Sat, Feb 07, 2004 page20

• Sumo on backfoot as fans ditch sport

  SECOND BEST The growing popularity of sports such as baseball and soccer and the lack of homegrown talent have left sumo without major sponsorship

  • REUTERS
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  Tracing its origins to the dawn of time when gods grappled for sovereignty over the Japanese isles, the sport of sumo has an iron grip on national mythology.

  But sumo, which emerged as a professional sport in the Edo era from the 17th century, has lately been pushed to ring's edge by tough economic times and competition from other entertainment.

  With waning sponsorship, falling turnout and -- perhaps most troubling -- the loss of its biggest stars, sumo has been less than agile in responding to very modern business woes.

  Retiring grand champion Musashimaru put it bluntly: "Hello, it's 2004. We're not in the Edo Era."

  Musashimaru, who entered the sport in 1989 and reached its pinnacle before retiring in November, says the lack of a home-grown yokozuna, or grand champion, leaves sumo vulnerable.

  "We have a big hole right now. We need a Japanese yokozuna, but I don't think the guys we have right now will make it," the Samoan-born wrestler said in an interview.

  "They're not big enough or physically tough enough. Their lack of something -- confidence, that's big."

  Still sporting a topknot and 235kg, the goliath's departure left sumo with only one yokozuna, Mongolian-born Asashoryu, and follows the loss in the last few years of Japanese brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana along with Hawaiian Akebono.

  Asashoryu won the recent New Year's tournament, dashing hopes that a rival Japanese wrestler would capture enough bouts to warrant promotion to the top spot.

  The sumo hierarchy overseeing the 2,000-year-old sport is an incorporated, non-profit association known for its tight control, which is only now coming to grips with its problems.

  "The more influential leaders of the Sumo Association have a sense of crisis and are aware that more must be done," said Clyde Newton, editor of Sumo Digest.

  Falling ticket sales for the six annual tournaments and the cancellation of a nightly televised digest of matches reflect the continuing desertion by once-loyal fans.

  Many of sumo's corporate backers deserted during the decade-long recession that followed the bursting of Japan's late 1980s "bubble economy" due to a combination of financial strain and the growing attraction of rival sports such as soccer.

  "The economic downturn caused a lot of financial sponsors to disappear years ago," said Lynn Matsuoka, a sumo commentator.

  "A lot of things that the sumo wrestlers and association want to do, like tour the country, they can't do that now."

  Only sumo's relatively low overheads have staved off worse woes.

  "Salaries earned by competitors in the top two divisions are very low compared with other professional sports," Newton said.

  A grand champion is estimated to make about US$300,000 a year compared to around US$5 million for a top baseball player or soccer star.

  A deep body blow was the loss of Wakanohana and Takanohana, scions of a family that dominated the sumo dohyo, or ring, for much of the 20th century.

  "Once the brothers started to fade in the late 1990s, public interest in sumo in Japan declined markedly," Newton said.

  Musashimaru said the ancient sport, which has recently added a bilingual Internet homepage and convenience stores to its ticket retailers, still needs better public relations efforts.

  "If you don't promote, you won't get anywhere."

  Perhaps the conservative sport's greatest modernization was the welcoming of foreigners such as Musashimaru, who stoked interest because of rivalries with Japanese grand champions.

  But with only one yokozuna, competition is falling flat, and the exit of some stars has underscored its slide.

  Former yokozuna Akebono cut his ties to sumo to join K-1, where boxers, kickboxers and wrestlers battle in a free-for-all style.

  In a nationally televised New Year's Eve match, Akebono was quickly dispatched by former American football player Bob "The Beast" Sapp, an outcome that did little to enhance sumo's dignified image.

  The former yokozuna, who considered leading his own sumo stable of wrestlers, says money was a factor in his move to K-1.

  "For yokozuna, people expect if you stay in the Sumo Association that you'll open your own stable, and that's not free," the K-1 fighter now known as Taro Akebono said.

  "Basically, I wondered if I went the stablemaster way or the K-1 route, which risk would be less for me?

  "It's a big risk staying in sumo."
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