From: shaw@au-bon-pain.lcs.mit.edu (Andy Shaw)
Subject: Re: Sumo
Organization: MIT Lab for Computer Science, Cambridge, Mass.
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 03:23:01 GMT

In article <1aakqrINNre1@network.ucsd.edu> hirota@sluggo.sdsc.edu (Bryan Hirota) writes:
   Looking on page two on the San Diego Union Tribune's Current section,
   I see two sumo wrestlers with the following caption.

   Begin Caption.
   --------------

   OUTTA HERE: Komusubi Takahanada (left) captures the championship of the
   Tokyo Autumn Grand Sumo tournament by bulldozing American Sekiwake
   Musashimaru out of the ring for an "okuridashi" victory.

   End Caption.
   ------------

   Anybody know anything about the American (Sekiwake Musashimaru)?
   Also,  does anyone know where Konishiki placed?  Are there any
   other Americans worth mentioning wrestling in Japan?

Musashimaru is one of the young stars of sumo; like Konishiki and Akebono,
he is of Samoan descent, and is from Hawaii.  Both Konishiki and Akebono
are at Ozeki rank, and there are only three Ozeki's currently in sumo.
Ozeki is the second highest rank in sumo, next to Yokozuna, which is the
highest rank.  The ranking system is sort of arbitrary -- in any
tournament, if you win a majority of your matches, you are eligible for a
promotion, and vice versa if you lose a majority of your matches.  The Sumo
Board decides this -- there is no computer ranking system.  There are no
Yokozuna's at this time.  Before this tournament, it was clear that the
best sumo wrestler was Konishiki, but the Sumo Board decided that he was
not "dominant" enough to be worthy of the title of Yokozuna.  There was
also some debate about whether Konishiki had the quality called "hinkaku",
which I think translates to something like "grace and dignity".  Quite a
few Japanese think that Konishiki should have been promoted to Yokozuna,
and in fact there have been plenty of Yokozuna in the past who have not won
as many tournaments as Konishiki (3) -- some Yokozuna actually even retired
without ever winning a single tournament.  It seems that they tightened the
requirements just as it looked like a foreigner might become Yokozuna ...

Konishiki looked a little bit washed up in this past tournament -- kind of
discouraged.  At this point, if he wins one more tournament, I think there
is not much the Sumo Board can do -- he'll have to be promoted.  Even if he
comes in second twice in a row.  Konishiki has a reputation for choking
(which is part of the reason he may not have "hinkaku") and he had several
opportunities to lock up his promotion to Yokozuna in the last year, but he
is probably right on the borderline, and the Sumo Board can probably not
give him the promotion and still have a case.

Konishiki made "kachikoshi" in this tournament, which means he won't be
demoted.  He better get his (big, fat, muscular) butt in gear though,
because he's almost 30, and big, fat sumo wrestlers like him don't last
much past 30.

I've heard from various people that Akebono is likely to become the first
foreign Yokozuna -- he is _really_ tall, and he is only 22.  Musashimaru
also looks very talented, and _very_ strong, and I think he's only 20 or
so.  If he can harness that power, he'll have a good shot too.  All three
wrestlers are quite popular in Japan.

In the lower ranks, there are some white wrestlers (American and South
American), whom I've even seen on TV.  They look kind of funny, especially
since some of them are fairly hairy -- it's kind of gross to see such a
big, fat, hairy guy jumping around a dirt ring with nothing on but a
"mawashi" (sumo belt), but undoubtedly, there will someday be some white
wrestlers in the upper ranks as well.  Currently, there are only those
three wrestlers (Konishiki, Akebono, and Musashimaru) in the upper ranks
who are American.

-Andy