Andy and the family return home, fat and happy from Thanksgiving with the relatives. Our return was timed perfectly so I hope to be able to write a brief post tomorrow about the Winter Tour, which is about to get under way. But before it kicks off there are a couple of items to note.
Ex-Takakeisho to Inherit Heya
Hat tip to Justin for catching this news. The Sumo Association announced that Minatogawa-oyakata will inherit Tokiwayama-beya, effective January 26. The current master will turn 65 at the beginning of March, so the January tournament will be his last as master, before retiring. The heya will be renamed Minatogawa-beya and all of the wrestlers, one of the hair-dressers and one seiwanin will stay with the heya, though other staff will transfer to other stables.
January 26 is the day after Hatsubasho 2026. So, this upcoming tournament will be Takanosho’s last fighting under the Tokiwayama banner. When the Spring tournament comes around in Osaka, he would be fighting in Minatogawa-beya. I presume the heya lodgings will change at some point and the guys will move to another location in the Tokyo area, owned by Takakeisho. The current location (pictured) is in Maenocho, next to the Tokiwadai neighborhood, and close to Tokiwadai station. The kanji for Tokiwadai is 常盤台. I’ll provide an update when I find out more details.
Winter Tour Kyujo List
The Winter Tour is set to kick off on November 30 and will run for 22 straight days at 22 different locations. The path winds around Kyushu and then back toward home in the Tokyo region. It looks like there will be no Okinawa stop this year. Instead, the tour terminates in Saitama on the 21st. That might give the guys time to spend the holidays at home and be ready for action on January 11.
It comes as no surprise that Yokozuna Onosato tops the list of kyujo. He will be absent due to his Day 13 injury against Aonishiki and will be joined in the infirmary by a number of sekitori. This will include Takayasu, Hakuoho, Wakatakakage, Ura, Roga, Meisei, Hitoshi, Kotoeiho and Mita. We hope all of these guys make good use of the time to recouperate and prepare for next year.
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Oh ouch, a lot of injuries. Rest and heal, guys, but get all appropriate medical treatments first!
Interesting to think of Takakeisho as oyakata running a stable, wondering what his advice will be on eating/weight. If he’s so thin now that he eats what he wants, he must have been miserable before.
When is the pink sci-fi shoulder pad bean-throwing holiday?
Setsubun is February 3rd, so Onosato still has plenty of time to get that shoulder in bean-throwing shape.
Are they all really injured or could it be that some of them simply don’t want to travel for 22 (!) days? I can easily imagine the sitting out being advantageous for the hatsubasho.
As others have pointed out before, injuries are probably so common that most of them could probably claim them much more often than they do. But you can’t go kyujo from jungyo and then go on your merry way – people have gotten in trouble for skipping jungyo and then being seen out having fun. Others could give details but I seem to remember something about Asashoryu and a soccer game and Terutsuyoshi and a reptile show?
I was thinking more of staying at the heya and exercising.
All of them are ‚really‘ injured. Let‘s hope for them to recover til January.
Takakeisho owns (or at least is in possession of) the former Hatachiyama-beya building via his wife and mother-in-law. It’s in Tatekawa in Sumida ward, within walking distance of the Kokugikan.
Oh, thank you for the heads up! That location would make a visit much easier. The new Isegahama is over that way, too?
To be honest, not being in Japan I’ve completely lost track of where Isegahama-beya actually is. They had a location change announced earlier this year but the new address turned out to be a normal residential apartment building – possibly Terunofuji’s own home, just registered to have something listed officially without ties to Asahifuji. Then it indeed came out that the wrestlers’ new temporary living quarters were somewhere else (I don’t think I ever saw the address for that) but that their keiko hall is in yet another place for space reasons. And all that with a “coming soon” proper new heya in the pipeline, supposedly one that will be able to accommodate up to 100 visitors for events, so some Nishonoseki-style mansion (but within Tokyo proper, not sure how the finances will work for that).
I will have to dig into this a bit more. I had just heard they moved after Terunofuji took over and hadn’t looked into it further. That sounds rather convoluted. Maybe they’re still working on it? Google Earth shows a pizza place in front. Getting space for 100 viewers is ambitious.
Maybe they bought Hakuho‘s useless parking area? :)
Interested in further news!
Interested to hear more as well. This is definitely news-worthy for those with Tokyo trips planned. Although with Terunofuji at the helm, it didn’t sound surprising, as I’ve read he is a sharp businessman, innovative thinker, and customer focused, so that’s a fans first mentality.