RabidJohn

Well, I knew it was one of the guys next to the gyoji, and definitely not the guy facing east.

I thought the time-keeper was the shimpan sitting to the right of the gyoji as viewed on TV (gyoji's left), and facing that camera is looking across to the nominal north side of the dohyo. The east-facing shimpan is usually out of shot, sitting on the west side...

I was not arguing. In the quote you used I stated three facts and offered one opinion. I did not ignore your posts: I read them. I simply remain unreceptive to your attempts to fashion a narrative from bent facts.

Hakuho neglected his responsibilities. Both he (and Ishiura) ignored a very serious bullying situation for a long time, and having foolishly signed a contract promising he would not let anything like that happen, he was caught bang to rights. There was a video made before Onosato joined the heya. It was very disturbing to many, but the only complaints came from 3rd party onlookers. No case to answer. There was an incident of underage drinking at a later heya party at which pre-ozeki Onosato was present. This was reported to the compliance committee and dealt with accordingly. IMHO, the only real comparisons to be made between moto-Miyagino and Nishonoseki is one was a much better yokozuna and the other is a much better oyakata.

There was no 'victim'. There cannot be a rape charge unless a victim comes forward and makes a report to the police. If such a report had been made, Nishonoseki would have been in a whole heap of trouble. You've seen (I assume) a video of events of which you disapprove at a heya drinking party. That's all. Having worked in the all-male environment of a coal mine for 13 years, talked with friends who were in the then-all-male armed services, and been to many men-only parties at rugby clubs, I am able to tell that we can get up to some very weird shit when the ladies aren't watching.

You absolutely sure about that? Could just as easily be two Ichiyamamotos...

You might not be into that sort of thing, and I know I'm certainly not, but some people are. And wasn't that Nakamura's gang anyway? There has never been an accusation of rape towards Onosato, only that he 'forced' an underage rikishi to drink alcohol. That just makes me smile because. while it may be frowned upon, I needed no encouragement when I was underage, let alone force.

Because Onosato likes partying, whereas Hokuseiho likes hurting people and stealing from them.

They are everywhere. You might like this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@WordsUnravelled

Nicholas and variants of it are common throughout Europe. There were several at school with me in the UK. And Wikipedia tells me it comes from ancient Greek, cognate with Νικόλαος in modern Greek.

Traffic jams are torture for me, but it wouldn't wash at the European Court of Human Rights. Frivolity aside, of course the Japanese legal system looks less than ideal from a western viewpoint, and I remain grateful to live in a place where common law prevails over civil law. But cops beating up innocent people still happens...

Torture? That's a strong word to chuck out so casually. I can accept that bad cop heavy-handedness would be less effective against most combat sport participants, but I suspect they'd be no different to the majority when it came to electrodes, pliers, drill bits, waterboarding, etc.

The stuff I learn here!

I remember that interview with Konishiki (I think...). He talked about all the bullying that went on, and I believed every word because I've seen footage of it. Yeah, they thought nothing of filming keiko exactly as it happened and broadcasting it, the oyakata walking around with a stick to beat them with, and everything. Times have indeed changed. His dismissal of Hakuho was ridiculous, though. I reckon Hakuho would've flourished in that environment, just as Konishiki and so many others did.

That may be true, but I'd suggest the main reason was because Terunofuji was their only yokozuna - and their panic at losing him is why we find Hoshoryu in his current situation.