New yokozuna Harumafuji may face forced retirement

Somebody has to slap those pancakes.

Sumo, if it was ever taken seriously, hasn't for over 5 years now.

Let's face it, it's professional wrestling but with beer guts.

"Some people may wonder why he waspromoted to yokozuna in the first place"

Um, because he won the last two bashos with perfect 15-0 records, beating yokozuna Hakuho twice, and has won three bashos with a perfect 15-0 record? Give the guy a break, jeez.

Wonder what the average age is of the "blue-riband panel" (sigh)? 120? Give Harumafuji a break. Many new yokozuna do not do that well in their first basho or two. This is just baiting the Mongolian, a favorite pastime, instead of doing positive things to promote sumo and get more people buying tickets. What's behind this silliness?

Sumo in Japan became a shame as more foreigner wrestlers are dominating the japanese traditional sports... When will there be a Japanese Yokozuna?

Plus the average sumo wrestler weighs 30 kg more than Ama, er, Harumafuji.

Tsuruta, former president of the leading business daily Nikkei, also complained that Harumafuji frequently uses the technique of “harite”, where a wrestler slaps the opponent’s face and neck. The technique is too crude for a yokozuna to employ, Tsuruta said. “I want him to stop using it. Sumo is not a brawl.”

Hmmm. I seem to remember a stiff slap in the face right off the tachiai as being a favorite technique of Takanohana. Not every fight mind you, but he used it a lot.

Heck, slapping sure beats henka. I've seen some seriously great slapping!

If they promoted him too quickly, that's the board's mistake right? Shouldn't they have to step down?

If I was a betting man, I'd be putting money on him to 'miraculously' win at least the minimum number of bouts in the next tourney though.

When will there be a Japanese Yokozuna?

Perhaps when the Japanese Ozeki stop riding the kadoban elevator.

Also, really? They're complaining about harite as being inappropriate for a Yokozuna? Hmmm, strange, don't seem to recall Hakuho getting reprimanded for using henka this basho...

Perhaps it's time for the Sumo Council to accept that the Japanese national sport is no longer as Japanese as they'd like. Either that, or they can take one of two measures. Step down, and let younger members who would like to see the sport succeed in spite of the lack of Japanese interest in participating, or succumb to their not-so-secret discriminatory desires and declare the sport off limits to those nasty gaijin who cause all those horribly embarassing problems like bout fixing and betting scandals.

Oh, wait...

Harumafuji, despite his inconsistent win record, is clearly one of the most talented rikishi to emerge in a long time, and his promotion to Yokozuna was well earned. Force him to retire, and watch viewership drop yet again.

The article shows the basic problem of sumo. "...since compatriot Asashoryu retired in early 2010."

The end of Sumo began when some "old white men" decided to fire the one attraction the "sport" had. He did NOT retire, he was forced to. A sumotory, who enjoys himself, has fun and is actually intersting to watch, that is a no-no, he will get fired. A sumotory's one job is to uphold the japanese tradition of being a robot! Sumo has been boring ever since and never recovered from that loss. Firing Kotomitsuki at the same time for betting on baseball gave stupidity a new high point. As the result the yokosuna, who thus lost all competition, now climbs in the all time ranking. Hakuho is good, but not that good...

I watched the last Fukuoka tournament and it was as bad and boring as expected. The highpoint were the five consecutive losses of the yokosuna, can anything be more embarrassing?

As a matter of fact, yes it can. In those 15 days I saw at least four fights, were those "judges", in spite of their consultation made the wrong decision and awarded victory to the wrong fighter. Even more embarrassing are the hypocritical commentators who also must have seen those fights in super slow motion, and not once lost a word. I suppose that is what is they get paid for? Also below any acceptable threshold are all the commentators, except one. Some of them never stop babbling, NEVER!, continuously repeating things that everybody knows, things that are shown on the the TV screen and repeating things they already have said themselves! Some new commentators are as bad, they seem to think they are commenting a program called "Sumo for the Blind". Only when there actually would be something to report, like the scandalous false decisons, they are silent.

Sumo has been dead for a while now, time for the funeral.

. It currently has 12 members.

Did not know Sumo also has a Majestic 12

Ranger Miffy

What's behind this silliness?

Do you really have to ask?

That is lunacy, everyone has a bad tournament. He just went 15-0 twice consecutively in July and September. The backlash from knowledgable fans would be immense.

He obviously needs to eat more Big Macs! Seriously, if he was a Japanese champion I doubt he would have people already questioning his form and speculating that his time is up. I reckon he is a chance of coming good - he will never be in the same class as a Asashoryu or Hakuho though.

BurakuminDesNov. 30, 2012 - 05:36PM JST He obviously needs to eat more Big Macs! Seriously, if he was a Japanese champion I doubt he would have people already questioning his form and speculating that his time is up. I reckon he is a chance of coming good - he will never be in the same class as a Asashoryu or Hakuho though.

Some people questioned Wakanohana's promotion to Yokuzuna right from the get go. He was Japanese and he was quite popular. As it turned out, he never won an Emperor's Cup as a Yokozuna. Injuries played apart but he was essentially pressured into retiring for similar reasons.

Tel PorterNov. 28, 2012 - 05:38PM JST That is lunacy, everyone has a bad tournament. He just went 15-0 twice consecutively in July and September. The backlash from knowledgable fans would be immense.

Yokuzunas are not allowed to have a bad tournament. Pre-Yokuzuna records means nothing once a rikishi gets his tsuna. Everything changes. They all know this which is why I've read that some of them consider it to be a mixed blessing. Actually got to ask a former Ozeki about this once. In a moment of complete candor, he said that although is wanted to reach Yokozuna, it many ways he was glad he didn't. He felt it allowed to remain active for almost 6 more years whereas reaching Yokozuna would've probably meant retirement in two or three at best.

@ Yaguna - thanks for the interesting info! As you say, what a mixed blessing: have a couple basho of bad form and the pressure is on to step down. Hope this kid finds some form quick! I guess on the upside the status would always be there as a former Yokozuna - good from commercial point of view - if he has to retire?