Indiana Evening Gazette: July 11, 1921

Indiana Evening Gazette, Monday 11th July 1921 (Page 9)

U. S. WRESTLERS DISLlKE JAP METHODS
American Mat Rules Do Not Apply in Nippon Contests - U. S. Sailors Barred from Wrestling
By KENT WATSON
International News Service Staff Correspondent

    COLUMBIA, Mo, July 11. - American wrestlers come home from Japan with less money, more experience and no love for Japanese promoters according to Alfonso Johnson, former United Status Trade Commissioner to Japan and now connected with a local newspaper.
    "Ad Santel and Henry Weber, American wrestlers," says Johnson are on their way back to this country from Japan, where the mustered a great deal of respect for Japanese wrestlers.
    "'Sumo is what they call wrestling in Japan. According to our rules of mat skill, American wrestlers are far superior to those of Japan, but according to sumo rules neck and toe holds are barred - so Santel and Weber were out of luck when they bucked the champions of Japanese rings.'
    Japanese wrestlers, unlike the average Jap, are giants of men, Johnson declares. They are mountains of strength, fat and muscular, with sensual faces and, he declares, for the most part, of sensual habits. They allow their hair to grow until it can be braided.
    Those of their following who attain the championship class usually marry the daughters of wrestling devotees and then live a fast life that sends them to an early grave, denounced, says Johnson.

Once Down, Defeated

    Explaining some of the details of sumo, Johnson .says only forty-eight falls, consisting of twelve throws, twelve lifts, twelve twists and twelve throws over the back are permitted. The matches are staged in sanded rings, encircles by rice-straw bales; the wrestlers enter the arena practically naked, wearing only a gay-colored apron. An umpire stays in the ring to see that the rules are strictly observed. He is dressed in the latest style of kimono and carries a fan.
    Japanese wrestling seldom results in a fall, as a fall is known in America, as no attempt is made to touch the shoulders of an opponent to the mat. A wrestler is down if any part of his body touches the mat, or if he steps over the boundary line of the ring. The Sumo men being giants, the Japanese wrestling contests are mostly pushing contests.
    "Years ago," explains Johnson, American sailors tried to mix American wrestling and Japanese Sumo, but always with disastrous results for the sailor would tear in for a catch as-catch-can and upset the Jap. That wasn't the way it was done in Japan.
    ''The last big Sumo match I saw was between a Jap and a giant negro sailor. The sailor was warned not to mess him up too much, and for a time things went well. Suddenly the Jap pushed a little too hard to please the negro, and the black forgot his instructions, grabbed a 'half-Nelson' and threw the Jap so hard that he almost cracked. It broke up the game and that night the sailors were afraid to take shore leave. That ended Sumo contests between Japs and American sailors.

Wrestling, Royal Art

    "Santel and Weber understood the Sumo rules when they started their tour of Japan. They signed contracts with promoters at Dai Nippon end staged bouts in Kudan Park, Tokia, where they were bested because of certain interpretation of the rules of combination matches. After five days wrestling before crowds of from 6,000 to 8,000 Santel and Weber asked for an accounting; they needed money. They were told the profits had been only 196 yen ($98), as the expenses had been very heavy.
    "Still arguing over this, they went to Nagoya and staged two bouts. They still received no pay. At Osaka they refused to wrestle unless paid in advance. This ultimatum finally brought them some money. They accepted some checks also, but the banks reported they had no accounts with the signers. The promoters who brought them from America had disappeared."
    Sumo is connected by Japanese history, Johnson says, with the royal family of that country. The Japanese throne, he says, once was a Sumo prize.
    "In the ninth century," declares Johnson, "the Mikado died and left two sons, both of whom claimed the throne. They committed their claims to a Sumo match rather than real warfare."