Harumafuji scandal thread- part 2

[dada78641 884]

Some damning proof of the "Takanohana is behind it all" conspiracy just surfaced...

Edited December 29, 2017 by dada78641

[rhyen 1,846]

[Seijakuzan 59]

I don't know if it's related to the scandal or not, but I saw that Asashoryu posted a video of Harumafuji speaking on his FB page.  Do we have any Mongolian-speakers that can give the gist of the video?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156885091745410&id=11885650409

[Churaumi 745]

15 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

I'm not sure about that at all. I don't think he lost an inch of ground. The guys behind him will stay behind him and I foresee even more support, not because he is so beloved, but more because the old guard is just that. To paraphrase- "your generation is done-it's our turn now!!"

I think the demotion is for show, so the NSK can say they did something. The more important thing is stripping him of jungyo duty, which he may well get back in the future. Maybe if they had demoted him all the way back to the bottom, but they left him in a position where he can pop right back up. The demotion doesn’t really affect anything, while losing a portfolio like jungyo organizer actually has effects.

[Asashosakari 19,667]

Anything been missing from this scandal so far? Why, yes, the creation of a new committee of course. As part of yesterday's post-board meeting press conference it was announced by crisis manager Kagamiyama that the "recurrence prevention measures investigation committee" will be revived, featuring oyakata from all six ichimon as well as outside experts, the latter to be selected by Hakkaku-rijicho. A committee by the same name had been formed after deshi Tokitaizan's death by violence in 2007.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 19,667]

28 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

I think the demotion is for show, so the NSK can say they did something. The more important thing is stripping him of jungyo duty, which he may well get back in the future. Maybe if they had demoted him all the way back to the bottom, but they left him in a position where he can pop right back up. The demotion doesn’t really affect anything, while losing a portfolio like jungyo organizer actually has effects.

I don't think Takanohana will be too heartbroken about that. Him getting moved from one of the business departments to jungyo last year was widely seen as Hakkaku trying to get him away from anything that matters. (Basically, jungyo is the most important department of the ones that aren't important. Big visibility but no real influence.)

In any case, the demotion and the removal as head of jungyo are causally related, since only directors are meant to be in charge of departments.

[Kintamayama 45,530]

45 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

 The demotion doesn’t really affect anything, while losing a portfolio like jungyo organizer actually has effects.

It seems to me that the position of jungyo organizer is a real PITA and more a punishment than a coveted job . I don't think any riji is really excited about being that guy. Better than nothing, but I'd say pretty much at the bottom of a riji's wish list.

 

Edit-Asashosakari and I posted the same thought at the same time, which means it's gotta be true..

Edited December 29, 2017 by Kintamayama

[Yamanashi 3,904]

Can some of the worthies of this forum look at a video I found on the Getty Images site?  There is a surprising vignette of Harumafuji at about the 1:00 mark; is the translation of his comments correct?

 

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/sumo-may-be-as-iconic-to-japan-as-samurai-and-sushi-but-a-news-footage/88555031

 

[Amamaniac 2,079]

1 hour ago, Yamanashi said:

There is a surprising vignette of Harumafuji at about the 1:00 mark; is the translation of his comments correct?

While the English voice over makes it difficult to catch every word, I would dare say that it represents an accurate translation of Harumafuji's words.  Not sure that the clip pertains to the specifics of the scandal discussed in this thread, but it is interesting to hear Harumafuji himself admit that he had had to endure bullying in his rise to the top of the Top Division.  And perhaps too, over the years, he associated that bullying with "Japanese culture", and so for him, dishing it out to junior wrestlers (i.e., Takanoiwa) was just part of sumo culture...

The transcript of Harumafuji's interview is as follows: "This is a man’s world.  And I had to get used to the bullying, the beatings, the diet.  And at the beginning, I didn’t understand the Japanese language, or the Japanese culture.  It was rough."

[Yamanashi 3,904]

55 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Not sure that the clip pertains to the specifics of the scandal discussed in this thread,

No, this interview is probably around 2009;  but I was stunned when I heard his complaints about "bullying, the beatings" (not that I didn't guess that goes on).

[UgMongo 7]

13 hours ago, Seijakuzan said:

I don't know if it's related to the scandal or not, but I saw that Asashoryu posted a video of Harumafuji speaking on his FB page.  Do we have any Mongolian-speakers that can give the gist of the video?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156885091745410&id=11885650409

 

I've been lurking this forum for over a half year now. Decided to join recently.

The description says: I spoke with my little brother until dawn. You have your whole life ahead of you! Please enjoy a poem written by him. 

It's beautiful to cry
Everything done with good intention is beautiful
It's beautiful to stand alone under the moon
My son and your daughter picking flowers together is beautiful
It's beautiful to shed tears
It's beautiful to hear horse neighing and bird singing 
It's beautiful that everything works out at the end
It's beautiful to be caressed by father's words and mother's smell
It's beautiful to reminisce about a good person
It's beautiful to recollect memories of past
It's beautiful to reflect on your life during rainy nights
And it's beautiful to listen to gray-haired elders 

Honored Athlete of Mongolia, 70th Yokozuna

Davaanyamyn Byambadorj Harumafuji Kōhei

 

 

 

[Churaumi 745]

On 12/29/2017 at 09:21, Kintamayama said:

It seems to me that the position of jungyo organizer is a real PITA and more a punishment than a coveted job . I don't think any riji is really excited about being that guy. Better than nothing, but I'd say pretty much at the bottom of a riji's wish list.

 

Edit-Asashosakari and I posted the same thought at the same time, which means it's gotta be true..

In most organizations the PITA jobs are the rites of passage to bigger and better things, is the NSK different? In some places jobs just lead to worse ones.

I’ve only followed the doings of the Kyokai for a couple years now, but it seems like they generally:

1. Do a lot of the real decision making behind the scenes based on evidence we never get to see.

2. Try to look proactive while being totally reactive.

3. Effect as little change as possible while telling the public they are taking steps to fix whatever the issue of the day is.

[Rob S. 42]

Harumafuji has been fined 500,000 yen ($4,400) for assaulting a junior wrestler, a court in Tottori, western Japan said on Thursday:

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sumo-japan/sumo-former-yokozuna-harumafuji-fined-for-junior-wrestler-assault-idUSKBN1ET0CQ

[Godaiko 26]

Breaking on TV and the papers:

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180104_24/

"Councilors of the Japan Sumo Association have demoted stablemaster Takanohana from the post of director over his handling of an assault scandal.

In October, Yokozuna Grand Champion Harumafuji hit and injured a fellow Mongolian wrestler, Takanoiwa, during a night out drinking. Harumafuji retired from sumo the following month.

The board of directors of the association last week unanimously decided to recommend that Takanoiwa's stablemaster, Takanohana, be removed from his post as a director of the association.

The board cited Takanohana's repeated failure to cooperate with its internal investigation, despite reporting the assault to police.

An extraordinary meeting of the association's key decision-making body on Thursday unanimously agreed to remove Takanohana as director and demote him.

The chair of the council, former senior vice education minister Yasuko Ikenobo, told reporters that Takanohana had failed to report on the assault to the association and refused to cooperate with its internal investigation.

She said Takanohana's actions are unacceptable as a director of a public-interest corporation and that he neglected his duties.

It was the first time that a director of the association has been removed.

Ikenobo said Takanohana reportedly expressed his acceptance of the dismissal."

[Naganoyama 5,948]

8 hours ago, Godaiko said:

The chair of the council, former senior vice education minister Yasuko Ikenobo

It's disgraceful that they should be educating people in vice, don't you think?

[Dapeng 236]

8 hours ago, Godaiko said:

Ikenobo said Takanohana reportedly expressed his acceptance of the dismissal."

When Ikenobo informed Takanohana by phone, Takanohana only answered 「分かりました」(Got it).

 

[Amamaniac 2,079]

This would have had more impact if I had posted it much earlier in the thread, but given that the original posts were lost to the sands of time ...

[Haruibono 11]

I don't know if I understood it correctly but what I took from NHK news last evening, Takanohana was dismissed, but could be voted back to the position at the next annual meeting and appointment of directors.

[Kintamayama 45,530]

And now for some irony. Takanohana was demoted from jungyo chief (No.3) to Deputy Director for Diffusion of Leadership (No.13).  And who is the Director of said Diffusion of Leadership office? Kagamiyama, the same guy that went five times to Takanohana beya, hoping to find him and hand him the subpoena, only to be turned back in shame empty-handed.. Now,  he’s Takanohana’s direct boss. THAT's irony for you.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Kintamayama

[rhyen 1,846]

5 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

And now for some irony. Takanohana was demoted from jungyo chief (No.3) to Deputy Director for Diffusion of Leadership (No.13).  And who is the Director of said Diffusion of Leadership office? Kagamiyama, the same guy that went five times to Takanohana beya, hoping to find him and hand him the subpoena, only to be turned back in shame empty-handed.. Now,  he’s Takanohana’s direct boss. THAT's irony for you.

May Kagamiyama send Takanohana off on 500 errands.

[apraxin 56]

Don't know if this should be it's own thread or if it folds into this as a general ongoing scandal, but NHK is reporting that at the winter jungyo in Okinawa, Shikimori Inosuke got drunk at a hotel during dinner and then sexually harassed/assaulted the 'young person in their teens' who was tasked with escorting him back to his room by 'kissing them several times and fondling their chest':

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20180105/k10011280481000.html

Shikimori is quoted as saying he was so drunk he has no memory of the incident, and does not know why he did it. Hakkaku rijicho says his actions are pathetic and unbecoming of a top gyoji. 

[apraxin 56]

Oh, and the 'young person' in question was a junior gyoji. Shikimori has apparently apologized to him and he has accepted the apology, the issue will not be reported to the police. Internal punishment to be decided at an emergency meeting of the rijikai.

[Kintamayama 45,530]

17 minutes ago, apraxin said:

Don't know if this should be it's own thread or if it folds into this as a general ongoing scandal, but NHK is reporting that at the winter jungyo in Okinawa, Shikimori Inosuke got drunk at a hotel during dinner and then sexually harassed/assaulted the 'young person in their teens' who was tasked with escorting him back to his room by 'kissing them several times and fondling their chest':

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20180105/k10011280481000.html

Shikimori is quoted as saying he was so drunk he has no memory of the incident, and does not know why he did it. Hakkaku rijicho says his actions are pathetic and unbecoming of a top gyoji. 

Definitely should have a thread of its own, this..

[jalil_the_swan 25]

The Japanese sure know how to have fun. What next? Takanohana-Isegahama drunk brawl? Hakuho kicked out for being caught having sex with a sheep on the dohyo?

[Asashosakari 19,667]

A decent article about the whole incident and putting it into context, featuring comments by John.

(via Gaijingai on the SML)