[sumo] The Kakizoe matta count

[Walker, Jay CTR NHRC]

>Kakizoe: (After failing to four shikiri at tachiai against Kasugao and
getting scolded by his own heya's Fujishima oyakata, sitting as a dohyo
judge) "It's all my fault...I was too early. It was really bad."

>Fujishima oyakata (former Musoyama) on Kakizoe: "We've been telling him
countless times back at our heya training dohyo. He is just too
self-centered. If he doesn't want to meet his opponent half way then we
should just give him a loss. This is really embarrassing."

Somewhere along the way (maybe when his skills started declining)
Kakizoe went from having one of the cleanest of tachi-ais to becoming
the biggest tachi-ai cheater in at least the last 10 years.  His
attempts to get an unfair jump on his opponent and repeated mattas
became part of his daily routine.  By the second half of last year you
could bet even up each day that he would commit a matta and probably
come out ahead.

I would joke with my friends that I was going to keep a count of the
number of mattas he committed, and actually did it this past Natsu
basho.  Maybe he knew I was watching him, but he was better behaved than
usual with only 4 mattas in 14 bouts (one fusen win).  

When Musashigawa oyakata pronounced his tachi-ai enforcement edict, my
first reaction was bemusement knowing that the biggest offender was
right in his own heya.  But Musoyama's statement showed that they were
trying and that Kakizoe's cheatin' heart belonged exclusively to
himself.  Well finally the 'chickens have come home to roost', and the
Kakizoe matta count may in due time become history.  

-Jay