COUNTERPOINT<\/b>
\nAn occasional series from Debito.org for contrarian views. Ghostwriting for busy people who would otherwise be their own authors.<\/i>
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\nTHE SCAPEGOATING OF ASASHORYU
\nAll the media attention is a diversion from what\u2019s really wrong with Sumo<\/b>
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By James Eriksson (jerik AT indigo.plala.or.jp), and Arudou Debito (debito@debito.org)
\nReleased August 30, 2007<\/p>\n
The Sumo Association has recently tag-teamed with the Japanese media to lay into Asashoryu\u2014the Mongolian wrestler turned Sumo champ who has enjoyed a thorough winning streak. That is, until now.<\/p>\n
Asashoryu, even at age 26, has dominated the sport. As Sumo\u2019s sole Yokozuna (Grand Champion) for years now, his winning streaks and stellar win records (21 tournament wins so far) have been the stuff of legends, bringing attention back to a lackluster sport, and an inspiration to the Mongolian people who view him as a national hero.<\/p>\n
But also earning him a place in the notoriety books has been his behavior. He has been known for fits of temper, flights of fancy, and throwing his weight around both figuratively and literally, in ways many felt were unbecoming the dignity of the sport. I believe these outbursts are symptoms of the unmentionable: the possible use of steroids. One of the downsides of the benefits of steroids (bulk and quick reaction time, all fundamental to Sumo) is the flash temper tantrums. And as far as I know, there are no enforced bans or even tests for the presence of steroids in Sumo rikishi.<\/p>\n Never mind. He kept winning, and winning is everything in Sumo. (To the degree where in 1993, two successful Sumo stables merged so their wrestlers would face each other less, thus lose less in tournaments. http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Takanohana_stable<\/a>) And once Asa won enough to reach the top rank, people would support him because he\u2019s the only Yokozuna out there. Within reason, of course.<\/p>\n The reasons came. First, a new Yokozuna, Hakuho (also of Mongolia) was anointed in May 2007. Meaning Asashoryu was now expendable. <\/p>\n Then, his little excursion to Mongolia this summer further chummed the waters.<\/p>\n Asa went home ostensibly to recover from a sports injury. But then he was videoed playing a game of soccer. Not only with a lot of vim apparently inappropriate for an injured athlete, but also having a good time and performing for the cameras. Never mind that he has been trained to do precisely that by Sumo.<\/p>\n People might say that this adultery with another sport and apparent cross purposes might be a breach of Sumo \u201cetiquette\u201d. But I believe Sumo etiquette works both ways here. Sumo is a sport for people who do what they\u2019re told. Asa has been doing what his masters have been telling him to do for years now. Then when an authority as high as the Mongolian government (not to mention Japanese soccer start Nakata, who also happened to be there) invites him more than once to join in a friendly game for charity, he was probably not in a position to say no. I believe the press would have likewise criticized him if he had.<\/p>\n But I believe the whole soccer-Sumo scandal is a smokescreen. The real reason Asa was finally called to the carpet for a change was because Sumo as a sport is in a panic, and needs a scapegoat.<\/p>\n Not only has Sumo faced earlier this year yet another slew of allegations about bout fixing (http:\/\/search.japantimes.co.jp\/cgi-bin\/nn20070312f1.html<\/a>), but also no Japanese signed up these days at the entry level last July to become junior wrestlers–for the first time in history (http:\/\/search.japantimes.co.jp\/cgi-bin\/ss20070702a2.html<\/a>). Even though there is now another Yokozuna in existence, Asa was apparently needed this summer for recruitment purposes.<\/p>\n Not that difficult to understand why youths are shying away from Sumo, actually. Hazing in the junior ranks of the sport is rife and well-known. And it has gotten progressively worse–to the point where people are being killed by it.<\/p>\n Witness the death of wrestler Tokitaizan last June 26, after a “lynching”, where the body was found with a torn ear, broken teeth, broken bones, and cigarette burns. Instead, the media circus has sensed the blood in the water around Asa, and the Sumo Association has fanned the frenzy by slashing his pay, banning him from two tournaments, and confining him to house arrest (a degree of policing power which cannot be legal!). <\/p>\n Asa, meanwhile, is watching his world collapse around him. He is said to have suffered a mental breakdown, and needs treatment either here or in Mongolia. His wife has left him too\u2014even left the country. Then there is the new charge of tax evasion. Speculation is growing that he\u2019ll either leave Sumo for K1 pseudo-boxing (the Elephant\u2019s Graveyard\u2014witness former Yokozuna Akebono\u2014for many an athlete in Japan), or abscond with all his riches back to Mongolia never to return\u2014which would be a major black eye for the sport. He just yesterday actually did leave Japan for Mongolia, so breaths are being held to see if he ever returns. (After all, probably Sumo needs Asa more than vice versa at this stage.)<\/p>\n But again, this is all a diversion from the real story: That Sumo\u2019s house of cards is being shaken. <\/p>\n We have a death deterring people from joining a system with institutionalized bullying, renewed allegations of bout fixing, the very real possibility of bodybuilding chemicals banned in most world sports, and the entirely possible death of the Sumo\u2019s credibility that the Ohnaruto Scandal of 1996 (where a veteran wrestler and trainer, Ohnaruto, and commentator Hashimoto Seiichiro both became sick and died on the same day in the same hospital of unknown causes\u2014shortly before they were to go before the press and spill the beans on charges of bout fixing etc.; see http:\/\/www.banzuke.com\/96-3\/msg00198.html<\/a>) would have done a lot sooner.<\/p>\n Time for people to wake up, and realize that something smells fishy in Asashoryu\u2019s persecution. This time it\u2019s not the chanko nabe. <\/p>\n ENDS<\/p>\n NB: Views expressed in this essay are generally those expressed by James Eriksson, with some embellishments from Arudou Debito.<\/i><\/b>\n<\/p>\n \n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The persecution of Yokozuna sumo wrestler Asashoryu is all a diversion from the real story: That Sumo\u2019s house of cards is being shaken. We have a death deterring people from joining a system with institutionalized bullying, renewed allegations of bout fixing, the very real possibility of bodybuilding chemicals banned in most world sports, and the entirely possible death of the Sumo\u2019s credibility that the Ohnaruto Scandal of 1996 would have done a lot sooner…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,17,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-sport","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nhttp:\/\/www.economist.com\/world\/asia\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9717691<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=464#comment-53538<\/a>
\nWhere was the media then? A blurb here and there, but coverage was definitely incommensurate to the degree of controversy a death should entail.<\/p>\n