Juryo gyoji Kimura Kankuro has been kyujo since Day 10 of the Kyushu tournament. The Kyokai revealed that there had been incidents between Kankuro and one of his junior gyoji earlier in the tournament. He will be suspended for the Osaka tournament and docked pay.
Kankuro had pinched the junior gyoji a number of times, enough to cause a bruise. It was reported to the higher-ups and the Kyokai investigated. Kankuro admitted what he did but no further details, such as the cause of the dispute, have been revealed.
Now, if only I could remember how this scandal counter thing worked.
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I believe the 1 Basho suspension was Hatsu, since he was absent for the entire basho.
No, he is out for Haru. According to the article, “十両行司の木村勘九郎を3月の春場所出場停止と報酬減額の処分にしたと発表した”
https://www.sankei.com/article/20250130-F4ETEIAFTBPXLLGTC4KHNGZPD4/
I figure this is akin to being on “Administrative Leave” during the investigation and until the process runs its course and the punishment was determined. Rather than a “time served,” sentence, he was given a suspension for Haru.
Pinched ????
Multiple times, apparently. And enough to cause bruising. This is speculation but he probably wanted to deck the kid but knew it would end his career. Got away with it initially and did it again, and again, and again…harder now. It might seem petty but with abuse, I don’t think you can draw a line and say, certain things are acceptable and turn a blind eye but you can definitely moderate the punishment.
It’s an abuse of authority regardless of what he was actually doing. He was getting away with something to a subordinate that was hurting them in some fashion because he was higher ranking then who he was doing it to. It could go from light pinches to the type of torturous type children give each other when they don’t get along. Same thing in the end. Maybe it kept escalating from light ones to horrible ones as time went on.
In a sport with as much trouble with bullying and abuse as Sumo, they can’t let anything slide.
In my experience, “minor” or “stealth” abuses are the harder ones to raise alarm on. The abuser may not beat you to death or call you unacceptable names, it may just be snide remarks here and there but you know if you say something about it you will be punished in some way. It’s not death by a single blow but rather a thousand cuts.
Absolutely not tolerable.
Abuse of a subordinate is never Okay and almost always escalates. The subordinate constantly fears the next encounter. It appears to be more psychological abuse than physical in this case, but that in itself will have affects on both careers. Sad
Kankuro – The best “voice” in sumo aside of Konsuke. His battle roar is the best…pity, that is a bad info. Besides that , I am watching him through the years and he cannot rise in rank beyond makushita joy, wonders why….
It’s normal? At the moment the youngest gyoji with juryo status is 39, while the oldest one is 51. Nobody’s moving up fast.
At first glance I thought it said punches! Guess the pinches can also inflict some damage.
Hoshoryu’s first Tsuna-uchi took place a short while ago. There’s a decent write up at Kyodo News with some pics here: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/01/848e7d793448-sumo-hoshoryu-undertakes-rope-making-ceremony-as-new-yokozuna.html
For a nice Tachiai.org article on the Tsuna-uchi ceremony from Terunofuji’s maiden voyage see here: https://tachiai.org/2021/07/26/terunofujis-tsuna-uchi-takes-place-today/
Good stuff, I’m fascinated by the Tsuna and Shide and the Grand Champions’ role as Master of Ceremonies and living shrine of Sumo. Which makes me wonder if the Yokozuna is a living shrine? Or is he more like the Patriarch/High Priest of Sumo? Sounds like a good Doctorate or Master’s Thesis topic. My Japanese isn’t anywhere close enough to allow me to make such an inquiry at this stage, but still, very intriguing.
I like your thinking on what exactly is a Yokozuna. A living shrine sounds wonderful.
If you watch the documentary on Hakuho’s final basho they burn incense around him, must be something like a shrine.
“Guess the pinches can also inflict some damage.”
Yes, and not just physical.
Abuse is sometimes hard to understand, not least because it’s kept so hidden for a variety of reasons. People want to normalise or minimise it (oh it’s only a bit of pinching) without truly understanding how pervasive and damaging it is.
No matter the perceived degree of abuse, it is intolerable. It takes over a person’s entire life, which is spent trying to avoid the person(s) or situations that could result in further abuse. There is little room for much else mentally other than the abuse, and it has life-long damaging psychological, emotional, and physical effects. Every movement or (in)action is considered in the light of someone else’s response to your very existence.
I don’t want to go on as this is a sumo site, but given the apparent opportunities for abuse within sumo (and of course it’s not limited to sumo in any way!) I am not at all sure that a one basho suspension is adequate. It seems to me as if the JSA is grading abuse on some level of pre-conceived “severity”, which you simply should not do. What was his name, Hokuseiho, had to retire from sumo after his bullying abuse of junior wrestlers. So a basho suspension? Huh.
On a lighter note, wasn’t it lovely to see Hoshoryu at the Meiji Shrine with Hiradoumi and Meisei? (and still people felt they had to criticise his performance). Was that their keshō-mawashi they were wearing, but back to front? I saw bright colours on the inside of their aprons as they walked away from the camera, and wondered.
Well explained, Betty, I couldn‘t do better – even in my native language! And I‘d go mad, if my auntie or uncle were pinched by nursing staff in their retirement homes or something like that. One can‘t just argue by ‚But it‘s in the world of sumo…‘ So – we don‘t know any Hxkxsxxhx here, his name is erased.
Yes, that Yokozuna Hoshoryu action on the Meiji Shrine was really fine! And he may have a brandnew Keshomawashi set for Osaka. Let‘s be surprised!
Hi Betty, I agree that Hoshoryu’s maiden Yokozuna dohyo-iri at Meiji Shrine was an impressive exhibition of skill and beauty, looks like he’s been doing it for years, what a natural! To answer your questions, yes he was flanked by Hiradoumi (his Dewanoumi Ichimon brother) and Meisei (his Tatsunami beya brother). Those beautiful Kesho-mawashi that the trio wore were on loan from Musashigawa Oyakata (fka Yokozuna Musashimaru). The design on front was sea waves, beautiful colors of yellow and green. Musashigawa beya is also in the Dewanoumi Ichimon, and the reason that Musashigawa Oyakata was selected to officially teach Hoshoryu the movements/steps of the Yokozuna dohyo-iri, which I believe only occurred the day before Hosh’s first official performance in public. So he is a quick study indeed!!
Thank you so much Justme. I look forward to March with heightened interest (if that’s possible!)
Thank you Karen – that’s really very interesting to know, thank you for sharing that about the Kesho-mawashi and where they came from and who taught Hoshoryu all the movements! Wow, just the day before, and then the audience there at the shrine, and watching online, the weight of expectations, the solemnity of it all. Whew!
I hope I never stop being excited by sumo, and learning about it!
Hi again, here’s another tidbit on those loner Kesho-mawashi…. Yesterday, Feb 1, was the retirement ceremony of the former Tokushoryu who is one of the coaches now at Kise beya. This was held at the Kokugikan in Tokyo. So I was watching some videos that are out there online that people have put up. One had minutes showing the parade of top division wrestlers in their Kesho- mawashi. I see Ura, and what?.. he’s wearing one of the shimmering green and yellow sea wave kesho-mawashi…my mind was spinning. 30 seconds later Kinbozan is wearing one too! Ok this is strange, I thought. Then a few minutes later, I see Hoshoryu with Ura and Kinbozan standing in the hanamichi readying to walk to the dohyo. So here we got to see Hoshoryu’s second performance of the Yokozuna ring entering ceremony, the very next day, this time for the first time on the clay dohyo of the home of grand sumo! Was so amazing to see! Check it out!! 😁
P.S. Ura and Kinbozan are in the Kise beya, which is also in the Dewanoumi Ichimon….
Oooo well spotted Karen ! I shall go and look, thanks for the heads-up!😀
Since it was Tokushoryu’s retirement ceremony, his Kise-beya stablemates, Ura and Kinbozan had the honor of being Hoshoryu’s attendants. I’m pretty sure they were also the guinea pigs for the oicho-mage demonstration.
Have you ever tried to do an oichomage on a guinea pig? Needs a lot of binzuke and sensitivity :)
Pawa-Hara is a big deal in Japan of late and this is a clear cut example. He is lucky he didn’t have an even longer band imposed on him really.
Also terrific to see the Kise-Beya boys as attendants at the first dohyo-iri on the clay. Hosh has picked it up well, he’s had a good teacher ;)
Five days later and now we have bullying accusations being leveled at Tobizaru. That scandal counter is going to get a workout this month.
I have my teacup ready. But I am waiting for some more details and something official before reporting on the allegations.