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A
Word From “Tonkatsu”
The June issue
of Sumo Shimpo was to have been our tenth anniversary issue. I had
already written an article for the occasion (see elsewhere in this issue)
and “Yukikaze was working on the Natsu Basho feature.
Unfortunately, all this was derailed by the circus known as the USSF
annual meeting. To be brief, the long and productive collaboration
between Jim “Yukikaze” Lowerre and myself has fallen victim to the
constant bickering that threatens to destroy everything we have worked for
the past twelve years. As a result, he will no longer be serving as
editor of this publication. Instead the features he used to do for
SUMO SHIMPO will appear in his own publication, “Yukikaze’s Sumo blog.”
Also, he has started his own club called the “Dohyo of Dreams Sumo
Association” (DDSA). Since I don’t wish to put on tournaments at
this time, the events scheduled for the DoD will be handled by them.
Note: The California Sumo Open has already taken place.
In the
beginning, I stated an intent to shut down both the SCSK and SUMO SHIMPO.
Of course I’ve said such things before and not done it. For
reasons related both to Jim Lowerre’s reaction, and the fact that people
are still calling me with questions about sumo, I’m doing neither.
I can’t do
the kind of layout work that Jim did. However, since we are no
longer doing a print edition, I don’t need to. I will muddle along
on my own. As I said to Jim, “The result won’t be as good as our
joint effort, but that’s life.”
I registered
the SCSK with the California Secretary of State as an unincorporated non
profit association in September of 1997. At the same time, I
obtained an ID number from the IRS. The SCSK will cease to exist
when I cancel both, and not before.
Finally, let me
remind everyone that the SCSK is and always has been, both a pro sumo fan
club and an amateur sumo wrestling club. Not all of our members are
USSF members and don’t need to be. For the time being, our focus
will be on the former, and fighting to clean up the mess the current USSF
Board are making of things.
Sumo
Shimpo Marks Ten
By “Tonkatsu”
June 2009 marks
the tenth anniversary of the premier issue of “Sumo Shimpo”. We
include a reprint of that first two page issue in this edition.
Ten years ago,
Mushashimaru had just won his second consecutive yusho, to qualify for
promotion to Yokozuna.
The headline
for “Yukikazes’s first ever “Shimpo” article, “Foreign Rikishi
Take Majority of Yusho in Tokyo,” could easily be the headline for this
years Natsu article. The difference would be in what nationality the
foreigners were. In 1999. There were two Americans, Mushashimaru and
Kaishinzan (previously and later, Sentoryu), one Korean, Kaihakuzan (now
Kasugao?) And one Mongolian, Asashoryu. This year, all four of the
foreign rikishi to win yusho were Mongolian.
In other items
in that first issue, “Sumo Digest” eventually disappeared altogether.
Marcus Murakami didn’t show for the North American Sumo Championships,
and Greg Wheeler’s
fine web site, “The Golden Mawashi” was replaced by this publications
site.
The amateur
sumo scene in this country was very different in June of 1999. Such
people as Trent Sabo, Kelly Gneiting, Troy Collins, Carl Pappalardo and
Dan Kalbfleisch had yet to enter the picture. The SCSK and the CSA
had been founded, but what became known as “The feud” hadn’t begun
yet. We had held the first two Goltz Sumo tournaments, but the first
California Sumo Championships, the U.S. Sumo Open were still in the
future. The dominant forces in American sumo were still Manny Yarbrough
and the Hawaiians. Of the latter, we rarely see anyone other than
Kena Heffernan these days. Of course, we also hadn’t yet had the
good fortune to meet our tamadachi, Hiroshi Matsuzaki yet.
From June of
1999 through October of 2008, we published fifty one consecutive issues
before we fell down on the job for the 2008 Kyushu issue. This
writer hasn’t written anything for several issues up to this one.
I don’t know about “Yukikaze” but I’m tired. After twelve
years of trying to get the USSF to function like a proper corporation, and
working tirelessly to build this sport, I’ve come to the regrettable
conclusion that amateur sumo is never going to amount to a hill of beans
in this country. Aside from just the difficulty of even getting
people to try a sport which is stereo typically considered a sport for
“naked fat men in diapers,” we are being killed by the big fish in the
little pond syndrome. And make no mistake about it, when it comes to
small ponds, I doubt if there is any sports pond in this country smaller
than the amateur sumo pond.
By the way,
what do Trent Sabo, Kelly Gneiting, Troy Collins, Carl Papalardo and Dan
Kalbfleisch have in common? Answer, they were all brought into the
sport by Andrew Freund or myself. What do Andrew and I have in
common? Answer, The current aspirant to big fish in the little pond
(who has never brought a single new person into the spot) would like to
drive us both out of the sport.
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Does
Kelly Gneiting Have A Death Wish?
Readers may
recall that in the April 2008 issue, we covered Kelly Gneiting and Trent
Sabo’s adventures in the L. A. Marathon, which Kelly finished in a time
of 11:48:16, with Trent not far behind at 11:49:22.
Kelly recently
informed me that he now wants to do the ultramarathon* that runs from
Death Valley (the lowest point in North America) to MT. Whitney (the
highest point in the lower 48). This struck me as foolhardy to
downright suicidal, so I did some research on the subject.
I have some
good news and some bad news for Kelly. First the good news: The
event, who’s official name is the “Badwater Ultramarathon*
(after the place in Death Valley where it starts) finishes at Whitney
Portals, which is where the hike to the top begins. So, you don't
have to go all the way to the top.
Now for the bad
news: Unlike events like the L.A. Marathon in which anyone who plunks down
the entry fee can enter, Badwater is an invitational event. Also,
the $795 entry fee is slightly higher than that for your run of the mill
local marathon. In addition, you can't just enter, you have to
qualify by running several other ultramarathons first. Even then,
they don't have to accept your entry.
Finally, this
event, which takes place in July, covers 135 miles in temperatures up to
130 degrees Fahrenheit, has a time limit of 60 hours.
So, it looks
like Kelly will be saved from himself this time. Of course, there
are many other strange events around the world. For instance, there
are the Antarctica marathon, the Arctic circle marathon and the Tibet
marathon. Personally, I'm not keen on the trend towards longer and
longer events. How about some shorter ones? In fact, I hereby
propose the Sprint Triathlon, which would consist of a 50 meter swim, a
200 meter bike ride and a 100 meter run.
*Note:
The spelling of "Badwater" and "ultramarathon" is the
way we found it spelled on their web site.
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Sumo Shimpo hom]
Mile
Stones
Kelly Gneiting
was recently promoted to the sumo rank of sho-dan,( third degree).
There are a number of members who currently hold the rank of sho-dan,
(first degree), or in some cases no-dan, who are eligible for promotion,
but who haven’t applied.
Ernie Hunt
became USSF Life member number eighteen. He did this in spite of not being
invited to participate in the nationals for the second consecutive year.
USSF Executive
Director Yoshisada Yonezuka was recently summoned to the Imperial Palace
in Tokyo to receive an award from the Emperor. Omedato Yonezuka-san!
Azumazeki
Oyakata, Azumazeki Daigoro reached the mandatory retirement age of sixty
five. He was succeded by former Maegashira Ushiomaru. (See
following article)
The
New Azumazeki Oyakata
As a middle
school student in Shizuoka City, young Motoyasu Sano wasn’t into sumo.
He was a baseball player. Already a strapping young man, Motoyasu
pitched and batted clean up for the school baseball team.
Interestingly, it was baseball that led to sumo The president of the
company that made the schools baseball uniforms was a friend of Azumazeki
Oyakata, who he told about young Sano. As a result, he entered sumo
straight out of middle school, and never attended high school.
Young Sano
entered sumo at the 1994 Natsu Basho with the shikona Takamisano.
For the 1995 Haru Basho, his shikona was changed to Tenfuku.
Finally, at that years Kyushu Basho, he became Ushiomaru, the shikona he
was to carry for the rest of his career.
He made
sekitori (juryo) for the 2002 Hatsu basho, and was shinyumaku for the 2002
Aki basho. He was twenty four years old, stood 177cm and weighed
169.5kg.
Ushiomaru’
overall record was 482-448-51. His Makuuchi record was 68-92-20. He
won the Juryo yusho with a 13-2 mark (Juryo West 8) at Nagoya basho 2002.
During obe of his trips down the “erabeta,” he won the 2005 Natsu
basho Makushita (Makushiya East 4) with a 7-0 mark. His highest rank
was Maegashira 10 West. He earned no Sansho prizes and no Kinboshi
Ushiomaru retired at 2009 Natsu basho (May 24, 2009), succedding to
Onagawa- Oyakata. He became the new Azumazeki-Oyakata on June 16,
2009.
Our esteemed research editor Hiroshi “Honetokawa” Matsuzaki provided
the information for this report.
Taiho's
Grandson Takes Second in Kids' Tournament
My favorite
sumo tournament is NHK's broadcast of the annual elementary school
championships from the Kokugikan in Tokyo. Fourth, fifth and sixth
grade boys of all shapes and sizes go up against each other for the right
to be called Yokozuna of their grade.
Like all sumo
in Japan, there are no weight classes. Skinny little boys go up against
ones easily twice their size. Not surprisingly, it isn't always the
skinny boy that loses. In one of the best matches of this years 25th
annual tournament, a junior Honetokawa dumps his much larger opponent on
his back with a nicely executed uchigake (inside leg trip).
In the fourth
grade division, was a young rikishi with a very distinguished pedigree.
Kounosuke Naya is the third son of Otake-Oyakata (former Sekiwake
Takatoriki), who is married to the daughter of Yokozuna Taiho (Kouki Naya).
With Ojiasan looking on, young Naya advanced to the championship match of
the fourth grade division, which he lost. Still, his second place
finish earned him the title of Ozeki.
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Grand
Sumo Update
In addition to
doing the layout for the print version of SUMO
SHIMPO, Yukikaze always did the main article on the past
basho. You can still find his articles on Yukikaze’s sumo blog.
You can also find most of the information he used, in the same place he
found it, on the Nihon Sumo Kyokai web site. If you are reading
this, you are only a few clicks away. Just go to links. Then
Nihon Sumo Kyokai. Then click matches & Topics. The Aki
Basho banzuke is already up.
Just to bring
you up to date, Harumafuji (nee Ama) won the Natsu Basho with a mark of
14-1. So, the big question coming into Nagoya was, could he make it
two in a row and earn promotion too Yokozuna? In a word, no. For
starters, the Yokozuna deliberation council gave him the extra requirement
of going no worse than 14-1. Several early loses dashed any hope of
that.
Hakuho won the
basho with a mark of 14-1 for his eleventh top division yusho.
Wakanosato won his fourth Juryo yusho to earn another trip to the top
division. Interestingly, in marked contrast to Natsu Basho, all
division except the top one were won by Japanese sumotori.
Aki basho will
be ozeki Kaio’s ninety-seventh tournament in the makauuchi division,
putting him a tie with former Sekiwake Takamiyama for the most basho in
the top division.
What
Happened to the Worlds?
For the third
time in only six years, the sumo world championships have either been
cancelled (Moscow 2003, Cairo 2009) or moved (Switzerland to Thailand
2007). Not a very good record for a sport that aspires to Olympic
status.
And why were
they canceled? Because of the swine flu scare. Apparently,
this unfortunate decision was almost completely Japanese in origin.
The Egyptian Judo, Aikido & Sumo Federation begged them to reconsider,
because large sums of money had already been spent, all to no avail.
Our question
is, what other events have been canceled because of the swine flu scare?
The Tour De France wasn't. Neither were the World Track & Field
Championships, or the World Swimming Championships. Numerous
professional and amateur sporting events of all type, have gone forward,
all over the planet, but not the Sumo Worlds. Maybe sumo just
isn’t ready for prime time.
Also, perhaps
trying to have a world championship every year is just to much. Some
sports (ice skating for instance) have theirs every year, but others
(Track & Field for instance) only every other year. Especially
given the ISF’s propensity for awarding its championships to out of the
way places that are very expensive to get.
Given the small
amount of money the United States athletes were given to go to Taiwan for
the World Games, it’s probably a good thing for us that the worlds were
canceled.
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