Re: Oyakata prerequisite

[Joe Kuroda <joe_kuroda@yahoo.com>]

--- Aaron Willis <awillis@spys.org> wrote:

> I like to compare
> the sport of sumo with other sports, so I will make
> my question for
> comparison now.  I will talk basketball because this
> is the sport I know and
> love the best.  The best coaches are the ones who
> are not necessarily the
> best players but the ones who spent most of their
> time on the bench learning
> and watching the game develop, such as Bobby Knight
> and Dean Smith.  Are
> Oyakatas found in this same manner?  

There is one major difference between sumo oyakatas
and Bobby Knights and Sparky Andersons.  The oyatakas
are not just coaches and managers - they are the
owner, general manager and manager.  

They may get disowned by the Kyokai due to misconduct
and become out of job but they don't lose their job
because they have a bad basho or two though they may
suffer financially.   

To become a heya-own oyakata, you need to have
established a certain distinction during your active
days - this means more or less you have at least
achieved a Makuuchi rank.  So you may get
Wakamonogashira who was a Makushita or Juryo rikishi
but never an oyakata.  

There are only certain number (I think it's around
103) of oyakataship called toshiyori shares.  You need
it to become an oyakata, obviously you don't get it if
your highest career finish was a Sandanme.

Second you also need to have quite a bit of money to
start and maintain a heya so it helps to have a good
number of backers and suppoerters - and they tend to
come only if you had a distingushed record.

Third to inherit a heya you need to be recognized by
the oyakata (it helps to be a son of oyakata but if
not possible from a DNA point of view, you can marry
an oyakata's daughter like Asahiyutaka or Kotonowaka
did).  Normally an oyakata picks his heir before he
retires - if you don't like the selection as you were
hoping it would be you, you have three options - you
give up  your hope and work for the new oyakata, leave
the heya and start your own or leave the sumo world
and become a "talento" like KONISHIKI did.

BTW you need to pay mucho yen to the previous heya
owner to take over so you beg, borrow or committ any
other dubious act to pay for it and you usually end up
getting into trouble with Tax Department like the
current Futagoyama or Kokonoe oyakata if I recall. If
you get caught, you get your pay cut for a month or
two by the Kyokai.             

=====
.....Jonosuke 
  <  Heart  Technique  Physique     ^ÐS   ^ËZ   ^ÑÌ  >
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Thousands of Stores.  Millions of Products.  All in one place.
Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com