Hakuho (白鵬)

dai-yokozuna Hakuho

Sumo News Update, Feb 2026

Andy Fuji TV Tournament, Hakuho (白鵬), NHK , ,

This is the second sumo news update between the Hatsu and Haru tournaments. Catch up on the earlier update here. There was a full slate of sumo activity this weekend, so let’s get to it.

NHK Charity Event

The 58th Interation of the NHK’s Annual charity sumo event (福祉大相撲) took place this Saturday at Kokugikan. It’s always an interesting event, half Variety Show, half sumo jungyo event. Past coverage of this event include informative posts from Herouth, Bruce, and myself. There’s shokkiri, and jinku, and bouts…but there is also a slate of celebrities joining the wrestlers on stage, including pop groups and enka singers.

This year’s talents included 18-year-old enka star, Umetani Kokoro. Interestingly, she is from the Hakata district of Fukuoka, which hosts the November sumo tournament each year — and is also home of the makers of the hakata-ori belts (obi) you often see worn with kimono “off-dohyo,” like those in the image below. She performed a duet with Hakunofuji. Atamifuji performed with pop group STU48 and Hiradoumi did his duet with Arai Maju.

FujiTV Sumo Tournament

On Sunday, Kokugikan again hosted the Annual FujiTV sumo tournament. This features two bracket-style tournaments — one for Juryo and one for Makuuchi. The Makuuchi bracket is below.

The winner of the Makuuchi division competition was Hoshoryu, who defeated Abi for the title and the 2500000-yen purse. Hiradoumi was awarded a fighting spirit prize.

Shonannoumi won the Juryo competition in a playoff between Hakuyozan and Kagayaki.

I always like seeing the intermission bouts. The Sumo Association gets some of the retirees to dust off the old sagari and strap on the old shimekomi for some exhibition bouts. This year, Aoiyama took on Hokutofuji and Kotoyuki battled Kotoeko.

Hakuho Cup

At the same time as the two Kokugikan events, the Toyota Arena in Odaiba hosted the Sixteenth Hakuho Cup. The Hakuho Cup is an amateur sumo tournament for boys and girls with the goal of fostering the sport of sumo among the next generation. 1,700 kids from 20 countries participated this year and former deshi Hakunofuji and Yoshinofuji came by to say, “Hi” to their former master.

Full results and videos of the action are available at the Hakuho Cup website. I’m eager to hear from any viewers or participants in the Hakuho Cup (or the other tournaments). They seem like a great way to spend a winter day in Tokyo.

Catching Up on Details of Hakuho’s Resignation

Andy Hakuho (白鵬)

Thanks to Herouth, we have more details of the Sumo Association’s Board meeting and there are several items of particular interest. Some of the details below are different than what I had presumed in my earlier post, so I wanted to make sure they were known.

  1. The Kyokai Planned for the “Care Period” to end after Kyushu
  2. Terunofuji was NOT going to be Hakuho’s “supervisor”
  3. On Isegahama’s retirement, Miyagino would be transferred to Asakayama (ex-Kaio)
  4. Welfare of Hakuho’s recruits is a prime concern — they may not remain, long term, at Isegahama but could be transfered to other stable’s given interest from both the coach and pupil
  5. Isegahama will acquire the Miyagino kabu, terms undisclosed
  6. Terunofuji will acquire the Isegahama kabu, terms undisclosed

The link to Herouth’s Google Doc is in the embedded post below.

Nikkan Sports published the text of the extraordinary board meeting of July 2nd. Here is a translation (in a Google Document) buff.ly/NqUDsWX

[image or embed]

— ヘルット (@sumofollower.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 6:44 AM

Commentary

The six items I noted above are significant. It is possible that the Sumo Association had no intention to ever let Hakuho manage his own stable and they could be blowing smoke up the old keister. But I doubt it and I think they were genuine about the proposed timeline for reopening after Kyushu. It seems more likely that Hakuho planned this exit. He would be in Mongolia for the dedication of his father’s statue at the time of the announcement and that was likely a trip planned well in advance — long before Yokozuna Onosato became a possibility, much less a reality.

If there was a plan to release Miyagino from “care” at the end of this year, he would be on his own and he only needed to hold out for six more months. He would not be under the care of Terunofuji but Kaio. It’s just possible that he loves sumo but hates putting up with spoiled brats and personalities and politics and feigned injuries AND especially REAL injuries. Creating a safe space, devoid of toxic relationships, full of healthy minds and bodies must be friggin’ difficult. I mean, it drove Shikihide to inpatient care.

Kaio is not a young, green stablemaster, as Terunofuji would be. He’s the greatest Ozeki to have never reached the rank of Yokozuna. While he has not produced a great number of sekitori, as Isegahama had, he is a member of the Board and has the affable Kaisei as a coach. When it comes to absorbing another group of guys, a prime consideration would have to be capacity. Maybe Asakayama has the capacity to take in a sekitori, possibly two (Enho?), on short notice. If I remember correctly, Asakayama is close to Isegahama, a short stroll from Kinshicho.

However, it was Hakuho’s decision to leave. We have seen that Hakuho also has dreams of starting a new professional sumo league. More power to him. I’m excited to see what shape that will take and am eager to cover it. One thing I will guarantee, though, the pro wrestlers will not be living together in a dorm, hosted by Hakuho and his wife. Hakuho, his wife, and the families of other managers will not be responsible for the wrestlers’ activities off the dohyo. And Hakuho’s professional league might even have spots for a female division, to allow for his daughters to participate, if they so desire.

Taking on responsibility for the care of other grown men (and teens) is no small thing. And for the stablemaster, that’s probably the biggest priority — yes, more than teaching. You have to feed these guys. Constantly. You have to pay the bills to keep the lights on and the tubs filled with hot water. You don’t just strap on a mawashi and teach new throws. Maybe the realism sank in after the Hokuseiho debacle. And maybe he and his wife did not look forward to going through that again and decided this was the way out.

With Hakuho’s departure, the Miyagino kabu will shift to Asahifuji on June 9 when Isegahama transfers to Terunofuji. The new Miyagino (Asahifuji) will become sanyo, under Terunofuji’s Isegahama-beya, on July 6th. So, Terunofuji will officially be leading the stable this coming Monday morning.

Some rather large questions remain. Going forward, I am not going to concern myself with motivation and whether the Sumo Association wanted him out more than he wanted to escape. There are good rationales either way. But, there are other questions that I am concerned about. What of Ishiura? Will he remain in Isegahama? Will other coaches step up and place interest in Hakuoho, Enho, and others under the former Miyagino banner? Will Enho travel to Nagoya in July? Does Enho want to remain in the sumo world if Hakuho has left?

I look forward to covering developments with Hakuho’s new sumo venture. But Grand Sumo will survive in his absence and I look forward to the action in July. Two Yokozuna, going head-to-head on senshuraku. It’s been ages since we’ve had an opportunity to see that.

Hakuho Resignation Accepted by Sumo Association

Andy Hakuho (白鵬)

It is a dark day in the world of sumo. Hakuho is out.

In the aftermath of the Hokuseiho bullying scandal, Hakuho was punished for his inability to address the situation properly when it was brought to his attention. He was demoted, had his salary docked, had his stable shuttered and he, Ishiura, and his remaining deshi were folded into Isegahama-beya.

While under Isegahama’s supervision, Isegahama was required to file regular reports on the status of Hakuho’s progress. (If the contents of any of those reports become public, I will share them.) Isegahama’s upcoming retirement forced the issue of, “what to do with Hakuho?” The Kyokai planned a board meeting for today to discuss the matter.

Late last week, the rumor mill indicated Hakuho had already decided to resign despite making a public denial — which was dismissed by sources as not wanting to spoil Onosato’s Yokozuna promotion. According to those sources, the decision was reportedly made because Hakuho could not accept Terunofuji essentially becoming his supervisor, in a signal of the Kyokai’s desire to continue the status quo, rather than reopening Miyagino beya.

Well, the Kyokai went ahead with its scheduled board meeting and decided to accept Hakuho’s resignation. We will provide updates after Hakuho has his press conference.

Isegahama-beya To Absorb Miyagino-beya, But Not Permanently

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Heya, Stables (Heya)

At its board meeting on 3/28, the Nihon Sumo Kyokai approved a plan to shutter Miyagino-beya and move its wrestlers and oyakata to Isegahama-beya in time for the May tournament. Hakuoho and other Miyagino-beya wrestlers will be introduced at the upcoming tournament as being from Isegahama-beya and they will not be able to fight against each other. The Isegahama Ichimon, led by Asakayama-oyakata (ex-Kaio), will be responsible for reporting back to the Kyokai after each tournament. They will provide guidance to Miyagino with an eye to re-opening his heya in the future, though there are no timelines for that at this point.

Readers will recall that the Hokuseiho bullying scandal broke during the Hatsu basho. The details quickly ensnared the heya’s master, Hakuho, because he knew of Hokuseiho’s behavior but did nothing to correct or address it for over a year. Hakuho was demoted but not dismissed from the Kyokai, and Tamagaki-oyakata was appointed as an interim-master for the Osaka tournament while the Ichimon, and the Kyokai, deliberated on a plan for what to do. Other proposals for the fate of Miyagino-beya after Osaka were considered by the Kyokai but rejected, including the idea to have wrestlers move to separate heya or be absorbed entirely at other heya in the Ichimon.

Further details about a potential reopening of Miyagino-beya have not been decided or revealed, such as whether the heya would retain its remaining wresters. Hokuseiho resigned before the tournament and Jonidan wrestler, Kurokage, retired afterward. Obviously, it is not clear at this point how well the individual wrestlers, Hakuho or Ishiura are taking this plan. It is certainly possible that other retirements will follow but I hope this will serve as a valuable education for Hakuho on how better to run and manage 20 young blokes. Folks will be quick to point out that Isegahama is not without its own scandals, including one that resulted in the demotion of Isegahama and his resignation from the board.

Commentary

This is an extraordinary decision by the Kyokai and a novel resolution to the bullying scandal. As I mentioned, we will probably never know all of the details or how the individuals have been dealing with this period of uncertainty. But it seemed apparent from the few interactions that we saw with Hakuho, that he was “bummed” to say the least. I imagine this period has been stressful as hell. Now that there is a path forward, I hope that everyone involved will make the best of it.

That’s not just lip service. It must be a challenge to manage a group of 20 dudes and teach them to live together in peace and harmony (while encouraging them to physically fight each other each day), oh, and to navigate a rigid hierarchy that results in some wrestlers being virtual serfs to those at the top. Hakuho took on a massive task when he took over Miyagino-beya. He has been a great recruiting success at a time when the sport NEEDS it.

The Kyokai acknowledges and appreciates the value that he provides…otherwise he would not still be there. The Hakuho Cup would transition to the Terunofuji Cup, just as it shifted from being the Asashoryu Cup. But Hakuho really has made that HIS cup and he’s even breaking down barriers with girls’ amateur sumo. He’s been committed to developing wanpaku sumo and he’s always been committed to the fans. So, for all of the Hakuho fans out there, ready to lambast the Kyokai as hypocritical tyrants, find solace in the fact that Hakuho is not Takanohana. He’s not an adversary. He’s an asset.

I am speculating here but I think Hakuho had no idea what to do with Hokuseiho. He’d committed to the kid when Hokuseiho was in elementary school and was kind of stuck with him from there. When Hokuseiho became an entitled prat, Hakuho did not know how to get him to stop and respect his lower-ranked stablemates. Hakuho seems to have picked out a good crop of guys since then. I’m not sure if Isegahama or Asakayama will have any great answers, either, but this will buy him the time that he probably needed in order to figure it out. The delay in opening Kakuryu’s stable, for instance, may not have been entirely about citizenship status and kabu negotiations but in preparing for, “how in the hell am I going to do this?”

As a parent of two kids, I know how to discipline my kids — at least I think so — but I would be utter crap at disciplining someone else’s kids, your kids. Shoot, I yelled at one of the neighbor’s kids about 10 years ago and the poor kid still seems traumatized. (He’s not laid a finger on my kids’ stuff, though, since.) Similarly, management is not fun. Conflict happens and some people seem to enjoy it and promote it which really freaks me out…especially at work. So, management and leadership are extremely important to get right. When Miyagino-beya reopens, I think he will have a better idea of what to do and how to do it.

They’ve been putting me in leadership development courses and stuff at work. This is a direct quote: “Andy, don’t do it. This is leadership, not work. We just want the plan, we don’t want you to do it.” My brain seized as I thought, “but this would be so easy.” I see a parallel in Hakuho’s excitement when he gets his mawashi on and gets in the ring. He’s like, “I just love sumo, I really wanna do sumo.” Similarly, I’m like, “Just let me get this s*** done, dude. It’s fun.” But there comes a time when you need to hang up the mawashi and let others get in the ring because you need to focus on helping the next generation develop their skills (and hopefully improve it and do it even better). That transition has been difficult for me and may be for him, as well.

What I have hated the most about this whole episode is the character assassination and rumor-mill which gets reported by some in the press. But I’ll not rant about that here. I have been very happy to see that the Tachiai viewership of day-to-day tournament coverage eclipsed the “scandal coverage,” so I sure feel pretty damn good about my readers. You all know what’s up. Sure, the scandal will certainly have an impact on the careers of our gladiators (and the sport as a whole) so it’s important to cover it and know what is going on. But the action on the dohyo is what brings us here, not the tawdry bits.

I see scandal coverage as sprinkles on top of an ice cream sundae — tasteless faff that I could do without and that certainly doesn’t add anything to the overall greatness of the ice cream sundae. And I leave the scandal meter up because it seems that as soon as I get optimistic and take it down, there’s a new scandal. My apologies for jinxing things. Let’s hope that number just gets bigger.