Danjinoumi

Has to make you wonder if the (not so) new (anymore) kosho rules contributed to the demise of another popular and good for sumo Japanese sumotori :-) . In contrast to Kaio, IMHO Tochiazuma could have regained a lot of his form if he could have taken a basho off to recuperate.

Just wanted to point out that Joe switched a couple of letters in the link in #2 above (joepetROw, not joepetORw), while the link in #3 works fine. At least I believe that's why I couldn't get #2 to work properly (Showing respect...) A nit-picky thing at best, which does not in any way diminish the great service Joe is providing here :-) Danjinoumi

Darn! I'm leaving the Friday before Nakabi. Thanks for the reply, though. Anybody else going to Days 2-4? Not the most exciting time of the basho to be sure, but ... (On a side note, the fact that the mods haven't moved my post means I won't have to do any "self-reflection" over having posted in an inappropriate forum. B-) )

Howdy all -- I will be in Japan for the first week of the Haru Basho and am planning to attend one day, although I'm not sure yet which day that will be. If any Sumoforum members are planning to attend sometime during the first week and would like to hang out together at the basho, kindly let me know! I'm not sure if this forum is the proper place for topics like this, but I can't find another forum that seems more appropriate. Besides, I'm sure the eagle-eyed mods will kick this post to the proper place if indeed I committed an unpardonable rudeness. B-) Cheers, Dan (moto-Danjinoumi)

Ise-jingu is a great place to see a jungyou. I was able to go one year when I was living in Mie Prefecture. It's pretty informal, and even the seats farthest from the dohyo are still way closer than what you could normally afford at a hon-basho. I must say, though, I totally screwed up. I got there early enough to sit anywhere I wanted to, and for some stupid reason ended up sitting on the mukou-joumen side. I got a great look at the back of Takamisakari as he was getting his mage done, and an equally great view from the back of Asashoryu's tsukebito tying his tsuna (actually, that part was probably better seen from the back). Oh well! I can dig up directions and stuff if anyone is interested. I took the Kintetsu line from my house down to the Ise-jingu area (forget the exact stop) and then a bus (forget which one) to the Jingu-Kaikan. Again, if anyone is really interested I can track down the details. There was a request for a photo, so here it is, from the '05 jungyou: (Had to throw a couple of photos of Mie-ken local boy and my personal favorite Yotsukasa in there, naturally!) (This is the first time I've included attached images, so apologies in advance if they are too small)

I'm afraid I must disagree with the venerable Kintamayama and his use of the KaioU "U" in this case, as the nanori for 「太」 is read 「おお」 and not 「おう」, just like the 「おお」 in 大阪。I believe 太田 is usually transliterated as Ohta or Ota (the former in the case of my ex-Japanese teacher). Just my 2 yen worth, barely. Danjinoumi

Hmmm, I guess I was wrong. Nobody's going to remember Yotsukasa's sumo, but at least they'll remember how hard it was to write his shikona (well, the first kanji anyway) on a word processor :-/ . I would argue that even with that rather dubious distinction, he's still well above Higonoumi on the non-descript-o-meter, especially if Higo's going to get some run in an upcoming Sumo Fan Mag.

Err, that's too MANY English teachers ... (Sorry, couldn't resist, but as Jakusotsu is a friend, I know he'll take this the right way (Laughing...) )

Well, I would be remiss in my duties as Yotsukasa's most ardent fan (?) if I didn't add my 2 yen worth. Yotsukasa spent most of 2002 toiling in Makushita, and I remember at the time thinking that was probably about it for him. But clearly his fighting spirit was still there, as he slogged his way up to his higest rank of M11E for the Hatsu '04 basho. From there, though, it was all downhill. Aside from two 8-7 hiccups, he struggled to a number of 7-8 and 6-9 records, with a 4-11 and a 5-10 performance thrown in for good measure, before the wheels finally came off the cart this basho. What you saw was what you got with Yotsukasa. Most of his matches he won by going forward. Most of his matches he lost by going forward also. There wasn't a whole lot of finesse to his sumo. In fact, is there another rikishi in recent memory that could be considered to be so non-descript? On another forum we had a discussion of Higonoumi as a good candidate, but I submit that even Higonoumi had a nickname among the foreign sumo aficionados frequenting these discussion groups -- "the Higonator." Ever heard anybody call Yotsukasa the "Yotsukasanator"? Didn't think so! On a personal note, I had a chance to ask the man himself for a photo and autograph opportunity at a jungyou last year, and after getting over his surprise at being accosted in poor Japanese by a foreigner, he proved to be just as surly and uncommunicative in real life as he appears on TV. In all fairness, I'm sure he's a great guy to go drinking with if he actually knows you. Even though Yotsukasa is now intai, his avatar will continue to grace the pages of the Sumo Forum for at least the near (and probably distant) future.

That was quite a sight, for sure. But I thought it came during more of a stand-off, while Toki was holding off Harunoyama with his left arm. Toki appeared to suddenly slap Haru with his right hand -- not even a full wind-up (a la Kokkai), but it must've caught Haru right on the glass jaw. At first I thought he just caught Haru by surprise, but the amount of time Haru was down, plus the dazed way Haru staggered off the dohyo and up the hanamichi, it appeared Haru's head was in another time zone. I noticed on the replay that Toki did use that same right-hand slap twice before the deciding blow, but neither of those seemed to dent Haru. That's why I was so surprised to see the third one have such an effect. It'll be interesting to check Dale's clip when it gets posted to really focus on what happened -- NHK only showed it twice, the original bout and the replay.

A rather late addition to this thread ... I don't understand why the Kyokai doesn't set up a website like the one Chunichi had for the Nagoya Basho, in Japanese, English, and Chinese, with seating charts and the whole nine yards. It was absolutely fantastic. On the other hand, I don't know if Chunichi provided an international ticket delivery service, but the website certainly was a good start. AFAIK, to buy tickets to the other basho requires a phone call to the Kyokai or ticket vendor, or a personal visit to a place that sells tickets. Am I wrong, or wouldn't a website make buying tickets a heck of a lot easier for the general (international as well as domestic) public? This is the 21st century, after all ...

Well, the shouting you heard for Yotsukasa in Nagoya on Days 2 and 14 was probably coming from me. I'm just your average white foreigner. I'm pretty sure I qualify as an adult. Fat lot of good my cheering for Yotsukasa did though, as it looks like he'll be back in the Irumagawa toilet-cleaning brigade in September, or else veeeeery close. (Depressed...)

Isn't Gojoro the top-ranked rikishi in Takanohana-beya? At this rate, it'll be a while before Taka-oyakata is mentoring a sekitori again. (Note: in deference to Kintamayama, no U's were added to Gojoro's name, nor indeed to the entire message) (Feeling guilty...)

Can't wait to see what Asashoryu will have in store for Osh next basho.Should make that knock in the noggin from last basho look pretty tame incomparison (Feeling guilty...)

Yep, I've been lurking for a couple of years now. You probably noticed that these were my first two posts ever. Back on topic, I suspect you're right -- it's probably a combo of Takamisakari's antics and the fat stack of kensho envelopes. However, I say again that this kind of undiscplined flailing seems to be more and more descriptive of Kokkai's sumo lately. I checked out their last meeting (Haru Day 7) courtesy of Dale's movie clip. Kokkai barreled into 'Sakari, but 'Sakari just moved backwards and dropped Kokkai by hatakikomi. Nothing untoward looking there ...

Well, looks like I haven't got the hang of using emoticons, ne? (Oops! )

I was appalled to watch Kokkai flail away on Robocop's head. It seems pretty typical of Kokkai's horrendous sumo these days. What in the java script:emoticon('(Censored)') smilie has gotten into Kokkai anyway? I would expect he'd get a good talking to from his oyakata. On the other hand, why does it always seem that Takamisakari is on the south end of these beatings anyway?