A rikishi (力士), sumōtori (相撲取り) or, more colloquially, osumōsan (お相撲さん), is a sumo wrestler. Although used to define all wrestlers participating in sumo wrestling matches, the term is more commonly used to refer to professional wrestlers, employed by the Japan Sumo Association, who participate in professional sumo tournaments (called honbasho) in Japan, the only country where sumo is practiced professionally.
Professional rikishi are heirs to traditions dating back to the Edo period, and therefore follow a number of codes and customs in their daily lives that distinguish them from other martial artists. Their life as professionals revolves around the observance of traditional rules that apply both to their life in the community and to the way they dress, the latter rules evolving according to the rank a wrestler has reached during his career.
Coming from many different nationalities, rikishi are the only employees of the Japan Sumo Association who can run the organization once they have chosen to retire. However, only a tiny fraction of wrestlers are given this opportunity, leaving the vast majority of the sport's retirees in a precarious situation.
The number of active rikishi peaked at 943 in May 1994, at the height of the "WakaTaka boom," but had declined to 599 by January 2024. The decline in the number of recruits applying to become professionals is a major topic in sumo, as it has been in freefall since the 90s and regularly breaks records for the lowest number of recruits.
Terminology
In popular use, the term rikishi refer to professional sumo wrestler only and is an alternative term to sumotori (相撲取り, sumōtori, lit.'sumo practitioner') or the more colloquial osumosan (御相撲さん or お相撲さん, osumōsan, lit.'honorable Mr. Sumo').[1] It has been noted by many authors interested in sumo that these terms should be preferred to 'sumo wrestler'.[2] Since sumo has little in common with Greco-Roman wrestling but more with judo or aikido, it is not a priori relevant to use the term wrestler to define the competitors in sumo matches.[2][3]
The two kanji characters that make up the word rikishi are that of 'strength' or 'power' (力) and 'warrior' or 'samurai' (士); consequently, and more idiomatically, the term can literally be defined as 'strongman' or 'powerful warrior'.[4][5]
Sumotori is often defined as the more appropriate collective name for the wrestlers as a group or as individuals.[6] The term itself comes from an abbreviation of the word sumo no toride (相撲の取手), used in the early Edo period to define sumo wrestlers.[7] There is no implication of hierarchy between rikishi and sumōtori, the two terms being interchangeable.[4] However, some wrestlers prefer to be referred to as osumōsan.[6]
A more prestigious term referring to wrestlers who have risen to the two highest divisions (jūryō and makuuchi) also exists.[6] The word sekitori is referring to senior rikishi who have significantly more status, privilege and salary than their lower-division counterparts and excludes the lower-rankers.[6] Wrestlers who qualify as sekitori are also given the suffix-zeki (関【ぜき】, lit.'barrier') at the end of their name.[6] That term, found also in the sumo terms sekitori (関取), ōzeki (大関) and sekiwake (関脇), comes from sekisho (関所), a road barrier which was used to control the movement of people from place to place within Japan.[6] In the old days many wrestlers were recruited from the big, strong guards who manned the sekisho. Later "-zeki" came to mean an unbeaten performance.[6]
Sumo has its origins in traditions already present on the Asian continent.[8] In Korea, in the tombs of the T'ung-kou valley, murals depict wrestlers in loincloths seemingly performing wrestling duels for the pleasure of court nobles.[8] Traces of wrestling activities have been demonstrated by the exhumation of haniwa pottery depicting wrestlers in Korean wrestling attire dating from the Kofun period.[9] As sumo became embedded in Japanese myths and legends, stories of powerful wrestlers began to appear in the Nihon Shoki, and with them, the first accounts of matches held during the Yamato kingship period.[10] At the same time the function of sumo wrestler began to appear under the term sumai-bito (相撲人, lit.'sumo person').[11] The latter were conscripts from the provinces sent to the Heian court as tribute organized by local governors who, in order to supply the court's festivities with participants, ordered the communities to send to the capital any man gifted in wrestling, horse-racing or archery.[11] Although at the time wrestlers enjoyed a certain degree of recognition, with some being recruited into the palace guard; sending wrestlers was compulsory throughout the territory, and any delay was punishable by imprisonment.[12] In 821, codes resembling the beginnings of etiquette were introduced at court to organize the tournaments held during banquets.[13] With the Minamoto clan's rise to power, sumo and its wrestlers began to shift their practice from a court entertainment to a real military training.[14][15] During the Sengoku period, Oda Nobunaga made sumo a popular sport, aided by the emergence of large cities (like Edo, Osaka, Sendai and Nagoya), which soon began to compete with Kyoto's cultural monopoly, as it was Japan's only metropolis at the time.[15][16] These new cultural centres saw the emergence of wrestling groups, from both the commoners and the warrior classes, who took part in festivities at shrines.[16]
Edo period and sumo structuring
During the period of peace established under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan experienced an unprecedented period of vagrancy for many samurai who had lost their social standing with their previous masters, who had been deposed or killed so that the shogunate could assert itself.[17][18] These masterless samurai, called rōnins, could not engage in any activity under their social category under threat of punishment, and with the period of peace, it had become almost impossible to be recruited by local lords who no longer needed to build up a sizeable military retinue.[17] During the same period, sumo was gradually establishing itself as a popular sport, and two extremes coexisted side by side. On the one hand, certain powerful clans (such as the Kishū Tokugawa, Maeda, Ikeda, Matsudaira, Sakai and Hosokawa) formed suites of wrestlers organized into veritable royal households called geisha-gumi (芸者組, lit.'geisha troupe'), and elevated them to the status of vassals.[19] On the other hand, a number of rōnin had no choice but to put their martial skills to good use in street sumo tournaments, called tsuji-zumō (辻相撲, tsuji-sumo, lit.'street-corner wrestling'), for the entertainment of passers-by.[20] Similarly, a number of street entertainment wrestling groups formed and began touring, sometimes with the support of shrines that occasionally recruited them as part of religious festivities and to help priests raising money for the construction of buildings.[21]
Illustration of Powerful Professional Sumo Wrestlers in Japan by Utagawa Kuniteru II [ja] (1867).
Eventually, this mix of professional wrestlers and disgraced rōnins, along with the commoners who took part in the contests of strength of the street tournaments, created conflicts over money.[15][22] Tense brawls, even deaths, sometimes occurred.[22] Public order became so disturbed that in 1648 the Edo authorities issued an edict banning street sumo and matches organized to raise funds during festivities.[23] The edicts didn't stop there, however, and also had an impact on wrestlers for some thirty years, with the publication of an order banning the use of shikona, or ring name, a tradition observed since the Muromachi period.[23] At the same time, instructions sent out to local lords advised drastic savings on suite costs, and the maintenance and recruitment of vassalized wrestlers ceased altogether.[23] Over the next two decades or so, the wrestlers, now without any income, decided to petition the authorities to lift the bans, forming coalitions of interests to protect themselves from any violent repression of their movement.[24]
In 1684, these movements bore fruit and a rōnin by the name of Ikazuchi Gondaiyū (雷 権太夫) obtained permission to hold a tournament after proposing a new etiquette associated with tournaments.[24][25] In fact, the systematization of sumo in Edo (with the introduction of the first dohyō and the strict use of the forty-eight first kimarite) went hand in hand with the authorization of sumo tournaments.[26] As sumo inevitably became systematized, new wrestler ranking systems were put in place with the development of the use of banzuke and the introduction of the ranks of komusubi, sekiwake and ōzeki.[26]
Around 1717, local lords, who had ceased to maintain suites of wrestlers, revived the practice. The term rikishi also appeared at the same time, along with the more specific term kakae-rikishi (抱え力士, lit.'embraced wrestler' or 'retained wrestler'), which referred more specifically to wrestlers attached to the patronage of local lords.[27][28] With the emergence of etiquette, notable differences began to emerge to differentiate retainers of local lords from wrestlers who were not under the protection of a patron. Kakae-rikishi were allowed to carry two swords, while wrestlers without patrons carried only one, or even a dagger.[27] Wrestlers who took part in tournaments without the patronage of lords did not yet have samurai status or a salary and their finances depended largely on donations they could receive from the organizers of charity tournaments or admirers.[29][30] Their participation was motivated in particular by the fact that they could be scouted by the lords' households, if their results or popularity were worthwhile, and by the fact that they were fed and housed for the duration of the tournament.[29][31] In those days the promotion system was decided by the tournament organizers who then distributed the profits to the elders who then redistributed funds to their wrestlers, with the wrestlers under the protection of the lords receiving bonuses and having financial security and the others being kept in a situation of poverty.[30]
The lords' wrestlers were given samurai status and a salary.[29] They were allowed to participate as special guests to official tournaments organized with the approval of shrine authorities.[27] During these tournaments, they represented the power of the domain in whose name they wrestled, and wore the lords' symbols on large aprons called keshō-mawashi.[27] As representatives of their domains, wrestlers attended tournament matches at the foot of the ring, and made a point of contesting decisions unfavorable to their lords, as part of rivalries between clans.[29] To avoid confrontations, it became customary to declare draws or postpone the decision on the outcome of a match.[29]
During sumo's first golden age, the Japanese collective imagination developed an image of larger-than-life wrestlers with excessive appetites and superhuman strength.[6] Tales of thirteen-year-old Akashi lifting rocks to help his farmer father, Tanikaze separating two fighting bulls by grabbing them by the horns, or Shiranui lifting seven sacks of rice spread over his head and shoulders to impress Matthew C. Perry became popular myths and are credited to the wrestlers as biographical elements in their own right, like the stories of mythological heroes.[6] During the 1780s, wrestlers became veritable icons and card games and dolls depicting them became widespread.[32] In order to benefit from the sport's popularity, some physically strong individuals, called kanban-ōzeki (看板大関, lit.'billboard champions' or 'promotional ōzeki'), were introduced for the duration of one or two tournaments as wrestlers, serving as an attraction without having any real wrestling ability.[33] Production and distribution of ukiyo-e works depicting the sport's most popular figures also became more widespread, with authors like Utagawa Kunisada and Toyokuni, Hasegawa Sadanobu or Hiroshige who gained popularity thanks to their works.[32][34]Kibyōshi and makura-e (erotic prints) were also mass-produced, with wrestlers as the central figures.[34]
Since professional sumo was intrinsically linked to the domains of the local lords, the sport also reflected their health and the political situation in Japan.[35] During the Tenpō era, the feudal system was shaken by famine and rebellions, and the wrestlers who took part in the tournaments gradually withdrew to perform their duties at the households of the daimyo who maintained them.[35] With this lack of the most popular figures, the public gradually deserted the tournaments, leading to a recession within the sumo associations.[35] During the bakumatsu period, the feudal system collapsed, leading to a period of uncertainty about the future of the sport and therefore of wrestlers.[36] Nevertheless, sumo had succeeded in establishing itself as a popular sport, recognized as the national sport, leading to the survival of the wrestlers' status.[37]
Meiji Restoration and social movements
With the Meiji Restoration and the abolition of the han system, wrestlers lost the patronage of the lords, who could no longer maintain households of their own.[38] With the loss of income security and social status came a period of semi-censorship of sumo, with the adoption of Western ideology leading to the perception of sumo as unworthy of the new era, as the matches were seen as barbaric and the semi-nudity of the wrestlers shocking.[39] With the disappearance of government protection, some wrestlers organized themselves into fire brigades.[40] At the same time, political circles were organized to preserve some of Japan's indigenous traditions, saving the privilege of wrestlers to wear samurai chonmage (topknot) in 1871.[39] With the absence of patronage on the part of the lords, a social crisis was also revealed among wrestlers, who now openly criticized the distribution of winnings from charity tournaments.[30] In 1884, Emperor Meiji ordered a match to be held in front of him. Umegatani I and Ōdate made such an impact in front of the emperor that his attitude towards the sport was changed, and with it the attitude of imperialist groups calling for the abolition of sumo, restoring a semblance of popularity to the sport.[41]
Although sumo itself continued, the Meiji period was also marked by the first social movements in the history of professional sumo. In the 1870s, the first wrestlers' revolt was organized by Takasago Uragorō [ja] (then still called Takamiyama) asking for better treatment (without initial success) and breaking away from the Tokyo-based association before merging again.[42] After that initial movement, a number of reforms were introduced to adapt the competitions to Japan's new political and financial context, notably by distributing better salaries to wrestlers and basing the latter on results.[41] Social movements in sumo did not cease, however, and in 1911 a strike by low-ranking wrestlers called for a new wage reform, securing a bonus (made up of payment in cash and a deposit in a pension fund) distributed to all wrestlers who were not ōzeki or yokozuna.[43] In 1923, another strike known as the Mikawajima Incident demanded better pensions for wrestlers and was led by YokozunaŌnishiki, without success.[44] Finally, in 1932 (Taishō era), the last major wrestlers' strike broke out with the Shunjuen Incident, calling for fundamental reform of the newly created Japan Sumo Association and leading to a mass resignation of wrestlers the likes of which professional sumo had never seen before.[45] Eventually, the situation calmed down and sumo enjoyed a new boom in popularity, notably driven by YokozunaFutabayama.[46]
During the second Sino-Japanese war, sumo emerged as a sport of pride, driven by strong nationalist sentiment and taking hold where Western sports (such as baseball) were denounced.[46] As ambassadors of national sentiment, sumo wrestlers were sent on tour to occupied Manchuria and China to perform in front of soldiers.[46] With the turning point of the war in 1943, competitions were disrupted. The Tokyo bombings killed many wrestlers, and those who survived were either drafted into the army or navy, or incorporated into provincial work units.[47] Popular figures in the sport were also forced to leave competitions, such as Tochinishiki who left the association to be drafted into the navy at Arai, Shizuoka during the 1944–1945 period; or Yoshibayama, then newly promoted in the jūryō division, who had been drafted during the 1943–1946 period and was shot in the left thigh.[48]
In the '60s, sumo wrestlers once again served as emblems of Japan, with the first international tours of professional sumo since the '30s. In the summer of 1965, Taihō, Kashiwado and Sadanoyama were part of a group of eight wrestlers who went to the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Russian government to perform goodwill matches. Since the wrestlers fought in mawashi (fighting loincloth), the press echoed the diplomatic rapprochement, dubbing the rikishi delegation the 'naked ambassadors.'[49]
Lifestyle of rikishi
The life of a rikishi is first and foremost a gravitation of strict rules oriented towards absolute obedience and respect for superiors and seniors.[50] Revolving around a strict hierarchy that may seem outdated or feudal, the sumo wrestler's life is in reality based above all on his own personal skills, since only his results–and the guarantee of more victories than defeats at official tournaments (called honbasho)–are the guarantee of his success.[51] With success comes progression in the sumo hierarchy, which is not so much about rank as it is about status, the rank attained defining exactly how a wrestler dresses, how much he earns and how he will be treated by his peers.[51]
A professional sumo wrestler leads a highly regimented way of life. The Sumo Association prescribes the behavior of its wrestlers in some detail. For example, the association prohibits wrestlers from driving cars, although this is partly out of necessity as many wrestlers are too big to fit behind a steering wheel.[52]
Recruits
Recruiting young wrestlers is an essential aspect of perpetuating the sport's wrestling pool.[53] In recent years, sumo has developed an intensive scouting system.[53] The largest stables have established scouting networks throughout the country, partly supported with the help of their nationwide patron organizations, with retired wrestlers and patron-club members acting as part-time scouts for the stables.[53] It is also not rare for acquaintances of the master, or one of the stable wrestlers, to also bring potential apprentices to the stable.[6] When on provincial tours, masters always lookout for potential talent.[6][53] Despite all the efforts made by masters to attract new talent, it is often the case that young wrestlers are motivated to join the stable solely by the reputation and achievements of the current master.[54]
All new aspirants must have completed at least compulsory education. In the Japanese education system it means graduating from the six years of primary school and the three years of junior high school.[55][56] Today, recruits are no longer subject to physical standards (as of January 2024).[57][58][59] However, these had always been subject to revision, with the introduction of a minimum of 1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) and 67 kg (148 lb) in 2012,[56] replacing the need for recruits to be a minimum 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) tall and weigh 75 kg (165 lb) in the early 2000's.[60] With the exception of recruitments based on special criteria, all wrestlers must be under 23 years old.[56]
In professional sumo, the majority of new aspirants sign up in March, the end of the school year in Japan.[56][61] Upon arrival, young aspirants undergo a physical examination to confirm that they meet the minimum height and weight requirements to compete.[56]
All new wrestlers are then required to attend the Sumo School, located at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, where they spend six months learning the basic movements as well as calligraphy, history and sports medicine.[61]
Professional sumo classifies its wrestlers into six divisions, in addition to maezumō status, under which newly-arrived wrestlers must first develop.[62] In the highest division, the makuuchi, there are five different ranks.[51]
In this extremely demanding sport, statistics shows that only one wrestler in fifty makes it to the jūryō division, just one in a hundred becomes a makuuchi wrestler, and only one in four hundred makes the yokozuna rank.[53] Hence, most wrestlers retire from professional sumo without ever having reached the salaried levels.[53]
Low-ranking wrestlers carrying a sekitori's belongings (Ryōgoku Kokugikan entrance in 2009)
The lowest ranked wrestlers are expected to obey and act as assistants to their coaches and to the wrestlers ranked as sekitori, meaning every wrestler ranked in jūryō or above.[63] In the lower divisions, however, the question of seniority and rank brings some nuances to the way wrestlers are treated. In sandanme, the wrestlers no longer have to perform the most thankless tasks and have a few extra freedoms within the stable.[63] In the division above, in makushita, the wrestlers have even more rights and are considered experienced enough to teach the basics to young wrestlers.[63] When they retire, wrestlers who have reached makushita and spent enough time in sandanme are eligible for a job offered by the Sumo Association and a retirement gratuity.[63]
In the stable, the senior wrestlers (even lower-ranked ones) have authority over their juniors and win the title of anideshi (兄弟子, lit.'big brother'), allowing them to exercise authority, notably during training, over their ototodeshi (弟弟子, otōtodeshi, lit.'little brother'); meaning every wrestler with less seniority than them.[64] However, anideshi exercise their authority in a brutal manner, and many of the violent scandals in professional sumo are their fault.[64]
When a wrestler reaches the jūryō ranks, he becomes a sekitori and his daily life changes completely, with his daily needs taken care of for him.[63] The difference in treatment between wrestlers classified as sekitori and those who are not is such that an expression says that the two statuses are 'like heaven and hell.'[65] A sekitori-ranked wrestler is assigned a minimum of one tsukebito (assistant) who will act as his personal servant, helping him dress and prepare, carrying his belongings, helping him bathe, acting as a secretary or running specific errands on behalf of his superior.[63][66] The higher a sekitori climbs in the hierarchy, the more assistants he is entitled to.[63]
Sumo life centers around the training stables, to which all active wrestlers must belong.[67][68] Most wrestlers, and all junior ones, live in their stable in a dormitory style: training, cleaning, eating, sleeping and socializing together.[69] Since stable members live in a brotherhood similar to a family, they are forbidden to fight another member of their stable during tournaments.[70]
The treatment a wrestler receives in his stable is based exclusively on his ranking.[71] Wrestlers ranked in the lower divisions get up at dawn (usually around four or five) to do morning chores around the building and stretch in preparation for the usual empty stomach morning training.[63][72] Just before the training session, the day's lunch team begin their preparations.[63] The morning exercises done by the wrestlers are designed to exhaust wrestlers and strengthen their fighting spirit, and are repeated every morning without exception.[73] Gradually by rank, the wrestlers join in the training and the stablemaster only appears once the sandanme wrestlers have started training.[63]Sekitori-ranked wrestlers always turn up last at training sessions, often around eight o'clock, and their assistants have to temporarily leave the training to help them put on their mawashi.[72][73] On arrival at the training hall, sekitori are systematically greeted by wrestlers of lower rank than themselves.[73]
Around eleven, the wrestlers all head for the baths-in descending order of rank, so that the sekitori always benefit from a clean bathroom.[74] When the sekitori practice is at its height, the stable cooks begin to prepare the first and major meal of the day.[74] Wrestlers eat only two meals a day and spend at least one of those sitting around a bubbling pot of chankonabe.[74] In most stables the cooking brigade is supervised by one of the oldest and most experienced of the low-ranking wrestler, affectionately referred to as ojii-chan (おじいちゃん, lit.'grandpa').[74] Wrestlers eat by turns according to rank.[67] The sekitori are served by makushita wrestlers, who are in turn served by sandamme wrestlers, and so on down to the youngest apprentices.[67] The lowest ranks, who were up and working before anyone else, must patiently and hungrily wait until all of the others have finished and gone upstairs to have a siesta-like nap.[67] This regimen of no breakfast and a large lunch followed by a sleep is intended to help wrestlers put on a lot of weight so as to compete more effectively.[67] Sumo wrestlers also drink large amounts of beer.[75]
Chiyonokuni, then ranked in makuuchi, showcasing the many clothing advantages of wrestlers of his rank. On his somenukiyukata the kanji for 'country' (国) from his ring name (千代の国).
Rikishi are bound by strict traditional dress codes. As they advance in their careers, wrestlers earn the right to wear certain clothing and accessories, so much so that a wrestler's appearance is generally an indicator of his rank.[76] Wrestlers' dress codes have undergone several changes over the years. Before the Heian period, the wrestlers came to the ring with distinctive flower crowns to distinguish wrestlers from the eastern team (alcea) and those on the western team (calabash flowers).[77] This practice later gave its name to the hanamichi (花道, lit.'Flower path'), the two corridors through which wrestlers enter the ring.[78] Wrestlers also wore loose-fitting front loincloths similar to fundoshi but called tosagi.[77]
Today's wrestlers are expected to wear the chonmage and traditional Japanese dress at all times when in public. It is common for wrestlers to give each other clothes as a token of mutual esteem, and a certain form of etiquette even dictates that a sekitori-ranked wrestler doesn't have to buy his own clothes, but receives them as a reward for his achievements.[79]
The jūryō-ranked wrestlers and above have the right to wear formal costumes.[80] It includes the right to wear hakama pants and crested kimono and jacket (respectively called montsuki kimono and haori montsuki) fastened by a himo, a braided cord.[80][81][82]
In makuuchi, wrestlers can wear "somenuki yukata".[83]Somenuki (染抜き or 染め抜き, lit.'without dyeing') is a technique for removing the dye colour that can be adapted to any shape and considered to be of a higher-rank than simply sewing or embroidering the symbols a posteriori.[84] The technique later gave its name to the clothing because the name of the wrestlers always appear in a different colour than that of the textile.[83]
During their bouts, wrestlers also wear distinctive loinclothes (called mawashi) which are also subject to rules depending on the said wrestler's rank.[85][86] Since colors fade over time, it is also easy to recognize a wrestler who is more senior than another of equivalent rank by the color of their loincloth, the most senior wrestlers having yellowed (for sekitori) and faded (for makushita and below) loincloths over the years.[86] At tournaments, rikishi wear colorful cords called sagari, tucked under their mawashi. When wrestlers are ranked as jūryō and above, the sagari are rigid and made from strings of silk, whereas for makushita wrestlers and below, the sagari are dangling and made of cotton.[87]
In Tokyo, the districts hosting wrestling stables have made a specialty of selling large kimonos adapted to the rikishi's physique.[80]
Wrestlers are entitled to clothing rights. These accumulate as follows (from their beginings to the highest ranks):[83][88][89]
During tournaments: colourful silk mawashi known as shimekomi with seaweed-stiffened sagari
Makuuchi
Somenuki-style yukata with the wrestler's name and personalised designs
The Japan Sumo Association is also able to regulate the physical appearance of its wrestlers. Rikishi are expected to grow their hair long, in order to be worn in a style of chonmage, a topknot similar to the samurai hairstyles of the Edo period.[71] Young wrestlers wear a simplified version, while wrestlers ranked in the two highest divisions (jūryō and makuuchi) wear a more elaborate version called ōichōmage (大銀杏髷, lit.'ginkgo-leaf topknot') because it resembles the leaf of the ginkgo tree.[71] Since 2019, the Sumo Association has also banned the wearing of beards, judging that it made wrestlers' appearance too dirty. The wearing of sideburns was however preserved.[90] Similarly, wrestlers are expected to cut their fingernails short.[90]
Professional sumo wrestlers only began to be paid according to a wage system from May 1957.[91] Only wrestlers ranked jūryō and above receive a monthly salary.[91] All wrestlers ranked below are given no monthly wages but receive a more modest allowance during the tournaments.[91] Compensation paid to lower-ranked wrestlers varies according to their rank.[91] In addition, the salary received by sekitori also depends on the division in which they wrestle and their rank.[91] In addition, sumo wrestlers benefit from favourable tax treatment.[92] For example, they are exempt from paying taxes on cash gifts received from individual supporters, although the gifts they receive from corporate supporters are taxed.[92] They are also subject to more advantageous income tax laws, which means that wrestlers are taxed less for the same salary than someone who is not involved in professional sumo.[92]
However, compared to other popular sports in Japan, particularly baseball, professional sumo may seem to pay its athletes poorly, with the maximum annual salaries and bonuses capped at around 36 million yen, while in other sports athletes easily reach a hundred million yen a year.[92][93] In addition, there is no pension fund as such in professional sumo.[94] Wrestlers depend almost exclusively on the earnings generated by their success in the ring.[94]
Wrestlers who are not sekitori earn allowance at tournaments as follows:[93]
In addition to the basic salary, sekitori-ranked wrestlers also receive additional bonus income, called mochikyūkin, six times a year (once every tournament, or basho) based on the cumulative performance in their career to date.[96] Prior to the establishment of the salary, wrestlers were exclusively paid according to this system of accumulation of money.[96] Wrestlers in the lower divisions earned three yen for each victory they won and fifty yen for each kachi-koshi score, with the amount increasing as they moved up the hierarchy.[96] Various bonuses added at the time of promotions, championships and kinboshi were also added.[96] Today, the mochikyūkin continues to be registered and paid, but in compensation for the salary, and the amounts have been recalculated.[96]
Yokozuna receive an additional allowance every two tournaments, associated with the making of a new tsuna belt worn in their ring entering ceremony.[91] Wrestlers who place in the san'yaku category also receive bonuses.[91] Also, prize money is given to the winner of each divisional championship, which increases from ¥100,000 for a jonokuchi victory up to ¥10 million for winning the top division.[93] In addition to prizes for a championship, wrestlers in the top division giving an exceptional performance in the eyes of a judging panel can also receive one or more of three special prizes (sanshō), which are worth ¥2 million each.[93]
Individual top division matches can also be sponsored by companies, with the resulting prize money called kenshōkin. For bouts involving yokozuna and ōzeki, the number of sponsors can be quite large, whereas for lower-ranked matchups, no bout sponsors may be active at all unless one of the wrestlers is particularly popular, or unless a company has a policy of sponsoring all his matchups. As of 2019[update], a single sponsorship cost ¥70,000, with ¥60,000 going to the winner of the bout and ¥10,000 deducted by the Japan Sumo Association for costs and fees.[97] Immediately after the match, the winner receives an envelope from the referee with half of his share of the sponsorship, while the other half is put in a fund for his retirement.[97]
The rikishi-kai
The question of wages for professional wrestlers led to the creation, after the Shunjuen Incident, of a wrestlers' club called rikishi-kai (力士会, lit.'sumo wrestlers association').[98] Only salaried wrestlers belong to this group.[99] Traditionally, wrestlers have always used a representative to informally pass on requests, particularly in relation to wages, to the elders sitting on the Board of Directors.[98] The association does not recognize the rikishi-kai as a union in the strict sense of the term.[98] Relations between the rikishi-kai and the association's directors are therefore often compared to those between a child asking his parents for pocket money.[98] It is common for wrestlers' demands to be ignored, and for them not to push the issue any further.[100] In his memoirs, former sekiwakeTakamiyama explained that in the rikishi-kai meetings, the sekitori sometimes joked about a collective strike, but the action was hardly, if ever, considered.[99]
Traditionally, the rikishi-kai is represented by top-ranked wrestlers, notably yokozuna,[99] although in the past several intermediaries between the association and the rikishi-kai have been lower-ranked wrestlers (such as Fujinishiki or Aonosato).[98] Since YokozunaKakuryū's retirement in 2021, the presidency of the rikishi-kai is currently vacant.[101]
When a rikishi retires as an active wrestler, he symbolically marks the end of his career by cutting his chonmage topknot, symbolizing his traditional samurai rank and his career as a wrestler.[102] The cutting of the topknot takes place in a dedicated ceremony called danpatsu-shiki (断髪式, lit.'hair-cutting ceremony'), even if the rikishi actually retire several months before the ceremony takes place.[102]
The ceremony is regularly held to mark a wrestler's retirement, with lower-ranked wrestlers having a more discreet ceremony often held at the usual end-of-tournament parties.[103] For the top-ranked wrestlers, however, the ceremony takes the form of charity tournaments, with non-stake matches, presentations of traditional sumo-related arts and performances by prestigious guests.[102] The ceremony closes with the actual cutting of the topknot, where the wrestler's guests— all having to pay a symbolic participation fee —follow in succession to cut only a few strands of his hair with gold-plated scissors.[102][103] Traditionally, the last hairs holding the topknot together are cut by the retiring wrestler's master.[103]
The danpatsu-shiki ceremony can take place anywhere (and is often held in hotels), but a wrestler must have served at least thirty tournaments as a sekitori to perform his ceremony at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.[104]
Former yokozunaTakanohana (left) and Kitanoumi as toshiyori, or elders (2013).
Sumo wrestlers who retire can take on responsibilities within the Japan Sumo Association on the basis of the success of their career.[105] Wrestlers who become people of responsibility are called toshiyori, more commonly known as oyakata and translated into English as 'elder' or 'master.' Becoming an elder ensures that the retired wrestler will become one of the 105 coaches of the association, responsible for training the wrestlers who are still active and for the running of the association.
Qualifications for becoming a master are determined by regulations: yokozuna, ōzeki, and san'yaku only need one tournament at this rank to be considered for elder status.[105] Wrestlers who have reached the rank of maegashira must have maintained it for twenty tournaments, while jūryō wrestlers must have maintained their rank for thirty tournaments.[105]Yokozuna and ōzeki receive preferential treatment and can remain in the association without acquiring elder status for five years (yokozuna) and three years (ōzeki).[105]
Wrestlers who have attained the rank of makushita and who have not been sufficiently active in jūryō may nonetheless exercise subordinate functions within the association as wakamonogashira (若者頭) or sewanin (世話人).[105][106] These retired wrestlers serves as functionaries of the association, typically working at their former stables or within the associated ichimon (clan).[105]Wakamonogashira are tasked to arrange maezumō matches and supervising young sumo wrestlers from makushita and below.[105][107][108]Sewanin are the transportation and storage managers of the association's equipments.[109] They serves according to the instructions of other superiors (mainly wakamonogashira).[105]
However, the vast majority of retiring wrestlers do not remain in positions within the Sumo Association.[110] The luckiest manage to maintain their public profile by becoming TV personalities, sports commentators or actors.[111][112] Most of them find themselves in activities unrelated to sumo and with no professional experience, having become wrestlers before their twenties and having had no other activities.[110][112] This makes their situation complex, as when they enter the job market they find themselves competing with other employees of the same age group who do, however, have much more professional experience.[110] Most of the time, retirees have no savings because they have not been able to secure a salary by reaching one of the two sekitori divisions.[111] If they retire after an injury, it is all the more difficult to find work.[113] Because they have no experience, most former wrestlers who find work also usually earn less than others in the same occupation.[110] Most retirees find work in activities related to either cooking or physical labor, such as foodservices, care for the elderly and sports coaching.[110][113] The majority find work in chankonabe restaurants, putting to good use the techniques they had learned while preparing meals in the stables.[113]
Professional sumo has always had more wrestlers during periods of great rivalry between champions, with the record number of new apprentices taking the entrance exam set in 1958, at the height of the HakuHō era (柏鵬時代), with 250 successful candidates.[56] At the peak of the WakaTaka boom (若貴ブーム), in 1992, 160 people were recruited.[115] At the beginning of the 90s, professional sumo divisions numbered around 900 rikishi, hitting a record-high of 943 wrestlers in the 1994 May tournament.[116][117] However, in the early 2020s, professional sumo recorded a decline of more than thirty percent in the number of wrestlers, reaching only 665 competitors in 2022.[116]
These days, however, professional sumo is struggling to recruit. The number of newcomers to the sport has never been so low since the introduction of the six-tournament-a-year system.[118] In November 2023, the number of recruits taking the physical aptitude test was 53, beating the record low of 56 new recruits having turned professional after the revelations of the 2012 match-fixing scandal.[118] At the first tournament in 2024, the number of wrestlers even fell to 599, dropping below 600 active wrestlers for the first time in 45 years (at the March 1979 tournament).[117]
The decline in the number of wrestlers is due in part to the number of scandals that have come to light in the 2010s, discouraging young aspirants from leading a life now known to be marked by hazing and violence.[116] This drop in the number of wrestlers can also be explained by the dwindling number of amateur wrestlers who normally turn to professional sumo, whose numbers have been falling sharply over the last ten years.[116][119] Japan's declining birth rate has also been cited as the reason for the drop in the number of new recruits.[117]
Since the Sumo Association's bylaws include having "a path to sumo [...] that maintains a level of tradition and discipline that must grow," many see the difficulties in recruiting and maintaining the number of wrestlers as an attack on the perpetuation of the traditional history of sumo.[119]
Professional sumo is practiced exclusively in Japan, but wrestlers of other nationalities participate. Any young man meeting the Japan Sumo Association's recruitment criteria can apply to become a rikishi.[55] However, foreigners must have the support of two guarantors and a work visa.[55] When officially registered on the Sumo Association's list of professional rikishi, foreign wrestlers are registered by country and not by territorial subdivision, as is the case for Japanese wrestlers who are registered by prefecture of origin.[120] However, it is difficult for young foreign recruits to integrate into professional sumo. Many give up out of homesickness.[121] Those who hang on generally find it very difficult to integrate into stable life, and more particularly to get used to the rikishi's diet.[122]Akebono testified that he had to forget all the codes of life he had learnt over eighteen years and relearn everything in order to adapt effectively to his way of life.[123]
Historically, professional sumo gradually opened up to foreigners from the 1960s onwards.[49] Before this date, foreigners had historically tried to join professional sumo.[49] The earliest recorded attempt by a foreigner to enroll in professional sumo happened in 1885, when stablemaster Urakaze was approached by an American wrestler who wanted to join his stable, but without success because the association's statutes at the time did not clearly state that foreigners were allowed to compete as rikishi.[49] Prior to this date, professional sumo had already recruited non-Japanese wrestlers, notably Ainus and Koreans.[124] The latter were not considered to be fully Japanese, but were referred to as coming from Japan because Hokkaido is the northernmost prefecture of Japan and Korea was part of the Japanese territory at the time.[124][125] The first openly Ainu wrestler to reach the makuuchi division was Misogidori Yūji [ja] in 1966.[124]
In the 1930s, American-Japanese Shōji Hiraga became the first foreigner to be recognized as such in the banzuke.[125] In the 1940s, a Japanese-American, Toyonishiki, and the Korean-born Rikidōzan achieved sekitori status prior to World War II, but neither were officially listed as foreigners.[49][126] In the 1970s, around thirty foreign wrestlers managed to join the ranks. Most of them were Koreans born in Japan.[127] The figurehead of these wrestlers was Maenoyama, who, despite being born in Osaka and having spent his whole life in Japan, was always referred to as "the Korean" by the Japanese media.[124] In addition, foreigners have also been the subject of debate as to whether they can attain the supreme rank of yokozuna.[128][129] The most conservative commentators criticize them for their lack of typical Japanese hinkaku (品格); loosely translated as 'dignity' but meaning a balance of self-confidence, self-knowledge and self-control.[128]
American-born Akebono was the first foreign-born rikishi to reach sumo's highest rank of yokozuna.
The first non-Asian to achieve fame and fortune in sumo was Hawaii-born Takamiyama. He reached the top division in 1968 and in 1972 became the first foreigner to win the top division championship, becoming the first foreign wrestler to be truly popular in Japan.[130][131] Takamiyama was followed by a fellow Hawaii-born 287 kilograms (633 lb) mega-weight Konishiki, of ethnic Samoan descent, the first foreigner to reach the rank of ōzeki in 1987;[132][133][134] and the Native HawaiianAkebono, who became the first foreign-born yokozuna in 1993.[133][135][136]Musashimaru, born in American Samoa and raised in Hawaii, became the second foreigner to reach sumo's top rank in 1999.[133][137] This generation of foreign wrestlers came to be nicknamed kurofune (黒船, lit.'Black Ships'), to draw a parallel with the Americans who had conquered both the country and sumo.[82]
Between 2003 and 2014, all four wrestlers reaching the yokozuna rank were Mongolian: Asashōryū, Hakuhō, Harumafuji and Kakuryū.[138] In 2012, the Mongolian Kyokutenhō became the oldest wrestler in modern history to win a top division championship.[139]
Wrestlers from Eastern European countries such as Georgia and Russia have also found success in the upper levels of sumo. In 2005, Kotoōshū from Bulgaria became the first wrestler of European birth to attain the ōzeki ranking and the first to win a top division championship.[140]
Restrictions on the number of foreigners allowed in professional sumo began in May 1992, shortly after Ōshima stable had recruited six Mongolians at the same time.[141] The Sumo Association's new director Dewanoumi, announced that he was considering limiting the number of overseas recruits per stable and in sumo overall. There was no official ruling at the time, but no stable recruited any foreigners for the next six years.[142] This unofficial ban was then relaxed, but only two new foreigners per stable were allowed, until the total number reached 40.[142] Then in 2002, a one foreigner per stable policy was officially adopted, though the ban was not retroactive, so foreigners recruited before the changes were unaffected. The move has been met with criticism, not least because Japanese culture, with its centuries-old and xenophobic culture, is accustomed to treating foreign wrestlers as gaijin (外人, lit.'outsiders' or 'aliens'), regardless of their place of birth, reinforcing the difference that the public and the media make between foreign and Japanese wrestlers.[125][142][143] However, all wrestlers involved in professional sumo are treated the same once they have joined the stables, and no distinction is clearly made as to any special treatment for foreigners.[125]John Gunning also proposed another interpretation of the decision, and claimed it was introduced not for any racial reasons, but to ensure that foreign rikishiassimilate into sumo culture.[144] He explained, there would be ten Hawaiian wrestlers in the same stable living in their own "little clique," not learning Japanese, so the rule "protects the culture of stables."[144]
Originally, it was possible for a place in a stable to open up if a foreign born wrestler acquired Japanese citizenship. This occurred when Hisanoumi changed his nationality from Tongan at the end of 2006, allowing another Tongan to enter his stable,[129] and Kyokutenhō's change of citizenship allowed Ōshima stable to recruit Mongolian Kyokushūhō in May 2007. However, on 23 February 2010 the Sumo Association announced that it had changed its definition of "foreign" to "foreign-born" ('gaikoku shusshin'), meaning that even naturalized Japanese citizens will be considered foreigners if they were born outside of Japan. The restriction on one foreign wrestler per stable was also reconfirmed. As Japanese law does not recognize subcategories of Japanese citizen, this unique treatment of naturalized citizens may well be illegal under Japanese law, although the restriction has never been challenged in court.[145] Furthermore, since 1976, if a foreigner wishes to remain in the Sumo Association, he must give up their nationality and become a Japanese citizen.[143][146]
In July 2007, there were nineteen foreigners in the top two divisions, which was the all-time record of the time with, for the first time, a majority of overseas wrestlers in the top san'yaku ranks.[147] In June 2022 twenty-six foreign-born rikishi from nine different countries were listed on the official banzuke.[141]
In contrast to many sports where fat is seen as something to be shed, sumo instead encourages the accumulation of fat as a weapon and the rikishi are therefore athletes with an imposing body fat.[122] Nevertheless, wrestlers also burn excess fat during their demanding workouts and learn to build muscle during the first few months of their career.[122] The majority of rikishi have a body fat percentage of 20% or less, but some, however, are morbidly obese.[122]
The negative health effects of the sumo lifestyle can become apparent later in life. Sumo wrestlers have a life expectancy of 65, which is 10 years shorter than that of the average Japanese male,[75] as the diet and sport take a toll on the wrestler's body. Those having a higher body mass are at greater risk of death.[148][149] Many develop type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure, and they are prone to heart attacks due to the enormous amount of body mass and fat that they accumulate. The excessive intake of alcohol can lead to liver problems and the stress on their joints due to their excess weight can cause arthritis.[75] The repeated blows to the head sumo wrestlers take can also cause long-term cognitive issues, similar to those seen in boxers.[150][151] In the 21st century the standards of weight gain became less strict to try and increase the health of the wrestlers.[75][150]
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