Sumo films

[Kintamayama 40,743]

18 hours ago, sumojoann said:

That man is Miyabiyama, the greatest fighter in Japan". 

Miyagiyama, who as Akinomaki pointed out, is Mainoumi. but who is he fighting? 

And if the film is in fact from 2005  Mainoumi retired in 1999, so they must have reshot it- and of course, the pillars.. so either the story takes place before the abolishing of the pillars or they went dramatic.

[Otokonoyama 2,735]

1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

Miyagiyama, who as Akinomaki pointed out, is Mainoumi. but who is he fighting? 

And if the film is in fact from 2005  Mainoumi retired in 1999, so they must have reshot it- and of course, the pillars.. so either the story takes place before the abolishing of the pillars or they went dramatic.

The story of the novel the movie was based on takes place before, during, and immediately after WWII. Since the pillars were not abolished until Aki 1952, the scene is consistent with the times, at least as regards that detail.

Perhaps this alternate clip will be more accessible to some:

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Otokonoyama

[Otokonoyama 2,735]

On the opposite end of the spectrum...

Austin Powers: Goldmember

[Akinomaki 34,925]

2 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Miyagiyama, who as Akinomaki pointed out, is Mainoumi. but who is he fighting? 

I checked the DVD cast listing: Dewaarashi

Edit: gyoji is the 30th Kimura Shonosuke

Edited August 30, 2019 by Akinomaki

[Kintamayama 40,743]

52 minutes ago, Otokonoyama said:

The story of the novel the movie was based on takes place before, during, and immediately after WWII. Since the pillars were not abolished until Aki 1952, the scene is consistent with the times, at least as regards that detail.

 

 

What I'm curious about is when they shot it-if it's 2005, Mainoumi was well retired. Did he grow the mage back for the film? Did they use an actual bout during his active days and superimpose the pillars? Did he wear a wig and shoot it 5 years after he retired?

[Akinomaki 34,925]

1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

What I'm curious about is when they shot it-if it's 2005, Mainoumi was well retired. Did he grow the mage back for the film? Did they use an actual bout during his active days and superimpose the pillars? Did he wear a wig and shoot it 5 years after he retired?

The usual wigs used in samurai movies as well - the 30th Shonosuke retired after Hatsu 2003, the film was shot in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_(film)#Production_2

Quote

 Production of the film took place from September 29, 2004 to January 31, 2005. It was decided by the producers that contemporary Japan looked much too modern to film a story which took place between the 1920s and 1940s and it would be more cost-effective to create sets for the film on soundstages and locations in the United States, primarily in California. The majority of the film was shot on a large set built on a ranch in Thousand Oaks, California[8] which was a detailed recreation of an early twentieth-century geisha district in Kyoto, Japan. Most interior scenes were filmed in Culver City, California at the Sony Pictures Studios lot. Other locations in California included San Francisco, Moss Beach, Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, Sacramento, Yamashiro's Restaurant in Hollywood, the Japanese Gardens at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, and Downtown Los Angeles at the Belasco Theater on Hill Street. Towards the end of production, some scenes were shot in Kyoto, Japan, including the Fushimi Inari Taisha the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto.

Btw, Dewaarashi plays a rikishi named 西鳳 (Saiho?) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAYURI#キャスト

Edited August 30, 2019 by Akinomaki

[Otokonoyama 2,735]

8 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

What I'm curious about is when they shot it-if it's 2005, Mainoumi was well retired. Did he grow the mage back for the film? Did they use an actual bout during his active days and superimpose the pillars? Did he wear a wig and shoot it 5 years after he retired?

You joke, but this is clearly Hollywood magic.

[sumojoann 1,116]

Here is a video of 2 English-speaking Finnish guys on another one of their "Madventures", this time in an episode from 2009 called "Nippon".  They go to a heya and attempt to train with the rikishi.  Humorous but silly.  One said that by wearing a mawashi he was hoping to kick some rikishi butt! lol  See 14:50 to 17:34 for the sumo segment.

 

[sumojoann 1,116]

The following is a video about a TV show host, Toure, who likes to try anything once.  This time it's sumo.  Even though he is only 170 lbs, he's eager to immerse himself in the world of sumo.  He meets up with 700-lb Emmanuel (Manny) Yarborough, who was the 1995 Amateur Sumo World Champion, who tells Toure that he will get him ready in 4 days so he can enter a sumo tournament!!  He is introduced to Yoshisada Yunezuka, who has an 8th degree black belt in judo.  He has his own dojo in New Jersey where he teaches Toure all about sumo.  Toure ultimately enters the sumo tournament & fights 4 bouts.  At first I thought this video was new because it was uploaded in April of this year.  However, I found out that Yarborough passed away in 2015 and Yunezuka passed away in 2014.  In further checking, the TV show "I'll Try Anything Once" came out in 2008.  I enjoyed it because Toure showed true interest in sumo and really applied himself and learned a lot about himself in the process.

 

[sumojoann 1,116]

I am puzzled because I could not find this Discovery Channel documentary in English.  This documentary was obviously originally made in English but it's been dubbed into Russian.  Does anyone know what happened to the original non-dubbed English language version?

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by sumojoann
Added words to clarify.

[sumojoann 1,116]

This is pretty dumb.   It has a pretty fake Japanese sumo wrestler who fights Curly Joe of the 3 Stooges.  The Japanese promoter gets excited about the idea of holding a World Sumo Championship in San Francisco.  There's only one bout and the ring is actually a boxing ring.  If you are a fan of the 3 Stooges, you might get a kick out of this.  The funniest line was when the bout wasn't going well, the Japanese promoter smacked his forehead and muttered, "Oy vay!"  The sumo segment runs from 1:00:24 until 1:11:45.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_0YVD0kpHU 

Youtube doesn't allow embedding of this video.  If the link doesn't work, do a search on Youtube for --- The 3 Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963).

[sumojoann 1,116]

Interesting!

 

[sumojoann 1,116]

 

[Tiger Tanaka 208]

Great content @sumojoann, really enjoyed watching the behind the scenes shooting of You Only Live Twice!

[sumojoann 1,116]

Tiger Tanaka, this is for you!!!!!  Fascinating documentary that goes into detail on the making of "You Only Live  Twice".  The sumo wrestling scenes are very brief but it's stated that the bouts were real, that the wrestlers wouldn't do them unless they were, and that they gathered 8,000 people together for the Sumo Grand Championship.  They also indicated that the audience sound was the actual soundtrack of the audience (watching the sumo bouts).  The sumo wrestling scenes start at 20:45 and end at 21:24.

 

[Sasanishiki 57]

On ‎30‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 09:01, sumojoann said:

It would be very interesting to know who the Yokozuna is in this documentary!!

 

Digging up an old question in this thread, (at 44:14) might the Yokozuna be Tamanishiki? It's hard to know when the footage was taken, but Know Your Enemy: Japan was made between 1942 and 1945, so they may have used footage from the 1930s. Indeed, the baseball footage that they use just before this is from the Babe Ruth-led tour in 1934. It would make sense if the sumo footage was from around the same time. Tamanishiki was Yokozuna from 1933 until 1938 and was a rotund figure, just like in the video. Some footage and pictures from other Yokozuna in the 1930s showed them as fairly tall and a little leaner, so that is why I tend towards Tamanishiki. I actually saw similarities with Terukuni, who was Yokozuna from 1943 but thought it highly unlikely that the US would have wartime footage of sumo to use as stock footage for their propaganda film - much more likely to have clips from the 1930s.

[sumojoann 1,116]

3 hours ago, Sasanishiki said:

Digging up an old question in this thread, (at 44:14) might the Yokozuna be Tamanishiki? It's hard to know when the footage was taken, but Know Your Enemy: Japan was made between 1942 and 1945, so they may have used footage from the 1930s. Indeed, the baseball footage that they use just before this is from the Babe Ruth-led tour in 1934. It would make sense if the sumo footage was from around the same time. Tamanishiki was Yokozuna from 1933 until 1938 and was a rotund figure, just like in the video. Some footage and pictures from other Yokozuna in the 1930s showed them as fairly tall and a little leaner, so that is why I tend towards Tamanishiki. I actually saw similarities with Terukuni, who was Yokozuna from 1943 but thought it highly unlikely that the US would have wartime footage of sumo to use as stock footage for their propaganda film - much more likely to have clips from the 1930s.

You may be right about the Yokozuna.  I really enjoyed your comments about this film!

[I am the Yokozuna 142]

8 hours ago, Sasanishiki said:

Digging up an old question in this thread, (at 44:14) might the Yokozuna be Tamanishiki?

It is him Different video of Tamanishiki perforing dohyoiri

[sumojoann 1,116]

Here is the trailer for a new film from an Indian (South Asian) production company.  It was filmed in 2019 in India and Japan.  (They are speaking rapid-fire Tamil, the dominant language of southern India).  I don't think the film has been released yet.  One of the stars in the film is a retired rikishi named Yoshinori Tashiro.  I researched him and he was indeed a pro.  His Shikona was Tooyama and he reached upper Makushita before retiring. 

The premise is hilarious.  A sumo wrestler washes up on a beach in southern India and is found and saved.  He seems to spend all of his time eating.  Ultimately, the Indians decide to take him back to Japan so he can return to the ring.  However, he is so out of shape that he has to work extra hard to regain his form.  An overhead shot of the Kokugikan leads to scenes of him climbing into the ring and defeating his opponent.  The "arena" scenes seem fake and the wrestling scenes look like composites, but it's still entertaining.  (When I first looked at the thumbnail picture, the rikishi looked like Kotoshogiku!!! lol)

 

[Chanko Thief 67]

I’m a huge Zatoichi fan so I was stoked when I came across this episode featuring a sumo wrestler. Enjoy:

 

[sumojoann 1,116]

I dredged up this weird video on Youtube,  Apparently, lots of people on social media thought it was real, that there were really giant sumo wrestlers roaming the earth wearing fundoshi and it was being kept secret.  Turns out it is a scene from an old movie called Big Man Japan (Dai Nipponjin) from 2007. 

 

[sumojoann 1,116]

Here is the Official Trailer for Big Man Japan, the strange 2007 movie from which the above scene was taken.  The giant sumo wrestler was one of the giants that saved the people of Japan from giant monsters.  An ordinary man from Tokyo was able to grow to 30 meters to fight off the giant monsters in this mockumentary.  Roger Ebert, the movie critic, gave it 3.5 stars out of 4. 

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by sumojoann

[Kaminariyuki 484]

On 29/08/2021 at 19:18, sumojoann said:

Here is the Official Trailer for Big Man Japan, the strange 2007 movie from which the above scene was taken.  The giant sumo wrestler was one of the giants that saved the people of Japan from giant monsters.  An ordinary man from Tokyo was able to grow to 30 meters to fight off the giant monsters in this mockumentary.  Roger Ebert, the movie critic, gave it 3.5 stars out of 4. 

I'm not certain which of these films would be more likely to develop a cult following, but I could see this one or the Indian film competing with the "Texas Chanisaw Massacre."

[Tigerboy1966 1,019]

On 28/05/2020 at 09:07, sumojoann said:

Here is the trailer for a new film from an Indian (South Asian) production company.  It was filmed in 2019 in India and Japan.  (They are speaking rapid-fire Tamil, the dominant language of southern India).  I don't think the film has been released yet.

Postponed owing to COVID...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo_(film)

[rhyen 1,584]

https://kinidia.com/videos/sumolah/?fbclid=IwAR3MT6jL-YtkQ6p8SjmtxOUE4EJ1e0iKorcp7ncPYnHlAcCmjYx-9HsKf3A
 

have fun watching a Malaysian production of amateur sumo