Sumo champion wants to appear in "Blue Wolf"

(Updated 5:30pm)

Kadokawa's next big budget movie "Aoki Okami" (literally "Blue Wolf") team held a press conference in Tokyo on March 29.  The story is about historical Mongolian hero Genghis Khan and will be produced in cooperation with Mongolian government as its 800th anniversary event.  The hero will be played by Takashi Sorimachi, and the film will be produced by Shinichiro Sawai.  Honcho Haruki Kadokawa declares that he will draw 100 million audience in the world.

The most famous Mongolian in Japan, the current top-ranked Sumo Yokozuna (champion) Asashoryu is quite enthusiastic about this project, and have given his treasure, "horse-head harp" (Mongol's traditional music instrument), to Kadokawa to encourage the project.  He is reported to be offering participation in this movie as a part of Mongol-Japan friendship effort.  Asashoryu first suggested a general on a horse, but Kadokawa refused, "the horse will get squashed!", but he implies he still is considering another type of part.  No final confirmation of his movie actor debut is announced so far. 

Source:  SANSPO  (upper right photo:  Asashoryu and Kadokawa with the horse-head harp)

It is also reported that Asashoryu was really excited about World Baseball Classic and has been a big supporter of Ichiro, so maybe Asashoryu was a bit influenced by him, too?