Igor Kurinnoy visits the Emerald City

[JAB]

http://threeharmonies.blogspot.com/2010 ... -city.html

For anyone interested Kurinnoy will be visiting Seattle, WA. for the first time! Great opportunity to learn from one of the best! For all you Shuai Chiao heads, Igor has trained with many of the ethnic wrestling groups that have influenced Shuai Chiao. He has even trained and won Sumo!!

Cheers
JAB

[JAB]

Thanks to Igor, Aaron, and Gregg for making this happen! For those interested in a short review:
http://threeharmonies.blogspot.com/2010 ... eview.html

Cheers
JAB

[middleway]

damn i would love to be able to go to this!

would be good to see some vid of the event or a good review

[JAB]

Are you hinting my review is not good???

No taping was allowed.

[middleway]

hahahaha! oops sorry man i didnt see your next link!

... ahum ... Good review!!

[JAB]

I would call it basic review, but thanks

[Muad'dib]

Trained and won sumo? Where? I'm familiar with most/all the foreign wrestlers, and I've never heard of him. What name did he wrestle under and what beya?

Edit: I saw the accomplishments list. Amateur level. Still, not bad though. He should go pro. Pros who are decent make bank.

[JAB]

Not amateur bro, that is pro level just not wrestling in Japan! Wrestling the best in the world I would throw in pro level category!

And if you are that into Sumo, then you know only the top of the top make any bank! Even when Akebono was yokozuna the amount of money he made vs. the amount of BS he had to pay for made him an average mans wage in the end.

JAB

[Muad'dib]

I know exactly how much the top sumo guys make. A yokozuna makes roughly 30,000USD monthly. Akebono had major problems handling his finances, and that was his own fault. When a Yokozuna wins a championship a portion of his winnings is allocated to the care and maintenance of the Beya, but this is NOT taken from his monthly salary, according to my friends in the JSA.

Also, you might call it pro, but to me, if it's not in Japan, it's not pro, bro.

[JAB]

Well that is not exactly how the bio I just read on Chad made it sound, but I have nothing invested to argue with you about it. Cost of living coupled with many other factors, and again we are talking about the top 2-5 wrestlers! The overwhelming majority don't make shit comparatively.

In regards to your comment about it not being pro unless in Japan... very Japanese of you! I bet Byamba would have some other ideas: http://sumobyamba.com/

JAB

[Muad'dib]

Cost of living is covered by the Beya... I made it in Japan easy on way less than 30K a month, and when I met Akebono, he was doing fine. Hell, Musashimaru is retired for life and chilling and he was only Ozeki. He just had better business sense. As for not being pro if not in Japan, that's just the truth. As for what Byamba would say, he agrees with me. Let's see what his bio has to say:

After testing dozens of young men, he invited only one – Byamba – to join his professional sumo team in Japan.

Byamba entered professional sumo with no knowledge of the sport, the Japanese language, the food, or the culture. Life was not easy, but young "Daishochi" (Byamba's pro sumo fighting name) adapted quickly, and at age 16, he won a divisional championship in professional sumo. By age 18, Byamba was the highest-ranked sumo wrestler on his entire team – kind of like Kobe Bryant within a year or two of joining the Lakers!

At 20 years old, Byamba decided to leave professional sumo. If he had continued another couple years, many predicted he would have achieved Champion or Grand Champion status. However, injuries and other factors influenced his decision to leave Japan, for a broader opportunity to travel and compete worldwide.

At age 21, Byamba was invited to perform sumo in the film “Oceans 13”. After spending time in Los Angeles after the shoot, Byamba decided to stay longer.

Although he left pro sumo before reaching the highest pinnacles of fame and fortune in Japan, Byamba gained several opportunities not available to sumo wrestlers in Japan.

BTW, Byamba wrestled in Japan at a point in time when I lived there. He was not well known and never made it into the top ranks, not even into Juryou. By comparison, the current Yokozuna, Hakuhou started sumo roughly two months earlier, and was promoted to the top rank competition one year before Byamba left pro sumo altogether, making it two ranks higher than Byamba ever did. Oh, and of course Hakuhou is now Yokozuna.

[The_Tao]

Muad'dib,

Musashhimaru retired as a Yokouzuna as is that was his rank. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashimaru_Kōyō.

[Muad'dib]

You are correct, my apology. I was thinking of Konishiki.