Harumafuji questioned by sumo association panel; admits assault

However, the yokozuna denied allegations that he struck No. 8 ranked maegashira Takanoiwa in the head with a beer bottle, saying he hit him with his bare hands, according to the sources.

Hitting with bare hands has made Takanoiwa to stay in the Hospital for 4 days. If he hit with Beer bottle on the head of Takanoiwa and then that will make Takanoiwa stay in Hospital for life.

Does Takanoiwa's injury need to stitches?

Takanohana is known for his an unconforming nature. He will be snubbed by all of the association.

Im not so sure. I see this as a bold slap to the chairman of the association. His authority has taken a major hit and any signs of waning power will bring further chaos.

The extent to which Harumafuji is punished will be the measure to gauge the power between the two rivals.

He spoke in a matter-of-fact tone in line with what had happened. We listened to him faithfully,

How does this executive know that Harumafuji spoke "in line with what happened"? And what does "listen faithfully" in this context mean? Can one listen unfaithfully?

Yes, the widespread match-fixing pretty much ruined the sport. All that remains is frequent revelations of abuse. A pity that sumo has fallen thusly.

i lost interest after widespread match fixing. then assauts. should be a matter for police.

@Sam...thanks....yes it is less stressful but it is difficult at times. Better to worry about what we can control and not worry so much about what we cannot control but know enough to be able to react to changing events accordingly.

The world certainly gets much more interesting as time goes on.

Tokyo-Engr you are right about the panem et circenses theory,but may be it is less stressful to keep your third eye closed.

Yeah... forget about the law being broken being handled by the police. Let these gods among men "deal" with it. It's just like when they murdered the kid a few years back. There was an in-house investigation and next to nothing was done. Money scandals? Nothing. Time to stop pretending this whole sport is anything but a sham.

So he'll get the boot, and now Kisenosato, who was promoted too quickly to Yokozuna, is getting his clock cleaned this tournament so he'll have to bow out permanently if he loses two tournaments in a row with low scores, and Hakuho will prob retire soon so we'll be back to having no Yokozuna again in no time.

So if he holds a press conference, bows deeply and says he is really sorry will all be forgotten?

All have serious personal problems in life which press and depress us daily - probably until our deaths. People want a break from own problems 

Schopenhauer - true and we all need distractions, but it shouldn't be the job of the news to distract people.

This seems like Much Ado About Nothing. I'm beginning to wonder if this is all just a ploy to either introduce new champions, mess with the betting odds, or some other nefarious reason.

Horrors, if this madness isn't nipped in the bud, there is the risk that grown men wearing thong-like garments will start pummeling each other on public television programs.

But seriously, the fact that most of the wrestlers present at the party aren't going to be interviewed until the conclusion of the current tourney tells you how much of a tempest in a teacup this is. And even if Harumafuji has to retire, he's had a good career with nine titles and should be well set up to move into another line of work.

@Schopenhauer - that is an interesting point of view. I stand by my "bread and circuses" comment but certainly respect and admire your honesty and candor.

All have serious personal problems in life which press and depress us daily - probably until our deaths. People want a break from own problems which are petulant and not easily solved. Media introduce problems of other people to readers and watchers. We observe them lightheartedly and state opinions nonchalantly.

This was the headline on NHK news for a couple of days last week and was prominent again last night here in Japan.

My opinion is there are much more pressing problems in Japan than one guy whacking another guy over the head. It is similar to my home country, the U.S., bread and circuses are offered up hoping the populace will keep their heads turned the other way while the rich and politicians have their hands deep in the piggy bank doing their best to empty the coffers, right down to the last 500 Yen coin

Takanohana and the chairman of the sumo association Rokkaku are rivals. They contended in the last election and Takanohana lost to Rokkaku. The incident was used politically by Takanohana - reporting it to police before reporting to the association. This embarrassed the association a lot. Takanohana is known for his an unconforming nature. He will be snubbed by all of the association.

another cover up to save the beloved sports.

Harumafuji AND Hakuho say that no one was hit with a beer bottle. The doctor who diagnosed Takanoiwa with head injury "including a suspected fracture at the base of his skull and a cerebrospinal fluid liquid leak" has stated that the injury was old and not necessarily connected to this incident. So who reported this "Hit with a Beer Bottle" thing? Has Takanoiwa been questioned yet? Has Takanohana explained why he lied to the JSA about not having heard anything about this incident when he has reported it to police several days earlier? The "crisis" here is not the actual incident, but the surrounding contradiction and confusion as to the facts.

Kagamiyama, head of the JSA's crisis management department,

This just makes me want to laugh. a sporting association that needs a "crisis management department" what does that tell everyone about the sport?

What Haruma did was nothing that hasn't been done before, and according to all the sources that were present and even the owners of the place where it happened, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and no one was "hurt".

Takanohana has a lot of explaining to do!