Behind the mask
Posted by ampontan on Thursday, February 3, 2011
We are all hypocrites. It is in our very nature to be so. So much so that even our protestation of hypocrisy is, in itself, patently hypocritical.
- Claire Worthington
THE CURRENT two-day teapot tempest blowing through the Japanese news media is the story that police, in the course of a gambling investigation, discovered evidence from cell phone messages that sumo rikishi in the sport’s second division fixed matches.
What a surprise.
Since this is just the sort of story that matches well with the sludge-colored glasses the Western journos wear when promoting their Japan narrative, scandal-mongering is the meat and potatoes of the news biz, and coverage requires little in the way of taxing research, the overseas media is filled with the reports as well. It’s no surprise that The Guardian’s Justin McCurry, who’s built a career on finding unpleasant things to write about the country, hopped on the story like a fly on stink. He’s even Tweeting updates to stay on top of events as they emerge. Perhaps his editors make him do it.
Roughly two-thirds of his story by volume is an attempt to parlay the revelations into a fugue on the general malaise affecting the sport. Among the incidents reprised for the article was one in which “several wrestlers were expelled following revelations of widespread marijuana use” two years ago. Readers who follow his hot link for “widespread marijuana use” will find one of his earlier stories about the bust of three Russian-born rikishi.
In fact, the police confiscated the cell phones because they were investigating the wrestlers’ gambling on other sports. He would have his readers believe this is a sensational revelation.
He saves more important information for paragraph 7 in a 17-paragraph story—match-fixing in sumo is not illegal, and none of the rikishi seem to have bet on the matches themselves. (In this case, they bet on baseball, but they also wager on golf, cards, and mahjong. Also, the law forbids match-fixing for profit for other specified sports, but not sumo.) He adds toward the end the information that the Sumo Association has never investigated match-fixing charges.
But he neglects to mention the most important information of all: The reason the association is so negligent is that everyone above the age of 10 in Japan not only knows there is match-fixing in sumo, they know there has always been match-fixing in sumo. They also understand that none of the people involved think they’re doing anything wrong.
The word for throwing a sporting event in Japanese is yaocho, said to be a portmanteau derived from sumo. While linguists caution the explanation cannot be confirmed, most accept the theory that the word was coined when a merchant named Chobei in the produce business (a yao-ya) became the favorite go partner of sumo stable master Isenoumi in the early Meiji period. (That began in 1868, and Isenoumi died in 1888.) The story has it that Chobei was a much better player than Isenoumi, but he often lost on purpose to ingratiate himself. Others put the man’s name and occupation together when they discovered Chobei’s real skills on their own.
The concept began much earlier, of course. Sumo was originally a Shinto ceremony (the referees’ uniform is still that of a Shinto priest), and there was a ritual in which a rikishi would enter the ring alone, mime a match with the divinities, and take a fall in the hope of receiving a blessing. The competitions in many Shinto festivals were a form of divination; a victory by a person or team meant that they had received divine favor, and their home district would enjoy a good harvest or catch of fish. Thus it was common for one rikishi in local sumo competitions to throw a match to another from an area where people were worried about a poor harvest.
During the Edo period, feudal lords became the patrons of individual wrestlers, who were given samurai status within that lord’s domain. An informal system of tradeoffs for wins and losses developed to allow the lords to maintain face. It included tie matches and simultaneous falls by the rikishi.
A modification of that system still exists today. There is a rigid system of promotion or relegation in rank, and the rikishi make arrangements among themselves to help those for whom a win or a loss could mean a rise or fall in their standing–and therefore, their income. Also, cash is said to change hands between rikishi of the two-highest ranks when they face the same situation. That’s what’s been reported in this incident. That those of a lower ranking are implicated may be the reason the Japanese media is taking a keen interest in the matter.
Indeed, Ikeda Nobuo, a professor at SBI Graduate School, titled a blog post “Yaocho is a Japanese Tradition”. He says it is praiseworthy (literally utsukushii, or beautiful) because it is a win-win proposition for those involved, and because it’s an arrangement through which they can help each other out when they’re on a losing streak. (Prof. Ikeda used yaocho in the post as an example to make a broader point about bandwidth use in Japan.)
In short, the news about match-fixing in sumo isn’t really news to the Japanese, and some of them even view it as a beautiful tradition. It isn’t really news for the Western media, either—for them, it’s just another excuse.
So why is this story being broadcast so widely?
If it weren’t for the fascination with the social lubricant of hypocrisy, the only news would be the weather report.
*******
All sorts of things are exposed when you look behind the mask.
Tony said
Perhaps I’m missing the point in your post but isn’t the Japanese media jumping all over this as well? While I agree with you that accusations of match fixing are hardly new here and probably most sumo fans suspected fixing, the Sumo Association, to my knowledge, has never publicly confirmed nor condoned match fixing. In fact, haven’t they sued former wrestlers who have said that match fixing went on? I suppose the Japanese media jumping all over this as well might be the fact that some wrestlers are accused of being “caught” in fixing matches. Slightly different from just being accused of it without evidence. So in effect, the domestic media brew haha may be more a result of them transgressing the divide between “tatemae & honne” if you will?
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Yes, which is in the first sentence of the post.
Didn’t you get to the point yourself in your last sentence?
- A.
RMilner said
An excellent and very revealing post.
Tony said
Perhaps I am missing your point. I think you’re saying that the western media’s coverage of this story is “bad” because it is based upon different motives than the Japanese media’s (which are sad because there was no bigger story for the domestic media to report). Basically such stories require little work and fit into the foreign bias that Japan is strange, different and a failing state, blah, blah blah… so they jump all over it, right? And the same foreign media nearly always gets it wrong in the end because they neglect key points of the stories such as in this case where you claim that everyone here knows that sumo is fixed.
I think that view is a little too parochial. Yes, the foreign media’s reporting of Japanese news is often focused on the salacious, shallow and reinforces stereotypes. We get that but why you still feel the need to comment on it, particularly over not so important things like the reporting of a sumo problem is surprising to me. What do you expect the foreign media to do with such a story such as this one, ignore it? Hardly, as you mentioned, it fits in well with what they want to report. Do you expect them to do a deep investigative study on Sumo, a sport that their audience isn’t really concerned about? I can’t see that happening. So, we are left with the normal misrepresentations of Japan – again.
I do question your claim though that “.. everyone above the age of 10 in Japan not only knows there is match-fixing in sumo, they know there has always been match-fixing in sumo.” Is that a fact or an opinion?. You try and support the statement by explaining yaocho and giving a brief history lesson on sumo, but to say everyone knew this before the so called “scandal” is wrong and misleading. For you to be right, one would have to believe the improbability that the domestic media can get 3 days mileage out of a story that is in essence a complete non-issue in Japan. Based upon the coverage it has stirred, the story is obviously an issue for a significant portion of the population.
I understand this is a blog, and as such, opinion has significant place and can go a lot further than in it is supposed to in a news story. Still, throwing such comments makes you guilty of the some of the same faults you criticize the western media for. Sometimes you also play loose with the facts when it suits your narrative.
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You’re missing the point. There’s a reason for the quote at the top and a reason for the final sentence, not to mention the title and the first sentence. The part about the Western media is supportive, not central.
An exaggeration for effect based on fact. This isn’t an M&A agreement where I have to include contingencies for every conceivable situation, i.e., people who don’t follow the news or who think professional wrestling is real too, or 19-year-old girls obsessed with boys and makeup and clothes, and a hundred other examples.
I suspect the percentage of the public that knows about yaocho is equal to, if not higher than, the percentage of the American public that knows about steroids and baseball.
I didn’t come up with the historical background for this post from English-language sources. Walk into any Japanese bookstore and you’ll find trade paperbacks for the mass market explaining etymologies, and the one for yaocho is always in there. When I first came to Japan I took a liking to Chiyonofuji, and when I casually mentioned that to someone (who didn’t follow sumo) I got a detailed explanation of how yaocho works. That was more than 20 years ago. Even earlier was the brief brouhaha over Konishiki’s association with gamblers, before he started whining about not getting promoted to yokozuna.
Sumo-related scandals emerge and are covered frequently. There are examples and explanations on the Japanese-language part of the web dating back to the 60s, with each intervening decade covered fully. Chiyonofuji won 53 straight matches, and people now know which wrestlers laid down for him.
I beg your pardon.
- A.
Tony said
Well, the last refuge of the chastened is to make excuses. Here’s mine: communication is the message received, not intended.
I’d say you are probably right about a higher percentage of the general public being aware that match fixing could’ve been going on than the percentage of the American public who were aware about baseball steroid use. For fans of both sports though, neither revelation was surprising. Do you remember when Takanohana and Wakanohana had to fight each other for the championship? It sure looked like Takanohana threw it for his older brother but the media never really made a big deal about that did they.
I suppose we can thank technology (keitai mail) and stupidity (not erasing incriminating text messages) for this to come out in the open. While there had long been widespread talk about match fixing, there was never any evidence brought forward that forced the Sumo Association to do anything more than deny it. For those with rose colored glasses, that seemed to be enough proof that match fixing never happened. Up until this week that is.
InJM said
Do you have a link for that Prof. Ikeda blog post?
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Yes, it’s here.
- A.
Mulboyne said
A good part of this blog is given over to expressing dissatisfaction with foreign media coverage of Japan, including the ideology behind much of it. Do you not think though, in this instance, you’ve responded by underplaying the scale of what is occurring?
Today’s cancellation of the forthcoming basho is described in the press as the first since 1946. Fuji TV’s cancellation of their annual show tournament, which was due to begin today, was the first since 1977. Even if we see no more fallout, that would seem to be an indication of something more than a two-day teapot tempest.
I’m sure you are correct that many fans of the sport have long suspected some shenanigans. Gov.Ishihara said recently how he made public accusations of yaocho back in the 60s, and sees the current troubles as vindication for his decision to turn down a role with the Yokozuna Promotion Council.
There’s a case to argue, though, that fans might have assumed that yaocho was essentially benevolent in nature, helping out good wrestlers who had run into some bad form, or bad luck. As long as the overall spectacle was good, and top wrestlers became champions, it didn’t interfere with their enjoyment.
The same public might not be so forgiving if yaocho is shown in a more grubby light. If the practice is linked more to financial gain, and even illegal gambling, then there may be greater outrage.
It’s difficult to gauge the domestic press reaction. On one hand, they are surely culpable in not chasing down the numerous leads they’ve had on this story for decades. On the other hand, they may have felt considerable pressure in the past not to go up against the highly litigious and well-connected JSA. One reason for the tone of their current coverage might be a sense of payback in finally getting the JSA firmly on the back foot.
With this backdrop, the foreign press would surely be negligent if it didn’t cover the topic. Not least because there are longstanding ambitions for sumo to be named an Olympic sport, so there are ramifications outside the domestic sphere.
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M: Thanks for the note.
Yes, I think so, all the more since I opened the paper this morning and saw the news about the spring basho. I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said here. I wrote what I wrote, though, and I’m not the type to pretend I didn’t say it or make excuses for it. I misjudged the scale of it.
- A.