Tobizaru in hot water for bullying?
Moti Dichne
Four of his other previous tsukebito have also quit due to various forms of physical, verbal, and psychological harassment. A summary:
"Go buy some sanitary napkins and women's panties." The bullying wasn't limited to physical ones. "I heard that when a bath was too hot, Tobizaru made a point of calling Satsumashou and forcing him to get in the bath first, saying, 'You get in the tub,'" said an Oitekaze stable source . Looking back, it seems that Tobizaru had also repeatedly subjected other young rikishi to some serious harassment. "It's not just Satsumashou, but his behavior towards his other tsukebito has also been arrogant and disrespectful. He would notice even the smallest mistake and yell abuse at them, or ignore them for days, repeatedly engaging in serious bullying. Also, perhaps because he wants to avoid spending money on eating out as much as possible, Tobizaru often invites women to his home. When he does this, he even gets the younger tsukebitos to cook hotpot and other dishes, and as soon as it's ready he sends them home. I've heard that he would often force tsukebito to do odd jobs unrelated to sumo, such as suddenly telling them to 'go buy some sanitary napkins and women's underwear'" Abusive behaviour towards his junior tsukebito, both physical and mental. And so, Tobizaru has finally been questioned by the 'authorities'. What will the man himself have to say to this? We spoke to Tobizaru just before noon on February 2nd, as he was about to walk to the Oitekaze stable, which is just a stone's throw away from his home.
-"Were you called in by the Kyokai's compliance committee??"
-"We're in a hurry right now."
--"We heard that four tsukebito have quit."
-"Quit? From my stable? That's not true."
--"Is Satsumashou also planning to quit being a tsukebito? "
-"Ah, I don't know about that."
As Tobizaru said this, he ran into the Oitekaze stable as if fleeing. When we contacted the Sumo Association in writing about the quitting of four of Tobizaru's tsukebito, the reality of the bullying, and the investigation by the Compliance Committee, we received a phone call saying, "Please consider this to be a no-answer period." That is a troublesome answer from the Sumo Association "It seems the sumo association is trying to put an end to this by just issuing a severe warning to Tobizaru. If that is the case, one cannot help but think that they want to put a lid on the situation," said the aforementioned association official.
It is still fresh in our memory that when the "Weekly Shincho" reported on issues such as "alcohol harassment" at Nishonoseki beya in May of last year, the association's tendency to cover up was also apparent. The "self-purification ability" of the sumo world, which has been called into question many times before, is being put to the test once again. The February 6 issue of "Weekly Shincho" contains a detailed report on the full extent of Tobizaru's brutal power harassment.
*- grain of salt, as of now, please.