May 2026– date –

Hokutofuji's retirement ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan marked both his formal farewell to the dohyo and his succession to the elder name Oyama. The day brought his final ring-entering ceremony alongside his young son, a winning last b...

Promotion to yokozuna, sumo's highest rank, is reserved for an ozeki who has dominated the top division — by custom, winning two tournaments in a row or putting together a comparable record — and who carries himself with the dignity the ...

The danpatsu-shiki is the ceremony that marks a sumo wrestler's retirement, in which his topknot is ceremonially cut off in front of family, friends, sponsors and fellow rikishi. Guests come up one at a time to take a single snip with a ...

Sumo is one of the world's oldest organised forms of wrestling, with roots reaching back well over a thousand years. It began not as a sport but as a Shinto ritual, a way of praying to the gods for a good harvest, and it survives in Japa...

Chanko-nabe is the hearty hot-pot that forms the core of a sumo wrestler's diet: a communal pot of protein and vegetables, eaten in enormous quantities to build the size and strength the sport demands. Cooked in-house by the junior wrest...

Before a sumo bout, wrestlers move through a sequence of Shinto-rooted rituals that turn the dohyo into sacred ground. They throw salt (shio) to purify the ring, rinse their mouths with chikara-mizu ("power water") and wipe with chikara-...

A sumo bout is officiated by the gyoji on the ring and the shimpan around it. The gyoji is the robed referee who stands on the dohyo, calls the wrestlers into action, follows the clash up close, and points his gunbai (war-fan) toward the...

The banzuke is sumo's official ranking sheet: the ordered list of every wrestler in the sport, published before each grand tournament and arranged from the champions at the top to the lowest entrants at the bottom. It tells you who is ra...

A heya (sumo stable) is the training house where wrestlers live, train, eat and sleep together under the authority of a stablemaster. It is part dormitory, part dojo, part family. Every wrestler in professional grand sumo belongs to one,...

A kimarite is the officially named technique or decision by which a sumo bout is won. Each result is announced as one of the recognized kimarite, from a straightforward push-out to an intricate throw or a trip. The Japan Sumo Association...