What sumo-related issue engages you the most?

[Yubiquitoyama]

Maybe this should be in Off-topic subforum, but tisnce it really is sumo reated it ended up here. Just something for the off-basho season...

A short explanation of the poll:

Wherever fans meet to discuss something, there are some issues that gets more response/irritation/excitement/controversy than others, and those issues also tend to re-emerge forever and ever whenever one thought it would have died.

I'm somewhat interested in which of those issues engage you the most. Everyone gets more or less agitated when his/her favorite rikishi gets bashed, but this concerns more the general type of issues, the controversial once. Which one makes you emerge from lurking status, or gets you to lose your calm?

I'm sure I have missed some, but these are the issues I recalled immediately.

For those new to the sport, here is a short explanation of some of the choices:

Henka: Stepping aside when the match starts, trying to get the opponent to fall and lose directly. Often regarded as dishonorable and a constantly recurring issue.

Yaocho: Fixed matches. There are many different interpretations what is yaocho and whether it exists. Is it yaocho not to be completely focues when already kachi-koshi, or only when the yakuza pays you to fall? And what exists?

Heya advantage: Rikishi in the same heya never meet each other. In Futagoyama (With rikishi such as Takanohana, Wakanohana, Takanonami, Akinoshima etc) of the 90s and Musashigawa (Musashimaru, Dejima, Musoyama, Miyabiyama etc) around the century shift this meant that some rikishi got an easier match schedule than others, not having to meet all the top opposition. Or so some would argue.

The injury issue: What can and should be done about the increasing number of injuries in the sport. Should it be possible to stay at the same rank if injured. Does the weight of the rikishi mean more injuries etc.

Rasism in Ozumo: Is there or have ever been a tendecy to be more lenient on Japanese rikishi than foreigners? Comes up now and then...

Popularity: Sumo attendance go up, go down, oscillate... What can the Kyokai do? What SHOULD they do. And what NOT do to? An issue that can agitate at times.

Women on the dohyo: Women can't ever touch the dohyo, which was examplified when the Osaka governor wasn't allowed to give the Osaka governor's award during prize ceremonies. Many different opinions on this one...

So. Let's see what you say (and what I forgot...) .

:-P

[Zentoryu]

I used to get really wound up about henka and yaocho. That is until I realized that so many people have distinctly different and unshakeable opinions about it. At that point I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth arguing about any more, since it usually leads to no where.

Nowadays, the only thing that really stirs any kind of passion in me is the Injury issue. So that's what I voted for.

[Jesinofuji]

I was torn between a few of them so I voted all of the above.

[Asashosakari]

I don't get stirred by the issues as such, just by people who try to twist them into something unreasonable. :-P Over time, I'll probably just give up and go into ignore mode when they're brought up, as Zentoryu-zeki is doing. (What's your secret?)

Ironically, I've also voted for the same choice as he has (the injury issue), as discussions about that topic have been pretty thought-provoking and constructive in the past, so it's one issue that I've actually felt involved about, rather than just trying to engage "the other side" of the debate. :-(

[Kaikitsune Makoto]

Maybe yaocho threads can get a bit too much sometimes, not because of the topic itself but because of some of the claims and theories which are from googoo land.

[Chinonofuji]

Right now I'd say demotion criteria for Ozeki in particular.

[Kashunowaka]

I was torn between a few of them so I voted all of the above.

I had real difficulties deciding, so I asked my wife what she thought I should vote, explaining the options to her. "What do you think makes me engaged the most?". "Sumo."

So I voted for "All of the above".

By the way, so far no one has voted "Heya advantage". We are not in 1995 anymore...

[Yubiquitoyama]

By the way, so far no one has voted "Heya advantage". We are not in 1995 anymore...

No, but one "stupid poll maker" :-P

[Fujisan]

Theres only one thing getting me agitated at this moment in time and for those slow on the uptake its the treatment of my north pole ichimon pal(ex) Dubya-

Sorry if thats stretching things but all the other things really dont worry me.

[Rijicho]

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I couldn't care less about the Bench Sumo melee. If it's a problem to someone here on this forum, it's to be discussed on the Bench Sumo mailing list, not here! Any post on this forum about Bench Sumo's internal problems will be deleted at the earliest possibility from now on.

[Fujisan]

I understand Rijicho it isnt a problem but I sent that message before I saw your warning ok.

[Kotoseiya Yuichi]

(..) I sent that message before I saw your warning ok.

OK, says rijicho behind my shoulder.

[Zenjimoto]

I voted women on the dohyo. I've been on record about this issue before, and it's pretty much the only one I felt strong enough to post to the SML about and state my opinion.

The other thing that gets my juices flowing a bit are allegations of hazing/mistreatment of young deshi, which I think has a lot to do with sumo's problems today (namely people not wanting to join, and also being injured before they really get started, for no good reason at all...)

Cheers

Z.

[Yoavoshimaru]

I'm so calm and serene, I feel like I'm floating.... :-P

Well, when it comes to sumo anyways. My level of passion for sumo is enough for enjoyment yet not high enough so that I get angry at things.

The red sox are a different matter.

[Takanobaka]

The red sox are a different matter.

(Pulling hair...) (Pulling up a swede...) (Getting punched...) (Protesting...) (Laughing...) (Jumping on the other guy...) (Being ill...) (Hanged myself...) (Foot in mouth...) (Depressed...) (Pirate bones...) (Running over the other guy...) (In a bad mood...) :-D (Annoyed...) :-P (Ranting...) Fricking Red Sox....

[Mark Buckton]

I didn't vote.

Not because there wasn't a good selection of choices but because the option of 'other' wasn't there.

For me sumo goes something like a book by Yukio Mishima.

(a popular but taboo Japanese writer who lived from 1925-70)

Mishima always focussed on the relations between people and his own homosexuality (one of the things along with his method of death that makes him still a taboo in J society) put no limits on the combinations whether peole agreed with him or not.

Sumo, especially up close at 'keiko' is about man versus man. The sounds, the smells, the expressions on the faces (stoicism is not as widespread as you'd think -

look at the eyes, the corners of the mouth) and of course methodology they use to secure victory or the ease with which they accept defeat. - that's sumo for me

Bit deep.

ANR

[Zuikakuyama]

His way of "accepting" defeat of a bit weird.

Disembowling oneself and cutting one's head off.

[Mark Buckton]

His way of "accepting" defeat of a bit weird.

Disembowling oneself and cutting one's head off.

Don't know the 'defeat' you mean Zui-san,

Apologies for any off topic avenues seemingly taken here but it is linked to sumo in terms of rituals enacted and the perfection of the victor in the eyes of the gods or even the purity of the defeated in the actions he takes.

Mishima emerged, as any scholar of the man or Japanese literature at large would probably admit as the VICTOR in attaining the purity he sought throughout his life in the 'method' of death - not in the mere attainment of death - a bottle of whisky and a packet of painkillers will get that goal for you but makes you a loser for the most part does it not.

Any rikishi winning or losing a match travels that same, as Mishima, avenue following victory or defeat in the actions he performs - be it the acknowlegement of the gods in the 'hand gestures' or be it the method of exiting the ring first (entering death albeit for one day only).

After all, were not some rikishi 'promoted' to samurai rank in the Edo period and did not Mishima (falsely) claim such lineage through his grandmother? And what was their (the samurai's) ultimate method of honorable discharge? - seppuku - the 'defeat' you believe Mishima admitted when he performed his own version of 'exiting the ring'.

ANR

[Yubiquitoyama]

Not because there wasn't a good selection of choices but because the option of 'other' wasn't there.

Well, as you have specified what you think I suppose it doesn't really matter whether you actually voted on something, but I did think that "Something else (please specify)" was pretty much equivalent to "Other". (Laughing...)

Edited October 30, 2003 by Yubiquitoyama