Hanamichi Column

Sumo World Reforms Announced

Andy Hanamichi Column, Makushita (幕下), Sumo Topics

The pandemic presented the sumo world with tremendous challenges, notably maintaining wrestler’s health and fitness, and their mental health, within an enterprise with deteriorating financial health. The world has reopened but the impacts have yet to shake their way out of the system. A day after announcing that a total of nineteen rikishi had retired during (and after) Aki Basho, we have heard news that the Kyokai decided to eliminate the height and weight restrictions on new recruits. It is hoped this will allow more wrestlers to join. Previously, most shin-deshi had to be 167cm and 67kg (middle school recruits needed to be 165cm and 65kg).

The Kyokai will also end the practice of granting some top amateur recruits preferential placement in the middle of Makushita division, at Makushita 10 or 15. Instead, Makushita tsukedashi will be limited to Makushita 60. That will probably be revisited if the division is expanded back to 90 ranks. Recent university phenoms, like Hakuoho and Onosato, as well as veterans like Endo and Mitakeumi, benefited from this. Both of these changes will be effective in January 2024.

Of Weights and Measures

Eliminating the height and weight restrictions for rikishi seems like an act of desperation, a way to throw open the doors to any Japanese male teenager. This is not necessarily the case. Several smaller wrestlers have been hampered by the restrictions. Famously, Mainoumi failed the height restriction (which at that time was higher than the current standard) so he had silicone implanted in the top of his head! The picture in this article announcing the change, is of Baraki* (Thank you, Sarah) standing on his tip-toes. I’m not sure if that’s how he reached 168cm. Anna Erhard’s recent hit, “170,” springs to mind when hearing of these shenanigans.

It’s not apparent how many wrestlers have been denied entry to professional sumo because of their height over the entire time frame that the restriction has been in place. It’s also not clear if there are any up-and-coming amateurs who are in danger of failing to meet the legacy threshold. However, what is clear is that the Kyokai is not going to disappear anytime soon. When I saw the list of 19 retiring wrestlers, that seemed like a lot to me until I started going through the historical data. The blue line in the chart below shows the total number of annual intai, according to data pulled from the SumoDB.

The spike in recruitment after Takanohana’s first yusho is apparent. However, that boom was followed by several years where retirements exceeded the number of inbound recruits. The massive recruitment drives of 1992 and 1993 are probably not repeated for many reasons, not just declines in popularity of the sport. The recent dip from Covid is bad news, sure. But the declines from the yaocho and bullying scandals of 2010-2011 appear to have been worse.

Along with the elimination of the height and weight requirements come some wishful thinking that the limitations on the number of foreigners in stables should/could be relaxed, too. Undoubtedly that would increase numbers. I’m not convinced that is what the Kyokai is really after here, though. I think they want quality wrestlers, yes. But they want quality Japanese wrestlers. I have always viewed the sumo world as a social welfare program for young men and I think that is why they will not cave to calls for more foreigners. Not many social benefits programs allow foreigners to get a visa and a path to citizenship.

The sport is subsidized by the government and has deep cultural and religious significance. “Foreign” membership will always be very small. That said, many wrestlers have found ways to skirt those rules, just as Mainoumi found ways to skirt the height requirements.

Slow Down the Hot Shots

The elimination of higher-level Makushita tsukedashi, at the 10 and 15 ranks, may have more of an impact on the quality of Top-Division Sumo than the height and weight reforms. Promising amateur recruits may decide that they would rather forgo their shot at professional sumo if they have to grind it out and fight their way through from the bottom of makushita. However, even this may be of limited real impact.

All of the current sanyaku wrestlers fought their way from Jonokuchi. The top tsukedashi wrestlers are Asanoyama and Gonoyama, both of whom started in Sandanme. University champions have not been the dominant force which I, personally, would have expected. Is Daiamami on any of your top watch lists? Mitakeumi and Ichinojo have probably been the most successful from that cohort. But there are so many other talents out there that come up from the bottom that I am starting to think that we should look in Jonokuchi for our next Yokozuna.

Anyway, they are very interesting reforms and time will tell how wrong I am on both of these. I’m curious what you all think.

Hanamichi: Sumo Dropped from World Games

Andy Hanamichi Column

Today’s Topic: Sumo’s Future at World Games

Sport is a great refuge from the complexities and animosities of the real world. Or so we would hope. Many of us pay attention to sport because it allows our minds to forget about the headaches of our day-to-day as well as the greater political debates which seem to constantly divide our societies. You might remember the coal miner whose story showed up all over the news media because he took his son to a basketball game fresh from work. But sometimes the heat of competition gets the better of those involved and generates real animosities and the conflict boils over.

Growing Sport

Sumo goes one step further than most sports to break these divisions since there are no teams. Sure, there are heya but that’s very different than a team, which competes together against opposing teams. We fans often support both wrestlers in a bout. In fact, we don’t have to support or follow any wrestler above the others and we can just revel in the competition itself. One competitor will be victorious and one will lose today, bow, and come back next time. So, sumo is an awesome sport and can even serve as a metaphor for those disappointments and defeats we have in life. Why has it not taken over the world?

Sumo actually has had a growing following over the past few years as we have seen with the growing number of podcasts and streams and the wealth of fan-generated content which is often too much to keep up with. As a rough way to quantify the growth, we see the Google Search trend really taking off after the pandemic. I extended this chart back to 2011 as that would probably be an appropriate “nadir,” and we may be seeing it really taking off recently. That is very encouraging.

The fact that amateur sumo is actually becoming “a thing” around the world is quite remarkable. There are amateur sumo clubs and tournaments around the world, from Texas to Norway to Argentina. Maybe one day neighborhood dohyo will be more common but people make do with ropes at beaches and pool noodles at the park. (Stickball, anyone?) Many aspire for it to eventually reach the Olympics. Great! But sadly, with very few exceptions, it is not coming to an arena near you.

This weekend we received news from Inside Sport Japan that sumo, as an amateur sport, has taken a bit of a hit. It was removed from the World Games after incidents at the Birmingham games last year — while other “sports” such as drone racing, breaking, parkour, lifesaving, and tug-of-war remain. That is definitely a bummer but thankfully it does not impact Ozumo, “Grand Sumo,” the primary subject of this blog, and it will hopefully not dampen the growth in enthusiasm for amateur sumo at the local level.

The Sport Takes a Hit

So, what happened last year? Well, quite a few things from this description of chaotic scenes from John Gunning. There’s certainly enough blame to go around, from fans to officials and commentators, wrestlers and coaches. The entire display was exceedingly unprofessional.

“These are amateur sports, Andy.”

I give myself serious side-eye on occasion. That’s not what I mean by “professional,” dude. In baseball, if you argue balls and strikes, you get tossed. You instigate in hockey, you’re gone. We know that. But sumo is infamous for its decorum. And clearly, in Birmingham, that decorum went out the window. In Ozumo, perhaps the most infamous and shocking scene over a referee’s call would be Hakuho’s abortive protest after his bout with Yoshikaze in November 2017.

Looking back, though, Hakuho’s actions and the aftermath are remarkably civil in comparison to the events in Birmingham and it is because of the the Kyokai. Hakuho did face considerable sanctions afterward and the episode continues to shape his relationship with the association, even today as an oyakata. This is where the organizer (the Kyokai) put their foot down and demonstrated to Hakuho that the sport is greater than him and is certainly more important than a decision over a matta.

There has to be a certain level of decorum. Remember, we fans are here to get away from the stressors of our daily lives. The sport does not exist for the competitors but for the fans. The stadium is built to house the fans, even when the seats were empty during COVID, it housed the cameras of NHK and Abema so that we could watch from home. So the unwritten rule imposed on the competitors — and organizers and fans — is to not stress us out. Get up on the dohyo, bow, and walk away — with the full intention of working harder to come back and win next time. And for the organizer, do it right. Bring us together, safely, so we can watch the spectacle and the drama unfold. The fans have their role, too, as the coal miner did not bring his son to get into a fight in the stands or have beer dumped on him because of escalation of petty rivalries or unwelcome decisions.

One of the incidents in Birmingham, that involving a Egyptian competitor and his coaches, is on this video below. Another involved a Ukrainian competitor who also celebrated his victory, this time by taking off the “UKR” badge at the front of his mawashi and holding it over his head.

As we can see from Abdelrahman Shalan’s reaction on Instagram, he has not learned the lesson that Hakuho did. These rules are not targeted to an individual or an ethnicity. The entire community needs to accept and abide by the rules. The rules were clear. No excessive celebration. A back flip, after being warned? And then the impudence of Abdelrahman Elsefy, to remain standing there, feigning incredulity, when the decision was not made in his favor. The rules of conduct are known and must be ingrained and reinforced from very junior stages of competition. It’s obvious that is not happening.

What made this situation so bad was the way it escalated. The judges even made decisions but then backed out of those decisions, policies were not adhered to, and neither were the policies of the International Sumo Federation. Cops were summoned, people kicked out, it was a mess. And that is certainly a mess which the World Games doesn’t want to continue next year. Cooler heads must prevail.

With such widespread disorder, the Federation looked terrible and unprepared for holding large, public events on the global stage. This decision may be traced back to these particular incidents but both are indications that the Federation is not ready. I am confident that this is a temporary setback and that those cooler heads will prevail. Hopefully, the parties involved in this will actually learn the lesson and be willing to participate by the rules in the future.

Hanamichi

Sumo is not merely about the white stars, black stars, or even the occasional gold star. It’s not simply about the results of the action on the dohyo. It’s about the sport itself and its rules, as well as the culture, symbolism, and the people. It often involves the tawara, the manufacture of kensho banners, the conduct of wrestlers at the heya, and yes, sometimes politics and very uncomfortable conversations. To parse the two, Hanamichi will be a column reserved to delve into those topics and foster those uncomfortable conversations in a respectful, moderated environment.