Heya Visit Rules/Etiquette

[Kasutera 258]

Hi everyone,

Often when pictures are posted of keiko sessions, mention will be made of rikishi visiting from other heya to participate, especially if it's upper-ranked sekitori. I was curious as to why these visits happen and if there was any kind of rule, written or unwritten, regarding how and why visits happen.

1) Will rikishi traveling far from their home heya ask to train at whatever heya they are closest to so they don't lose training time?

2) Is there a certain rank that a rikishi must be at to have the privilege to train at another heya?

3) On the other side of that token, is there an obligation after reaching a certain rank, say Ozeki or Yokozuna, that you will visit other heya to train for the enrichment of the younger rikishi/upholding the image of a champion rikishi taking on all comers?

4) Do rikishi only visit other heya in their same ichimon or are inter-ichimon visits permitted?

Sorry if any of these questions are easily google-able, but even with my Japanese skills, when I see a search page full of kanji, my eyes cross :-P

Thanks!

[Asashosakari 20,270]

I'll probably get some things wrong/incomplete, but I'll take a stab at it:

4) Do rikishi only visit other heya in their same ichimon or are inter-ichimon visits permitted?

I think "back in the day" when the ichimon structures were more firm, fewer (but more populous) stables existed, and nearly all of them were located in Sumida and the surrounding wards, practicing in affiliated stables was the done thing. Nowadays with several heya having moved to elsewhere in Tokyo or even to neighbouring prefectures, it's often more along geographical lines, i.e. degeiko will simply take place at other nearby stables, especially in the case of heya with only a few rikishi who need to go elsewhere frequently. In addition, I think some oyakata simply get along well on a personal level from back in their own active days and might prefer to have their deshi train together, even if they're not affiliated to the same ichimon.

2) Is there a certain rank that a rikishi must be at to have the privilege to train at another heya?

For rikishi ranked below juryo I'm pretty sure it's up to their oyakata whether and where they will go to practice, usually they'll go as a group either with the shisho or with another oyakata. Sekitori probably get successively more freedom to make their own choices, depending on rank and seniority - I don't think Hakuho is making more than a pro-forma request to his own shisho these days, if even that, and pretty much just goes where he fancies. In the end it's always up to the visited heya's shisho, though; back in Asashoryu's days, quite a few of them made it known that they didn't particularly care to have him visit anymore after it appeared (rightly or wrongly) that he was using degeiko sessions to rough up other high-ranked rikishi.

1) Will rikishi traveling far from their home heya ask to train at whatever heya they are closest to so they don't lose training time?

If by "far" you mean several hours away, then no - there are no heya located that far away from Tokyo.

3) On the other side of that token, is there an obligation after reaching a certain rank, say Ozeki or Yokozuna, that you will visit other heya to train for the enrichment of the younger rikishi/upholding the image of a champion rikishi taking on all comers?

Pretty much yes. How much each rikishi accepts that obligation is still up to him, of course, but especially for those who are planning to stay as oyakata after their active career, it's probably a good idea to do it in order to maintain a good relationship with their future peers. Edited March 6, 2015 by Asashosakari

[Kasutera 258]

Thank you very much, Asashosakari!