Sumo (相撲 sumō?) is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler (rikishi) attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring (dohyō) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. It is generally considered to be a gendai budō (a modern Japanese martial art), though this definition is incorrect as the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from the days when sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Life as a rikishi is highly regimented, with rules laid down by the Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal "sumo training stables" known in Japanese as heya where all aspects of their daily lives—from meals to their manner of dress—are dictated by strict tradition.
1 Origin
In addition to its use as a trial of strength in combat, sumo has also been
associated with Shinto ritual, and even certain shrines carry out forms of ritual
dance where a human is said to wrestle with a kami (a Shinto divine spirit). It was an
important ritual at the imperial court. Representatives of each province were ordered to attend the contest at the court and fight. They were required to pay for their travels
themselves. The contest was known as sumai no sechie, or "sumai party."
2 Sumo wrestler Somagahana Fuchiemon, c. 1850
Over the rest of Japanese recorded history, sumo's popularity has changed according to the whims of its rulers and the need for its use as a training tool in periods of civil strife. The form of wrestling combat probably changed gradually into one where the main aim in victory was to throw one's opponent. The concept of pushing one's opponent out of a defined area came some time later.
Also, it is believed that a ring, defined as something other than simply the area given to the wrestlers by spectators, came into being in the 16th century as a result of a tournament organized by the then principal warlord in Japan, Oda
Nobunaga. At this point wrestlers would wear loose loincloths, rather than the much stiffer mawashi of today. During the Edo period, wrestlers would wear a fringed kesho-mawashi during the bout, whereas today these are worn only during pre-tournament rituals. Most of the rest of the current forms within the sport developed in the early Edo period.
Professional sumo (大相撲 ōzumō?) can trace its roots back to the Edo period in Japan as a form of sporting entertainment. The original wrestlers were probably samurai, often rōnin, who needed to find an alternative form of income.
Current professional sumo tournaments began in the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine in
1684, and then were held in the Ekō-in in the Edo period. They have been held in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan since 1909, though the Kuramae Kokugikan had been used for the tournaments in the post-war years until 1984.
Nations adjacent to Japan, sharing many cultural traditions, also feature styles of traditional wrestling that bear resemblance to sumo. Notable examples include Mongolian wrestling, Chinese Shuai jiao ( 摔角 ), and Korean Ssireum.
Examples of Chinese art from 220 BC show the wrestlers stripped to the waist and their bodies pressed shoulder to shoulder.
3 Winning a Sumo bout
The winner of a sumo bout is either:
1. The first wrestler to force his opponent to step out of the ring.
2. The first wrestler to force his opponent to touch the ground with any
part of his body other than the bottom of his feet.
On rare occasions the referee or judges may award the win to the wrestler who touched the ground first; this happens if both wrestlers touch the ground at nearly the same time and it is decided that the wrestler who touched the ground second had no chance of winning as, due to the superior sumo of his opponent, he was already in an irrecoverable position. The losing wrestler is referred to as being shini-tai (“dead body”) in this case.
There are also a number of other rarely used rules that can be used to determine the winner. For example a wrestler using an illegal technique (or kinjite) automatically loses, as does one whose mawashi (or belt) becomes completely undone. A wrestler failing to turn up for his bout (including through a prior injury) also automatically loses
(fusenpai). After the winner is declared, an off-stage gyōji (or referee) determines thekimarite (or winning technique) used in the bout, which is then announced to the audience.
Matches often last only a few seconds, as usually one wrestler is quickly ousted from the circle or thrown to the ground. However, they can occasionally last for
4 several minutes. Each match is preceded by an elaborate ceremonial ritual. The wrestlers themselves are renowned for their great girth as body mass is often a winning factor in sumo, though with skill, smaller wrestlers can topple far larger opponents
The Wrestling Ring (Dohyo)
Sumo matches take place in a dohyō (土俵): a ring, 4.55 metres in diameter and
16.26 square meters in area, of rice-straw bales on top of a platform made of clay mixed with sand. A new dohyō is built for each tournament by the yobidashi.
At the center are two white lines, the shikiri-sen, behind which the wrestlers position themselves at the start of the bout.[3] A roof resembling that of a Shinto shrine may be suspended over the dohyō.
Salary
Yokozuna Asashoryu performing the distinctive dohyō-iri of his rank
As of 2006, the monthly salary figures for makuuchi (in Japanese Yen) were:[18]
. yokozuna : 2,820,000 or about $30,500 USD
. ōzeki : 2,347,000 or about $25,000 USD
5 . sanyaku : 1,693,000 or about $18,000 USD
. maegashira : 1,309,000 or about $14,000 USD
. jūryō : 1,036,000 or about $11,000 USD
Wrestlers lower than the second division, who are considered to be trainees, receive only a fairly small allowance instead of a salary.
In addition to the basic salary, sekitori wrestlers also receive additional bonus income, called mochikyukin, six times a year (once every tournament, or basho) based on the cumulative performance in their career to date. This bonus increases every time that the rikishi scores a kachikoshi (with larger kachikoshi giving larger raises). Special increases in this bonus are also awarded for winning the top division championship (with an extra large increase for a "perfect" championship victory with no losses), and also for scoring a kinboshi (an upset of a yokozuna by a maegashira).
Sanyaku wrestlers also receive a relatively small additional tournament allowance, depending on their rank, and yokozuna receive an additional allowance every second tournament, associated with the making of a new tsuna.
There is also prize money for the winner of each divisional championship, which increases from 100,000 yen for a jonokuchi victory up to 10,000,000 yen for winning the top division. For wrestlers in the top division giving an exceptional performance in the eyes of a judging panel there are also three special prizes (the sansho) which are worth 2,000,000 yen each.[19]
Individual top division matches can also be sponsored by companies. In such cases the winner of the bout typically receives around 30,000 yen net per sponsor (out of the sponsors contribution of 60,000 yen—much of the remainder goes in paying the wrestler's tax on the prize). These bout prizes are called kenshokin. For bouts involving yokozuna and ozeki the number of sponsors of the matchup can be quite
6 large, whereas for lower ranked matchups there may be no bout sponsors at all unless one of the wrestlers is particularly popular, or unless a company has a policy of sponsoring all his matchups. No bout prize money is awarded for a bout decided by a fusensho (forfeit victory). Samurai
Samurai ( 侍 ?) is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan.
According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility," the pronunciation in Japanese changing to saburai." According to
Wilson, an early reference to the word "samurai" appears in the Kokin
Wakashū (905–914), the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the 10th century.
By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi (武士), and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than 10% of Japan's population[1]samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
7 History
Following the Battle of Hakusukinoe against Tang China and Silla in 663 AD that led to a Japanese retreat from Korean affairs, Japan underwent widespread reform. One of the most important was that of the Taika Reform, issued by Prince Naka no Ōe
(Emperor Tenji) in 646 AD. This edict allowed the Japanese aristocracy to adopt the Tang Dynasty political structure, bureaucracy, culture, religion, and philosophy.
[2] As part of the Taihō Code, of 702 AD, and the later Yōrō Code,[3] the population was required to report regularly for census, which was used as a precursor for national conscription. With an understanding of how the population was distributed, Emperor Mommu introduced the law whereby 1 in 3–4 adult males was drafted into the national military. These soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in return were exempted from duties and taxes.[2] This was one of the first attempts by the Imperial government to form an organized army modeled after the Chinese system. It was called gundan-sei (軍団制) by later historians and is believed to have been short-lived.[citation needed]
The Taihō Code classified most of the imperial bureaucrats into 12 ranks, each divided into two sub-ranks, 1st rank being the highest adviser to the emperor. Those of 6th rank and below were referred to as "samurai" and dealt with day-to-day affairs.
Although these "samurai" were civilian public servants, the name is believed[by whom?] to have derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be referred to as
"samurai" for many more centuries.[citation needed]
8 In the early Heian period, the late 8th and early 9th centuries, Emperor
Kammu sought to consolidate and expand his rule in northern Honshū, but the armies he sent to conquer the rebellious Emishi people lacked motivation and discipline, and failed in their task.[citation needed] Emperor Kammu introduced the title of Seiitaishogun (征夷大将軍) or shogun, and began to rely on the powerful regional clans to conquer the Emishi. Skilled in mounted combat and archery (kyūdō), these clan warriors became the emperor's preferred tool for putting down rebellions.[citation needed] Although this is the first time 'shogun' title is used, it was a temporal title and had not been accompanied with political power until 13th century, and at this time
(7th to 9th century) the imperial court officials considered them to be merely military section under control of imperial court.
Ultimately, Emperor Kammu disbanded his army, and from this time, the emperor's power gradually declined. While the emperor was still the ruler, powerful clans aroundKyoto (京都) assumed positions as ministers, and their relatives bought positions as magistrates.[citation needed] To amass wealth and repay their debts, magistrates often imposed heavy taxes, resulting in many farmers becoming landless.[citation needed]
Nasu no Yoichi shooting his famous shot at a fan atop the mast of a Taira ship. From a hanging scroll,
Watanabe Museum, Tottori Prefecture, Japan.
Through protective agreements and political marriages, they accumulated political power, eventually surpassing the traditional aristocracy.[citation needed]
9 Some clans were originally formed by farmers who had taken up arms to protect themselves from the imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands and collect taxes.
[citation needed] These clans formed alliances to protect themselves against more powerful clans, and by the mid-Heian period they had adopted characteristic Japanese armour and weapons, and laid the foundations of Bushido, their ethical code.[citation needed]
After the Genpei war of the late 12th century, a clan leader Minamoto no
Yoritomo obtained right to appoint shugo and jito, and allowed to organize soldiers and police, and to collect certain amount of tax. Though the initial responsibility was restricted to arresting rebels and collecting needed army provisions, and forbidden to interfere kokushigovernors, the responsibility expanded gradually and thus samurai- class appeared as political ruling power in Japan. Minamoto no
Yoritomo opened Kamakura Bakufushogunate in 1192.
Samurai warriors described themselves as followers of "The Way of the Warrior" or
Bushido. Bushidō is defined by the Japanese dictionary Shogakukan Kokugo
Daijiten as "a unique philosophy (ronri) that spread through the warrior class from the
Muromachi (chusei) period. From the earliest times, the Samurai felt that the path of the warrior was one of honor, emphasizing duty to one's master, and loyalty unto death.[4]
In the 13th century, Hojo Shigetoki (1198–1261 AD) wrote: "When one is serving officially or in the master's court, he should not think of a hundred or a thousand people, but should consider only the importance of the master."
In his 1979 Dissertation about the Hojo, Dr. Carl Steenstrup noted that 13th and 14th century warrior writings (gunki) "portrayed the bushi in their natural element, war, eulogizing such virtues as reckless bravery, fierce family pride, and selfless, at times senseless devotion of master and man."
10 Feudal lords such as Shiba Yoshimasa (1350–1410 AD) stated that a warrior looked forward to a glorious death in the service of a military leader or the emperor: "It is a matter of regret to let the moment when one should die pass by....First, a man whose profession is the use of arms should think and then act upon not only his own fame, but also that of his descendants. He should not scandalize his name forever by holding his one and only life too dear....One's main purpose in throwing away his life is to do so either for the sake of the Emperor or in some great undertaking of a military general. It is that exactly that will be the great fame of one's descendants."
General Akashi Gidayu preparing to commit Seppuku after losing a battle for his master in 1582. He had just written his death poem.
In 1412 AD, Imagawa Sadayo wrote a letter of admonishment to his brother stressing the importance of duty to one's master. Imagawa was admired for his balance of military and administrative skills during his lifetime and his writings became widespread. The letters became central to Tokugawa-era laws and were a required study for traditional Japanese until World War II[citation needed]:
First of all, a samurai who dislikes battle and has not put his heart in the right place even though he has been born in the house of the warrior, should not be reckoned among one's retainers....It is forbidden to forget the great debt of kindness one owes
11 to his master and ancestors and thereby make light of the virtues of loyalty and filial piety....It is forbidden that one should...attach little importance to his duties to his master...There is a primary need to distinguish loyalty from disloyalty and to establish rewards and punishments.
Similarly. the feudal lord Takeda Nobushige (1525–1561 AD) stated: "In matters both great and small, one should not turn his back on his master's commands...One should not ask for gifts or enfiefments from the master...No matter how unreasonably the master may treat a man, he should not feel disgruntled...An underling does not pass judgments on a superior"
Nobushige's brother Takeda Shingen (1521–1573 AD) also made similar observations: "One who was born in the house of a warrior, regardless of his rank or class, first acquaints himself with a man of military feats and achievements in loyalty....Everyone knows that if a man doesn't hold filial piety toward his own parents he would also neglect his duties toward his lord. Such a neglect means a disloyalty toward humanity. Therefore such a man doesn't deserve to be called 'samurai'."
The feudal lord Asakura Yoshikage (1428–1481 AD) wrote: "In the fief of the
Asakura, one should not determine hereditary chief retainers. A man should be assigned according to his ability and loyalty." Asakura also observed that the successes of his father were obtained by the kind treatment of the warriors and common people living in domain. By his civility, "all were willing to sacrifice their lives for him and become his allies."
Kato Kiyomasa was one of the most powerful and well-known lords of the Sengoku
Era. He commanded most of Japan's major clans during the invasion of Korea
(1592–1598). In a handbook he addressed to "all samurai, regardless of rank" he told his followers that a warrior's only duty in life was to "grasp the long and the short swords and to die". He also ordered his followers to put forth great effort in studying
12 the military classics, especially those related to loyalty and filial piety. He is best known for his quote:
"If a man does not investigate into the matter of Bushido daily, it will be difficult for him to die a brave and manly death. Thus it is essential to engrave this business of the warrior into one's mind well."
Nabeshima Naoshige (1538–1618 AD) was another Sengoku Daimyo who fought alongside Kato Kiyomasa in Korea. He stated that it was shameful for any man to have not risked his life at least once in the line of duty, regardless of his rank.
Nabeshima's sayings would be passed down to his son and grandson and would become the basis for Tsunetomo Yamamoto's Hagakure. He is best-known for his saying "The way of the Samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or more cannot kill such a man."
Battle of Kawanakajima in 1561
Torii Mototada (1539–1600) was a feudal lord in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu. On the eve of the battle of Sekigahara, he volunteered to remain behind in the doomedFushimi Castle while his lord advanced to the east. Torii and Tokugawa both
13 agreed that the castle was indefensible. In an act of loyalty to his lord, Torii chose to remain behind, pledging that he and his men would fight to the finish. As was custom,
Torii vowed that he would not be taken alive. In a dramatic last stand, the garrison of
2,000 men held out against overwhelming odds for ten days against the massive army of Ishida Mitsunari's 40,000 warriors. In a moving last statement to his son
Tadamasa, he wrote:
"It is not the Way of the Warrior [i.e., bushido] to be shamed and avoid death even under circumstances that are not particularly important. It goes without saying that to sacrifice one's life for the sake of his master is an unchanging principle. That I should be able to go ahead of all the other warriors of this country and lay down my life for the sake of my master's benevolence is an honor to my family and has been my most fervent desire for many years."
It is said that both men cried when they parted ways, because they knew they would never see each other again. Torii's father and grandfather had served the Tokugawa before him and his own brother had already been killed in battle. Torii's actions changed the course of Japanese history. Ieyasu Tokugawa would successfully raise an army and win at Sekigahara.
The translator of Hagakure, William Scott Wilson observed examples of warrior emphasis on death in clans other than Yamamoto's: "he (Takeda Shingen) was a strict disciplinarian as a warrior, and there is an exemplary story in the Hagakure relating his execution of two brawlers, not because they had fought, but because they had not fought to the death." [5]
The rival of Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) was Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578), a legendary Sengoku warlord well-versed in the Chinese military classics and who advocated the "way of the warrior as death". Japanese historian Daisetz Teitaro
Suzuki describes Uesugi's beliefs in his text "Zen and Japanese Culture" (1959):
14 "Those who are reluctant to give up their lives and embrace death are not true warriors.... Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death. When you leave the house determined not to see it again you will come home safely; when you have any thought of returning you will not return. You may not be in the wrong to think that the world is always subject to change, but the warrior must not entertain this way of thinking, for his fate is always determined."
Hand colored Albumen print of a Samurai circa 1890
Families such as the Imagawa were influential in the development of warrior ethics and were widely quoted by other lords during their lifetime. The writings of Imagawa
Sadayo were highly respected and sought out by Tokugawa Ieyasu as the source of Japanese Feudal Law. These writings were a required study among traditional
Japanese until World War II[citation needed].
In his book "Japanese Culture" (2000), historian H. Paul Varley notes the description of Japan given by Jesuit leader St. Francis Xavier (1506–1552): "There is no nation in the world which fears death less." Xavier further describes the honor and manners of the people: "I fancy that there are no people in the world more punctilious about
15 their honour than the Japanese, for they will not put up with a single insult or even a word spoken in anger." Xavier spent the years 1549–1551 converting Japanese to
Christianity. He also observed: "The Japanese are much braver and more warlike than the people of China, Korea, Ternate and all of the other nations around the
Philippines."
In December 1547, Francis was in Malacca (Malaysia) waiting to return to Goa
(India) when he met a low-ranked samurai named Anjiro (possibly spelled "Yajiro").
Anjiro was not a nobleman or an intellectual, but he impressed Xavier because he took careful notes of everything he said in church. Xavier made the decision to go to
Japan in part because this low-ranking samurai convinced him in Portuguese that the
Japanese people were highly educated and eager to learn. They were hard workers and respectful of authority. In their laws and customs they were led by reason, and, should the Christian faith convince them of its truth, they would accept it en masse.[6]
By the 12th century, upper-class samurai were highly literate due to the general introduction of Confucianism from China during the 7th to 9th centuries, and in response to their perceived need to deal with the imperial court, who had a monopoly on culture and literacy for most of the Heian period. As a result they aspired to the more cultured abilities of the nobility.[7]
Examples such as Taira Tadanori (a samurai who appears in the Heike Monogatari) demonstrate that warriors idealized the arts and aspired to become skilled in them.
Tadanori was famous for his skill with the pen and the sword or the "bun and the bu", the harmony of fighting and learning. Samurai were expected to be cultured and literate, and admired the ancient saying "Bun Bu Ryo Do" (文武両道, lit., literary arts, military arts, both ways) or "The pen and the sword in accord." By the time of the Edo period, Japan had a higher literacy rate than Europe.[citation needed]
16 The number of men who actually achieved the ideal and lived their lives by it was high. An early term for warrior, "uruwashii", was written with a kanji that combined the characters for literary study ("bun" 文) and military arts ("bu" 武), and is mentioned in the Heike Monogatari (late 12th century). The Heike Monogatari makes reference to the educated poet-swordsman ideal in its mention of Taira no Tadanori's death:
Friends and foes alike wet their sleeves with tears and said,
What a pity! Tadanori was a great general, pre-eminent in the arts of both sword and poetry.
In his book "Ideals of the Samurai" translator William Scott Wilson states: "The warriors in the Heike Monogatari served as models for the educated warriors of later generations, and the ideals depicted by them were not assumed to be beyond reach.
Rather, these ideals were vigorously pursued in the upper echelons of warrior society and recommended as the proper form of the Japanese man of arms. With the Heike
Monogatari, the image of the Japanese warrior in literature came to its full maturity."
Wilson then translates the writings of several warriors who mention the Heike
Monogatari as an example for their men to follow.
Plenty of warrior writings document this ideal from the 13th century onward. Most warriors aspired to or followed this ideal otherwise there would have been no cohesion in the samurai armies.[8
17 Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower
東京タワー
General information
Location 4-2-8 Shiba-Koen, Minato, Tokyo 105-0011
Status Complete
Groundbreaking June 1957
18 Constructed 1957–58
Opening December 23, 1958
Use Communications tower
Observation tower
Height
Antenna or spire 332.5 m (1,091 ft)
Technical details
Companies involved
Tachū Naitō [1]
Structural engineer Nikken Sekkei Ltd. [2]
Contractor Takenaka Corporation [1]
Owner Nihon Denpatō
(Nippon Television City Corp.)
Tokyo Tower (東京タワー Tōkyō tawā?) is a communications and observation tower located in Shiba
Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. At 332.5 metres (1,091 ft), it is the second tallest
19 artificial structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safetyregulations.
Built in 1958, the tower's main sources of revenue are tourism and antenna leasing.
Over 150 million people have visited the tower since its opening. FootTown, a 4-story building located directly under the tower, houses museums, restaurants and shops.
Departing from here, guests can visit two observation decks. The 2-story Main
Observatory is located at 150 meters (492 ft), while the smaller Special Observatory reaches a height of 250 meters (820 ft).
The tower acts as a support structure for an antenna. Originally intended for television broadcasting, radio antennas were installed in 1961 and the tower is now used to broadcast signals for Japanese media outlets such as NHK, TBS and Fuji
TV. Japan's planned switch from analog to digital for all television broadcasting by
July 2011 is problematic, however. Tokyo Tower's current height is not high enough to adequately support complete terrestrial digital broadcasting to the area. A taller digital broadcasting tower known as Tokyo Sky Tree is currently planned to open in
2012.
Construction
20 A large broadcasting tower was needed in the Kantō region after NHK,
• Japan's public broadcasting station, began television broadcasting in 1953. Private
broadcasting companies began operating in the months following the construction of
NHK's own transmission tower. This communications boom led the Japanese
government to believe that transmission towers would soon be built all over Tokyo,
eventually overrunning the city. The proposed solution was the construction of one
large tower capable of transmitting to the entire region.[3] Furthermore, because of the
country's postwar boom in the 1950s, Japan was searching for a monument to
symbolize its ascendancy as a global economic powerhouse.[4][5]
Construction underway on February 25, 1958
Hisakichi Maeda, founder and president of Nippon Denpatō, the tower's owner and
operator, originally planned for the tower to be taller than the Empire State Building,
which at 381 meters was the highest structure in the world. However, the plan fell
through because of the lack of both funds and materials. The tower's height was
eventually determined by the distance the TV stations needed to transmit throughout
the Kantō region, a distance of about 150 kilometers (93 mi). Tachū Naitō, renowned
designer of tall buildings in Japan, was chosen to design the newly proposed tower.
[3] Looking to the Western world for inspiration, Naitō based his design on the Eiffel
Tower in Paris, France.[6] With the help of engineering company Nikken Sekkei Ltd.,
Naitō claimed his design could withstand earthquakes with twice the intensity of
21 the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake or typhoons with wind speeds of up to
220 kilometres per hour (140 mph).[3]
The new construction project attracted hundreds of tobi, traditional Japanese construction workers who specialized in the construction of high-rise structures.
The Takenaka Corporation broke ground in June 1957 and each day at least
400 laborers worked on the tower.[3] It was constructed of steel, a third of which was scrap metal taken from US tanks damaged in the Korean War.[7][8] When the 90-meter antenna was bolted into place on October 14, 1958, Tokyo Tower was the tallest freestanding tower in the world, taking the title from the Eiffel Tower by 13 meters.
[3] Despite being taller than the Eiffel Tower, Tokyo Tower only weighs about
4,000 tons, 3,300 tons less than the Eiffel Tower.[9] While other towers have since surpassed Tokyo Tower's height, the structure is still the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world and was the tallest artificial structure in Japan until April 2010, when the new Tokyo Sky Tree became the tallest building of Japan.[6]It was opened to the public on December 23, 1958 at a final cost of ¥2.8 billion ($8.4 million in
1958).[8][10] Tokyo Tower was mortgaged for ¥10 billion in 2000.[11]
22 Functions
The Special Observatory is located directly below the tower's digital television broadcasting equipment.
Tokyo Tower's two main revenue sources are antenna leasing and tourism. It functions as a radio and television broadcasting antenna support structure and is a tourist destination that houses several different attractions. Over 150 million people have visited the tower in total since its opening in late 1958.[5] Tower attendance had been steadily declining until it bottomed out at 2.3 million in 2000.[12] Since then, attendance has been rising, and it has recently been attracting approximately
3 million visitors per year.[5] The first area tourists must visit upon reaching the tower is FootTown, a 4-story building stationed directly under the tower. Here, visitors can eat, shop and visit several museums and galleries. Elevators that depart from the first floor of FootTown can be used to reach the first of two observations decks, the 2- story Main Observatory.[13] For the price of another ticket, visitors can board another set of elevators that from the second floor of the Main Observatory to reach the final observation deck—the Special Observatory.[14]
Broadcasting
23 Tokyo Tower, a member of the World Federation of Great Towers, is utilized by several organizations for various broadcasting purposes. The structure was originally intended for broadcasting television, but radio antennas were installed in 1961 because it could accommodate them.[5] The tower now broadcasts analog television, digital television, radio anddigital radio. Stations that use the tower's antenna include:[9]
. NHK General TV
. NHK Educational TV
. NHK -FM
. TV Asahi
. Fuji TV
. TBS TV
. Nippon TV
. TV Tokyo
. J-WAVE
. Tokyo FM
. FM Interwave
. The University of the Air TV
. The University of the Air-FM
. Tokyo Metropolitan Television
. Nikkei Radio Broadcasting Relay Antenna
24 Tip of Tokyo Tower was bent during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.
Japan currently employs both analog and digital broadcasting, but by July 2011 all television broadcasting is to be digital. Tokyo Tower is not a reliable broadcasting antenna for completely digital broadcasting because the tower is not tall enough to transmit the higher frequency waves needed to areas surrounded by forests or high- rise buildings. As an alternative, a new 634-meter-tall (2,080 ft) tower called the Tokyo Sky Tree is planned to open in 2011.[5] To make Tokyo Tower more appealing to NHK and five other commercial broadcasters who plan to move their transmitting stations to the new tower, Nihon Denpatō officials have drafted a plan to extend its digital broadcasting antenna by 80 to 100 meters. To increase the height of the tower's antenna by 100 meters, the structure itself will have to be lengthened by
20 meters, which would cost approximately ¥4 billion. In addition to covering this cost, the company would put ¥3.5 billion into refurbishing the transmitting station, offering four times more area to each broadcaster. Current Tokyo aviation restrictions limit Tokyo Tower's height, but current Nihon Denpatō President Shin Maeda has stated that the company plans to discuss the matter with related ministries and agencies.[15] If these plans are not realized, however, Tokyo Tower is expected to stop transmitting digital TV radio waves with the exception of Open University of
Japan, who will continue to broadcast through the tower. FM radio stations will also continue to utilize the tower for broadcasting in the Tokyo area. Masahiro Kawada,
25 the tower's planning director, also pointed out the possibility of the tower becoming a backup for the Tokyo Sky Tree, depending on what the TV broadcasters want or need.[5] The tip of the antenna was damaged on March 11, 2011 as a result of the Tōhoku earthquake.[16]
Attractions
The base of Tokyo Tower with the FootTown building located underneath
FootTown
Located in the base of the tower is a 4-story building known as FootTown. The first floor includes the Aquarium Gallery, a reception hall, the 400-person-capacity "Tower
Restaurant," aFamilyMart convenience store and a souvenir shop.[17][18] This floor's main attractions, however, are the three elevators that serve as a direct ride to the
Main Observatory.[13] The second floor is primarily a food and shopping area. In addition to the five standalone restaurants, the second floor's food court consists of four restaurants, including a McDonald's and a Pizza-La
26 A Shinto shrine is located on the second floor of the Main Observatory.
FootTown's third and fourth floors house several tourist attractions. The third floor is home to the Guinness World Records Museum Tokyo, a museum that houses life- size figures, photo panels and memorabilia depicting interesting records that have been authenticated by the Guinness Book.[21] The Tokyo Tower Wax Museum, opened in 1970, displays wax figures imported from London where they were made.
[22]The figures on display range from pop culture icons such as The Beatles to historical figures such as Jesus Christ. A hologram gallery named the Gallery DeLux, a lounge and a few specialty stores are also located on this floor.[23] Tokyo Tower's
Trick Art Gallery is located on the building's forth and final floor. This gallery displays optical illusions, including paintings and objects that visitors can interact with.[24]
On the roof of the FootTown building is a small amusement park that contains several small rides and hosts live performances for children.[25] On weekends and holidays, visitors can use the roof to access the tower's outside stairwell. At approximately 660 steps, the stairwell is an alternative to the tower's elevators and leads directly to the Main Observatory.[26]
27 Observation decks
A view through one of the two "look down windows"
Tokyo Tower has two observation decks—the Main Observatory and the Special
Observatory; both offer a 360 degree view of Tokyo and, on clear days, Mount
Fuji can be seen to the south.[9] The two-floor Main Observatory, located at 145 m, provides visitors with a view of Tokyo and houses several attractions. The first floor is home to a small café and Club 333, a small stage that is used to put on live music shows.[27] Also located on this floor are two "look down windows" that allow visitors to stand over a small clear window and look to the ground 145 m below. The second floor (at 150 m) houses a small souvenir shop and aShinto shrine, the highest shrine in the special wards of Tokyo. The elevators leading to the Special Observatory are also located on this floor. Departing on these elevators, visitors can reach the Special
Observatory. a small, circular, completely enclosed observatory located at 250 m.[14]
28 Appearance
Lighting pre-1989. This image is of Tokyo Tower in 1960.
Seasonal lighting
White lighting
Orange lighting; Observatory displays "TOKYO" and "2016" to commemorate Tokyo's 2016 Olympic bid
Tokyo Tower requires a total of 28,000 liters of paint to completely paint the structure white and international orange, complying with air safety regulations.[9] Every five years the tower undergoes a yearlong makeover in which it is completely repainted.
[3]Before the tower's 30th anniversary in 1987, the only lighting on the tower were light
29 bulbs located on the corner contours that extended from the base to the antenna. In the spring of 1987, Nihon Denpatō invited lighting designer Motoko Ishii to visit the tower. Since its opening 30 years earlier, the tower's annual ticket sales had dropped significantly, and in a bid to revitalize the tower and again establish it as an important tourist attraction and symbol of Tokyo, Ishii was hired to redesign Tokyo Tower's lighting arrangement.[28]
Unveiled in 1989, the new lighting arrangement required the removal of the contour- outlining light bulbs and the installation of 176 floodlights in and around the tower's frame.[28] From dusk to midnight, the floodlights illuminate the entire tower.[9] Sodium vapor lamps are used from October 2 to July 6 to cover the tower in an orange color.
From July 7 to October 1, the lights are changed to metal halide lamps to illuminate the tower with a white color. The reasoning behind the change is a seasonal one.
Ishii reasoned that orange is a warmer color and helps to offset the cold winter months. Conversely, white is thought a cool color that helps during the hot summer months.[29]
Occasionally, Tokyo Tower's lighting is changed to specific, unique arrangements for special events. The tower is specially lit for some annual events. Since 2000, the entire tower has been illuminated in a pink light on October 1 to highlight the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The tower has also had a variety of special lighting arrangements for Christmas since 1994. Special Japanese events have also been cause to light the tower in several nontraditional ways. In
2002, alternating sections of the tower were lit blue to help celebrate the opening of the FIFA World Cup in Japan. Alternating sections of the tower were lit green on Saint Patrick's Day in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Japanese-
Irish relations. On a few occasions, Tokyo Tower has even been specially lit to correspond with corporate events. For example, the top half of the tower was lit green to correspond with the Japanese premiere of The Matrix Reloaded and
30 different sections of the tower were lit red, white and black to commemorate the first day of sales of Coca-Cola C2.[29] The tower was also uniquely lit for the new millennium in 2000 with Motoko Ishii again reprising her role as the designer.[30] In
December 2008, Nihon Denpatō spent $6.5 million to create a new nighttime illumination scheme—titled the "Diamond Veil"—to celebrate the tower's 50th anniversary. The arrangement featured 276 lights in seven colors equally distributed across the towers four faces.[8]
Portions of the tower lit blue for World Diabetes Day, 2007.
When employing specialty lighting on the tower, the Main Observatory often plays an important role. During the second international "White BandDay" on September 10,
2005, the tower was completely unlit except for the Main Observatory, which was lit with a bright white light. The resulting white ring represented the White Band referenced in the day's name. The two floors of windows that make up the exterior of the Main Observatory are utilized to display words or numbers. When the tower employed unique lighting to commemorate terrestrial digital broadcasting first being available in the Kantō region on December 1, 2005, each side of the Main
Observatory displayed the characters 地デジ (chi deji?)—an abbreviation for 地上デジ
タル放送 (chijō dejitaru hōsō terrestrial digital broadcasting?).[29] More recently, the observatory displayed both "TOKYO" and "2016" to stress Tokyo's 2016 Olympic bid.
[31] Primitive images, such as hearts, have also been displayed using the observatory's windows.[29]
31 In popular culture
Just as the Eiffel Tower is often used in popular culture to immediately locate a scene in Paris, France, Tokyo Tower is often used in the same way for Tokyo. It is used inanime and manga such as Magic Knight Rayearth, Please Save My
Earth, Cardcaptor Sakura, Digimon and Sailor Moon.[32] The tower is also frequently used in the Japanese kaiju (giant monster) film genre. It has been the location of the climactic battles between Godzilla, Mothra and King Kong (King Kong Escapes) wherein it is frequently destroyed and rebuilt.[10][33] Based on the popular manga series by Ryōhei Saigan, the 2005 film Always Sanchōme no Yūhi was a nostalgic view of life in the neighbourhoods under the construction of the Tokyo Tower. The
Tokyo Tower also makes appearances in Tokyo Mater, a Pixar short film, and in the
"Samurai Blue" level of Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
2, a rhythm game for the Nintendo DS. The Tokyo Tower has 2 mascots named Noppon. There are two brothers, Older Brother who wears blue dungarees and Younger Brother who wears red dungarees. They were 'born' on December 23,
1998 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Tokyo Tower.
32