Sumo Confidential
Sumo is in crisis. The grueling training and relentless discipline can be too much to take for young trainees. We follow the daily routine of two wrestlers and wonder if the ancient sport can survive.
A young sumo is pushed off the ring and made to get up again and again. We are inside a training stable. 'It's like going to boot camp 365 days a year' says this commentator, 'They're the dirt on the floor and they've just got to work their way up'. Cooking, cleaning and endless training, Shohei's life is typical of a junior sumo. 'If you are the youngest disciple you have to do twice the duties compared with your seniors', says popular Estonian wrestler Baruto. Sumo increasingly relies on ambitious foreign imports like him. For Shohei however, the discipline proves too much and he absconds - a disgrace for his stable. Although the stable owner is concerned about the future, the age-old training won't change: 'I have never thought I have pushed them too far. I feel I am still spoiling them'.
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