From forum glossary: banzuke, an official calligraphy which determines the ranking of the rikishi, nowadays written by makuuchi-kaku Shikimori Toshihiro, published every two months usually on Monday thirteen days prior to the beginning of honbasho, see ita-banzuke, ebanzuke, Nen-Matsu-Nen-Shi ebanzuke, unofficial illustrated banzuke published by e.g. newspapers ita-banzuke, large wooden banzuke attached to yagura outside the honbasho venue Banzuke, that mysterious ranking sheet with lot of kanji and miraculously meticulous magnifying glass calligraphy. One of ozumo's unique features on the face of earth and dust of milkyway. The target of GTB speculation, the public birthday banzuke posing with a rikishi who is either shin-sekitori, shin-makuuchi, shin-sanyaku, shin-ozeki or possibly even shin-yokozuna (not sure if yokozuna smile at camera while sitting on futon and pointing their index finger at their shikona onto the banzuke they are holding while their oyakata sits next to them, maybe that is not done as yokozuna anymore). Such is banzuke. Many foreign sumofans want to touch banzuke and frame it on the wall! One obstacle in this universe is the lack of one language for all (if love isn't counted as such?? or MATH!, extra terrestials might communicate with math with us) so often it is problematic to decipher the contents of the banzuke. To this purpose our sinfully silent expert member Hananotaka had made this wonderful introduction or ABC of banzuke reading-post on sumo mailing list in 2000. I don't recall that any major changes has been made since 2000 to banzuke so probably this is very accurate even now. Here is Hananotaka's aka Josh Reyer's post: Okay, let's start in the middle. You should see three large characters in the very middle at the top of the banzuke. These characters read "Gomen Koumuro". In Edo times, these characters meant that permission had been received from the local shrines and temples to hold a sumo event. Directly below that is the pertinant basho information: reading vertically and from right to left, the first line lists the year (in traditional Japanese style), the second line lists the date ("15 days starting Sept 3", for example), the third line lists the venue (Kokugikan, or Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, etc.) the fourth line declares that it will be a performance of sumo. Below that is the word "gyoji", and below that are two big thick lines of characters with little tiny writing next to them. The line on the right says "Kimura Shonosuke", and the little writing says which Kimura Shonosuke he is (the current one is the 29th). The line on the left is, of course, Shikimori Iinosuke. Below these two lines follow the list of all gyoji. Below the gyoji are three characters written horizontally. This reads "wakaimonogashira", and is followed by a list of these not-quite-oyakatas. The next horizontal line of three characters reads "sewanin", followed by a list of sewanin. Finally, the two horizontally written kanji below that is "yobidashi", followed a partial list of the yobidashi. Finally, the big vertical kanji at the bottom are "Nihon Sumou Kyoukai", with the address written in small characters on the left. All righty, now lets get to the good stuff. If you look at the very top, just underneath the border and just above the big fat kanji, you'll see one tiny kanji on each side. The one on the right side is "higashi" (east), and the one on the left is, of course, "nishi" (west). The banzuke is written horizontally right to left, so the East Yokozuna is the name on the far right side of the right column, and the West Yokozuna is the name on the far right side of the left column. The top two kanji give the rank of the rikishi. The next two kanji list where the rikishi's from. Below that, in the really big characters, is the rikishi's full name (Akebono Taro, for example). Starting with "Yokozuna" on the right, and moving to the left, you can figure out the different kanji for Ozeki, sekiwake, komusubi, and maegashira. Moving down to the next level, we see that there is a bunch of names in thick kanji on the far right of each column. These are of course juryo. Yes, the character for their rank is "maegashira". The makushita rikishi are listed to the left of the juryo rikishi. Sometimes you'll see writing between their home prefecture and their shikona. This is usually a note for when rikishi change their shikona. The big thick character where the makushita ranks would be is the character "dou", meaning "the same". It's a shorthand way of noting that they are all (for banzuke purposes) maegashira, like juryo. The next level is sandanme. The next level is jonidan. The last level lists the jonokuchi rikishi on the far right of each column. In the right column, the jonokuchi rikishi are followed by the list of directors, (the Rijicho is listed on the far right), and then the list of the other various oyakata. At the top of this section, in large kanji, the various departments (riji, kanji, yakuin) are listed. The list of "regular" oyakata (that is, those not holding a really high position in the Kyokai) is continued in the left column. On the far left of the column are the toshiyori (the plainest of the plain oyakata), and jun-toshiyori, if any. Next to that, in it's own little box is a line stating that there will also be maezumo before the days bouts. In the lower left hand corner fo the banzuke, in thick letters is Senshuu Banzai Daidai Kanou, a statement of hope that no injuries will happen during the basho. The writing just outside the border on the lower left hand corner is the date of the announcement of the banzuke, and a warning that it's illegal to copy the banzuke without permission. And that's the banzuke! Hope this helped. There! (I am not worthy...) (Second prize...) and :'-( for not sharing more classic Hananotaka-expertism here (Second prize...) Then if you want to explore the depths of history, you are to go Kashunowaka's gold mine where you can spend small part of your youth/middle age/toddlerly dawn if you wish you explore all banzuke since 1960 and the basho results embedded! http://hakkeyoi.net/banzuke.cgi If you wish to spend too much time on banzuke, you are cordially urged to dive here to see all banzuke between 1757-2000. No basho results here though to spice things up: http://www.banzuke.com/banzuke/BanzukeIndex.html