Japan's sumo wrestling establishment has been shaken to its core by revelations of illegal gambling on baseball games and mob connections at sumo's highest levels. Sumo has always stood for more than just sport. It dates back at least 1,500 years and is part of the founding myth of Japan itself — legend holds that the Japanese won their islands in a sumo bout of the gods. "I do think the public holds them to a higher standard," said Jeff Kingston of Temple University, Japan Campus. "If you look at them around streets with their flowing yukata [robes] on their wooden geta [footwear] and topknots, I mean, they do look like throwbacks to the past, and so they are sort of modern representations of traditional mores and virtues."