Sumo Topics

Natsu Jungyo 2025 Kicked Off In Osaka

Andy Jungyo (巡業), Sumo Topics

Love it or hate it, the Jungyo tour is back. The topic is a particularly polarizing one for fans, especially so many wrestlers were unable to compete at their former level, or even finish the tournament, due to injury. From Hoshoryu’s early withdrawal through Meisei, Hidenoumi, and on down the banzuke to Enho, we often wonder how these guys can stitch themselves together for a grueling, month-long promotional tour.

After a week of partying and packing, most wrestlers will be arriving back in Tokyo to get down to training for the Aki Tournament in September. Most sekitori and their tsukebito, though, will head off on the tour and meet with fans from more distant regions who come out to support their favorite wrestlers and homegrown talents. It also serves as a way to encourage and feature many young, local amateurs. Sumo wrestlers from local schools often come and some even get to strap on their mawashi and participate.

This summer’s tour began today in Osaka. The route will wind its way up into Hokkaido then back south into the Kanto region with another stop at Tachihi, which Andy saw in-person last year, as well as Shizuoka, Chiba, and Saitama.

Tangent

As with most sumo events, it can be a bit tricky to get tickets. I went through the offical process last year, which required a trip to a 7-Eleven and a local telephone number. For folks who wonder why BuySumoTickets exists, that’s why. I don’t imagine many of you have a steady supply of in-laws living in Japan and a Japanese-speaking spouse to help make these things happen.

When you want to get tickets or join a fan club, they often require a local phone number or address. That’s why Tatsunami-beya’s proposed fan club access for foreigners is perking up a lot of ears. I am eager to see more details. Would they actually send banzuke to foreign addresses? Member-only streams and YouTube content would be nice but I bet many folks want tangible merch direct from the heya. But back to the topic at hand, the summer tour.

/Tangent

As many might already know, Osaka is hosting a World Expo this year. It started in mid-April and runs through mid-October. Holup. Judging by the blank stares, I gather you didn’t know. Well, yes, since we last paid attention to Osaka (back in March) they’ve been hosting a World Expo and today they invited the sumo wrestlers back to kick-off their summer tour.

You will be relieved to learn that a dozen wrestlers are kyujo from this particular tour, Hoshoryu, Daieisho, Meisei, Takerufuji, Tobizaru, Endo, Ura, Chiyoshoma, Hidenoumi, Kayo, Shishi, and Tomokaze. In their place are Hakuozan and Kagayaki. Oh, and by the way, Kazenosuke retired.

Kotoeko Retirement Ceremony

Andy Retirement, Yokozuna (横綱)

On Saturday, the Kokugikan hosted the retirement ceremony of Kotoeko as he shifts to becoming Oguruma-oyakata. Kotoeko always occupied a special place in my mind as a sumo fan. It’s no mean feat to come from the great Sadogatake beya and establish yourself as a solid member of the rank and file in the top division at roughly 5 foot 10, 260 lbs. After all, this was the same stable which gave us the 400 lb gaburi-yotsu master, Kotoshogiku.

Kotoeko’s success came when the sport and the division seemed to get bigger and bigger, heavier and heavier. I feel his success portended a surge of smaller tacticians. Now, there seems to be a real surge in dynamic, solid grapplers like him. So, I am glad that Kotoeko has traded in his trademark lilac shimekomi for one of those fancy new Uniqlo navy jackets of the Kyokai oyakata to welcome a new crop of talented grapplers.

Speaking of lilac, Mrs. Oguruma wore it very well with her beautiful kimono.

Kotoeko’s retirement event included the usual hanazumo as well as hair-dressing, where Kotoshoho and Kotoeiho got to model together.

This event also featured Hyuga Hyottoko dancing which is particularly popular from Miyazaki Prefecture’s Hyuga Hyottoko Summer Festival. I am sure you’ve seen the masks of the dude with the puckered lips and the mug only a mother could love, as well as the cats’ face, okame, etc.

Whatever its origin, it looks like the face of a dude who got kneed in the nuts when he tried to steal a kiss from his apparently unrequited sweetheart. Come to think of it, I’ve got a few of these. Because of course I do. Right next to my pair of geta and fundoshi.

Andy knows what gets the ladies hot.

Back to the sumo. Kotoeko’s retirement ceremony was auspicious because it was the first public performance of Onosato’s Yokozuna dohyo-iri at the Kokugikan. Interestingly, there was a bit of a switch here. Takayasu was the sword-bearer but for dew-sweeper, we have Takanosho! I wonder if that’s a sign that Ryuden has been demoted to Juryo. There’s surely a whole host of guys from the Ichimon who would be eligible. Congratulations, Takanosho.

Gyoji Kimura Kankuro Suspended

Andy Scandal

Juryo gyoji Kimura Kankuro has been kyujo since Day 10 of the Kyushu tournament. The Kyokai revealed that there had been incidents between Kankuro and one of his junior gyoji earlier in the tournament. He will be suspended for the Osaka tournament and docked pay.

Kankuro had pinched the junior gyoji a number of times, enough to cause a bruise. It was reported to the higher-ups and the Kyokai investigated. Kankuro admitted what he did but no further details, such as the cause of the dispute, have been revealed.

Now, if only I could remember how this scandal counter thing worked.

Final Weekly Update of 2024

Andy Jungyo (巡業), Konishiki, Retirement, Sumo Topics , ,

This week’s update will be a short one. As I mentioned over on Blue Sky, though the Kyushu tournament is over and Hatsu won’t begin for a few weeks, there is always a lot going on in the Sumo World. I hope that platform will offer another interesting and active forum for fans to enjoy and share sumo-related content, discussion and analysis.

At this point, there aren’t a whole lot of active accounts on there so I created a “Starter Pack” with the goal of featuring strictly sumo-related content. Hopefully, one day there will be an ongoing, sustained conversation there.  Currently, we’re on there as @tachiai.bsky.social, so if you provide sumo-related content and are active on the platform, let us know and we’ll get you added to the Starter Pack. We’re also intrigued by the algorithm flexibility and some of the other features.

I do not think traffic will really take off there until the stables and the Sumo Association have accounts there. When they’re producing content for Blue Sky, we’ll see it take off. The big venue still seems to be YouTube, and here’s the Sumo Prime Time wrap-up video for 2024.

End of Winter Jungyo

This year’s winter tour wrapped up in Okinawa in front of a large crowd of more than 10,000 sumo fans. Sumo on the Jumbo-tron! This event featured a makuuchi elimination-style tournament. The final bout featured Hoshoryu taking on Oho to win the Okinawa Basho.

Banzuke Release

As Leonid mentioned in his Crystal Ball post, the banzuke was released early this past week and as usual, there are several items of note. Tamashoho (Kataonami-beya) was promoted to Makuuchi for the first time. Several wrestlers were re-promoted, including Kinbozan, Hakuoho, Kitanowaka and someone’s favorite bullet-train, Kagayaki. Hakuoho’s return has been eagerly anticipated given his obvious talent.

Konishiki Recovery

News from Tokyo that Konishiki had been hospitalized last month in kidney failure. His wife, Chie, donated her kidney and after a successful operation, Konishiki is in recovery. He has been spending precious time over the holidays with the youngsters at Musashigawa-beya. We hope to see him again at a Sumo+Sushi event in the future.

SumoDB Rollercoaster

Tachiai is forever indebted to the sumo database (sumodb.sumogames.de). At last check, the site was back up. I had reburied some new squid that I buried under my computer is seasoned with salt, sake, and some ground kachi-kuri. Hopefully this one will do the job.

The data that’s there and the interface are such valuable contributions to sumo-fandom. Whether you’re new to sumo and hope to learn more about the active rikishi, or you’re an old hand trying to tweak your GTB methodology, or a wannabe journalist pulling up stats for a retired rikishi, that site is invaluable. Unfortunately, it had been down for quite a bit over the past few weeks. As hours turn into days, many of us begin to fear the worst.

Onosho and Kyokutaisei Retired

As of our last post, Onosho (Onomatsu) and Kyokutaisei (Oshima) announced their retirements.

Onosho’s announcement was sudden as he is only 28 years old, but expected as he had been injured. He was an early rival of Takakeisho and a founding member of Bruce’s “Tadpole” cohort. He rose quickly through the lower divisions and established himself in the top division, peaking at Komusubi. But knee injuries really hampered his ability to stay among the joi-jin and press for higher rank.

He spent much of last year in the upper half of the rank-and-file but his final fall was rather swift. He was ranked Maegashira 5 in Nagoya but destined for Makushita by Christmas, so he decided to retire. He will not stay with the Kyokai but we are eager to see what he plans to do in his second career.

Kyokutaisei had a lengthy stint as sekitori, mostly in Juryo. He briefly did break through the tatami ceiling and rise into the top division, even earning a fighting spirit prize. However, he had spent the last few years in Makushita and was destined to fall back into Sandanme for Hatsu Basho. Ranked at Sandanme 20 to start 2025, Kyokutaisei decided to retire. He will not be staying with the Kyokai, either.

Wrap-up

My apologies for the rather perfunctory write-up. It’s been a crazy week. Next year, I hope Tachiai can host a Bonenkai. Maybe we’ll do it over Zoom or Teams or something so we can all forget the year, wherever we are. We are really excited for 2025 but I have a feeling 2026 will be even better!