Re: Rikishi supporter (not Jock!)

[Masumi Abe <abe@accesscom.com>]

Each heya has their own system, fees, and benefits as Ivar said.
Some heya does not allow rikishi to form any independent koen-kai or fan club,
for example.

The best way is to send the heya you are interested in being a member of koen-kai
or fan club with a return envelope. You could ask how to join a koen-kai for a
specific rikishi and/or heya itself.

According to the information I have, Azumazeki-beya, Wakamatsu-beya and
Mihogaseki-beya have koenkai office out of their heya addresses. Azumazeki-beya's
koen-kai annual membership fee is 20,000 yen, Wakamatsu-beya's annual membership
fee is 50,000 yen, Tokitsukaze-beya's koen-kai members pay 56,000 yen for each
hon-basho held in Tokyo.

In Tokitsukaze-beya's case, each member will be invited to spend a day in each
hon-basho in Tokyo in masu-seki seat with your three friends, for example.
Wakamatsu-beya's koen-kai has three level of membership. The basic one costs
50,000 yen, "special" membership costs 100,000 yen, and "sponsor" membership
costs 200,000 yen annually. Needless to say, the benefit of each level are
different.

Much of the membership fees of rikishi's koen-kai will be saved for the funds for
the retirement preparation. If they are lucky enough to collect enough fund, your
favorite rikishi could stay in Sumo Kyokai as an Oyakata. If he is not so lucky,
he could use the fund to open a restaurant or start a new business.

If you have a particular rikishi or heya you want to support, ask this ML,
probably someone will give you the address of the heya. I have those information
as well.

-Toshiyori Masumiriki

Ivar Petersen wrote:

> You could become a member of the koenkai.  I was a member of Akebono's Koenkai
> for a couple of years (while I lived in Japan) and it cost around 10,000 yen
> per year.  For that you get a copy of each banzuke, a regular newletter and
> invitation to special events (that you probably have to pay for).  The total
> benefits would vary from heya to heya.  Through being a member of Akebono's
> koenkai I arranged to take my group from work to watch morning practice and
> have lunch with Akebono and a few other guys afterwards.  This was definitely
> an experience I'm happy to have taken home with me from Japan.
>
> On Feb 2, 14:17, Rob Hoey wrote:
> > Subject: Rikishi supporter (not Jock!)
> > Would anyone know how to become a supporter of a rikishi or heya. I know
> > that there are some people on the list who support different heya.  How
> > much does it cost? How would one go about go about becoming one?
> >
> > Cheers, Rob Hoey (Robanoumi)
> >-- End of excerpt from Rob Hoey


--
<abe@accesscom.com> Masumi Abe <abe@sentius.com>
San Francisco Bay Area / Silicon Valley / Palo Alto
URL: http://www.accesscom.com/~abe/ --- it's up and running
JUSTIN URL: http://www.dosanko.co.jp/spoton/abe/index.html