sumo champs perform new year ritual after scandalhit 2017
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

as the sport seeks to turn the page

Sumo champs perform New Year ritual after scandal-hit 2017

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Sumo champs perform New Year ritual after scandal-hit 2017

Sumo's three grand champions hope to turn the page on a scandal-hit 2017.
Tokyo - Arab Today

Sumo's three grand champions clapped their hands and stamped their feet in a traditional New Year offering to the Shinto gods Tuesday, as the sport seeks to turn the page on a scandal-hit 2017.

Wearing just their traditional white knotted belts -- or "kesho-mawashi" -- with colourful aprons, the "Yokozuna" champions performed the ritual in front of an appreciative crowd of hundreds of fans.

Hakuho, Kisenosato and Kakuryu were flanked by a traditional sword-bearer and another attendant whose job is to walk ahead of the champions parting the crowds.

The rite took place at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji, the great grandfather of reigning Emperor Akihito, making explicit the links between the sport and the Shinto tradition in which it is steeped.

The "ring-entering" ceremony is also performed at the start of each day in sumo's top-division tournament.

Japan's ancient sport is keen to start afresh after an annus horribilis in 2017, culminating in the resignation of one of its top champions in disgrace.

Harumafuji, 33, was charged and fined 500,000 yen ($4,400) for a brutal assault on a rival wrestler while out drinking in an incident that has rocked the sport to its core.

Yokozuna are expected to be beyond moral reproach, but the writing was on the wall for Harumafuji after he confessed to hitting fellow wrestler Takanoiwa for texting his girlfriend.

Mongolian Harumafuji, who reached sumo's hallowed rank five years ago, admitted punching his fellow countryman Takanoiwa and bashing him with a karaoke remote control.

The scandal mirrors that of another Mongolian star, Asashoryu, who stepped down in 2010 after being accused of breaking a man's nose in a drunken brawl outside a Tokyo nightclub.

Another embarrassment hit the sport early into the new year when reports emerged that the top-ranked referee had sexually harassed a teenage trainee.

According to public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News, Shikimori Inosuke, 58, drunkenly molested his male junior by kissing him and touching his chest at a hotel in Okinawa, where sumo wrestlers were on a winter tour.

- 'Break records' -

Fans at the shrine on Tuesday said they hoped the sport could put the embarrassments behind it.

"I would like the sumo world to put an end to the recent scandals. I want them to be the people that children can get excited about and respect," said 42-year-old hairdresser Yukiko Akiyama.

"Hurting somebody physically and mentally is not tolerated in today's world," said another sumo fan, 30-year-old Yuki Ujiie, an orthopaedist.

After the unwelcome distractions outside the ring, the man-mountains will get back to the business of pushing, shoving and throwing each other around at the first tournament of the year in Tokyo on January 14.

Hakuho said his goal for the year was to "break records one by one."

He said he was aiming to secure his 1,000th win in the top division and complete his 63rd tournament as a Yokozuna, which would also be a record.

 

Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

sumo champs perform new year ritual after scandalhit 2017 sumo champs perform new year ritual after scandalhit 2017

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

sumo champs perform new year ritual after scandalhit 2017 sumo champs perform new year ritual after scandalhit 2017

 



GMT 09:16 2017 Wednesday ,13 December

Cape wearing tips

GMT 20:49 2017 Monday ,21 August

South Asia floods claim more than 750 lives

GMT 19:06 2016 Saturday ,10 December

IOF Close Al-Nabi Saleh Village's Entrance

GMT 18:01 2017 Wednesday ,22 February

Abu Sayyaf ‘likely’ behind Vietnam freighter attack

GMT 06:41 2017 Sunday ,03 December

Hamas threatens 'intifada' over US moves on Jerusalem

GMT 16:17 2017 Saturday ,21 January

BMW 7 series crosses 5,000 unit mark in 2016

GMT 12:17 2016 Wednesday ,24 February

United Technologies nixes Honeywell merger

GMT 23:37 2017 Monday ,31 July

Saudi Arabia sanctions Hezbollah member

GMT 05:45 2018 Saturday ,29 September

Abdullah bin Zayed hosts official reception in New York

GMT 04:12 2018 Friday ,12 January

Saudi-led coalition says Yemen rebels threat

GMT 11:18 2014 Monday ,22 December

Richard Ward adds to The Chelsea Collection

GMT 21:20 2017 Monday ,06 February

UN resumes food air drops in Deir Ezzor

GMT 22:24 2017 Friday ,15 December

HRH Premier thanked by Cambodian counterpart

GMT 02:11 2017 Monday ,23 October

Oct24/Nov22

GMT 21:31 2017 Monday ,11 December

HM King congratulates Burkinabe President

GMT 20:22 2017 Monday ,23 October

EU deplores attack against police
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday