Re: Takatoriki & Aki-basho banzuke prediction

[Martin Hughes <mhughes@fhs.csu.McMaster.CA>]

On Tue, 16 Aug 1994, Yugo Yodogawa wrote:

> 
> What about putting some sort of limit on the number of rikishi, let's say for
> example only 2 or 3 wrestlers allowed in the juryo/makuuchi ranks.
> -yugo

I must admit that whilst I do not like the current domination of Sumo by
the Futagayama-beya bootboys, I do not really see it as a problem which
needs a solution.  We are only looking at a very small time frame here - I
am pretty sure that in the history of Sumo, a similar situation must have
arisen in the past - as I recall, a lot of similar noises were made whan
Chiyonofuji and Hokutoumi were up there. (I'm sure Abe-san could add
something here!)
To my mind, one of the delights of Sumo is that it is more than just
a set of "fair" rules.  It has it's idiosyncracies, such as the height and
weight requirement, and the heya vs. heya rules. 
However many rikishi there are in one Heya, it is always only a pretty
small percentage of the total number of wrestlers, so an 'unfavourable'
situation now will almost certainly be restored at some point in the
future.  

Having said that, it would be really interesting to see what the Sumo
Kyokai would do if ALL the top ranked wrestlers were from one heya! -
Imagine the fun of working out the matches - Yokazuna vs. Juryo 12 :-)

Cheers

Martin