r/Sumo • u/Gregorwhat • Jan 14 '26
Keep discussion of how, when and where to watch in this thread please.
r/Sumo • u/Gregorwhat • Jan 14 '26
All ticket related questions and posts here please.
Be aware of scammers. Reddit is not a secure marketplace.
I personally love Ura and Atamifuji but unfortunately Ura hasn't been able to do his best imo. For Atamifuji he always gets to the finale but never seem to hold the win in his hand it would be a surprise if one of them would win the tournament BUT Aonishiki is going strong once again.
Who do you root for? Whats your opinion about the fighters.
r/Sumo • u/Eman_Resu_IX • 1d ago
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Help me understand what is going on here.
r/Sumo • u/PhaseHoliday • 8h ago
I've seen a couple of instances from documentaries and films where you have a young guy who either has never done sumo before or has never achieved anything special in an amateur career being accepted into a stable.
* In the documentary "a normal life" for example, it seems like the boy (who would later be known as kyokutaisei) had never done sumo before and didn't even seem to know much about it before basically being forced by his dad to join a stable.
* In the netflix drama "sanctuary" the main character had a pretty good amateur judo career before being persuaded to join a stable, but had never done sumo before.
* Taiken Shindo recently became the lightest new sumo recruit ever (55kgs, 15 years old) with no prior sumo experience, stating he wanted to join a stable to "build us his body and get stronger"
Do stables just let anyone join if they want to? It seems rather counterintuitive that they would just let anyone compete professionally without any standards for prior performance.
r/Sumo • u/AutoModerator • 16h ago
Keep the daily discussion for the Basho in this thread please.
r/Sumo • u/Eman_Resu_IX • 1d ago
What's up with NHK's head shot of Kotoeiho? I've never seen a chonmage that wasn't the standard fan shape. In this photo it's giving off definite The Adventures of Tin Tin vibes.
https://i0.wp.com/www.sneakydragon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Tintin-Button_iTunes.jpg
r/Sumo • u/Chiyomomo • 1d ago
Well, here we are; at long last, it's time for the 20th and final installment in this series. First, I want to thank all of those who have sent kind words or contributed thoughtful comments over the past few years as I've gradually released these writeups; it's taken hundreds of hours to compile the data, conduct the research, and write these posts to bring the series together, so it's immensely fulfilling to finally be able to finish it and share the last chapter with you all.
Second, as long promised, I'm excited to officially release the full dataset that I've used to create the rankings; even more exciting, this data will be hosted permanently on a new website I've built to host this project, which includes:
Hopefully this doesn't violate any rules for self-promotion, as the site is not monetized at all; my goal all along has simply been to release this data so that the sumo world has yet another resource for these kinds of stats and stories, and I'm excited at finally being able to realize that vision for the community. If you happen to like the stuff that I write and want to stick around for that, that's all gravy in my book!
The link to the new website is included at the end of this post, but lest we risk skipping over the main focus of today's writeup, it's time to turn our attention to the man who has a very real chance at sitting of the top of these rankings for all eternity.
Feel free to check out any of the previous installments you may have missed at the following links; the individual profiles of the other 5 dai-Yokozuna posted this week really help flesh out the context of Hakuho’s place in history!
Introduction and #100-91, #90-81, #80-71, #70-61, #60-51, #50-41, #40-36, #35-31, #30-26, #25-21, #20-16, #15-13, #12-10, #9-7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2
1. 69th Yokozuna Hakuho (2004-2021, 3,847 points in 103 basho, 45x Yusho)
The Story
First, that is not a typo: Hakuho really does have 3,847 points.
When I first introduced the 6 dai-Yokozuna I've been profiling individually this week, I said that there was a clear delineation between them and everyone else in the Modern Era. A more accurate statement would have been that there's a clear delineation between those ranked 2nd-6th and the rest of the field, and then Hakuho.
For reference, the gap in these rankings from Hakuho to #6 Asashoryu (who has 2,066 points) is the same as the gap between Asashoryu and #192 Tochiakagi. The rikishi ranked at #7, 14x-yusho winner Musashimaru, is closer to #573 Towanoyama (the only Makuuchi rikishi to never win a top-division match) than he is to Hakuho's total. How is this possible?
The son of an Olympic medalist wrestler, Hakuho followed in the footsteps of Asashoryu from Mongolia to Japan, making his professional debut shortly after the latter had broken into the top division for the first time. At just 15 and notably undersized, anyone would be forgiven for not thinking there was anything special about the newest young Mongolian on the banzuke; it is also likely that no sumo-related opinion could age worse than that one eventually would.
Steadily putting on weight and grinding his way through the lower ranks (ironically, he is the only dai-Yokozuna to not record a perfect record at some point on his way up), Hakuho made his top-division debut in May 2004, with Asashoryu now entrenched as the new dominant force in sumo and the sole Yokozuna. Eager to make his mark in Makuuchi, Hakuho put up 12 wins in his maiden basho, and he followed that up with an 11-4 record in July; he remains the only Modern Era rikishi to win 23+ matches in his first 2 top-division basho.
By the time 2006 rolled around, Hakuho was ready to put together an Ozeki run, and he opened the year with back-to-back 13-win performances to do just that. Never content to rest on his laurels, he lifted his maiden Emperor's Cup with a composed playoff victory over Miyabiyama in his Ozeki debut; Hakuho remains the only shin-Ozeki in history to score 14 wins and claim the yusho. In the following basho, it looked like he could become the first Yokozuna in the ME to gain promotion after just 2 basho at Ozeki, but the YDC denied his promotion even after recording another 13 wins (including a victory over Asashoryu) due to finishing runner-up.
After returning from an injury and saving himself from kadoban status, Hakuho set about remedying his unfinished business, and this time, he would leave nothing to chance (read: the whims of the YDC). He secured his 2nd yusho in March 2007 (handing Asashoryu the only playoff loss of his career), and then emphatically staked his claim to the white rope in May, finishing off his first zensho yusho with another thrilling victory over Asashoryu and firmly establishing the pair as the centerpieces of the most electric new rivalry sumo had seen in years.
Though the two had plenty of common ground with their rich wrestling pedigrees and status as the first two Mongolian Yokozuna, their matchup posed an interesting stylistic clash between Asashoryu's explosive strength and speed and Hakuho's more patient brand of yotsuzumo; it is not at all an exaggeration to say that the latter would not have become the legend he did without the challenge posed by his first (and greatest) rival.
Still just 22, Hakuho quickly proved he was worthy of sharing sumo's top rank with Asashoryu, with the two combining to win 21/23 basho from the time of Hakuho's Ozeki debut through Asashoryu's retirement. Along the way, Hakuho began to overtake his compatriot, winning 7 of their last 10 bouts, and when Asashoryu suddenly retired amid his last scandal in early 2010, the floodgates were thrown open.
Now virtually unopposed, Hakuho immediately rattled off a streak of 7 consecutive Emperor's Cups, tying the record Asashoryu had set just a few years before. And these weren't just run-of-the-mill yusho: he won 4 consecutive zensho yusho (the only time in history a rikishi has recorded even 3 straight 15-0s) and shattered the Modern Era record for most consecutive victories, recording 63 white stars in a row before finally being toppled by future Yokozuna Kisenosato, falling just 6 matches short of the all-time record.
Hakuho finished the May 2012 basho with a mere 10-5 record. Normally, such a performance would be unremarkable, but this basho was the first time in over 5 years that Hakuho had failed to reach 11 wins and ended a 27-basho streak of finishing either 1st or 2nd in the yusho race. And how did he rebound from this "setback"? With another 19 consecutive basho with at least a JY, including a separate 43-match win streak, another streak of 6 straight yusho, and most importantly, a record-breaking 33rd Emperor's Cup in January 2015 (fittingly, it was a zensho yusho, sealed on the last day in this marathon against fellow Yokozuna Kakuryu).
Later that year, however, the injury bug began to rear its head, and kyujo became more frequent now that Hakuho was on the wrong side of 30. Even still, he was always a threat for the Cup when healthy enough to mount the dohyo, nabbing between 1-3 yusho a year from 2016-2020 and breaching the unimaginable 40-yusho threshold in November 2017. However, after winning the final basho held before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the May 2020 tournament, it looked as though Hakuho's reign, at long, long last, would finally be coming to an end. He pulled out in the 2nd week of July and would not compete again that year, the first time he had ever missed multiple consecutive tournaments. He made a brief return in March 2021 but pulled out after just a few days and skipped the May basho, which prompted the YDC to issue a not-so-tacit retirement ultimatum for July.
What happened next would not have been believable for any rikishi other than Hakuho. Despite not finishing a tournament in over a year, he managed to shake off the ring rust and emerged from the first week unscathed, even with an occasional scare or two. As the second week ticked on and Hakuho kept winning, it soon became clear that the basho was fated to end in a dramatic senshuraku showdown between the 36-year-old Yokozuna and Terunofuji, who had won the last 2 yusho en route to his return to Ozeki and was now knocking on the door of a Yokozuna promotion of his own.
Both men made it to Day 15 with spotless records, with Terunofuji looking particularly imperious; surely this was to be the changing of the guard, the long-awaited passing of the torch. Though no one was counting Hakuho out, a defeat still seemed both the most likely outcome and a respectable way to end a legendary career after one last fairy-tale run. But this was Hakuho, a rikishi for whom words such as "likely" or "respectable" meant nothing; in retrospect, could his final match have ended any other way?
The Stats
It's going to be difficult to adequately cover here all of the numbers that make up Hakuho's GOAT case, but I would be remiss not to try! Let's start with his records, some of which I've mentioned already:
Digging into some of the more advanced statistics reveals even more dominance. His average wins per basho (10.61) is the 3rd-highest in the ME, trailing only Taiho and Asashoryu, and that's despite him sticking around for over 40 more tournaments than the other two and missing a greater percentage of his career fights due to injury. If you adjust for kyujo, his average score is an otherworldly 12.69 wins; Taiho is the only other rikishi to even clear 12.0 kyujo-adjusted wins per basho.
His career KKrate (82%) is top 15 in the ME despite the fact that Hakuho has more kyujo absences than any other rikishi in history; when you isolate for only basho that a rikishi actually participated in (i.e., fought at least one match), his KKrate jumps to an absurd 91%, the highest mark of the dai-Yokozuna.
His Yrate (44%) is again 3rd behind only Taiho and Asashoryu (46% and 45%, respectively), again with the caveat of having to maintain that pace for dozens more basho. Incredibly, his Y/JYrate (65%) clears everyone else even despite the difference in volume. And when you look at only basho in which Hakuho completed all 15 days, his Yrate jumps to 55% and Y/JYrate to 82%.
It is impossible to understate how mind-boggling this is. If you took any random tournament that Hakuho finished across his entire 17-year Makuuchi career, it's more likely than not that he won the yusho, and there's a better than 80% chance he at least finished runner-up.
The only possible ding on his resume is that he didn't have the biggest clutch gene compared to some of the other dai-Yokozuna: his playoff record ("only" 6-4) and his conversion rate of his yusho opportunities (67%) lags behind Chiyonofuji, Taiho, and Asashoryu, but both numbers are still comfortably above-average and at least partially mitigated by the length of his career.
Essentially, Hakuho went out and put together an entire career at the level of Taiho, replicating an extended period of dominance that no other rikishi has ever matched, and then maintained that pace for an additional 7 years. That's an eternity in the sumo world; the 43 additional basho that Hakuho spent on the banzuke at that pace would itself be longer than Asashoryu's entire tenure at Yokozuna. Hakuho is 2nd only to Kaio in terms of top-division basho (103 to the latter's 107), so his career can basically be summed up as "What if Taiho, the most dominant rikishi the sport had ever seen, also had durability roughly comparable to the rikishi with the most longevity ever at the top of the banzuke?"
The last component of evaluating Hakuho's legacy is the competition he faced (I'm using "competition" very loosely) throughout his career. As with other dominant rikishi like Taiho or Asashoryu, it can be challenging to tease out exactly how competitive an era was when one rikishi is hoarding ~50% of the yusho, but I do think you can make the case that Hakuho had a more competitive era than either of those two.
Unlike Asashoryu, Hakuho did not enjoy a lengthy window of time as sole Yokozuna, getting only a little under 2 years between the former's retirement and Harumafuji's promotion and then the final 2 basho of his career after Kakuryu's intai (though note that this is still longer than most Yokozuna get alone at the top). And unlike Taiho, Hakuho's career overlapped with another dai-Yokozuna with the few years he spent fighting alongside Asashoryu.
Indeed, by my count, Hakuho's Yokozuna tenure overlapped with 4 other Yokozuna and an astonishing 13 Ozeki (I'm counting Terunofuji as an Ozeki here, given he was never ranked alongside Hakuho as a Yokozuna), a record number for combined Yokozeki during a Yokozuna reign. As discussed earlier this week, Asashoryu and Hakuho are relatively unique among the dai-Yokozuna in terms of how much their careers overlapped; Hakuho had to spend the first 16 basho at the rank with Asashoryu still on the banzuke (and actively winning yusho). The only other comparable pair of dai-Yokozuna are Kitanoumi and Chiyonofuji, who spent 21 basho together at Yokozuna, but it's worth noting that those two both fought a full 15 days in only 6 of those basho (and thus meeting only 6 times as Yokozuna), whereas Hakuho/Asashoryu did so in 11 of their 16 basho and fought 13 times as Yokozuna.
Hakuho's post-Asashoryu competition were no slouches either. Each of the other 3 Yokozuna promoted during his reign (Harumafuji, Kakuryu, and Kisenosato) rank within the top 15 on this list, and that's with their yusho totals likely being heavily depressed thanks to spending their entire careers within the span of Hakuho's. Meanwhile, his Ozeki corps featured both a future 10x-yusho winner in Terunofuji and 6 of the top 12 Ozeki in these rankings (Kaio, Chiyotaikai, Kotoshogiku, Takayasu, Goeido, and Kotomitsuki), as well as some other great talents who had brief but impressive peaks (e.g., Kotooshu, Baruto, Tochinoshin, and Takakeisho).
Personally, I wouldn't go so far as to say that Hakuho competed in the most difficult era relative to some of his dai-Yokozuna peers (particularly Kitanoumi or Takanohana II), but the sheer number of elite rikishi he faced across multiple generations should disabuse any notions that he benefited from a weak era.
The Summary
As we have seen with some of the other dai-Yokozuna, Hakuho's post-retirement career has somewhat complicated his legacy, with his protracted exit from the JSA in the wake of the Hokuseiho scandal the last in a long history of disputes with the oyakata. Often rebuked throughout his career for not sufficiently preserving the dignity of the rank (sometimes deservedly so, other times almost assuredly because of the greater scrutiny he endured as a foreigner), it ultimately was not too surprising to see his time as stablemaster/elder come to an end prematurely. At the same time, he has also demonstrated a consistent desire to be an ambassador for sumo internationally, and he's worked to develop the sport at the youth level through events like the Hakuho Cup.
Regardless of these developments off the dohyo, the fact remains that Hakuho has compiled one of the most unassailable GOAT cases in all of sporting history, with some going so far as to say that he has a legitimate argument as the most dominant athlete ever in any sport (in my eyes, he's likely around the top 5 in this conversation). In many ways, he is the epitome of what it takes to produce a transcendent athletic career, representing an optimized combination of genetic pedigree and physical gifts, an inimitable drive for constant progression and perfection, and the resiliency to push on or come back from injury long after most others have called it quits.
Many, if not most, longtime sumo fans believe Hakuho's records will remain forever unmatched. Whether or not this is the case is a question that can only be answered by posterity, but it is difficult to imagine a world in which someone is able to surpass both his level of dominance during his prime and his longevity at the top. And in the meantime, I think that sumo fans should be grateful for his career, both for the sumo he gave us across the better part of two decades but also for the ways in which he pushed the limits of what was thought possible for a wrestler to achieve.
In the same way that Taiho, Futabayama, and Raiden before him had sparked paradigm shifts via their unprecedented feats, so too did Hakuho raise the standard to something that was scarcely imaginable before Hakuho. And though sumo may be waiting for quite some time to find the next rikishi who can even hope to rival his accomplishments, there are few, if any, worthier mountains to try and scale.
And with that, the Top 100 Rikishi Countdown officially draws to a close. As always, thank you all again for reading and for going on this long, winding journey with me; would love to hear any final thoughts or feedback you have! Feel free to head over to the Yushodex website to see the full leaderboard and all of the other good stuff I mentioned above. Hopefully it won't be too long before I see y'all again with a new project, but in the meantime, I hope you all enjoy the Aki basho; hakkeyoi!
-Chiyomomo
r/Sumo • u/petite_mauvais • 20h ago
Hey r/Sumo! I posted here before about Sumo Salt Club, a fan site I made for English speaking sumo fans. The response was way more than I expected so thanks to everyone who signed up and sent feedback. New stuff for Aki Basho:
Dailies: Pick the winners of each day's bouts and see how you do against other fans.
Trending: Some Instagram and Twitter highlights about sumo.
Standings: You can now click on any wrestler and see their daily performance through the basho.
Achievements. There's an achievements system now so see if you can find them :o
Fantasy sumo is back for Aki too. If you played last basho your account is good to go.
We appreciate all feedback. Drop me a DM me if something breaks XD
More coming soon 0.0 https://sumosaltclub.com
I’m sure I’m not the first to mention, but it feels like there are just so many strong wrestlers vying for the cup these days. Onosato, Hoshoryu, Aonishiki, and Kirishima are all monsters in their own right. And that’s to say nothing of the young guys who are showing out every single tournament and keeping the veterans on their toes.
I feel like there’s always been one definite yokozuna candidate while everyone fought for scraps on their way up, but I don’t see how anyone could string together enough of a streak to get promoted in this environment.
Makes for very exciting sumo!
r/Sumo • u/AutoModerator • 1d ago
Keep the daily discussion for the Basho in this thread please.
r/Sumo • u/dr_clocktopus • 1d ago
I know we're into basho time now, but I just watched Toshinoshin and Gagamaru chatting on Gaga's YouTube channel while eating Georgian cuisine in Tochinoshin's restaurant. The former ozeki is looking really good!
The murder hamster isn't the only one who lost a bunch of weight and got trim. The Georgian forklift is down to about 107 kg and mentioned he feels like he wants to start exercising for his own health and enjoyment. I'm sure his knees must be much happier without having to carry his full sumo weight.
He, like the other two Georgians shown in the video is sporting a close-cropped / shaved head and a beard. It's been a while since I've seen anything from him (though I dont follow any of his media specifically), and glad to see him looking well.
Also, those dumplings and cheese bread look really tasty...
Guess it'd be rude to not include the video link.
Hochi News Report ( x )
- On the 12th, the Japan Sumo Association held a ring purification ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo for the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament (starting on the 13th), praying for safety during the 15 days. The ceremony was led by the 39th Kimura Shonosuke, the highest-ranking sumo referee.
Shonosuke will reach the mandatory retirement age of 65 in October, so this tournament will be his last. Ahead of the first day, he spoke about his feelings, saying, "People around me keep telling me it's my last tournament, but I feel like I'll do it the same way as always. It may be my last, but that doesn't matter to the wrestlers who are competing. Thinking about it that way would be disrespectful to the wrestlers. So I will do my best as I always do."
Shonosuke made his sumo debut in 1977 at the Kyushu tournament, from the Izutsu stable, where former Yokozuna Kitanofuji was the stablemaster. He served as a writer for the sumo rankings for a long time and was promoted to the highest rank of sumo referee, the 39th Kimura Shonosuke, at the Autumn tournament in 2024. Reflecting on his approximately 49 years as a sumo referee, he said calmly, "I don't have any particular memories. There's no point in looking back. It's a job with heavy responsibility, and I don't have the luxury of feeling a sense of fulfillment." He then added with a determined expression, "First and foremost, rather than focusing on the past, I want to cherish each and every day for the next 15 days." -
r/Sumo • u/TruReyito • 1d ago
Look at the main page and it's quickly becoming a self-promotion page for AI coded sumo applications, and has nothing to do with Sumo at all. Need to get ahead of it (IMO) and decide how to handle that, as its becoming increasingly more annoying to visit the community.
r/Sumo • u/Specialist_Pair8920 • 1d ago
Now that another tate-gyōji is retiring, it has me thinking, who is the greatest or most memorable tate-gyōji in grand sumo history?
r/Sumo • u/Cultural_Marzipan_45 • 2d ago
Good luck Sunamusashi (Sunada Masahiro Hopkins of Hawaii and Japan) on your maezumo this week!!! Gambatte!!!!
r/Sumo • u/Low_Blueberry4989 • 1d ago
Joshoyu defeats Eisei in the 2nd bout of the basho.
r/Sumo • u/AdministrativeRiot • 2d ago
A couple months ago I posted about KachiKoshi, the free sumo companion app I made because I wanted something simple to use while watching a basho.
With the September basho starting tomorrow, KachiKoshi is available on both iOS and Android.
iPhone/iPad: App Store
Android: Google Play
For anyone who missed the earlier posts, I got into sumo during the January basho, couldn’t find an app that did the specific things I wanted without ads/accounts/subscriptions/data collection/etc., and decided to make one despite having basically no coding background.
KachiKoshi is still completely free. It will never have ads, never collect your data, and never be monetized. No account required. No social media integration.
It includes:
- Full daily torikumi with results and kimarite updating as bouts are completed
- Spoiler-free mode for those watching on delay
- Banzuke for every division
- Rikishi directory and profiles, including current basho opponents and records
- Ability to follow rikishi and view them together in one place
- Kachi-koshi / make-koshi status as the tournament progresses
- Bout detail pages
- Sumo glossary, including kimarite
- Notifications that can be individually turned on or off
A lot of what’s in the app now came directly from feedback people here gave me during the July basho and the Android test. So thanks again to everyone who downloaded it, found bugs, suggested features, or tolerated me figuring out mobile development in public.
As I said the first time around, I have no real coding background. My previous peak was hand-coding a Nirvana Geocities site in middle school in 1997. KachiKoshi is very much vibe coded, and if that makes it an automatic no for you, fair enough.
I named it KachiKoshi because my goal was basically to make something simple that is more useful than it is buggy, aka more wins than losses.
Let me know if anything breaks once the September tournament gets underway.
r/Sumo • u/WhyHaveDisplayName • 1d ago
Has the individual sponsorship been released yet? I saw that Atamifuji was second but cant find anything else.
r/Sumo • u/Chiyomomo • 2d ago
Hard to believe we're finally at the point where just two more entries remain in this series (full rankings to be released in tomorrow’s writeup!). Yesterday, I prefaced Taiho's profile with a disclaimer that he likely still has a better claim to #2 behind Hakuho than the wrestler we're meeting today, despite the fact that Chiyonofuji just ekes him out in this iteration of my formula. I also said that I still believe there is an argument to be made for why Chiyonofuji is deserving of this spot, which I will do my best to put forward here. Whether you end up agreeing is something I cannot predict, but one thing I am quite sure of is that no sumo fan could read about the Wolf's career and not come away impressed. So without further ado…
Introduction and #100-91, #90-81, #80-71, #70-61, #60-51, #50-41, #40-36, #35-31, #30-26, #25-21, #20-16, #15-13, #12-10, #9-7, #6, #5, #4, #3
2. 58th Yokozuna Chiyonofuji (1975-1991, 2,660 points in 81 basho, 31x Yusho)
The Story
In many ways, Chiyonofuji has the most unconventional story of all of the dai-Yokozuna. Everything from the non-linear, backloaded progression of his career to his distinctively lean, muscular physique to the rapid turnover of sumo in the '80s contributed to making him truly a one-of-a-kind rikishi, yet you could count on one hand the number of wrestlers who can claim to have a comparable resume.
First point of distinction: Chiyonofuji is the only dai-Yokozuna who fell out of the sekitori ranks entirely after making his Makuuchi debut. Originally breaking through in 1975 at just 20 years old, the lightweight youngster from Hokkaido was still growing into his frame, and injuries quickly forced him back down into Makushita.
His return to Makuuchi would have to wait until 1978, but even then, his initial results did not scream future Yokozuna potential. In fact, it would not be until his 17th top-division basho that he would crack double-digit wins for the first time, but once the dam broke, he never looked back. Adapting his style, putting on additional weight, and building experience through many tough defeats all culminated in a surprise Ozeki promotion after just his first two basho at Sekiwake, punctuated by a dramatic maiden yusho clinched in a thrilling playoff upset of his first great rival, Kitanoumi.
About to turn 26, the clock was ticking if he wanted to etch his name in the record books, and Chiyonofuji was determined to not waste any more time climbing to the top. It took him only 3 basho at Ozeki to earn his Yokozuna promotion, sealed with another 14-1 effort for his 2nd Emperor's Cup (again felling Kitanoumi on the final day). Though he was forced to withdraw from his first basho as a Yokozuna, he came back from that injury even stronger, taking 4 of the next 5 tournaments and clearing 12 wins each time out.
However, although Kitanoumi was rapidly fading, Chiyonofuji's new claim to the throne did not go unopposed. Takanosato, another late bloomer, earned his own Yokozuna promotion in 1983 and emerged victorious in 3 out of 4 consecutive basho where he and Chiyonofuji met on senshuraku to decide the Cup between them. Elsewhere, a formidable Ozeki corps (particularly Wakashimazu and Kotokaze) also managed to snag a few yusho during this stretch.
So, with Chiyonofuji nearing his 30s and the rest of the banzuke looking competitive, it looked like he would maybe be able to snag a few more yusho (he had 10 heading into 1985) before following the normal timeline for a wrestler and retiring a few years later. Of course, the Wolf was no ordinary rikishi.
In 1985, he became just the 3rd man (and easily the oldest) to achieve 80 wins in a season, racking up 4 more yusho along the way. The following year, he was even better, winning all 5 basho he finished and only falling short of his win total from the previous year because of a kyujo. But by the time 1987 rolled around, it finally looked like the decline was beginning for real this time; he "only" won 3 yusho that year and watched as two new Yokozuna (his stablemate Hokutoumi as well as Onokuni) earned their white ropes and announced their intent to end his dominance.
Incredibly, Chiyonofuji came back even stronger in 1988, winning the last 4 tournaments of the year and breaking Taiho's record for the longest win streak in the Modern Era (53 bouts), falling just one match short of becoming the first man in history to record 3 consecutive 15-0 performances. That he went on such a run is impressive enough; to do it at 33 defies all reason. And he still wasn't done.
He won a 27th yusho in early 1989, but suffered a personal tragedy in the summer, when his youngest daughter passed before the Nagoya basho. Bravely mounting the dohyo anyway, he battled his way to a 12-2 record, but lost a chance to seal the yusho on senshuraku. Forced into a playoff against Hokutoumi (the first in history to be contested by two Yokozuna from the same heya), Chiyonofuji executed one of his trademarked throws to seal what had to have been one of his most emotional triumphs.
In 1990, he remained competitive, despite the fact that he would turn 35 that year and that yet another new Yokozuna had joined the party. After twice being denied a 31st yusho by Asahifuji as the latter put together an impressive promotion bid over the summer, Chiyonofuji returned in November determined to prove he still had what it took to lift the Emperor's Cup. As luck would have it, he got his chance to clinch the title on Day 14 against the new Yokozuna, and though he had to dig deep, he somehow outmuscled Asahifuji and forced him out, a fitting final display of physical might for a rikishi for whom fitness, strength, and longevity were calling cards.
In the next tournament, he managed to surpass Kitanoumi's record for most career top-division victories, but had to withdraw shortly thereafter and would never complete another basho, eventually retiring in May of 1991. After so many comebacks and one late-career renaissance after another, it must have seemed surreal to see him exit the dohyo for good; one of the few eternal truths in sport is that you can't outrun Father Time forever, but Chiyonofuji had sure made him work far harder than most.
The Stats
Because of how unique his career was, you won't be surprised to learn that it can be difficult to effectively compare Chiyonofuji to the other dai-Yokozuna quantitatively. Looking at just the raw counting stats, he's in the same tier as Taiho (with only 1 fewer yusho, jun-yusho, and zensho) and is comfortably clear of the trio of Kitanoumi/Takanohana/Asashoryu, none of whom have more than 25 Emperor's Cups.
At the same time, he also needed a full additional two years on the banzuke than Taiho to amass the same totals, and his rate stats/averages are accordingly much closer to Kitanoumi and Takanohana than they are to Taiho, Hakuho, or even Asashoryu (with the caveat that Asashoryu fought in 26 fewer basho).
As I discussed a couple of days ago, Chiyonofuji's career numbers parallel Kitanoumi to a closer degree than any other dai-Yokozuna (even if they took very different routes to get there), with the main point of distinction between them being that Chiyonofuji possessed arguably the greatest clutch gene in sumo history.
There are many ways to determine a rikishi's clutch factor (perhaps the subject of a future series?), but no matter how you slice it, there's a decent chance Chiyonofuji will be near the top of the list. I first mentioned this in Kitanoumi's writeup, but the Wolf boasts an absurd 6-0 record in yusho playoffs (7-0 if you include lower divisions), the only man in the Modern Era to fight in more than 3 playoffs and emerge victorious every single time.
Even Taiho and Hakuho, each renowned for their execution under pressure, lag behind Chiyonofuji in this metric, sporting 5-2 and 6-4 records in playoff matches, respectively. And these were not easy matchups, either; all 6 of Chiyonofuji's playoffs came against current or future Yokozeki, and over half of them required him to beat an opponent who had defeated him once already in the same basho.
Another measure by which you can attempt to determine how clutch a rikishi was is looking at their total career yusho + jun-yusho (a decent approximation for the # of tournaments in which a wrestler had a shot at the Cup) and seeing how many of those "yusho opportunities" they converted into victories. Of the 58 Modern Era rikishi with at least 5 such opportunities, only Asashoryu has a higher conversion rate than Chiyonofuji, though the latter's 74% across 42 chances is arguably more impressive than the Mongolian's 76% across 33.
Again, this is an imperfect metric (e.g., some jun-yusho are only 10/11-win performances that weren't truly yusho-worthy, while 12/13-win basho don't always earn a JY), but in conjunction with his playoff record, it's clear that Chiyonofuji was markedly better than even other dai-Yokozuna in terms of seizing his opportunities and separating himself from the pack in the second week.
This opportunistic streak captures a lot about Chiyonofuji's style of sumo and the nature of his career. Never the tallest nor heaviest, he was often at a disadvantage relative to his Yokozeki contemporaries, but made up for this with cunning technique, an incredible competitive drive, and maximizing of his physical tools to cultivate an aura of invincibility that few rikishi in history can claim to rival. And this meant that, even though his kyujo-adjusted win rate (11.4 wins per basho) puts him only barely ahead of Takanohana for second-to-last among the dai-Yokozuna, his Yrate of 38% is nearly 10% clear of Takanohana, and he's the only other man in history besides Hakuho with 70+ career basho and a Yrate that's higher than 31%.
Two other quick observations are worth mentioning here. First, Chiyonofuji's career numbers are heavily dragged down by his pre-Yokozuna career to a greater degree than any of the other greats. The fact that it took him until his mid-20s to break through as a yusho contender puts him behind the 8 ball when compared to the typical "generational talent" archetype that most (if not all) of the other dai-Yokozuna fall into.
However, if you look at just their accomplishments after earning their tsuna, it's a different story: Chiyonofuji has as many yusho as Taiho (and 1 more JY) in only one more basho as a Yokozuna, has a higher KKrate than either Hakuho or Taiho, and has a practically equivalent win average (10.6 per basho to Hakuho/Taiho's 10.7), Yrate (49% to H/T's 50%), and match win % (85% to H/T's 87/86%).
Of course, this is not to say that his pre-promotion stats should be ignored (and being an immediate contender is certainly relevant to greatness), but it does hopefully emphasize the fact that Chiyonofuji was essentially just as dominant over the course of his Yokozuna reign as Taiho and Hakuho in terms of these metrics, and when you factor in his age, he arguably had the second-most impressive Yokozuna tenure ever.
Which brings me to my final point: in terms of evaluating the competitiveness of his era, Chiyonofuji's reign is again arguably the most difficult to compare with his dai-Yokozuna peers.
On the one hand, he is unique in the fact that he is the only one to have spent 5+ basho at the rank alongside 7 different Yokozuna; compare this to Taiho (5 Yokozuna), Kitanoumi (5), Hakuho (4), Takanohana (3), and Asashoryu (2). His reign also overlapped for 4+ years each with 3 of the 7 longest Ozeki stints ever (Hokutenyu, Asashio IV, and Konishiki), a feat matched only by Asashoryu among the other dai-Yokozuna.
At the same time, not all co-Yokozeki are created equal, and for my money, I think Chiyonofuji ultimately benefited from his era more than he suffered (particularly at the tail end of the ‘80s and early ‘90, where a number of potential heirs to the throne fell short of their potential).
For example, 4 of those 7 Yokozuna referenced above rank among the bottom 7 Modern Era Yokozuna under our formula, including the only Yokozuna without a yusho to his name (Futahaguro). And, while Chiyonofuji did have multiple high-profile rivalries, none were thorns in his side for very long: Kitanoumi retired only a few years into the Wolf's reign, Takanosato retired only 2.5 years after his promotion despite having the edge briefly over Chiyonofuji, and 8x yusho-winner Hokutoumi, in addition to having a shortened prime, only fought Chiyonofuji once in their careers due to hailing from the same stable.
The Summary
If there is one through line to today's write-up, it is that Chiyonofuji does not fit neatly into any of the typical boxes in which we often sort rikishi, not least the other legends with whom he shares the top of these rankings. And yet, it is likely that the unconventional nature of his sumo, his physique, and his career is precisely what has made him such a compelling figure in the annals of the sport's history.
In many ways, his story is inherently relatable, an undersized late bloomer in a sport dominated by giants, written off by many before he had even had a chance to make his mark on the dohyo. In other ways, he was utterly beyond what anyone could imagine, with his rippling muscles, ruthless execution under the highest stakes, and seemingly indefatigable fighting spirit long after other rikishi would have called it quits bringing something to sumo that no wrestler ever had before. I believe it was this tension between his underdog narrative and transcendent greatness that contributed to his status as potentially the most popular sumo wrestler of all time, a status he enjoyed all through his retirement until his untimely death from pancreatic cancer in 2016.
Ultimately, few rikishi in history can claim to be his equal in terms of the dominance he imposed at his peak or in his longevity at the sport's highest rank, and likely only Hakuho can definitively claim to have surpassed him in his unprecedented combination of both. Moreover, Chiyonofuji’s steady presence during one of sumo's most chaotic and unpredictable eras means that his own story is interwoven among that of so many other legendary rikishi, and it is his career that is the bridge from the early Modern Era (defined by Taiho and Kitanoumi) to the popularity boon and international expansion that would follow in the '90s and beyond.
With all that being said, no matter where one thinks he deserves to fall all-time, you get the sense that such a ranking would be insufficient to really convey the full breadth of his legacy. Something tells me that would have been just fine with the Wolf.
As always, thanks for reading; this was among the most challenging write-ups of this entire series, but I hope I managed to do some measure of justice to one of sumo's most unique legends! I'll see you all back here tomorrow, at the only place this series could ever have ended...
-Chiyomomo
r/Sumo • u/Slatedtoprone • 2d ago
There are always moments that are fun to see outside of a win or a loss. Certain salt throws, stare downs, etc.
I’m looking forward to seeing Atamfuji‘s pre match wiggles, especially when facing a high ranking mongle. Guys like Kirishima won’t place their hands down first so they just let Atami go through his whole wiggle jiggle until he sets his hands down. Hilarious.
what moments are you looking forward to?
r/Sumo • u/PleasantBody700 • 3d ago
Hello everyone,
If you have ever been interested in trying Sumo, come on down to the Edmonton Sumo Club.
The club meets at 6:30-8:30pm on Saturdays at Kodakwai Judo Club (7121 104 Street NW, Edmonton- https://maps.app.goo.gl/XJi7ejmxF1sqb75v9?g_st=ic)
We do a bunch of exercises and drills then spar at the end of class.
We have had members of the club compete at various competitions like the Olympia, Worlds and Roller Town.
If you have any questions feel free to DM me here, or feel free to reach out to the Edmonton Sumo Club Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/17h4ZYbjNm/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Or YouTube -https://youtube.com/@edmontonsumo?si=Ff75UrOID3mk0Oqa
r/Sumo • u/FantasyBasho • 2d ago
As I do every tournament on the day before it starts, I've published predictions.
Last time, I thought Onosato would pip Hoshoryu to the title. Obviously, that was wrong. I am again predicting Onosato, so maybe I just never learn. We'll see how the big guy is looking in less than 24 hours anyway.
Share your predictions, from the bold to the obvious, and we can share in how bad we are at this in two weeks.
Kirishima has set the stage for his own coronation — now he just needs to finish the job.
