Re: [sumo] Wakanosato

["Joshua A. Reyer" <circlejar@comcast.net>]

GenjiBunch@aol.com wrote:

> Josh Reyer wrote:
>
>  
>
> > Excellent!  I look forward to rooting for the guys from Nishiiwa-beya
> > ten years from now.
> >    
>
> I take it from this that you are a fan of Wakanosato.   He seems to have 
> quite a few fans, and I have to say that it puzzles me.   Originally, when he came 
> up the ranks into Makuuchi, I was very impressed with his power and had high 
> hopes that he would become a strong Ozeki or even Yokozuna. Then, I believe he 
> broke his leg or had some other serious injury and fell down to Juryo or even 
> Makushita for a while.   He came back eventually and has certainly regained 
> his strength, but in my opinion, he hasn't grown technically at all.   
>
> He approaches each opponent exactly the same way.   He hits them at full 
> force (and often with his center of gravity much too high) and then goes for a 
> belt hold.   If he gets the hold he wants or his opponent is smaller, weaker or 
> less mobile, he can win with a spectacular uwatenage.   But if his opponent is 
> a strong pusher-thruster and manages to keep him off the belt or is more 
> agile, Wakanosato's poor tachiai, and short list of techniques does him in.   
>
> This "going-my-way at any cost" attitude would be   appropriate if he were an 
> Ozeki or a Yokozuna who was so good at his one trick that it only failed him 
> a few times a basho.   However, he is a perennial komusubi-sekiwake who gets 
> the occasional upset but always loses too many to lower-ranked rikishi whom he 
> should beat.   I got so frustrated with his innability to learn from his 
> mistakes, his refusal to adjust his style to account for the strengths and 
> weaknesses of his opponent, and his frequent lapses of concentration that I eventually 
> stopped rooting for him.   
>
> Now, I just enjoy those occasional upsets and don't really pay much attention 
> to him otherwise because I think he has very little chance of promotion 
> unless he completely changes his mental approach to sumo.   Am I completely wrong?  
> I would like to hear what all those Wakanosato supporters have to say.   
> What is it that you see in him?   Do you think he will rise to Ozeki or Yokozuna 
> someday?
>
>    - Genji Bunch
>  

I don't root for guys based on whether they might make Yokozuna or 
Ozeki.  I root for guys that appeal to me in some way.

I have rooted for Wakanosato since his first makuuchi basho, which was 
coincidentally the first basho I was able to watch on TV in Japan.  I 
read an interview with him in NHK's sumo magazine, and liked his 
attitude, and he was my age, so I related to him.  I decided to root for 
him.  I had no idea how good he might be, or if he'd fall off the map.  
I didn't care.

He had some very good basho, and rose through the ranks.  Then in a 
match with Musoyama at the 98 Kyushu Basho, he broke his ankle.  He went 
koushou, and then he climbed back up.  However, he tended to favor his 
uninjured ankle, to disastrous results.  He tore his ACL, a serious 
injury.  Rather than going back on the dohyou without properly healing 
just to retain his Makuuchi status, he stayed out for two basho.  He 
dropped from Maegashira 9 to Juryo 11.  This was no simple thing to do.  
Wakanosato could not be assured a return to Makuuchi.  A lot of guys, 
once they drop, they don't come back up.  He could have entered the 2000 
Haru Basho at less than 100%, and spent the rest of his career as an 
elevator rikishi, just winning enough to keep his status and pay.  He 
decided to take the harder path, with more risk, but more reward.

And from East Juryo 11, he won two Juryo yusho, and then went 11-4 in 
his triumphant return to Makuuchi.  For this he reached the rank of 
Komusubi in 2000 Kyushu, his highest rank ever.  But that basho did not 
start off so well.  In the first week he faced Chiyotaikai, Musoyama, 
Akebono, Takanohana, Musashimaru, Tochinohana, and Kaiou.  He went 1-6.

At that point, I think even we Wakanosato fans assumed he would go 
makekoshi.  Not surprising, given his new rank.  Many rikishi, even some 
of the greats, have faltered when first reaching the heights.  And it's 
mentally tough to bounce back from such a tough first week.  Most 
rikishi, heck, I'm going to say that 99% of rikishi that start that 
badly go makekoshi.  But again, Wakanosato repaid my support for him.  
He ran the table, defeating Takanonami, Miyabiyama, and Dejima along the 
way, the latter two Ozeki at the time and the former only recently 
fallen from that height.

Do I think he'll make Ozeki?  I still think it's possible.  He's shown 
the ability before.  It all depends on if he can get back to the tachiai 
he had last year.  Wakanosato's problem throughout his career has been 
his tachiai.  "For me, it's the eternal subject (for study)," he has 
said.  It's his particular weakness.  His strength is immense, and he 
can throw a rikishi from almost any position.  When he's on, he can 
defeat anyone.  When he's not, he often loses.  So it goes.  I never 
expected him to become Ozeki or Yokozuna; I just made the decision to 
ride the Wakanosato Train to wherever it takes me.  It has been 
extraordinarily rewarding.  No sumo fan in the world can say they've had 
more joy and fun rooting for their particular favorite rikishi than I 
have had rooting for Wakanosato, and I dare say only a few can say 
they've had as much.

I was there in the beginning, when it was just me and Yuko (Amanogawa), 
before the name "Wakanosato" brought forth any kind of picture to the 
average sumo fan.  We will be there at the end, too.

Josh Reyer

[EndPost by "Joshua A. Reyer" <circlejar@comcast.net>]