Yamanashi

Obviously you don't know about the Sumo scandal in Kashmir.

Not even the WOAT Shonan-hattori-zakura could pull that off in Jonidan. Let's Let Hanakaze Be Hanakaze and blaze his own trail.

No, the other side of the country; education and work have taken me through the Midwest to the Southeast (same temperatures as Sacramento, 5 times the humidity). I hope you have now recovered from your sugar rush.

Happy Birthday @sumojoann. I fondly remember See's candy from my childhood in the Sacramento Valley. It's good to know some of the old traditions are still with us. [uh, I mean the candy!]

Now that's a much tougher nut to crack: 1) Sawaisamu is still active, so he's a moving (not a stationary) target. 2) And what a mover! Sawaisamu last had a KK in May 2017. The only thing that has stopped his run of MK's during this current string is a) a kyujo in November 2020, and b) miraculously, being sent back to Maezumo the next basho (he went 0-2, but it doesn't count). 3) No matter how old Sawaisamu gets, he'll always be 7 years younger than Hanakaze.

He's made KK 6 times in the last 16 basho [amazing that he's still winning at age 51!] So, he'll need ~22 more basho to reach/beat Hakuho. Just in time for his 55th birthday in May 2025.; a good time to retire. Probably not eligible for sewanin, but maybe act as heya manager after that.

Normally you would have been assigned some tsukebito, but we're not sure which heya you belong to. Mine are very helpful with spell-checking and looking up Sumo terms on Wikipedia. Good news: you won't be relegated back to Juryo for poor-quality posts (based on personal experience). Bad news: you won't be treated with more awe and respect. More good news: you won't be treated with more envy and contempt. You need about 220 more posts to reach sanyaku; good luck!

Who knows, as October slooooooowly rumbles on into November and Kyushu, we may look back on this as the highlight of the interbasho period.

Well, what initially made me suspicious was the stunning lack of hinkaku in the whole affair.

I think you've been had. The Sumo Association appears to be a union of taxi drivers who use the Sumo SUV, a brand made by India's Tata Motors until 2019.

A really good likeness!

It's possible to have such an intense nationalism that you believe everyone who's not your countryman is no good. My favorite novel is Islandia, a fantasy about a nation/society living on a small continent in the Southern Hemisphere. They argue that they aren't racist because a) they don't think any ethnic group is inherently any worse than the others; b) they don't want anybody else coming to live in their country. The real problem with the word xenophobia is the -phobia part, which has been misused on purpose for decades now. [and that's all I'm going to say about that].

On the other hand, he shows a careful vigilance on defense; for instance, he never fell for an ashitori. Kaisei should watch some video on this guy.

I get your point, but would getting a new kabu be more appealing than procuring one of the ancient and revered ones, which means that the new kabu would either go toma "1A" level retiree or a rikishi with a high level of popularity (Ura??). I'm not too sure of the latter, but the former might work.

Well, they have a (fuzzy) criterion for entering the brotherhood already. Also, the "stratospheric accomplishments" candidates probably aren't the ones who need to carve out a kabu or heya, since they are often being courted to take over a position, often at their home heya.

Does anybody have an idea of the yearly income they'd need to fund a kabu? What about a kabu with heya? Using the standard multipliers for similar endowments in Japan, one could figure out what the whole nut would be to permanently endow one. [I would have mixed feelings about the introduction of, say, ex-Mitakeumi as "Yamazaki-Oyakata, brought to you by Suntory."]

Imagine if this routine had a one-liner that went over like a lead balloon on stage, but when discovered later made this video go so viral that even isolated tribe dwellers in Mato Grosso pondered the questions of space and time that it evokes. The line: "So, why aren't you guys wearing your masks?"

Can't it be both?

Hakuho, in blue, Looking for investors in Real Estate. [walk fast!]

Happy Birthday! Keep posting and above all stay safe. https://tenor.com/view/buster-keaton-stunt-man-stunt-great-stunt-prat-fall-gif-21595642

What is the history of his kabu? The db suggests there hasn't been a heya associated with it since 1920. Tochiozan is the first kabu holder on the list to have reached Sanyaku in his career. Tochioyama coached at Kasugano heya after his intai -- is that the connection to Tochiozan?

Some pictures from Narutobeya Twitter.

There are some videos on the db. Interesting ... he seems to have little pushing power, and he does hit 'n' shift a lot when he wins. I was astonished to find that he had 273 oshi-type wins and 224 slap/pull wins (hikio,hataki, tsukio) -- but only 6 (yes, six) wins in his career by yorikiri.

What intrigues me is that the Gyoji looked over at Hakuho with his hand raised, seemed to nod his head, and immediately pop went the mono-ii. No hesitation, no "What is this??? The proprieties! A rikishi? This is all highly irregular!" I guess the Gyoji knew the rules.

From where Asanoyama is now, the db is pretty straightforward about what a "normal" string of kyujo would produce; latest results: S1e 0-0-15 M11e (Myogiryu 2014.09) M11e 0-0-15 J7w (Yoshikaze 2019.07) J7w 0-0-15 M6e (Chiyonokuni 2019.05) M6e 0-0-7 Ms46w (Chiyonokuni 2019.07); Terunofuji 2018.07 = Ms47e Ms46w 0-0-7 Sd26w (Tokitenku 2016.05) Sd26w 0-0-7 Sd86w (4 rikishi). There isn't much variation in these numbers unless you go back to the 90's.