Chiyotaikai intai

[Fukurou 534]

I'll also suggest the front page of the Oyakata gallery, where the nuances and distinctions of toshiyori/myoseki/kabu are probably explained better than anywhere else. (Arguably even compared to all Japanese sources I've encountered...)

That is helpful information. Thanks for recommending that site!

Edited January 14, 2010 by Fukurou

[Kintamayama 47,412]

The list once included Tochiazuma, Chiyotaikai, Takanowaka, Kinkaiyama, Chiyotenzan, Takanotsuru, Shunketsu, Harunoyama, and Hamanishiki.

Who is still around in Makushita.

[Tamanaogijima 778]

I'll also suggest the front page of the Oyakata gallery, where the nuances and distinctions of toshiyori/myoseki/kabu are probably explained better than anywhere else. (Arguably even compared to all Japanese sources I've encountered...)

Oh, Sire, you flatter me! (Clapping wildly...)

To add something on Chiyotaikai: I only know him as an ozeki since my sumo interest has started during the second half of 1999. This makes him the last active rikishi out of the Y/O ranks I started with, and so I have turned much more blind eyes to him than to many of the other rikishi -- despite his weak showings over the last years. But finally, finally it's over...

For once (and probably the only time ever) I have to thank Eurosport for discontinuing the Sumo coverage two years ago; sometimes I have been to lazy to start the stream and so I have missed many of his most pathetic bouts. And so I can treasure the memory of his better days...

[shumitto 419]

One of the best Ozeki for sure I've seen - the last decade or so - but his last years have made him also the worst Ozeki in my book. The dohyo will henceforth look better without him on top. (Clapping wildly...)

Edit: Chiyotaikai is the worst Ozeki as to the deepest ebb; Kaio snaps up the prize for the longest one.

Edited January 14, 2010 by shumitto

[Takamizawa 0]

All the best from me and my friends in Oita-ken to Chiyotaikai!! He always showed true fighting spirit, even during his struggles, and we'll miss him greatly. Oita loves you!!!

[Washuyama 662]

Edit: Chiyotaikai is the worst Ozeki as to the deepest ebb;

I disagree... Although the last couple years haven't been so great, Prior to his latest injury, he's always been able to win in double-digits at least once a year. I mean, the man held the Ozeki rank for 11 years!

If I had to pick a "deepest ebb" for an ozeki, it would have to be Daiju who lost the ozeki rank and eventually competed in Juryo prior to intai.

In spite of the last couple years, I feel Chiyotaikai will still go down in history, along with Kaio, as one of the greatest ozeki in history.

IMHO.

Edit: typo

Edited January 14, 2010 by Washuyama

[yorikiried by fate 2,038]

If I had to pick a "deepest ebb" for an ozeki, it would have to be Daiju who lost the ozeki rank and eventually competed in Juryo prior to intai.

That's a bit unfair IMHO. Your man barely met the criteria for promotion, maybe some once in a career fluke run. Then he must have made friends with the banzuke makers in order to be thrown to J1w with 4-11 at M9e. I mean, they knew it would end his career eventually. So I don't blame him to try and get back, "competing in Juryo" meaning for exactly three bouts. He lost them and quickly complied to the unwritten rules of his former rank. The man was 27 for crying out loud. Nothing about this is any more wearing on the rank of Ozeki than the charade Chiyotaikai entertained us with the last two years.

[Asashosakari 20,310]

Your man barely met the criteria for promotion, maybe some once in a career fluke run.

That was one of the strongest ozeki runs of the early kadoban era (and against 6 Y/O, too).

Then he must have made friends with the banzuke makers in order to be thrown to J1w with 4-11 at M9e.

Well, when the banzuke ends at M13e...

Edit: On a less nitpicking note, one column I read the other day compared Chiyotaikai's ozeki career to that of Hokutenyu, another one who was promoted young and for whom the ozeki rank was widely assumed to be just a stepping stone to the tsuna, yet didn't make it and ended up having an undistinguished long tail of a career with the occasional highlight basho. (Many fewer kadobans though; things evidently worked better in Chiyonofuji's time.)

Edited January 14, 2010 by Asashosakari

[yorikiried by fate 2,038]

Your man barely met the criteria for promotion, maybe some once in a career fluke run.

That was one of the strongest ozeki runs of the early kadoban era (and against 6 Y/O, too).

Then he must have made friends with the banzuke makers in order to be thrown to J1w with 4-11 at M9e.

Well, when the banzuke ends at M13e...

You win, wiseguy. B-)

I just wanted to bitch. (Shaking head...)

[Asashosakari 20,310]

My mean streak strikes again - since that particular event just came up in a different context at ST, enjoy re-reading people's reactions to Chiyotaikai's senshuraku withdrawal in Kyushu 2007 (that injury, mind you, turned out to spell the beginning of the end for him, even if it ultimately took two years). Not that I really expect the people who were calling for him to tough it out or who insinuated conspiracies to learn a damn thing from it, but hey, there's always hope.

[_the_mind_ 0]

I really cant believe the nerve of some people acting like someone who is an ozeki for over a decade is a disgrace to their rank.