Re: Questions from a new(ish) fan...

[stuart3@itsnet.com (Stuart Smith)]

I don't get to view sumo much - only a few videos from several years ago
- but I view slapping and tsuppari as different things.  I see Terao's
tsuppari, or thrusting to the chest, face, and neck, as part of a
strength and quickness game.  I put Akebono's nodo-wa into that
category.

On the other hand, I see 'slapping' as one of those round-house whacks
upside the head, meant more to knock an opponent senseless than to power
him off the dohyo.  I seem to remember someone hitting Akebono with a
round-house slap to the face that produced a resounding 'crack' that
could be heard all over the kokugikan (or wherever the basho happened to
be).  It so enraged Akebono that the just blasted the opponent right off
the dohyo, much more so than usual. 

While I recognize that slapping, as I've defined it, is a part of the
game, I do not like to see it used too often.  I love to see good
tsuppari, as I feel it requires a certain amount of skill, power,
balance, and technique.

Stuart


Jon Leader wrote:
> 
> Aside from the slapping, especially the recent Wakanayama (sp?)
> incident, I like Takatoriki.  He makes a bad first impression, but as
> you become a more seasoned fan you have to admire his pugnacity and
> attitude.  Also, he has gone far with fairly limited skills.  I do not
> speak Japanese, but when I watch him off the dohyo he seems engaging,
> bright, and funny.  Not the deer in the headlights look with grunted
> answers sometimes seen.
> 
> As for Terao, handsome is as handsome does.  However, his slaps seem
> less vicious.  Perhaps because he is smiling?  Also, my recollection is
> that he is more of a windmill, dervish guy than a slugger.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Messer [mailto:smesser@hiddenmind.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 6:34 AM
> To: jkleader
> Cc: sumo@brooks.statgen.ncsu.edu
> Subject: Re: Questions from a new(ish) fan...
> 
> jkleader wrote:
> >
> > 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?
> >
> 
> Probably the number-one "slapper" in sumo is Terao.  He begins nearly
> all of
> his matches with windmill slaps to the face and neck of his opponent.
> And
> yet Terao is much-loved on this list and no one calls him cheap or
> dirty.
> I think the slapping is just another technique - some rikishi use this
> style
> and some don't.  It doesn't seem to be considered bad form.  I think
> sometimes we Westerners (and most of us are Westerners) see something
> like
> henka or slapping and immediately extrapolate this into our culture and
> deem it "unsportsmanlike" or what have you.  Actually these things are
> not
> frowned upon so much in sumo, as far as I can tell.  I can list several
> popular rikishi who make use or have made use of both of these styles on
> a regular basis.
> 
> Regarding Takatoriki - I think if he was as handsome as Terao, he would
> probably be well-liked on this list just as Terao is.  If Terao were
> ugly,
> he would probably be generally disliked on this list and more comments
> would be made about his slapping.  Takatoriki is not generally spoken
> well
> of on this list, and it seems to be mostly due to the way he looks.
> 
> sjm