Shozaru’s Lone Struggle: From Bullying Allegations to Doing His Own Shopping

The Reason Mongolian Wrestlers Naturally Dominate the Upper Rankings

“I no longer get taken along to drinking parties with patrons (tanimachi). In the past, attending these gatherings meant receiving gifts or pocket money from them, but now, that hardly ever happens. Before, when I ran errands to a convenience store, a sekitori would hand me 10,000 yen and say, ‘Keep the change,’ but that’s no longer the case.

As a makushita wrestler, the only income I receive is about 90,000 yen per tournament, which adds up to roughly 900,000 yen a year. While our shared living arrangements in the sumo stable cover our basic needs, we barely have any money for leisure. Opportunities to go out for meals have significantly decreased.”

I once overheard a sekitori talking to his stablemaster, saying, “Because of compliance rules, we can’t give strict guidance. I don’t even feel motivated to toughen up the younger wrestlers.”

“Since training is no longer as strict, I believe the quality of sumo among young wrestlers has declined. In recent years, it’s no surprise that foreign-born wrestlers, especially from Mongolia, dominate the upper rankings. They come to Japan with a strong hunger for success, whereas Japanese wrestlers are bound by strict compliance rules that make intense training more difficult.”

Balancing the elimination of harassment with the development of physically and mentally tough wrestlers—this is the major challenge facing the sumo world today.