News: NSK announce new rules on foreigners in Ozumo!

[Lynn Matsuoka <artist@traditions.jp>]

 TOKYO, JAPAN (Tonkatsu Sports News, 04/01/2003)
> -- In a shocking 
> announcement, Nihon Sumo Kyokai Rijicho Kitanoumi
> today introduced 
> what he called "necessary revisions to the Sumo
> Association's position
> on foreign rikishi participation".
> 
> According to the Chairman, the NSK has opted to
> modify the rules 
> governing foreign participation in Japan's
> national sport, for the
> second time in just a few years.  Currently, each
> heya (stable) is 
> allowed to include one foreign rikishi (with the
> exception of several
> grandfathered-in heya which already included more
> than one grappler
> before the rule was instituted).  According to
> the NSK, the new rule
> allows every heya to take on up to three foreign
> rikishi, but instead
> limits the number of rikishi allowed from EACH
> COUNTRY to just ONE -
> excluding, of course, Japan itself.
> 
> The move was apparently designed to stem the
> heavy influx of Mongolian
> rikishi into Japan's traditional sport, a
> phenomenon that produced the
> current perplexing situation of Mongolia
> outnumbering any of Japan's
> Prefectures in sheer numbers of competing
> rikishi.
> 
> Kitanoumi, however, denied that the rules change
> had anything to do
> with the strong Mongolian presence: "This is not
> a move to limit the
> number of wrestlers from any particular country
> or countries, but
> rather an attempt at allowing more international
> variety on the dohyo.
>   We think it better serves the global exposure
> of sumo, as 
> stablemasters now will have an opportunity to
> take on more talents
> from overseas if they wish, and that talent pool
> will have a wider
> reach to varied audiences around the world."
> 
> According to the draft which was unanimously
> signed into effect by the
> nine Oyakata on the NSK's Policy Board, the new
> rule will take effect
> one year from today (04/01/2004), at which time
> only the top ranked
> rikishi from each represented nation (excluding
> Japan) will be allowed
> to remain on the official Banzuke.  Rikishi who
> are not the "best" of
> their respective country will be removed from the
> Banzuke at that 
> time, regardless of their ranking position.
> 
> The announcement has created heavy shockwaves
> amongst the foreign
> wrestlers.  "It is a very hurtful plan" was a
> visibly stressed 
> Kyokutenho's brief response to reporters.  The
> Mongolian, expected to
> take the rank of Komusubi during the upcoming
> Natsu Basho in May,
> would face forced removal from the Banzuke,
> unless he can best his
> Yokozuna compatriot, Asashoryu.  The same fate
> would befall the other
> two Mongolians in the top Makuuchi division,
> Kyokushuzan and 
> Asasekiryu, as well as the 30+ Mongolians in the
> lower, toriteki ranks.
> 
> In a statement to the Russian TASS News Agency,
> Russian brothers Roho
> and Hakurozan, two rikishi working their way up
> the lower divisions,
> commented on the heartbreak they now face: give
> up their 
> nationalities, or see at least one of them return
> home within a year.
>   "I was not planning on trying [for] Japanese
> citizenship just yet,"
> said Hakurozan, "but it may be the only way for
> us both to remain here
> and continue to compete."  "We both came here to
> follow our dream and
> do our beloved Russia proud... and [now] this has
> become a burst 
> bubble.  Tense times are ahead." added a
> teary-eyed Roho.  Besides the
> brothers two further Russians are currently vying
> for that sole future
> Russian berth in sumo - Amuru and Orora.
> 
> However, any foreign rikishi trying to escape the
> new rule through 
> acquiring Japanese citizenship may be up against
> heavy odds, as the
> current process to gain Japanese nationality
> takes a minimum of three
> years, and could be even longer for persons
> without any living
> relatives inside Japan.  It may be easier for
> them to assume other
> different nationalities that have shorter
> application and processing
> times.  It remains however doubtful that one year
> will leave enough
> time for the aquisition of ANY nationality.
> 
> Georgian shin-Juryo Kokkai commented: "So far I
> am lucky, being the
> only Georgian in sumo.  But I can not imagine
> what my friends are
> undergoing.  I hope the NSK reconsiders, or that
> [they] find a way to
> acquire new citizenship.  I would hate to see
> [their careers] end like
> this!"
> 
> Kyokushuzan has told Tonkatsu Sports News though
> his tsukebito that he
> plans to go all out over the coming year, to try
> and attain a higher
> rank than his countryman Asashoryu, and that if
> he should fail in this
> quest, he will retire rather than assume another
> nationality. 
> Assuming that Asashoryu will retain his position
> as Yokozuna (Grand
> Champion), Kyokushuzan would need to reach that
> rank in a previously
> unprecedented run from his current Maegashira
> position in just five
> tournaments, a feat that seems nearly impossible.
>  Hearing of this,
> Yokozuna Asashoryu remarked that "with all due
> respect, [he] did not
> feel threatened by this prospect".
>  

>> Other top-ranked Mongolian rikishi Asasekiryu
>> could not immediately be
>> reached for comments, but according to sources
>> inside Takasago-beya,
>> Asasekiryu has stated that he will seek to
>> acquire German citizenship
>> in order to remain wrestling.  According to our
>> sources, he has said
>> that "he once had a Dachshund, owns a Blaupunkt
>> karaoke machine, finds
>> Lederhosen hilarious, and likes to chug
>> St.-Pauli-Girl Beer, so the
>> choice was obvious".

--------------------------HMMM----------------
This is disconcerting. But Asasekiryu  gets the personality sho.

Perhaps they should also  limit Japanese participation to one guy per
prefecture.

But then, with Takanohana  now making his  obligatory/default  come-back,
things are looking up.

And- maybe they should really scrutinize Yokozuna Chiyonofuji¹s paperwork
and try to get HIM back too! he looks pretty good these days.

Hey- even my ex-husband Iwatora ­ zeki (M7) told me recently that HE wants
to make a come-back. He said- after watching sumo for awhile recently, that
he believed if he started again in Jonokuchi, he could make sanyaku in a
couple of years. I told him that 22 is  the cut-off age now, and 54 might be
a bit too old, but he claims that since he still has all his hair, a great
looking chonmage  and his well- known command of multiple techniques will
convince  the SK that he can do the job.


I am just the messenger.

L Matsuoka







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