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THE GREAT CHAMPION towered. Holy cow, there he was. Wow. Right here, in the middle of the young man's vacation. Statue molds culture,
family togetherBut then, that made sense to the Japanese tourist when he thought about it. Of course. That's right. He was in Hawaii. And Hawaii is where the great champion came from, after all.
The statue was life-size, which meant it was huge. Mountainous. Immense. A figure of extraordinary size and power. It was Akebono, the Hawaiian sumo yokozuna, the young man knew, all 6-foot-9. Here, in his native Waimanalo, Akebono was immortalized, forever dueling an unseen opponent.
The surrogate's legs were like tree trunks. The feet were gigantic. He was a mammoth! The flags above the champion's head summed up his unusual sumo background in a flash: Japan, United States, Hawaii.
But the young man already knew the story. Everyone did.
The young man was already looking to new horizons, already leaving traditions behind.
He was casual in the way he carried himself, more fluid in his motions than his parents. He was relaxed and tall, so tall. So sure of himself, in that way that young people always are. He had one of those new-style haircuts. Hip.
He wasn't much of a sports fan, didn't really care for those kinds of things. They were too old fashioned for his new, developing tastes. But he knew his dad would want to see this. And so, when he saw the statue, something tugged at him to run and find his father.
The dad walked slower. He was old-style -- hair cropped close. Reserved. Dignified. The dad looked up. Took a step back. Took a drag of his cigarette. Very impressive. He nodded his head. He and the young man smiled at each other.
The young man was glad that he'd gotten his father.
Around the corner came the mom. She had the hat. She had the scarf. The glasses. This was the sports fan in the family.
She saw the great champion, and brightened. Oh! Oh! Oh!
"Akebono!" she said. "Akebono sumo!" She said it with a longer O, sumoooo.
THE PARENTS LOOKED in the windows, looked at all the memorabilia that Akebono's mom had collected for her store, the Hawaii Sumo Connection, that was next to the statue. There was an autographed picture of the great champion. There was a painting of Akebono. There he was in this tournament. There he was in that one. He was a great champion. The young man's mom explained it all with excitement, while the dad listened in quiet appreciation.
The young man watched them, and something inside him stirred. This was nice. It felt like family. It felt good.
The Japanese tourists turned to leave. They had places to go and things to see, after all. The mom looked back at the statue, and there was her son.
He was in the same pose as the giant icon, the two of them now mismatched twins. The young man was beaming. He had just found a favorite sumotori. He had just become a sports fan.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com