Number of Heya Applications at record low :(

[Igordemorais 75]

Remove weight classes? Don`t do that. That's one of the fascinating things in the sport. How it's an open field of competition.

As for foreigners, they can simply increase the limite to 2 per heya. There is NO shortage of guys out there looking for the opportunity.

Finally, they should work on rebranding the sport.

[Igordemorais 75]

http://articles.econ...ndian-wrestlers

For some reason, I'm offended by this article.

Why do people keep repeating the 20000 calorie a day lie. Do some fucking math, read a science book for fuck`s sake, this amount is not possible.

[勝 Katsu 20]

http://articles.econ...ndian-wrestlers

For some reason, I'm offended by this article.

Why do people keep repeating the 20000 calorie a day lie. Do some fucking math, read a science book for fuck`s sake, this amount is not possible.

Oh, you know Western media...they love to report things that will shock their "civilized" audience...Jhapan is one place that gets the shyte end of that stick quite often..."look at what those crazy Jhapaneez are doing now"

intended reaction "OMG! Well...I never...!"

[Bugman 384]

How about if they rip up the seating and replace it with more comfortable couches and mini-tables where food and drink can be served to you by robots-on rails at knee-height so no-one loses their view of the action?

Sumo challenge!...where a member of the crowd is randomly picked by a spotlight to wrestle one of the Yokozuna (they better have a stretcher or two handy for that one,) Giant TV screens on the wall? Enclosed-glass smoking area? It will end up looking like a giant cloudy cube by the end of the day but it would keep smokers happy, spitoons? Allowing carefully monitored gambling on the premises? Trained monkeys on roller-skates zipping around the dohyo with the advert banners?

Well that's it, i'm all out of ideas.

[Igordemorais 75]

Shit if there was gambling in sumo I'd be screwed

[Andreas21 184]

Ban? Most? Not sure where to even start correcting that statement...

Restricting the number of foreign-born Rikishi to one in every Heya is not a ban? Currently, there is no chance for a foreigner to enter unless a foreigner retires (or some Oyataka changes his mind ... ). This is what I would call a ban!

The ban became effective in 2004 or so when every Heya willing to take foreigners had been filled. Before that, about 70 came, after that, roughly 20 (depending on what date is assumed).

In the last years, very very few foreigners came - one or two a year? In some years the top foreigners will be retired. and Japanese will be at the top.

Have you not noticed that practically every spot that becomes available is taken up by a new foreign recruit in less than 12 months?

Yes, but the foreigners entering Ozumo are relatively old now. They competed successfully in Amateur Sumo (like Osunaarashi) but that is not comparable to Ozumo. Asashoryu, Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kakuryu came very young. This is a much better scenario to really climb to the top. It is a huge advantage for the new Japanese Rikishi to be able to enter Ozumo, training in a Heya, if they want to, where the foreigner may have to wait several years.

This is just my humble prediction: if Hakuho retires, there will be a Japanese Yokozuna (if the rules stay the same). I doubt that this will be beneficial for Ozuma as an institution.

[勝 Katsu 20]

How about if they rip up the seating and replace it with more comfortable couches and mini-tables where food and drink can be served to you by robots-on rails at knee-height so no-one loses their view of the action?

Sumo challenge!...where a member of the crowd is randomly picked by a spotlight to wrestle one of the Yokozuna (they better have a stretcher or two handy for that one,) Giant TV screens on the wall? Enclosed-glass smoking area? It will end up looking like a giant cloudy cube by the end of the day but it would keep smokers happy, spitoons? Allowing carefully monitored gambling on the premises? Trained monkeys on roller-skates zipping around the dohyo with the advert banners?

Well that's it, i'm all out of ideas.

hmmmmm...crack a joke or be utterly humorless about the animal rights issues involved???

Ok...joke:

The monkeys should wear little mawashis.

All the robots should all look like R2D2

The challengers shouldn't be random, it should always be someone in the guhvurnmint.

[Asashosakari 19,113]

Yes, but the foreigners entering Ozumo are relatively old now. They competed successfully in Amateur Sumo (like Osunaarashi) but that is not comparable to Ozumo. Asashoryu, Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kakuryu came very young. This is a much better scenario to really climb to the top. It is a huge advantage for the new Japanese Rikishi to be able to enter Ozumo, training in a Heya, if they want to, where the foreigner may have to wait several years.

The majority of the upcoming Japanese stars turned pro at older ages, too. That's just the way things are going, and with the increased emphasis on at least 12 years of education it's unlikely to change. Assuming the hypothesis that joining very young is better (I'm not convinced, at least below a floor of 18 years of age), you've just outlined why the restrictions are going to be relaxed only a little bit, at best - they're surely not going to welcome a flood of 15-year-old foreign deshi who are already going to be better than 15-year-old Japanese deshi (due to the much larger population pool to choose from), if those 15-year-old foreign deshi then also have a higher upside than 18-year-old Japanese deshi.

BTW, Asashoryu was 18 when he joined up, not exactly very young. And he did do amateur sumo while at Meitoku - he's more similar to Kotooshu and Baruto in background, not Hakuho/Harumafuji/Kakuryu.

This is just my humble prediction: if Hakuho retires, there will be a Japanese Yokozuna (if the rules stay the same). I doubt that this will be beneficial for Ozuma as an institution.

Not beneficial compared to what alternative scenario?

Edited November 9, 2012 by Asashosakari

[Akinomaki 40,231]

Minezaki-oyakata wants to invite baseball hopefuls (who don't pass) at the try-out (or fail later) to enter ozumo.
The idea came from the heya juryo rank gyoji Kimura Kenjiro , the baseball side cooperates.

Baseball player Katsuo Haji from Kintetsu turned into juryo Saganoumi (1972 Nagoya and 1975 Osaka)

Edited October 23, 2013 by Akinomaki

[krindel 671]

Minesaki-oyakata wants to invite baseball hopefuls (who don't pass) at the try-out (or fail later) to enter ozumo.

Not a big baseball fan, myself, but my impression would be that the principal athletic characteristics involved in baseball (such as running speed, hand eye coordination, throwing accuracy) are different from the ones required for sumo (such as powerful build, explosiveness, balance). That should mean that the pool of prospective candidates is different, but then again, since you are talking about baseball failures, you might end up with a strong kid who couldn't cut it in baseball and might be actually good in sumo.

In any case, I am afraid the oyakata are starting to become a bit desperate in their search for new blood to join the ranks. And, to be honest, this kind of "call for tryouts" is giving me the feeling that the "new blood" they are currently missing is not only the kind that ends up a sekitori, but more so the kind that does not have too high aspirations and is happy to live for years in the heya, essentially as servants...

[Andreas21 184]

The majority of the upcoming Japanese stars turned pro at older ages, too. That's just the way things are going, and with the increased emphasis on at least 12 years of education it's unlikely to change.

That does not compare. Japanese pupils can learn and practive Sumo at school/college with good Sumo teachers, most foreign pupils have not this chance. Except maybe in Mongolia, but traditional Mongolian fighting is not exactly Sumo.

they're surely not going to welcome a flood of 15-year-old foreign deshi

That is, Mongolian, isn't it? Sure, there is a financial hurdle, which may be raised in the future. But that is not the same as the strict rule "one per Heya".

due to the much larger population pool to choose from

I'm not convinced about this argument. For most of the world's population, Sumo is not a real option. What remains is Mongolia, Hawaii, Goergia, Ossetia, population in Japan is much larger. The rest are special cases (Orora is a natural phenomenon, Kotooshu became to heavy for Greco-Roman, and so on).

Not beneficial compared to what alternative scenario?

Compared to a scenario of a Japanese Yokozuna who got there despite the lack of nationality-based restrictions.

[Otokonoyama 2,735]

Further to Akinomaki's post:

Sumo tries to recruit baseball dropouts

A sumo stable handed out leaflets at a baseball recruitment ground on Friday, hoping to lure players to a sport that is struggling to attract new blood.

Tokyo’s Minezaki sumo stable was targeting a baseball stadium where players who had been dumped by the country’s 12 professional clubs had gathered to look for a new job.

Only one youngster applied for a sumo apprenticeship ahead of the season-closing tournament, which opens on Sunday, leaving this year’s annual total of potential new recruits at a record low of 56.

“Why don’t you chase a dream by making use of your high physical ability,” reads the handbill. “Grand sumo is a pro sport in which you can succeed without experience.”

“Every stable has the same recruiting problem,” Minezaki stable master Nobutake Minezaki, told AFP. “I have no idea how many will turn to us.”

Officials from Nippon Professional Baseball, who are in charge of helping players find a second career at the end of their days in the diamond, distributed a total of 100 flyers at Friday’s tryout in Sendai, and plan to distribute another 100 in Kamagaya near Tokyo on Nov 21.

“I don’t think any of the players will come to us immediately,” said Minezaki stable official Kenjiro Kimura, who worked out the recruitment strategy targeting those who fell short of baseball’s top ranks.

“At least, we just want them to know there is an option of joining our stable as sumo wrestlers when they choose a post-baseball career,” he told AFP.

Kimura said there was one case in which a former baseball player made the grade in sumo: Kazuo Haji retired at the top rank of sumo’s second division in 1975 after switching from a two-year career in minor-league baseball in 1965.

The Minezaki stable has recruited three apprentices this year. A former cleaner at Tokyo’s Hilton Hotel in January and two 15-year-olds in March.

Kimura, a registered sumo referee, cited what he called a “negative spiral” in sumo recruitment—a plunge in childbirths in Japan, a broadening choice of sporting careers including baseball and football, and scandals involving sumo.

The sport is currently dominated by foreign-born wrestlers, with its top rank of yokozuna occupied by two Mongolians.

Sumo’s popularity has declined in recent years amid a spate of scandals involving sumo stars such as match-fixing, use of marijuana and illegal betting by the wrestlers on professional baseball games.

In 2007 a 17-year-old apprentice died as a result of hazing by seniors at their sumo stable, discouraging young boys from seeking careers in the sport.

In a bid to lure youngsters, the Japan Sumo Association loosened its physical standards for new recruits last May—to 167 centimeters and 67 kilograms from 173cm and 75kg—with the under-23 age limit intact.

But it didn’t stop the slide in recruitment and the annual total hit the lowest since the association instituted six regular 15-day tournaments a year.

The previous low was 60 last year and compared with the most recent high of 223 in 1992 when two brothers, Wakanohana and Takanohana, reigned supreme. The all-time high was 250 in 1963.

“It is a pity to see the limited number of applicants because sumo is a national sport,” 17-year-old Fumiyasu Sato, the only applicant for the November tournament, told Japanese media.

“I guess the number will grow again if they prevent the problems from recurring.”

Sato was expected to be formally approved by the association as a new recruit on Sunday.

http://www.japantoda...seball-dropouts

Edited November 10, 2012 by Otokonoyama

[Jakusotsu 5,894]

Sumo tries to recruit baseball dropouts

Kazooks. And here I thought they were trying to bring back Kotomitsuki...

[sumofan 6]

Oh, you know Western media...they love to report things that will shock their "civilized" audience...Jhapan is one place that gets the shyte end of that stick quite often..."look at what those crazy Jhapaneez are doing now"

intended reaction "OMG! Well...I never...!"

In all fairness, Japan does have a rather deserved reputation in that area.

[Afrozuna 8]

Allow gambling in Sumo? It would attract all sorts of dodgy type Yakuza characters. Not to mention rikishi deliberately throwing their bouts just to cash in especially when they have their 8 wins already.

In all fairness, Japan does have a rather deserved reputation in that area.

Care to elaborate, I dont think anyone here in Africa sees Japanese people as the crazy people you describe. In fact all the Japanese I went to high school and varsity with were very intellectually gifted people with humble deportment and gentle disposition. But you might be exposed to something else in your country.

While I'm not thrilled with the idea of spotlights, I feel the Kyokugikan(sp) venue does lend itself too some strategic manipulation of the lights. Such gimmicks are currently being done at the World Tour Finals in London (Tennis). They have smoke coming out when the athletes enter the court. They have multicoloured displays showing "Ace" all around the venue if a player serves an ace. Some people like it I'm sure but to me it just feels way over the top.

What I would like to see is a ban on henkas, they really suck the energy out of the excitement created by the pre-match rituals

[Afrozuna 8]

Are there rules banning fans from rhythmic clapping in unison or singing at the venue? Because that's one way to get fans sucked in on the action, and it comes across very nicely on the TV. The other gimmick used in tennis very frequently these days and has been VERY effective is to have the camera occasionally zoom in on seated fans who are obviously thrilled to see themselves on the big screen. Now people go to the tournaments because they know there is a chance of being on the big screen and hence a chance of being shown on Live TV. The camera can also zoom in on celebrities attending the basho lending a coolness factor to the TV spectators as well. Can you imagine how much excitement, cheers (maybe even some boos) we would have if the camera zoomed in on Asashoryu big smiling face during a basho.

[勝 Katsu 20]

Are there rules banning fans from rhythmic clapping in unison or singing at the venue?

Don't know if there are rules, but I noticed the crowd at this Basho doing that and some major 'hoots' for some of the top rikishi yesterday.

[勝 Katsu 20]

Oh, you know Western media...they love to report things that will shock their "civilized" audience...Jhapan is one place that gets the shyte end of that stick quite often..."look at what those crazy Jhapaneez are doing now"

intended reaction "OMG! Well...I never...!"

In all fairness, Japan does have a rather deserved reputation in that area.

I like to think that it's not the Jhapuneez that are wild, it's the rest of the world that is (of their own making) suppressed and frustrated. ;)

[sumofan 6]

Care to elaborate, I dont think anyone here in Africa sees Japanese people as the crazy people you describe. In fact all the Japanese I went to high school and varsity with were very intellectually gifted people with humble deportment and gentle disposition. But you might be exposed to something else in your country.

I like to think that it's not the Jhapuneez that are wild, it's the rest of the world that is (of their own making) suppressed and frustrated. ;)

I am definitely not looking down on Japan or Japanese people. If I were, I would not be learning Japanese, or learning traditional Japanese jujutsu. Different countries have different peculiarities. And the Japanese people I've interacted with were friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable in their own areas of expertise. It's just that whenever I see something that looks unworldly weird, it often turns out to be from Japan.

Like this doritos bag

Or this perfume with the scent of freshly washed young boys anus

And for the kids:

Moderator Notice

Per request, further wierdness moved to the wierd thread.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Manekineko

[Kintamayama 44,857]

Are there rules banning fans from rhythmic clapping in unison or singing at the venue?

No, and it happens. KaioU used to get those rhythmic chants at the end of his career, and there were a few instances when a big group of supporters (usually of a local boy) started a chant. It always sounds strange and out of place at a sumo venue, but it definitely happens. It happened on day 1, I don't remember who they were cheering..

Edited November 14, 2012 by Kintamayama

[Jakusotsu 5,894]

It happened on day 1, I don't remember who they were cheering..

Kotoshogiku, of course, now that Kaio's gone.

[Kintamayama 44,857]

It happened on day 1, I don't remember who they were cheering..

Kotoshogiku, of course, now that Kaio's gone.

RIGHT!!! Also, he's kadoban and all..Problem is, it's not easy chanting a 5 syllable name-the standard in chanting rhythm is three, so they shortened it to "Sho-gi-ku, sho-gi-ku".

No?

Edited November 14, 2012 by Kintamayama

[勝 Katsu 20]

Had an idea this morning. The Kyokai could...if it so chose...grab all the footage from the last few decades or so and put out for a sort of "Sumo History Chanel" Then, people (like us) could watch Sumo whenever we wanted...well...you guys could and the Jhpapahneez could...t.v. here is all "Red Drama" all the time...oi!

[Benevolance 2,484]

Shohozan got a lot of chants this tournament after he tore through the ozeki. It's the first time I've ever heard chanting and cheering like that at a sumo venue.

My wife and I were talking about that a bit afterwards. You'll get a few people or a group calling out and cheering on a wrestler before his match. But it's otherwise pretty quiet. I think the problem with getting a chant going is that not everyone in the audience likes or follows every wrestler. It's not like a baseball game where the audience is there for one team or the other and both teams are involved for the whole event. Even just watching makuuchi, there are 18 fights in a day? That's 36 wrestlers to follow and not everyone is loved equally.

[Asojima 2,873]

Shohozan got a lot of chants this tournament after he tore through the ozeki. It's the first time I've ever heard chanting and cheering like that at a sumo venue.

My wife and I were talking about that a bit afterwards. You'll get a few people or a group calling out and cheering on a wrestler before his match. But it's otherwise pretty quiet. I think the problem with getting a chant going is that not everyone in the audience likes or follows every wrestler. It's not like a baseball game where the audience is there for one team or the other and both teams are involved for the whole event. Even just watching makuuchi, there are 18 fights in a day? That's 36 wrestlers to follow and not everyone is loved equally.

The Fukuokans love to cheer/chant for the local boys. Kaio and Kotoshogiku are/were the prime recipients. Shohozan is another Fukuoka native that is now getting the treatment.