Jungyo is not the only sumo news going on so I have tweaked the format of this weekend’s news update post. We’ll get to Jungyo in a bit but first there are some other sumo-related news topics to mention.
Death of Shikoroyama-Oyakata
Former Sekiwake Terao and master of Shikoroyama heya, Fukuzono Yoshifumi has died. Beloved by sumo fans of the 1980s and 1990s, Terao was known for his slender physique and spirited tsuppari. He began his sumo career in 1980 at his father’s Izutsu-beya, alongside his two brothers, Sakahoko and Kakureizan.
After five years in the lower divisions, he rose to the top division in 1985, establishing himself as a division favorite for the next 15 years. He is a key member of the Hana-no-sanpachi-gumi, wrestlers born during Showa-38 (1963). That list includes former Yokozuna Hokutoumi, Futahaguro and Ozeki Konishiki.
After retirement, he led Shikoroyama-beya where he coached Homasho to the rank of Komusubi as well as yusho-winning Abi. When Homasho retired, he remained attached to the heya as Tatsutagawa-oyakata. His brother, Sakahoko, took on Izutsu-beya and trained Kakuryu before his own death of pancreatic cancer in 2019.
Shikoroyama had been unwell in recent years due to a chronic heart condition and had been kyujo from the recent tournament in November. Abi had come back to Tokyo from where he had been on tour in order to visit with his master in hospital.
When the master of a heya dies, it obviously raises questions about the future of the heya and its wrestlers. At this time it is unclear whether Homasho will take over or whether the wrestlers will be transferred elsewhere. Tachiai will provide an update as developments become clear.
New Recruits
Isegahama-beya and former Yokozuna Kakuryu both had dueling recruitment announcements this past week. Isegahama and Kakuryu poached 18-year-old seniors from Atamifuji’s former high school, Hiryu in Numazu, Shizuoka prefecture. Isegahama claimed Suzuki Ryuichi (185cm, 130kg) while Kakuryu shook hands with Shirasaka Yuto (183cm, 140kg) who will debut with Michinoku-beya but as Kakuryu’s uchi-deshi.
Both gentlemen will debut at Hatsu 2024. That will make for some intriguing mae-zumo bouts and a very interesting Jonokuchi yusho race in March. Kakuryu also made it known that he will branch out from Michinoku at some point to run his own stable.
Kabu Kalculus
Several years ago, Kakuryu had been seen as the likely heir to the Izutsu kabu, in honor of his master. However, that kabu was picked up by Shimanoumi, who is obviously still active in Juryo and has loaned it out to Akiseyama. After the closure of Izutsu beya, Kakuryu and the other Izutsu-beya wrestlers settled into Michinoku-beya. However, the master has made it known that he will not give up the kabu after he turns 65 and must retire next year. He will keep the kabu and stay on for another 5-years as an advisor, as is his right. Suddenly, the Shikoroyama kabu will become available and one wonders if it has traded hands. Who knows? When the dust settles, Kakuryu may end up with the Izutsu kabu after all.
An aside: This practice has always fascinated me. We often assume that capitalism is capitalism, socialism is socialism, and there’s one dogmatic method of doing things when there are actually a myriad of flavors, albeit with common, fundamental tenets — like private ownership. But here in the sumo world we have ownership of the Sumo Kyokai split among former wrestlers, with a cap on the number of shares available. I’ve just been very curious how it would play out if this practice were put in place at, say, US Steel by the likes of J P Morgan and Andrew Carnegie or at Facebook or Apple, or the mom-and-pop greasy spoon down the street. It would be a system where the shares could only be owned by select workers, where eligibility is based on performance criteria, and only the best of the best can…run their own division, let’s say? But I digress…
Winter Jungyo 2023: Week 2
The tour stopped in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku before heading to Hiroshima for two dates and then Osaka this weekend. The tour will continue on for a couple more dates in Central Japan this week before wrapping up in Tochigi before Christmas. In Matsuyama, Atamifuji* got to sit and get his hair done. In Sakai, Osaka, hometown hero Ura got the same treatment with Gonoyama, Ura, and Tobizaru taking turns fielding questions from the audience in Question Corner.
*Correction: an earlier version incorrectly stated that Mitakeumi sat for the oicho-mage demonstration in Matsuyama.
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I’d say the kabu system is reminiscent of medieval guilds, something modern businesses grew out of. While there are performance thresholds, it’s not exactly merit-based, which is why the Izutsu kabu went to journeyman Shimanoumi, who married the former owner’s daughter, rather than to former yokozuna Kakuryu.
It’s perhaps best described as a mix between a guild, for the restriction of competition part, and a modern co-op association, for the working towards a shared goal part. Historic business guilds probably had more autonomy of the individual members, if only because they weren’t jointly creating a single product.
I was at the Jungyo in Matsuyama. It was Atamifuji getting his hair done, not Mitakeumi.
Thank you for the correction! https://twitter.com/sumokyokai/status/1734446042723336514?t=4Fi5-hIaX6XNaYX705hNyg&s=19
Sad to hear the passing of Terao. I’ll always fondly remember watching the “Typhoon” on Channel 4 here in the UK in the 1980s.
I’m not fully sure on what basis Kakuryu could possibly be expected to end up with the Izutsu myoseki anymore. Shimanoumi got hold of it specifically because he married into the Fukuzono family. He’s not gonna be allowed to just exchange it against the Shikoroyama one or any other, even if technically (to paraphrase Futabayama) all toshiyori-kabu are the same.
As I understand it, they are transferable. We saw this with Hakuho’s initial acquisition of Magaki before taking over things as Miyagino. If there’s additional value (such as sentimental value) people seem quite determined and resourceful to make such things happen. What I am certainly not clear on would be the nitty-gritty details outlining on what basis Shimanoumi would not be allowed to come to an agreement with Kakuryu. I don’t even know who would have the authority to disallow such a deal: the Kyokai, Shimanoumi, Akiseyama — or Sakahoko’s wife/daughter?
All I know is that Akiseyama is temporarily borrowing it. I clearly have no idea if Shimanoumi intends to retire anytime soon or if he even cares to run a heya of his own. Nor do I have any inkling whether the Izutsu name means diddly-squat to either. But for years we’ve been speculating, “when is Kakuryu going to start a stable?”
Suddenly, Kakuryu announces a recruit and within days Terao has died. Only a few months ago there was a bit of shuffling when Chiyonokuni retired…I would not be surprised if there’s some shuffling here. Then again, I also wouldn’t be surprised if Kakuryu will become the next Shikoroyama-oyakata and that’s the end of it. I just find it fascinating to watch the “musical chairs” sometimes.
Yes, I was talking about Shimanoumi’s mother-in-law not allowing it. The family’s connection to the Izutsu name, while not uninterrupted, goes back all the way to the second yokozuna Nishinoumi a century ago, and from what’s been made known over the last few years, Sakahoko’s wife was very interested in retaining the family hold on it after her husband passed away – uncharitable sources have claimed that she was all but shopping her daughter around to would-be suitors, i.e. kabu-eligible active rikishi – so other shares won’t do even if they’re nominally of identical value. Kakuryu didn’t manage to supplant that personal angle when Shimanoumi wasn’t yet in the picture, and he certainly won’t be doing it now.
The Chiyonokuni shuffling was something else entirely as a simple case of a kabu-on-loan being taken out of circulation by its owner taking it up for himself. There were more knock-on effects than there usually are, but fundamentally that was nothing we haven’t seen dozens of times before.
See, that’s where I am very interested in what the legal standing is. Now that Shimanoumi is the holder, is he the actual owner? As we saw with Nakamura, divorce is a thing. If he holds the kabu now, her sentimentality won’t be as relevant…though she can probably make his life a living hell if he goes behind her back. And I certainly have no idea if Mrs. Shimanoumi has any interest in any of it. As you said, the rumors are a bit, “Days of Our Lives.”
BTW, between your comments here and the ones about Enho in the other recent thread, I’m getting the impression that you’re holding the idea that either
a) the primary driver for rikishi obtaining a kabu (or for wanting to become eligible to do it to begin with) is the possibility to open up a stable with it, or
b) certain kabu names are somehow destined to be used for heya, and any interruption in that usage is merely temporary because they’re only going to be given to oyakata who want to actually run a stable.
Neither is the case. Even if Kakuryu desperately wants to be stablemaster and Shimanoumi has zero interest in it (he’s not eligible anyway unless they fudge the rules and claim he’s somehow continuing the shuttered Sakahoko-era Izutsu-beya), that’s all completely irrelevant to their respective likelihood of getting to use the Izutsu name, or any other.
Oh, no. I am under no presumption that the primary driver for having a kabu would be to run a heya. There are over 100 kabu and many fewer heya and, as you said, some may acquire a kabu but not be eligible to run a stable. Enho’s eligibility is so close, though, I would not be surprised if it plays into his ideas of a comeback. Having sumo as your life and then seeing that I either have to leave, or I can stay a bit longer (like Konishiki) or until I turn 65 and coach, be a shimpan, etc… I am curious about Enho’s ambitions, and Ishiura’s. I mean Enho sounds completely sold on sumo and the Sumo life.
I also do not think that certain names are destined to be stable names, as we saw with Ikazuchi and Irumagawa. But, I do think there are natural attachments as we see with Izutsu and Sakahoko’s widow and now it sounds like Homasho wants to keep the Shikoroyama name going.
Just for clarity, Enho is also nowhere near eligibility to open up a stable. With a kabu he’d be able to take over an existing one, like any oyakata can (that’s automatically implied by the role), but unless Hakuho pulls a Takanohana it’s hard to see which heya Enho could reasonably be expected to take on at some future point in time.
That’s why I’m saying it’s almost never the primary driver (at least for rank-and-filers like Enho) – the main goal is just to be allowed to become oyakata at all, everything else that a rikishi might plan to do once he’s there is a secondary consideration at best. Sometimes things fall into place for a guy, either through building the right relationships – I don’t think anybody would have expected Kakizoe to become stablemaster ten years ago – or due to emergency as in Dairyu stepping in at Otake-beya after Takatoriki was sent packing, but that’s all stuff that’s practically impossible to anticipate, let alone work towards before you’ve even become oyakata.
I think that key to this discussion would be his current eligibility status. I thought that with 29 basho as sekitori, he stands one basho short of eligibility for acquiring a kabu. Is that true? Since he’s so tantalizingly close to being eligible that could help explain his decision to launch a comeback from serious neck injury rather than pack it in and retire, as Ishiura chose. I don’t know if Ishiura plans to stay until he is 65 or run a stable…but he does have the opportunity to stay in the sumo world, at least for the time being, with that Magaki kabu.
My point with Enho is really just trying to gage this comeback of his and how much his ambitions for his future in sumo plays into it. Does he just want to fight and see how far he can take it or is he aiming for a kabu? I don’t know but it will be interesting to see it play out. I will be rooting for him but really rooting for him to stay healthy and not damage his neck further.