danpatsushiki

Terunofuji Retirement Ceremony

Andy Retirement, Sumo Topics, Terunofuji (照ノ富士) , ,

Sumo News is not over! There are a number of sumo-related events going on in-between tournaments. Kokugikan hosted the retirement ceremony of former Yokozuna, Terunofuji on Saturday, January 31.

The event was streamed live on Abema. I had a conflict with a previously scheduled engagement, so I missed it but it looks like Terunofuji put on a great show. There was shokkiri performed by Asaazuma and Suigafuji with Shikimori Kinosuke as the gyoji. Shokkiri is a sumo comedy routine that’s generally included in all of these exhibition events, like with jungyo. They explain the rules of sumo by basically breaking all of them.

There was a bracket-style tournament featuring eight of the lower-ranked Isegahama wrestlers. The bracket is in the Twitter post below. Let me know if any of these are not working and I’ll see if I can source them from elsewhere. Some of the Twitter embeds get blocked but others are visible to people without accounts. From the top left we have Mienofuji (Tenshoho/Mukainakano), Satorufuji, Hananofuji (Kiho/Kawazoe) and Suzunofuji. On the right side we have Asahifuji, Churafuji (Chura/Chikuba), Yumenofuji, and Arashifuji (Matsui).

The yusho was claimed by Asahifuji, fresh off his Jonokuchi division title. He is the much-hyped rookie who was given the shikona of the former Yokozuna (and former Isegahama-oyakata). The Japanese press seems to like calling him the strongest recruit ever. He has been living with and training with the heya for the last four years since he couldn’t officially join with Terunofuji on the books as the resident foreign wrestler. He is also Mongolian and we will keep an eye on his career, that’s for sure.

There were also exhibition bouts with sekitori, capped off with a bout between Hoshoryu and Onosato. Hoshoryu picked up Onosato (be careful with that knee!) and dropped him into Oshima-oyakata’s lap. Oshima-oyakata (former Kyokutenho) seemed to be a common target for falling rikishi but took it with a laugh. Seems like Kirishima was a target, too. One gem in particular from these bouts was the introduction of Takanosho as hailing from Minatogawa-beya, which you can hopefully hear in the tweet embedded below. See our previous news brief about Takakeisho becoming master.

Terunofuji performed his final dohyo-iri with Hoshoryu as sword-bearer and Onosato as dew-sweeper. As Josh pointed out in the comments, ex-Satonofuji was on hand to help get that rope ready. He’s not the only blast-from-the-past who attended the event.

Terunofuji’s 3-year-old son joined them on the dohyo wearing his own tsuna (Yokozuna rope belt) and kesho mawashi, held by Onosato. Check back in 20 years. That kid might have his own legit belt.

Now, the main event was obviously the haircut. A stream of supporters, celebrities, and sumo elite (including Hakuho) took their turns cutting Terunofuji’s topknot. Shunba, Terunofuji’s former tsukebito took his turn, as did Takarafuji, and the current crop of Isegahama sekitori. Here, though, we have Miyagino-oyakata taking the final snips.

When all was said and done, we got to see the obligatory picture of okamisan adjusting Terunofuji’s — excuse me — Isegahama-oyakata’s tie.

Then, they all partied like it was 1899.

That’s it for this weekend but join us next weekend for news about the NHK Charity Sumo event and the One Day Tournament. This one day tournament used to be known as the FUJI TV tournament but since last year’s Fuji TV scandal, it looks like Fuji TV is not aligned with it anymore. Nevertheless, if you’re in Japan and think you missed all of the sumo action after the end of Hatsu, take heart. You may still have an opportunity to attend these events or other sumo-related tours and events.

October 2025 Sumo News Round-up

Andy Jungyo (巡業), Juryo (十両), Retirement , , ,

“Aki Basho is over and but there are still some note-worthy updates to make.”

That’s how I began this post several weeks ago when I started drafting it. Now it’s nearly Halloween. Time flies and my conceptualized update post needs significant updates. Wrestlers who just got back from London will be packing up and heading to Kyushu. Some are already there in advance doing a bit of PR. The banzuke drops tonight but that’s clearly not the only bit of news from the past few weeks which I need to mention. Leonid mentioned a few of these items in his Kyushu Banzuke Preview post. His full prediction is here. I will be back with the banzuke later but these items needed attention.

Takarabune’s Final Sail

Takarafuji has retired. Since he looks vaguely like my uncle, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for him. Under the storied Isegahama banner, his sumo has always been rather straight-forward yotsu-zumo, fought in an earnest, quiet, and respectful manner. He had never been a big showman on the ring, letting the results speak for themselves. In a video message on the Kyokai’s Twitter account, he thanked his fans for supporting his career over the past sixteen years.

He started his sumo career in 2009 and fought in Juryo rediscovered the sport in 2011, climbing the ranks as I dove back into following the sport. He peaked at the rank of Sekiwake and won kinboshi from Kakuryu, Hakuho, and Kisenosato. Accumulated injuries have certainly taken their toll and he had slipped from Makuuchi into Juryo. Lately he was often overpowered and out maneuvered by his opponents. With a 5-10 record in Tokyo this past September, he was destined to fall out of the paid ranks and into Makushita.

Over the past few years, I’ve enjoyed writing about his bouts in a metaphorical sense, as if he were the Takarabune of legend and his bouts were legs of some epic journey. Sadly, that journey has come to an end. Takarafuji will remain with Isegahama as a coach, Kiriyama-oyakata.

Juryo Promotions

Four wrestlers were promoted to Juryo, including two newcomers. Both of the shin-juryo wrestlers have changed their shikona. Welcome Himukamaru (ex-Nagamura) and Fujiryuga (ex-Goshima) to the ranks of the full-timers. Kitanowaka and Wakanosho join them in Juryo.

Check out Justin’s Makushita posts to keep early tabs on some prospects as they rise into the division. It will take a while for guys to make the push through this tough third division. I’m keeping my eye on Noda. He’s been grinding and appears to be getting better. I’m eager to see where he will fall when the new banzuke comes out.

Takakeisho Retirement Ceremony

We had a pair of retirement ceremonies at the start of this break: Takakeisho and Myogiryu. Former Ozeki, Takakeisho, had his haircut first. Whenever we talk about Takakeisho now, the big story is his remarkable physical transformation. I’m looking forward to seeing him grow as a coach and hopefully become a stable master. Enjoy the video highlights of his retirement ceremony.

Myogiryu Retirement Ceremony

Myogiryu had a long, successful career in spite of injury. He joined Sakaigawa-beya and earned a Makushita debut from his university success at Nittaidai but suffered an injury when he earned promotion to Juryo. He fell back into Sandanme but fought back and rose all the way to Sekiwake, claiming six kinboshi over the course of his career — including two off of Hakuho.

London Basho

Our wrestlers went to London for a spectacular five-day tournament. The crew had last been there a few decades ago when Hakkaku was an active Yokozuna fighting as Hokutoumi. Since Covid restrictions are ancient history and sterling is doing quite well against the yen lately, the Sumo Association stands to make a decent haul from its trip and hopefully inspire another generation of sumo fans.

Hoshoryu took the top prize. But in a Grand Sumo stylee, there were special prizes to be had by those who fought well and those who won over the crowd. Hard core sumo lovers are sometimes hard to please with these exhibitions. I mean, let’s face it. The slaps don’t hit as hard in London — or Kanazawa — as they do on shonichi. Nevertheless, there was some great action, summarized in the video above.

It’s probably best that I was not able to attend. I have always wanted to throw a zabuton and would be more likely to do it in London than in Tokyo; I’m not trying to get my butt banned. But I figure London’s prepared for some well-mannered hooliganism. Another possible revenue stream would be to have a booth where punters can throw cushions and have Shodai catch them. I digress. I’m glad the event seems to have done well with the PR and I hope the rumors of a Paris Basho for next year hold true.

Sumo News Update 2024.06.23

Andy Japanese Culture

This weekend there were a couple of news items to update you on. Terutsuyoshi held his retirement ceremony at Kokugikan on Sunday. This event featured an eight-man round robin between non-sekitori from the extended Isegahama-beya. Unfortunately, I am not able to embed this Tweet like I I usually am for other tweets (probably for some silly billionaire-instigated reason) but “Mika_midori0830” shared video of each bout. Satorufuji claimed the yusho against Shinhakuho in the final.

Along with the usual jinku, Terutsuyoshi’s event had performances from singers, a shamisen duo, and even Chinese acrobats. Among those in line to cut his top-knot, Chiyotairyu came and gave him a great big hug while words from Meisei gave him a great big smile. Interviewed by Sakai Ichiro, Terutsuyoshi said that he had told Miyagino-oyakata that he wasn’t going to cry. But Miyagino told him that as people take their turns cutting his hair, he would have flashbacks and be overcome by the emotions. And Terutsuyoshi felt that was true.

Freshly shorn Terutsuyoshi thanked his guests for their support. The new coif sure suits the man, doesn’t it?

Sumo Stateside

Meanwhile, several former rikishi are sporting mawashi in the United States. Out in California a band of wrestlers from the professional and amateur sumo worlds are participating in “All Star Sumo“. The pair of events are headlined by Ichinojo and Hiroki, a former Juryo-ranked rikishi who played Enō’s giant nemesis in the Netflix hit, “Sanctuary”. We hear news from Bradley (crazysocktv) that Hiroki won last night’s tournament and proposed to his girlfriend. Congratulations, Hiroki! Next weekend they will be in San Francisco.

Lastly, you all have heard me for a while now about Konishiki’s Sumo and Sushi events. They wrap up their NYC tour and head down here to DC next weekend. I wanted to share with you all the experience had by the good chaps of the New York Sumo Club. They rolled up at the NYC event with their own mawashi! Oscar Dolan leads the club and he hopped up there with Rolan Vargas and Daniel Douglas.

I really hope the Instagram embed will stay up for a while. The video of their bouts with the Sumo and Sushi rikishi is below. What was not in this video…but hopefully might have been captured by others at the show or by a Sumo and Sushi film crew, were some pointers given to them by Konishiki himself as he critiqued their shiko, suriashi, and butsukari.

I think the hands-on approach they got there is a key thing that we need more of here. It’s why I’m always excited to see Gagamaru at the events in Texas and our amateur wrestlers suiting up and participating in keiko with the universities and even with some of the pro stables when y’all are in Japan. Trying to guess at what is going on and replicate it here is one thing. Actually getting tips is quite the other. I mean having Konishiki tell Meccha and Otani, “oh, move him this way or that way.” That’s one hell of an experience.

If these go to the next level, beyond introducing people to sumo as spectators, and instead actually advancing sumo in practice, that’s incredibly cool. And that is what gets me more and more excited about these events. More of these professionally hosted events are important because it will draw in even more people. There are those folks (lots of those folks) who remain on the sidelines and who are hesitant to get involved when it’s a few friends in a backyard or even a rented hall with an impromptu dohyo. But those folks might actually get the confidence and have the assurance that it is (relatively) safe AND fun.

I mean, it is a combat sport but not everyone is ready to face an Abi-like barrage of tsuppari or get thrown on Day 1 or Day 10 or Day 110. Landing on whatever dohyo they had set up at the Sumo and Sushi event was a hell of a lot better than when I fell off the ladder in the backyard and landed on that rock. It was a bit of a shock to find myself tumbling through the air. When I landed, I got up, checked myself to make sure I was intact, and then I felt like the baby dinosaur from that 90s sitcom Dinosaurs. “AGAIN!” And when guys like Konishiki set up a safe environment and show you like they did for the NY Sumo Club, “No, no, no. Do it this way,” it starts to move that needle a bit more…in my humble opinion. I mean, let’s face it. There are very few sports or physical activities out there that promise to be as body-positive as sumo. But no one wants to be left, like Takayasu, to crawl himself over to the big wheel chair.

Sumo News Update 2024.06.02

Andy Akiseyama, Ishiura (石浦), promotion, Stables (Heya) , ,

Natsu Basho ended last weekend. We have to wait until July for the next tournament. Once we get the Juryo promotions, we’re Gone Till November July, right? Well, the Kyokai’s usual board meeting had a full agenda so we have had a bunch of sumo-related news this week.

Juryo Promotions Announced

We will have three promotions from Makushita to Juryo for Nagoya. Kayo and Nabatame earned their first sekitori promotions and Fujiseiun will return to Juryo for the first time since he fell out of the division in September.

Kayo is one of Nakamura-oyakata’s recruits from Nippon Sports Science University, aka Nittaidai. The university has developed a number of top sumo wrestlers, including sekitori stablemates* Onosato and Shirokuma, as well as up-and-comers like Onokatsu and veterans like Myogiryu. Kayo earned a sandanme tsukedashi but has spent much of the last two years in Makushita. A spot in the massive playoff at Aki last year seems to have lit a spark under him and he has been on the radar for promotion to Juryo since.

Nabatame started his sumo career after high school, just before the pandemic hit. He was definitely one of our highlighted up-and-comers during those quiet tournaments. I have quietly been following his rise since he featured in one of the early maezumo cohorts that I followed during the pandemic. (How many of you remember Taiyo and his maezumo henka? One of the PowerBall goals of Tachiai is to have the resources to cover each division and better profiles of the younguns in maezumo, along with deeper features about the fascinating cultural tangents I find myself learning about.) But I would bring back that maezumo coverage in a heartbeat. Nice to re-read those articles and catch myself back up on his entry to the sport. Nabatame has since been grinding it out in Makushita, slowly but steadily climbing to the top of the division. We are happy to see that he has finally earned his promotion to sekitori.

Fujiseiun returns to the Juryo ranks after an injury forced him to drop after just a single tournament fighting in Juryo (his second tournament was kyujo). It is always hard to see these up-and-comers hit major obstacles. He had hit the scene and steamrolled through the lower divisions in 2021, winning his first 21 bouts and claiming two of the three yusho, only losing the Jonidan yusho in a playoff to his peer, Osanai. So it is great to see that he will don his kesho mawashi yet again.

While we are talking about these banzuke placements for July, I should also note here that two Makushita tsukedashi were approved by the Kyokai. Ishizaki Ryoma (23) and Kawabuchi Kazuma (22) will begin their professional sumo careers this summer. Ishizaki will join his older brother, Asakoryu, at Takasago-beya having claimed third place at last year’s National Sumo Championships. Kawabuchi claimed the adult division yusho at a separate athletic tournament last year and he joins Kise-beya.

Nakamura Beya Opens

The little asterisk there in Kayo’s promotion report had to do with his sekitori stablemates because they are not his stablemates any longer. Mid-week, Kayo celebrated his promotion to Juryo with photo-ops and press conferences joined by Kisenosato. However, during this week’s board meeting the Kyokai approved Nakamura’s independence bid, setting June 1 for when Nakamura would split away from Nishonoseki. So, by the end of the week Kayo was moving into new digs at his new heya with his new master — without Onosato and Shirokuma.

I believe the new stable is at the location vacated by Michinoku-beya, just on the other side of the tracks from Kokugikan in Ryokoku. Nakamura-oyakata (ex-Yoshikaze) is now a stable master in his own right. There is a great new website, nakamurabeya.jp, with details of the occupants: eight wrestlers, the Yobidashi Rokuro, and hairdresser Tokokasumi. There is also a great little personalized note from Yoshikaze about each of them.

Mini-Jungyo Sumo Events

I will get to the retirement events in a moment but I thought June was going to be pretty chill, event-wise. The Kyokai has decided to participate in two more promotional events in June.

The first will be a PR event for the Kyusho Basho next Sunday, June 9 in Fukuoka. Four top-division wrestlers will be there. Top billing goes to Hiradoumi (his rise has been quite something). Ura, Shodai, and Sadanoumi will also be there. Shodai and Sadanoumi are both from Kumamoto.

Secondly, the Kyokai will also participate in a Sports Expo at the Dolphins Arena in Nagoya on June 16. Next year, the Arena is slated to be replaced by a new IG Arena. (Oh, God, please tell me there’s air conditioning.) In celebration of the new, refrigerated digs the Kyokai will host a crossover event with the Dolphins basketball team. Aside from the hoopsters, Onosato, Tobizaru, Midorifuji, Atamifuji, and Abi will participate.

So, if you are in Fukuoka or Nagoya this month, you have a chance to pop by and meet some of your favorite sumo wrestlers — or even Shodai.

Ishiura Danpatsushiki

On Saturday, June 1, the Kokugikan hosted Ishiura’s retirement and name change event, since he carries on as a coach, Magaki-oyakata, in the Association. Hakuoho made waves by singing the jinku (traditional folk singing) portion and Enho closed things with the bow-twirling ceremony.

Takerufuji, mounted the dohyo and faced off against Meisei in one of the exhibition bouts. Usually these exhibition events are not big news makers on the dohyo but the fact that Takerufuji was healthy enough to participate in the feature bouts is a good sign for July.

Given the closure of Miyagino-beya, Hakuho was robbed of the privilege of taking the final cut of Ishiura’s topknot but he did get to use the scissors and take a snip. Isegahama-oyakata got the honor of taking the final cut.

Akiseyama Danpatsushiki

And on Sunday, June 2, the Kokugikan opened its doors again for Akiseyama’s retirement ceremony. The Kise-beya affair celebrated the big man’s career and shared stories of his camaraderie with fellow wrestlers. In particular they shared a story involving Goeido.

Though Goeido entered the sumo world a few years earlier than Akiseyama, the former Ozeki was actually Akiseyama’s junior schoolmate while they attended Saitama Sakae high school. Goeido went straight into a sumo career while Akiseyama attended Nihon Daigaku. Goeido had given Akiseyama some encouragement when Akiseyama had been thinking of retirement. Akiseyama took the encouragement to heart and earned another promotion to Juryo.

Looking Ahead

I will keep an eye on the sumo news, as always, but I anticipate my next post will be next weekend after Chiyonokuni’s retirement ceremony and the Fukuoka PR event.