Re: More thoughts about Taka/Waka

[Masumi Abe <abe@accesscom.com>]

In old days, there were the cases of active rikishi becoming a playing
manager, so-to-speak and operating his own heya. The greatest yokozuna
Futabayama operate a gym called Futabayama Dojo and instructed the young
rikishi who came to learn from him. But since he was a rikishi belonging to
Tatsunami-beya, his was not the official sumo-beya while he was active
yokozuna.

As soon as he retired, he opened his own Tokitsukaze-beya.

Earlier, Yokozuna Tamanishiki operated Nishonoseki-beya while he was still
active yokozuna.

Now the system permit to have your own young rikishi or deshi while you are
still active, but your deshi need to belong to the heya you belong to before
your official retirement. You need to have an agreement with your oyakata what
to do with your deshi when you retire. If not written down, then you may have
a hard time convincing that your deshi are actually the one you recruited and
once you became independent from the heya you've belonged to.

There are many such incidents when an oyakata decide to start a new heya of
his own.

Even if Takanohana starts his own heya (though extremely unlikely under the
current system), he won't face Wakanohana under the current system which
prevent the match between the member of the same immediate family, like
brothers, even if they belong to the different heya. Kitazakura and Toyozakura
are such case. Although they were from different heya and virtually the same
ranks in Juryo, they have not involved in a Hon-basho match.

When Takanohana's trade or his independence occurs, he needs to face other
Futagoyama rikishi, but not Wakanohana, his older brother.

-Toshiyori Masumiriki


Greg Lund wrote:

> We've been kicking around the things we've been hearing about what is going
> on at Futagoyama  beya, and speculating on what might happen if oyakata
> can't get things smoothed out.
>
> We have been wondering whether Taka might now  - having won  20 tournaments
> - be able to break away and set up his own heya?  With that sort of record,
> which he looks (physically) capable of extending for a long time to come,
> it would seem likely that he would be the next ichidai toshiyori on
> retirement.
>
> My question (Abe san, Doreen, others please) is: Can he assume that ichidai
> mantle while still a practising Yokozuna, or is it only bestowed on
> retirement.  Even if he could, would the Kyokai sanction a heya operating
> that way.   I can't really see that a yokozuna could possibly be his own
> oyazata, so I guess not, but it is intriguing to think about, and having
> been raised, I guess I should ask.
>
> What was on our minds, of course, was that if he could - and did - decide
> to break away as a yokozuna, it would  mean that he and Waka would have to
> fight each other, thereby ensuring more Yokozuna Vs Yokozuna bouts, which
> is of course what sumo ultimately is all about.  Given the state of Waka's
> health, that might not go on for too long, but in the meantime,  the "bad
> blood"  angle would be another great drawcard for the Kyokai, which must be
> desperate to breathe some life into  sumo's flagging popularity (except, of
> course, with a bunch of loonies like us).
>
> Greg Lund
> Japan Access Corporation
> Brisbane


--
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copyright (c) 1998 Masumi Abe
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<abe@accesscom.com> Masumi Abe <abe@sentius.com>
San Francisco Bay Area / Silicon Valley / Palo Alto
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JUSTIN URL: http://www.dosanko.co.jp/spoton/abe/index.html