Aminishiki

Intai Watch: Arawashi Retires

Andy Aminishiki (安美錦), Arawashi (荒鷲), Retirement, Takekaze (豪風), Yoshikaze (嘉風) , , , , ,
Harumafuji’s Haircut by Nicola

The sumo world is undergoing a huge shift as aging wrestlers retire and new names make their mark on the banzuke. The latest shikona to add to the list is Arawashi. He was a makuuchi regular from 2014 through 2018, twice almost cracking into sanyaku, reaching Maegashira #2 three years ago at Hatsu ’17 where he claimed two kinboshi, one from Hakuho and the other from Kakuryu a few days later. A third kinboshi came in March from Harumafuji.

Arawashi had been a committed grappler, determined to win or lose in a belt battle rather than the slapping and thrusting of oshi-tsuki styles. After that first tournament at Maegashira #2 he fell a bit as the knee injuries set in. He crawled back to Maegashira #2 in 2018 when then chronic knee injuries forced a rapid slide into the lower ranks of Juryo, and then Makushita last year. After two straight kyujo tournaments, he was likely looking at further demotion to Sandanme, and decided to call it a career. Any news of retirement ceremonies will be posted here on Tachiai.

Intai Watch 2020

Hakuho’s shock admission that he plans to retire this year has put the sumo world on notice that change is coming. Obviously, the date for Hakuho’s retirement is likely in the latter half of the year but a massive question mark remains. With his and Kakuryu’s kyujo, dates for both announcements may be soon.

There are also several big name retirement ceremonies on the docket this year.

Takekaze

Takekaze’s intai celebration will take place at Kokugikan, next Saturday, Feb. 1. We should all get used to his elder name: Oshiogawa (押尾川). Below is the announcement from his official Twitter profile. If you’ll be in Tokyo next week there are only a few seats left in the A and B rings of the upper level!

Aminishiki

Uncle Sumo’s storied career came to an end in Nagoya last year. Versatility was his virtue, having won using some 46 kimarite. He was well adapted to win using both yotsu and oshi styles…though late in his career he became quite fond of the henka. Now known as Ajigawa-oyakata (安治川), you can go watch his retirement ceremony on October 4. Some seating has sold out but you can get lower level MASU boxes in the B and C rings, as well as A, B, and C rings of the second level.

Yoshikaze

Yoshikaze followed Aminishiki off the dohyo the following tournament after falling into Juryo. However, he’s getting his haircut one day earlier, on October 3 at Kokugikan. Tickets have not yet gone on sale but that is expected to happen around Feb. 2.

The berserker’s wild, aggressive style was still quite successful in the lower ranks of the maegashira so his kyujo and subsequent retirement appeared to be quite sudden compared to the longer slides we have seen. We look forward to seeing the deshi Nakamura-oyakata (中村) produces.

Ex-Aminishiki Danpatsushiki Date-shiki: October 4, 2020

Andy Aminishiki (安美錦), Retirement ,

As readers will recall, Uncle Sumo, aka, the Prince formerly known as Aminishiki retired during the Natsu basho after suffering a knee injury. The resulting kyujo would have dropped the beloved henka-artist into the Makushita division for the first time this side of Y2K.

Danpatsushiki (photo: Nicola)

When the apocalypse did not come, Aminishiki was promoted to Juryo. Rumor has it, this is because all records kept by the Kyokai at the time were all painstakingly calligraphied, anyway, and all historical footage was on 8mm and VHS. It wasn’t until the iPod came out when everything was quickly transfered to minidisc.

Coincidentally, this last kyujo was exactly 12 years after he first reached the rank of Sekiwake, a rank he last held in the Spring of 2012. Since then, he mostly managed to hang on to his makuuchi status until last year when he was demoted to Juryo for the final time. This past tournament was the first since the world met the Teletubbies and Harry Potter, The Notorious B.I.G. died and your humble correspondent graduated high school, without the gregarious rikishi.

Ex-Aminishiki (Ajigawa oyakata) made the announcement on his blog. That entry also linked to his new retirement website: http://aminishiki.jp/ where tickets are now available to the ceremony at Kokugikan and the after party at the Royal Park Hotel.

Jungyo Report – Aomori

Herouth Jungyo (巡業) , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Jungyo is nearly over. In a few hours, the last event – after a few days of hiatus – is going to take place at Tokyo’s KITTE mall, to be shortly followed by the banzuke announcement and all that come with them.

I’ll keep on writing a few Jungyo reports as my time allows, though, because the basho is still a long way away, and because some of you like reading them, it seems. But I can’t in honesty call them “Newsreels” anymore, because, well, the news are a bit old.

Today I’ll cover the two events that took place on August 14 and 15 at Aomori prefecture. These are days 16 and 17 of the Jungyo. The events at Aomori marked a departure of the Juryo rikishi – with the exception of Kyokutaisei and Ichiyamamoto, who are Hokkaido men and expected in the Hokkaido events. Also, Takagenji, the upper-ranking Taka Twin, has joined the Jungyo after being kyujo for its first part, just as his twin brother in Juryo has left it.

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