With the latest allegations of match-fixing, what future do you see for sumo?

Tuesday 30th September, 12:59 AM JST

Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

timorborder at 01:41 PM JST - 30th September

Match fixing in sumo goes back many years. I can think of two former brothers in Sumo (not Taka and Waka) who had the deal with the stench of allegations regarding match fixing back in the late '80s and early '90s.
Finky at 03:17 PM JST - 30th September

I can picture Jello wrestling! AWESOME!

Oh, but not the sumo wrestles we have today.

The new sumo will be scantily clad or naked models in the Jello ring of doom!
chibaman at 03:25 PM JST - 30th September

Match fixing in sumo goes back to pretty much when it started. The word yaocho was born from sumo. As in, they had to come up with a word to describe the intentional losing of bouts for other benefits.

Now to address the question at hand, I don't see yaocho disappearing from sumo but I reckon there will be less of it, especially in the next year or two until everyone has forgotten about it again, and definitely in bouts involving foreigners who have few qualms with exposing the establishment then taking a plane back home.

I also think these latest claims will hurt sumo, with some people not bothering anymore. And by some people, I mean me.
outofmydepth at 03:36 PM JST - 30th September

i don`t bother anymore. used to until they forbade akebono to marry his sweetheart. that was going too far. he did anyway. really lost interest after that.
memyselfI at 03:50 PM JST - 30th September

Business as usual, when the Russian guy visa expires or he can't stay anymore because of his appeals failed. Back to business. The same rigging people will be there. and the same council will be there. Nothing will change. Delay the case for 5 years, and the Russian's money will run out. He will go home angry but he will be a free man. He's lucky !!!!
neverknow2 at 05:39 PM JST - 30th September

The future of sumo will be the same as its past, no-one cares!
kavikahi at 07:59 PM JST - 30th September

Sumo has been around for a long time, I would still love Japan without it though.
BurakuminDes at 09:21 PM JST - 30th September

Sumo needs an entrepreneur (like Kerry Packer did with cricket 30 years ago - any Aussies on here?) to come in, offer rival contracts to buy the Sumo players, and revolutionise the sport, or else its dead within 5 years. It needs to become more open and transparent, and to do away with all the silly antiquated rules (such as those preventing Sumo players driving a car, making them employees of "stables" who cannot compete against each other, disallowing players from marrying certain people and so on). It needs to get young people showing some interest, and to do that I reckon a good start would be to jazz it up a bit with entertainment like all the popular sports in Japan (soccer, baseball). Mascots, music and cheergirls would be a good start. Above all, it needs to do away with the heirarchical "stable" system, which seems to be ridiculously out-dated and closed to the public. If Sumo doesnt move with the times, I fear it will be even smaller than the tiny sport it has become today.
Above all, Sumo needs some Australian wrestlers.
ogtob at 01:44 PM JST - 1st October

Let's see steroid testing. Look at Takanohana now. The acne pitted face, liver problems, and the fact that he is like half the size he use to be are all circumstantial evidence of heavy steroid use.
Osakadaz at 02:56 PM JST - 1st October

bellydancing 教室。
dennis0bauer at 03:09 PM JST - 1st October

What change? oh yeah put the fist down at the tachai, implemented a few days before the basho, so someone will say sorry, and nothing will change
Beelzebub at 06:26 PM JST - 1st October

They should abolish the rank of yokozuna. The expectations are too high, for one thing. In Edo times, it was an honorary rank, like 5-star general in the army, that was only accorded upon a wrestler's retirement.

I'm not happy with Shinto proscriptions against women entering the ring (like the governo of Osaka prefecture, to present an award) because they're "impure." Some of the other changes people have proposed are so radical, sumo wouldn't be sumo any more if they were adopted.
Blue_Tiger at 09:07 PM JST - 1st October

Sumo is basically in hot water, and could be done.
browny1 at 10:58 PM JST - 1st October

Sumo has certainly lost it's cred. The faithful will only beieve what they already believe but those who scratch a little below the pomp will surely find many questionable aspects.

My first intro to sumo 15 yrs ago mesmorized me. I went to a regional basho - with many of the national champions - and saw man-mountains pounding and flattening one another. I was hooked. Followed Takanohana. He was just so much above the others in skill, power, temperament. Then I began hearing/reading the stories of steroid abuse and match rigging and frankly I dismissed them. This IS real I thought. My mind was suddenly freed of such one day, when watching the final bout between Takanohana and his bros Wakanohana. The winner would win the basho and more importantly Waka would probably become a Yokozuna.

The feeble manner in which Taka threw the bout was mind-boggling. Replay after replay showed the vastly superior Taka just taking a pathetic fall and everyone going crazy over the new super hero. What a farce.

I couldn't be bothered for years after that until a couple of years ago when I Started watching again and became mildly interested with Asa & co. But with all the crap surrounding it now, the sooner it sinks into it's own quagmire the better. At least in other traditional entertainment like kabuki or noh we know it's not real.
ora at 01:55 AM JST - 2nd October

Sumo will be fine.