USA National Sumo Championships

[Gaijingai 1,176]

https://kutv.com/news/eye-on-utah/sumo-wrestling-nation-championship-in-salt-lake-this-weekend
with video

[Kaminariyuki 484]

On 21/04/2022 at 08:36, Gaijingai said:

https://kutv.com/news/eye-on-utah/sumo-wrestling-nation-championship-in-salt-lake-this-weekend
with video

Dude, thanks for the heads-up (through Joann who noted your post)! I live in SLC and would have missed this for certain if you had not posted it. 

Arigato gozaimasu! 

[Gaijingai 1,176]

7 hours ago, Kaminariyuki said:

Dude, thanks for the heads-up (through Joann who noted your post)! I live in SLC and would have missed this for certain if you had not posted it. 

Arigato gozaimasu! 

Don't touch my moustache.

[Gaijingai 1,176]

Video report

 

[Kaminariyuki 484]

 

[Kaminariyuki 484]

So, above are about a dozen of the matches I recorded. Several American women sumo matches later in the playlist. All of this is on my Youtube channel. Check out the Myagino beya channel, if you haven't seen it before. Also a fun video of Ichinojo on there at a promotional event a few years ago, which got suite a few views. 

There was no program available for the US National Championships, so I cannot identify wrestlers. Some are in the announcements but not many. My phone did not have much charge left. It died while I was calling a Lyft to get home! There were some good matches, many of which I did not record, of course. And, I don't think there were any weight divisions, at least on the women's matches, maybe the men, as well.

Either way, it was a fun day of sumo, for which must again thank Joann and Gaijingiai. Rest assured, sir, I would not touch your mustache.

[Gaijingai 1,176]

So glad you had a good time! Looks like you had a good seat! I’ll check out your sumo channels. 

[Inside Sport Japan 638]

17 hours ago, Kaminariyuki said:

I don't think there were any weight divisions, at least on the women's matches, maybe the men, as well.

There were weight divisions but there was also an 'open-weight' competition that like ozumo has no limits.

In the World Championships you can't enter more than one weight class so those in the open-weight competition mostly tend to be heavyweights.

In the US Nationals, and other smaller tournaments around the world, open-weight tournaments also contain athletes that earlier fought in lightweight, middleweight etc.

The reason is two-fold.

(1) They don't have large numbers of competitors and would struggle to fill two heavy weight style competitions. 

(2) With wrestlers traveling long distances and paying their own way it prevents one-and-done kind of situations by giving them a second bite at the cherry so to speak and also helps ensure people don't just lose interest and leave early in the day. 

[Kaminariyuki 484]

7 hours ago, Gaijingai said:

So glad you had a good time! Looks like you had a good seat! I’ll check out your sumo channels. 

I was probably standing where I wasn't supposed to be, outside of a partition but others were doing it and it was a much better view than the seating area.

 

[Kaminariyuki 484]

There were a few wrestlers that I wondered if they might compete well in Japan (not talking about makuuchi here). Does anyone know if any former Japanese rikishi have competed in the foreign competitions, like the World Games? For example, rikishi who were banned from competition, or possibly those who left from the mid-ranks because they saw they weren't likely to be hitting sekitori levels? Or, foreign born NSK rikishi who left?

Does Wakaichiro compete in such events? He could have been at the tournament this past weekend, and I did not recognize him. 

[Asashosakari 16,696]

As a foreign-born ex-pro rikishi doing amasumo there was Byamba (ex-Daishochi), of course, and for a while his compatriot ex-Maenoyu was also active in amateur competitions, with them usually travelling together. (That was before Byamba became an entertainment personality in the US.)

[Inside Sport Japan 638]

6 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

As a foreign-born ex-pro rikishi doing amasumo there was Byamba (ex-Daishochi), of course, and for a while his compatriot ex-Maenoyu was also active in amateur competitions, with them usually travelling together. (That was before Byamba became an entertainment personality in the US.)

Ex-Wakanoho did a few events as well. Minaminoshima and Hoshikari likewise have strapped on mawashi in Australia. Former ozeki Baruto even competed in (and won) a tournament in Estonia a couple of years back.

A few years ago the IFS codified what had previously been just the custom of former sekitori not competing in amateur tournaments so the latter two men won't be seen at the World Championships or World Games at any stage. Those who have reached makushita or lower are still eligible to compete as far as we know.

In the case of private tournaments like the US Open or exhibition events such as 'Sumo & Sushi' you'll still see former makunouchi men competing (performing).