New NSK council with Sadaharu Oh

[Dapeng 231]

31 minutes ago, Oortael said:

I was thinking about the recent (?) 6-months period before a foreigner can officially enter a basho. Are guys like Kirameki and Ryuga really more acclimated to sumo that they can directly enter while Delgebayar or Baltagulov can't (rhetorical question) ? I feel that's the last straw, as we have :
- very few international practitioners willing or having the level to enter (but I'll gladly defer to our local experts on this)
- NSK not wanting to any of them (or at least not those raised outside of Japan)
- NSK not caring at all about international fans (I'm not implying they should)

I gonna admit also that when this committee talked about the internationalization of sumo, I wrongly thought it was about the expansion of sumo outside of Japan, as a way to raise NSK income after the pandemic. So, the actual recommendations are a rather big disappointment. But that's on me for having expectations that are clearly not aligned with the decision makers.

Apparently, they worried that sumo might be internationalized like judo. 

[Benevolance 2,379]

23 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

Apparently, they worried that sumo might be internationalized like judo. 

Canadian backyard pond hockey fisticuffs certainly went downhill after they were expanded internationally via the various hockey federations. Now it's "can't remove your elbow pads" and "can't throw the person underneath a rampaging moose" and it's lost a lot of its cultural significance. 

[Asashosakari 17,637]

9 hours ago, Oortael said:

I was thinking about the recent (?) 6-months period before a foreigner can officially enter a basho. Are guys like Kirameki and Ryuga really more acclimated to sumo that they can directly enter while Delgebayar or Baltagulov can't (rhetorical question) ?

My understanding is that a lot of foreign newcomers were going through such trial periods on an unofficial basis anyway, and weren't just getting thrown into the first maezumo session available by their shisho after they stepped off the plane. And don't Japanese rookies occasionally get to test the waters with "experience stays" as well before they become full-fledged stable members? 

I'm not a proponent of the one-size-fits-all approach they have instituted now, because there are clearly some foreign newcomers who won't need 6 months (or even any time at all) to get accustomed to heya life, but overall I just don't see this as a particular hardship or something that's going to contribute to discouraging any hopeful rikishi. There are plenty of other problematic aspects of sumo life that manage to do that already.

[sahaven111 163]

I don't know for sure, but maybe they're right, maybe the kyokai should stick entirely to tradition! And while we're at it we can put the poles back on the edges of the dohyo instead of having those very dangerous looking cables holding the tsuri-yane up... and do away with the whole "yokozuna" thing, and have 10 matches a tournament, two tournaments a year. Also, no more tori-naoshi! Draws are back!

What I'm saying is, while I understand the kyokai has no right or reason to even acknowledge my opinion, what my opinion is, is that a few changes have never hurt them.

[Yamanashi 3,359]

On 21/04/2021 at 13:35, Benevolance said:

Canadian backyard pond hockey fisticuffs certainly went downhill after they were expanded internationally via the various hockey federations. Now it's "can't remove your elbow pads" and "can't throw the person underneath a rampaging moose" and it's lost a lot of its cultural significance. 

I hadn't kept up with hockey for awhile, so I didn't know about the cave-in on the "under-the-moose" rule.  Crikes, why don't they just call it "ballet with sticks"?

[Halian 7]

The words necessary to express the true measure of my anger at the Ō Sadaharu committee and the NSK for coming to this close-minded, self-destructive, and actively racist conclusion are not repeatable in polite company. Nevermind the obvious conclusion that everything recommended is more or less the exact opposite of what should actually be done.

On 22/04/2021 at 00:58, sahaven111 said:

Also, no more tori-naoshi! Draws are back!

This but unironically

[neonbelly 226]

Tbh all the "inclusivity" and "modernization" type terms are just bywords for Americanization.

[Seiyashi 3,912]

The report has been translated into English and is available here:

https://sumo.or.jp/pdf/en/Expert_Panel_Recommendations_on_the_Preservation_and_Development_of_Ozumo.pdf

[Churaumi 707]

I would like to point out to those who so valiantly fought and died on this hill a while ago, this official translation of a Kyokai document uses the word "okamisan."

Debate settled.

[Yamanashi 3,359]

What a document.  If I'm reading correctly, they explain how the one-generation toshiyori system was a bizarre dead-end idea, and won't be used again (throat clearing).

Reading it reminds me of a Roman å Clef novel; when they mention episodes of certain people behaving poorly, you're left trying to figure out who it is.

Really, this is for the most part a description of what the NSK has been doing and why it's the only way to do things.

[Godango 835]

The official translation abbreviates 'Japan Sumo Association' as JASA instead of JSA? Someone tell me why. Genuinely, I assume there's a reason.

[Gurowake 3,730]

46 minutes ago, Godango said:

The official translation abbreviates 'Japan Sumo Association' as JASA instead of JSA? Someone tell me why. Genuinely, I assume there's a reason.

My guess is that they wanted something pronounceable - an actual Acronym in the strict sense, not just an initialism.  Japanese abbreviations are by kana or kanji and are thus always pronounceable in that way, but spelling out initialisms instead of pronouncing the "word" normally is a bit more foreign to them.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,151]

9 hours ago, Gurowake said:

My guess is that they wanted something pronounceable - an actual Acronym in the strict sense, not just an initialism.  Japanese abbreviations are by kana or kanji and are thus always pronounceable in that way, but spelling out initialisms instead of pronouncing the "word" normally is a bit more foreign to them.

I think its because the Japan Sport Association is JSA in the document and having them both JSA would be confusing.

As an aside, the JSA left the JSA not too long ago right? Maybe right after this document was submitted?

[Seiyashi 3,912]

With the juxtaposition against Araiso-oyakata shaking up sumo training in a relatively big way before his heya is even built (individual rooms for non-sekitori, two dohyos, etcetc), it's not difficult to wonder if the report is misaimed in its targeting of foreigners as requiring assimilation into Japanese culture. After all, if the naturalised Americans are anything to go by, foreign-born citizens and oyakata might even be holier than the Pope when it comes to abiding by Japanese cultural norms.

Adds a delicious touch of irony on top of the questionable, non-empirically-based reasoning in the report.

[Asashosakari 17,637]

5 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

I think its because the Japan Sport Association is JSA in the document and having them both JSA would be confusing.

As an aside, the JSA left the JSA not too long ago right? Maybe right after this document was submitted?

I agree that that's probably the reason for the odd choice of acronym, but you're conflating two different entities here. The Japan Professional Sports Association is an industry federation that the Kyokai withdrew from in March last year. The Japan Sports Agency mentioned in the report is the sub-department of the government in charge of overseeing the Kyokai's activities.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Asashosakari

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,151]

Ah, I proved the point there didn’t I