RE: less gaijin rikishi

[abe@kaleida.com (Masumi Abe)]

Earlier this year, three Mongolian rikishi from Oshima-beya ran away and
went to Mongolian Embasy in Tokyo to help them go back to Mongolia.
Apparently, they missed families in Mongolia and could not tolerate with
the traditional practice of Japanese sumo.

Similar thing happened with (in)famous rikishi from Tonga about 20 years
ago. They did not understand the tradition of sumo organization. When their
oyakata died, they refused to work under the new shisho and they chose to
stay with former okamisan, who was a wife of late oyakata. Without
belonging to a proper heya (owned and managed by an oyakata with toshiyori
meiseki), they could not be recognized as rikishi, officially. They could
not stay with sumo society. Although they were very popular among Japanese
press and sumo fans, they could not stay in Japan without being sumo
rikishi, and left Japan.

There have been at least three rikishi from foreign countries who left sumo
society without losing a bout. They were either missed their families,
and/or could not understand the sumo tradition. You are not allowed to
practice in your own way. Some of the foreign-born rikishi could not
understand the traditional apprentice aspects of sumo society. If they
think sumo is another "sports" to earn a luxurious life, they are wrong,
unfortunately. Sumo Kyokai has been accepting foreign-born rikishi as long
as they accept the tradition of sumo society. If they could not, they are
not welcomed.

I've heard that Makuuchi rikishi and a Samoan Nankairyu took alcohol over
being sumo rikishi and quit sumo. Kototenzan (currently known as Earthquake
in US professional wrestling society) had never lost any bout when he quit
as Makushita rikishi. He could not understand being treated as the
traditional apprentice and serve to sekitori rikishi, including washing
their body in bath and cooking and serving their meals.

Oshima Oyakata went to Mongolia and talked with three young Mongolian
rikishi (they used to be star wrestlers in Mongolian wrestling) who ran
away from his heya, but only one decided to come back to be a rikishi.

I think the thing Sumo Kyokai is trying to do is to make young rikishi
candidates become familier with the reality of sumo society before he
decided to be a sumo rikishi, so that he is the one to decide whether being
sumo rikishi is the right decision for him or not.

I think, Oyakata should be a sponsor for a prospectus future young rikishi
and give him a chance to observe the reality of sumo society for at least a
few month. When he decided to be a rikishi, Sumo Kyokai should treat them
equaly with any other Japanese prospects. This extra process will eliminate
the misunderstanding between oyakata and the young foreign-born prospect.
Also, Sumo Kyokai should use interpretors to help the communication between
Oyakata and the young foreign-born prospect. 

-Masumi

At  9:11 AM 10/15/94 -0700, Bob Simmonds wrote:
>>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.
>
>Abe-san ;  If this is true, it would be very sad. Imagine if the US Golf
>assoc. were to cut 
>down on Japanese players in their tournaments, or the tennis group decide that
>players 
>must live in the US for some years before they could play in tournaments here.
>Maybe 
>we should try to put a clause in the World Trade Agreement outlawing this sort
>of thing!
>
>Bob Simmonds
>190 East Beach Rd.
>Nordland, WA 98358      206-385-2110
sxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxs
Masumi Abe                               
Kaleida Labs, Inc.                              Tel: (415) 335-2011
1055-B Joaquin Road                            Fax: (415) 335-2096
Mountain View, CA 94043                  Internet:  abe@kaleida.com
USA                                                AppleLink: ABE.M
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