The face of sumo is changed as the sport waddles into Blaisdell Arena Saturday after a 14-year absence.

It speaks with something of a Mongolian accent. It strides with the self-assured swagger of the descendants of Genghis Khan.

The last time Japan's national sport played out on the hard-packed earthen ring here, much of its vanguard was stomping thunderous thighs on the home soil with three of the top four positions in the rankings held by Hawai'i-bred sumotori. Israel Kamakawiw'ole wrote a song about three of them, Akebono, Musashimaru and Konishiki.

Now, the top-ranked elite calls Ulan Bator home. Presumably someone there has put something to music in Khalkha Mongolian about Asashoryu, Hakuho and Ama.

Where there was what Japanese newspapers once called a tsunami of Hawai'i products, a 40-year continuous line of more than two dozen sumotori, only Jesse Kuhaulua and Fiamalu Penitani remain and they are now coaches. The Mongolians are the new conquering horde of the ring. Eleven, including eight in the top division, have gone from the steppes to stardom.

The two-day Hawai'i Grand Sumo Tournament, 8,600 miles from their homeland, will underline the Mongolian ascendancy with two yokozuna, Asashoryu and the debuting Hakuho, holding the top rank for the first time.

Their rise is a pointed reminder of how sumo's plan to reduce a growing foreign domination failed, merely substituting a different flag for that of Hawai'i's. No sooner had Waimanalo's Akebono become the first foreigner fitted for the ceremonial rope that symbolizes the exalted rank of yokozuna in 1993, than the sumo elders slapped up new rules. They had narrowly dodged having to promote Konishiki and knew they would have to contend with Musashimaru and others.

So, sumo began putting hurdles and limitations on the recruiting of foreigners in the hopes that native-born prospects would fill the void. Hawai'i ties withered and the local pipeline was allowed to run dry.

But instead of finding strong, hungry aspirants on O'ahu's Leeward and Windward coasts, sumo began increasingly attracting them, from the plateaus of east-central Asia. Its trickle became an invasion. Mongolia's chief export to Japan, once agricultural products, now is Mongolian-style wrestlers turned mawashi-wearing sumotori.

Meanwhile, the expected renaissance of Japan-born talent has yet to materialize. Mongolians have won the last eight tournaments in a row and 19 of the last 21. Not since Tochiazuma in January of 2006 has a son of the Land of the Rising Sun hoisted the Emperor's Trophy. Some die-hard purists lament whether sumo is even the national sport anymore.

Seven centuries after Kublai Khan's Mongol invasion of Japan was turned back by the legendary divine wind that provided the term kamikaze, his descendents are succeeding with a new one.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.