Miyagino Oyakata Yaocho Scandal by Shukan Gendai

[Jonosuke]

The Weekly Shunkan Gendai

[Doitsuyama]

Thanks for the translation. Fantastic work! (Blushing...)

[Kintamayama]

I must say that this is rocking my world. This is serious. Even if the guy is boasting and exaggerating, there's got to be some truth here. For the first time, I am beginning to have my doubts.

World is rocking at 8.4 on the Richter scale.

[Kaikitsune Makoto]

It is very tragicomic stuff. In the words of the former rijicho :"Show us the tape...". Without the tape the story is incredibly dumb, with the tape and if it is authentic, Miyagino is extremely dumb person and if this woman's story is true, then Miyagino is also a complete psychopath with the stalking and so. All they need is to present the tape. Then Miyagino probably dies somehow soon...

[philafuji]

I wonder why this story is released now? The basho is coming to a close soon. I wonder why this story was not released long before this point of the basho?

[Kotonosato]

Jonosuke,

Does this rag print this kind of garbage about other sports too? Or is it just Ozumo they have an agenda against?

[Doitsuyama]

I wonder why this story is released now? The basho is coming to a close soon. I wonder why this story was not released long before this point of the basho?

I think it has more effect if Hakuho really is on his way to yokozuna promotion which is now.

[philafuji]

The problem this creates is one of suspicison for the rest of the basho.

I really feel bad for Hakuho. If everything has been above board and he wins the basho and/or gets promoted too Yokoauna, some of the joy will be lost.

There will those who beleive the bout's and promotion were bought and those who don't believe this.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I choose not to believe this information.

[Jonosuke]

Obviously I did not include my view in the article above but here are mine:

Everyone in Japan knows what a rag Shukan Gendai is. They are exceedingly good at piling up this kind of manure on just about everyone, more famous and sensational the better. The magazine has more or less exclusive readership of men over 40 years old, featuring salacious stories often accompanied by nude pictures of women.

Not even these guys ever had guts to subscribe to the magazine. They basically buy it at a train station kiosk and trash it as they go home. Even these dirty old guys dare take the copy to their home. Likely their daughters wouldh't have come close to them in years even then. They and their brethren Weekly Shukan Post have steadedly losing their readers for right reason. So explicit sex has gone away but they are desparate for new readership but for obvious reasons they are not getting them.

Howerver their banner ads appear in major national dailies. So every reader of Asahi or Yomiuri newspapers has likely seen their ad this week, proclaiming Asashoryu & Hakuho on Three Million Yen Yaocho scandal. The story was the magazine's top story this week. After so many of this type, soon something may stick, getting some people to think both Asashoryu and Hakuho are where they are because of yaocho.

Getting back to Miyagino oyakata. He is definitely the village idiot of the Kyokai. The "evidence" so far is just a tape of his conversation with his former lover. No one has seen any Miyagino beya tsukebito handing over a pile of money over to another heya's tsukebito. Nothing to back up the Gendai's claims.

But I am firmly convinced that this guy lacks something. It has not come across in the translation but this guy talks like an infant. I can't believe this guy is 30-something man and is heading a sumo heya. No doubt NHK always picks Kumagatani oyakata for commentary rather than this guy. I even sort of felt a bit sorry for the Gendai editors suffering through listening to nine hours of his talk.

It was interesting to see Kitanoumi and Miyagino oyakata together yesterday. Miyagino used to be with Kitanoumi beya during his active days. So they should know each other so well but not much was spoken. What striking to me was that Kitanoumi deferred all his answers to their lawyer.

If you are the head of the Kyokai and someone was accusing you of Yaocho, don't you want to deny the accusation? I thought that was always the case but not this time. Miyagino's silence also speaks volumes. Even Isaji, their lawyer, said nothing of what Miyagino had to say to him.

Aside from the Yaocho quesiton I have a feeling this tape contains much more that the Kyokai does not want to be made public, more dirty laundry and more secrets they have been withholding. The Gendai is sitting pretty right now with the treasure troves of information while the Kyokai executives must be feeling scared pitsless.

Somehow I feel an out of court settlement may come about soon.

[philafuji]

Jonosuke,

I am happy you posted your information on this magazine's lack of class, shall we say.

It helps some, but many people believe what the magazines/papers of this type have written.

Not every story they come up with is false. Lets hope this one is.

[Asashosakari]

Miya: No, competing normally and had four consecutive losses. But with Kaio I had 2 wins and 2 losses.

Saka: Wow, that

[Randomitsuki]

It's a strange conversation among those two. She doesn't really sound like a close friend, but more like an interrogator. The whole thing doesn't sound like a normal conversation to me, more like two people reading the lines from a really bad script. This nourishes hopes that the whole thing was fabricated.

But then again, what do I know? Maybe some conversational naturalness was flushed away through editing.

[Otokonoyama]

Ms Sakamoto initially met the current Miyagino oyakata while he was still actively competing as Kanechika in Kitanoumi beya in November, 2001.

[rhino]

There are only two ways I can think of to explain this. Well, two ways that don't involve the existence of rampant yaocho.

1. Miyagino is incredibly, unbelievably stupid. Stupid to the point of childlike. This, and he is desperate to prove his brilliance to his lover by explaining his influence.

2. Miyagino is in on it, and this is a setup.

Neither of them make that perfect sense.

On the other hand, Miyagino's story doesn't make much sense either. Some things I thought about:

1. 3 million yen to throw a zensho yusho? Isn't a zensho yusho worth 5 million yen more than a normal one just in prize money, let alone the giant hosho-kin bonus? Seems strange.

2. Where did he get money to bribe Kaio down in Sandanme? Throwing away career aspirations (on Kaio's part) for pocket money?

3. Asashoryu didn't want to be thrown, but a yoritaoshi is cool. No-one feels humiliated when they've been yoritaoshi'd.

4. This is just my gut. But if what he says is true, then everything, *everything* about sumo is a giant, pointless farce. I cannot believe this. I cannot believe that Kaio and Chiyotaikai possess no fighting spirit.

My instinctive reaction- Miyagino oyakata is in on this, and he is a disgrace to sumo. Perhaps he wants to make Kumagatani-Oyakata's star deshi look bad, and cash in while he's at it?

My fear- ozumo is simply american pro-wrestling with shiko.

[Asashosakari]

2. Where did he get money to bribe Kaio down in Sandanme? Throwing away career aspirations (on Kaio's part) for pocket money?

I think the idea (speaking hypothetically) would be that lower division bouts are arranged for entertainment value, or maybe in some strange tit-for-tat deal between heyas. Neither makes much sense:

1) Who cares enough about the lower divisions to arrange bout outcomes between an 18-year old prospect and a 22-year old semi-prospect?

2) Even if they do, why on earth would they schedule four bouts to end with a 2-2 head-to-head record? Presumably the "real" prospect should be the one coming out ahead.

3) The clear implication would be that the entire lower division results (or at least a large part of them) are pre-determined, with unclear goals and reasons. As a point of comparison: The WWE across three "brands" employs around 50 wrestlers total, and has maybe a dozen storylines going on at the same time - and they have a hell of a time trying to keep those consistent and meaningful despite employing somewhere between 6 and 10 television writers (I forget how many exactly). I dunno, maybe that's how the banzuke committee passes the six weeks between tournaments...

Honestly, I think Kanechika is just bullshitting (if that tape is "real", in the sense that it's an actual recording of him). I haven't quite made up my mind yet about whether his lady friend's stalking stories are BS, too.

BTW, after looking at the results and banzuke ranks his numbers against Taikai and Azuma don't check out either. He was 4-2 against Taikai in Juryo, but with no chance of having faced him in the lower divisions. Likewise he was 0-3 against Tochiazuma in the latter's three-basho Juryo stint, but with no chance of having faced him before (or after, of course) for a 4th bout. Maybe he's thinking of some charity tournament, I dunno. That is, assuming there were actual thought processes involved in those comments.

Edit: Oh, a #4 for above: Lower division bouts are scheduled at most two days before they happen, and most potential pairings obviously never take place because each rikishi has only 7 bouts but tons of possible opponents, so the time window to arrange outcomes isn't terribly huge, unless it's done centrally (i.e. pro-wrestling style).

Edited May 23, 2007 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari]

Surely it's against the kyokai rules to sell or give kabu to outsiders so how could she be considered the legal owner in the kyokai world.

Because it was neither sold nor given to her; she inherited it upon the death of her husband. What would you want the Kyokai to do with a kabu when the owner dies? (I am not worthy...)

Edit: Or reaches the mandatory retirement age, for that matter.

Edited May 24, 2007 by Asashosakari

[madorosumaru]

When the 9th Miyagino Oyakata (fomer Hirokawa) died, the kabu went to his estate. The widow cannot become an oyakata herself but, as the executor or trustee of the estate, she can loan it out. And she did so to the current Kumagatani Oyakata (10th Miyagino) . Since it was on loan, she could always ask for its return, which she did when her daughter married Kanechika, who became the 11th Miyagino.

[Kintamayama]

I understand the situation as it happened, but I can't see how all of this is possible. Isn't the kyokai under the department of education? Aren't kabu shares in a national institution that can't be moved outside that institution? Wasn't Wajima kicked out of the kyokai for trying to use his kabu to secure a loan from the yakuza? Couldn't the kyokai have just taken the kabu from the widow at any stage?

If the wife of the former Miyagino can inherit and exert control over the possession of a kabu then aren't they just like shares in any company? Doesn't that then mean even I could buy one? While I would be unable to use the name myself I could in theory use the kabu to wield influence and effect change in the kyokai.

I think the simple answer is it stayed within the Kyokai, i.e. Kanechika, however poor his performances, was a rikishi. You aren't/weren't so you are not eligible.

[Doitsuyama]

I understand the situation as it happened, but I can't see how all of this is possible. Isn't the kyokai under the department of education? Aren't kabu shares in a national institution that can't be moved outside that institution? Wasn't Wajima kicked out of the kyokai for trying to use his kabu to secure a loan from the yakuza? Couldn't the kyokai have just taken the kabu from the widow at any stage?

A kabu is a share of ownership in an enterprise. It's basically the same as with other shareholder companies (i. e. most big companies), and incidentally in Japanese the kanji to identify a company as one owned by shareholders is - "kabu". Now all those companies issue the shares, but this gives them no right at all to reclaim a share only because the owner died. The wife may not be entitled to some of the benefits the kabu is enabling the holder (like getting a paid oyakata status), but it's still hers until the decides to sell it.

I am convinced Wajima could have kept the kabu even after getting kicked out of the kyokai - it's his property after all. But what use is it to him if he can't get the benefits (oyakata salary) anymore and has to pay back a loan to shady gentlemen? So he certainly sold it - with emphasis on "sold", not getting taken away for nothing.

[Kaioshoryu]

There are only two ways I can think of to explain this. Well, two ways that don't involve the existence of rampant yaocho.

1. Miyagino is incredibly, unbelievably stupid. Stupid to the point of childlike. This, and he is desperate to prove his brilliance to his lover by explaining his influence.

2. Miyagino is in on it, and this is a setup.

Neither of them make that perfect sense.

On the other hand, Miyagino's story doesn't make much sense either. Some things I thought about:

1. 3 million yen to throw a zensho yusho? Isn't a zensho yusho worth 5 million yen more than a normal one just in prize money, let alone the giant hosho-kin bonus? Seems strange.

2. Where did he get money to bribe Kaio down in Sandanme? Throwing away career aspirations (on Kaio's part) for pocket money?

3. Asashoryu didn't want to be thrown, but a yoritaoshi is cool. No-one feels humiliated when they've been yoritaoshi'd.

4. This is just my gut. But if what he says is true, then everything, *everything* about sumo is a giant, pointless farce. I cannot believe this. I cannot believe that Kaio and Chiyotaikai possess no fighting spirit.

My instinctive reaction- Miyagino oyakata is in on this, and he is a disgrace to sumo. Perhaps he wants to make Kumagatani-Oyakata's star deshi look bad, and cash in while he's at it?

My fear- ozumo is simply american pro-wrestling with shiko.

I feel the same way. I am not an expert on sumo like many of you on this forum, but it is my favorite sport and I follow it at as closely as my time allows me. That's why I'm kinda shaken right now, surely my hero Kaio can't be a lowly match-fixer? One of the reasons sumo appeals to me is that it still has a sense of dignity and pride, but if this stuff is true, all my illusions will be taken away. Having said that, if you are involved in something like this, you keep your mouth shut unless you are completely stupid. It is hard to believe that Kaio, Asa and Chiyo would involve themselves with this idiot. Somehow this whole story sounds like a complete fabrication by Miyagino (I hope).

[Asashosakari]

Doesn't that then mean even I could buy one?

Well, you could, as the Wajima example shows pretty conclusively. The problem is a) finding somebody to sell you one, and b) the inevitable Kyokai reaction when they "lean" on you to sell/hand it back to them.

At any rate, while the Kyokai obviously has quite some leeway in what they put into their by-laws, they're still subject to certain societal norms, such as inheritance laws and basic property rights in this case. Given the considerable financial value of a kabu, I don't see how they couldn't be, actually.

Edited May 24, 2007 by Asashosakari

[Kotonosato]

I am convinced Wajima could have kept the kabu even after getting kicked out of the kyokai - it's his property after all. But what use is it to him if he can't get the benefits (oyakata salary) anymore and has to pay back a loan to shady gentlemen? So he certainly sold it - with emphasis on "sold", not getting taken away for nothing.

Was Wajima a stablemaster at the time (like Miyagino), or only a kabu-holding toshiyori? I'm sure that would make a difference in what the kyokai decides.

[Jakusotsu]

It is hard to believe that Kaio, Asa and Chiyo would involve themselves with this idiot.

That's a pretty good point I think. If the current Miyagino (emphasis on current might be appropriate) is indeed such an odd character, would the top crop of the game really do any of this dealings with him, and for such a ridiculous prize too?

I'm not above believing that the rikishi would be inclined to act favourably sometimes (this basho's Kaio\Taikai bout could be an apt yet insufficient example), but this whole story just doesn't feel right. I wonder what will come out of it eventually.

Edit: I'm not through with reading all related subjects yet, but I won't be surprised to find some claims that Miyagino bought Taikai's win today against Asashoryu as well...

Edited May 24, 2007 by Jakusotsu

[Jokkamura]

Professionell sports is a) business and b) a toy for the rich ones everywhere. Winning or earning (or both) is essential. I stuck with sumo now for about 12 years because of a slight hope that in a traditional society there might be some difference but finally that's a stupid illusion.

But what's life without illusion? So let's continue! :-S

[philafuji]

There are only two ways I can think of to explain this. Well, two ways that don't involve the existence of rampant yaocho.

1. Miyagino is incredibly, unbelievably stupid. Stupid to the point of childlike. This, and he is desperate to prove his brilliance to his lover by explaining his influence.

2. Miyagino is in on it, and this is a setup.

Neither of them make that perfect sense.

On the other hand, Miyagino's story doesn't make much sense either. Some things I thought about:

1. 3 million yen to throw a zensho yusho? Isn't a zensho yusho worth 5 million yen more than a normal one just in prize money, let alone the giant hosho-kin bonus? Seems strange.

2. Where did he get money to bribe Kaio down in Sandanme? Throwing away career aspirations (on Kaio's part) for pocket money?

3. Asashoryu didn't want to be thrown, but a yoritaoshi is cool. No-one feels humiliated when they've been yoritaoshi'd.

4. This is just my gut. But if what he says is true, then everything, *everything* about sumo is a giant, pointless farce. I cannot believe this. I cannot believe that Kaio and Chiyotaikai possess no fighting spirit.

My instinctive reaction- Miyagino oyakata is in on this, and he is a disgrace to sumo. Perhaps he wants to make Kumagatani-Oyakata's star deshi look bad, and cash in while he's at it?

My fear- ozumo is simply american pro-wrestling with shiko.

Rhino,

Agreed with every word you wrote. The last statement on American Pro Wrestling is what I am afraid of. It has crossed my mind a few times. Let's hope both of us are wrong on this one.