Newbie question

[Kintamayama 45,373]

OK, this is driving me nuts. I have asked this many times, but no one seems to know, never got an answer, (much like to the question "What does "shiranai" in Japanese mean?" which nobody seems to know the answer to). How come, suddenly, every now and then, out of the blue, all Makushita matches suddenly have salt-throwing?? Today, for instance. Yesterday, not. Usually, they just breeze through the shikiri and fight each other. Today, saltworks. Why? WHY? And from lower Makushita at that. My guess- a question of time-when there is a lot of time left because earlier division matches ended quickly, they let the boys play around with salt. But I want a real answer. Soon.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Kintamayama

[Keishikazawa 0]

なんとなく

[Orion 431]

OK, this is driving me nuts. I have asked this many times, but no one seems to know, never got an answer, (much like to the question "What does "shiranai" in Japanese mean?" which nobody seems to know the answer to). How come, suddenly, every now and then, out of the blue, all Makushita matches suddenly have salt-throwing?? Today, for instance. Yesterday, not. Usually, they just breeze through the shikiri and fight each other. Today, saltworks. Why? WHY? And from lower Makushita at that. My guess- a question of time-when there is a lot of time left because earlier division matches endedt quickly, they let the boys play around with salt. But I want a real answer. Soon.

In a regular basho. as you know, there's normally no salt throwing until the Juryo come on. But there's wiggle room left in the timing of the lower ranks, for such things as judges' conferences on a disputed decision which take up extra time. On a day when there have been a lot of monoii, or a lot of long bouts, the schedule may be tight. In this case they speed up the change of judges' shifts -- very quick sweeping of the dohyo, and the next lot of judges practically sprinting in.

On a day when all the bouts are short and there are no objections to the gyoji's decision, OTOH, they have to watch the timing to make sure there's not an awkward long wait before the Juryo dohyo-iri. The commonest way to take up more time in a nice dignified traditional way is to tell the top makushita (usually the final ten bouts) to go to their corners and throw salt once.

Of course this time there are far fewer men, and although the day is starting later there is a much greater chance that things will be running early -- so it is quite possible that the salt-throwing time is being extended further down the ranks.

I'm not seeing it at all so I am just guessing from your description.

Orion

[Kintamayama 45,373]

Of course this time there are far fewer men, and although the day is starting later there is a much greater chance that things will be running early -- so it is quite possible that the salt-throwing time is being extended further down the ranks.

Orion

Thank you for the answer. It makes sense.

[Jejima 1,406]

Of course this time there are far fewer men, and although the day is starting later there is a much greater chance that things will be running early -- so it is quite possible that the salt-throwing time is being extended further down the ranks.

Orion

Thank you for the answer. It makes sense.

Doreen beat me to giving this answer - I knew it too, but almost certainly because I had heard her explain it previously on NHK some years ago (Sign of approval...)

[Babaryutaikai 1]

Yes, Doreen is correct, of course. I have also seen this in my years of watching sumo. HOWEVER, I wonder why there is this concern about time without a broadcast where the day has to finish usually exactly at 6PM. I'm just guessing that they distribute the day's printed torikumi each day at the KK as they do during honbasho, with the dohyo iris, etc., scheduled for a certain time. I still don't understand why they just don't let everything go with the flow and if they are finished before a certain time, so be it!

[Asashosakari 19,510]

Because many people only want to watch a certain part of the action and would be pretty annoyed if they showed up at 4pm only to find out that makuuchi is running 3:30 to 5:15 today?

[Fay 1,677]

Because many people only want to watch a certain part of the action and would be pretty annoyed if they showed up at 4pm only to find out that makuuchi is running 3:30 to 5:15 today?

Asashosakari is right, most people are only interested in Juryo and Makuuchi - if not only Makuuchi - and they count on the regular schedule - I can say this from my years watching sumo ...