Exclusive interview with yokozuna Akebono - Monthly Playboy (August 1993) - Part 4
Fourth in a five-part series
Q: Are you surprised that you made yokozuna as fast as you did? Konishiki didn’t make yokozuna last spring when many observers thought that he had enough qualifications. You had won two tournaments in a row, but the previous tournament you were only 9-6. Many observers thought the Sumo Association would wait for one more tournament before promoting you.
A: When I lost my second bout in the January tournament, I put all thoughts of making yokozuna out of my mind because I had lost badly. But I think I was promoted in part because of what happened to Konishiki.
Q: What do you mean?
A: He went through a lot of tough times. There was all that discussion about racism in regard to foreigners in sumo.
Q: Do you mean that the Sumo Association was sensitive to potential charges about racism because of the furor over its decision not to promote Konishiki to grand champion and that’s why they promoted you so quickly? Because racism had become an issue and the Sumo Association wanted to avoid any possible criticism? Is that what you mean?
A: Well that was an issue but also I did win two tourneys in a row. There were no other yokozuna at the time. And the Sumo Association wanted to promote Takanohana to ozeki. So In short, I was in the right position at the right time. Let’s just say I was lucky.
Q: Do you think that Konishiki was treated unfairly by not being promoted to yokozuna last spring?
A: That’s a hard question to answer.
Q: Had your relationship with Konishiki changed at all since you became yokozuna? You outrank him now. When you first came to Japan, he was way above you. Now you are above him.
A: We still talk to each other. I remember the way he used to take care of me when I was coming up through the ranks. He helped me, gave me advice. He really made me work hard when I practiced with him. I really appreciate all that.
Q: Has his attitude toward you changed? Does he hold back now?
A: He does somewhat. But he still helps me in practice. He watches me and tries to correct any flaws I might have. He has problems with his legs, so he doesn’t wrestle with me as much as he used to. But he watches and he is still a big help. Because when you practice, you usually don’t realize yourself what you’re doing wrong.
Q: Does he call you “yokozuna?”
A: Yes.
Q: And what do you call Jesse?
A: “Oyakata.”
Q: You never address him as “Jesse?” That’s what a lot of his American friends still call him.
A: No.
Q: So in the stable you have completely lost your American customs and habits?
A: Yes. The first day in Japan, I couldn’t even say “ohayo gozaimasu.” I called the oyakata, “Jesse.” Everybody was looking at me as if I was crazy. I slowly started to learn. Even though we were both Americans, I learned I had to call the oyakata as oyakata. I had to do proper aisatsu (greeting). I couldn’t act like an American anymore. It took time, but I changed. Now it comes natural to me.
Q: If you addressed the oyakata as “Jesse” now, do you think he would be upset?
A: Yes. He trained me for five years. Now I am yokozuna. If I started calling him “Jesse” he would think I am big-headed and arrogant. He’d be shocked. He would take it as a big sign of disrespect. Even though we are both Americans and in normal American social settings, here in Japan, we act like Japanese.
Q: Did the oyakata ever slap you?
A: Oh, yes, in the beginning.
Q: When?
A: I remember one time when I’d been in Japan only about six months, I’d heard the oyakata was bringing a guest back to the stable and I thought the kitchen patrol, which I was on, would be starting late instead of 7 p.m. as usual. So I took a little rest. This was at at a gasshiku, or training camp, somewhere in Kanagawa. And I was sitting on the porch, cooling it, while everyone else, unbeknownst to me, was in the kitchen working. So the oyakata came back at around 6 p.m. and got angry because I wasn’t in the kitchen. He slapped me around, right there in front of his guests. And while I was getting slapped, I was thinking to myself, if somebody back in Hawaii saw this scene, they would wonder how I could just stand there and not raise a hand to defend myself, and just submit to the punishment. An American watching that scene would have been downright shocked. I was shocked myself because I heard myself actually apologizing in Japanese.
“Sumimasen.”
It was hard to believe I was actually doing that. That’s how Japanese I had become.
Q: It is hard for Americans who know Azumazeki Oyakata, or Jesse, to believe he would actually hit you. He is such an easygoing, likable guy. He will tell jokes all day. He’s got wrinkles around his eyes from laughing and smiling so much. Then he turns around and slaps one of his wrestlers. I think Americans in Japanese sumo develop two different personalities — one that is American and the other that is Japanese. It’s a kind of schizophrenic behavior. But it is unavoidable.
Did you ever talk to Konishiki about his New York Times interview in which he was quoted as saying the Sumo Association was “racist” and then later denied it?
A: No
Q: Did you ever have any problems with Japanese in your stable. You said when you appeared on the CNN “Larry King Show” that you “had never experienced racism in Japan.” Is that really true? Your oyakata once told me that when he was a young wrestler coming up, there was a Japanese wrestler who kept calling him “Gaijin! Gaijin!” It was intended an insult or taunt, Jesse felt. Then one day he punched the wrestler and that was the end of that. Have you ever had problems like that?
A: No, when I joined there weren’t very many wrestlers in the stable. The oyakata was just starting his stable. And also we had some Japanese wrestlers who had been to college and they could speak broken English somewhat and they tried to communicate with me, to get along with me. So I didn’t have any problems. I think the period when my oyakata first joined sumo was very different than it is now. Back then, he was the first foreigner, the only gaijin in sumo. Japanese in sumo were not used to gaijin at all. So he had some problems. If he folded the kimono the wrong way, they’d punch him. Takasago Beya, the oyakata’s stable was a big stable, with about 100 wrestlers. There were a lot of people who didn’t understand gaijin. So it was tough for him. Now it is different. Times have changed. When I first came to our stable, even though there were only a total of 15 wrestlers, I was the third foreigner.
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