Yubinhaad

Women mount dohyo during emergency at jungyo

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Dramatic scenes in Maizuru today as 67-year-old Mayor Ryozo Tatami collapsed on the dohyo while delivering his opening address. Luckily a female doctor was in the audience and performed cardiac massage on the mayor, who was later transported to hospital. A city spokesman said the mayor is conscious and able to talk, so that's good news.

EDIT: I'm gonna wipe my other paragraph for now, another article states that fire department staff were standing by with a defibrillator (AED), so the announcement was made to clear the dohyo so that the mayor could receive further treatment backstage. So maybe the announcement wasn't directed at the lady doctor after all.

Edited by Yubinhaad
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24 minutes ago, Yubinhaad said:

Dramatic scenes in Maizuru today as 67-year-old Mayor Ryozo Tatami collapsed on the dohyo while delivering his opening address. Luckily a female doctor was in the audience and performed cardiac massage on the mayor, who was later transported to hospital. A city spokesman said the mayor is conscious and able to talk, so that's good news.

EDIT: I'm gonna wipe my other paragraph for now, another article states that fire department staff were standing by with a defibrillator (AED), so the announcement was made to clear the dohyo so that the mayor could receive further treatment backstage. So maybe the announcement wasn't directed at the lady doctor after all.

Well, you probably could have left that paragraph - a lady doctor mounted the dohyo and massaged the Mayor's heart but after a few minutes was told to get off via a public announcement-three times to be precise- after some fans pointed out that women are not allowed on the dohyo. After coming under fire for this, the Kyokai hastily responded by explaining that it was a young gyoji who hastily made the announcement and that they were sorry. The fire department thing sounds like another crock to me too.. Another explanation being circulated is that the Kyokai people thought she was just a woman fan and did not know she was a doctor. The Mayor is talking and is not in danger.

Edited by Kintamayama
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2 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

Well, you probably could have left that paragraph - a lady doctor mounted the dohyo to try to help but after a few minutes was told to get off via a public announcement-three times to be precise- after some fans pointed out that women are not allowed on the dohyo. After coming under fire for this, the Kyokai hastily responded by explaining that it was a young gyoji who hastily made the announcement and that they were sorry. The fire department thing sounds like another crock to me too..


Thanks for that! Having read the other article again it seems the fire department line was from the local organising committee when they were asked what was going on, not the Kyokai.

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21 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

(...) after some fans pointed out that women are not allowed on the dohyo.

At the risk of being flippant, I now wonder what would require the more thorough repurification of a dohyo, a woman coming in contact with it or the body of a dead person... :-S

Edited by Asashosakari
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16 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

At the risk of being flippant, I now wonder what would require the more thorough repurification of a dohyo, a woman coming in contact with it or the body of a dead person... :-S

A partial rebuild and a rededication, I think... and a ton of salt.

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Hakkaku rijicho has apologized for the "get off the dohyo" affair and said it was inappropriate. "Today during the jungyo at Maizuru, the Mayor collapsed while giving a speech. I am praying for his health from the bottom of my heart. I am deeply thankful to the woman who came running to his rescue. While the emergency procedures were ongoing, a gyoji announced that the woman should leave the dohyo immediately a few times. The gyoji was upset so he made the announcement  but as a life was at stake that was a very inappropriate thing to do. I apologize deeply" he said.

Edited by Kintamayama
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1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

Hakkaku rijicho has apologized for the "get off the dohyo" affair and said it was inappropriate. "Today during the jungyo at Maizuru, the Mayor collapsed while giving a speech. I am praying for his health from the bottom of my heart. I am deeply thankful to the woman who came running to his rescue. While the emergency procedures were ongoing, a gyoji announced that the woman should l,eave the dohyo immediately a few times. The gyoji was upset so he made the announcement  but as a life was at stake that was a very inappropriate thing to do. I apologize deeply" he said.

Compassion wins out over tradition. Who would have thought it?

Edited by sekitori
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1 hour ago, sekitori said:

Compassion wins out over tradition. Who would have thought it?

I don't think their were a lot of other options available in this case. ;-)

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9 hours ago, Akinomaki said:
12 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Well, you probably could have left that paragraph - a lady doctor mounted the dohyo and massaged the Mayor's heart but after a few minutes was told to get off via a public announcement-three times to be precise- after some fans pointed out that women are not allowed on the dohyo.

I don't believe their explanations, really. They just seem too farfetched. It's 3:29 AM here (why do I keep doing this to myself...) so I'm not gonna go search Twitter to see what "the people" think, but I'd be surprised if the average person is too happy about this.

I wonder, if Japan ever were to get a female prime minister, if she would be permitted to give out the Emperor's Cup after some astounding zensho yuusho. If that hypothetical were to come true, I'd love to hear the kyokai's excuse for why a lowly prime minister is not worthy to mount the dohyo.

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There are thousands of comments in the above-posted video. Most of the people commenting approve the women jumping on the dohyo in attempt to save a life. And not just that - people are bashing the Sumo Association, others are ashamed of calling sumo a national sport. There are people commenting that sumo audience will keep decreasing. Others are putting the question how sacred the dohyo is being a man-made. Questions like "What if you were the man in need and the only doctor there is a woman?" can be found frequently. Opinions like this form the huge majority in the comments.  
I think this will have VERY negative impact on sumo, possibly leading to another scandal and calls for changes in sumo. 

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55 minutes ago, Chankomafuji said:

I think this will have VERY negative impact on sumo, possibly leading to another scandal and calls for changes in sumo. 

The more Ozumo changes, the more it stays the same!

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That was an epic f***-up on the part of the PA announcer. I mean sure, sumo is rooted deep in rituals and religious beliefs but come on. With all due respect to the strict code of conduct of sumo, when a life is a stake couldn't he prioritize things and suspend for a moment this ridiculous rule and focus on what needs to be done. Oh man... Face palms all around.

Just when you think sumo scandals can't get any worse, it's like somebody in the sumo circles are like "Here... hold my beer."

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3 hours ago, Chankomafuji said:

I think this will have VERY negative impact on sumo, possibly leading to another scandal and calls for changes in sumo. 

I highly doubt that. If the former Osaka mayor  (female) was not allowed near the dohyo for years to hand out the Osaka Cup and they let it slide, this is peanuts.

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29 minutes ago, yutarotanaka said:

That was an epic f***-up on the part of the PA announcer. I mean sure, sumo is rooted deep in rituals and religious beliefs but come on. With all due respect to the strict code of conduct of sumo, when a life is a stake couldn't he prioritize things and suspend for a moment this ridiculous rule and focus on what needs to be done. Oh man... Face palms all around.

Just when you think sumo scandals can't get any worse, it's like somebody in the sumo circles are like "Here... hold my beer."

Hakkaku apologized very quickly, throwing some gyoji under the bus. I don't see this going anywhere, except maybe a gyoji suspension.

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It’s got me wondering ... has sumo ever had a streaker and which would the Kyokai least prefer – a male streaker or a clothed woman running across the dohyo?

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I guess we're resetting the "Days without any major sumo scandals" back to zero. Again. Rough past few months for sumo. Hope this is the last one for the foreseeable future.

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Kasugano Oyakata head of Jungyos has apologized as well. "We were taken by surprise by the circumstances. I couldn't hear the announcer," he said. The speech was being given as the shinpan were getting ready to enter the arena and Kasugano himself was in the toilet when it happened. "I'm in sumo for over thirty years and I never saw a civilian collapse inside the dohyo, needing emergency care. The gyoji is young and he needs to fix his ways. It seems the fact that he saw women on the dohyo clouded his judgement. His announcement was inappropriate, as it was a matter of life and death. I'm happy the worst case scenario did not happen. The executives will discuss this and decide how to tackle these kind of problems in the future. This can happen during a hon basho as well so we will regard this as a lesson and be ready for this kind of occurrence in the future" added the Oyakata. 

Edited by Kintamayama
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30 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

It’s got me wondering ... has sumo ever had a streaker and which would the Kyokai least prefer – a male streaker or a clothed woman running across the dohyo?

A male streaker is more or less what we have on a daily basis, no? Except maybe nobody is running.

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5 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

 Kasugano himself was in the toilet when it happened. 

Aside from the fact this might be more information than I want to know, isn't he, as Jungyo head, meant to be ring-side listening to the mayor at this point in the day?

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I don’t see the big deal, the kyōkai seems to have emergency measures in place already (a man took off where the woman left) so the announcer was just saying to let the staff do what they’re paid for instead of having the audience mess with it.

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14 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

A male streaker is more or less what we have on a daily basis, no? Except maybe nobody is running.

Haha. True. Plenty of boobies on display too I suppose, especially when Aoiyama and Kagayaki face off.

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