Kakuryu to Retire

[Karasukurai 165]

5 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

I don't think there's any need to make him a "what might have been" case study.

Personally I do think he could have been better than 'average' but, I'm happy to concede the point to far more knowledgeable people.

The fact then that he is an 'average' yokozuna perhaps backs-up the main thrust of my original post that Kak was worthy of the title and that the criticism that has come his way, in posts elsewhere, is undeserved. To be a yokozuna at the same time as possibly the greatest that there has ever been, tempts like for like comparison and we all know Hak is not a 'normal' yokozuna. Mmmm, if Hak wasn't around surely Kak would have ... sorry I'm back at the 'what might have been' again!

Anyway, good luck Kakuryu!

[code_number3 694]

3 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

Kakuryu's demeanor just seems perfectly suited for a future "face of the company" role.

As Kakuryu is (or was) Rikishi-kai-cho

As his retirement, who will be next rikishi-kai-cho?

[Seiyashi 4,068]

1 minute ago, code_number3 said:

As Kakuryu is (or was) Rikishi-kai-cho

As his retirement, who will be next rikishi-kai-cho?

I'd bet Asanoyama.

[sumojoann 1,254]

3 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

At the risk of adding fuel to the fire, YMMV means "your mileage may vary": essentially meaning two people can have reasonable but differing interpretations of the same observation.

I'm equally lost at "rubes" though; it looks like a typo to me.

A "rube" is an unsophisticated person, even simpleminded.

[Kamitsuumi 384]

As the rikishikai kaicho is determined by seniority, I think it's going to be Takakeisho for being the longest serving current ozeki (as Hakuho has already resigned from the position in the past).

[hakutorizakura 581]

お疲れ様でした！！

When I started watching sumo I was quite ignorant about Yokozuna Kakuryu. Hakuho? A badass. Harumafuji? Exciting rikishi. Kakuryu? Who?? Yokozuna?? But then I grew fond of this calm and respectable guy, and started to appreciate his sumo. He earned the rope, no doubt, and may he has a bright future raising skillful and well-mannered rikishis as well. All the best, Kakuryu!!

[dada78641 884]

The NHK played a short retrospective during sumo coverage today, here's the video for anyone who wants to see it:

https://archive.org/details/NHKHaru2021KakuryuIntai

[Gospodin 185]

5 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

I'm equally lost at "rubes" though; it looks like a typo to me.

English malapropism of the German word "Rübe" (turnip).

In the first half of the the 20th century a common nickname for people originating from the countryside.

[orandashoho 720]

4 hours ago, dada78641 said:

The NHK played a short retrospective during sumo coverage today, here's the video for anyone who wants to see it:

https://archive.org/details/NHKHaru2021KakuryuIntai

That doesn't play for me for some reason.

[SumoKitten 22]

6 minutes ago, orandashoho said:

That doesn't play for me for some reason.

Same here. Could it be a localisation issue? Is a Japanese IP necessary?

[ryafuji 806]

Worked for me in the US. 

[yohcun 393]

Maybe the download options below the video could work if the playback isn't happening for you. Otherwise, here's a shorter version on twitter.

 

[Kishinoyama 582]

Well, I am sad to see him go but Kakuryu retired on his terms. I will miss him on the dohyo but I hope that he will have a good career as an Oyakata. 

The thing that disappoints me is some of the comments in this thread being made in an insulting manner toward Kakuryu. Just remember that one day your favorite rikishi will retire. I doubt that you would be happy if someone treated your 'favorite' the same way. If you don't have anything good to say then sometimes it is best not to say anything at all. 

[robnplunder 974]

14 hours ago, Karasukurai said:

Looking back, I think Kakuryu had an immense talent but his body wasn’t up to the rigours he demanded of it. Newcomers to sumo might think ill of Kakuryu but I urge you not to, he was a worthy Yokozuna.

People forget Kak had to compete with the GOAT, Haruma, Kise in the same era.  An yusho was hard to come by with those around.  Getting 6 was a great achievement.  

[dada78641 884]

2 hours ago, orandashoho said:

That doesn't play for me for some reason.

 

2 hours ago, SumoKitten said:

Same here. Could it be a localisation issue? Is a Japanese IP necessary?

Weird that it doesn't work. It should work and it doesn't have any geolock. The Internet Archive is specifically designed for free access for anyone (and since it's not Youtube stuff doesn't often get taken down from there, so it's perfect for stuff like this). So I'm not sure why it doesn't work. What browser are you using?

But like yohcun says, you can just download/open the video directly: https://archive.org/download/NHKHaru2021KakuryuIntai/大相撲 2021 春場所11日目 横綱 鶴竜が現役引退.mp4

[Jabbamaru 166]

Farewell yokozuna

 

[Godango 956]

23 hours ago, Houmanumi said:

Had to happen. He could have saved himself a lot of indignity by making this call earlier, but at least he saw the light and decided to retire before he was pushed.

Hopefully this buy Hakuho a recovery tournament or two (but I'm firmly in the camp of 'he only gets one more shot').

 

4 hours ago, Kishinoyama said:

Well, I am sad to see him go but Kakuryu retired on his terms. I will miss him on the dohyo but I hope that he will have a good career as an Oyakata. 

The thing that disappoints me is some of the comments in this thread being made in an insulting manner toward Kakuryu. Just remember that one day your favorite rikishi will retire. I doubt that you would be happy if someone treated your 'favorite' the same way. If you don't have anything good to say then sometimes it is best not to say anything at all. 

Forgive if my immediate reaction (quoted above) read as insulting, it's just my genuine take on where his career is at at this point. I'm sure others feel the same and it's nothing against him personally.

That said, it's clearly a sad thing to see any yokozuna retire, and there's no denying that Kakuryu was an admirable Yokozuna both on and off the dohyo. Six Yusho in the Hakuho-era? Amazing accomplishment. Never courted controversy, represented the rikishi well as rikishi-kai and seemed invaluable to other rikishi as a mentor, one only needs to look at the recent success of Shodai and Kiribayama. 

He'll be missed as a Yokozuna, but he's a huge gain as an Oyakata, and that's the role I'm looking forward to seeing him in in future.

Edited March 25, 2021 by Houmanumi

[Yamanashi 3,676]

20 hours ago, SumoKitten said:

Nah, Takayasu gonna start a winning basho streak. You watch him get the nod in November. 

Mods, on an unrelated matter: there's a rumor that Wakanohana has sneaked onto Sumo Forum under an assumed name.  Can you track that down?

[Seiyashi 4,068]

1 minute ago, Houmanumi said:

4 hours ago, Kishinoyama said:

Well, I am sad to see him go but Kakuryu retired on his terms. I will miss him on the dohyo but I hope that he will have a good career as an Oyakata. 

The thing that disappoints me is some of the comments in this thread being made in an insulting manner toward Kakuryu. Just remember that one day your favorite rikishi will retire. I doubt that you would be happy if someone treated your 'favorite' the same way. If you don't have anything good to say then sometimes it is best not to say anything at all. 

Forgive if my immediate reaction (quoted above) read as insulting, it's just my genuine take on where his career is at at this point. I'm sure others feel the same and it's nothing against him personally.

FWIW I think it's a fair and non-insulting assessment to agree that Kakuryu dragged the end of his career maybe a bit longer than he should have, but it doesn't affect the assessment of his career as being a good one. I suspect the comment deemed to be insulting was the ill-judged one preceding Kakuryu's retirement as a possible prank topic, since that was quite front and centre for any new visitors to the thread which would have left a bad taste in the mouth.

[Thorbjarn 214]

15 hours ago, Rocks said:

I am a little surprised he is staying on though. The other retired Mongolian Yokozuna seemed to be doing well back home and I always thought Kakuryu would do the same but maybe with Covid and the uncertain economy the guaranteed income looks a bit better right now. I would not be surprised to see him leave in a couple years though.

From all accounts I heard regarding Kakuryu, I think it seems as if he is not like the other Mongolian Yokozunae. 

He is not from a big Mongolian wrestling clan, he started late to go into Sumo, he seems calmer than the other three, his demeanor and his language skills were often highly praised. He may have been 4th place of Mongolian Top Rankers on the dohyo, but his career was outstanding.

I'm 100% certain he genuinely wanted to go out with a final, decent tournament. But alas, it was not to be. 

His attempts at gaining citizenship were low key compared to Hakuho's, but he also filed for it really early. There seems to be a real interest to continue in Sumo after the Rikishi path is behind him. Of course, this can change a few years down the line, but it doesn't seem as if money would be the driving force behind it. 

[Seiyashi 4,068]

After the makuuchi dohyo-iri, NHK is now airing a more comprehensive retrospective on Kakuryu's career, including his retirement press conference and highlights, with commentary from the on-duty oyakata today: Sakaigawa in the commentary booth and Tatsutagawa from mukojomen.

Footage from the victory parade from Haru '14, his first yusho: Homasho pulls a hilariously wooden face next to Kakuryu (that was left frozen on the screen for quite a while). The broadcast team interviewed him on that event (not sure if it was specially arranged for him to be mukojomen today for this purpose).

Izutsu (ex-Toyonoshima) was the one to present Kakuryu with flowers at the retirement press conference. A nice touch and the best they could do under the circumstances, I guess.

A list of injuries followed - shoulder, waist, back, leg. It's fairly impressive to see how Kakuryu has managed to recover from so many injuries and still score yusho in between.

Kakuryu's two back-to-back yusho portraits from March and May '18 were also focused on within the Kokugikan.

Edited March 25, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Asashosakari 18,657]

7 hours ago, dada78641 said:

 

Weird that it doesn't work. It should work and it doesn't have any geolock. The Internet Archive is specifically designed for free access for anyone (and since it's not Youtube stuff doesn't often get taken down from there, so it's perfect for stuff like this). So I'm not sure why it doesn't work. What browser are you using?

The error code given when I try the video on Chrome is 224003 which apparently means "Failed to play the associated resource because it is not supported by this browser. Equivalent to the HTML5 MEDIA_ERR_SRC_NOT_SUPPORTED mediaError.". It plays in Firefox, but I do need to click the start button twice, which I think means that FF errors on the first attempt as well and then falls back on a different video format (while Chrome fails with both).

[Ryoshishokunin 259]

19 hours ago, ryafuji said:

"Rube"? "YMMV"? I have no idea what you talking about.

Let me google that for you:

Definition of rube

1: an awkward unsophisticated person : RUSTIC
2: a naive or inexperienced person
______________
Rube is a 130-year-old english-language word.  It's unfortunate that you don't know it, but complaining at people for that makes me unhappy when it's the work of a moment to look up.  (Ditto YMMV, which has been in use for at least 30 years.)

[pricklypomegranate 730]

5 hours ago, John Gunning said:

Kakuryu as Horace Grant

Thank you John - you managed to translate my thoughts into words so elegantly. He might not be the most outstanding of yokozunas, but the one thing I'll remember about him was his deep appreciation and study of the sport, his technical sumo and above all his serenity. It is indeed a comfort to me that he remain in the sport to pass on his knowledge to the next generation. 

[hakutorizakura 581]

6 hours ago, John Gunning said:

Kakuryu as Horace Grant

Knowing that Kakuryu likes basketball I was hoping excitedly that you're pointing out that he's taking up acting as Grant in an upcoming film about 90's Bulls. Kakuryu with the goggles, imagine that 

But it's an excellent read, captured my sentiments very well. Thank you.