[sumo] And the snowball starts rollin'..

[Moti]

From: Charles Beauchamp <beauking1 at yahoo.com>


<<For the most part you just said what I said.  Jungyo
as it stands today is not traditional at all.  He was
hammered not for dishonoring the great amazing
tradition of sumo.  He was hammered for not lining his
employer's pockets which causes those of us that
remain actually rational and reasonable to wonder at
the sensibility of said employers.>>

He was hammered for not doing his job. He was hammered for going to Mongolia without permission. so what if he did that countless times without being punished? 


<< And given the
insane treatment of Rikishi yes sumo is in trouble
because sensible people are simply not going to be
willing to be subjected to beer bottle smacks to the
face.>>
You're kidding right? You didn't know that this a long-time tradition? The hazing is part of everyday keiko, always has been. It was always difficult for a young kid to join sumo. It's  a very well- know fact that you eat dirt till you make it, if you make it. The thing is, sometimes someone somewhere decides to check the limits, and he sometimes loses. It happens in many sports, as someone pointed out.
For the near future, there probably will be a drop in new recruits. there was a drop without his anyway, since with modernization and pampering, not many young kids see this "job" as great balls of fun.

<<  You won't have a sport if you don't have
participants.  There is nothing sacred about Sumo that
guarantees it will succeed.  Like all things it has
highs and lows.  Right now the news seems pretty dark
on a rather regular basis.  Hopefully the kyokai gets
it's own house in order.>>>
I can't agree more, and the Kyokai seems to be trying hard to do that, although maybe for the wrong reasons, but it will have to do probably.

<As for the notion of Japan having some special
sensibility regarding giving employers redface...
doesn't apply in the case of Asashoryu.  The employer
redfacedness is of their own devising. > 

Herein lies our disagreement. Asa works for a company with rules. Written or oral doesn't change that fact. And not Japan, but sumo certainly has a special sensibility as to how it is perceived by the outside world. Definitely.
No one sprang something on Asa that he didn't know .He is paying for that, hopefully he will learn, come back, and kick the pants off everyone.

  







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