At its board meeting on 3/28, the Nihon Sumo Kyokai approved a plan to shutter Miyagino-beya and move its wrestlers and oyakata to Isegahama-beya in time for the May tournament. Hakuoho and other Miyagino-beya wrestlers will be introduced at the upcoming tournament as being from Isegahama-beya and they will not be able to fight against each other. The Isegahama Ichimon, led by Asakayama-oyakata (ex-Kaio), will be responsible for reporting back to the Kyokai after each tournament. They will provide guidance to Miyagino with an eye to re-opening his heya in the future, though there are no timelines for that at this point.
Readers will recall that the Hokuseiho bullying scandal broke during the Hatsu basho. The details quickly ensnared the heya’s master, Hakuho, because he knew of Hokuseiho’s behavior but did nothing to correct or address it for over a year. Hakuho was demoted but not dismissed from the Kyokai, and Tamagaki-oyakata was appointed as an interim-master for the Osaka tournament while the Ichimon, and the Kyokai, deliberated on a plan for what to do. Other proposals for the fate of Miyagino-beya after Osaka were considered by the Kyokai but rejected, including the idea to have wrestlers move to separate heya or be absorbed entirely at other heya in the Ichimon.
Further details about a potential reopening of Miyagino-beya have not been decided or revealed, such as whether the heya would retain its remaining wresters. Hokuseiho resigned before the tournament and Jonidan wrestler, Kurokage, retired afterward. Obviously, it is not clear at this point how well the individual wrestlers, Hakuho or Ishiura are taking this plan. It is certainly possible that other retirements will follow but I hope this will serve as a valuable education for Hakuho on how better to run and manage 20 young blokes. Folks will be quick to point out that Isegahama is not without its own scandals, including one that resulted in the demotion of Isegahama and his resignation from the board.
Commentary
This is an extraordinary decision by the Kyokai and a novel resolution to the bullying scandal. As I mentioned, we will probably never know all of the details or how the individuals have been dealing with this period of uncertainty. But it seemed apparent from the few interactions that we saw with Hakuho, that he was “bummed” to say the least. I imagine this period has been stressful as hell. Now that there is a path forward, I hope that everyone involved will make the best of it.
That’s not just lip service. It must be a challenge to manage a group of 20 dudes and teach them to live together in peace and harmony (while encouraging them to physically fight each other each day), oh, and to navigate a rigid hierarchy that results in some wrestlers being virtual serfs to those at the top. Hakuho took on a massive task when he took over Miyagino-beya. He has been a great recruiting success at a time when the sport NEEDS it.
The Kyokai acknowledges and appreciates the value that he provides…otherwise he would not still be there. The Hakuho Cup would transition to the Terunofuji Cup, just as it shifted from being the Asashoryu Cup. But Hakuho really has made that HIS cup and he’s even breaking down barriers with girls’ amateur sumo. He’s been committed to developing wanpaku sumo and he’s always been committed to the fans. So, for all of the Hakuho fans out there, ready to lambast the Kyokai as hypocritical tyrants, find solace in the fact that Hakuho is not Takanohana. He’s not an adversary. He’s an asset.
I am speculating here but I think Hakuho had no idea what to do with Hokuseiho. He’d committed to the kid when Hokuseiho was in elementary school and was kind of stuck with him from there. When Hokuseiho became an entitled prat, Hakuho did not know how to get him to stop and respect his lower-ranked stablemates. Hakuho seems to have picked out a good crop of guys since then. I’m not sure if Isegahama or Asakayama will have any great answers, either, but this will buy him the time that he probably needed in order to figure it out. The delay in opening Kakuryu’s stable, for instance, may not have been entirely about citizenship status and kabu negotiations but in preparing for, “how in the hell am I going to do this?”
As a parent of two kids, I know how to discipline my kids — at least I think so — but I would be utter crap at disciplining someone else’s kids, your kids. Shoot, I yelled at one of the neighbor’s kids about 10 years ago and the poor kid still seems traumatized. (He’s not laid a finger on my kids’ stuff, though, since.) Similarly, management is not fun. Conflict happens and some people seem to enjoy it and promote it which really freaks me out…especially at work. So, management and leadership are extremely important to get right. When Miyagino-beya reopens, I think he will have a better idea of what to do and how to do it.
They’ve been putting me in leadership development courses and stuff at work. This is a direct quote: “Andy, don’t do it. This is leadership, not work. We just want the plan, we don’t want you to do it.” My brain seized as I thought, “but this would be so easy.” I see a parallel in Hakuho’s excitement when he gets his mawashi on and gets in the ring. He’s like, “I just love sumo, I really wanna do sumo.” Similarly, I’m like, “Just let me get this s*** done, dude. It’s fun.” But there comes a time when you need to hang up the mawashi and let others get in the ring because you need to focus on helping the next generation develop their skills (and hopefully improve it and do it even better). That transition has been difficult for me and may be for him, as well.
What I have hated the most about this whole episode is the character assassination and rumor-mill which gets reported by some in the press. But I’ll not rant about that here. I have been very happy to see that the Tachiai viewership of day-to-day tournament coverage eclipsed the “scandal coverage,” so I sure feel pretty damn good about my readers. You all know what’s up. Sure, the scandal will certainly have an impact on the careers of our gladiators (and the sport as a whole) so it’s important to cover it and know what is going on. But the action on the dohyo is what brings us here, not the tawdry bits.
I see scandal coverage as sprinkles on top of an ice cream sundae — tasteless faff that I could do without and that certainly doesn’t add anything to the overall greatness of the ice cream sundae. And I leave the scandal meter up because it seems that as soon as I get optimistic and take it down, there’s a new scandal. My apologies for jinxing things. Let’s hope that number just gets bigger.
Discover more from Tachiai (立合い)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Is there a limit as to how large a stable can become? More specifically, is there a magic limit on the proportion of rikishi in Makuuchi who cannot compete against each other? There seems to be no shortage of established and promising rikishi who are now from this latest iteration of Isegahama-beya.
Not as far as I know. The actual modern max is 10, including multiple upper-rankers, which led to some extremely unbalanced fight cards in the early 90s. https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Banzuke.aspx?b=199303&heya=-1&shusshin=-1&h=on
Interesting! Thanks!
I dunno, both stables actually look fairly barren for near-term development of new sekitori. Isegahama-beya has Satorufuji who is a pretty exciting talent fresh out of high school, but who has bounced off the high makushita competition with back to back MK now and will likely need to regroup for the next couple of tournaments. Miyagino has Matsui who debuted this month and is basically their Satorufuji, just with a makushita tsukedashi qualification – they’re both not quite top-tier high school prospects who are a good bet to become sekitori but who (like most 19-years-old of that quality level) will most likely need some seasoning in upper makushita before they’re ready for it.
Outside of these two… Isegahama-beya has basically nobody else in the pipeline, now that Takerufuji has broken out. Miyagino-beya has Tenshoho who’s only 21 and was already up in juryo half a year ago, but his upside has appeared to be rather limited going by what he’s managed to show in the four tournaments since then. The stable’s latest collegiate acquisition Otani looks like a complete bust already. Enho and Kiho – who knows if they’ll amount to anything again after their various injuries. And the new Mongolian guy Seihakuho who just did maezumo this month – I dunno, the press was dubbing him “Hakuho II” because of their similar physique, but from what I’ve seen so far he’s likely as much the next Hakuho as Torakio (who flamed out in sandanme) was the next Kotooshu.
TL;DR Fears of Isegino becoming some all-dominating super stable are probably unfounded. Ex-Asahifuji’s last basho leading the stable will be May 2025, and I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody is making a top division debut in the combined stable between now and then. Hakuoho will get back there, in all likelihood, but he alone is hardly going to make much of a difference, what with Isegahama having six makuuchi wrestlers already on its own.
And I guess we don’t have to worry about shikona such as Hakerufuji or Fujikuho :)
Are we really surprised ? In the end, Isagehema-beya will have find to way to “recruit” Miyagino’s prize possession Hakuoho within its ranks. Stacking up just a little more…Frankly disgusting…
An interesting development and a well thought out analysis by Andy of the consequences of this whole ordeal. I’m Glad that Hakuho/Miyagino isn’t getting exiled altogether. As Andy said, despite his failings during his short time as Oyakata (really just the Hokuseiho issue as far as I know), he’s an asset to the Kyokai and to Sumo globally. The world, which even an insular society like Japan is a part of, has changed a lot over the past 20 years, so the Kyokai has to change as well. Hazing and behaviors which were once overlooked as “boys being boys,” or “part of the deal” are no longer glossed over or acceptable even for Sumo stables, branches of the military or college fraternities. It’s probably all for the best, except for Hokuseiho personally, who maybe won’t ever get a chance to fully redeem himself for these very public and specific misdeeds. Hope he’s able to move past it, as well as those whom he inflicted harm upon. I enjoyed watching him in the top division even if he was a somewhat stationary wrestler, his size and long arms made for some fascinating contrasts of styles and size. Midorifuji’s Shitatenage (sure looked like Koshinage) win against him (Hokuseiho) in the July Basho last year was an all time great Kimarite, I’ve used the clip of that throw a couple of times to illustrate the concept of 柔 (ju,yawara) to my sons and a few other fellow grappling students. The show must go on, so I’ll try to enjoy it, thanks to Andy for the thoughtful discussion!
Thanks for a nice balanced writeup. It sounds like a stablemaster has to wear a lot of hats– managing, finance, PR, coaching, babysitting– that Hakuho may not have been prepared for. I have faith that he’s smart and determined enough to figure it out.
BTW love your description of Hokuseiho as an “entitled prat”.
Once again we see that what makes a good athlete (or technician etc) is different than what makes good managers.
I really wish this sport wasn’t so difficult to love sometimes. The alcohol culture, sanctioned hazing, servitude, and incredible unhealthiness is really challenging for me. I cheer these guys on and pick favorites but I’d never let my kids participate. I used to love boxing but becoming a parent really changed my perspective. I don’t see boxers anymore just someone else’s kids getting CTE.
I’m almost entirely over contact sports except sumo and the occasional hockey game. I don’t know how much longer I can hang on.
Sumo and hockey seem totally worth hanging onto, IMHO.
Hi Andy, I liked the way you put the worst of irony, the Heyas have to face.
“It must be a challenge to manage a group of 20 dudes and teach them to live together in peace and harmony (while encouraging them to physically fight each other each day)”
I believe it will be a challenging task merging two high profile Heya, with lots of active sekitories. I am not sure it’s the best solution. Because it looks very challenging, how the rikishis get along.
The relationships among established sekitori are usually the least of problems. Troublesome can be what happens among the lower-rankers because they’re the ones whose professional lives often consist of a lot of failure (for lack of a better word) and thus frustration, which can seek unhealthy outlets at the expense of stablemates.
It’s a path. I’m not convinced that it’s the best path but it sounds like it is the one that the Kyokai has decided upon.
Does the Isegahama physical plant have enough space and facilities to house and train all the new rikishi?
Personally I find the treatment of the person who saved Sumo and who led so many to the sport as disgraceful and one that reeks of racism and jealousy. The elders have had it in for Hakuho for years. I will see if The GOAT is ‘allowed’ to return to his investments in the sport. Hakuho brought me into the sport and his treatment sees me leave. The disproportionate penalties placed have left a really sour taste.
Such comments always make me wonder one thing: What would fans like you have done if Hakuho had simply left the sumo world at the end of his active career? If the answer is, “I would have stopped watching”, you’re probably better off doing so belatedly now, because he’s just not going to be BMOC anymore (with or without scandals). That’s not how being oyakata works, for any of them.
In any case, the Hakuho who “saved sumo” back in the early 2010s (somewhat hyperbolic because the guys that actually brought back the fans were Kisenosato and Endo for the most part) had a much different personality than the Hakuho of the late 2010s and today. The old Hakuho would be seen in much different light, were he still around.
And on a self-serving note: Whenever I see some fan believing that Hakuho is bigger than the sport, I tend to amuse myself with a quick vision of what people who newly become sumo fans in 2035 and beyond will think about him (assuming he’s still in the Kyokai): For them, in all likelihood he’s just going to be another old guy who stands in the way of all the “progress” that they believe should be happening.
Staggered at the take of this website and some posters. Bulllying instances at other stables have happened over and over, we see other Japanese stables not broken up, their coaches not punished. Disgusting treatment of Hakuho, sumo’s “elders” cannot stand having a Mongolian as the face of their sport.
Do you know or have special insight Hakuho’s personal feelings on this topic? I cannot root out the possibility that the Hokuseiho situation overwhelmed him and he did not know how to address it. I cannot rule out the idea that this method may allow Hakuho to eliminate some of the larger stressors involved in running a heya. If you have any insight into either of those, I would love to hear it.
The key distinction seems to be that Hakuho knew about the bullying for a long time and didn’t report it. Had he called the compliance committee, I don’t think we’d be where we are. BTW, Takanohana, the great Japanese Yokozuna, is the counterexample to “it’s because he’d Mongolian.”
I think there was a deeper power struggle there. Takanohana was granted the Ichidai-Toshiyori privilege and quickly rose in the ranks of oyakata. He may have thought he would take over the whole show and run things the way he wanted? From the outset, Hakuho seems to have been denied the privileges granted to Takanohana and I would think Kisenosato and even Takekaze seemed to have higher status from the same generation. The whole “Mongolian” thing is a cop out, imho, though. I would not be surprised if Terunofuji is treated very differently post retirement and rises quickly, or Kakuryu.
Hakuho doesn’t seem like someone who gets overwhelmed easily. “Dude, I’m hearing some bad things. This cannot continue. I’m sitting you out of the next basho and reporting this to the compliance committee. One more incident, and you’re out.”
That didn’t happen, though.
Yup, seems like it easily could/should have.
Which other case of bullying involved sustained violence over 18+ months and a shisho who did nothing about it for the same amount of time even though he was informed very early on?
Great commentary Andy! As a long time reader, I like having the scandal meter right there front page. It’s a good reminder of the reality in the sport. Common triple digits!!!
Where should I approach If I want to become a sumo wrestler. Probably I should be in one of heyas. I chose to be in Isegahama-beya. Please help me if someone knows what to do.
How old are you? The kyokai has age restrictions. You have to be 22 or younger in order to join a stable. If you are Japanese or of Japanese descent or have residency, that would help. If you are a foreigner, there are restrictions to only one foreigner per heya. Isegahama already has a foreign wrestler. Do you live in Japan? If not, your chances are very low. If you do, your chances are still low but you can go to the heya and ask. That’s basically the only way of doing it. Go to each heya and ask. Be ready for rejection but if you have amateur sumo experience, as in sanctioned amateur tournament experience, not “I wrestle my friends in the back yard,” you might have a chance.
https://www.sumo.or.jp/IrohaKnowledge/nyumon/