Japanese Culture

Sumo News Update 2024.06.23

Andy Japanese Culture

This weekend there were a couple of news items to update you on. Terutsuyoshi held his retirement ceremony at Kokugikan on Sunday. This event featured an eight-man round robin between non-sekitori from the extended Isegahama-beya. Unfortunately, I am not able to embed this Tweet like I I usually am for other tweets (probably for some silly billionaire-instigated reason) but “Mika_midori0830” shared video of each bout. Satorufuji claimed the yusho against Shinhakuho in the final.

Along with the usual jinku, Terutsuyoshi’s event had performances from singers, a shamisen duo, and even Chinese acrobats. Among those in line to cut his top-knot, Chiyotairyu came and gave him a great big hug while words from Meisei gave him a great big smile. Interviewed by Sakai Ichiro, Terutsuyoshi said that he had told Miyagino-oyakata that he wasn’t going to cry. But Miyagino told him that as people take their turns cutting his hair, he would have flashbacks and be overcome by the emotions. And Terutsuyoshi felt that was true.

Freshly shorn Terutsuyoshi thanked his guests for their support. The new coif sure suits the man, doesn’t it?

Sumo Stateside

Meanwhile, several former rikishi are sporting mawashi in the United States. Out in California a band of wrestlers from the professional and amateur sumo worlds are participating in “All Star Sumo“. The pair of events are headlined by Ichinojo and Hiroki, a former Juryo-ranked rikishi who played Enō’s giant nemesis in the Netflix hit, “Sanctuary”. We hear news from Bradley (crazysocktv) that Hiroki won last night’s tournament and proposed to his girlfriend. Congratulations, Hiroki! Next weekend they will be in San Francisco.

Lastly, you all have heard me for a while now about Konishiki’s Sumo and Sushi events. They wrap up their NYC tour and head down here to DC next weekend. I wanted to share with you all the experience had by the good chaps of the New York Sumo Club. They rolled up at the NYC event with their own mawashi! Oscar Dolan leads the club and he hopped up there with Rolan Vargas and Daniel Douglas.

I really hope the Instagram embed will stay up for a while. The video of their bouts with the Sumo and Sushi rikishi is below. What was not in this video…but hopefully might have been captured by others at the show or by a Sumo and Sushi film crew, were some pointers given to them by Konishiki himself as he critiqued their shiko, suriashi, and butsukari.

I think the hands-on approach they got there is a key thing that we need more of here. It’s why I’m always excited to see Gagamaru at the events in Texas and our amateur wrestlers suiting up and participating in keiko with the universities and even with some of the pro stables when y’all are in Japan. Trying to guess at what is going on and replicate it here is one thing. Actually getting tips is quite the other. I mean having Konishiki tell Meccha and Otani, “oh, move him this way or that way.” That’s one hell of an experience.

If these go to the next level, beyond introducing people to sumo as spectators, and instead actually advancing sumo in practice, that’s incredibly cool. And that is what gets me more and more excited about these events. More of these professionally hosted events are important because it will draw in even more people. There are those folks (lots of those folks) who remain on the sidelines and who are hesitant to get involved when it’s a few friends in a backyard or even a rented hall with an impromptu dohyo. But those folks might actually get the confidence and have the assurance that it is (relatively) safe AND fun.

I mean, it is a combat sport but not everyone is ready to face an Abi-like barrage of tsuppari or get thrown on Day 1 or Day 10 or Day 110. Landing on whatever dohyo they had set up at the Sumo and Sushi event was a hell of a lot better than when I fell off the ladder in the backyard and landed on that rock. It was a bit of a shock to find myself tumbling through the air. When I landed, I got up, checked myself to make sure I was intact, and then I felt like the baby dinosaur from that 90s sitcom Dinosaurs. “AGAIN!” And when guys like Konishiki set up a safe environment and show you like they did for the NY Sumo Club, “No, no, no. Do it this way,” it starts to move that needle a bit more…in my humble opinion. I mean, let’s face it. There are very few sports or physical activities out there that promise to be as body-positive as sumo. But no one wants to be left, like Takayasu, to crawl himself over to the big wheel chair.

Sumo News Update 2024.06.17

Andy Japanese Culture , , , , ,

There were a couple of items on the sumo calendar over the past week. The first item was the Kickoff of Konishiki’s Sumo+Sushi tour in the United States! He hosted several shows over the weekend in New York City and will stay there for next weekend as well. Due to the success, several shows have been added there, next weekend. From NYC, the troupe will head down to DC for shows June 28-30, Nashville on July 12-14 and up to Chicago on July 19-21. Click here to re-read my rundown of last year’s experience. Getting up on the dohyo was absolutely amazing, as was my sudden barrel roll across it. I was probably very lucky their dais was not made of Arakita clay.

Some of you may be questioning whether this is news worthy. Well, aside from the fact that Konishiki is bringing a sumo experience to the States, this event includes real sumo wrestlers. To me, that is news worthy of itself. While the participation of former Makuuchi wrestlers Takagenji and Daikiho’s was announced ahead of time, Otani’s role was a surprise. He may have been a last-minute stand-in for Chiyonoshin but others from last year’s crew (including Tooyama) are not on this tour. Thanks to Chanko_Mattun on Twitter for the screen grab above because Otani’s appearance over here seems to have made the news over there, too.

And back in Japan, the Kyokai participated in another PR event. In last week’s update, we saw the Fukuoka PR event. This time, five wrestlers (Atamifuji, Midorifuji, Abi, Onosato, and Tobizaru) traveled over to Nagoya for a Sports-themed expo of sorts. Watch the entire two-hour show here on the Kyokai’s YouTube channel.

This event was shared with the Dolphins basketball team. I kind of think a chance was missed here for a three-on-three tournament with the fans or h-o-r-s-e with the pros. If you ever watch a sumo “match day” from the start, you will recognize the Radio Taiso routine here. There was a bit of a shoot-around but the big event was the dance off that featured Atamifuji and Midorifuji busting a move…without music. The video here doesn’t have rights to the music, so you don’t hear the music here. Wow, the Kyokai takes this rights stuff seriously, no?

Holidays in Japan – Showa Day

Andy Japanese Culture ,

Yes, this blog is about sumo, sumo, and only sumo. There are many topics, like Japanese language, which are tangentially related to the sport and knowledge of which enriches fans’ enjoyment of the sport. While this article is not nominally related to sumo, it falls squarely in that category of related topics.

The ranking sheet (banzuke) for major sumo tournaments is usually released on a Monday, two weeks prior to the start of the tournament. However, the ranking sheet for the May tournament will be released on Tuesday because April 29 is a holiday, Showa Day. In fact, several days this week are national holidays, so called “Golden Week”.

DateHolidayTranslation
1/1/2024元日New Year’s Day
1/8/2024成人の日Coming of Age Day
2/11/2024建国記念の日National Foundation Day
2/23/2024天皇誕生日Emperor’s Birthday
3/20/2024春分の日Spring Equinox
4/29/2024昭和の日Showa Day
5/3/2024憲法記念日Constitution Day
5/4/2024みどりの日Green Day
5/5/2024こどもの日Children’s Day
7/15/2024海の日Sea Day
8/11/2024山の日Mountain Day
9/16/2024敬老の日Respect for the Aged Day
9/22/2024秋分の日Fall Equinox
10/14/2024スポーツの日Sports Day
11/3/2024文化の日Culture Day
11/23/2024勤労感謝の日Thanksgiving

The Act on National Holidays is the law that established the official holidays observed in Japan. There are currently sixteen public holidays observed annually, listed above. So, what is Showa Day? The Showa era refers to the reign of Emperor Hirohito, from 1926 to 1989 and Showa Day was established in 2005 to reflect on that tumultuous timeframe and the historical lessons learned.

Showa Day

The era encompasses pre-World War II imperialism, World War II itself, as well as the occupation and post War economic boom, so there is certainly a lot to reflect upon. Even if we stay well away from the dramatic political and socio-economic changes, the sumo world itself underwent a massive amount of change.

Before this era, sumo was still fought in a much less systematic fashion, split between Osaka-centered competition and Tokyo-centered competition, each with slightly different rules. In 1927, the two merged and in 1957-1958 the familiar bi-monthly tournament schedule was set with three tournaments in Tokyo, one in Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyushu. (Let’s not look at the turbulent history of Kyokai chairmen and just say we did.)

The venues themselves had undergone considerable change. The Tokyo-based tournaments shifted from Kuramae Kokugikan to the current Ryogoku Kokugikan in 1985. There were also dramatic changes on the dohyo. The dohyo itself still had four physical pillars at the beginning of the Showa era. Those were replaced with the floating tassels we recognize today. Famously, the sport was also the first to have its own replay booth, implemented during the Showa period. Our black-clad shimpan have been working with their own VAR since the summer of ’69.

The wrestlers have also changed. The Showa era harkens back to Yokozuna Tsunenohana through Chiyonofuji, Hokutoumi, and Onokuni. Foreign rikishi began to compete and make their presence known in the sport. In 1972, Takamiyama won the top-division yusho. And late in this timeframe he ushered his protégé, Konishiki, to the rank Ozeki. Many of the top division wrestlers that we grew up watching were born during the era. Terunofuji is the first Yokozuna born during the Heisei era of the recently retired Akihito.

In Closing

I am sure that I am missing many monumental sumo reforms which occurred during the Showa era but it is easy to say that the period was transformational. The two gents in the picture were born during the Showa era. And sumo evolved into the modern sport we’ve come to love. If there are particular memories you have of sumo during the Showa period, feel free to leave a comment.

Sumo News Round-up 2024.2.3

Andy Festivals, Japanese Culture, Kotonowaka, promotion, Tochinoshin (栃ノ心) , , , ,

Yes, the tournament is over. Terunofuji won in spectacular fashion against the impressive Kotonowaka. Our coverage from the tournament is collected here. Nevertheless, this week is jam-packed with sumo news.

Shin-Ozeki Kotonowaka

Kotonowaka was promoted to Ozeki, as expected. He came tantalizingly close to a yusho and was understandably disappointed to lose in the playoff. His performance over the past three basho has been of a consistent, high quality. But if we look back further, we can see a reliable, top-level sekitori since May of 2022.

Sumo fans everywhere were expecting him to change his shikona to Kotozakura, the shikona used by his grandfather. However, he has decided to stick with Kotonowaka for the time being, and will change his shikona in May.

Juryo Promotions Released

Along with Kotonowaka’s Ozeki promotion, the Banzuke Committee released the names of those makushita wrestlers who earned promotion to Juryo. This time, four rikishi return to juryo, no debutantes. We finally see the long-awaited returns of Wakatakakage and Hakuoho to the ranks of sekitori, along with journeymen Tsushimanada and Kitaharima.

You will remember that Wakatakakage and Hakuoho were top division wrestlers who suffered unfortunate injuries to the knee and shoulder, respectively, which required surgery and long rehab. In Wakatakakage’s case, he was Sekiwake in March of 2023 when he blew up his knee falling onto the tawara. Hakuoho’s shoulder had been a nagging concern going back to his amateur days. His other shoulder had surgery before going pro and the intense action of Makuuchi seemed to require the same surgery to be repeated on the opposite side after Nagoya 2023.

Both men dropped into Makushita during their rehab but will rise together in March 2024. Wakatakakage won the yusho, following up on his 5-2 in Kyushu. Hakuoho lost one bout to another standout, Onokatsu, to finish 6-1. Onokatsu lost his next match to Wakatakakage and he also finished 6-1, narrowly missing out on promotion.

Setsubun (February 3)

I’ve written about this a few times. Setsubun is a festival to celebrate the coming of spring. You have just cleaned the house at the beginning of January during “oosouji,” so let’s make an absolute mess of things again by throwing beans or peanuts at one of the kids, who runs around the house wearing a devil mask, and shouting “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (“Bad spirits out! Fortune in!”) Brilliant. And, let’s top it off by standing up and eating a long sushi roll (eho-maki) while facing the same direction. This year, for those who observe, it’s east-north-east. With all of the kyujo from January, we need all the help we can get!

Tochinoshin Retirement Ceremony

Tochinoshin had his retirement ceremony at Kokugikan. These events feature exhibition bouts and various demonstrations, building up to the main event…the haircut. Yobidashi perform drum demonstrations while Tokoyama show how they make the infamous oicho-mage hairstyle donned by sekitori during tournaments. The Kasugano stable’s own Jiro is the top-ranked tate-yobidashi, and did the taiko demonstration while Tokotakumi, the level four Tokoyama, used Tochimusashi as his model. This was likely to be a role for Aoiyama but he was kyujo, as was Hokuseiho.

Kasugano-oyakata with the final snip

Gyoji certainly do not get the day off as they officiate bouts as well as participate in the Shokkiri. The comedy duo of Wakazakura and Tochimitsuru teamed up with Nishikido-beya’s Kimura Kintaro to lighten the mood with the famous “How NOT to Sumo” routine. Jinku included Yuki and Kasugano’s Tochigidake. At the end of the makuuchi bouts, Tochikodai closed things out with the bow-twirling ceremony.

Tochinoshin has been one of the most successful foreign wrestlers, reaching the level of Ozeki largely through the brute force of what sumo fans knew as his “sky-crane.” He was particularly known for his rivalry with Ichinojo, with whom he fought several epic bouts, including the famous water-break bout. It seems that many wrestlers have had spectacular comebacks from injury lately, and Tochinoshin’s career is certainly notable for how he overcame a knee injury, dropped out of the professional ranks, and clawed his way back past his previous best rank to reach Ozeki.

A long list of sumo dignitaries took turns with the scissors, taking a snip of his topknot, including Asashoryu, Hakuho, Terunofuji, and his compatriots, Kokkai and Gagamaru. Former stablemate Tochiozan was also in attendance but, as mentioned above, kyujo Aoiyama was not.

Tochinoshin will not continue his career in the sumo association. He has been working with wine makers of his native Georgia to help promote Georgian wine. If one thinks that there are only two major types of wine, red and white, you likely have not had an opportunity to enjoy a Georgian “Amber.” Georgia is famous for being the birthplace of wine — no, not Italy or France. Yes, they have red and white wine, as well. But not many wines from the region (of any variety) find themselves in our shops or restaurants, so there is certainly lots of work ahead for Mr. Sky Crane.