[sumo] More On Taka/Waka Feud

["Jeff Anderson" <jeffand@regent.edu>]

Hold onto your hats.  From the London Timesonline:
 
 

No holds barred as warring brothers shock sumo world
By Richard Lloyd Parry
Star wrestler's sons trade insults and argue in the media over their
father's funeral
	
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THERE have been few dynasties in any sport as glorious as that of the late
Futagoyama. In his heyday in the 1970s, he was one of the best-loved sumo
wrestlers, admired as much for his looks as for his prowess. 


Twenty-five years later, his sons, the grand champions known as Wakanohana
and Takanohana, achieved even greater feats, and Futagoyama?s stable of
wrestlers dominated the sport. His passing was always going to be a blow to
sumo ? but no one predicted how destructive it would be. 



	
	
Since the death of the great man a fortnight ago, his family have indulged
in an orgy of bickering. They have quarrelled over his corpse, at his
funeral and in interviews. The feud has dominated daytime television, to the
appalled fascination of viewers. 

The tension between Wakanohana and Takanohana goes back to the late 1990s.
As yokozuna, or grand champions, the brothers carried the sport to new
heights of popularity, but they had very different styles. ?Taka?, the
younger by two years, was the fourth-greatest champion in the sport?s
history, hailed by aficionados as a fighter of classical elegance and
directness. ?Waka? was a less orthodox, and less successful, wrestler but
was regarded as a warmer personality. 


Taka inherited his father?s sumo stable after his retirement. Waka became a
TV celebrity and sports commentator and opened a chain of restaurants that
serve chanko nabe, the stew that gives sumo wrestlers their essential bulk.
As long as their father was alive, their antipathy was kept in check, but
from the moment of his death ? from mouth cancer at the age of 55 ? it has
been out in the open. 


According to Japanese magazines, the brothers argued over Futagoyama?s body
for five hours about who should be chief mourner at the funeral. As the
elder son, Waka was the traditional choice ? but Taka insisted that he had
forfeited the place of honour when he abandoned the dignified world of sumo
for the tawdry realm of showbiz. 


?He should understand what his public role is,? Takanohana told reporters.
?He has quit sumo circles and (to lead the funeral) is impolite to the sumo
elders attending the service. We?re not on speaking terms over these
matters. People tell us to get along well with each other, but it is
impossible.? 


Waka won the argument and wept at the funeral service, while Taka held an
expression of impassive grimness. 


By and large, sumo wrestlers favour taciturnity over public displays, and
Takanohana?s imperiousness has puzzled sumo fans. His late father once
suggested that he had been ?brainwashed? by a physiotherapist who exercised
great influence over him; others say that he may simply have landed on his
head once too often. But, as if the battle of the brothers were not enough,
it has been complicated by the intervention of their mother. 


Noriko Fujita, a former actress who posed for pornographic photographs as a
young woman, was divorced from Futagoyama three years ago. She claims to
have been cut off without a yen and accuses Takanohana?s lackeys of a
Stalinist purge of the stable that she once managed. 


?I raised him and he didn?t even have the manners to come and see me and say
thank you,? she told one magazine. ?His supporters were manipulating him.
I?ve heard that they have deleted me from all videotapes and photos. He?s
been trying to continue in the elevated way of sumo. It has made him narrow
minded.? 


Only Wakanohana has conducted himself with relative restraint and dignity,
saying that time will heal the rift with his brother. But the knottiest
problem may still be to come ? money. Despite a fortune estimated at 500
million yen (£2.5 million), Futagoyama is reported to have left no will. 


If Japan?s two greatest wrestlers start to quarrel over money, rather than
just funeral arrangements, then the fur really will start to fly.

  <http://images.thetimes.co.uk/images/trans.gif> 	
Best regards,
Jeffrey Anderson
Gaijingai - a gaijin who's a guy
 
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these:
It might have been. - John Greenleaf Whittier


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[EndPost by "Jeff Anderson" <jeffand@regent.edu>]