[sumo] old news #5

[rowan klein]

Los Angeles Times, Tuesday 7th September 1915

EDOZAKURA IS ONE TOUGH GUY 

Little Wrestler is Thrown Tamateyama and Shiunriu 

Then Drags Conquerors Back for More. 

Tamateyama and Shiunriu Try Cracking Skulls.

    Edozakura, a small, muscular gent, was the feature of the Japanese wrestling at the Vernon Arena yesterday. This young man started out with the terrific intention of licking all his associates. There were forty of these, all larger than himself, and he certainly had his hands full. 
    Ed was evidently feeling good or else he had an awful grouch on. He appeared in the ring about twenty minutes ahead of any one else and stood around, looking
for trouble. It soon came in 300-pound hunches. 
    The first candidate to tackle the aspiring wrestler was a veteran of the ring. He picked Edozakura up and smeared him around the circle in a few well-chosen
sweeps. Then he cast him out on the boards and started for the sidelines. But the fallen hero was no quitter. He jumped up like a streak and dragged his conqueror back into the ring. Then he squatted down and demanded more fight and he got it. 

INTO THE BUCKET

     The Winner repeated his performance with a little more force and gusto and wound up by throwing the victim over his shoulder and almost into the water bucket. Feeling that this was a bad job, well done, he strode off to the dressing room without further remarks. 
    Edozakura, however, had pep if nothing else. He selected another wrestle and took him on for a speedy tussle. The fight was good but the result were the same as before. 
    To make a long story a little bit congested, Edozakura  tackled everything in sight and made a very credible showing at that. We'll have to hand it to him, he's a wonder. If he had 200 pounds more beef, you couldn't stop him. 

REAL FIGHT.
    One real fight developed during the course of the afternoon. Tamateyama and Shiunriu were the principles. 
     The fighters stumbled into each other and cracked heads and this seemed to get them tremendously excited. Tamateyama claimed that Shiunriu did this on
purpose. So on the next round he bumped his head against Shiunriu's for revenge. This bump nearly knocked them both out and it got them more excited. 
    The men fought so hard that two of the rounds ended in ties. These had to be wrestled over and the score stood one all. Then there was a long discussion about some technical point and it required three umpires and several of the fighters to restore peace. The two wrestlers started on the deciding round. Tamateyama got a poor start and was knocked on his back in about one second. So he immediately claimed that he had been wronged an demanded another trail. 

HISS.
    The audience began to hiss and yell and the umpires ordered him out of the ring. But he wouldn't get out and he sat down in the center of the circle and dared
anybody to drag him out. He looked so tough and talked so much like he meant business that they decided to give him another chance. 
    And as fate would have it, he won the last round, hands down. 
    The general scrap was perhaps the most exciting event of the day. All of the wrestlers engaged in this and it was a speed affair from start to finish. Chinzeizan won the contest by throwing five men out of the ring in succession. 
    Umegatani and Nishinoumi performed in championship style. They had little trouble in casting their lesser opponents out of the fray. 

GREATEST.
    The greatest match of the tournament will be staged this afternoon, Umegatani and Nishinoumi will hook up in an exhibition match. The former is the present
champion of Japan and the latter is his most important rival. These man have not been defeated in this tournament and the fight will undoubtedly be a wonder. 

Yesterday's complete results follow: 
Satushuzan beat Sanukiyama, 2 to 1 
Tazimayama beat Iwaninada 2 to 1 
Onishiyama beat Wakanoura 2 straight 
Kinriu beat Konobori 2 to 1 
Hakushuzan beat Raigaura 2 to 1 
Chinzeizan beat Edozakura 
Konobori beat Iwaninada 2 to 1 
Tamatubaki beat Chibagasaki 
Koshitachi beat Tunenohana 
Kyushuzan beat Chakagadake 
Tamateyama beat Shiunriu 2 to 1 
Nishinoumi beat Tamateyama 
and Umegatani beat Shiunriu 
  
  
  


       
---------------------------------
Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. Find out more.