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Re: The "retired" Yokazuna - the straight dope!

Hello, Hiroki Kimata writes about Futahaguro:

> he disappeared after he knocked his Oyakata down.

I had heard it was the wife of his Oyakata and it occurred at some party.
And that afterwards, nobody knew where he was for many months. I had
always wondered what became of him, is he a pro wrestler in Japan, or
elsewhere? I didn't realize he was the only rikishi to be forced out!
Thanks for the info!

This is my rather late intro to the group, I really appreciate being
part of this - thanks for setting it up, Pete. I became a sumo fan
during my 7 month visit to Japan in 1987. I watched all the sumo
digest I could! Some of the wrestlers of that time I took great interest
in were Chiynofuji (of course!), Hokutoumi, Konishiki, and Masuro (sp?)
The first basho I saw was one where Masuro upset many of the top rikishi,
he was quite exciting to watch. I believe he was never the same after
(I think) Konishishi fell on his knee (ouch!). Konishiki I find interesting
to watch purely from the point of human biomechanics (!), how does a
person of that size move, and what does one do when Konishiki is charging
you head-on?! I am always surprised when his opponents try to out-shove
him, rather than stepping aside. He has also displayed a refreshing dose
of emotion into sumo, he was so happy gaining yusho. Although perhaps he
wasn't as happy as Mitoizumi when he won his! Mito's bouts I enjoy, if 
sometimes only for the salt-throwing! In Andy Adams book on sumo, he said
Kyokodozan had been singled out by Chiyonofuji to be heir to his style,
I don't know if Chiyo trained him or not but he was exciting to watch
anyway. Aside from his technique and hard work which is impressive, I
enthralled by Mainoumi. I believe he never thought of entering sumo
until a good promising rikishi friend of his died suddenly, so he 
dedicated himself to sumo, which included getting a surgical silicon implant
in his head so he could meet the minimum sumo height requirements!
I'm also cheering for the nohana brothers, thats a lot of talent in one
family... 
--
Roy Hourston (roy@ocgy.ubc.ca)
Oceanography Dept., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada