When a rikishi retires, they will keep to the rules of being a sumo
wrestler until they have a retirement ceremony known as a
danpatsushiki. This ceremony is often many months after the rikishi
has announced their retirement. Well yesterday was Hakuho's, held over
a year after his retirement in September 2021.
A quick primer on Hakuho and why this was an important retirement is
likely to be required for those who have not followed sumo in the past
20 years or so. Monkhbatyn Davaajargal left Mongolia for a life in
Japan at the age of 15 in October 2000. His father won Mongolia's
first Olympic medal with a silver in freestyle wrestling and held the
highest ranking in Mongolian wrestling. The future Hakuho weighed only
62kg and so struggled to find a stable willing to accept him.
Eventually he joined the Mayagino stable and was given the shikona or
ring name Hakuho. The first basho was in March 2001 and Hakuho reached
Juryo in January 2004. Juryo is the second highest division and where
rikishi earn a salary. Hakuho became ozeki in March 2006 with a 35 win
vs 10 loss record over 3 basho at the age of 20. In May 2007, Hakuho
was recommended for promotion to Yokozuna. He was the third youngest
person to be promoted to Yokozuna. Hakuho dominated the sport and
holds many records. He holds the record for most career wins at 1187,
top division championships at 45, most top division wins at 1093, most
undefeated championships at 16 and the most tournaments ranked at
uokozuna at 84. These are mad numbers really and show how much he
dominated. However, Hakuho was a controversial figure. He showed more
emotion than many considered suitable for a Yokozuna and he was often
critized for some of his methods of winning bouts. Some of this
appears to be rooted in his being Mongolian. Hakuho's final basho was
mad. He had been absent due to injury for several basho which was fair
enough as he had just had major knee surgery. In July 2021, he came
back. At the time, Terunofuji was fighting hard to be promoted to
Yokozuna which added to the thrill. It was obvious Hakuho was nearing
the end of his career but he got to the final day of the basho with a
14-1 winning record. Terunofuji also had the same record. They were
the final match of the basho and the only contenders for the yusho or
tournament win. Hakuho smashed it to get his 45th yusho and 16th
zenyusho or yusho with no losses. Poor Terunofuji still got his
promotion to Yokozuna for an outstanding performance. Hakuho's
retirement was in the news all over the world. It felt strange seeing
the BBC reporting on his retirement. Sumo is very rarely in the UK
news.
For Hakuho's danpatsushiki, he performed his final Dohyo-iri, ring
entering ceremony. This is where you see a Yokozuna and 2 attendants
enter the ring. One of the attendants carries a sword and the other
acts as a dew sweeper. All wear kesho-mawashi which are the
elaboratedly decorated silk 'belts' or aprons. The Yokozuna wears a
large rope belt with shide or zig zag paper strips hanging from the
front. The rope belt or tsuna weights 15kg or 33lb. The attendants for
this ceremony were Takakeisho, who won the latest basho and the only
Ozeki, and Horshoryu, a Sekiwake who is also the nephew of one of
Hakuho's great rivalries. As Hakuho is now the stablemaster for
Miyagino stable, members of his stable had a tournament. Kawazoe won
that one. I was expecting Ochiai to win as he is a beast who has just
got to Juryo. Hakuho had his final bout. It was against his young son.
The bout was a bit of a tear jerker with this giant man fighting a
skinny child. Well the tears came as his son fought back and pushed
Hakuho out of the ring. It was sweet to see.
The key part of a danpatsushiki is the cutting of the hair. Rikishi
have to keep their hair in a chonmage or top knot. To symbolise the
retirement, people will cut parts of a rikishi's hair until the former
oyakata (stable master) cuts the top knot. Over 300 people cut some of
Hakuho's hair. One poigniant moment was when former yokosuna
Harumafuji snipped at the base of the top knot. Hakuho had to wipe
tears following that moment. It was the final snip before his former
oyakata finally removed the top knot. "There is a sense of loneliness,
as if losing part of my body. I couldn;t sort out my feelings, there
were ups and downs and it was hard." Fitting words for the end of a
20 year career for someone who truely deserves to be called the
greatest of all time. Once the knot has been removbed, the rikishi
goes for a proper trim and emerges in a suit. Hakuho is now Miyagino
and hopefully he has a lot of success in training great rikishi. He
has selected some interesting characters already and they seem to be
making a large impact on the sport. We shall see how soon one becomes
an Ozeki.
