Gaijin Guide

[madorosumaru]

One of the new traditions of Arashio Beya is to have a heya supporter interview the various deshi of the heya at the conclusion of a basho. It was there at the Senshuraku party after Aki Basho that a beaming Sokokurai talked about his successful debut in makuuchi.

"Even though it was my first basho in makuuchi, I was able to do sumo without being overly conscious of that," said the engaging young sekitori known as Enku to friends and fans. "I felt I was in good physical shape and I did plenty of keiko in preparation."

At that point, the Okami-san, who edits the Arashio homepage, interjected knowingly, "Hah! That's what he says now. On Shonichi, he was so nervous he was stiff as a board." From previous articles, it is clear that the Shisho's wife has treated Enku like a son since he joined the heya. She frequently accompanies him to the many dinners and parties that he is obligated to attend as a sekitori--just to make sure he is treated properly and that he doesn't make any major social faux pas. Well, she is the Mother Hen . . . that is protecting the Golden Egg-layer of the nest. (Applauding...)

"Before the basho, I spent most of the time doing degeiko at Tokitsukaze Beya," Enku continued. "I was able get in a lot of good keiko with sanyaku rikishi (Kakuryu) and joi-jin guys (Tokitenku and Homasho). Last year, I didn't stand a chance against them, but this time I think I was able to hold my own just a little bit. That gave me a lot of confidence."

Then he admitted that he didn't really expect to get kachi-koshi. "To tell the truth, last night [a supporter] took me out to dinner and I had a tad too much to drink," he said with a wry smile. "I had a bad hangover this morning and a terrible headache. [After I won the decisive bout to go 8-7] people around me kept teasing me: 'Sokokurai wins more when he is complaining about being sick or hurt.' Sumo sure is a funny sport."

Sokokurai gets along well with all the other deshi of the heya. He is a true heya-gashira that leads the way by example. His behavior and attitude on the dohyo are exemplary. While so many sekitori perform perfunctory bows, Enku bends over almost as deeply as Homasho. Japanese fans take note of that and sumo bulletin boards are full of praises for him. Cheers for him are getting louder at the Kokugikan and the heya website receives an avalanche of messages of encouragement from Japanese of all ages. In addition, there are, needless to say, plenty of "jiā​y

[madorosumaru]

Prior to Aki Basho, China Televison (CTV) of Taiwan aired a short feature on Sokokurai with the title, "The Appearance of the First Chinese Makuuchi Rikishi in Ozumo." View it here

The text on the page states: "A Chinese national has come onto the scene to become the first at makuuchi level in Japan's national sport of Sumo. He is Sokokurai from Inner Mongolia, who has achieved [kachi-koshi] in the most recent 10 tournaments to earn promotion to that level--the highest in sumo. He had struggled in the sumo world for seven years and has finally been rewarded for all his efforts."

The film footage explains that there are six levels in sumo with makuuchi at the top. It also says that Sokokurai started free style wrestling in Inner Mongolia at age 12 and began sumo at age 19.

[madorosumaru]

Kazafuzan from Kazakhstan, a favorite of many Forum members, is back in makushita. He cracked a bone in his neck almost two years ago, missed four basho and fell all the way to low jonidan.

Prior to his injury, he had climbed up to makushita 10 with sekitorihood within reach. Now, at age 27, he is preparing for another attempt by going to degeiko at Tokitsukaze Beya. "My neck is not 100%," he said. "It still hurts when it's bent backward. Sometimes, I have numbness in my left shoulder."

Tiger (Taiga is the second part of his shikona) can't bang away with his head as he used to do before the injury. His tachiai now consists off a two-handed push-off. He would then use his big body and bull his way forward. "My tachiai is terrible," he admits, "But I am moving quite well. I just want to make the best of what I have and move back up the banuke."

Motivation? "I don't want to take a back seat to Honda (Mitoyutaka)." His junior stablemate at Nishikido Beya is nipping at his tail after joining Ozumo less than two years ago.

[madorosumaru]

Kakuryu singing

The event was from last February, but these youtube entries were posted in December. They show Kakuryu's appearance on a NHK charity event, where several rikishi and oyakata sang solo and/or in duet with celebrities.

The MC and Kaku's partner, singer/actress Yoko Nagayama, complimented the rikishi on his excellent Japanese. In fact, it is a standing joke among sumo people that the Mongolian sekitori has a better command of the language than fellow sanyaku Kisenosato.

Nagayama-san asked him, "Do you study a lot to become so fluent?" Kaku answered, "I do whatever I can. I feel I'm okay with speaking and reading, but I still have trouble with writing, so I am working hard on that."

At that point, they brought out a sheet of paper and a brush and asked the sekitori to write the one kanji character to represent his aspirations for the year. The kanji Kakuryu chose was "moeru" 燃 - "burn" to symbolize his burning desire to move further up the banzuke. Kaku handled the brush quite well and he was praised for his "smooth brushstroke." But, alas, the finished product, the kanji itself, needed, shall we say, "more work."

Duet with Nagayama-san

[Fay]

Kakuryu singing

The event was from last February, but these youtube entries were posted in December. They show Kakuryu's appearance on a NHK charity event, where several rikishi and oyakata sang solo and/or in duet with celebrities.

The MC and Kaku's partner, singer/actress Yoko Nagayama, complimented the rikishi on his excellent Japanese. In fact, it is a standing joke among sumo people that the Mongolian sekitori has a better command of the language than fellow sanyaku Kisenosato.

Nagayama-san asked him, "Do you study a lot to become so fluent?" Kaku answered, "I do whatever I can. I feel I'm okay with speaking and reading, but I still have trouble with writing, so I am working hard on that."

At that point, they brought out a sheet of paper and a brush and asked the sekitori to write the one kanji character to represent his aspirations for the year. The kanji Kakuryu chose was "moeru" 燃 - "burn" to symbolize his burning desire to move further up the banzuke. Kaku handled the brush quite well and he was praised for his "smooth brushstroke." But, alas, the finished product, the kanji itself, needed, shall we say, "more work."

Duet with Nagayama-san

Aaaaaaaa my Spatzl Numero Uno (In love...)

Thanks for the link (Clapping wildly...) (Big fish...) (Showing respect...) :-D

His japanese really is very good, my japanese friend is always impressed when we talk to him. And he is a fine singer too

Edited January 11, 2011 by Fay

[madorosumaru]

[Kakuryu's] japanese really is very good, my japanese friend is always impressed when we talk to him.

Kakuryu's Japanese is really excellent--the best among foreign-born rikishi. The Japanese are normally quite gracious and tell gaijin their Japanese is "good" even when in reality it isn't, but in Kakuryu's case they are sincere. There are other sekitori whose Japanese is good, such as Tenho and Asasekiryu, but Kaku is above and beyond them. It is not just his pronunciation and ability to communicate, but he has a much better command of the vocabulary and understanding of the nuances in speaking to different levels of people. They used to say about Marilyn Monroe that "she has curves in places where other women don't even have places." Kakuryu's Japanese is so good that most gaijin wouldn't even know why it is so good. One of the best compliments I read was from a Japanese fan, who heard him make a speech and said, "Amazing. The guy even hems and haws like a native." ;-)

[madorosumaru]

Rail-thin Czech Takanoyama is 3-1 this basho at makushita 10w. A nice kachi-koshi will bring him again into promotion territory. Pavel Bojar (Taka's birth name) recently celebrated his tenth New Year in Japan. He had joined Naruto Beya in November 2001. "10 years have passed in a blink of an eye," Pavel with some emotion.

He weighs a little over 100 kg--very light for a sumo wrestler. He is intelligent and has decent skills but lacks the forward-going aggressiveness necessary for the upper ranks of Ozumo. He reached makushita six-and-a-half years ago, so he has been through the battles. His highest rank was makushita 3e last July. Sekitorihood was within grasp but the wall was thick and he went 1-6 in Nagoya. However, he bounced back with two straight 4-3 KK in Aki and Kyushu. "I couldn't get too happy about that," he said. "I felt I should have won more."

Taka will be 28 in February. He knows 2011 will be a critical year. He confided recently, "I fully realize I need to get something going pretty darn soon." He needs to gain some weight and become more aggressive at the tachiai. He doesn't want to remain Kisenosato's tsukebito for much longer. After all, the sekiwake is more than three years younger. It's about time to have some tsukebito of his own.

An article and picture from 2002.

[madorosumaru]

Hurray! Hurrah! Yippee! Bandwagon's A-rockin!

Uber prospect, Kyokushuho, is finally going to be a sekitori. It's been a long four years since he joined Ozumo from a high school in Gifu, where he was a judo exchange student. As Tenho's first personal deshi, the young man from Mongolia was touted as a sure-thing to be the next yokozuna.

He zipped through jonokuchi in one basho and won jonidan yusho two basho later. In less than a year from mae-zumo, he was already in makushita. Talks at that time were about not if but when he would be a sekitori. However, injuries and other adversities stymied his rise to the top. You can "search" for all the gory details.

Then, like manna from Heaven, the yaocho scandals befell Ozumo. Shuho, who was mired in mid-makushita and dropping from being an uber prospect to a status of: what's the matter with what's-his-name? With wholesale intai, slots opened in the sekitori ranks and lower level rikishi were forced up the banzuke. Sekitorihood was once more imminently achievable. In May, he was 4-3 at makushita 12. One more win and he would have been promoted. Instead, he was held back at makushita 2--within hailing distance of his goal.

Yesterday, Shuho pushed out fellow Mongolian Arawashi in a juryo bout for his fourth win. Since the Kyokai is reverting back to the 42 makuuchi and 28 juryo quota, there will be four additional sekitori slots next basho. In addition, both Kakizoe at J11 and Kanbayashi at J8 have 1-10 records. It should be a shoo-in for Shuho to be promoted after this basho.

Surrounded by the media for the first time in a long time, Shuho said, "I'm sooo happy. I told myself, 'I just can't lose.'"

Hurray! The bandwagon is filling up again!

Edited July 20, 2011 by madorosumaru

[aderechelsea]

No more happy days

Daiyubu is history. One of the heartthrobs for female fans all over the world is gone from the dohyo.

One day early in June, a young lady browsing through the Shibatayama homepage noticed a missing face from the rikishi profile. She immediately sent a message to the heya bulletin board inquiring about the omission, and a day later, a succinct notice was placed in reply: "Daiyubu, as of June 6, has retired from sumo for personal reasons. It was a sudden matter and we apologize for the belated notification. We would like to thank all those who supported him while he was active."

No official announcement. No dampatsushiki. Nada.

Recently, there was an article in one of the weeklies. What happened to Daiyubu? Here was a popular rikishi, a former sekitori and the heya-gashira of Shibatayama. How can he just disappear? Was he involved in the gambling scandal?

The reporter was determined to find out what happened. He went to people close to ozumo and the heya to find out. First, he discovered it wasn't a case of gambling. Slowly, the truth came oozing out. According to one insider, "Daiyubu and his oyakata got into a huge argument shortly after Natsu Basho. Shibatayama had always been critical of Daiyubu's lack of diligence for keiko, but this time he really lost it and took out a pair of scissors and cut off his deshi's mage."

Shibatayama is known for being a hard taskmaster. He himself had come out of the old Hanaregoma Beya, where harsh keiko was the rule. He endured all the discipline and hardship to become a yokozuna and he expected no less from his deshi. Daiyubu, in contrast, was a happy-go-lucky guy, who would often be seen hanging out with his Mongolian buddies.

The shisho would see Daiyubu wasting his talent. The guy did win makushita yusho once and made it to juryo. He was the heya's first and only sekitori and Shibatayama was so proud about the juryo promotion that he personally designed and baked the celebration cake. We all know that he is a well known dessert connoisseur and an author of a book on sweets. (Article and picture from happier days). Observing Daiyubu goofing around the keiko-ba probably irritated him to no end. Finally, the straw broke the camel's back and the shisho took the most drastic action.

A veteran journalist said, "In the past, we heard about a guy who caused trouble in the heya and Shibatayama shaved him bald. That was, of course, a young, low-ranking kid. The shisho wanted him to suffer the indignity and reflect on his wrongdoings. But, Daiyubu is a former sekitori. I really thought he should at least give the guy a dampatsushiki if only with close koenkai supporters."

Very sad.

people around here know that Daiyubu was one of my favourites and when he was promoted to Juryo i was over the moon.I lost my grip on all things sumo for a while and when i learned that he quit i was devastated but thought he was involved in a scandal or something and never got into finding out the exact reasons for his intai. Thank you Mado-san for this ....

but now i am more devastated. I always pictured Shibatayama as a great place for Daiyubu being a heya-gashira. I know it was always a bit empty of rikishi and i blamed this fact for Daiyubu's lack of improvement, even though he looked better in the ring than many other mongolian sekitori, but learning he was a slacker and the Oyakata's over-reaction i cannot feel anything but robbed of the chance to see him in makuuchi one day.

pity.

but i sense there is a pattern forming here with all my previous adoptees/favourites.

Morioka: dissapeared into thin air at some point for no apparent reason.

Chiyonoshima: Argued with Kokonoe and left the heya. He returned and then disappeared again.

Kaiho: yaocho and a shameful intai.

Hoshihikari: yaocho scandal ... (Holiday feeling...)

but there is always hope

Hurray! Hurrah! Yippee! Bandwagon's A-rockin!

Uber prospect, Kyokushuho, is finally going to be a sekitori. It's been a long four years since he joined Ozumo from a high school in Gifu, where he was a judo exchange student. As Tenho's first personal deshi, the young man from Mongolia was touted as a sure-thing to be the next yokozuna.

He zipped through jonokuchi in one basho and won jonidan yusho two basho later. In less than a year from mae-zumo, he was already in makushita. Talks at that time were about not if but when he would be a sekitori. However, injuries and other adversities stymied his rise to the top. You can "search" for all the gory details.

Then, like manna from Heaven, the yaocho scandals befell Ozumo. Shuho, who was mired in mid-makushita and dropping from being an uber prospect to a status of: what's the matter with what's-his-name? With wholesale intai, slots opened in the sekitori ranks and lower level rikishi were forced up the banzuke. Sekitorihood was once more imminently achievable. In May, he was 4-3 at makushita 12. One more win and he would have been promoted. Instead, he was held back at makushita 2--within hailing distance of his goal.

Yesterday, Shuho pushed out fellow Mongolian Arawashi in a juryo bout for his fourth win. Since the Kyokai is reverting back to the 42 makuuchi and 28 juryo quota, there will be four additional sekitori slots next basho. In addition, both Kakizoe at J11 and Kanbayashi at J8 have 1-10 records. It should be a shoo-in for Shuho to be promoted after this basho.

Surrounded by the media for the first time in a long time, Shuho said, "I'm sooo happy. I told myself, 'I just can't lose.'"

Hurray! The bandwagon is filling up again!

(Holiday feeling...)

after the retina detachment he made a struggle to come back and i am so happy for him.

i cannot wait for the day he is announced as the new Yokozuna (Holiday feeling...) and my original prediction since his mae-zumo days becomes reality.