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Grand Sumo
He Hit Me and It Really Hurt 15 March 1999
Ouch.
There are 70 officially recognized kimarite, or winning techniques, in
sumo. And yes, you are allowed to hit the an opponent's neck and shoulders. You
can pretty much do anything to him, as long as you don't aim below his
mawashi (loincloth) or grab his samurai-styled hair. Balled-up fists are
also a no-no. Usually, the sumo dudes win by yorikiri
(come-close-grab-and-drive-out-with-your-body technique), but these days,
starting from the mid-1980s, to be exact, hitting has become more and more
common. Of course, you just don't win by hitting per se. Thrusting is a
frequently executed move these days, and the Japanese call it tsuppari,
where the sumo guy showers his opponent with a series of open-palmed thrusts
aimed at the neck and shoulders. This is followed by the winning move, usually
tsukidashi or tsukiotoshi (both are use-arms-to-push-out
techniques). So the rhythm goes like this: eventual winner furiously thrusts out
at opponent's neck and shoulders, causing the latter to lose his balance, then
uses his arms to push him out of the ring or down into the clay. That's the
thing. You may hit with your palms, as long as you don't box with your knuckles.
Today, Miyabiyama was hit real bad.
Poor Miyabiyama.
Miyabiyama is a sumo guy. And he's not just any sumo guy. He entered the pro
sumo world just last year, and in the four tournaments in which he competed he
won all four of them. Of course, Miyabi was an exceptional
gakusei-zumo, meaning that he came from university and was a champion in
varsity-level amateur sumo. So he turned pro.
And today he got slapped, slapped real hard, so hard that he lost his
bearings. And lost the day's torikumi (match).
No, there is no rumor that he had a terrible quarrel with his wife and that they are on the verge of a divorce.
Miyabiyama (left) pushes. I'm not a hundred percent sure who his opponent is for this particular match, but judging from behind I'm fairly certain it's Akinoshima.
Miyabi is only 21, and he isn't even married. Yet, married or otherwise, it
is one thing to be slapped in private. It is another thing to be slapped in
public by Elvis "Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog" himself, in front of 11,000
people and millions of others squatting in front of their television sets. Poor
Miyabiyama. Everybody was expecting him to go on a winning streak, hopefully a
rensho (consecutive wins) until the fifteenth and last day and get away
with the championship. In his match on the third day of the Osaka
tourney, he lost the possibility of a rensho because of Elvis.
Elvis, of course, is actually sumo guy Touki. But Touki, whose autograph
hangs above my couch, seems to be a huge Elvis fan, judging from his prominent
sideburns, hence the nickname. =) Actually, Touki's stable's sister stable, Azumazeki-beya, has an American former sumo dude named Takamiyama, who, judging from his prominent sideburns, seems to be a huge Elvis fan. Touki explained in a fund-raising show that it was Takamiyama whom he was trying to immitate, not the King of Rock 'n Roll. Anyway, Elvis (I mean Touki, not the King of Rock 'n Roll) slapped Miyabi square and (really) hard on
the cheek.
*Pak*. Make that *PAK*. Or more accurately, *PAKKKK*.
It was the first time in Miyabi's sumo life--amateur and pro--to be slapped
like a philandering husband. So he didn't know what to do. In fact, nobody knew
what to do. The crowd was, of course, surprised, and so were the commentators
and the color men. One of the commentators was former Yokozuna Kitanofuji, and
he explained everything perfectly: "It's [Miyabiyama's] first time to get hit
like that and so he did not know how to respond."
No, no, Elvis's slap did not send Miyabi reeling out of the ring. It just
stung him for a few precious seconds, enough for him to pause and give Elvis the
chance to ambush him and push him out.
Obviously, Miyabi isn't used to getting slapped on the cheek. Poor guy. I
think he needs a girlfriend. Or maybe girlfriends, preferably at the same time,
so that he'll get slapped more often and more violently.
Touki, middle, in his kesho mawashi for the Makuuchi dohyo-iri (ring entering ceremony). Click to enlarge photo.
Sumo guys as a rule expect to get hit violently by their opponents, but they obviously
assume that the thrusts will be aimed on their chests, necks and shoulders, not
square on the cheek like a true girlfriend-got-mad episode. Sometimes, some guys do slap on the cheek upon rising from their tachiai or crouching position--this move is called hari--but merely to distract the opponent while they aim for a certain position. But I, and most certainly Miyabiya, had never seen such a resounding slap before. Today I got the
visual treat of seeing Touki give Miyabi a first-time experience.
And it hurt. Ouch.
From now on, I hope Miyabi will know what to do when someone slaps him real
hard on the cheek: Slap him back. Harder.
Related Link Nihon Sumo Kyokai - Japan Sumo Association's official website.
