Inside Sport Japan

New juryo interviews scheduled for this morning: Oshoma Chiyosakae Nishikawa (All are provisional. Confirmation will come in one hour or so)

Gokushindo's retirement leaves Mitoryu as the only (active) rikishi in Nishikido Beya.

Top two for everyone

Without defining 'Japanified' a quick verbal poll of the four people in the office here had him placed as the least Japanified of that group by three people and second from bottom by the other. It's subjective naturally but still interesting that you have the opposite impression.

Fan-produced content boosts sumo's international visibility - Japan Times (Contains mentions of this site and several of its members)

The IFS has withdrawn hosting rights for the 2023 SWC from Russia.

The Japan Times had a banzuke discussion that morphed into a kind of general sumo conversation on Twitter last night. It's available on demand (for how long?) at this link.

Ex-Wakanoho did a few events as well. Minaminoshima and Hoshikari likewise have strapped on mawashi in Australia. Former ozeki Baruto even competed in (and won) a tournament in Estonia a couple of years back. A few years ago the IFS codified what had previously been just the custom of former sekitori not competing in amateur tournaments so the latter two men won't be seen at the World Championships or World Games at any stage. Those who have reached makushita or lower are still eligible to compete as far as we know. In the case of private tournaments like the US Open or exhibition events such as 'Sumo & Sushi' you'll still see former makunouchi men competing (performing).

2022 Natsu Basho Banzuke Sheet

There were weight divisions but there was also an 'open-weight' competition that like ozumo has no limits. In the World Championships you can't enter more than one weight class so those in the open-weight competition mostly tend to be heavyweights. In the US Nationals, and other smaller tournaments around the world, open-weight tournaments also contain athletes that earlier fought in lightweight, middleweight etc. The reason is two-fold. (1) They don't have large numbers of competitors and would struggle to fill two heavy weight style competitions. (2) With wrestlers traveling long distances and paying their own way it prevents one-and-done kind of situations by giving them a second bite at the cherry so to speak and also helps ensure people don't just lose interest and leave early in the day.

Which is after the banzuke was made right?

Oshoma

We always have all the info like this each time if you want it.

Okuyama apparently took the March basho test today not the May one and will be on the banzuke next basho.

Late switch with Yoshiki Yamada of Dewanoumi not taking the test and Haruto Okuyama of Hakkaku being added.