Heya A-Z with (partial) pictorial history

[Naganoyama 5,947]

I have a project which I call my "Heya A-Z" which sits on a back burner.

For anyone who has seen the annual rikishi directory, this will look a bit familiar. For anyone who hasn't seen it, it is a listing of the members of each heya according to rank. The heya themselves are listed in order of the seniority of the stable master. If you open the directory at a random page, you have to know whether the stable you are looking for has a more senior or less senior oyakata at the helm. Or, as long as you can read a bit of Japanese, you can go to the index at the back and search for the rikishi or staff member by name and find the page directly.

I thought it might be useful to produce a Romanised version of the directory in a simpler alphabetical order.

If you go to http://heyaaz.nagioff.com/ you can see the version I produced based on last year's directory. As it is easy once you have a database and a bit of software, I have produced multiple views of the same data. The links along the top represent the different views.

The heya view, with the heya listed alphabetically, is the default. Click on the heya of interest in the list at the left to go straight to its page.

The rikishi list has rikishi listed alphabetically within each of the divisions and across all divisions.

The other lists are oyakata, gyoji, yobidashi, tokoyama and "other staff" (wakaimonogashira and sewanin).

All rikishi (and staff members who used to be rikishi) have a direct link to the Sumo Reference database entry for the rikishi. You just click on the shikona at the top of the entry in the case of the rikishi, or in the case of an oyakata, wakaimonogashira or sewanin, click on the shikona where it says Former Yokozuna _Chiyonofuji_ for example.

[Most of the entries have pictures - the exceptions are rikishi who joined during the previous year but retired before the new directory was produced.]

In addition to upgrading to reflect the current yearbook, I have added a new feature, a partial pictorial history based on yearbooks back to 2006. If you click on the picture of a rikishi or other NSK member, it takes you to a compound image of that individual as he has appeared over the course of time.

A lot of guys haven't changed much over that period, but some of the histories, including those for the youngsters, can be quite interesting.

Some examples:

Masunoyama:

and his brother (tokoyama don't necessarily show up for pictures every year as you can see from the first three pictures being the same):

Chiyomaru:

Twin brothers who were already quite different to start with and who became more different as time went on:

Akinokawa:

Akinoyama:

Kimura Shonosuke - he was obviously unwell in 2009:

Asahiyama - he finally had his head implant removed in 2010:

Some of the tokoyama are good value with their changes in hairstyle.

Let me know what you think.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[kuroimori 1,634]

This is simply great!

thanks for posting this!

[krindel 675]

Awesome work, Naganoyama :)

Thanks a bunch for that!

[I am the Yokozuna 194]

Keep them coming.

[Asameshimae 220]

Fascinating. That has to take a lot of work. Thanks for putting in all the effort.

[Swami 245]

Looks fantastic! Well done indeed!

Swami

[Trand25 1]

Thank you for this great work.

Have you planned to make the update with this year rikishi directory?

[Naganoyama 5,947]

Yes. I have just started working on it. I will post here when it is available. Not sure quite when.

[Naganoyama 5,947]

There is a new version now available to reflect this year's rikishi directory. It is at the same location.

I'm planning to update the site gradually to include earlier years in the pictorial history strips. Thanks to a very kind member of this forum I now have the wherewithal to go back to 2000. There are some very, very cute pictures of some of the highest ranked rikishi on their way! Obviously this is going to be rather a long-term project!

[Naganoyama 5,947]

I have made a small update so that the history picture strips now go back an extra year to 2005. A single year doesn't affect most people very much, but the most marked effect is on rikishi who made their debut in 2004 and therefore appeared in their first year book in 2005. There are 40 rikishi in this category of whom eight are current or former sekitori.

The sekitori are:

A boyishly handsome Satoyama:

A very young looking Dewahayate:

One of my all-time favourites Homasho:

Dewaotori:

Oiwato:

Sagatsukasa:

Tamawashi:

Yoshikaze:

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Calf 2]

This is fantastic, amazingly detailed, thank you.

[Naganoyama 5,947]

The history picture strips now go back to 2004. As for the previous update, the rikishi most affected were those who made their yearbook debut in 2004. There were 32 rikishi in this category, 6 of them current or former sekitori.

Fujiazuma:

Kagamio:

Sadanofuji:

Sadanoumi:

Sakigake:

Sokokurai:

Two oyakata who made their debut as oyakata in 2003 were former Yokozuna Takanohana and Musashimaru. Their picture strips now neatly encapsulate their weight loss (or should I say fluctuations in the case of Musashimaru) since retiring from the ring.

Takanohana:

Musashigawa:

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Swami 245]

Excellent work!

Swami

[Naganoyama 5,947]

The history picture strips now go back to 2003. As for the previous update, the rikishi most affected were those who made their yearbook debut in 2003. There were 21 rikishi in this category, 9 of them current or former sekitori. 2002 was a good year for future ozeki.

Amuru:

Arawashi:

Kisenosato (his smile is almost as scary as Kitanoumi's):

Kitaharima:

Kotoshogiku (with a much more slender face than he has now!):

Nionoumi:

Takekaze (not as young as some of these debutants as he started at makushita tsukedashi):

Tokitenku:

Toyonoshima:

In addition to the two active ozeki, 2002 saw the debut of former ozeki Kotooshu, whose complete sumo history to date is available by clicking on his oyakata picture.

Next year's photo for him (the first post danpatsu-shiki picture) will provide an interesting comparison with his debut picture.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Shitamachi 21]

Wow. These are awesome. I've been wondering if other people on this forum use Anki (to study Japanese). Your page would make an excellent foundation for a deck of rikishi, picture, and heya for those who wanted to study them.

[Naganoyama 5,947]

Is there anything I could do to facilitate this?

[Naganoyama 5,947]

There is a new function now available. In addition to the existing views of rikishi divided according to division, they can now be viewed by birthplace (or rather shusshin). Choose either 'Rikishi by division' or 'Rikishi by shusshin' from the top of the front page.

[Naganoyama 5,947]

The history picture strips now go back to 2002. The rikishi most affected were those who made their yearbook debut in 2002 (sumo debut in 2001). There were 17 rikishi in this category, 6 of them current or former sekitori. 2001 was a good year for future Yokozuna, all three of the current incumbents starting on the road in that year.

The sekitori were:

Hakuho. In the first picture he is 16. Who could have guessed looking at him then what he would become?:

Harumafuji. He looks like he already has a trick or two up his sleeve:

Kakuryu. He already looks 100% composed and Buddha-like:

Sensho, a handsome 18-year-old:

Shotenro:

And finally a Japanese, Kaonishiki:

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Naganoyama 5,947]

I have added a new section to this site. It is accessed via the "Special categories" the link at the top right-hand side of the page.

At present it comprises three new views, none of them limited to the currently represented banzuke (November 2014):

- Europeans/Russians (All-time). This section has quite a few old favourites with access to all the picture strips.

Baruto:

Kokkai:

Roho:

Takanoyama:

Wakanoho:

- Makuuchi rikishi of the modern era

Kesho mawashi pictures of (nearly) all makuuchi-ans of this and the last century in reverse order of makuuchi debut. Pictures are in colour for this century and greyscale for the last. I couldn't decide whether to link to the history pictures or not, since they are currently only available for rikishi back to 2002. I haven't linked them at this stage, but might change this in the future. You can, however, click on the shikona to be taken to the rikishi entry at Sumo Reference.

- The Mongolians (All-time)

This is an imposing group with all but three of the original group having continued active beyond 2002 so most of them have a picture.

Asashoryu:

Kyokutenho's brother Fudoyama:

Kyokushuzan:

Oniarashi:

Shironoryu:

etc.

This section is expandable and I am open to suggestion on what could be added, subject to my having access to the data needed.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Naganoyama 5,947]

The special category section now has a new view to show all twins.(and probable twins) of recent times. I find twins fascinating and like to compare how they develop over time. The confirmed twins are alphabetically sorted on family name at the top of the page and the unconfirmed twins at the bottom of the page. Most of the unconfirmed twins are missing pictures,

The four active sets of twins, brothers Hisato, Kamiyama, Saito and Yoshizawa are of course already accessible via the existing heya and rikishi pages but this page makes an additional 14 pairs of twins/probable twins accessible.

e.g.Tamaseiryo

and Tamatoryo

e.g. Misugikuni

and Misugimori

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Naganoyama 5,947]

The history picture strips now go back to 2001. The rikishi most affected were those who made their yearbook debut in 2001 (sumo debut in 2000). There were 15 rikishi in this category, 3 of them current or former sekitori.

The sekitori were:

Asasekiryu. Despite surprisingly making it back to makuuchi for the Aki Basho, he is probably close to the end of the line.

Hitenryu:

Wakanoshima:

If the story about Orora coming to Japan and joining Sumo to get medical help for his weight problem is true, then this particular dream stayed alive only for a couple of years. Since then it has been pretty solid weight gain:

The year 2000 saw quite a large intake of Mongolians. In addition to Fudoyama and Oniarashi already posted in the lower part of this post, and of course Asasekiryu, the following Mongolians joined:

Hakuba:

Hoshihikari:

Hoshizakura:

Koryu:

Ryuo:

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Treblemaker 254]

Absolutely wonderful collection. Great work! Thanks for this, and looking forward to more.

[Naganoyama 5,947]

Three new updates:

1/- I have now completed the capture of the earliest book I have, the one for the year 2000. The sole (former) sekitori on the currently represented banzuke (November 2014) who made his debut in the 2000 yearbook was Kotomisen.

Another yearbook debut rikishi, in the Mongolian special category, was Asashoryu:

and in the twins special category, Kimuragawa:

and his unconfirmed twin Kimuraumi:

I ought now to be certain as to whether these two are twins, but I'm still wavering between a definite "yes they are" and an even more definite "erm...".

2/- I have added a Brothers special category which is divided into pairs of brothers at the top of the page and families with more than two brothers at the bottom. The page is a bit of a dog's breakfast of mugshot images and kesho-mawashi images in the attempt to include as many pictures as possible. In this case I have left out most of the pairings that I was uncertain of, but have included the following two:

Does anyone know whether Yoshimura is really the brother of his late former stable master Tagonoura (former maegashira Kushimaumi Keita)?

Does anyone know whether Masuraumi is the brother of Tomoegawa?

3/- There is now a short help section. I imagine none of you will need any such help, but it is intended for not so clued-up visitors to the site from search engines.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Naganoyama

[Naganoyama 5,947]

I meant to make a request for anyone with yearbooks earlier than 2000 to contact me. I have tried to get hold of the 1999 book but have only found a rather useless pocket guide.

As before I would be happy to buy or borrow the books or accept access to reasonable quality scans of the relevant pages. Of course I would pay for postage in both directions in the case of borrowing.

[Yubinhaad 11,761]

Does anyone know whether Yoshimura is really the brother of his late former stable master Tagonoura (former maegashira Kushimaumi Keita)?

The current Yoshimura's older brother was this Yoshimura, who sadly passed away far too young in 2004. I don't know about any family connection to their late shisho, though.

Meanwhile, I guess you won't have a mugshot of the younger brother yet, but the second rikishi/tokoyama pairing is Tochinobori and Tokotakumi:

Tokohama prepares Tochinobori's hair for an oichomage. In the light blue shirt is the new recruit, Tokotakumi, who joined Kasugano-beya at the start of June. Like Tokosen he is also the younger brother of a rikishi - Tochinobori, in fact.