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Yokozuna Hitachiyama during a tour of the West in the early 1900's
I've been making SUMO threads in the Grappling Forum for each tournament for a while now, and wanted to make a thread that would be an introduction to the sport for people who are interested in it. SUMO seems like it's a hard sport to get into, and a hard sport to follow for someone outside of Japan, and hopefully I can help.
Origins of Sumo: There is a lot of mythology associated with the early history of sumo. Supposedly the Japanese race was able to control the islands of Japan because of a victory of one of their gods in a sumo match (this also demonstrates the strong connection between nationalism and sumo). However, historically sumo has been around for over 1500 years, though not necessarily in the form seen today. Early sumo was more of a ritual performance than a sport, although through much of its history up to today sumo has been a fusion of the two. During the 8th century sumo was introduced as a ritual ceremony in the imperial court, with representatives from each province coming to the court to fight each other. In fact, at this point sumo probably had rules (or lacked rules) similar to MMA, with elements of striking and wrestling included and few, if any, holds barred. Eventually stricter rules came to the sport and it evolved into something similar to what we see today. For a long time sumo was used as a useful form of combat for men in the military, but sumo really started to take off as a sport in its own right when the country was united under the Tokugawa Shogunate in the Edo Period beginning in the 17th century. The current format of the "modern era" of sumo, having six tournaments per-year, started in 1958.
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Sumo Divisions and Rankings: This is a useful picture, showing all of the different divisions and ranks -
Divisions (in order from lowest to highest): Jonokuchi, Jonidan, Sandanme, Makushita, Juryo, Makuuchi. divisions below Makushita are pretty unimportant I'd say and unless you're really into sumo, there isn't much you need to know about them. Juryo is fairly important because the guys who do well at the top of the second highest division usually get put into the highest division Makuuchi in the next tournament. Makuuchi is of course the most important, it's the division everyone focuses on, the division with the top sumo wrestlers, and the division that the tournament broadcasts show. Although the pyramid above might be slightly confusing, the entire top section of the pyramid is the Makuuchi division. Another visualization of the ranks of sumo can be found HERE.
Ranks (in the Makuuchi division): Each rank generally has an "East" and "West" member, so there will an East Maegashira 13 (m13) and a West Maegashira 13, with the East ranked rikishi being ranked higher. As you move up in ranks you also get a higher salary. Promotion is a big part of sumo, and it's almost entirely based on how many wins and losses you get in a tournament. In the Maegashira ranks, if you get 8 wins you get promoted. Since there are 15 matches in a tournament, 8 wins and 7 losses is the division between a winning record and a losing record.
- Maegashira - The number of Maegashira can vary, but it usually goes from around rank 1 (the highest ranked Maegashira) to around 15 or 16 which is the lowest rank of the Makuuchi division. If a rikishi ranked at the bottom of the Maegashira ranks gets a losing tournament they are in danger of being demoted down to the Juryo division.
- Komosubi - The rank above Maegashira 1. There are only two Komosubi, an East and a West. Komosubi is seen as a very difficult rank, as you get put up against all of the highest ranked guys. Although in the Maegashira ranks you only need a winning record to get promoted, moving up in ranks begins to get more difficult the higher you get, and to get promoted from Komosubi you probably need double-digit wins.
- Sekiwake - Third highest rank. As far as I remember there have always been two Sekiwake, but I don't think that's written in stone and there can be 3 or whatever. To get promoted from here to the next highest rank, you need to have several very good tournaments in a row. the rule generally is you need 33 or more wins total in three tournaments.
- Ozeki - Second highest rank, under Yokozuna. They are sort of seen as having the responsibility to challenge the Yokozuna (a role which they aren't really filling these days). Being demoted from Ozeki happens if an Ozeki has two losing tournaments in a row. After the first losing tournament (7 wins or less) the Ozeki will be "kadoban", and if they lose the next tournament they fall back down to Sekiwake where they can begin to try to get promoted again. I believe that if they have a good tournament right after being dropped down (generally 11 wins), they get promoted immediately back up to Ozeki (instead of needing the 33 wins) but I could be mistaken.
- Yokozuna - Highest rank. Promotion to Yokozuna isn't based on a set number of wins, but rather is judged by a group called the "Yokozuna Deliberation Council". If a rikishi wins a few tournaments at Ozeki, and the members of this council like what they see the rikishi will be promoted. Once you're a Yokozuna you can't drop down in rank, no matter how many losses you get. However, if you can't keep up you'll get pressured into retiring.
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Sumo Terms:
Ozumo - The sport of sumo.
Rikishi - A sumo wrestler. (Also sekitori for sumo wrestlers in the Juryo division or above, and sumotori for sumo wrestlers at the top ranks of the upper division.)
Dohyo - The sumo ring.
Mawashi - The belt that rikishi wear.
Honbasho or Basho - The six tournaments held throughout the year. honbasho is technically correct, but basho is used more often.
Kachi-koshi - A winning tournament. When a rikishi has a tournament with more wins than losses (at least 8-7) he has a kachi-koshi.
Make-koshi - A losing tournament. When a rikishi has more losses than wins (at least 7-8 ).
Yusho - The championship for a basho. Whoever in the top division has more wins than everyone else gets the yusho. (In the event of a tie on the final day the two tied rikishi have a match against each other referred to as a "playoff" which doesn't count towards their records).
Zensho yusho - A flawless tournament. When a rikishi has all wins and no losses and wins the yusho it's called a zensho yusho.
Heya - A sumo stable. Where many of the rikishi train, eat, sleep, and live. When referring to a specific heya, you would say Miyagino beya with a "b".
Gyoji - Referee for a sumo match. Dressed in bright robes, and a Shinto priest's hat, and holding a gumbai which he points towards the winner. The gyoji also carries a knife so that he can disembowel himself if he gets a call wrong. Obviously they don't actually do this, but that's the mentality they have. As with everything in sumo, there are ranks of referees, and only a top ranked gyoji can officiate a bout involving Yokozuna.
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Important (Highest Ranked) Sumo Wrestlers Today: (Click their name to see one of their matches)
- Hakuho - Mongolian Yokozuna. For a long time the only Yokozuna competing after his rival Asashoryu retired. At one time built up an amazing winning streak, going 63 matches in a row without losing (winning 86 matches that year and only losing 4). Head and shoulders above everyone else for a long time, but his dominance in the sport has begun to recede.
- Kakuryu - Mongolian Yokozuna. Struggling as a Yokozuna due to injuries and the pressure of the position, some felt he was promoted too quickly.
- Takayasu - Japanese and Filipino Ozeki. Strong wrestler, prefers to use pushing and thrusting techniques rather than throws from the mawashi.
- Goeido - Japanese Ozeki. Inconsistent wrestler who can have fantastic performances but struggles to impress more often than not.
- Takakeisho - Japanese Ozeki. Earned promotion to the rank in March, 2019, the youngest wrestler in the top division at the time at 22 years old. Shorter wrestler with excellent pushing-thrusting attack.
The Ryogoku Kokugikan, the sumo arena in Tokyo.
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