Musashigawa-beya announced an addition to their stable today via Instagram. They welcome Daniel, younger brother of former rikishi Musashikuni, into the fold. He does look a lot like his brother, particularly the smile, in my humble opinion. He graduated from high school over the summer and came to Japan to become a sumo wrestler.
He has already gotten his visa paperwork done and will acclimate to the sumo life (Japanese language, culture plus Heya-living) over the next year. So, we will not see him mount the dohyo until, possibly, late 2024? Tachiai is eager to follow his accomplishments in this exciting chapter of his life!
With the mandatory six-month kenshū induction period foreign recruits have to go through nowadays, the earliest possible shindeshi examination date would be the one for the May basho, with maezumo in July and official competition starting in September. A bit surprising that the Instagram post talks of one year until they’re planning to have him do the shindeshi kensa, which would be quite a bit longer than officially called for.
I’m guessing he has no sumo experience from back home at all?
Yeah, it does seem like a long wait. It’s only one picture but it looks like he’s a big guy, probably has played American Football. So it’s not like he’s Najima-sized and they want him to bulk up or fill out. I’m interested to see him fight, that’s for sure.
Thank you posting about Daniel & mandatory six-month kenshū induction period for foreign recruits … was wondering when we will see his name on banzuke. My guy & I became sumo fans July 2021 when we saw Yokozuna Hakuho & also Tochinoshin on NHK sumo highlights. Have been trying to learn as much as we can about sumo through Tachiai’s articles & various YouTube channels. My in-laws are from Lahaina & Oahu … excited to see Daniel’s growth in sumo
Good for him. He’s in his uncle’s beya, so he has encouragement living there. It looks like his uncle opened the beya 10 years ago but, as best as I can tell, hasn’t had a single rikishi yet. Ten years, no rikishi, and no one threatening reach juryo, doesn’t seem a formula for success. The economics of the stables are a big black box to me, however.
Yeah, it’s hard to imagine that there are 40 of them with a handful of real powerhouses. Maybe Daniel will be the next great Yokozuna.
You’re conflating rikishi and sekitori. Every professional sumotori is a rikishi, no matter their division.
Quite right. I’ve put the milk in the pantry before too! But do know the difference.
Excuse me for asking, but what is the news value of this information?
And who was Musashikuni?
He was the nephew of yokozuna Mushashimaru competing out of the yokozuna’s Musashigawa-beya. He spent most of his career in makushita, I believe mainly due to injury. This young man is also the nephew of the yokozuna and a foreign born prospect from the US. Beyond new recruits always being of some interest, he’s also the first US born recruit in awhile. I think all of these things make it of news value.
You hit on the big points. Just to reinforce, the majority of this website’s readers are outside of Japan (~97%). While I consider all recruits into this fascinating sumo world to be worthy of coverage (and we do try to cover each and every new recruit who passes the Kyokai’s entrance exam — which may be defunct from 2024) we do cover the foreign recruits, in particular.
Nothing substantial will change in the main shindeshi kensa; the “examination” that is routinely reported on by the press has long been just a matter of recording the applicants’ vital stats, not a true pass/fail test.