Death Of A Sumo Wrestler

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Sumo wrestler Tokitaizan dies after collapsing during practice
Professional sumo wrestler Tokitaizan died from heart failure after he collapsed during practice in Aichi Prefecture, his family said. Tokitaizan, a native of Niigata Prefecture, was 17. He collapsed during practice at the Tokitsukaze stable in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture on Tuesday afternoon. Doctors declared him dead after he was rushed to a local hospital. His body was taken to his home in Niigata on late Tuesday night. After finding several bruises on his face, the wrestler's relatives asked the Tokitsukaze stable and police for an explanation about his death...more...

ZAKZAK reports (Japanese) that the boy's body had a split ear, a swollen face and there was evidence of burns on his body from a cigarette. This is apparently not unknown in the sumo world where hazing is thought to build character.

[Taro Toporific]

Mainichi: Sumo wrestler Tokitaizan dies after collapsing during practice

What if they have Sumo tourney and nobody came?

Sumo association gets no new applicants
Japan Today - Monday, July 2, 2007 at 07:00 EDT, NAGOYA --Sumo's status as Japan's national sport has been jeopardized further as no one applied for the tests for new recruits for the first time ever, sumo officials said Sunday. The Japan Sumo Association was forced to cancel the tests scheduled for Monday after receiving no applications from would-be professionals prior to the Sunday's deadline...more...

[Doctor Stop]

I wonder why?

"Ain't I sexy enough for ye?"

[Samurai_Jerk]

This story seems to be back in the news the last couple of days. How much you want to bet these guys get light sentences for bowing deeply and using the tradition defense? Fucking scumbags.

NAGOYA -- Police are poised to form a case against sumo stablemaster Tokitsukaze and several wrestlers over the sudden death of grappler Tokitaizan in June, investigators said.

Investigators are reportedly set to accuse Tokitsukaze of inflicting injuries on 17-year-old Tokitaizan, while several other wrestlers face charges of inflicting injuries on the grappler resulting in death.

When questioned by police, Tokitsukaze said that the day before Tokitaizan died, he hit the wrestler with a beer bottle, and the other wrestlers reportedly admitted having attacked Tokitaizan as a group.

More

[Mike Oxlong]

The police have a blood-stained metal baseball bat as evidence, after one of the boy's seniors had an attack of conscience and went to police a few days after the manslaughter occured.

[Mulboyne]

Shukan Gendai has tastefully decided to publish pictures of the boy's corpse in the current edition.

[dimwit]

Shukan Gendai has tastefully decided to publish pictures of the boy's corpse in the current edition.

Charming weren't they? I wondering how they managed to get the permission to to publish them.

[amdg]

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Yomiuri: Stables admit beatings part of sumo life
A committee established by the Japan Sumo Association to investigate abuse of wrestlers following the violent death of a 17-year-old wrestler in June has found that beatings with baseball bats are common across the sport. The committee distributed questionnaires to the 53 stables that make up the JSA. In their responses, 24 stables admitted to using baseball bats or similar implements in training, while another 25 admitted they had used them in the past. When asked if bullying or other forms of abuse had been observed at their stable, 17 of the 53 stables said yes...more...

[Behan]

You would think kendo shinai would be bad enough. Baseball bats would just break bones. It's crazy that anyone would ever think of hitting anyone with a baseball bat unless they meant to do serious harm or kill.
The people who used the bats should go to jail.

[Spidey]

Is this how they investigate and prosecute murders in Japan!?

What a fucking joke!!

[Mulboyne]

This was all of the news again and has also been picked up by the foreign press:

Guardian: Japanese sumo trainer arrested over death of pupil

The reputation of Japan's national sport suffered another blow today with the arrest of a sumo trainer over the death of a junior wrestler following an alleged assault at a training camp last year. Junichi Yamamoto and three wrestlers belonging to his stable were arrested on suspicion of inflicting bodily harm resulting in the death of Takashi Saito, a 17-year-old novice who fought under the name Tokitaizan. Yamamoto, 57, is alleged to have struck Saito over the head with a beer bottle after he attempted to abscond last June. The stable master, whose sumo name is Tokitsukaze, then allegedly ordered three senior wrestlers to assault him. The following day the teenager collapsed and died after an exhausting sparring session in which he had been forced to fight multiple opponents until he could barely stand.

Yamamoto, a hard-drinking former wrestler with a famously fiery temper, admitted striking Saito but denied ordering the assault, in which one of the assailants was armed with a metal baseball bat. The sumo association initially said Saito had died of heart failure, but his parents contacted police after noticing heavy bruising and what appeared to be cigarette burns on his body. An autopsy showed he died of multiple trauma shocks triggered by the attack. His death promoted the government to order a review of sumo's gruelling training regime "It is regrettable that the wrestlers were arrested," the Japan sumo association's chairman, Kitanoumi, told reporters. "We hope that they cooperate with investigations to find out what really happened."

Saito's death has tarnished sumo's image at a time when many promising youngsters are shunning the ancient sport in favour of the better salaries and lifestyles offered by other professional sports. Saito had twice tried to return home without permission, complaining to his parents that he lacked privacy and was unable to adapt to the discipline of stable life.

[Iraira]

CNN's take....

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- When Japanese police arrested three sumo wrestlers and their stable master on Thursday over allegations they beat a 17-year-old wrestler to death, the case sent shockwaves across a country that links its national identity to the sport.

In scenes unprecedented in Japan's history, where wrestlers are seen as national heroes, the sumo stars were shown handcuffed and with jackets over their heads surrounded by cameras and reporters.

Police arrested sumo wrestlers Masakazu Kimura, 24, Yuichiro Izuka, 25, Masanori Fujii, 22, and their stablemaster, Junichi Yamamoto, 57, who is also known as Tokitsukaze. Aichi prefectural police allege Yamamoto ordered the three wrestlers to beat a 17 year old junior wrestler so brutally that he died.

Takashi Saito, 17, collapsed at his sumo stable and was rushed to the hospital.

Initially, the boy's death was listed as "ischemic heart failure", until his family viewed his body. They say his body was covered in bruises, cuts and burns. They begged police to open an investigation, believing he'd been punished for trying to flee the stable.

"He said he'd be a good boy, I just need to come get him (from the stable)," his father told reporters last summer, through choked tears. "I should have listened and trusted him."

Police say on June 25, Yamamoto instructed the wrestlers to beat the boy using sticks and a metal bat.

Yamamoto publicly denied striking Saito inappropriately, though he did admit to striking him on the head with a beer bottle during dinner that day. He told reporters shortly after Saito's death, "This was an ordinary practice. How could you think I would do anything to hurt someone I consider my child?"

The results of an autopsy conducted last year by Niigata University concluded that Saito died of shock caused by multiple injuries.

In a separate autopsy, specialists at Nagoya University confirmed earlier this month that shock caused by multiple external injuries contributed to Saito's death.

The arrests have shaken Japan's national sport to its core.

The Prime Minister, on the floor of the Parliament, urged the nation to carefully examine its sport. The Sumo Association says it will look at how young sumo are hazed, a process that often batters them to toughen them up.

"There will be some change in the short-term, but in the long-run, nothing will change," says sumo analyst and Japan Times sumo columnist Mark Buckton. "These are bad apples who took it too far."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/08/japan.sumo/index.html

[American Oyaji]

"There will be some change in the short-term, but in the long-run, nothing will change," says sumo analyst and Japan Times sumo columnist Mark Buckton.

All too true.

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Ex-stablemaster admits having wrestler tied up

A former stablemaster arrested on suspicion of assault resulting in the death of a 17-year-old sumo wrestler admitted to police he ordered his students to tie the wrestler to a pillar for a slapping exercise, investigators said Monday. However, the former Tokitsukaze stablemaster, whose real name is Junichi Yamamoto, has continued to deny criminal intent, insisting that the order was meant to discipline Tokitaizan, whose real name was Takashi Saito, but not to hurt him, according to the special investigation squad of Inuyama Police Station in Aichi Prefecture. Yamamoto, 57, was arrested earlier this month along with three sumo wrestlers of the stable. According to the police, Yamamoto struck Saito about 10 times with a beer bottle at the stable's lodging in Inuyama on June 25, the day before his death.

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Former stablemaster's sentence cut

A high court here Monday cut the prison sentence of a former sumo stablemaster involved in the beating death of a teenage wrestler. The Nagoya High Court sentenced Junichi Yamamoto, 60, known as Tokitsukaze while he was a stablemaster, to five years in prison, overturning a six-year sentence imposed by a lower court. Yamamoto's prison term was reduced because he had paid about 15.8 million yen ($168,000) of his retirement allowance from the Japan Sumo Association to the bereaved family of Takashi Saito, 17, who died after a beating by three fellow wrestlers ordered by Yamamoto in June 2007. The total compensation paid to the family stands at 64.6 million yen. Yamamoto's lawyers filed an appeal Monday against the reduced sentence. The three wrestlers who beat Saito, whose ring name was Tokitaizan, have accepted suspended prison sentences.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Asahi: Former stablemaster's sentence cut

Yamamoto's lawyers filed an appeal Monday against the reduced sentence.

Sounds like he needs a new lawyer.

[Behan]

It just doesn't seem right that the judge reduced his sentence because he paid money to the family. And appealing a five-year, already reduced, sentence makes me think he doesn't feel too guilty about the fact that a young man was beaten to death with beer bottles and bats.

[Yokohammer]

It just doesn't seem right that the judge reduced his sentence because he paid money to the family.

Good point. It almost sounds like it's OK to murder someone if you have lots of money and are prepared to give some if it to the bereaved. The fundamental moral principle seems to have been overlooked.

[Samurai_Jerk]

It just doesn't seem right that the judge reduced his sentence because he paid money to the family. And appealing a five-year, already reduced, sentence makes me think he doesn't feel too guilty about the fact that a young man was beaten to death with beer bottles and bats.

Imagine what Warren Buffett could get away with here.

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]Yomiuri: Stables admit beatings part of sumo life

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via POLITICOMIX: 8.19.2011 The Road to the Kokugikan (Click comic to ENLARGE).