Retirement ceremonies often full of emotion
It's no secret that difficulty in procuring tickets is one of the main hurdles preventing overseas visitors from being able to watch sumo in person. In recent years, third-party agents, some catering almost exclusively to foreign tourists, have provided fans with an alternative means of ...
Predicting next yokozuna a formidable task
When veteran sumo journalists get together and the conversation turns, as it inevitability does, to up-and-coming wrestlers, talk is rarely of who will be the next yokozuna. Most writers or commentators are only willing to hypothesize rikishi with the ability to reach sanyaku (the three ...
Ex-yokozuna Futahaguro died in February at age 55, wife announces
Former yokozuna Futahaguro, who quit sumo after a series of personal issues, died on Feb. 10 at the age of 55, his wife, Yoshie, revealed Friday. Futahaguro, whose real name was Koji Kitao, died of the chronic kidney disease he has been battling since 2013. A ...
Sumo lacks marquee rivalries of recent times
The upcoming Spring Grand Sumo Tournament seems to have everything going for it. The basho kicks off with a wealth of storylines. One is a tale of vengeance as Takakeisho seeks to correct the record on his controversial non-promotion to sumo's second-highest rank. Others involve veterans like ...
Yokozuna Hakuho emerged in pole position for his push for a 42nd career championship when the rankings for March's Spring Grand Sumo Tournament were published Monday. For the first time in exactly five years, wrestlers will enter the raised ring with just two yokozuna at ...
Despite injuries, Kisenosato embodied rikishi ideals
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 ...
Hiroshi Wajima, lone yokozuna with college degree, dies at 70
Former yokozuna Wajima, who won elite makuuchi division tournaments 14 times in the 1970s and 1980s, and was known for his left-arm throwing technique, has died at age 70, his family said Tuesday. Wajima died in his Tokyo home on Monday. In recent years he ...
Kisenosato becomes first Japanese-born yokozuna in almost two decades
Unlike during tournaments, an occasional smile crept across Kisenosato's face. But the 30-year-old mostly maintained his signature stern expression, perhaps anticipating the responsibility about to be bestowed upon him as he ascends to highest rank in the world of sumo. Kisenosato was told by messengers from ...
Kisenosato set to gain promotion, becoming first Japan-born yokozuna in 19 years
Ozeki Kisenosato is set to become the first Japanese-born yokozuna in 19 years after a Japan Sumo Association advisory body recommended his promotion on Monday. Kisenosato will be named the 72nd yokozuna, the first born in Japan since Wakanohana in 1998, at an extraordinary JSA ...
Tributes poured in from around the country Monday as mourning continued the day after Japan lost legendary sumo wrestler Chiyonofuji, who died in a Tokyo hospital due to pancreatic cancer at the age of 61. The funeral and memorial service for the former yokozuna and ...
The struggles of a local sumo hero
An oft-repeated question these days, and one not necessarily confined to sports media, is whether 29-year-old wrestler Kisenosato will make it to sumo's highest rank. Or is he destined to remain a perennial bridesmaid? Clearly at the peak of his career, the ozeki (champion) and ...
Ozeki Kotoshogiku, who completed an impressive win in the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday, could earn promotion to yokozuna in March's Spring tournament. Sumo elder Isegahama, who heads the Japan Sumo Association's judging department, indicated the ozeki, who became the first Japanese-champion in ...
