performance was