Asahi: Does it matter if there are blond wrestlers?
... Baruto, who hails from the small Baltic state of Estonia, is a natural blond. His striking hair aside, he has attracted the attention of sumo fans for his meteoric rise to the senior rank after only eight basho (tournaments). Every sekitori is required to do his hair in a topknot called o-icho, but never in the history of sumo has there been anyone with blond o-icho... Some sumo purists assert that since o-icho is a distinctive hairdo that stands out, Baruto should dye his hair black. However, the prevalent view of Japan sumo association officials appears to be that he should be allowed to keep his natural hair color. And Baruto himself apparently has no desire to mess with his natural hair color. There is quite a mix of foreign wrestlers today, including those from Russia, Czech and Brazil. Many came to Japan in their teens and have worked hard to master the language and adjust culturally. It would be unkind to force them to change their hair color after all their hard work to rise in the ranks.
Baruto earlier on FG: "Why do foreign rikishi speak fluent Japanese?"
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