1. Let’s start with a reasonable warm up: who is the only yokozuna who never won a single basho during his entire career ?
a. Futahaguro
Futahaguro Koji (born Koji Kitao) performed very well in san’yaku during the years 1985-1986, with (as an sekiwake) 11-4, 12-3, (as an ozeki) 10-5, 10-5, 12-3 and 14-1 records.
He lost in a playoff to Chiyonofuji, whom he defeated on day 15, during the Nagoya basho of 1986, after having accumulated these 14 wins.
With Chiyonofuji as the sole active yokozuna, five ozeki and another wrestler performing to ozeki standards, the board decided to promote Futagahuro to yokozuna, despite the fact that he hadn’t won a yusho.
That gamble proved to be a hugely bad decision. Futahaguro reached again one playoff, finished twice as a runner up, but no more.
Following a heated argument with his stablemaster, and allegedly with the stablemaster’s wife, Futagahuro became the first yokozuna to be expelled from the sport, and the first yokozuna of the modern era who never won a single yusho.
At the opposite, Kotokaze and Kirishima never made it to yokozuna. Wajima won no less than fourteen yushos.
2. We have to look before the modern era to find the last ozeki to be promoted to yokozuna without having won a tournament. Who was it ?
Tip : unlike Futagahuro, he won yushos (two) after his promotion.
a. Terukuni
Terukuni was tied for first place with Futabayama and Akinoumi with a 13-2 record, during the May 1942 tournament. The yusho was awarded to Futabayama because he held a higher rank, as the rule was at the time.
His performances earned him nevertheless yokozuna promotion.
He had a decent yokozuna career, ending runner up two more times – five times during his whole career – before finally clinching two titles in a row, eight years after yokozuna promotion, during the Aki basho of 1950 and the Haru basho of 1951.
He retired in 1953.
3. Speaking about yushos, how many wrestlers have not won a single yusho during their yokozuna careers ?
Note : the yushos may have been won before 1958. We’re looking at the whole careers of yokozuna who have been active since 1958.
The correct answer of the first question is, of course, included !
b. Three
Apart from Futahaguro, Yoshibayama has been promoted to yokozuna after having won a yusho az an ozeki in 1954, but couldn’t reproduce that feat. He retired in 1958.
The other yokozuna is Wakanohana III. His record is in fact quite impressive, with five (!) yushos: one as a komosubi, four as an ozeki, but none as a yokozuna. After a decent start at the rank and 10-5, 12-3, 9-6 and 13-2 records, he suffered a serious injury which prevented him from competing properly. He had to retire by the year 2000, less than two years after his yokozuna promotion.
4. How many yokozuna have been make-koshi despite competing all fifteen days ?
b. Two
That might sound unbelievable. However, both yokozuna, Onokuni (in Aki 1989) and Wakanohana III (in Aki 1999) were diminished through injury, and could not perform at their best.
5. What happened to him / them ?
d. The Yokozuna Deliberation Council did not consider resignation
To be exact, Onokuni submitted his resignation papers, but the board instead told him to « toughen up », as his bad performances were due to his injury.
Wakanohana III, with the support of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council, did not consider offering his resignation at all, also due to the fact that injury prevented him from competing properly.
6. And how many yushos has he / have they won, combined, afterwards ?
a. None
Sadly, both yokozuna’s injuries proved too much of a mountain to climb.
Wakanohana III sat out of the two next bashos, before going 2-4-9 in Osaka 2000 and retiring thereafter.
After sitting out of five more tournaments, Onokuni had a late surge with 10-5, 10-5 and 12-3 records, finishing runner up of the latter. He sat out again the next tournament, and retired after a final 4-5-6 performance.
7. Of the ten last yokozuna, how many have earned promotion without winning two yushos in a row as ozeki ?
a. Two
The last two ones, Kakuryu and Kisenosato. Kakuryu lost a playoff in January of 2014, before winning the next basho in Osaka, and was promoted.
Kisenosato finally won his first yusho in January of 2017, after thirteen runner up performances. The council promoted him after his first win, too.
Let’s single out Harumafuji who put ut the best numbers with back to back yushos in 2012 – despite Hakuho’s presence.
8. How many dai yokozuna were active during the modern era ?
c. Twelve
Kitanofuji (10), Wakanohana I (10), Tochinishiki (10), Akebono (11), Musashimaru (12), Wajima (14), Takanohana II (22), Kitanoumi (24), Asashoryu (25), Chiyonofuji (31), Taiho (32) and Hakuko (43).
9. Sumo year 2017 saw a quartet of yokozuna, composed of Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kakuryu and Kisenosato. Which year saw the creation of the previous quartet ?
a. 1990
Asashifuji earned yokozuna promotion after consecutive 14-1 wins in May and July of 1990. He joined Onokuni, Hokutoumi, who were both yokozuna since 1987, and Chiyonofuji, yokozuna since 1981.
Edit : thanks to TubeWings for correcting that one… seems I missed the last quatuor which appeared in 1997, where Akebono, Takanohana, Wakanohana and Musashimaru were yokozuna.
10. The four yokozuna were…
c. Chiyonofuji, Onokuni, Hokutoumi, Asashifuji
11. What can we say about the situation that happened after eleven bashos ?
d. There were no more yokozuna
Serious injuries caused an unfortunate wave of retirements : Chiyonofuji in May 1991, Onokuni in July 1991, Asashifuji in January 1992, and Hokutoumi in May 1992.
12. By the way, what is the highest combination of yokozuna seen at the same time ? The question covers the period from 1909 to 2019
b. Four active yokozuna and a fifth awaiting retirement ceremony
Kagamisato was promoted to yokozuna after having won the Haru basho of 1953. Terukuni had just announced his retirement. Still awaiting the ceremony, he was a yokozuna – albeit no more active – alongside Kagamisato, Chiyonoyama, Azumafuji and Haguroyama.
13. Back to the modern era, the three yokozuna to have won six yusho in a row are…
d. Taiho, Asashoryu, Hakuho
Taiho won the five last basho of the year 1966. Incredibly, he did not win more bouts than anyone during that year, as he sat out during the January basho. Kashiwado racked up 71 wins, two more than Taiho.
Taiho also won the January basho of 1967, before seeing Kitanofuji ending his streak.
Asashoryu won from Fukuoka 2004 to Fukuoka 2005. Seven in a row. Wow.
Hakuho won the five last honbashos of 2010, as well as the January basho of 2011. He was ultra dominant, with 86 wins in 2010, out of 90.
The March 2011 tournament was cancelled. The winner of the next basho was… Hakuho, before Harumafuji finally stopped that streak, in July 2011.
14. The feat of winning seven yusho in a row has been accumplished by…
c. Asashoryu
Asashoryu won in Fukuoka in 2004, as well as every honbasho of the 2005 calendar year. He won an impressive total of 84 bouts during that year.
His stream came to en end after Tochiazuma clinched the January basho of 2006.
15. And many foreigners have been promoted to yokozuna ?
c. Six
Two Americans, Akebono (promoted in 1993) and Musashimaru (promoted in 1999); four Mongolians, Asashoryu (2003), Hakuho (2007), Harumafuji (2012) and Kakuryu (2012).
Recap :
– If you’ve got less than 5 correct answers : you’ll drop to juryo next tournament.
– If you’ve got between 5 and 7 correct answers : you’re make-koshi, but avoid demotion. Maegashira 10 is your spot.
– If you’ve got 8 or 9 correct answers : you’re finally delivering, and everyone’s curious to see your san’yaku debut as komosubi next time.
– If you’ve got 10 or 11 correct answers : you’re a strong sekiwake, pushing hard for ozeki promotion.
– If you’re got 12 or 13 correct answers : we’re glad to have a talented ozeki in our ranks…
– If you have 14 or 15 correct answers : congratulations, shin-yokozuna !
About dai-yokozuna. 10 wins is not a sufficient condition to be called dai-Yokozuna. Japanese wikipedia lists the Heisei-era dai-yokozuna as Takanohana, Asashoryu and Hakuho. Musashimaru is not included, perhaps because he only won 7 of his yusho as a Yokozuna. In the Showa era, only Futabayama, Taiho, Kitanoumi and Chiyonofuji are listed. Wajima is not listed. And of course, Akebono is not included, either. (Edited with self-corrections).
Herouth, if I am following you, it’s 10 wins as a yokozuna to be dai – yokozuna?
Well, generally. But the thing is, it’s not an official title and has no official criteria. Futabayama, for example, only had 9 yusho as a Yokozuna, but he is definitely considered a dai-Yokozuna. On the other hand, Wajima has more than enough yusho as a Yokozuna, but is mentioned neither on the Japanese Wikipedia nor in the Kotobank entry as one. Furthermore, there is controversy about Asashoryu.
I recently red an article from John Gunning about that stuff, just to be sure. He claimed that Harumafuji was one yusho away from that title – he won 9, and countless before yokozuna promotion. So Herouth’s comment is not about numbers.
Frankly, I think neither Gunning nor anybody else can say so. Everybody is fixated on the 10 yusho in the same way they are fixated on 33 wins for Ozeki. But as Gunning himself says, it doesn’t work this way. If Harumafuji hadn’t remote-controlled himself out of his career, he would probably have succeeded in winning another yusho. But would he have been listed as a dai-Yokozuna? If Wajima hasn’t, I think he wouldn’t have. I get the feeling that you can’t get that if you are overshadowed by another dai-Yokozuna. And he was overshadowed by the Daiest of the Dai. But this is all speculative – we can’t say for sure. I think that none of the Yokozuna in the actual list has only 10 yusho in total, though.
One last question if I may. I get that it’s more than numbers.. Well, that the numbers are necessary but sometimes not sufficient. My question is is the “Dai” given by the yokozuna committee? Apologies if I ask newbies questions :-)
No. As far as I can tell it’s just something that has become consensus over time.
I think it’s important to note, as the Wikipedia article mentions, that it’s basically a “Greatest Yokozuna of an era”. A retrospective title. Hakuho has probably been called Dai-Yokozuna even before the era ended, because it’s hard to think of a retrospective analysis of the Heisei era in which he is not one of the “Greatest Yokozuna”. As opposed to arguments about GOAT status (in this or other fields), it’s relatively easy to identify greats in a certain era. So while you can argue that Raiden may have been greater than Hakuho, or Konishiki may say that Hakuho would not have made Yokozuna in his time, it’s pretty clear that in Heisei, he is “it”.
So looking back at the Showa era, people felt that Taiho was greater than Wajima. It’s hard for us to tell now why exactly sumo fans would think so, but as I said earlier, I guess it was because Wajima was in the shadow of others. I think in the Heisei era, even if Harumafuji had made his 10th yusho, and even if he would have made his 10th as a Yokozuna, he’d probably still not be called “dai”. Of course, I’m not the Japanese people.
It’s a vague title in a vague field.
That’s a great retrospective, Herouth! I enjoyed looking back to these days.
There Can Be Only One.
Timothee thanks so much mate. This was so fun and informative, loved it.. I have been an avid sumo fan for the last last year, after watching on and off the last twenty years.. And getting these facts in form of quizz is great. Thanks for the good stuff mate. Oh and juryo here I come :-)
Thank you very much for your nice comments! I’ll try to compose other ones in the future!
Great stuff! FYI I think your caption for Wakanohana & Takanohana have them backwards.
Relegated to Juryo! There were a couple of replies that I was surprised by. I didn’t realize Wakanohana III didn’t win a yusho after promotion to Yokozuna. Also, am floored by the number of Dai-Yokozuna (but see by the comments that this is contested…..so maybe I’m Maegashira 10?!).
I was absolutely certain I was right about number of gaijin Yokozuna…but was wrong on Konishiki who only made it to Ozeki.
That was a lot of fun and a lot of work to put together. Thank you.
Hakuhou also won seven yusho in a row
no, he didn’t.
Yes, from March 2010 until May 2011
He is considered to have done so from March 2010 to May 2011, with March 2011 being cancelled.
Are you sure you have Wakanohana and Takanohana the right way round on the picture? I’m pretty sure that Waka is the one on the left.
correct.
You’re on sumo Wikpedia, right? I don’t know what’s the procedure to suggest corrections, so I’m dropping a line here: In the list of sumo elders, Takashima is listed as iin and he is actually Isegahama ichimon’s riji member.
Which answer is it meant to correct? 🤔
Not connected to this article, and my apologies for hijacking your space. I just noticed it after 2 days ago Isegahama Ichimon announced they’ll put out two candidates this time, Isegahama and the incumbent Takashima.
You’re welcome! Hm, yeah, I remember you starting to talk about the coming elections on your Twitter account.
The Quiz…another great idea! I largely knew the answers, but some others…oh, well…LOL…better luck NEXT TIME! Overall, good job, Timothée! I like how you own up to minor mistakes, and then clarify and then corrected based on observations from our esteem commenters. Continuous improvement…or a Japanese production word I learn a long time ago (but I’m applying it here, so sue me!)…KAIZEN! I wonder is there a way to add a multiple choice function for the next quiz? Hmmm…But of course, it is your baby and it is GREAT to learn about other tidbits of sumo this way…so KUDOS!
Thanks so much for that nice comment, Barry! Yeah, quiz are fun, aren’t they? And our readers seem to like it. I think it just decent to acknowledge one’s mistake and to say when experienced readers help us with the answers. We’re not professional journalists, we’re following the sport we like and sometimes miss things. That’s the way it is! Anyway, I hope we’re producing quality stuff. I already planned the next one (next week), the format will depend of my coding knowledge, which isn’t great… I’ll try to see again if I can improve it ;-) enjoy your week!!
Note to self: Don’t publish quiz replies publicly. (Then I can pretend I got more right…within reason, of course).
Am looking forward to the next one!
Regarding quiz question number three, I think ex Yokozuna Maedayama (Yokozuna #39) was one who only ever won one Makuuchi tournament, as an Ozeki with a 9-1 record. In his short-lived Yokozuna career lasting only two years he never won a tournament.