The wrestlers, brothers Roho and Hakurozan, tested positive for the drug when thesport conducted its first drug tests following the arrest last month of another Russian wrestler,Wakanoho, for marijuana possession.
The scandal has rocked the sumo world, which has its roots in religious ritual andtends to hold its athletes and officials to high moral standards. Marijuana possession isconsidered a serious offense in Japan, and the scandal has been front-page news.
The punishment was handed out at an emergency meeting of top sumo officials Monday,according to the Japan Sumo Association.
Kitanoumi, the association's chairman and Hakurozan's mentor, also told the meetingthat he would resign to take responsibility. Kitanoumi is a former grand champion wrestler who isconsidered by many to have been one of the best ever.
"It was my decision to resign," Kitanoumi said. He will be replaced by anotherformer wrestler, Musashigawa.
Sumo wrestlers in Japan are usually known by a single fighting name.
Sumo's current crisis began last month with the arrest and subsequent lifetime banon Wakanoho, whom police said had a small amount of marijuana in his wallet.
Wakanoho was the first wrestler ever to be ejected from sumo for drug use. His realname is listed by the sumo association as Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev.
The association then held tests on all 69 of its top two division wrestlers andfound Roho and Hakurozan positive for the drug.
A second test was done by a Japanese laboratory internationally certified toconduct doping tests, Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corp. Results released Friday showed the twoconsumed the drug in amounts far beyond what could be inhaled from secondhand smoke, sumoassociation spokesman Yuichi Ida said.
Roho, whose real name was listed by the association as Boradzov Soslan Feliksovich,is in sumo's top division, while Hakurozan - who was listed as Baradzov Batraz Feliksovich - is inthe next-highest tier.
Roho and Hakurozan have repeatedly denied using the drug.
Kitanoumi said he had been assured by Hakurozan that he had not used marijuana.
"He had told me he had not used it, and I believed him," he said.
Police have questioned the two wrestlers and searched their rooms. It was not immediately clearif any further legal action would be taken. Unlike possessing or selling the drug, it is notillegal to be found to have used it.
