Kotonosato

Actually, now they are looking at the ban because of the accident. The Kyokai is probably worried that half of makuuchi will end up being suspended unless they relax the rule.

I think the ban was already in place before the Toki incident. That's why he was suspended, just like 'Tenho. Surely there must be some other reason. Is there any reason to believe that rikishi may be bad drivers? Eating while driving? Too big to turn the wheel? Unintentional butsukari with everyone on the road...?

This may be the greatest sumo site I've ever seen. Thank you so much for all the effort and time you've put into it.

Is this some kind of superstition I've never heard of, or is Kumagatani being just a little overprotective? I've been eating sushi almost every week for 10 years (and at much crappier places than Hakuho frequents, I'm sure) and I've never got sick. I hope Hakuho's delicate constitution will not be rocked by being denied his favorite food.

I've never actually seen international amateur sumo, but every ama bout I've seen in Japan began with the referee saying "Go!" There were no "sloppy" tachiai like we see in Ozumo. I mean, tachiai could still be bad in the sense that someone didn't get a good jump when the match started, but matta were relatively few. Is that how the internationals work, too?

There could have been less matta and henka in those days, but I would imagine, however, that there were plenty more Roho-like incidents. With only each other's breathing to go by, and without even having to put their hands down on the ground to provide some kind of objective measure of "start position", I'm sure many rikishi were blown away at tachiai. I can imagine them walking down the hanamichi saying "I just wasn't ready. Why didn't they call a matta?"

Where does this idea come from that there were fewer matta in the past? Particularly if your only exposure to old sumo is through DVD? Do you really think that the kyokai would bother preserving matta footage for posterity? You are only seeing the best of the past.

Actually, I never meant to imply that the change was subtle at all. In fact, I think it is a huge change: completely different meaning, completely different pronunciation, completely different kanji (to my way way of thinking), and he went from using his own surname to a real shikona for the first time in his career! I was only trying to show the original poster that much less "significant" changes have been made by others already. So it is in fact a big deal.

Well, if you really want to help the foreign fans get used to the pronunciation, you should stop referring to him as Cow. Native speakers of English consider ムーー　to be the sound that a cow makes. Not モーー, like in Japan. You don't want them to call him シムーートリ, do you?

Can someone please explain why this rule ever came to be in the first place?

It's not uncommon to make very subtle changes to one's shikona in the hopes of turning luck around. Kotonowaka and many others have changed their kanji without even changing the pronunciation. Although he remained "Kotonowaka", he tried at least a couple of no kanji, and even switched the koto, I believe. Didn't Akebono try his kanji with and without the extra ten?

My guesses: 2. Izutsu Oyakata 6. Matsuchiyama Oyakata 7. Isenoumi Oyakata 8. Shikoroyama Oyakata 10. Konishiki 12. Tokitsuumi 15. Wakanohana III 16 Akebono 17. Takanohana

6. The actor is John Turturo 7. Harvey is playing the Pimp (can't remember his name) in Taxi Driver 10. Robert DeNiro playing the repairman/terrorist in Brazil

The guy does look like Henry Fonda, but I'm pretty sure Midway was in color. Maybe that's the tricky bonus part.

You probably had it confused with another title, "Throne of Blood" (Kumonosujo). Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of. #10 looks so familiar. Is it one of the Miyamoto Musashi films?

I don't know where I came up with "Castle of Blood" from. :-S Yes, the title is really The Hidden Fortress. Is #5 Hiroshima, Mon Amour? Maybe #10 is The 47 Ronin.

Man, I haven't seen half of these. The other half I haven't seen in more than a decade. Memories fade, but here are a few guesses: 1. Woman of the Dunes (Suna no Onna) 4. Castle of Blood? 6. The 47 Ronin? 9. The Pillow Book?

Is #5 Ninja Scroll?

In any case, it sounds like leaving the Kyokai is the best thing for him. He really needs to get a grip on his life. I'm sure a change of scenery will help him to snap out of it. He'll get another chance while he's young enough to repair his credit and start a new life.

I think it's even more absurd than that. How often have we heard rikishi say that they will recover "through more training"? Can somebody explain to me how shiko can be the best thing for sore knees? I've heard the argument that strengthening the muscles around the joint are good for the knee, but surely this is offset by the constant pounding on the joint itself.

I've tried pachinko and it is about as skill-less and boring as a hobby can get. As for the reports of success: EVERYONE I know who plays it regularly reports that they are up, i.e. winning. Talk about living in denial! Like any other kind of gambling, the house always wins. The longer you play, the more you lose. Those rare wins are what keeps you coming back.

I know inaka - I've even visited Inakadate - but what is do-inaka? Is that a special term for really really isolated rural places? Yeah, exactly. Do is a prefix meaning extreme. It's used with inaka to refer to the REAL boondocks. Afficionados of Japanese pornography will also be familiar with do-sukebee. :-) (In fact, you may have been called that a few times.) (Laughing...)

James H. is quite right. It is perfectly acceptable to sit wherever you want at the K'kan until the owner of the seat shows up. You don't have to pretend to be in the wrong seat, as was suggested earlier. It's a matter of course that you might go to the good sits when they're empty. On the other hand, throwing zabuton is expressly forbidden. Announcements are made when it happens, but to little effect. This is not foreigner-related behavior however. It's the rowdy locals in Fukuoka and Osaka that are the worst culprits. :-S

I always like to google for that. 僻境 gives 3,000 something hits which is quite few. In comparison, 辺鄙 has over 500,000 hits. Since we're googling... Inaka gets more than 21 million hits, while henpi gets only a little over 700,000.

No. And when it is used, it usually refers to the outdoors in general, rather than do-inaka specifically.