[sumo] [Long] Asashoryu Yaocho Article from Shukan Gendai - Part 2

[Joe Kuroda]

The Weekly Shukan Gendai magazine – February 10, 2007
“The Black Yokozuna Asashoryu’s Money Swarming Ozumo –
Yaocho Connection”
By Yorimasa Takeda, non-fiction writer


“Even Ozumo’s fastest 20th yusho record at the Hatsu
basho, the 12 out of 14 wins were “Dubious Sumo”

- Reacting sharply to this magazine’s article
reporting Asashoryu’s Yaocho suspicion, the Nihon Sumo
Association launched an internal investigation with no
substance, interviewing those rikishis suspected of
“Chusha Sumo”. But don’t make us laugh. It’s the same
Kyokai which kept their eyes closed and has been
cultivating the current Yaocho structure.

Robbers Investigating Its Robbery
“Right now the Nihon Sumo Association (the Kyokai) is
in turmoil. Top executives are running around asking
reporters what “the Weekly Shukan Gendai” will be
writing next,” a Kyokai official disclosed.

Last week this magazine published a report gravely
detailing currently the most powerful yokozuna 26
years old Asashoryu (real name: Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj
from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia,) may have been committing
yaocho (bout fixing) or more commonly known in the
sumo world as “Chusha (hypodermic needle) sumo.

“At the last Kyushu basho (November 12-26, 2006) when
he won all his bouts, out of the 15 bouts, seriously
contested sumo bouts were only four. Right now the
yokozuna is buying a bout from lower ranked rikishis
for about 800,000 yen (US$6,600),” a currently active
rikishi Mr. X stated.

An insider at Asashoryu’s heya Takasago beya had said
the following:
“At the moment he has to do so many ‘Chusha Sumo’ that
there is a real need for a go-between for ‘Chusha’.
The man who plays this role of what is commonly known
in sumo world as ‘Naka-bon’ and is frequently seen
traveling back and forth between the East and West
Dressing Room (which incidentally is a conduct
strictly forbidden during a basho by the Kyokai), is
Makushita rikishi Kyokutenzan, also from Mongolia.”

Our magazine disclosed the above and other witness
accounts and investigated the incidents. Furthermore
we have added that we would be reporting the Ozumo’s
yaocho structure in detail this week. This revelation
caused so much havocs within the Kyokai. Now we will
be showing the current state of Ozumo’s “Yaocho
Connection” with Asashoryu as its apex.

On this Hatsu basho’s Senshuraku on January 21,
exactly as this magazine has predicted Asashoryu won
his 20th yusho, the quickest to achieve the 20th yusho
in sumo history. On the following day, January 22, at
the yokozuna deliberation committee meeting, our
report was immediately picked up by the members as its
top agenda and the Kyokai’s chairman Kitanoumi oyakata
was said to have pledged to them, “we will investigate
it thoroughly.”

As stated by the oyakata, Kyokai’s chairman of Audit
Committee, Tomozuna oyakata has initiated the
interviews with the eleven Makuuchi rikishis we have
pointed out as those who have “likely not have
competed seriously against Asashoryu at the Kyushu
basho” as well as a suspected “Nakabon” player,
Kyokutenzan. It’s been reported that they would talk
to Asashoryu himself on January 30.

“In the investigations, all denied they have committed
any yaocho. While “Shukan Gendai” is reporting Yaocho
is being performed and it involves the whole sumo
world, here we have a situation where the accused
itself, the Kyokai is doing the investigation. This is
like robbers conducting an investigation on their own
robbery,” a sumo beat reporter commented. It is
exceedingly clear that the Kyokai is not serious about
investigating Yaocho problems and is certainly not
trying to eradicate them.

Just prior to the Hatsu basho the writer was told by
Mr. X the following:
“For the yokozuna the rikishis he needs to be most
careful are Deji (Dejima) and Hagiwara (Kisenosato).
The two are pure “Gachiko rikishis” and have never
known to go under Chusha. Ami (Aminishiki) is also a
Gachinko but he can’t beat the yokozuna. If Asashoryu
ensures himself not to lose inadvertently to these
two, his all win yusho will be assured.”

As it happened the Hatsu basho developed exactly as
Mr. X forecasted. Asashoryu entered the Hatsu basho
not bothering to do any sort of training. He got
pushed hard by Dejima on day 3 and was blown away out
of the dohyo. But on day 4 he set aside Aminishiki and
worked up enough momentum by day 8 to overcome
Kisenosato bout.

Mr. P who not only knows Asashoryu himself but also
acquainted with many Mongolian rikishis continues:
“Three days prior to the Kisenosato bout, Asashoryu
had Tokitenku, Kyokutenho and Ama, all Mongolian
rikishis. Naturally they were all “Chusha”, Dorji was
able to rest comfortably to face Kisenosato.”

But why is it that there are so many rikishis who
meekly go along with Yaocho and offer their bout to
Asashoryu willingly? The reason stems from two
“reforms” that the Kyokai carried out in the 2004
Hatsu basho.
1. Abolition of the limitation placed on the number of
Kensho banners (“one company for one bout”)
2. Abolition of the Kosho Rule

Let us explain the first point. At Ozumo’s hon-basho,
a yobidashi will walk around the dohyo with a “Kensho”
banner inscribed with a sponsor’s name prior to the
bout. For each Kensho banner, 60,000 Yen is paid to
the Kyokai from the sponsor. Out of the fee the Kyokai
will keep 30,000 Yen for taxes and handling and the
rest of 30,000 Yen is given out to the winning rikishi
upon the bout’s completion.

Up to the end of 2003, a company was able to sponsor
only one Kensho banner for each bout. However a major
food conglomerate, Nagatani-En, asked the Kyokai to
waive the rule and have them sponsor “multiple Kensho
banners” in a given bout, and surprisingly the Kyokai
promptly acceded to the request. Soon other companies
followed the suit and in no time at all we began to
see a huge number of Kensho banners placed on a bout.

Back in the 2004 Hatsu basho the most Kensho banners
placed on one bout was 27 but by the last September
basho, as a result there were 51 Kensho banners
sponsored in one bout. Corporations clearly want to
sponsor a bout most eagerly awaited for that day. In
other words the structure is set up so that yokozuna
Asashoryu would capture the overwhelming majority of
Kensho money.

Asahoryu’s declared income for the year 2005 was 192
Million Yen (US$1.6 Million). Out of this 83,875,000
Yen (US$700,000) came from his Kensho earnings. The
number of Kensho banners he won was 1,525 and even
with tax deductions, he received 45,750,000 Yen
(US$380,000).

“This sum of Kensho money is literally the main
resource behind Dorji’s Chusha. The standard base
amount for a single bout is currently around 800,000
Yen and depending on the importance of bout, it could
vary from 500,000 to 1,000,000 Yen. Since Dorji
usually gets around 20 Kensho banners in his bout, he
will earn at least 9,000,000 Yen per basho. Dorji buys
around 10 to 11 bouts per basho so in average even he
pays around 800,000 Yen, so he can still cover himself
and still be in black. Evidently lower ranked rikishis
are flocking to this money reservoir and it is
bringing the glory days of ‘Chusha Era’,” Mr. P added.

Last year it’s been reported that Asashoryu attempted
to penny-pinch too aggressively and almost it blew up
on his face. “At the September basho, Dorji through
Kyokutenzan tried to negotiate with his day 7 opponent
Baruto and offered him 500,000 Yen. However Baruto who
won four consecutive training sessions at the Soken
(Edit: publicly held training session for Yokozuna
Deliberation Committee members) didn’t budge insisting
the amount was below the market value. Dorji figuring
if he let the other guy gets better of him, the whole
Chusha system could collapse decided to accept the
challenge of Gachinko sumo. He got unusually psyched
up for the bout but just barely managed to win by a
pushdown against Baruto,” Mr. P said.

Asashoryu generally gets over 10 Million Yen of Kensho
money in most bashos and in sumo world he is already
well known as a “super generous yokozuna’.

A rikishi with Asashoryu’s Takasago Ichimon
Association comments this way:
“After a basho, during a local Jyungyo tour, I often
saw Kyokutenzan with a bundle of money thicker than 10
cm. Once he asked me laughingly if I wanted a bill. So
I told him, ‘Yeah, give me one’. Then he said, ’But
you know this isn’t my money.’ Generally the
settlement of Chusha Sumo is done during a Jyungyo
tour after the basho. The money bundle Kyokutenzan had
in his hand must have been that money.”

Traditionally in Ozumo, Kensho money and other gift
money yokozunas received from performing in ceremonies
were used to buy bouts from lower ranked rikishis to
implement their version of “fair distribution of
wealth”.

“But in case of Dorji, he is a way over and above
anything we have ever seen. Even during so-called the
good old days of Chusha Era, at the time of
Chiyonofuji, it wasn’t this prevalent. Here’s
Asashoryu, who doesn’t even step into his own heya
during a hon-basho and doesn’t even show a slightest
inclination to train younger rikishis, is getting
other rikishis to knuckle under him by using the power
of money and is reigning over the Yaocho Connection,”
a Kyokai insider acknowledged.

Let’s take a look at the point two, the abolition of
Kosho Rule. Originally under this rule, if a rikishi
who is injured in a hon-basho bout will have his rank
guaranteed after the next basho’s banzuke arrangement.
However there were rampant cases of rikishis abusing
the rule to go on a kyujo without incurring any
serious injury, so the Kyokai decided to abolish the
rule starting 2004.

“This ended up forcing Gachinko rikishis to choose. If
they kept going with Gachikon sumo more, they would
have likely got themselves injured more and their
banzuke ranking went down and their income reduced.
The final straw came when a rikishi whom everyone had
extreme high regard and tremendous respect and the top
representative of Gachinko sumo, ozeki Tochiazuma
turned to Chusha sumo. Once other rikishis saw the
transformation, they all let themselves stream into
Chusha Sumo,” Mr. X confided.

Tochiazuma admired his seniors from Meiji University
Nakano High School, Wakanohana and Takanohana brothers
and inherited their Gachinko spirits. He was promoted
to ozeki at the end of 2001.

However right after the abolition of Kosho Rule, just
prior to the 2004 March basho, Tochiazuma fractured
his right shoulder. He faced the basho with Gachinko
sumo but the pain became unbearable and was forced to
withdraw from the basho. He was unable to come back
for the next May basho and he subsequently fell down
to sekiwake.

Furthermore at the end of the year, he was indebted
with over 100 million yen of loan when his own father,
Tamanoi oyakata, had proceeded with a new construction
of Tamaoni heya building.

“Due to all the problems and reality facing him, you
may begin to appreciate Daisuke (Tochiazuma’s real
name) turning in and selling his soul to the nearest
bidder. His first accepted Chusha bout occurred on
July 25, 2005 at the Nagoya basho. Up to this point in
this basho, Daisuke was toe to toe with Komusubi
Kotooshu having 12 wins and 2 losses record and was to
face Asashoryu in the Senshuraku Musubi-no-Ichiban.
For this final bout, Daisuke was quietly approached by
Asashoryu and for the first time in his career he has
agreed to go along,” an oyakata elaborated.

On this same day Kotooshu was beaten by another
Gachinko rikishi Wakanosato and as a result Asashoryu
who beat Tochiazuma went on to win the yusho as he
became the fourth rikishi in sumo history after Taiho,
Kitanoumi and Chiyonofuji to accomplish the four
consecutive yushos.

Sekiwake Kotomitsuki, who suffered 24th consecutive
loss against Asashoryu in this past Hatsu basho, was
once a highly regarded rival of Asashoryu.

Kotomitsuki’s chance of ozeki promotion arrived at the
2002 Hatsu basho. After pushing out Asashoryu in his
one sided win, Kotomitsuki eagerly waited the good
news to reach him at the dressing room on the
Senshuraku. But the Kyokai’s verdict was “Wait and See
for One More Basho”. Kotomitsuki was devastated and
was crushed to the core.

Actually his Assahoryu win was a Chusha Sumo
Kotomitsuki bought from Asashoryu. At the next March
basho Kotomitsuki was forced to return the “favor” he
received the previous basho and barely managed to get
a Kachikoshi finishing with 8 wins and 7 losses. Not
only his ozeki promotion chance put back to blank, to
add the insult, he ended up injuring his lower jaw on
the Senshuraku and he was forced to take the whole May
basho off.

Ever since this time he may have accepted the fate of
never achieving the promotion, and Kotomitsuki has
been pushing forth the path of consecutive losses
against Asashoryu, perhaps for the money.

And there are also reasons why long standing ozekis
such as Kaio and Chiyotaikai are displaying miserable
sumo as well.

Currently an ozeki receives a monthly salary of
approximately 2.34 Million Yen from the Kyokai. In
addition rikishis have something called “Mochi-Kin”
(Account) which is used to calculate his “incentive”
or “bonus”.

“Moch-kin” is an amount of money that keeps growing
after a rikishi joins Ozumo. Every Kachikoshi will add
0.5 Yen. One Kinboshi (win against yokozuna) will be
10 Yen and Makuuchi Yusho will add 30 Yen. Even if
they get a Make-koshi, their total will not go down.
The accumulated amount will be multiplied by 4,000
times and the money will then be paid to the rikishi
as an “incentive” every other month for each basho the
rikishi participates in.

For instance Kaio’s “Mochi-Kin” was 419.50 Yen at the
completion of the Kyushu basho last year. In other
words he received 1,678,000 Yen as “incentive” money
at this Hatsu basho. If he retires from active sumo,
as a non-director Toshiyori, he will not receive any
“incentive” money and his monthly salary will go down
to 784,000 Yen, a significant reduction. So instead he
continues his active career by selling a great deal of
his bouts to make more money in one basho and in
another he buys just enough to get a Kachikoshi to
raise his Mochi-Kin total. It’s clear that this will
be a far more profitable way of living for him. This
must be the reason why old guard ozekis never appear
to retire at all and keep on selling their bout to
Asashoryu.

We have as many rikishis facing a variety of problems
and end up supporting the Yaocho Connection. On
January 22 this writer confronted Tochiazuma at
Tamanoi beya.

Q: Did you participate in a Chusha Sumo at the Nagoya
basho two years ago?
Tochiazuma: There was never such an occurrence.
Q: Why did you participate in this Hatsu basho so soon
after undergoing a surgery?
Tochiazuma: Unless I try as hard as possible not to
lose the dohyo feel, it will be that much more
difficult for me to make a comeback the next basho. I
also wanted to respond to the fans’ expectations.
Q: I will ask you again. Have you ever resorted to
Chusha Sumo in the past at all?
Tochiazuma: Never. None at all.

Since the retirement of Gachinko yokozuna Takanohana,
among so many rikishis with un-motivated sumo,
Tochiazuma, who stuck with Gachinko sumo till the last
possible moment, will be facing his eighth Kadoban at
the next March basho.

This magazine’s reporter also confronted Kaio
regarding the occurrences of Yaocho.
Q: We’d like to get your opinion on Chusha headed by
the yokozuna.
Kaio: I’d like you to ask through (Tomozuna) oyakata

Q: Once regarded as Gachinko rikishi, is Kaio-zeki now
dipping his hand into Chusha?
Kaio: There are now people talking about all kinds of
things you know. For what purpose did I endure and
work so hard till now? Regardless please speak to the
oyakata and get a story from him.

The Kyokai is under jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Education and Science and receives a preferential tax
status as a registered public corporation. If the
Kyokai essentially wants to promote more entertaining
business and let rampant Yaocho conduct to flourish,
they should seriously consider paying the proper
corporate taxes and change their status to a
commercial enterprise.

.....Jonosuke 
  <  Heart  Technique  Physique      &#24515;&#12288;&#25216;&#12288;&#20307;&#12288;>

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