Your feelings at the moment

[Kintamayama 45,086]

So, how are you feeling about all this at the moment? This poll will be taken seriously and steps will be taken (maybe no July reports!!) so don't make this a laughing matter, this is serious business!! No Britney option!! (Holiday feeling...)

[Fay 1,677]

Let's say I'm angry.

I will limit myself to the baseball gambling.

- angry about these guys, who are not really dull, who went to university in some cases, angry that they are dumb enough to bring themselves into a situation where it's possible to blackmail them.

- angry that the Kyokai offers something like witness protection, although they should know that this is not possible

- angry about the saying, "but this is an old custom, everybody does it, they grow up with this ..." Everbody knows it's illegal. Even when "everybody" does something wrong, it's no need for me to take part

- angry that they found a possibility to sacrifice a pawn in Kotomitsuki and that there are for sure more rikishi and oyakata who didn't confess anything and get away with it

- angry that after Nagoya Basho there will be business as usual again. They will make another workshop with some oyakata and outsiders and everything will end in talk

- angry that those people in the kyokai who have some good ideas for reforms (and there are some young oyakata who do have) don't have the power and/or don't work together because of animosities between the groups - well it's the same in every company

- angry that I don't have a solution for all the problems and even if I had nobody would care anyway

- angry that I'm not in the mood for watching sumo, playing some sumo games ... maybe a timeout somewhere on Samoa ....

Sorry, I had to vent my anger somewhere ....

[Kintamayama 45,086]

Let's say I'm angry.

Forgot that possibility.. I agree though with your post, but I'm just plain really sad.

[Fay 1,677]

I think this is something psychological, I'd rather like to be angry than very sad ...

[Randomitsuki 2,826]

Bewildered, was my answer. I still cannot comprehend why the latest scandal turned into such a big one. Well, I can comprehend, but compared to, say, doping in cycling this is just minuscule. I haven't noticed that the Tour de France directors ever even considered cancelling the event - of course, TV stations, e.g. in Germany, discuss each year whether the Tour should be broadcast. And they come to the same conclusion every year - people watch the Tour because it is not only about winning - it is enjoying the sight of athletes who go to their limit in a beautiful landscape. In other words, the Tour will be broadcast in spite of doping because the event in itself is a treasure. Same goes for sumo, in my opinion, which is also a treasure (and not only about winning the yusho). Still, in sumo a scandal that is so small that cycling fans could only laugh about it, goes way out of proportions and shakes the foundations of the sport itself. Bewildering.

[sekihiryu 51]

The intrinsically eccentric antiquated sumo system was bound to get more unstuck as the world changed and evolved while it stayed much the same as it ever has.

Time for some progress and an overhaul of sumo in general, the purists can suck eggs because the traditional model is becoming less viable and this episode was a major crux point for sumo.

Time to get with program.

The people who irk me the most in all of this are the bumbling fools running the show: the kyokai. There is a saying where I am from to aptly describe such incompetence: " couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery" The reform committee its seems agrees with this assessment.

Nevermind hopefully same real tangible change will come from this.

Just my two cents (I gambled the rest way...... (Zabuton flying...) )

[sekihiryu 51]

Bewildered, was my answer. I still cannot comprehend why the latest scandal turned into such a big one.

I have lived here for 10 years now, I actually comprehend quite well the mentality of this place, I guess others who have live here too wouldnt be as surprised as people looking in from the outside.

We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

substitute that for "Japanese"

Edited July 6, 2010 by sekihiryu

[Asashosakari 19,306]

Bewildered, was my answer.

Same here. What can I say...my original "battle sports" interests were boxing and pro-wrestling, so after I found sumo, I never really had any expectation of it being particularly clean behind the scenes, or whatever other attributes the average foreign fan likes to imbue sumo with to distinguish it (if only in his or her mind) from all those commercialized/impure/ruined/whatever Western sports. To me, it's simply a very well-done package deal that both provides excellent entertainment and sufficient historical and structural depth to enjoy spending a bunch of my time thinking about it. So I can't really get up in arms about the fact that the Kyokai internally has troubles adhering to the lofty standards it likes to present outwardly as its moral underpinnings - it's no different from any other large company on this planet.

So for the most part, like Randomitsuki, I'm flabbergasted that it's this "scandal" that ended up exploding as opposed to all the others...if any, Tokitaizan really should have done it. And if anything I'm angry that the only sides to choose from in this story are an ineffectual Kyokai leadership that is nothing but reactive at this point and has been so for several years now, and a media/ministry coalition which - encouraged by that - has elevated useless moral grandstanding to an art form. (And this most assuredly includes NHK now.) Common sense was oshitaoshied from this landscape long ago.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Asashosakari

[Jakusotsu 5,960]

I almost started to explain my "Totally indifferent-couldn't care less" vote, but that wouldn't have been logically consistent, ne? (Sign of disapproval...)

[ilovesumo 12]

Hm..........I feel many things, impossible to choose.

What I am angry of - dito with Fay -

plus - I hate how they are slaughtered now, while they need help. I know they always refused help cause the Sumo world has to be ruled by the Sumo world.........but the outside world changed much more rapidly then the Sumo world. Those inside kinda missed that?

There is a lot more scandal- potential as there are many things untold. If the outsiders go on digging deeper without helping to cure - and till now, there had been a little talk about things which have to be changed - it could getting much worse...

Digging scandals out only helps the press to sell but doesn't help Sumo. I hope there are people who do want to save Sumo out of respect for the Japanese culture for the real reasons - it's beauty, not some ultra-nationalist nerds who might show up now as the rescuer......

[ilovesumo 12]

Bewildered, was my answer. I still cannot comprehend why the latest scandal turned into such a big one.

I have lived here for 10 years now, I actually comprehend quite well the mentality of this place, I guess others who have live here too wouldnt be as surprised as people looking in from the outside.

Yes and no. Also Jein (Sign of disapproval...)

Was just a bit over one year of living in Japan plus some studies, but one can still be bewildered.

Why is it such a big Scandal? Cause the problems occurred with the long change of the society, while the Sumo world refused to change - but changed as well, their noble values shifted to some more "worldly" ones (=Do good Sumo to make big money, and if you can make big money with less good Sumo- superb...- just think of the hatakikomi-overload...).

Sumo is old and since Meiji those problems started, and got bigger and bigger. There had been booms of the popularity since then, but the meaning of Sumo changed from theatrical rite, to the art of fighting, to sport in the western definition (and now back to the first one ?)...

Society changed from the same traditional values like respect and hierarchy-thinking to a consume-oriented one, individuality counts more as well as education, the size of families reduced etc.etc. The press is free (but trying to sell copies...)

There are many things that changed and now there is some kind of peak of reality/value-discrepancy between society and Sumo World I'd say, which courses the problems. Some Individuals even go further and do things clearly marked as "not to be done". Those are digged out now, in a long row of scandals, showing the discrepancy very well and make clear that things have to change. The values of both "world's" got to get closer to each other or they cannot respect each other anymore -as we see now.

Well maybe, just a theory.

[Doitsuyama 1,185]

Cause the problems occurred with the long change of the society, while the Sumo world refused to change - but changed as well, their noble values shifted to some more "worldly" ones (=Do good Sumo to make big money, and if you can make big money with less good Sumo- superb...- just think of the hatakikomi-overload...).

I checked the frequency of hatakikomi/hikiotoshi/tsukiotoshi over the years, and you seem to have a point here. The latest change in the Sumo world must be a while back though, as these kimarite frequency has been between 19% and 21% since 1997. Between 1970 and 1996 it was between 13% and 15%, and before that between 7% and 10%. Interestingly pretty clear cut jumps in 1970 and again in 1997...

Edited July 6, 2010 by Doitsuyama

[Asojima 2,874]

I checked disappointed. I am becoming inured to the media and political feeding frenzies that abound in the world and never cease to be amazed at the number of supposedly intelligent people who get caught up in the game. The NHK decision has moved me more to the pissed off side.

[ilovesumo 12]

Cause the problems occurred with the long change of the society, while the Sumo world refused to change - but changed as well, their noble values shifted to some more "worldly" ones (=Do good Sumo to make big money, and if you can make big money with less good Sumo- superb...- just think of the hatakikomi-overload...).

I checked the frequency of hatakikomi/hikiotoshi/tsukiotoshi over the years, and you seem to have a point here. The latest change in the Sumo world must be a while back though, as these kimarite frequency has been between 19% and 21% since 1997. Between 1970 and 1996 it was between 13% and 15%, and before that between 7% and 10%. Interestingly pretty clear cut jumps in 1970 and again in 1997...

checked that during research ;-)

Conclusion- less interesting for those who watch it, less overwhelming for the boys who might become a rikishi...

Edited July 6, 2010 by ilovesumo

[shumitto 418]

I checked "totally indifferent". Even though the quality of bouts has been in constant decline lately going hands is hands with the management of the art, it would be good still to be able to watch some sumo. Anyway, anything rikishi, oyakata and kyokai do won't turn me off the sport... I like it with all its corruption, and I will keep following it as the ever fishy but always good Football and Baseball.

and Uruguay is being robbed, oh my.... :-D

Edited July 6, 2010 by shumitto

[Manekineko 200]

I'm between indifferent, disappointed (not in rikishi or sumo per se, but by the way all the scandals are (not) being handled) and, funnily enough, happy with a sad twinge. In the end I voted disappointed, but it was touch-n-go between that and the last one. Why happy? Maybe because my sumo interest, which was briefly revived by my stay in Japan (2 years ago! my the time flies) is nearing the bottom again. Lack of regular sumo broadcast on Eurosport might be the cause, but since I managed to find some alternatives it's probably only a side-cause. Scandals are not the cause, since I find myself watching them like a car-wreck, with a shameful mix of fascination and scientific interest in causes and probable consequences. So I guess it's dying out of "my" generation of rikishi that is the main cause - it decreased my emotional involvement with the sport, so there is nothing there to make me really sad. What remained is my fascination with sumo as a Japanese cultural artifact, and as such I'm happy to see pus-letting continue. I'm not deluding myself that all these scandals will result in new and improved Kyokai and Kakkai, but they may be a needed impetus to shift things at least a little bit in a better direction. We shall see, in a couple of years, or decades even. (Yup, I'm applying that old Planck quote to sumo: "a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.")

Edited July 7, 2010 by Manekineko

[Peterao 3]

I'm not happy. I do think that this is a once in lifetime chance to dig out and burn all of the rot in the Kyokai, and bring sumo into the 21st century. But I would much rather that it not be necessary, and that I could just go on watching my fat guys in diapers continue to fight in peace.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Peterao

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

I have to admit this is the first time I'm not indifferent. If anything, I'm a bit angry. Not like Fay or ils, because I didn't go to Japan or meet those guys in person. I mostly care about getting my fix of good sumo, and in the current situation that might be tricky, both the getting and the quality. But there's hope. There's always hope. Maybe some good will come of this, like some said above, maybe they realize it's not going the right way and start making some changes.

By the way, Mr. D, why is the "Angry" option missing from your poll?

[Kintamayama 45,086]

By the way, Mr. D, why is the "Angry" option missing from your poll?

A. Because I'm not Poll-ish

B. I ran out of ink

C. I neglected to think this through

Edited July 8, 2010 by Kintamayama

[Fujisan 533]

I seem to be the only one in total disbelief.....

I cant think of any other way to put how I feel....

P.S You forgot one....

Its time to reinstate Asashoryu.....

Edited July 8, 2010 by Fujisan

[Peterao 3]

By the way, Mr. D, why is the "Angry" option missing from your poll?

Just select "Horny" That's pretty much the same thing.

[Kintamayama 45,086]

By the way, Mr. D, why is the "Angry" option missing from your poll?

Just select "Horny" That's pretty much the same thing.

I'm beginning to understand a few things now..

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

By the way, Mr. D, why is the "Angry" option missing from your poll?

Just select "Horny" That's pretty much the same thing.

I'm feeling sorry for your girlfriend/wife.

[Peterao 3]

By the way, Mr. D, why is the "Angry" option missing from your poll?

Just select "Horny" That's pretty much the same thing.

I'm feeling sorry for your girlfriend/wife.

What makes you assume that I have a girlfriend/wife?

Kintamayama, stop him from insulting our lifestyle choices, or I'm not bringing home any Big Macs for you tonight!

[Sokkenaiyama 81]

Well, alright then, my mistake. Your husband/boyfriend/cellmate.