Author: Andy

Aki 2026: Preview

Andy Aki 2026

Welcome back!

In just a few hours, professional sumo action will be back as Aki Basho gets underway. The dohyo matsuri was streamed last night on YouTube and the dohyo is now ready. I want to thank Honda-san and Osawa-san of the Ekoin Temple, again, for their insight and expertise. I learned a lot from them about the dohyo matsuri, in particular. Here, we see the items which are interred during the ceremony. Salt, rice, kayanomi, chestnuts, kombu, surume and sake which serve as offerings.

The sport is booming. Sponsorships and kensho bounties are way up from last year. Tickets have become very difficult to get, with even BST sold out for months in advance. Fans are looking for options and I am very curious about Konishiki’s VIP tours as an option. He hosts pop-up BBQ outside Kokugikan during the tournament, as well. If you live in the US, you will get a chance to see him on the Sumo + Sushi tour this Fall.

New fans might be rather unfamiliar with Konishiki and his career. “Who is this guy with the multi-colored hair?” Learn more about him in his own words, from his Naro project. There’s a wealth of information about sumo in these videos but it’s also chock full of stories of his career. Frankly, I wish I had watched these before going to Sumo + Sushi because I would have had ideas about questions to ask. It sounds like the life of an Ozeki is crazy.

Aside from sumo’s rising popularity, there are several storylines to discuss from Day One:

Hoshoryu tops Kyujo list

Let’s begin at the top of the banzuke. The press has not been kind to Hoshoryu over the past few weeks. As you will recall, the Yokozuna struggled to pick up seven wins in Nagoya and went kyujo on the last day…avoiding a possible makekoshi by avoiding the building altogether. Instead, Hoshoryu underwent surgery for his knee injury and he will miss this tournament to focus on rehab. His certainly back against the wall and even Tatsunami-oyakata has added to the pressure and expectation that if Hoshoryu fights, he needs to bring home the Emperor’s Cup. Onosato will represent the rank alone this month and you can be sure expectations will be suitably high for his performance.

Hoshoryu is not the only sekitori who will miss the tournament. Wakatakakage and Wakanosho will sit out, too. And both will fall into Juryo for Kyushu. Because of his kyujo status, Wakatakakage was unable to join Aonishiki at the presentation of their yusho portraits. The portraits will hang in the rafters at Kokugikan from this tournament.

Ozeki

Aonishiki regained his Ozeki status with his dramatic win in Nagoya. Atamifuji is eager to join him and is officially on an Ozeki run. Another fantastic result could see Atamifuji joining Kirishima, Kotohachinana, and Aonishiki. I ran a quick poll on Twitter and most respondents thought Atamifuji would not make it this time but would earn promotion in 2027. We shall see.

Eisei’s First Action

Eisei is a young English wrestler from Hull (officially North Humberside). He did well in his maezumo debut at Nagoya, quickly picking up the wins he needed in that debut to earn his place here. This will be his first full tournament and he will have some stiff competition, particularly his Day One opponent. Joshoyu is a Takakeisho recruit from the Tottori Johoku High School, a sumo powerhouse. Here, we see Joshoyu fight Hokuto in maezumo. Hokuto will also be fighting in Jonokuchi but has off tonight. I have a feeling these guys will be elevator rikishi who will feature in Justin’s write-ups in 2027.

And very soon, along with Hikarumusashi, Americans will also have another wrestler to cheer. Sunamusashi is scheduled to debut in maezumo this tournament. I swear, the lower division action is getting pretty fierce. The text on that video above roughly translates to, “You sure this is a maezumo bout?” I mean, damn. Gambatte, guys!

Day One Preview

Speaking of Elevator Rikishi, Asahifuji will fight tonight against Himukamaru. Himukamaru cracked into Juryo last November but fell back into Makushita and has been struggling to get back to full time this year.

Moving up into Juryo, Nishikigi is on notice and will fight Nishinoryu from Makushita. Nishikigi is staring demotion in the face. Meisei will fight Kayo, Kagayaki will take on Tanji. Enho has a winnable fight against Hatsuyama and Ryuden should have the upper hand against Tomokaze. Sadanoumi will fight Mitakeumi and Tamawashi will fight Kazuma.

As we turn to the top division, Wakamotoharu will fight Shodai and this pivotal battle will set the tone for the entire tournament. Oho has fallen to Maegashira 10 but will face Kinbozan. Ura versus Shishi is an interesting Day One pairing.

 In sanyaku, Hakunofuji will fight Churanoumi, Yoshinofuji will fight Fujinokawa and Atamifuji will take on Gonoyama. Then, as Isegahama steps aside, Sadogatake takes the mound. Kotoeiho will fight Aonishiki, Kotozakura will fight Takayasu, and Kotoshoho will fight Kirishima. Onosato will close things out against Daieisho and someone will walk away with a lot of cash.

Art Exhibition: Edo in Focus

Andy Japanese Culture , , ,

For those of you in Tokyo, I know you’re just so bored and looking for things to do. After all, there’s not a sumo tournament for another few weeks yet. I’d like to point you in the direction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. They are hosting an exhibition of scores of famous art works from luminaries such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. You will undoubtedly recognize some of the works in the collage above. For the full flier, click here.

The works come from the massive Japanese art collection of the British Museum.

Why am I pointing out this exhibition? Art museums have nothing to do with sumo, right? Well, there is at least one work in the exhibit which does. This scroll by Kawamura Bunpo (a small part of which is visible in the image on the right) is a part of the exhibition and features the scene of a sumo tournament in Kyoto.

The work dates to around 1800 and is entitled, Kamogawa bugi zukan (鴨川武戯図巻), or the “Illustrated Handscroll of Warrior Games (Sumo) at the Kamo River.” So, that settles it. The exhibition is sumo related! Who needs a silly, mass-produced and overhyped wave when you’ve got this masterpiece?

Catch it from now until October 18th in Tokyo at the Metropolitan Art Museum. If you miss it there, you’re not out of luck. The exhibition will just pack up and move to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, starting on Halloween (10/31/2026) and running through 1/31/2027.

Sumo News Update: July 2026

Andy Aki Basho, Juryo (十両), promotion, Retirement , , ,

Welcome back! Hopefully you have all sobered up from your senshuraku parties by now. Jungyo will kick off this upcoming weekend in Gifu city, an hour drive north of the venue in Nagoya. But before we focus on the tour this weekend, let’s cover a few items from earlier this week.

Juryo Promotions and Retirements

On Tuesday, the Sumo Association announced the three wrestlers who earned promotion to Juryo. Two will make their sekitori debuts (shin-juryo): Tanji (Arashio) and Tokifudo (Tokitsukaze). Nabatame (Futagoyama) will return after over a year.

Daishomaru’s retirement was the biggest announcement coming out of Nagoya. Subsequently, four more retirements have been announced: Tatsuosho, Asashorei, Nishikio and Asahirai.

Ticket Price Increases

Today, the Sumo Association announced wide-ranging price increases for tickets to tournaments in Tokyo and Osaka. Nagoya and Kyushu ticket prices are unchanged. The new pricing plan is here. For those of you who live in areas where public transit has “peak” or rush-hour pricing, you won’t be shocked that the Sumo Association has additional price rises for Day 14 and Senshuraku. And in Tokyo, they’re offering a new SS-tier seating arrangement, starting at 22,500-yen/person and going up to 24,000 on weekends and holidays and 25,000 during the final weekend.

Even if this price increase is not done in an official way, those of you who actually go to the tournaments are probably already paying higher prices on the secondary markets. For many of us foreigners, those secondary markets and resellers have been the only way in, anyway. Now, the official price is going up and the resellers will likely have to pass on the cost to their customers.

For most goods, when the demand suddenly increases the demand curve shifts outward. Prices go up but suppliers are encouraged to produce more. This moderates some of the price rise. In the FIFA world, the stadiums get bigger and the World Cup tournament expands to include more teams and more games. More fans are served. From what we’ve heard of Nagoya, the new seating arrangement for the new IG Arena does have a modest increase in the number of seats but not as much as would be possible. The Kyokai wants to maintain quality of viewing the action.

So, unfortunately for the sumo world the supply is relatively fixed. We cannot get more than 6 tournaments a year and these venues are not going to be expanded soon. We can get new products to try to satisfy that hankering for sumo action, like new Jungyo events (even in London and Paris) but we won’t get any new tournaments. Let’s face it, they’ve already expanded the calendar with the Kyushu tournament added back in 1958, I think. I’m too lazy to check SumoDB at the moment. Suffice to say it was a long time ago that they went to a six-basho calendar. If that changes I will eat Shonosuke’s fancy hat.

Yusho Prize Increases

The good news of the sumo boom is that the Sumo Association also announced substantial increases to the yusho purse and special prizes awarded at honbasho. Those increases will also start at Hatsu Basho 2027. The Top Division (Makuuchi) title purse will go up from 10,000,000 yen to 20,000,000 (*updated) — or roughly $124,618. Special Prizes increased from 2 Million to 3 Million. Yusho values below:

DivisionCurrentFuture
Makuuchi10 Million20 Million
Juryo2 Million3 Million
Makushita500,000700,000
Sandanme300,000500,000
Jonidan200,000300,000
Jonokuchi100,000200,000

The calendar is pretty full over the next month. August 31st the Aki banzuke will be released. I hope to give a few more updates about Jungyo before then.

Nagoya 2026: Senshuraku

Andy Nagoya 2026, Nagoya Basho , , , , , ,

JME coverage started at 2:30 this morning with the final three bouts of the Makushita yusho playoff. For those of you who couldn’t catch it live, remember JME will replay the action through the day on their dedicated sumo page.

Usually, JME coverage begins with the first bout of Makuuchi, though we occasionally see a Yokozuna dohyo-iri if the action is running a little behind. On senshuraku, JME coverage starts a half-hour early. It’s great to see these Playoffs live.

Asahifuji defeated Wakamiyabi in the Final with a henka, followed by solid migi-yotsu belt work to force Wakamiyabi out. Congratulations Asahifuji!

Next up came the four-way Juryo playoff. As Asashosakari had pointed out in the comments, I had missed the Asasuiryu vs Hatsuyama bout. Asasuiryu won it and earned his spot in the playoff. Shonannoumi lost to Tokihayate, setting the playoff into motion. Toshinofuji and Arashifuji also won their bouts to earn their spots.

The boys drew lots for the semi-final and Shonannoumi beat Asasuiryu, shifting to the side and then spinning Asasuiryu out. Toshinofuji hit Arashifuji with a solid tachiai. Arashifuji pulled but Toshinofuji stuck with him and ushered him out. Shonannoumi defeated Toshinofuji to claim the Juryo yusho. Toshinofuji’s loose mawashi still provided enough leverage for Shonannoumi when he grabbed Toshinofuji’s belt with both hands outside and spun Toshinofuji out over the edge.

Next up was the Yusho presentation ceremony for all of the lower divisions. Here, we saw that Tenshoyama had beaten Tochimusashi for the Sandanme title. Like most of the other playoffs, Abema TV posted video of the final fight on their Twitter feed (above). Day 13 action had already determined Hakugetsuro won Jonidan and Kakizoe won Jonokuchi. They picked up their certificates and the Makuuchi dohyo-iri promptly followed.

The special prize announcements went relatively as predicted. Aonishiki received the Technique prize and Atamifuji won the Fighting Spirit prize unconditionally. They shouldn’t need the added motivation for their yusho battle. However, the rest of the special prizes are dependent on victory. If Fujinokawa beats Fujiseiun, he will pick up his kachi-koshi and the Outstanding Performance Prize. Kotoeiho, Takayasu, Fujiryoga, Takerufuji, and Shishi are eligible for Fighting Spirit Prizes on the condition that they win their bouts.

NHK videos are here.

Makuuchi Action

Kazuma (5-10) defeated Sadanoumi (5-10). Kazuma rather easily dispatched Sadanoumi. He lead with his head, so Sadanoumi pulled. Kazuma chased with excellent footwork and ushered Sadanoumi out. Oshidashi.

Kinbozan (9-6) defeated Mitakeumi (2-13). Mitakeumi missed grabbing Kinbozan’s belt with his left hand. Kinbozan had no problem forcing him back and out. Yorikiri.

Nishikifuji (10-5) defeated Chiyoshoma (5-10). Nishikifuji tried to get a hidari-yotsu belt grip but Chiyoshoma’s tsuppari and pull kept him from getting a solid grip. However, Nishikifuji moved forward and still shoved Chiyoshoma out. Oshidashi.

Asakoryu (9-6) defeated Fujiryoga (10-5). Fujiryoga charged forward to attack Asakoryu but Asakoryu shifted left along the tawara, got in behind the over-eager Fujiryoga, and pushed him out from behind. One could feel Fujiryoga’s disappointment as the camera followed him up the hanamichi. Okuridashi.

Roga (9-6) defeated Shishi (10-5). Excellent hidari-yotsu battle here. Shishi tried to topple Roga with a shitatenage but Roga kept his balance and used his uwate grip to push Shishi forward to the edge. Shishi attempted to re-engage but Roga crushed him over the bales. Yoritaoshi.

Asahakuryu (7-8) defeated Wakamotoharu (6-9). Asahakuryu out-WMH’d Wakamotoharu. Wakamotoharu drove forward behind tsuppari. Asahakuryu shifted left along the bales and drove forward into Wakamotoharu, forcing him out. Yorikiri.

Takayasu (11-4) defeated Asanoyama (9-6). After a lengthy migi-yotsu battle, Takayasu persevered and claimed his Fighting Spirit prize. Takayasu pulled hard with his uwatenage. Asanoyama did not go down but Takayasu followed up with tsuppari and shoved Asanoyama over the bales. Oshidashi.

Kotoeiho (11-4) defeated Takerufuji (10-5). Takerufuji pulled but Kotoeiho kept that right arm hooked under Takerufuji’s left shoulder and ran him out of the dohyo, throwing him three rows deep into the crowd below. Oshidashi.

Shodai (5-10) defeated Daiseizan (6-9). Shodai showed no signs of the injury I thought he had. He hit Daiseizan hard, got a morozashi as he hooked both arms up under Daiseizan’s shoulders, turned and forced Daiseizan out. Jerry Ziesmer’s voice: “Terminate. With extreme prejudice.” Yorikiri.

Oshoma (7-8) defeated Onokatsu (4-11). Oshoma’s tsuppari was too powerful for Onokatsu. He shoved Onokatsu back to the bales and then grabbed him to keep him from falling off. (Always a popular gesture.) Oshidashi.

Halftime

Abi (7-8) defeated Ura (5-10). Textbook Abi-zumo. Abi layed into Ura with tsuppari. He tried one pull which forced Ura to stumble forward. Abi followed up with thrusts, driving Ura out. Tsukidashi.

Ichiyamamoto (6-9) defeated Tobizaru (5-10). Textbook Abi-zumo. Rinse and repeat here, though Ichiyamamoto’s initial thrusts were more nodowa than tsuppari. So, I guess that makes it Ichiyama-zumo rather than Abi-zumo. Similar strategy, same effect today. Tsukidashi.

Gonoyama defeated Hiradoumi. Gonoyama blitzed Hiradoumi and trust him out with strong tsuppari. It was kind of like Gonoyama did his best Hiradoumi impression at the tachiai. Oshidashi.

Churanoumi defeated Takanosho. Takanosho hit Churanoumi with his nodowa. Churanoumi tried to get that left hand inside, regardless. Takanosho slapped Churanoumi to keep him away. Churanoumi spun back, grabbed Takanosho’s right arm and pulled him forward. Hikkake.

Fujinokawa (8-7) defeated Fujiseiun (7-8). Fujiseiun did not have a chance. Fujinokawa came in hot and drilled Fujiseiun in the chin with his tachiai. Fujinokawa wrapped up Fujiseiun and forced him back over the bales. Yorikiri.

Sanyaku

Hakunofuji (9-6) defeated Oho (2-13). Hakunofuji got a morozashi quickly and drove Oho to the edge. Oho resisted and tried an uwatenage but Hakunofuji stablized himself with his hold of Oho’s belt. He then shoved Oho down. Yoritaoshi.

Daieisho (10-5) defeated Yoshinofuji (6-9). Textbook Daieisho-zumo. He brawled with Yoshinofuji, meeting thrust with thrust. Finally, he shifted left and thrust Yoshinofuji down. Both Komusubi will vacate their offices. Tsukiotoshi.

Kore-yori Sanyaku

Arrows — Atamifuji (12-3) defeated Aonishiki (12-3). Atamifuji pushed out with his right hand to block Aonishiki’s left hand. Aonishiki pulled but Atamifuji was ready and shoved Aonishiki off the dohyo. We will have another play-off! Oshidashi.

Bow String — Kirishima (12-3) defeated Kotohachinana (??-??). Kirishima got a left hand uwate and pulled Koto87 forward to the edge and forced him out. Kirishima has a spot in the playoff. Yorikiri.

Bow — Onosato defeated Kotoshoho. Migi-yotsu. Onosato grabbed Kotoshoho. Kotoshoho reversed along the edge, trying to topple the Yokozuna with a sukuinage, but Onosato shoved him down. Oshitaoshi.

Playoff (決定巴戦)

First man to two consecutive wins, wins the title. The three men drew lots. First up, Atamifuji versus Kirishima.

Atamifuji defeated Kirishima. Atamifuji enveloped Kirishima and forced him back to the edge quickly, trying to get a kimedashi, double outside grip. At the bales, Kirishima resisted and Atamifuji shoved him over the bales. Next up, Aonishiki.

Aonishiki defeated Atamifuji. This time, Aonishiki landed his left hand grip. He used it to force Atamifuji back to the edge and out. That means Kirishima is back!

Aonishiki defeated Kirishima. Aonishiki again got his left hand grip. As Kirishima tried to figure out what to do, Aonishiki wrapped his left foot around Kirishima’s right and shoved forward. On replay, as they cycled around, you can see Aonishiki was waiting for Kirishima’s leg to drift to far forward. Aonishiki Yusho!

There seemed to be some confusion as to whether Aonishiki was supposed to go down and get his hair redone, again, before the presentation ceremony. But, well, that’s it for sumo action in Nagoya, July 2026. NHK News starts 20 minutes late with the lead story that Aonishiki claimed his third title. Congratulations, Aonishiki!

That’s not it for sumo coverage from Nagoya, though. We will hear about Juryo promotions early this week and I’ll bring that news to you. I’ll also aim for weekly Jungyo updates.