Why Mongolian sumo wrestlers stronger than Japanese?
Young Japanese men don’t have the motivation to go into sumo anymore, so the stables no longer have their pick of the strongest Japanese youth. Boys with the physical gifts suitable for sumo are just as likely to be into judo, rugby, baseball or whatever these days. Back in the day, the fact that rikshi were well fed and got a roof over their head was incentive enough. However even with all the economic problems Japan has these days, not too many boys (or their parents!) want to drop out of school and submit themselves to the brutal discipline/bullying of the sumo stable. A low ranked rikishi receives about 30000 yen a month pocket money+room and board, but is expected to do chores on top of training. The big/strong kids would much rather play rugby/gridiron/judo/hockey/ or whatever sport for college teams and then go on to play for shakaijin teams-can you blame them? Nowadays private high schools like Ikuei recruit kids out of junior high to play every sport from hockey to rugby to so
