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Re: sumo talk


On Mon, 12 Jul 1993, Peter Kaub wrote:

> Finally in regard to Martin's second posting I think, he's referring to
> the retirement of Asahifuji and the other one who's face I can picture
> explicitly, but I've forgotten his name, in quick succession after,

Pete, you mean, I think Hokutoumi (sp?) who retired along with Asahifuji
(I got to go to his hair cutting ceremony! :-) ) and Onokuni at
about the same time.  
These were not the guys I am referring to.  
They were promoted to Yokazuna around the time that Chiyonofuji was
(from what little I can gather) but then there was some sort
of scandal, the nature of which I am unsure of.  I understand that
the current "stringent" requirements for promotion, which first
Asahifuji, then Konishiki and Akebono suffered from, was a direct
result of what went on.   

With your point about Musashimaru, I knew quite a few Japanese who
actually thought he was the "best" (read Most Japanese) of the 
Hawaiians - and these were older folks.  I agree with you, Pete,
and much prefered the other 2.  Something to do (I understand)
with him looking like an Old Japanese general, or something (again,
can anyone provide more info.?).

One of the things I would really liked to have seen was the Hawaiians
talking English.  I always hoped that occasionally on the bilingual
programs, they would have an interveiw so we could actually judge
what they were saying, instead of all that "so desu ne", "gambarimasu"
and "hsssssssss" which seems to be the entire vocabulary of
most Rikishi (at least in public).  Did they do any interviews in
English when they were in the US?  Actually, I was always a little
surprised that there were not more interviews with them in
Sumo World, but that may have been due to SW not wanting to
come across as a Gaijin publication.  Thoughts?

Martin