Sumo wrestling is taking a beating

The man widely considered to be the greatest sumo wrestler in history has resigned, compounding a bruising few years for Japan's ancient sport.

Last week Hakuho Sho left the Japan Sumo Association (JSA), the sport's governing body, the latest in a series of resignations among yokozuna, the highest-ranking wrestlers. Now, only four of the 10 most recently retired grand champions are still in the JSA.

"It's a significant loss of high-level experience and one that hurts sumo's efforts to both find and keep young talent in the sport," said The Japan Times. And the resignation of Hakuho – the most decorated wrestler in sumo history "by a significant margin", as well as a "major recruiter of talent" – is the "biggest blow of all".

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'Sullied' samurai values

The origins of sumo date back more than 1,000 years, but Japan is the only place where it is "contested on a professional level", said The Independent. It is widely considered Japan's national sport, with many "ritual elements" connected to the indigenous religion, Shinto. Sumo is "highly regimented"; many wrestlers live in training facilities where "food and dress are controlled by ancient traditions".

Sumo "prides itself on being a repository of the samurai values of courage, determination and loyalty", said The Times. But that image has been "sullied" in recent years. The sport has been "plagued" by scandals involving "violence, match-fixing and mismanagement". Japan's dramatically falling birth rate has also "hurt sumo". According to government data released this week, Japan's birth rate dropped by 5.7% between 2023 and 2024. Last spring only 34 people applied to become wrestlers – known as rikishi – down from 160 at the peak in 1992. To "lure young recruits", the governing body relaxed the minimum standards for height and weight.

One wrestler's ascendance is seen as a "chance to increase the sport's popularity", and distance it from its controversies. Sumo may have its "smiling 30-stone champion": Onosato.

Onosato was promoted to the rank of yokozuna last month, "completing a meteoric rise to the summit" of sumo in a record span of just 13 tournaments, said The Guardian. Born Daiki Nakamura, he is the 75th yokozuna in sumo's history, and at age 24 the youngest since 1994. He's also the first Japanese-born sumo wrestler since 2017; in recent years Mongolian-born athletes like Hakuho have "dominated". His rise has been "widely hailed both for its symbolic significance and his calm, composed style".

"I hope he leads by example and lifts the entire world of sumo," said Nishonoseki, Onosato's stablemaster, who competed as Kisenosato.

A few big buts

But wrestlers who exert "total dominance" inside the ring often struggle with the strict rules and conventions of sumo, said The Japan Times. They are regularly "chastised".

Still, official censure or "condemnation by the media" is "easier to handle when you are top of the world and raking in trophies and prize money". But "it's a completely different situation when the limelight and all the perks are suddenly gone".

For wrestlers such as Hakuho, sumo is all they know. There are "few, if any, opportunities to develop the kind of skills and mechanisms needed to cope with the emotional turmoil that comes from such a sudden shift".

What makes the adjustment even harder is the "rigid nature of life" after retirement from sumo. For those who choose to remain with the JSA as coaches or stablemasters, there is "still little freedom in how they choose to live their lives day to day".

Now, after Hakuho's resignation, the future of his namesake event is unclear. The Hakuho Cup is "arguably the most important sumo tournament in the world" for children and adolescents.

For Onosato, like numerous current wrestlers, the cup was a "major milestone and motivator". It provides "invaluable experience for children from numerous countries", and was a link between amateur and professional sumo.

The JSA will "continue to survive and thrive", but it's hard to argue that "sumo hasn't been lessened without its most decorated champion". For the sake of its future, sumo should "figure out a way to stem the tide of such high-profile departures".