Amateur Angles #5
Nichidai’s supremacy
by Howard Gilbert
The
last Amateur Angles column had a deadline just before the All Japan
Sumo Championships in December. I wrote about makushita tsukedashi
status, and how a handful of fortunate Japanese amateur athletes each
year gain eligibility for this status and an automatic passage into
upper makushita (at the equivalent of makushita 15). The December
tournament, the most prestigious in Japan’s amateur sumo calendar, saw
Takayuki Ichihara (one of the favourites) take the title of amateur
yokozuna for 2006.
Ichihara’s victory created a first in amateur sumo since the tightening of regulations for makushita tsukedashi status in 2001. As you may remember, the winner of any of four designated events is granted the exemption into makushita within a year of the tournament victory; however, since 2001, no one had won the All Japan Sumo Championships in addition to one of the other tournaments. Ichihara became the first athlete to do this and gain the extra advantage of starting at makushita 10. This gave him an even better chance to become a sekitori after only one basho; however, to reach juryo would still have required a superb 6-1 or 7-0 record, and he finished with two losses from his seven bouts.
This edition’s column is not about Ichihara, his first basho, or even the likelihood of him becoming a sekitori. I will look instead at Ichihara’s alma mater, Nihon University (Nichidai), and how it has become a production line for top class amateur athletes and more than passable ōzumō rikishi. Indeed, so successful is the university’s sumo club at producing quality athletes, so dominant is the university, and so successful are its graduates that perhaps we should consider it akin to an unofficial heya.
Nihon University regularly sweeps all before it in the major annual amateur sumo tournaments, both in the individual and team competition; for example, Nichidai has won the team competition at the All Japan University Championships for the last three years and its team members have won the individual title for the past two years. In 2006, Nichidai had seven of the final 16 individual competitors at the University Championships. Also, the last two amateur yokozuna, the winners of the All Japan Sumo Championships, Yoshida and Ichihara, were Nichidai men.
The mastermind behind much of Nichidai’s success has been the manager of the sumo club since 1983, Hidetoshi Tanaka. Mr Tanaka is well-known in amateur sumo circles not only as the head of Nichidai’s club. He has been involved as a coach and manager at the university for almost 40 years, but before that he was one of their star sumo athletes. He was the student yokozuna in his third year at college, and was a contemporary of Wajima, who later went on to become the 54th yokozuna in ōzumō. After graduating from Nichidai, Mr Tanaka took a position as a teaching assistant and began to coach the sumo club. During this time he was still active as an amateur athlete himself, winning the amateur yokozuna title three times in 1969, 1970 and 1974. He eventually retired as an athlete in 1980 with a total haul of 34 titles during his career.
Obviously the Nichidai sumo programme was already strong enough to groom athletes such as Tanaka and Wajima during their college years; however, the legacy of Nichidai during Mr Tanaka’s time is the number of rikishi that have been produced under his guidance. To consider the current strength of Nichidai, we perhaps only need to consider that there are currently 21 rikishi from that school on the banzuke. Seven of these are currently sekitori, including such well-known names as Kotomitsuki, Futeno, Kaiho and Takamisakari. Another five, including Takahama (Hamanishiki), have had experience in juryo or above. Furthermore, the trio of Sakaizawa, Shimoda, and Ichihara, all contemporaries at Nichidai, are in high makushita and seem destined to be future sekitori as well. Such a ratio of sekitori to the number of Nichidai old boys in professional sumo suggests that the school is doing something right in the way it trains its athletes.
Perhaps more impressively, there are also ten current oyakata who attended Nichidai. These oyakata have been instrumental in continuing the dynasty of Nichidai talent in ōzumō. Oitekaze, Kise, Irumagawa, Hanaregoma and Onoe stables were all set up by Nichidai men (Daishoyama, Higonoumi, Tochitsukasa, Kaiketsu1 and Hamanoshima, respectively) and have gone on to nurture the next generation from that school in ōzumō. Beyond the current oyakata, there are other former sekitori who are still involved in sumo in some capacity. Mainoumi is now a television talent and sumo commentator, and disgraced former yokozuna Wajima offers advice to rikishi and amateur athletes alike.
Nichidai’s spirit of training the next generation is also strong in amateur sumo. Dewataira, a star in college sumo and a former juryo rikishi, is now one of the coaches at Nichidai, while at high schools and clubs around Japan there are a number of ex-Nichidai men giving instruction. Recently, also, Satomi Ishigaya, a World Champion in women’s competition, has joined the staff of Nichidai while continuing to train there and compete in national and international competitions. Her experience and insight are guiding the next group of female athletes at the university.
What then is the secret behind the university’s success? One definite advantage is that it is a private university able to devote funds into its sports programmes and perhaps use that money for scholarships to attract top pupils; however, almost all of the strong sumo universities in Japan are in the same situation. Certainly the success of Nichidai in amateur sumo competitions lures top athletes to its sumo club, but the large numbers in the club mean that only a few can make it to the top team or achieve national glory. Indeed, the chances of making the top team at another university with fewer sumo club members would seem better.
Success begets success, and the attraction of attending Nichidai and the prestige of the sumo club surely does attract a number of interested fee-paying students; however, the relentless attitude to training, the competition within the sumo club’s ranks, and the expert guidance from knowledgeable and experienced coaches turns the already very capable Nichidai recruits into outstanding sumo athletes. Such success and strong fundamental sumo skills then help prepare the cream of the crop for a move into ōzumō, should they so desire.
1 Former Ozeki Kaiketsu is actually a product of Nichidai’s judo club, not the sumo club.
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Ichihara’s victory created a first in amateur sumo since the tightening of regulations for makushita tsukedashi status in 2001. As you may remember, the winner of any of four designated events is granted the exemption into makushita within a year of the tournament victory; however, since 2001, no one had won the All Japan Sumo Championships in addition to one of the other tournaments. Ichihara became the first athlete to do this and gain the extra advantage of starting at makushita 10. This gave him an even better chance to become a sekitori after only one basho; however, to reach juryo would still have required a superb 6-1 or 7-0 record, and he finished with two losses from his seven bouts.
This edition’s column is not about Ichihara, his first basho, or even the likelihood of him becoming a sekitori. I will look instead at Ichihara’s alma mater, Nihon University (Nichidai), and how it has become a production line for top class amateur athletes and more than passable ōzumō rikishi. Indeed, so successful is the university’s sumo club at producing quality athletes, so dominant is the university, and so successful are its graduates that perhaps we should consider it akin to an unofficial heya.
Nihon University regularly sweeps all before it in the major annual amateur sumo tournaments, both in the individual and team competition; for example, Nichidai has won the team competition at the All Japan University Championships for the last three years and its team members have won the individual title for the past two years. In 2006, Nichidai had seven of the final 16 individual competitors at the University Championships. Also, the last two amateur yokozuna, the winners of the All Japan Sumo Championships, Yoshida and Ichihara, were Nichidai men.
The mastermind behind much of Nichidai’s success has been the manager of the sumo club since 1983, Hidetoshi Tanaka. Mr Tanaka is well-known in amateur sumo circles not only as the head of Nichidai’s club. He has been involved as a coach and manager at the university for almost 40 years, but before that he was one of their star sumo athletes. He was the student yokozuna in his third year at college, and was a contemporary of Wajima, who later went on to become the 54th yokozuna in ōzumō. After graduating from Nichidai, Mr Tanaka took a position as a teaching assistant and began to coach the sumo club. During this time he was still active as an amateur athlete himself, winning the amateur yokozuna title three times in 1969, 1970 and 1974. He eventually retired as an athlete in 1980 with a total haul of 34 titles during his career.
Obviously the Nichidai sumo programme was already strong enough to groom athletes such as Tanaka and Wajima during their college years; however, the legacy of Nichidai during Mr Tanaka’s time is the number of rikishi that have been produced under his guidance. To consider the current strength of Nichidai, we perhaps only need to consider that there are currently 21 rikishi from that school on the banzuke. Seven of these are currently sekitori, including such well-known names as Kotomitsuki, Futeno, Kaiho and Takamisakari. Another five, including Takahama (Hamanishiki), have had experience in juryo or above. Furthermore, the trio of Sakaizawa, Shimoda, and Ichihara, all contemporaries at Nichidai, are in high makushita and seem destined to be future sekitori as well. Such a ratio of sekitori to the number of Nichidai old boys in professional sumo suggests that the school is doing something right in the way it trains its athletes.
Perhaps more impressively, there are also ten current oyakata who attended Nichidai. These oyakata have been instrumental in continuing the dynasty of Nichidai talent in ōzumō. Oitekaze, Kise, Irumagawa, Hanaregoma and Onoe stables were all set up by Nichidai men (Daishoyama, Higonoumi, Tochitsukasa, Kaiketsu1 and Hamanoshima, respectively) and have gone on to nurture the next generation from that school in ōzumō. Beyond the current oyakata, there are other former sekitori who are still involved in sumo in some capacity. Mainoumi is now a television talent and sumo commentator, and disgraced former yokozuna Wajima offers advice to rikishi and amateur athletes alike.
Nichidai’s spirit of training the next generation is also strong in amateur sumo. Dewataira, a star in college sumo and a former juryo rikishi, is now one of the coaches at Nichidai, while at high schools and clubs around Japan there are a number of ex-Nichidai men giving instruction. Recently, also, Satomi Ishigaya, a World Champion in women’s competition, has joined the staff of Nichidai while continuing to train there and compete in national and international competitions. Her experience and insight are guiding the next group of female athletes at the university.
What then is the secret behind the university’s success? One definite advantage is that it is a private university able to devote funds into its sports programmes and perhaps use that money for scholarships to attract top pupils; however, almost all of the strong sumo universities in Japan are in the same situation. Certainly the success of Nichidai in amateur sumo competitions lures top athletes to its sumo club, but the large numbers in the club mean that only a few can make it to the top team or achieve national glory. Indeed, the chances of making the top team at another university with fewer sumo club members would seem better.
Success begets success, and the attraction of attending Nichidai and the prestige of the sumo club surely does attract a number of interested fee-paying students; however, the relentless attitude to training, the competition within the sumo club’s ranks, and the expert guidance from knowledgeable and experienced coaches turns the already very capable Nichidai recruits into outstanding sumo athletes. Such success and strong fundamental sumo skills then help prepare the cream of the crop for a move into ōzumō, should they so desire.
1 Former Ozeki Kaiketsu is actually a product of Nichidai’s judo club, not the sumo club.
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