Sumo legend Taro Akebono, 54, who died Wednesday of heart failure in Tokyo, was a familiar face to many members of the American military community in Japan.
When Chad Haaheo Rowan left Waimanalo as a raw 19-year-old to enter the world of sumo in 1988, his stablemaster Jesse Kuhaulua sought a shikona or ring name for his new protege that would match high hopes and inspire greatness.
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter died Saturday at the age of 96. Her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, just celebrated his 99th birthday on Oct. 1. A couple of local Hawaii residents told me they had met the Carters.
The number of stables in sumo continuously ebbs and flows.
Keeping track of, and deciphering the motives behind, the endless elder stock-related openings, closings and mergers, is akin to following the shifting allegiances in the TV series “Game of Thrones.”
Some
heya of course, like Dewanoumi and Takasago, have been in operation uninterrupted since the 1800s, but many others are either newer incarnations of previously shuttered stables, or recent additions to the list.
Such constant but unpredictable movement can result in a 24-year-old
ozeki (Takakeisho) already being on his fourth different stable location (and third heya name) while a 36-year-old veteran (Tamawashi) remains in the same stable and building he entered when turning pro in 2004.