Hokuseiho Out- Hakuho Demoted - Miyagino-beya Closing

[Kintamayama 44,169]

If the media is any indication, it’s looking increasingly bleak for Hakuhou. More and more quotes from anonymous oyakatas saying the heya should be closed or taken over, as if certain parties were actually waiting for this to happen .After all, he did sign the “good boy” document, and this certainly can be seen as  a violation of conditions. Some were actually suggesting that they would be more than happy to receive the rikishi when and if. The drama is real. He seems to be toeing the line so far but for how long? The general consensus is that he is totally incompetent when it comes to running a heya, and needs to be babysitted. This isn’t hinted, this is decided. Will he be able to sit quietly on the sidelines and watch his heya run by an external party for who knows how long? I sincerely doubt it. After the initial shock will wear out, the anger and humiliation will set in. Summary : We have been dealing with how the Kyokai sees this, but more importantly, how is Hakuhou going to deal with this? We shall see.

Edited February 24 by Kintamayama

[Chartorenji 235]

16 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

If the media is any indication, it’s looking increasingly bleak for Hakuhou. More and more quotes from anonymous oyakatas saying the heya should be closed or taken over, as if certain parties were actually waiting for this to happen .After all, he did sign the “good boy” document, and this certainly can be seen as  a violation of conditions. Some were actually suggesting that they would be more than happy to receive the rikishi when and if. The drama is real. He seems to be toeing the line so far but for how long? The general consensus is that he is totally incompetent when it comes to running a heya, and needs to be babysitted. This isn’t hinted, this is decided. Will he be able to sit quietly on the sidelines and watch his heya run by an external party for who knows how long? I sincerely doubt it. After the initial shock will wear out, the anger and humiliation will set in. Summary : We have been dealing with how the Kyokai sees this, but more importantly, how is Hakuhou going to deal with this? We shall see.

"Even though we are at full capacity, if we have to, we will bring in his Rikishi begrudgingly."

 -Shikihide 

[Kintamayama 44,169]

39 minutes ago, Chartorenji said:

"Even though we are at full capacity, if we have to, we will bring in his Rikishi begrudgingly."

 -Shikihide 

That’s one of them, and one that stands no chance of bringing them in, begrudgingly or otherwise. After all, It's the Shikihide home for wayward boys.

A quote, one of a few others.

別の親方は「可能な限り希望する力士を受け入れたい」と話す。

 

Edited February 24 by Kintamayama

[Kintamayama 44,169]

It's going the Takanohana way for Hakuhou. After reading some more media including tabloids with ominous quotes galore, I am 100% convinced he will be out very soon and the heya will close, probably absorbed by two or more Ichimon heyas. Maybe the Kise beya way for the heya, but under new management, after a few years. 

[dingo 1,100]

I'm also curious how much time Miyagino actually spent on managing his heya with all the other public and private commitments he has. Somehow I feel he probably wasn't too involved, not because of lack of interest but lack of time. It's all pure speculation on my part but this is the impression I get when I follow all his activities. And if that's how it was, it's no wonder something went wrong in the heya. 

[Chartorenji 235]

1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

That’s one of them, and one that stands no chance of bringing them in, begrudgingly or otherwise. After all, It's the Shikihide home for wayward boys.

A quote, one of a few others.

別の親方は「可能な限り希望する力士を受け入れたい」と話す。

 

wait really? Threw that one in due to the stable being a bit of a joke lmao. 

[Kintamayama 44,169]

Tabloids are speculating his next job will be "salesman at the KKan shops" during the basho. Won't hurt sales for sure, they add. Also, probably no NHK duties either, as popular as they were with him.

[Kintamayama 44,169]

23 minutes ago, Chartorenji said:

wait really? Threw that one in due to the stable being a bit of a joke lmao. 

The quote was from another oyakata, to be clear..

[Kaninoyama 1,649]

40 minutes ago, dingo said:

I'm also curious how much time Miyagino actually spent on managing his heya with all the other public and private commitments he has. Somehow I feel he probably wasn't too involved, not because of lack of interest but lack of time. It's all pure speculation on my part but this is the impression I get when I follow all his activities. And if that's how it was, it's no wonder something went wrong in the heya. 

If anything, Nishonoseki has even more commitments, and yet no such incidents to report from his own heya, which has also been thriving on the dohyo.   

[Kintamayama 44,169]

*More gossip- the rikishi's wallet Hokuseihou glued and rendered useless was given to the rikishi by heyamate returning to Juryo Hakuouhou as a present. When Hakuouhou  heard of this, he got angry and bought the rikishi a new one. Another story- Hokuseihou locked one of the guys in the toilet for three hours. He also forced a rikishi to eat 20 hamburgers and used glue on earphones belonging to others, it is rumored. As a whole, he was not well liked at the heya and some rikishi left the heya lately specifically because of him. A collective sigh of relief was heard all over Tokyo when Hokuseihou retired, probably.

*Some amount of salt should be taken with these rumors, but I personally believe every word.

Edited February 24 by Kintamayama

[junsan 167]

5 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

*More gossip- the rikishi's wallet Hokuseihou glued and rendered useless was given to the rikishi by heyamate Makushita Hakuouhou as a present. When Hakuouhou (the guy that got into a fight with Ishiura during training back then) heard of this, he got angry and bought the rikishi a new one. Another story- Hokuseihou locked one of the guys in the toilet for three hours. He also forced a rikishi to eat 20 hamburgers and used glue on earphones belonging to others, it is rumored. As a whole, he was not well liked at the heya and some rikishi left the heya lately specifically because of him. A collective sigh of relief was heard all over Tokyo when Hokuseihou retired, probably.

*Some amount of salt should be taken with these rumors, but I personally believe every word.

Some amount of salt should also be thrown on the big guy when he walks out of the heya with his bags packed.

[Kamitsuumi 384]

6 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

Hakuouhou (the guy that got into a fight with Ishiura during training back then)

That was Hokaho

[junsan 167]

2 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

If the media is any indication, it’s looking increasingly bleak for Hakuhou. More and more quotes from anonymous oyakatas saying the heya should be closed or taken over, as if certain parties were actually waiting for this to happen .After all, he did sign the “good boy” document, and this certainly can be seen as  a violation of conditions. Some were actually suggesting that they would be more than happy to receive the rikishi when and if. The drama is real. He seems to be toeing the line so far but for how long? The general consensus is that he is totally incompetent when it comes to running a heya, and needs to be babysitted. This isn’t hinted, this is decided. Will he be able to sit quietly on the sidelines and watch his heya run by an external party for who knows how long? I sincerely doubt it. After the initial shock will wear out, the anger and humiliation will set in. Summary : We have been dealing with how the Kyokai sees this, but more importantly, how is Hakuhou going to deal with this? We shall see.

The knives are out. Beware the Ides of March. Ishiura better be ready with his Mark Antony speech. Hakuho is too popular with the plebs (AND connections with some very rich, influential people, shachos etc) , if NSK messes too much with him they're going to face severe backlash.

[Kintamayama 44,169]

Magaki Oyakata (ex-Ishiura), taking over the heya for now?: "I have no idea. I know nothing. I can only wait to be contacted.." 

[Ryoshishokunin 259]

9 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

 Of all the oyakata whose careers have involuntarily ended in the last 20 years (and there have been quite a number), only two arguably reached the "we've got to get rid of this guy" point: Useless waste of space Kanechika who still survived for over a decade despite offering absolutely nothing to sumo, and Takanohana. And the latter even still had a sizable amount of supporters, but his presence just became too disruptive at too deep a level.

I've lost track of who ran Miyagino when compared to Hakuho's career, but do we think that living under Kanechika's rule there would have affected his idea of what's acceptable?  

[dingo 1,100]

22 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

Magaki Oyakata (ex-Ishiura), taking over the heya for now?: "I have no idea. I know nothing. I can only wait to be contacted.." 

Famous last first words?

[RabidJohn 1,628]

7 hours ago, Gurowake said:

Do you think they have the power to boot someone from their share just because he's not LIKED?

I've not suggested any such thing, but I know they approved his acquisition of Magaki when they needn't have. 

[Hankegami 412]

1 hour ago, Kaninoyama said:

If anything, Nishonoseki has even more commitments, and yet no such incidents to report from his own heya, which has also been thriving on the dohyo.   

I'm not really knowledgeable on how sumo stables are run, but I read and heard around that Miyagino-beya might suffer from a severe case of 'too many roosters in the coop'. Hakuho definitively picks up many promising talents, who on turn might be reluctant to submit to local hierarchies. Hokuseiho in particular, as heyagashira, might have used bullying to be sure that no one challenged his right to be obeyed by lower-ranked students. Of course this does not justify him, nor it reflects well on Hakuho anyway. By this same metric, Nihonoseki has a solid core of fellow Nippon Sport Science University mates Onosato, Shirokuma, and Kayo. This means that Onosato, now that he's going to be the heyagashira at Nihonoseki-beya, has at least two acquaintances likely to support him as the undisputed internal leader. Not to mention Onosato's own fame as an amateur sumotori.

Now, I realize that I'm talking about rumors, but I can't help but noticing that it makes somewhat sense. Hokuseiho's actions as reported by tabloids appear to be gratuitous cruelty in themselves. Much beyond initial reports on Hokuseiho's purported kleptomania. Framing them within a context of internal competition at least makes some sense to me.

[Koorifuu 858]

5 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

After all, It's the Shikihide home for wayward boys.

Maybe he can bring in Miyagino as an affiliated oyakata, then!

[nagora 88]

If the event (literally world-wide news already) itself isn't bad enough for sumo, the sight of vultures circulating to settle personal scores will be worse for it. With 1000 rikishi in the system no sane person expects no discipline problems but this stuff is foolish. IMO, unless Hakuhou is shown have been involved, his ability to run the heya generally should be kept separate and he should be left some breathing room to take on board what amounts to a very loud warning shot across his bows.

[Katooshu 3,079]

Incidentally, the first time I saw Hokuseiho compete he showed a side that you wouldn't have seen from him publicly in ozumo. He was in his 1st year of high school and in the team competition at the Kokutai. He got into it with his opponent after a matta, then on the 2nd try intentionally matta'd so he could give the kid a smack: I guess the impression I initially had (he seems kind of like a dick) was closer to reality than the one I had over the last few years. 

The below may not seem like much, but for high school sumo in Japan it's hard to find examples of worse sportsmanship on the dohyo. Although Hakuoho arguably had one....

 

Edited February 24 by Katooshu

[Katooshu 3,079]

One of the more recent amasumo scandals featured a Tottori Johoku grad who coached there while Hokuseiho, Hakuoho, and other current pros attended. He could regularly be seen in the background while they competed. He burned his victim and beat him with an electricity cord.

 

Edited February 24 by Katooshu

[Akinomaki 39,479]

43 minutes ago, nagora said:

If the event (literally world-wide news already) itself isn't bad enough for sumo, the sight of vultures circulating to settle personal scores will be worse for it. With 1000 rikishi in the system no sane person expects no discipline problems but this stuff is foolish. IMO, unless Hakuhou is shown have been involved, his ability to run the heya generally should be kept separate and he should be left some breathing room to take on board what amounts to a very loud warning shot across his bows.

We are down below 600 rikishi now, and while the behaviour of Hokuseiho would have been a kind one thirty years ago and acceptable till about ten years ago, the crop now needs to be pampered to be persuaded to join.

In regards to oyakata, Kasugano crippled one deshi and beat Tochinoshin with a golf club and nobody cared, and he's in the executive top ranks now

Edited February 24 by Akinomaki

[Asashosakari 18,649]

5 hours ago, dingo said:

I'm also curious how much time Miyagino actually spent on managing his heya with all the other public and private commitments he has. Somehow I feel he probably wasn't too involved, not because of lack of interest but lack of time. It's all pure speculation on my part but this is the impression I get when I follow all his activities. And if that's how it was, it's no wonder something went wrong in the heya. 

Yeah, that's one aspect I've also been wondering the last couple of days, and I do wonder how widespread a problem it is. Maybe we need another push to consolidate the number of stables to get more oyakata manpower into any one of them...

Anyway, the whole thing will also be an eye-opener to all the fans who like to assume that any heya that has a lot of successful rikishi must also be a good place to be.

 

4 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

*More gossip- the rikishi's wallet Hokuseihou glued and rendered useless was given to the rikishi by heyamate Makushita Houkahou as a present. When Houkahou (the guy that got into a fight with Ishiura during training back then) heard of this, he got angry and bought the rikishi a new one.

Wait...Hokaho was the fisticuffs guy, but isn't the wallet gift story about Hakuoho?

Edited February 24 by Asashosakari

[Kintamayama 44,169]

11 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

Wait...Hokaho was the fisticuffs guy, but isn't the wallet gift story about Hakuoho?

Yes, I made a double booboo.

Edited February 24 by Kintamayama