Naganoyama

I have also heard that Musoyama gives 'sunbathing' as another hobby Kotoryu is a connoisseur of incense Kyokushuzan is an author of books for children Tochinonada plays golf

I am always impressed when a non-native English speaker posts interesting, informative or amusing stuff in English which is comprehensible. If the English is also stylish and well-formed, then this is a bonus. Despite all the years I have spent trying to learn languages, I have never attempted to contribute to any forum not in English or post a web-site in any other language. I think Mojo-san must have higher expectations than me. How many languages can you write fluently by the way. :-P

If I am in Greece I will look you up! (One thing I have never done in my life is watch sumo with another fan!)

My pronunciation was not helped by years of listening to Syd Hoare. Tochiazoo'mer etc. (In a state of confusion...) So thanks Kinta-zeki. (In a state of confusion...)

It is no longer shown because it has the word Sumo in the title and there is no Sumo on UK TV these days. (Nodding yes...)

Hey what's going on in Kaio's head? Has Asashoryu's general demeanour finally persuaded him to start feeling afraid? (Surely even Asashoryu can't do a tsuriotoshi on 174 kg?)

He will need more than 10-5. Remember that he has expressed his intention to win 4-5 (depending where you read it) yusho this year. He will need to win his first Haru or his first Nagoya this year if this is going to happen.

I am grateful for Kinta-zeki's posts. Even the outpourings of some of these tabloid journalists have some information which it is impossible for those of us based outside Japan to glean. It isn't necessary to believe every word or to trust their conclusions for it to be worth reading the articles. So keep it up Kinta! (In a state of confusion...)

Since the days when Kotomitsuki was on top of Asashoryu, not only has Asashoryu come on a bit in terms of his sumo (In a state of confusion...) but his style has changed somewhat. Gone are the days when he had only lightning tsuppari and a few leg trips in his arsenal. (Sorry, I can see this is a bit simplistic, but I hope you get my drift) Kotomitsuki has been called 'Data man' because he keeps stats on all his opponents and studies videos of their bouts so that he can make an action plan as to how to fight them. Changing one's fighting style, or perhaps more relevantly in the case of Asashoryu, using a wide range of techniques, may well be one way to foil this aspect of Mickey's approach. (i.e. he has an action plan, finds it is not working in the actual bout, and has no fallback plan). De-geiko with Asashoryu is probably the best thing for Kotomitsuki in terms of rectifying this problem. He gets to try again and again, and eventually starts to win again. This must be good for his confidence also, particularly after their Hatsu Basho meeting. (Banning his tsukebito from looking at pictures of THAT bout!)

Takanonami has in the past been quoted as saying that he loves to hand out stick to Gaijin rikishi. I am sure that he meant 'on the dohyo' but I wonder if his glee will extend to giving this deshi a hard time in the practice arena?

Also, how about: (For the section 'Kakizoe & Shimotori - Things In Common') Kakizoe and Shimotori both fight under their family names. (Edit: honed quoted section a bit)

Rijicho. I have great respect for you. I am sure that as far as this forum goes, I am in the majority view on this. I think you are hard on yourself. You have reached a crisis point in your life and you blame yourself. My opinion (excuse me for volunteering this but I feel I owe it to you to do so) is that if you are anywhere near as good, in other aspects of your life, as you have been in the building of this forum, then you are a good person. ;-) Please take the time to rebuild your life, away from the Internet if that's what it takes. Then please come back to your friends on this forum if you can.

I too will miss you. Good luck!

With his blasting power, Taikai should already be at Yokozuna. I concur with QttP. I have a perception that he (Taikai, not QttP (Applauding...)) is underperforming through lack of applying himself.

Hi Vincentoryu. Thanks for this rating system which produces interesting and believable results. (Applauding...) Perhaps you could extend it down the banzuke by adding a 'banzuke position factor'. So a rikishi higher up the banzuke would have his results slightly amplified to account for his stronger opposition and a rikishi lower down the banzuke would have his results slightly discounted. Perhaps the 'bpf' for a rikishi at M6 (about half way down the banzuke) should be 1.0 and for each position upwards/downwards you should add/subtract a small amount (say 0.1) Actually this could be simplified a bit since rikishi above this level face much the same opposition. What do you think?

Musoyama apparently chose his mawashi colour from a Mercedes brochure.

I too would love to see Kotomitsuki getting to Ozeki. He could, for my money, beat Wakanosato to it.

That was the case about 24 hours ago, yeah. Presumably they were still double-checking the data for the Juryo promotees in particular, so they just reset everything to the default (0-0 bout records, etc) in the meantime. It was fixed sometime last night, i.e. this morning Japan time, I guess. Edit: I just realized that you posted this several hours after I was already able to see the fixed versions. Umm. (Laughing...) Try reloading the pages. Thanks for this. I guess it could have been a problem of caching at the ISP because it was still broken for me last night. Now fixed.

It is my impression that there is a problem with the accuracy of the data on the 'new' NSK site in certain specific respects. In going to the rikishi pages for rikishi entering/re-entering Juryo and Makuuchi this time, I find their career records read 0-0. The list of dates of debut/Juryo debut etc. seem to have gone missing for some rikishi also, but for example, Wakakosho has a Juryo Debut date of March 2004! What is going on here? Do you suppose they are going to fix this stuff in time? (Is there a way of reporting this to them?)

Oh cool! Very similar format too! (But no garish colours) (Laughing...)

The complete banzuke down to Jonokuchi is available here Excuse the garish colours.

I personally don't think this ought to be regulated. It should be possible for a college rikishi to join a stable of his choice. I think that the rikishi will be influenced by a number of factors, which include the prestige of a heya, knowing someone in a heya, having a relative or friend who is/was associated with a heya, etc. So it is up to the oyakata of the smaller heya to add to those influences if he is going to improve the chances of his heya getting noticed. Going to the college, meeting with the students and telling them about the stable might be one way. There are advantages and disadvantages of going to a small stable. The disadvantages have been described in reasonable detail already in this thread. Perhaps the atmosphere is better in a small stable and the family-like bond between the members is stronger. The oyakata, in visiting a college, could spell out the advantages as he sees them. There is nothing like face-to-face contact. Surely this is a bit of a sales process, even in the ancient art of sumo. (Or do I need to wash my mouth out with soap for such a suggestion? (Laughing...))

These are mostly from Syd Hoare: Musoyama - Power Angel Akinoshima - Bean Tank Kotoryu - Teshi Aogiyama - Ao-chan Daizen - Toku Chiyotaikai - Rocket Kyokushuzan - Arashi (Storm) Kotonowaka - Mr One Minute Chiyotenzan - Hachi-kun Kyokutenho - Tenho Kaiho - Kuma (bear)/Wazashi (technician) Asashoryu - Green Wolf Takamisakari - Robocop/Kato-chan Wakanosato - Popeye/Hercules Jumonji - Mon Kinkaiyama - Kin-chan Tamarikido - Yasu Tochinohana - Yachi Takanowaka - Ozaki

Yes of course. In case one plane would crash, there would be working ozumo still....... Either that or the load limit was exceeded ;-)