TOKYO (UPI) - Two young Brazilian giants have come to Japan with the hope of winning fame and money in this nation's grand old sport of sumo (wrestling). But the odds are 1,000-to-l against them.
    As a matter of fact, Haruyoshi Watari, 21, of Japanese ancestry, and Carlos Ungaro, 17, of Italian, parentage, have found their apprenticeship so strange and difficult that they are very discouraged. It would not be a surprise if they pack up and go home as several Californians of Japanese extraction have done in bygone days.
    This is one aspect of Japan which clings to feudal practices despite the adoption of a postwar democratic constitution. The bigwigs of the Japan Sumo Assn. have willed it so in the firm belief that it is the only sound training for future champions.
    A newcomer is a virtual servant to all the older wrestlers in a stable. He is the first to get up in the morning and do all the chores, such as house cleaning and cooking. Then he is assigned to be a sort of valet to a wrestler of high rank. The apprentice runs errands, even washes his wrestler's back.
    But he can rid himself of these chores if he is strong. Promotion is rapid if he wins most of his matches in the six annual championship tournaments. As soon as he reaches the juryo rank, he is acknowledged to be a full-fledged wrestler and is himself, assigned several apprentice attendants to do his errands.
    Take the case of 21-year-old Kashiwado, a farmer's son, who was promoted July 12 to Ohzeki. or champion, the second highest rank in the sport. The experts think he will eventually become a yokozuna, grand champion.
    He was still attending middle school when he was persuaded to become a sumo wrestler. He participated in his first bout Oct. 29, 1954, when only 16 years old.
    Kashiwado's promotion has been the fastest among postwar wrestlers, but Kashiwado, whose rear name is Tsuyoshi Togashi, is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 270 pounds.
    He is only one, in a thousand who eventually reaches, Ohzeki rank.
    Sumo, probably Japan's only indigenous sport today, is more than a thousand years old.
    There is a never-ending list of newcomers joining the stables because sumo is the shortest road to fame and wealth in Japan.
    Millions throughout the nation follow the bouts on television during the six annual 15-day tournaments.
    A wrestler in the top division, composed of 42 grapplers, wrestles only once a day. He meets 15 opponents in each 15-day tournament. The winner with the best record is awarded the championship.