[sumo] Fwd: [Sumo news] - Ex-Goueidou speaks about his career

[Jeff A]

Moti


Best regards,
Gaijingai

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these:
It might have been.
- John Greenleaf Whittier

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Moti Dichne <niramiai at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 8, 2026 at 3:14 AM
Subject: [Sumo news] - Ex-Goueidou speaks about his career
To: Sumo Newsletter2 <sumo-newsletter2 at googlegroups.com>


Former professional baseball player Iku Okazaki's official YouTube channel,
"Athlete Academia," posted a video on the 5th featuring former Ozeki
Goueidou, now Takekuma Oyakata. He revealed the hardships behind his only
career yusho. In this video, the two men engage in a dialogue about the
career of Takekuma Oyakata, who was active from the January 2005 tournament
when he made his debut until the January 2020 tournament. During the
discussion, the Oyakata spoke about the harsh scrutiny he received from
many fans before his first yusho at the Autumn 2016 tournament. The
Oyakata  was promoted to Ozeki after the Nagoya tournament in 2014, but
from the following Autumn tournament to the Nagoya tournament in 2016, he
failed to produce results for a long time, with 0 yushos, 1 double-digit
win record, 7 single-digit win records, and 4 makekoshi.

He also faced the autumn tournament that year as a kadoban, but he defeated
formidable opponents such as Terunofuji (now Isegahama Oyakata), Kisenosato
(now Nishonoseki Oyakata), Harumafuji, Kakuryuu (now Otowayama Oyakata),
and Kotoshougiku (now Hidenoyama Oyakata) to win the yusho with a perfect
record. Takekuma recalled that time, saying, "Basically, my performance
wasn't good at all after I became an Ozeki, and I was criticized a lot.
People would say things like 'a useless Ozeki'..." He also said, "The
hardest thing was when I was on the dohyo for a match during a jungyo and
an old man (in the audience) said, 'Please, just get a kachikoshi,' and
everyone around me laughed. I felt like, 'This is the position I've reached
now'..." He added that he was often the target of ridicule even during
jungyos. Despite enduring these heartless comments, he brilliantly seized
the yusho trophy. At the time, he had a strong image as someone who never
cried in public, so it became a topic of conversation when he shed tears
during an interview after winning the yusho on the 14th day. He recalled,
"There were a lot of things like that, so when I won, I don't know why I
cried, but the tears just came out naturally," suggesting that he was
overwhelmed with emotion unconsciously.

Takekuma reflected on his time as an active rikishi. In the video, He spoke
about Hakuhou, who reigned as the strongest Yokozuna during his time. "He
was big, fast, and could do anything. Of course, he could also do
traditional sumo, but when he faced me, he would change his tachiai every
tournament. There were several times when I would panic and not know what
to do. " he recalled. He continued, "He would use harite and kachiage. It's
amazing that he could do anything. I think he really could do anything. He
had incredible athletic ability, and he was also very flexible. You never
knew what someone like that would do, so I felt his strength all the more."
He further recalled his matches against Hakuhou, saying, "He might use a
left-handed slap or a right-handed slap. Sometimes he'd use kachiage, and
sometimes he'd use both hands. When we were fighting there was no point in
hesitating too much. I just decided what I was going to do at the tachiai
and went for it."


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