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2015 Hatsu Post-basho Report
The
NHK senshuraku broadcast was fittingly devoted to Hakuho and the various
milestones he has achieved in his career. Throughout the broadcast, they
produced some telling graphs that help illustrate Hakuho's career and the
current status of sumo in general. They even went back and showed a picture of a
scrawny Hakuho as a mae-zumo rikishi borrowing someone's kesho mawashi and being
introduced atop the dohyo at the 2001 Haru basho. Some of you old schoolers may
know this, but two basho prior to that I was fortunate enough to be onsite at a
client's location in Fukuoka of all places just as the sumos arrived in town for
the 2000 Kyushu basho. Each morning before I'd report to the client's office,
I'd drive my FunCarGo rent-a-car around Fukuoka and visit as many sumo stables
as possible for morning keiko.
One morning I decided to visit the Miyagino-beya, which set up their practice
facilities in Fukuoka's Higashi Park adjacent to the Ebisu Jinja, the same
shrine that happens to produce that ugly row of geisha who attend several days
of the Kyushu basho each year. It's a great location for a stable, and my
primary reason for visiting the Miyagino-beya was because Kaio used to frequent
the heya often for morning keiko, and he was one of my favorite rikishi at the
time. On this particular day, Kaio was unfortunately not in attendance, but
morning keiko among non-sekitori rikishi was being held under a cheap canopy
there in the park, and so I stayed and watched for a bit.
A skinny old dude who happened to be Miyagino-oyakata walked over to me and
thanked me for visiting the stable. In the back of my mind, I was thinking,
"Hey, do you know where Kaio is this morning?" but I thought better of it and
nodded towards the ring and said that the practice looked "omoshiroso."
His reply was the standard, "Oh, your Japanese is so good," and then I demurred
of course which is the proper custom in Japan. Miyagino-oyakata asked me if I
lived in Japan, and I told him that I was just here on business and was very
interested in the sumo stables. He next waved me over near the canopy where he
grabbed two folding chairs and set them up right next to the ring. He sat me
down on one of the chairs and then he took the other, and then he proceeded to
explain what was happening in the ring for the remainder of the keiko session,
which lasted about 45 minutes.
There were no sekitori in the stable at the time although there was a former
Juryo dude who was kinda washed up by then named Wakahayato. Miyagino-oyakata
was extremely high, however, on his first ever Mongolian recruit, a dude named
Ryuo, who many of you will remember. Ryuo was in Jonidan at the time, and he was
still this skinny kid with zits all over his face (think Ama when he was young)
and a virtual afro since his hair was too short to tie up into a knot. Ryuo was
facing Sandanme guys and Makushita guys and holding his own, and I could tell
why Miyagino was so excited about him. I paid rapt attention throughout the
session as Miyagino rarely stopped talking about sumo. We formed a special bond
that morning (although it has not continued through the present), and I will
forever be grateful to that humble oyakata who decided to take a strange gaijin
under his wing and personally show him the ins and outs of sumo. As we parted
that morning, Miyagino warmly shook my hand and said, "Please come back any
time." I told him that I would do my best, but I wouldn't make it back to
Fukuoka again in November until 2004.
The first chance I got in 2004, I made a beeline for the Miyagino-beya to say
hello to Miyagino-oyakata, but there was even more incentive this time
around...he had found another Mongolian recruit by the name of Hakuho who left
Ryuo in his wake and had rapidly ascended to the Makuuchi jo'i in less than four
years. I couldn't wait to see Hakuho practice and congratulate Miyagino on his
prized recruit. As I headed towards the stable in Higashi Park, I now noticed
several nice tents set up in place of that cheap, blue canopy. The problem was,
no morning keiko was going on. I was wandering around the tents to see if anyone
was there, and out popped Miyagino-oyakata. His eyes got wide as if he knew me
from somewhere, and I reminded him that he sat me ringside four years ago when
Ryuo was in Jonidan to watch his morning practice. He remembered and shook my
hand vigorously and said, "Hisashiburi." I asked him about the morning
keiko, and he said that everyone was at the Kokonoe-beya. We chatted for another
minute, and then I told him I was going to hop the subway to Tojin-machi to
catch the practice session.
It turns out that everybody who was anybody was at that keiko session. You had
Ozeki Chiyotaikai from the Kokonoe-beya; you had Hakuho from the Miyagino-beya;
and then Asashoryu was there as well. Besides those top-notch rikishi, there
were scores of oyakata on hand including former Yokozuna greats in Chiyonofuji
and also Kitanofuji. I also ran into Naito Announcer, who to me was the Vin
Scully of sumo because it was Naito Announcer's voice that walked me through the
broadcasts from the beginning. After the keiko session everyone streamed out
into the courtyard of the Hirano Shrine that houses the Kokonoe-beya, and while
Asashoryu received the bulk of the attention, there stood Hakuho off to the side
in the shade of the trees wearing a loose yukata and posing for pictures with a
few babies and their mothers. As I walked over to acknowledge him and tell him "O-tsukare-sama,"
I can still remember being taken aback at his sheer size and overall presence at
such a young age (he was still just 19). You could just feel that the dude was
destined for greatness, and I of course didn't know at the time that he would
become the greatest ever, but looking back on it now, it doesn't surprise me.
The reason I even tell this story is to bring Miyagino-oyakata to the forefront
just a bit and give him major props for his role in Hakuho's success. He is such
a humble and unassuming dude who has raised Hakuho to be a grand Yokozuna that
the Japanese public actually embraces and, more importantly, greatly respects in
every sense of the word. I know what it's like to watch a child go yard or pitch
a gem of a game in baseball, and so I can only wonder the immense pride
Miyagino-oyakata deservedly feels as he has watched Hakuho become the greatest
rikishi of all time. It couldn't have happened to a better dude, and so watching
Hakuho's run to 33 really had me rooting for my man, Miyagino-oyakata. Congrats
bro, and thanks for taking the time way back when for a nobody.
For the record, 2004 was the last time that I've ever met Miyagino-oyakata,
visited a sumo stable, or watched a bout of sumo live in the arena. I suppose
it's largely a case of "been there done that" and having more pressing needs now
in life, but my love for sumo has never waned, and I'm always fascinated by the
twists and turns that the sport brings.
So...let's get right to them starting with the aforementioned graphics NHK
produced on senshuraku documenting Hakuho's rise. First up is a graphic that
shows the ages of Taiho, Chiyonofuji, and Hakuho when they picked up each career
yusho.
Taiho's graph is very similar to Hakuho's in terms of
age with the main difference being Hakuho is nowhere close to retirement. Then,
as Clancy pointed out on senshuraku before he slammed the mic to the stage and
walked off like the badass that he is, Chiyonofuji picked up the last 20 yusho
of his career after the age of 30. I think it's fair to say that the
banzuke during Chiyonofuji's reign wasn't nearly the piece of crap it is today,
so with a lot of years left, a much weaker banzuke, and no history of any
significant injuries, you can already see that Hakuho is completely capable of
averaging five yusho per year for the next 4 - 5 years ceteris paribus. Now, it
wouldn't surprise me if Hakuho reached a purty round number like 40 and retired
saying that he'd accomplished everything he set out to do in the sport, but for
the next half decade if everything remains constant, Hakuho could conceivably
reach 50 career yusho if he wanted to.
The
next graphic NHK introduced is the one found at right (what's with the lavender
theme...was Kane consulting with the designers on these?). This graphic shows a
list of the kimari-te or winning techniques from this basho compared to Hakuho's
10th yusho that occurred at the 2009 Haru basho. Hakuho has of course scored
zensho yusho in between that span, but the point NHK was trying to make is that
the content of Hakuho's sumo has grown quite erratic over the years. The chart
on the left from 2009 shows a very stable list of winning techniques dominated
by yori-kiri (12 including one force-down) with a few throws and one oshi-dashi
for good measure. This chart suggests a dominating Yokozuna able to fight in a
very linear fashion, and even if you can't read the kanji, you can see that it's
quite uniform.
The chart on the right was through the first 14 days of this basho and contains
9 different kimari-te. This suggests very erratic and unpredictable sumo, sorta
what you'd expect to see from a guy like Aminishiki, and this is the type of
sumo Hakuho has been displaying for the last few years. When Fujii Announcer
asked Kitanofuji his thoughts on the graphic, he replied, "He's no longer doing
ippouteki-na sumo," or sumo in a one-side or linear fashion. Now, the
reason is debatable as to why Hakuho's sumo is all over the map, and my opinion
is that he's doing this by choice leaving subtle openings here and there for his
opponent's to capitalize on. I've actually been suggesting this for awhile now,
and this graphic backs that assessment up. Some may disagree, but if you think
about other possible causes to this type of sumo, the following plausible
reasons come to mind: he's fighting nagging injuries and has to compensate, or
the competition is simply better meaning he's being challenged more than he used
to be.
If you just watch sumo, you know that 1) Hakuho is not injured and is not
favoring any part of his body, and 2) the competition is growing noticeably
worse--not better--as I will expound on later. The only other explanation that I
can logically think of is that he's letting up and creating openings to give the
appearance that the competition is better, something I have been
stressing for awhile now.
This next graphic shows two charts with the
one on the left labeled "Consecutive Double-Digit Wins."
The order of the chart is:
1) Hakuho with 48 (just in case you can't read that kanji for "48")
2) Kitanoumi with 37
3) Taiho with 25
4) Wakanohana II with 23
5) Wakanohana I with 22.
The chart on the right is "Number of Nakabi Kachi-koshi" or number of 8-0 starts
if you will (and by damn you WILL!) The list here includes:
1) Hakuho 36
2) Chiyonofuji 25
3) Asashoryu 24
4) Taiho 22
5) Kitanoumi 20
So, we can see that Hakuho dominates these two charts as well, but what do they
actually measure? (Seriously, think about it before you read on)
The chart on the right measures the ability of the jo'i rikishi from Komusubi
down (usually to about the M3/M4 range) and their ability (or inability in this
case) to defeat Yokozuna. These are the guys who face the Yokozuna over the
first 8 days, and the competition that Hakuho has faced has simply been awful.
The chart on the left takes into account the first eight days, and then it
factors in the strength of the Sekiwake on up, the opponents the Yokozuna faces
in week 2. Overall, these two charts measure the strength of the banzuke, and
the banzuke during Hakuho's run has been extremely weak.