Asashoryu announces his retirement
Mongolian-born sumo Grand Champion Asashoryu was set to be almost certainly banned from the sport of sumo this week, but it seems he has preempted the Japan Sumo Association’s formal decision by announcing his retirement:
“I will retire,” he told reporters. “So many things have happened. I have caused a lot of trouble but I have no regrets about my sumo.”
The alleged attack took place on 16 January in the middle of a major tournament which he went on to win.
Reports in the Japanese tabloids said the 150kg () wrestler, who had been drinking heavily until the early hours, left his victim with a broken nose, a split lip and heavy facial bruising.
During an occasionally tearful appearance before the media, Asashoryu recalled the pride he felt when he defeated the then grand champion, Musashimaru, during his parents’ first trip to Japan to see him compete.
“That was my best moment,” he said. “I’ve been under a lot of mental stress and right now I want to get some rest.”
According to some of the Jap-hating comments I’ve already had to delete today, I think it would be fair to say that quite a few Mongolian internet users are not happy about what has happened. It seems that even their government officials are saying this is all part of an anti-foreign conspiracy:
One high-ranking official said, “I believe the Japanese side basically made use of this ‘violent incident’ to get him to retire from sumo. I feel that they did not want him to break the record for most titles. This behavior is unjust. The Mongolian people disapprove.”
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That’s a bummer. Asashoryu was quite a character and fun to watch. Having two yokozunas competing against each other made the bashos more exciting for me. Oh well. How long until we see him in K-1 do you think?
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I don’t think he will go to K-1. He is a share holder of one bank in Mongolia. He earns enough besides SUMO
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he did bring excitement into the sumo arena, maybe he should stop drinking
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I am so upset by this. Asashoryu was the first sumo wrestler I ever knew by name. He was my favorite. Hakuho is good but he’s a bore.
I doubt there is any grand conspiracy to it but judging by the tone of the news programs today (including viewer mail) there is certainly an air of “he wasn’t properly trained.” This was not always implicitly stated as a foreigner-thing, but more than a few people suggested that his stable master bears great responsibility in this mess.
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Asashoryu was a great, entertaining wrestler and I loved rooting against him. His problem, first and foremost, was that he made a terrible yokozuna. It might be true about the stables master thing, but after 8 years at the top (not to mention many more years training and working up the ranks) and a number of scandals later, he should have known better.
Rikishi are public servants (sumo is a tax-funded sport) so the Japanese people were not going to stand for this stuff much longer. The Mongolian official is right; they used this to push him out. However, he definitely had it coming.
He probably screwed foreign rikishi from becoming yokozuna for a while, I bet. Too bad too, because a few ozeki are foreign and getting pretty good (and Hakuho is a great wrestler, but so boring).
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what a pity! i am a fan of him even though he is naughty a little.
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This is the first thing Asashoryu has gotten right. Kudos to him for finally having the grace to step out. Maybe he can go into K1 fighing.
While he’s a remarkable athlete in the sumo ring, outside of that ring, he’s made some very foolish decisions unbefitting a grand champion of the sport.
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he tried to straight up kill a dude – i’m pretty sure retiring is the best choice going.
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A sad day for sumo fans!
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Let’s see who can step up to take Asashoryu’s place…
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He needn’t go into K1 or such competitions, as he (nominally his relatives though) has big business in Mongol. He’s still a hero for most of the Mongolians. In the future he can be a politician, an investor, or whatever he want to be.
I don’t think this is an anti-foreign conspiracy. Hakuho is still in Yokozuna position, and many foreign Rikishis(sumo wrestlers) are really active in Sumo. Sumo is even the most tolerant tradition in Japan, don’t you think so?
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He was great fighter.What a bad news.I just used to watch sumo because of him.He is really strong guy
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He has no one to blame but himself for his actions. It’s not like similar things haven’t happened to Japanese sumo wrestlers, he is by no means above the law.
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No freedom in Japan…I think Japanese are too boring…What law n what a nation…To sad…
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Ok, all said …if he was actually Japanese do you think this would have been the end result? I think not.
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Perhaps he would have announced the retirement earlier?
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This is not nationality’s problem.
I think the Sumo association had been torelant to Asashoryu.
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Yes, just as it was when a Japanese Oyakata beat up a junior Oyakata’s wife several years ago – JSA “accepted” his immediate retirement.
Nationality has nothing to do with it – if it did, Asa would have been shoved out long ago.
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i dont think this result was caused by xnophobia because some other former-yokozunas were bashed like as asashoryu or more soundly. ( for instance, takanohana. although he never had trouble beating someone else… )
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If he were Japanese there is a good chance that it would have been covered up. But, if similar behavior by a Japanese yokozuna became public, the reaction to it would be much stronger.
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Asashoryu was given plenty of chances. His suspension for lying about an injury to get out of a sumo tour event and then being caught on video playing at a charity soccer game in Mongolia being the most recent example. As a yokozuna, he was expected to behave in a manner that represents the sport. One of the criterion for promotion to yokozuna is 品格 hinkaku or dignity/grace. Physical violence outside the sumo ring is not tolerated. IMHO the oyakata of the Takasago beya should also be forced to retire.
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Your using the word “hinkaku” shows that you don’t know a lot about the history of foreign rishiki. When it looked like Konishiki might become the first foreign yokozuna, it was claimed by a Sumo Association official that hinkaku was a quality that only Japanese can possess. The logic was that hinkaku was a uniquely Japanese attribute and one that was necessary for a yokozuna. Therefore, since a foreigner could not possibly have hinkaku, a foreigner could never become a yokozuna. More recently this word was used in the title of the best-selling Nihonjinron tract 国の品格, or “Dignity of the Nation.” This book makes some very racist assumptions that resemble the assumptions made by those who were opposed to ever having a foreign yokozuna.
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Yes, I know my sumo history. I actually saw Konishiki in his prime live (as well as Chiyonofuji, Takanohana and Akebono). Though Konishiki claimed that it was racism that prevented him from becoming yokozuna, it also may have something to do with the fact that besides yori-kiri or a frontal push out Konishiki did not possess much technical prowess. Konishiki’s girth was both his blessing and his curse. It got him into the very close to top rank of the sumo, an astounding feat but it did not win him many fans among those who appreciated the wrestling aspect of sumo. A sumo official may have indeed said something racist regarding foreigners and hinkaku, but that doesn’t erase the fact that Konishiki’s style was not a popular one. Konishiki’s comments to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun complaining about racism in the Sumo Association while he was still competing certainly did not help matters.
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Do you mean 国家の品格？
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Hey dude, do you really believe in what you have posted? What you are saying is just a cover. Truth is Japanese sumo dominated by Mongolian for last decade and Japanese couldn’t take it anymore and they grabbed first chance to take him out of sumo. Well they have taken out the most loved wrestler. But there are still plenty of Mongolians in Makuuchi, Juro and etc. Mongolians will bounce back with another great Yokozuna next to Hakuho.
Asashoryu all the way!!!!
Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kauryu and others are coming for him!
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Your comment contradicts itself. If Japanese sumo really couldn’t take Mongolian rikishis anymore, how can you assure that Mongolians would bounce back immediately? If you believe those Mongolian rikishis’ success, that means you believe Japanese Sumo world is so fair.
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Er. “Jap”-hating? It looks a little weird when that kind of derogatory term is without even putting it in quote marks. Obviously you don’t intend it as a slur since you’re deleting those comments, but it made me twitch!
And I think people complaining about Asashoryu haven’t paid much attention to the history of other disgraced participants.
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I thought SUMO wrestlers used to teach juniors by beating ‘em. I really think that if I were a japanese would have thought the same thing the unbittable records were about to be breaken.
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I’m nobody to say anything, but yea, if you’re gonna walk on someone else’s land you better walk the way they walk.
Being a mongolian that loves Asashoryu, i can honestly say I loved the guy, he showed pride, he showed everything that a Mongolian would do, unfortunately having too much pride is one of the downsides we have, drinking is the other common one. Those 2 together don’t lead to any good, as we all can see.
Sure there must have been some but very little discrimination, I would personally hate having a foreign wrestler win all the national wrestling, most Mongolians would. But Japan, seems to me, is far more tolerant, if it was vice versa there would have been some kind of a rule that would deny any foreigners to compete.
And I believe I would be beaten quite badly pretty soon for saying all this.
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How can anyone think this is an anti-foreigner conspiracy?
What?
He smacked a dude, quite hard in the face…hard enough to break a few bones. If that wasn’t enough, he then threatened to dump the guy’s body in the river!
I think he got off easy. If any other so-called ‘Foreigner’ or Japanese person did the same, he would be looking at the world through some iron bars.
Try doing the same thing in Roppongi tonight and see where it gets you.
Foreigner or not, he committed a crime. There is NO discrimination here. Just justice.
Damn I hate it when the ‘race’/'discrimination’ card gets pulled. Surely we’re able to be more objective and educated than this?
I AM NOT JAPANESE! For the record.
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the most haplessness is that the guy who suit freewheel most chose a job which has the most rigid convention. bisides, he was the most powerfull and famouse wrestler. if he was weak wrestler nobody would care about his personality. see tiger woods, was it conspiracy of USGA?
anyway, asashoryu has retired, i am rooting for harumafuji now.
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I personally blame Asashoryu for all these messes. I am a Mongolian and my point is if anyone in foreign land crosses line 5 or more times that is utter stupidity and supposed punishment should serve. In Mongolian traditional wrestling especially in higher ranking wrestlers these kinds of violent behavior is strictly forbidden but our dear son Asa wanted more “candies” of unlimited excuses from that local community. It is all kind of pathetic stupidity that paints badly our national reputation on world stage.
But every nation is almost same that Tiger Woods sex addiction thing exploding all over or Stefi Grafs’ tax evasion adventures exploded a decade ago, every nation has similar dirty laundry after all.
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Wonder what Asashoryu is going to do from here? This doesn’t solve his drinking problem and such. Concerned about that
pretty much lost the respect of everybody, his paying big time for this and his career chances have basically gone down the drain. He will have a very tough time recovering from this.
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This “yokozuna” badly abused his own wife and beaten her many times and even broken his wifes tooth. His own brother Mr.Sumyabazar notoriously abuses his wife and beats. Now do you get the full picture of Asashoryu’s violent life??!!
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Now see this guy is a walking disaster area. yes this guy has serious issues.
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Anti foreigner conspiracy? So what you are saying is its ok for a foreigner to beat up a Japanese? How would you react if it was the other way around?
He did not deserve to be a Yokozuna and I bet Hakuho, Akebono and Musashimaru would feel the same way.
There was an incident years ago, when Akebono the recently designated Yokozuna caused property damage, I believe when he broke the chouchin of an izakaya when he was drunk.
At least Akebono apologized and showed ‘repentance’ and people let it go. Even then, Akebono was no where near Asashouryu. I have never heard of Musashimaru nor Hakuho cause trouble.
Asashouryu was trouble from day 1 and he deserved what he got. No he should have been kicked out way before.
Japanese people are more demanding, as in comparison to other sports, cause it is a national, traditional sport funded in part by the taxpayers.
The time of Akebono/Musashimaru and Taka/Waka brothers were the last time when it was the good ol sumo days. They showed technique with class and not the ‘wresling’ style with only strength.
That’s why sumo is losing popularity in Japan for all the non-sense that is going around and I hope with this incident, the Sumo Kyoukai gets it right by going back to the basics. Don’t tell me it’s racist, as if Akebono, Musashimaru, Asashouryu and Hakuho can be Yokozunas, so can other foreign sumo wrestlers.
They just have to work hard to show they deserve it.
BTW: it is true that it was unfair to deny Akebono the title, as he was a foreigner, but at least he got to be a Yokozuna.
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He is not from Japan that is the reason. I am not trying to say that it is Anti foreigner conspiracy, no. He just needs more time to understand Japanese culture and what people expect from him and so many other things … But I guess it is too late.
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