Chisaiyama

I am overall a fan of Asa, though sometimes I think he gets just a little too much of himself. His good fortune and bad fortune, at the same time, is that as he came to Yokozuna there were no other Yokozuna class rikishi. The existing Ozeki were all just barely capable of holding their rank and little more. Had he had even just one other Yokozuna to share the responsibilities and to give honest competition he would have had a severe reality check and had a better attitude. I do believe however as was pointed out in the excerpts from Takasago-oyakata's diary that his keiko performances are no worse and in some cases certainly way better than some other Yokozuna of the past. The difference is we now live in an era where communications are instantaneous around the globe. What once might have taken days just to travel around Nippon is now known instantly around the world. The Yokozuna is now living in a fish bowl instead of a feudal castle and has to start taking that into consideration. I know that it would be a drastic action considering they only have the one Yokozuna, but considering that they have an almost certain replacement in Hakuho, if Asa's actions got too over the top might not Kitanoumi Rijicho and the other directors not consider ordering Asashoryu to retire for the betterment of Ozumo?

The time factor is an interesting one, but one thing you are all overlooking is the basho factor. The 6 basho per year didn't start until somewhere in the middle of the 20th century, 1949 or 1959 seems to come to mind but I dis-remember exactly. The point is that in the early days there were far fewer basho with fewer days per basho. In fact during much of Futabayama's vaunted reign there were only 2 basho pere year of 11 days each. Asa has gone now 21 basho (including the upcoming Natsu) as sole yokozuna. How does he match up with the others based on numbers of basho?

I'm thinking 3 Ozeki in Hatsu 2008: Kotooshu Chiyotaikai Kotomitsuki Kaio will Intai after Kyushu, Tochiazuma will Intai after Nagoya, Hakuho will catch the rope as a gift for his new child after Natsu!

Fishing? Isn't it actually the always missing flag? ;-) No, the flag is there.. Looks to me that he's wielding the infamous "cane", should any of the juniors misstep............ (Whistling...) While a long time sumo fan, having started watching it in 1972 while stationed in Okinawa, I am a relative neophyte to this forum. I have seen in several posts various pictures of various rikishi with a comment appended regarding "the missing flag". I am clueless on this, what is this mysterious (to me at least) missing flag? Thanks in advance for your patience with a newbie. While I visit several sumo sites including Kintamayama-san's excellent site and SFM, Cibersumo etc. I value the insights and information I receive here well above all the others.

One of the rikishi more prone to this IMO, is Iwakiyama. It seems like he is always shedding blood from forehead cuts.

Yeah downloading files has gotten slower too, from what you and "Jakusotsu" have said sounds like bandwith problems I guess?? Any suggestions for what can be done?