Feud between Harumafuji and Takanoiwa ends

On October 30, Takanoiwa A.Baasandorj retracted his lawsuit against Harumafuji D.Byambadorj for 24 million JPY from the court. Regarding the issue, the Mongolian Sumo Association President D.Batbayar gave a statement to Tokyo TV.

He said, “I knew something like this was going to happen. Around the time of Harumafuji’s retirement ceremony, Takanoiwa started talking about a lawsuit. This might have been uncomfortable for his family members in Mongolia. It was correct of him to retract his lawsuit. In Mongolia, we respect the elders a lot.”

The fact that Takanoiwa brought up the lawsuit around the time of Harumafuji’s retirement brought the issue back into the public’s eye. Takanoiwa reported that the feud between the two was over on October 30.

Recalling back to the incident that took place in October 2017, during a Mongolian sumo wrestlers’ meeting, Harumafuji scolded Takanoiwa for not being respectful to older wrestlers. Takanoiwa did not listen to him and kept meddling with his phone, which caused Harumafuji to conduct the assault that caused his retirement.

From Takanoiwa’s statements, it seems that his family was threatened. Amongst sumo fans, there are two popular theories as to why his lawsuit was retracted from the Tokyo Civil Court. One is that his family was threatened by sumo wrestlers in Mongolia and the other theory is that the two wrestlers settled out of court.