Asashosakari 20,301 Posted June 6, 2011 The 10-stop charity tour by the upper-half makuuchi rikishi has been underway since Saturday, as usual with large press coverage at least at the beginning. Here's what's come down the wire. Hakuho, Harumafuji et al. arriving at the main station in Morioka-shi, Iwate, on Friday. The city serves as a base camp of sorts for the first legs of the tour: First stop, Saturday morning: the schoolgrounds of Minami elementary school in Yamada-machi, Iwate. Everybody down to M6 is supposed to be on the tour, but just 18 of the 20 rikishi were present on Saturday. One article said "Kotooshu and others" would be joining on Monday, but another one claimed Osh was already there, and in any case the Sunday reports already say all 20 were now around, so whatever. In any case, with tsukebito as well as various oyakata and other Kyokai staff the whole trek numbers about 100 people. Hakuho's first of ten upcoming dohyo-iri, in front of about 2,000 visitors: Kakuryu is joining Aminishiki in the assistant positions on the tour as regular Kyokutenho isn't taking part. A moment of silence: Top-ranker meet'n'greet, very popular it looks like: The ever-popular chanko stations. It appears that the Kyokai might have underestimated the popularity of these events in general and the chanko distribution in particular; about 1800 servings were scheduled for the two Saturday stops in total, but they ended up serving nearly twice that number, already using up about half the supplies planned for the full five-day tour. Another truckfull has apparently gone North already. The Rij was there, too: ----------------- Saturday afternoon: a public park in Otsuchi-cho, one town over from Yamada; about 800 visitors here. Before the pics, a link to a fairly detailed NHK report, and another one to a much shorter news clip at News24. Second verse, not quite the same as the first as Hakuho had a dohyo at his disposal this time: More m'n'g, just Hakuho in this batch (he can smile!): Kaio with local 8-year-old talent Yuya Chiyokawa (blind guess...千代川勇也)...135 cm / 61 kg. Yes, Daily Sports felt compelled to include his vital stats, so who am I to deviate. Hakuho reportedly told the kid he wants to see him as a yokozuna one day. ----------------- Coverage promptly dropped off after the first-day excitement, but the second pair of stops in Ofunato-shi and Rikuzentakata-shi (still Iwate) on Sunday were again very well-attended with 3,200 people in total. Morning dohyo-iri: Rikishi tour bus arriving for the afternoon event: As the picture indicates, Rikuzentakata was hit quite badly, including the elementary school where the goodwill meeting was held. It was a very bittersweet homecoming for Hakuho's tsukebito Owada; while from Saitama prefecture himself, his parents were both born in Rikuzentakata and extended family still lives there. Owada's maternal grandmother and a great-aunt perished in the tsunami. ----------------- Monday: Miyagi prefecture, Kesennuma-shi and Minamisanriku-cho. We're back down to 18 rikishi in reports. Some 200-250 attendees in each location, plus the students of the pair of middle schools at which things took place. FNN has an extensive three-minute report, mainly from the Kesennuma stop, and Asahi has some short clips from Minamisanriku. Aran on chanko duty in Kesennuma: Homasho's turn in Minamisanriku later in the day: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kintamayama 47,382 Posted June 6, 2011 Nice, thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fay 1,677 Posted June 7, 2011 a front pic from Kakuryu at the dohyo iri would be very appreciated ... if someone can find one ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pippooshu 1 Posted June 8, 2011 I'm sorry but...10 stops or 10 days? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 20,301 Posted June 18, 2011 a front pic from Kakuryu at the dohyo iri would be very appreciated ... if someone can find one ... I didn't run into any, unfortunately, and it turns out Hakuho had different plans after all - he rotated the tachimochi spot to a different "young hope" every day. Here's Kotoshogiku on the second day: And Goeido's turn in Minamisanriku on day 3: To make up for it, here's a Kakuryu chanko-serving pic from Ofunato-shi (day 2), with Gonoumi on the left and Kaorufuji on the right: Kaio in Kesennuma on the third day...kid's signalling for a Kaio yusho in Nagoya, you heard it here first: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 20,301 Posted June 18, 2011 June 7 saw stops in Onagawa-cho and Sendai-shi, both in Miyagi prefecture. No pics from the afternoon stop, but here's a bunch from the morning event in Onagawa: Dohyo-iri...is that Homasho? Baruto meet'n'greet...he also gave his first press interviews in nearly a month following his "play basho" gaffe during Natsu: In addition the supernatural made an appearance...Hakuho received a phone call from the principal of the Yamada-machi school at which the very first event of the goodwill tour had been staged. No, he didn't call from the beyond, it's more benign than that - the town had been plagued by aftershocks from the March quakes practically every single day, but they abruptly stopped after Hakuho's dohyo-iri ritually drove out the evil spirits. Okay then. (No follow-up reports on whether this held true for more than three days...) --------------------------- Final day, with stops in Miyagi, Yamamoto-cho, and Fukushima, Shinchi-machi. Not much about Yamamoto except this dohyo-iri pic: And one last dohyo-iri in Shinchi (Tochiozan here...it's not him in the previous pic though, is it?): Last Hakuho m'n'g, also from Shinchi: And one last Hakuho, from one of the last two locations (Hochi didn't give details): All in all: Some 15,000 visitors to the 10 events, with about 13,000 chanko servings distributed (8,000 were originally planned). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 20,301 Posted June 18, 2011 (edited) Hakuho bonus (yes, I know, this thread absolutely needs more Hakuho pics) - taking part in a rice planting ceremony in Takikawa-shi on Hokkaido on June 11 with local school children and... ...with his wife and eldest daughter (his son was also around, says Sports Hochi): (The headband reads "Hakuho Rice". Apparently I didn't post about it last summer - Hakuho has been organizing some sort of cooperative effort with agricultural institutes in Takikawa with the goal of finding rice varieties that can grow well in the Mongolian climate and ultimately introducing them there.) Edited June 18, 2011 by Asashosakari Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shimodahito 336 Posted June 19, 2011 excellent PR for sumo.... and a nice way to lift the spirits of tohoku friends. thanks for posting! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fay 1,677 Posted June 19, 2011 a front pic from Kakuryu at the dohyo iri would be very appreciated ... if someone can find one ... I didn't run into any, unfortunately, and it turns out Hakuho had different plans after all - he rotated the tachimochi spot to a different "young hope" every day. Here's Kotoshogiku on the second day: And Goeido's turn in Minamisanriku on day 3: To make up for it, here's a Kakuryu chanko-serving pic from Ofunato-shi (day 2), with Gonoumi on the left and Kaorufuji on the right: Thanks Asashosakari, my number 2 and Goeido (number ?) are nice to see too (I am not worthy...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
