Our time in Japan meant inevitably that we picked up a lot of Japanese interests - viewing cherry blossoms, visiting temples and shrines, learning Japanese cooking and so forth. One of our new interests, which was ignited from almost our immediate arrival in 2001, was sumo wrestling. We got to know a lot about the rules, traditions, wrestling styles and wrestlers over the three or so years we lived there.
Asashoryu dominated the period to a large extent. A foreigner hailing from Mongolia, Asa won 25 tournaments or yushou, the third best record in sumo history at the top level. He was almost a permanent fixture on our TV on NHK at about 5.45 every day during a basho, the yokozuna prevailing against all comers. An upset victory by an opponent was sufficient for a frenzied tossing of cushions onto the doyo(ring) from the auditorium. But those defeats were rare.
Asashoryu was also a little unconventional by sumo standards. He offended some by breaking conventions, such as taking the prize money with his left rather than the preferred right hand. Or raising his arms in victory. He got into a couple of stoushes with fellow wrestlers and more recently, a gentleman at a nightclub. That proved to be the last straw and it is rumoured that the sport's officialdom were closing in on him.
He was brash, theatrical and very, very good, lately outdone only by his countryman and main rival, Hakuho. The field is now clear for the latter to step up and dominate sumo for some time to come.
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