Sumo

The six annual honbasho (tournaments) are the fulcrum around which the sumo world turns. Ninety days a year sumo wrestlers participate in events whose outcome determines not only how high or low they will be ranked but also what clothes they can wear, whether or ...

Grand champion Kakuryu has pulled out of the ongoing New Year Grand Sumo Tournament because of pain in his right ankle, his stablemaster Izutsu said Friday, the sixth day of the basho. The withdrawal of the 33-year-old leaves just one yokozuna in the 15-day tournament ...

Hakuho continued his run of narrow escapes in the first week of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, surviving two more close calls Thursday to retain his share of the lead on Day 5. The yokozuna's win over previously unbeaten No. 2 maegashira Nishikigi kept ...

Now that Kisenosato has retired, one of the first orders of business for him will be arranging a retirement ceremony. Virtually all wrestlers end their career with a dampatsu-shiki (hair-cutting ceremony) but for lower-ranked wrestlers it's normally just part of their stable's regular end-of-tournament party. For ...

The majority of sumo stables are concentrated in a couple of locations not far from Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan. Of the 48 currently active stables, roughly half are within two kilometers of the sport's main arena Shikihide Beya and Tatsunami Beya, both situated in Ibaraki Prefecture, are ...

Kisenosato's retirement, while both inevitable and expected, casts a pall over the ongoing tournament. The veteran yokozuna has been one of sumo's most popular wrestlers over the past decade and a half. Initially a bright young talent whose rapid rise was catnip to a Japanese public ...

Yokozuna Hakuho survived a scare against rank-and-file opponent Hokutofuji to remain perfect at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan on Wednesday. With headlines on the fourth day of the 15-day tournament dominated by the retirement of Japanese yokozuna Kisenosato, the other remaining ...

The news of injury-plagued yokozuna Kisenosato’s retirement sends shock waves throughout the sumo world, once again leaving the sport without a Japan-born wrestler at the highest rank.

All professional sumo wrestlers are listed on a 58x44 cm sheet of paper that is released about two weeks before the start of each tournament. For the ongoing basho that amounts to 636 men ranked in order from yokozuna Kisenosato at the top all the ...