Episode 3 of the Hakkaku Imperial interview
Moti Dichne
Another round of questions..
- During the discussion, do you remember what kind of questions or words were spoken to the Yokozuna and Ozeki?
-Apparently Houshouryuu met him when he was a child. His Majesty said, "I went to Mongolia and met your uncle." Toyonoryu then said, "I met His Majesty when I was little," and he said he remembered. About 20 years ago. He said he was about 5 or 6 years old. Also, O0nosato said, "The earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture is terrible." Another thing he was asking everyone was, "At what age did you start sumo?"
-Who said, "The earthquake must have been terrible?"-
-I think it was His Majesty. He said Tsubata-cho, and Oonosato was surprised. He knew a lot about it. His Majesty is also very knowledgeable about sumo.
-Their concern for the earthquake was serious..
-Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress said that it must have been very difficult. They said that when they went there, they were told things like, "Oonosato is a beacon of hope." They said things like, "We can do our best because of Oonosato."
-Their Majesties heard these things when they visited the area,
-They heard and they passed them on.
-It was the first time in six years that the Imperial Family watched a live sumo match. Did they say anything about the appeal of watching live sumo, or anything about that in general?
-They said it was a lot of fun.
-Who said that? -
-The Empress.
-Did His Majesty or Princess Aiko say anything about their overall impressions?
They said the same thing. -It was fun. I think it was Princess Aiko. She said it was really fun. The Empress said it at the very end when she was seeing me off for the last time. She said, "The impact of the tachiai was incredible."
-In the story about Ishikawa Prefecture earlier, the local residents had called Oonosato a local hero and this was conveyed to Oonosato.
-That's right. They thought, "This person is working hard, so I have to work hard too."
-This is the first time in six years that the Emperor has attended a sumo match, so were there any words of praise or encouragement for Japanese sumo, or any words about sumo as a whole?
-He said, "It's a full house, lots of people are here." And then I told him how long this has been going on. Thanks to you all. Yes.
-Does he usually watch sumo on TV, or does he hear anything about it on the news?
-Yesterday, there was talk about Houshouryuu being injured or not., I think he was probably mentioning it after seeing it on TV. I guess the three of them were watching it.
-They said something along the lines of, "We've been watching TV together yesterday?"
-They said they saw something yesterday and asked if he was injured and if it hurt, and I said, "It doesn't hurt because he is all pumped up". He was here himself, so I asked him, "It doesn't hurt, does it?" and he said, "No, it doesn't."