Toshiyori-kabu

A , also known as an , is a sumo elder exercising both coaching functions with active wrestlers and responsibilities within the Japan Sumo Association (JSA). All are former wrestlers who reached a sufficiently high rank to be eligible to this status. The benefits are considerable, as are guaranteed employment until the mandatory retirement age of 65 and are allowed to run and coach in (sumo stables), with a comfortable yearly salary averaging around ¥15 million.

Originating from a tradition dating back to the Edo period, the position of is founded on a system set up at a time when several sumo associations managed Japan's professional wrestling. To become a , a former wrestler have to meet both established and public criteria and be part of a system recognized as opaque. Involving the spending of several million yen to inherit the rights to become a trainer, this system has undergone numerous reforms, firstly limiting the number of people eligible to hold management positions in the Japan Sumo Association, and then more or less partially reforming the system as a whole. Despite this, the position of is still highly sought-after by wrestlers, maintaining a high level of speculation over the right to practice.

Distributed within the Sumo Association to occupy specific functions, also respond to a clear hierarchy, at the top of which are the elected directors of the Japan Sumo Association.

Designations

There are many terms used to define a trainer in the world of professional sumo. Alongside the official term of , a sumo coach is also referred by the terms of and .

Prior to its appearance in the sumo world during the 17th century, the term was used primarily in the Edo period and before to refer to central and provincial government administrators as well as community leaders, with a meaning of "senior citizen". For its part, the term is a suffix used in the honorific system as an honorific attached to proper nouns. Initially the term referred to a person with the status of surrogate parent or big brother, and used to refer to an apprentice master.

The term , or stablemaster, refers specifically to a who owns and runs a , or sumo stable. At the top of the social pyramid, he takes on a paternal role for all under him. Of all the coaches potentially present in the stable, he alone is the owner and therefore the highest authority in communal life.

History

The function of sumo elder was born with the organization of the first tournaments authorized by the municipal administrations of major Japanese cities. Although sumo as a sport goes back several centuries, its professionalization dates back to the beginning of the Edo period. During this period, the peace established by the Tokugawa shogunate led to the vagrancy for many samurai who had lost their social standing with their previous masters, who had been deposed or killed so that the shogunate could assert itself. Masterless samurai, called , had no choice but to put their martial art skills to good use in street sumo tournaments, called , for the entertainment of passers-by. Eventually, the mix of disgraced with the commoners who took part in the contests of strength of the street tournaments created many conflicts over betting money. Tense brawls, even deaths, sometimes occurred. During the Keian era, public order became so disturbed that, in 1648, the Edo authorities issued an edict banning street sumo and matches organized to raise funds during festivities. In 1684 ( Jōkyō era), a sumo named Ikazuchi Gondaiyū obtained permission to lift the sumo ban edicted by the Edo authorities. Because he allowed the return of matches by proposing a new etiquette associated with the conduct of fights, Ikazuchi was recognized as a key interlocutor by the authorities, which earned him a tournament organizer's license referring to him as a "", one of the first mentions of the term in sumo. Later, the term was definitively adopted by his successors in the organization of tournaments where it came to be used specifically to refer to the masters at the head of groups of wrestlers who took part in charity tournaments in support of sanctuaries, and who were responsible for enforcing discipline during festivities and avoiding fights. To organize the tournaments, the went under their former ring names on delegations to submit petitions to the shogunate officers and secure authorization to hold the tournaments. In parallel with the emergence of in the Edo-based sumo association, the associations in the cities of Osaka and Kyoto were organized around elders known as .

During the Genroku period, the various sumo groups were no longer scattered across the country, but rather concentrated in the major cities of Edo, Osaka and Kyoto. These groups were self-organised under the leadership of elders, who welcomed the wrestlers into their homes, which took the name of (meaning "fraternity house") in reference to the rooms in which these elders met to organise matches during tournaments. In 1719, the Edo municipal authorities issued an edict prohibiting all sumo groups that had not become professionalized from taking part in charity tournaments. The direct consequence of this edict was the disappearance of the elders who came directly from the ranks of the , and only the elders who were wrestlers who had retired from the ring remained. The organization based on Edo municipality edicts was gradually implemented in the other major sumo associations based in Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya during the eighteenth century. With the reform of the charity tournaments, the number of elders grew significantly, tripling in Edo between 1720 and 1780. During the Hōreki era, masters began to inherit and assume the names of their predecessors, each share being attached to the ring name of the wrestler who had established himself as a trainer and passed on his license to one of his apprentices. The practice of becoming an elder until death or final retirement also became widespread around this time. From the 1750s onwards, the practice of welcoming novice wrestlers into the elders' homes became more widespread, these houses becoming the first examples of stables.

The practice of allowing former wrestlers to coach new aspirants was eventually capped in 1927, when the sumo associations based in Osaka and Tokyo merged. At that time it was decided that the quota of Tokyo (and its eighty-eight elders) and Osaka (seventeen elders) would form the maximum number of names that could be inherited into the newly proclaimed All Japan Sumo Association. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the conditions for inheriting one's master's name generally became stricter. During the Edo period, any wrestler or referee of any rank could inherit the name of his master, under whose protection he had placed himself, in order to perpetuate his legacy. However, it was decided in 1920 that only wrestlers and referees who had obtained the status of would be eligible for the privilege of inheriting the names. In 1951, some historical shares (including the name Negishi) were discontinued. In 1958, referees definitively lost their right to inherit a name share.

After the Meiji Restoration, access to status was subject to a number of reforms. During the Edo period, when the transmission of the status became established, virtually any wrestler or referee could inherit a share without paying any money, but simply taking responsibility for the livehood of his master and his wife. After World War II, the title could be inherited for a few bags of rice, as the period was marked by food shortages. During the 1970s, the question of opening up the title, and ultimately the creation of stables, to foreign wrestlers arose for the Japan Sumo Association, the latter declaring firstly that sumo being Japan's national sport, it was inconceivable that a foreigner could participate as a trainer. In 1976, an internal rule defined that only Japanese nationals could become elders, with the unofficial aim of preventing foreigners from having a lasting influence on the sport by occupying decision-making positions within the association. The statement was subsequently severely criticized in the press. There have also been calls for foreign wrestlers with notable careers to benefit from an exceptional regime and inherit status. This led the association to correct its position in this regard, with the JSA subsequently declaring that the two rising stars of foreign origin Takamiyama and Kaneshiro would indeed be eligible to become coaches within the association after their retirements. Takamiyama was the first to retire in 1984, becoming a coach under the name Azumazeki and founding Azumazeki stable in 1986, the first foreign-born sumo wrestler to do both. Gradually, the Sumo Association welcomed more and more wrestlers of foreign origin as . In 2014, Kotoōshū became the first of European origin under the name Naruto. In 2017, Kyokutenhō, who had obtained Japanese nationality in 2005, retired and became the first Mongolian-born wrestler to become , taking the name Tomozuna.

Between 1996 and 1998, speculation over share inheritance fees became so intense that Sakaigawa (former Sadanoyama), then chairman of the Sumo Association, proposed a reform of the system, introducing the idea of an outright ban on buying and selling shares and placing unused shares under the association's management. Sakaigawa faced strong opposition from the board of directors, eventually being forced not only to withdraw his reform proposal but also to resign as chairman, the balance of the board shifting from Dewanoumi to Tokitsukaze as a result, since an electoral alliance had been formed to oppose the reform in the director elections of the time.

In January 2014, the association shifted to a effectively implementing the change from March to coincide with new board of directors elections after difficult negotiations over the status of . The articles of association were amended because it was not possible to obtain public foundation status while continuing to authorize what is technically a payment for the right to continue working until retirement age on an unclear market, akin to a black market. Although the system of shares was maintained, it undergone a change of management, becoming a joint share management under the supervision of the Sumo Association and generalizing the theoretical prohibition on the purchase of shares.

Becoming a

The Japan Sumo Association relations between its members are primarily shaped by rules and norms related to the ownership and transfer of "elder shares" held by the association coaches. These shares are known by several names, and can also be referred to as , or elder stock. However, all these terms refer to the same situation. To become a , a retired wrestler must first acquire a share, called , within the Japan Sumo Association. In professional sumo, a share has the characteristics of an asset, business rights and practice license. Each is named after a , a generational family name. Each wrestler inheriting a share has a diploma mentioning the name he has inherited. Although the system dates back to the Edo period, its organization remains opaque.

Eligibility

Common inheritance

Only wrestlers who have reached the ranks of (meaning , , and ) and have held it for at least one tournament are directly entitled to apply to remain as an executive within the association. Wrestlers who have attained the rank of must have held their status for twenty tournaments, while wrestlers must have held theirs for thirty tournaments in the top two divisions. However, these conditions of access to status are much stricter than they were in the 1990s. During those years, the conditions were to have competed in one tournament or twenty tournaments. Wrestlers who had competed professionally for a total of twenty-five tournaments in any division were also eligible for a share inheritance. In order to perpetuate the traditions of a particular stable, in the past there was a special rule allowing an apprentice to inherit his stablemaster's share (and thus take over his stable) provided he had participated in at least one tournament in the division.

and receive preferential treatment and can remain in the association without acquiring elder status for five years () and three years (). The wrestler then becomes a coach in the association, in the same way as any other elder, under his ring name and for a fixed period, enabling him to have more time to obtain an authentic share that will allow him to stay in the Sumo Association until the mandatory retirement age.

In September 2021, upon the retirement of former Hakuhō, the Sumo Association unusually required him to sign a pledge to uphold "the traditional culture and spirit of sumo", so that he could become a under the name Magaki. On his retirement, some elders suggested that conditions be added to the inheritance of the name, such as not operating a stable for a period of ten years, but these were not included in the final pledge.

Since it is not uncommon for several wrestlers to come from the same family, it is commonly accepted that a retiring wrestler can avoid the minimum tournament requirements if he wishes to inherit a share already owned by a family member. In addition, agreements on the transfer of shares remaining within the same family are not traditionally affected by money exchanges. The inheritance of certain shares within a family extends to in-laws.

When an elder dies, the management of his share may fall to his family, and more generally to his widow. This type of situation is permitted because, although the name associated with a share can only be used by a former wrestler for activity within the Sumo Associaiton, the diploma associated with it can technically and legally be possessed by a foreign person, putting the Sumo Association in the position of being unable to put pressure on the said outsiders to release the possessed diploma. The situation of a family-run share was illustrated when the former Izutsu (the former Sakahoko) died in 2019, and his share was rented by his family to the former Toyonoshima. Toyonoshima retired from the sport for good, however, when it emerged that the Izutsu share was to be inherited by Shimanoumi, the latter having married Sakahoko's daughter in 2022.

The inheritance of a share is unique in that the Sumo Association or its board of directors has no theoretical means of influencing the appointment of a successor to a share. Inheritance is based exclusively on a deal between an applicant and his predecessor. Deals are generally no more than oral agreements. The ownership of a share establishes its owner as a manager of the Sumo Association, which has established several rules on the inheritance of shares. A share can be exchanged, making it possible for an elder to own several shares during his coaching career. Elders frequently trade shares because they can be linked to particular stables, and some trades are even made to take over from a stablemaster at the head of a particular stable. However, shares may not be exchanged or loaned to anyone outside the association or who does not meet the inheritance conditions. Although the Sumo Association does not in theory have the power to approve or refuse the transfer of elder shares from the moment the inheritance criteria are met, a retiring wrestler inheriting a must first submit a formal request to the association, called a . Japanese citizenship is also a prerequisite, and wrestlers of foreign origin must renounce