[sumo] [spoiler] Day 6 spoiled!

[Lawrence Rogers]

John Racine sez:

> Kotooshu (unlike Kaio, for example) seems to feel no shame in 
> doing henka a
> few times each basho.  He is not muttering to himself that he 
> should never
> have tried to get away with such terrible sumo.  He is lamenting 
> the fact
> that he didn't even get the win.  Despite "cheating".

Mainoumi and Shikoro Oyakata, the former Terao, did the guest commentary during the telecast last night. Neither one of them came out with 'what is it with this guy?!' but they were not enchanted by the henka. Mainoumi put it in a positive light: 'He wants to win much too hard.' Terao suggested Kotooshu did it because he was too eager to grab the mawashi. They both agreed his take on 'traditional Sumo values' differs from the other rikishi'
s.
 
John's mentioning "cheating" -- the quotation marks are necessary here -- reminded me of something I read in the book <Tokyo Underworld> by Robt Whiting. In the Fifties there was a pro wrestler named Rikidozan -- actually an ex-sumo guy -- who used to take on gigantic foreigners and beat them soundly, much to the delight of the fans. The fans were especially delighted because the hated gaijin had been cheating all thru the bouts, commiting 
one foul after the other, so their comeuppance was especially delicious.

Rikidozan's bouts were scripted and Kotooshu's are not, but I think he might be falling, unknowingly, into the role of the Devious Gaijin, the kind of guy a lot of Japanese fans would like to see get what's coming to him.

Larry Rogers
Hilo