相撲をこよなく愛した日仏友好の懸け橋、ジャック・シラク元大統領

【東京ＡＦＰ＝時事】26日に死去したフランスのジャック・シラク元大統領は、相撲をこよなく愛していた。2005年に大阪で相撲観戦を終えて会場を後にする際には、観客が総立ちになり、「シラク！シラク！」と連呼し拍手を送ることもあった。（写真は都内で大相撲の力士、曙（左）と握手をするジャック・シラク仏大統領）
　シラク氏はイラク戦争に反対したり、欧州統合を支持したりしたカリスマ政治家というよりも、筋金入りの相撲ファンとして多くの日本人の記憶に残ることになるだろう。
　シラク氏は人生で必要なことはすべて相撲で学んだと公言。１９９８年には「若い頃に（相撲を）始めていたら、（力士に）なれたかもしれない」「身長は十分だ。体重は時間をかければ増やせる」とさえ語っていた。
　日本相撲協会の八角理事長（元横綱北勝海）はシラク氏の死去を受けて、「突然の訃報に接して驚いている。ご生前のご厚情に深く感謝するとともに、謹んでご冥福をお祈り申し上げます」と哀悼の意を表した。
　ＮＨＫの相撲コメンテーターを務めるマーク・シリング氏はＡＦＰに対し、相撲を観戦した大勢の外国要人の中でも、シラク氏の相撲愛は際立っていたと指摘した。
　シリング氏は、「（英国の）チャールズ皇太子や故ダイアナ元妃をはじめとする有名人が相撲観戦に訪れたが、シラク氏のように実際に興味を持ち、知識もあった方は珍しい」「相撲界に感銘を与えたと思う」と語った。
　■愛犬の名は「スモウ」
　数十年来の相撲ファンのシラク氏は１９７０年代には既に日本を訪れており、最終的な訪日回数は５０回を超えた。
　２００５年の訪日の際には、「ここを訪れるたびに、新たな喜びがある」とコメント。この時は５年ぶりの訪日で、来られなかった期間は「耐えがたい」ものだったとも述べた。
　大統領在職中には、相撲を愛するあまりフランスの放送局と話をつけ、放映前の相撲中継の録画を入手していたほどだった。さらに一日の取組が終わり次第、結果を報告するのが在日フランス大使館の日課ともなっていた。
　シラク氏は１９８６年にはパリ市長、１９９５年にはフランス大統領として２度の大相撲パリ公演の実現に尽力した。その相撲愛はフランス共和国大統領杯（シラク杯）の創設に至り、２０００年から大統領を退任した２００７年まで幕内優勝力士に授与された。
　一方、後任のニコラ・サルコジ元大統領はシラク氏とは大きく異なった見方を示し、「どうしたらポニーテールをなでつけた太った男同士の戦いに夢中になれるんだ？相撲は断じて知識人向けのスポーツではない」とこきおろしたとされる。
　シラク氏の相撲愛は筋金入りで、愛犬に「スモウ」と名付けるほどだった。しかし繰り返しかまれたため、後に手放さざるを得なくなった。
　ある日本のツイッターユーザーは、相撲を愛したシラク大統領が今日の日仏友好の礎を築いてくれたと感謝の気持ちを投稿した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/09/30-09:29）

When late French president Jacques Chirac departed a sumo arena in Japan's Osaka in 2005, the crowd gave him a standing ovation, applauding the sport's super-fan and chanting Shiraku, Shiraku!
For many in Japan, the charismatic statesman will be remembered less for his Iraq war opposition or his support for European unity than his deep and abiding love of the sport of sumo.
He is said to have insisted he learned all he needed to know in life from the ancient sport, and even wondered whether he could have made the grade himself.
Maybe if I'd started young, he mused in 1998.
I was tall enough, and as for weight, well you can put that on with time...
The head of Japan's sumo association said he was shocked to hear of Chirac's death but deeply grateful for his love of the sport.
I am surprised to hear the sudden sad news, said chairman Hakkaku, a former yokozuna, or sumo champion, in a statement.
I am deeply grateful for his kindness and pray that he rests in peace.
Mark Schilling, a sumo commentator on public broadcaster NHK, said Chirac stood out among the many foreign dignitaries who have attended sumo bouts for his obsession with the sport.
Famous people did come to see sumo, Prince Charles and Princess Diana came... but for someone like him to actually take an interest, to actually know something about it, was unusual, he told AFP.
And I think that impressed the sumo world.
The country's newspapers offered detailed obituaries on Friday, with the liberal Asahi Shimbun praising his deep knowledge about Japan's ancient and medieval literature and arts, which often surprised experts in those areas.
His love of Japan was unrivalled and went beyond the level of hobbies, the daily added.
- A dog named 'Sumo' -
Chirac's love of sumo extended back decades, and he was already making trips to Japan in the 1970s, eventually visiting the country more than 50 times.
Each journey here is for me a new delight, Chirac said on a trip in 2005, his first in five years -- an absence he described as intolerable.
He was so enamoured of the sport that when in office he arranged with French broadcasters to obtain tapes of matches before they went out on air.
And the French embassy in Tokyo had standing orders to dispatch the results of each day's fights as soon as the session was through.
Chirac helped organise the first sumo tournament in Paris, when he was mayor of the city, bringing wrestlers who rarely practice outside Japan to the French capital in 1986 and then again in 1995.
And his enthusiasm for the sport led to the creation of the President of the Republic of France Cup, which was presented to winning wrestlers from 2000 until Chirac left office in 2007
President Chirac has sent gifts to the winning sumo wrestlers and for that we are always grateful, an association spokesman said during the French leader's 2005 visit when he took in a tournament in Osaka, to the delight of fans.
His admiration for the sport was a far cry from the views of his successor Nicolas Sarkozy.
How can anyone be fascinated by these battles between fat guys with slicked-down ponytails? Sumo wrestling is really not a sport for intellectuals, he was reported to have said.
But Chirac's fascination for the sport was unerring -- he even named his pet dog Sumo, though he was later forced to send her away after she repeatedly bit him.
He loved sumo, and... built the foundation of today's Japan-France friendship, one Japanese Twitter user wrote.
Thank you President Chirac.