Re: [sumo] Kyokutenhou gets Japanese citizenship

[Doreen Simmons <jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp>]

> n 6/25/05, Doreen Simmons <jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp> wrote:
> > Citizenship was the final qualification to acquire a myouseki and be a
> > toshiyori.
> Joe Petrow asked:
> Is there any actual reason for this, or is it just an arbitrary requirement?


The rule was brought in back in the 1980s when Hawaiian Takamiyama, and 
Kaneshiro, a Japan-born Korean in Kasugano-beya, looked as if they were 
going to be the first official "foreigners" to become qualified to acquire 
myoseki. The question had never arisen before. But the Kyokai over-reached 
themselves in trying to keep out "foreign" blood - they said only that 
"Japanese nationality" was a requirement -- whereupon  Takamiyama, after 
agonizing for some time, took out Japanese citizenship, with the results we 
all know. Kaneshiro became ill, went into a severe decline, and dropped out 
of the running.

> I wonder why they allow a foreigner to become a yokozuna without
> Japanese citizenship?

Limited tenure, as opposed to tenure till the age of 65? (Just a suggestion)
Doreen Simmons
<jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp>
[EndPost by Doreen Simmons <jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp>]