Voices
in
Japan

have your say

Like any sport, sumo needs colorful characters to keep fans interested and to bring in new fans, but following Asashoryu's downfall, where should the line be drawn on what is and isn't acceptable beha

16 Comments

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

16 Comments
Login to comment

The line ought to be drawn with the JSA! Should a bunch of 70 and 80 year old fossils with their heads lodged in the Edo era have any sway over modern society? If you want to know what the Sumo-going public really thinks of the line and Asashoryu's place near it.. count the empty seats at the March honbasho in Osaka!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When Big daddy and Giant Haystacks left British wrestling it collapsed from a Saturday afternoon ITV treat to oblivion. The same will happen now to Sumo i predict. Anyway , it is all panto with results decided before the bouts by the beastly stable masters.

What these "athelets" do outside the ring is their business as long as it isn`t terribly beastly like rape or murder.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Would anyone ban Sharapova from tennis for driving drunk, or ban Ronaldo from soccer because of fight in a pub?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sumo should get rid of the old guys, you look like dorks.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

count the empty seats at the March honbasho in Osaka!

perhaps not, if one knows about 'paid' town meetings or the word 'sakura' !

Moderator: Readers, please stay on topic by answering the question asked.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Shows of emotion are quite common in college sumo, and that is pretty popular, isn't it!

In any case, there are two things that need to happen to make sumo more popular. 1st, show bouts in prime time. At the very least, the last weekend and especially senshuraku should be in prime time. Who in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, or Fukuoka is able to get to a stadium at 4-6 in the afternoon or watch it on TV. You are at work, in juku, or maybe on a train. 2nd, a Japanese rikishi needs to challenge to become a yokozuna. I have been following sumo on and off since 1998, and not one Japanese rikishi has even made a decent challenge for yokozuna. How much more popular is Wimbledon is in the UK when a someone like Andy Murray challenges for the championship. I am a big Musashimaru fan. I remember once cheering for Musashimaru, someone else cheered for Takanohana, and we kept getting louder until some guy said "ryoho gambate," and everyone had a good laugh .. and I also remember people walking out after a Takanohana bout before the Moose's big match, so I know it goes both ways. But, without a Japanese yokozuna, it just won't be as exciting.

Just by putting it on later at night in prime time would bring more excitement, bring in new fans, and perhaps get people more interested. Sumo needs to look at these kinds of structural problems, as opposed to hoping that people are watching sumo because they expect to see a train wreck to occur.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If sumo is a legitimate sport, allow wrestlers to move from stable to stable in certain instances. Every other sport allows player movement, whether it be in the form of a trade, or a free-agent signing, and so on. I can understand if Asashoryu's stable was unhappy with his public image, but I'd bet that another stable would have liked to have taken a chance on him and brought him into their stable to help their bottom line. The fact that tradition does not permit this means that sumo is not a legitimate sport; it's just another example of feudalism at work. Players in other sports have options if their team is unhappy with them; sumo wrestlers don't.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If they are on the streets they must behave and be treated as any citizen. If they are given a romper room provided by the JSA let them do whatever they want to there. I disagree sumo wrestlers need to be colorful. A yokozuna must win fairly, that is all.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

How about Hulk Hogan?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I disagree sumo wrestlers need to be colorful.

Exactly. Someone pushes another one out of the ring and wins. That's all sumo needs to be. Using this formula, it somehow worked for hundreds of years. I don't need the outside-the-ring asinine "drama" of drunkenness, fighting, bad language, and loud-mouthed arrogance to make a boring sport 'more interesting to put the fans in seats'. Asa belongs in the sideshow of pro wrestling, not dignified sumu.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So far as Sumo is THE sport of JAPAN,the players are representing The Japanese people and should act that way!Whats next,MONGOL-GEISHA??

0 ( +0 / -0 )

To those of those with the "Without Asa sumo will die" mentality, I have to remind you that there was sumo before him and there will be sumo from now. Go to any cemetery in the world. You'll find 'giants' in their fields like Henry Ford, Walk Disney, John Rockefeller, JFK, Marilyn Monroe (together again!), the founder of Honda Motors, Sir Edmund Hillary, Elvis, soccer's Pele, Tiger Woods, and countless others around the world. Somehow.. somehow!, after they retired or died, the world kept turning. Asa's dominance for awhile was a mere blip on the centuries-old sumo radar. The JSA did the right thing in sacking him.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

ER, InTheKnow, neither Pele and Tiger Woods reside in any cemetery that I'm aware of. Mr. Honda's first name, for your information, was Soichiro.

That said, I agree with you that sumo will get over Asashoryu's loss soon enough, including the many fans who angrily posted in here that they will never, ever, ever watch sumo again.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Should a bunch of 70 and 80 year old fossils with their heads lodged in the Edo era have any sway over modern society?

This is a totally uninformed remark. The JSA imposes a compulsory retirement age of 65 on all its directors.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Beelzebut, I will never watch Sumo gain, have cancelled my planned trip to Japan and will never buy any Japanese car/television or whatever. You of course can enjoy the Hakuho Yawn-fest.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites