The lawyers representing Takanofuji were supposed to bring his written letter of intentions to the NSK today. Instead, they announced that he has decided to accept the NSK’s request to retire on his own volition, and the appropriate documents will be presented to the NSK today.
This brings the saga, which until yesterday looked like it was developing into a long battle of litigation, bad press and toxic social networking, to an abrupt end.
[Sources: Sponichi, Sports Hochi]
I wonder what changed…
In Nikkan Sports he is quoted as saying that he still thinks that it was the NSK’s fault for not providing proper prevention measures and that he still wants to continue to do sumo, but he is tired of fighting the kyokai.
So although my initial thought, which I guess was yours as well, was that somebody got to him, like his brother or other family members or maybe even the former Takanoiwa (who is in Japan at the moment), this quote points out more to him getting tired of having to sneak around, not seeing his family, unable to take phone calls and messages from friends and family etc. – though this is a bit of speculation on my side.
It also seems like he still may try the lawsuit route but the assertion is weird. “The kyokai didn’t adequately prevent me from beating a second tsukebito despite punishing me for hitting a first one?” Does he seem to dispute the facts at all or even try to explain any extenuating circumstances? I thought there was some threat he had in the past of proof the tsukebito was lying about how hard he hit him.
So far I have not seen him deny the facts of the incident, though he did try to claim he just poked the guy. And his extenuating circumstances consist of “these four guys are all disrespectful idiots”. I saw one newspaper claiming that the tsukebito was jokingly saying he would lie about it. But I haven’t seen the TaNF side repeat that.
This is what happens when an immature child gains power in a format that nearly supports bullying. They don’t feel like they did anything wrong because they weren’t handcuffed to a pole so that they couldn’t beat up someone. I’m glad he’s out, let’s hope this is the last scandal of the year. Sumo needs to catch a break.
Two and a half months is a long time. 😕
I know but we can hope right?
In order for change to occur, then a group needs to be shown what will not be tolerated. It’s one thing to say, “this should not be done”. It’s another to have someone forced out of the sport. I hope TaNF’s victims remain in the sport, are supported, and do well. There are other ways to teach people how to do things instead of abuse. I also suspect this will not be the last time something like this happens in sumo. There’s definitely a “It can’t happen to me” attitude for TaNF and that means that it exists in other places in sumo.