Jungyo & performance evaluation in sumo

[abe@kaleida.com (Masumi Abe)]

Sumo Kyokai adopted a new san-sho for new Jungyo system. As regular
san-sho, only
Sekiwake and under are eligible for these.

Sai-Yushu-Rikishi-Sho (Most Valuable Rikishi): 300,000 yen
Kaikin-Sho (Complete Attendance): 200,000 yen
Doryoku-Sho (Tried Best): 200,000 yen

These awards are based on their performance in practice, training of young
rikishi and
their sumo performance during matches.

Under the new Jungyo system, non-chanko meal are popular among toriteki for less
shores and more practice time, but not so popular among sekitori for less
choice of
their favorite food. Local restaurant is catering "balanced" food for everyone.
Narazuke pickles were missed during Nara Jungyo, recently.

Sumo in the evening are popular among sumo fans who could enjoy after work, but
obviously not so popular among rikishi. They don't have enough time to
enjoy local
night life. They used to be relaxed in the afternoon and enjoy local food
for dinner
and go out to enjoy local night life, but under the new performance
evaluation, they
need to stay practice in the afternoon and be ready for the evening sumo
performance
then too tired to go out and spend money.

Sumo Kyokai is gaining a lot of money for operating Jungyo. Local business
group 
(sometimes local bosses) used to operate Jungyo, but Kyokai paid extra to
buy back
the rights to operate Jungyo and it's paying off. Their plan is to earn a
lot of income
through Jungyo and pay well enough to yokozuna & ozeki so that their
earnings will be
competitive to those of other professional players in baseball and soccer
in Japan.
I agree with their intentions.

Under current system, only makuuchi rikishi and their tsukebito are
involved in Jungyo,
and other rikishi are staying at their own heya. I don't think this is ideal.

My idea of ideal jungyo is make it ichimon-betsu jungyo. There are five
ichimons in 
Ozumo, now. They are Dewanoumi (including Kasugano, Musashigawa and
Mihogaseki), 
Nishonoseki (including Futagoyama and Sadogatake among others),
Tokitsukaze (including Izutsu), Takasago (including Azumazeki and Wakamatsu),
and Tatsunami-Isegahama.

This will bring back the meaning of ichimon, again. And making competition more
interesting. At the same time, you could be closer to local fans more than
present
system. There are many large cities close to or more than a million population.
They are Yokohama, Sapporo, Kyoto, Kobe, Kitakyushu, Kawasaki, Chiba, Sendai and
Hiroshima. These should be the site of Kyokai-operated sumo tornaments with all
sekitori including juryo rikishi utilizing the weekends. 

Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba could be right after each Tokyo basho. Kyoto and 
Kobe are right after Osaka basho, Kitakyushu and Hiroshima should be after
Kyushu 
basho, and Sapporo and Sendai should be after Nagoya basho as following the 
tradition. 

Then regular jungyo could be organized around those areas based on each Ichimon 
group. Jungyo in midsize cities should be organized by both local businesses and
each ichimon and both operation fees and the income should be splitted equally 
among local business, ichimon and Kyokai. Jungyo in small cities should be
organized 
by both local businesses and ichimon as well and the operation cost and income 
should be splitted as local businesses 50%, ichimon 25% and Kyokai 25%.

Each time, Kyokai evaluate the jungyo and keep the record of operation to
consider
the future jungyo sites with ichimon. Candidate sites could be decided based on 
bidding and making operation cost from Kyokai and ichimon smaller. If
jungyo comes
only a day or two only every four years or so, local people don't mind to
take a break
and come to sumo. This will add more excitement to jungyo. If the decision
of sites
is based on the consideration of cities where makushita and higher ranked
rikishi
are from, it will be more exciting for local fans. This may create a chance
to form
a local heya fan club and/or a local rikishi fan club. It will be easier to
recruit
future rikishi through these clubs.

Any comment from Kyokai? ;-)

-Masumi
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Masumi Abe                              Internet: abe@kaleida.com
Kaleida Labs, Inc.                      AppleLink: ABE.M
1055-B Joaquin Road                     Tel: 415-335-2011
Mt. View, CA 94043                      Fax: 415-335-2096
U.S.A.                                  WWW: http://www.kaleida.com/
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