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Endo Retires

Andy Endo (遠藤), Retirement, Sumo Topics ,

News out of Oitekaze beya that Endo will retire. Though the Sumo Association has not made the official announcement, multiple media reports are confirming the decision citing sources close to the wrestler, including Nikkan Sports, Mainichi, Chunichi, Sports Hochi. I would still have held out for the official announcement but for the confirmed news that Kitajin-oyakata retired on 10/26. This was significant news because the kabu is owned by Endo and needed to be vacated so Endo could assume the name.

When the Kyushu banzuke was revealed yesterday, former Komusubi Endo had fallen from the sekitori ranks into Makushita. I anticipate the official announcement in a few hours but I will be at another family event so I wanted to get this out there. Frankly, we knew this day was coming several months ago when Endo underwent surgery on both knees. It is the end of an era.

Endo helped lead a resurgence in popularity for the sport after its nadir during the yaocho scandal of 2011. Here, we see Bruce taking a snap at one of the famous cutouts at Kokugikan. Endo was a successful rikishi at Nihon University and earned privileged debut at the rank of Ms10, like Mitakeumi and Onosato.

By virtue of that head start, Endo rose into the top division after only three tournaments, including a yusho in Juryo. He quickly rose to the Maegashira 1 rank in March 2014, his seventh professional tournament. However, injuries piled up and he wouldn’t reach Komusubi until 2018. In all, he claimed seven kinboshi in his career, including two against Hakuho.

Due to his popularity, he featured in TV commercials for sponsors like Nagatanien. He’s got that deep, gavelly voice that the ladies swoon for, amirite? Anyway, you can’t really tell because he never gets that many lines. He was rather notorious for seemingly giving the shortest answers to interview questions.

I am sure that all eight of his Shibaraku-kumadori inspired kesho mawashi will be on display at his retirement ceremony. The kabuki-themed image will likely be familiar for many of you. Unfortunately, the Instagram images that I featured in that article are gone but you may recognize this design It’s a brand of Nagatanien ochazuke toppings; a play on the word for “in a little while”. You can see it on his yukata in this ad and on Bruce’s picture, above. He actually has eight of these, each of a different color.

This takes me back to when I was first starting the blog back in 2014. I was consuming sumo any way I could. Thankfully these Araibira videos are still up. He had been chased from YouTube to Vimeo. (The struggle never ends but at least there is a lot more content out there now, including legit sources from the Sumo Association, the stables themselves, and even a bit from NHK and Abema.)

But, I digress. That year, Endo still had a zambara hair-style because it was too short for a top-knot. Above, we see him against Kotooshu — now Naruto-oyakata. We might think of that bout as Kotooshu handing over his role as the “ladies man” to the heart-throb of the new generation. And another video with a beautiful escape against his rival, Osunaarashi.

Good luck, Endo, in your second career! We are eager to see you churn out another generation of rikishi.

Hakuho To Retire This Year

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Hatsu Basho 2020, Retirement , ,

If you want to watch the GOAT, plan to do it soon. In a revealing interview, Hakuho announced his intention to retire this year.

He didn’t get more specific about when he would retire but there had been a lot of speculation that his ultimate goal was to be active for this year’s Olympics, where he will be a torch-bearer. Herouth found the tweet below, I stepped back to the original video before the workout video. Herouth’s thread below.

The first video from the original tweet gave some more inside into his motivations, namely to spend more time with his family and to raise a new crop of wrestlers. This past New Year, for example, he spent in Australia with his family…on his new passport as a Japanese national. So for those Tachiai readers in Oz (esp. Sydney) you may have seen him around town.

Aki Story 3 – Fallen Heroes

Bruce H Arawashi (荒鷲), Ikioi (勢), Kaisei (魁聖), Yoshikaze (嘉風) , , ,

We are now deep into a transitional period in sumo. The cohort that had been dominant for 10 years or more are finding time catching up to them. Their sumo is not as sharp, their bodies can no longer endure the punishment of the fight, and they are staring down a significant change in their careers. It’s heartbreaking to watch great rikishi close out their careers, and I suspect Aki is going to be the finishing stroke for more than one storied rikishi.

Yoshikaze – Fans who have been reading the blog know Yoshikaze is my absolute favorite, and has been for years. The guy has been an absolute giant-killer, and has been able to sumo a nearly demonic fighting spirit at times. Because of this, and his willingness to sacrifice his body to the fight, I nicknamed him “the Berserker”, which at least a couple of fans though of as an insult. For those who have studied Nordic history, we know that being called a Berserker is a high compliment. But Yoshikaze has been suffering a variety of physical problems for most of the last year. He had a mystery rash for a time, and in May he damaged a knee, which saw him seek surgery. He did not compete in Nagoya, and dropped to Juryo 7. Yoshikaze last competed in Juryo in 2007. There is also word from the Japanese sumo press that he has not recovered, and is unlikely for Aki. Failure to start in September would surely mean a demotion to Makushita. At 37 years old, he probably would rather not break back into Sekitori status. The good news for Yoshikaze fans – he has an oyakata slot waiting for him upon retirement. Already heavily involved with youth sumo, I think the future Nakamura oyakata is going to be responsible for bringing sumo to new generations of people in Japan.

Ikioi – Ranked at Juryo 12w for Aki, fan favorite Ikioi’s heart is still in the fight, but his body is too broken to really continue. His last kachi-koshi was at Hatsu of 2019, and there has been no sign that his injuries are actually improving. He continues to rack up double digit losses, in spite of being reduced to a lower division. While the full extent of Ikioi’s injuries are probably not published, we know that he has taken many blows to the head, suffered with cellulitis, and has ankle and knee problems. Each time the man steps on the dohyo, you want to call an ambulance. But the warrior spirit in him refuses to relent, and each bought he leaves just a bit more damaged. Like Yoshikaze, he has a oyakata slot waiting for him (Kasugayama). I think that if he gets his 8th loss in September, we may see him take a hair cut and put on a nice suit sooner rather than later.

Kaisei – The picture around Kaisei is less clear. As a foreigner (Brazil) he has no access to an oyakata slot. He is also quite banged up, ranked Juryo 8, and I think he is in serious peril of being demoted to Makushita with a losing record. He has managed only 7 wins over the last 3 tournaments. Ouch! He’s a fan favorite, and a real sweet heart in real life, so we can only hope that he can either rally in September, or he can find something to pay the bills if he is demoted further down the banzuke. At 32, he may only have 1 big campaign up the banzuke left, if any.

Arawashi – This guy is a mess. His sumo skill is fantastic, but he has been walking wounded since last year, and has struggled to hold onto a Juryo rank. Now 33 years old, and at Makushita 1, he has more or less one shot to get 4 wins against the brutal Makushita joi-jin to regain a salaried rank, or face a long, unfunded road to the exit. Like Kaisei, he is a foreigner and has no access to buying his way into a kabu.

A reminder to fans – sumo is a combat sport, and a literal zero-sum game. It is by its nature brutal and elminationist. It’s Darwin in action, and only the fittest of the pack can survive each new tournament. While we love our aging heroes, their slow fade makes room for new rikishi to leave their mark on the sumo world.