sumojoann

Has anyone noticed Hokutofuji's brand new mawashi? It's royal blue and a really nice replacement for that awful silver/gray rag he had been wearing. The old one was stained and always looked wet with sweat and god knows what else. It was like the old joke -- To check to see if something needs to be washed, just throw it against the wall & see if it sticks!

Do you think he was being sarcastic?

Just a few days ago, we saw the new ozumo graduates make their traditional appearance at the beginning of the Natsu basho. What struck me, and others have mentioned this, is the fact that there were about 30 or 35 of them!! The biggest group I remember seeing in a long time. So maybe things are not so bad after all.

"Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!" --- Asanoyama, Ryuden, Takagenji, Osunaarashi, et al. "Old man, take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you." --- Kotonowaka, and his father, Sadogatake Oyakata, and grandfather, Yokozuna Kotozakura. "He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother." --- Wakatakakage, Wakamotoharu and Wakatakamoto. Also Chiyomaru and Chiyootori. Also Tobizaru and Hidenoumi.

"Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the [dohyo]." --- Kotoyuki "I just wanna be your teddy bear." --- Ura "Just a swangin', well, just a swangin'." --- Aoiyama, Kotonowaka

Right now, I can only think of retired rikishi --- "You are what you eat." --- Orora. Actually, this could apply to ALL rikishi. "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." --- Takagenji "Dear pimples, if you're going to live on my face [and body], I need to see some rent." --- Harumafuji

Hey, these examples are GREAT!!! Hahaha!

Back then, many if not most of the rikishi who became Yokozuna were recruited into ozumo at a very young age (15 or 16). They had many years already in the professional world, so it would not be that uncommon to get the rope at a relatively young age. Nowadays, many of the new rikishi don't enter the world of professional sumo until they have graduated high school or university, so I would expect the age at which they could get the rope to be higher. And from what I've read, it doesn't seem as if those rikishi who have been allowed to bypass the lower ranks have performed well enough to be considered as Yokozuna material, at this time anyway. I think it would actually be quite unusual nowadays to see a rikishi get the rope before the age of 25.

Do you know why?

I agree that there is a difference between a full-on henka and what Harumafuji used to do, which I think was actually called a "HENKA-non-henka". It was still a henka, IMO, because the hapless recipient had little or no opportunity to engage. He becomes powerless because there is no real tachiai, and all that forward momentum is wasted as he is basically just escorted or pushed off the dohyo.

I guess I'm one of the crybabies. I think henkas are a cheap, shoddy way to win, and show a pathetic level of desperation.

Around our house, Kotonowaka is known as "Quad-tits."

When Asanoyama reappears at the Nagoya basho, does anyone know what his rank will be? Will it be Ms42w? A sumo friend of mine in Japan thought he would have to start in Sandanme.

Oh, no apologies necessary, Bugman! I had not seen the Youtube thread from Sept 2021, so this is all new to me. In fact, I just told my husband about Rambalac and he's very interested. He's aching to go back to Japan but he'll have to make do with what he can get at this time. Thanks for posting it. Edit to add -- Rambalac really could be called the "Rambla" because that's what he is!!

http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/search/?q=rambalac You are not imagining things, Yamanashi! Bugman himself mentioned it back on Sept 21, 2021.