Jungyo (巡業)

Winter News Update 2023.12.17

Andy Breaking News, Deshi, Jungyo (巡業), Kakuryu (鶴竜) ,

Jungyo is not the only sumo news going on so I have tweaked the format of this weekend’s news update post. We’ll get to Jungyo in a bit but first there are some other sumo-related news topics to mention.

Death of Shikoroyama-Oyakata

Former Sekiwake Terao and master of Shikoroyama heya, Fukuzono Yoshifumi has died. Beloved by sumo fans of the 1980s and 1990s, Terao was known for his slender physique and spirited tsuppari. He began his sumo career in 1980 at his father’s Izutsu-beya, alongside his two brothers, Sakahoko and Kakureizan.

After five years in the lower divisions, he rose to the top division in 1985, establishing himself as a division favorite for the next 15 years. He is a key member of the Hana-no-sanpachi-gumi, wrestlers born during Showa-38 (1963). That list includes former Yokozuna Hokutoumi, Futahaguro and Ozeki Konishiki.

After retirement, he led Shikoroyama-beya where he coached Homasho to the rank of Komusubi as well as yusho-winning Abi. When Homasho retired, he remained attached to the heya as Tatsutagawa-oyakata. His brother, Sakahoko, took on Izutsu-beya and trained Kakuryu before his own death of pancreatic cancer in 2019.

Shikoroyama had been unwell in recent years due to a chronic heart condition and had been kyujo from the recent tournament in November. Abi had come back to Tokyo from where he had been on tour in order to visit with his master in hospital.

When the master of a heya dies, it obviously raises questions about the future of the heya and its wrestlers. At this time it is unclear whether Homasho will take over or whether the wrestlers will be transferred elsewhere. Tachiai will provide an update as developments become clear.

New Recruits

Isegahama-beya and former Yokozuna Kakuryu both had dueling recruitment announcements this past week. Isegahama and Kakuryu poached 18-year-old seniors from Atamifuji’s former high school, Hiryu in Numazu, Shizuoka prefecture. Isegahama claimed Suzuki Ryuichi (185cm, 130kg) while Kakuryu shook hands with Shirasaka Yuto (183cm, 140kg) who will debut with Michinoku-beya but as Kakuryu’s uchi-deshi.

Both gentlemen will debut at Hatsu 2024. That will make for some intriguing mae-zumo bouts and a very interesting Jonokuchi yusho race in March. Kakuryu also made it known that he will branch out from Michinoku at some point to run his own stable.

Kabu Kalculus

Several years ago, Kakuryu had been seen as the likely heir to the Izutsu kabu, in honor of his master. However, that kabu was picked up by Shimanoumi, who is obviously still active in Juryo and has loaned it out to Akiseyama. After the closure of Izutsu beya, Kakuryu and the other Izutsu-beya wrestlers settled into Michinoku-beya. However, the master has made it known that he will not give up the kabu after he turns 65 and must retire next year. He will keep the kabu and stay on for another 5-years as an advisor, as is his right. Suddenly, the Shikoroyama kabu will become available and one wonders if it has traded hands. Who knows? When the dust settles, Kakuryu may end up with the Izutsu kabu after all.

An aside: This practice has always fascinated me. We often assume that capitalism is capitalism, socialism is socialism, and there’s one dogmatic method of doing things when there are actually a myriad of flavors, albeit with common, fundamental tenets — like private ownership. But here in the sumo world we have ownership of the Sumo Kyokai split among former wrestlers, with a cap on the number of shares available. I’ve just been very curious how it would play out if this practice were put in place at, say, US Steel by the likes of J P Morgan and Andrew Carnegie or at Facebook or Apple, or the mom-and-pop greasy spoon down the street. It would be a system where the shares could only be owned by select workers, where eligibility is based on performance criteria, and only the best of the best can…run their own division, let’s say? But I digress…

Winter Jungyo 2023: Week 2

The tour stopped in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku before heading to Hiroshima for two dates and then Osaka this weekend. The tour will continue on for a couple more dates in Central Japan this week before wrapping up in Tochigi before Christmas. In Matsuyama, Atamifuji* got to sit and get his hair done. In Sakai, Osaka, hometown hero Ura got the same treatment with Gonoyama, Ura, and Tobizaru taking turns fielding questions from the audience in Question Corner.

*Correction: an earlier version incorrectly stated that Mitakeumi sat for the oicho-mage demonstration in Matsuyama.

Winter Jungyo 2023: Week 1

Andy Jungyo (巡業) , ,

For the last week the tour has been island hopping, counter-clockwise, around Kyushu. It started in Kumamoto before heading for Miyazaki, Oita, and Fukuoka before capping off this weekend with two dates in Nagasaki. Next week, the tour will head to Shikoku before landing on Honshu and heading back toward Tokyo. For those wrestlers collecting manhole cover trading cards, these tours give an awesome opportunity to check out their favorites!

Fuyu 2023: The first seven tour dates

Bad news hit the Winter Tour early as both Kirishima and Takakeisho went to the hospital and were forced to limit their participation with flu-like symptoms. Terunofuji was already kyujo. Hoshoryu then also fell victim at the Kikuyo stop. As they say in show business, “The Show Must Go On.” And for the time being, the stars of the show are the native Kyushu wrestlers, such as Sadanoumi, Hiradoumi, and everyone’s favorite Emo-zeki, Shodai.

While researching these venues, I was particularly struck by Yatsushiro’s Myoken Festival featuring a procession of horses and a half-turtle/half-snake called a “ga-meh.” Much of the festival actually occurred during Kyushu basho, and the highlight was on November 23rd — just before the basho’s final weekend as the drama was building between Kirishima and Atamifuji. Nonetheless, Yatsushiro may have been chosen as the first stop on the tour because of the importance of this festival, which concluded on December 1, as well as being Takakento’s hometown. If you have a spare 4.5 hours (since there is no hon-basho, I know you do) there is great footage of the 2019 event to see above. Better yet, if you are ever in Kyushu for the tournament, you might want to check out the Yatsushiro Myokensai for yourself!

Miyazaki-city food porn

On December 4, the tour stayed in Kumamoto prefecture but shifted over to a town called, Kikuyo. and then headed down to Miyazaki. Judging by the short video above, our favorite wrestlers were able to enjoy amazing food, especially wagyu beef. Miyazaki prefecture awards the Makuuchi yusho winner (Kirishima) with a head of their famous cattle as well as a ton of fresh produce.

In Oita, visitors would also be able to check out the Oita Prefectural Art Museum (OPAM). Running from November to January 21, is a very interesting exhibition, “Thermae: Ancient Rome, Japan, and the Joy of Bathing.” I am sure Takakeisho checked it out while they were in town. Guided tours on some days are offered but likely in Japanese, only. From here, it’s back to Kasuga in Fukuoka. I imagine that is to pick up more Amaō strawberries and mentaiko (presented as yusho prizes from the prefecture and city of Fukuoka).

Sasebo basho highlights

The wrestlers ended up this weekend in Nagasaki for two tour dates, Sasebo-city and Omura-city. Unfortunately, a few wrestlers are kyujo from the final Nagoya event, including Kinbozan, Takakento, and Chiyosakae. Hopefully everyone’s health cooperates as we enter another week of this tour. Sasebo city has an Open Data portal which I will be exploring for the next week, as well as Hirado. As I mentioned before, Ehime in Shikoku is next on the Jungyo calendar. The tour will then head toward Osaka on its way back to Tokyo.

Off-season Events Coming Up

Andy Banzuke (番付), Jungyo (巡業), Retirement

The sound of drums has died down around Kokugikan but that doesn’t mean sumo action is “Gone Till November.” This week we will get a bit of a peek at the upcoming November banzuke when we learn about those all-important Juryo promotions. And this weekend, Okinoumi will celebrate his career in a retirement ceremony at Kokugikan. October is chock-full of jungyo dates from October 4 to the 29th, when the banzuke will be finally revealed to the public. So, stay tuned as we try to wipe our minds of what just happened last night.

Winter Jungyo 2022

Andy Jungyo (巡業)
Winter Tour

Jungyo is making a comeback! Well, it’s actually been back since the summer after the COVID-induced break but it’s slowly gathering up steam. That first tour had four dates, the second one in the Fall had six and this December featured an 8-day tour through 12/14. This will give way to more celebrations and events around the New Year back in Tokyo.

Reiwa 4 (令和４年)

The official schedule for these tours is always available at the Kyokai website: https://sumo.or.jp/Jungyo/schedule/. There’s also an English version of the schedule available but the Japanese version provides a bit more detail, including contact information and links to the websites in order to get tickets.

One thing to navigate over there is the most recent year is at the top on the Japanese page. As a quick history/culture lesson, according to the traditional method for numbering years, it is the fourth year of the Reiwa era because it’s the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Naruhito. The Heiwa era was that of his father, Akihito, who retired in May 2019. For hardcore sumo fans, it can be helpful to at least be familiar with this system because the birthday information on the Kyokai website or on the SumoDB and sometimes on Wikipedia will use this system. And it’s just generally good to be familiar with the Showa, Heiwa, and Reiwa names. So if you’re looking for this year’s Jungyo schedule you look for Reiwa 4 and next year will obviously be Reiwa 5. There will be a test, so pay attention. When in town, Andy literally walks around Tokyo with exams ready to hand out to unsuspecting sumo fans…so be ready. The last poor sap was completely unprepared and failed. It was as if he didn’t even know what sumo was.

Fansa

As we see from our handy-dandy map, this edition of the winter tour made a quick trek around Kyushu before crossing over to the main island of Honshu and making a bee-line in the direction of Tokyo with a couple of stops in the Kansai region for the last few dates. It’s nice. For a great rundown of what Jungyo is, please read Herouth’s excellent article. But in a nutshell, each venue hosts a one or two-day mini sumo “basho” with more of a focus on meeting fans (fansa or “fan service”) than serious sumo bouts. This is where you’ll see shokkiri (comedy sumo), and jinku (folk songs), along with demonstrations of how the hairdressers (tokoyama) tie the famous oicho-mage top-knot and traditional drumming by yobidashi.

Shokkiri

It’s hard to mention shokkiri, though, without mention of Shobushi. The sumo world was rocked by Covid when Shobushi, a well-known shokkiri performer, succumbed to it early in the pandemic. So when you search for articles and YoutTube videos about shokkiri, many of them feature Shobushi. In this video, he’s the wrestler closer to the camera while Takamisato is his partner here.

For new sumo fans who may wonder why the sumo world was shut off from the public for so much longer, it seems, than the rest of Japan, that can provide some insight.

Shokkiri is a comic routine that acts as a bit of a tutorial for folks who are new to the sport, explaining the rules and traditions in a funny manner. The new Shokkiri team consists of Wakazakura and Tochimitsuru.

As Herouth mentioned in her post, the Kyokai particularly likes to feature local wrestlers. And this tour is no different. We will see more examples below but this particular tour stopped in Kyoto, home town of Wakazakura.

For a little background on this shokkiri team, both men are 27 years old and from Kasugano-beya, home of Tochinoshin and Aoiyama. Wakazakura is a Makushita-ranked wrestler, who started professional sumo pretty late, after graduating from Takushoku University and recently changed his shikona from Kawamoto. Tochimitsuru is from Kokubunji in an outer area of Tokyo.

Kyushu

There were four stops in Kyushu: Nagasaki, Ashikita, Beppu, and Kita Kyushu. From the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, the sekitori and select lower ranked wrestlers piled into buses and headed out for Nagasaki.

Nagasaki is home to Hiradoumi and recent Juryo promotee, Tsushimanada, who we think did just enough to keep his shimekomi. They’re shown here fielding questions along with yusho-winner, Abi.

As the local feature, Tsushimanada got extra special attention from the Kyokai, fans, as well as the higher-ranking wrestlers. We got to see him doing butsukari-geiko with Ozeki, Takakeisho. I usually like to think of butsukari as a living, breathing, blocking sled.

Unfortunately, this video is taken from very far back and there are quite a few rows of fans (and rikishi) blocking most of the view. A key technique in sumo is to learn how to get low and drive your opponent up as well as back. You also hear great wrestlers talk about how they are able to dig in and make themselves heavy, almost impossible to push back. The higher-ranked wrestler will almost effortlessly block the lower-ranker from moving forward while the lower-ranker pushes themselves to exhaustion. When he gets to the tawara, or if he can’t push any farther, the higher-ranked wrestler will shrug him off to the clay.

Without a Yokozuna on the list, there’s no rope-tying demonstration and the musubi-no-ichiban was Takakeisho vs Shodai each night. Now, these are not real serious bouts. Sometimes I get the feeling the wrestlers take the butsukari more seriously than the bouts on these tours. If you follow me on Twitter, you found out that Mitakeumi would usually end up getting thrown by his opponent and rolling off the dohyo and bowling over Shodai.

Beppu is known for its hot springs but Ashikita is relatively a little-known city which brings us “sumo oranges.” As such, these tours are also a great opportunity for the Kyokai to work with sponsors and promoters. Here are Tochimusashi, Chiyomaru, and Chiyosakae chilling next to what I believe is a BMW iX, the German automaker’s new electric “Sports Activity Vehicle.”

Okayama and Kansai

The troupe headed back to Honshu for the second half of the tour. Soja-city in Okayama opened this leg with Osaka, Kyoto and Mie prefecture closing things out. Omoto was featured as the local boy. He’s spent most of his 7-year career in Makushita. He’d fallen briefly into Sandanme recently after injury but had a great time in Kyushu, achieving a 6-1 record and nearly clinching the heyagashira mantle at Irumagawa-beya. On banzuke day, we’ll probably still find Shishi at the top but the lead has surely narrowed considerably.

A whole bunch of rikishi come from Osaka but the highest ranking one is Ura, followed by Takekuma-beya’s Gonoyama. I had thought Goeido would draw more of his deshi from Osaka but so far Gonoyama seems to be the only one. Naruto’s Oshoryu is also from the area but since he was kyujo, I would doubt he made it for the trip.

So ends this abbreviated look at an abbreviated tour. I hope to bring more from the Spring tour.