Who is Akebono Matsu?

Earlier in the year, on January 22, 2001, the day after the New YearÕs sumo tournament ended in Tokyo, 31-year-old Yokozuna Akebono announced his retirement to end a memorable 13-year career as an active wrestler. Despite a terrific comeback in the past year with two tournament championships (in Nagoya in July 2000 and Fukuoka in November 2000), the nagging effects of painful knee injuries sapped his motivation and made him decide to call it quits.

The ceremony almost didnÕt happen on this day as organizers almost canceled it because of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. Fortunately, they decided to go ahead with it despite a significant number of cancellations by spectators and dignitaries. The result was a half-full sumo arena for AkebonoÕs last hurrah. Actually, I thought it would be a sell-out crowd despite ticket prices ranging from 3,600 yen to 11,300 yen. Tickets for this special event were not sold through regular concert-ticket channels as you had to call the special Akebono Retirement Ceremony office and order tickets and reserve your seat.

Outside the Kokugikan sumo arena in Ryogoku, Tokyo on the day of AkebonoÕs retirement ceremony on September 29, 2001, people waited for the gates to open at 11 am. It was an overcast morning, but later turned sunny in the afternoon. When the gates opened, Akebono and his wife stood outside the arena entrance to greet visitors and shake hands. At 11 am when the gates to the arena opened, we went in and received free program booklets. Akebono towered the sea of people around him. With his kimono-clad wife at his side, anybody could go up and shake his hand (I did). Boy, he was big. I was surprised that he had not lost much weight since he retired last January.Inside the entrance hallway, there was a long table on the left side with red and white. Over 300 people who would participate in cutting off the topknot, a tradition in sumo. There were so many names, but one which stood out was KonishikiÕs ribbon in the middle row on the right.

People gradually started filling the Kokugikan sumo arena. The arena has two levels. The lower level has mainly ÒboxÓ seats for four people who sit on cushions. During the matches, some people in the first few rows end up catching a giant wrestler being thrown out of the dohyo. The upper level of the arena has chairs (cheaper seats) which are much easier on the western spectator. In the arena, a Shinto-style roof above the sumo ring is suspended by cables. Any pillars would obstruct the view. This makes the event look very different from other combat sports such as wrestling or boxing.In the corridors outside the arena, souvenir shops sold all kinds of Akebono merchandise. This is much alike any sporting event in Japan, and sales are usually brisk at the retirement of an exiting athlete. An Akebono doll performing the ring-entering ceremony (dohyo-iri) went go for 5,250 yen (limited edition of course). Another limited-edition Akebono doll, sold for 1,050 yen. There were also manju (bean cakes) with the Japanese kanji character for ÒAkebonoÓ stamped on them as well as paper fans with the faces of the top sumo wrestlers. Akebono is at the bottom. Other Akebono goods included dishes, miniature banners, paper lanterns, pouches, coasters, etc., all with his name on it.The program then started at 11:30 am with an attention-getting taiko performance on the sumo ring. Then exhibition matches began by wrestlers from the Makushita Division, the third highest division in sumo. First, you have to understand that a retirement ceremony for an important sumo wrestler includes a variety of activities besides the actual ceremony of cutting away the topknot. It involves almost the entire Japan Sumo Association, and most wrestlers in the top three divisions (Makushita, Juryo, and Makunouchi) also appear in exhibition matches. The first part of the program is a little boring, so there were few people. It gave the roaming eye a chance to notice the large posters hanging along the upper perimeter of the arena. They are pictures of past tournament winners. You can find quite a few of Akebono in the Kokugikan. The framed posters are larger than life. The black-and-white photographs are taken in a photo studio and printed on large paper. They are hand-painted in color by a woman who has been doing it for years. Some of the paint has peeled off in one of AkebonoÕs pictures. In another picture, you can notice that his ceremonial apron was presented by ÓHawaiiÕs PeopleÓ as written on the bottom of the apron. The design shows a statue of King Kamehameha with a rainbow overhead.For those who read kanji, on the wooden frame the top kanji characters say ÒYushoÓ (tournament winner). The left characters state, ÒYokozuna Akebono Taro,Ó and the right characters indicate the tournament year and month of the tournament. The apron design includes the kanji character for ÒAkebonoÓ superimposed with a rising sun design, and a red hibiscus complementing it. Hibiscus happens to be the HawaiiÕs state flower, and ÒAkebonoÓ means dawn or rising sun. Someday IÕd like to see an exhibition of all his ceremonial aprons. A yokozunaÕs apron comes in a set of three because the other two aprons are worn by the dew sweeper and sword bearer during the dohyo-iri ring-entering ceremony.The early part of the program included shokkiri or comic sumo in which two low-ranking wrestlers clown around on the sumo ring. It was comedy time with two young wrestlers performing various comical antics such as spitting at each other, kicking, and other illegal sumo acts on the ring. After the Makushita Division matches, the Juryo Division or second division wrestlers performed the ring-entering ceremony at noon and held some exhibition matches.One match featured Sentoryu, an American sumo wrestler from St. Louis, Missouri. His real name is Henry Armstrong Miller, and he was born to an African-American father and Japanese mother.Eventually we got to see Akebono again in a demonstration on how they tie on the thick, white rope (tsuna) around the waist of the yokozuna. The tsuna actually has a copper wire at the core so that the rope can be shaped as required, and the tsuna itself is the symbol of the gloves.The other wrestlers wrapped the tsuna around his waist from the front, or the thickest part of the rope. It takes precision to position the tsuna correctly around his big girth. Once they got it on, they pulled it tight. After that they tied the rope at the back. Once everything was in place, Akebono turned in all four directions to show everyone what it looked like. His style of tying the rope was the shiranui style characterized by a single loop in the back. Another other style, called unryu, has twin loops.Soon afterward, Akebono entered the arena to perform his final dohyo-iri or ring-entering ceremony. He was flanked by wrestler Musoyama the dew sweeper in front of him and fellow Hawaii Yokozuna Musashimaru as the sword bearer behind him. And he also carried his infant son Cody, also dressed as a yokozuna.As they got ready to step up to the sumo ring, the audience clapped and cheered. Before starting the ring entering ceremony itself, Akebono passed his son to the referee. Luckily he had a son because he would not have been allowed to do it with a daughter as females are prohibited from entering the sumo ring, even at sumo stables. This is one thing I disapprove of sumo (the other thing is the requirement that foreign wrestlers must obtain Japanese citizenship to become a sumo elder or stablemaster). Barring women from stepping onto the sumo ring, even to give an award to a wrestler, is one of the most blatant and preposterous forms of sexual discrimination in Japan. It was devised centuries ago, and for the sake of tradition, traditionalists in the sumo world have maintained this extremely absurd custom and belief that women are considered to be impure (due to menstruation). Women were not even allowed to view sumo matches up until 1909.Many similar discriminatory practices (like barring women from climbing Mt. Fuji) were abolished long ago, and here we are in the 21st century with women still unable to step into the sumo ring. The sumo association has constantly rejected requests from important female ministers in the Prime MinisterÕs Cabinet to give an award to the tournament winner in the sumo ring.

The current governor of Osaka who is a woman, has also requested that she be allowed to give the EmperorÕs Cup to the winner of the grand sumo tournament in Osaka held every March. But as of this writing, she has not yet succeeded. It only makes the sumo association look silly. ItÕs a matter of time before the sumo association will have to acquiesce. After all, you canÕt produce sumo wrestlers without women. And women (wives of stablemasters) play a major role at sumo stables in raising young sumoaspirants.I keep thinking, what would finally make them abolish this rule? Probably a female Japanese Prime Minister.

The sumo association would look really bad if they even refuse a female Prime Minister from entering the sumo ring to give the EmperorÕs Cup to the tourney winner. (Note that legitimate female sumo wrestling also exists in Japan, but they are not under the jurisdiction of the Japan Sumo Association who ironically give its blessings to female sumo wrestling.)Well, excitement built as Akebono gets ready to clap his hands to attract the attention of the gods with his son looking on. Cody did not squirm nor cry and performed very well like his big daddy.Akebono spread out his arms to show that he has no weapons, not that he needs any weapons with his imposing physique. Unfortunately, sumoÕs third active Yokozuna Takanohana, could not participate in this dohyo-iri as the dew sweeper or sword bearer because of an injury.After finishing the ritual motions, Akebono got back his son and put him down for a moment as Musashimaru and Musoyama looked. Needless to say, it was so cute. They should let the little boy perform the dohyo-iri as well. In Part 2 next month, look forward to photos of AkebonoÕs topknot cutting ceremony.