Mochikyūkin
In sumo, -ranked wrestlers receive a monetary reward at the end of each tournament that supplements their basic salary. This system is called, and it is based on a personal bounty held by each wrestler called mochikyūkin.
Overview
In addition to their monthly salary, are eligible to receive monetary awards based on their performance in tournaments. These bounties are paid six times a year, at each tournament, to -ranked wrestlers. Wrestlers in the division and below do not receive a salary, though they are given an allowance.Since the most common way to increase the bounties is to achieve in a tournament, a match in which a wrestler stands at seven wins and seven losses on the final day of a tournament will decide whether he achieves or . This occurrence is sometimes referred to as ; a win in these circumstances is called, and a loss is called.
The with the smallest bounty was the 60th Futahaguro, who never won a championship. Having been in the makuuchi ranks for only 20 tournaments, he had received only at the time of his expulsion.
Calculation
When a wrestler enters professional sumo, he is credited with. Every time he achieves, this value increases by for each additional win over the number of losses. No deduction is made for a record, a leave of absence, or a suspension.There are minimum values of that are paid to wrestlers of different rank, should they not be eligible for a greater amount already. If a wrestler is subsequently demoted, any amount awarded through these minimums in excess of that earned via the wrestler's win-loss record will be deducted again from the account.
Bonuses
In addition, wrestlers with outstanding performances will receive bonuses. A will receive a bonus if he can defeat a during a tournament. Such a win is called a . Former Akinoshima won 16 during his career, which gave him a account that was larger than those of many.Winning the gives a bonus of, which increases to if the championship was won with a "perfect" record of 15–0, which is called a.
Conversion
The value of the account is multiplied by a predefined number to give the actual distributed monetary bonus to the wrestlers; the current multiplier, since the year 1998, is 4,000. This means that, as an example, a victory will be worth per annum additional income for the remainder of the wrestler's career.| Until 1969 | 1,000 |
| 1970–1984 | 1,500 |
| 1985–1997 | 2,500 |
| 1998–present | 4,000 |
Examples
With its strong bias towards large scores and top division championships, the highest accounts are credited to the strongest. accounts of over have been achieved by the very strongest such as Taihō, Chiyonofuji and Hakuhō.Hakuhō broke the record of set by Taihō.