Apart from the ongoing winter regional tour — which doesn’t count toward official standings — professional sumo for 2023 is in the books.

It was a year that started out with genuine concerns over a lackluster lineup of talent at the top of the rankings — and a seeming inability of any of the sport’s new hopes to separate themselves from the pack — but one that finished on a high and set up enticing possibilities for 2024.

As the new year tournament got underway in January, Takakeisho was the sole ozeki on the banzuke (ranking list) — a situation that forced authorities to designate Terunofuji yokozuna-ozeki in order to fulfill a long-standing requirement to always have at least two men at sumo’s second-highest rank.

With an aging grand champion battling health issues and an ozeki that had suffered serious injuries in the past — once even dropping from the rank after missing an entire tournament — sumo at the start of the year was in desperate need of new stars that would inject excitement and stability into its upper echelons.

As has so often been the case over the past two decades, it was Mongolian-born rikishi that rose to the challenge, with both Kiribayama and Hoshoryu lifting silverware for the first time in 2023, and beginning their ascent of sumo’s summit.

Kiribayama took center stage over the first half of the year, with the 26-year-old sandwiching a debut title in March between two 11-4 outings and earning promotion to ozeki — which came with a change of name.

The newly minted Kirishima got his ozeki tenure off to a rocky start, posting a losing record in July, followed by an unimpressive nine wins in September, before recovering at the end of the year to lift the Emperor’s Cup again. That puts him in line for elevation to yokozuna early next year.

The Michinoku stable veteran was without doubt 2023’s most successful wrestler but even he couldn’t escape the roller coaster ride that defined sumo over the past 12 months.

Consistently inconsistent is the most apt description of the year just gone by in Japan’s national sport — particularly when it came to the sport’s leading lights.

Ozeki Takakeisho twice put himself in line for elevation to yokozuna, but title victories in January and September were followed by tournaments that saw promotion hopes fizzle out by the midway point.

Hoshoryu, like Kirishima, shone bright in 2023, claiming a first Emperor’s Cup and reaching ozeki, only to see a dip in performance and results immediately after promotion.

It was the same story further down the banzuke, with highly touted youngsters such as Hokuseiho, and Oho having standout moments which appeared to signal a breakthrough, only to fall off in subsequent tournaments.

But no rikishi better exemplified 2023’s highs and lows better than newcomer Hakuoho.

The teenage phenom, who began his pro career in January, reached the top tier by July, and came within a whisker of being the first makuuchi division debutant in 109 years to win a championship.

The four minutes leading up to Hakuoho’s title elimination bout on Day 15 in Nagoya was the highlight of the year, as the Dolphins Arena crackled with an energy not seen since the heyday of the Asashoryu-Hakuho rivalry.

Sadly that was the last sumo fans saw of the Tottori Prefecture native in 2023 as long-standing shoulder issues ruled him out for the final two tournaments of the year.

Hope springs eternal however, and while 2023 swung wildly between highs and lows, it’s hard to escape the feeling that smoother sailing is just ahead.

Takakeisho’s combination of sumo style, body type and injury history may see the burly ozeki repeat the cycle, but Hoshoryu and Kirishima are both still ascending and looking increasingly comfortable at the sport’s highest latitudes.

Kotonowaka had arguably the most stable 2023, with the grandson of yokozuna Kotozakura recording winning records while spending all six tournaments among the sanyaku ranks (ozeki, sekiwake and komusubi.)

The 26-year-old has hit 11 wins twice since July when facing the best opponents the sport has to offer and could be on the cusp of ozeki promotion.

In addition, the return of a healthy and healed Hakuoho, as well as the top division debut of Onosato — one of the most decorated college sumo wrestlers in history — are mouthwatering prospects for sumo in 2024.

Next September will mark three years since Terunofuji was promoted to yokozuna, but the veteran has completed just one of the past eight tournaments, and the curtain could well fall on one of sumo’s most remarkable careers before then.

The rise of a dominant grand champion in the mold of Hakuho, Takanohana or Kitanoumi doesn’t appear to be in the cars — at least in the short term. But in a era when Mitakeumi can claim three Emperor’s Cups, and Takakeisho could conceivably match or surpass Kaio’s ozeki record of five titles, expectations for men like Hoshoryu or Kirishima to retire as yokozuna with career numbers similar to Terunofuji aren’t outlandish.

The past 12 months was a wild ride for rikishi and fans alike, but in years to come it may be viewed simply as the final throes of a rocky but transitional phase for sumo.

Goodbye to 2023, a year that may go down as the storm before the calm.