New Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hanaregoma vowed Friday to stamp out the sport's ties to the yakuza once and for all.
Hanaregoma, who replaced Musashigawa a night earlier after the former yokozuna resigned, said on his first day in office that sumo must urgently cut ties with organized crime if the national pastime is to be restored to its once glorious past.
"We must make it our official stance to remove gangsters from sumo as soon as possible," Hanaregoma, formerly known as ozeki Kaiketsu, said at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan sumo stadium.
Musashigawa stepped down Thursday citing health reasons, but he was also under fire over the betting scandal linking sumo to the yakuza. He said he was recovering from recent surgery for stomach cancer. The former yokozuna was permitted, however, to retain his seat on the JSA board.