Kaishinho raises his glass “cheers!”

 

Cakes were brought with “Happy Birthday to you… ♪♪”

 

Why did we have two cakes? It was because we needed two cakes so that everybody could get a piece!!
 

 


This is our yukata for this year.

This time we use pale blue… imaging fresh, lively and bracing…! (*^_^*)

TO KAINOWAKA NAOYA...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

CONGRATULACIONS...

FROM BRASIL

ITIRO SUGANO AND FAMILY

Konichiwa Tomozuna.

Just a quick message to let you know my impossibly cute little baby nephew. Kaisei may be interested to know that he's half Brazilian as my sister-in-law is from Porto Velho in Brazil. Does that make him Brazilian British?, Anglo Brazilian?......................Britilian? Anyway, his name is Ethan and yes, he is as cuddly as he looks (i can't stop hugging him!).

As for Bamboo shoots, i only knew that Panda's like to eat them. I had no idea that people like them also.

Hey, i guess you really do learn something new every day! 

Ok, well i hope that you're all well and happy with your sumo wrestling.

I'll write again before the next Basho to wish you luck!

Christian from UK.

On the 2nd of April, we celebrated Kainokura’s birthday …. The party was delayed for more than one month….(His birthday is on the 26th February…)

And, on the 3rd of April, we celebrated Kaishinho’s birthday… with four days delay 　

But we all enjoyed celebrating both parties and having a nice time! （ ）

  

  
 


Spring-Jungyo … they came back to Tokyo, and the jungyo still continues. Kaio, Kaishinho, Kainokura and Tomokazu went to Yasukuni Shrine today, and will go to Fujisawa-city and Yokosuka-city.
 

Cherry blossom is so beautiful here in Tokyo! The picture is the one from a park near by.

We can see similar scenes everywhere.

The spring-jungyo started on the 30th. Kaio, Kaisenryu, Kainokura and Tomokazu joined it.

It was the first time for Kainokura and Tomokazu. Tomokazu went there as a tsukibito of a senior gyoji.

Kaio got a fist prize at Ise-shrine Jungyo!!!



The rest of our rikishi started keiko yesterday. Kaishinho continuously works for Kyoshujo as well.
 

TO KAISHINHO SHINYA..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY......

FROM BRASIL

ITIRO SUGANO

Hello to everyone at Tomozuna-Beya, and hello, hello to new members Tomokazu and Yusuke!

Thank you for sharing the pictures.  The NHK broadcasts on TVJapan that we can watch here only show some juryo and all of the makuuchi bouts, so it is good to see photos of everyone in action.  While we knew there were differences in the footwear and fans for the referees indicating rank, we weren’t aware until these photos that there were differences in the dress as well.  Still so much to learn about sumo!  

Congratulations, Ozeki Kaio, on winning the ceremonial tournament in Ise!   We are very happy for you.  We are trying to make plans to attend the Grand Sumo event in Los Angeles in June, so we hope to be able to cheer for you there also J

Best wishes to all, and hope to see many kachi-koshi for Tomozuna-Beya in May’s basho!

Regards,

Paul, Dyan, Stephen and Jessica in the Dallas, Texas

Konichiwa Tomozuna

Hey, my Bow ceremony question has been nicely answered this Basho, courtesy of a butter-fingered Rikishi called Minanosato! He lost his grip on the Bow during the ceremony and it dropped to the Dohyo. Well, he did'nt get pelted with seat cushions for his blunder, and i guess running off to the dressing room in tears is'nt the done thing in Sumo either. Instead, he kept his composure, picked up the Bow and finished up like a pro. I suspected that would be the protocol for it, but the interesting thing is that he could'nt just grab the Bow from the ground because for some reason he's not allowed to touch the Dohyo with his hands, so he had to use his feet! Is'nt Sumo fascinating? Even when things go wrong, it still grabs your attention and curiosity. Minanosato later said 'I'm just glad it did'nt go flying off into the stands'. Well indeed. Felling rows of spectators with a giant Boomerang would be very interesting, but for all the wrong reasons 'lol'. Anyway, for what it's worth i don't think any less of him for his mishap. It must take some courage to perform a tricky ceremony like that in front of a crowd of people. Have any of you ever tried the Bow ceremony? Well anyway, many thanks to Minanosato for the insight. Cheers!

I also read that Asashoryu did'nt like having his picture taken wearing a Hawaiian shirt and allegedly told the photographer to 'F off and die'. What a charmer! 'lol'. Anyone would think that someone tried to snatch an icecream out of his hand or something with a reply like that 'lol', but clearly over reacted for just being caught wearing a hideous shirt. I mean, it's not as if he was caught wearing evil Hawaiian print flares or anything (oh man, i think i'm gonna be sick!). Maybe he should take some behavioural advice from Kainomiya. His Hawaiian shirt was far more insulting to the eye than Asa's, and he did'nt throw a tantrum about having his picture taken 'lol'. Is'nt it curious though how Asashoryu seems to get into difficulties when it comes to shirts. Last time he got into trouble, he pulled on a Wayne Rooney shirt and got caught sprinting round a Football pitch whilst 'pulling a sickie' DOH!!, and now this Hawaiian shirt incident. Hey, maybe poor Asa's got some weird 'shirt curse' or something, in which case he should probably just play it safe and stick to the formal dress code!

I was also shocked to read on the website that poor Kainowaka once had to endure only having time for one meal a day. Oh, the humanity! That must be a Sumo wrestlers worst nightmare, well, that and climbing up onto the Doyho and then realising that you've forgotten that all important Mawashi 'Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!'. That would have ANY Rikishi jumping out of his sleep in a cold sweat! 'lol'. Anyway, it looks as if Kainowaka's attacked the Chanko pot with a vengeance since those dark days. He has one of the most impressive Sumo bellies in the business! How are you not a Sekitori? Come on, the warm sunlit uplands of Mount Sumo are just up ahead, so tighten your boot straps and hike your way up there! Keep on moving forward, one foot in front of the other, and step by step you'll make it! Infact, that goes for all of you i guess, except for Kaio of course, who's been up at the summit for some time now grappling for supremacy with the best of them!

Also, i can't help but notice that Kaio's record of career wins has reached nearly 900. Is'nt that amazing? I've looked into this a little bit and guess who's at the top with a staggering 1045 wins? Yes thats right, it's Chiyonofuji (of course). So, with an average of 8 wins per Basho, Kaio would need to battle on for another 2 years (12 Basho's) to break into the ultra exclusive 1000 wins club, which currently has only one prestigeous member (no prizes for guessing who), and it would take some 3 years (18 Basho's) to threaten Chiyonofuji's top spot position, which would be a very tough but worthy challenge. I don't think it's impossible to achieve, as Kaio still appears to be so robust and just seems to keep on going like some unstoppable machine! (you're not from the future are you? 'I'll be back' lol ). I guess it's just a case of whether you're bothered about such things as win records, or just love Sumo wrestling and so want to stay in the fight for as long as you make Kachi Koshi or better. I wonder though which would be seen as preferable upon a Rikishi's retirement, bowing out as an Ozeki as others have done before, or as the Rikishi with the greatest number of victories in the entire history of Sumo, but not as an Ozeki. I guess the best thing to do for now is not to dwell too much on future possibilities and just begin each Basho with Yusho in your sights, each bout with clarity of mind, and each night with Yokozuna in your dreams. Hang in there Kaio.

Christian from UK