2026– date –

This was the retirement ceremony of the former yokozuna Terunofuji, held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in early 2026. After his last dohyo-iri (ring-entering ceremony), his master made the final cut to the topknot, formally closing a career a...

On the final day of the 2025 Kyushu tournament in Fukuoka, the 21-year-old Aonishiki won his first top-division championship — in only his fifth makuuchi tournament — by beating ozeki Kotozakura with an uchimuso and then defeating yokozu...

Since his professional debut, yokozuna Onosato has never once finished a tournament with a losing record. The January 2026 Hatsu basho stretched that run to 17 winning tournaments in a row — a streak that has survived every scare the spo...

At the 2025 Nagoya tournament, Kotoshoho won his first championship by beating Aonishiki on the final day. Kotoshoho came in on two losses, Aonishiki on three, so their head-to-head bout decided the title outright. It ended in an instant...

On the final day of the 2026 January tournament, Aonishiki forced out ozeki Kotozakura to set up a championship playoff with Atamifuji, then threw his rival over with a left-handed kubinage at the edge of the ring to clinch back-to-back ...

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...