The Grand Sumo New Year Tournament begins Sunday the 13th. The focus will be whether Hakuhō (Mongolia) extends his winning streak or Harumafuji (Mongolia) takes revenge. These days it is hard to get Japanese-born wrestlers into the conversation. The Kokugikan, where portraits of tournament champions from the past five years—60 tournaments—hang on display, is now entirely foreign-born champions.
The Mainichi Newspapers donates the champion's portrait for the closing-day ceremony. On the opening days of the three Tokyo tournaments—the New Year, May, and Autumn basho—it displays portraits from two tournaments. Hakuhō and Asashōryū dominate; in the gaps appear Harumafuji, Kakuryū (Mongolia), Kotoōshū (Bulgaria), and others.
Mongolia now tops the all-time count of foreign-born wrestlers at 52. Second is the United States with 30, mostly Hawaiians represented by Takamiyama and Konishiki. Third, surprisingly, is Brazil with 16, including many second- and third-generation Japanese. Kaiō's real name in the maegashira ranks is Ricardo Sugano. Next come South Korea, China, and Taiwan with 12 each.
Many wrestlers also come from Central Asia such as Georgia and Kazakhstan; among the unusual cases are Czech-born Takayasu in jūryō and Egyptian Ōsunaarashi in makushita.
Among foreign-born wrestlers, Western Europeans such as France, Germany, and Italy, and native African Black athletes, are still absent. If Black athletes with outstanding ability in sprinting and marathons joined, what would become of grand sumo?
With Tokyo bidding for the 2020 Olympics, sumo has internationalized this far—couldn't recruiting European wrestlers, who hold enormous sway in the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and making sumo an official Olympic event help halt the decline in popularity caused by match-fixing scandals?
How about a bout opening with "East—the Seine River; West—Mount Kilimanjaro"?