Japan’s sumo wrestling
evolves to capture new blood, change impressions of scandal and brutality

TOKYO – Think of a sumo wrestler, and one would imagine a hulking giant clad in a loincloth.

Kenshin Nakamura, however, defies this stereotype at 163.5cm and 82.9kg.

But the 17-year-old rookie, who made his tournament debut in May 2023, is undeterred by his slight stature even as he aims to beef up to 100kg.

“I found it inspiring watching the small-sized Enho overcome far larger opponents,” he told The Straits Times, when asked how he got into the martial art.

Professional sumo wrestler Enho, 30, who made his debut in May 2017, is just 167cm tall and weighs 101.4kg.

Nakamura was so inspired by him that he joined professional sumo after completing his junior high studies in 2022.

He took the ring name Katsunishiki, which sounds like “victory” and “recognition”, and also pays tribute to his home town in Kakegawa, Shizuoka prefecture.

Height and weight obviously matter in a combat sport where rikishi (sumo wrestlers) win by either pushing their opponents out of the dohyo (ring), or have them touch the ground with any part of their body besides their feet.

But in David and Goliath matchups, it is possible for smaller wrestlers to outsmart and outmanoeuvre their bigger rivals with sheer technique, using their lower centre of gravity and better agility to their advantage.

Enho is a prime example, chalking up such a strong win record over 12 tournaments that he soared up the banzuke (rankings) to reach the top makuuchi division by May 2019.

In contrast, the heaviest rikishi on record – the 190cm-tall Orora, who tipped the scales at 292.6kg – peaked at the third-highest makushita division. He retired in September 2018.

Sumo, Japan’s national sport steeped in millennia of ritualistic tradition, has its first known mention in a manuscript dating back to the year 712.

Interest is also spiking: 2024 marks the first time in 28 years that tickets for all 90 days of competition across the six official tournaments were sold out.

But the sport is wrestling with a decline in athlete numbers, while scandals have cropped up time and again. Is sumo at risk of dying out?

Sumo has its roots in Shinto rituals and was performed to pray for bountiful harvests. But with its dwindling intake and high attrition rates, it is facing a famine of new rikishi. Media outlets have described the sport as being “in a crisis”.

There are generally two ways to become a rikishi: being directly scouted by an oyakata (stablemaster), or being proactive and contacting one of 45 sumo stables nationally.

Just 27 recruits joined professional sumo in March 2024 – the lowest number for the month since 1973. Most rookies enter in March, when the school year ends.

Sumo’s reputation for harsh regimens and brutality in some stables, coupled with less lucrative pay compared with other professions, are driving this decline.

Nowhere are the recruitment challenges more acutely felt than in Katsunishiki’s stable – Nishikido-beya in Tokyo’s Ryogoku district – which, with just four rikishi, is the smallest sumo stable. It had more than 10 wrestlers at its peak about seven or eight years ago.

Its founder, sumo elder Nishikido Masayuki, 62, said many of the rikishi under his tutelage quit the sport over the years for inevitable reasons such as injury or having other life goals.

“Everyone has the right to a new phase of life, and it’s important to promote an environment for those who, having given their all without getting the desired result, feel free to move on,” he said. A rikishi can call it quits at any time, but can never return or transfer to another stable.

A period of ill health also meant Nishikido could not actively scout for new talent.

“Juniors in amateur sumo would typically follow their seniors and hence we are not necessarily the first choice,” he said, alluding to the vicious circle caused by having few rikishi in his stable.

The largest stable now is Isegahama-beya in Tokyo’s Kinshicho district, which has 35 wrestlers under its wing after taking in those from another stable that had closed because of a scandal.

Nishikido, who practised judo in school before entering the sumo world, said he is looking for talent in other sports such as judo and wrestling.

School sumo clubs would ideally be a pipeline of new rikishi, but they are also seeing membership plummet; in junior high clubs, the membership figures fell from 1,484 in 2003 to just 655 in 2023.

Experts argue, however, that this trend is not unique to sumo – given Japan’s drastic fall in births, there are simply fewer youths to go around – and that the sport is not “in crisis” as the quality of the best wrestlers has not declined.

To cast the net wider amid dwindling enrolment, the Japan Sumo Association (JSA), which governs professional sumo, has relaxed its rules so that more petite wrestlers will be able to leave their mark.

In 2023, it abolished minimum height and weight requirements to allow physically fit individuals under 167cm – like Katsunishiki – and 67kg to join professional sumo. These requirements had already been relaxed once, in 2001, from the previous 173cm and 75kg.

In September 2024, JSA raised the recruitment age limit from 23 to 25. Previously, only those with amateur sumo experience were allowed entry up to the age of 25.

In a stable, the rikishi live and train under a strict daily regimen of physical conditioning, practice matches and chores.

Rookies start competing in tournaments almost immediately, giving them tournament experience as they work their way up the banzuke from the lower divisions.

These male-only professional tournaments are held six times a year in odd-numbered months, with rikishi competing within their division.

There were 599 rikishi competing in the January 2024 tournament, the first time since May 1979 that the number dropped below 600. In the ongoing November tournament in Fukuoka, which runs from Nov 10 to 24, there are only 584 rikishi on the banzuke.

These figures are far below the July 1993 record of 943 rikishi, back in sumo’s heady days. Back then, a shot at fame, fortune and status drove some young men to desperate extremes in their quest to join sumo.

In 1994, an aspiring rikishi who failed to meet the height limit resorted to getting multiple silicon implants to add 15cm to his scalp, resulting in a massive bulge on his head. He was accepted.

Other hopefuls have also reportedly downed litres of water before they step on the scales, just to meet weight requirements.

By the time Katsunishiki joined Nishikido-beya, he did not need to jump through such hoops.

A sumo stable, from the outside, looks like any nondescript Japanese building, although it is identified by a signboard. It has the usual fittings of a dormitory – including a kitchen and a living and dining area – with some key differences. There is, for one thing, a training area that includes a dohyo with clay and dirt floors.

Only wrestlers ranked in the top two divisions are entitled to their own private rooms; everyone else sleeps on futon mattresses on tatami floors in a communal room.

Katsunishiki is one of three juniors in the stable. They undergo extremely harsh regimental training to hone their upper and lower body strength, and to bulk up.

The morning routine, overseen by the oyakata, includes three basic exercises: 500 repetitions of shiko (foot stamping), suriashi (foot sliding) and teppo (slapping), before the wrestlers duel one-on-one.

Coated in sweat and dirt after training, the rikishi shower before a meal of chankonabe, a stew that comprises meat and vegetables.

They then take an afternoon siesta on a full stomach for at least three hours.

Nishikido-beya was founded by Nishikido in 2002 after he retired from wrestling in September 2000.

He fought under the ring name Mitoizumi. Standing 194cm tall and weighing over 200kg, he had risen to become a sekiwake, the third-highest of five ranks within the top makuuchi division.

His record: 807 wins in 136 tournaments over 22 years, and 766 losses.

Only the top-ranked wrestlers command high salaries

“I could not reach yokozuna (the highest rank) or ozeki (second-highest), but my dream is to train a wrestler who would surpass me and accomplish what I could not achieve myself,” he said, explaining why he decided to open his own stable.

Nishikido’s top disciple is Mitoryu, 30, a Mongolian who turned professional in 2017 after having been the first foreigner captain of the Nihon University amateur sumo club.

Sumo’s ranking system comprises six divisions. Wrestlers ranked in the top two divisions – makuuchi and juryo – are called sekitori, with just 42 and 28 rikishi in each division, respectively.

As a sekitori, Mitoryu enjoys perks such as a monthly salary, a private room and the right to be waited on by junior wrestlers.

He usually takes his juniors out on their rest days. Katsunishiki recounted how the juniors, testament to their voracious appetites, recently each polished off tempura, tonkatsu, sushi and a hamburg steak in one night.

Also in the stable is 20-year-old Fujiizumi, a former amateur sumo wrestler who quipped that his conveyor belt sushi record is 89 plates in one sitting.

The fourth and newest wrestler is 19-year-old Nishikio, who is currently out of action because of injury.

Outside of training, the rikishi have the freedom to enjoy their own pursuits – watching Netflix and singing karaoke are among their favourite pastimes.

The rikishi dress casually when out in the neighbourhood – think T-shirts and shorts. They must don the traditional kimono when travelling long distances, such as when they return home to visit family.

Also in every stable are a gyoji (referee), yobidashi (ring announcer) and tokoyama (hairdresser), who look after administrative matters and the well-being of the wrestlers.

There was plenty of light banter during ST’s recent visit to Nishikido-beya, with Katsunishiki even breaking into a rendition of the Miyuki Nakajima classic Ito (1992) after being egged on by gyoji Kimura Kintaro, 26.

The referee has already chalked up 11 years of experience – the JSA’s rules allow them to start serving from the age of 15 – deciding sumo matches and hand-writing the banzuke (below), a task for the sharp-eyed, as the text for those in lower ranks is squeezed into 2mm margins. He also handles administrative tasks such as transport arrangements.

The stable’s ring announcer, Tsurutaro, 30, was born into a sumo family: His father was a wrestler, as were three of his brothers, one of whom had also joined the Nishikido-beya but has since retired.

Besides announcing match pairings, he is responsible for building the dohyo from scratch in every tournament, and helping out with errands around the stable.

Tokonaka, the hairdresser, is already 64 and will retire in 2025 after 47 years of slicking rikishi’s hair into lacquered chonmage topknots.

It is such a niche role, he said, that there is only one manufacturer of the pomade that is used, while a comb for the chonmage can cost as much as 40,000 yen (S$350).

While it was interest that led him to his lifelong specialisation, he admitted: “I knew nothing about sumo at all when I joined – I did not even have experience touching someone else’s hair.

“But now that I’m on the verge of retirement, it feels very bittersweet.”

Tokonaka said he was proud to have followed the careers of young rikishi as they advanced up the banzuke.

But sumo is also a cut-throat sport, and the rikishi move up and down the rankings based on their tournament records.

Enho fell as quickly as he surged up the ranks, after a spinal injury in May 2023 left him temporarily bedridden and unable to compete for six straight tournaments.

By his comeback in July 2024, he had plunged from the top makuuchi division all the way to the bottom jonokuchi division. But he told public broadcaster NHK: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without sumo. I have a long way to go, but I love sumo and I want to devote my all to it.”

His strong win record since has led to successive promotions to the fourth-highest sandanme division for the November tournament.

Katsunishiki, meanwhile, is competing in the lowest jonokuchi division.

Sumo is extremely hierarchical and only the 70 sekitori are on the JSA’s payroll, while other rikishi get a basic allowance from the stablemasters.

A wrestler in the second-highest juryo division can earn 13.2 million yen (S$114,430) annually, excluding bonuses. But one tier down, a wrestler in the third-highest makushita division gets only 990,000 yen (S$8,600) a year.

The harsh reality, however, is that only the creme de la creme will make it to – let alone stay in – the top two divisions in a pay structure that is unfeasible for those who are unable to climb up the banzuke.

Many of them end up in professions outside sumo, like Tsurutaro’s brother, while some leverage their experience to become amateur sumo coaches.

Yet others end up in the entertainment or service industries by taking up acting gigs or opening sumo-themed restaurants.

The Netflix drama Sanctuary (2023) depicted scenes that have long been assumed to be common in sumo stables, which are notorious for the systemic hazing of young recruits to toughen them up.

But many of the actions portrayed, such as physical beatings that draw blood from the victim, would not be acceptable today, as the JSA takes an uncompromising stance against bullying and violence.

Yet, the institutionalised violence means controversy still erupts from time to time.

The esteemed Hakuho, as the stablemaster Miyagino, was demoted as an elder and his stable was closed in February 2024 after he turned a blind eye to assaults meted out by his 23-year-old protege Hokuseiho to other junior rikishi.

Hokuseiho had allegedly punched them in the face, back and groin. He also smacked them with the mawashi (sumo belt), burnt them by igniting insecticide spray near their skin, and applied superglue to their fingers.

This was but the latest series of incidents in a troubling pattern of abuse in the sport.

In July 2020, stablemaster Nakagawa lost his stable after he repeatedly abused his disciples physically and verbally, even threatening to kill them.

In November 2017, the Mongolian yokozuna Harumafuji was forced to retire after assaulting junior wrestler Takanoiwa with a remote control at a karaoke bar.

Takanoiwa reportedly “sustained a concussion, a laceration on the left-frontal region of the head, right ear canal inflammation, a basilar skull fracture and suspected spinal fluid leakage”. The victim would, ironically, become an assailant himself a year later when he struck and injured a junior.

All this went on despite the shock that people felt in 2007 when a 17-year-old rikishi died in training after he was beaten with a beer bottle and metal baseball bat. His stablemaster was jailed for six years.

These incidents, coupled with sumo’s sporadic association with drugs, match-fixing and links to organised crime and illegal gambling, may well cause parents to think twice about entrusting their children to sumo.

One solution that has been mooted to fix sumo’s recruitment woes is to accept more foreigners.

Each stable is allowed one foreign rikishi.

“Stables will recruit (foreign) rikishi who are very talented and can rise very quickly, given that they have only one spot,” former amateur sumo wrestler turned sumo commentator John Gunning, 51, told ST.

There are 26 foreign wrestlers competing in the November tournament: 20 from Mongolia, two from Ukraine, and one each from Kazakhstan, Russia, China and the Philippines.

Fifteen of them are sekitori, including the only active yokozuna: Terunofuji, from Mongolia.

Those who reach the ultimate yokozuna rank – there have been just 73 in history – cannot be demoted, although they may be forced to retire in case of scandal or a string of defeats.

Hawaii-born Akebono became the first foreign yokozuna in 1993. Of the 10 yokozuna named since, seven were foreigners. (Akebono died of heart failure in April 2024.)

Even the rikishi considered the greatest of all time, Hakuho, is a Mongolian. He holds the record as the longest-reigning yokozuna from 2007 to 2021, when he retired voluntarily with a record 45 career tournament wins.

Would more foreign wrestlers stem or even reverse the decline in sumo’s numbers?

Mr Gunning said widening the pool this way could dilute the cultural appeal of sumo. “If the entire top division is populated by foreigners, it might mean a better talent pool but will create other problems,” he said.

“People want to rally behind their home-grown heroes.”

Dogged by the decline in new recruits and the sport’s notorious brutality, sumo is ostensibly at a crossroads.

With the JSA approaching its 100th anniversary in 2025, this could be a moment of reckoning for sumo’s future direction.

Professor Emeritus Lee Thompson, an expert in sport history at Waseda University, noted that sumo, like many other historic sports, has evolved over the centuries.

He noted how the gyoji’s attire, which resembles that of a Shinto priest, and even the official recognition of the yokozuna rank, are both relatively “modern” traditions that date back to 1909 – or “invented traditions”.

It may once have been unthinkable to have foreign sumo wrestlers, but the sport welcomed its first foreign wrestler – a US-born Japanese-American – in 1934.

And women were not even allowed to watch sumo bouts in the Edo period (1603 to 1868). But rather than adhering blindly to that tradition, the JSA has allowed women spectators to attend sumo matches.

The challenge now for the JSA is to decide what aspects are vital and should stay, and what parts can be modernised, Dr Thompson said.

Professional sumo has lasted for millennia in its current form, with the JSA declaring the dohyo a “sacred battlefield and training ground for wrestlers, where their masculinity shines”.

So entrenched is this notion that the association has refused to budge over allowing women leaders to award trophies on the dohyo.

And when a male mayor collapsed on the dohyo while giving a speech in 2018, several women in the audience, including nurses, who rushed into the ring to administer cardiac massage were told off. Their quick actions were later credited for saving his life.

But Dr Thompson is of the view that the JSA was not being intentionally discriminatory but was, instead, seeing things through the lens of Japan’s patriarchal past.

“In Japan’s history, women were not in those positions, so they could not get into the ring,” he said. “There will be a female prime minister sooner or later – is the JSA going to bar her from awarding the Prime Minister’s Cup?”

In amateur sumo, in contrast, there are women’s categories, as well as weight classes and junior divisions, removing the ceremonial rituals and focusing more on the physicality of the sport.

Amateur sumo comes under the umbrella of the Japan Sumo Federation, which oversees school and hobbyist clubs and is part of the International Sumo Federation that wants sumo to be recognised as an Olympic sport.

There are other reforms, especially over athlete welfare, that could bring sumo in line with the modern era.

Mr Gunning advocates that stablemasters tap data-driven sport science to promote better lifestyles and nutrition and, in turn, performance.

Doing so would help sumo wrestlers become healthier and improve the sport’s image, he said.

This is an urgent task, given that many rikishi are known to suffer from later-life problems such as diabetes and hypertension that result in a far lower life expectancy of about 65 years, compared with the 81.1 years on average for a Japanese man.

Also, just as Enho had inspired Katsunishiki, an upswell of young talent could generate the excitement needed to attract a new generation of rookies, said Nishikido, the stablemaster.

Onosato, a 24-year-old Japanese who debuted in May 2023, has made waves by setting sumo’s fastest rise to become an ozeki, while Takerufuji, a 25-year-old Japanese, entered the annals of sumo history in 2024 by becoming the first to land the Emperor’s Cup in his debut makuuchi tournament in 110 years.

Their success has driven a spike in public interest, alongside efforts by some stables to grow a fanbase through a social media presence.

“Our urgent mission must be to ensure that this rich heritage can be preserved, and its baton passed on to the next generation,” said Nishikido. “Winning over more fans would be the first step.”