Total Newbie Saying Howdy.

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

Hello all!

I very recently decided to take the plunge into Sumo Fandom, starting only on day 14 of the '10 Hatsu Basho. I am still coming to terms with all of the terms and the rikishi themselves. Everything I have researched so far has had me completely hooked, and going through the last basho day by day has been extremely fun and I already miss it. I look forward to plunging into the daunting history and really learning the sport. I also look forward to growing here as a community member and becoming a knowledgeable fan. I haven't signed up with a shikona of my own as I felt it'd be weird to arbitrarily give myself one with as little knowledge as I have. Perhaps in the time to come one will find it's way to me.

My interest in Sumo was spurred from my love of Puroresu (Akebono looked much cooler as a yokozuna than a pro wrestler ;-)). I'd catch glimpses every now and again but despite my interest I never decided to give it a go. I now regret all that I've missed. So here's to rectifying that!

[OneManGang 14]

  KcKelley said:

Hello all!

I very recently decided to take the plunge into Sumo Fandom, starting only on day 14 of the '10 Hatsu Basho. I am still coming to terms with all of the terms and the rikishi themselves. Everything I have researched so far has had me completely hooked, and going through the last basho day by day has been extremely fun and I already miss it. I look forward to plunging into the daunting history and really learning the sport. I also look forward to growing here as a community member and becoming a knowledgeable fan. I haven't signed up with a shikona of my own as I felt it'd be weird to arbitrarily give myself one with as little knowledge as I have. Perhaps in the time to come one will find it's way to me.

My interest in Sumo was spurred from my love of Puroresu (Akebono looked much cooler as a yokozuna than a pro wrestler ;-)). I'd catch glimpses every now and again but despite my interest I never decided to give it a go. I now regret all that I've missed. So here's to rectifying that!

Welcome! I am also quite fresh in the art of sumo. It is so much more than just a sport.

[Asashosakari 19,667]

  KcKelley said:

My interest in Sumo was spurred from my love of Puroresu

Same here. Well, the Western kind in my case, but still...

;-)

Edited January 26, 2010 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 19,667]

Geez, that's the second spammer/ramble-bot hitting this thread today...

Moderator Notice

Just FYI, aforementioned bot-posts deleted.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Manekineko

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

  Asashosakari said:

Geez, that's the second spammer/ramble-bot hitting this thread today...

What can I say, I have a way with bots.

Thanks for the welcome. I've been lurking a whole bunch and trying to absorb as much info as possible. I'm finding this election stuff interesting, though I'm still trying to figure out the whole structure of it.

[madorosumaru 7]

  OneManGang said:

Welcome! I am also quite fresh in the art of sumo. It is so much more than just a sport.

That realization is a very good start. You will find sumo to be much more fascinating than just another sport. Welcome!

Welcome also to Kc.

Edited January 28, 2010 by madorosumaru

[Asashosakari 19,667]

  KcKelley said:

Thanks for the welcome. I've been lurking a whole bunch and trying to absorb as much info as possible. I'm finding this election stuff interesting, though I'm still trying to figure out the whole structure of it.

Talk about jumping right into the deep end of the pool! :-( It's admittedly a bit of an esoteric topic that's dominating right now - there should be a somewhat different atmosphere on the forum again once that's done with and the Haru basho is approaching.

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

  Asashosakari said:

Talk about jumping right into the deep end of the pool! :-) It's admittedly a bit of an esoteric topic that's dominating right now - there should be a somewhat different atmosphere on the forum again once that's done with and the Haru basho is approaching.

I like the deep end. I saw a post on the forum referring to http://oyakata.seisa.de/ and it has helped a ton in seeing the whole picture. I'm afraid I missed who's site it is, but thank you for making it. (Clapping wildly...)

I'm also starting to take a gander at all the games that seem so popular..... so much stuff....

[Asojima 2,874]

Welcome. Just in case you haven't discovered them yet, you might also want to check out the Sumo Glossary, Sumo Reference and Essential Sumo Links picks at the top of the Forum page. There should be enough there to keep you occupied for the tween bashos period.

[Fujisan 533]

(Flying a plane...) Mckelley......

Chuck in your salt (Sign of approval...) and join the fray.......

Akebono will only ever be a Yokozuna to me and I think his pro-wrestling days are best forgotten...

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

  Fujisan said:

(Flying a plane...) Mckelley......

Chuck in your salt (Sign of approval...) and join the fray.......

Akebono will only ever be a Yokozuna to me and I think his pro-wrestling days are best forgotten...

Thank you much. :)

If it is any consolation, it was Akebono's pro-wrestling that was eventually the catalyst that got me into sumo. Who knows, maybe he can turn a few others as well.

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

I generally don't like replying to myself, but there's no other place for this.

I have come up with a Shikona for myself. I just used google to help translate stuff so I have no idea if it is grammatically correct or anything.

鞠雷 or Marikaminari, hopefully translating into Ball Lightning (bonus points of anyone knows where that's from). If it turns out that's not ball lightning I'm willing to listen to anyone more skilled in the language than I to make the shikona more accurate. For now, however, if the powers that be would be so kind as to change my name, it would be much appreciated. (Clapping wildly...)

[Doitsuyama 1,192]

  KcKelley said:

I generally don't like replying to myself, but there's no other place for this.

I have come up with a Shikona for myself. I just used google to help translate stuff so I have no idea if it is grammatically correct or anything.

鞠雷 or Marikaminari, hopefully translating into Ball Lightning (bonus points of anyone knows where that's from). If it turns out that's not ball lightning I'm willing to listen to anyone more skilled in the language than I to make the shikona more accurate. For now, however, if the powers that be would be so kind as to change my name, it would be much appreciated. (Clapping wildly...)

I am no expert by any means, but I never have seen the first kanji (neither the reading mari) for ball. The first coming to mind is tama 玉 which certainly is in good use for shikona (like Tamakasuga etc). Also, kaminari isn't exactly lighting, but thunder. Probably close enough though, so I suggest Tamakaminari for you...

[Washuyama 641]

  KcKelley said:

... translating into Ball Lightning (bonus points of anyone knows where that's from).

Ok.. My inner geek from about 10 years ago comes in handy (Hold the comments, Nishi..)

Ball Lightning - from MtG (Magic the Gathering) a 6/1 red creature.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Washuyama

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

  Doitsuyama said:

I am no expert by any means, but I never have seen the first kanji (neither the reading mari) for ball. The first coming to mind is tama 玉 which certainly is in good use for shikona (like Tamakasuga etc). Also, kaminari isn't exactly lighting, but thunder. Probably close enough though, so I suggest Tamakaminari for you...

Google lied to me! I expected it to be a little off anyways. Tamakaminari has a nice ring to it. Further looking at google, it seems there are a few other options for lightning: 稲妻 (inazuma), 稲光(inabikari), 雷光 (raiko), or 電光 (Don't know how that one is read). If any of these are more suitable, I'm not really picky. Also blame google for all translation stupidity, I do. Thanks for the help!

  Washuyama said:

Ok.. My inner geek from about 10 years ago comes in handy (Hold the comments, Nishi..)

Ball Lightning - from MtG (Magic the Gathering) a 6/1 red creature.

Wow, I probably still own that one. Unfortunately that isn't the Ball Lightning I'm referring to. Mine is more American sitcom related.

Kudos for pulling that out though. (Clapping wildly...)

[Asashosakari 19,667]

  KcKelley said:

Google lied to me! I expected it to be a little off anyways. Tamakaminari has a nice ring to it. Further looking at google, it seems there are a few other options for lightning: 稲妻 (inazuma), 稲光(inabikari), 雷光 (raiko), or 電光 (Don't know how that one is read). If any of these are more suitable, I'm not really picky. Also blame google for all translation stupidity, I do. Thanks for the help!

Well, the word for the natural phenomenon of the name appears to be kyuden. I think Tamakaminari works well though, not least because of the double sumo allusion - for one thing the 玉 (tama, as mentioned) used by Kataonami-beya rikishi, and for another 雷, your kaminari but otherwise also read ikazuchi (and that Kyokai share becomes available next year, so there might actually be a well-known rikishi holding it soon!).

For completeness, 稲妻 inazuma and 雷光 raiko would of course be even more straight-forward references to sumo, but I think you'd be better off with something that isn't quite that close and obvious. So, even if it's perhaps not completely literal, one more vote for Tamakaminari! (Clapping wildly...)

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

Tamakaminari it is then! Thanks for the help and information, good sirs. (Clapping wildly...)

[madorosumaru 7]

This is a bit late and there have been some good suggestions.

Couple of things. 鞠(mari) is a traditional Japanese ball. Temari is the ornate ball that little girls play with. 鞠子　(Mariko) is a not uncommon girl's name. So that would not be as suitable for a macho shikona as the already suggested tama.

Kaminari is thunder and lightning but it is a rather prosaic term. Nothing to give it distinction. Sort of like saying "lightning" instead of "a bolt from the sky." In fact, there is a USAF missile called the "Skybolt," a rather formidable name intended to put the fear of God in the enemy. The same character, as Asashosakari mentioned, could be read ikazuchi, which not only has a sumo shikona precedent but it is a forceful term--with the opposite effect of the aforementioned mari.

Kaminari is often used to describe a bad temper. A kaminari oyaji would be an irritable, irascible or ill-tempered old geezer. Tama-Ikazuchi, in my opinion, is a far more distinctive, distinguished macho name.

[Tamaikazuchi 4]

This is all very interesting, thank you all for yer input.

It seems I spoke a bit too soon earlier and we have some candidates. Mari seems to be off the board in all cases and girly, which is fine by me.

玉雷 - Tamakaminari

玉の火 - Tamanohi

玉雷 (?) - Tama-Ikazuchi (Tamaikazuchi?)

All very good, so I will have to think on it a bit and perhaps see if more pop up. (Clapping wildly...)

Edited February 2, 2010 by KcKelley

[Jakusotsu 6,049]

  KcKelley said:

  Washuyama said:

Ball Lightning - from MtG (Magic the Gathering) a 6/1 red creature.

Wow, I probably still own that one. Unfortunately that isn't the Ball Lightning I'm referring to. Mine is more American sitcom related.

In that case it would have been ボール・ライトニング.

Guess you're better off with 玉雷 (Clapping wildly...)

[Treblemaker 254]

  madorosumaru said:

...... kaminari oyaji would be an irritable, irascible or ill-tempered old geezer....

Geez, that could refer to a whole bunch of us here....

Typical thread:

(Arguing...) (Detective...) (Bomb about to be blown...) (No, no, no...) (Poking the other guy...) (Ranting...) (Order, order!) (Blowing up furiously...) (Ranting...) :'-( (Raging at computer...) (Baby sucking a pacifier...) (Clown...) (Protesting...) (Hit the wall...)

Welcome to the Forum.

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

I've got a somewhat similar dilemma. I've just got promoted to Ozeki in Hoshitori and I was thinking about changing my shikona to something more impressive. Chain lightning is what I had in mind, but I couldn't find anything matching it in Japanese (of course, that might have been a direct cause of my not speaking any Japanese).

How do Hyakunosenden (one hundred lightning flashes) or Hyakunoshurai (one hundred bolts of lightning) sound?