The , officially the ; sometimes abbreviated JSA or NSK, and more usually called Sumo Kyōkai, is the governing body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling, called , in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
Concretely, the association maintains and develops sumo traditions and integrity by holding tournaments and . The purposes of the association are also to develop the means dedicated to the sport and maintain, manage and operate the facilities necessary for these activities. Therefore, the JSA operates subsidiaries such as the Kokugikan Service Company to organize its economic aspects, the Sumo School to organize training and instruction or the Sumo Museum to preserve and utilize sumo wrestling records and artefacts.
Though professionals, such as active wrestlers, referees, hairdressers and ushers, are all on the association's payroll, leadership positions are restricted to retired wrestlers. The organization has its headquarters in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan arena, in Sumida, Tokyo."Kyokai Information ." Japan Sumo Association. Retrieved on February 6, 2011. "〒130-0015 東京都墨田区横網1-3-28 財団法人日本相撲協会."
The association's culture is based on respect for the law and continuity of sumo's traditions, deeply rooted in Japan's history and Shinto religion. It has a reputation for secrecy. In response to a number of scandals, the association has implemented numerous reforms in recent decades.
History
Beginnings of organizations The association has its origins in a Shinto ritual (or festival) that has been held since ancient times to pray for a bountiful harvest. This primary form of sumo was called . During the Sengoku period, Oda Nobunaga made sumo a popular sport, aided by the emergence of large cities (like Edo, Osaka, Sendai and Nagoya), which soon began to compete with Kyoto's cultural monopoly, as it was Japan's only metropolis at the time. These new cultural centres saw the emergence of wrestling groups, from both the commoners and the warrior classes, who took part in festivities at shrines. During the Edo period, sumo bouts, called , were often held to raise funds to develop provinces (new construction or repair of bridges, temples, shrines and other public buildings) or for entertainment purposes.
After the Sengoku period, during the period of peace established under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan experienced an unprecedented period of vagrancy for many samurai who had lost their social standing (called ). These masterless samurai, began to be organized in two extremes that coexisted side by side. On the one hand, certain powerful clans formed suites of wrestlers organized into veritable royal households called , and elevated them to the status of vassals. On the other hand, a number of had no choice but to put their martial skills to good use in street sumo tournaments, called , for the entertainment of passers-by. Similarly, a number of street entertainment wrestling groups formed and began touring, sometimes with the support of shrines that occasionally recruited them as part of religious festivities and to help priests raising money for the construction of buildings. Eventually, this mix of professional wrestlers and disgraced , along with the commoners who took part in the contests of strength of the street tournaments, created conflicts over money. Tense brawls, even deaths, sometimes occurred. Public order became so disturbed that in 1648 the Edo authorities issued an edict banning street sumo and matches organized to raise funds during festivities. Over the next two decades or so, the wrestlers, now without any income, decided to petition the authorities to lift the bans, forming informal associations that resembled coalitions of interests to protect themselves from any violent repression of their movement. In 1684, these movements bore fruit and a by the name of obtained permission to hold a tournament after proposing a new etiquette associated with tournaments. The organization of tournaments began to depend more on groups following new standards designed to satisfy the authorities of the towns hosting them. These associations gradually came to depend on the influence of retired former wrestlers who began to organize tournaments.
At that time, the Edo-based association (although composed of elders as today) was organized in such a way as to be dominated by a duo of executives, the , the director, and the , his second. The composition of the and its hierarchy was primarily their decision, and conflicts of interest were common. In addition, the profits from the tournaments were first divided among them before a portion was given to the other elders, who in turn distributed the money to their disciples. Because of the filtering of high-ranking managers, little money reached the bottom of the ladder, and this system was only tolerated because the patronage of local lords also added extra salaries for high-ranking wrestlers.
The foundations of the current association Wrestlers who took part in these authorised tournaments without the patronage of lords did not yet have samurai status or a salary and their finances depended largely on donations they could receive from the organisers of charity tournaments or admirers. The organisers also ensured that they were fed and housed for the duration of the tournament. In those days the promotion system was decided by the tournament organisers, who then distributed the profits to the elders who then redistributed funds to their wrestlers, with the wrestlers under the protection of the lords receiving bonuses and having financial security and the others being kept in a situation of poverty. In 1757, during the Hōreki era, the beginnings of the Japan Sumo Associations were formally established as , later called . In 1869, the was founded. Each associations had their own history and changes. For example, from 1888 to 1895 the , led by wrestlers Ōnaruto and Shingari, broke off from Osaka-sumo. In 1897, these movements led to reforms in the Osaka-based association, which became the .
From 1789, the Edo-based association began to incorporate religious practices into the sport, under the guidance of the House of Yoshida Tsukasa and the status of was created in Edo. In the 1870s, the first wrestlers' revolt was organized by Takasago Uragorō asking for better treatment for the wrestlers (without initial success) and created a split from the Tokyo-based association before merging again. The Meiji Restoration was a period of semi-censorship of sumo, with the adoption of Western ideology leading to the perception of sumo as unworthy of the new era, as the matches were seen as barbaric and the semi-nudity of the wrestlers shocking. With the disappearance of government protection, the association found it difficult to keep up the number of wrestlers. At the same time, political circles were organized to preserve some of Japan's indigenous traditions, saving on behalf of the association the privilege of wrestlers to wear samurai (topknot) in 1871. The nobility introduced changes to the way tournaments were organised, reforming the way winnings were distributed and creating the status of association director. In an effort to change its image, the changed its name to in 1889. The internal reforms carried out at the time included the election of directors, the creation of a fixed income for wrestlers and a change in refereeing decisions from to . During the same year, the Tokyo Ōzumō began to think about a project to install an arena at Hibiya Park to hold its bouts indoors, but the project was abandoned for lack of funds. In 1909, the association founded its first arena by inaugurating the first Ryōgoku Kokugikan, in order to avoid having to depend on the weather for tournaments held at the Ekō-in temple. Social movements in sumo did not cease, however, and in 1911 a strike called the organized by low-ranking wrestlers asked for a new wage reform, securing a bonus (made up of payment in cash and a deposit in a pension fund) distributed to all wrestlers who were not or . In 1923, another strike known as the demanded better pensions for wrestlers and was led by Ōnishiki, without success. In the same year, the first Kokugikan was ravaged by fire following the Great Kantō earthquake and most of the association's archives were lost.
Gradually, the Tokyo-based sumo association became dominant. In April 1925, Prince-Regent Hirohito invited the Tokyo Sumo Association to hold a tournament at the Imperial Palace, with the implied aim of also featuring wrestlers from the Osaka-based association. During the tournament, the Emperor's Cup (then the Prince-Regent's Cup) was awarded for the first time. Under the impetus of this tournament, a joint competition plan with a common was proposed, concluding talks that had been taking place since the early 1920s to merge the two rival associations. To establish a ranking according to the wrestlers' skills, qualifying tournaments were organized in November 1925 and in March and October 1926. The March 1926 tournament was officially recognised as the first modern (professional sumo championship tournament). During the same period, on 28 December 1925, the became the , an organization now recognised as the first incarnation of today's association.
Merger and final recognition As a result of the qualifying tournaments, the Osaka-based association lost many top-ranked wrestlers who found themselves demoted in the rankings, although Miyagiyama (the top ranked wrestler in Osaka) was able to retain his position. During tournaments, Osaka's wrestlers were regularly outclassed by their Tokyo counterparts, with some wrestlers ranked as or in Osaka even struggling against Tokyo's or . Later in 1925, the first chairman of the association, Lieutenant-General , was named.
In January 1927, the Osaka-based sumo association officially merged with the All Japan Sumo Association after a long decline. It saved face in the first tournament after the merger of the two associations, as the championship was won by Miyagiyama. The association formally acquired the status of nonprofit organization, and was placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, since in Japan this type of organization requires registration with a government institution.
In 1932, the last major wrestlers' strike broke out with the Shunjuen Incident, calling for fundamental reform of the Sumo Association and leading to a mass resignation of wrestlers the likes of which professional sumo had never seen before. From 1933 to 1937, the All Japan Sumo Association briefly experienced a secession leading to the foundation of the by members of the Dewanoumi . The secessionist association later dissolved, but never had the association been so close to destruction.