Ex-Toyohibiki- how I joined sumo

[Moti Dichne]

Ex- Toyohibiki, Yamashina Oyakata (41), appeared on the Kyokai's official YouTube channel, "Oyakata Channel," where he reflected on his sumo career. Yamashina Oyakata recalled the incident where his mentor, Sakaigawa Oyakata (former Komusubi Ryogoku), refused to accept him into his beya. "When I was in my third year of high school, Sakaigawa Oyakata invited me to join him. At that time, I was struggling with my future, and actually, I wanted to quit sumo," he revealed, explaining his feelings at the time. He then recalled, "During the discussion about joining the heya, my mother, my now shisho (Sakaigawa Oyakata), and my high school coach were there. The four of us were talking, and I had no intention of joining, but my mother was really pushing me to do it. She kept saying things like, 'Why don't you join a sumo beya?' and I was getting annoyed the whole time... In the end, I just told my mother, 'Well, then you go.' My Oyakata got really angry..." Enraged by his attitude towards his mother, Sakaigawa Oyakata withdrew his invitation to join, and the deal fell through. Meanwhile, Yamashina Oyakata's part-time jobs, which he started after graduating from high school, didn't last long, and he eventually ended up living as a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). "I quit my job, and I really didn't know what to do. So I thought I'd try to turn things around with sumo. I also wanted to repay my mother for all the trouble I'd caused her. I wanted to be a good son." He knocked on the door of Sakaigawa beya once again. Yamashina Oyakata recalled, "I went to the beya's lodgings for the Kyushu basho to pay my respects. It was sudden (without an appointment). If I had joined the beya right after graduating from high school, I wouldn't have been prepared, and things would have been different."