Ex-Yakuza VTuber Taro Jogyo Talks about the Surprising Relationship between Gokudo and Sumo
With the success of the Netflix-exclusive drama series “Sanctuary,” sumo is becoming popular even among young people who had little interest in the sport.
In the film, various people related to sumo appear, such as the “tanimachi” and sumo journalists, but the “yakuza,” who were once inseparable from sumo, do not appear.
The relationship between yakuza and sumo, which did not appear in the work but had a deep relationship, is discussed by a virtual youtuber (VTuber) named “Jogyo Taro,” which refers to a person who has been in prison many times and is himself a former yakuza, about the relationship between yakuza and sumo in the Showa period. He talks about the relationship between yakuza and sumo in the Showa period.
In the Showa period, it was considered good luck to take a sumo wrestler along, so it was a kind of status for yakuza to walk around with a sumo wrestler. I was a low-ranking member at the time, but I remember my boss talking about sumo wrestlers a lot.
Because of this, the bosses of the various groups gave money to the wrestlers in the form of tanimachi, or “tanimachi,” and had their henchmen take care of the wrestlers’ personal belongings.
However, they did not just give money to the wrestlers, but also collected it, which was probably the difference from other tanimachi or sponsoring groups.
Many sumo wrestlers liked to gamble and often took part in betting events, such as baseball games held by the yakuza. They were well paid, so their bets sometimes amounted to several million yen. Some of them were even excommunicated from the stable because they could no longer pay their bills.
The most famous episode in the relationship between yakuza and sumo is the “Sunakaburi seat,” which is located near the ring and is often shown during broadcasts of sumo matches.
The “Sunakaburi seat” is located close to the ring and is often shown when the Grand Sumo is broadcast. In order to show my face to the gang members who were in prison, I would sit in the “Sunakaburi” seats by getting tickets from companies and organizations that took them on an annual basis.
The Sunakaburi seats were used by yakuza bosses to show their faces to their gang members, but to use the Sunakaburi seats, one had to be of a certain rank in the gang, he said.
If you were in the third or fourth tier, you couldn’t sit in the sunakaburi seat because the higher ranks would tell you not to do it,” he said. The yakuza sitting there are the very biggest names in the yakuza world.”
Such a relationship has now completely disappeared due to stricter controls on the yakuza. If you look at footage of sumo wrestling in the Showa period, you may possibly see the faces of super big-name yakuza.
