After the match fixing scandals, the Japan Sumo Federation (SJF) has decided to cancel the tournament to be held in March in Osaka. Despite suspicions of trickery that has long hovered on the sumo federation had hitherto always denied the rumors. This time, the physical evidence existed. This is some text messages exchanged between rikishi [wrestlers] and discovered by police during the investigation conducted last year on sumo wrestlers who participated in a bet secretly organized by the mob.
Regardless of whether the investigators were right or wrong to openly disclose personal information, the federation can not shrink from its responsibilities. It's over with rhetoric like "the SJF undertakes that it will not happen again" that we can resolve this matter. Prayer, chants and drums Sumo is based on three pillars: it is both a Shinto ceremony, entertainment and sport.
Sumo wrestlers were only allowed to keep their Chonmage [traditional buns] in the Meiji period, when the government banned it in the general population, in 1871. The Chonmage is a symbol of Shinto, and the opening ceremony of the tournament - in which the yokozuna [champion] lifts her legs high in turn before hitting the ground with his feet - is nothing else that a prayer for good harvests.
Moreover, with its singing and drumming, sumo is a show. The wrestlers are doing their best not to miss a tournament and try to please the fans. In the past it has happened that the sporting aspect of sumo takes precedence over the other two: many wrestlers are injured and could not participate in tournaments, much to the chagrin of the public.
When it was, instead, the side show that prevailed, there would be fights where the fighters, fearing injury, had little commitment in the fight, so a former yokozuna, nicknamed "No dohyo oni "[the devil of the arena], had ended by lecturing rikishi. It is still maintaining this balance between these three pillars of Shinto, the spectacle and the sport of sumo has been through the ages.
However, in the current case it is ranked wrestlers juryo [second division], paid 1 million yen per month [90 000], who established a sort of "buddy system" by the trick "so as not to fall lower division (which do not qualify for compensation). The wrestlers put themselves in agreement on the transaction via SMS, a veteran sumo played the role of matchmaker, trade victories had become routine and a market of remittances was established.
It is deplorable and unacceptable that the history of sumo, whose first mention dates back to Nihonshoki [writing of the eighth century], either by fighting dirty "arranged" by corrupt wrestlers. To put it frankly, it often happens that rikishi earn their last bout of the tournament. We let them win on purpose, so they can access the upper division or to maintain their salary.
Sumo, the sports prototype Similarly, it is common to see young wrestlers in training to win fights when families attend. These are things that have always been tolerated by the world of sumo wrestling and its fans. It is the mark of a sumo wrestler "human face", which endorsed compassion.
This "silent communication" is part of sumo. If because of this unfortunate case, one comes, calling the late special effects, to deny that human aspect portrayed so often in the kabuki [theatrical genre] and rakugo [traditional humorous tales], sumo will not be that a sport usually tasteless and does deserve his name.
Of course, this does not mean that we approve the special effects. But sumo can be likened to a modern Olympic sport. From this point of view, the Japan Sumo Federation should perhaps consider taking a fresh start by reorganizing itself into a religious brotherhood. Not because it risks losing its status as a public interest because of the scandal, but because it is probably best describes the nature of this traditional art.
Most sports are derived from religious rituals, we can say that sumo, because it retains links with Shinto, is the prototype of the sport in general. Even if the mutation of the federation in religious brotherhood is a solution that requires reflection, it is crucial if one wants to help the sumo to recover, to seriously wonder what it represents and what it should to represent Japan, the Japanese and Japanese culture.
Thalassa's documentary "Becoming Sumotori" 
Regardless of whether the investigators were right or wrong to openly disclose personal information, the federation can not shrink from its responsibilities. It's over with rhetoric like "the SJF undertakes that it will not happen again" that we can resolve this matter. Prayer, chants and drums Sumo is based on three pillars: it is both a Shinto ceremony, entertainment and sport.
Sumo wrestlers were only allowed to keep their Chonmage [traditional buns] in the Meiji period, when the government banned it in the general population, in 1871. The Chonmage is a symbol of Shinto, and the opening ceremony of the tournament - in which the yokozuna [champion] lifts her legs high in turn before hitting the ground with his feet - is nothing else that a prayer for good harvests.
Moreover, with its singing and drumming, sumo is a show. The wrestlers are doing their best not to miss a tournament and try to please the fans. In the past it has happened that the sporting aspect of sumo takes precedence over the other two: many wrestlers are injured and could not participate in tournaments, much to the chagrin of the public.
When it was, instead, the side show that prevailed, there would be fights where the fighters, fearing injury, had little commitment in the fight, so a former yokozuna, nicknamed "No dohyo oni "[the devil of the arena], had ended by lecturing rikishi. It is still maintaining this balance between these three pillars of Shinto, the spectacle and the sport of sumo has been through the ages.
However, in the current case it is ranked wrestlers juryo [second division], paid 1 million yen per month [90 000], who established a sort of "buddy system" by the trick "so as not to fall lower division (which do not qualify for compensation). The wrestlers put themselves in agreement on the transaction via SMS, a veteran sumo played the role of matchmaker, trade victories had become routine and a market of remittances was established.
It is deplorable and unacceptable that the history of sumo, whose first mention dates back to Nihonshoki [writing of the eighth century], either by fighting dirty "arranged" by corrupt wrestlers. To put it frankly, it often happens that rikishi earn their last bout of the tournament. We let them win on purpose, so they can access the upper division or to maintain their salary.
Sumo, the sports prototype Similarly, it is common to see young wrestlers in training to win fights when families attend. These are things that have always been tolerated by the world of sumo wrestling and its fans. It is the mark of a sumo wrestler "human face", which endorsed compassion.
This "silent communication" is part of sumo. If because of this unfortunate case, one comes, calling the late special effects, to deny that human aspect portrayed so often in the kabuki [theatrical genre] and rakugo [traditional humorous tales], sumo will not be that a sport usually tasteless and does deserve his name.
Of course, this does not mean that we approve the special effects. But sumo can be likened to a modern Olympic sport. From this point of view, the Japan Sumo Federation should perhaps consider taking a fresh start by reorganizing itself into a religious brotherhood. Not because it risks losing its status as a public interest because of the scandal, but because it is probably best describes the nature of this traditional art.
Most sports are derived from religious rituals, we can say that sumo, because it retains links with Shinto, is the prototype of the sport in general. Even if the mutation of the federation in religious brotherhood is a solution that requires reflection, it is crucial if one wants to help the sumo to recover, to seriously wonder what it represents and what it should to represent Japan, the Japanese and Japanese culture.
Thalassa's documentary "Becoming Sumotori"
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