New sumo documentary - the darker side of the sport

[Jejima 1,406]

This is a new documentary on Channel 4 in the UK.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/on-demand/74513-002

 

Discuss.

(Who are the retired low rankers featured?) 

[Octofuji 361]

The lower rankers are Kotokantetsu (https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=12081 heart condition and vulnerable to Covid, retired after his request for kyujo was denied, referred to as "Kantetsu" in this program) and one Takigawa (possibly Kototakigawa http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=12153 ???, although he retired 7 years ago and only spent one year on the banzuke). Both of whom seem a lot happier outside sumo and said that wrestlers were regularly (sometimes daily) given harsh treatment on the dohyo as punishments.

A lot of basic mistakes like calling wrestlers Sumos, "Yakuzuna", the claim that sumo is growing in popularity amongst younger people(?) - and some questionable practice like being denied access to filming stables and then going ahead and trying to do it anyway (fans might also be distressed by the footage of Hibikiryu's head injury). The program says the Kyokai has a lot to hide ("shrouded in secrecy etc..."), and that's why no-one will let them film or answer their calls. No doubt that's true in a lot of cases, but quite possibly they just didn't have the right contacts and the Kyokai guessed that they just wanted to film a 24-minute hatchet job.

Some of it had the feel of a mockumentary, e.g. when the producer told the presenter that the Hibikiryu witness had been nobbled, did they just happen to be filming that conversation??

The most insightful part was accidental - they translated "I don't want to be an Ozeki, I want to be a Yokozuna" as "I don't want to be mediocre, I want to be a Yokozuna" 

[Seiyashi 4,105]

1 hour ago, Octofuji said:

No doubt that's true in a lot of cases, but quite possibly they just didn't have the right contacts and the Kyokai guessed that they just wanted to film a 24-minute hatchet job.

Not like the lack of contacts stopped them filming the hatchet job anyway.

[Kintamayama 45,373]

12 hours ago, Octofuji said:

 

A lot of basic mistakes like calling wrestlers Sumos, "Yakuzuna",

I think they meant it, referring to the rumors that sumo has Yakuza affiliations all the way to the top. Yakuzuna is genius.

 

No?

[junsan 193]

"I don't want to be Bozeki, I want to be Yakuzuna"

[Octofuji 361]

3 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

I think they meant it, referring to the rumors that sumo has Yakuza affiliations all the way to the top. Yakuzuna is genius.

Haha! That Ozeki mistranslation must be deliberate too. Clearly the whole thing is in fact a razor-sharp critique of the sumo world and I was just too dull to see it!

[Kintamayama 45,373]

42 minutes ago, Octofuji said:

Haha! That Ozeki mistranslation must be deliberate too. Clearly the whole thing is in fact a razor-sharp critique of the sumo world and I was just too dull to see it!

YES!!!

[Kintamayama 45,373]

Watched it. Some stuff truly worrying, some stuff over-hysterical. Nothing we don't know, nothing that doesn't happen in other contact sports, including the bullying. As for the ex-rikishi, well, going shopping for action figures at the age of 24 as a highlight of freedom pretty much sums it up for me. One question which has always bothered me- does anyone have or has anyone even seen a thorough, serious, subjective survey comparing rikishi and "regular" people's life expectancy? I've heard so many things said with conviction, but have yet to se any proof. I really have no idea, but have heard totally opposite things said. 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Kintamayama

[ryafuji 815]

As I'm sure you know, it's widely reported that the life expectancy for ex-rikishi is between 60-65, which is about 20 years less than than the average Japanese male.  I too would like to see a definitive study. This article on Konishiki from 1998 quotes "records from the Sumo Museum" which indicate that the average life expectancy of all the yokozuna and ozeki post 1925 was 56, whereas the average for a Japanese male rose from 59 to 77 since 1950. I guess we would need a larger sample size. 
 

Some guy on Yahoo Answers looked at 100 makuuchi rikishi who died between 1980 and 2002 and found that the average age was 63.6 (youngest 22, oldest 91) compared to an average of 78.7 among all Japanese males in 2002 - 15 years less. 

[Kintamayama 45,373]

43 minutes ago, ryafuji said:

 

Some guy on Yahoo Answers looked at 100 makuuchi rikishi who died between 1980 and 2002 and found that the average age was 63.6 (youngest 22, oldest 91) compared to an average of 78.7 among all Japanese males in 2002 - 15 years less. 

Interesting, but that was 20-40 years ago and I'm pretty sure that medicine has taken quite a leap since then.. I'm wondering what the current (let’s say last 5 years) situation is.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Kintamayama

[Sakura 1,489]

2 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

other contact sports, including the bullying. 

Not just contact sports according to some news articles about gymnastics.

[Swami 245]

It does seem rather ironic, from a UK point of view, that Channel 4 has put this documentary forward given the excellent, albeit all too short-lived, coverage they gave to sumo in the late 198s/early 1990s including the London Koen in 1991.  Having worked very hard up to the point, they then allowed their sumo coverage to fizzle out after showing the 1992 Hatsu Basho.  

Swami

[Seiyashi 4,105]

22 minutes ago, Swami said:

It does seem rather ironic, from a UK point of view, that Channel 4 has put this documentary forward given the excellent, albeit all too short-lived, coverage they gave to sumo in the late 198s/early 1990s including the London Koen in 1991.  Having worked very hard up to the point, they then allowed their sumo coverage to fizzle out after showing the 1992 Hatsu Basho.  

Swami

Maybe it just wasn't economical. I'd imagine the regular viewership, once the publicity from the Koen died down, simply wasn't high enough to justify continued coverage on a public broadcaster in lieu of other programming.

[Swami 245]

3 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

Maybe it just wasn't economical. I'd imagine the regular viewership, once the publicity from the Koen died down, simply wasn't high enough to justify continued coverage on a public broadcaster in lieu of other programming.

That last tournament they covered - they even resorted to squeezing a couple of days' bouts into one programme, Lyall Watson wasn't involved, replaced by the actor Brian Blessed.

It was a great pity, because the coverage was very good while it lasted and I found it vastly superior to Eurosport's.

Swami

[sumojoann 1,267]

The US Gov NIH, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, cited a Japanese article from 1995 with the title "Risk factors for mortality and for mortality rate of sumo wrestlers".  Though old, the article seems well-researched so it's difficult to know how accurate it would be today.  The article itself is in Japanese (not shown) but here is an abstract ------ 

Abstract

We compared the mortality rate of sumo wrestlers with that of the contemporaneous Japanese male population, and inferred the usefulness of an index for predicting longevity in sumo wrestlers. The standardized mortality ratios (SMR) for sumo wrestlers were very high in each period, and also high for ages from 35 to 74. Cox's proportional hazards model analysis revealed that the variables in "nyuumaku" entry year and BMI were statistically significant (p < 0.05) factors in mortality. In the survival curves, the lower BMI group had good life expectancy compared with the higher BMI group. In conclusion, the higher rate of mortality in sumo wrestlers seems to be due to the markedly higher rate of mortality from 35 to 74 years old. In sumo wrestlers, also, this study provides evidence that the higher overweight groups have substantially higher risks for mortality.

[RabidJohn 1,823]

17 hours ago, Swami said:

It does seem rather ironic, from a UK point of view, that Channel 4 has put this documentary forward given the excellent, albeit all too short-lived, coverage they gave to sumo in the late 198s/early 1990s including the London Koen in 1991.  Having worked very hard up to the point, they then allowed their sumo coverage to fizzle out after showing the 1992 Hatsu Basho.  

Swami

Given the timescale I rather doubt there's anyone left at C4 who was involved in the original sumo coverage, and the people who made this documentary may not have even been born then.

I'm certain C4 did not allow their coverage of one basho per year to 'fizzle out'; Eurosport bought out the rights and showed bouts from every basho.

[Akinomaki 40,670]

On 05/11/2022 at 18:25, Octofuji said:

The most insightful part was accidental - they translated "I don't want to be an Ozeki, I want to be a Yokozuna" as "I don't want to be mediocre, I want to be a Yokozuna" 

The pronunciation of Japanese terms and names is awful, I looked at it now that it is on YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je3y80b9_QA

At the beginning the most interesting part of the documentary, about wampaku rikishi Kyuta Kumagai - the reporter calls him (Kyuto) Kamagai and says his dream is to become yakozuna. He said he wants to win all 3 national tournaments - there are only 2 actually, the unofficial 3rd is likely the Hakuho cup.

The mediocre is the translation for the chuutohanpa he said, not the ozeki - the subtitles are Ok, so far as I can see.

In the end Kyuta wins the Tokyo block preliminary tournament for the wampaku championships last week, the documentary starts a week before that. He lost there in the first round.

I'll repost this to the thread in the amateur sumo section.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Akinomaki

[Churaumi 743]

Vice did it better. Every few years they have a video up critical of sumo but I wouldn't say they are unfair. They had one a few years ago about the struggles of rikishi who retired without making much money in sumo, and just a little while ago posted one about violence in the heya. I wouldn't call them hatchet jobs by any means, since they are just exploring facets of the lifestyle we don't see. This seems like poorly researched clickbait.