Since some of you have clicked on to the previous post by the thousands, have also emailed and telephoned me about it and seem to all be naturally curious, here are some more snippets of "evidence" from Japan that Ichiro was indeed attempting a "Komanechi'' move after his walk-off homer on Friday.

Chris from Bothel, you might want to avert your eyes. This will not win a Pulitzer. But thank you for your words. Can we all just get along? By the way, Rodney King first uttered those words on CNN, which I happened to be watching...back in my hometown of Montreal. How interesting for all of you!

So, it turns out that when Ichiro was honored at Safeco Field last week, the Japanese television show "Joho Seven Days Newscaster'' (gee, what a great name for a show) of which "Beat" Takeshi is a co-host, showed Mike Sweeney yelling "Komanechi!'' to Ichiro. Sweeney then did a "proper'' Komanechi gesture to Ichiro, making the "V" shape with his hands.

Ichiro, in return, responded with a one-handed hip chop and leg kick. Now, obviously, that is not proper Komanechi form. But he did it in the spirit of "The Komanechi" which is what truly counts in this debate, right? Right?

To see what the real "Komanechi'' move looks like, watch Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci do it on Japanese TV. If you check out Sweeney in the above photo, it's pretty clear he's about to do the "V'' shaped move with his hands. Yes, I know, Comaneci spells her name differently. No idea how the "K" and the "h" got added in the Japanese version. Maybe Takeshi didn't want to get sued, or maybe they were worried the Japanese might have trouble pronouncing it if they spelled it the Romanian way. I don't get paid enough to worry about such trivia. We've got enough trivia going on right here just getting to the bottom of this whole thing.

BTW, if you check out the very bottom of the photo, you can see Rob Johnson rolling around in pain and clutching his ankle. But you have to look real close. I think Ryan Langerhans , who has a funny/guilty look on his face, might have stepped on it, which could explain how he hurt his back and hasn't played since. Come to think of it, Bill Hall seems to be crouched quite low for a guy with a bad quad. As for Adrian Beltre, also crouching real low, that's not joy you see on his face. It's agony. Man, these celebrations are getting out of hand.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Here is an article from Sept. 17 in Sankei from Japan about the move used by Ichiro in the dugout during the 200-hit ceremony, prior to his walkoff blast. We all know the nine straight 200-hit seasons wasn't as big a feat as Derek Jeter's milestone, but they honored it at Safeco Field anyhow.

Back to the Komanechi, the Japanese article wasn't much help, was it? Well, that's because it's in Japanese, silly.

Go to our trusty Babel Fish translator, and you get this wonderful bit.

The money quote:

The case where it returns to the bench the beat fungus it did and gag, announced to "[komanechi] and" joked.

Clearly, not a perfect translation, but my Japanese isn't perfect either, so who are we to judge?

But obviously, there is a mention of the Komanechi being joked about in the dugout and the mention of "fungus" is actually a direct translation of "Beat" Takeshi's name. My name translates to "Hair" in case you were wondering.

Anyhow, since the home run, Japanese bloggers have been all agog about the Komanechi developments, as you can see here.

"The information 7days newscaster" of TBS
We seeing,

The ↓ [po] [chi] [tsu] and, mounding, the [e] - the ♪
It is the ↓ support request*

Now, if Cookie Freak Diary isn't a reputable news source, what the heck is? And this is very clearly a conversation of two bloggers, one of whom, realizes the "mystery" of Ichiro's celebratory dance has been cleared up by the TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting Systems) program Joho Seven Days, showing the Komanechi being done previously by Ichiro and Sweeney. Once again, we see "fungus" referenced, which is of course "Beat" Takeshi, originator of the Komanechi move.

OK, one more sample of proof from Livedoor Blog, which effectively plays the Washington Post to Cookie Freak Diary's New York Times:

»ä¤ÈƱ¤¤Ç¯¤Ç½ÐÀ¤Æ¬¡ÄÀ¤³¦¤Î¥¹¡¼¥Ñ¡¼¥¹¥¿¡¼¤È¸À¤¨¤Ð¡Ä¥¤¥Á¥í¡¼¥¹¥º¥¥¥­¥£¡¼¡£¤½¤Î¥¤¥Á¥í¡¼¡¢¥¯¡¼¥ë¤Ê¥¤¥á¡¼¥¸¤¬ÄêÃ夷¤Æ¤Þ¤·¤¿¤¬WBC°Ê¹ßÇ®¤¤Ãˤ˿ʲ½¤·¤Æ¤¤¤Þ¤¹¡£Ç®¤¯¤Ê¤Ã¤¿¤À¤±¤Ç¤Ï¤Ê¤¤¤ß¤¿¤¤¡Ä¥¢¥Û¤Ë¤â¤Ê¤Ã¤¿¤ß¤¿¤¤¡¢¤¤¤¤°ÕÌ£¤Ç¡£¥¤¥Á¥í¡¼¤Î¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á»Ñ¤¬¥Æ¥ì¥Ó¤Ë¡¢¤½¤ì¤â¼°ÅµÃæ¤Ë¥Á¡¼¥à¥á¥¤¥È¤Ë¸þ¤«¤Ã¤Æ¡Ä¤³¤Ã¤½¤ê¤È¡£¤¢¤ÎÅÁÀâ¤Î¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á¥ª¥¸¥µ¥ó¤ò×Ç×ʤµ¤»¤ë¡Ô¹â®¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á¡Õ¤Ç¤·¤¿¡£¥¤¥Á¥í¡¼¤â¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á¤¬¹¥¤­¤Ê¤ó¤Ç¤¹¤Í¡£¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á¤ÏÀ¤³¦´ð½à¤Î¤¢¤¤¤µ¤Ä¤«¤â¡£¤·¤«¤·¥¤¥Á¥í¡¼¤Î¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á¡¢¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á¥ª¥¸¥µ¥ó¤½¤Ã¤¯¤ê¤Ç¤·¤¿¡Ä¥³¥Þ¥Í¥Á¥ª¥¸¥µ¥ó¤¬»Õ¾¢¡©

What, you need another translation?

It's a blogger calling Ichiro's move "the high-speed Komanechi".

How do I know this? I just do. There you go. End of discussion.

Wonder what moves Ryan Rowland-Smith will import from Australia when he pitches tonight? I hear "The Koala" and "The Dingo" (left) may not be suitable for non-cable networks.

By the way, if you've grown tired of this topic, here's a blog that can provide you with some serious Mariners analysis.