SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Less than $3 per week View Profile The Explainer Talking Points The Week Recommends Newsletters From the Magazine The Week Junior Food & Drink Personal Finance All Categories Newsletter sign up under the radar Sumo wrestling is taking a beating Scandals and high-profile resignations of former stars have 'sullied' image of Japan's national sport – but could its latest star turn the tide? Newsletter sign up (Image credit: Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images) Harriet Marsden, The Week UK 9 June 2025 The man widely considered to be the greatest sumo wrestler in history has resigned, compounding a bruising few years for Japan's ancient sport. Last week Hakuho Sho left the Japan Sumo Association (JSA), the sport's governing body, the latest in a series of resignations among yokozuna, the highest-ranking wrestlers. Now, only four of the 10 most recently retired grand champions are still in the JSA. "It's a significant loss of high-level experience and one that hurts sumo's efforts to both find and keep young talent in the sport," said The Japan Times. And the resignation of Hakuho – the most decorated wrestler in sumo history "by a significant margin", as well as a "major recruiter of talent" – is the "biggest blow of all". Subscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. 'Sullied' samurai values The origins of sumo date back more than 1,000 years, but Japan is the only place where it is "contested on a professional level", said The Independent. It is widely considered Japan's national sport, with many "ritual elements" connected to the indigenous religion, Shinto. Sumo is "highly regimented"; many wrestlers live in training facilities where "food and dress are controlled by ancient traditions". Sumo "prides itself on being a repository of the samurai values of courage, determination and loyalty", said The Times. But that image has been "sullied" in recent years. The sport has been "plagued" by scandals involving "violence, match-fixing and mismanagement". Japan's dramatically falling birth rate has also "hurt sumo". According to government data released this week, Japan's birth rate dropped by 5.7% between 2023 and 2024. Last spring only 34 people applied to become wrestlers – known as rikishi – down from 160 at the peak in 1992. To "lure young recruits", the governing body relaxed the minimum standards for height and weight. One wrestler's ascendance is seen as a "chance to increase the sport's popularity", and distance it from its controversies. Sumo may have its "smiling 30-stone champion": Onosato. Onosato was promoted to the rank of yokozuna last month, "completing a meteoric rise to the summit" of sumo in a record span of just 13 tournaments, said The Guardian. Born Daiki Nakamura, he is the 75th yokozuna in sumo's history, and at age 24 the youngest since 1994. He's also the first Japanese-born sumo wrestler since 2017; in recent years Mongolian-born athletes like Hakuho have "dominated". His rise has been "widely hailed both for its symbolic significance and his calm, composed style". "I hope he leads by example and lifts the entire world of sumo," said Nishonoseki, Onosato's stablemaster, who competed as Kisenosato. A few big buts But wrestlers who exert "total dominance" inside the ring often struggle with the strict rules and conventions of sumo, said The Japan Times. They are regularly "chastised". Still, official censure or "condemnation by the media" is "easier to handle when you are top of the world and raking in trophies and prize money". But "it's a completely different situation when the limelight and all the perks are suddenly gone". For wrestlers such as Hakuho, sumo is all they know. There are "few, if any, opportunities to develop the kind of skills and mechanisms needed to cope with the emotional turmoil that comes from such a sudden shift". What makes the adjustment even harder is the "rigid nature of life" after retirement from sumo. For those who choose to remain with the JSA as coaches or stablemasters, there is "still little freedom in how they choose to live their lives day to day". Now, after Hakuho's resignation, the future of his namesake event is unclear. The Hakuho Cup is "arguably the most important sumo tournament in the world" for children and adolescents. For Onosato, like numerous current wrestlers, the cup was a "major milestone and motivator". It provides "invaluable experience for children from numerous countries", and was a link between amateur and professional sumo. The JSA will "continue to survive and thrive", but it's hard to argue that "sumo hasn't been lessened without its most decorated champion". For the sake of its future, sumo should "figure out a way to stem the tide of such high-profile departures". Explore More Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Social Links Navigation Harriet Marsden is a writer for The Week, mostly covering UK and global news and politics. Before joining the site, she was a freelance journalist for seven years, specialising in social affairs, gender equality and culture. She worked for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, and regularly contributed articles to The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The New Statesman, Tortoise Media and Metro, as well as appearing on BBC Radio London, Times Radio and “Woman’s Hour”. She has a master’s in international journalism from City University, London, and was awarded the "journalist-at-large" fellowship by the Local Trust charity in 2021. 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