WAIPAHU — Fiamalu Penitani, who became a sumo grand champion known as Musashimaru, surveyed the four-poled frame in front of him at Hawai'i's Plantation Village. Then he said the staff needs to move the poles back several feet before the structure built 15 years ago as part of a sumo ring can be put to use.

Penitani and Plantation Village officials believe a well-maintained sumo ring on the grounds of the Waipahu visitor's attraction could be what's needed to entice more Hawai'i youths into sumo wrestling.

Penitani, who was raised in Wai'anae, rose to sumo's highest rank of yokozuna and was the last in a 40-year line of more than two dozen sumotori from Hawai'i to compete in Japan's national sport. He retired in 2004.

"We need somebody from Hawai'i right now," he said. "Everybody (in sumo) is from overseas but not from here."

With a sumo ring at the Plantation Village, "everybody would have a chance to come out and learn sumo and to wrestle," he said.

"We'd like to make it usable and hold events here," said Jeff Higa, development director for the Plantation Village. The Plantation Village has to find roughly $50,000 to $60,000 necessary to reconstruct the ring, he said.

Penitani, who lives in Tokyo and is a former Wai'anae High School football player, was in Hawai'i to promote a Grand Sumo Tournament at Blaisdell Arena in June.

He was invited to the Plantation Village yesterday to offer advice on how to make the ring viable.

Higa, who has been on the job for eight months, said the ring was one of the featured sites built when the facility opened 15 years ago.

PLANTATION PASTIME

Sumo tournaments were a favorite pastime in such plantation villages as Waipahu in the early part of the 20th century, Higa said.

The intent was always to make the sumo ring a living exhibit. But when leaders from a Kahuku sumo club, believed to be the most active if not the only such club in the state, went to inspect the newly built ring, they thought it was ill-configured.

The size of the ring, or dohyo, was not the issue. The poles, which would hold up the roof, were placed only 3 feet from the ring, and that presented a problem.

"They felt (the poles) were too close to the ring, that they would fall off and get hurt (by banging into them)," Higa said. "Today's sumo wrestlers are much bigger than they were in plantation times. Plantation workers back then were 125 pounds."

It was suggested the poles be moved back 25 feet.

Unused, the ring fell into disrepair, and all that can be seen today are the four poles, along with a shadow of what once was a ring.

USE SPECIAL CLAY

Penitani said at least 50 tons of a special clay should be used to make the surface of the ring, and advised that a roof be placed on the structure because the ring is considered sacred.

"This is a good place to build a ring. ... All you've got to do is stretch these poles out," he said, adding that maintenance of the surface is the hard part. "Cover it up and keep the thing moist, and the ring will be around a long time."

Penitani said that having a workable ring closer to O'ahu's urban core may inspire more youths to participate in the sport.

The one or two permanent sumo rings in Hawai'i are in people's back yards in Kahuku. When it comes time to hold a tournament, he said, they have to build a temporary one.

A new facility could help. It also will take a commitment on the part of young wrestlers. Many youths here show some interest but get scared off, Penitani said.

"It's hard work. A sumo life is very hard," he said.

FUNDRAISING DRIVE

Previous attempts to obtain legislative funding to renovate the Waipahu ring have failed, Higa said.

Higa said the Plantation Village probably will start a fundraising drive for the project as part of its 15th-anniversary celebration in September.

Penitani was joined by former sumotori Saleva'a Atisano'e, known as Konishiki, yesterday for a visit to a Japanese language class at Wai'anae High School.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.