[sumo] Question somewhat related to death of rikishi

[Magnus Berg]

Through my web page, I was recently contacted by a reader whose sumo 
interest is often met by the question "Sumo wrestlers die quite young, 
don't they?". I get that question a lot myself, and it's quite 
difficult to answer. Does anyone have recent statistics or even know if 
it is possible to calculate the average life span of today's rikishi? I 
mean, tragic incidents like with Tokitaizan, or even ex-Hokutenyu's 
premature death, are still very rare and many rikishi now live to an 
old age. But how do they compare to the average life-span of Japanese 
(and Mongolian, etc) men?
Thanks for any input!
Maguroyama



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Magnus Berg
http://www.svenskasumosidan.se
magnus.rie at comhem.se