Re: Hinkaku - It isn't the same as xenophobia!

[jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp (Doreen Simmons)]

At 11:25 97.12.9 -0500, Charles Beauchamp wrote:
 
(megasnip)
  
>Konishiki was more deserving maybe then Futahugaro was, however that is
>only a least common denominator type of defense.  He was the strongest
>Ozeki, but that too is not the criterion for promotion.  His failure to
>win back to back Yusho or to dominate the Yusho race for a sustained
>period of time (something more then a 6 month run) left his record a bit
>short of the mark.  Given his complete deceleration shortly thereafter I
>doubt Konishiki would have lasted 3 or 4 basho as a Yokozuna before the
>Kyokai would have asked him to retire.  And if that had occured how the
>much harder would it have been for Akebono to be promoted?  If anything
>Konishiki's non-acceptance may have boosted Chad's chances.  The goal
>was made clear and the record of achievment pointed out in no uncertain
>terms.  Chad passed with flying colors.

I second what Beau has said. While a case can be made out for racialism in
delaying Konishiki's promotion to Ozeki, there is no case at all for
complaint at his failure to be promoted to Yokozuna; at the time when he
was Ozeki,  he didn't have a consistent record - and it's consistency that
counts. This fact is usually omitted from the reports made by professional
journalists who are not sumo experts. (But, hey, it's not all bad;
Konishiki is in the record books as one of the  great Ozeki, and nobody can
take that away.) 

The record-breaking grant just made by the Kyokai is more like, "We really
appreciate all you've done to increase the popularity of sumo both in Japan
and outside of it."
 

 Doreen Simmons in sumoland, Tokyo        jz8d-smmn@asahi-net.or.jp 

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