Sumo is in a turbulent period

At the Makuuchi-Dohyoiri: From left Onosato, Abi, Daieisho, Kotozakura, Gonoyama and Takayasu.

Sumo is in a turbulent period ...Thoughts after watching the May tournament

After Hakuho retired, sumo wrestling entered a turbulent period. From the beginning of the 21st century, from Asashoryu's first victory in 2002 to Hakuho's last championship in 2021, these two Mongolian Yokozuna have shown overwhelming strength. The Mongolian forces, including the two Yokozuna Harumafuji and Kakuryu, dominated the ring. For 10 years, from Ozeki Tochiazuma winning the champion cup in 2006 to Ozeki Kotoshogiku winning the cup in 2016, no Japanese wrestlers won the championship at all.

In Hakuho's place, Terunofuji, who had temporarily fallen to the rank of jonidan due to injury or illness, became Yokozuna in 2021, but he has been plagued by health concerns and has had many absences. Young sumo wrestlers were expected to perform well and some were promoted to Ozeki, but as soon as they reached Ozeki, physical problems became apparent and many had great difficulty maintaining their positions, and some eventually fell. Among the former Ozeki who have fallen, Takayasu is often absent due to a back injury, but if he does participate, he will demonstrate more power than current Ozeki. Meanwhile, Mitakeumi and Shodai' s poor performance is clear. Kirishima, who had just been promoted, lost two tournaments in a row when the May tournament was closed, and falls from Ozeki in the July tournament. Takakeisho also had to take a break from the May tournament due to a neck injury, and if his results at the next tournament are not good, he will lose his Ozeki rank.

While the generation immediately following Hakuho and Terunofuji is in a slump, the younger generation is growing rapidly. Representative examples are Onosato, who won the May tournament, and Takerufuji, who won the March tournament. Onozato, who has experience winning the University Championship during his university years, started out as a makushita wrestler ranked 15th, and set a record by winning the makuuchi tournament just one year later, in his seventh tournament. Meanwhile, Takafuji started from the lowest jonokuchi division and won the makuuchi tournament in his ninth tournament, which is a record, and marks the first time in 110 years that a rookie makuuchi wrestler has won the tournament.

Before these two, 20-year-old Hakuouho was promoted to makuuchi in last July's tournament, the fourth tournament after starting from the 15th rank in makushita, and entered the championship race there. Then, 21-year-old Atamifuji competed for the championship in September and November last year after returning to makuuchi. In addition, promising young wrestlers such as Go-no-yama, Shonan-no-umi, and Oushoma have passed the Juryo division in a short period of time and are moving up to the makuuchi ranks. Even when they wrestle with sumo wrestlers who have advanced to San'yaku or Ozeki rank before them, these young wrestlers show strength that makes it hard to feel the difference in rank. For those who have experienced the era of Hakuho's strongest time, this is a refreshing surprise.

Promising young wreslers and Ozeki
Name	Age	Height (cm)	Weight (kg)
Hakuoho	20	181	160
Atamifuji	21	186	183
Hokuseiho *	22	204	182
Onosato	23	192	181
Takerufuji	25	184	143
Gonoyama	26	178	160
Shonannoumi	26	194	190
Oshoma	27	190	158

Hoshoryu	25	188	142
Kotozakura	26	189	172

* retired recently

Many promising young wrestlers have been promoted to the top division, makuuchi recently. As you see from the table above, some of them are not so young as Atamifuji and Hakuoho, because they are wrestlers who competed in university and have a proven track record. Even among university graduates, it is quite rare for a wrestler to be promoted and perform as well as Onosato in such a short time, and it usually takes a certain amount of time to reach the top division.

On the 5th day of May tournament, Onosato was pushed out by Hiradoumi.

The two last names on the table are Ozeki, who belong to the same age as other young wrestlers but entered the world of sumo at an early age and have already reached the rank of Ozeki. There are high expectations for them, but they have not yet produced the sutisfactory results that would lead to further promotion.

Generally speaking, the popularity of sumo increases when there is a particularly strong wrestler. Futabayama before World War II, Taiho in the 1960s, Chiyonofuji in the 1980s, and Takanohana in the 1990s were all major drivers of sumo's popularity.

However, the current situation is completely different, with top-ranked wrestlers not necessarily as strong as they ought to be. However, the unusual situation of a new makuuchi wrestler winning the championship had an unexpected effect. With the victory of Takerufuji in the March tournament and the success of other young wrestlers such as Onosato, expectations for the birth of a new hero grew, and the May tournament was hugely popular, with tickets selling out for all 15 days.

I hope that a young, strong Yokozuna will emerge soon to succeed Terunofuji. Ozeki such as Hoshoryu and Kotozakura are the closest to becoming Yokozuna, but they have not shown enough strength by now. That is why all eyes are on Onosato and Takerufuji. Objectively speaking, Onosato' s power is different from the others. Not only is his height and weight impressive, but the power that comes from his body is incredible. On the other hand, Takerufuji, who took a break this tournament, is not as physically strong as Onosato, but he excels with his sharp start and quick response, and easily defeated Onosato last tournament. After taking a complete break, he will have to drop down to Juryo for now, but we can all hope that he will recover from his injury and make a swift comeback.

Unfortunately, on this day, Shishi lost to Endo with a right-handed outside throw.

While this is the situation on the ring, one cannot help but question the way the elders who run the Sumo Association operate below the ring.

What I find particularly puzzling is the closure of Miyagino stable, whose master was the 45-time champion Hakuho. Not only was Hokuseiho, one of the most promising young wrestlers, asked to resign after he was accused of violence against his younger apprentices, but his master Hakuho was also demoted two ranks in the stablemaster ranks for poor supervision, and Miyagino stable was closed down. "For the time being," Miyagino stable, along with its master and wrestlers, was placed in the care of the Isegahama stable, a member of the same family. It means that an entire company was absorbed into another company, and the president was made an ordinary director.

There has been talk for a while that strong Mongolian Yokozuna such as Hakuho and Asashoryu are taking advantage of their strength and acting against the history and customs of Japanese sumo. It goes without saying that the harsh treatment was due to the simmering dissatisfaction with Hakuho among the executives of the Sumo Association.

However, it is also true that these Mongolian Yokozuna have supported sumo for the past 20 years. Even when listening to live sumo commentary on television, the commentary of Hakuho and Kakuryu is much more meaningful and worth listening to than most Japanese stablemasters. Hakuho has been the sole Yokozuna for a long time, and he started a tournament in which children from all over Japan compete, from which many children who aspire to become sumo wrestlers are raised. It is the Hakuho Cup. Therefore, it is natural that many promising newcomers want to enter Hakuho's training.

I cannot accept that Hakuho, who has contributed so much to the development of sumo, should be treated this way. It is said that Hakuho and Asashoryu did not act as the Sumo Association expected, but isn't that the responsibility of their Japanese masters, and by extension the executives of the Sumo Association, who did not properly educate them when they came to Japan as young people?

The wrestlers are not only Japanese, but also strong men from various countries, starting with Hawaii, Mongolia, Brazil, Egypt, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, and more. Recently, wrestlers have come from Ukraine, which is suffering from war. The first, Shishi, is active in the juryo division, and the second, Aonishiki, has only lost twice since he started sumo, and will be competing in the upper makushita division in the next tournament, with the possibility of promotion to juryo.

Aokishi had another powerful victory on this day.

Now, foreign wrestlers play a major role in continuing sumo, which is a traditional Japanese culture, and I sincerely hope that the Sumo Association will be run in a way that satisfies them.

We can't take our eyes off sumo wrestling at the next tournament as well.

2024.05.29