Hakuho vows to grow sumo globally after exiting local sports body
The impetus for the decision, Hakuho said, was the failure of the JSA to provide a clear timeline about the restoration of Miyagino stable, which was shut down in late March 2024 amid a bullying scandal involving one of its wrestlers.
'April marked a full year after the stable shut down, but there was no specific date (on when the stable will resume) which was a big reason for me to quit,' said Hakuho, who returned to Japan from Mongolia, his home country, on Saturday.
In a statement last week , the JSA said there had been discussions with Hakuho and other board members about restoring the stable after the next November Basho, trying to persuade him to stay on but without success.
Isegahama oyakata, better known as former yokozuna Asahifuji, was quoted as saying in the statement that Hakuho seemed to be 'less passionate' in training junior wrestlers, apparently because his mind was elsewhere, with him considering his resignation.
'I had wavered, and it may have shown in my words and actions since March,' Hakuho said.
The Miyagino stable shut down after one of its wrestlers, Hokuseiho, was found to have been regularly beating two junior wrestlers in the stable. In February 2024, Hakuho was demoted two ranks and received a pay cut for failing to prevent the abuse.
When Miyagino stable was closed, its wrestlers joined Isegahama stable with the hope that the JSA would restore their original home in the future.
Media reports said the Isegahama stable's decision to allow former yokozuna Terunofuji, Hakuho's junior, to become its oyakata was the final nail in the coffin for the former sumo great.
Hakuho denied those reports, saying, 'I have no bad feelings about being under Terunofuji.'
Hakuho also received proposals for him and his wrestlers to join Asakayama stable during the last phase of the Summer Basho, which ran for two weeks through May 25, but nothing was certain, he said.
The JSA's rigid rules, such as allowing only one foreign sumo wrestler per stable, also led Hakuho to seek a different, more flexible platform to spread sumo around the world.
'There are many young sumo wrestlers (overseas) who want to join stables in Japan,' he said. 'I want to support them.'
What Hakuho has in mind is to host international amateur sumo matches based on his experience of hosting the Hakuho Cup for junior wrestlers for the past 15 years.
'An annual international sumo match has wrestlers from around 25 to 30 countries participating,' he said. 'There are also yokozuna in 150 countries. So there's already a base.
'I will do my best to develop sumo from outside of the JSA,' Hakuho said.
The project has already attracted at least one prospective major sponsor — Toyota, with Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda expressing interest, he said. Details of the plan will be revealed at a later date.
Born as Davaajargal Monkhbatyn, Hakuho became the 69th yokozuna in 2007 at the age of 22. He became a naturalized citizen of Japan in 2019 and retired as a wrestler in 2021 .
'The past 25 years were years I've loved sumo and have been loved by sumo,' he said. 'I have no regrets.'
But in his last words before he wrapped up the news conference, Hakuho appeared to show a painful reluctance to leave the young wrestlers he took under his wing.
'I wanted to see my wrestlers become yokozuna and ōzeki,' he said. 'I'll cheer them on from outside once Miyagino stable resumes.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
19 hours ago
- Japan Times
A seaside hotel built on competitive Japanese cycling
Despite a persistent rain off the Seto Inland Sea in early June, nine keirin bikers in brightly colored Lycra are lining up on a track in the coastal town of Tamano, their rear wheels held in a starting block so they're ready to take off as soon as the pistol fires. With the course banked to 30 degrees in places to accommodate speeds approaching 70 kilometers per hour, a wet track seems like a risky prospect. 'Nothing short of a major typhoon will make them cancel a race,' says Eiji Kosaka, reception manager of Keirin Hotel 10 . Opened in 2022, the hotel was the first in Japan to be integrated into a sports stadium — in this case, the Tamano Keirin velodrome. Most of its rooms look directly over the track, allowing guests to watch races from the comfort of a private balcony. I've come to get an up-close taste of keirin, a competitive biking discipline that started in Kyushu in 1948 to boost the postwar economy and has risen to the ranks of Olympic competition. In keirin's lapped races, cyclists initially follow a pacer, using the slipstream to get up to breakneck speeds. They remain in a predetermined order until the final laps, when the pacer exits and the racers sprint for the finish line, jostling for position. Japanese-style competitive cycling is just one of a few examples of legalized sports betting in the country. | ONKO CHISHIN I've heard the Japanese version can get fairly rough and tumble, with headbutting, thrown elbows and no brakes to soften collisions. To my relief, the soggy race I'm watching never gets ugly. The riders just zip over the line, trailing fantails of water and coasting amiably back to the locker rooms. Perhaps because of the rain, there are only a handful of spectators, so I've no crowd reaction to gauge the result. Was it the outcome expected or an upset? I'm not sure, but since punters can place bets at a track or off-site facility, by phone and even online, I know somebody somewhere is ripping up a betting slip in frustration. Keirin is big business. Alongside motorcycle, boat and horse racing, it is one of only four sports with legalized gambling in Japan. Races take place nearly every day at 43 velodromes across the country, and in fiscal 2024, the Japan Keirin Association reported over ¥1.3 trillion in betting slip turnover. Rooms at Keirin Hotel 10 offers views of both the velodrome track below and the Seto Inland Sea beyond. | ONKO CHISHIN The historic Tamano velodrome, which was established in 1951, has been there throughout most of keirin's rise to popularity. When the operators decided to renovate in 2020, they wanted to preserve the track's 70-year history while getting more use out of the facility. They settled on the idea of a hotel. 'Typically, keirin venues have athlete accommodation facilities, but these are only used during races — just a few dozen days per year,' says Tomoki Matsuyama, CEO of Keirin Hotel 10 operator Onko Chishin. 'The project team thought: 'Why not transform it into a hotel and open it to the general public?' 'We're introducing the appeal of keirin culture not only to traditional fans but also to people who know nothing about keirin, younger generations and international visitors.' The erstwhile athlete dormitory was converted into Keirin Hotel 10, an eight-floor, 149-room hotel that opened in 2022. The facilities include a restaurant, Japanese-style bath, event spaces and even a small gallery with a keirin exhibit. The athletes still stay here on race days but on floors sequestered from regular guests. Races at the Tamano Velodrome take place a few dozen days per year. | ONKO CHISHIN The DNA of the historic stadium is alive in the hotel's decor, with salvaged seats turned into rocking chairs, lap timers into colorful objets d'art and even parts of the stadium mascot, Guts Tamachan, repurposed as art in the lobby bathroom. Bike frames become chandeliers and flower vases. Hangers are halved tire rims. The bold color scheme comes from the racers' uniforms. It's a kitschy-fun immersion in the world of keirin and a ready-made chance for the cycling-loving staff to connect with guests by explaining the finer points of the sport to the uninitiated. With a location near Uno Port and rental bikes that can be taken on the ferry, the hotel makes for a convenient base for exploring Naoshima and the art islands of the Seto Inland Sea on two wheels. Meanwhile, a range of rooms from suites with semi-open-air baths and spacious balconies (¥48,450 per person per night) to budget-priced singles (¥8,580 per night) accommodates most budgets.
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Record-setting Armand Duplantis expects 'super-sick' worlds in Tokyo
Record-breaking Armand "Mondo" Duplantis has predicted a "super-sick" world championships in Tokyo, where he won his first Olympic medal at the Summer Games that were delayed to 2021 due to COVID-19, but insisted statistics were unimportant to him. The U.S.-born Swede has been in electric form, setting a 13th world record of 6.29 meters in Budapest on Tuesday to further seal his claim as one of the best track and field athletes in history. But Duplantis shies away from the bravado often shown by sprinters, reiterating that he is not bothered by the numbers game.
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Recent deaths of Japanese boxers underline importance of emergency action plans
Boxing, a sport many see as too dangerous, is once again grappling with questions of safety and protocol after two Japanese boxers in their 20s died within a day of each other from fatal brain injuries suffered during separate fights on the same night. Shigetoshi Kotari died on Aug. 8 and Hiromasa Urakawa on Aug. 9 after competing in different fights on the same card at Tokyo's iconic Korakuen Hall on Aug. 2. Both boxers underwent surgery for subdural hematomas — a condition in which blood collects between the skull and the brain. Kotari lost consciousness in his dressing room after going 12 rounds against Yamato Hata in a bout for the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super featherweight title that ended in a draw. Urakawa, a lightweight who appeared on the undercard in an 8-rounder against Yoji Saito, collapsed in the ring after a technical knockout loss in the final round. Four Japanese pro boxers, including Kotari and Urakawa, have undergone craniotomies in the past two years, with three of the cases resulting in death. In February 2024, Kazuki Anaguchi died after sustaining a brain injury in a December fight. The only survivor, former International Boxing Federation minimumweight champion Ginjiro Shigeoka, remains in a coma following his May 24 bout with Pedro Taduran. Serious injuries and deaths in the ring are called ringuka (literally, ring crisis) in Japanese. Since the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) was established in 1952, about 40 boxers have died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the ring, according to the Asahi Shimbun. Though boxing fatalities are statistically rare, they highlight the inherent risks of the sport. Shunji Asamoto, a neurosurgeon and a doctor with the JBC since 2018, says that most boxing deaths occur after a single powerful punch to the head or a series of punches in quick succession, rather than repeated blows over a long period of time, which is linked to impaired brain function or chronic neurological issues. 'Acute subdural hematoma is the most common cause of boxing fatalities and unfortunately, there is no way for a boxer to have zero risk of acute subdural hematoma,' Asamoto said. 'Due to the nature of the sport, blows to the head are unavoidable, and these can potentially cause acute subdural hematoma. While CT scans and MRIs are useful for assessing brain health, they don't reliably predict the possibility of an acute subdural hematoma developing in the future.' Kotari and Urakawa's deaths made headlines around the world, with major media outlets such as CNN and BBC reporting on Japanese boxing's double tragedy. The World Boxing Organization was among those who paid tribute to the late boxers on social media. Brian Sutterer, a U.S.-based physiatrist and YouTuber with 826,000 subscribers, provided his perspective on how to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future in a video released on Monday. In the video, Sutterer reads the English translation of an X post by Kotari's older brother. The brother questioned the venue's emergency protocol, which he said instructs the on-site doctor to first notify a venue staff member, who then contacts 119. He also expressed anger over what he said was a long wait for an ambulance (which he claimed was a little over 40 minutes) and that his brother had to be carried down five flights of stairs because the stretcher wouldn't fit in the elevator. 'So it sounds, at least from reading his brother's presentation of what happened here, that the way to look for improvements in this unfortunate case is that emergency action plan,' Sutterer said. 'It's 'what can we do to improve how quickly emergency personnel can get to the venue?'' JBC Secretary-General Tsuyoshi Yasukochi told reporters on Sunday he believes there were no errors in the way the medical emergency was handled. 'However, we must investigate whether we truly did everything possible,' he added. 'Additionally, we are researching the medical response measures implemented by commissions in places like Nevada and New York. If there are elements that can be introduced in Japan, we would like to adopt them proactively.' In response, the JBC announced all future OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific title fights in Japan will be reduced from 12 to 10 rounds. Some boxers take various measures to shed excess grams — especially right before weigh-ins — in order to make weight ahead of fights. This rapid weight loss can lead to dehydration, which the World Boxing Association says makes the brain more susceptible to bleeding. Japanese boxing officials said they would introduce urine tests to measure hydration, enforce stricter rules on weight loss to prevent dehydration and improve medical coverage at bouts following the deaths of the two fighters last week. Under the new rules, ambulances will also be required on site, even for non-world championship bouts — already a requirement of the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports, which governs U.S. boxing commissions. They will partner with hospitals that are equipped to perform emergency surgery for head and other injuries. Asamoto, who has served as a ringside physician 'too many times to count,' thinks simply having an ambulance on standby isn't enough. He, like Sutterer, says an emergency action plan (EAP) must be priority No. 1 in boxing. 'An EAP is a preestablished sequence of actions, covering everything from initial ringside response when a fighter is in critical condition, to transportation by ambulance and the start of specialized treatment at the receiving hospital,' he said. 'Without this plan, crucial decisions — such as which hospital to contact, how to contact them and who will accompany the patient — can be delayed in an emergency. In cases of acute subdural hematoma, emergency surgery is highly likely to be required. To increase a fighter's chances of survival, it's critical to minimize wasted time at every stage.' But Asamoto admits that, generally speaking, the primary challenge in an emergency in Japan is not getting an ambulance to the scene, but finding a hospital that can accept the patient. This is due to factors such as hospital capacity, bed availability and specialized treatment needs, which can lead to delays in providing necessary care. 'Hospitals treat a wide variety of patients,' he said. 'Therefore, it is practically impossible for a hospital to refuse other emergency cases or to reserve an operating room solely for a boxing match — that is, to have an anesthesiologist, neurosurgeon and nursing staff on standby.' 'Finally, acute subdural hematoma is an extremely dangerous condition that is often difficult to treat successfully even with rapid intervention, and it carries a high risk of severe long-term complications. Among head injuries, acute subdural hematoma is considered one of the most serious and troublesome conditions.'
