Hey all, I’m back. Let’s talk about how the Aki results are likely to reshuffle the rankings for the November basho. The named ranks This is largely straightforward. At Yokozuna, title-…

Kitanowaka of Hakkaku-beya won the Juryo yusho. He defeated Kagayaki in regulation to force a play-off. Kayo joined the play-off as he beat Tamawashi. Kitanowaka then defeated Kagayaki and Kayo to …

Day 14 in Tokyo Kagayaki and Kayo lost again, making the yusho race a bigger party. Kagayaki still leads at 11-3 but Tamawashi and Kitanowaka join Kayo in the hunt at 10-4. At the other end, Ikarig…

Day Thirteen in Tokyo. Takanosho kyujo. Hakunofuji will pick up the walkover win. This news is sad but also a relief. Takanosho appeared to be in real pain with that foot/ankle. I hope he’s c…

Day twelve in Tokyo. Kotoshoho kyujo. This is not a surprise and is Fujiryoga will pick up the walk-over win. Kotoshoho certainly got his bell rung yesterday and should probably be out the rest of …

Day Eleven in Tokyo. Kagayaki finally lost for the first time this tournament, now 10-1. Hitoshi (8-3) henka’d and drove Kagayaki out, picking up his kachi-koshi. Kayo is the only wrestler at 9-2 i…

Day Ten in Tokyo. Apologies for the abbreviated coverage today. I overslept and only caught the second half of today’s action live. Today’s NHK videos include a five-minute feature on Aki 1986 whic…

Day Nine in Tokyo. Joshoyu beat Chiyonotaka and remains the only undefeated rikishi in Jonokuchi. Eisei locked up his kachi-koshi against Kotokawabuchi. Congratulations! The Abema footage of his wi…

Could this be the first decade without a dai-yokozuna? The 2020s have so far been an era of unprecedented parity in sumo, and I’m of two minds about it. In many ways this unpredictability has made …

Day 8 in Tokyo In the lower divisions, Hikarumusashi lost to Amane, picking up his first loss of the tournament and falling out of the Jonidan yusho race. He will be joined in Kyushu by Sunamusashi…

One of the lesser-known benefits of joining the Tatsunami International Fan Club is that it includes access to observe asa-geiko, the stable’s morning practice. I had joined the Fan Club main…

Day Seven in Tokyo. No news from the infirmary, no new kyujo to report. Sasaki Ichiro, sumo reporter from Nikkan Sports, broke a story yesterday that Nishikifuji faces heart surgery at the end of t…

Day Six in Tokyo Nabatame is back from the infirmary and his brief bout with mumps. Childhood mumps claimed my mother’s hearing but for Nabatame, it only took a sick day. The middle weekend i…

Day Five in Tokyo. Checking in with the infirmary, Nabatame is kyujo with mumps. It’s a rather sad prospect if he can’t return to the tournament because he just crawled back into the division after…

Day Four in Tokyo. Shinmichi picked up his first win in maezumo. Shinmichi is a shin-deshi (new recruit) noted in Japanese press for being “a buck 25.” Well, over there they use metric, so he’s 57k…

Day Three in Tokyo. Sorry for the late update. The presentation went well and the conference is pretty nice. But damn, dude. Remember Animaniacs from back in the 90s? They had a song about how New …

Day Two in Tokyo. So, yesterday, both Aonishiki and Shishi turned in good fights, though Ura managed to prevail over Shishi. Wakamotoharu looked strong and at his current level, he could clean up i…

Coverage will be delayed for the next couple of days. I’m travelling to New York City for a conference, and I’ll be making a presentation tomorrow. It should be fun. Coverage should res…

Day One in Tokyo. Eisei lost his first bout in a very close one against Joshoyu. Joshoyu pressured Eisei to the edge with a morozashi but Eisei cut Joshoyu’s left hand grip and nearly pulled off a …

Welcome back! In just a few hours, professional sumo action will be back as Aki Basho gets underway. The dohyo matsuri was streamed last night on YouTube and the dohyo is now ready. I want to thank…

日本相撲協会公式YouTubeです。 大相撲の情報を発信！

This is the extraordinary story of 21-year-old Ukrainian sumo prodigy Aonishiki Arata aka Danylo Yayhusishin, one of the most exciting fighters of his generation. Short film “Refugee Rishiki,”…

YouTube video by NHKプロモーション 展覧会チーム

A yokozuna can't be demoted. Every other rank in professional sumo rises and falls with results. The top rank has only one way to end, and that’s retirement.

日本相撲協会は７日、井筒親方（元幕内・明瀬山）が同日付で退職したと発表した。木瀬部屋で部屋付き親方として指導にあたっていた。

Here is how our last tournament debutants did: Asahifuji entered the tournament already as one of the biggest storylines. Having won back-to-back-to-back tournament victories and entering sumo as o…

Welcome back! Hopefully you have all sobered up from your senshuraku parties by now. Jungyo will kick off this upcoming weekend in Gifu city, an hour drive north of the venue in Nagoya. But before …

Well, hello again. Having been motivated by a fairly spectacular basho, I figured I’d run the red ink over the performances of the 41 makuuchi rikishi who took part. This could have been an e…