Thanks to Herouth, we have more details of the Sumo Association’s Board meeting and there are several items of particular interest. Some of the details below are different than what I had presumed in my earlier post, so I wanted to make sure they were known.
- The Kyokai Planned for the “Care Period” to end after Kyushu
- Terunofuji was NOT going to be Hakuho’s “supervisor”
- On Isegahama’s retirement, Miyagino would be transferred to Asakayama (ex-Kaio)
- Welfare of Hakuho’s recruits is a prime concern — they may not remain, long term, at Isegahama but could be transfered to other stable’s given interest from both the coach and pupil
- Isegahama will acquire the Miyagino kabu, terms undisclosed
- Terunofuji will acquire the Isegahama kabu, terms undisclosed
The link to Herouth’s Google Doc is in the embedded post below.
Nikkan Sports published the text of the extraordinary board meeting of July 2nd. Here is a translation (in a Google Document) buff.ly/NqUDsWX
— ヘルット (@sumofollower.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 6:44 AM
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Commentary
The six items I noted above are significant. It is possible that the Sumo Association had no intention to ever let Hakuho manage his own stable and they could be blowing smoke up the old keister. But I doubt it and I think they were genuine about the proposed timeline for reopening after Kyushu. It seems more likely that Hakuho planned this exit. He would be in Mongolia for the dedication of his father’s statue at the time of the announcement and that was likely a trip planned well in advance — long before Yokozuna Onosato became a possibility, much less a reality.
If there was a plan to release Miyagino from “care” at the end of this year, he would be on his own and he only needed to hold out for six more months. He would not be under the care of Terunofuji but Kaio. It’s just possible that he loves sumo but hates putting up with spoiled brats and personalities and politics and feigned injuries AND especially REAL injuries. Creating a safe space, devoid of toxic relationships, full of healthy minds and bodies must be friggin’ difficult. I mean, it drove Shikihide to inpatient care.
Kaio is not a young, green stablemaster, as Terunofuji would be. He’s the greatest Ozeki to have never reached the rank of Yokozuna. While he has not produced a great number of sekitori, as Isegahama had, he is a member of the Board and has the affable Kaisei as a coach. When it comes to absorbing another group of guys, a prime consideration would have to be capacity. Maybe Asakayama has the capacity to take in a sekitori, possibly two (Enho?), on short notice. If I remember correctly, Asakayama is close to Isegahama, a short stroll from Kinshicho.
However, it was Hakuho’s decision to leave. We have seen that Hakuho also has dreams of starting a new professional sumo league. More power to him. I’m excited to see what shape that will take and am eager to cover it. One thing I will guarantee, though, the pro wrestlers will not be living together in a dorm, hosted by Hakuho and his wife. Hakuho, his wife, and the families of other managers will not be responsible for the wrestlers’ activities off the dohyo. And Hakuho’s professional league might even have spots for a female division, to allow for his daughters to participate, if they so desire.
Taking on responsibility for the care of other grown men (and teens) is no small thing. And for the stablemaster, that’s probably the biggest priority — yes, more than teaching. You have to feed these guys. Constantly. You have to pay the bills to keep the lights on and the tubs filled with hot water. You don’t just strap on a mawashi and teach new throws. Maybe the realism sank in after the Hokuseiho debacle. And maybe he and his wife did not look forward to going through that again and decided this was the way out.
With Hakuho’s departure, the Miyagino kabu will shift to Asahifuji on June 9 when Isegahama transfers to Terunofuji. The new Miyagino (Asahifuji) will become sanyo, under Terunofuji’s Isegahama-beya, on July 6th. So, Terunofuji will officially be leading the stable this coming Monday morning.
Some rather large questions remain. Going forward, I am not going to concern myself with motivation and whether the Sumo Association wanted him out more than he wanted to escape. There are good rationales either way. But, there are other questions that I am concerned about. What of Ishiura? Will he remain in Isegahama? Will other coaches step up and place interest in Hakuoho, Enho, and others under the former Miyagino banner? Will Enho travel to Nagoya in July? Does Enho want to remain in the sumo world if Hakuho has left?
I look forward to covering developments with Hakuho’s new sumo venture. But Grand Sumo will survive in his absence and I look forward to the action in July. Two Yokozuna, going head-to-head on senshuraku. It’s been ages since we’ve had an opportunity to see that.
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I have always loved Hakuhō ever since I became a sumo fan 10 years ago. Even after his career was over, he still seemed larger than life in the blue security jacket while waving at adoring fans after the matches were over every day. He will be sooooooooooo missed.
Andy, good summary + analysis .. Being a stablemaster in this era requires giving up a lot of the freedom + oppotunities open to the GOAT .. and his wife ..
Good post.
Though a Hakuho Sumo Organization might be a good thing in itself, I do hope sumo won’t take the road boxing did before I stopped to give a damn. Then there were more quite a few organisations and often each of the had a different „world champion“.
And I don’t want it to become like tennis, where the players have to organize each and every training and a lot of costly travelling themselves. The system is so much in favor of those at the top, that over decades the same few names take practically all the great titles.
Stables have their positive sides, too.
Interesting. I think a parallel league could be an existential threat to sumo – mostly by removing the best prospects and thus Japanese sumo being relegated to second-tier status. But, the article nicely described the issues with getting this going – maybe its too hard a road to hoe. Sumo has to be done by tournaments, so they can’t go the boxing approach, which makes it difficult to get an enterprise like that underway.
I dont think a parallel league under Hakuho could be a treat. Sumo is primarily focused on japanese market and I doubt a foreigner run organisation could make a dent there.
He could probably run sumo outside of Japan, but I think it would just become another contact sport there and lose a lot of its fascination.
He could have been a great ambassador for japanese sumo. Will be interesting to see what he does now.
Leaving the organisation, he probably leaves a lot of money behind in exchange for his freedom.
I agree with you, to a point. I’m highly skeptical of a league but we have seen attrition impact recruiting numbers. If foreign talent finds a way to make a living, and it’s sustainable, that will be great but won’t impact grand sumo much. It might even help spur more interest in the sport. If somehow it reaches UFC levels and starts drawing Japanese talent away, that could be a serious issue for the Association. But that’s a massive “IF”. Basically, there’s a huge over supply of foreign sumo talent. It would be nice to see success for that market. It won’t be a threat to Ōsumo until it somehow grows enough that the purses start drawing Japanese talent out of the sport.
Tis true, but the popularity of sumo waxes and wanes in Japan. If there’s a feeling that Japan sumo is somehow at a second-class level to some international comp, I think it would make the waning easier than the waxing.
I remember from one of Chris Sumo videos back then, that Kaio was one of the biggest proponent od taking away the stable from Hakuho.
Thank you so much for the coverage! I am so fascinated by these developments. As a middle-aged American racing fan, I’m reminded of the IRL/INDY split.
My hot take is this will be an all or nothing thing if he opens a new league/association. I think a couple of big factors have already been mentioned. It’s going to come down to pay and lifestyle.
As we saw with the Americans, the novelty of the sport wore off quick. Why ascribe to a reasonably hard stable lifestyle and low pay when being even a minor player in so many other sports can provide more freedom and pay? However, if Hakuho can put together a league where the pay and lifestyle can mimic other sports I imagine it will take little recruiting effort to start poaching recruits from the JSA. Not to mention the possibility of a system that allows for recovery time from injury or even an ‘off-season’?
All I’m saying is if I could get the opportunity to see sumo in person in the US regularly? I’d be there.
I’m skeptical of the success of a pro league, but if Hakuho were to promote amateur sumo along the lines of what he’s already doing with the Hakuho Cup, I could see it being a great success. Men’s, women’s, children’s divisions, recruiting from foreign countries?
Pro sumo sounds like a great idea. Teams of 15 and the home team chooses the matchups.
I’m not convinced about that – I think it would have to remain an individual sport. There’s a reason why tennis opens are way more popular than Davis cups.. It would be cool for inter-league competitions, though, unlikely as that is.
If we look at sumo as an entity in its own right, rather than as a component of Japanese culture, it has been very poorly served by the JSA. The heya system drastically restricts the number of foreign athletes getting into the sport at the highest level. Only the Mongolians have been willing to put up with it in numbers. The kabu system is a closed shop -no new people or ideas are allowed in. Their policy of demoting rikishi who go kujo has led to many of them fighting hurt, diminishing the quality of the product.
The potential for a new organization aiming to promote the sport globally is very high. Whether it happens probably depends on attracting large investments, similar to what the Saudi PIF put into golf, another tradition-bound sport.
I have mixed feelings – as a fan of sumo, I would love to see a serious, high quality, global sumo organization. As a Japanophile, I have reservations!
On Monday’s press conference, Hakuho said he was not informed about the “proposed timeline for reopening Miyagino stable after Kyushu” until the middle of the May tournament – not in March as JSA appears to claim. By that time, ti was already too late as stable has been practically closed for more than a year. He also had some other very interesting comments.
https://youtu.be/klCBgJaXEV0?si=YoXYeQUz1fdBLKPj
By the way, JSA decision not to file a criminal complaint regarding the Gyoji who embezzled more than 10 million yen from disaster relief donations (and apparently another 15 million yen from another fund) should probably reset the scandal counter today. I wonder if JSA is being so lenient toward someone who stole donations collected from rikishi to feed his gambling habit because some of the chiefs themselves had gambling related mishaps in the past?
If I’m not mistaken, there was a bit of a scandal involving Kise-oyakata being found in a casino along with Hidenoumi and Shiden.
Was this recent? Or when Hidenoumi and Shiden were busted before? I had not heard of Kise-oyakata’s involvement.
Thank you! This is a great video.
I came to sumo after Hakuho’s time, and am very much a newbie still. However, I have to say the idea of an American style pro-league for sumo fills me with horror. A global amateur championship, I agree with others, could be a good thing, but personally speaking I think sumo would lose out massively if a pro-league were to be created. Cultural heritage matters, and whilst the JSA and rules could do with some updating for the 21st century, no, I can’t countenance a pro-sumo league operating out of the USA for reasons I won’t write here, to keep the peace. I am an American abroad.
Has there been any indication that it would be in the US or was that an assumption?Or is Hakuho likely to run it from Japan? Or Europe?
Throwing money at a sport (as the KSA has done) isn’t, I don’t think, a great idea. KSA has its own reasons for throwing its wealth at sport, it would, imo, be sad day if they were to get mixed up in sumo (and that applies to any of the Gulf States). Sorry
I wouldn’t say that the idea fills me with horror. I just know that it should not have the cultural affectations. I mean, if sumo is a UFC-style event, that would be cool. It’s just I am not sure how that will work. Sumo bouts take seconds.
Should not have cultural affectation? Are you kidding? The entire sport is BUILT upon Japanese culture. If Mongolians want something “pure” and free of Japanese influence, they should create it themselves — then watch how many people ignore it. I know I will.
I’m very serious. What does the dohyo matsuri mean, to you? Salt throwing? Gyoji outfits? The purple mizuhikimaku? Amateur sumo has taken much of this out of the sport for a reason and a new professional league would be advised to avoid it. That said, I would be open to taking a new look at tawara and the elevated dohyo for a separate, and possibly safer, league.
No more arm bar throws and other injury inflicting techniques, no more slaps to the head and no more henka (except from much smaller rikishi)!
I wouldn’t change the sport itself. I can’t even define henka, so I can’t make it illegal. But they could even have the Tachiai looked at, kachiage, etc.
Sumo chiefs increased the diameter of dohyo by two feet (from 3.94 to 4.55 meters) in 1931 to make the bouts last longer, but did not change the size of the platform at the time. If they really want to keep the elevated platform, they should at least extend the platform edges past the tawara by another foot or two for improved safety. Many of the serious injuries seem to happen near the middle of the sides of the dohyo, not near the corners where there is a lot more space past the tawara. In modern arenas, extending the size of the platform should not cause a significant problem with space.
Yeah, and I wonder if a more “forgiving” tawara would have saved WTK from such a serious knee injury. Anyway, these are the things that Hakuho can explore from “outside”. I’m not sure if you saw Terutsuyoshi’s post-retirement fight but even something like that remains in a “kinda sumo” framework.
You’re making up the “pure and free of Japanese influence” bit, and you act as if Japan itself doesn’t have an amateur sumo system that involves mawashi with club names on them, white-gloved refs wearing bowties, and a dohyo at ground level. Sumo really doesn’t have to be a shinto ceremony. Karate and judo have become successful international sports without the background of a Japanese prohibition on carrying weapons.
That said, I am surprised that they use a mizuhikimaku in amateur sumo. The head priest at Ekoin explained to me that it has significance and each color has meaning. If a non-Japanese league just thought it was for decor and decided to go with colors which signify a death…like white or something, it could look silly. That’s what I would want to avoid.
Is it a sport? Or is it a church.
The earth is a big place. There’s room for both.
That said, both could use a larger tawara. That it didn’t grow with the dohyo is incomprehensible.
I’d ask the same thing about a NASCAR race after the invocation, or at any SEC conference football game. I agree with the sentiment that there’s room for both. There are definitely tweaks to the sport that can be made. My only point is that sometimes well-meaning people cling to a symbol or something which they take as ornamental but has a significance which they were unaware. I mean, as ex-Ōsunaarashi made clear, “this isn’t ōzumo!”