It is a dark day in the world of sumo. Hakuho is out.
In the aftermath of the Hokuseiho bullying scandal, Hakuho was punished for his inability to address the situation properly when it was brought to his attention. He was demoted, had his salary docked, had his stable shuttered and he, Ishiura, and his remaining deshi were folded into Isegahama-beya.
While under Isegahama’s supervision, Isegahama was required to file regular reports on the status of Hakuho’s progress. (If the contents of any of those reports become public, I will share them.) Isegahama’s upcoming retirement forced the issue of, “what to do with Hakuho?” The Kyokai planned a board meeting for today to discuss the matter.
Late last week, the rumor mill indicated Hakuho had already decided to resign despite making a public denial — which was dismissed by sources as not wanting to spoil Onosato’s Yokozuna promotion. According to those sources, the decision was reportedly made because Hakuho could not accept Terunofuji essentially becoming his supervisor, in a signal of the Kyokai’s desire to continue the status quo, rather than reopening Miyagino beya.
Well, the Kyokai went ahead with its scheduled board meeting and decided to accept Hakuho’s resignation. We will provide updates after Hakuho has his press conference.
Discover more from Tachiai (立合い)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Update the scandal counter. This should count as one. :-(
Indeed possible to see it that way. Scandal or not, though, the sumo association would seem to be taking a big risk..
We’ve only had a week since the gambling gyoji (remember him?)
I had naively thought he was about to get his heya back, but now I get the feeling they were never going to give it back to him, but just quietly leave him hanging til he got the picture and quit.
Hakuho is the best there ever was or will be, and I am disappointed in the Sumo Association; but I wonder about the character of Hakuho behind the scenes. Maybe the Sumo Association are privy to things about him we do not know about, maybe he has an ego too big (though if so it could be argued his ego deserves its size) or something we do not know about. I know about the Hokuseiho thing but it is clear that that scandal was a mountain made of a knoll. We must always be objective in these things and not shove our emotions or personal opinions into scenarios requiring facts and evidence. It’s like they are trying to replicate the healthy aggression they took the dohyo in their sumo days, but turning it into vitriolic fighting behind the veils of sumo.
Whatever one’s view, it is extremely regrettable, one episode among many other things which have darkened the shine of the Sumo Association in my eyes.
This is a shameful day for sumo.
One thing that needs to be remembered is that Hakuho may have the best record on the dohyo but in Japan he was seen, especially near the end of his career, as being kinda a dick. Not nearly as much as Asashoryu or Harumafuji were, but that perception certainly played a key role in how all of this played out. That isn’t to say that the rest of the kyokai are/were saints, because they definitely are not. But he obviously rubbed a lot of them the wrong way during his time inside the ring and after his retirement.
I disagree with the decision not to give Hakuho back his stable, but I can see how things could have come to this. He was horribly negligent in his oversight of his charges which led to the Hokuseiho stuff happening. There is definitely a wider problem with that across most of sumo, which is unfortunately typical of hierarchical organizations full of young men. Unfortunately I don’t see the overall hazing situation changing drastically until Hakkaku is out as chairman. I think the thing that probably rubs me the wrong way the most about this entire affair is less that Hakuho is out, and more that they put him underneath Isegehama who had to step down from the board for a similar (though not quite as brutal) bullying situation under his watch around the same time.
My hot take is that the NSK doesn’t really, deep down, see abuse as a problem. It’s all in who does it, and whether it becomes an embarrassment in the media.
This.
Individual morality and ethics often dissipate within group ones, particularly in Japan.
Jealousy is a truly sad and horrible thing.
If you are a bootlicking company man your scandals will be swept under the carpet like Nishonoseki and the hide the sake bottle video’s or Onosato forcing an underage rikishi to drink until he passed out and many others.
But if you are seen as a problem because you have a big personality, or want to modernize the sport then your days are numbered because the first time something happens they will force you out.
A sad day in the slow death of sumo.
Around 2015 or 2016 when Hakuhos dominance started to dwindle, his behaviour on the dohyo started to change significantly. Like someone posted before, he started to act a bit like a dick.
If he had a similar attitude outside of the dohyo or after his retirement, he probably didnt make many friends. When I studied in Japan, I learned a japanese proverb “出る杭は打たれる” – the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. That is japanese culture.
We dont know, what happened behind the scenes. It certainly sounds odd that Hakuho would have been placed under the supervision of a rookie stablemaster
I have no idea if Hakuho would have been a great stablemaster, but i find it very regretable notheless, that one of the best rikishi ever is not part of training young wrestlers anymore.
Recently every news I read is a bad news. Petty people fighting for their power are winning everywhere. Putin, Trump, yesterday’s Poland election and even in this distant world of Japan one of the few people in sumo that doesn’t lack character is unjustly punished. I feel sick. In terms of skill and reach the sumo is on a downward spiral.
As the Japanese saying goes
“The protruding nail gets hammered”.
Sumo, like every other sport, is being forced into the 21st century. I find nothing sad about leaving behind a world of beatings and abuse in the sport. Punishing the greatest sumo wrestler in history in this manner sends a powerful message which can not be ignored and should change the sport for the better.
Nishonoseki stable had people playing a weird game of spin the sake bottle and he suffered no punishment at all.
Lets not kid ourselves that this was about actually punishing wrongdoings and not about playing favourites.
There is certainly a cultural issue of abuse in sumo, as we have seen time and again thanks to the scandal meter. But I would argue that organizational culture is set by the head of an organization. Should Hakuho have been a better coach/mentor/father-figure to the young, impressionable boys/men in his care? 100%. What happened was unacceptable, and if the JSA truly wanted to send a powerful message they would have a zero-tolerance policy and would remove anyone who partook in bullying/hazing/abuse. But instead, they pick and choose who to punish and how to punish them.
How many of these scandals have come to light in the past decade? How many wrestlers and coaches have been punished for a cultural issue that Hakkaku has let dig in and fester since he was appointed in 2015? I think these issues stem from, or are at the very least allowed to persist from, the top. And I think its high time for new leadership in the JSA.
I think the JSA saw him as a reformer and a long term risk. Someone that would work relentless in becoming the chairman, and someone who had the support and the resources to make it happen. Within 15 years he could had achieved it and then he could have started profound reforms.
Hokuseiko was a God’s given gift to the JSA.
This might also explain Enho’s behavior at the end of his last bout. Even if he made it back to Juryo, there is no way the JSA will ever let him acquire elder stock. Now JSA can start encouraging all rikishi associated with Hakuho to quit.
I disagree. The Kyokai would have to give him a kabu if he meets the criteria. It’s not like they can strip Ishiura of his kabu because Hakuho resigned. I am curious whether Ishiura or Enho will want to continue with the Kyokai now. It’s just that a kabu is a high value asset. It basically sets the owner up for an income stream. Hakuho has other income and likely a hefty nest egg. Ishiura and Enho? I’m not so sure.
I thought meeting the criteria just means that he is allowed to own kabu provided that he can find someone willing to sell/loan/??? theirs to him.
As for Ishiura, will the Kyokai start making his life more and more difficult until he “decides” to quit. It will be interesting to see how much Hakuoho is promoted in the next banzuke. I don’t know how well all these rikishi are playing the required political game.
Yes. If he meets the eligibility he would have to find an available one but I must have misunderstood. I thought you were saying his eligibility would be stripped due to his association with Hakuho.
I think that whatever Hakuho will do in the future , he will need trusted lieutenants, so I don’t see Enho and Ishiura staying long with the JSA
With regards to the JSA – I do not see them any better or worse than comparable sports organizations such as FIA, FIFA, IOC, etc.; All of whom have their issues of consistency, political power struggles, internal policing, powermongering (hey is that word?), etc.
The sumo association is basically a corporation. A Japanese corporation at that, meaning hierarchical and old-boy. In such a setting, Hakuho was probably doomed.
I’m wondering about the fate of the Miyagino guys. Will they be absorbed into Isegehama or moved elsewhere? The turmoil can’t be good for their state of mind.
It seems like the Kyokai bosses were determined not to give him a fair shake from the outset by not giving him a Hakuho stable, when they had done so for other past greats like Taiho and Kitanoumi. Of course I could be way off base in saying so, but it seems that way. Also, it’s completely understandable that he didn’t want to be under Teru, no offense to Teru, but to expect that of someone of Hakuho/Miyagino’s stature so would be an offense to Hakuho/Miyagino. He’s nobody’s lesser in the Sumo world, except for in years and he seemed to be taking it in stride being under the current Isegehama who is some decades his elder. Hakuho/Miyagino earned everything he has and he earned and deserved better from the Kyokai. I hope him the best and the same for all of the now former Miyagino rikishi. The man is living repository of Sumo greatness and now he’s not going to be sharing all of that treasure with other wrestlers. Ugh. Maybe there will be some good outcome here that I can’t see, like him being involved in amateur Sumo or Mongolian national sports or something, I sure hope so. Right now it just seems like the iron law of human stupidity has a firm grip on the world and isn’t letting go anytime soon. I’ll get off my soapbox now, but I was really looking forward to visiting Miyagino Stable someday and seeing the big guy in his seat yelling instructions at the rikishi, I shouldn’t have waited.
Which is worse, what Hokuseiho did, or an American frat rat hazing an underage pledge, forcing him get drunker, sicker, forcing him drink more and more booze, risking the pledge’s being brain damaged or death from alcohol poisoning? Onosato got a pass, as did his master, on Onosato’s forcing a young wrestler get drunk, an event right after Hokuseiho’s bad deeds. There’s the other scandal. Two systems of justice.