The Kyokai vs Shukan Gendai magazine

[Jejima]

This is the transcript of Asashouryuu's questioning:

Q: When did you first learn the meaning of the word "yaocho"?

A: I learned it from the article..I had never heard that Japanese word before..

Am I the only one to find this statement difficult to believe? Asashoryu has been in Japan since Junior High School, is a fluent Japanese-speaker, and has been doing sumo for a long, long time..... .....and not once had he heard the word 'yaocho' prior to the article, even in jest?

I've never done sumo, my Japanese level is below 'rudimentary', yet (thanks possibly to my interest in watching sumo), I think I must have learnt about yaocho (and the interesting story behind the word 'yaocho') within the first year of my stay in Japan.

Following on from this statement, I guess he has never heard of the term 'gachinko' either, despite several rikishi being known as 'gachinko rikishi' - at least some were when I first started watching sumo.

Edited October 5, 2008 by Jejima

[Jonosuke]

Gavel to Gavel court transcript - Ozumo Yaocho Court Proceeding

===================================================

(The first witness for the Kodan-sha, publisher of the Weekly Shukan Gendai magazine, was Keisuke Itai, former ozeki, who spoke on yaocho by naming names at the Foreign Reporters Association meeting in 2000. He stated that yaocho bouts were happening in Ozumo.)

Former Komusubi Keisuke Itai

Kodan-sha lawyer: (During your active days) Were there any yaocho bouts?

Itai: Yes they existed.

K: Do you believe it exists today?

I: Yes I believe so.

K: How does it happen?

I: Back then ozeki and yokozuna bought bouts by asking lower ranked rikishi for 700,000 to 800,000 Yen per bout. (In Maegashira or Makuuchi rank) You were talking about 'one win/one loss' system but if it was left over after the basho we paid 200,000 Yen then.

K: Was 'Borrow and Return' a general rule then?

I: Right.

K: Within the same basho?

I: Well that is basically true. If you buy the bout once, the other may say, 'Give it back to me'. If you cannot do it then you pay the money. But basically if you win one you will need to lose one.

K: What about a yokozuna?

I: He almost always buys them but you may get an occasional odd one who may say 'Make one for me'. That is rather than losing for money, they want someone else to get a win from the yokozuna."

(Itai also described how yaocho worked specifically.)

K: Can you tell a yaocho bout before it even takes place?

I: An oyakata may tell you get a win by this way or that, like, 'You just need to slap him down'."

K: You will discuss it with your opponent?

I: No, not at all. It's the oyakata (telling you). If you are a rookie, you won't be able to do a yaocho initially. But once there is a talk of 'this guy does yaocho' then you get something like 'I'll lose one first so you let someone else win'."

K: Can you tell who yaocho rikishi are?

I: I can tell them easily, 100% for sure. If you are winning more than you are losing, you will feel more comfortable. When I was young, I often had the experience. That's unwritten code in the Sumo Association.

K: The bouts are decided on the day before. How would a yaocho bout determined then?

I: You use your Tsukebito to go talk directly to your opponent's Heya. Since you are not in the dressing room yet, if you ask for it and they agree then you get the deal. In those days that was the way it was accepted by all in the sumo world. (If you are asked) you just agree and everything was so simple.

K: Are there many yaocho rikishi?

I: Frankly speaking they are in 70 to 80% of all bouts.

K: Because you want more money?

I: Actually because you want to keep your ranking and you want to stay where you are for longer time. It's mentally easier if you are always 'one win one loss', isn't it? If you can get 5 out of 10 bouts with yaocho, then you only need to win three more out of the other five Gachinko (serious) bouts for your kachikoshi. However in the end, unless you can win in those Gachiko bouts, you won't be able to go higher on the banzuke. Even though you only have a few Gachiko bouts, they end up being your lifeline.

K: Is there any rikishi who only does serious bouts?

I: Wakanohana, Takanohana and Onokuni. That's it.

K: So the others did yaocho?

I: Often that was the case.

K: As a professional can you tell which bouts are yaocho?

I: Frankly speaking if you can limit to one bout, you can tell. There are some close ones but if you see them through 3, 4 basho throughout the year, you will know for sure 99.999% of time.

K: What about unnatural looking win and loss?

I: Every rikishi has their own form. I myself was a Tsuppari form and I was confident that I could not let my opponents grab my mawashi. When my opponent got my mawashi, then it was for sure it was yaocho. So what I can tell you is it's all too easy to tell for sure.

K: There was this bout between Asashoryu and (Sekiwake) Ama and Ama lost by a hatakikomi. Was there something strange or unnatural about this?

I: Ama normally goes and hits his opponent hard out of tachiai. But he sort of floated out on this one and hit very softly. In my personal opinion it was a yaocho.

K: Isn't Tachiai important for yaocho?

I: There are yaocho bouts one can tell right away at the tachiai.

K: What about Kotoshogiku bout?

I: You can never have a sumo bout like this. I cannot believe anything other than he wasn't putting anything out.

K: Then Chiyotaikai bout?

I: Since the deal was struck from before, there was no way it was a Gachinko bout.

K: Dose yaocho exist today?

I: I am sorry to say it does.

K: Why did you decide to testify today?

I: Kitanoumi brought this issue to court and for all intents and purposes he is leaving a message to all rikishi, 'you can go ahead and keep doing yaocho from now on.' To tell you the truth I don't want to talk about Asashoryu. But I felt strongly that they should have never brought this case here. Even if this is serious battle, they should never have done it.

K: So you are saying you cannot forgive them for taking this to court.

I: Well rather than saying they should not, it's like they are saying, 'you can keep doing yaocho'. I really can't believe it.

K: So you are doing it for the future of Ozumo.

I: Exactly.

K: There are some who say you may just want to be in the spotlight.

I: I even don't want to be on TV. I don't want to be well-known.

(At this point, the lawyer for Kodan-sha walked towards Itai and he showed past yaocho articles appeared in weekly magazines.)

K: Have you seen this before?

I: This is one of the series that my oyakata had on the Weekly Shukan Post magazine. Or more like it was Kitanoumi bashing to me. Kitanoumi in his active days showed great courage and I really admired him. Back then I often thought I should have really joined his heya.

(Then the lawyer representing the Sumo Kyokai commenced the questioning.)

Sumo Kyokai lawyer: There was a story of you being scouted by Onaruto beya and it said you were guaranteed to receive the Toshiyori share in the future.

Itai: Yes that was my understanding. 'If I get promoted, they would give me the Toshiyori share'.

S: What is your profession now?

I: I am a glass factory worker.

S: Any other income source?

I: None whatsoever.

(The Sumo Kyokai lawyer showed Itai a meeting log of the Kyokai Directors meeting in which Itai's dismissal from the Kyokai was voted. The Kyokai lawyer may have wanted to show Itai was speaking about yaocho because of his personal grievance.)

S: (In their decision they determined that Itai) did not fulfill the responsibility as rikishi and found to be unsuitable.

I: It's the first time I have seen it. But I heard a similar story before.

S: Where were you at the time when they had the directors meeting?

I: I believed I could become the oyakata and was standing by to be notified wearing a full formal attire.

S: So you were thinking you would become an oyakata but instead you were fired. When all of sudden you heard about this, what was your feeling?

I: Obviously I was really upset.

(The Kyokai lawyer showed Itai an article about Onaruto Beya and confirmed its content.)

S: Onaturo oyakata intimated,"Once becoming a sekitori, 'Do Chusha (Ozumo word for yaocho)' and "Once promoted to Sanyaku, you get the Toshiyori Share'"

I: Well, once becoming a Makuuchi...

S: When you joined there was no talk of 'Chusha'?

I: I don't remember. I think at the time (of the article) I tried to cooperate as much as possible to give the oyakata more bad image.

S: You have spoken at the Foreign Reporters Club meeting on February 2, 2000 and as well in Weekly Shukan Gendai. Is this something you have decided to do on your own or at urging of the Weekly Shukan Gendai?

I: I'd say it was my own. From my point of view, why talk about yaocho at all. It's like my senses were numbed, nothing shocking to me.

S: Why did you contact the Weekly Shukan Gendai?

I: Well at the time the number of Yaocho bouts was significantly reduced. So I figured there was no problem talking about it.

S: Did you tell the story to a Shukan Gendai reporter you knew well?

I: Before I disclosed the story, he came to talk to me. But I haven't told him about yaocho before.

S: Who did ask you to appear for the Foreign Reporters Club meeting?

I: I went to them actually. Suddenly I felt like I wanted to talk to them about yaocho. I wanted to do it like a man at the same time as my Shukan Gendai articles.

(Itai gave an impression he wanted to have his story reported not only on the Shukan Gendain magazine.)

S: You have not produced any hard evidence.

I: That's correct. I had a tape but if I played it there, it may have caused a chaos. I only wanted to help stop yaocho. I didn't want to cause a big sensation.

S: I have an article published in Sports Hochi newspaper that says, Mr. Itai said "If you study the past data, it would become obvious".

I: This is the first time I have heard of it or seen it. I probably never stated anything of sort.

(The Kyokai lawyer flipping through old newspaper articles trying to show Itai's responses to vague and not clear cut.)

S: Is it true you said, "Dejima would win for certain today"?

I: I think I stated incorrectly. I mistook (the date of) the bout and I believe I corrected myself subsequently. After all Dejima does not do yaocho.

S: How you do you know for sure?

I: Back then I had someone who helped me out . I cannot say anything more than "Because I know, I know".

S: So even though you had the prior knowledge, you made the mistake,

I: I knew. There were always a lot of talk behind the scene.

S: I was told the 2006 Kyushu Basho and 2007 Hatsu Basho were where we had the yaocho incidents. In the Weekly Shukan Gendai they noted that (at the Kyushu Basho) Asashoryu only had four serious bouts. Do you agree with the assessment?

I: Since I have not seen all the bouts, I cannot say one way or the other.

S: As far as you know, is this a fact?

I: I don't know. I can't tell if that is the fact or not. Because I wasn't there.

S: Have you received any remuneration from Kodan-sha Publishing?

I: I have not received even one Yen.

(The Kyokai lawyer decided to pursue there was no evidence of yaocho.)

S: When was the yaocho bout of Ama-zeki agreed?

I: Obviously I have no knowledge of that.

S: (Previously) you said it was done by a Tsukebito.

I: In the days when I was active, that was the normal route. I don't know how they do it now.

S: About the money. How and when did it get paid?

I: I don't know.

S: However you already stated the bout was unnatural.

I: Yes.

S: Subjectively speaking I believe you simply don't know how the money was exchanged or how it was decided at all, You have no knowledge of the most significant points.

I: In that sense I probably have to say I don't know.

S: Please what you mean by Kitanoumi shouldn't (sue).

I: I feel it will give a wrong impression to the active rikishi that it's OK to do yaocho. I believe it makes the situation worse.

S: Why do you feel it will have a bad effect?

I: Because the Kyokai's oyakata should be stopping yaocho from happening. Don't you think so?

S: Isn't it natural for anyone to initiate a lawsuit when they are wronged?

I: I don't understand. (Knowing full well yaocho exists and still) Kitanoumi is thinking yaocho does not happen?

S: You have no proof.

I: You are right.

(Both sides appear not to understand each other's statement. After a supplementary question from the lawyer for Kodan-sha, the judge asked Itai a few questions at the end.)

Judge: Don't you remember in the past you pointed out which rikishi won and then he lost to another?

Itai: In the win and loss records (Hoshitori Table) appeared in a newspaper, I was just playing around by checking off one rikishi or the other as saying "this is yaocho" and that happened to be printed in the Shukan Gendai magazine.

J: Did you actually recognize (the winner doing a favor to the loser later on) by just studying the table?

I: Well I didn't analyze it that deeply. In those days when yaocho rikishi competed against another, it's almost certain it was a yaocho bout.

J: What about a case of someone with 15-0 record?

I: If you lose four straight in Gachinko bouts, you can't win.

Edited October 5, 2008 by Jonosuke

[Jejima]

- At the 2006 Kyushu Basho Senshuraku, Chiyotaikai was easily pushed out of the dohyo. If it was a serious bout, would it be reasonable to expect to try to run around?

A: Are you competing at all in sumo? We are always involved in serious combats. I feel sorry to hear what you suggested.

- In a serious bout don't you try to stay away from the dohyo edge?

A: You don't have the eye to see sumo bouts.

Here's that bout..... What do you think?

Video

Edited October 5, 2008 by Jejima

[Treblemaker]

If you go through this video frame by frame, there is one moment where Chiyotaikai abruptly stops being the aggressor, and at that point Asashoryu is at his side, almost behind him. preparing to lift him off the dohyo. Asashoryu has done the same thing to much heavier opponents, so this move is not out of his character.

IF Chiyotaikai is in on the act, he might "help" by launching himself to sync with Asashoryu's move, but his legs are straight, not bent. The move seems to be a surprise, and the outcome is expected. As we saw in a very recent Ama/Asa bout, once one rikishi gets beside/behind another, it's pretty much all over.

I'm sure there are sharper eyes than mine, but in my humble opinion, this one looks legit.

If this bout was fixed, why wouldn't Asa have simply "slapped down" Chiyo - a move we saw several times in this last basho?

"If it was a serious bout, would it be reasonable to expect to try to run around?"

Run around? Where? (Being unsure...) And who has time to think? These two are smart, quick men with great reaction instincts and it wouldn't be in character for either of them to do that.

[Barang]

K: What about a yokozuna?

I: He almost always buys them but you may get an occasional odd one who may say 'Make one for me'. That is rather than losing for money, they want someone else to get a win from the yokozuna.".

K: There was this bout between Asashoryu and (Sekiwake) Ama and Ama lost by a hatakikomi. Was there something strange or unnatural about this?

I: Ama normally goes and hits his opponent hard out of tachiai. But he sort of floated out on this one and hit very softly. In my personal opinion it was a yaocho.

It is very hard to believe that current yokuzunas need yaocho for winning.

K: Dose yaocho exist today?

I: I am sorry to say it does.

S: You have not produced any hard evidence.

I: That's correct. I had a tape but if I played it there, it may have caused a chaos. I only wanted to help stop yaocho. I didn't want to cause a big sensation..

I really would like to hear his hard evidence which makes chaos in court. Maybe he sings karaoke on that tape (Being unsure...)

[kame]

That match looks legit to me. Why would anyone risk a back injury to win a fixed match? Now, risking a back injury to win a regular match: that's Asa. So Chiyotaikai was stopped on his tracks and then looked "unnatural" and seemed to step out himself. That's how he fights, he usually does his tsuppari and once the battery runs out, he either wins by hatakikomi or gets plowed. I've seen much sketchier tachiais by him, where he'd just throw himself into another ozeki without even putting his arms out. Hell, Hokutoriki regularly does this when fighting sanyaku rikishi.

So Itai has no proof, hasn't "analyzed matches deeply" and hasn't even seen some at all. Above all, why did Asa have to buy ~10 bouts per basho while on his peak but now, that he could seriously use the wins, doesn't? Because rikishi ain't selling anymore? What a poor, poor case.

EDIT: Check the comments to the video of the bout on youtube, not one agrees it's yaocho. And there's also mention of the injury possibility. Then there's there other damning match. Asa vs Kotomitsuki (like Asa needed help to beat Chonko): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my1zPwNtG98...feature=related

Can we say case dismissed? Or is Wakanoho going to testify as well? Just like Itai, to make Sumo beautiful.

Edited October 5, 2008 by kame

[Asashosakari]

It's striking how much of Itai's "evidence" is based on that good old-fashioned standby of almost all conspiracy theories, binary outcomes: If it isn't perfect, it must have been rigged. Heck, he's even saying it about his own performances:

K: What about unnatural looking win and loss?

I: Every rikishi has their own form. I myself was a Tsuppari form and I was confident that I could not let my opponents grab my mawashi. When my opponent got my mawashi, then it was for sure it was yaocho. So what I can tell you is it's all too easy to tell for sure.

Apparently Itai never once lost to a gachinko rikishi who managed to put him into an unfavourable position. Any time somebody got a mawashi hold on him, it was because Itai let him. (Being unsure...) And so for every other rikishi in existence, too, I guess.

[paolo]

It is a typical Chiyotaikai's start with tsuppari. Asashoryu keeps moving backwards slowly waiting for the moment in which he will be able to move his right arm a bit forward. When he succeeds, Chiyotaikay's left arm goes beyond Asashoryu's right shoulder and becomes useless. Since then, Chiyotaikai has no more his weapons while Asashoryu is in his reign and can easily win in any form he likes (shitatenage, sukuinage, yorikiri ...). He choses the most risky one .... Strange for a yaocho !

[ilovesumo]

Thank you Joe and Kinta for all your work.

I wonder why they thought of that bout...there had been much better "examples"...

[Koukai]

K: There was this bout between Asashoryu and (Sekiwake) Ama and Ama lost by a hatakikomi. Was there something strange or unnatural about this?

I: Ama normally goes and hits his opponent hard out of tachiai. But he sort of floated out on this one and hit very softly. In my personal opinion it was a yaocho.

Ama never lost to Asashoryu by hatakikomi

[Sasanishiki]

Im just going to play devil's advocate here on a few things you've mentioned in your argumnet. I don't think they necessarily happen, but here is another way of looking at it.

wouldnt this line of thinking require that all the rikishi on the banzuke be doing it? why would any of the M's be willing to throw a bout when their promotion chances could be on the line at some point?

Well, there are two types of yaocho. One is to trade a match for one somewhere in the future (kinda like the Godfather and being one day able to help him), but the other is to straight up buy a match with no future exchange.

as such why wouldnt they just start from day one attempting to buy matches to make sure they dont get demoted?

Possibly because they feel they can defeat the other rikishi in the lower ranks and don't need to. Also, the accusations of buying matches usually are levelled against established sekitori (that is, they have been around long enough to have some money behind them) to help with promotion, to stop demotion or to lengthen their career. A young up and comer wouldn't be facing them from the get-go and also would back his ability to get KK.

....it seems like it would require everyone to be involved in a huge orcastrated dance of wins and losses among everyone.

Perhaps everyone is. That is sort fo what Shukan Gendai is alleging: that yaocho is part of sumo (at different times) and is arranged by tsukebito or other heya people for the benefit of higher ranking rikishi.

and what about the guys who bounce between juryo and the M's all the time? why would they even consider selling a loss? they do not benifit by going into juryo at all. ...and why would the guys who lose all the time be ok with others buying wins?

But even in juryo they are still making a living. There may not be the prestige of makuuchi but they are still better off than those who bounce between juryo and makushita, which really is the line between making a living and just living. If the guy at the bottom of makuuchi is doing badly, then perhaps he would sell a loss to gain some money or to have an easy bout for a banged up body, while thinking that he can drop to juryo to recover and then bounce back. Or, perhaps someone who sees himself yoyo-ing between the two divisions because of ability of injury would use his time in makuuchi to make a little money in the occasional bout he has against someone with a bit of cash behind them. Admittedly, in juryo they miss out on the chance for kensho, but a number of the lower ranked matches in makuuchi have none placed on them.

as a side note, i think the notion is possible that a very tiny amount of matches COULD happen like this. but you have to figure guys would get tired of selling wins to sanyaku who get all the fame and money from being a sanyaku, while they get very little in return (how much money could they REALLY get for throwing a single match? who could afford to give a huge payoff?). so i just dont see it viable as something that happens every basho, definitely not something that could really benifit your career in a long run.

Well, what about the guys that see that they can compete in makuuchi but will never go beyond maegashira. Here is a way for them to benefit from some of that money, even once they have levelled out in their promotion opportunities. I would think that for certain major matches they could potentially receive quite a bit. If it was for a win that would assist a yusho run, or that would help an ozeki promotion, then the money could be significant because of the benefit to the buyer. The same would be true for any match that assisted a kadoban ozeki. The buyer might be prepared to spend a large amount to ensure future riches.

[Asashosakari]

Also - and I'm not endorsing that view - but to explain where this whole "career lengthening" comes from: It's already been mentioned that injury prevention could play a role, although arguably the view within sumo seems to be that you actually increase your risk of injury by not going all out. It probably depends on the type of rikishi; being clumsy or significantly undersized it might not be such a good idea to hold back. But anyway, I think the bigger aspect would be (especially if lots of rikishi participated) that it's a very crude form of a union: those on the "inside" (steady makuuchi rikishi) look out for each other for their mutual benefit, at the expense of those on the outside - up'n'comers, and even more significantly makuuchi borderliners who don't manage a high enough profile to "get into the club".

And related to that, it's also a way to redistribute the risk to your career across time: trade away a couple of wins when you're feeling well, and request them back when you don't and going 6-9 instead of 4-11 might be the difference between makuuchi and juryo for the next basho. This may also have been more significant in the 1980s when makuuchi only had 38 rikishi and the lowest maegashira spot often was only M14 or even M13, so a greater proportion of elevator rikishi was always in danger of demotion.

[Kotoseiya Yuichi]

Queen Elizabeth II is a member of a shape-shifting reptile species and her grandson is the Anti-Christ. I used to have a tape to prove all this, but I dropped it behind my fridge. (Being unsure...) How careless of me!

[Sasanishiki]

Edit: Whoops, didn't see that this had been mentioned in the Wakanoho thread

In the latest edition of Shukan Gendai, former Wakanoho appears in an article that lifts the lid on yaocho. He says that Ozeki Kotooshu and juryo Kasuganishiki were involved in yaocho. Both rikishi were at the Kokugikan on Sunday for the dampatsushiki of Tokitsukaze oyakata (former Tokitsuumi) and completely refuted the allegations.

With the headline

Edited October 6, 2008 by Sasanishiki

[Jejima]

K: There was this bout between Asashoryu and (Sekiwake) Ama and Ama lost by a hatakikomi. Was there something strange or unnatural about this?

I: Ama normally goes and hits his opponent hard out of tachiai. But he sort of floated out on this one and hit very softly. In my personal opinion it was a yaocho.

Ama never lost to Asashoryu by hatakikomi

I guess they mean the hikiotoshi which is similar to hatakikomi. The basho when it occurred (Kyusho 2006) is the one in question too.

Edit: I can't find this bout on youtube..... (Hugging...)

Edited October 6, 2008 by Jejima

[mokele]

I've been watching sumo, and only rarely have missed a bout much less a hon-basho, since 1992. During that time there have been few if any cases in which it was apparent to me that a yao-cho was committed. During the mid 1990s I used to receive "Sumo World" magazine and I remember reading of how the former rikishi Itai had accused Chiyonofuji of systematically using bribes and yao-cho to insure victories over rank and file maegashira. I'm pretty sure that the whole thing was a pack of lies. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why Itai would foment such apparent lies, especially against 1 of the greatest yokozuna of all times, but it must have had something to do with how his career in sumo ended. For those too young to have seen him, Itai was a windmill tsuppari specialist with very little yotsu-zumo skill whose ranking went up and down the maegashira ranks during his career in Makunouchi. He won several shocking bouts against former yokozuna Onokuni but otherwise was rather unimpressive.

From Chiyozakura's excellent website:

www.sumoinfo.de/Ex-Rikishi/Itai/itai.html

Anyway, I very much doubt that Asashoryu has participated in any fixed bouts whatsoever. His fighting spirit has always been very high.

Fixed bouts are unlikely to be a serious problem in sumo since rikishi are paid for each bout that they win, and their salaries are reasonable and depend heaviily on their ranking. Maybe once in while a couple of rikishi who are good friends off the dohyo are scheduled to meet on senshuraku, and the bout has importance only to one of them, and they come to some sort of agreement ahead of time. That's a possibility.

[Skotkotaikai]

According to some Bulgarian newspapers, Kotooshu's father has said that his son will sue the magazine and Wakanoho.

[_the_mind_]

The same would be true for any match that assisted a kadoban ozeki. The buyer might be prepared to spend a large amount to ensure future riches.

(in reply to the devils advocate's way of looking at it)

now this i could see happening....but all in all, as you suggested someone who would sell these matches would be someone who has leveled out and wont make sanyaku, but that the buyer would be a sanyaku, well im just going on the notion that the sanyaku deserves to be sanyaku and doesnt need to buy a match to beat the leveled out opponent. assumeing the promotions were legitimate, why would someone like Asa need to buy a win from someone like kakuryu? the relative talent involved shouldnt even merrit such a thing. im just having trouble buying into the notion that the better rikishi would need to do this......however i could see an ageing kadoban ozeki willing to do it.

[Jonosuke]

According to some Bulgarian newspapers, Kotooshu's father has said that his son will sue the magazine and Wakanoho.

He cannot personally sue them but only through the Kyokai office like Asashoryu and Kitanoumi did. They are already suing them for gazillion dollars already so I think he will have to settle with just getting angry unless something else comes up.

[Asashosakari]

Fixed bouts are unlikely to be a serious problem in sumo since rikishi are paid for each bout that they win

Unless you're talking about the lower divisions, that's true only in a very indirect way.

... and their salaries are reasonable and depend heaviily on their ranking.

No, the whole point is that your salary doesn't depend on your ranking, as long as you manage to stay in makuuchi at all. M1's don't earn anything more in base salary than M16's do, and the notion that many rikishi may not even aspire to a once-in-a-blue-moon sanyaku promotion (which does pay better, but also requires effort to achieve) is exactly what forms the basis for all these "veteran rikishi do it to stay around longer" yaocho theories.

[Bilu]

This is the transcript of Asashouryuu's questioning:

...

Koudansha (the publisher) side lawyer:

Q: Who manages your kensho money?

A: I do.

Q: The Yokozuna himself goes daily to the bank??

A: Yes.

Sounds a bit strange (to me) that Asashoryu goes by himself to the bank, daily.

I just can't imagine him sitting there, waiting for a clerk to get free... (Hugging...)

Anybody care to comment?

[Sasanishiki]

The same would be true for any match that assisted a kadoban ozeki. The buyer might be prepared to spend a large amount to ensure future riches.

(in reply to the devils advocate's way of looking at it)

now this i could see happening....but all in all, as you suggested someone who would sell these matches would be someone who has leveled out and wont make sanyaku, but that the buyer would be a sanyaku, well im just going on the notion that the sanyaku deserves to be sanyaku and doesnt need to buy a match to beat the leveled out opponent. assumeing the promotions were legitimate, why would someone like Asa need to buy a win from someone like kakuryu? the relative talent involved shouldnt even merrit such a thing. im just having trouble buying into the notion that the better rikishi would need to do this......however i could see an ageing kadoban ozeki willing to do it.

Asa wouldn't need to because his rank is secure (unless he was badly injured and had to compete rather than withdraw). However, any of the sanyaku (and most likely the ozeki because of the difficulty of getting the rank compared to the others) who were injured might want to buy a bought to have a "day off" in the ring and still get the win. Relative talent aside, if a rikishi is hampered in doing their style of sumo or in moving effectively then they are going to have difficulty with anyone of makuuchi quality. We complain about seeing rikishi doing "tricky" sumo such as henka and hatakikomi at the tachiai and they explain it away in terms of wanting to get a win or because they are restricted in their movements or executing their favourite moves. If they are going to resort to "poor" sumo just to get a win then it is not beyond the imagination that they might arrange for an easy win once in a while.

[Barang]

This is the transcript of Asashouryuu's questioning:

...

Koudansha (the publisher) side lawyer:

Q: Who manages your kensho money?

A: I do.

Q: The Yokozuna himself goes daily to the bank??

A: Yes.

Sounds a bit strange (to me) that Asashoryu goes by himself to the bank, daily.

I just can't imagine him sitting there, waiting for a clerk to get free... (Blinking...)

Anybody care to comment?

Asashoryu answer may also mean that he uses ATM, internet banking etc daily. That way he can manage his own finance.

[Peeter]

Barang says:"Asashoryu answer may also mean that he uses ATM, internet banking etc daily. That way he can manage his own finance."

Question is about kensho money, seems he did not keep them under pillow to the end of basho? (Blinking...)

[Barang]

Barang says:"Asashoryu answer may also mean that he uses ATM, internet banking etc daily. That way he can manage his own finance."

Question is about kensho money, seems he did not keep them under pillow to the end of basho? (Blinking...)

I do not know Japanese bank world so well, but I suppose that they have something similar like for example in Thailand where I can deposit money on ATM or for example in Germany where I just drop cash and cheques nightsafe of bank after office hours. Both cases he can do quite fast.