Sumo: Despite unhappy exit, Hakuho's all-time great status remains
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Former yokozuna Hakuho's impending retirement from the Japan Sumo Association marks an inglorious exit from the sport, but the Mongolian-born wrestler's record inside the ring will remain a testament to his greatness.
The ruling body announced Monday that the winner of a record 45 elite-level championships will officially retire on June 9 following more than a year of uncertainty about the fate of the scandal-hit Miyagino stable that he oversaw as stablemaster.
It was closed indefinitely in April 2024 after Hakuho, now known in the sumo world as elder Miyagino, took responsibility for one of his proteges physically abusing younger wrestlers at the stable.
Hakuho, who debuted as a yokozuna at the 2007 Nagoya tournament, once expressed a wish to eventually see his championship milestone eclipsed by a younger generation, saying, "I hope someday, some children will come along who will surpass this record."
The 40-year-old's all-time records also include winning 1,187 professional bouts and 1,093 matches in the elite makuuchi division, the latter more than 100 greater than the total of the No. 2 in the rankings, former ozeki Kaiho.
Hakuho collected his 33rd Emperor's Cup at the January 2015 tournament, beating the 32 held by his idol Taiho, dubbed the "Great Yokozuna of the Showa Period."
"I may have surpassed him in terms of numbers, but I still don't know how Taiho feels," he said at a press conference after the tournament.
His achievements as a grand champion, required to continually achieve excellence or be forced into retirement, were exceptional, with his 84 tournaments, 1,019 bouts and 722 consecutive all yokozuna records.
Having retired from competition just four years ago, the all-time great's departure feels both premature and a missed opportunity to impart his wealth of knowledge to new generations of wrestlers.
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Straight off the bat, it's obvious that wrestlers who exerted total dominance over the opposition inside the ring often chafed at sumo's strict rules and norms throughout their careers, finding themselves chastised on multiple occasions. But official censure — or condemnation by the media — is easier to handle when you are top of the world and raking in trophies and prize money. It's a completely different situation when the limelight and all the perks are suddenly gone and you now find yourself on the lowest rung of a new hierarchy. For men such as Akebono, the Hanada brothers and Hakuho, sumo is all they knew from a young age. There were few, if any, opportunities to develop the kind of skills and mechanisms needed to cope with the emotional turmoil that comes from such a sudden shift. Every professional athlete undergoes something akin to grief when their career comes to an end, and the feeling of helplessness tends to be stronger the higher they soared when active. What sets sumo apart, and makes the adjustment even harder, is the rigid nature of life post-retirement. For those who acquire elder name stock and choose to remain with the JSA as coaches or stablemasters, there is still little freedom in how they choose to live their lives day to day. It's no surprise that bleached hair and tattoos are often the first step for former rikishi — especially those with 'rebellious' personalities — once they leave the JSA. Hakuho is the most decorated wrestler in the history of sumo by a significant margin. | John Gunning Imagine how tough it must be to join professional sumo at 15, fight and claw your way to the very top over the course of a decade or more, all while sacrificing the freedoms and experiences that people in their twenties normally enjoy, only to find yourself at the bottom of another 30-year-long ladder. Life is also very different in the 21st century than when yokozuna like Asahifuji, Onokuni and Hokutoumi retired in the early 1990s. Globalization and the internet have combined to lay out a whole range of tantalizing alternatives for well-off former star athletes. Of course, life as a stablemaster provides a certain amount of stability and can be a very comfortable existence that meets the needs of many ex-rikishi. For uber-high-profile men such as Takanohana or Hakuho, however, there are always other options and their willingness to stay and fight various battles within the framework of JSA structures can reach a breaking point. Regardless of who might have been right or wrong in each individual case, the result has been the same. Sumo's biggest names in recent history have chosen to follow paths outside of the sport. That's a problem, and one without easy answers that may require some innovative thinking to overcome. Despite the latest departure, the JSA will continue to survive and thrive, and the former yokozuna likewise may discover exciting new opportunities. That doesn't mean both sides wouldn't have been better off by finding a solution to outstanding issues, however, and it's hard to argue that sumo hasn't been lessened without its most decorated champion. Hakuho is gone, but for the sake of the sport's future, sumo should figure out a way to stem the tide of such high-profile departures.
