Hibikiryu

[Shinobi Steve 146]

RIP Hibikiryu.

[nagora 88]

Well, that's a miserable thing.

[Seiyashi 4,072]

Deepest condolences.

Is this the first death directly resulting from on-dohyo injury?

[Oortael 151]

Wow. That was unexpected. RIP.

*Press F to pay respects.

[RabidJohn 1,724]

This is awful news. My sympathy and condolences to his family and heya.

[Kenneth Minami 60]

33 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

Deepest condolences.

Is this the first death directly resulting from on-dohyo injury?

There were some cases when rikishi died on Jungyo because of some non-Dohyo injuries, but as I know those deaths have nothing in common with this tragic death of Hibikiryu... This is a catastrophe.

[Swami 245]

Truly awful news.  This will surely cast a shadow over the upcoming Natsu Basho.

May he rest in peace.

 

Swami

[Akinomaki 40,071]

That was a severe shock for me this morning - R.I.P.

[Kishinoyama 582]

This is just awful and such a shock. R.I.P. Hibikiryu.... 

My hope is that emergency personnel will now be dohyo side or at least in the building to treat the rikishi when they get injured. Something has to be done to try and prevent this from ever happening again.

[ryafuji 811]

Just devastating. Having prepared myself for what I thought would be the worst, that he would not recover fully and have to retire, to hear this... awful. 

[dada78641 884]

Really a deeply sad loss. I knew his injury was bad but I never expected it to lead to this kind of tragedy.

It just occurred to me that this topic doesn't actually have a summary of what happened, which might be useful for those who didn't follow the original story when it happened. On day 13 of Haru 2021, Hibikiryu fell on the dohyo at the end of his bout and didn't move (here's a video of the bout, purely for documentary purposes—you may not want to watch it). Later it was confirmed he couldn't move his body below the neck. What was especially grating about the incident is that it took much too long for officials to help him—it's normal procedure to simply wait for the wrestler to regain consciousness and get up by themselves. In this case, he couldn't, so eventually they brought out a stretcher and moved him away.

At the time, the JSA was admonished by fans for not having a good protocol to deal with severe injuries sustained on the dohyo, and now that this has happened I can't imagine that they won't see it as a wake up call.

Edited April 29, 2021 by dada78641

[Philioyamfugi 378]

Terrible news :( 

[Nantonoyama 248]

This is truly sad... I hope the JSA will take measures, but I am not sure what to expect... how come they have video refereeing for decades and still no proper medical staff to treat injuries...

My thoughts go out to Imafuku, I can't imagine how he must have felt for the past weeks and how he feels right now.

[Midoriyama 35]

Truly horrible RIP Hibikiryu. On the other hand I don't agree with all of you putting blame on NHK/JSA for his death. I agree they have ancient and inadequate way of handling injuries and that need to be addressed ASAP but their late response is not the reason of Hibikiryu's death at all.

 

Pulmonary embolism is a worldwide problem of trauma patients and it's hard to prevent even with top notch hospital care which I am sure Japan has and the condition often leads to death.

 

I've just felt this need to be said althought it does not make in any easier to cope with. I just want people to understand that NSK has had nothing to do with this outcome.

My deepest condolences to Hibikiryu's family and heya and all sumo world really.

 

RIP young man :( 

[Yamanashi 3,779]

I wiah I were a smart medicine guy so that I knew the care he received on the dohyo didn't have anything to do with his death.  I know that in other sports something like this changes rules of engagement and the protocols regarding the availability of medical personnel.  There are multiple examples of this, but start by Googling Darryl Stingley.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,261]

Man what an unfortunate string of freak events. Sometimes the world turns against you and you roll snake eyes a hundred times in a row.

Rest in Peace :(

Edited April 29, 2021 by Tsuchinoninjin

[Akinomaki 40,071]

3 hours ago, dada78641 said:

What was especially grating about the incident is that it took much too long for officials to help him—it's normal procedure to simply wait for the wrestler to regain consciousness and get up by themselves. In this case, he couldn't, so eventually they brought out a stretcher and moved him away.

Reports said that it would have been dangerous to simply move Hibikiryu in such a condition. The officials who came in great numbers couldn't do anything, they had to wait till a doctor arrived and that took a long time. Only after the doctor checked Hibikiryu's condition, they could put him on the stretcher. Maybe they will get it and have medical personnel sitting at the dohyo from now on.

[Amamaniac 2,078]

7 hours ago, dada78641 said:

Really a deeply sad loss. I knew his injury was bad but I never expected it to lead to this kind of tragedy.

It just occurred to me that this topic doesn't actually have a summary of what happened, which might be useful for those who didn't follow the original story when it happened. On day 13 of Haru 2021, Hibikiryu fell on the dohyo at the end of his bout and didn't move (here's a video of the bout, purely for documentary purposes—you may not want to watch it). Later it was confirmed he couldn't move his body below the neck. What was especially grating about the incident is that it took much too long for officials to help him—it's normal procedure to simply wait for the wrestler to regain consciousness and get up by themselves. In this case, he couldn't, so eventually they brought out a stretcher and moved him away.

At the time, the JSA was admonished by fans for not having a good protocol to deal with severe injuries sustained on the dohyo, and now that this has happened I can't imagine that they won't see it as a wake up call.

The video reveals that Hibikiryu slammed down on the hard earthen ring (described by some as hard as ice), but what probably exacerbated the injury was the fact that his head actually dropped on the straw bales!  The oozumo battle ground is not a soft and cuddly space.

While Hibikiryu's family definitely deserves our condolences, no one (aside from Nantonoyama) seems to be mentioning the name of the wrestler (i.e., Imafuku) who executed the beltless throw that crippled and eventually killed him.  I can't begin to imagine what impact Hibikiryu's death is having on Imafuku!  If I were him, I'd be overwhelmed with guilt.  Just saying.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Amamaniac

[Churaumi 728]

So used to saying "he died too young" about men in their 60s...this sucks.

[dada78641 884]

2 hours ago, Akinomaki said:

Reports said that it would have been dangerous to simply move Hibikiryu in such a condition. The officials who came in great numbers couldn't do anything, they had to wait till a doctor arrived and that took a long time. Only after the doctor checked Hibikiryu's condition, they could put him on the stretcher. Maybe they will get it and have medical personnel sitting at the dohyo from now on.

Yeah, though I wonder how long it took them to call the doctor after he fell. I don't know where exactly their doctors offices are backstage, but it felt like a really long time still.

That said, even if the doctors were ringside (which they definitely should be), probably the damage was already done the moment he fell in this case. But with this, and talks of possibly reinstating a kosho seido among other things, hopefully the NSK will be motivated to seriously improve their handling of injuries in general.

[Dapeng 233]

Many many years ago Tamanoumi died of the same fatal problem of pulmonary embolism after a surgery. 

Apparently Hibikiryu's spinal cord was injured at neck level. The injury is very dangerous, but Hibikiryu could have survived. The pulmonary embolism was probably caused by a detached blood clog from a deep leg vein and could be prevented. What a tragedy. R.I.P.

[Wakaebala 151]

2 hours ago, Amamaniac said:

I can't begin to imagine what impact Hibikiryu's death is having on Imafuku! 

Yes, I also thought about that... I hope he doesn't go that hard on himself. As I can tell, he didn't have much to do with Hibikiryu's tragic bad luck - making contact with the tawara...

[Eikokurai 3,437]

Oh my god. I just woke up and saw this had made headlines on the BBC. This is terribly sad news. I had been expecting some bad news along the lines of permanent injury, but not this. I sincerely hope some good comes of his death. If this doesn’t force the Kyokai into reform, nothing will.

A dark day for sumo. :(

[Godango 973]

As everyone has already said, deeply tragic news. I'm not sure if this is a custom in Japan, but if those who keep informed become aware of any fund to go towards Hibikiryu's funeral costs and/or family to get them through this time, please share how I may be able to donate. 

Regarding Imafuku, I hope he can make it through this. We had a similar instance in Australian Cricket nearly 7 years ago, where a batsmen was hit in the neck by a ball and killed, and seeing the emotional toll it took on the bowler was awful. I hope he has a strong support network at this time.

[Kenneth Minami 60]

4 hours ago, dada78641 said:

Yeah, though I wonder how long it took them to call the doctor after he fell. I don't know where exactly their doctors offices are backstage, but it felt like a really long time still.

That said, even if the doctors were ringside (which they definitely should be), probably the damage was already done the moment he fell in this case. But with this, and talks of possibly reinstating a kosho seido among other things, hopefully the NSK will be motivated to seriously improve their handling of injuries in general.

It took about 10 minutes if I remember correctly..