Terunofuji and Japanese citizenship

[Muhomatsu 247]

Seems the new Yok is also a new citizen!

 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6400645

 

[Seiyashi 4,109]

That's either really fast - it was only reported in March this year - or he'd kickstarted the process well before that. At least there won't be any Kakuryu shenanigans to blight the tail end of his career.

Now the next interesting question is, it seems Isegahama-beya has another Mongolian recruit who's currently serving as tsukebito to Terunofuji while undergoing the 1-year familiarisation. Does that imply a time limit on Terunofuji's career?

[Hakumadashi 28]

36 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

That's either really fast - it was only reported in March this year - or he'd kickstarted the process well before that. At least there won't be any Kakuryu shenanigans to blight the tail end of his career.

Now the next interesting question is, it seems Isegahama-beya has another Mongolian recruit who's currently serving as tsukebito to Terunofuji while undergoing the 1-year familiarisation. Does that imply a time limit on Terunofuji's career?

But wouldn't that then be the only official foreigner at Isegahama? Or does Teru still count despite changing citizenship. 

(Please excuse the presumably somewhat noobish question)

[Katooshu 3,485]

3 minutes ago, Hakumadashi said:

But wouldn't that then be the only official foreigner at Isegahama? Or does Teru still count despite changing citizenship. 

(Please excuse the presumably somewhat noobish question)

Still counts as a foreigner. 

[Kintamayama 47,464]

The 5th foreign yokozuna to acquire citizenship. Akebono, Musashimaru, Hakuhou, Kakuryuu and now Terunofuji.

[Tigerboy1966 1,671]

6 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

That's either really fast - it was only reported in March this year - or he'd kickstarted the process well before that.

I'm thinking that he started his application before his return to sekitori, which is why it didn't get much media attention. Even with Kakuryu, who went through the process in the full glare of late yokozuna-hood, there were a lot of gaps in the coverage.

[Jemuzu 34]

23 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I'm thinking that he started his application before his return to sekitori, which is why it didn't get much media attention. Even with Kakuryu, who went through the process in the full glare of late yokozuna-hood, there were a lot of gaps in the coverage.

That would make sense as a fallback if his comeback didn’t work out 

[Seiyashi 4,109]

https://www.nikkansports.com/m/battle/sumo/news/amp/202108040000374.html?__twitter_impression=true

So it turns out he applied 2 years ago when he fell to Jonidan. 

As expected, he takes Asahifuji's family name of Suginomori, but he remains coy about his given name. (Maybe if anyone knows a way to dig up the Government Gazette or whatever document it was where it was discovered that Kakuryu was granted citizenship...) 

He also says his wife and child are not changing nationality at this time. 

[Asashosakari 20,338]

The gazette is here, he's the very first entry in the left-most column. Unless I'm blind it doesn't show the name change though, he's just good ol' Gantulga Ganerdene there.

[Seiyashi 4,109]

That's a right bummer. I guess we'll just have to wait for his official profile page on the NSK site to update (it lists Hakuho's real name as Hakuho so it will, the only question is when).

Very random bit of miscellaneous trivia someone has probably already mentioned in his promotion thread, but which I just noticed from his page: Terunofuji is the first Heisei-born yokozuna.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Mets_bs 0]

14 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Still counts as a foreigner. 

Is that applicable since Terunofuji transferred from another stable? I thought that was the circumvention of the foreigner rule

[Gurowake 4,164]

6 hours ago, Mets_bs said:

Is that applicable since Terunofuji transferred from another stable? I thought that was the circumvention of the foreigner rule

It doesn't matter how the foreigner is acquired.  You can have multiple foreigners (like Kasugano does) through heya consolidation, but you can't recruit another until they're all gone.

[Ripe 82]

Could that Mongolian training at Isegahama be a hint that Ajigawa is considering opening his own heya? He certainly meet the criteria to do so. But I'm not sure if it was something that was mentioned before...

Edited August 5, 2021 by Ripe

[Seiyashi 4,109]

34 minutes ago, Ripe said:

Could that Mongolian training at Isegahama be a hint that Ajigawa is considering opening his own heya? He certainly meet the criteria to do so. But I'm not sure if it was something that was mentioned before...

AFAIK Ajigawa is the slated successor to Isegahama, who's 4 years to retirement. I mooted that possibility to Herouth when she first broke the news, but we've come no closer to resolving the mystery, or if it means Terunofuji is indeed planning to retire within a year.

[Ripe 82]

5 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

AFAIK Ajigawa is the slated successor to Isegahama, who's 4 years to retirement. I mooted that possibility to Herouth when she first broke the news, but we've come no closer to resolving the mystery, or if it means Terunofuji is indeed planning to retire within a year.

I didn't know about Ajigawa being set to take over Isegahama... but I'm assuming that was before Terunofuji got his comeback and became a Yokozuna (not to mention Japanese citizen). With Terunofuji getting the citizenship and the rope, would it really be surprising if there is a change in "line of succession" for Isegahama?

[Seiyashi 4,109]

10 minutes ago, Ripe said:

I didn't know about Ajigawa being set to take over Isegahama... but I'm assuming that was before Terunofuji got his comeback and became a Yokozuna (not to mention Japanese citizen). With Terunofuji getting the citizenship and the rope, would it really be surprising if there is a change in "line of succession" for Isegahama?

But the other chap joined before Terunofuji made yokozuna. I wouldn't rule it out entirely since Terunofuji has about 4 years to retire and take over, which sounds about the right estimate of the remainder of his fighting career, but somehow that strikes me as a bit of a weird move considering how much of a mentor Aminishiki already is to the Isegahama crew. Not to mention that as a former ozeki, with citizenship pending, Terunofuji didn't need to come back to be eligible to succeed either - but if your point is that him making yok makes him a more ideal successor....

Yeah, I dunno. It's definitely a mystery.

[hakutorizakura 697]

Soo... who said Mongolians are dominating sumo? The yoks are all Japanese...

[WAKATAKE 2,770]

6 hours ago, hakutorizakura said:

Soo... who said Mongolians are dominating sumo? The yoks are all Japanese...

Their legal status isn't what matter. If your shusshin (place of origin) is Mongolia, the US or any country not Japan, you are considered a foreigner

[Yamanashi 4,091]

28 minutes ago, WAKATAKE said:

Their legal status isn't what matter. If your shusshin (place of origin) is Mongolia, the US or any country not Japan, you are considered a foreigner

"Roger, W1, we think your Sarcasm Detector is malfunctioning.  Please recalibrate and scan the previous message."

[Kintamayama 47,464]

21 hours ago, Ripe said:

I didn't know about Ajigawa being set to take over Isegahama... but I'm assuming that was before Terunofuji got his comeback and became a Yokozuna (not to mention Japanese citizen). With Terunofuji getting the citizenship and the rope, would it really be surprising if there is a change in "line of succession" for Isegahama?

Yes.

[Gurowake 4,164]

Could Aminishiki say "I'm starting Ajigawa-beya.  Its temporary location will be in the same building as Isegahama-beya." in order to get another foreigner in?  I suppose maybe one of the requirements would be to have its own dohyo, which might be hard to manage, but I'm not sure what other sorts of restrictions there are in order to say that one heya is not the same as another if there are two shishos.

[Seiyashi 4,109]

2 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

Could Aminishiki say "I'm starting Ajigawa-beya.  Its temporary location will be in the same building as Isegahama-beya." in order to get another foreigner in?  I suppose maybe one of the requirements would be to have its own dohyo, which might be hard to manage, but I'm not sure what other sorts of restrictions there are in order to say that one heya is not the same as another if there are two shishos.

This feels awfully, I dunno, obviously loophole exploitatish.

But that said, has it ever been done that there are two heya which change master at the same time? Say Aminishiki does that, then he takes over Isegahama, and Terunofuji takes over Ajigawa?

[Gurowake 4,164]

4 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

This feels awfully, I dunno, obviously loophole exploitatish.

Of course it is.  If you're going to have a silly rule of "one foreigner per heya", you should expect it to be exploited and have a solid definition for what a heya must have in order to be separate from another other than just an eligible shisho.

[Asashosakari 20,338]

Considering the board of directors is under no obligation to accept any heya application, the likelihood of loophole exploitation strikes me as rather low. What's your would-be exploiting oyakata going to do if they just say no?

[Seiyashi 4,109]

For the sake of argument, you'd obviously not in that scenario make it obvious or known that you're trying it for the sake of trying to circumvent the 1 foreigner per heya rule.

It does however open up the interesting hypothetical of whether two heya can be colocated. Among other things, what are the implications on the non-heyamate bouts rule if the two heya are practically one?