Scandals do
not seem to leave sumo, venerated by the Japanese people as a pillar of
tradition and as a way of life. Last week, the country’s top police official
called for action to rid the sumo world of links to yakuza crime groups, as
investigators arrested a former wrestler on suspicion of extortion and sponsors
recoiled from the ancient but tarnished sport. The arrest was part of a
widening scandal over alleged illegal gambling among scores of wrestlers,
trainers and their associates that has prompted calls for the cancellation of
next month’s summer tournament.

The gambling
scandal has highlighted longstanding suspicions of links between members of the
sumo world and the yakuza, the semi-public crime “families” that dominate
Japan’s underworld and which have extensive influence in the legitimate
economy. The heads of two wrestler training stables were recently punished by
the Japan Sumo Association after police revealed they had allowed coveted
ringside tickets allotted to them to fall into the hands of senior members of
leading crime groups.

Even before
the latest police investigations, sumo had been reeling from the loss in
February of its biggest star, the Mongolian grand champion Asashoryu, who was
forced to retire following reports of a drunken assault outside a nightclub.
Scandals over the death during an initiation ceremony of a wrestler, alleged
bout-rigging and episodes of dope-smoking had already battered the image of a
sport that keeps semi-religious trappings including pre-match purification
rituals.

Sumo officials
have yet to decide whether to cancel next month”s tournament in the central
city of Nagoya, but in a deeply worrying development for the sport, TV
authorities have threatened not to offer traditional live coverage of the
15-day competition. Some sumo sponsors are also retreating. One company has
announced it would cancel plans to provide prizes at the Nagoya tournament.