In Tokyo this weekend, the sumo wrestler Kotoshogiku won the first of the year’s six top-level tournaments. The result was big news because of his nationality: Japanese.
Since the 1990s, foreigners have come to dominate the top level of sumo, Japan’s national sport. Though there are six two-week top-tier tournaments, or honbasho, every year, Kotoshogiku’s victory on Sunday was the first for a Japanese wrestler in 10 years. Over the past decade, tournaments have been won by a host of Mongolians, but also a Bulgarian and an Estonian, creating an identity crisis among fans and officials of the sport, which has roots that date back centuries.