Oshoma Accused of Harassment

[Bunbukuchagama 688]

Oshoma is accused of harassment by former Naruto-beya rikishi. Allegedly, he tried to re-injure Anzai's arm.

「飛び降りて死にたいくらい」元力士が琴欧洲・鳴戸部屋のパワハラを告発　「兄弟子にけがした腕を折られそうに」（全文） | デイリー新潮 (dailyshincho.jp)

 

[Yarimotsu 522]

Was just about to post this, probably as an archive link because at this stage it seems like a tabloid trying to stir up controversy rather than a serious piece of reporting.

What (from my reading) we do get as facts from the article are:

 

Anzai (21) retired because he felt Oshoma was mistreating him in training by targeting his elbow post-surgery. He thought Naruto was averting his eyes when it 'became obvious' that things were going too far in practice. After this, he ran away from the stable at night. When he talked with the oyakata, Naruto said "It's always been this way" (mukashi kara sou iu koto datta), and Anzai was scolded for running away. He decided to retire following that conversation. 

 

Someone related to Naruto-beya is providing information to support Anzai's claim and suggests two more rikishi have pretty much decided to retire. Also said Oshoma is calling do-beya rikishi 'Omae' and doesn't see them as friends.

-----

Whether targeting someone's injuries in training is completely off-limits or expected behaviour to help them develop countermeasures, I'm sure a range of opinions exist. I don't see any accusation that injuries were actually caused by Oshoma. Ultimately if you're too injured to fight effectively or you have an obvious and unmitigated weakness, you're not going to make a career in sumo regardless. As for calling people Omae, I've been told in the past that it's rude unless you're close friends at which point it becomes affectionate - could be a misunderstanding, could be a cultural problem, I wouldn't want to call it either way.

 

As for Naruto's alleged comments, I could see myself making the same. Perhaps signs of a cultural issue that rikishi don't feel supported? But again, nothing conclusive.

[Akinomaki 39,790]

If rikishi are allowed to complain about power harassment (the tabloid wording), it's the end of sumo.

However this is a Japanese rikishi complaining about a foreign sekitori and a foreign born oyakata, so just the right thing for a tabloid story.

[Asashosakari 18,786]

Considering Naruto rikishi have been demonstrating an uncanny ability to get injured over the last several years, maybe people shouldn't be so quick to assume that Anzai is just whining about practice matters that are business as usual for sumo or that Shincho is just out to gotcha a bunch of foreigners.

[Kaitetsu 277]

I hear you, but why would Oshoma be out to injure his own stablemates, hampering his own training partners and therefore his training? 
And why would Naruto let it happen? Simply because Oshoma is a sekitori? He never came across as the kind of guy to really enjoy that style of training…?

[junsan 170]

He should switch to saying Omae-san

[Benevolance 2,478]

Naruto is former Kotooshu, right? He was constantly getting injured in matches. I seem to recall tiny balls of fury like Toyonoshima would dislocate his shoulder on a regular basis, and he'd always bounce back next tournament no trouble. Maybe to him injuries simply are business as usual?

[Yamanashi 3,725]

Well, this at least answers (maybe wrongly!) some questions about the last basho.

Sakurai went intai at the end of the basho, with flowers and cutting ceremony, but Anzai just ... disappeared from the banzuke.  Considering that he rose to a career high in Nagoya (Ms29) and then went 2-5 may suggest he got injured.  He seemed to be one of the most outgoing of the stable's rikishi, so something strange is going on.

[Kaitetsu 277]

Newspapers have picked up on it, seems like its probably real, and some mention that more rikishi were affected, not only Anzai. Im deeply sad that Naruto is not apparently able to control his own deshi

[Tsubame 356]

This Twitter tweet named the other athlets, quote: "The three makushita who quit are Hokuyouzan (26), Sakurai (26) and Anzai (21)...".

 

[Katooshu 3,135]

And remember this isn't the first case of violence purported to happen in the heya.........remember Sumidagawa and the chokings?

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by Katooshu

[Asashosakari 18,786]

2 hours ago, Kaitetsu said:

Newspapers have picked up on it, seems like its probably real, and some mention that more rikishi were affected, not only Anzai. Im deeply sad that Naruto is not apparently able to control his own deshi

1 hour ago, Tsubame said:

This Twitter tweet named the other athlets, quote: "The three makushita who quit are Hokuyouzan (26), Sakurai (26) and Anzai (21)...".

FWIW, that's all still from the original Shukan Shincho article linked at the top of the thread.

[Asashosakari 18,786]

I don't want to pile on, but I will say that I've had lingering doubts about Naruto's leadership qualities for a long time. Back when it happened I was honestly surprised that he was setting up a heya at all; active days Kotooshu never struck me as an assertive, take-charge kind of guy, so I figured, "Maybe a good coach under someone else, but as a first-in-command? Hmm, not so sure about that." Was hoping to be wrong and that he could actually build up a relaxed kind of heya that "works" for everyone involved, but as everywhere in life it's always the same problem: One bad apple spoils the whole bunch. Unfortunate that apparently nothing was learned from the earlier Sumidagawa ordeal.

That being said, I'm not sure there's going to be much follow-up here. All the alleged victims have retired already and no official complaints were made by them before they left, which the Kyokai tends to take as license to consider an issue closed without further action being required.

[Koorifuu 886]

Reading Hokuozan's name was a stark reminder that, just as he was about to return from a serious injury, he suffered another bad one. And that fits in with Anzai's alleged story.

[Yarimotsu 522]

3 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

All the alleged victims have retired already

Not what the "insider" was claiming? 

[Kaninoyama 1,694]

The irony is that in a documentary that aired in Japan right after Naruto-beya was established, Naruto Oyakata went on at length about his modern training approach--which included consuming copious amounts of Bulgarian yogurt--all designed to avoid having his deshi become injury-plagued.

[Bunbukuchagama 688]

1 hour ago, Kaninoyama said:

The irony is that in a documentary that aired in Japan right after Naruto-beya was established, Naruto Oyakata went on at length about his modern training approach--which included consuming copious amounts of Bulgarian yogurt--all designed to avoid having his deshi become injury-plagued.

Did he promise to not let his deshi try to re-fracture each other's arms? 

[Asashosakari 18,786]

9 hours ago, Yarimotsu said:

Not what the "insider" was claiming? 

I took the article's phrasing to mean that the other two guys have already effectively retired even if (unlike Hokuozan/Anzai/Sakurai) it's not been officially acknowledged yet, i.e. they're gone, we'll be seeing 0-0-7's and then the intai confirmation at most four weeks from now. Or are you alluding to something else?

[Koorifuu 886]

15 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

(...)

That being said, I'm not sure there's going to be much follow-up here. All the alleged victims have retired already and no official complaints were made by them before they left, which the Kyokai tends to take as license to consider an issue closed without further action being required.

1 hour ago, Asashosakari said:

I took the article's phrasing to mean that the other two guys have already effectively retired even if (unlike Hokuozan/Anzai/Sakurai) it's not been officially acknowledged yet, i.e. they're gone, we'll be seeing 0-0-7's and then the intai confirmation at most four weeks from now. Or are you alluding to something else?

It opens the door for any of the active guys, if feeling particularly aggrieved by this situation, to feel emboldened by media's attention and step forward with a complaint. Time will tell.

...but we'd be fooling ourselves if we didn't expect the kyokai to be actively trying to prevent this from happening.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Koorifuu

[rokudenashi 291]

1 hour ago, Koorifuu said:

It opens the door for any of the active guys, if feeling particularly aggrieved by this situation, to feel emboldened by media's attention and step forward with a complaint. Time will tell.

...but we'd be fooling ourselves if we didn't expect the kyokai to be actively trying to prevent this from happening.

Even if that were to happen - Naruto takes a temporary pay cut, is removed from the shinpan-bu for a while, and everyone forgets about it

[dingo 1,160]

I shouldn't be surprised yet I still am since the logic is all messed up. If there's a bully who has three victims, usually you'd remove the bully and not the victims. Yet Naruto seems to have it all backwards -- apparently following the deep-seated sumo traditions by doing it as it has always been. Since Oshoma is still there it seems to be only a question of time when there'll be reports of next sudden retirements.

Edited November 4, 2023 by dingo
Wrong rikishi name

[Bunbukuchagama 688]

15 minutes ago, dingo said:

I shouldn't be surprised yet I still am since the logic is all messed up. If there's a bully who has three victims, usually you'd remove the bully and not the victims. Yet Naruto seems to have it all backwards -- apparently following the deep-seated sumo traditions by doing it as it has always been. Since Anzai is still there it seems to be only a question of time when there'll be reports of next sudden retirements.

The alleged bully is a heyagashira and the only sekitori of the heya. Ozumo is extremely heirarchical in nature.

[Kaitetsu 277]

If we are going by “alledged people close to the heya” as sources, Twitter user yamadayama007, who is extremely close to the whole heya, says the tabloid report is “impossible” (ありえない). That apparently everyone there is friendly.

But I wonder how training sessions are while friends/supporters are not in the heya visiting…

[Asashosakari 18,786]

Well, in the previous case back in 2019, it apparently took the heya manager half a year to find out. Granted, those were incidents involving direct inter-personal violence, not out in the open in the keikoba as the current stuff is alleged to be, but yeah, I wouldn't give much on the testimony of anyone who's only there with visitor status. Most bullies know how to maintain plausible deniability towards anyone that can't be trusted to keep quiet on their own.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Asashosakari

[dingo 1,160]

12 hours ago, Bunbukuchagama said:

The alleged bully is a heyagashira and the only sekitori of the heya. Ozumo is extremely heirarchical in nature.

I know all that, yet there was no issue throwing for example Harumafuji out over a microphone incident. Of course yokozuna has to have hinkaku and is under much more public scrutiny, but one low ranked rikishi shouldn't be that important. There's multiple heya without any sekitori and they seem to do fine.