Aki 2018 Jungyo – Day 21 (Oct 25)

Herouth Jungyo (巡業), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Jungyo is over. All the rikishi are gathered at Kyushu at their respective heya’s lodgings. The banzuke is out, some of the people you saw in the reports wearing a white sekitori’s mawashi have dropped to Makushita. And some of those you saw serving sekitori are now getting their own tsukebito. But I want to keep posting my Jungyo reports, and complete the journey – unless, of course, you think it’s a waste of bandwidth and sleep. Let me know in the comments!

gyoji-making-signs
Gyoji hard at work preparing signs

🌐 Location: Matsuyama, Ehime
🚫 Scandal level: 0

We have a lot of video action today. But first, take a look at Umizaru (“Sea Monkey”):

umizaru

He is from Miyagino beya, and serves as Enho’s tsukebito for this Jungyo (Enho’s regular tsukebito are Takemaru and Kenyu, but Umizaru is a native of Kyoto, one of this Jungyo’s locations, so he was assigned temporarily).

Umizaru’s main claim to fame is the gag that has been doing the rounds in the sumo world: he is said to be the third brother to Hidenoumi and Tobizaru, and thus his Shikona is a melding of theirs.

Even I fell for this story – mostly because Tobizaru is always happy to endorse it. In fact, it fooled even Abema TV, who put that little piece of fake news on their trivia blurb on Hidenoumi. Hidenoumi wasn’t impressed.

It’s a lie. The Iwasaki brothers – Hidenoumi and Tobizaru – come from Tokyo, and Umizaru, as we know, from Kyoto.

But don’t you think his eyes look a bit like Tobizaru’s?

Anyway, on to the action of the day:

On the side lines, Nishikigi uses Yutakayama for a teppo pole:

Yutakayama has really been abused this Jungyo. He should consider some breastplates.

Mitakeumi is having a mock bout with Enho in the hana-michi.

On the dohyo, Endo vs. Shohozan:

Ryuden surprises Kisenosato:

He’ll have a chance to try that in honbasho soon…

Fast forward to the Juryo bouts, and we have Enho vs. Gokushindo.

Whoa. Enho is trying to channel Tochinoshin.

Gagamaru is goofing around excessively. He interferes with Rikishi going down the hana-michi. He leans on Tobizaru – waiting to give him his water – as he goes up the dohyo, and then instead of throwing the salt on the dohyo, throws it at Tobizaru. Also does a tachiai in jikan-mae. Then he has this exchange with his opponent, Wakatakakage:

“How dare you win! I was supposed to win that. Why, you…”

:-)

Time for the Makuuchi dohyo-iri. Where are Nishikigi’s glasses?

Aha! Kesho-mawashi are convenient like that. Though interestingly he doesn’t do the same when he participates in the yokozuna dohyo-iri. Probably squatting puts some strain on the frame.

Now take a look at Mitakeumi and Tamawashi throughout this video.

First Mitakeumi kisses Tamawashi’s back, no less. Then proceeds to caress it, then gets down to Tamawashi’s tush. At some point Tamawashi warns him off, but he still messes with the Eagle’s mawashi knot, and so on, and so forth.

Nishikigi awaits his turn, and… stretches?

No, he doesn’t. It’s a Nishikigi sock puppet. Somebody is operating him from behind!

And as he comes back from his bout, fans ask for attention. Signs the first one an autograph. Waves to the second. Signs for the third… and only then he gets his glasses back.

That is, he did all of the above without actually seeing anything.

Myogiryu shows why he is at the top of the new banzuke:

Poor Shohozan…

Endo once again matches Abi’s shiko:

endo-matches-abi-shiko

And here is the bout itself:

Once again, Abi is doing Mawashi sumo, although I feel like diving through my screen, going through the Intertubes, and getting to that dohyo only to shout at Abi to get his freaking ass down. It looks like he is trying to keep it as high as possible. Why?

Shodai vs. Asanoyama:

Shodai drops on top of Onosho. Helps him up – but still gets slapped on the tush on his way back up. Yeah, things you won’t see in honbasho.

Here is the san-yaku soroi-bumi:

And a rather entertaining bout between Mitakeumi and Tochinoshin:

Signing off with both Tobizaru and Enho together:

tobizaru-enho

Tobizaru: “Have you seen? Somebody at Tachiai decided to make me a pin-up boy!”

Enho: “You? Hahahahaha… that’s rich…”

Tobizaru: “Hey!”

 

 

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27 thoughts on “Aki 2018 Jungyo – Day 21 (Oct 25)”

  2. I could swear Mitakeumi was laughing during the bout already. Unfortunately the video quality is so poor that this is probably my imagination only ;)

    Reply

    • Yeah, sorry about that. This lady caught some grate moments in video, but she’s probably using an ancient phone.

      Reply

      • That wasn’t a complaint. I’m glad we saw this bout. I mean wouldn’t ever happen in a honbasho. But I’m sure both were aware during the bout that their dance was a bit comical ;)

        Reply

  3. Could very well be Gagamaru’s last jungyo, so why not I guess.

    I couldn’t tell who was who in Shodai v Asanoyama, but then one copped a nodowa, and it became clear.

    Reply

  4. This may be one of the best venues I’ve seen on a jungyo tour. Just a perfect atmosphere for sumo!

    Reply

    • And a packed house. Great to see a more jovial, relaxed atmosphere at these jungyo events. I feel like I get to learn more about lower ranked wrestlers, keiko and finer points about sumo from jungyo. Maybe that’s because during honbasho the conversation is focused more on the yusho race and promotion/demotion, and less on where Nishikigi’s glasses are or who’s being subjected to a Tamawashi twurple nurple.

      Reply

  5. I think it’s definitely not a waste to post about the whole jungyo, even though it’s technically over. Between bashos is when sumo coverage is the most fun to read for me, because during the basho, there’s… sumo! These posts are so fun and wonderfully put together. Why, without them I wouldn’t know about Arikawa and Gokushindo and maybe I wouldn’t even know what Yago looks like.

    Reply

  6. Please keep the posts coming!

    Mitakeumi and Tochinoshin: “After you.” “No, after you.” “No, I insist.” etc.

    Reply

  7. If someone drops from Juryo (let’s say, Akiseyama), do they become a tsukebito to someone else? Could there be a situation where B is a tsukebito for A, and at the end of the basho, A becomes a tsukebito for B?

    Reply

    • Well, the decision who is who’s tsukebito is up to the stablemaster. Consider, though, that every sekitori has 2 to 4 tsukebito, with Yokozuna and Ozeki having even more. It means a very large number of rikishi serve as tsukebito, and in heya with many sekitori, like Kise, Oitekaze or Kokonoe, virtually every non-sekitori is a tsukebito.

      If a highly respected former sekitori drops to !akushita, the stablemaster may decide to keep him free. Sokokurai seems to enjoy a special status like that at the moment – he still gets waited upon in the heya! I think married men are less likely to become tsukebito.

      But other than that, yes, someone who dropped may become tsukebito. It’s less likely that the servant and master will trade places.

      Sometimes

      Reply

  9. Dear Herouth….

    Please keep posting the Jungyo reports. Your sense of humor and attention to detail make them a highlight of my reading day.

    Reply

  10. Just want to chime in to say ‘Thanks Herouth!’ for such fantastic coverage of the Jungyo – its been a real joy and revelation for me.

    Will be v interesting to see if Abi continues to go for the mawashi in tournament. Looks like a work in progress at the moment – but still might be good for him to keep his opponents guessing a bit more.

    Reply

  11. “But I want to keep posting my Jungyo reports, and complete the journey – unless, of course, you think it’s a waste of bandwidth and sleep. Let me know in the comments!”

    Please keep them coming. We are enjoying seeing the not-so-serious side of the rikishi as well as the bouts. Plus the really cute shots. :-)

    Reply

  12. Keep the reports coming Herouth, please. Next time around in December you might consider replacing the “Scandal level” rating with a “prank-o-meter” based on number, originality and lolability.

    Reply

  14. Herouth, these Jungo reports are the best. They are entertaining and educational. Plus, I love your irreverent writing style and knowledgeable insights.

    Seeing all the pranks does make me wonder more about sumo culture. I know there is a dominance/subservience thing always going on, and that the whole system operates in terms of rank, privilege, hierarchy, etc. I know there is bullying and hazing, and that often sumo scandals relate to that sort of thing.

    So when I see the Jungo pranks, I assume some of them are all in fun, but some of them are based on these other things. It does look like some rikishi are the recipients of pranks more than others. Shodai comes to mind. Is it correct to assume at least some of what we see is a bit of the curtain pulled back on rikishi life in general? Or should I not read too much into it?

    Reply

    • I think of American fraternities, since many are of a comparable age…even the older ones. When I pledged, my senpai was an 8th year senior. The stuff they did…well…I de-pledged. I’m thankful there aren’t more scandals.

      Reply

  15. Love the reporting. Thank you!

    Mitakeumi: Would like to see him being more serious – more like the Ozeki he hopes to be.

    Maybe it doesn’t matter, but the fooling around gives me the impression he’s content to hang around at Tamawashi’s level.

    Reply

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