EDITORIAL: New sumo chairman

The sumo community is in rocky waters, with one scandal after another. On Thursday, the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) held an extraordinary board meeting at which Musashigawa resigned as chairman. The 12 board members voted and selected Hanaregoma, recommended by Musashigawa, as the new chairman.

To achieve drastic reform, it would be appropriate to bring in an outsider well versed in organization management. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which oversees the JSA, was unconvinced the association could clean itself up, and said the new chairman should be an outsider.

Even then, ex-wrestler board members insisted that the new chairman should also come from their ranks. The new administration raises the question whether the association can really promote reform.

The way the association chose the new chairman lacked clarity.

Musashigawa said at the board meeting that he was resigning because of health reasons. According to association sources, the board did not discuss the scandals during his chairmanship and his responsibility.

It was only one week ago that he resumed his chairman duties, saying "I want to do my best to revive the association." The appropriate thing to do at the time of his resignation was to make public his thoughts about his responsibility over the scandals during his time in office. Yet, even in the public statement released Friday he referred only to health reasons for his resignation.

His predecessor, Kitanoumi, resigned over the marijuana scandal of a wrestler in his stable. In reality, Musashigawa resigned to take responsibility for a scandal. We wonder if he really had any intention of taking responsibility so the association could turn over a new leaf.

The fact that two chairmen successively resigned mid-term is proof that the sumo association can't govern itself. Upon assuming the chairman's post, Hanaregoma said he "felt perplexed." This makes us worry about the future of the sumo community.

Solutions to the spate of scandals have yet to be worked out. In some of these cases, tickets for the best seats in the house were supplied to gangsters through elders, while illegal betting on baseball games was rampant. Two more wrestlers recently were found to have been involved in the gambling. Hanaregoma had to say upon assuming the top post that he regretted the new revelation.

It was a betrayal of the fans' trust that those wrestlers took part in the Nagoya tournament, while hiding their wrongdoing. There are also media reports that stable coach Sanoyama is suspected of involvement in an illegal casino. There seems to be no end to the problems that beset the JSA.

The independent committee on the establishment of governance for the JSA proposed measures to rid the organization of ties with criminal organizations. But this is only a start. The committee is expected to focus on such key problems as the closed nature of the stable system and the so-called toshiyori-kabu stock shares required to become a sumo elder and remain in the Japan Sumo Association that involve huge amounts of money.

Yet, the stable masters are still unable to cast off their parochial mindset, as symbolized by their failed attempt to sack a lawyer hired as an adviser on governance after deciding among themselves that the attorney was "on the education ministry's side."

Reform is painful. The stable masters are on their guard, fearing their vested interests are threatened. However, unless the association's reform efforts succeed, the public will turn its back on sumo.

It seems new chairman Hanaregoma intends to increase the number of outside board members. We hope he will achieve visible and drastic structural reforms. The new leadership needs to show it is serious.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 14