The Mainichi, Friday 26th May 1950 (Page 2)

 Sumo Tourney Drawing Big Crowds: Old Japan Sport Now Has 'New Look'

By Leslie Nakashima, United Press Sports Correspondent
(Special to the English Mainichi).

    TOKYO, May 25 - The "summer" season of the grand sumo tournament at the temporary Kokugikan wrestling arena at Kuramae, near the Sumida River, is drawing big crowds.
    When you start to think about it, it's one of the cheapest forms of entertainment you can hope to find. Each day for 15 days while the tournament is on, just for one price of admission you have an opportunity of witnessing 137 bouts or a total of 274 contestants in action.
    Where else would you be able to see that many athletes in competition on a single day? On course, you must have plenty of patience if you want to see all 137 bouts.
    The tourney gets under way at 10 a.m. and is not over until 6 p.m. - an all day's job.
    Like any other sport, the early bouts are preliminaries which lead up to the stronger wrestlers and finally the top rankers at the end of the day's matches.
    So it is not strange that the beginners often do their stuff before an empty house. But the fans begin coming and by 2 p.m. the house is practically filled with some four hours of sumo still left for the day.
    What with professional baseball, boxing etc., this traditional sport has had an overwhelming amount of competition and to preclude a drop in attendance it has been streamlined by its executives.

Now Has 'New Look'

    One day this week I went to the tournament at Kuramae and was impressed by sumo's "new look."
    The exasperating wait before two wrestlers decide to rush at each other - a rite called shikiri - has been slashed to three minutes even for the champions.
    I remember before the war those big fellows in the "makunouchi" or top circle had virtually unlimited time in which to get "spiritually united" before they grappled at each other.
    To the neophyte, this was most disgusting because the actual bout is very brief - perhaps a couple of seconds, seldom longer than a minute.
    The sumo directors saw the change in the times - that the old-time fans were gradually dying and it would be difficult to replace their ranks unless they made radical changes in the sumo setup.
    They set up a time limit of 10 minutes for the shikiri. This was tried for several years but even this seemed senseless to many spectators to watch two big fellows crouch, glare at each other, then walk to their corners, grab some salt in their hands and toss it into the air as they return to the center of the ring - crouch again and repeat the same procedure until the end of the time limit.
    So the shikiri was cut to five minutes and now the time limit is three minutes. The arena looked bare in comparison to early postwar tourneys.
    Posters stressing "Peace" and "Reconstruction of Japan" had disappeared and in their place nailed against the rafters were only large advertising signs of a certain brand of whiskey and sake and another of a fire insurance firm.

Getting Business Minded

    The new executives of the Sumo Association are certainly getting business minded. Sumo is an interesting sport if you give it a little study. There is no weight limit. Frequently a 300 pounder will take on an opponent only one half his weight. It's a heavyweight affair all the way through without weight restrictions but it doesn't mean that the heavier fellow will necessarily win.
    Agility, skill and strength count and the lighter fellow has all the chance in the world beat his heavier opponent.

Funniest Bout

    To me the funniest bout was that between 35 year old Nayoroiwa - a former ozeki or champion - and 25 year old Fujita.
    Nayoroiwa is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 31 kan - a kan is about 8 pounds. Fujita's height was given as 5 ft. 6 in. and his weight 32 kan.
    Although 10 years younger, Fujita looked older than Nayoroiwa because of his dearth of hair. He is almost bald - an old sight for those sleek long haired wrestlers - and his traditional topknot is merely an excuse because all you can see is a little knot at the back of his head.
    Fujita - who also causes comment because his professional sumo name is an ordinary surname instead of a river or mountain - also participated in the "dohyoiri" or formal ring entrance ceremony of yokozuna - grand champion - Azumafuji.
    He was the solemn holder of Azumafuji's sword.
    Needless to say, spectators had an amused look in their faces.
    Oh, about that bout . . . after elaborate throwing of salt high into the air by Fujita to purify the ring, they rushed at each other. The younger Fujita was the aggressor but the older Nayoroiwa outwitted him at the edge of the ring and it was Fujita who fell outside to lose.