Sekiwake Asanoyama was officially promoted to sumo's second-highest rank of ozeki by the Japan Sumo Association board of directors on Wednesday. The news provided a bright spot amid the coronavirus bleakness with Asanoyama saying in his kojo stage speech he is ready for the added ...
Hakuho made a winning start to the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday, overpowering Endo at an empty Edion Arena Osaka. The 15-day tournament is taking place behind closed doors after the Japan Sumo Association earlier this month made the unprecedented decision to keep out ...
Health risks in spotlight as Spring Basho nears start
The Japan Sumo Association is proceeding with the upcoming Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, but has decided, in light of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, that it will be held behind closed doors. Calling off the event completely would undoubtedly have been a safer course of action, ...
Spring Basho to be held behind closed doors for first time ever due to coronavirus
The Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, set to open next weekend, will be held behind closed doors for the first time in history due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the sport's governing body said Sunday. The Japan Sumo Association's board of directors made the decision in ...
The Japan Sports Agency has asked the Japan Sumo Association to make changes to its March grand tournament amid the current coronavirus outbreak, a source with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. The JSA's board of directors will meet Sunday in an extraordinary session to ...
Calling off Spring Basho would be right move for JSA
The Japan Sumo Association is essentially a reactive, rather than proactive, organization. Through the ups, downs and various scandals of the last few years, the JSA's standard modus operandi has been to avoid making moves until public pressure essentially forced its hand. Even then, measures taken ...
Ban on social media wrong call for sumo's popularity, transparency
Japan's national sport is semiglobalized. For the first 1,957 years of its history, sumo was practiced exclusively by people born and raised in this country. From 23 B.C. to 1964, every single rikishi was ethnically Japanese. It's been an entirely different situation for the past few decades ...
Retiring sumo wrestler Goeido said Wednesday there were no questions about his choice to hang up his mawashi, because he had failed in a do-or-die promise to himself. He said he made the decision the day he suffered his eighth loss at the New Year ...
Ozeki Goeido has retired as a sumo wrestler and will move on to a new role as an elder at the Sakaigawa stable under the toshiyori name Takekuma, the Japan Sumo Association said Tuesday. The 33-year-old Osaka native, who had been facing demotion following two ...
Former yokozuna Kitanoumi was imposing figure in sumo
Intimidation factor is something that cannot be discounted when it comes to finding reasons for success in sumo. Some of the greatest yokozuna of all time struck such fear into their opponents that many bouts seemed decided before they even stepped into the ring. For an ...
Sumo practice blowups nothing new in sport ruled by traditions
The problem of violence reared its ugly head in sumo again recently, but this time it came with a twist. Instead of a hazing and bullying or a drunken brawl in a bar, the violence on this occasion occurred inside a ring — specifically the ...
JSA needs to look outward for good of sumo
Whatever hopes fans had for a peaceful end to the year were dashed when Japan Sumo Association officials instructed Takagenji to take part in his regularly scheduled bout on Dec. 11 despite the wrestler being diagnosed with influenza earlier in the day. Ten years after ...
