robnplunder

Whew! It's a good thing that Takanohana is no longer leading the beya. Hopefully, things are changed for better for the former Takanohana beya risksihis.

I've seen this type of posts in a golf forum. A person new to the forum posts for the 1st time asking about his chance of becoming a pro. Many are trolls. Once in a while, someone sounds genuine (but extremely naive). This is the 1st time I've seen a post like this in sumo forum. My advice to the OP - find something you can do for a decent living. You can always watch sumo and daydream. Your chance of becoming a pro sumo wrestler is near zero as my chance of becoming the president of United States. For those who are giving him actual advice as if the dream is even remotely possible, you know you are not doing him any good (and shame on you).

I will throw in my experience here. I, a Korean national then, was training to be a boxer at age 12 in early 1970's. My coach would sometimes beat me if I can't follow his instruction. It was a "controlled" beating, not something he did to take it out on me. The beating was harmless, something that more or less "reminded" me to pay more attention. That sort of beating was pretty common then. But, I thought those days are gone. Based on current news out of Korea, players still get beatings and even seriously assaulted. Recently, the world's 2nd ranked short track woman (Shim Suk Hee) skater was beaten repeatedly by her coach. The guy is now facing jail sentence b/c of it. If a guy can violently assault a 2nd ranked woman skater in the world, I can imagine what can happen to lesser players. The good thing is, this sort of thing is now looked down upon, and even lead to criminal conviction. This is the way it should be. After all, we are not living in a world where such violence is accepted by society, parents of athletes, athlete association, .... One last word, Takanoiwa is allowed to go through the normal Intai ceremony/ritual. That seems "light" punishment to me. I am sure to be criminally charged if I beat someone in, say, Tokyo, b/c I was having a bad day. No such justice for Takanoiwa. Instead, he will get a nice Intai and severance pay? Hmm.

This "retirement" is the "stern warning" to others that such things are not tolerated. I hope it helps.

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I wasn't watching sumo during Asashoryu's reign. I am not aware of other violence than Haruma & Takanoiwa's. If there have been others by Japanese or others, I am ignorant of those. BTW, violence by any rikishi be it Mongoloian or Japanese is plain bad. It's a severe form of bullying the weak.

BTW, that's 3 top Mongolian rikishi who are out of Makuuchi for good: Harumafuji, Terunofuji, and Takanoiwa. Once Kak & Hak go, the Mongolian dominance will be over for a while.

Slapping a customer is a no-no in Japan. He should try finding a bouncer job for a night club. That is *the* ideal job for Takanoiwa. Of course, when Harumafuji comes to the club ...

Very well said, Aminishiki. Violence like this can't be excused in this day and age.

It would be more interesting for media to ask Harumafuji if they haven't asked already. Would Harumafuji say "I told you so?"

Intai is too good for violent offenses be it Takanoiwa or anybody else. My two cents

I removed (gave up) watching a basho live from ringside seat from my bucket list. Speaking of disappointments, this basho had a few for moi: 2 Yoko's MIA, Kise's going 0-4 before going kyujo, Satoyama's retiring, Mita's makekosh, Aminishiki's makekosh, ..

I didn't know that they pay sekitori by weight. Enho needs to gain some weight. He's leaving a lot of yen on dohyo. I know a place where one can double their weight with special diet. That's D-I-E with t at the end.

Kise was partial or full kyujo in the last 9 out 10 bashos. The fat lady is getting ready to sing.

Satoyama was one of my favorite rikishi. Just watching him try to beat a much bigger opponent was inspiring. I am sure going to miss him. Luckily, we have Enho to carry on the inspiration.