[sumo] Wakanoyama Interview (old)

[Joe Kuroda <joe_kuroda@yahoo.com>]

This interview took place before the Haru Basho 2001.
?@

Wakanoyama had 9 wins and 6 losses at the 2001 Hatsu
Basho?@at Maegashira East 3 and gained his spot on
Komusubi in the Haru Basho.

=================================================

Sumo: You earned the Kanto-sho in the Hatsu Basho
(2001), ensuring your promotion to Komsubi next basho
for the first time in your career. This must have been
the best basho you've ever had.
Wakanoyama: Our young guys were telling me unless I'd
win one more, it wouldn't be certain, so that gave me
an added pressure on the Senshuraku. I was thinking
more like I'd be OK since I got Kachikoshi on the Day
12?@up to then. 

Sumo: When you got the kachikoshi and walking back on
the Hanamichi last basho, you appeared to be almost
overcame by emotion. 
Waka: At that time I started thinking at last I could
become a Sanyaku and I felt hot all over my body. Then
I lost two straight bouts. Those two days felt so
long. 
I knew Kyokutenho ranked lower than me but was doing
very well so I was really worried by then.

Sumo: When your promotion became certain after the
Senshuraku, you must had a lot of people coming to see
you to congratulate you.
Waka: The shisho (Musashigawa oyakata, former Yokozuna
Mienoumi) said to me, "Well done". At the Heya's
Launch party many supporters club members came over
and congratulated me on my performance and praised me
for my work so I felt really great. Like thinking life
can be this good. But then the next morning when I
woke up, I forgot all about it. I can't keep on
celebrating and needed to start thinking what to do
next. 

Sumo: Did't you remember all the hard times you had?
Waka: People kindly mention my hardships but you know
I don't feel as if I went througth that much of
hardships at all. I sometimes hear an oyakata doing
sumo broadcast saying I've had gone through a lot of
hardships but I don't particularly like to hear it. If
it was that hard, I'd have quit a long ago.

Sumo: But when you fell down to Makushita, you must
have some trying times. You were in Makushita starting
from September 1996 for 13 bashos.
Waka: The two years is a long time. I don't even
remember how many times I thought I'd quit. I felt I
wanted to quit more than anything sometimes. But right
now I just look back and think, yeah, there were times
like that. That's all.

Sumo: What sustained you through those tough times?
Waka: I guess it was my conviction that I really loved
sumo. Of course there were many people who helped me
out in those days but unless I really loved what I was
doing then, I could not have continued nor kept going
back to train more. 

Sumo: You are confident that you love sumo more than
anyone else.
Waka: You won't find too many who love it as much as I
do. I have been doing sumo since I was in elementary
school. I wasn't doing anything else other than sumo
back then. I liked it more than going to school. I was
thinking about sumo all day all night long. If you've
taken sumo out of me, I bet there was nothing left. I
know it's still the same. I knew even then there was
only one thing I could have done so there was 
only one choice for me to follow the only path
possible for me. I knew this was the only life I could
lead so I was ready to pursue it to the bitter end. 

Sumo: That must have been the reason you could have
overcome your serious illness.
Waka: I believe I am where I am now because I
experienced the illness while I was still young. If I
had a diabetes at the age of 25, I may have retired by
now. Because I was still young then, I had a spirit to
fight off the illness, thinking I'd never get beaten
by it. I feel strongly that the illness made me what I
am today, making me grow as a human being. Perhaps I
can only say this now but I feel it turned out well
that I got sick. I do really feel fortunate that I had
this experience.

Sumo: You have more empathy towards the younger
recruits...
Waka: Right. If I got up to Juryo when I was 19 years
old and had a rather smooth rikishi life, I could
spent my life never really knowing their feeling. I
guess if everything just goes well for you, then you
naturally become insensitive and indifferent to people
around you. Now I understand the young hands more and
know their feeling. I believe I can continue to
compete only because they are there helping me out.
That's why when I win, I say to them, "Thanks. I was
able to win today because of your help". There are
some sekitoris who treat their Tsukebito terribly but
I am filled with a sense of appreciation.

Sumo: Fukkouyama (Dewanoumi Beya) said he received an
advice from you.
Waka: Well there are still some silently suffering
from diabetes. I want them to recover from it and do
all their best in sumo. I asked him if he had a desire
to become a sekitori and he said yes so I introduced
him to a good doctor. When I see a heya's recruit
drinking juice like no tomorrow, I warn him that he
would be like me in no time. But you know we are
stupid animals. Until we suffer a pain, we won't
learn. (laughs)

Sumo: A sanyaku or Sansho must have been one of your
goals but from now on you must aim for something
higher.
Waka: Man's greed is limitless you know. When I
finally got back to Juryo, I wished one day I could
get back to Makuuchi. And then once I got up in high
Makuuchi, I 
started thinking it would be just a little more to get
to Sanyaku. It's only natural to aim higher than your
present position. But personally I'd like to grow as a
human being before I aim for a higher status. There
are some out there,really strong but a zilch as a
human being. If a man lives a clean honest life, he
can win some day. They tell me you can't win in sumo
unless you possesse a child like innocence. I've had
such an education since I was a kid.

Sumo: Was it from your teacher at a sumo dojo you went
as an elementary school student?
Waka: Yes. Whenever I lost he used to ask me, "What
have you been doing? You've lost because you must have
been doing something awful." So then I thought, yeah,
I did a terrible thing so God must have not let me get
a win. And I promised I'd be a good boy. Listen when I
was a boy, I used to get into all kinds of mischiefs.
(laughs)

Sumo: You've kept the teachings from your elementary
school days to now.
Waka: I could not have shown any sign of happiness on
the dohyo when I won. You know when you are a kid and
you win, you want to jump up and down and show you've
done it but that was not allowed.

Sumo: It was for a victor's consideration to the
loser.
Waka: Well you have your opponent so it's either you
win or lose. We are not doing this because we hate
each other. So I do feel it is against the Sumoudou to
show your overt expressive pleasure on the dohyo. I
see a lot of these behavior on the dohyo these days
but I assume it just comes out naturally. I guess we
have a new generation of rikishis.

Sumo: We've never seen you do it on the dohyo.
Waka: In my case while I am going back to the dressing
room, I close my fist and say to my self, Good.

Sumo: Finally if you can provide your thought on the
upcoming Haru Basho.
Waka: I'd like to get Kachikoshi certainly but it's my
local basho so I want to show a sumo I won't be
ashamed of. 'd work hard to display sumo bouts that
the fans can 
really enjoy seeing.

------------------------------------------------
(2001 March Issue Sumo Magazine)

Hiroshi Nishizaki
May 12, 1972
Started going to Nakamura Dojo at 6 years old.
Placed the third at All Japan Middle School Sumo 

Championship when he was 14 years old.
Received offers from high school, but
in March 1988 joined Musashigawa Beya.
Juryo debut: July 1991
Makkuuchi debut: May 1992
Battled diabetes from 1994 to 1998 and fell out of
Juryo.
In November 1998, returns to Juryo. 

Wakanoyama had 6 wins and 9 losses in the Haru Basho
and fell from Komsubi. 

============================================ 
As stated in the interview, Wakanoyama managed nine
wins and six losses in the 2001 Hatsu Basho at
Maegashira East 3. I don't have the records of that
basho with me at the moment but as implied I believe
if he had only 8 wins, he may not have made it.

Now in this basho they had Musashimaru as Yokozuna,
Dejima, Musoyama and Miyabiyama as Ozekis. Obviously
with M3, if not for the Musashigawa factor he would
have faced the above four. If he faced all four,
probably the best he could hoped for would be 2 wins
and 2 losses. Often in a case like this if he were M3,
he may have faced someone around M6 as he was not
facing the four. Maybe he got beaten by M6, I am not
sure but chances are he probably did not make Komusubi
at least this time. This is not to say he did not
deserve to be a Komusubi but that time he may not have
made it.

When you look at his records in Makuuchi, his best is
9 and 6, which he had three times. Mostly he hovered
around Kachikoshi/Makekoshi line or worse. So in a
sense he was the least affected member of the
Musashigawa factor as he was never high enough to be a
factor.

But there is no doubt he was helped by joining
Musashigawa Beya at that time. I've never seen a
Futagoyama keiko when they had four or five sekitoris
around but I saw a Musashigawa keiko. I have never
seen as intense or brutal Moushiai and Sanban keikos
before or since. And even the oyakata was not there at
the time I was there. For whatever reason Maru was not
around when I visited but it was more or less
conducted by Musoyama. And he proved he did get the
"elite" sumo training from his father (along with
Miyabiyama). Man, guys were dropping like flies and a
total battle scene with casualities all over. 

Years later I noticed many of these guys suffering
from one chronic injury or another and I knew the
reason why. Years of this kind of training will take a
toll. Musashimaru was known as "Ironman" of Ozumo as
he never had any injury until he got to Yokozuna but
even for him the injury bug caught up with him
eventually.

Getting back to Wakanoyama, it must really helped him
training with the likes of Maru, Musoyama, Miyabiyama
and Dejima every day and training that hard.

I don't have it with me right now but I sure like to
know who Wakanoyama went against on that Hatsu and
Haru Bashos of 2001, win-loss records and their ranks.
I am sure that will tell if he had the Musashigawa
factor going for him or not for sure. 

=====
.....Jonosuke 
  <  Heart  Technique  Physique      &#24515;&#12288;&#25216;&#12288;&#20307;&#12288;>

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[EndPost by Joe Kuroda <joe_kuroda@yahoo.com>]