POINT OF VIEW/ Sumo world in danger if it can't clean up its act
10/22/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
As an unabashed fan of sumo, I have some thoughts about the state of sumo today.
I'm referring to the recent tragic death of a 17-year-old novice wrestler at the Tokitsukaze stable.
The stable was founded by former yokozuna Futabayama (1912-1968), who was born Sadaji Akiyoshi. As someone who witnessed his yokozuna days, I have been visiting the stable for a long time.
When he was active, Futabayama recorded 69 consecutive wins, a record that still remains unbroken. I remember how the former yokozuna, who was revered as a "sumo saint" for his exceptional achievement, sat and intently watched the wrestlers in his stable practice.
Although he spoke few words, he often used to say, "Practice is something a wrestler has to do by himself." That is all the more why his words carried weight when spoken at key junctures.
The stable produced one yokozuna and three ozeki, the second highest rank in sumo. I still vividly recall Futabayama's sincere and diligent attitude in his pursuit of perfection in sumo way.
When Futabayama was Tokitsukaze stablemaster, the atmosphere in the practice room was so tense that I often found myself holding my breath. Certainly, the atmosphere became much more relaxed since the head of the stable changed to former stablemaster Tokitsukaze, who was dismissed for inflicting violence on the rookie wrestler by the Japan Sumo Association.
In the business world, too, when companies are passed down to third-generation leaders, the characteristics of the founders fade. Companies like Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Honda Motor Co. are working hard to retain the philosophies of their founders Konosuke Matsushita and Soichiro Honda, respectively. But perhaps they are exceptional.
Speaking from my experience of having served as president of a major oil company, I think the problem lies in the way the Japan Sumo Association is seemingly insensitive to changes in society and young people.
A few days after the young wrestler died on June 26, authorities pointed out that he may have died of shock due to physical trauma. But the sumo association took no action until it received guidance from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology three months later. Its sense of crisis was virtually zero.
Quite a few sumo officials have leapt to the defense of the sumo association chairman, Kitanoumi. They liken the association to a shopping center and say stables are like individual stores that are run independently. Therefore, they claim, the chairman is as responsible as the president of a shopping center. This is not only nonsensical, it is unreasonable.
The Japan Sumo Association is a foundation under the jurisdiction of the education ministry. Its articles of association state that the chairman oversees the association's administrative affairs and represents it. It is obvious with whom final responsibility rests. It is questionable whether Kitanoumi will be able to win public understanding with a symbolic gesture of taking a voluntary pay cut.
The current scandal could decide the fate of the sumo association. The reason for this is that starting next year, public interest corporations will undergo drastic reform for the first time since the establishment of the civil law system in 1896.
Currently, Japan has nearly 25,000 judicial foundations and incorporated associations. Over a five-year period starting in 2008, they must choose between continuing their status as public interest corporations or changing to general corporations. Then they must submit applications and receive official authorization.
Essentially, public interest corporations aim to benefit the general public rather than seek profit-sharing among directors and members. For that reason, they are given preferential treatment such as tax breaks. Some people question whether the sumo association, which earns 12 billion yen a year, deserves to be called a public interest corporation.
If the association believes that an organization which cannot take remedial action can expect to renew its status as a public interest corporation, it is, in my view, overly optimistic.
The sumo world has a history of reform. In the past, it was not unusual for the association to be in arrears in payments of salaries, insurance benefits and retirement allowances for wrestlers. During the late 1950s and the 1960s, the association improved its accounting practices and built the system that it uses now.
If the association sits back and does nothing, professional sumo will surely go downhill as birthrates continue to decline.
Another problem seems to be that panels of outside intellectuals such as the governing council and the yokozuna deliberation council are not effectively functioning. It is time the association embarked on modernizing its operations again. It needs to separate its administrative and practical functions and introduce outside auditors.
Having practiced karate as a student, I have served as chairman of Japan Karate Association for the past 21 years. What sumo and karate have in common is that they are both forms of bare-headed, bare-handed and bare-footed martial arts, which have no division by weight. The bouts are one-game matches that use no point system. The way these two martial arts touch the outer edge of life and death in some senses is also similar. Their significance grows as the world becomes more peaceful.
Violence in the guise of "kawaigari," a term in sumo used to describe the practice of senior wrestlers toughening up newcomers to the stable, must not be tolerated. I strongly urge sumo officials to properly foster sumo, a traditional combat art unique to Japan, and hand it down to the next generation.
* * *
The author is a former member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan.(IHT/Asahi: October 22,2007)
10/22/2007
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
As an unabashed fan of sumo, I have some thoughts about the state of sumo today.
I'm referring to the recent tragic death of a 17-year-old novice wrestler at the Tokitsukaze stable.
The stable was founded by former yokozuna Futabayama (1912-1968), who was born Sadaji Akiyoshi. As someone who witnessed his yokozuna days, I have been visiting the stable for a long time.
When he was active, Futabayama recorded 69 consecutive wins, a record that still remains unbroken. I remember how the former yokozuna, who was revered as a "sumo saint" for his exceptional achievement, sat and intently watched the wrestlers in his stable practice.
Although he spoke few words, he often used to say, "Practice is something a wrestler has to do by himself." That is all the more why his words carried weight when spoken at key junctures.
The stable produced one yokozuna and three ozeki, the second highest rank in sumo. I still vividly recall Futabayama's sincere and diligent attitude in his pursuit of perfection in sumo way.
When Futabayama was Tokitsukaze stablemaster, the atmosphere in the practice room was so tense that I often found myself holding my breath. Certainly, the atmosphere became much more relaxed since the head of the stable changed to former stablemaster Tokitsukaze, who was dismissed for inflicting violence on the rookie wrestler by the Japan Sumo Association.
In the business world, too, when companies are passed down to third-generation leaders, the characteristics of the founders fade. Companies like Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Honda Motor Co. are working hard to retain the philosophies of their founders Konosuke Matsushita and Soichiro Honda, respectively. But perhaps they are exceptional.
Speaking from my experience of having served as president of a major oil company, I think the problem lies in the way the Japan Sumo Association is seemingly insensitive to changes in society and young people.
A few days after the young wrestler died on June 26, authorities pointed out that he may have died of shock due to physical trauma. But the sumo association took no action until it received guidance from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology three months later. Its sense of crisis was virtually zero.
Quite a few sumo officials have leapt to the defense of the sumo association chairman, Kitanoumi. They liken the association to a shopping center and say stables are like individual stores that are run independently. Therefore, they claim, the chairman is as responsible as the president of a shopping center. This is not only nonsensical, it is unreasonable.
The Japan Sumo Association is a foundation under the jurisdiction of the education ministry. Its articles of association state that the chairman oversees the association's administrative affairs and represents it. It is obvious with whom final responsibility rests. It is questionable whether Kitanoumi will be able to win public understanding with a symbolic gesture of taking a voluntary pay cut.
The current scandal could decide the fate of the sumo association. The reason for this is that starting next year, public interest corporations will undergo drastic reform for the first time since the establishment of the civil law system in 1896.
Currently, Japan has nearly 25,000 judicial foundations and incorporated associations. Over a five-year period starting in 2008, they must choose between continuing their status as public interest corporations or changing to general corporations. Then they must submit applications and receive official authorization.
Essentially, public interest corporations aim to benefit the general public rather than seek profit-sharing among directors and members. For that reason, they are given preferential treatment such as tax breaks. Some people question whether the sumo association, which earns 12 billion yen a year, deserves to be called a public interest corporation.
If the association believes that an organization which cannot take remedial action can expect to renew its status as a public interest corporation, it is, in my view, overly optimistic.
The sumo world has a history of reform. In the past, it was not unusual for the association to be in arrears in payments of salaries, insurance benefits and retirement allowances for wrestlers. During the late 1950s and the 1960s, the association improved its accounting practices and built the system that it uses now.
If the association sits back and does nothing, professional sumo will surely go downhill as birthrates continue to decline.
Another problem seems to be that panels of outside intellectuals such as the governing council and the yokozuna deliberation council are not effectively functioning. It is time the association embarked on modernizing its operations again. It needs to separate its administrative and practical functions and introduce outside auditors.
Having practiced karate as a student, I have served as chairman of Japan Karate Association for the past 21 years. What sumo and karate have in common is that they are both forms of bare-headed, bare-handed and bare-footed martial arts, which have no division by weight. The bouts are one-game matches that use no point system. The way these two martial arts touch the outer edge of life and death in some senses is also similar. Their significance grows as the world becomes more peaceful.
Violence in the guise of "kawaigari," a term in sumo used to describe the practice of senior wrestlers toughening up newcomers to the stable, must not be tolerated. I strongly urge sumo officials to properly foster sumo, a traditional combat art unique to Japan, and hand it down to the next generation.
* * *
The author is a former member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan.(IHT/Asahi: October 22,2007)