UFC/Boxing/Combat Sports

[Shyster]

A rare sumo ceremony. When a former Yokozuna turns 60 years old, it's traditional to perform a kanreki dohyō-iri, where the wrestler performs the yokozuna ring-entering ceremony while wearing a special red rope belt instead of the usual white. The 61st Yokozuna Hokutoumi, who now holds the Hakkaku elder name, just turned 60 and performed his kanreki dohyō-iri at the Kokugikan sumo stadium. Hakkaku is also the current chairman of the Japan Sumo Association.

We likely won't see another for a while. The next former Yokozuna to turn 60 would be Akebono, but unfortunately he experienced some serious health problems, reportedly heart failure. While news has been scarce, there are reports that he lost the use of his legs, suffers from memory loss, and requires the use of a wheelchair, so him performing the kanreki dohyō-iri is unlikely. The next after that would be Wakanohana, who will turn 60 in eight years.

[Shyster]

A little sumo trivia. Most of the sumo association's four main classes of employees are visible at tournaments. The referees (gyōji) are front and center in the ring officiating matches. The announcers (yobidashi) are visible calling out the wresters' names before matches, carrying salt, holding sponsorship banners, sweeping the ring, and performing other miscellaneous "handyman" tasks. The coaches/elders (oyakata) sit around the ring as judges, and lower-ranked coaches also serve in other roles, including ticket-takers and security. But the fourth big class of employees—the tokoyama or hairdressers—are not typically visible doing their jobs. At any moment, the sumo association employs around 50 tokoyama to prepare the topknot hairstyles for sumo wrestlers. Like most other people in the sumo world, each tokoyama is attached to a sumo stable and has his own shikona, or professional "stage name." They are also divided into ranks, and only the top-ranked tokoyama, who have decades of experience, can prepare the ōichō-nage hairstyle used by wrestlers in the top two divisions, and only the top two master tokoyama (the tokutō) can do the hair for a yokozuna.

Here's a hairstyling demonstration by a tokoyama during a sumo exhibition. He's doing an ōichō-nage for Sadanofuji. (The ōichō-nage (lit. "ginkgo-leaf top-knot") is distinguished by that little fan of hair at the top that's frilled up. It's thought to look like a ginkgo leaf, hence the name. Wrestlers below the top two divisions don't have that.)

[count2infinity]

Watched the PSU wrestling match last night. This might be the best team Cael has had. All 10 starters are ranked in the top 10 at their weight class and half of them are #1.

I don’t know if he decided to rest some guys or just mess with Rutgers or both, but he threw a dude out there at 174 who weighed in at 160 and he won. And then at heavy weight he tossed a guy in there against the 8th ranked hwt in the nation who gave up 50+ pounds to the dude and he won too.

It was a fun looking atmosphere at the Bryce Jordan center and psu was in their throwback pink and black singlets.

[Pavel Bure]

Watched the PSU wrestling match last night. This might be the best team Cael has had. All 10 starters are ranked in the top 10 at their weight class and half of them are #1.

I don’t know if he decided to rest some guys or just mess with Rutgers or both, but he threw a dude out there at 174 who weighed in at 160 and he won. And then at heavy weight he tossed a guy in there against the 8th ranked hwt in the nation who gave up 50+ pounds to the dude and he won too.

It was a fun looking atmosphere at the Bryce Jordan center and psu was in their throwback pink and black singlets.

Before becoming a wrestling family I would have given this a big “so what” but now, those weight differences and still winning is pretty crazy.

[count2infinity]

PSU with its 11th team wrestling title in the last 13 years. 6 of 10 weight classes have a Nittany lion in the finals tonight.

There are two psu wrestlers going for their 4th individual title (only 5 wrestlers have done that), and three universities have won 5 individual championships in one tourney (Iowa, OK state, and penn state). 6 would be unprecedented.

Cael is the goat.

[Shyster]

A historic win at the just-completed Osaka sumo tournament: