[sumo] etymology of yaocho

[Carl Freire]

At 6:13 AM -0400 6/1/09, Kaiopectate! <tm> wrote:
>Interesting info & legend.  But how could Isenoumi have been unaware
>of Chobei's ploy, while it was so widely known to the public?  And why
>not 'chobei' instead of 'yaocho'?  Is there an 'Oxford Japanese
>Dictionary'?

It's called the Great Japanese Dictionary (Nihogo Daijiten), but we 
don't have to go that far.  I'm looking at my Kojien right now (the 
standard "good" dictionary) and before giving two definitions of the 
word's use (in sum, [1] to throw a match in sumo or other competitive 
sport, etc. and [2] put another way, to act in collusion) it explains 
the background to the phrase as:

"Said to have come from a greengrocer in the early Meiji period who 
went by the name Yaocho and who, when playing "go" with a sumo 
toshiyori, regularly arranged matters so that there would be one loss 
for every one win."

Yes, it says "go," not "shogi," as does this etymology in my Super 
Daijirin, one of Kojien's competitors.

"A term said to have come from the fact that a greengrocer named 
Choheibei (commonly called Yaocho) who frequently played 'go' with a 
sumo toshiyori and by making certain allowances was able to win or 
lose as he pleased."

greengrocer = yaoya
Yaocho = kind of a pun--"Greengrocer Cho[heibei]" but also 
figuratively, The Vegetable Chief
yao = 800 hundred, but symbolically meaning "a very large number" and 
used to refer to the myriad of veggies in the world.  At least that's 
the dominant explanation, though apparently there's another one about 
slippage from the word "aoya" (meaning lit. "green things store")

As for Isenoumi's apparent obliviousness . . . umm, oh, look, your 
shoe's untied!

Quickly exiting, stage right,
Carl
-- 

**********

Carl Freire
cfreire /[@]* ix.netcom.com
Tokyo, Japan