General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
TOKYO — Sumo is coming — well, almost coming — to the Tokyo Olympics.
Knowing it may have the world’s attention, the Japan Sumo Association and local Olympic organizers are planning a sumo tournament on Aug. 12-13, just days after the Olympics end.
The event was announced on Tuesday and is designed to bring more attention to the Japanese sport. It will be part of a local cultural festival and will take place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena, sumo’s spiritual home in east Tokyo.
Event organizers say the tournament will give visitors from overseas an opportunity to watch the sport. The venue is the same one in Tokyo attended by U.S. President Donald Trump last year.
The roots of sumo can be traced back to the Shinto ritual for a good harvest in the 8th century. It later was used as martial arts training for samurais before becoming entertainment for ordinary people during the Edo period, 1603 to 1868.
The Edo period brought the introduction of stylized rules including the art of entering the ring, the use of loin cloths, topknots and kimonos, as well as fighting regulations.
Sumo rituals are some of the most traditional in Japan, and the sport is highly cloistered and mostly closed to outsiders.
The yokozuna — the grand champion rank of rikishi, or wrestler — has a special place in the customs.
Unlike other athletes, rikishi are considered living performers of a cultural tradition and are expected to be role models. This is especially true of the yokozuna.
Only men can become professional rikishi. Under sumo’s Shinto tradition, women are considered unclean and are not allowed to enter the elevated dirt ring, or dohyo.
In 2018, a sumo referee blocked women who went up to the dohyo to provide first aid for a mayor who collapsed in the ring while making a speech at a sumo event in Kyoto. It triggered criticism that sumo officials were prioritizing their gender-biased tradition over someone’s life.
Based on Shinto belief, the dohyo is considered sacred. Before every tournament, Shinto priests perform rituals to pacify the gods by pouring rice, sake and other offerings into a little hole in the center of the ring.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — More than 100 long-finned pilot whales that beached on the western Australian coast Thursday have returned to sea, while 29 died on the shore, officials said.
BAYSIDE, NY – Daughters of Penelope (DOP) Ilion Chapter 135 continues to keep the light shining bright within.
NEW YORK – Mike Labatos, AHEPA District 6 Lt.
Cretans are known for loving their guns but the island has the dubious record of having the highest rates of suicide in Greece over the last 25 years, averaging 2.
ATHENS - Forgetting the 2010-18 economic and austerity crisis that saw people so desperate they were picking food out of rubbish and supermarket bins, Greeks are among the European countries with the ignominious title of food wasters.