Former yokozuna Kisenosato why he said he wanted to become himself after being injured

“If I were to be reborn again, I would rather be the person I was after the injury than before I was injured.”　

These are the words of the 72nd yokozuna Kisenosato, Nishonoseki master.

While interviewing the master who completed the new room, I asked him about the serious injury at the spring tournament in 2017 that changed his life in sumo wrestling, and he gave me this answer.

Behind this was the strong desire of the master to know what kind of sumo wrestlers he was trying to raise.

(Interviewer, announcer Hiroo Miwa)

In June this year, Master Nishonoseki completed a new room in his hometown of Ibaraki Prefecture.

When I interviewed him, he had just moved into his new room and the sumo wrestlers were still preparing the ring.

The new Nishonoseki room has a site of about 1,800 tsubo.

In addition to two dohyo areas for practicing, there was also a training room, a meeting room, and even a basketball goal.

(Miwa)

It smells like it was just built.

(Nishonoseki)

Yes.

Actually, it's been three or four days since I moved here.

(Miwa)

It feels like it's finally completed, but how did you feel about it?

(Nishonoseki)

Well, I think that it has become an ideal sumo stable, and I would like to improve it from now on, and I think that I have made something good.

(Miwa)

First of all, what made you think of creating this kind of room?

(Nishonoseki) The

most important thing is for disciples to become strong.

Yep, that's it.

I'm not thinking of anything else.

That's why I think it's okay to make two rings, play basketball goals, and I think there was a horizontal bar, but just by hanging on the horizontal bar, I think I can adjust my body.

Thoughts put into the ring on stage 2

(Miwa)

What made you decide to set up a room in Ibaraki, which is more than an hour away from Ryogoku?

(

Nishonoseki) It's local, isn't it?

Across the road from there is Ushiku, and the station we use is called "Hitachino Ushiku".

Well, really, I'm still active, and I have a lot of support from my local Ibaraki people, and I have that kind of backup, and I've been able to do that much.

Well, when I won the championship, the scenery of the parade is still unforgettable.

After all, I felt that doing it in Ibaraki was a great advantage.

After retiring, Nishonoseki Oyakata studied sports business in graduate school.

The theme is the management of a sumo stable.

While researching the management of sports clubs other than sumo, he says that the same team in Ibaraki gave him a hint.

It was the Kashima Antlers of the J-League.

(Nishonoseki)

Kashima Antlers has many soccer practice fields.

I heard that everyone from juniors to top teams practice at the practice field.

Then the juniors will feel like they are playing with top players.

Then, I also thought about using two dohyo rings.

Sumo wrestling isn't popular in Ibaraki Prefecture's south district, where this room is located.

It's the ideal thing to do here in Ibaraki to increase the number of children who want to become sumo wrestlers, even if just a little.

I thought it would be a good environment to use two dohyo in such a place, and if the small children practiced where the sumo wrestlers practiced, they would think, 'I want to be like that.'

When I was little, I used to participate in sumo wrestling tournaments once a year.

I have memories of when I was that small.

(Miwa)

You also studied training methods and teaching methods to develop strong wrestlers.

(Nishonoseki)

No, I don't really do that much.

During my active career, I learned a lot about the structure of my body, and while I was active, I practiced a lot and met a lot of trainers. I would like to teach them that spirit, and I have cultivated sumo wrestlers who have the ability to think properly. I think

Acquire the ability to think

A word that often comes up when masters are interviewed is "the ability to think."

In the world of sumo wrestling, sometimes the outcome is decided in an instant.

However, the sumo wrestler had various thoughts.

Since my days as a wrestler, the master himself has been thinking about how to use his body to gain strength, how to face opponents, and every single movement in the ring.

(Miwa)

Is it important for children to develop the ability to think?

(Nishonoseki)

Well, let me put it this way.

That's why I want them to study hard and make sure they get a good set of questions.

Instead of chasing the answer all of a sudden, I think you have to practice hard so that you can solve a solid problem book in such a place.

I think you'll find the answer one by one, but that's the kind of sumo wrestler you want to raise.

(Miwa)

What should we be thinking about?

(Nishonoseki) In

sumo, I think there is a theory that says, "If you do this, it will turn out like this."

I feel that there are so many sumo wrestlers who don't really understand that theory, and don't really understand it.

Especially from the beginning, I often think that the lower the ranking, the more I don't understand that kind of thing, or I don't understand the order.

In such a place, it is to teach the order properly and to make you think.

(Miwa)

Did you think like that from the beginning?

(Nishonoseki)

No, I hadn't thought of that.

I came here mostly out of potential.

But there was a limit to what I could do with just my sensibilities.

When I was about 23 or 24, there was a time when I thought, 'I can't do this anymore.

At that time, I thought about how to use the body, how to breathe, how to take the center axis of the body, how to use the waist, and how to make the tanden. I went up to

When I started training, there was that one that ended Hakuho's 63-game winning streak.

At that time, it changed to "This is it, it's okay if you do this".

There was a place where I changed shifts a little from there.

(Miwa)

Master, how do you think you acquired the ability to think for yourself when you were active?

(Nishonoseki)

Well, you thought about it a lot.

After all, you have to think in order to win.

Of course, the higher I went, the more I was happy when I was younger, whether I won or lost. It's coming, isn't it?

I was convinced that I could win if I could, so it was easy to reflect.

I was able to do this, I couldn't do this... It

's not easy to find points to reflect on whether you won or lost. When I realized that if I put things in order properly, it would lead to victory, my star rating would stabilize.

(Miwa)

What are you thinking?

to win.

(Nishonoseki)

Yes.

I simply do this and this and this when I'm at the meeting, I do three things.

There are things like how you use your body once you're on stage, what you do after you're assembled, and how you stand when you're close.

When they were combined into one, the stars became stable.

It was only 15 days to see if I could do it or not.

That's why I came back and wondered if I could do it or not.

I'll do this and this tomorrow.

It becomes simpler and simpler, so it's very easy to reflect, and yes, it's easier to identify your own ideals.

(Miwa)

When we're interviewing, there are many cases where the interview ends when the sumo wrestler says, ``First of all, it's about getting involved.''　

(Nishonoseki)

I never talk.

(Miwa)　

Was it the same for Kisenosato?

(Nishonoseki)

There's no way to talk about that (lol)

(Miwa) There's

a common expression, "overthinking."

Have you ever lost because you thought too much?

(Nishonoseki)

I don't think you can lose by thinking too much.

Yes.

I don't think you're overthinking it.

When I see

Thinking too much and losing means thinking too much and not being able to move.

I think you should think more about the fact that your body didn't move, so I don't think you can think too much, and I think it's okay to think too much.

(Miwa)

If you think it's "too much", is it still not enough?

(Nishonoseki)

You think too much and don't think about what happened.

That's why you should think about it.

Ideally speaking.

why didn't you move?

After all, if you take it apart, you will arrive at something.

I loved doing things like that.　

(Miwa)

Speaking of thinking, the predecessor master Naruto (the 59th yokozuna Takanosato, Kisenosato's master when he was introduced) used to

say , "Think"

(Nishonoseki) .

, was amazing.

(Miwa)

Was it amazing?

(Nishonoseki)

Thinking means thinking after doing all the exercises.

From the rehearsal room, what do you say?

It is not an idea to do sumo wrestling that wins over tricks, but to win is to make full use of horsepower.

When I won with a trick, when I won with a slap, when I threw the ball a little, and when I tried to get close, I was scolded.

Wakanosato Seki (currently Nishiiwa Oyakata) is also a four-legged sumo wrestler, but he was forced to practice in the rehearsal hall, and there were parts where he would get scolded when he passed.

That's why, after all, it made me think firmly that winning with horsepower is a shortcut to victory.

That's why I was forced to practice with tremendous horsepower.

I think it's thanks to that, and if it wasn't for that, I probably wouldn't have been able to pass at the top.

“I want to be who I am after my injury.”

There was a big change in the master's sumo life.

Yokozuna Harumafuji match on the 13th day of the 2017 spring tournament.

In this effort, he suffered severe injuries to his left chest and left arm.

During the 15 years from his introductory period to his promotion to yokozuna, Kisenosato had only one day off, but in the two years after he was promoted to yokozuna, he was able to stand in the ring for 15 days at only 2 places.

He has been forced to rest for eight consecutive tournaments, and this injury has left him unable to show his full potential.

(Nishonoseki)　

I had some regrets about how I dealt with the injury, or how I approached it.

So if I were to be reborn once more, I would rather be the person I was after the injury than before I was injured.

After all, I want to try something that I couldn't do at that time, and I wonder if I was wrong at that time.

I couldn't recover from the injury, so I thought it would be easier to create a sumo wrestler who doesn't get injured.

The first thing I thought about was that I wanted to raise wrestlers who wouldn't get hurt in such situations.

After all, I really understand that if I get injured, I will not be able to return to my former self. There were many times when I wondered.

In such a situation, the first thing is to make the disciples do basic exercises, to do boring things, not to hurt them.

Since becoming independent as a master in August last year, Nishonoseki master has been teaching his disciples, focusing on basic exercises such as "Shiko" and "Suriashi".

(Nishonoseki)

It's a repetition of body building and basic exercises.

That's why I want to raise wrestlers who don't get injured, who have a solid foundation, and who can flourish in the future, not just now, but who can be in sekitori for a long time.

(Miwa)

Listening to the various stories of the master, some new initiatives stand out, but is there an underlying “this is it” that has been around for a long time?

(Nishonoseki)

I believe that the basic movements that our predecessors have built are the latest science, and that is the most ideal way to build a wrestler's body.

I think it's a lot of training on top of having one of them.

Basic exercise has become more like weight training, and the way the body approaches wrestlers has changed from the old sumo wrestlers.

Now I don't think it's ideal.

There are "Shiko", "Teppo", and "Suriashi" that have been used for a long time.

While studying such things now.

I've also stepped on such a "shiko" or done a "koshiwari", so I'm teaching there.

Anyway, the most important thing in sumo wrestling is to keep the body straight and stand on the center axis.

If it is slightly bent, or if the body is bent, the way the muscles are attached will change.

In squats, we do things like bending our bodies, but when we do that, it's different, the muscles don't quite come where we want them.

In such a way, the shape is solid, "shiko" is the same, "koshiwari" and "suriashi" are also the same.

(Miwa)

Does that mean that rather than knowing it with your head, you will understand it with your body?

(Nishonoseki)

That's what it is.

After all, it's tough at first.

We set aside more than an hour to do basic exercises, and in the morning I also watch them from scratch, come down to the rehearsal room, and teach them how to use their bodies.

I think that's all I'm good at.

If you don't do that, you won't be strong.

That's why young sumo wrestlers are almost never allowed to wrestle.

It's important to train hard.

There is one more thing that masters value in raising disciples.

Horsepower.

In the world of sumo wrestling, horsepower refers to the pressure that pushes the opponent forward.

The master believes that it is an indispensable skill in sumo wrestling.

(Nishonoseki)

There are no top wrestlers without horsepower.

A sumo wrestler with no horsepower could sleep well for me.

Fighting wrestlers who don't have much horsepower the next day is really easy, and it's like you can get your thoughts together quickly.

Do you feel a sense of security?

But I have some horsepower.

For example, "Hokukatsu Fuji is coming" or "Haruma Fuji is coming".

"Maybe I'll take it with me", "Chiyo Tairyu is coming", I have a little trouble falling asleep.

That's how scary it is, wrestlers with horsepower.

First of all, making this means that you can come up with an idea.

You can only make this while you're young, right?

Even if you suddenly want to improve your horsepower at the age of 27 or 28, you won't be able to do so.

It looks simple, but it is quite difficult.

I knew that well enough, so I wanted to train it.

Practice pushing anyway.

Anyway, I'm trying to do it in such a way that it's called practice to bring it to the front.

I want to raise "genuine sumo wrestlers"

“My dream is to produce strong sumo wrestlers from this area, and in the future to produce yokozuna and ozeki, so I want to work hard, work hard, and devote myself to that.”

The room will open on June 5th. So, Nishonoseki master said this goal.

However, it is still in the process of trial and error.

He says that he can only confirm whether what he has learned during his active career is correct or not only by making his disciples stronger.

(Nishonoseki) Things

don't go as planned, do they?

Pretty much.

In the rehearsal room, a child who is in good condition loses, or a child who is bad suddenly becomes stronger, and from now on, I feel like I'm trying to figure out what's good and what's bad.

After all, I can only think that my method was not wrong by leaving this result.

For my disciples to become stronger, I feel like I was right.

The fact that I've risen in that way is a conviction or confidence, isn't that what it means?

I want you to understand that quickly.

I want you to understand why you are doing this and understand your own body as soon as possible.

If you do that, I think you'll be able to go even higher.

(Miwa)

How does the master want his disciples to continue to be sumo wrestlers in the future?

(Nishonoseki)

I think the first thing is to always aim higher, and giving extra lip service won't make you popular.

Customers want to see real sumo wrestlers.

Moreover, after all, the eyes of sumo fans in particular are discerning.

If you are a good sumo wrestler, you will get a big round of applause, and if you are a sumo wrestler with a proper way of life, you will get a tremendous amount of applause.

However, I think that sometimes when you take an outrageous sumo wrestling, you get booed or you just go silent.

In such a place, a solid way of life, that's what it is.

I said, "Let's talk in the ring."

I want to train wrestlers who can perform well in the ring, and I think that kind of wrestler is my ideal.