Aki 2023 Retirements

[Yarimotsu 548]

1 hour ago, Seiyashi said:

Apparently the promotion only takes effect in January, so he has to wait till next year. 

Which isn't really a reason, as he could also be promoted now with it only taking effect in January.

[Akinomaki 40,003]

6 hours ago, Ripe said:

Isn't there a tate-gyoji position opening THIS September with Inosuke's promotion to Shonosuke?

Normally when a person get promoted his old post became vacant so they could have promoted him to Shikimori Inosuke position and they choose not to... besides, there is no guarantee that he'd be promoted next year. Or at any point before he reaches mandatory retirement age.

Tamajiro apparently had hoped he would at least be promoted to Inosuke together with Inosuke to Shonosuke, and that would have been the normal way to do it.

That they didn't do it means that he is viewed as not even as good as this extremely bad Inosuke we witnessed these years.

Naturally he's pissed off, especially since he had deserved to be promoted to Shonosuke INSTEAD of Inosuke

[Naganoyama 5,877]

He might even have been unofficially told/promised that he would be promoted over the head of the current Shikimori Inosuke and now feel he's been cheated.

 

[dingo 1,205]

Does the Kyokai really have that many (future) gyoji that they can play games with the promotions and set a bad example? Or is it intended to be a warning for the younger gyoji? In this case it's obvious that seniority only was not enough for Tamajiro. 

[Asashosakari 18,937]

1 hour ago, Akinomaki said:

Tamajiro apparently had hoped he would at least be promoted to Inosuke together with Inosuke to Shonosuke, and that would have been the normal way to do it.

That they didn't do it means that he is viewed as not even as good as this extremely bad Inosuke we witnessed these years.

Naturally he's pissed off, especially since he had deserved to be promoted to Shonosuke INSTEAD of Inosuke

Did Inosuke 40 deserve to be promoted to Shonosuke before he ended up retiring due to scandal? Let's face it, none of us ever have any idea what reasons might exist / have existed behind the scenes for their reluctance to promote the last several senior referees, unless and until they become public (usually for less than desirable reasons). What they're like on the dohyo is the only thing we have access to as fans.

[RabidJohn 1,699]

9 hours ago, Ripe said:

Isn't there a tate-gyoji position opening THIS September with Inosuke's promotion to Shonosuke?

Technically there has been a tate-gyoji position open for nine years, but the NSK has been happy to run with only one. 
I wrote next September (when Shonosuke retires), because they could be back down to none.

[Akinomaki 40,003]

2 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

Did Inosuke 40 deserve to be promoted to Shonosuke before he ended up retiring due to scandal? Let's face it, none of us ever have any idea what reasons might exist / have existed behind the scenes for their reluctance to promote the last several senior referees, unless and until they become public (usually for less than desirable reasons). What they're like on the dohyo is the only thing we have access to as fans.

And we all witnessed that the present Inosuke did everything to hinder the promotion he now got in spite of all that - and that the others didn't excel either, but at least were more worthy than him. So if anybody deserved to be promoted at all, it would have been Tamajiro.

[Asashosakari 18,937]

My point was that we have no idea if there have been compelling reasons to not promote Tamajiro all these years that go beyond "Inosuke was in his way".

[Akinomaki 40,003]

On 01/10/2023 at 11:47, Asashosakari said:

My point was that we have no idea if there have been compelling reasons to not promote Tamajiro all these years that go beyond "Inosuke was in his way".

Gyoji are promoted according to seniority and performance - both are well known. Compelling reasons to not promote someone always have been poor performance. What we don't know is what reason might exist to promote someone although he doesn't deserve it according to the regulated criteria above. So from what we know, Tamajiro should at least have been promoted to Inosuke with the present promotion, if not instead of it.

Spoiler

第二章　行司番附編成
第十三条
行司の階級順位の昇降は、年功序列によることなく、次の成績評価基準に基き、理事会の詮衡により決定する。
１　土俵上の勝負判定の良否
２　土俵上の姿勢態度の良否
３　土俵上のかけ声、声量の良否
４　指導力の有無
５　日常の勤務、操行の状況
６　其の他行可実務の優劣
第十四条
成績評価は、毎本場所および毎巡業ごとに審判部長、および副部長、巡業部長、指導普及部長、事が行い、考課表を作成する。考課表の作成は、成績評価基準ごとに加点、減点の方法に

て行うものとする。
第十五条
審判部長および副部長、巡業部長、監事は作成した考課表を理事会に提出しなければならない。
第十六条
行司の階級順位の昇降は、年一回とし、提出された考課表により、九月場所後の理事会にて詮衡し、翌年度の番附編成を行う。
第十七条
十枚目以上の行司の番附員数を、次の通り規制する。（昭和五十五年九月二十七日改正）
十枚目以上の行司二十二名以内
第十八条
番附編成後行司の退職があり、理事長が必要と認めたときは、詮衡理事会を開き、番附編成を行うことができる。

【故意による無気力相撲懲罰規定】（昭和四十七年一月施行）
第一条
本場所相撲に於ける故意による無気力相撲を防止し、監察し、懲罰するため本規定を設ける。
第二条
故意による無気力相撲を防止し、監察するため相撲競技監察委員会（以下委員会と称する）をおく。委員会の委員は、年寄の内より理事会の承認を経て理事長が任命する。委員会は、委

員長一名、副委員長一名、委員若干名とする。任期は一年とする。
第三条
委員会は、故意による無気力相撲を防止するため指導普及部と連繋して力士を指導するものとする。
第四条
委員会は、本場所相撲を常時監察し、故意による無気力相撲と思われる相撲があった場合は審判部長と協議し、故意による無気力相撲の結論を出した場合は理事会に提出するものとする

。
第五条
理事会は、委員会の提出した結論に基き寄附行為施行細則第九十四条によらず理事会決議を以て懲罰を決定するものとする。
第六条
故意に無気力相撲をした力士に対する懲罰は、除名、引退勧告、出場停止、減俸、けん責とする。
第七条
懲罰を受けた力士の師匠は、連帯してその貢任を負うものとする。
第八条
故意による無気力相撲に関連したものは、力士と同等の懲罰を受けるものとする。

【行司賞罰規定】（昭和三十五年一月十一日施行、昭和四十八年十二月二十六日改正）
第一条
行司に対する賞罰は、番附編成要領第十三条の行司の成績評価基準によう、信賞必罰を以て厳正に行うものとする。
第二条
番附編成要領第十四条の行司の成績評価を行うものは成績評価基準に照し、著しく成績良好なもの或は不良のものがありたる時は、その旨を理事長に報告しなければならない。
第三条
理事長は、前条の報告により必要あると認めたときは、理事会に提案するものとする。
第四条
賞罰は、理事会の決議により行うものとする。
第五条
著しく成績良好なものは抜擢により番附順位を特進させることができる。
第六条
懲罰は、けん責、減俸、出場停止、番附順位降下、引退勧告、除名とする。
第七条
立行司は、成績評価の対象より除外し、自己の責任と自覚にまつこととする。
但し、式守伊之助の名跡を襲名したものは、襲名時より二年間は他の行司と同一に扱うものとする。
第八条
立行司にして自己の責任と自覚がないと認められたときは、理事会の決議により引退を勧告し、または除名するものとする。

http://goza.blog.shinobi.jp/寄附行為/

Edited October 3, 2023 by Akinomaki

[RabidJohn 1,699]

Maybe we are now in an era when the NSK is happy to have only one tate-gyoji. He will be Inosuke most of the time before spending the last few months of his career as Shonosuke, and only then will they promote another Inosuke.

That is kind of what I've been seeing since I started watching sumo again in 2015.

[WAKATAKE 2,644]

1 hour ago, RabidJohn said:

Maybe we are now in an era when the NSK is happy to have only one tate-gyoji. He will be Inosuke most of the time before spending the last few months of his career as Shonosuke, and only then will they promote another Inosuke.

That is kind of what I've been seeing since I started watching sumo again in 2015.

Or this could be the NSK's way of "battling inflation"

[Gurowake 3,990]

I don't really understand how someone can spend over 40 years (I assume) at a job and then quit only a couple years before their regular retirement age.  The only thing that makes sense is that there was a very long series of slights and the most recent was the straw that broke the camel's back.   I don't really follow things related to gyoji performance other than what passively comes up in the discussion thread, so I'm not sure if he like never has had a bad call while the current tate-gyoji has a huge number and he felt for that reason he should be pushed ahead in the promotion queue, but in my mind the gyoji "performance" in term of sashi-chigae is somewhat irrelevant.  The way I see it, shimpan really decide the fight, and the gyoji is more or less window-dressing.  Sure, constantly being obviously wrong is not going to be good, but if it's a close call I would never fault a gyoji for being "wrong" when they don't have the 5 sets of eyes and the recording cameras that the shimpan have. 

I hope he's financially able to retire now as I'm not sure what other job he would be able to get at his age after such a long career as a gyoji.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Gurowake

[Yubinhaad 11,582]

4 hours ago, RabidJohn said:

Maybe we are now in an era when the NSK is happy to have only one tate-gyoji. He will be Inosuke most of the time before spending the last few months of his career as Shonosuke, and only then will they promote another Inosuke.

That is kind of what I've been seeing since I started watching sumo again in 2015.

Well yeah, that's because 2015 is essentially where it began - 37th Shonosuke reached mandatory retirement, as did Kimura Tamamitsu who stayed at sanyaku rank due to health reasons (if memory serves, he was mostly kyujo for the last year or so of his career). I don't think we can say the Kyokai is happy with such an "era" though, it's just the way it's happened.

The 40th Inosuke was only 53 when he was promoted; it should have been Kimura Masanao but sadly he died. There was no way they were going to promote 40th Inosuke prematurely again, and then he got himself booted for his behaviour anyway. 41st Inosuke was promoted at 59 in 2019.01, maybe a little bit early but not so bad, he might have waited only one or two years until he went up to Shonosuke, but in 2020 he suffered a stroke and his struggles since then are well documented. The ideal promotion pattern during this time should have been:

Kimura Tamamitsu - mandatory retirement February 2015
Kimura Shozaburo > 39th Shikimori Inosuke > 37th Kimura Shonosuke - mandatory retirement March 2015
Kimura Masanao (died January 2013) > 40th Shikimori Inosuke > 38th Kimura Shonosuke - mandatory retirement August 2018
Shikimori Kindayu > 41st Shikimori Inosuke (resigned May 2018) > 39th Kimura Shonosuke - mandatory retirement December 2024
Shikimori Kandayu > 42nd Shikimori Inosuke - mandatory retirement September 2024
Kimura Tamajiro > 43rd Shikimori Inosuke > 40th Kimura Shonosuke - mandatory retirement December 2025

As you can see, if the above had worked out, the current Inosuke would never have become Shonosuke at all, and Kimura Tamajiro would still have had to wait until September 2024 to become a tate gyoji anyway.

There's no way we can know if this is simply the Kyokai sticking to the "expected" timetable of promotions. I can see the logic of them doing that, although I wouldn't agree with it if that were the case. Looking at the yobidashi promotions, Jiro has gone straight to tate yobidashi and Katsuyuki up to fukutate at the same time - I can understand Tamajiro being frustrated, perhaps wondering why he didn't get the same courtesy. Maybe Shibatayama being a big wheel helped Katsuyuki, while Tatsunami being something of a maverick didn't help Tamajiro, but that's sheer speculation.

Ultimately though, the outcome of all this is an experienced gyoji is lost for nothing, and that's just sad for everyone.

[Yubinhaad 11,582]

Four pictures from Kirizakura's danpatsu-shiki which took place at Michinoku-beya today.

Kimarite note: I wish I had spotted last basho that Kirizakura had a yorikiri win, a decade after the last one and only the 10th of his long career!

 

Spoiler

With his first and last oichomage.

Michinoku-oyakata (former Ozeki Kirishima) makes the final cut. Heya yobidashi Shin is holding the tray.

 

[dingo 1,205]

12 hours ago, Gurowake said:

I hope he's financially able to retire now as I'm not sure what other job he would be able to get at his age after such a long career as a gyoji.

I might be wrong, but I assume he has already earned some kind of pension for his long tenure. Otherwise the protest retirement would not make any kind of sense for him. 

[Vulch 3]

2 hours ago, dingo said:

I assume he has already earned some kind of pension for his long tenure

Looks like his 40 years gets him the full basic state pension when he reaches 65, and he could take a proportionatly reduced (76% at age 60) pension at once. There's also an earnings related amount on top of that which can be taken from 60, though at a quick read some of that may be replaced by whatever sort of scheme the NSK runs.

[Kaitetsu 277]

I don't know if anybody else mentioned this, but first class tokoyama Tokohira is not on the JSA's list of active tokoyama anymore, therefore he must have retired.

[Chiyotasuke 274]

3 hours ago, Kaitetsu said:

I don't know if anybody else mentioned this, but first class tokoyama Tokohira is not on the JSA's list of active tokoyama anymore, therefore he must have retired.

He retired back in May after reaching the mandatory retirement age.

On 02/06/2023 at 14:42, Chiyotasuke said:

Kataonami-beya's tokoyama Tokohira also retired after turning 65 on the 26th. A commemorative photo from the heya's website:

And while I'm at it, I'll add a brief overview of his career:

At 19, he started out in Nishonoseki Beya, July of 1977. He was promoted to tier 2 tokoyama in 1998 and to tier 1 in 2008 at the age of 49. After his heya closed in 2013, he moved to Matsugane Beya. Later the heya was renamed to Nishonoseki which in a sense "reunited" Tokohira with his old heya. At the end of 2021, when the heya got a new shisho and again a new name (Hanaregoma), he was the only personnel to move to a different heya, which was Kataonami, his final destination. Unfortunately, he was never promoted to the special tier in his later career.

[Akinomaki 40,003]

On 29/09/2023 at 23:54, Akinomaki said:

Another retirement, but not a rikishi: sanyaku gyoji Kimura Tamajiro (62, Tatsunami) retires for undisclosed personal reasons, the oyakata wanted to dissuade him, but to no avail. He was the 6th Tamajiro since 2003, makuuchi gyoji since Haru 2006 and sanyaku since Hatsu 2014.

The NSK officially announced the retirement of Kimura Tamajiro today http://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2023103000241&g=spo