I’m guessing most of you know what Sumo is. Along with karate, ninjas, and Hello Kitty, Sumo is about as Japanese as it gets. Over the last week or two, there’s been a ton of hub-bub about a big, nasty Sumo-related scandal. So what in the world (er… in Japan) is going on here?
What happened
In criminal investigations, police have discovered through text messages sent among wrestlers in the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) that matches have been rigged. Wrestlers have been caught buying and selling victories, or just outright trading them.
Police discovered these text messages after investigating the JSA for another scandal – illegal gambling on baseball games. This baseball gambling scheme revealed seedy connections between the JSA and the Yakuza. These text messages showed wrestlers deliberately throwing matches for money or future victories. One wrestler, Kasuganishiki, was caught red-handed, sending a message to another wrestler saying “I’ll go with the flow and put up at least a little resistance.”
The real mystery, though, is figuring out how these Sumo wrestlers were texting. I mean, c’mon. Big thumbs.
Why is this a big deal?
This is the equivalent of a Starcraft match-fixing scandal in Korea – that is to say, it’s huge. Sumo is tremendously important sport in Japan for a lot of different reasons.
The JSA is regulated by the federal government so any scandal in the JSA looks bad for the government too. Sumo even gets guaranteed coverage by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, Japan’s equivalent of the BBC.
Sumo is also a very significant cultural institute in Japan. The sport is hundreds of years old, and has deep roots in Shinto traditions.
People have suspected match-fixing in sumo for a long time. Some statisticians have speculated that the numbers just don’t add up, and former wrestlers have claimed that most matches in the JSA are fixed. What makes this scandal so different is that for the first time in JSA history, people have concrete evidence that matches have been rigged.
This is SO huge (haha, huge, get it?) that the spring Grand Sumo Tournament has been canceled, the first time a major sumo tournament has been canceled in over 60 years. This is disappointing to many sumo fans, who feel like they’ve been betrayed by both the wrestlers and the JSA.
What’s Happens Next?
Chairman of the JSA, Hanaregoma (who in typical, badass sumo fashion only goes by one name, kind of like Madonna) has apologized to the public, and the organization has opened its own internal investigation. If the JSA’s investigation isn’t enough, the matter could be escalated to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Some think that the damage may have already been done to the sport. This scandal has been compounded by many others, including sumo ties to the Yakuza, deadly hazing, and drug use. Many Japanese have become jaded with the sport, or prefer more Western sports like baseball or soccer. Despite all this, it’s hard to imagine a Japan without sumo.
Any hardcore sumo fans out there? What do you guys think about this scandal?