Re: less gaijin rikishi

[rheinbau@telogy1.com (Renee Heinbaugh)]

Masumi Abe writes:

>This might be a very controvertial subject, but I've heard that Sumo Kyokai
>has somewhat changed their position of accepting foreign born rikishi. It
>is getting tougher for foreigners to get into sumo world as rikishi.

>Now it seems that a foreigner needs to have been living in Japan for a some
>number of years before applying to a heya. If this is the case, it will be
>much more difficult for a foreigner to apply to be a rikishi.

>I'll check more on this.

>-Masumi


Ah well...
Another blow to my probably impossible dream of one day seeing true
World Sumo. But I find it hard to fault the Kyokai...

Let's face it, Americans are swine. Their first and only concern is 
their individual status, and if some ancient institution gets in the
way, "messes with their money", they'd just try to tear it down.
Allowing free entry of gaijin, particularly Americans, into the sport,
would undoubtedly lead to many ugly scenes...

They'd insist on using their own personally-composed shikona, 
like "Prime Time", or "Colosso-Man". They'd wear mawashis with
the Nike logo on them. When they were told their next day's bout
would be against the yokozuna, they'd talk trash to the press:
"Yokozuna my ass! I'm the man! I built this house! He's only
yokozuna cos of politics!" And if he happened to defeat the yokozuna,
he would no doubt dance around the dohyo screaming "Yeah! Yeah! That's
right! Me, baby! Who's the yokozuna now?" and otherwise taunting the
crowd...

And if the ref judged them the loser on a close call, they'd get up
in his face and try to intimidate him...

Fistfights at press conferences, mohawk haircuts, "We Will Rock You"
played before bouts...yeah, the Kyokai is right. Americans lack the
inner peace to be proper rikishi. I think it's a matter of Buddhism
or something...

So leave the Americans to their World Wrestling Federations and 
NFLs and NBAs. It's good sport, and good fun. And those of us who
want more than the opportunity to watch spoiled children shoving
each other in the sandbox can buy a dish antenna and, every other
month, tune into a refined and time-tested sport that can teach
us something meaningful about perseverance, and peaceful coexistence,
and how "the more things change, the more they stay the same."


Adam Gordon
Menlo Park, CA


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