The congratulatory gift was several tens of millions of yen…? Former yokozuna Hakuho and President Akio Toyoda’s “secret honeymoon relationship” after the haircut ceremony.

The Spring Grand Sumo Tournament was held in Osaka, where cheers returned for the first time in three years. Ozeki Takaketsugu, the ozeki who will be the main challenger, is the star of the show, while the one who is attracting attention is Miyagino Oyakata, the former yokozuna Hakuho, who will finally start in earnest as a master after his hair-cutting ceremony on January 28 at the “Hakuho Retirement Miyagino Succession Reveal Grand Sumo Tournament.

The retirement sumo match held in January was an unprecedented event, said to be a “400 million yen entertainment event. In a normal hair-breaking ceremony, the celebrities, patrons and acquaintances in order of precedence are those who are close to the wrestler, followed by relatives, fellow rikishi and friends. Next come family members, fellow rikishi, and the stablemaster, and finally, the master, who raised the wrestler, puts the scissors in the end.

In the case of Miyagino Oyakata, however, it was Toyota Motor Corp. president Akio Toyoda who took the scissors to the topknot before the master, who was the last to do so. After his apprentices, Flameho and Kitaoho, he stopped the proceedings and was introduced to the audience, saying, “This is the person Hakuho himself asked to put the scissors in the topknot before he put the stop scissors in,” which was unusual.

In the case of Miyagino Oyakata, the minimum was 100,000 yen. President Toyoda was second from last, and it was whispered that the congratulatory gift might not be more than a few tens of millions of yen.

The pamphlet advertisement for the retired sumo wrestler cost 10 million yen per page and, of course, featured an ad for a Toyota Crown. A Toyota commercial was also aired in a special program on TV Tokyo the following evening.

The relationship with the president of Japan’s top company seems surprising, but what connection do the two have?

Two years ago, former Sekiwake Kiutoriki said on his YouTube channel, “Hakuho has the rights to Runkuru in Mongolia. He has a general agency license. There are a lot of guys who don’t know this,” he revealed.

A former manager of former yokozuna Asashoryu, who was co-hosting the event, said, “When you buy a Lancel in Mongolia, you can only buy it from a company owned by Hakuho’s family. Asashoryu originally drove a Runkuru, but when Hakuho started running a Runkuru company, he switched to a Range Rover, saying, ‘I can’t drive a Runkuru,'” he continued.

A Runkuru is a Land Cruiser, a 4WD vehicle marketed by Toyota Motor Corporation. It is very popular in Mongolia, where many roads are unpaved and bumpy, and when a Toyota showroom and maintenance shop opened in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar in August 2004, Miyagino Oyakata, who was active at the time, was present for the ceremony.