Re: [sumo] Re: Sumo Terms in English

[Charles Beauchamp <beauking1@yahoo.com>]

--- Katrina <katrina@shoin.ac.jp> wrote:
> 
> At the risk of adding more fuel to the fire of
> linguistic discussion,
> Mihogaseki Oyakata, who was in the Public Relations
> section at the time,
> once consulted me about the best words to use to
> describe some essentially
> sumo terms, since they were not very happy with the
> English translations.
> In addition to 'rikishi' as "wrestler", the were:
> 
> mawashi - belt
> 
> keshomawashi - apron
> 
> heya - stable
> 
> oyakata - stablemaster
> 
> dohyo - ring
> 
> They didn't like "belt" because it sounded like
> something that you use to
> hold your trousers up, 'apron" because it sounded
> like something you wear
> when washing the dishes, and "stable" and "stable
> master" because it sounded
> like horse training.
> 
> I had to agree about "belt", but what else can one
> say in English.  He
> suggested "loincloth" but that's worse than "belt",
> sounds like savages.  I
> explained that "apron" was actually quite a
> masculine garment to begin with,
> worn by blacksmiths and carpenters etc plying their
> trade.  I also assured
> him that "stable" was quite a respectable collective
> noun, also used for "a
> stable of wrestlers", "a stable of models", even "a
> stable of spies".  As
> for 'dohyo' being "ring", it is kind of round!
> 
> I really couldn't help him with any good English
> equivalents, I don't think
> there are any.  I suggested that as sumo became more
> popular with
> foreigners, we would use the Japanese terms for the
> very reason that there
> were no suitable direct translations.
> 
> Certainly this is true for the techniques.  Most
> people soon use "yorikiri"
> rather than "frontal force out", it's shorter for a
> start.  Then there are
> the kimarites that don't make much sense in their
> English translations,
> like, "the fisherman's throw", 'amiuchi', or "bell
> hammer backwards body
> drop", 'shumokuzori'.  What exactly is an "ankle
> pick" or an "inner thigh
> propping push down"?  OK, 'tsumatori' and
> 'uchimuso', but almost all the
> kimarite are better in Japanese, with some
> explanation of what they are,
> rather than trying to make up some equivalent word.
> 
> I agree that 'rikishi' are wrestlers, and I have
> even heard some of them
> tell foreigners, in English, that they are "sumo
> wrestlers", so I don't
> think they themselves are phobic about the word
> "wrestler".  Personally I
> prefer to use 'rikishi', 'mawashi' and so on, but am
> not totally opposed to
> the translations, depending on the circumstances.
> 
> Katrina
>   
> 
> [EndPost by Katrina <katrina@shoin.ac.jp>]


When I lived in Hawai'i Akebono was in his prime
dominance.  My oldest daughter was about 4 years old
and thought that Yokozuna referred to any very very
large person apparently....this led to one pretty
embarrassing moment in the Navy Exchange when she
innocently pointed to a massive Polynesian woman and
said "look!  Yokozuna!"  kids....sigh....

v/r Beau


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[EndPost by Charles Beauchamp <beauking1@yahoo.com>]