Mongolian FG kicks everybody's ass

[AssKissinger]

Well if nobody else is gonna post it I will. Asashoryu is the coolest!

Hit It Girls

Grand champion Asashoryu defeated Tochiazuma on Sunday to close out the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament with a perfect 15-0 record a day after capturing his fifth Emperor's Cup.

Pic from JAPAN ZONE

BTW, has anyone heard about this group called the Yokozuna Liberation Front that Akebono is starting? The announcer on Sat. said that Asashoryu and Akebono are good friends.

Who's your favorite Sumo of all time? I once got to sit next to Mushashimaru at a dinner party and he was a real friendly guy but still my favorite of all time to watch is Akebono. That dude is just a mountain of meat. And his face...whew! I wouldn't want to fight him, that's for sure.

Do yall think that the JPN hate all gaijin Yokozuna? The only one they liked was Konishiki but of course he was only ozeki. I can't figure out why Akebono doesn't do commercials.

[cstaylor]

I can't figure out why Akebono doesn't do commercials.

You can't tell me you've never seen any of his Boss Coffee commericals?

Asashoryu has a wide following outside of the sumo-going public. The regulars that you meet at the tournaments have a particular black area of their hearts reserved for him and the rest of the mongolians. Some of it is justified (Asashoryu has a reputation for being a bully), and some of it is racism. The hair-pulling incident didn't go down very well last year.

Akebono lost a lot of support from the sumo association when he decided to hang up his oyakata job and try K-1. The fans I've met don't understand that the sumo association doesn't hand out good jobs to foreign rikishi, so they have to find some other way to make ends meet.

[Taro Toporific]

Who's your favorite Sumo of all time? I once got to sit next to Mushashimaru at a dinner party and he was a real friendly guy

Musashimaru speaks to reporters...at 'The Foreign Correspondents' Club' of Japan, in Tokyo.... 'We have a big hole right now. We need a Japanese yokozuna, but I don't think the guys we have right now will make it,' Musashimaru said. REUTERS/ January 29, 2004

[cstaylor]

Well, if the Sumo association wants to keep the lights on at the arenas, yes, they need a powerful Japanese Yokozuna to fend off all the foreigner wrestlers.

[ramchop]

One thing he will not be doing is trying his luck as a K-1 martial arts fighter like Akebono, who was given a sound beating on his K-1 debut by Bob Sapp.

"I think Akebono made a fool of himself. That was probably down to lack of training and he also had to lose more weight," said Musashimaru.

[Taro Toporific]

"I think Akebono made a fool of himself. That was probably down to lack of training and he also had to lose more weight," said Musashimaru.

Maru's most immediate concern-and it doesn't seem too pressing-is to shed about 50kg. ``When I first came to Japan I had a lot of trouble putting on weight,'' he said. ``But when I started drinking I found it was a lot easier. So, I don't think it's going to be easy to lose 50 kilograms.''

Life's a beach for man-mountain MaruAsahi Shimbun / IHT ' January 30, 2004)

...Born Fiamalu Penitani in Samoa, Maru moved to Hawaii at an early age. He wrestled and played football in high school where he drew the attention of sumo recruiters.

His football coach urged him to give sumo a shot, but Maru, who weighed about 145 kilograms at the time, balked because, ``I didn't wanna show my bee-hind.''

He eventually relented and in 1989 agreed to a three-month trial period-the maximum stay allowed in Japan on a tourist visa.

``I stayed on and never went back,'' he said. ``I was born in Samoa, raised in Hawaii and I plan to stay in Japan forever.''

At 32, Maru is pondering his future outside the ring. He left his sumo stable a month ago-``they gave me the pink slip''-and admits he has few hobbies or distractions apart from having fun.

``I love the night life. You know, I like, go cruising,''

[AssKissinger]

You can't tell me you've never seen any of his Boss Coffee commericals?

No, I haven't seen that. That's cool. My wife says he wears a cowboy hat. Good. Coffee commercials put him in the company of Tiger Woods and Brad Pitt so I guess he's getting some sweet booty on the side as well.

I think Asashoryu is really gonna start pissing people off if he won't take a dive after the tournament is already won .

[Andocrates]

The bottom line is the same as boxing. Lets see I could

A: Go to School, Get a good job, raise a family -or-

B: Spend my days being treated like crap, eat chum all day, wash the higher raked fighters butts, then climb the ranks until an injury that I'll have the rest of my life forces me to retire.

[cstaylor]

I think Asashoryu is really gonna start pissing people off if he won't take a dive after the tournament is already won .

Yes, that's exactly what's already been happening. It's an unspoken rule in Sumo that if you've already won the tournament, -or- you have no chance of winning the tournament -but- you're already kachikoshi, you help out the wrestlers that haven't passed the 8-win mark. Kaio did it for Musoyama last year, and then Musoyama returned the favor two tournaments later.

I don't know if they discuss it before the match, of it's just something that they expect, but you can count on it.

[AssKissinger]

He's off to a good start, again.

Hit It Girls

Asashoryu 6-0

[ramchop]

He's got a while to go before he beats this:

Most Consecutive Sumo Wins By Yokozuna
The yokozuna Sadaji Akiyoshi (b. 1912), alias Futabayama, set the all-time record of 69 consecutive wins from 1937 to 1939.

This must have been before cst's unspoken rule was written.

[cstaylor]

Depends on the wrestler. I highly doubt Chiyonofuji ever gave away freebies.

[mr. sparkle]

GODDAMN MONGOLIANS!!!


mongolians can kick some ass!

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Asashoryu's brother Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar did damn well at the K1 last weekend too. He had it all over Sapp regardless of the crap coming out of his mouth after the fight.
If Dolgorsuren didn't do a groin, he would of had Sapp. Big neko punch would have been fighting for breath.

Bring on the Mongols

[mr. sparkle]

Bring on the Mongols

Nice link, did you see this? Bring on the "Lady" Mongols!

Lady Mongols Grapple for Gold
The Asian Women's Sambo Wrestling Championships were held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from August 23-31. Over 100 athletes from 12 countries competed in three age divisions, though the Mongolian team participated in the senior division only due to financial dilemmas.
Four Mongolian women wrestlers, E. Gereltuya (48kg), B. Monkhtuya (60kg), Ch. Bazarsuren (68kg) and D. Dashdulam (80kg), took gold medals at the week-long event. Mongolian wrestlers were also capable of two silver medals in the 56 and 72kg categories, followed by three bronze medals. The Mongolian team brought in first place in the championships followed by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Mongolians are proving to be powerful opponents on the Asian continent in sambo wrestling.
G. Eredenbat, Mongolia's team coach, said, "If sambo wrestling becomes an Olympic event, the champion may hail from Mongolia. The International Olympic Committee will have to make the decision."
The nation will next compete in the Sambo Cup held in September, in which with the highest-ranking athletes from Asia and Europe will participate.

goddamn mongolians! don't destroy my wall!

[AssKissinger]

He done gone and did it again!

Hit It Girls

Awesome Asashoryu, the magnificent Mongolian, claimed the March Grand Sumo Tournament title at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on Sunday with a perfect 15-0 record, his second consecutive unbeaten tournament

[ramchop]

To make Yokozuna, you need to be Ozeki level and have one of two things happen:
a: Normal circumstances: Tournament champion twice in a row
b: You are a Japanese Ozeki, and the only Yokozuna is the widely despised Asashoryu: Win one tournament, and scrape by with sum of at least 25 wins over the current and previous tournaments, and they'll put you in as a Japanese Yokozuna.

c: Scrape by without even winning a tournament

Chiyotaikai and fellow Ozeki Kaio, who both finished the tourney with 13-2 records, can take heart from their so-close-but-yet-so-far assaults on the title by being rewarded by the Japan Sumo Association's decision to once again relax the rules for promotion to Yokozuna in a desperate effort to elevate a Japanese grappler to the ancient sport's zenith. The ozeki pair will need to notch only identical records in the May Grand Sumo Tournament to almost guarantee elevation to Yokozuna regardless of whether they win the tourney.

[AssKissinger]

Wow. Nice post ramchop. Now, according to the English announcers during the matches, the only realistic chance Kaio or Chiyotaikai have of making Yokozuna would be to straight out win the next basho. The justification being that 13 wins are enough to win many bashos. However, if either of these Ozekis were awarded yokozuna status without the standard back-to-back basho championships I could only see it as a major blackeye for sumo. First off, a lot of foreigners still complain about Konishiki never making it. But to me, that's fair enough because he did not win the back-to-back bashos. Another case in point is Mushashimaru. He fought along as an Ozeki for a long time winning bashos here and there and maintained an incredible winning record but he was never given the title of Yokozuno until he won the back-to-back bashos and could no longer be denied. Even though, believe it or not there was some controversy surrounding his promotion.

But to promote either of these Ozekis after actually having won neither of the last two bashos would be just shameful and an embarrassment to the wrestlers themselves and the sport. If this happens, foreign sports fans in Japan really owe it to themselves to protest this favoritism.

[cstaylor]

But to promote either of these Ozekis after actually having won neither of the last two bashos would be just shameful and an embarrassment to the wrestlers themselves and the sport. If this happens, foreign sports fans in Japan really owe it to themselves to protest this favoritism.

It's about money. The association rakes in the cash from people actually going to see the sport, and if the crowds want a Japanese Yokozuna, the leadership will find a way to make it happen.

I never would have spent the money on seeing Sumo in person if my family wasn't already into it]for free[/b].

You have to remember that it's a giant welfare organization: when a rikishi retires, unless he's totally famous and can support himself like Konishiki, they usually take a job with the Sumo Association. The money for these salaries comes from various places, but a large part of it come from the fans that actually attend the matches. That's one reason the tickets are so expensive.

[cstaylor]

I think it's too late for Asashoryu to regain any fans he's lost, but I think his stablemaster should have taught him that winning isn't everything: it's how you win. His lame side-step on Chiyotaikai was unbecoming of a Yokozuna.

However, by that point nothing he could have done would have changed the sentiments of people who don't like him.

[AssKissinger]

Well you heard it here first. Asashoryu's up to 34 straight! He already passed Punkanohana's record.

[cstaylor]

If Chiyotaikai and Kaio win their next ten or eleven matches, we'll be seeing a new Japanese Yokozuna too.

[AssKissinger]

Asashoryu refuses to accept prizes with his right hand.

This is a pretty interesting article.

waiwai

"Asashoryu doesn't show any particular weakness and he's got plenty inside him to drive his foes down even further. Even if you put three of the current ozeki up against him at the same time, Asashoryu would still win," former Yokozuna great Chiyonofuji, holder of the all-time consecutive winning record in sumo, tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "About the only thing capable of stopping Asashoryu from his record breaking pace would be a traffic accident."

But southpaw Asashoryu accepted the prizes after each win with his left hand, disobeying an unwritten rule

I'm surprised he gets away with this. Does anybody know if Mongolia has this type of no left hand culture?

Also a little off topic but during the English commentary on the sumo the other day that guy said that Mongolia has a 99% literacy right. I can't imagine that any equally poor country comes close. I wonder what percent of North Koreans can read Hangul? Any idea Caustic?

[AssKissinger]

The streak is over. Asashoryu lost today . Did anybody else watch it? Musashimaru was a guest commentator. It was really interesting.

[ramchop]

I really need a broadband connection. Watching live streaming video on a dial up is really frustrating.

[AssKissinger]

Well the Mad Mongolion won another basho today. He wasn't undefeated but that's three in a row! None of those other wankers are gonna get promoted either.

[cstaylor]

I think Asashoryu is feeling more confident with his strength. This tournament he actually took the other Ozeki wrestlers head on instead of turning them to the side like he normally does. His bout against Kaio was especially impressive (today's match with Chiyotaikai was a snoozer... that guy is totally overrated).

[emperor]

Hey Guys and Girls,

Im in the process of researching various aspects of Sumo to include in a paper/rombun I have to write for uni. (its gonna be about 4000 kanji)

I would be very grateful for any ideas that you might be able to throw at me.

So far; Ive thought of give it the bland but unrestrictive title of "Sumos History and Future", and plan on touching the following areas:

-its origins (comparison with local styles mongolian/chinese, and probably the oldest and original style-greek wrestling)
-various things that have stayed constant or changed: traditions; rules; rituals; diet; leisure+love; gender roles..??
-the involvement of foreigners in the sport and the spread of sumo to other countries (limited as it is)
-has there been a decline in interest in recent years; if so-is it due to foreign and international sports introduction to the country; could the future of sumo be in jeopardy

Can you think of anything I havent mentioned?
-or-
Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks and Regards,
emperor

ps. I`d also welcome any thoughts on anywhere where I might find resources readily available in English - it should save time and i plan to draft it in eigo and translate it once thats done anyway.
Cheers!

[Mulboyne]

You could also look at the economics of Sumo since that touches on fight-rigging and broader allegations of corruption which all threaten modern sumo. And possible parallels to boxing in the west which has seen a slump in popularity.

When Akebono decided to switch to K1, it was partly, it seems, because he couldn't envisage making a success of being a stablemaster given the amount of capital he would have needed to put up. That's in contrast to Jesse who, as a stablemaster, helped bring in the Hawaiians.

Scandals certainly haven't helped. When Chiyonofuji reigned supreme and Konishiki was first on the scene, the Sumo Council accelerated the Yokozuna promotion of, what the devil was his name, Futosomethingorother, who could not sustain his early success. Under pressure to deliver or retire, he had a fight with his stablemaster's wife and ended up leaving in disgrace and moving to pro wrestling.
It's interesting to wonder how that scene would play out now.

Andy Adams was always a major source for Sumo and his Sumo World website is still up even though I don't think much goes on there now. Find it Here

I also seem to have bookmarked this site by a Hungarian bloke. It is current and probably has better links. Bandey's Sumo Site

This data is pretty basic stuff but might be a useful memory jogger Sumo Information

There is probably a sumo forum where you could also post your request.

If you do write somthing, post it when you are done so we can get a read!

[emperor]

You could also look at the economics of Sumo since that touches on fight-rigging and broader allegations of corruption which all threaten modern sumo. And possible parallels to boxing in the west which has seen a slump in popularity.
... If you do write something, post it when you are done so we can get a read!

Cheers Mulboyne!

I was planning in looking at the business side of things - sponsorship deals, product endorsement, ticket sales-TAM ratings etc.
but I completely forgot about match-fixing!!

well that should prove to be an interesting avenue of exploration!

Former wrestler claims sport is "rife" with foxed contests
..The Associated Press quotes wrestler Keisuke Itai saying "I regret what I did in the past,'' acknowledging that he intentionally lost many bouts...
the sport's image has been tarnished. Four years ago, in a series of tabloid articles, Itai's stablemaster, a former wrestler named Onaruto, talked about wrestlers who smoked marijuana, cheated on their taxes, hung out with gangsters, joined in orgies and frequently lost matches for money. But shortly afterward, three members of Japan's top sumo family were hit with back taxes for failing to report more than $3.7 million in income...According to the AP report, Andy Adams, publisher of Sumo World, a Tokyo-based magazine, said that bout-rigging -- usually arranged among the wrestlers themselves to help someone score the extra win he needs for promotion to a higher rank -- goes back hundreds of years...

I should have started researching this weeks ago - my deadline is just over a week away - Im a BAD BAD student!!
but if i uncover some interesting facts ill be sure to post extracts - in english(waito-debiru-go) of course