Muhomatsu

Coincidence or not? The new recruit for Irumagawa is Ikazuchidō (雷道). The general tradition of Irumagawa-beya has been to take the stable-master's "Tsukasa" (司) somewhere in the shikona - even as a "ji" in Fuji (宮乃富司). However, you mentioned Kakizoe as a potential candidate to take over the stable going forward. And he is currently Ikazuchi (雷) oyakata. It could be a coincidence, an uchi-deshi of Ikazuchi (who may be branching out) or a new "tradition" of an inherited Irumagawa-beya? All speculation. And could just be a coincidence... or not!

The paper was sent! Enjoy reading my rantings!

Whelp - there goes my entry. Time to match that ol' Yusho of mine in GTB against an 0-15! And poor Mitoryū - he was at the same rank last Nagoya and won the championship with a 12-3 record (not 11-4, like Nishikifuji). He was not subsequently promoted. I guess rikishi and GTB players can both have bad luck!.

I recall this guy was another one:http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=87 Oh, and he has a low rikishi number! 87! Guess I am old, like the database!

A good rule of thumb is that anyone running for a Riji has to be able to serve out their full term (i.e. cannot turn 65 in the middle of their mandate). Because of the two year term, you must be at most 62 to run and serve as Riji.

Some of these may be included in your list above: Boyadjiev, Nickolay T. 1999. Sumo Exposed: The Invention of Tradition in Japan’s National Sport. Boston: Harvard University. Cuyler, P. L. 1985. Sumo: From Rite to Sport. New York: Weatherhill. Fujitani, T. 1996.Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hall, Mina. 1997.The Big Book of Sumo. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. Hikoyama, Kozo. 1940. Sumo Wrestling (Tourist Library: 34). Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, Japan Government Railways. Newton, Clyde. 2001. “Suggestions for reviving Sumo’s Popularity”. Sumo World, November 2001. Tokyo. Newton, Clyde. 1994. Dynamic Sumo. New York: Kodansha America. Nippon Times Magazine. “It’s a Sumo World”. Saturday November 9th, 1946 Sharnoff, Lora. 1989. Grand Sumo: The Living Sport and Tradition. New York: Weatherhill. Thompson, Lee A. 1998. “The Invention of the Yokozuna and the Championship System, or, Futahaguro’s revenge” in Staphen Vlastos (ed.), Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. And some links that may no longer work. Internet Source. Grand Sumo Home Page. http://www.wnn.or.jp/wnn-t/index_e.html. Internet Source. Renma’s Sumo Wrestling History. http://www.renma.com/martial-arts-history/japanese/sumo/ Let me know the best way to share the paper with you.

I wrote a long thesis at one point (2002ish). If you like, I could try and pull that out and share the citations (maybe even the paper).

Being a former stablemaster is not a requirement. Ōyama and Minatogawa were not stable masters but are sanyo. I think you still have to have some sort of special contributions to the kyokai. I know Ōyama worked a lot on kimarite (and maybe the sumo school). I think Minatogawa also served on a special board or committee at some point - something that was outside the normal oyakata hierarchy, as I recall. I suppose Tatsutayama could qualify, but his "undistinguished" oyakata career (at least I do not recall much distinction) could mean he does not stay on.

There is also a new Tokoyama on the Kyokai website: Tokoō (床欧) from Naruto-beya. He is just a baby, at 15 years old. It is nice to see a "refresh" among the Tokoyama. There were six new recruits in the last two years.

We had another 65th birthday among the Oyakata this past week. Tatsutayama Oyakata (fomer SASSHŪNADA, out of Michinoku-beya) reached the mandatory retirement age. Of course, he could go "sanyo", but he never really had that much of a distinguished oyakata career as I recall. Do we know if he has left the kyokai? Will stay on as sanyo?

Kotochitose is no longer listed amongst the youth leaders anymore: https://www.sumo.or.jp/IrohaKyokaiMember/wakaimono_gashira/ I also wonder if they plan on filling these spots. I recall a few years back that they expanded the Sewanin category by a bit - with some sort of explanation that they needed more helpers/hands on deck. Seems that may no longer be the case.

No update from the NSK yet, but Oguruma-Oyakata turned 65 this week. Considering his active role, I assume he will stay on with the Kyokai as a San'yo for the next five years. Considering there was little fanfare about any separation, I think the assumption would be a safe bet.

Why was this guy ranked at the same banzuke slot three(!) times in a row? I understand that the entire Kokonoe-beya contingent sat out the January tournament due to Covid. However, Chiyosenshi (current Chiyofuku) also missed the March tournament without any banzuke penalty. His subsequent return to action (at the same rank) in May of last year saw him winless. Long Covid? Hospitalized?

With a name name like mine (Matsu）, I guess I would have to say いつまでも松.　Sorry for the bad pun. It it my typical response to 少々お待ちください。 In other words, I will be waiting...

That would be useful to share in the tables for the data-focused folk among us. Data on the new entrants is useful for those of us with our own databases, so we can add them to the system. I often rely on threads like these to piece together the data until it appears officially somewhere else. For the most part, the threads capture the relevant information. In the first post, we had age (but no specific birthday). And for those of us looking to flag future prospects, the high school/university info is also useful (if/when available). It seems that the thread captures most of the high school info out there, particularly if a new entrant is from a solid/famous program. Other times, even university grads fall through the cracks (likely due to lack of much impact on their team or in any tournament). For instance, there is no discussion of Arise here. About a year ago, there was little/no discussion of Fujiseun and Sugaro(Fujitoshi) when they first joined and they both rose to makushita quite quickly. In other words - a pre-emptive thank you!