The March Osaka Grand Sumo Tournament opened this evening without an audience, a victim of Covid 19. Watching live from Australia, it was one of the strangest contests I have ever witnessed. Stripped of the cheering, stamping, clapping and general hoopla that is a feature of a sumo basho, the bouts proceeded as if a prelude to a funeral procession was in progress. Rikishi looked nonplussed, as well they might, since the atmosphere was pin-dropping, though for all the wrong reasons. The buildup to each bout, usually full of bluster and ritual, was far more subdued.

Should any of rikishi test positive for the virus during the course of this basho, then it will be immediately cancelled. Strange days indeed!