Tokitenku intai

[inhashi 2,363]

NSK has announced that Tokitenku has retired.   He has Japanese citizenship and his ownership for Magaki kabu was approved.  Last year he was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma and has had treatment since then.  Let's hope for his complete recovery and return.  A press conference is scheduled for next week as early as Monday the 29th.

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/1700531.html

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160826-00050031-yom-spo

Edited August 26, 2016 by inhashi

[rhyen 1,541]

Thanks for the wonderful trip.

[Senkoho 552]

I ketagurically wish you a long oyakata career, Tokitenku-zeki!

[Kishinoyama 480]

I am sad that he is retiring but he has much more important things to deal with. 

[Atenzan 1,074]

I hope he gets a nice birthday kake after his retirement party. 

[Naganoyama 5,284]

Very sorry. I always enjoyed his Sumo, which was so different from the mainstream, and his brilliant facial expressions. I hope he is enjoying better health.

[WAKATAKE 2,338]

I commend his fighting spirit for wanting to come back, sometimes though it's just too much. Hopefully he gets to be a good oyakata now. Thanks for the exciting matches Tenku!

[inhashi 2,363]

It was so relieving to see Tokitenku and smiling at that.  The official retirement announcement was at the heya.  Now Magaki oyakata:  "With prolonged treatment it was difficult to return to physical strength and continue sumo.  The only thoughts were to accept [the illness]."

http://this.kiji.is/142934722094940165?c=110564226228225532

@azechiazechi

Edited August 29, 2016 by inhashi

[Naganoyama 5,284]

I want to give you 2 likes for those pictures.

[Ryoshishokunin 208]

I guess there will be no hair-cutting ceremony.  A small price to pay, compared to the rest of the fight against cancer..

[Akinomaki 34,218]

pics from the papers - partly overview

with Tokitsukaze-oyakata

o o

and those from the articles of the intai announcement

o ooo o   o o o

Edited August 30, 2016 by Akinomaki

[orandashoho 718]

There should be an alternative ritual for the hariless and the almost-hairless... shame to go without any kind of personal ceremony at all.

[Akinomaki 34,218]

the nicest so far, from the morning papers

I replaced the better similar ones in the post above

Edited August 30, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Fukurou 534]

Something kind of amusing about the banzuke list on the NSK website. If you select the Find Rikishi option you get a long multi-page list of all rikishi in rank order. Tokitenku is not on that list. On that same page (Find Rikishi) you can also enter a rikishi's name and do a search. If you enter Tokitenku (or variations thereof), the result says there is no such rikishi. But if you click on Banzuke Information in the menu and then September banzuke, and then click on the Sandanme Division, there he is - Sandanme 87 East.

He had to be on the banzuke somewhere because his retirement was too late. But it looks like the NSK's attempt to scrub him from the electronic version (if that's what this is) was not quite as thorough as they may have thought.

[Kuroyama 715]

Do we know what kind of lymphoma this is exactly? Hodgkin lymphoma is very curable; non-Hodgkin slightly less so.

[hamcornheinz 839]

1 hour ago, Kuroyama said:

Do we know what kind of lymphoma this is exactly? Hodgkin lymphoma is very curable; non-Hodgkin slightly less so.

Larry David approves.

[Kuroyama 715]

4 hours ago, hamcornheinz said:

Larry David approves.

I haven't the faintest idea of what that's supposed to mean. The question was prompted by the fact that a co-worker of mine went through treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma last year, so knowing would give me a clearer idea of what Tokitenku's course of treatment is like.

[Akinomaki 34,218]

Tokitenku had at first expected a treatment of half a year, but it took longer. Since his hair was likely to fall out, he had a danpatsu ceremony with relatives before starting the fight against the malignant lymphoma, to have a proper cut-off mage as the symbol of 14 years of sumo, but he also thinks about having a proper danpatsu-shiki after his hair has grown back.

He went to a gym during the process of repeated radiation therapy and after an effective anticancer drug had been found, with the intention to return to the dohyo. After half a year he would quickly get back into shape, so he thought, but the treatment took a year. Now he has lost much of his strength and found it hard to try a comeback.

His best memory is the sandanme yusho-ketteisen he won against heya-mate Toyonoshima in Hatsu 2003: "To him I didn't want to lose." He hopes that at least Toyonoshima can come back from the ruptured Achilles tendon and won't follow him to intai soon.

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/sumo/20160829-OHT1T50156.html

Jiji posted some old Tokitenku pics to the database

Edited September 1, 2016 by Akinomaki

[shumitto 415]

11 hours ago, Kuroyama said:

Do we know what kind of lymphoma this is exactly? Hodgkin lymphoma is very curable; non-Hodgkin slightly less so.

I've ran a quick search and unfortunately the only thing I've found is "悪性リンパ腫", which means 'malignant lymphoma'. No source has added any further details.

[inhashi 2,363]

The entire press conference was uploaded onto YT today

 

[Akinomaki 34,218]

2 hours ago, inhashi said:

The entire press conference was uploaded onto YT today

What surprised me most was that he was composed the whole time he spoke about his career, intai and the illness, and only in the end when his talk with Toyonoshima came up, with his still ongoing fight against injury and intai, Tokitenku was moved to tears.

[Fukurou 534]

On 9/1/2016 at 08:37, Akinomaki said:

he had a danpatsu ceremony with relatives before starting the fight against the malignant lymphoma, to have a proper cut-off mage as the symbol of 14 years of sumo, but he also thinks about having a proper danpatsu-shiki after his hair has grown back.

Then here's hoping he's able to grow his hair long enough (7 or 8 inches?) to get some semblance of a proper mage, and then be allowed to have that proper danpatsu-shiki on his terms.  I wonder if he'd be allowed to have an oichomage, considering he retired from the Sandanme ranks.

[krindel 671]

All the best to him in his fight, and hope he manages to have a long and successful oyakata career.

[Gurowake 3,434]

On 8/30/2016 at 18:20, Fukurou said:

Something kind of amusing about the banzuke list on the NSK website. If you select the Find Rikishi option you get a long multi-page list of all rikishi in rank order. Tokitenku is not on that list. On that same page (Find Rikishi) you can also enter a rikishi's name and do a search. If you enter Tokitenku (or variations thereof), the result says there is no such rikishi. But if you click on Banzuke Information in the menu and then September banzuke, and then click on the Sandanme Division, there he is - Sandanme 87 East.

He had to be on the banzuke somewhere because his retirement was too late. But it looks like the NSK's attempt to scrub him from the electronic version (if that's what this is) was not quite as thorough as they may have thought.

Check out the Tokitsukaze-beya page.  He's listed as a coach there.  Yes, he's on the banzuke as a rikishi, but currently he's an oyakata, so there is no such rikishi.

[inhashi 2,363]

Just posted by Urakaze oyakata, Tokitenku is already on the job today coaching with moto Tosayutaka at the heya.

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by inhashi