Posted on 01/31/2019 8:50:50 AM PST by RitchieAprile
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Late-blooming sekiwake Tamawashi, who won his first title at the age of 34 in the just-ended New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, said Monday he does not intend to slow down his career despite taking his time to claim the Emperor's Cup.
A day after winning the 15-day championship at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan with a 13-2 record, the Mongolian said he will shatter the young athlete ideal by fighting aging and working out to stay younger for longer.
"I have to be young. I have to train as hard (as the younger wrestlers)," said Tamawashi, who became the second-oldest wrestler in sumo's current six-basho format to win his first championship.
"I still can't believe it. (The silver trophy) was very heavy. Dreams are meant to come true," he told a press conference at his Kataonami stable. "I want to continue fighting past the age of 40."
Tamawashi, at sumo's third highest rank, capitalized on the absence of three top-ranked yokozuna to secure victory by beating fan-favorite maegashira Endo on Sunday, the same day his wife gave birth to their second child.
"My wife worked hard so I felt I had to, too," he said.
He finished two wins ahead of fellow sekiwake Takakeisho. Takakeisho was gunning for his second straight title following his feat at the Kyushu meet in November, where he became the sixth-youngest wrestler to clinch a first career championship at the age of 22 years and three months.
When asked about his expectations for promotion to ozeki, Tamawashi, who only got two and a half hours of sleep, humbly said, "I'm taking one bout at a time trusting that results will come without looking at what might come later."
Tamawashi's journey to championship was not all smooth sailing.
Having never missed a tournament since his 2004 debut, Tamawashi's streak of 1,151 consecutive bouts is the longest among active wrestlers. However, he needed to fight in 38 grand tournaments in the top-flight makuuchi division before earning promotion to the three "sanyaku" ranks below yokozuna, the longest run ever needed for a foreign wrestler.
Still, quitting was never an option, and he had his reasons.
"Never," Tamawashi said when asked whether he had ever considered quitting sumo.
"There are people who have always been supportive of me. It would be sinful to betray them," he said.
Tamawashi is cognizant of the next generation of wrestlers, not as threats but as inspirations as he eyes continued success.
"I'm in awe when I see the way others approach sumo. Like them, I want to put on a sumo performance that allows people to have fun and feel joy," he said.
He had a strong run this Tournament, but all 3x of the Yokozuna were out by the end, and Tochinoshi(Ozeki) dropped out too. None the less, he had a solid showing. One bad knee injury may change his mind about retiring though. You got a bum knee at this weight level, you got no game.
In Japan I was stuck in my hotel room for a few hours. Flipping through the channels of the TV I found a Sumo Tournament. I watched the whole tournament which did not take very long at all. It may have been edited to show match after match with only 10 minutes between. Each match consisted of about 30 seconds of wrestling. Sometimes it was over in as little as 5 seconds. And sometimes it took a full minute. But the rest of the time was filled with replays and information about the wrestlers as well as them parading into the ring. It was very interesting and I checked off the bucket list item, which I don’t have to ever repeat.
Well, he sounds like a pretty cool guy if one is into watching sumo.
Never been much into sumo but this guy seems like an all-around good guy. Props to him.
I used to follow Sumo when I lived in Hawaii. It seems now that Mongolians are dominating the sport.
Translation: Eat more food, gain more weight.....
I wonder what the average life span is of a Sumo wrestler? I'm pretty sure none of them has ever died from anorexia.....
Most lose the weight after they are done competing.
Maybe I can talk the Detroit Lions into going to Japan and try to recruit some of these guys as offensive linemen......
Do you know how much a sumo dude eats a day?
Some of these fellars look famished, smaller than some greats of the past, its hard to eat as much as they do just to maintain bulk for bulks sake.
More about ritual and respect, they are like bulls butting heads and not batting an eye when they get tossed out of the ring.
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https://www.lingualift.com/blog/what-sumo-eat-wrestlers-diet/
The ideal weight for a sumo wrestler is anything from 400 to 600 pounds. This means that it takes not only strength and flexibility to be a sumo—it also takes the right diet. Eating is an essential part of their training.
Sumo-size me
A typical sumo wrestler eats a daily diet of 20,000 calories, which is pretty astounding when you consider that the recommended daily intake for a healthy, active male is 2,500. They eat 10 times what a normal male eats and all of it’s done in two massive 10,000-calorie meals. The sumo’s diet is an expression of my favorite Japanese cultural trait—never doing things halfway.
I always wondered how Sumo wrestlers would do as offensive linemen in football, as big as they are, they are pretty quick.
We used to head to NCO club when I station in Japan to catch sumo. Chiyonofuji was the man then. Not the biggest by far, but he played smart. Got to wat h his retirement, and that was a huge deal in Japan.
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