Ex-Toyonoshima speaks of his hardships
Moti Dichne
ex-Toyonoshima and former Makuuchi rikishi Tenkaihou, Minami Takayuki (41), have collaborated on a YouTube channel called "Toyonoshima's Sumo-chan" and "Minami's Gotchan Channel," where they talked about their memories from their active careers. Toyonoshima recalled the time he joined the heya after graduating from high school, saying, "The keiko was tough, but since I had been doing it (since elementary school), I could somehow manage it. But in my every day life, I had to be considerate of others, like being in charge of the chanko and cleaning. That was really tough. I lost a little over 20 kilograms in less than a year after joining the heya. I got down to under 100 kilograms." When Minami asked, "Have you ever felt like giving up?", Toyonoshima confessed to "unpleasant treatment" he received from an older stablemate. He prefaced his story by saying, "We're good friends now. At the time, I really hated it," before revealing the episode.
Toyonoshima recalled, "The next day we had keiko, but I had to sit in seiza until 6 a.m. I guess I angered my senior a little. He suddenly said, 'Sleeping before me? You're not worthy of that (you're not of the right status),' so he wouldn't let me sleep. He told me to raise my hands (while lying down) because he knew I was going to sleep, and made me do it until after 3 a.m.." He continued, "Then he said, 'I'm going to sleep, so you go to the next room and sit in seiza.' When you're told that, all you can do is say 'yes.' I went to the next room and kept an eye on him because I didn't know when he would come in and check on me. Of course, it was impossible, so I broke my seiza posture. But if I heard any noise, I would go back and sit in seiza again. Around 6 a.m., he suddenly opened the door and said, 'Oh, sorry, sorry. I forgot to say "it's okay now."' It was already 6 a.m. It was time for keiko. I wanted to go down to the keiko-ba." He then explained why he didn't run away, saying, "I was like, 'What's wrong with this guy? What kind of world is this!?' At that time, I really thought about running away from the heya, but my hometown (in Kochi Prefecture) is in the countryside and I couldn't go back. I thought that I would bring shame upon my parents if I ran away, so I shouldn't run away. Precisely because it's the countryside, when I left, everyone was really encouraging me, saying, 'Do your best.' It would be embarrassing to run away. I worked as hard as I could, even if it meant my life depended on it," he said, explaining why he never left.