The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered Kodansha Ltd. to pay a total of ¥15 million in damages to the Japan Sumo Association and its former chief, Kitanoumi, ruling the publisher damaged their reputations by running a groundless report on match-fixing in a weekly magazine.
The JSA and Kitanoumi were each seeking about ¥110 million in damages.
Presiding Judge Hideki Hama said the article in the March 2007 issue of Shukan Gendai, which covered a bout between Kitanoumi and another popular sumo wrestler, Takanohana, in 1975, "was based on flawed research and lacked supporting evidence."