Sumo sinks further as murder scandal deepens
The Washington Post recently had an excellent recap on the ongoing investigation into the death of Takashi Saito, a 17-year-old wrestler who was literally tortured to death by his stablemaster and mates.
His death, which police initially ruled to be the result of “heart disease,” led to the arrest last month of his former sumo stable master, who has since told police he beat Saito because the boy had a “vague attitude” about his career in sumo.
Three wrestlers have also been arrested in connection with the beating. But it took until Thursday — more than eight months after Saito’s death and a month after the wrestlers were indicted — for the powerful Japan Sumo Association to take action against them. The JSA decided that it would ban the three from competing in sumo tournaments and said that, if they were found guilty, it would expel them from the profession.
A few months ago I was at a social event where some well-known gaijin sumo expert was going on and on about how the case needed to be left to the Sumo Association to deal with in their own, centuries-old way.
Thanks much to Brian Engel for letting us know about this story.
Ah… “Police initially appeared reluctant to conduct a full review in the case of Saito,… they ruled that heart disease was the cause of death — a judgment quickly accepted by the JSA.
There was negligence on the part of the police,” said Nobuyoshi Tsujiguchi, a lawyer who represents Japanese professional athletes. He said the police seemed to lean over backwards to protect the reputation of sumo.”
I don’t suppose there’ll be a judicial enquiry over how the police completely mishandled this case? Firings? Rulings? Anything?
How’s the Japanese media working this case? Is there an uproar? Investigative reports? Anything?
March 25th, 2008 at 1:16 am