sumojoann

I can't remember the details, but there's the saga of Yoshikaze's marriage and divorce. Seems like he was married for quite a long time but then went through a hell of a divorce. I don't recall how much of this happened before his intai and how much after. It was certainly long and drawn out.

The following is from a book I am writing about a dream I had ----- a ridiculous dream. A ridiculous prediction of what might very well happen during the Aki basho. It's long as you can see. Scroll on by if not interested. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ During the basho, Kirishima and Hoshoryu go out to dinner to celebrate their promotions to Ozeki. They begin to joke about how to prank the NSK. They each come up with outrageous ideas, trying to top each other. After much laughter, they say to each other, "What can the NSK do? We are Ozekis! They need us!" The next day, when Hoshoryu steps up on the dohyo, instead of wearing his customary mawashi, he is instead wearing a "shuudag", the traditional blue and red briefs worn by Mongolian wrestlers while engaging in Bokh (traditional Mongolian wrestling). The spectators begin to murmur but clap for him anyway because he is so popular. His opponent, Asanoyama, complains to the gyoji that there's nothing to grab onto which is not fair. An unprecedented mono-ii is called, the first mono-ii in known sumo history to be called prior to a bout. The shimpan whisper and decide, "He's an Ozeki. We need him!" So the bout is allowed to proceed despite Asanoyama's complaints. Hoshoryu wins, exits the dohyo and begins to perform the traditional Bokh eagle dance of victory. Through gritted teeth, the gyoji hisses, "Okay, that's enough!" The spectators, though a little confused, are delighted and their cheers and clapping drown out the gyoji. In the pandemonium, the gyoji realizes he has forgotten to give Hoshoryu his kensho so he has to chase him down, enduring more laughter from the spectators. Finally order is restored and the gyoji and shimpan breathe a sigh of relief. But not for long. Kirishima appears and steps up on the dohyo, also wearing a "shuudag" instead of his customary mawashi. The spectators don't know what to think but they clap anyway because they like Kirishima. The gyoji and shimpan are incensed! Again, a mono-ii is called. More whispering. Eight minutes of whispering. They finally conclude. "What can we do? We'll deal with this later. He's an Ozeki. We need him!" The bout is allowed to proceed but not before Abi, Kirishima's opponent, loudly complains, "This isn't fair. There's nothing to grab onto!" Everyone laughs. The head shimpan says to Abi, "Knock it off, buddy! Everyone knows you're just going to try to strangle him! It shouldn't matter to you what he's wearing." Abi is not happy but what can he do? He's not an Ozeki. The bout begins and Abi as usual lunges at Kirishima's neck. But Kirishima is so quick, he escapes from Abi's clutches. Abi circles back and with his long arms again reaches for Kirishima's neck.....and grabs on! At this point, the shimpan all lose their cool and begin to cheer for Abi!!! The gyoji also loses his cool and WHACKS Kirishima over the head with his gunbai! Kirishima stumbles. The spectators are incensed! Even the old-timers in the front rows have never seen anything like this breach of the sumo rules and code of conduct. They begin to throw their sake and beer bottles at the shimpan. Bento boxes begin flying through the air. Two elderly women, fans of Kirishima, climb up onto the dohyo and tackle the gyoji, disarming him of his gunbai and knocking him out. A voice over the loudspeaker booms out, "NO WOMEN ALLOWED ON THE DOHYO!! WOMEN, GET OFF THE DOHYO NOW!!!!" In the meantime, the bout between Kirishima and Abi continues. Abi has the upper hand......well, hands, as they are still clamped around Kirishima's neck. The two women, who have ignored the commands to get off the dohyo, notice that Kirishima's face is getting redder and redder. They try to break Abi's grip on Kirishima's neck but one of them trips over the gyoji, who is still lying face-down on the dohyo. As she falls onto the dohyo, Abi lands on her. The other woman, who is holding the gunbai, uses it to signal that Kirishima has won the bout. The shimpan jump up onto the dohyo to have another mono-ii. They argue among themselves, not knowing what to do. The head shimpan points out that Abi did not touch down on the dohyo --- he landed on the woman, so technically he didn't actually lose. And another shimpan pointed out that Abi would not have lost if the two women had not pried his fingers off of Kirishima's neck. A voice from the video room above reminds them that an actual woman held the gunbai and determined the winner. They all decide that everyone, including the women and themselves, should be disqualified. As a formality, they decide to revive the gyoji to tell him. As the gyoji wakes up, he says groggily, "Is there going to be a torinaoshi??" The next morning, the head of the NSK calls all of the guilty parties in for a big meeting. A very big meeting. All of the shimpan are in attendance, the gyoji, Abi, Hoshoryu, Kirishima and even the two elderly women who mounted the dohyo. The two women are admonished about the proper behavior of spectators, particularly women spectators, and are dismissed. The shimpan and gyoji are each fined 50,000 Yen and banned for one basho. The gyoji is also admonished not to give up his gunbai so easily, especially to elderly women spectators. Abi feels like smirking because he wasn't wearing a "shuudag" like Hoshoryu and Kirishima were, but knows better because his Oyakata was one of the guilty shimpan, and he feared being suspended again. Abi is told that it's okay to fall on women outside the dohyo but he should be more focused while on the dohyo. He is relieved. Hoshoryu and Kirishima didn't get off so easily. They were asked, "What the hell was THAT all about?" They laughed and said almost in unison, "You were pranked! But we are Ozeki! You need us!!" Whew! What a dream that was! I'm glad I finally woke up!! (I am joking about writing a book. I only said that because it's lengthy).

I'm happy to hear that you are not depressed and that your legs are intact. It just sounded that way to me. You are undoubtedly feeling a wide range of emotions, anger or even rage being possibilities. I don't mean to put words into your mouth, even though I guess I am. You gave your all to your work. Please know that there are more people than you may realize who love you for what you have done. It was not for nothing.....and not in vain. Your videos ignited my passion for sumo.....others have said the same.....and your videos were also funny as hell! I will never forget you.....or them. EDIT TO ADD --- Pardon me for speaking in the past tense. Maybe I should change everything to the present tense. I want to but I'm not sure what the future holds.

I understand his depression. He’s been cut off at the knees.

Kirishima vs Asanoyama —- my favorite bout of the basho! I kept yelling, “Trip him! Trip him!!!” What an ending!

Maybe Aoiyama can turn it around but those weren't just losses, they were bad losses. It is perplexing, although I wonder if he is suffering from an undisclosed injury. He doesn't seem to have the strength I'm accustomed to seeing, and was easily defeated. Regarding Tochinoshin, yes, he would undoubtedly still be competing were it not for his major injury.

I had predicted that he would retire right after Tochinoshin. I could see the cracks then, especially when he was defeated by none other than Midorifuji (Haru, I believe). He ended up not being the next retiree, but I see it coming very soon. I agree that he’s looked bad in all of his losses this basho.

I too was surprised to see the setup for a Tittynage. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that before, even with Aoiyama who would be the most obvious target. But with Aoiyama, I've always worried more about his opponents getting suffocated ........ or knocked out by a flying tit! I guess Ryuden just wanted to expand his repertoire. A friend on Sumo Forum I correspond with said, "I saw Ryuden try to milk that other rikishi." I just about died laughing!

Wow! Hokuseiho! He finally put that left arm (and the right one, too) to good use.

@FujisanI, as well as others on the Forum, am so glad to hear from you! I think you of you often and hoped you were doing well. 80% is not 100% but it sure is pretty damn good! I'm glad you got to enter your game this time. That's a tradition, I know. When you have time, please send me your new address (PM if you like). I want to make another card for you. I'm happy you liked my first card. Your emojis made me laugh! Again, WELCOME BACK!!!

Actually, I just found out about it on August 2 when I was Googling something else. That was a great photo that was posted so I decided to post it here.

Here in the US, this documentary is called "Sumo Kids." I checked Nat Geo's TV listings for the next 2 weeks and was unable to find it on the schedule. One of the sites indicates that local TV listings may differ and substitutions can be made at any time. https://www.natgeotv.com/asia/sumo-kids

Here's a comment in an interesting thread ----- New recruits for January 2008 ----- where a lot of disparaging comments were made about "Fukao". He was called a "Meatbomb", and one member was of the opinion that he would "Hit the Wall" in Sandanme. Elsewhere in the thread, there is a photo of his first weigh-in as a shindeshi, 198 kilos, the 6th heaviest shindeshi up to that point. He did have some fans, though.

Thank you, @Jejima. I thought I could be considered as "in" as long as I didn't turn in my Intai papers. But sure thing! I will abide by the rules of the game.

Count me in every time. You don't need to ask any more. Thanks!

In this reddit thread is another picture of the baby. Tochi apparently has started becoming very active on Instagram, with a page for his baby, his dog and himself!

I wondered about that, too. The camera showed Miyagino Oyakata looking very concerned as he watched Hakuoho lying on the dohyo wincing in pain. If I recall correctly, at one point, Hakuoho reached over and touched his taped shoulder before getting up.

Kirishima/Midorifuji match ----- another memorable one ----- funny as all get out! I loved when Midorifuji dramatically KICKED Kirishima's sagari off to the side like a star soccer player. I'm wondering what they said to each other as the minutes wore on while the hapless gyoji struggled and struggled. How can they not laugh at the absurdity of their predicament? It reminded me of the day when Yoshikaze leaped up onto the dohyo to offer his help during a similar situation. Where was Yoshikaze when we needed him? Don't they TRAIN gyoji in gyoji school on how to retie a mawashi? I was surprised to see the flying zabuton. I guess since Kirishima is currently the highest-ranked rikishi actually fighting, the spectators treated him like an ad-hoc Yokozuna. It's been almost 30 minutes and I'm still laughing about this bout. Had to get out my asthma inhaler again.

You are right! That was so funny to see his left arm just flopping around.

I've been watching sumo since 2013 and I must say, the Ura/Hokuseiho bout has to be one of the most memorable. I almost had to get out my asthma inhaler.

Here's a short video showing the Egyptian sumo coach's (former Maegashira Osunaarashi) reaction to the Egyptian winner having his medal taken away. He himself got taken away ---------- by the police!

This is concerning news. In addition to the injuries to his ribs, he had also injured his right elbow and complained of back pain. He had been advised to take off 3 weeks to recover. Seems as though he is putting a lot of pressure on himself to compete. Willpower can only take him so far.

Fujisan and I communicated briefly in the middle of March and he gave me a temporary address so I could mail him a handmade get well card. But he was going to be moving very soon and I never heard from him again.

Wishing you a Happy Birthday, Stupidface, and many more! I enjoy reading your posts, and hope you will post again soon.