Re: yaocho etc.

[Koichi Wago <wago@loki.stanford.edu>]

  > In my personal opinion, this trend is more serious problem than yaocho
  > issue, in a sense. I don't think easy looking match, or mukiryoku-zumo
  > are the yaocho matches, if we believe rikishi's intelligent level as
  > decent. If you do yaocho, you don't do it easily, I don't think. If 
  > I were involved in yaocho as rikishi, I will show how serious I am, 
  > and then after a while, youi became tired and could not resist too
  > well and eventually lose. Poeple will see it a well fought match without
  > question. On the other hand, if you do a mukiryoku-zumo, people start
  > wondering if this is yaocho sumo. Rikishi does not have any reson to 
  > do such yaocho.

I agree. Although Tamanoumi Umekichi said that, to a professional's eye,
it is very obvious which is yaocho and which is not, it is said that 
recently rikishis' performance skills are so improving that apparently
very exciting bouts are sometimes yaocho. 

  > Some sumo fans are against the idea of adopting a kojin-betsu so-atari
  > because they believe it will increase yaocho. This is stupid opinion.
  > As long as fans keep watching closely, they have rather difficult time
  > at least doing it in obvious fassion. As long as they are not obvious,
  > no one could claim that they are truely yaocho.

I am not so optimistic. It is said that yaocho is becoming less common
these days. Fans keeping close eyes has surely helped it. But it is 
more or less because 'gachinko' rikishis, especially those from Futagoyama
beya, are getting a power in upper rank of makuuchi. There's still a rumor
that many yaochos are going on in lower rank, and I don't see any action
to prevent it. Sumo kyokai once gave several warnings of 'mukiryoku-zumo'
but I don't hear of it these days. Sumo kyokai has never seemed to be 
seriously considering this problem. Why do they call it 'mukiryoku-zumo'?
They don't want to admit that there have been yaocho. As Abe-san pointed
out, mukiryoku-zumo are not necesarrily yaocho. I want sumo kyokai to be
more honest and take a serious action to prevent yaocho. Part of the
problem is major media such as NHK have never mention this problem. 
It is speculated that they don't want to lose good relationship with
sumo kyokai. 

So, although I agree that a kojin-betsu so-atari system is the ideal case, 
introducing it without doing anything about the current yaocho speculation
is not satisfactory. I believe that Takanohana and Wakanoha would fight
to their best each other, but I wouldn't be so sure about, say, 
intra-Sadogatake-beya-rikishi bouts. If, for example, sumo kyokai 
establishes a system to really investigate any suspicious bout and
once a rikishi is proven to have committed yaocho he will be expeled from
sumo, then I will have no objection to kojin-betsu so atari.

Koichi Wago