Japan’s national sport, sumo, is receiving a lot of media attention due to a shocking event and the actions taken by a sumo stable to cover up the truth. Some 3 months ago, a tragedy occurred, what this author calls a murder. According to AP reports:

Tokitsukaze, whose real name is Junichi Yamamoto, has admitted to striking Tokitaizan in the head with a beer bottle the day before he died, as well as forcing him to train so hard that he could barely stand the day of his death, public broadcaster NHK said, citing local police.

Striking an athlete with a beer bottle! I wonder how this relates to training, especially before a major tournament? Something else that startled me was how his fellow stablemates supported the attack by beating the defenseless youth, 17 year old Takashi Saito: “Several other wrestlers in Tokitsukaze’s stable have also admitted to beating Tokitaizan en masse and kicking him after he fell days before his death.” I spoke with a close friend on this subject and he harshly likened it to a “pack mentality” where the strong members of a group band together to kill and eliminate a weak and burdensome member of their pack. The wrestlers involved have told police that they were only following Tokitsukaze’s orders:

…several of Saito’s seniors are alleged to have taken him to the back of the stable house, and to have beaten him with a metal bat and a stick for at least 20 minutes. In voluntary questioning by investigators, several of the wrestlers reportedly gave responses including, “It was the stablemaster’s instruction,” or, “We went too far.”

Tokitsukaze has been fired and suspended from the Japan Sumo Association, and the police investigation into Saito’s death continues. It may be some time before the shroud of secrecy surrounding this incident is fully removed.

The average person in Japan, especially foreigners such as myself, don’t know very much about sumo. We see these gargantuan humans slapping and throwing each other around a ring for minutes at a time. Based on this, we might think a tournament would last a day or two because such large people couldn’t possibly have the physical stamina to compete at length. In reality, tournaments are held multiple times per year throughout Japan (6 this year – see Japan Times Online for a breakdown as well as a really good intro guide to the world of Sumo). Each tournament lasts 15 days. The Summer Olympics lasts one day longer, but only comes once every 4 years. And most events don’t last the entire 16 days. It would be hard to look at such facts and not consider sumo wrestlers dynamic athletes.

Still, what do we know about them? What do we know about the stable life? What do we know about the grueling training regiments? And what do we know about the psychological affects of these 15 day tournaments and Sumo livelihood? Perhaps such psychological stress was partly responsible for the apparent breakdown of leading sumo wrestler, Asashyoryu, who has suffered somewhat in recent months. Could such stress also contribute to the brutal bullying of junior sumo wrestlers by their stablemates?

And what about sumo’s status in Japan? Can it really be called the national sport of Japan, when you rarely see people walking around with Asashoryu t-shirts and knit caps? Do you see little kids mimicking Hakuho in the schoolyard? If Japanese kids celebrated Halloween, do you think any of them would dress up as their favorite Sumo wrestler?

The sport’s image is looking worse every day, and the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) is under fire over this current incident. From all the reports I’ve read it doesn’t seem to know how to handle massive negative attention. Will this media attention break open a sport where secrecy and ancient codes of conduct are still in affect today? In this day and age of blogging and immediate news media the age-old sport is finding the development gap troubling to bridge. So, as the JSA have apologized to various parties, but still remain secretive about the dealings around the death of 17 year old Takashi Saito, one must wonder what the future of this national sport will be as the dust settles?

Coming soon – an interview with a foreigner who is an avid lover of sumo and all things sumo. I will transcribe excerpts from my interview with Scotsman Lauder Parslow, including a story about a journey to obtain a rare Sumo artifact from the hallowed apple orchards of Aomori Prefecture. He sheds some light on, ‘The Mystery of Sumo.’

[Article submitted by W. Anthony Malcolm]