2023 in sumo


The following are the events in professional sumo during 2023.

Tournaments

Hatsu ''basho">honbasho">basho''

, Tokyo, 8 January – 22 January

Haru ''basho''

, Osaka, 12 March – 26 March

Natsu ''basho''

Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 14 May – 28 May

Nagoya ''basho''

, Nagoya, 9 July – 23 July

Aki ''basho''

Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 10 September – 24 September

Kyushu ''basho''

, Kyushu, 12 November – 26 November

News

January

  • 4: Former sekiwake Toyonoshima, who had retired from professional sumo in April 2020, quits as a member of the Sumo Association in order to pursue a tarento career.
  • 6: Yokozuna Terunofuji withdraws from the upcoming January tournament—his second straight absence from an entire basho—as he continues to recover from surgery on both of his knees.
  • 14: Former sekiwake Okinoumi retires, ending an 18-year career in professional sumo competition. He withdrew from the January 2023 basho the previous day after he was defeated in his first five matches.
  • 22: The top division championship is won by Takakeishō, who defeats maegashira 13 Kotoshōhō in the final bout. Both wrestlers had come into the final day with identical 11–3 records. It is Takekeishō's third career championship and first since November 2020, and puts him in a strong position to seek promotion to yokozuna in the following tournament. Kotoshōhō, who had not produced a kachi-koshi or winning record since March 2022, wins his first Fighting Spirit Prize. He shares runner-up honours with Kiribayama, who also finishes on 11–4 and wins his first Technique Prize. Ōnoshō, who led the tournament outright on Day 12 at 10–2, finishes on 10–5 and misses out on a share of the Fighting Spirit Prize after defeat to Hōshōryū. Former ōzeki Shōdai, who was hoping to return to the rank by scoring at least ten wins, can only manage a 6–9 record. Another former ōzeki, Asanoyama, wins the jūryō division championship with a 14–1 record.
  • 25: Promotions to the jūryō division are announced. The winner of the makushita division title, two-time high school yokozuna Ochiai, is promoted just one tournament after making his professional debut as a makushita tsukedashi entrant. It is the first time since the beginning of the Showa era that a wrestler has been promoted to in one tournament. The winner of the 2022 All Japan Corporate Sumo Championship, Ochiai is the first new sekitori for Miyagino stable since the former Hakuhō took over as stablemaster. The other jūryō debutant is 29-year-old Tamashōhō from Mongolia, who is the brother-in-law of Tamawashi. There are also two wrestlers returning to – Tokushōryū after just one tournament, and Tomokaze, who returns for the first time since a long injury layoff beginning in November 2019 saw him drop from the top division down to jonidan.
  • 28: The retirement ceremony for the 69th yokozuna Hakuhō is held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. He performs the yokozuna dohyō-iri, or ring entering ceremony, for the last time with ōzeki Takakeishō and sekiwake Hōshōryū serving as the tachimochi and tsuyuharai, respectively. About 300 people take turns to cut the ōichōmage bun.
  • 29: The retirement ceremony for former maegashira Toyohibiki is held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

    February

  • 1: Ikazuchi officially takes over the stable previously owned by Irumagawa ahead of the latter reaching Sumo's mandatory retirement age of 65 at the end of April. The renamed Ikazuchi stable is the first incarnation of the stable in over six decades.
  • 4: The NHK charity sumo tournament is held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan for the first time in three years. It was cancelled in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 11: The retirement ceremony for former komusubi Shōhōzan is held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.
  • 27: The Sumo Association releases the banzuke for the March 2023 tournament in Osaka, also known as the Haru basho. There is no change in the top two ranks, with yokozuna Terunofuji expected to return to action after missing two tournaments, and the January champion—ōzeki Takakeishō—seeking to join him at sumo's top rank with a strong March performance. January runner-up Kiribayama is elevated to sekiwake for the first time in his career. Daieishō and Tobizaru, who were both demoted from komusubi for the January tournament, return to that rank for March. The top division sees three new faces: Kinbōzan, who enters makuuchi after just eight tournaments in professional sumo and is the first top division wrestler in history from Kazakhstan, Mongolian-born Hokuseihō, who was encouraged to enter sumo by his now-stablemaster Miyagino, and nine-year sumo veteran Bushōzan. One other wrestler, Daishōhō, returns to the top division for the first time since November 2019. Asanoyama, who has been climbing the sumo ladder again since completing his one-year suspension and had won the jūryō title in January, just misses promotion to makuuchi and is ranked at jūryō 1 for March.

    March

  • 2: Daisuke Yanagihara files a lawsuit against the Japan Sumo Association and his former stablemaster Sadogatake seeking over ¥4.1 million in monetary damages. Among his claims, the 25-year-old says he was forced to retire when he was told he could not withdraw from the January 2021 sumo tournament because of his concerns over contracting COVID-19. This occurred shortly after the Japanese government declared its second state of emergency over the virus in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures. Yanagihara also alleges mistreatment of lower-division wrestlers in Sadogatake stable.
  • 10: Terunofuji withdraws from the March 2023 tournament, one day after stablemaster Isegahama suggested that there was "still something missing" upon observing the training of his Mongolian yokozuna. Terunofuji underwent knee surgery last October and has not participated in a professional sumo match since Day 9 of the September 2022 basho.
  • 18: Ōzeki Takakeishō withdraws on Day 7 of the March 2023 basho after three losses, ending his bid for promotion to sumo's top rank. He had suffered a left knee injury during his Day 3 victory over Shōdai, which he aggravated when losing to Mitakeumi on Day 6. Takakeishō's withdrawal leaves the sumo tournament with no competing yokozuna or ōzeki for the first time since the start of the Shōwa era in 1926.
  • 26: Mongolian sekiwake Kiribayama defeats komusubi Daieishō twice on the final day of the March 2023 tournament–once in their final scheduled match, and again in a playoff–to win the first top-division championship of his career. The playoff was set after Kiribayama's Day 15 victory left both him and Daieishō with 12–3 records. In the playoff, Kiribayama–who had a day of rest due to a default the previous day–used the same thrust down technique he used to defeat Daieishō the first time. The ringside judges had to make sure that Kiribayama did not accidentally step out of the dohyō before confirming the victory. The 26-year-old said after the competition that he didn't understand anything that was going on when he entered sumo in 2015, but "somehow, eight years later, I've made it this far." Kiribayama, who becomes sumo's ninth makuuchi champion from Mongolia, is now in a position to pursue promotion to the second-highest rank of ōzeki with a strong performance at the May basho. For using a variety of winning kimarite both Kiribayama and Daieishō receive the Ginō-shō for the second and first time, respectively. The other special prize goes to new maegashira Kinbōzan of Kazakhstan, who received the Kantō-shō after securing 11 victories in his top-division debut.
    Another Mongolian, Ichinojō, secures the jūryō championship. The former sekiwake had just been demoted to the second-highest division after serving a one-tournament COVID-19-related suspension. Right behind Ichinojō in the jūryō standings is former ōzeki Asanoyama, who seeks to return to sumo's top division for the first time after COVID violations resulted in his suspension for one year.
  • 29: The Sumo Association announces three promotions to the second-highest rank of jūryō for May. One of two newly promoted sekitori is, who entered sumo two years ago. With the exception of a playoff loss, he went undefeated in his first three tournaments, with a jonokuchi and sandanme championship to his name. The other new jūryō competitor is Tokihayate, who started sumo in 2019 and clinched the jonidan championship in his second tournament. 14-year veteran returns to jūryō after he was just demoted, having secured five wins at the rank of makushita 2 in the March tournament.
    Among the retirements announced by the Sumo Association is former maegashira Kagamiō, who concludes a two-decade career. Kagamiō fell off of the banzuke rankings after the July 2021 basho due to injury.

    April

  • 14: Stablemaster Arashio announces that sekiwake Wakatakakage will be sidelined for up to one year after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his right knee. He had damaged his right ACL and meniscus near the end of the March 2023 tournament during his match against komusubi Kotonowaka, forcing his withdrawal.
The spring jungyō were held at the following locations: