Scandal

Gyoji Kimura Kankuro Suspended

Andy Scandal

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.

The Oyakata Reassignment Thought Experiment

Josh K Nihon Sumo Kyokai, Oyakata, Scandal, Stables (Heya) , , , , , , ,

The venerable John Gunning dropped a banger in the Japan Times last week, discussing the fallout of the Hokuseiho bullying scandal and the Miyagino beya caretaker drama. Developments in the latter story have seen the public and media barred from the training facilities at the heya’s Osaka lodgings, as new temporary boss Tamagaki tries to steady the ship.

Tamagaki is the former Komusubi Tomonohana, and has been drafted in from Oshima beya to restore the viability of the troubled stable. In his article, Gunning expands on a point that frequent Tachiai reader/commenter/participant Asashosakari and I were discussing recently on Sumo Forum, that one of the issues that could be contributing to problems at heya that lack oversight is the wildly uneven distribution of oyakata at stables in the Kyokai:

“Despite there being 105 elder name shares in the JSA, and (currently) just 45 stables, the distribution of the former among the latter is far from even. Musashigawa stable for example has 14 wrestlers and just one elder… while in Kasugano stable, seven former top division men supervise 16 wrestlers. A more even apportioning of that experience and wisdom would go a long way toward preventing situations where immature 21- and 22-year-old wrestlers are left in control of groups of teenagers.” – John Gunning, The Japan Times

Now, before the conspiracy theorists start furiously pounding away at their keyboards, John and I have been seen in the same place at the same time, I couldn’t tell you anything about hurling and the only feelings I have for Manchester United are occasionally pity or loathing. But he is onto something and it’s rather in line with this excerpt from my Forum contribution:

“Another thing that hasn’t come up here is Takashima’s defection from Miyagino to Isenoumi a couple years ago. I don’t know if the real reason for this ever cropped up, and maybe he just didn’t want to be a part of what Hakuho was going to build, but you’d think that having a veteran presence at the heya (ie adult in the room) would help to hopefully mitigate some situations.

It seems absolutely nuts that Kasugano and Isenoumi account for 10% of all elder shares between just the two heya, and Kasugano has another 3 official staffers.

Now that everyone can be a sanyo, a good use of the role would be using their time to support new oyakata to help them develop. I could be wrong but newer shisho who have a sanyo or very senior oyakata in the backroom team (ie Oshima when he was Tomozuna, Ikazuchi with Irumagawa, Hanaregoma with Minatogawa, Oshiogawa with Oguruma, etc.) seem to have had it pretty smooth sailing so far.”

Before you make the point, I know, quoting yourself is weird and should be reserved for self-help and wellness influencers who repost their tweets on their main Instagram feed. But I digress.

I actually don’t believe heya consolidation is the answer, because while it potentially solves one problem it creates another issue in terms potentially pushing the declining rate of recruiting even further. But I do think a realignment of oyakata – and especially sanyo – makes a ton of sense.

Gunning points out a number of issues that would be caused by migration of oyakata, all of which are valid and you should go read the article. For the purposes of this thought exercise, let’s set up some ground rules:

  • No oyakata leave their existing ichimon (keeps power balance the same as it is now), with one exception
  • Prioritise support for new shisho (who inherited or opened stables in the last 5 years) by experienced oyakata and sanyo
  • Don’t move oyakata to experienced single shisho if a better option exists
  • Try to keep sub-family alignments in order to preserve culture (ie, among stables which branched from or share affiliations with other heya within the larger ichimon)
  • We will ignore the geographical locations of the heya. Obviously, in real life it would be a big deal for an oyakata based in the south of Tokyo to move to, for example, Chiba or Ibaraki prefectures. I think it’s difficult to do this as a thought experiment and consider the personal circumstances of people we don’t know all that much about.

Takasago Ichimon

  • Jinmaku (ex-Fujinoshin, 63) moves to Takasago from Hakkaku

Just one move here. I toyed with moving Tanigawa to Nishikido beya, as he’s spent 13 years coaching first at Hakkaku and then Kokonoe and is the best candidate to assume a heya. But Kokonoe has 25 rikishi and probably needs all four coaches. While Nishikido beya has been more or less dead since its own scandal(s) and has no one to inherit it, you can always move someone in closer to the time that the current shisho is ready to go.

So, the move that I did make is the soon-to-retire Jinmaku. Hakkaku beya has 18 rikishi, but in addition to the chairman of the association it’s also coached by a former shisho in Azumazeki and a future one in Kimigahama (Okinoumi).  Takasago-beya, meanwhile, has 24 rikishi of its own, but only two coaches at present and the shisho is one of the youngest and least experienced in the Kyokai with only 3 years as a coach before taking over as stable master amidst a scandal. While Wakamatsu (former Asanowaka) is also there, this provides a much better balance.

Tokitsukaze Ichimon

  • Kagamiyama (ex-Tagaryu, 66) moves to Arashio from Isenoumi
  • Michinoku (ex-Kirishima, 65) and Tatsutayama (ex-Sasshunnada, 66) move to Otowayama from Michinoku
  • Urakaze (ex-Shikishima, 53) moves to Arashio from Michinoku
  • Katsunoura (ex-Kirinishiki, 61) moves to Oitekaze from Isenoumi
  • Takashima (ex-Koboyama, 66) moves to Isegahama ichimon from Isenoumi

As referenced above, Isenoumi beya has 7 coaches for 15 rikishi, which is absolutely ridiculous. Let’s keep the former Oikari, Ikioi and Tosanoumi all in the heya with the shisho, as they were all Isenoumi-beya products. Kagamiyama recently shut down a basically dead heya and migrated to Isenoumi, and as a sanyo his services are better utilised with the relatively inexperienced Arashio oyakata, who has produced multiple sekitori and also seems to be an active recruiter.

Oitekaze oyakata is vastly experienced, but he has 20 rikishi that he oversees himself. Katsunoura is older than him, but by the time he reaches the mandatory retirement age, one of Oitekaze beya’s vast number of sekitori will be ready to take their steps into coaching anyway, so this can be a temporary move.

The other departure from Isenoumi beya will be Takashima. Whatever his reasons were for leaving Miyagino beya, he should certainly never have been allowed to take a fairly prestigious name out of that ichimon to go to a stable that was already overloaded with coaches, especially given the greater need for that share in Isegahama ichimon in future. It may be coincidental that Hokuseiho’s reign of terror is said to have begun in the summer of 2022, which is exactly when Takashima left Miyagino-beya.

Tatsutayama is formerly of Izutsu beya, so that’s why I found the fit for him as a sanyo who can provide senior support in Kakuryu’s new Otowayama beya. Finally, Michinoku beya closes in April and it’s said the rikishi will have their choice of stables to join within the ichimon. Word on the street is that Michinoku’s Ozeki and shisho will join up with Kakuryu, but there’s no reason for four coaches there so we’ll send Urakaze to Arashio beya.

Isegahama Ichimon

  • Takashima (ex-Koboyama, 66) moves to Ajigawa from Isenoumi

This is a tough one to project, as we have the ongoing Hakuho disciplinary issues, as well as a handful of potential names that may be needed soon.

There’s going to be a serious kabu crunch here soon, as Takarafuji and Terunofuji probably aren’t that long for the mawashi, and Isegahama is going to need to hand over his stable next year. So, we’re bringing the Takashima kabu back into the family where it should have stayed, and we’ll put him as a mentor to Ajigawa for the time being.

Every other shisho in the ichimon has a partner except for Asahiyama, who is much more experienced and also has quite a small heya of rikishi who are similar in rank. We’ll leave things as they are with respect to Tamagaki and Miyagino beya for now, as that situation will resolve itself shortly anyway.

Nishonoseki Ichimon

  • Kumegawa (ex-Kotoinazuma, 61) moves to Naruto from Sadogatake
  • Minatogawa (ex-Daitetsu, 63) moves to Nishonoseki from Hanaregoma
  • Minezaki (ex-Misugiiso, 67) moves to Shikoroyama from Shibatayama
  • Shiratama (ex-Kototsubaki, 63) accompanies Hidenoyama when the heya branches out from Sadogatake
  • Merge Otake beya into Minato beya when it probably closes next year

There aren’t many stables with a surplus of coaches in this large ichimon, apart from Sadogatake which will soon lose Hidenoyama oyakata to a branch-out. We also don’t want to deplete Sadogatake beya too much, because with 24 rikishi it’s easily one of the biggest heya in the sport.

So I’ve made five recommendations here, in an attempt to exercise restraint. Shibatayama beya, with just eight rikishi and a very senior shisho, doesn’t feel like the best home for a sanyo like Minezaki, a former stable master in his own right, despite their long standing connection. So, I’ve sent him to support ex-Homasho at Shikoroyama-beya where he is the new shisho following the former Terao’s passing. Homasho has plenty of seasoning as a coach, but as a large stable which has had some issues in the past, a veteran oyakata seems better placed to assist there.

Sadogatake beya ultimately gets its allocation reduced by half here, as the very senior Shiratama could accompany Hidenoyama upon his branch-out to offer senior support. Hidenoyama, presumably, will be slightly reducing the overall number of deshi at Sadogatake when he leaves, anyway. We’ll also send Kumegawa oyakata to Naruto beya, to offer support to an oyakata who has shown tremendous scouting and recruiting prowess but whose rikishi have suffered plenty of issues on and off the dohyo.

Hanaregoma beya, with just nine rikishi, probably isn’t the best home for three oyakata, including the very senior Minatogawa. As a former Nishonoseki man himself, we’ll send him to assist ex-Kisenosato, who is the youngest shisho in the Kyokai and with one of the largest heya, thanks to the deshi brought by his deputy Nakamura (ex-Yoshikaze). But in an effort to avoid the Hakuho scenario, sticking a veteran presence in a very junior heya might be helpful, even if temporarily.

Finally, Otake beya will probably close next year. If the oyakata intends to continue as sanyo (provided the Kyokai is open to it), it might make sense to send him to Minato beya where there have been some behind-the-scenes issues in recent years in an attempt to lend some additional stability.

Dewanoumi Ichimon

  • Wakafuji (ex-Otsukasa, 53) to Shikihide from Kise
  • Nishikijima (ex-Shotenro, 42) to Futagoyama from Fujishima
  • Sekinoto (ex-Iwakiyama, 48) to Takekuma from Sakaigawa
  • Dekiyama (ex-Hochiyama, 42) to Musashigawa from Sakaigawa
  • Mihogaseki (ex-Tochisakae, 50) to Tatsunami from Kasugano
  • Iwatomo (ex-Kimurayama, 42) to Tamanoi from Kasugano

Some of these moves were obvious and some were less obvious, and in the end I decided to be somewhat conservative rather than doing anything radical. Each of these moves adds an oyakata to a single-oyakata stable.

Wakafuji’s move to Kise always seemed a little bit weird. The heya has a few other oyakata, none of whom really made sense to move (Futeno might ultimately be the successor and seems to have worked closely with many of the sekitori, while Tokushoryu and especially Akiseyama may only be in situ temporarily, depending on Shimanoumi’s situation). In any case, another veteran presence at a Shikihide beya which has had some internal issues in the past few years seems prudent.

Nishikijima was the only oyakata that seemed to make sense to move to Futagoyama, as all of the other Fujishima beya oyakata would be senior to a shisho who by now has some decent experience. On the flip side, Takekuma is a brand new heya and it seems prudent to stick a senior oyakata from the parent heya with the former Goeido, who is one of the youngest stablemasters in the Kyokai.

I pulled another oyakata out of Sakaigawa beya as well, with Dekiyama going to Musashigawa beya. This was an imperfect fit, but I felt better about pulling from Sakaigawa (itself, like the original Musashigawa, branched from Dewanoumi beya) rather than Kasugano beya for two reasons: 1) Sadanoumi and Myogiryu – who may well be the eventual successor – are both soon to retire, potentially giving the stable yet more oyakata; and 2) it’s possible that Tochiozan (Kiyomigata oyakata) is a branchout candidate from Kasugano himself, especially if Tochinonada (Takenawa oyakata) is the eventual successor to the heya in 3 years’ time.

I did however pull two oyakata from the bloated Kasugano beya: the first was the more obvious move, with the junior Kimurayama going to Tamanoi beya which branched from Kasugano, and which has a large volume of rikishi. The second was less obvious, and probably the biggest debate, as Tatsunami beya is another large stable. It also has a number of sekitori with more likely soon to follow, so it felt like an experienced coach was better than moving the likes of Tokushoryu, which is why I settled on Mihogaseki, the former Tochisakae. With Tatsunami not having any connections within the ichimon due to its relatively recent realignment, it was tougher to find a suitable candidate.

Conclusion

All in all, this was an interesting exercise. What it showed me was that it’s possible to improve the balance of coaching within the Kyokai by making around a dozen or so moves and without any radical realignment of the existing ichimon structure.

There will be more scientific ways of doing this, and more forensic ways that take into account the various personalities. As a back of the napkin exercise, however, I think it does show that if the Kyokai put some proper time into researching how to realign their coaching resources, they can probably come up with something even better that would be even more impactful.

It’s also worth linking to this recent article from the Asahi Shimbun. The piece details another solution, which is allowing coaching credentials and ideas to dictate the ability of a former rikishi to operate a stable, rather than the duration of their time on the dohyo. Perhaps we can visit some suggestions for concepts like that in a later post.

What do you think of all of this? Obviously this isn’t the standard Tachiai thought experiment and might be limited in scope to a handful of die-hard readers, but if anyone has any thoughts they’d like to share in the comments then I’d certainly love to kick those around as we get ready for the upcoming basho.

Kokonoe-oyakata and Wrestler Disciplined for Underage Deshi Drinking

Andy Scandal , ,

An underage rikishi from Kokonoe-beya was transported by ambulance after drinking alcohol. In Japan, the official drinking age, and the age of adulthood, is 20. The rikishi is a minor and ranked below Juryo, so his name was not released. Some sleuthing has been done and the name is likely known but I’m not going to report it. The Kyokai suspended both the rikishi and Kokonoe-oyakata, though the total length of the suspensions have yet to be released. It seems the wrestler’s name has been removed from the Kokonoe-beya website, suggesting he is out of the sport.

This thread from Herouth has many great details. (I will curse Elon forever for breaking the Twitter embeds.) An important detail is the fact that minors and most non-sekitori are restricted from attending Jungyo, except for cases where they are tsukebito of sekitori, specially requested by the Jungyo site (like hometown boys), or, as in this case, accompanying their oyakata. Since Kokonoe-oyakata is (was?) the deputy chief in charge of the Jungyo, all of his charges were there. In his case, that’s some twenty-five wrestlers to monitor. Even with the assistance of the other three Kokonoe-beya oyakata, that’s a big task.

Let’s be practical here. When I was in high school, our senior class was a little smaller than this stable. In spite of the fact that we had several chaperones for our three-day class camping trip, some of my classmates decided to smoke weed one night and they got busted. Our class was the last to have that Senior Class trip, among other consequences. The Junior class wasn’t much better. They were an even smaller bunch but a young lad and lass were able to escape their supervision at their trip and…well…this isn’t that kind of website; and future classes did not have that Junior Class trip.

When I was in Ecuador with an even smaller group of high school students, two lads and a lass evaded chaperones and…well…this isn’t that kind of website. About a week later, several kids got caught smoking cigarettes and one was sent home. When we were in Quito, we sneaked out and went to a bar. Somehow, I was the only one carded, despite the fact that I was the only one who was actually 18, and thus legal in Ecuador. Oh, and then our sailboat ran aground and sank in the Galapagos. Hey, at least one thing wasn’t the kids’ fault.

“So, Andy, where are you going with this?” People are going to blame Kokonoe-oyakata, as they should. He’s the boss. You have to be able to watch these kids like a hawk. And when you can’t, which is often, bad things will happen. My only point here is that while there are few details about what actually happened, responsibility will certainly lie with more than one person here. There were 24 other stablemates and I’m sure at least some could have/should have intervened. “Dude, you shouldn’t drink that,” or at least “You’ve had enough.” Who knows if a supporter had funded the outing and prompted or encouraged some of the misbehavior, a la Santuary and Enō’s patron?

In the end, the Kyokai are going to need to adjust their policies. I would be surprised if large stables will bring the entire stable, including minors, on Jungyo. Alcohol use is common place in Japan, even among the under-20s. Street vending machines sell beer and flavored highballs. Izakaya, karaoke boxes, and other restaurants — even kissaten — entertain groups of high schoolers. My wife just gave me a juicy anecdote about when she was in middle school and her class of middle schoolers all went out drinking at an okonomiyaki restaurant. I can honestly say, I have been to easily a hundred bars and restaurants in Japan and I was carded once, at GasPanic in Yokohama — and that was the crazy night I got roofied.

As others have noted, many of the sumo world scandals result from nights out drinking like this. There’s the sexual harassment scandal which led to the quasi-ban on minors at Jungyo, Harumafuji’s karaoke remote, Asashoryu’s brawl…the list goes on, and it goes back. Even further back than Futahaguro. Wrestlers, yobidashi, gyoji, oyakata,… all of them, individually, are going to need to realize that yet another drink might cost them, or their friend, their career. Sadly, this won’t be the last time this happens (thus the scandal counter). But hopefully it will happen less and less frequently.

When I see more updates on punishment/consequences, I’ll post them here.

Michinoku-Beya Violence Scandal Update

Andy Scandal ,

Tachiai needs to close the loop on the most recent scandal to hit the sumo world which forced me to resurrect the scandal counter. Regular readers will remember that just before the Natsu basho Yasunishi, a junior wrestler at Michinoku-Beya, went to the press in order to call out a stablemate (revealed as Kirinofuji) for bullying. The allegations included verbal and physical abuse. Yasunishi’s protestations were apparently met with a tepid response from Michinoku-oyakata thus the need to go to the press and force his hand, with apparent support of another stablemate.

Kirinofuji retired but that is not the end of the story. We found out today that the Kyokai investigated the way that Michinoku handled the situation and found fault with the way that he minimized or dismissed the allegations. Michinoku will be docked 20% of his salary for 3 months and lost his position as head of operations, though he retains a position on the board.

After repeated rules violations by deshi, Tokiwayama-oyakata and more recently Isegahama-oyakata, suffered harsh demotions. The lesson should be clear. Michinoku will need to watch his junior deshi a bit closer now and act proactively to tackle bullying and harassment in his stable.