The price of an oyakata name in sumo: JPY175 mn

Small revelation: when oyakata (the "stablemasters" of sumo schools) change over and the new guy assumes the name of the old, money changes hands, with the going rate being a hefty JPY175 mn (around US$1.5 mn). According to the Nikkei newspaper, the courts have just enforced this in a specific case involving the Tatsunami-beya in Ryogoku, Tokyo. Though the Sumo Association does not authorise the exchange of money when so-called toshiyori-kabu (toshiyori being the sumo elder's name that wrestlers take on retirement, kabu meaning stock) are transferred, the court upheld the outgoing oyakata's petition that there had been a verbal agreement with the incumbent in accordance with custom, and that toshiyori names have a certain asset value.

This practice of passing on names from one generation to the next (shuumei) is not confined to sumo: it's common in the Kabuki theatre, for example. Whether or not similar sums of money change hands there too is unclear; if the Nikkei felt it was worth printing this story, one assumes that this was "new news" and that the practice is something usually kept out of sight. Also, in Kabuki the passage of names is quite often from father to son, suggesting that perhaps mercenary instincts are kept on hold.

Link to the Nikkei article (in Japanese)