Nagoya 2016

Nagoya Tip #1: Toyota Museum

Andy Nagoya 2016, Travel , ,

Last summer, I had the distinct pleasure to travel to Nagoya to watch Harumafuji win on senshuraku. In response to several requests, I will definitely provide tips about Nagoya. But since I only spent a few days there, I don’t know nearly as much about places there as I do about Tokyo.

Nagoya was a great trip. Shinkansen was very fast, clean, and prompt. My wife and I had our two young children with us, so navigating Tokyo station with them (and luggage) was a challenge. But once we got to Nagoya, we were ushered around by either taxi or a friend of ours.

The sumo venue is right next to Nagoya Castle. I hear it is undergoing renovations in preparation for the Olympics in 2020. I will post about that soon. I have pictures. Also, I will post about the food. There are distinct culinary styles for Nagoya food. But first, I wanted to post about the real highlight of the trip: the Toyota Museum.

This was a fascinating experience. Some of you may know that Nintendo was actually started as a company that made Hanafuda cards. I actually have some Nintendo Hanafuda cards and will post pictures. Likewise, Toyota has a history in the textiles industry before making cars.

Toyota Museum Textile Machinery Pavilion

In the museum, you see the steady progression and advancement of the textile industry, starting with hand spun cotton and moving through modern automated spinning, weaving, loom technologies underlying cloth manufacturing. They have a hands-on demo where they take a ball of cotton and show you how it gets spun into thread.

From that huge room — which I spent far too much time in — they go to forging metal, then to pressing steel and making cars. It really is a great place to spend at least a few hours. I spent a whole day there with the kids. They’ve got more hands on demos of the manufacturing processes and little toys that the kids can make. We laughed when we found this giant piston with a museum staff member hiding, asleep, underneath. They’ve also got a robot band. There’s a restaurant there and a bit of an arcade for the kids.

Sumo Track & Field – A Sport Too Far?

Bruce H Nagoya 2016

The modern age of Sumo is both strange and wonderful. With so many Rikishi on social media, you get a flavor that these guys train hard, play hard, and frequently do the kind of fun and wacky stuff that everyone assumes takes place in Japan.

With the summer Olympics now complete in Rio, take a look at what happens when 3 sumotori decide to hold a foot race, courtesy of RocketNews24.

Looks like Amakaze and Takatenshu. I was hoping Amakaze would win!

Full story can be found here

Countdown To Banzuke (番付) – Handicapping Demotions

Bruce H Aki Basho 2016, Banzuke, Injuries, Nagoya 2016

Hokuho Beat Down

Now that we have had a look at the results of Nagoya, we get a clearer picture of who will rise in rank, and who will fall. As mentioned in Countdown To Banzuke (番付) – September Basho, Nagoya was a blood bath in the figurative and literal sense. For every 2 Sumotori with winning records, 3 had losing records, 5 withdrew from injuries, and practically everyone was banged up by the time it all wrapped with Harumafuji winning the cup.

2 Ozeki Kadoban (角番)

A big story to me is that 2 Ozeki are on the bubble for the September Tokyo tournament. While much of the Sumo world focus on if Kisenosato will make Yokozuna and break the Japanese drought, the far more interesting race is for the next Ozeki or two. When an Ozeki has a losing tournament, they are “Kadoban”, or at risk of demotion. When they have 2 losing tournaments in a row, they drop to the lower San-yaku ranks. This could open an Ozeki slot for some of the hard changing Sumotori to climb in rank. On the bubble for Tokyo are

  • Goeido – Could not pull off a win on the final day for kachi-koshi (勝ち越し)
  • Kotoshogiku – Withdrew due to injuries

Noteworthy Predicted Demotions – East

  • Kaisei – Sadly his 7-8 record means he is going to likely drop a rank
  • Kotoyuki – He had an abysmal tournament going 2-13. The Sen-yaku ranks are tough to hang onto, and he will be back to Maegashira, I would think.
  • Mitakeumi – At East Maegashira 1, he had a tough slot to fill. At 5-10 he will be looking to improve in Tokyo.
  • Osunaarashi – The Egyptian was out early with an injury. If he is healthy and is in the Tokyo September Banzuke, it is likely at a much lower Maegashira rank.
  • Toyonoshima – Did not even make it to his first bout, withdrew due to injuries. He is likely back to Juryo ranks for Tokyo

Noteworthy Predicted Demotions – West

  • Tochinoshin – The West Sekiwake is likely to be demoted due to a 6-9 result on Nagoya. He had some great matches, but as stated above, life in the San-yaku ranks is very tough.
  • Ikioi – A fan favorite, he went 5-10 and is likely to be well down the Banzuke, even though he was able to drop and injured Hakuho with a Slippi-toshi.
  • Endo – Dreadful tournament for this guy. 3-12 he was definitely not on top of his game.
  • Aminishiki – Withdrawing before his first bout, he is back to Juryo for Tokyo in all likelihood.
  • Sadanofuji – at 4-11, he is also headed back to Juryo, which sadly is not part of the NHK feed into America. Hope to see him back in the Makuuchi ranks soon.

Next up, we will look at which Rikishi are expected to rise when the Banzuke is published on August 28th

Countdown To Banzuke (番付) – September Basho

Bruce H Nagoya 2016 ,

It’s now less than two weeks until the Banzuke for the Aki Basho in Tokyo is released. For sumo fans, we are eagerly awaiting to see the new ranking, and to begin anticipating 15 days of sumo starting September 11th. Before we get into handicapping who we think ends up where in the ranking sheet, let’s take a moment to look at the outcome of the Nagoya Basho. In short – a bloodbath. There were 14 Rikishi with winning records, 21 Rikishi with losing records (likely demoted), 2 Ozeki went Kadoban (角番), and there were 5 Rikishi out with injuries, including Yokozuna Kakuryu.

Gory details after the jump Continue reading →