Train-ing- the end

[Kintamayama 45,530]

The famous Sumo- train used by the rikishi to travel to the three non-Tokyo venues has been discontinued. Makushita and under rikishi used to travel on this train a day after the Banzuke was released and returned to Tokyo a week after the end of the basho. Tokyo station used to be filled with hundreds of rikishi and officials giving off the the sweet aroma of the bintsuke oil and fans used to gather to see their idols board the train. This always signaled that a basho was approaching. But as times change, the use of the train dwindled and for Kyushu only 11 of the 44 heyas used the train. The turning point was COVID- after March 2020 the train was suspended and was reinstated only last Nagoya. So now, each heya will get to the provincial tournaments on their own. Another historical facet of sumo comes to an end. Trains will be continued to be used during some parts of jungyo, but the Sumo train is no more.

 

Edited January 9, 2024 by Kintamayama

[Kintamayama 45,530]

Taihou- 1960

 

[Kintamayama 45,530]

Turning the car into a Mah-Jong parlour..

[Ryoshishokunin 323]

:(  

Baffling.  Are they all staying too far from the venue nowadays?  Even absent everything else, the shinkansen is just a fast way to get to Kyoto or Nagoya.  

I don't get it.

[Asashosakari 19,663]

59 minutes ago, Ryoshishokunin said:

Baffling.  Are they all staying too far from the venue nowadays?  Even absent everything else, the shinkansen is just a fast way to get to Kyoto or Nagoya.  

It's probably an issue at both ends; regional camps not close enough to the train destinations and heya not close enough to the departure station in Tokyo.

Anyway, Nikkan's article sounds way overblown to me. All that's probably changing is that the Kyokai is no longer procuring ticket allotments for one specific train, leaving the travel arrangements to the individual stables. It's not like the 11 heya that were still using the train are going to be barred from continuing to use it, and I'm sure plenty of other heya were still going to the regional basho on trains as well, just not on the train. So, meh. This strikes me mostly as a journalist bemoaning the disappearance of an easy bi-monthly story opportunity.

[Kintamayama 45,530]

2 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

It's probably an issue at both ends; regional camps not close enough to the train destinations and heya not close enough to the departure station in Tokyo.

Anyway, Nikkan's article sounds way overblown to me. All that's probably changing is that the Kyokai is no longer procuring ticket allotments for one specific train, leaving the travel arrangements to the individual stables. It's not like the 11 heya that were still using the train are going to be barred from continuing to use it, and I'm sure plenty of other heya were still going to the regional basho on trains as well, just not on the train. So, meh. This strikes me mostly as a journalist bemoaning the disappearance of an easy bi-monthly story opportunity.

They quoted Kimura Ginjirou as saying he is very sad that another tradition is gone. You are correct in your analysis, but it was a "thing" and now that any heya can take the journey in any manner they wish brings  that "we are a broad sumo family traveling together" feeling to an end. 

[Asashosakari 19,663]

54 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

They quoted Kimura Ginjirou as saying he is very sad that another tradition is gone. You are correct in your analysis, but it was a "thing" and now that any heya can take the journey in any manner they wish brings  that "we are a broad sumo family traveling together" feeling to an end. 

But that was already the case, otherwise this decision wouldn't have to be taken in the first place.

Anyway, there seems to be some conflation of two different (or at least not quite the same) things going on. As Nikkan states, originally trains were specially chartered for the purpose, and by "late Showa"* they had switched to using regular service Shinkansen trains for the savings in travel time. So for a long time, "sumo train" was "the train used for transporting sumo wrestlers", and the last 30-odd years it was just "the train that happens to have a lot of sumo wrestlers among its passengers". I wonder if that change resulted in public gnashing of teeth, too? (I also wonder if the switch from chartered to regular happened to coincide with Shinkansen tickets becoming competitive in pricing...)

Thought experiment: If the press had simply stopped reporting on the train departures/arrivals at some point, let's say once it reached the point that fewer than half the stables were still using the train, would anyone care about this now? I doubt it; certainly the whole "opportunity for fans to send off / welcome the departing / arriving rikishi" angle had diminished severely over the years, if it was ever a big thing to begin with. The Kyokai is clearly treating it as a loss of a marketing opportunity, but who was this for anymore - just press photographers?

So, as far as I'm concerned, this was essentially an invented tradition that originated from completely practical considerations. Those practical considerations are no longer the same, and we can see that the "tradition" is worth exactly nothing without them.

* I'm guessing that means after sometime in the 1980s, given that they used a picture dated 1983 that clearly doesn't show a Shinkansen.

Edit: The 1983 picture (Kinta included the other four from the article already):

Edited January 10, 2024 by Asashosakari

[Akinomaki 40,790]

On 09/01/2024 at 23:07, Kintamayama said:

The famous Sumo- train used by the rikishi to travel to the three non-Tokyo venues has been discontinued. Makushita and under rikishi used to travel on this train a day after the Banzuke was released and returned to Tokyo a week after the end of the basho. Tokyo station used to be filled with hundreds of rikishi and officials giving off the the sweet aroma of the bintsuke oil and fans used to gather to see their idols board the train. This always signaled that a basho was approaching. But as times change, the use of the train dwindled and for Kyushu only 11 of the 44 heyas used the train.

This year with a late Hatsu basho the trip to Osaka is close for the rikishi - Haru starts on the 10th. There were several problems: rikishi of 200kg couldn't sit in the standard reserved seats of the shikansen, larger luggage costs extra now, it took 2, 3 minutes for all the rikishi to board the train, which meant a delay in the schedule - a shinkansen even one minute late is extremely rare in Japan http://www.zakzak.co.jp/article/20240210-RIPVVHOUWFNFRLZ76YE4RMHNUY/2/

[Akinomaki 40,790]

We have the first regional basho after the end of the sumo train era now. Kimura Ginjiro has to rewrite his book

On 26/02/2021 at 11:44, Akinomaki said:

Soon to disappear Minezaki-beya's makuuchi gyoji Kimura Ginjiro wrote his first book, about sumo related trains and stations「大相撲と鉄道」"Ozumo and railway".

A group of 6 gyoji are in charge of transportation, getting also the tickets for the trains to regional basho and jungyo. Some oyakata and rikishi want to have special seats, ... Then there is the problem how to place the extra big rikishi. http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/202102250001252.html

On 27/02/2021 at 09:07, Akinomaki said:

The so called sumo train to transport the lower ranked rikishi etc. to the regional basho is well known - but we had none of that for a long time now

Ginjiro: "For a whole year I as well haven't been at Tokyo station. In July I want to go to Nagoya. Passing a tunnel with a train, there is always an exit. Regardless how long and dark it is, going forward the light will become visible. And then it's just escaping it. We mustn't stop. We are still in the tunnel, we have to put our efforts into quickly escaping it."

On 07/04/2021 at 17:38, Akinomaki said:

Ginjiro likely gets his wish for Nagoya, but without the sumo train.

Arranging the tickets for that is the job of his transport department. "The tickets for which we did a tentative reservation will be cancelled. The NSK members will move according to schedules of each heya."

After he wrote his book, some fans commented on the news that there will be no sumo train: "Ginjiro will surely be disappointed"

"That's not so, it's the feeling of thanks to the sumo fans who remember my face when they hear the keyword 'sumo train'."

The group discount tickets are on sale 9 months before the journey, the transport department gyoji used to do the arrangements already then.

Haru 2020 was the end of the real sumo train era, moving by heya became the norm then. Only 2 times the sumo train was revived after the tunnel, properly last Nagoya, for Kyushu only about 100 used it, because many were at the jungyo till the day before and moved from there to Fukuoka.

Impressions from former Haru basho at Shin-Osaka station - Taka later was Osaka department head, for Haru 2004 he was leading the rikishi group on the sumo train

o

Haru 1968

o

[Akinomaki 40,790]

Nikkan had posted a reminiscence on the premium side, the pics are all accessible there, and part of the article

oo oo

1958, 59

oo

60

oo o

62, 63

oo

76, 83

o o

o oo o o o o  o o o o o

some more from Asahi

o o o

Edited March 9, 2024 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,790]

The sumo train is dead - long live the sumo train

For the trip from Osaka to jungyo starting location Ise, the rikishi took a train, that thus became a sumo train - an event with dedicated playlist

recently it becomes annoying that YT on their site displays some of the video titles not in the original, but e.g in English or for me even German - depending on which downloader I use, I even get that title saved instead of the proper one

[Koorifuu 1,020]

Offtopic, but that's an YouTube functionality that's gaining steam lately. The uploaders are free to add different titles, descriptions and audio tracks for individual territories, which then trigger depending on the user's default YT language / location.

I've been forced to change my accounts to English as a result, since I'd often be getting poorly translated text at best, unintelligible at worst, since plenty of people tend to upload the wrong variant into my native language.

Edited April 1, 2024 by Koorifuu