Daizen, dejima

[Guest Kaikitsune]

It is very early morning at Christmas eve. I have many things on my mind on how to contribute and arouse discussion on the forum I might as well ponder sumo stuff under the influence of Christmas spirit reigning here at the moment.

Daizen turned 37 a little while ago and he is notoriously popular pick in UDH-sumo game where the goal is to choose rikishi most likely to lose a lot. Despite the prospects Daizen has been able, not only to hang on, but really perform fervently and to snatch great victories against much younger foes and naturally the highlight being his nimble footwork induced win over Musashimaru in Kyushu basho. Not a spectacular rikishi but at least my opinion is that it is better to see old rikishi who look fit and who train hard fighting in Makuuchi than young potential rikishi who look lax and who give an impression that their attitude towards defeats and underperforming on the dohyo is rather oblivious.

His 37 years of age rarely shows on the dohyo. This can probably be ascribed to his extremely good work ethics as he trains harder than most rikishi. In this he serves as an ultimate role model for the younger rikishi who ought to look into the mirror if a guy 15 years older than them has the spirit and will to train more than them.

At the end of Kyushu basho he had 40 degree fever which obviously worsened his chances to pursue for special award. In any case Daizen`s contribution to sumo may well be much more important than his career would indicate. With his experience and good example he definitely has a lot to offer to younger rikishi.

People consider Terao the ironman of ozumo. Whereas it is true that Terao being such a lightweight it is even more of a miracle that he is able to carry on fighting at this high level with frequent injuries and so, but I would give more credit to Daizen too who persevares and doesn`t show any signs of being even close to retirement.

Dejima on the other hand is 27 years old world amateur champion from 1991 who is plagued with his ankle injury (or series of infections). He says he doesn`t like sumo that much when it comes to training. Still he was already in his early amateur days a really relentless in training. Used to do lots of squats, stair running with his traning partner on his back and folcusing on exhausting his legs day after day.

He possesses incredibly strong legs which he needs healty to be able to return to the level he had two years ago. His attitude seems very humble and everything he does on the dohyo reflects that. Yet he has the will to win as he is visibly annoyed when he loses (even though he maintains his composure in a very Dejima-like manner). He himself declared year 2002 the "year of revenge" and somehow I have no doubts he will be a great spoiler provided that he will get his legs healty. His pushing power is still very strong occasionally but with stability.....he can still come back even in the presence of the heavy caliber Sanyaku as it is now!

Do you think he will be able to be a reverse the trend and renew his bulldozing sumo which he used to dominate against Akebono 2-3 years ago?

Ah well..no more free association sumo musing tonight. Just some improvised blabbling as the forum has been rather quiet lately!  (Huh?)

[Yubiquitoyama 4]

I personally agree with most everything you say about Daizen above. I think it's great to see a 37-year-old train hard, be a good role-model for the up-and-comers, and show that sumo life is not necessarily over for a long stint in Juryo. I particularly liked his kinboshi against Musashimaru (where he looked very nimble indeed), and I really hope he can come back nicely in January. Although a rikishi can age pretty fast (like Takatoriki and Akinoshima have proved), Daizen has shown little to no tendency of slowing down, and I must say I always respect that (as I also do in another old-timer, Kotokanyu, who still manages to reach as far as he's ever done at the age of 36, despite a relatively lean physique, for sumo).

Not a spectacular rikishi but at least my opinion is that it is better to see old rikishi who look fit and who train hard fighting in Makuuchi than young potential rikishi who look lax and who give an impression that their attitude towards defeats and underperforming on the dohyo is rather oblivious.

The first rikishi I thought of when reading this post was Chiyotenzan. I think he always looks quite bored (well, maybe not as much as Musashimaru :-) ) and also performs as such too often. I think Kokonoe even commented on Chiyotenzan's lack of training diligence, which is definitely not a good sign.

In June 1999, Moti's Poll was : Who is the currently most exciting rikishi? The clear winner, with 40 per cent (as compared to 19 per cent for the runner-up) was Chiyotenzan... Things change pretty quickly...

Another such change was a late 1999 poll on who would be the next Yokozuna. Dejima was the clear favorite with more than 50 per cent of the votes... I think Dejima currently shows quite a strong tachi-ai (rather often actually), but his problems begin if the opponent is not immediately pushed out. I really hope he can heal properly and get together a new launch towards Ozeki. But I also hope that his injuries has not (unwillingly) changed his style, so even if he would heal, he would keep the tendency to run right out of the dohyo (that he has had for some time now). His career seems to slightly resemble that of another pusher-thruster, Daiju, who got demoted from Ozeki and ended his limping (in two ways...) career at the age of 27. I hope Dejima manages to break that trend BEFORE he goes down to Juryo...