New recruits-May 2012

[Kintamayama 17,678]

!0 new recruits have signed up for May 2012. This is the first basho where the old standards have been abolished, and the new standard of 1.67/67 kilos has been established. In truth, the old two-tier system is now gone, and everyone over 1.67/67 kilos can sign up without undergoing "special physical tests". Last year, 7 recruits, so a slight increase there. So far one star-Kinki's Hamaguchi, who will be joining Kise beya.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Kintamayama

[Yubinhaad 6,324]

At least two of the new recruits will join Tomozuna-beya, at least temporarily - they were recruited by Asakayama-oyakata (former Ozeki Kaio). The article says this is likely the first step on the way to branching out to found his own heya in the future. "These are the first deshi I've brought to the heya," commented Asakayama. "I'll teach them what I've learned as well as learning my own role as oyakata. I hope they will become strong rikishi, both physically and mentally."

15-year-old Hagiwara Shota stands 178cm tall and weighs 130kg. He has participated in national middle school competitions and was tempted to carry on to high school. "I thought about it, but I wanted to try and become a rikishi like Kaio," he said. "I want to become a rikishi that everyone will love."

18-year-old Ogata Toshihiro is the smaller of the duo at 173cm and 126kg, and he too has a background in school sumo with a third-place finish in a fifth-grade competition. "I was very happy to have been noticed [by Kaio]," he said. "I will devote myself to keiko so that I can become a sekitori as quickly as I can."

Ogata (left) and Hagiwara (right) with Kaio (middle).

Hagiwara being measured:

Edited April 27, 2012 by Yubinhaad

[Kintamayama 17,678]

Miyazawa (16) is 1.84 meters tall but barely met the weight criteria of 67. "I was 65 in the morning, but thanks to an anideshi who brought me some water, I passed the minimum," he said. Water? 2 kilos in a few hours??

His thinness:

Edited April 27, 2012 by Kintamayama

[Manekineko 190]

2 kilos = 2 liters of water. He probably drank at least another liter to compensate for sweating/evaporation. Tough and unhealthy, but not impossible.

[Kintamayama 17,678]

Waterboy:

[Igordemorais 73]

Cant say this guy didnt chase his dream.....

[Orion 420]

Miyazawa (16) is 1.84 meters tall but barely met the weight criteria of 67. "I was 65 in the morning, but thanks to an anideshi who brought me some water, I passed the minimum," he said. Water? 2 kilos in a few hours??

Oldest trick in the book. You drink the water just before going in to get on the scales, hold it in, then get out and vomit it up as soon as you are clear. It's _just_ the weight of the water that counts. Reaching the height requirements was much more painful -- the recently-retired Oshima oyakata told the story (by no means unusual in his day) of getting a friend to hit him over the head with a plank and meeting the required level with the resultant lump (this was way before the days when they resorted to silicon implants, of course -- that's a whole different story).

Orion

[Yubinhaad 6,324]

Chiganoura-beya has a new recruit as well, 18-year-old 坪見快輝 (anyone?). He is 180cm and 125kg and from Chofu in Tokyo. He was a member of the sumo team at his high school, Adachi Shinden, which is apparently quite a strong sumo school.

[Asashosakari 8,618]

坪見快輝 (anyone?)

Yoshiteru Tsubomi? I blame WWWJDIC if that's completely off...

[Igordemorais 73]

thats a handsome chubby kid there, expect a fan club

[Yubinhaad 6,324]

坪見快輝 (anyone?)

Yoshiteru Tsubomi? I blame WWWJDIC if that's completely off...

Sounds good to me. I had no clue at all for the family name, and all I could come up with for the given name was Kaiki. Yoshiteru sounds better to me though. Cheers!

[athelitextreme 3]

2 kilos = 2 liters of water. He probably drank at least another liter to compensate for sweating/evaporation. Tough and unhealthy, but not impossible.

It'll be interesting watching him gain weight over time.

Reaching the height requirements was much more painful -- the recently-retired Oshima oyakata told the story (by no means unusual in his day) of getting a friend to hit him over the head with a plank and meeting the required level with the resultant lump (this was way before the days when they resorted to silicon implants, of course -- that's a whole different story).

Silicon implant? Really? I heard it happened but who actually did it?

Edited May 1, 2012 by athelitextreme

[Orion 420]

2 kilos = 2 liters of water. He probably drank at least another liter to compensate for sweating/evaporation. Tough and unhealthy, but not impossible.

It'll be interesting watching him gain wait over time.

Reaching the height requirements was much more painful -- the recently-retired Oshima oyakata told the story (by no means unusual in his day) of getting a friend to hit him over the head with a plank and meeting the required level with the resultant lump (this was way before the days when they resorted to silicon implants, of course -- that's a whole different story).

Silicon implant? Really? I heard it happened but who actually did it?

Mainoumi was the best-known. As soon as he'd qualified he had it removed, but complained of terrible pain.

Orion

[Sasanishiki 5]

18-year-old Ogata Toshihiro is the smaller of the duo at 173cm and 126kg, and he too has a background in school sumo with a third-place finish in a fifth-grade competition.

Not much of a qualification for heading into ozumo. Fifth grade would have been about 7 years ago for him. I wonder what has happened since? Hopefully he has some fundamentals from that experience.

[Mark.Buckton 68]

Chiganoura-beya has a new recruit as well, 18-year-old 坪見快輝 (anyone?). He is 180cm and 125kg and from Chofu in Tokyo. He was a member of the sumo team at his high school, Adachi Shinden, which is apparently quite a strong sumo school.

very good sumo school just down the road from me - dohyo out the back of the school with a roof. Lowest academic record in Tokyo some years go at the HS level but always good at sumo.

[Yubinhaad 6,324]

In addition to the new rikishi, there's a new gyoji and two new tokoyama this basho.

Shikimori Hajime is the new gyoji at Michinoku-beya, this seems to be him at the heya website:

The new tokoyama, if I'm reading the names right, are Tokoyu at Onomatsu-beya and Tokoazuma at Sadogatake-beya.

[Naganoyama 1,923]

NSK data:

SHIKONA	KANJI	NAME	HEYA	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	DOB	BIRTHPLACE
Hagiwara	萩原	Shota Hagiwara	Tomozuna	177	128	19 - June - 1996	Niigata
Hamaguchi	濱口	Koyo Hamaguchi	Kise	177	153	11 - July - 1989	Mie
Iwasaki	岩崎	Takuya Iwasaki	Kise	183	156	11 - June - 1989	Tokyo
Komatsu	小松	Kazuoki Komatsu	Kise	180	116	19 - August - 1996	Aichi
Matsumoto	松本	Yuta Matsumoto	Tamanoi	170	78	29 - November - 1996	Chiba
Miyazawa	宮澤	Takamasa Miyazawa	Minato	184	67	07 - May - 1995	Niigata
Narahara	楢原	Yuta Narahara	Sakaigawa	187	112	10 - February - 1992	Saitama
Ogata	尾方	Toshihiro Ogata	Tomozuna	173	128	26 - July - 1993	Kumamoto
Takahashi	高橋	Hiroshi Takahashi	Tomozuna	174	102	17 - December - 1991	Fukuoka
Tsubomi	坪見	Kaiki Tsubomi	Chiganoura	180	122	29 - September- 1993	Tokyo

[Asashosakari 8,618]

The Kyokai didn't deign us with sound during most of maezumo today, and in addition my recording crapped out at least twice, so chances are today's maezumo coverage will be somewhat spotty, if I can salvage something at all.

(Unless somebody else got luckier, of course.)

Edited May 7, 2012 by Asashosakari

[Yubinhaad 6,324]

The Kyokai didn't deign us with sound during most of maezumo today, and in addition my recording crapped out at least twice, so chances are today's maezumo coverage will be somewhat spotty, if I can salvage something at all.

(Unless somebody else got luckier, of course.)

What was the final outcome of this, Asashosakari? Did you manage to salvage anything of day 3? All I managed to record was the last bout.

[Asashosakari 8,618]

What was the final outcome of this, Asashosakari? Did you manage to salvage anything of day 3? All I managed to record was the last bout.

I missed the middle two bouts out of six. I'll post what I managed to get in a bit.

[Asashosakari 8,618]

Day 3...the start of bout 3 morphs into the end of bout 4, but I've kept it in so you can at least see the competitors.

Mz1

[Asashosakari 8,618]

Day 4:

Mz6

[Yubinhaad 6,324]

Many thanks for this!

Hamaobu won!! (Clapping wildly...)

Miyazawa put up a great fight, good to see.

[Asashosakari 8,618]

Day 5:

Mz4

Edited May 10, 2012 by Asashosakari

[Gusoyama 49]

2 kilos = 2 liters of water. He probably drank at least another liter to compensate for sweating/evaporation. Tough and unhealthy, but not impossible.

It'll be interesting watching him gain weight over time.

I doubt he'll be in sumo long enough. If he's in sumo come January, I'd be amazed.