2023 In Sumo
The following are the events in professional sumo during 2023. Tournaments Hatsu '' basho'' Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 8 January – 22 January Haru ''basho'' Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, 12 March – 26 March Natsu ''basho'' Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 14 May – 28 May Nagoya ''basho'' Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Nagoya, 9 July – 23 July Aki ''basho'' Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 10 September – 24 September Kyushu ''basho'' Fukuoka Kokusai Center, Kyushu, 12 November – 26 November News January *4: Former '' sekiwake'' Toyonoshima, who had retired from professional sumo in April 2020, quits as a member of the Sumo Association in order to pursue a '' tarento'' career. *6: '' Yokozuna'' Terunofuji withdraws from the upcoming January tournament—his second straight absence from an entire '' basho''—as he continues to recover from surgery on both of his knees. *14: Former ''sekiwake'' Okinoumi retires, ending an 18-year career in profes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Komusubi
, or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the only division that is featured on NHK's standard live coverage of sumo tournaments. The lower divisions are shown on their satellite coverage, with only the ''makuuchi'' broadcast having bilingual English commentary. ''Makuuchi'' literally means "inside the curtain", a reference to the early period of professional sumo, when there was a curtained-off area reserved for the top ranked wrestlers, to sit before appearing for their bouts. Wrestlers are considered for promotion or demotion in rank before each grand tournament according to their performance in the one previous. Generally, a greater number of wins than losses (''kachi-koshi'') results in a promotion, and the reverse (''make-koshi'') results in demotion. There are stricter criteria ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ryūden Gōshi
is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture. He made his professional debut in March 2006 and first reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in January 2018. Ryūden has won a championship in every division except ''makuuchi'' and has earned two special prizes, one for Fighting Spirit and one for Technique. His highest rank has been ''komusubi''. He is a member of Takadagawa stable. Career He was the youngest of three brothers and had a background in judo. However, he was persuaded by the former ''sekiwake'' Akinoshima, a coach at Takadagawa stable who was visiting his junior high school to scout a judo classmate, to give sumo a try. He made his debut in March 2006, the same tournament as Tochinoshin, Sakaizawa and Masakaze. He was immediately given the ''shikona'' of Ryūden, with the "Ryū" part taken from his hometown school and the "den" part from the legendary wrestler Raiden. He was talked of, alongside Masunoyama, as a candidate for the first ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sadanoumi Takashi
is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kumamoto. He made his debut in 2003, and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division eleven years later in 2014. His highest rank has been ''maegashira'' 1. He has been a runner-up in one tournament, and has won two special prizes for Fighting Spirit and one gold star for defeating a ''yokozuna.'' Early life and sumo background Matsumura was born the oldest son of Sadanoumi Kōji, a sumo wrestler active in the 1980s who reached the rank of ''komusubi''. Although he has no memories of his father as a wrestler, since the latter retired when Matsumura was 1 year old, he aspired to follow in his father's footsteps since he was three years old. Matsumura is nevertheless familiar with the sumo world since his father, under the name of Tagonoura, was a coach at Dewanoumi stable and his family regularly attended the '' senshūrakus after parties. On the advice of his father, he began to discover other sports such as football but upon graduation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nishikifuji Ryūsei
is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Towada. He wrestles for the Isegahama stable and made his debut in September 2016 and reached the top division in July 2022. His highest rank has been maegashira 4. He has a jonokuchi, a jonidan, a makushita and a jūryō division championships. He has a special prize. Early life and sumo beginnings Born in Towada, Aomori, he began wrestling in his third year of elementary school at Sanbongi Elementary School in Towada and in his sixth year, he placed in the top eight at the National Junior High School Sumo Tournament. In high school, he went on to Sanbongi Agricultural High School's Agricultural Machinery Department and while there he placed third in the individual division in the National High School Usa Tournament. His classmates in high school included Onosho, as well as Midorifuji, whom he now wrestles in the same stable with. Career In August 2020 Nishikifuji's promotion to the jūryō Professional sumo as adminis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Midorifuji Kazunari
is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Yaizu, Shizuoka. Known for being a '' katasukashi'' specialist, he debuted in sumo wrestling in September 2016 and made his '' makuuchi'' debut in January 2021. His highest rank has been ''maegashira'' 1. He wrestles for Isegahama stable. Early life Born in Yaizu, Shizuoka, Kazunari grew up in a single-mother household. He began participating in sumo from elementary school and notably wrestled at the ''Wanpaku'' National Championship. After this initial experience he stopped practising sumo before entering his third year in junior high school at Yaizu Junior High School, where he placed in the national team top 8 at the National Junior High School Sumo Championships. In his second year at Hiryū Senior High School, he defeated future Takakeishō of the Saitama Sakae High School team at the All-Japan High School Sumo Tournament, preventing Saitama Sakae from winning a fourth consecutive title and winning the first medal (thir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Abi Masatora
is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Saitama Prefecture. He made his debut in May, 2013 and wrestles for Shikoroyama stable. He reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in January 2018 and has four special prizes for Fighting Spirit and one for Outstanding Performance. He has three '' gold stars'' for ''yokozuna'' upsets. His highest rank has been ''sekiwake''. He won his first championship in November 2022. Early life and sumo experience Kōsuke Horikiri was born as the youngest of four children, born into a family that ran a construction company. He was a head taller than most of his classmates as a student. Unlike other members of his family, he was not inclined towards sports as he was somewhat overweight and didn't like running. He tried judo, but found he excelled more at sumo; taking the children's sumo championship in his city in both his first and second years of primary school. Though he was skilled at sumo, he didn't like the sport at first, especially practice ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tamawashi Ichirō
), lead=yes is a Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in January 2004 and reached the top '' makuuchi'' division in September 2008. His highest rank has been '' sekiwake''. He has a '' makushita'', a '' jūryō'' and two '' makuuchi'' division championships. He has seven gold stars for defeating a '' yokozuna,'' and four special prizes, all of them coming after he turned 30 years of age. He wrestles for Kataonami stable. He has not missed a bout in his career to date and has the longest streak of consecutive matches among active wrestlers. In January 2019, he won his first top-division championship, and his second in September 2022 at the age of 37, making him the oldest winner of the top division championship since the introduction of the six tournaments a year system in 1958. Early life and sumo background In Mongolia, Munkh-Orgil was working toward a career in the hotel industry, but was encouraged to come to Japan by his older sister who ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mitakeumi Hisashi
is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Agematsu, Nagano. He is in the Dewanoumi stable. He is a pusher thruster-type wrestler. A former amateur champion at Toyo University, he made his professional debut in March 2015, reaching the top ''makuuchi'' division in November of the same year. He has ten special prizes for Fighting Spirit, Technique and Outstanding Performance, as well two gold stars for defeating a ''yokozuna'' while ranked as a ''maegashira.'' His highest rank has been '' ōzeki''. He won his first top division championship (''yūshō'') in July 2018, his second in September 2019, and his third in January 2022. All three ''yūshō'' were won at the rank of ''sekiwake''. Early life and sumo background Mitakeumi was born as Hisashi Ōmichi on 25 December 1992 to Haruo Ōmichi, a Japanese, and Margarita, who is originally from the Philippines. His mother first came to Japan as a member of an all-female band, and after giving birth to Hisashi in the Philippines, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Daieishō Hayato
is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He began his professional career in 2012 at the age of eighteen and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in September 2015. His highest rank to date has been ''sekiwake''. He has four gold stars for defeating ''yokozuna'', five special prizes for Outstanding Performance and one special prize for Technique. He wrestles for the Oitekaze stable. In January 2021 he became the first wrestler from Saitama Prefecture to win the top-division championship. He was a runner-up in the May 2022 tournament. Early life and education Hayato Takanishi was born on 10 November 1993 in Asaka, a city in Saitama Prefecture. He started sumo after winning a local tournament during his first year in elementary school. At junior high he was a member of a sumo club in Iruma, where he first developed his thrusting attack. He attended , a school famous for its sumo club, and earned a place in the club's first team near the end of his second year. In his final ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maegashira
, or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the only division that is featured on NHK's standard live coverage of sumo tournaments. The lower divisions are shown on their satellite coverage, with only the ''makuuchi'' broadcast having bilingual English commentary. ''Makuuchi'' literally means "inside the curtain", a reference to the early period of professional sumo, when there was a curtained-off area reserved for the top ranked wrestlers, to sit before appearing for their bouts. Wrestlers are considered for promotion or demotion in rank before each grand tournament according to their performance in the one previous. Generally, a greater number of wins than losses (''kachi-koshi'') results in a promotion, and the reverse (''make-koshi'') results in demotion. There are stricter criteria ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tobizaru Masaya
Tobizaru Masaya (翔猿 正也, born April 24, 1992, as ) is a professional sumo wrestler from Japan and wrestles for Oitekaze stable. He made his top division debut in September 2020 and his ''san'yaku'' debut in November 2022. He is the brother of active wrestler Hidenoumi of the Kise stable; they became the 18th pair of ''sekitori'' brothers in sumo history. Despite the fact that they are in different stables, Tobizaru will not face him in competition as Japan Sumo Association rules prevent close relatives from being matched against each other outside of playoff bouts. Career Masaya Iwasaki followed his elder brother Takuya into sumo, joining the same sumo club in his first year of elementary school. He was also interested in baseball, and had thoughts of becoming a professional baseball player, but gave up the game for sumo when he started junior high school. The future Hokutofuji was a contemporary of his at high school. He studied economics at Nihon University and was a me ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |