Hiragana Times Archive
This month Selection 2
A Day in the Life of a Lower-Division Sumotori
Weighing 140 kilograms, wrapped in a yukata, and with his jet-black hair tied into a samurai-style topknot (mage), KANAYA Shigeki is hardly a typical 24-year-old. Under the ring name of Kihakuriki (‘Strong Willful Force’), he is one of 730 determined, powerful and generally very large wrestlers (sumotori) who make up the Japan Sumo Association (JSA).
The JSA has six official divisions. Household names, such as Asashoryu and Takamisakari, compete in the first division, known as makuuchi (‘inside the curtain’). The name allegedly comes from an Edo era custom which saw top sumotori screened off from the audience by a curtain while awaiting their matches. Kihakuriki, is in sumo’s third division, known as makushita (‘below the curtain’). His life is thus incredibly different to that of the sumo superstars.
Only the top two divisions, makuuchi and juryo, offer monthly salaries ranging from 1 million to 2.4 million yen. These basic incomes can be added to by match-day prizes and performance incentives offered by private sponsors and the JSA. Makushita men, on the other hand, are unsalaried. Their rent and board is paid by the sumo training stable (heya) in which they live. However, their only guaranteed spending money is a small monthly allowance from their stable master (oyakata).
Ex-judo student Kihakuriki lives in the Otake training stable, located about four kilometers from the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the home of sumo. Otake was originally founded by a sumo legend called Taiho, who won a record 32 makuuchi championships. The stable was inherited by Taiho’s son-in-law, a fine sumotori of the 1990s named Takatoriki. “This man is my hero,” Kihakuriki claims. “He won the makuuchi Emperor’s Cup in my home town of Osaka, and he is the reason I joined sumo.”
Last year, Kihakuriki carried out the special role of tsukibito – a personal attendant to a salaried sumotori. His extensive duties included offering drinks to, and wiping the back of, Russian giant Roho in training, carrying Roho’s belongings to and from the Kokugikan on matchdays, running shopping errands, and welcoming the Russian’s supporters. In return, Kihakuriki was presented with some of Roho’s match-day prize money, and loved spending it during off-season drinking parties with friends.
Then, in September 2008, Kihakuriki’s life changed completely. Roho was forced to leave the JSA, and the young Osaka man suddenly found himself the highest-ranked wrestler in the Otake stable. With no more prize money to look forward to, and no servant duties to distract him, Kihakuriki had the perfect motivation to climb the sumo ranks. His form dramatically improved, and good performances in 2009 could see his monthly earnings skyrocket from nothing to one million yen. Promotion is achieved simply by winning more matches than you lose. However, competition will be fierce, as the salary incentive appeals to many a makushita wrestler.
Kihakuriki may look blubbery, but – like every sumotori – his body consists of much hardened muscle. His biceps are huge, and his stomach feels like a medicine ball. He describes his daily regime as follows: “There are eight wrestlers in the stable and the lower rankers get up around 5.30 am. We train between 6.30 and 11 am before eating our morning meal afterwards. Chanko (a famous sumo cuisine) is our main food, but we have all sorts of side dishes. Lower rankers are given a shopping list and must buy the ingredients. A team of wrestlers is posted to the kitchen, with each of us taking turns to prepare the stable’s food. We sleep after lunch and relax in the afternoons, perhaps by reading, playing pachinko or throwing a ball around. We start cooking dinner at 6 pm, ready for serving at 7 pm.”
Kihakuriki is untroubled by the gruelling sumo diet. “When I joined Otake eight years ago, I had to eat so much food that my stomach hurt,” he recalls. “But you get used to it. I’ve never had a problem putting on weight.”
His parents run a yakitori restaurant in Osaka, where a sumo tournament is held every March. In 2009, Kihakuriki celebrated his homecoming by achieving his highest ever sumo rank. In 2010, he dreams of returning home as a sekitori, someone who has vaulted the great “seki” (barrier) between unsalaried and salaried sumo status.
Text: Chris GOULD
(From July Issue 2009)
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