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Japan Sumo Association prepares a sakura-styled sumo screenshot game for your pleasure

Katy Kelly Apr 12, 2021
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Use your speedy fingers to unite a sumo wrestler with his sakura mochi!

Spring is in the air, and you know what that means! It’s time to take a safe and socially responsible stroll down sakura tree-lined streets and enjoy all the signs of budding life that Japan has to offer. The shelves are stocked with seasonal treats, the birds are chirping, and the sumo wrestlers are doing their level best to catch the sakura mochi being hurled in their direction.

Okay, okay, so that last one isn’t an especially common sight. However, it is the focus of a brand new game posted by the official Twitter of Japan’s Sumo Association. Take a look! You may think it’s just a GIF at first, but we promise that it’s a game.

▼ “Screenshot Game!
Catch the sakura mochi and share your screenshot with us! #sumo #Meisei”

＜スクショゲーム🌸＞
桜餅をキャッチして、画像をシェアしよう！#sumo #相撲 #明生 pic.twitter.com/lUzaDaG6SM

— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) April 7, 2021

You see, tucked inside the gif is a single frame of sumo wrestler Meisei Chikara, from the Tatsunami stable, catching the sakura mochi, alongside a congratulatory message (“Nice catch! You did it!”). Perfectly timing your screenshot to capture this mochi moment is easier said than done, though, and the replies to the initial thread are a testament to that.

▼ This poor person has a recent images folder full of failed attempts.

https://twitter.com/Prvt20/status/1379622945073504260

▼ “This is so hard. I really wanna eat a sakura mochi now…”

難しい💔そして桜餅が食べたくなった夜 pic.twitter.com/kxc7z8eqeJ

— yummy (@yummytaipi) April 7, 2021

▼ “After 16 tries I finally got it. It’s really hard, but that made it all the more satisfying.”

16回目でようやくキャッチできました
めちゃくちゃ難しくて遊びごたえありました pic.twitter.com/8KOxPu1jXb

— おまなﾁｬﾝ (@omanachan) April 7, 2021

Many people will be viewing the tweet on their phones, and this can require the pressing of multiple buttons at the same time to take a screenshot. This definitely adds to the level of difficulty of nailing that split-second screenshot compared to taking a screenshot on your computer.

On the computer, however, you can easily click the GIF and pause it, which makes it much easier to leisurely select your screenshots.

▼ Yes, I know this from experience.

This actually makes the game more impressive, in a way. This simple GIF provides a fun springtime challenge and even has two built-in difficulty levels: easy (computer) and hard (cellphone). And as a bonus, it has us hankering to watch Meisei or his contemporaries wrestle in person. Do your best to treat Meisei to a sakura mochi snack, and feel free to share your successful sumo screenshots with us in the comments!

Source: Twitter/@sumokyokai via Hamusoku
Images: Twitter/@sumokyokai