[sumo] [Long] Asashoryu Yaocho Article from Shukan Gendai

[James Eaton]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Kuroda" <joe_kuroda at yahoo.com>
To: "sumo 2" <sumo at webtrek.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 12:10 PM
Subject: [sumo] [Long] Asashoryu Yaocho Article from Shukan Gendai

> "However after he got promoted to yokozuna, he felt
> rather risky to call his opponent directly so he used
> a 'go-between' known in sumo world as 'Nakabon' (
> literally meaning the middle day of Buddhist holiday)
> who would exchange the dealings."
>
> "Nakabon" is a special term used in Ozumo for someone
> who assumes a role of go-between to expedite their
> bout fixing. For Asashoryu, a certain Makushita
> rikishi is playing the role, which we will come back
> later in this article.


I love sumo culture.  Absolutely *everything* has a name!


> "To put it bluntly the size of this yokozuna's
> 'Chusha' is way out of proportion. Right now a market
> value of a bout is said to be around 800,000 Yen
> (roughly US$6,600). However depending on the
> significance of the bout or opponent's banzuke
> ranking, this amount varies. So it could be as high as
> 10 Million Yen (around US$82,000) or low as below
> 500,000 yen. Regardless, in the current sumo world,
> there is no one else except the yokozuna who could
> afford this much money."


These translations often leave something to be desired.  Am I to read this 
as he's paying his opponents as much as $82,000 to throw bouts, or that 
winning these bouts can be worth as much as $82,000 to the yokozuna 
himself?


> Asashoryu is keeping winning while smearing Japan's
> national sport. In the next issue we will elaborate on
> the Yaocho structure in Ozumo with Asashoryu as its apex.


And if this is actually happening, then you can be certain that everyone 
in ozumo knows about it.  So saying that Asahoryu is himself smearing 
Japan's national sport is a bit perplexing.  And you can be sure that if 
it's this rampant with Asashoryu and his fellow rikishi today, then it has 
also been equally rampant in the past.