[sumo] More Hanada rumours

["Howard Gilbert" <h.gilbert@auckland.ac.nz>]

I had seen a couple of these rumours on Japanese websites as well, most
notably the rumour about Wajima fathering Futagoyama's children.

I posted information I read on another rumour a little while ago on the Sumo
Forum:

"It so happens that sitting in a ramen restaurant in Hong Kong (passing
through) this evening, I was able to read the May 6th/13th edition of Shukan
Post. This is one of hte gossip-mongering weekly magazines that proliferates
for the general public (mostly men in the case of this magazine).

Anyway, this article quoted a 'friend' of the Hanada family and gives
details of a secret love-child of the former yokozuna Wakanohana I, Waka and
Taka's uncle. The child was born to a Korean woman who was 13 years his
junior and who worked in a (Korean) bar in Osaka. Apparently uncle Waka
shipped them off to Korea so no-one would find out, providing for his
illegitimate child. He also brought the child back when he was in his early
teens, and helped him get into sumo at Fujishima-beya (run by the original
Takanohana, his brother).

The child was the same age as Takahanada (who became yokozuna Takanohana).
Apparently only the Hanadas in Fujishima-beya knew about it to start with
(that is, the oyakata, the kami-san and the two Hanada boys, Masaru and
Kouji). However, this new recruit had the surname Hanada and it became known
around the heya about his parentage. Apparently he made it as far as
Makushita before an injury ended his career. He quite sumo and worked in a
chanko restaurant for a while and now apparently runs a company of some
sort. Later, once he had retired from sumo he was more widely acknowledged
as an off-spring of the former yokozuna, to the point that a contract was
signed to give him claim to some inheritance, or an amount of money at least
(I only skimmed this part)."

I couldn't get a handle on how to read this Korean boy's shikona. I tried
doing a google search from the couple of kanji I could remember when I was
next online. Now I can't remember anything except it was waka-something.

Howard

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Kuroda" <joe_kuroda@yahoo.com>
To: "Sumo" <sumo@statgen.ncsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 3:32 PM
Subject: [sumo] Futagoyama Oyakata's Former Wife Speaks Out


> Former wife of Futagoyama oyakata, Noriko Fujita, 57,
> has kept her silence since his passing but it is now
> reported that "Fujin Koron", women's magazine in Japan
> will be publishing her "diary" since the day of the
> funeral.
>
> In it she says she decided to speak out now as she
> felt she was giving a perception to others that she
> would be acknowledging certain rumours such as she was
> after the oyakata's inheritance and bad mouthing her
> daughter-in-law.
>
> She also admits publicly that Takanohana oyakata is no
> longer speaking to her but is not really sure why the
> relationship soured so much. "Even after the divorce,
> he came to see me often but his behaviour towards me
> changed suddenly after his retirement around the 2003
> Hatsu Basho," Noriko says.
>
> She also says she kept the oyakata's nails and hair
> for DNS testing in case some disputes arose regarding
> the parentage of Masaru Hanada and Takanohana oyakata.
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Certain speculations about the Hanada family parentage
> have been rampant in Japanese web sites but this is
> the first time an established press has referred to
> this. Since I always figured them to be without any
> substance, l did not report them here but since they
> are out now, you might as well know about them too.
>
> Parentage Speculation 1:
> Futagoyama Oyakata was not the youngest brother of
> former Yokozuna Wakanohana I but was in fact his son.
>
> This rumour is more or less based on several facts,
> mainly
> 1. Wakanohana I was 22 years older than Futagoyama
> oyakata.
> 2. Wakanohana I was known to be a womanizer with more
> than a few lovers in his time.
> 3. At the time (of his birth) he was not yet ready to
> get married (certainly not "permitted" to be married
> or have a kid), he just had his son registered to his
> parents as they all had enough kids and one more did
> not appear to be out of ordinary in the eye of others.
>
> Parentage Speculation 2:
> Masaru Hanada was a son of Wakanohana I not Futagoyama
> oyakata
>
> The main theory for this one is:
> The marriage between Futagoyama oyakata and Noriko was
> vehemently opposed by Wakanohana I (at the time the
> shisho of Futagoyama oyakata, Ozeki Takanohana) as
> Wakanohana I could not accept Noriko getting married
> to his own son and he believed Noriko was pregnant
> with his son at the time.
>
> This implies that Masaru Hanada is not a son of
> Futagoyama oyakata but his brother.
>
> Parentage Speculation 3:
> Takanohana oyakata is not a son of Futagoyama oyakata
> but a son of Wajima.
>
> The theory for this one goes like this:
> It was Wajima who introduced the two (Ozeki Takanohana
> and Noriko) together as he "knew" both well.
> Apparently some believes he knew Noriko too well.
>
> So the inheritance question could have been gotten
> really ugly if it ever got into the court as all this
> may have to come out proven or otherwise. Takanohana
> oyakata was extremely worried about the consequence
> that Futagoyama oyakata never bore a child and there
> would be no rightful successor and it could very
> possibly be he had no claim to the inheritance (at
> least in this case Masaru being Futagoyama oyakata's
> brother had some claim).
>
> Regardless Masaru did not want this type of messy
> battles in the court and one could understand his
> reluctance to proceed with the court resolution if one
> can believe Masaru too had some doubts about his
> parentage. In the end it appears that he gave up the
> inheritance to save everyone.
>
> That is, if you can believe all the rumours...
>
> .....Jonosuke
>   <  Heart  Technique  Physique
&#24515;&#12288;&#25216;&#12288;&#20307;&#12288;>

[EndPost by "Howard Gilbert" <h.gilbert@auckland.ac.nz>]