RE: More attempts at answers...

["Joshua A. Reyer" <jreyer@grn.mmtr.or.jp>]

> Many ways!  Recruiting good college rikishi is one way.  Some
> kids *want* to
> become rikishi and approach the stable.  Word-of-mouth about a young, big,
> strong kid out in the inaka (sticks) is another....
>
> > Do they focus on specific geographical regions or
> > recruit from a specific socio-economic class?
>
> It used to be the poor big kids from the rural, working class,
> who were costing
> their families too much to feed, who used to be the main source
> for rikishi.
> Also Hokkaido *was* traditionally a place where a lot of good rikishi came
> from.  It seems to have changed quite a bit these days.

According to my pocket guide from Baseball Magazine-sha, the top 5 places
for rikishi (current as of January 1999), are Tokyo (67), Fukuoka (63),
Aichi (58), Osaka (57) and a three-way tie of Aomori, Hyogo, and Kagoshima
at 39.  It's easy to see why the top 4 are there; they are all major
metropolitan areas.  So I guess the key spots to look at are Aomori (home of
many famous rikishi), Hyogo, and Kagoshima.  It should be noted that, for
the purposes of forming koenkai, some of those hometown statistics are fake.
Terao is listed as coming from Kagoshima, but he and his brothers were all
born and raised in Tokyo.  But since his *father* came from Kagoshima...

>> > What is the story behind the rise and fall of the House of Futogoyama?
>
> There was a merger with another strong Heya.  Also the Oyakattas
> two strong
> sons, Taka and Waka, were a major force in the heya becoming dominant.

Well that's the rise part.  The fall part comes from aging rikishi,
scandals, and sibling rivalry.

> > What
> > is the story behind the rise of the House of Musashigawa?
>
> They have possibly the best training regime, and dedication out of all the
> current stables.  The Oyakatta is especially attentive.  But, the dominant
> rikishi in the Heya would have done well in any Heya they had
> gone too, with the
> possible exception of Wakanoyama who is surely benefitting from
> his heya-mates.

It should be noted, though that Wakanoyama is the only native Japanese
Musashigawa sekitori who went through the ranks, as it were.  Musashimaru's
Hawaiian/Samoan, and Musoyama, Dejima and Miyabiyama are all former college
rikishi.

Josh Reyer