June 2002

Musashimaru Repeats in Wire-to-Wire Fashion

Musashimaru Repeats in Wire-to-Wire Fashion
Eleventh Yusho Ties Akebono Mark
by “Yukikaze” for SUMO SHIMPO

At the 2001 Natsu Basho, then- yokozuna-East TAKANOHANA was cruising to his 22nd Tenno-Hai when his day 14 match with then-ozeki #1-West MUSOYAMA went terribly wrong.  Not only was he twisted to the dohyo for his first loss of the tournament, but he suffered a severe knee injury due to MUSO’s foot being on his as he went down.  He managed to answer the senshuraku bell, only to fall to then-yokozuna-West MUSASHIMARU.  This forced a playoff for the title:  amazingly enough, the smaller rikishi managed to prevail despite his injury.  After the basho TAKANOHANA underwent a knee reconstruction, and started the long, slow rehabilitation process.  Throughout that time he was relegated to the West side of the banzuke.  The skinny kept changing – “He’ll be ready in January” to “You’ll see him in Osaka” and then “He’s definitely going to compete in May”.

But then came May, and the start of the 2002 Natsu tournament – and despite all the pre-basho buzz, TAKANOHANA did not come out to play.  He has now been absent for an entire sumo year; six basho, 90 torikumi.  Before this point, it looked as if he would rewrite the sumo record books.  But with one full year of enforced inactivity in what could still be considered the prime of his career, the picture is different.  TAKA could still win three more yusho to move past Kitanoumi into third place on the all-time list; he could still win 747 Makunouchi bouts to move past Taiho’s mark.  But anything beyond that becomes highly problematic – especially when the current talent in the sanyaku is considered.  (See related article.)

So with TAKA still off the form charts, MUSASHIMARU – all 508 pounds of him – was once again in the yokozuna-East position and listed as the heavy favorite (all right, pun intended) in the Natsu race.  And if this basho was a horse race, then the big Hawaiian was Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed rolled into one powerful package.  Right from the gate his oshi-centered game was all but unstoppable.  Ozeki #2-West CHIYOTAIKAI managed to stay with him until day 10, but from that point onward MARU had it all to himself.  CHIYOTAIKAI was not quite ready to give up, however.  He had his chance at the speeding Hawaiian on day 13, and won by oshidashi to prevent him from clinching the title that day.  But day 14 saw MARU run ozeki #1-West TOCHIAZUMA off the dohyo, and the race was over.  Ozeki #1-East KAIO won the final match of the tournament to make the official mark 13-2.

With the Tenno-Hai in his hands for the 11th time, MUSASHIMARU is finally fighting his way out from under the huge shadow cast by sumo’s great Hawaiian pioneers.  He currently stands tied with retired yokozuna Akebono in number of yusho won, and must be heavily favored to take a couple more.  He now has 674 top-division victories, which leaves him only nine short of the 683 wins amassed by retired sekiwake Takamiyama in his long career.  Perhaps most significantly:  a good performance this coming July in Nagoya could push him past TAKA’s current total of 685 victories, unless the younger Hanada brother finally brings himself back to the dohyo.  This marks the first time the same rikishi has won two yusho in succession since MARU took the 1999 Aki and Kyushu tournaments (he won the Haru and Natsu yusho earlier that year to gain his promotion).  Unfortunately, because the flow of sumotori from Hawaii into the Japanese pro system has all but dried up, MARU may very well be the last of the Kurofune or “Black Ships”.

Osaka had not been kind to CHIYOTAIKAI.  Going into senshuraku under the Taiikukan’s arched roof his books were even at 7‑7, and his loss to fellow ozeki MUSOYAMA placed him under kadoban again.  Whatever his oyakata said or did, the effects of said action were clear for the spectators at the Kokugikan to see.  The Kokonoe heyagashira did a nice impression of a bowling ball, knocking off his first nine opponents like so many tenpins.  But then he had to fight the other ozeki.  Not only did he lose to all three, he lost all three torikumi by the same kimarite (oshidashi).  But he gained a measure of redemption by pushing MUSASHIMARU off the zensho tracks.  He finished with an 11-4 for jun-yusho honors and erased the black mark on himself, which leaves his mentor free to concentrate on poorly-performing stablemates.

The other members of the ozeki quartet put out strong efforts and made kachikoshi easily enough, but none of them were really able to solidify their credentials for future promotion.  KAIO was stunted almost from the outset:  he won his opening match, but then only batted .500 over his next 8 to sit at 5-4 on day 9.  Then he finally gained some traction and took all of his remaining torikumi (including MUSASHIMARU on senshuraku) to go 11-4 for a share of the jun-yusho.  TOCHIAZUMA was never in danger of going kadoban.  But losing to three maegashira – #2-West TOSANOUMI, #1-East AMINISHIKI and #3-West TAKANOWAKA – in the first nine days made the difference between a yusho-calibre performance and one that was simply satisfactory.  He finally finished at 10-5.  #2-East MUSOYAMA had trouble with TOSANOUMI and AMINISHIKI as well, but #4-West KYOKUTENHO twisted him off the dohyo in such a way that he was gingerly supporting his left arm as he walked back to the shitakubeya.  He did not answer the yobidashi’s call on day 14 against KAIO, and a 9-5-1 goes into his record.

Sekiwake-West KOTOMITSUKI was on Kosho Seido.  Two months before, he’d fought his last one or two torikumi with a broken jaw.  This left ASASHORYU as the sole sekiwake.  On shonichi, the Prime Minister of Mongolia was in attendance.  The #1 Mongolian rikishi on the professional banzuke presented his country’s leader with an opening win over maegashira #3-East MIYABIYAMA as a gift.  It got tough after the PM was gone:  he was 4-3 after day 7.  He finished with seven wins in his final eight combats (losing only to MUSASHIMARU) to push his record to 11-4 and take a piece of the Kanto-Sho (Fighting Spirit Prize).  In his last three basho, ASASHORYU has gone 30-15.  (Your writer thinks he might be bucking for his own Mongolian postage stamp.)  From the calibre of his recent sumo, komusubi-East WAKANOSATO has deserved promotion from the ‘killer rank’ for some time.  The Naruto heyagashira managed to win all his hiramaku bouts, and took down KAIO in the bargain, to make his kachi after day 13 and finish at 8-7.  Komusubi-west TOCHINONADA was even-steven after day 12, but lost three of the next four to become the only member of the joijin to face demotion in July.

Maegashira #14-East HOKUTORIKI punched out an 11-4 record to lead the hiramaku, take a share of the jun-yusho, and share the Kanto-Sho with ASASHORYU, all in his Makunouchi debut.  As late as day 8 KYOKUSHUZAN was keeping pace with the leaders:  four consecutive losses took him out of the chase, but he still finished with a 10-5 showing along with the Gino-Sho (Technique Prize).  #14-West SHIMOTORI also went 10-5.    After a long slide that has seen them drop to the hiramaku ranks, two former members of Musashigawa Beya’s “College of Sumo Knowledge” finally reversed their fortunes.  MIYABIYAMA pounded out a 10-5 and is the man most likely to get the komusubi-West slot for Nagoya.  His stablemate, maegashira #9-East DEJIMA, went 9-6 to pull out of his nosedive.  #6-East KOTONOWAKA held Sadogatake’s banner high with his 9-6 effort.  No kinboshi were surrendered by MUSASHIMARU:  the Shukun-Sho (Outstanding Performance Prize) was not awarded this basho.

In the Juryo, senshuraku ended with #8-East GOJORO and #9-East IWAKIYAMA tied at 11-4, so it came down to a playoff.  GOJORO had just returned to the sekitori ranks after winning the Makushita yusho in Osaka.  But he would be denied the rare opportunity to win championships in different divisions in consecutive basho, as IWAKIYAMA prevailed for the title.   #3-East AOGIYAMA won himself a likely return to a maegashira’s paycheck on the strength of his 10-5 outing.  #7-East SENSHUYAMA and #12-West KOMAHIKARI also went 10-5.  The following rikishi had 9-6 efforts:  #2-East HAYATEUMI (also likely to make the ‘bright lights’), #5-West KITAZAKURA, #6-East KASUGANISHIKI and #10-West TAKANOTSURU.

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Is TAKANOHANA a Dominant Force - or a Spent Force?   
What Do You Think?

Now that yokozuna TAKANOHANA has been on the Public Injury lists for a full year’s worth of action, questions are starting to crop up in the minds of sumo fans.  And we, the editorial staff of SUMO SHIMPO, want to know what you think.

Please send us your opinion on how TAKA’s future looks to you, and why you think so, in 100 words (more or less).  Send it by E-mail (best way) to info@sumoshimpo.com, or by geo-mail to:  1715 East Poinsettia Street, Long Beach, CA  90805-3135.  All comments will be posted on the Web site:  selected ones will go in the SHIMPO’s print version.

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Where, Oh Where Has My SUMO WORLD Gone?
by “Yukikaze” for SUMO SHIMPO

This has not been a good year for those sumo fans who subscribe to SUMO WORLD magazine.  They have now failed to produce issues for the first three basho of 2002.  They did make the January issue available in Adobe PDF for those who had the capability to read Adobe files.  But for those of us who collect our magazines for historical archive, this doesn’t do.

The SW staff has announced that we subscribers will get all the issues we are entitled to.

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Legendary Yokozuna (10+ yusho)
(updated after Natsu 2002)

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The 600-Win Club (updated after Natsu 2002)  

(Info from SUMO WORLD magazine, the 1998 VAN VAN ‘face book’ and the Nihon Sumo Kyokai web site)

* Active in Juryo

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 Junior Division Yusho Winners

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Friday, April 26th found this writer back in Denver, Colorado to run the sumo portion of the second annual "Sushi, Sake & Sumo, a charity event put on by the "Generations Cancer Foundation" to benefit cancer research.  Last year, they were able to write a check for $57,000.  This year’s beneficiary was to be cancer research at the University of Colorado Hospital.  We don't have the final figures yet, but with ticket sales approaching a sellout by Friday afternoon, this year’s donation should top last year’s.

For the first event last year, we tried putting on a mini-tournament with six wrestlers and your writer as referee.  For this year’s event, they decided that they only wanted a demonstration.  Since they were making a thousand-dollar donation to the Southern California Sumo Kyokai, we were happy to oblige.  One advantage of this change in format was no tournament, no need for a referee.  This meant that this writer could leave his bow tie, tabi's, white pants and shirt at home, put on a mawashi and get in on the fun. To reduce airfare cost, four wrestlers drove down from Idaho, Texas recruit Bart Harris flew in from Houston and we flew in from Los Angeles.  The ring came via "Brown", A.K.A. UPS again.

The Idaho contingent consisted of the Gneiting brothers Kelly, Alan and Jeremy, who weighed in at 385, 340 and 225 pounds respectively.  Accompanying them was Trevor Roberts, just back from a two-year LDS mission in Japan, who was the lightest participant of the evening at a mere 197 pounds.  On Friday afternoon these four became the charter members of the country's newest sumo club, the Snake River Sumo Association (Hebikawa Sumo Kyokai).  (See related article.)

The event was once again held at the Fillmore Auditorium.  This year we were preceded by taiko drums and a demonstration by Master Tiger Kim's Tae Kwon Do school.  Master Kim provided the tatami to go under our canvas.  We did two fifteen-minute demonstrations which we introduced as a demonstration of a practice session.  After introductions, we did a brief warm up and then went straight into matches.  No ceremony; just sankyo and get into it.  Kelly bravely decided to go without shorts under his mawashi.  We had borrowed two mawashi from Ernie Hunt for Kelly and Alan.  Ernie's mawashi are very heavy and stiff, so it proved to be a challenging and amusing task to get Kelly tied up properly.

We didn't keep score, but Kelly won all of his matches.  What we have observed in the past with the Heffernan and Crite brothers was again proved true here:  if you want fierce competition, put brothers in the ring with each other.  Jeremy Gneiting beat Alan in their first match, which led to demands for re-matches.  The last of these re-matches became the last match of the evening, when Jeremy's head contacted Alan's nose on the tachiai.  By the time we cleaned the blood off the ring our time was up.

This year we stayed at the Magnolia Hotel (Denver).  The Magnolia is a 1917 office building that has been converted to a hotel.  Located at the corner of 17th and Stout Streets in the heart of downtown Denver, the Magnolia features deluxe rooms, a friendly and helpful staff, a workout room and a very nice lounge downstairs from the lobby.  They serve a free breakfast in the morning (not just Continental either), a happy hour in the evening and a milk and cookie bar at night.  Guests receive coupons good for two free well drinks, a draft beer or house wine.  This writer went for a couple of Killian's Reds.  The flagship of the Magnolia Hotel chain is in Dallas, with a third to open in Houston this summer.  For info, go to www.themagnoliahotel.com.

This writer stayed in Denver until Sunday, which gave us a chance to see more of Denver.  We visited Caboose Hobbies, the Worlds largest model train store, rode the light rail as far as Littleton Station and back to Union Station.  Of course we went the full length of the 16th Street pedestrian mall several times. Not surprisingly, there are a number of Western trading post- style stores on the mall.  Of the five we went into, four were owned by Koreans and the fifth by Mongolians!  The Mongolian lady we chatted with assured me that they are big sumo fans in Mongolia.  "Everyone watches sumo on TV" she said.  We learned that the basic greeting in Mongolia is "Sian biana".  So, if you ever meet your favorite Mongolian sumotori, you can greet him in his own language.

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Coming This Summer
by "Tonkatsu" for SUMO SHIMPO

One of the results of the SUMO SHIMPO web site is that we of the Southern California Sumo Kyokai get frequent calls from TV and movie people wanting to do something involving sumo.  Most commonly, they are looking for sumo types for a commercial and we have to refer them to an agency because none of us look like Japanese sumo wrestlers.  However, sometimes they want other information about sumo and we try to help when we can.  Last year, someone thought our help was useful enough to pay us something for it.  This wasn't such a bad thing and we have started asking for a small consulting fee.

One of the calls we received was from New Line Cinema for the latest Austin Powers movie.  Since he is now being seen in previews, we don't think we would be violating the confidentiality agreement we signed to tell you that in Austin Powers Three "Goldmember", the character "Fat Bastard" is in Japan doing pro sumo.  Given the wacky nature of Austin Powers movies, one might be surprised to know that they were actually interested in some degree of authenticity.

We (in the editorial sense) were invited to the studio for a meeting with Mike Myers, Director Jay Roach and other members of the production staff.  Prior to the meeting, we had been faxed two pages of dialogue.  At the meeting we were given a storyboard, and we were asked to tell them whether things would happen the way they were on that storyboard.  The answer was “no” on several counts.  During the discussion, it was pointed out that we were not there to serve as a censure for sumo; just to tell them what would happen in real sumo.  We brought videos from a basho in Japan, books, a Nihon Sumo Kyokai calendar and several copies of Sumo World.  Since they didn't need us at the filming, we don't know exactly what they did, but I was told by one production person that it was "silly".  That's OK, because those who really know anything about sumo know that in Japan they do have a sense of humor about their sport.

We don't know if we will get a credit (and we aren’t holding our breath) but we will take credit for one thing.  It was our idea to put a plaid mawashi on Fat Bastard.  Another thing we told them was that he would need a shikona.  We offered a translation of Fat Bastard, courtesy of Mr. Matsuzaki.  Like all of you, we will have to wait and see.

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New Sumo Clubs In Idaho and Texas
by “Tonkatsu” for SUMO SHIMPO

On Friday, April 26th, this writer had the privilege of presiding at the organizational meeting of North America's newest sumo club, the Snake River Sumo Association (Hebikawa Sumo Kyokai).  We could have almost have called it the Gneiting Brothers Sumo Association, since three of the four charter members are the Gneiting brothers Kelly, Alan and Jeremy.  Trevor Roberts is the fourth member.  This energetic quartet promises to get sumo in Idaho and adjoining states off to a good start.  It is already the fourth largest club in the United States Sumo Federation.

The club was organized as an unincorporated association.  Kelly Gneiting was elected its first President and Alan Gneiting its first Secretary.  Kelly and Alan are preparing for the North American Sumo Championships in Toronto this coming August 3.

In addition to the new club in Idaho, plans are in the works for the first sumo club in Texas.  The groundwork is being done by Bart Harris, who participated in the recently-completed Sushi, Sake and Sumo II exhibition.  Not surprisingly, its tentative name is the Lone Star Sumo Association (Hitoriboshi Sumo Kyokai).

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New Board of Trustees for USSF
by “Tonkatsu” for SUMO SHIMPO

The United States Sumo Federation was incorporated in the state of New Jersey on May 20, 1996.  Its initial board of trustees were Yoshisada Yonezuka (who, at the time, was the North American representative to the International Sumo Federation); John Jacques, President of the Oahu Sumo Kyokai; and Emmanuel Yarbrough, World openweight champion.  This was a logical choice at the time because New Jersey and Hawaii were the only places doing sumo.

Much has changed in the ensuing six years.  California now has more members in the USSF than the rest of the country combined.  It was only natural that as the demographics of sumo in the country have changed, the newcomers would want a voice in the Federation's affairs.  This has not been easy to achieve.  Unfortunately, the person who filed the certificate of incorporation neglected to explain to Mr. Yonezuka that the initial Board of Trustees was supposed to be replaced by an elected one at the end of the first year.  Regretably it took until this past May to get this done and that only after a lawsuit.  Pursuant to the settlement of that lawsuit, the bylaws of the federation were amended to provide for the direct election of trustees by the members.

To assure that no area has more than one trustee, the country was divided into three geographic regions with each trustee being elected by the members in that region.  The three regions are:

Office Number One comprising the Eastern and Central time zones
Office Number Two comprising the Mountain and Pacific time zones
Office Number Three comprising Hawaii, Alaska and any US citizen living abroad.

Each region has recently conducted its own election.  The resulting Board of Trustees is as follows:

Office Number One:  Yoshisada Yonezuka
Office Number Two:  Harry Dudrow
Office Number Three:  John Jacques

It is this writer’s sincere hope that the new Board of Trustees can now get on with the task of building and growing amateur sumo all over this great country.

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TOUGH CREW FOR TOUGH CROWD The folks who came to Denver’s second annual Sushi, Sake and Sumo event got a great show from the above amateur sumotori.  Clockwise from top left:  Kelly Gneiting, Trevor Roberts, Harry Dudrow, Bart Harris, and Jeremy Gneiting.  (Not shown:  Alan Gneiting.) (PHOTO:  www.blacktie-denver.com)

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SEKITORI BIRTHDAYS for June and July (data from SUMO WORLD magazine).

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GAIJIN RIKISHI RESULTS courtesy of Moti Dichne (www.dichne.com)

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CALENDAR OF SUMO EVENTS (compiled by the SUMO SHIMPO staff)

2002 California Sumo Championship
Saturday, July 20, 2002
Check-in begins at 12:00PM; matches begin at 1:00PM
"Dohyo of Dreams", 12291 Meade Street, Garden Grove, CA 92841
Open to amateur sumotori of both genders, in all ages and weight classifications, from anywhere in the world
Spectators admitted FREE; $10.00 entry fee for competitors.
Note to spectators:  The "Dohyo of Dreams" is located in the backyard of a private residence.  It is VERY STRONGLY ADVISED that you bring your own lawn chairs, blankets or tarpaulins to sit on.  Please feel free to bring food and drink to enjoy while you watch the competition.

2002 Nagoya Basho:  Prefectural Taiikukan, Nagoya
Banzuke:  June 24, 2002
Shonichi:  July 7, 2002
Senshuraku:  July 21, 2002

6th North American Sumo Championships
August 3, 2002:  time TBA
Japanese Cultural Centre, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

US Sumo Open
August 24-25, 2002:  UCLA

2002 Aki Basho:  Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo
Banzuke:  August 26, 2002
Shonichi:  September 8, 2002
Senshuraku:  September 22, 2002

2002 Kyushu Basho:  Kokusai Center, Fukuoka
Banzuke:  October 28, 2002
Shonichi:  November 10, 2002
Senshuraku:  November 24, 2002

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