A text message from one opponent to the other the day before their match is being reviewed by local authorities in Japan for fear of "rigging " the match between the two athletes. It is one of the many pieces of evidence flowing in to both the Wrestling Fedration and the police jeopardizing the time-honored sport in the eyes of both the pure fanatics and the long - standing followers of their beloved sport.
“Please hit hard at the face-off, then go with the flow,” one of the wrestlers, Kiyoseumi, texted on the afternoon of May 10, according to a transcript of the messages leaked to local news media and published this week by the daily newspaper Mainichi.
“Understood,” Kasuganishiki, his opponent in the following day’s match, quickly replied. “I’ll go with the flow and put up at least a little resistance."
Stage-managed bouts may be a staple of American professional wrestling, but sumo is Japan’s national sport, in a different league from World Wrestling Entertainment, many Japanese would say. Though allegations of match-fixing have accompanied sumo for decades, no wrestler has ever been caught orchestrating a match.
The police recently found text messages on confiscated cellphones that link as many as 13 wrestlers in match-fixing schemes, Japan’s sumo association said this week. Two wrestlers and a coach have admitted to fixing bouts.
Earlier this week, two television networks said they were withdrawing their sponsorship of competitions before the next major tournament in March. Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, indicated that it might cancel live coverage of that tournament.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he, too, was angered by the scandal. “If it is true, it is a very serious betrayal of the people,” Mr. Kan saidhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/naoto_kan/index.html?inline=nyt-per.
The scandal has outraged a public that considers sumo — which traces its origins to rituals of Japan’s indigenous religion of Shinto — a venerable tradition. Wrestlers, their hair in samurai-style topknots, have been seen not just as athletes, but as upholders of a stoic work ethic and noble public behavior.
“I don’t think the nation would support the tournament unless serious action is taken,” Kan Suzuki, the deputy education and sports minister, said Thursday. The sumo association said it had begun its own investigation.
"But some sumo fans said match-fixing was all part of the game. “It’s been going on from the old days,” Shintaro Ishihara, 78, Tokyo’s governor, told reporters Friday. “We should just let them trick us into enjoying it,” he said, adding, “It’s just like Kabuki theater.”
Some of the government officials are wondering what long-term effects this will have on this traditional sporting venue of not only the public, but what it will also do to as a source of income for the government, advertising and television broadcasts.
It seems as though the athletes are exchanging losses for money and even sometimes bartering for their next bout. " I'll lose this one, you get the next." I would suggest settling this in the ring, but we know what the outcome would be. Or would we?