Posted on 09/27/2014 6:46:40 AM PDT by chajin
I know there are a number of Japanophiles out there in Freeperland, who might be able to answer a question I have about the Akibasho, Fall Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, which will conclude early tomorrow US time.
As all the sumo followers know, tournaments are 15 days long, with each wrestler having one match, and the wrestler with the most wins being crowned the tournament champion. Hakuho, the top wrestler in sumo, is 13-1 going into the last day of the tournament, but Tochinoshin, who began the tournament as juryo (the sumo equivalent of baseball's AAA), is 14-0.
My question: what are the sumo rules in this situation? Can someone begin the tournament as juryo, be brought into the top ranks as a fill-in for an injured maegashira, and win the tournament if his record is better than anyone else's? Or is Tochinoshin in effect disqualified from winning the tournament because he began as juryo?
P.S. Incidentally, for those who don't follow sumo, neither Hakuho nor Tochinoshin are Japanese: Hakuho comes from Mongolia, and Tochinoshin comes from (non-US) Georgia.
Well, Obama thinks he should be tournament champion, but I don’t know if the judges will agree ...
Give everyone a trophy so that no one feels bad.
If each wrestler has only one match, the greatest number of wins possible is one.
Those whacky Japanese!
“Well, Obama thinks he should be tournament champion...”
Well. He thought about peace once and got a medal and a million bucks for that. So why not?
✔
Hey now, be fair. He didn’t just think about it, he gave a couple speeches too.
I always liked sumo more than boxing and other fighting sports. You win on objective standards (pushing out of circle or onto ground) instead of the scoring of potentially biased judges making subjective judgments about how many punches you land etc.
Turns out they were awaiting a 747 full of Sumo wrestlers from Japan, coming in for some huge tournament.
When it landed, the huge Nippers exited the plane in their full plumage and costumery......quite a sight, really.
Mea culpa: one match per day, 15 sumo matches in all. I'll pay the requisite fine to Grammarly :-)
It’s been a long time since I lived in Japan, but once upon a time I used to be a big fan.
Somehow, it seems to me that the real tourney result will at this point be based on the results of the Hakuho vs. Toshinoshin match.
The winner of that should win the tourney, whatever the respective ranks.
And even if he doesn’t win the tourney, the juryo may get a promotion anyway if the judges feel he’s ready.
On the other hand, I have a sneaking suspicion that the xenophobic Japanese promote foreign wrestlers just a tad slower than the homeboys.
Or, at least, they did back in the 80’s, when I was there.
Well, it seems Tochinoshin didn’t have a match on day 15, which is probably the way of getting around the possible embarrassment of having to crown a juryo.
Tochinoshin was as far up as komusubi a few years back, but injuries made him miss three tournaments in a row, so he was sent back down to makushita, and has had to work his way up the ranks again. I would expect him to be maegashira in November.
Hakuho won the tourney at 14-1; no one else was even close, the highest scores were 11-4 by the other yokozuna, and also Tochiozan, who wants to get back to sekiwake.
Update: Tochinoshin won the Juryo tourney, which means he should be back in the makuuchi ranks in November.
Yes, it was Hakuho; let’s see if/when he gets a promotion.
But Tochinoshin didn’t wrestle him the entire tourney?
That strikes me as strange...
Anyway, I suspect Hakuho will need another two or three tournament wins to move up a peg, but, as I said, I’m no expert.
Hakuho is already yokozuna...the last sumo tournament I got to see was the aki basho in Tokyo back in 2006, had a bento lunch there called the Hakuho, which I ate while watching Kotooshu win his bout. Didn’t know at the time that I wouldn’t be seeing Japan again for at least eight years.
Hakuho is yokozuna???
Sorry, as I read your first post, I thought he was juryo.
Tochinoshin was juryo #7 in the tournament that concluded today. Hakuho has been yokozuna for quite some time now, and the Oo-inu (big dog) since Asashoryu retired in disgrace.
Okay - I get it now...
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