Happy Birthday
Onomatsu (阿武松) Oyakata!!!

Friday, June 27th was Oyakata's birthday! I'm sorry to be late with your birthday update here on the blog but I couldn't get connected to the internet since Thursday night!

Onomatsu Oyakata is by far the nicest Oyakata I've had the pleasure of spending time with! He is a tough coach! He has to work hard as well, he has no other coaches in his heya! That is a big job with as many boys as he has in his heya! But he sure gets the job done and his boys are in good shape!

During a long chanko lunch together my friends and I could get to know him very well. He is a wonderful man with a huge heart! What a pleasure it was talking to him. He spoke very freely and talked about his recent trip to Los Angeles. His Sumo career as a Rikishi and his career as the Oyakata of Onomatsu beya. We learned a lot from him over the course of about 4 hours!!! What a wonderful afternoon getting to know not only the Oyakata but also the other boys at Onomatsu beya!

Onomatsu Oyakata used to fight under the shikona Masurao. He has a very nice career including earning two kin-boshi (gold stars) for defeating two Yokozuna! He earned many other awards and also had 5 Juryo Yusho during his career!

He was an active Rikishi from March of 1979 until his retirement in July of 1990. Unfortunately I could not see much of his sumo during his career as a rikishi because he retired soon after I moved to Japan and was just getting into sumo.

He was a very small and muscular rikishi, similar to Amuru! His height is 188cm and his weight was kept between 100 and 125kg for most of his career. That is quite light for a rikishi but he did very well and like Amuru had a fantastic physique as an active rikishi!!!

Wishing you another year of health and happiness and success for Onomatsu Beya of course!!!
Thank you again for treating us to a wonderful time at your heya before leaving for Nagoya!!

Happy Birthday 豊ノ島!!!

(Toyonoshima)

Today is Toyonoshima's 25th birthday!!
Born on June 26th, 1983

This is the only decent photo I can find of Toyonoshima in action, taken at the Yokozuna Soken on April 29th, 2008!

Toyonoshima is originally from Kochi prefecture. He's 169cm and 142kg but could have gained a few kilos after eating many American cookies we brought him! He said "I love cookies!" When he said it he had a huge smile as well!!!!

He debuted in Sumo in the Hatsu basho in 2002! His Juryo debut was May 2004 and he quickly reached Makuuchi in September 2004!
You can see a list of his many prizes and his banzuke history here!
A great photo of him with his cute Kesho Mawashi is here!

Chris with Toyonoshima at Tokitsukaze Beya after Yokozuna Soken 4-29-2008
*notice Toyonoshima has his power cookies in his hand*

Toyonoshima with Hiromi & I and Chris in front at Tokitsukaze Stable on April 29th after the Yokozuna Soken!

We stopped by to see Toyonoshima shortly after the Soken had ended. We were not only able to talk to him for some time but we all met the Okami-san for the first time! She is so nice and so cute (and young!)!! Her husband Oyakata Tokitsukaze has just recently taken over the stable and so both of them are quite young! In fact his retirement ceremony from active Sumo is not until this October! After everyone comes back from Nagoya and the Summer Jungyo tour Chris and I are hoping to get over to Tokitsukaze and see Toyonoshima and Tokitenku in action at asageiko (morning practice!)
GOOD LUCK Toyonoshima in the Nagoya basho!!!!

ONOMATSU BEYA DAY!!!
June 15, 2008

This is Amuru from Russia! He's one of the sexiest rikishi ever!!! Kazuko especially loves him very much!!! She told me about him first and when I saw him I saw she was right! He is very sexy!!! Amuru has been in sumo for 6 years. His current banzuke ranking is Makushita 23West but he will be moving up because he got a Kachikoshi (winning) record in the May Basho! Amuru is 24 years old. He'll be 25 on August 25th! In fact we are hoping to take him out to celebrate his birthday after he comes back from Nagoya and the Summer Jungyo tour!

This is me with Wakakoyu! He is one of my sweeties!!! His smile is one of the cutest of all Rikishi! He and Kotoshogiku have the best smiles I think! Wakakoyu was sitting with us during lunch after asageiko (morning practice) and I got so nervous I could barely breathe! I fell in love with him during the Hatsu basho! I love his Kesho-mawashi (that he wears for Dohyo-iri) I will try to find a picture later. It has a cute mouse designed by his friend. He is sweet, funny and wants to study English! I promised to teach him! I was so embarrassed because I couldn't talk or breathe or do anything when he was sitting next to me! I can't wait for the Nagoya basho to cheer for him!!!! Wakakoyu is from Nishifunabashi in Chiba (happens to be where I work at the college on Thursdays). He is 24 years old now! His current banzuke ranking is Juryo 13East! He also got a kachikoshi during the May basho!

This is me with Katayama & my Legacy! He wanted to take a picture with me in front of it! He is more cute than I thought!!! I mean when I met him in person I found out he was much much much cuter than I remember from TV and the Kokugikan! Katayama is maybe the most limber of all Rikishi! I fell in love with him the first time I saw him doing Shiko 四股 . He lifted his leg up like a ballerina and I was shocked. I mean most rikishi are very limber, certainly more limber than I have ever been, even at birth, I'm sure! But, he is just exceptionally limber and looks so cool doing his shiko! I couldn't help but fall in love with his Shiko and always look forward to watching him at the basho! What a real treat for me at asageiko as well!!! I didn't get to talk with him as much as I wanted but I will in the future! He's a real sweetie too and I will support him even more from now on!!!! He will be 29 years old in September! Hopefully we can take him out to celebrate his birthday along with Amuru the end of August before getting busy for the September basho here in Tokyo! His current banzuke ranking is Juryo 14West but he had an outstanding kachikoshi record and will move up!

This is a treasured photo for me with my favorite Okami-san (おかみさん) .
She is sweet, kind and beautiful!!! She was a pro golfer!! I saw her pictures on the Onomatsu website. I wanted to meet her very much!!! When I saw her I got so excited that I couldn't think of anything to say except that "I want to meet you!" How stupid is that? Well, after I calmed down we talked a lot. She & Oyakata make a great couple! He is gentle & kind (when he is not coaching!! Then he is strict like he should be!!!) and so is she! In the picture are Chris, me, Okami-san & Katrin (a friend of mine from Germany) in front! Okami-san, we really love you very much!!!! You really are wonderful!!!!!

This is Kasugao!

Kasugao is my sweetie too!!! He is from South Korea!!! He belongs to Kasugayama Beya! I met him at the Yokosuka Jungyo! He asked me to teach him English before going to the Los Angeles Jungyo!

He is so sweet and gentle!!! Kazuko & I fell in love with him!
I wanted to watch the morning practice at his stable but his is really far from me & far from Tokyo too actually so we didn't make it there before the May tournament! ;-(

During the May Basho on Nakabi with Tomomi he was injured! It was terrible for me!!!! I was cheering one minute and then he went down, his opponent was Toyonoshima. I know him too and he is a gentle guy, not one who would try to injure Kasugao so I wondered why Kasugao didn't get up! A second later I realized he wasn't getting up & he was laying on the dohyo... I felt helpless and suddenly I started crying so hard! Everyone around me looked worried about me. Tomomi was shocked!! She doesn't speak English really well so I couldn't say anything to her! I couldn't really say anything anyway! Everyone was handing me tissues! I cried and cried and cried!!! Tomomi remembered that I know Kasugao and she suddenly told the people around us that Kasugao and I are friends so I was very worried!!!
I cried into the next match and worried very much!!! That night I went to stay at my hotel and turned on the TV, there was Sumo Digest program and they were showing Kasugao's injury and getting carried off and put into a wheel chair. That made me cry again and I cried all night long!! I didn't set an alarm and I was lucky to wake up just in time... with red eyes and a headache.... to get ready to leave for work! In the afternoon I got to my high school. I told my friend Koike about Kasugao. I asked him if he thought it was ok to call his heya to ask about him. He said he thought it was fine. I called and talked to the Okami-san. But while I was talking I started crying again. I gave the phone to Koike and he asked her some questions. He told her that I was very worried and had been crying and needed to know how Kasugao was. She said he was in the hospital. He will need a month or two to recover but probably at least two months!
I felt so sad because he was so excited about going to the US for the Los Angeles Jungyo & I was going to have him call Kevin to show him around! I knew Kasugao was excited about the trip but he wouldn't be able to go because of his injury!!! That made me more sad for him!

Kasugao, I hope you're feeling better!! I wonder.... you could read the English letter I sent you or did you read Kazuko's Japanese translation? Did Cookies & Chocolates make you feel better? I hope you like everything I sent and I hope you are up and about soon!!!

Get Well Soon Kasugao!! I am worried about you!!!!