President Nobumi Ito of the Board of Information held a highly successful party at the Kokugikan Amphitheater, at Ryogoku, Tokyo, Friday afternoon and evening, at which he entertained some 400 guests.
    Among the guests were some 200 foreign ambassadors and ministers and members of their staffs and families. Prominent among these diplomats were American Ambassador Joseph Clark Grew, doyen of the diplomatic corps, German Ambassador Major General Eugene Ott, and British Ambassador Sir Robert L Craigie. The guests included the French and  Thai delegations to the recent peace conference in Tokyo, as well as some forty foreign news correspondents and members of their families and friends. Deputy Spokesman Ko Ishii and other officials of the Information Board, and President Toshi Go of Japan Times and Advertiser also were present.
    The occasion was the opening day of the mid-year Sumo tournament. The foreign guests were greatly interested in the opening dohyo-iri ceremony, and the ceremony of the return of the Champion's Cup to Admiral Takeshita, President of the Sumo Association, as well as the ensuing matches between noted wrestlers. The huge amphitheater was packed, the crowds in the galleries having been there since the previous midnight.

 Japan's most spectacular sport, professional sumo, had its opening day of the summer tourney Friday before a bulging bargain day crowd at the Kokugikan amphitheater in Ryogoku. The milling, noisy fans, filling every available seat and standing room, remained throughout the day witnessing the numerous bouts between the wrestlers of the East and West teams, captained by Minanogawa and Futabayama, respectively.
    In some of the main bouts, Futabayama, popular grand champion defeated Ryuozan and Minanogawa defeated, another "yokozuna" bowled over Katsuragawa. The West's only "ozeki" Haguroyama threw Sakuranishiki, while Akinoumi toppled Tatekabuto.
    Youthful Terukuni, scored for the West by taking his bout against Jintozan, a "maegashira". The other "ozekis" of the East team, Itsutsushima and Maedayama scored victories, defeating Fujigatake and Aobayama, respectively.
    The bigger and greater sumo tournament which is to continue for 15 days, opened with two positions newly added on both sides. Thus the East and West senior group was made up of 27 grapplers.
    In the East group, no change was seen in the first five highest ranking men, namely Minanogawa, Akinoumi, Maedayama, Itsutsushima and Hishuzan. Promoted to "komusubi" was Kasagiyama, who showed so favorably in the "spring" tourney last January. Reinstated to his former position, "maegashira" was Kyushuzan who recently returned from the front.
    In the West team, Nayoroiwa and Tamanoumi retained their former positions, "sekiwake" and "komusubi", respectively. However, Asahikawa dropped from a "komusubi" to a "maegashira". The youthful Terukuni, who performed spectacularly in the last tournament holds a "sekiwake" position.
    The remainder of the wrestlers newly ranked in the senior group were recruited from the "juryo" classification.
    The leading wrestlers in the new rankings are as follows: