[Sumo]Yokozuna Oddities

[Harold E. Shaver]

Yokozunas have not all been the stern faced icons we would like to associate
with that rank i.e Kokonoe oyakata, Kitnanoumi oyakata, Musashigawa oyakata
et.al.  Some of them can act quite un-Yokozuna like at time, sometimes
bordering on the bizarre as related in this item taken from the Mailing List
archives from 2001 and concerning one of the greatest Yokozuna of all time
Futabayama.  The incidents in question took place soon after his retirement
from the ring and yet despite these strange goings on all was ultimately
forgiven and Futabayama went on in fact to become Rijicho.  How relatively
benign much of Asashoryu's decried behavior seems in contrast to the
following.

 

Hal "Chisaiyama" Shaver

 


Sumo Retro 1947

  _____  


*   To: sumo at sun01pt2-1523.statgen.ncsu.edu 
*   Subject: Sumo Retro 1947 
*   From: "Rowan Klein" <rowanchan at hotmail.com> 
*   Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 12:31:48 
*   Sender: owner-sumo at statgen.ncsu.edu 

  _____  

size=2 width="100%" align=center> 
Latest additions to the newspaper collection. The ones about Futabayama 
being in a cult will probably be news to many fans.
 
1925 May        9 - Summer Sumo Season to Open.
1925 June       2 - Wrestling Bout by Students.
1925 June      18 - Osaka's Wrestlers To Tour America.
1947 January   16 - Former Sumo Champion Makes Odd Prophecies.
1947 January   23 - Ex-Sumo Champ Beats Up Poilce But Fails to Save 'Sun 
Goddess'.
1947 January   29 - Bull Fighting At Osaka.
1947 February   5 - Sports Review for 1946 Part II.
1947 February  23 - Order Sun Goddess Cult Disbanded As Violating Potsdam 
Declaration.
 
1947 January 16
FORMER SUMO CHAMPION MAKES ODD PROPHECIES
Futabayama Becomes Fanatical Devotee of Sun Goddess
 
    Former Grand Champion Futabayama, idol of millions of ardent sumo fans 
throughout the country, lately has been acting
extremely queerly, leading his close associates to entertain serious anxiety

over his mental and spiritual state of mind.
    Asahi's "Blue Pencil" columnist said that ever since Futabayama's 
retirement from the ring last year following an
unprecedented record of victories the former Grand Champion has become a 
fanatical devotee of "Jiko-sama", sun goddess
diety.
    A few days ago, Futaba was reported to have appeared suddenly in Tokyo 
from Kanazawa, where he has been closely
attached to a Jiko-sama temple there, and to have startled his close friends

with strange mystical prophecies.
    Announcing himself as an emissary of Jiko-sama, Futaba said that he had 
rushed to Tokyo on a mission to save humanity. To
astonished associates, he blurted out that the time for materialization of 
the goddess' divine mission of reforming the souls of
humanity and the heavenly and earthly order had already arrived.
    The former Grand Champion, who since accepting the worship of the sun 
goddess diety has assumed the name of Motohiro
Futaba, furthermore, declared that the spirit of Lenin recently had entered 
into his being.
    When his friends refused to believe his prophecies, Futaba is reported 
to have angrily declared that those who could not
understand him were "hopeless creatures".
    After hurriedly spreading his gospel and warning, Futaba rushed back 
again to Kanazawa to continue his communion with his
saint, the columnist said.
 
 
1947 January   23
Ex-Sumo Champ Beats Up Police But Fails to Save 'Sun Goddess'
 
    Several policemen were seriously injured Tuesday night when Futabayama, 
former Grand Champion of the Sumo World,
attempted to prevent the local police from taking Yoshiko Nagaoka 45, the 
self styled "sun goddess" into custody for
questioning.
    Futabayama was said to have fought off the police as if he were crazed, 
swinging chairs or throwing whatever articles he
could grab hold of with the mighty strength of a sumo wrestlers.
    The incident started around 8 p.m. when the local police received 
information that the self styled "sun goddess" was secretly
preparing to leave the city in fear of arrest.
    A squad of some 30 police surrounded the home of 'jiko-san" for the 
purpose of taking her into custody for questioning.
Immediately, Futabayama created a one man riot in an attempt to prevent his 
"sun goddess" from the police.
    After a 30 minute fight with Futabayama, the police finally succeeded in

arresting the "Jiko-san" along with Futabayama and
several other followers.
    The "sun goddess", the Yomiuri reports, refused to appear at the 
Kanazawa Tamagawa police station Tuesday morning for
questioning. Instead, she sent the emissaries. They were her finance 
minister and two maiden acolytes.
    At the police station, they were questioned by a psychiatrist and a 
whole battery of police chiefs. The verdict was "definitely
mentally unbalanced." So after two hours of interrogation, during which the 
two acolytes slid into a trance, the three emissaries
were released.
    The physchiatrist said he believes that the "sun goddess" herself may be

a mental case.