DOWNTOWN.–Asked if he has become an ambassador for his sport, Musashimaru stated simply, “No, I’m just a guy who loves sumo and loves to talk about sumo, that’s it.”

MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS/Rafu Shimpo “I feel relaxed in Japan. I blend in now. Maybe when I’m 40 or 50, I’ll go back home,” said Musashimaru at his downtown hotel.

As he did during the 2004 Open, Musashimaru came to serve as an announcer and awards presenter. His expertise in the sport also makes him an invaluable advisor to the tournament staff and officials. Sumo has been gaining popularity by leaps and bounds in the U.S. in recent years, due largely to competitions such as this. Despite the interest, however, Musashimaru said we’re still lagging behind Japan and even Europe. “We’re still a step behind,” said the 34-year-old, Samoan-born star. “Here, all

they think about is two fat guys going at it. There are more European wrestlers in sumo now, and nobody from America.” During the 1990s, sumo in Japan underwent a dramatic change, as Hawaiians began to dominate the sport. Wrestlers such as Konishiki and Akebono, along with Musashimaru used size and aggressive wrestling styles to vanquish opponents and bring the sport’s first non-Japanese grand champions. Of late, Hawaii hasn’t produced a viable contender for the ranks of pro sumo. “We haven’t got the guy right now, nobody. We cannot just throw anybody in the ring,” Musashimaru said. Though he no longer competes, Musashimaru is very

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“I have a wrestler right now in Hawaii. He’s a young kid, so I don’t want to rush him to get into sumo. He’s just 16, so I tell him, ‘You still got a couple of years to think about it, then maybe I’ll give you a shot,’” he said.

Musashimaru, whose family lives in the west Oahu town of Makaha, said that he’s given plenty of advice to the father of the boy, who stands about 6-4 and weighs around 270 pounds.

“I talked to the boy’s father. I told him, ‘If you want your boy to go into sumo, you’ve got to talk to him right now and put him in line. He needs to know what to expect.’”

Having begun his career at the age of 18, Musashimaru–born Fiamalu Penitani–rose through the ranks to become pro sumo’s second foreign yokozuna in 1999. Having been forced to retire in 2004 with a wrist injury, he knows full well the importance of developing young athletes slowly and carefully.

“At 18, that’s the age that the strength starts coming along, when you turn to a man,” he said.

These days, Musashimaru’s training takes the form of golf and plenty of swimming. Though he still tips the scales at a formidable 518 pounds, he has no plans to come out of retirement. Nor is he considering moving to another sport, such as K-1 boxing–which Akebono tried with fairly disastrous results.
“Everyone respects me, so why do something else?” he reasoned. “If I was going to do K-1, I would have started at 18. Not now, it’s too late. My body’s a sumo body, not a K-1 body.”

Sumo’s long-standing emphasis on safety is also behind Musashimaru’s opposition to women taking part in professional sumo. Along with the sacred rule in Japan that women must never touch the dohyo (wrestling ring), he cites the obvious differences in body size and mass and the dangers that come with them.

“That’s a no-no,” he said flatly. “For the amateurs, that’s all right, but not in a professional ring. It’s a different level out there. If a lady goes out there, she’ll get smacked. It would be like a woman going up to Mike Tyson and saying, ‘I want a match with you.’ It’s the same thing. She’ll get busted up.”

He has the same position on the use of performance-enhancing substances in sports.

“Doing sports, it’s hard on the body. Some people do that kind of stuff to help them heal faster, but in the long run, it’s going to catch up. It’s better just to stay off it. Especially for a professional, you can’t be doing that kind of stuff.”

Though he calls Hawaii home, Musashimaru lives mainly outside Tokyo, near Ueno. He loves family and friends, but he said the pace of his life and work keep him happily in Japan.

“I feel relaxed in Japan. I blend in now,” he said. “Maybe when I’m 40 or 50, I’ll go back home. But for now, the life is too slow for me.”

The former yokozuna has held a Japanese passport since the age of 22. He speaks Samoan, Japanese and English fluently, but when asked which language he finds most comfortable, he slips into an unmistakable tongue.
“Pidgin. It’s da best, yeah.”

–Rafu staff writer Jun Nagata contributed to this story