The arrests of former sumo stable master Tokitsukaze and three sumo wrestlers in connection with the fatal beating of a 17-year-old wrestler before and during a training session last June should serve as a warning to the Japan Sumo Association about a culture characterized by tolerance of corporal punishment. The association must strive to change the closed sumo world and adopt a disciplined but rational approach to training.
The arrests are unprecedented in sumo history. Tokitsukaze is suspected of hitting the teenage wrestler Tokitaizan on the head with a beer bottle June 25 in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, after the wrestler tried to flee the stable. Tokitsukaze is also suspected of ordering the three wrestlers to punish Tokitaizan by beating him with a metal bat and tying him to a pillar. The stable master is also suspected of subjecting Tokitaizan the next day to a 30-minute-long intensive sparring round — extraordinarily long by sumo standards. During the sparring, the wrestler was beaten and kicked until he collapsed. He later died.
Stable masters should realize that their nearly absolute authority over young wrestlers can change the atmosphere of a stable for better or worse. The sumo association should reflect on why it did not act immediately after the incident. It fired Tokitsukaze after more than three months had passed.