Takanohana resigns

[specialweek 2 136]

More info to come

[Kuroyama 715]

John Gunning has tweeted out the same.

 

[Akinomaki 40,787]

The wording in Taka's message yesterday of "please go on to support my deshi" sounded a bit odd, but then I thought, that's his style maybe - so it's not remaining after all. Nothing yet about where the heya members will be attached to. https://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/201809250000518.html

Maybe he'll go into politics like had been recommended to him lately

[Akinomaki 40,787]

There will be a press conference at 5p.m.JST - if we just still had ForJOY.TV to use https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/sumo/20180925-OYT1T50063.html

[Akinomaki 40,787]

Taka will explain his decision in the press conference - the NSK has not accepted his resignation yet, they just confirmed to have received the application and will now talk about if they'll accept it.

NHK news page with video https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20180925/k10011643201000.html

[Kintamayama 45,527]

Well, wow and wow. Not totally unexpected, yet totally unexpected. Like the man himself. Could the heya keep on functioning under a new name with someone from the outside taking over??OTOH, we're talking about 8 deshi here, 3 of them sekitori. Maybe all Ichimons refused to accept his heya?

Edited September 25, 2018 by Kintamayama

[serge_gva 52]

29 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

Maybe all Ichimons refused to accept his heya?

That's exactly what I was thinking yesterday. Did the NSK find this solution to push him out?

Edited September 25, 2018 by serge_gva

[Kintamayama 45,527]

Rikishi and personnel moving to Chiganoura, apparently.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Kintamayama

[Akinomaki 40,787]

Taka gives as the reason that he was forced by the NSK to admit that the accusations he wrote in the complaint to the Cabinet office were false, but he claims they were not

http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/topic/37310-takanohana-devils-advocate/?page=12&tab=comments#comment-361013

Edited September 25, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Asojima 2,874]

It will be interesting to see the fan/press reactions to this.  The Kyushu/Hatsu attendance numbers could drop significantly.

 

[Kintamayama 45,527]

His given reason- He was asked to admit that the accusations he made against the Kyokai during the Harumafuji scandal were false, to which he refused. If you remember, he issued a complaint to the Cabinet office, but then retracted it after his deshi Takayoshitoshi attacked his own tsukebito. Not wanting to cause his deshi to get kicked out of sumo, he agreed to virtually everything they threw at him, including demotion to the lowest Oyakata rank, back to shinpan duties etc. and Takayoshitoshi only got a two- basho suspension. Now, they wanted him to state that the accusations were false, to which he refused. His deshi and personnel will be absorbed by Chiganoura beya, so the guys will continue fighting. And of course, that demand that every unattached heya find an Ichimon by September 27th. Just as sumo was back on track and sales were through the roof, this. A Takanohana outside of the sumo world with no obligations to shut up who apparently knows a thing or two about the shady side of sumo will be interesting to follow.. In any case, the retirement is final.

[Tigerboy1966 1,474]

7 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

And of course, that demand that every unattached heya find an Ichimon by September 27th.

So do we know what's happening to Tatsunami beya?

[Kaninoyama 1,818]

And to further connect the dots of information already provided above, his admittance that his accusations were false was made a requirement for him to be allowed to attach himself to an Ichimon. His unwillingness to do so put him in a no-win situation, and so he decided to leave sumo and have his deshi be absorbed by Chiganoura-beya, as already noted.  

Edited September 25, 2018 by Kaninoyama

[Kintamayama 45,527]

13 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

So do we know what's happening to Tatsunami beya?

Yes, in the kabu thread-they're off to Dewanoumi Ichimon.

[Akinomaki 40,787]

Complete press conference https://thepage.jp/detail/20180925-00000006-wordleaf

Kyodo version https://youtu.be/Z6bIF49SMPo

many dozens of hours of wide show coverage awaits us

Edited September 26, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Asashosakari 19,661]

That escalated quickly.
 

2 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

A Takanohana outside of the sumo world with no obligations to shut up who apparently knows a thing or two about the shady side of sumo will be interesting to follow.. 

Agreed. That emphatically does not strike me as a particularly well thought-out plan by the Kyokai brass if the idea was to get him in line once and for all. (Not to mention how it plays for the public.) The whole heya/ichimon deal is one thing, but demanding that he essentially sign off on his career death warrant by admitting that he acted contrary to Kyokai interests? He'd have never got anywhere near power again, and he clearly realized that. He'd probably have struggled anyway, but as part of the organization they could have strung him along for quite a few more years. Now he's gone altogether, and lots of people will be temporarily happy, but we've almost certainly not heard the last of him.

Edit: Myself nine months ago:

On 22/12/2017 at 08:46, Asashosakari said:

(...) major rollback of sensible changes over the last few years. The kabu reforms demanded ahead of the Kyokai's mandatory reorganization in 2014? Toothless and practically dead. Increased overall transparency that was promised at the same time? Nowhere to be seen. The external directors that are supposed to enable that transparency, among other things? Neutered and ineffective, their roles watered down by the introduction of the board of trustees which is just as ineffective (and staffed with oyakata, to boot).

And Hakkaku seems quite happy to spearhead those reactionary rollback efforts, given his highly questionable behaviour during the last election cycle two years ago. I'd say Taka probably has quite a keen sense for what's going on, which is definitely not "evolutionary development" of any sort.

There are plenty of cracks below the surface of the Kyokai, and IMHO they're merely being covered by the current success at the ticket gates. As soon as the next downturn hits, things will probably get ugly, with or without Takanohana involved.

We'll see if today's developments end up putting anything like that in motion.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Asashosakari

[Akinomaki 40,787]

39 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

That emphatically does not strike me as a particularly well thought-out plan by the Kyokai brass if the idea was to get him in line once and for all. (Not to mention how it plays for the public.)

Yeah, Taka was (one of) the biggest popularity assets they had, I'd say bigger than Kise, and they had put him where he could no longer be a severe pain in the neck - it will be interesting to see who will be blamed directly for forcing him out of the kyokai.

Should he makes it to sports minister one day, he could influence the NSK in a completely different way (but does he want go that way?).

First thing could be to renew that demand to the Cabinet Office - others might do this for him

Edited September 25, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,787]

Taka got asked if he has the intention to create a new sumo organization: "At the moment, I don't." http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/201809250000675.html

Speculations about that had been going on and now they intensify http://www.j-cast.com/2018/09/25339448.html?p=all

Edited September 25, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,787]

Taka had handed in his resignation once already in 2010 and had been talked out of it then. This time he replied at the press conference that he has no intention to remain in the NSK, but he has handed in an application for intai - that is not the correct one to retire from the NSK, Shibatayama said on news9 that the NSK won't accept it - Taka has to hand in the request for retirement as oyakata, taishoku.

If the NSK will accept that Shibatayama leaves open and denies that there was pressure on Taka.

http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2018/09/25/0011673743.shtml

Edit: the news pages appear and disappear again in a breathtaking speed

Edited September 25, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Kintamayama 45,527]

4 hours ago, Kaninoyama said:

And to further connect the dots of information already provided above, his admittance that his accusations were false was made a requirement for him to be allowed to attach himself to an Ichimon.

"Nobody put any sort of pressure of this kind on Takanohana. Nobody said he won't be able to join another Ichimon unless he renounces his accusations, " said Shibatayama Oyakata today.

[Akinomaki 40,787]

The text of Taka's press conference

1st half on 7 pages - page 1: https://dot.asahi.com/dot/2018092500097.html?page=1

2nd half on 8 pages - page 1: https://dot.asahi.com/wa/2018092500098.html?page=1

Complete press conference in 2 parts from niconico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLmumIKf14s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j8DnZ9TmmM

Kyodo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOuC_xp12KY

Edited September 25, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

Feel free to ignore, but considering a 100% true unmolested version of events will never see the light of day, speculation and opinionation will be nuts on this emotional topic, could we preemptively have a opinion/speculation thread and maybe have this thread dedicated to news and other quotes from the related honjins?

[ryafuji 815]

What precisely were Taka's accusations in his letter of complaint ?

[rhyen 1,846]

51 minutes ago, ryafuji said:

What precisely were Taka's accusations in his letter of complaint ?

follow this thread and ask your seniors to translate where needed. .

[Rocks 1,809]

If anybody in the Kyokai thought pushing Taka this far was a good idea, they just made a stupendous blunder. The guy was already completely sidelined for 4 or 5 years at least. Giving him ultimatums to make make it permanent was not necessary. This will go over like a lead balloon with the public IMO.