Jūryō for Aki 2023

[Seiyashi 3,912]

As expected, five promotions.

Shin-jūryō:

Mukainakano -> Tenshōhō (Miyagino)
Ōnosato (Nishonoseki)
Takahashi (Nishonoseki)
Ishizaki -> Asakōryū (Takasago)

Sai-jūryō:

Tokihayate (Tokitsukaze)

Some notes:

• Miyagino seems to be adopting the tradition of bestowing a shikona only upon reaching sekitori. 
  • Also, holy shit. This is a big shikona, mythologically speaking. The characters for Tenshō are the same characters as that in Amaterasu, a major deity in Shintō, chiefly worshipped in the Ise Grand Shrine in Ise, Mie (Mukainakano's shusshin), and ancestress of the Imperial House of Japan itself. It's cool and all but a) I don't know if this is borderline blasphemous and b) I don't know if Tenshōhō is that good a wrestler not to disgrace the name.
    • That said, reacts to this in Japanese Twitter that I can see so far haven't reacted like this (some don't even recognise the connection), so maybe I'm overthinking it by virtue of being a weeb. Someone even said it imbues him with the strength of the deity to be a good representative of Mie, which I guess is also a good spin on things.
    • Also I guess if the NSK hasn't slapped Hakuhō down on this, they're cool with it too.
• Ishizaki must be considered in good regard in Takasago to receive the Asa-colour-ryū pattern shikona. The shikona also means Morning Red Dragon, which is fairly close to current Takasago's, ex-Asasekiryū's Morning Crimson Dragon.

(EDIT: Mods, I realise I may have plonked this in the wrong subforum since the last one was put by Kinta into the Ōzumo Discussions one. Should it be moved?)

Edited July 26 by Seiyashi

[Katooshu 2,774]

An exciting group of new promotees here - all look capable of being sekitori mainstays.

Incidentally, 3 are graduates of Nippon Sports Science University.

Edited July 26 by Katooshu

[Yamanashi 3,359]

2 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

The characters for Tenshō are the same characters as that in Amaterasu, a major deity in Shintō

Well, Google Translate agrees with you; it represents the new shikona as Amaterasuho (!)

[Hankegami 380]

4 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

• Also, holy shit. This is a big shikona, mythologically speaking. The characters for Tenshō are the same characters as that in Amaterasu, a major deity in Shintō, chiefly worshipped in the Ise Grand Shrine in Ise, Mie (Mukainakano's shusshin), and ancestress of the Imperial House of Japan itself. It's cool and all but a) I don't know if this is borderline blasphemous and b) I don't know if Tenshōhō is that good a wrestler not to disgrace the name.
  • That said, reacts to this in Japanese Twitter that I can see so far haven't reacted like this (some don't even recognise the connection), so maybe I'm overthinking it by virtue of being a weeb. Someone even said it imbues him with the strength of the deity to be a good representative of Mie, which I guess is also a good spin on things.
  • Also I guess if the NSK hasn't slapped Hakuhō down on this, they're cool with it too.

Perhaps that's because Mukainakano's new shikona can be translated something like "Peng of Amaterasu" or simply "Heavenly Peng" (天照 = "From the Sky" if my dictionary is correct), with the subject being the Peng and not Amaterasu herself. Anyway, Mukainakano was born in the Mie area, so he can well claim some protection from his home goddess. I also think that part of the trick involves a use of Chinese characters. "Amaterasu" is a Japanese name ("She Who Shines in the Sky") and the kanji do not reflect that to the moot (from Wikipedia, I'd love to be that versed in Japanese myself *sigh*). Although I understand that they are mostly associated with Amaterasu, 天照 for itself does not necessarily involve her directly - methinks - but can also refer to, well, anything coming from the sky. Like a Peng. Totally cool shikona anyway!

Also, no new shikona for Takahashi? I assumed that he was going to join the の里 -nosato family once hit sekitori. But I just read (Wikipedia again) that Kisenosato himself got his shikona upon entering Makuuchi and not Juryo. Can we assume that rikishi from Nihonoseki-beya obtain their shikona (aside from cases like Onosato, who needed a shikona ASAP) no earlier than when promoted to the top division?

EDIT: Back to Mukainakano, reading around I just realized that perhaps the Japanese simply don't have a concept of "blasphemy" anywhere akin to that of Abrahamic religions. Shonen manga in particular (Naruto being a typical example - I actually realized that much by reading people making jokes about Tenshoho and Naruto lore) heavily exploit traditional Japanese mythology including Amaterasu, Susanoo, Izanami, Izanagi, and so on, yet no mangaka ever had his home raided by the Imperial Household Agency. One can guess that Japanese Shinto gods are very glad to be named frequently and in any context - that makes good PR. 

Edited July 26 by Hankegami

[Seiyashi 3,912]

6 hours ago, Hankegami said:

Perhaps that's because Mukainakano's new shikona can be translated something like "Peng of Amaterasu" or simply "Heavenly Peng" (天照 = "From the Sky" if my dictionary is correct), with the subject being the Peng and not Amaterasu herself. Anyway, Mukainakano was born in the Mie area, so he can well claim some protection from his home goddess. I also think that part of the trick involves a use of Chinese characters. "Amaterasu" is a Japanese name ("She Who Shines in the Sky") and the kanji do not reflect that to the moot (from Wikipedia, I'd love to be that versed in Japanese myself *sigh*). Although I understand that they are mostly associated with Amaterasu, 天照 for itself does not necessarily involve her directly - methinks - but can also refer to, well, anything coming from the sky. Like a Peng. Totally cool shikona anyway!

Not sure about the contortions because I'm quite sure the shikona is a dead on reference to Amaterasu, who's mostly referred to by those kanji in popular culture (as opposed to her full/formal titles). It's a bit like saying just referring to "Zeus" or "Poseidon" without their epithets like "Zeus Olympios" or "Poseidon Enosigaios" is not referring to the deity.

That being said, the shikona should probably be taken a bit more in the spirit of Christians bearing names like Christopher or Mary, or Muslims bearing the name Muhammad - and that seems to be the way the Japanese fans are reacting to it too. Guess invoking the names of divinities in personal names is a lot less taboo than I thought.

EDIT: Yep, confirmed, Tenshōhō knows exactly what he's dealing with. Roughly, he's quoted as saying "It's cool. It's a god's name and I was a bit nervous about it, but I want to turn that around and do good sumo."

 

Edited July 26 by Seiyashi

[Chartorenji 205]

Takahashi's rise has been unexpectedly dominant, and he has made quick work of almost everyone so far. Ishizaki and Mukainakano have had their growing pains (and Onosato while great wasn't as dominant as some might have expected.) 

[Leoben 77]

I've never really follower MukainakanoTenshoho but I'll have to pay more attention now that I know he has such a cool name. Question about pronunciation, what would the cadence be, ten-sho-ho or ten-sho-ho?

Edited July 26 by Leoben

[Seiyashi 3,912]

Japanese doesn't run on stress but rather on whether a syllable "rises" or "falls". The video of Tenshōhō on NSK's Twitter (can't link to it atm, mobile) has him pronouncing it in a "rise rise fall" pattern. All three syllables are roughly equally stressed, just that the falling last syllable may make it sound unstressed to Western ears. 

EDIT: Hear, hear for yourself:

 

Edited July 26 by Seiyashi

[Tigerboy1966 1,220]

10 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

That being said, the shikona should probably be taken a bit more in the spirit of Christians bearing names like Christopher or Mary, or Muslims bearing the name Muhammad - and that seems to be the way the Japanese fans are reacting to it too. Guess invoking the names of divinities in personal names is a lot less taboo than I thought.

And of course there a lot of boys called "Jesus" in the Spanish-speaking world.

[Jakusotsu 5,294]

9 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

And of course there a lot of boys called "Jesus" in the Spanish-speaking world.

...and in a movie Jejima doesn't know yet.

[Bunbukuchagama 422]

8 minutes ago, Jakusotsu said:

...and in a movie Jejima doesn't know yet.

[Gurowake 3,730]

On 25/07/2023 at 22:56, Seiyashi said:

Also, holy shit. This is a big shikona, mythologically speaking. The characters for Tenshō are the same characters as that in Amaterasu, a major deity in Shintō, chiefly worshipped in the Ise Grand Shrine in Ise, Mie (Mukainakano's shusshin), and ancestress of the Imperial House of Japan itself. It's cool and all but a) I don't know if this is borderline blasphemous and b) I don't know if Tenshōhō is that good a wrestler not to disgrace the name.

• That said, reacts to this in Japanese Twitter that I can see so far haven't reacted like this (some don't even recognise the connection), so maybe I'm overthinking it by virtue of being a weeb. Someone even said it imbues him with the strength of the deity to be a good representative of Mie, which I guess is also a good spin on things.
• Also I guess if the NSK hasn't slapped Hakuhō down on this, they're cool with it too.

 

There's a video game called Okami by a Japanese developer that has you play as a wolf incarnation of Amaterasu, so I don't think taking this name is really that big of a deal.  (I played a little bit of it, but I didn't get far before determining I didn't want to play it anymore)

[Koorifuu 700]

Amaterasu is fairly common on the entertainment industry, I've not long ago worked in a product where its fictional depiction was prominent.

[sahaven111 163]

Loving the shikona Tenshoho, much better than Kiho or Hakuoho.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,151]

1 hour ago, sahaven111 said:

Loving the shikona Tenshoho, much better than Kiho or Hakuoho.

Really hoping for Houhohou in the future

Edited July 28 by Tsuchinoninjin

[dingo 888]

3 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Really hoping for Houhohou in the future

For the maximum effect they'll have to let the gyoji and yobidashi grow a proper beard first. Like this:

[Barutokai 54]

On 28/07/2023 at 04:23, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Really hoping for Houhohou in the future

So treasure fire Peng, 豊火鵬?

Edited July 30 by Barutokai
fire not flame

[rokudenashi 250]

1 hour ago, Barutokai said:

So treasure fire Peng, 豊火鵬?

方法鵬 - the Procedural Peng

[Barutokai 54]

3 hours ago, rokudenashi said:

方法鵬 - the Procedural Peng

Yeah that would be proper Houhouhou

[just_some_guy 218]

On 30/07/2023 at 10:06, rokudenashi said:

方法鵬 - the Procedural Peng

Isn't that the name of the latest Linux release?