naro-masters

Narō Masters: The Final Five

Andy Haru 2026, Haru Basho ,

I posted the final five episodes of the Narō series. Again, rather than duplicating stuff and putting all five videos here, go to the main Konishiki Tapes Page. Videos 13-17 are the new ones.

  • Episode 13: Days of the Sekitori
  • Episode 14: Konishiki’s Match Breakdowns
  • Episode 15: Ozeki Life
  • Episode 16: Yokozuna Dreams
  • Episode 17: Legacy

In these videos you will find out more about Konishiki’s career, including his rapid assent in the top division, his life as an Ozeki, and his dreams of being Yokozuna and the toll injuries took on him. While we may think it’s all party time, there are a lot of obligations and responsibilities. We start to see why the top wrestlers might need a personal assistant for some stuff. One day you’re fighting in a tournament, then suddenly, you’re the MC at the wedding of a supporter’s daughter. And the next day you’re hung over and waving to folks at the opening of a car dealership while signing autographs and making hundreds of tegata.

At least these supporters are likely not named “Corleone,” and Marlon Brando isn’t going to slap you for whining about a mean director and a role in a picture. Sorry, when I think about a celebrity going to the wedding of an influential supporter’s daugther, obviously The Godfather is all I can think of. And now I’m going to have to watch it. Bottom line, Konishiki’s lived experience and perspective is fascinating. We also have to deal with some of the ugly truths of the sport, truths which have recently reared their head — yet again. Thankfully, much has changed but there is a bit further to go.

Narō Masters: Kimarite and More

Andy The Konishiki Tapes ,

I’ve got a flood of videos for you but you’re going to need to follow the links below to the pages. Or, you can click on them from the right-hand navigation. Basically, I added six more videos. See, episode seven is a great introduction to kimarite, as are several of the following videos. And I wanted to release all of these kimarite videos at once. But there are also more videos of Konishiki’s career interspersed between the technical kimarite videos.

Videos seven, nine, and eleven have the kimarite content. Eight, ten, and twelve have more of Konishiki’s career content. So, I wanted to put all of them out there now before I go to bed. All of them will go to dedicated “Konishiki Tapes” page but the Kimarite videos will also get another page all to themselves. I hate duplication, and I really hate triplication, so go find the videos there. I’m sleepy so I’m not posting them here, too.

There’s still five more of these Masters to go. I will focus on trying to get them out later this week.

Narō Masters: Three videos added — Maezumo, Suri-ashi, Heya Life

Andy The Konishiki Tapes ,
Tooyama fights Andy

I’ve got a few of the Master videos to add today. In this first video, Konishiki describes his maezumo experience and we see footage of that first bout as well as some early training clips.

In this second video, the team demonstrate suri-ashi. Footwork is extremely important in sumo. Your form really starts from a solid base. If you raise your feet too high, you are easily thrown off-balance or leave yourself open to trips and foot grabs (ashi-tori). So, sumo wrestlers are trained from very early on to keep their feet on the dohyo and maintain a steady base.

This third video features more description of the heya life, the strict schedules, chores and the senpai/kohai relationships. We learn a bit about Konishiki’s shisho (master) and okamisan (master’s wife). There’s also a little nugget in there which seems relevant to the newest controversy coming out. No, I’m not reporting on that yet. Important details are still coming out so it’s premature to report. What I can do is post these videos, giving a sense of what the life was like back in Konishiki’s era.

More to come!

Narō Masters: The Sumo Kata

Andy The Konishiki Tapes ,

For this next episode, Konishiki and the team turn to the dohyo. Konishiki guides us through the sumo exercise routine. Yoshinori counts as he leads Hiroshi and Koki through each form. The Japan Sumo Association also offers a little help with their own description of the basic sumo exercises.

They start with chirichozu and go through shiko and even mata wari — splits. Let’s see what you all can do. Share video with me on BlueSky, Instagram, or Twitter and I’ll share it along.