Photo: AFP/Getty
Japan's reigning sumo grand champion, Asashoryu, has come up against what could turn out to be his most formidable opponent yet: the Japan Sumo Association, which is investigating claims that the Mongolian wrestler paid opponents to throw bouts, writes Tokyo correspondent Justin McCurry.
Charges of match-fixing are nothing new to sumo, Japan's national sport, but the latest allegations come at a time when sumo authorities are struggling to put bums on seats during the six professional tournaments held every year amid a decline in public interest.
Asashoryu, who has described the accusations, made in a weekly magazine, as "unbelievable", is accused of employing a compatriot wrestler, Kyokutenzan, to negotiate pre-bout deals with his opponents that would allow the yokozuna (grand champion) to retain his position as the undisputed king of the sumo world.
Asked why he was often seen approaching 'Asa's' opponents before critical bouts, Kyokutenzan said he was simply engaging in small talk. "I have never known of any match-fixing," he said.
In many ways Asashoryu is an easy target for conservative Japanese sumo fans, upset that their sport is dominated by a foreign wrestler who, by a wide margin, is better than anything Japan can offer.
For starters he is a foreigner - and a hugely successful one at that - in a quintessentially Japanese sport. And much to the chagrin of sumo's elders, he has also courted controversy with his disdain for some of the finer points of sumo comportment.
The sumo association has grilled 14 wrestlers this week, all of whom have denied the reports.
Sumo's occasionally murky modus operandi aside, more enlightened watchers will wonder why a wrestler of Asashoryu's obvious strength and skill would need to bribe his way to the top.
Besides which, his opponents' careers are supposedly built around the bushido values of honour and integrity. So why would they deliberately bite the dust of the dohyo ring in exchange for an envelope stuffed with 10,000 yen notes?
