SUMO DRUG SCANDAL RATTLES JAPAN

TOKYO - Sumo wrestlers with pot bellies, yes. Sumo wrestlers with pot?
Now that's harder to grapple with. Advertisement

In the past six months, four wrestlers have been kicked out of the
ancient sport for allegedly smoking marijuana, creating the biggest
drugs-in-sports scandal that Japan has ever seen.

Although three of the wrestlers who have been expelled from the sport
were from Russia, the arrest last week of a 25-year-old Japanese
athlete who goes by the ring name of Wakakirin for possession of
marijuana has raised concern that use of the drug may be more
widespread than originally thought.

In Japan, sumo wrestlers are not seen as athletes in the way that
baseball or tennis players are. A photo of U.S. swimming star Michael
Phelps with a marijuana pipe got wide play in the media here, but
nowhere near the consternation of the sumo scandal.

The sting of the busts in sumo - which only recently introduced doping
tests - was made all the worse because of the breakdown in Japan's
still relatively drug-free environment. Marijuana use, in particular,
is rising rapidly despite a stiff punishment - up to five years in
prison for possession.

"We are appalled by his utter folly," The Asahi, a major newspaper,
said in an outraged editorial. "Some young people casually try pot. It
is vital that we educate them on the risks of this drug from a fairly
early age."

More than being simply a drug issue, however, the scandal has been
amplified by the fact that it involves one of the world's oldest and
most tradition-bound sports - and one that is solidly rooted in
religious purification ritual.

Sumo wrestlers are expected to live the old-school life of a disciple.
They wear their hair in topknots, dress in traditional robes and train
in communal "stables." Their schedules are tightly regulated and the
word of their coaches, who are still called "masters," is absolute and
final.

Sumo aficionados like to note that former grand champion Musashimaru
(Fiamalu Penitani of Wai'anae), had a 10 p.m. curfew.

But that is changing.

The wrestlers at the center of the scandal came from training stables
where a new, and often younger, stable master was in charge, and
discipline was not what it might have been in the old days.

"In the most recent cases, the normal connections are not there
anymore," said David Shapiro, a sumo color commentator for broadcaster
NHK. "Stable masters normally are your surrogate fathers and now they
are your surrogate stepfathers. There are certain stables where this
never would have happened."

Still, many Japanese believe that to stain the purity of sumo is to
tarnish the heart of Japan itself.

Moving quickly to ease criticism, the Japan Sumo Association, which
oversees the professional sport, voted this week to dismiss Wakakirin,
whose legal name is Shinichi Suzukawa.

Many Japanese saw even that punishment as too light. Dismissal -
unlike the harsher punishment of expulsion from the sport - leaves
open the door for Wakakirin to receive severance pay, although the
Kyodo news agency reported that he has opted not to do so.

"It is hard not to call them lenient in this case," said Sports
Minister Ryu Shionoya. "This is utterly shameful."

Sumo initiated limited drug-testing in September after the Russian
wrestler Wakanoho was caught by police for allegedly possessing
marijuana. Two wrestlers, Roho and his brother, Hakurozan, also of
Russia, tested positive and were kicked out of the sport.

All three were top-division wrestlers, and well-known in Japan even
beyond sumo circles.

With Wakakirin's arrest, officials now say they will further beef up
doping tests for marijuana and stimulants. Marijuana is not considered
a performance-enhancing drug.

Wakakirin reportedly became interested in marijuana after reading
about it in magazines and seeing others smoking it at hip-hop clubs.

Mark Buckton, a sumo columnist and blogger, said he thinks the scandal
has pretty much run its course.

"A lot of these guys are young and single so it could go further, but
it's not really fair to say it's a breakdown in discipline in sumo,"
he said. "There are 700 men in sumo and the majority of them don't
smoke marijuana."

In sumo, competitors vie to push their opponents out of the ring or
make them touch the dirt with any part of their bodies other than the
soles of their feet. The wrestlers, who can weigh up to 550 pounds and
are mostly in their 20s, fight in six 15-day tournaments each year.

Despite its status as Japan's national sport, sumo has been hit with
several scandals in recent years, including persistent accusations of
bout-fixing, the hazing death of a young wrestler two years ago, and
the antics of its top champion, a fiery Mongolian who fights under the
name of Asashoryu.

Asashoryu recently had to sit out three tournaments as punishment for
skipping a road trip to go home to Mongolia. He claimed he had an
injury, but was seen playing a spirited game of soccer in his
homeland. Last month, after winning the most recent tournament,
Asashoryu was warned by sumo officials for pumping his fists to celebrate.

Displays of emotion in the ring, which is considered sacred ground,
are frowned upon.