Less and less rikishi

[kedevash 43]

I calculate the average number a rikishi per year. And for the first time since 1974, this number is under 600 for the year.
The peak was in 1994 with 896 rikishi on average. Since 1996 the number is going down. A brief surge can be observe between 2014 and 2020 but since then it continues to go down.
 

How can we explain that? The difficulty of a rikishi's life. Of course but also the quality of life and salary are better now and the money they can earn if they reach sekitori is not the main thing nowdays.
I think we will continue to see less and less recruits. BUT the recruits are much more better because they come with a university or at least high school pedigree for the most part.

Maybe allowing a second foreigner or even accept as much foreigners as much as a heya want can be a good idea.

What do you think?

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,276]

I looked at this earlier and the ratio of new recruits vs the demographics of Japan from 2019 and 1992 are roughly the same. That is to say the interest in sumo is still the same but the demographic crisis of Japan is real.

 

I don’t think they will be forced to add in another foreigner slot. Immigration into Japan for regular work is increasing quite a bit, so naturalized non ethnic Japanese coming into sumo will become more regular in the future. In any case, it’s not like there are promising foreign prospects being turned away due to lack of slots, so it’s debatable if allowing more foreigners will actually result in more foreigners.

[Gurowake 4,100]

1 hour ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

it’s debatable if allowing more foreigners will actually result in more foreigners.

It might be the case that many are not trying, knowing that they probably won't be able to get in, but that's just speculation on my part.

[Tigerboy1966 1,474]

Scrap the restrictions on foreigners and they would be fine.

But that won't happen on Hakkaku's watch.

If the teenage Mangaljalavyn Anand tried to get into sumo now he would be rejected by every major stable. And he would never have become Kakuryu.

Edited November 26, 2024 by Tigerboy1966

[Ryoshishokunin 323]

The restrictions on foreigners are obviously xenophobic, and very much suppress the viability of sumo as a path for all but the excellent or desperate.  If there were both slots and not the punitive long wait for debut (which is *nothing* but punishment for the crime of being foreign), there would be more people willing to join.  The isolation of being a foreigner in a stable is also needlessly cruel: I'd think that a limit of two would allow either mentorship or pairs that were friends already to join.  

I can't think of another life commitment you can get accepted to on a bed-and-board basis these days.  It's not surprising that, in the modern world, fewer and fewer are willing to take it up without some pedigree/assurance they'll get to the paid ranks.

[themistyseas 242]

I can't remember if I posted this before but one idea to lessen the foreigner restriction while also preserving the reason why it came into place might be a diversity requirement

If the reason the current rule came into being was because you had stables with clusters of Mongolian, Samoan, American (Hawaiian), Filipino people who hung out together and spoke the same language without fully assimilating, then the solve would be ensuring any additional foreign recruit cannot come from the same country as the first foreign recruit (or, in a world where up to three foreign recruits were allowed, having two from the same country means you lose the chance to bring in a third, etc).

Obviously the whole thing is somewhat discriminatory but if sumo truly is supportive of foreigners who come into the sport and fully assimilate and commit to the values and traditions of the culture, then there shouldn't be any problem having a stable that has a Ukrainian rikishi and a Chinese rikishi, or an American rikishi and a Mongolian rikishi together in the same heya. We already see this plenty when there are heya mergers (e.g. Aoiyama into Kasugano beya).

[dingo 1,294]

11 hours ago, Ryoshishokunin said:

I can't think of another life commitment you can get accepted to on a bed-and-board basis these days.  It's not surprising that, in the modern world, fewer and fewer are willing to take it up without some pedigree/assurance they'll get to the paid ranks.

There's an interesting contrast in this. If most new recruits want to be be assured they'll get into the paid ranks, but the paid ranks are built on a pyramid of lower ranked rikishi, then who is going to (want to) be in the lower ranks in the future? Would it be a solution to pay every rikishi a salary? 

[RabidJohn 1,855]

45 minutes ago, dingo said:

Would it be a solution to pay every rikishi a salary? 

Bed and board is payment in kind, and it is expensive. I doubt the Kyokai's finances would run to paying everybody a salary as well.

I see ozumo as a vocation, a calling; the primary motivation has to be the simple desire to become a rikishi. 
For example, how else can one explain Enho? He went to university to get a degree, so we know he's not thick, yet he was willing to start in maezumo and work his way up - and he's still there after 18 months back down as a toriteki. It's clearly not about the money.

Easing the restrictions on gaijin entering ozumo might increase the numbers somewhat, but I don't believe the situation is particularly critical at the moment.

[Yamanashi 3,903]

The "unpaid" lower ranks receive some sort of allowance, according to heya videos I've seen.  As an example, in one of the Sumo Food (Futagoyama) videos, the rikishi discuss the amounts.  It's enough to get fast food fairly often and to save up to get gifts for themselves and others.

[dingo 1,294]

Yeah I know they get an allowance but it's still a pretty frugal life compared to a "regular" person. The allowance is not much compared to the average salary in Japan, or even the minimum salary. A non-sekitori rikishi's private space and belongings are both quite limited. You can see that also in the same Futagoyama videos where they've talked about it. But that's part of sumo life I guess. As long as they can find enough youngsters willing to make that compromise or sacrifice if you will, sumo life will go on as usual.