Posted on: Friday, September 28, 2001

An uncertain future

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

With his retirement from active sumo wrestling, Waimanalo's Chad Rowan, known as yokozuna (grand champion) Akebono, will be able to spend more time with his one-year-old son Cody. Advertiser library photo

What do you do when you are 32 years old and retired from the only real job you've ever had?

"I guess I could go home and be the biggest cook at Jack-in-the-Box," Chad Rowan has joked as his retirement from sumo has drawn closer.

Now that his days in the ring are over — his retirement ceremony will be held today (Hawai'i time) — the man known as Akebono is wrestling with what to do next. "I don't think he's really decided yet," said his wife, Christine.

His options include becoming a private citizen, taking his nearly $1 million meritorious service bonus and the several hundred thousand dollars to be realized from retirement ceremonies and going into business or becoming a member of the ruling Japan Sumo Association — with or without opening his own stable.

Since he steps down as a yokozuna, the highest rank in the centuries-old sport, Akebono has options not available to most retiring sumotori. It is sumo policy that yokozuna are allowed to become participating members of the JSA for up to five years and draw a salary without having to buy stock.

Sumotori below the rank of yokozuna who qualify to become elders must purchase stock in the JSA before they can join. A share can cost $2 million or more depending upon availability. Once secured, it allows a former sumotori to stay in the sport as a coach or stable owner until age 65 and draw a salary.

There are 105 permanent shares of stock and two special one-generation shares held by former yokozuna Taiho and Kitanoumi.

Akebono's stablemaster, the former Jesse Kuhaulua of Maui, a former sekiwake, became the first foreigner to open his own stable.

But the cost of stable ownership is steep and the demands exhausting. Securing a piece of land in Tokyo or its environs, where all 53 stables are located, and building a stable large enough to house and train 10-to-30 growing sumotori can run upwards of $3 million. When Kuhaulua built his Azumazeki beya in 1986 it cost nearly $2 million.

Then, there is the matter of recruiting capable prospects, training them and attracting sponsors. For while the JSA provides a stipend that helps underwrite some of the costs of training the sumotori, stables survive on their ability to secure patrons.

Within the association, new members are often assigned duties such as ticket takers or arena security supervision before becoming judges or assuming other roles.

The most likely path, at least for the moment, is that Akebono could stay in the sport as a coach and elder for at least five years, assisting in Kuhaulua's stable without opening one of his own.

"I learned a lot from sumo and I feel that, in some way, it is my responsibility to pass on what I have gained to the next generation," Akebono said in a recent speech. "(However), becoming a stablemaster is not something I can decide on my own. I need the support of the sumo association and my family."

There has been speculation in some of the Japanese media that Akebono might go into professional wrestling or become a so-called show business "talent" like Nanakuli's Salevaa Atisanoe, who competed in sumo as Konishiki.

But Akebono has said the debilitating knee injuries that forced his retirement from sumo after 13 years wouldn't permit another career in the ring. Nor, his family said, is he inclined to follow Konishiki into the entertainment business.

One thing he will do when the ceremonies are behind him, "is come back to Hawai'i for a rest," Christine said. "When you are a yokozuna your time isn't your own. It belongs to sumo, that's why we've only been able to stay for three or four days at a time. Chad would like to stay for a couple of weeks, at least, next time."