said Monday it will halve the limit on the number of foreign wrestlers to one per stable.
Stablemasters had previously agreed on a maximum of 40 foreign wrestlers, or two per stable, but this overall total has been reached and the association has been receiving more requests from stables to recruit talent from overseas.
Stables are struggling to attract top grapplers from within Japan while influential voices in the sumo world had been calling for a limit on the number of non-Japanese wrestlers.
Stables with more than one foreign wrestler, or stables which merge, will not be forced to reduce their staff, but they will no longer be able to recruit any new overseas talent.