Sumo terms C with questions

[Guest Kaikitsune]

Lets carry on covering sumo terms. C is the third alphabet and in many ways an honourable letter.

chankonabe, traditional dish of rikishi cooked in a large pot eaten with rice and beer; exact composition varies according to heya traditions and seasons, see chanko

Nutrisious food and without a doubt very delicious too. Most reports on chankonabe have indicated that.

There are various chankonabe recipes on this site:

Chankonabe recipies

Anybody here who excels in chankonabe cooking? Anybody ever tried making chankonabe? It would be nice to get step-by-step instructions on how to make a simple chankonabe correctly. This would mean estimated cooking times, ingredients preparing, clarification on which sauces and vegetables go well together etc.

Who has eaten chankonabe? How was it? Which flavour was it?

chikara-mizu, "power water", ladleful of water offered to the sekitori preparing for his torikumi by the winner of the previous torikumi or, in case the sekitori in his tozai side lost his own torikumi, by the sekitori that is about to participate in the next torikumi after him that is spat out before entering the dohyo, see chikara-gami, mizu-oke, mizu-iri

Chikara-mizu is taken for purification reasons. As mentioned they never swallow that water during pre-bout rituals but merely rinse their mouth with it. They often take a zip after the bout though(winning rikishi only, loser just gets back to shitaku-beya and restores fluid balance there) when positioning themselves next to the bucket in order to offer a ladleful to next sekitori as explained.

chongake, pulling heel hook, kimarite in which the attacker will hook his heel behind the defender's heel from the inside (left foot to left foot or right foot to right). As he pulls that leg towards him, he will grab the defender's arm on the same side and twist him sideways or backwards into the clay

Chongake is the most rare tripping technique where foot/leg is the main tripping tool. Kirikaeshi, uchigake and sotogake are more commonly seen. Chongake has been the winning technique in 5 bouts since Hatsu 1990. On two occasions Asashiyutaka was the winner. Kyokushuzan tripped Kaiho beautifully on day 9 in Nagoya 1999. Most recent case was Aminishiki's chongake against Tokitsuumi on day 7 in Haru 2002. Unfortunately Tokitsuumi was injured in the bout as the free leg twisted. You can see the bout here:

Aminishiki-Tokitsuumi

chonmage, hair-do of the deshi that sekitori wear as well except for official occasions torikumi included, see oh-ichoh-mage, tokoyama, bintsuke

In the late 19th century Japan went through quite dramatic westernization and in the process chonmage-type common hair-do was forbidden as barbaric! Only rikishi got exemption from this new rule/law and from then on this particular "fashion" has been exclusively sumo world's distinctive feature. Chonmage is the simpler form of the two prevailing rikishi hair-dos.

There is one superb document on tokoyama and in the document the process of making chonmage and oichomage becomes very well depicted. Also hair wax, tools of tokoyama etc. are presented and some interviews with Mainoumi and Musoyama. Document lasts about 30 minutes and the proof of it's exotic nature is that about a year ago I showed this document to a female individual whose attitude towards sumo is next to obnoxious but she actually watched the whole document with poorly disguised enthusiasm

[Amanogawa 79]

Anybody here who excels in chankonabe cooking? Anybody ever tried making chankonabe? It would be nice to get step-by-step instructions on how to make a simple chankonabe correctly. This would mean estimated cooking times, ingredients preparing, clarification on which sauces and vegetables go well together etc.

I don't know if I'm good at making chankonabe but yes, I think I can give you real simple cahnkonabe credo. :)

Chankonabe is actually made up of two words. "Chanko" and "nabe". As most of memebers here are already aware I suppose, *any* dish eaten by rikishi at sumo-beya is supposedly called "chanko". These days more than often we see caricatures way teasing rikishis' unfavorable changes in picking food for "chanko". The cartoons are something like; chanko-ban rikishis ( =lower ranker rikishis who take turn to make "chanko" ) serve dishes of pizza, spaghetti, or hambergers as telling their stablemates, "Here are today's 'chanko'".

And the word "nabe". This nabe is for "nabe-ryouri"which means "a dish served in a pot". Similar to Western fondu

but instead of dipping cooked food in a sauce, meat or fish and different kinds of vegetables are cooked in an earhternware pot filled with a special soup stock. The pot is placed usualy in the center of a table and people gather around the pot and share the food. Nabe-ryouri is good for socializing and it is often enjoyed by families or close

friens -especially in the winter time.

Because chankonabe is a kind of "nabe-ryouri"which doesn't require too much cooking skills in basis, usually we Japanese don't care too much about making it "correctly" or trying "precisely follow the recipe" or anything. :-/ All you have to do is to remember the simple, basic theory of fixing a nabe dish which is - Add more stock or salt or water or sake or whatever seasoning you like and make the nabe taste in way you like it to be. So there Kaikitsune-zeki gave this URL of good chanko-cooking page. You just try to follow the instructions but just don't get obsessed to be too precise. Moto-chanko-ban rikishi Kototusrugi occasionally shows up

on a sumo magazine and writes "how to make chanko" but

he NEVER tells us to stick much to any accurate figures of weight or amount of the stock or the time to get the pot boiled or how much each food is needed for precisely how many people. Don't be afraid. Just give it a try, it is delicious! -is his message, I guess. :)

But yet for those who's intrigued, here's moto-Kototsurugi's ( yes, Rijicho, he used to join Sadogatake-beya! :-)) "simplest but best chanko" lesson:

Prepare raddish, carrot, burdock, garlic, egg, pork spareribs ( NO number of how much either of these food is needed! ). Suger, miso ( Japanese bean paste ), sake or shochu(distilled spirits ) for seasoning.

Peel all vegetables and cut them into the sizes you like ( he recommends rather big pieces because this dish needs to be boiled for some hours.:-)). Make eggs boiked and peel them. Put all cut vegetables, spareribs and water into a pot and boil them for ten minutes. Skim the lye. Take all vegetables and ribs out of the water and throw away the water. Then put the food all back into the pot. Put miso, sugar, a couple of cloves of garlic into the pot with water that barely covers them. Put the boiled eggs on top of the food. Boil them now with high heat. When it starts boiled, add one or two glasses of sake, and

boil for three - four more hours with mideum -low heat.

That's it. :) Simple, huh. But he says this chankonabe would taste even better if it's left overnight though you can have it just when it's done. You may like to have this with a little mastard.

Who has eaten chankonabe? How was it? Which flavour was it?

I have. IT was Naruto-style chankonabe. Sitting right next to my ever-gohiiki Wakanosato-zeki. The chankonabe at that time was chicken kind delicately flavored with soy sauce and many other spices that finely added subtlety to it. I wish I really could eat it A LOT but I simply couldn't... imagine you're sitting beside someone you wholeheartedly look up to, worship, admire, and everything....

would you still be able to eat a lot??? :-)

Chikara-mizu is taken for purification reasons. As mentioned they never swallow that water during pre-bout rituals but merely rinse their mouth with it.

[Rijicho 6]

But yet for those who's intrigued, here's moto-Kototsurugi's ( yes, Rijicho, he used to join Sadogatake-beya! :-)) "simplest but best chanko" lesson:

(Snip.)

Gotten too long. :~-( Sorry for my babbles!

I kind of guessed that. :-/

By all means, anything related to food is interesting to read.

[Hananotaka 8]

On the subject of chanko -

The first time I ever had chanko-nabe was when I somehow lucked out and got to have it for breakfast at Kokonoe-beya, back in the summer of 1999.

[Zentoryu 154]

The first time I ever had chanko-nabe was when I somehow lucked out and got to have it for breakfast at Kokonoe-beya, back in the summer of 1999.  Jezz was visiting Tokyo, so I took him to see asageiko at Wakamatsu-beya (now Takasago-beya).  Afterwards, we decided to head over to Kokonoe-beya, partly just because I knew where it was.  We met a family standing in the doorway, and asked them if asageiko was over.  They said that it had just finished.  After a bit of milling about, the mother of the family told us they were eating chanko in the heya, and asked if we'd like to join them.  We were shocked, surprised, flabbergasted and of course said yes.  I believe it was chicken.  I'm a very picky eater, and there were a number of things in the chanko that normally I would not eat, if I had a choice.  Yaki-dofu, for example.  But the woman who'd invited us took my bowl and filled it up.  Not wishing to appear ungracious or rude, I took my chopsticks and shoveled it all back.  I enjoyed the broth, but since I ate so...gustily, I can't really comment on the taste...  

Didn't you meet Chiyonofuji (Kokonoe Oyakata) somewhere during all of this? I seem to remember Jezz mentioning it when he talked about his trip to Tokyo.

[Hoshifransu 0]

Hey, friends, check out that fantastic web site (I found luckily a couple of days ago while surfing everywhere on the www)

This is the web site of the Hiroshima University and check out a lot of photos, links, events, infos and all that not only in japanese but in english too !

And of course, check out the unique and official Hiroshima University recipe for Chanko-nabe !

Enjoy ... and be hungry too !

Click here to access ...

[Hananotaka 8]

The first time I ever had chanko-nabe was when I somehow lucked out and got to have it for breakfast at Kokonoe-beya, back in the summer of 1999.