A New Era for Sumo
In the modern world of sumo, there have been significant events along the way
that have defined new eras for the sport, and the media will often reference
these points when talking about new records. For example, "sengo" is a
common term used to refer to sumo post-world war II, and then the move to six
hon-basho a year in the late 50's was another defining moment. It is my opinion
that the 2010 Aki basho is the official starting point of a new era in sumo, an
era that won't necessarily receive its own name but an era in which two
significant changes will affect the sport for the worse.
First is the realization that sumo is no longer capable of governing itself and
that an outside body appointed by the Ministry of Education is required to make
administrative decisions. Second is the eradication of ties to organized crime
groups, which on the surface gives the Sumo Association a positive PR spin
moving forward but in the background is really going to cripple the ability of
smaller stables to survive financially.
Regarding that first topic, sumo was caught in the trap of a typical institution
that has been around seemingly forever and grew so arrogant that it felt it
didn't need to adapt to the times. A specific example of this in Japanese
business is Japan Airlines. JAL was a prestigious organization that looked down
upon everyone else namely because they could. It was a company originally funded
by the Japanese government (as were other pioneers to their respective
industries like NTT) and a place where you literally had to have connections to
get in. The service was deemed the best, the stewardesses were the hottest, and
everyone wanted the JAL experience when flying.
The problem was that JAL could never break away from that initial government
mentality where money grows on trees and fiscal accountability doesn't exist.
They expanded beyond the airline industry into things like hotels pumping money
into unprofitable enterprises coupled with a pay scale and pension plan
following the government model, which assumes an endless stream of income. So
all it took was a significant downturn in the global economy to bring the house
of cards down. A year ago, JAL stock became worthless, and I believe the company
has been delisted altogether. The company is losing millions of dollars a day
and is currently buoyed by the Japanese taxpayers. Talk about returning to your
guvment roots.
Newspapers around the world are finding themselves in the same boat. Yes, we
still want the daily news, but an actual paper on our doorstep is only good for
starting campfires or fish wrap anymore since we can simply go online and get
the latest breaking news, sometimes faster than the newspaper's editor gets it
himself. Just because an institution has been around for hundreds of years and
the product is still in high demand whether air travel or news, it doesn't mean
that companies don't have to change with the times in order to deliver it
successfully to the masses. With this latest change in the administration of
sumo, unfortunately, these outside groups have only been established to prevent
the Sumo Association from further shooting itself in the foot, not to actually
increase the popularity of the sport again domestically. So while this new
governance policy has been put into effect, it's not going to help improve the
sport. Just ask yourself, when was the last time the government ran
anything efficiently let alone improved on something?
The second item I mentioned was the elimination of ties to organized crime
groups, an unfortunate change that sumo has absolutely no control over at this
point, but a change that will have a negative financial impact on the smaller
stables. The first time I visited a sumo stable for morning keiko was the 1994
Kyushu basho. A gal that worked in my office had the hots for a Sandanme rikishi
who happened to be from Hawaii, so she took me to morning keiko knowing that I'd
enjoy the experience (who knew that years later the online sumo community would
never been the same?). Naturally, she introduced me to this guy afterwards, and
we became friends to the extent possible since we were both guys who dug gals
and he only came to town once a year.
Anyway, I don't remember if it was that first year or a subsequent year, but we
were talking about whether or not he made any money, and even though he was
bouncing between the Sandanme and Makushita divisions and only received a small
stipend from the stable, he was like, "oh yeah...we have plenty of money. Guys
will walk up to us and just hand us money all the time." These guys that he was
referring to could have been members of the stable's fan club or members of the
yakuza...sometimes one and the same. The typical quote you see from an oyakata
or a rikishi who is ultimately busted for association with the yakuza is simply,
"I didn't know they were part of an organized crime group." And it's a valid
excuse in my opinion. In a struggling athlete's mind, who cares who is giving
you the money as long as they give it to you?
It's no coincidence that the stables reported with ties to organized crime
groups were the smaller, more recently-established stables like Kise, Onomatsu,
Otake, Matsugane, Sakaigawa, and even Isegahama (former Ajigawa). The names you
don't hear associated to the yakuza are Dewanoumi, Sadogatake, Nishonoseki, or
Takasago, stables that have been around for a half century or more. Now, I
believe that in some form or other all stables had some sort of ties to the mob
even if they were mere friendships where wining and dining took place instead of
cold hard cash in exchange for prime seating or other favors, but there is no
doubt that the newer stables relied on ties to the yakuza to help sustain their
mere existence.
It goes like this. You're an oyakata who wants to form a new stable. The Sumo
Association provides you with a stipend for each rikishi you carry in your
stable, but that amount only grows with the rank of the rikishi, so until you
have a number of sekitori, you have a bunch of scrub rikishi and little support
from the Association. The oyakata have to pony up tons of their own cash just to
keep the stable alive because not only do you have room, board, and travel
expenses, but you have to maintain practice facilities in Japan's four largest
(and expensive) cities.
In 1994, Kaio was a relative newcomer to the Makuuchi division but a solid jo'i
mainstay fluctuating between the sanyaku and the M3 rank. Being partial to
Fukuoka--Kaio's hometown--I became a huge fan and wanted to watch him at morning
keiko, so I drummed up the address of the Tomozuna-beya registered in Kyushu and
set out to visit the stable. Turned out the address led to a little old lady's
house because she was providing room and board for the entire stable while in
Kyushu as they couldn't afford anything else. I'd knock on her door and ask her
where the rikishi were for de-geiko that day because they had no stable of their
own at which to practice. I usually found the Tomozuna guys practicing at the
nearby Miyagino-beya in Higashi Park, which coincidentally led to my favorable
encounters with then Miyagino-oyakata and current Kumagatani-oyakata, Hakuho's
mentor. Anyway, by 1997 the Tomozuna-beya did have their own facilities in
Kyushu since Kaio had become a sanyaku mainstay and had been in the division for
the last five years or so bringing more revenue into the stable.
And whose to say yakuza groups based in Fukuoka didn't become big Kaio fans
themselves thereby offering their support to the stable? If someone comes up to
these oyakata and offers favors like property to be used for stable facilities
or use of a company's taxi cabs to shuttle the stable around during basho free
of charge, hell yeah the oyakata are going to say yes...without running
background checks on the new supporters because no one's going to hand the
oyakata a business card stating they are part of the mob. Remember, the yakuza
in Japan largely thrives because they have legitimate business set up in
industries like trucking and construction as a front to their shady, back-end
dealings. And that little old lady in Fukuoka? Her last name was Kin...a Korean
name (read as Kim in Korea), so for all I know she had North Korean ties. Who
knows and who cares?
Oyakata like Kise and Sakaigawa were able to thrive under this model while other
oyakata like Matsugane continued to struggle in terms of producing sekitori. But
the bottom line is these guys aren't going to say no when given the option to
either draw from their own savings or accept help from a local business with a
"don't ask don't tell" policy in place.
The announcement that NHK would once again broadcast the live bouts beginning
with the Aki basho made a lot of people feel good, but that's not an improvement
in sumo...it's merely a restoration of a broadcast that had been in place for
over 65 years. The improvements will come when the sport starts appealing to the
younger generation, and they do that by making the sport available to them at a
time when they're out of school.
Sumo does understand that they must appeal to this young crowd, but who can
forget their latest ploy of attracting that niche by introducing a cartoonish
character named sekitori-kun that resembles a playful, yellow bird wearing a
mawashi ("tori" also means bird in Japan giving the name a double meaning...get
it?). A dude dresses up in a big sekitori-kun costume sometimes at the basho
passing out fans and other nosegays, and they have even created stuffed dolls of
the character. Just great; stuffed dolls. A stuffed doll is something you won by
playing games at a carnival or the state fair...events that piqued the interest
of people, oh, say 30-40 years ago. And that's exactly the point. Sumo has been
around forever, and the hacks running the sport apparently think that rules that
applied 20 years ago still apply today. As I wrote once in a year-end report I
think it was, the popularity of sumo dwindled with the inception of the
internet, not the influx of foreign rikishi. These days, kids are into things
like Nintendo DS's, iPods, and cell phones, so what's the point of trying to
hook kids with things only their parents or grandparents can relate to?
It really does bother me that I always appear so cynical about sumo these days,
but the recent administrative measures put in place to govern sumo and the
forced move to sever all ties with the yakuza is only going to further bruise a
sport that is already reeling. It creates a hole that much deeper from which
sumo must dig itself out, but unfortunately, the minds now in charge haven't got
a clue where to start.
Now, I'm off to write up my Aki basho pre-basho report...right after I place an
order for a new typewriter from the Sears catalog.