The word "yaocho"

[Hananotaka 8]

Kaikitsune recently posted my post on reading the banzuke up, and urged me to contribute more. So I thought I'd cut and paste an old post from the Sumo ML, cleaned up a bit with some corrections and edits. This story and the banzuke post represent what I consider the best of my contributions to the Sumo ML, although there are probably some neat posts I don't remember any more.

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I got this story from Sumoshi uraomote (Sumo History Front and Back), by Kojima Teiji.

First, to get this story, you have to know what a yaoya is. A yaoya is basically a vegetable stand or vegetable seller. This particular story revolves around a yaoya called Nemoto Chouzo. Perhaps you are already making a connection in your mind...

Anyway, it was the sixth year of Meiji (1873), and things were not happy in the sumo world. The modernization of Japan had taken away sumo's main patrons, the daimyo. Then there was the "Takasago Incident", (see here for more information). At any rate, one could say that sumo hit its lowest point at this time. The assistant head of the Sumo Kaisho (the forerunner to the present Sumo Kyokai) was one Isenoumi Oyakata. This Isenoumi Oyakata had wrestled under the shikona Kashiwado Munegoro before inheriting the stable, and was quite an individual. He was not worried about the state of sumo. "There's no use fluttering around," he said. "Something with the history and tradition of sumo is not going to go down easily. If we just play the politics right, and work hard in the meantime, spring will come again." So saying, he proceeded to while his days away relaxing and playing Go. It should be noted, though, that while he loved the game, Isenoumi Oyakata was a hopeless patzer. His partner for these Go sessions was often "Chou", the yaoya. It should be also noted, though, that while he was technically a yaoya, his "store" was basically a cart he and his wife pushed around town. He was near 30 years old, and had just recently been able to find a wife.

One day the Oyakata and Chou were engaging in their customary black and white battle and discussing current events when Chou said,

"I talked with the wife last night. I'm thinking it's time to buckle down and get my own store."

"That sounds nice," the oyakata replied. "Is a yaoya a good living?"

"I don't know if it's good or not, but we just can't cut it selling goods without a store. And, well, the wife's in the family way. I gotta look to the future."

"Well, well, well. Congratulations, congratulations. So, have you found a store that suits you?"

"I can't say it really suits me, but friend told me about an empty store in Asakusa, near Kappa-bashi."

"I see..." A pause. Then, "Say, what about the sumo world?"

"Eh? Sumo? Well, as you know Oyakata, I love Go and Sumo more than three meals a day, but at this age I couldn't even be a gyoji or yobidashi."

"No, not that. I'm talking about a sajikiya."

"A sajikiya? You mean a chaya?" Sajikiya were small stores that sold upper level seats during a basho.

"Yeah. I just happened to hear yesterday that Shimaya is selling his stock."

"Ah-ha..."

"I don't which is better, Shimaya's stock or a yaoya store, but if you're

interested, I can set things up for you."

"Well, I really appreciate it, but..."

"What, is it the money? Bah, if it's money to buy a tea house, I can front it for you. And there's only two basho a year, so it won't interfere with your vegetable business."

"Wow, thank you, oyakata! I'll talk it over with the wife right away!" And leaving the match at 1-1 and the third game in mid-play, Chou shot like an arrow back home.

So, thankful for the windfall, Chou bowed deeply to the oyakata and had him buy the stock. Then he got a hold of the store near Kappa-bashi and set to business. He called the vegetable store "Yaochou", and the tea house "Shimachou". Okay, so now we have the word yaochou. Now the story really begins. Before in their games, Chou always had the upper hand, but suddenly the oyakata seemed to be gaining, and indeed, winning the majority of the bouts.

"It's amazing, oyakata, amazing!" Chou would say. "You've gotten so good, I couldn't even be your tachi-mochi!" And since winning was better than losing, Isenoumi oyakata ate it up, and felt good doing it. But it came to pass that eventually a Go Kaisho was set up and various Go experts traveled around taking on opponents at local clubs. At one of these clubs, of course the Oyakata made an appearance. The oyakata looked in on one game and saw that it was Chou versus a Go master. It was a pretty good game. For Chou to be giving a master this hard a game, he had to be an expert, a black belt in Go, as it were. Isenoumi Oyakata saw red.

"Why that son of a %$#@$, Yaochou! What a &$%# liar!" Wherever the oyakata went, he told the story of how Yaochou threw the games to flatter him, and before long the oyakata's opinion of Yaochou became the public opinion of him. Also, he ran a sajikiya, where the custom was to cram 11 or 12 customers into a nine-person masu-seki seat. Plus his selling style wasn't particularly subtle or dignified, and it would not be unusual to see him banging a drum and calling in the customers during the basho. The old, original, traditional chaya didn't much care for this, and the name Yaochou went further into the mud as far as the sumo world was concerned. Eventually from the chaya to the wrestlers, things that were underhanded got to be referred to as "doing a Yaochou".

And then in the Hatsu Basho of 1910, there was a match between Daitoyama and Komagatake. In the stands was the Waseda Booster Club, who came to root for Komagatake. Throughout the shikiri and the match, the would shout, "Hurray! Hurray, Komagatake!" Finally, the two wrestlers both went into throws at the same time, and both landed at the same time. To the spectators this seemed to be such a phony match that the Booster Club shouted out, "Hurray! Hurray, Yaochou!" which got a great response from the crowd.

Kojima ends his story with this: "There is a saying; 'When a tiger dies, he leaves his skin; when a person dies he leaves his name.' Nemoto Chouzou, Chou the yaoya, left his name while he was still living. This is no mean feat."

[Ryunokaze 0]

Nice yarn.

You got more?