Hoshitori Shikona

[Patrick Mathieu <patrick@mathieu.com>]

Greetings all:

When I devised my shikona I had just finished working for McGill University and set out on my own, starting my own company.  It was a very liberating experience and I decided that my shikona should reflect my new status.  Hence, I chose "Roninohana".

"Ronin" translates loosely to "Lordless Samurai"  which seemed to fit in well with my status as self-employed consultant for hire.  [ I also understand that the term is more recently used to describe those students who didn't pass their entrance exams and take a year to study for them again, but I prefer to think of the first definition. :-) ]

The "nohana" stems from my admiration for Takanohana.  I joined this list during the basho when Takanohano became one of the youngest Yokozuna and I really had to admire him.  [Still do!]

Speaking of age...since we are divulging our personal information such as gender and shikona background, I am curious to know what age category most of us fall into.  I am always chagrinned to find that most young Japanese I run into cannot believe that I like Sumo and feel that it is a sport for "older people".  I certainly don't want people to begin sending out posts telling everyone how old they are, but perhaps Ian would offer to include an optional field on the Hoshitori entry form where we could check off an age category [eg: 20 something, 30 something, 40 something etc...] to which we belong.

For the record, I will say that I am young enough to be a rikishi, but much too lightweight! :-)

Thanks to all who contribute such wonderful information and make this list such a pleasure.
 
Regards,
-Patrick "Roninohana" Mathieu

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Patrick W. Mathieu -
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