[sumo] Sumo Stable death - details on arrest

[Barbara]

Quoted from original at: 
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080209TDY03104.htm

Wrestler's death daunted police/ Difficulty of proving violence delayed 
action over sumo stable incident

Takeshi Kawamura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

NAGOYA--The police investigation into the death of a young sumo wrestler 
faced the daunting challenge of demonstrating that numerous injuries 
inflicted on his body had been caused by violence perpetrated by his 
stablemaster and fellow wrestlers during what they called a practice 
session.

The case can be regarded as extremely unusual in that Thursday's arrests 
of the four came a good seven months after the death of Tokitaizan, 17, 
whose real name was Takashi Saito.

Initially, the Aichi prefectural police decided there was no criminal 
element in Tokitaizan's death.

Sumo wrestlers' daily practice is tough by nature and very physical. As 
such, minor injuries during training are very common.

Major hurdles that the prefectural police had to clear included proving 
whether the practice sessions of wrestlers from the Tokitsukaze stable 
that resulted in Saito's death went beyond the bounds of normal sumo 
training, as well as proving the correlation between his death and the 
numerous wounds found on his body.

Saito collapsed during a practice session in Inuyama, Aichi 
Prefecture--near Nagoya where the stable members were to take part in a 
tournament--and later died.

The prefectural police initially deemed the death involved no criminal 
aspects and did not conduct an autopsy.

The police only considered a charge of physical violence resulting in 
death after an autopsy carried out by Niigata University at the request 
of Saito's family revealed it was highly possible he had died of 
traumatic shock caused by multiple injuries.

During police questioning, former stablemaster Junichi Yamamoto, 57, and 
many of the stable's wrestlers claimed the practice session in question 
was normal.

If the incidents that occurred at the training site were within the 
range of normal training, the charge of physical violence resulting in 
death was unsustainable.

In sumo practice, wrestlers slam into each other and are thrown onto the 
hard soil of the dohyo ring on a daily basis.

This made it difficult for the police to obtain evidence countering the 
theory that Saito's wounds were a result of normal training.

At one point, the police considered a charge of professional negligence 
resulting in death. In other words, Saito's death would be regarded as 
an accident.

But the police later obtained statements from Tokitsukaze stable 
wrestlers senior to Saito saying he was subjected to violence the 
evening before his death as well as being made to perform 
butsukarigeiko--a practice in which a wrestler repeatedly clashes with 
many fellow wrestlers--for about 30 minutes on the morning of the day of 
his death.

One fellow wrestler also told the police the practice was a 
"punishment." Many people in the sumo world also told the police it was 
unthinkable for butsukarigeiko practice to continue for as long as 30 
minutes.

===

Legal precedent

The Osaka District Court ruled in a similar case in 1991, after the 
death of a male student of a Japanese martial arts club of Osaka 
University of Economics and Law in Yao, Osaka Prefecture.

The student had submitted a letter of resignation to the club and was 
beaten by other club members as a punishment. The student died as a 
result of the beating.

The case was tried as physical violence resulting in death, with the 
district court handing down a guilty ruling that said, "For martial arts 
practice to be considered proper, training should be carried out in line 
with rules and sporting norms, as well as with the agreement of the 
other parties involved [in the training]." The ruling was later 
finalized at the Osaka High Court.

The cause of Saito's death was initially judged to be ischemic heart 
failure. But the Niigata University autopsy in October last year found 
the cause could have been traumatic shock.

 From the results of the autopsy, the statements and legal precedent, 
the police finally concluded that Saito's death was the result of 
continued violence meted out by senior wrestlers, which lasted from the 
day preceding his death to the morning when he was forced to carry out 
the butsukarigeiko practice.

Another hurdle for the police was how to prove the correlation between 
the cause of Saito's death and the numerous wounds found on his body. 
This was especially difficult, as even Niigata University's autopsy 
could not exactly determine the direct cause of the death.

The police planned to file the criminal charge on Saito's death as being 
the result of violence that lasted over two days. But the Nagoya 
District Public Prosecutors Office asked the police to investigate 
further as it was concerned about the fact that Saito took part in 
training on the morning of the day of his death, according to police 
sources.

The prefectural police asked Nagoya University in November to examine 
tissue taken from Saito's body. Though the Nagoya autopsy was unable to 
identify the direct cause of death, its conclusion was the same as 
Niigata University's--that Saito had died of shock caused by multiple 
injuries.

The autopsy also found that levels of certain substances that rise due 
to stress when cells in muscles and other parts of the body are 
destroyed, were much higher than normal.

The prefectural police judged that the data reinforced the theory of how 
Saito's death was caused.

The police also deemed it significant that it was out of the question 
for senior wrestlers in the stable to disobey the orders of 
Yamamoto--the head of the stable.

Yamamoto allegedly struck Saito on the forehead with a beer bottle the 
day before his death and later ordered the senior wrestlers to 
discipline him.

As Yamamoto might have triggered the escalation of violence against 
Saito, the police judged it was possible to impose a criminal charge on 
the former stablemaster.

The case also sheds light on a problem related to autopsies in potential 
criminal cases in which police officers judge whether an incident has 
the potential to become a criminal case merely by observing the outside 
of a body.

The Saito case occurred inside a sumo stable closed to outsiders. It was 
thus predictable from the start that the police would find it difficult 
to find out what really happened, once they started their criminal 
investigation.

It was also predictable that it would be difficult to prove the 
correlation between Saito's wounds and his death, as minor injuries are 
part and parcel of sumo wrestlers' daily lives.

Some legal experts said the prefectural police should have conducted a 
judicial autopsy at the initial stages of the inquiry due to the unusual 
circumstances surrounding the case.
(Feb. 9, 2008)