News out this morning (Japan time) that Yoshikaze has decided to retire. Due to an injury to his right knee, which has not recovered to the point where he can compete, he will miss his second consecutive tournament. The outcome would have been a demotion outside of the salaried ranks into the hell-storm that is Makushita.
Fear not for Yoshikaze, he owns Sumo Association elder stock, and will re-appear as Nakamura oyakata shortly, and he is going to be a most excellent sumo elder. Sadly, we thought this was quite possible for September.
I wish you the best of luck, sir. Thank you for all of the fantastic sumo over the years. It has been a distinct pleasure to watch the one man I knew could put anyone on the clay on a given day do his stuff.
He closes out his competitive career after: 79 basho, 1 Jun-Yusho, 4 Gino-Sho, 2 Shukun-Sho, 4 Kanto-Sho, 8 Kinboshi. Wow.
The Japanese Sumo Association has announced a date for former Takekaze’s danpatsushiki at Kokugikan. For those who will still be around Tokyo for the week after Hatsu basho, which runs through Jan 27, the retirement event would be a great way to see some more action. There will likely be hanazumo and shokkiri, and sumo culture demonstrations that are more familiar scenes in Jungyo tours rather than hon basho.
The ceremony will culminate in the hair cutting for the former Sekiwake. For Takekaze this will surely have participation from former Oguruma stablemates Yoshikaze and Yago, and likely contemporary Yokozuna or two.
The great thing is, that drama is over now. Kisenosato will continue his sumo career as coach, then as head of his own stable of wrestlers. And there really was no other way forward. If he had lost again, the howls would grow along with the discomfort of the Sumo Kyokai and Yokozuna Deliberation Council. If he won, the inevitable may be delayed by a day or two. But with more wins, or some dream (fantasy) comeback kachi-koshi record, surely questions would arise about their legitimacy given his recent poor results. Perhaps this is where the idea of yaocho, that it’s all fixed, can finally be put to bed.
The second thing that I hope comes out of this is a real reform within stables regarding the treatment of wrestlers’ injuries, if it hasn’t started to happen already. We’ve seen some chronic injuries rested, but others continue to come back, tournament after tournament, only to finish with 1, 2, or at max 4 wins and never really healing completely…I’m looking at you Ikioi…not to mention the entire Ozeki corps. It would be a slow change but hopefully the days are over where a shattered arm would be patched up with an expectation of continuing with keiko bright and early the next morning.
I look forward to seeing Kisenosato wearing a blue jumpsuit of the NSK during future basho, in a hakama and presiding over mono-ii as shinpan, or in jeans, laughing with fans during jungyo in Ibaraki as he guides his own deshi through their own careers. Undoubtedly, he’s now free from the pressure to perform that has been hanging over his every appearance over the past year.
And a final note: Kisenosato owes Nishikigi a beer. Odds of a second kinboshi have now surely plummeted. If Nishikigi gets a kinboshi against Hakuho this tournament, I’ll eat my hat — with a special wasabi marinade — during the next podcast.
I wish Kisenosato well as he begins the next chapter of his sumo career as Araiso oyakata (荒磯親方).
