Month: February 2018

The Calm Before Haru

Bruce H Haru Basho 2018 (Osaka)

 

Mole Boss Resting
The Mole Boss Resting Before Haru

Most sumo fans are out there wondering, “Is the Tachiai crew hiding, captured or simply drinking single malt and listening to classical music?”.  The truth be told, there is more or less zero news in the sumo world right now, and that fact shows on the pages of our favorite sumo blog.

This week there is a mass migration of personnel from Tokyo to Osaka, as the stables set up their base camps and begin training up for the upgoing basho. This weekend is banzuke weekend, and as always the Tachiai crew are eagerly waiting to see just how close lksumo got in his typically amazing forecast.

Tachiai Alexa Skill Live

Bruce H Haru Basho 2018 (Osaka) ,

Tachiai-Alexa

We have posted some previews of this thing in action before, but the Tachiai sumo news skill for Amazon Echo and all Alexa devices is now live. If you use Echo and want Tachiai news added to your flash news briefing, you can add it to your device here

Tachiai Sumo News – Alexa Skill

In addition to accessing it from any Amazon Echo device, you can also access it from the Amazon shopping app on any mobile phone or device. I will likely post a detailed set of “how to” instructions shortly.

Please note, this news feed is NOT spoiler free. Once the Haru basho starts, it will be updated in almost real time with match results and events.

Ever wanted to hear what is up in sumo while you drive to work or take mass transit? This is your answer. Ever want to hear about what rikishi are up to while you go about your daily life? This will do that.

Go forth and enjoy.

February 18th News Round Up

Bruce H Chiyonokuni (千代の国), Gōeidō (豪栄道), Hakuho (白鵬), Haru Basho 2018 (Osaka), Kakuryu (鶴竜)

Chiyonokuni

Some headlines from the previous week in sumo:

  • The Haru basho starts in 21 days. The tournament’s banzuke will be released a week from today.
  • Over the previous week, all rikishi have attended mandatory training classes conducted by the NSK. The goal has been to teach sumo’s athletes how to conduct themselves, in the hope of avoiding repeats of recent scandals involving bad conduct in public.
  • Yokozuna Kakuryu is struggling to recover from a pair of injuries suffered during January’s hatsu basho. He underwent surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left ankle earlier but is hampered by a dislocated right ring finger injury suffered in a match against Goeido.
  • Kokonoe heya mainstay Chiyonokuni celebrated his recent marriage with a grand and broadly attended reception in Tokyo this past week.
  • Yokozuna Hakuho continues to face difficulties in training related to re-injury of his big toe. Last year, he underwent surgery to remove a bone chip from that toe, but injury during the January basho forced him to withdraw from the competition.
  • Grand Sumo Breakdown has published a new podcast: The First Yokozuna. Go forth and listen!

Osunaarashi guilty of driving without a license, may be facing dismissal

Herouth Foreign Rikishi, Hatsu Basho 2018 ,

The story broke out a few days after the beginning of the Hatsu basho. NHK found out that Osunaarashi has rear-ended a car while visiting the Nagano prefecture with his wife, on January 3rd. There were no bodily injuries, and Osunaarashi apparently compensated the other car’s owner.

osunaarashi

However, the Egyptian wrestler failed to inform either the NSK or his stablemaster of this incident. Admitting to this failure to report, he was put on punitive kyujo for the rest of the basho.

The problems were only beginning for the young former Maegashira. The first problem was that driving is strictly forbidden to all active rikishi. This is not an obscure sub-item in some rule book nobody pays attention to. All rikishi know this and this is the reason why you see many rikishi in public transport or riding bicycles (motor bikes are also forbidden).

There are precedents for rikishi breaking this regulation. Famously, Kyokutenho (currently Tomozuna oyakata) has rear-ended a car waiting at a traffic light back in 2007 and caused its driver a minor injury. Besides his legal proceedings, he was punished by the NSK with a suspension for one basho and 30% were docked from his salary for three months.

If Osunaarashi had reported the incident and admitted to driving that car, he would have probably fared no worse, especially given that there were no injuries. However, he made a serious error of judgement, and gave various conflicting statements to both the police and the NSK. He claimed that he had an international driving license. It was found that the license was not valid. An International driving license is valid in Japan for only one year from entering the country. After that, you have to acquire a Japanese driving license. So he was driving without a license.

The exact order of the statements is not entirely clear, but apparently at this point his wife claimed that she was driving the car. However, evidence including footage from a surveillance camera showed Osunaarashi in the driver’s seat. he then admitted to the police that he was driving the car.

It was at this point that the story was revealed to the NSK. However, in his hearing by the NSK crisis committee, though he admitted to not reporting the incident, he and his lawyer continued to claim that his wife was the one driving the car. His explanation was that his wife was pregnant, and that because she only had an Egyptian license, not an International one, he had switched seats with her to protect her, because he believed his International license was good.

This put him in a position in which he was lying either to the police or to the NSK. The NSK called him in for questioning several times more, and the details of the story kept changing, according to Kagamiyama oyakata.

Since then, the Nagano police found out that he has been driving not just on the occasion that ended in the accident, but also twice before. Once in Nakano city on January 1st, and then twice in the town of Yamanouchi. Of course, they were only investigating within their own jurisdiction. The police then filed charges with the Nagano prosecution.

Today, the Nagano prosecutor decided on a summary indictment for three counts of driving without a valid license. Within the same day, he was fined ¥500,000. (It is perhaps noteworthy that this is the same sum Harumafuji was fined for injuring Takanoiwa. This suggests that cooperation with police makes a world of difference). He also paid the fine within the day.

However, this still leaves him to face the NSK, and this is where it is probably going to get a lot more serious for the popular Egyptian. The NSK board is going to hold a regular meeting on March 9th, and the subject of Osunaarashi’s punishment is on the agenda. They intend to listen to him and his lawyer again before making their judgement. However, the prospects do not look good. In addition to breaking the NSK regulation, he broke the law, and he was dishonest. The press expects a severe punishment, not ruling out a dismissal.

Dismissal is the heaviest weapon the NSK has. Below it there is a “recommendation to retire”. The recommendation becomes mandatory if the rikishi doesn’t hand in his resignation. There is a subtle difference between the two punishments, but both of them mean that Osunaarashi will not be mounting the dohyo again. Of course, there is still a possibility that they will decide on a long suspension and additional fine. Osunaarashi is already heading for Makushita following his forced kyujo, so there is no possibility to dock his salary, as he won’t have one.

Also expect his stablemaster to be punished. In the case of Kyokutenho, his stablemaster’s salary was also docked. Otake oyakata has already apologized several times for this unfortunate incident. Although Osunaarashi did not report to him, the NSK usually takes stablemasters to task for the scandals caused by their deshi, viewing it as lack of proper guidance.

Tachiai will keep you updated on the final decision.