The dark secrets of sumo wrestling | Unreported World

this is ryokoku Tokyo Sumo district and today is match day Sumo is a centuries-old sport tied to Japan's Shinto religion it's at the heart of Japanese culture with ritual and tradition as important as the combat itself they're throwing the salt that ring is basically considered to be sacred and by throwing the sort of purifying it the lucrative sport is growing in popularity especially among the younger generation but with the wrestlers also growing in size younger sumos alleging abuse and head injury emerging as a major issue it's the safety of these revered athletes being ignored I'm in Japan to find out what really goes on in the secretive world of sumo wrestling [Music] foreign [Music] sumo wrestlers are considered gods and it's in Sumo schools like this that those gods are made there's boys aren't dreaming about becoming the next Messi or Ronaldo their dream is to become a professional sumo wrestler among these wrestlers is a rising star now 12 years old Kyoto comma guy won the undertones National Championship two years ago he trains one to six hours a day six days a week all around his school [Applause] watching from the sidelines is his father Tai he first put kyuta in the ring aged four what did he do to make you think that he wants to pursue [Music] the rules are simple push your opponent out of the ring or force them onto the ground [Music] but cuter easily beats everyone in his age group after the training kuta tells me his dream is to become a yakozuna the highest rank in Sumo but first he has to impress the scouts for the professional leagues [Music] the first of those matches is in a week's time and there is a lot more prep to be done he's trained for over six hours so that he can barely stand he's so tired and he's going to come back and do it all over again tomorrow aspiring wrestlers have to get recruited by a Sumo stable wrestlers eat sleep and train in these staples 24 7. they're financed by the national Sumo Association but only those in the top two leagues get paid that's less than 10 percent of professional wrestlers we asked to film inside some of these staples but they all said no wow they're Restless training so I've come to check them out from the outside instead I wasn't expecting to see them outside of their stable the rules inside are strict with privileges dependent on your rank Junior sumos can't have girlfriends or phones there are currently 42 Sumo stables in operation and these guys belong to this particular stable once they're recruited they basically have to stay in that particular stable for the rest of their career it's not like with football where you can go from one team to another I hear them training and try to get closer [Applause] but how quickly asked to move along okay okay yeah sorry sorry yeah yeah okay we've been asked to leave um the association is very protective about what is shown after life inside of their Stables they say they're cautious because of covet but this is a world shrouded in secrecy [Music] the strict rules of the Sumo world may have meant that we couldn't get inside one of the Staples but there are some ex-wrestlers who are willing to expose what goes on in sight and I'm about to meet one of them here [Music] retired last year after seven years of wrestling what's it like living in your own home yeah kantetsu didn't want to retire but felt he had no choice he has a heart condition that makes him more vulnerable to covet during the pandemic he asked for permission to isolate rather than compete in a tournament he shows me the moment he first suffered heart failure six years ago foreign because he was only getting one hour of sleep per day as a junior wrestler he had to complete chores for higher ranking sumos alongside his own training and that wasn't the only way younger wrestlers suffered he shows me the meat they had to eat foreign ly got food poisoning but refusing the food wasn't an option is how regularly how often did you used to get punished foreign [Music] [Laughter] and he's not the only one he knows 15 other wrestlers who quit in the last two years oh my God tonight he's shopping for action heroes with another retired wrestler called takigawa how does it feel to be able to freely walk around meet when you want and do things that you want to do like this allegations to the Sumo Association but they didn't respond however they've previously said that bringing harsher punishments for bullies [Music] cuter is still hoping to get recruited by one of these staples when he hits 16. what do you know about life inside of a stable today he's working on his Fitness and his father Tai is the coach what's it like training with your dad I'm not scared oh God how do you make him keep going when it gets tough when he when he wants to give up [Music] so if he says I don't want to do it how do you make him keep going you'll punch him yeah really sure that's the small small way after training cuta and Tai invite me to dinner oh wow they've ordered enough meat for 12 people and they do this every day teen children can lead to diabetes heart disease and high blood pressure Pisces he avoids this by feeding cuta a balanced diet I asked to check cuta's BMI so here's 159 centimeters and 95 kg the results are worrying they are very overweight foreign so being heavy is an advantage but studies show wrestlers die 15 to 20 years younger than the average Japanese male often as a result of Health complications related to their weight how much money would you say you spent on his food not more than a hundred dollars headache body you spend 100 times one meal that's a lot of money why why is that so important in my investment it's my investment what do you mean foreign Investments are you doing this more as a parent or more for you as somebody who wanted to become a big sumo wrestler and never made it half and half cut it more I know you may you meet Australia foreign why is that dream so important to you I mean your dad just told you to say that why do you want to get to that rank is it because your dad wants you to well foreign [Music] have just gone home and one thing that really stood out to me from that conversation is that his dad seemed more keen than cuta for his son to become a high-ranking sumo wrestler and that's concerning because long term it's cuter himself who may have to pay the price especially when it comes to his health three sumos under the age of 40 are known to have died in 2021 alone one of them was 28 year old hibikiru who died of acute respiratory failure a month after being dropped on his head there are no ringside medics in Sumo so he lay unattended for more than five minutes until an ambulance showed up his death caused a huge controversy and have come to his hometown of shimonoseki to find out why [Music] but our presence seems to be causing concern hibikirio's best friend kamei says he just received the call from the Sumo Association questioning him about our film they're responsible for safety protocols and were criticized heavily following the incident their call hasn't stopped kamei from speaking to us kame reads me a message that hibikiru's mother has written she says she's grateful that we're covering the story what part of her son's story do you think she's Keen to get exposed um the hospital that treated him declined our interview request but kame says he knows someone who can shed light on the incident come here is taking me to hibikirio's Old Sumo coach who's going to tell me what caused his death halfway through our journey our producer gets a call he doesn't want to stop the power interview he doesn't want to talk to us anymore yeah yeah why not and then he said he he cannot talk about related Small industry then Comey gets a call from hibikiru's mother saying she's just been told not to discuss her son's death [Music] we're on our way to mitig I can tell us about how he died and how the system basically failed the wrestler but we got a call from him suddenly saying nope don't come I don't want to talk to you anymore and things are just snowballing we head back to shimonoseki 's death it seems like this is as far as we're gonna get kamiya has said that he doesn't want to continue filming with us anymore his main concern is hiroku's Mom I want to find out how common head injuries are in Sumo so arrange to meet up with retired restless cantetsu and takigawa [Music] they're still enjoying their Newfound Freedom this time at karaoke after a few songs they show me a video of their daily training at the stable two sumo's class goals at the start of each bout you hear it you hear your head banging how many times would you say you do that every day is the effects of this are no secret last year Sumo resellers was concussed after clashing skulls in a tournament foreign with no intervention from their referee Kentucky was say they were terrified of these Golan School collisions to mentally prepare they were made to smack their heads against the wooden pillar up to 200 times a day migraine foreign have you ever received a sort of Port Financial especially with you seeking treatment thank you how are you how are you I find thank you ah all right well a few days later I go with takigawa to an MRI scan what are you hoping the outcome would be sorry recent Studies have shown that athletes from contact sports are 68 times more likely to develop brain diseases like dementia has gone to have his MRI done and his worries about what the results might reveal are totally understandable I mean unlike the way governing buddies from sports like football and rugby have responded to the evidence of brain injury Sumo authorities seem to be years behind an hour later we get a call the results are in it's good news takigawa doesn't have any brain injury but there is trauma to his neck the deformity could be affecting his spinal cord and nerve signals Dr Nakayama says there's been little research into the effects of head injury in Suma but takikawa's symptoms are common among retired Restless uh foreign foreign Association to make the sport safer if a Sumo gets concussed in the tournament they must now forfeit their match rather than fight on but they are yet to adopt Dr nakayama's preventative measures like limiting impact to the head in training how receptive has the Sumo Association being to your suggestions the Suma Association has previously said they regularly check their Restless Health but they didn't respond to our specific questions about head injuries despite the risks tens of thousands of children still practice Sumo in Japan and today is competition day this is where the big Junior tournament is being held all the hard work and preparation for these kids and your top essentially comes down to this [Music] how are you feeling foreign [Music] Scout for the next champion at these tournaments so there is a lot at stake for these kids [Applause] Utah's age group is up I barely took his second cuta easily wins his first two fights to reach the semi-finals their heads but like I can hear it all the way from here their head banging [Applause] he wins and goes straight onto the final [Music] [Applause] but cutoff is on his way to the national championships how did it go what's happened to your head did you get that from earlier from wrestling earlier nice [Music] can I ask him how are you feeling yeah I'm fine [Music] chutan is that are both a step closer to their dream of him becoming a Sumo champion but unless the sport makes some big changes it could be a dangerous journey ahead

Channel: Unreported World

Views: 339,391

Keywords: Unreported world, unreported world documentary, japan, japan sumo, sumo wrestling, sumo, sumo wrestling japan, sumo wrestlers, asia, international news, foreign news, documentaries, documentary, channel 4, channel 4 documentary, wrestling, japan news, documentary film maker, east asia, east asia news, wrestling japan, news, current affairs, investigations

Id: Je3y80b9_QA

Length: 23min 45sec (1425 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 06 2022