Sumo association must take more severe action against scandals
(From The Japan Times June 19 issue)

角界の野球賭博に甘い対応

The Japan Sumo Association is now being battered by a gambling scandal following the discovery in May that two sumo stable masters helped gangsters obtain tickets for special ringside seats at sumo tournaments. The tickets scandal resulted in demotion of stable masters Kise and Kiyomigata, and the closure of the Kise stable. If it is ascertained that sumo wrestlers and other JSA members involved in the gambling scandal have had ties with members of the underworld, the JSA should severely punish them. For its part, the JSA must sever whatever relations it may have with antisocial groups.

The weekly Shukan Shincho issued on May 20 reported that ozeki Kotomitsuki is in heavy debt from gambling on professional baseball games and has been blackmailed by former gangsters to pay ¥100 million in hush money. He apparently lied when he called the report a fabrication. Sources close to the investigation reported that he paid some ¥3 million as hush money.

But in a recent survey covering all the JSA members, numbering some 1,000, Kotomitsuki and 28 others admitted to betting on baseball games and 36 others to involvement in gambling on mah-jongg, hanafuda card games, golf games, etc., in the past five years. Among the 65 were stable masters and hairdressers for sumo wrestlers. The JSA sent the survey results to the police. Some of the names have already surfaced.

The JSA's lenient attitude toward Kotomitsuki gives the impression that it doesn't take his offenses very seriously. It accepted his offer to sit out the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament but did not take any additional action other than to issue a strict warning to him and the 64 others. When the JSA questioned stable master Kise over the tickets scandal, he admitted that he had connections with gangsters until a few years ago. The JSA, however, did not disclose this information at a news conference — an act that makes people think that the association is insincere.

The sumo world has traditionally been tolerant of gambling. Depending on the results of the police investigation, the JSA must take more severe action. Its trustworthiness as a guardian of the nation's top traditional sport is at stake.

日本相撲協会は便宜を図った観戦券が暴力団に渡ったことに対し木瀬・清見潟両親方を処分、木瀬部屋は閉鎖されたが、さらに賭博問題が浮上した。賭博に関与した力士や協会員が暴力団とつながっていたとすれば、協会は彼らを厳しく罰し、反社会的組織との関係を断つべきだ。

週刊新潮は野球賭博に手を染めた大関琴光喜が元ヤクザから口止め料を払うよう脅されたと報じた。

最近の調査で野球賭博はほかに28名が、麻雀や花札、ゴルフなどの賭けは36名が関与を認め、計65名の中には親方や床山もいる。

琴光喜への対応から、協会の罪の認識の甘さがうかがえる。名古屋場所休場申し出を受け入れたものの、65名に対して厳重注意のみ。

捜査結果に基づき協会は処分を厳罰化すべきだ。国技の担い手の信頼性が揺らいでいる。