RE: [sumo] heya jumping?

["Jezz S" <jejima@hotmail.com>]

The general rule is that a rikishi is not allowed to switch heyas during his 
sumo-life, and there is certainly no trading between heyas.

However, if a heya were to close (perhaps due to a lack of rikishi?), then 
the rikishi would move onto another heya within the same ichimon.

If two heyas merge (there have been a couple of cases in recent history), 
then again all the rikishi from one heya would effectively be joining the 
other.

In addition, sometimes an oyakata at a heya (not the main oyakata of the 
heya) may decide to break off on his own, and start a new heya (with the 
blessing of the 'parent heya's' oyakata) - on such occasions, he'll probably 
take a few deshi with him to form the initial nucleus of his new heya.

Disclaimer:  All the above info is taken from memory, and so is probably 
full of errors ;-)

Cheers,

Jejima



From: "Andrew Coulston" <wakaranyo@hotmail.com>
To: sumo@statgen.ncsu.edu
Subject: [sumo] heya jumping?
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 19:18:16 -0600

Here's a question posed to me by one of my friends:

Can sumo wrestlers ever switch heya?

My instinct was to answer that I'd never heard of it happening, but I didn't 
know if there was an explicit rule against this, or if it was just 
tradition.  So, my question to all of you is, has a wrestler ever switched 
heya?  Could a heya "buy" a wrestler from another heya like professional 
sports teams do in the U.S.? Or is there some kind of unbreakable contract 
with one and only one heya by which rikishi must abide upon their entering 
the sport?

Oh, here's another one, posed by the same friend:

Regardless of the mythical origins of sumo, is there a generally recognized 
date for the beginning of the sport as a modern sport?

I know that it has been practiced as a contest for 1500 years, and the 
official Nihon Sumo Kyokai site says that, "Professional sumo groups were 
organized to entertain the rapidly expanding plebian class and sumo came 
into its own as the national sport of Japan. The present Japan Sumo 
Association has its origins in these groups first formed in the Edo Period." 
 I guess this answers that question, but does anyone know the years of 
active wrestling/promotion of the first Yokozuna, Akashi Shiganosuke?

Thanks,
Andonoryu

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[EndPost by "Andrew Coulston" <wakaranyo@hotmail.com>]

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