The Japan Advertiser, Thursday 19th January 1939 (Page 8)

Doctor Finds Nothing

    Grand Champion Futabayama is about to leave the hospital attached to the Kitari Institute, Shiba Ward, after Dr. Tsuneo Komatsu told him yesterday that he could find no physical aliment to account for his defeats in the current sumo tournament.

FUTABA NOT SICK DOCTOR DECLARES

Wrestling King's Trouble Largely Psychological, Physician Friend Says

BUT STRENGTH IS WANING

Kikugoro Writes Sympathetic Note to Defeated Sumo Grand Champion

    The towering strength of Futabayama, 260-pound, 28-year-old sumo king, has reached its peak and is now on the decline, in the opinion of Dr.
Tsuneo Komatsu,  personal friend of the grand champion.
    It is only natural that he must give way to younger men, in the pink of condition, some day, the physician explained, accounting for Futabayama's dismal showing at the Ryogoku wrestling tournament this week.
    The bulky grand champion went to Dr. Komatsu yesterday morning, the Asahi says, convinced that some physical ailment was responsible for his three defeats, the first on Sunday, snapping his string of 69 consecutive victories over a period of more than three years.
    There is nothing the matter with the champ's health, the doctor said.
    Feeling that Futabayama's trouble was largely psychological, the physician had a heart-to-heart chat  with the wrestler for three-quarters of an hour. He told him he could exert himself more than he has for the past few days but said it would be unwise for him to strain his strength to the limit.

Talk Does Good

    The talk apparently did Futabayama good, for he went back to the Kokugikan yesterday afternoon and flattened his foe, Kasagiyama, breaking his string of defeats.
    The doctor diagnosed the giant's case without chest-thumping, pulse-feeling or stethoscope-listening. He merely had him sit down and describe his ailments, if any.
    Come to think about it, Futabayama said, he really felt no pain. He felt good, in fact except for losing those matches, which he couldn't explain.
    After he had gone, the doctor said that apparently Futabayama's friends and advisers put the idea into Futabayama's head that he was a sick man.
    "Just because a man gets licked, is that any sign he is sick?" he asked.
    "It is a pity for the champion that his friends, with positive assurance, blame a non-existent ailment for his failure to win. As things stand at present, with the natural nervousness and excitement of the tournament, his friends are harming him unwittingly by constantly speculating on the possibility that he is a sick man. It is a shame."

Actor Writes Wrestler

    The outstanding kabuki actor in Japan, Kikugoro Onoe, sixth in his line, penned a note to Japan's erstwhile outstanding wrestler, Futabayama, urging the grand champion to "stay in there and fight," the day after Futaba was thrown by a rank and filer in the current wrestling tournament, for the first time in 69 matches, the Asahi reveals.
    The great actor has never seen Futabayama in the flesh, but he is an ardent sumo fan, or was before his protégé, Mazagoishi, died. He has not attended a tournament since the old national wrestling hall was torn down to make way for the present Kokugikan at Ryogoku. He has maintained an intense interest in the sport, however, and has followed the ups and downs of the various grand champions in recent years through the medium of the newspapers and radio.
    He explained to the Asahi that he felt a word of encouragement for the fallen hero would not be untimely as Futabayama's morale seemed to be slipping badly following his defeat by Akinoumi, a fifth-ranker, last Sunday. He has been thrown twice since.
    Kikugoro's letter, written with a brush on fine rice paper and couched in formal phrases through which friendship and sympathy glowed, said in part.
    "Please do proceed steadily henceforth, Futabayama - through the written is not an acquaintance of Futabayama."

Morale Believed Shaken

    Kikugoro feels that Futabayama has allowed his initial defeat to dampen his fighting spirit, he told the Asahi, and he would like to give the wrestler a stronger pop talk. This would hardly be proper, though, he said, coming from a stranger.
    "I should like to tell him to elevate his honor again and not be beaten. But the expression of such a sentiment would be out of politeness to the grand champion of the nation. For this reason, I am just wishing for his vigorous comeback from the background."
    Kikugoro is not without appreciation of the difficulties a sumo grand champion must face in upholding his position. All the other wrestlers constantly are studying his style, for one thing, and are always working out strategy for his undoing. Physical conditioning also is important. Although sumo wrestlers are bulky enough, it seeing that they are as delicate as racehorses. The slightest ailment may upset them. And Kikugoro understands that Futabayama has been suffering an intestinal disorder. He would not be at all surprised if this did not have quite a bit to do with his downfall.

ONLY ONE UNBEATEN IN SUMO TOURNEY

Dewaminato, 17th ranker, Still On Feet After 7th Day - Minanogawa Thrown

    Only one gladiator of the sumo arena, Dewaminato, remained undefeated at the midpoint of the 13-day Japanese wrestling tournament at the Kokugikan today after the scores of behemoths who started, including the once mighty Futabayama, felt the mat under their backs, one after the other.
    Dewaminato, an up-and-coming wrestler of the 17th rank, brought his current string of victories to seven yesterday when he pinioned Tatekabuto in quick order.
    After a reassuring trip to a doctor earlier in the day, who informed him that nothing ailed him, Futabayama got back into his old stride and disposed of Kasagiyama, a wrestler rated much higher than the three who defeated him on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
    Another upset in the tournament, though an anti-climax following the three successive setbacks suffered by Futabayama, occurred yesterday when grand champion Minanogawa was thrown by Tamanoumi, outstanding candidate for the ozeki, or championship berth. It was Minanogawa's first defeat of the tournament.
    Although the Dai Nippon Sumo Association permits the four best wrestlers to wear grand champion crowns simultaneously, only two grand champs are taking part in the present tournament. Futabayama and Minanogawa. The third living grand champion, Musashiyama, is ill in hospital. Tamanishiki, who ranked next to Futabayama, was the fourth. He died in an Osaka hospital last month following an appendicitis operation, and his berth has not yet been filled.
    Tamanoumi, the youngster who felled Minanogawa yesterday, was a protégé of grand champion Tamanishiki.
    An enthusiastic crowd jammed the Kokugikan to capacity again yesterday, eager to see the mighty Futabayama trounced again, according to the Yomiuri.

Results of main matches follow:
Mutsunishiki beat Katsuragawa
Tomoenada beat Fujigatake
Ayanishiki beat Dewanohana
Hishuzan beat Kaneminato
Tsurugamine beat Jinmuyama
Hatasegawa beat Ichiwatari
Fujinosato beat Kaikozan
Ayawaka beat Toshuzan
Aobayama beat Taikyuzan
Dewaminato beat Tatekabuto
Wakashima beat Takanobori
Ryuozan beat Shachinosato
Ryogoku beat Oshio
Kajimanada beat Onami
Asahikawa beat Itsushima
Yamatonishiki beat Banjaku
Haguroyama beat Ayanobori
Nayoroiwa beat Akinoumi
Kagamiiwa beat Kojimagawa
Maedayama beat Komanosato
Tamanoumi beat Minanogawa
Futabayama beat Kasagiyama