TWO sumo stablemasters provided tickets for prime ringside seats at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament in July last year to members of a Nagoya-based crime group under the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, it has been learned.

Japan Sumo Association officials and the Aichi prefectural police said Tuesday that stablemasters Kise and Kiyomigata helped arrange for Kodo-kai gangsters to get the tickets via a third party. The front-row seats are primarily allocated to sponsors and are not for sale.

The JSA will decide at its managing directors' meeting Thursday whether the stablemasters will be punished.

The two stablemasters told police they never thought the tickets would be handed to the organized crime group.

Investigators have confirmed more than 50 Kodo-kai gangsters, including senior members, watched sumo on various occasions from the seats during last year's Nagoya basho, which ran from July 12-26.

The 300 seats nearest the ring are allocated to individual, corporate and group sponsors who donate 1.3 million yen or more to the JSA, for six years. In principle, the JSA does not allow the seats to be used by anyone other than the sponsors.

In September, the sumo association asked its sponsors not to allow crime group members to use their seats, and put up notices in sumo arenas that said gang members would not be admitted. In October, the JSA added an article to its application form for sponsors that obligates them to break any ties they have with gangsters.

Kiyomigata--former maegashira Dairyugawa--told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Tuesday night that Kise asked him to prepare two front-row seats four or five years ago.

"When I was questioned by the Aichi prefectural police in December, I found out the tickets had been distributed to gangsters," Kiyomigata said. "I'd no idea about who stablemaster Kise gave the tickets to."

Police are investigating whether the gangsters made any profit from the tickets.

A senior investigator said the gang members might have sought the ringside tickets so imprisoned members watching sumo on TV could see them.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police Department has confirmed a senior member of the Sumiyoshi-kai organized crime syndicate was sitting ringside during the New Year sumo tournament at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan in January.

The police believe this mobster also was trying to get on TV in a gesture to members of his gang behind bars.

The revelations came just days after reports that ozeki Kotomitsuki had been blackmailed by former associates of a gang and is allegedly in heavy debt from gambling.

-The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network