Questions from a new(ish) fan...

["jkleader" <jkleader@email.msn.com>]

I'm an avid fan and have been a mailing list lurker for a year or so.  I've
saved up a number of questions and hope you can provide illumination.  I
apologize for the length, especially as the most knowledgeable seem to have
the least time.  Perhaps you can answer a few questions here and there over
the weeks before the next basho.

Do stables have characteristic styles?  For example, do some specialize in
pushers or belt men or henka artists or big guys or small guys?  Do some
have special mawashi colors?  A distinctive style of salt throwing? A
specific tachai technique?  What are the characteristics associated with the
major stables?

Is the term stable appropriate or should I use heya (or something else)?
Even though I see stable often on the ML and in the magazines and books, it
seems a bit demeaning (calling to mind race horses and greyhounds).  Is it a
"literal" translation?  Is a better term "team" or "club" or "frat house"?

How do stables recruit?  Do they focus on specific geographical regions or
recruit from a specific socio-economic class?  [In other words, do some
attract the rich boys and others the poor boys, the farmers' sons vs. the
city boys, college boys vs. townies, northerners vs. southerners, eastsiders
vs. westerners, hills vs. shore?]

Do Oyakata rely on their own charisma to recruit?  Send out star rikishi to
dazzle the prospects?  Are there alumni groups or booster clubs that scour
the countryside signing up raw recruits?  Do stables compete for recruits
like American colleges compete for football players (for example, offering
better accommodations, better food, a better location, less work, higher
pay, under the table payments to the parents, promises that political
influence within the Kyokai will grease the skids, more chicks or sake)?

Is there a limit on the number of recruits a stable can sign?  For example,
could the ascendant Musashigawa stable sign up all of the hot prospects and
leave the cupboard bare for everyone else?  Would the Kyokai limit the
number to level the playing field?  Is there an equivalent to the draft
system used by American professional sports?

What does an Oyakata look for in a prospect?  Size, speed, strength,
obedience, desire, a good family?  Are there competing schools of thought?
Do some stables look for the best physical talent and place less emphasis on
character?  Do some refuse to accept potential troublemakers, no matter how
talented?

Why do some stables (Futogoyama, Musashigawa, Dewanoumi, Sadogatake) seem to
have more or better quality rikishi?

What is the story behind the rise and fall of the House of Futogoyama?  What
is the story behind the rise of the House of Musashigawa?  Better
management, better training, luck?

Do some stables seem to be snake-bitten or cursed?  For example, there seem
to be a large number of stables who never have anyone in the top divisions?

Do hot prospects flock to a stable on the rise or will they stay away
thinking they will not receive sufficient attention or support?  For
example, in American sports a prospect will often be very concerned over the
amount of playing time he will receive and how fast he can become the star
on the team.

Can one (OK, can I) join a koenkai from the USA?  How would one (I) do so?
What are the benefits and obligations of membership?

I've read that rikishi are considered good luck charms or bring good
fortune.  They kiss babies, attend the opening of businesses, etc.  Is this
true?  If so, why?

I've also read allusions to rikishi being party boys, pub crawlers, and
womanizers?  Is this true?  Generally true?  Even during a basho?  Who is
know for partying or for abstaining?

If a rikishi does not like his stable or his stablemates or his Oyakata, can
he switch to another?  If so, how easy or difficult is this?

The little wash cloths the rikishi use before bouts seem to come in several
colors (e.g., yellow, blue, pink).  Does the color have any significance?

Are certain areas of Japan known for producing rikishi?  Certain classes of
society?  I've read that Hokkaido once was a fertile ground and that once
many farmers' and fishermans' sons became rikishi.  This no longer seems to
be true.

Do rikishi try to psych each other out in the locker room?  Or have their
minions or stablemates try to psych out their opponents?  Do the minions try
to pump up their masters?  If so, how?

I known there is no overt trash talking in sumo, but is there a more subtle
form of attempted intimidation that escapes my notice?

Is it considered bad form to slap an opponent (as henka is considered, by
some, to be bad form)?  I see few take a swing at an opponent like
Takatoriki.  It often looks cheap and dirty to me.  What does the Kyokai and
the other rikishi think about this?

Why does Terao sometimes touch salt to his right shoulder before entering
the ring?

What is the real story behind the absence of Hawaiian or American recruits
in recent years?  Kawika says conspiracy, Doreen says balderdash.  With the
success of Akebono, Musashimaru, Konishiki, Yamato, and even Sentoryu, I'd
think there would be guys in kimonos hanging out at every Dairy Queen on
Oahu (or Missouri) handing out envelopes of yen to young guys with the right
appetite.  There don't seem to be any Americans in the pipeline, despite
their great and proven success.  Or, am I missing something?  Were there
hundreds of Americans who stormed into sumo, upset the delicate and ancient
balance, with only a small percentage making it to the top?

Thank you for reading this far.  If any sumo fan is in the westside of Los
Angeles and wants to talk sumo (or classical music, or wine, or books, or
law, or art, or electric cars) and can handle a house with two small
children, drop me a line.  I warn you, my daughter does a mean henka.
Worse, she's unrepentant and will laugh at any lummox who falls for it.