I present to you:

The Massashigawa-beya Ichimon!!!!

[men cheering, women fainting]

The issue of ichimon innocently began in July '02 when Takanorappa, Unagiyutaka and Tetsuonoumi joined in a
blood oath to defend the right to eat chowda, cheer for the Red Sox and act like Kennedy's:

11 Jul 2001 08:15
Takanorappa wrote...

Hmmm.  There's quite a few MA rikishi in BS, maybe we should start a Heya...)

I second the motion.
Unagiyutaka

Me too...

Bill from Franklin who works in Cambridge
aka Tetsuonoumi

From this historic meeting sprung forth the debate of gathering cyber-rikishi with a regional commonality. A
tidal wave of support ensued. The wisened Jejima could not ignore the ground-swell and did the right thing by
granting Massashigawa official ichimon status. 

We are a twelve-member group with complete games
domination in mind. Our members are:

May the sumo gods have mercy upon you if you meet up with any of these rikishi on the dohyo or in a back
alley somewhere. Be afraid...be very afraid!

Oyakata-mi-narai
Massashigawa-beya
Unagiyutaka

Could this be the beginning of the Chowdashigawa Effect?

Gusoyama

...or perhaps Mas(s)ashigawa? Any other suggestions?

Unagiyutaka

To all Mass. (and New England?) cyber-rikishi...

There were some casual references during Nagoya about consolidating into one heya. Since I am just a Sandanme
rikishi, I don't feel I should be the one to organize this group. If this is of interest, let's get together
and do it. Takanorappa...?

Tired of eating chanko alone,

Unagiyutaka

Unagi-zeki,

I've lived here in Hawaii for the last 23 years but I was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts.  I would love to be invited to join the Massashigawa-beya.

Aloha,

Akishiki

Waiting for Jejima to give us the go-ahead. It seems we would be something of an "outlaw outfit" without some change in BS rules. If you or anyone want to take up the cause in a public forum, I will support you 100%. Seeing as I'm just a Sandanme punching bag, my words carry little weight. Perhaps the Massashigawa flag will fly one day in BS.

As far as I'm concerned, the idea is still a good one.  I just don't know what can be done to change the current BS rules. If you read my original post, I still haven't completely grasped all of the rules. If we are all still interested and we get the powers to discuss the topic, we can get things moving. What does that mean? Beats me! I guess the first order of business would be to appoint(?) an oyakata, tsukebitos etc. I'm still hoping for a promotion to towel boy, myself. If anyone has the chutzpah to go public, I will back you up. I'm just afraid my standing in the game gives me no credibility and even less influence.

What do you think?

Unagiyutaka

I think you need to grovel in front of Jezz to change the rules for heyas. If he won't, then we can still have a heya, but wrestle each other.

No need for special status like the Vienna Boys have. I think we can still have a regional group without having to change the rules. Besides, I don't see myself competing with the rest of the heya for many basho to come. I have some ideas as to what benefits a heya could offer – nothing too grandiose. Maybe a stat sheet on each rikishi for all games, not just BS. Any other suggestions?

I have been in contact with a handful of BS'ers from my area who have shown an interest in forming a heya. We are aware of the rule(s) about forming a heya in BS and also about the exception made for the Austrian contingency. My idea was to get in closer contact with sumo fans from New England, ultimately to meet them and perhaps watch a few matches together. I guess the idea would be to form a "cyber-stable" that would have more in common with a fan club than it would an actual heya. It would be a group of sumo fans and gamers gathered to share information and opinion on their favorite subject.

The catch, of course, is the "no heya" rule in BS. I understand that in real sumo rikishi from the same heya do not do battle with each other unless it is for the yusho. That system carries over into BS, as well. Hey, if two of our guys meet in a match, I say, "Let 'em knock each others' teeth out". It'll be great for the game. I'm not asking for the same exception made for the Vienna group - just recognition. Your sanctioning of Massashigawa would give us credibility and an oppurtunity to transcend BS into all of the recognized sumo games and other aspects of the SML. If a rule change or amendment would be needed, then we could discuss the topic on the ML. If you need more time, let me know. My inbox is always open.

Thanks for your email. I personally would have no problem with what you suggest, but as Bench Sumo has new rules or guidelines discussed by all, we need to put it to the rest of the gamers first. I reckon after the Jan basho is over, I *should* have the time to deal with this (and other over-due matters!). Hope this is okay with you.

Dear BS players,

It seems like a very long time since I wrote a 'proper' post-basho admin email (probably over a year, so many players won't even know what I mean ;-).

10.  Loose heyas ;-) - there is (apparently) an underground movement for the recognition of the state of New England rikishi as a heya.  Now, these rikishi don't want to form an 'actual' heya in that they still wish to fight each other, (which is a blessing for your poor, hard-working torikumi-makers) but they want to have recognition for being in some way connected.  There also seems to be something similar happening amongst the strong contigent of French players.

What I would suggest is opening up the idea of 'ichimon'. I am not sure how we record these - or how / if it would affect the game, except that it would be a form of recognition for the links between players.  (For those unsure, an ichimon is an affiliation of several heyas, who do a lot of things together.  There are 5 official ichimons in 'real sumo'.)  We could then have a New England Ichimon, a France Ichimon, and so on.  This would also help with the deciding of a dew-sweeper and a sword-bearer should/when we ever get a Bench Yokozuna ;-)  I would think that we would need to set a minimum requirement for the number of rikishi within an ichimon, for it to be allowed to be set up.

To start with, we could do something regional, eg The Americas; German speaking countries; Scandinavian countries; Rest of Europe and Africa;
Asia-Australasia-Antartica), which all current players would be put into, and new players would be asked to sign up for one.  Then, within those ichimons, break-away ichimons (eg New England from The Americas, France from Rest of Europe) would be allowed, if there is enough players interested - perhaps minimum of 5 or 6?) can form a workable ichimon, and still leave enough players behind in the 'Mother ichimon' to not bring it below the minimum.  Great fun / statistics could then be had by following the fortunes... ;-)

Await your comments?!

Here we are. Seven people with a common passion for two things: Sumo and Games.

OK, three things: Sumo, Games and a tie to New England(Assuming nobody else shares my love of running through the snow naked, singing, "We are the Champions!").

I want to mention that our underground movement has become a full-fledged discussion on the SML. The proposal of "Ichimon" has been met with mostly positive feedback. I think a "yippee" is in order.

Thanks to all who have weighed in on this.