Ulan Bator - The slapping sound of colliding flesh reverberates through a basement in Mongolia's capital, as Tsogt-Erdeniin Mendsaikhan hones fighting skills in pursuit of his dream -- sumo wrestling in Japan.
The teenager is inspired by Hakuho, a Mongolian grand champion, or "yokozuna", who in January broke a more than four decade-old record when he won his 33rd Emperor's Cup, awarded to the champion of the bi-monthly top tournament.
The feat was "absolutely amazing", said Mendsaikhan, clad in a black loincloth, or mawashi, at a practice session at Ulan Bator's sole amateur sumo wrestling club.
"A Mongolian reached the peak of Japanese sumo and raises it higher and higher."
Kublai Khan's attempts to subdue Japan more than 700 years ago failed when "divine winds" -- or "kamikaze" -- are said to have scattered his ships, but over the past quarter century a new invasion has seen Mongolian wrestlers take over the country's proud national sport.
No Japanese has won a top division tournament for nine years, and all three rikishi, or wrestlers, currently ranked as yokozuna are Mongolian. The last Japanese to hold the coveted title, Takanohana, retired in 2003.
Yokozuna must not only be adept at slamming opponents out of the dohyo, the mound of clay and sand that serves as a ring.
Sumo is heavily imbued with the values of Japan's indigenous Shinto religion and yokozuna perform rituals in the ring and out, including one for the New Year at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine, donning a sacred white rope, clapping their hands and slapping their bare feet onto the ground.
When foreigners first approached the sport's pinnacle in the 1990s, conservative voices asked whether they had sufficient understanding of the country's culture and manners -- often described as "hinkaku", or dignity -- to fulfil that traditional role.
Such sentiments are heard less frequently now, although Hakuho found himself at the centre of controversy earlier this year for taking issue with a judge's decision -- a sumo no-no.
Still, Japanese schoolteacher Yuko Asakawa said the Mongolians have helped to revive sumo's popularity.
"Hakuho is performing with quite a lot of dignity, very similar to Japanese," she added.
"Of course, as Japan's national sport it's better if there are a lot of Japanese," she said outside the sport's premier venue in Tokyo, where the latest tournament in May was again won by a Mongolian.
AFP
