I knew that Mongolia had a strong wrestling tradition. I didn’t know Mongolians had risen through the ranks of sumo. Evidently one Mongolian sumo wrestler pulled another’s hair in a bout — a terrible no-no, as Japan Scandal: Hair-Pulling in Sumo Ring explains:
For the first time ever, a wrestler ranked at the top of Japan’s venerable sport of sumo wrestling was disqualified for grabbing a fistful of his opponent’s topknot and yanking him down to the dirt — and Japan is duly scandalized.“Topknot grabber, unheard of,” read a headline Friday in the nation’s largest newspaper, the Yomiuri.
“A first that has sullied the honor of sumo’s highest rank,” blared another in the Nikkan Sports tabloid, a photo of the hair-grab covering its front page.
At the center of the fracas is grand champion Asashoryu, a fiery, heavily muscled 22-year-old from Mongolia who is arguably the best wrestler in the ring today.
In the final bout Thursday, he was matched against a lower-ranking wrestler, Kyokushuzan, also from Mongolia. After a barrage of powerful thrusts that had his rival reeling, Asashoryu inexplicably grabbed Kyokushuzan’s hair and yanked him down.
The judges immediately called him on the transgression and ruled Kyokushuzan the victor. It was the first time a grand champion had ever lost a bout because of a foul, let alone been cited for something as embarrassing as pulling hair.