As reported by Herouth on Twitter, Izutsu beya will be absorbed by Michinoku after the death of Izutsu-oyakata. The stable was home to two other wrestlers, Sandanme-ranked Hagane (38) and Jonidan-ranked Kakutaiki (28).
The three men will join a stable headed by the former ozeki, Kirishima. The top-ranked rikishi there currently is Juryo’s Kiribayama, who is also from Mongolia. There are eleven other wrestlers, including two in Makushita. Hopefully the full house will bring more experience and rigor to practice and be mutually beneficial for both stables.
The move is not very far since both stables are quite in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo. However, Michinoku is just behind the McDonald’s there, catty-corner to Kokugikan stadium.
This should be a boost for both sets of wrestlers. Will this make Michinoku the only stable with two Mongolians?
I would also like to sincerely thank Andy for introducing me to the phrase “catty-corner” which we don’t have in England. I like it, and intend to use it at every opportunity.
Minezaki beya has both Arawashi and Gochozan.
Also – off topic, but I had to wait til after the basho to ask, and the catty/kitty reminded me – did I see something here a week or so again hinting that the Mole Boss is no longer here with us on the earthly plane?
Muur, also known as Moru, is still alive and conducts the affairs of Arashio Beya as usual. However, his running mate Mugi, the ginger cat who used to prowl the dormitory, especially Fukugoriki’s futon, has joined the choir invisible just a few days prior to the aforesaid Fukugoriki’s retirement.
Thank you – a double loss for their heya, then. But I am glad that Muur is still there to keep things in order.
You have a choice of “catty-corner” or what I grew up with, “kitty-corner”. Or “cater-corner”, I guess, but where’s the fun in that.
It’s sad to see Kakuryu being punished for Shikoroyama oyakata’s rebellion. Since the embedded tweet was only the first, the gist of the article is that Kakuryu wanted the heya to stay the way it was, under the guidance of one of the oyakata in the ichimon who was not a stable owner. This is what happend to the old Kasugayama beya which is now Nakagawa. This was rejected. The article doesn’t expand, but I think it’s pretty clear that the heya was not viable.
Shikoroyama then wanted to absorb the heya into his own. This would have been the most logical solution, as he was a member of that heya originally, the brother of the late stablemaster, and Hagane’s and Kakuryu’s actual anideshi. In fact, when he was in Tokitsukaze ichimon, Shikoroyama beya supplied most of Kakuryu’s tsukebito and those men are still in the heya ready to take up duty again.
But since Shikoroyama seceded from the Tokitsukaze ichimon, both the Tokitsukaze ichimon and the Nishonoseki ichimon were opposed to this absorption. While it’s understandable that Tokitsukaze ichimon would not want to be one yokozuna short, the opposition from Nishonoseki ichimon is puzzling, and stems more from ill will toward the “rebel oyakata” that they had to accept, and want to “keep down”, than anything else.
And so, Kagamiyama had a talk with Michinoku oyakata and with Kakuryu and negotiated this compromise, on the basis of Michinoku being originally from Izutsu beya (from the time Sakahoko’s father was its master).
That sounds like some rather wild speculation about the present relationship between Shikoroyama et al. and the rest of Nishonoseki-ichimon.
One of the oyakata in Nishonoseki was quoted saying “We don’t want them here, and if Shikoroyama insists, he should leave the ichimon”. Given that, how wild is the speculation?
How does that prove there’s tension in general? I can think of many reasons an ichimon wouldn’t want a yokozuna as a hand-me-down, especially an ichimon that currently doesn’t have a homegrown one.
(Leaving aside that there’s no reason to simply assume that that unnamed oyakata was actually authorized to speak on the ichimon’s behalf.)
Also, the fact that the same article named Tokitsukaze and Oitekaze as the merger frontrunners only a week ago should be a hint just how shaky the foundations of the reporting are when it comes to interpersonal relationships within the Kyokai. This stuff is a lot more complex than “somebody disagreed with Shikoroyama, so that means the ichimon is trying to hold him down”.
Ah, near Chanko Kirishima (which is really good, btw).