Kintamayama

Shikihide beya troubles

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24 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

And Futahaguro's harite at the touchy eye.

I've always wondered how factual that was, but the result was and is crystal clear.

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19 minutes ago, Otokonoyama said:

I've always wondered how factual that was, but the result was and is crystal clear.

I don't think it was more than a shove, but that seemed  to be more than enough..

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The Compliance Committee met today to get to the bottom of this, and warned the Oyakata and his wife that their guidance was lacking. The boys have returned to the heya in the meantime. There are others in the heya that didn't run away who have complaints as well and will be questioned soon . The rikishi went to the Kkan around noon to tell their side of the story. They were still wearing their street clothes, quite uncommon at the Kkan quarters. It seems they ran out of the heya and had no time to wear the traditional garb. A bit later, the Oyakata and Okamisan arrived for questioning as well. Kagamiyama Oyakata told them what the rikishi had to say and warned both of them of "excessive leadership." Upon everyone returning to the heya, the Oyakata said to the rikishi "From now on, I will be showing correct leadership!" No punishment decided yet for the Oyakata and the problem is far from being solved yet.

Edited by Kintamayama
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"We love sumo and don’t want to retire," was the gist of what the runaways had to say. "We will see to it that the environment at the heya will be such as to allow you to concentrate on your training.  If there are any more problems, please contact us!" was the Kyokai's response.

Edited by Kintamayama
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I imagine that there will be a pretty strange atmosphere there for awhile with all the guys who returned.

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14 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

The rikishi went to the Kkan around noon to tell their side of the story. They were still wearing their street clothes, quite uncommon at the Kkan quarters. It seems they ran out of the heya and had no time to wear the traditional garb.

2 of the Shihide-beya rikishi on the way to the kokugikan o - can we guess who?202008050000786-w1300_0.jpg

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Shibatayama PR man: "There was no physical violence involved. The heya rules are being questioned by the rikishi. It's an internal heya problem. I'm sure they will sort it out."

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I know this might look too much like common sense to be considered in sumo, but here goes... When an oyakata is temporarily unable to run his heya because of health problems then a coach from the same ichimon should be assigned to come over and take the reins. It would ensure that the wrestlers are trained by someone who knows the ropes (or bales) and would provide excellent experience for a man who hopes to run his own stable one day. Kasugano currently has six coaches and one consultant coach; I'm sure they could have spared one...

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6 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I know this might look too much like common sense to be considered in sumo, but here goes... When an oyakata is temporarily unable to run his heya because of health problems then a coach from the same ichimon should be assigned to come over and take the reins. It would ensure that the wrestlers are trained by someone who knows the ropes (or bales) and would provide excellent experience for a man who hopes to run his own stable one day. Kasugano currently has six coaches and one consultant coach; I'm sure they could have spared one...

I think nobody else would want to coach these special bunch of rikishi -  as soon as the oyakata gives up, the heya will dissolve, I guess at most a third of the members will remain in sumo then

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1 hour ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I know this might look too much like common sense to be considered in sumo, but here goes... When an oyakata is temporarily unable to run his heya because of health problems then a coach from the same ichimon should be assigned to come over and take the reins. It would ensure that the wrestlers are trained by someone who knows the ropes (or bales) and would provide excellent experience for a man who hopes to run his own stable one day. Kasugano currently has six coaches and one consultant coach; I'm sure they could have spared one...

We don't do common sense in sumo.

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3 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I know this might look too much like common sense to be considered in sumo, but here goes... When an oyakata is temporarily unable to run his heya because of health problems then a coach from the same ichimon should be assigned to come over and take the reins. It would ensure that the wrestlers are trained by someone who knows the ropes (or bales) and would provide excellent experience for a man who hopes to run his own stable one day. Kasugano currently has six coaches and one consultant coach; I'm sure they could have spared one...

Generally a good idea.

But with Shikihide, it's difficult. The stable is located in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki prefecture and thus is pretty far away from most of the heya in the Tokyo area. You would easily commute more than three hours each day. I assume, the majority of the oyakata have their apartments/houses near the heya to which they are attached and live there with their respective families.

Since being a shisho is a full time job more or less, you must either

a) move into Shikihide stable / find a second apartment closeby (which means living away from your family) or

b) spend a good portion of time in trains and trams

And now you have to find an oyakata who wants to do that. :-) (+ teaching this special group like Akinomaki has already pointed out).

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We don't know the details of Shikihide's illness either. Six months sounds pretty serious to me, but maybe they never expected him to be incapacitated this long from the outset.

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On 07/08/2020 at 19:46, Akinomaki said:

I think nobody else would want to coach these special bunch of rikishi -  as soon as the oyakata gives up, the heya will dissolve, I guess at most a third of the members will remain in sumo then

I was sort of imagining TAFKA Tochiozan kicking in the heya door and doing a Gunnery Sergeant Hartman routine: "Do you think I'm cute Private Hattorizakura? Do you think I'm funny?"

They would then run back into the arms of the okamisan and all would be as well as it will ever be at Shikihide beya. See also the Red Dwarf episode "Queeg".

Edited by Tigerboy1966
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5 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I was sort of imagining TAFKA Tochiozan kicking in the heya door and doing a Gunnery Sergeant Hartman routine: "Do you thing I'm cute Private Hattorizakura? Do you think I'm funny?"

They would then run back into the arms of the okamisan and all would be as well as it will ever be at Shikihide beya. See also the Red Dwarf episode "Queeg".

I always saw Tochiozan as more like this gunnery sergeant

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The Okamisan used to ration the *rice, and make chanko from old rice, which tasted foul, and that was one of the reasons for the mutiny. Three other worried Oyakata did swing around in January to see what was happening there, so it was no secret I guess. Since the Oyakata fell ill at the beginning of the year, there was not much keiko going on at the heya. Since the Okamisan was appointed as an "acting Oyakata", things started to go downhill. The situation was problematic as there is a lock-down and everyone is on edge anyway..  She started sending endless long posts on the heya chat group. Then she decided to ban the wearing of socks at the heya in April "for health reasons". It became so that the lads were asking family members to send them socks.   She forced all of them to wear socks. Why? Because a famous actor Junichi Ishida  who was also famous for not wearing socks with shoes came down with the virus, and she immediately told everyone to wear socks at all times.. As the rikishi don't have socks, they asked their families to send them some. Also for 'health reasons", the use of the shower and the keiko-ba was by sign-up. During the July basho, only one rikishi was allowed on the keikoba per day. It seems no malice was intended by the Okamisan  -she just seemed to have gone too far with her leadership, which weighed heavy on the rikishis' mental state.  Still, she was the power and the authority, and even her way of making rice irked the boys. The fresh rice donated by the heya support group was used by  the Okamisan for herself and for visiting acquaintances. The rikishi were fed extremely old rice from up to four years ago. "It was so foul it was inedible," said some rikishi. The Oyakata, being ill and entrusting his wife with the shopping and cooking, had no idea what was going on.  In January, some oyakata voiced their worries, after not being able to reach the Oyakata on his mobile. They only received return calls from his wife. Three Oyakatas who felt something was wrong, went to visit the heya at the end of January. "There was a rumour that he was not well. When we met him at the heya, he said he had blood pressure problems and that everything would be fine, " said one of the visiting Oyakata.

The rikishi have been filing into the KKan to tell the "compliance committee"  their stories yesterday and today. At present, the Oyakata seems to be recovering and has announced his return, but the investigation will continue. The rikishi would like to return to an environment where they can concentrate on sumo again.

.* Rice is an important part of the rikishi's diet. "Eating rice is also a job!" say the Kyokai people. About 18 litres of rice (10升, correct me if I'm wrong since I have no idea..)  are consumed a day on average at a heya with a lot of rikishi. Heyas are usually fully stocked with rice, sometimes visible in large sacks at the entrance. Some heya even have special refrigerators for rice only. There is no use-by deadline, and although the retention period varies, for tasty rice it is 1-2 months. 

Edited by Kintamayama
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1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

Then she decided to ban the wearing of socks at the heya in April "for health reasons". It became so that the lads were asking family members to send them socks.

I would love to know what her reasoning was for the sock ban.

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I recently during the lockdown partially cleaned out my cupboard of some stuff that had been there for a long time, particularly of interest in this case were some pasta side dish kits (Knorr and Pasta Roni).  Despite being around for at least as long as that rice, there wasn't anything wrong with them.  But that's pasta, not rice.  I did have one thing of Rice-a-roni that was fine too, but it was long grain and wild rice, so not the usual white rice that they would be eating.  Of course, I might just not be a connoisseur of dried starch products; obviously, I left these sitting around for years after I stopped eating them regularly.  Perhaps someone that eats them all the time can tell the good from the bad better.

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I’m less concerned by rice going off than with the tiny little ants that find their way into it, regardless of where it’s stored. Less of an issue these days as we get through it quickly but in the past many a meal was ruined by the discovery of these ants burrowing inside. 

Edited by Eikokurai

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Well, I only have a long-distance relationship with Japan, but I know of knock-down tussles between different provinces about who grows the best rice (most Americans don't even know there's short grain rice), so if they say they can tell bad rice from good rice, I'll take their word for it.  Oh, and their word for dinner is "rice", so there's that, too.

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I got the sock thing all wrong. It's even more bizarre. She forced all of them to wear socks. Why? Because a famous actor Junichi Ishida  who was also famous for not wearing socks with shoes came down with the virus, and she immediately told everyone to wear socks at all times.. As the rikishi don't have socks, they asked their families to send them some. Now it makes sense.. Sorry about that..

Edited by Kintamayama
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