Japan finally has another yokozuna atop nation's beloved sport of sumo

New York Times

6 days ago

Sumo is Japan's beloved sport. Yokozuna is the sport's most prestigious title. And after 20 years of near-total dominance by Mongolian giants, a Japanese man once again holds the highest title in the country's national sport.
Ōnosato Daiki, a 24-year-old from Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture, officially stands at 6-feet-3 and weighs just over 420 pounds. On Wednesday, he became the 75th recognized yokozuna, the sport's highest title, in sumo's more than 1,000-year-old history.
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It took just six minutes for the Yokozuna Deliberation Council, an advisory group within the Japan Sumo Association (JSA), to unanimously approve Ōnosato's promotion to yokozuna on Monday. Two days later, the century-old JSA ratified his new rank in a ceremony that saw Ōnosato posing with two massive fish and toasting with a glass of beer.
The historical origins of yokozunas remain wrapped in myth and mystery, but the term itself refers to the white, 44-pound rope yokozuna wear around their waists during tournaments' opening ceremonies.
Winning two consecutive grand tournaments is generally considered the modern qualification for promotion to yokozuna. Ōnosato accomplished that feat with back-to-back championships in the March and May tournaments.
Ōnosato won promotion after just 13 tournaments, the fastest anyone has achieved yokozuna status since the official process began in 1958. It took Wajima Hiroshi, his closet competition for that record, 21 tournaments to win his promotion in 1973.
'I am truly happy. Now, things will become more important than ever. I want to stay focused and continue to work hard,' Ōnosato said at a press conference Wednesday. 'This is a very much unknown territory for me. I want to maintain my style, be Ōnosato, and I will work hard to become a unique and unparalleled yokozuna.'
Ōnosato is the first Japanese yokozuna since 2017, when his mentor, Kisenosato Yutaka, won promotion. Kisenosato was the first Japanese yokozuna since 1999, but his reign was brief as he retired in 2019 due to nagging injuries and a series of losses that reportedly made him seriously question his abilities.
Every other yokozuna named since the turn of the century has been Mongolian, a changing of the guard within the sport which can be partially attributed to a dip in sumo's popularity in Japan, an increase in countries represented at sumo tournaments and Mongolia's ancient wrestling tradition of its own.
Some origin stories date the first sumo match to around the time of the Roman Empire's founding, but these days, professional sumo has six divisions. Within those are five ranks, and wrestlers earn promotions and relegations based on their performance. At the top is the rank of yokozuna. Wrestlers at that level do not face demotion, so there can be, and often are, multiple yokozuna at one time.
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Because so few men have ever held the top rank, yokozuna face immense pressure to perform, and are expected to retire as soon as they are unable to compete at the highest level. Once they step away, they become 'elders' and often stablemasters, a role akin to head coaches in American sports if head coaches oversaw nearly every aspect of their athletes' lives. At that point, they generally take on a new name to accompany their new identity.
Yokozuna didn't become a ceremonial status until the 1700s, wasn't part of the sport's official historical record (the banzuke) until the 1890s and wouldn't become an official 'rank' until 1909.
There are six 15-day Grand Sumo tournaments, or honbasho, each year. Wrestlers win their matches by either forcing their opponent to the ground or pushing them out of a central circle called a dohyo. There's a short break and reset if the wrestlers reach an impasse. The longest sumo match on record lasted 32 minutes and included two of those pauses. But on average, a match lasts under 30 seconds.
Before Ōnosato's promotion this week, there was only one active yokozuna: Hōshōryū Tomokatsu of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. At 26 years old, 6-foot-2 and 331 pounds, Hōshōryū earned his white rope in January.
The start to Hōshōryū's run as yokozuna has had its ups and downs. He lost his very first match after achieving the rank at the March Grand Tournament, and midway through the event, he pulled out of the competition entirely due to a shoulder injury. He ended up with a 5-5 record.
The same injury contributed to a 2-2 start in this month's tournament, though he rebounded to win seven straight matches. Another loss came in round 12. But Hōshōryū finished strong with two more wins.
Then, in a showdown that portends a budding rivalry between sumo's top warriors, Hōshōryū handed Ōnosato his sole loss in the May tournament finale in Tokyo.
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Smashed backward by a brutal charge and throat strikes by Ōnosato, who outweighs him by about 100 pounds, Hōshōryū's foot nearly left the dohyo twice within the bout's first five seconds.
But Hōshōryū managed to grab hold of Ōnosato's belt and use the leverage to hurl him toward the edge. Ōnosato reached for the yokozuna's belt but could not get hold of it.
Less than a second later, Hōshōryū flipped Ōnosato into the dirt and out of the ring. Turning to the crowd, he gave a triumphant, forceful nod and stalked away from Ōnosato, who grimaced in pain and frustration. The two shared a final ceremonial bow and went their separate ways.
It was a huge moment for both men. This month's competition was Hōshōryū's first full grand tournament as yokozuna, and his victory spoiled Ōnosato's undefeated streak through the most consequential honbasho of his career.
Ōnosato took home the Emperor's Cup with a 14-1 record. His dream run was nearly perfect. Somewhat poetically, though, the man he now stands alongside was the one obstacle he couldn't overcome.
Hōshōryū finished with a 12-3 record and rose to 6-2 against Ōnosato overall.
'You could say he's my rival or perhaps even my benchmark. I certainly see him as a hurdle I have to clear,' Ōnosato said the day after the match.
As columnist John Gunning wrote for The Japan Times earlier this week, sumo could be in for a new golden age with the emergence of Hōshōryū and Ōnosato. And fans won't need to wait long to see a rematch.
Sumo's next grand tournament is in Nagoya in July. When the festivities reach their conclusion, it will be the first time in nearly six years that two yokozuna face each other to close a honbosho. Each will be motivated to avenge something.
For Hōshōryū, it will be another shot at his first Emperor's Cup as a yokozuna. For Ōnosato, it will be another shot at perfection. Both are looking for their first true triumph with a white rope. In a thousand-year-old sport where a split second can decide everything, two months will probably feel like an eternity.