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The 2022 East Japan Student Championships occurred today, streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgbap6LhnOI Team winner for the third straight time is Nippon Sports Science University, scoring a 4-1 win in the final over Toyo University. Losing semifinalists were Nihon University (losing 4-1 to NSSU) and Takushoku (losing 4-1 to Toyo). NSSU was 26-4 overall, and three of those losses were from the same competitor, tall but underpowered Yuki Sotoo. For the last 3 years Toyo has constantly made finals and semifinals, but just can't grab a yusho. Individual winner is Nihon's Naoya Kusano, who beat NSSU's Ryoma Ishizaki (brother of the pro) in the final. Kusano beat teammate Ryusho Kawakami (former juryo Ryuko's brother) in the semifinal, while Ishizaki beat NSSU teammate Tabata. Keep an eye on Ryusho, as he's gained a lot of size and has shown major improvement to go along with it. He also reached the best 8 in the year's two national tournaments prior to this, showing a nice mix of power, balance, and timing. Still only in his 2nd year. Defending amateur yokozuna and defending champ of this event, Daiki Nakamura, went 6-0 in team competition, including a dominant victory over individual winner Kusano. But he took a big upset in his first individual match, making a tactical misstep and losing by okuridashi to Nihon's Yuri Arai, whom he'd throttled in their previous meetings. So a mixed return from injury, as he shouldn't be losing to Arai (perhaps some ring rust?) but otherwise looked his overwhelming self. Hidetora Hanada, individual winner of the year's first two national events, didn't compete, despite being at the tournament in a mawashi.

Keita Kawazoe 川副圭太 (23, 165cm, 110kg now) was injured and apparently decided to first get healthy before he joined, he restarted keiko after graduation, with medical treatment as the priority. The farewell party was on the 11th in a hotel in Kumamoto city. Kawazoe: "Under Magaki-oyakata, who was a great yokozuna, I want to get to sekitori as soon as possible." Magaki: "I'll bring him back to Kumamoto as makuuchi rikishi." https://kumanichi.com/articles/688909

This thread is for sharing academic and informed sources (namely books and chapters within books) on sumo in the fields of history, literature, historical anthropology, and sociology. The sources are partitioned based on three criteria: 1. whether they are academic (professors, members of the sumo museum, etc.) vs. informed (any other author or clearly written for a general audience). 2. has multiple chapters on sumo (long source) vs. one chapter/article/short stories within an anthology (short source). 3. in English vs. in Japanese. The sources will be written in alphabetical order by author within each category. Sources I think are exceptionally useful will have an asterisk preceding the entry, but all have merit. Don't be surprised if there are only a few entries per category as it is a small field, but I will continue to add to this thread as I find more sources. Most modern pop culture books and all newspaper articles and databases are not included. I do not disparage these sources, but this is the not the thread for them. Please post in this thread if you have sources to include. Once I can verify them, I'll add them to the list at the top of the thread for quick reference. disclaimer: I acknowledge that this post is merely my opinion on what goes where and what constitutes a proper source, but I do so as a PhD candidate whose dissertation heavily concerns sumo. Essentially, I've created this list because I want to share the major sumo sources in my bibliography so that you may embark on your own journeys into sumo history. Academic: Long Sources (Eng): * Cuyler, P. L. Sumo: From Rite to Sport. New York: Weatherhill, Inc., 1979. * Guttman, Allen and Lee Thompson. Japanese Sports: A History. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. Short Sources (Eng): Bolitho, Harold. "Frolicking Dragons: Mythic Terror and the Sumo Tradition." A.S.S.H Studies in Sports History: No 2. Sport: Nationalism and Internationalism 2: 2-12, 1987. Cognan, Thomas J. The Tale of the Soga Brothers. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1987. Dykstra, Yoshiko K. The Konjaku Tales: Japanese section (Honcho-Hen)(II). Kansai Gaidai University: Intercultural Research Institute, 2001. ——. “Notable Tales Old and New: Tachibana Narisue’s Kokon Chomonjῡ.” Monumenta Nipponica 47:4 (Winter, 1992), pp. 469-493. Mills, D.E. A Collection of Tales from Uji: A study and Translation of Uji Shῡi Monogatari. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1979. Thompson, Lee. “The Invention of the Yokozuna and the Championship System, or, Futahaguro’s Revenge” in Stephen Vlastos, ed. Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998, 174-190. —— and Nitta Ichirō. "Sumo Wrestling in the Tokugawa Period" in Gary P. Leupp ed. The Tokugawa World. New York: Routledge, 2021. Long Sources (Jp): Ikeda Masao. Dohyō ima mukashi. Tokyo: Jinbutsu ōraisha, 1967. ——. Sumō no rekishi. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1977. ——. Ōsumō shi nyūmon. Tokyo: Kadokawa, 2020. Nitta Ichirō. Sumō no rekishi. Tokyo: Yamakawa shuppansha, 1994. ——. Sumō: sono rekishi to gihō. Tokyo: beisubōru magajin sha, 2016. Obinata Katsumi. Kodai kokka to nenjῡ gyōji. Tokyo: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 1993. *** Sakai Tadamasa. Nihon sumō shi. Tokyo: beisubōru magajin, 1956-1964. Tsuchiya Yoshitaka. sumō. Tokyo: Hōsei daigaku shuppankyoku, 2017. Wakamori Tarō. Sumō ima mukashi. Tokyo: Kawade shobō shinsa, 1963. Short Sources (Jp): Informed: Long Sources (Eng): Sharnoff, Lora. Grand Sumo: The Living Sport and Tradition. New York: Weatherhill, Inc., 1989. Short Sources (Eng): Hikoyama, Kōzō. Sumo: Japanese Wrestling. Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways, 1940. Long Sources (Jp): Nitta Ichirō. sumō no himitsu. Tokyo: asahi shuppansha, 2010. Short Sources (Jp): Masukawa Kōichi. Awasemono. Tokyo: Hōsei daigaku shuppankyoku, 2000.

That is either going to be the most solo-stable dominance since the bad old days of Futagoyama/Musashigawa that everyone can see coming a mile off, or the most eventually overrated stable depending on how well they make the transition to the pros. The Hakuhō fanboy in me is loving that development; the systems thinker isn't.

Also, Miyagino-beya visited Naruto-beya for degeiko as well. Notably, Oshoma and Hokuseiho were wearing their white training mawashi. In the photos Naruto-oyakata took, Enho and Ishiura are not present (photos via Naruto-oyakata's blog).

Today (13th of June), Oshima-beya rikishi (notably Kaisei and Kaiho) were back at Asakayama-beya for degeiko, with Kaisei sparring with and lending his chest to Kaisho (photos and video via Asakayama-beya's instagram). https://i.imgur.com/noAOkMC.mp4

Big degeiko day today. Wakatakakage hosted Abi, Kiribayama and Hokutofuji for some fierce training. "I am grateful I was able to train with all sorts of sekitori," he said later. A lot of fans were standing outside the heya pressing their noses against the glass windows to watch. There were actually six sekitori, with Wakamotoharu and Koutokuzan there as well. Wakatakakage had 17 bouts, attacking from a low stance as usual. 9-8 against the likes of Abi and Kiribayama. "I want to properly start off from day 1. All i can do is seriously and properly go about my preparations.." he summed. Abi had 16 bouts and was looking sharp. "The basho is around the corner so I think I'm in good shape. Things didn't go my way last basho (7-8). I have learned from that. I plan on coming here for the next three days to train. Other than that, i will be listening to my body," he said. Kiribayama came to the degeiko with ex-Kakuryuu and had the most bouts, 20, winning12, mostly facing Wakatakakage. "I really got into it today. It was great. I was really wild during the session and had to apologize after it was over, " he told us. He has been going to Arashio beya for a few days now. Wakamotoharu had nine bouts and was 4-5, facing the stiffest opposition he ever faced. "I faced the joi guys today and they are all strong. I can't even measure up to my brother..I was just looking for a small reward.. I've got some ways to go..I wonder if the advantage we had as a heys with relatively many sekitori will vanish because degeiko is allowed now for a while. I climbed the banzuke while during the no-degeiko period, so I wonder.." he wondered. "Sanyaku? I can't see that yet. All i can see is the next banzuke. I haven't been a year in Makuuchi yet and it will be an honor facing the top guys next basho. I'm just happy to be here.." he summed.

Shibatayama still looks like he was dropped into his clothes from a second-story window. This was a good recap of events. I will look for other videos from them.

If Miyagino keeps scooping up former Hakuho Cup champs like Kawazoe and Mukainakano, the stable could also end up with Daiki Nakamura and Tetsuya Ochiai soon, the 2 amateur competitors showing the most pro potential I'd say (Ochiai also has the Tottori Johoku connection, having been teammates with Hokuseiho and Mukainakano). Could end up being a dream team heya if Hak can keep tapping into that talent pool. I have no idea about Kawazoe and Ohtani's relationship, but I imagine having someone in the stable you know and have competed with the last 4 years generally makes the transition easier. Oitekaze really stands out for this, as 5 of their 7 sekitori attended Nihon University together.

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2022/06/13/kiji/20220613s00005000371000c.html Sponichi confirms it's that chap from the same year as Kawazoe at Nihon.

Two new recruits slated to take the JSA entrance test tomorrow. Isegahama bringing in 16 year old Origiru Ganzorig - (Mongolia / Saitama) - (Name spelling is a guess) Miyagino stable enrolling 22 year old Masatada Ohtani. (Niigata / Okinawa)

Something that isn't clear to me is whether the 2-year tsukedashi eligibility that applied in 2019 and 2020 will also apply to last year's results. Kawazoe is turning pro soon so it doesn't matter for him, but it could matter for Nakamura, since 2-year eligibility means that if he's turning pro after graduation he's already guaranteed an MsTD, regardless of his results this year. I'm in favour of 2-year eligibility being permanent. If there's opposition to that, then perhaps with the bulk of Sd100TD available (21 per year for collegiate competitors) they could return to a single year for that, but keep two years for the major tournament winners. Becoming amateur or college yokozuna is a big enough accomplishment that the qualification shouldn't evaporate in only a year (which renders it useless to pretty much all winners who aren't seniors).

For most of Ozumo's history there have only been 6 sanyaku. That standard was broken at the same time that an Ozeki who had received a Yokozuna license demanded to be shown as a Yokozuna on the banzuke. This is the beginning of the story of the early days of there being more than the standard number of sanyaku. I consider it a work in progress. Your own observations about the time period, and perhaps analyzing some of the decisions on the basis of the need to put each ichimon entirely on one side of the banzuke (if I understand that correctly - I don't know when that really started though). The beginning of this is kinda rambling before I settle into a pattern. Maybe I'll clean it up one day, but I probably need some help analyzing what went on here. I'll put a link to the first banzuke I talk about, but I don't want to link all of them. Natsu 1890 – first appearance of Yokozuna on the banzuke. This corresponds precisely to the first time there were more than 2 Ozeki; there was a west HD Ozeki to balance out the east Yokozuna, plus the two regular Ozeki. This arrangement of 3 Ozeki and 1 Yokozuna continued until Natsu 1894 when a retiring Ozeki was not replaced, and there was the first overall imbalance of the sanyaku. Oikari was the first Ozeki promoted when there wasn’t an open spot for one if we assume that there had to be 3 Ozeki during those few years. He was promoted for Natsu 1895 and over the last 3 tournaments had 19 wins, 4 losses, and a smattering of absences and draws as were typical of the period. Prior to Oikari, Otohira had been promoted when Tsurugizan retired, and he had been not quite as successful as Oikari, with 17 wins and 4 losses in the last 3 tournaments, but still had a very good record that if extrapolated to 45 matches would be worthy of promotion today, so perhaps his promotion was not due to the retirement but due to merit. Prior to him still during the 1890-1894 era was Yahamata who was promoted when Onaruto retired. His last three tournaments he was 15-4, another impressive record. So maybe it was just a coincidence that these promotions coincided with retirements of Ozeki. But how did the best Sekiwake that weren’t promoted fare? The last three tournament win-loss record of all the KK Sekiwake in this time period: Natsu 1890: Wakaminato – 11-8 Hatsu 1891: Ayanami – 12-6, though an MK in Natsu 1890 and 6 absences in this tournament despite being undefeated; also the tournament Yahamata was promoted. Natsu 1891: Wakaminato again, 14-10, MK in Hatsu 1891 Natsu 1892 saw the first HD Sekiwake, Ayanami. He didn’t participate though, and retired, so I’m not sure what to make of this. Otohira was promoted to Sekiwake from M4 with a 7-1 which is fine, but the other Sekiwake was Hibikimasu, who was only 4-1 from M1. Ayanami was also MK the previous basho, but we’ve seen a few MK rikishi keep their rank already. Clearly there were different rules back then. This was also the tournament after which Otohira was promoted. Haru 1893: Asashio 18-4 – this is pretty good evidence that the previous promotions were entirely due to the spot opening up; Datenoya 17-9 Natsu 1893: Asashio again, now with a 19-3 the last three tournaments. This is pretty compelling that at this point in Ozumo you still only moved up when there was a place for you. Haru 1894 – Yahatayama retires, there is no KK Sekiwake, so the spot is left free for Natsu 1894. Natsu 1894 - Asashio puts in another great performance, but was MK the previous basho and is only 17-7 over the last 3. Scaling that up to 45 bouts would mean 31.875 wins, a bit short of the current standard, but not by much. Haru 1895 – Asashio has another good tournament, but not as good as the one that dropped off, so was at 16-7. Oikari is promoted after this tournament. After Haru 1896 the first Yokozuna ever on the banzuke, Nishinoumi, retires, and is replaced by the original Konishiki, who was 15-2 in the last 2 tournaments he competed in. But the twist is that Oikari was demoted! His records excluding draws and absences was 9-4, but he had 6 absences plus a draw. I don’t know if he was demoted for balance as the worst performing Ozeki, or if something else went on. They had already had a couple unbalanced banzuke. They did however have 2 HD Sekiwake, one being a 4-3 Asashio, one being an 8-1 M1 Hoo, one being a 5-1 M2 Taninooto along with the demoted Ozeki. After Natsu 1896 we had another Ozeki promotion, Hoo, with a strong 22-3 record in the last 3 tournaments. He was placed as an additional West HD Ozeki, and was balanced by an east HD Sekiwake, making the previous demotion of Oikari even more bizarre if it was for balance purposes, so I guess was due to merit? After Haru 1897 there’s more drama as Otohira is demoted after the same sort of record (5-3-2) that saw Oikari demoted. Otohira was totally absent the previous basho, but had a reasonable 6-3-1 before that. Asashio remains Sekiwake still with a mere 17-8 over the last 3. However, the Sanyaku end up unbalanced as there are 3 Sekiwake, with only an HD on the west side. After Natsu 1897 there were no changes in the upper sanyaku. Asashio was 18-6 the last 3 tournaments though, which should have been enough if scaled up. There was an additional HD Komusubi for the first time though. After Haru 1898, Asashio was finally promoted, even though he had more absences than wins. In decided matches, he was 15-4 over the last 3 tournaments, which scales up to 35.5 wins. The sanyaku banzuke is finally back in balance too despite now an odd number of upper sanyaku as they make a HD west Sekiwake. After Natsu 1898 there were no upper sanyaku changes. The KK Sekiwake Sakahoko had been 17-6 which would have been 33.2 scaled up. Araiwa was even 19-4, better than Asashio after last tournament, but not promoted, and even took the HD Sekiwake spot on the next banzuke. He was absent the next basho, so maybe that had something to do with it. After Haru 1899, Ozutsu was promoted. He had been 14-1 (with a bunch of draws) over the last 3 tournaments, so I get the sense that they expected a lot more for promotion back then. Sakahoko went 7-1 giving him 18-4 over the last 4 tournaments, but again was not promoted. He then went into decline and was never close again. There clearly was something weird going on back then, as after Natsu 1899, Umenotani was demoted from Sekiwake to Komusubi despite a 6-2 record and 20-4 over the last three tournaments. His place was taken by 8-1 Komusubi Araiwa, but why not create a HD spot at Sekiwake? I suppose there might not have been anyone else they wanted to put at Komusubi. After Haru 1900, Hoo was demoted after 6-3-1 and 2-3-1 plus draws. He had previously been 2-3-5 in Haru 1899; perhaps that had something to do with it. He also was demoted to M1 rather than Sekiwake. Umenotani was also promoted to Ozeki from Komusubi with a 5-2. It must have been consistency rather than the last 3, as he was dropping a 7-1 in that regard. No changes to the upper sanyaku after Natsu 1900. Hitachiyama had been absent in Natsu 1899 or might have been promoted. Araiwa was 9-0 and 21-3 in the last three but not promoted. He had a somewhat poor previous basho at 4-2. After Haru 1901, Konishiki retired, and Ozutsu was promoted after a 13-0 in decided matches between the last two tournaments. Was this just another coincidence? Hitachiyama also was promoted to Ozeki, but he definitely deserved it.

https://www.buntoku-h.ed.jp/h/blog/2022/06/10/【卒業生】川副さん角界入り-間垣親方（元横綱白/ Kawazoe to join in Aki, and he's entitled to Ms15TD. Time to start the betting pool on what his - hō prefix will be: my money's on Suihō.

Returning ex- Ozeki Asanoyama trained at home today. He had 24 bouts in total, going 9-3 against Juryo Asanowaka. "He is steadily moving better It's been a while (a year.) but he's back for Nagoya, probably from Sandanme, but I want him to gambarize as it is a come-back.." said his Oyakata. He has not been receiving preferential treatment this past year, doing all the heya chores, cooking, cleaning, etc.. like all the other Makushita and unders. "He's just like the others so it goes without saying..Those are the heya rules," added the Oyakata. Additionally, he has been living at the heya in a room with 3 other rikishi ("our Makushita guys live in the Makushita rooms", explained Takasago Oyakata..). At the beginning of his punishment he seemed to be dejected but has gotten over it gradually . "After about half a year he seemed to be returning to his old self and has been training seriously. I advised him not to forget his sumo, even though a year has passed. We have a month till next basho and I'm sure he will be preparing himself mentally and physically. If he goes about it as usual when he steps on the dohyo on day 1, that would be good!" summed Takasago Oyakata.

Nihon University's Kawazoe is a very fun competitor. He's only about 168cm/105kg, but very very strong for his size, and can win with everything from straight forward yorikiri, to ashitori, to tsuridashi, to his signature utchari. He is highly flexible and has that Ura like ability to stay on his feet under extreme pressure. He was injured most of his senior year, but came back in big style to become collegiate yokozuna. He was then absent from the All-Japan Championship a month after that, so I'm not sure if injuries flared up again. Incidentally, that tournament was won by the opponent he's struggled most against (0-5 in the meetings I know of), the monster Daiki Nakamura, who is in his senior year at Nittadai. Aside from his collegiate yokozuna title, he won the East Japan rookie tournament in his first year, and in his third year won the openweight title at the national weight class tournament - beating new juryo Oshoma in the process (though he was 1-2 or 1-3 vs him overall). In high school he won the Kokutai, one of the 2 major titles of high school sumo, and in middle school he won the Hakuho Cup - that might be the connection to Miyagino. So safe to say he's very accomplished in amasumo, winning major titles from middle school through university. His favourite move vs current pro Ishizaki - notice the back flexibility and ability to stay on his feet Here he is in black becoming college yokozuna, beating the reigning amateur yokozuna at that time - Hidetora Hanada. On his way to the title, he also beat current pros Hatsuyama and Kayo. He did lose in the team portion of the event though, to who else but Daiki Nakamura (pic below). Because of his small size, he can sometimes just be swatted aside by larger competitors though.

Who of note has Miyagino got at this point? That's quite the pretty collection that Hakuhō sounds like he's building up. Mukainakano was quite a coup and now Kawazoe, plus there's at least one other person I seem to remember.

I don't know when he's joining as most of the article is behind a login which I can't be bothered doing, but reigning collegiate yokozuna Keita Kawazoe is joining Miyagino-beya.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/2002/

After 3 years Magaki was again in Osaki, where he is sight-seeing ambassador. o flowers from the head of the Miyagino-beya Osaki fan-club, the mayor in the back o In the future he'd like to have a Hakuho-cup in Ozaki and wants to get the next Hakuho by raising a local boy video: https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/62534?display=1 - download:

New juryo Gonoyama with his oyakata were at the city hall of their hometown Neyagawa to report his juryo promotion. The mayor recalled the people's enthusiasm at the yusho parade of Goeido there and hopes for something similar for Gonoyama in the future. o o o local NHK vid

https://www.iwmbuzz.com/movies/news-movies/exclusive-nitesh-pandey-to-be-a-part-of-film-sumo-didi/2022/06/06

Some observations related to the east vs. west system: The static east and west sides predetermined by the banzuke, meaning rikishi could only meet those on the other side of the banzuke from them, was only practiced for Makuuchi. Juryo visitors could be from either side going back to the earliest matches we have records of, from Natsu 1909, and all other divisions were a free-for-all. The east vs. west paradigm was abandoned in the aftermath of the strike of 1932 when the banzuke were much smaller. It was not returned to immediately for May 1933 when the banzuke reached about the same size as it was before with the return of many rikishi, but they did return to it for Haru 1940. The east vs. west paradigm led to many more occasions of rikishi being moved the wrong way based on their records due to the limited number of places available to put them. A 7-8 M12 Aobayama in Natsu 1940 ended up at M4. A 6-9 M8 Takekabuto ended up at M7 as well, showing that they weren't shy about doing it with 6-9s (they could have moved up an 8-7 M18 or lower-ranked 7-8s if needed). At that period in time, the east vs. west requirement did not stop them from splitting a heya between sides though. On the Natsu 1942 banzuke, Isegahama rikishi were mainly on the west, but there was one on the east near the bottom. That guy had even more disallowed opponents than usual. On the next banzuke, Haru 1943, there were 3 on the east and 3 on the west, though they were greatly separated in rank such that none of them probably would have met normally. Thus it was possible for which east/west group you were with to change, but it was not common. So while there was a lot more to consider in forming the banzuke, it wasn't nearly as static as it would have been 50 years earlier. Natsu 1947 was the last held under the east/west system. The Aki 1947 banzuke was still put together using that system, but the sides were greatly scrambled for the next banzuke, Natsu 1948.

Kaiyo high since this year has the first foreigner in the sumo club, 1st year Nyam-Ochir Turbold (182cm, 134kg) from Ulaanbaatar (Turbold 1 is now Mitoryu). He came to Japan with his parents at 3rd grade primary school and started sumo in 4th year when they moved from Kanagawa to Chiba. As 1st year in middle school he was 165cm and 60kg, more than doubled that weight in 3 years and gained power. In 3rd year middle school he was runner up at the HokuShinEtsu middle school soutai in heavy weight hokushinetsu/docs/result_sumo.pdf. His goal is to win the interhigh with the team and in the individuals and for the future his dream is to go into ozumo and become yokozuna. http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/202204280000304.html Now a foreigner, but likely with Japanese shusshin like Hokuseiho when he joins the pros