Kabutoyama Oyakata

[Moti Dichne]

Kabutoyama Oyakata-the guy who decides the winning kimarite spoke today. (Incidentally, he's the father of Fujinokawa and soon to be sekitori Makushita Ikarigata.)

 Kabutoyama Oyakata (53, ex- Oikari)  spoke with an NHK announcer about the behind-the-scenes stories of winning kimarites. He appeared at a talk show for Oyakata at the Sumo Museum today.   Kabutoyama is in charge of deciding winning kimarites during tournaments, and the topic of winning kimarite became a hot topic lately. Clear winning kimarite are announced by the gyoji in charge of announcing the kimarite at his own discretion. When the gyoji is unsure of his decision, he calls an internal line to confirm with the Oyakata in charge of deciding winning kimarite in the video booth. Kabutoyama Oyakata confided, "NHK announcers call out winning moves instantly. That's why they study them so hard. There are senior, older announcers who can call the winning moves faster than us. So sometimes our judgment of winning kimarite are influenced by them." On the other hand, there are times when the winning kimarite are judged differently by the NHK announcers and by Kabutoyama Oyakata. In particular, there are times when his views differ from those of announcer Fujii Yasuo, and it seems that there have been times when the winning kimarite judged by Kabutoyama have been questioned. "I happened to be sitting across from announcer Fujii during Makuuchi (as a commentator), and when we started talking about winning moves, I thought I'd just say it right there on the spot, so I said, 'We don't really get along, do we? We didn't quite click, but sometimes I do go with the announcer's judgment." He delighted the audience with his little-known insider knowledge.