Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/66

42 As a professional’s minimum wages are one yen, the beginner must receive four marks before he can enter the regular list. A wrestler becomes a sekitori, or one of the first grade, when his wages reach ten yen. There is no limit to his wages; when he has become a champion, his subsequent victories cannot raise his position; but his wages are augmented at the above rate. Nishinoumi, the present “invincible champion,” receives ninety yen, which means that he has had nearly 360 absolute wins at Ekoin. The wrestler’s income from the Ekoin matches is not, therefore, large. There are usually about a hundred candidates every year; but not a few of them are old hands who have hitherto failed to pass the examination at Ekoin. The professional wrestlers in Tokyo number about four hundred, while the total strength of the wrestlers’ guild is close upon six hundred. The wrestler is condemned to menial work when under his elder’s roof; and even when he has risen high enough in his profession to keep house, he still acknowledges the elder as his master and gives him a share of his earnings.

There is no fixed limit to the number of sekitori, or first grade wrestlers; but the first six of the grade in two sets are the most honourable of the whole profession. Though a sekitori remains such as his wages are never reduced, his position in the grade is always changing and those at the head of the wrestlers’ list have to look to their laurels as they may, at every run of Ekoin matches, be supplanted by more successful rivals. Wrestlers are divided into two sides, the East and the West, between which matches always take place. Either side has its champion with his two assistants. These sides are rearranged at the close of every run at Ekoin; and wrestlers frequently change sides when the guild makes up the list. The East side is considered stronger than the other; and this change of sides is frequently necessary to keep them well-balanced.