Major amateur champions (since 2000), eligible for makushita tsukedashi professional start

[Asashosakari 16,217]

In September 2000 the current makushita tsukedashi regulations were introduced, limiting eligibility to only the winners of the 4 major annual championships, and lasting for only 12 months from the date of victory. As before, prospective applicants also need to be under 25 years of age at the time of their turning professional.

These are the major winners since the start of this era.

darker cell background = multiple titles in one year
bold-face names = multiple titles in one year resulting in eligibility for Ms10 start (one title must be the All-Japan)
number in brackets = class year for student rikishi

Names are listed in [given name] [surname] order for Japanese champions, and [given name] [patronymic] for Mongolian winners. Deviating from that consistent approach, the "Turned Professional" column refers to Japanese entrants by surname but to Mongolian entrants by given name, as these are the respective parts of their names under which they are commonly listed in amateur tournament results.

Note: The eligibility period of 2019 results was extended to two years in response to the 2020 tournament cancellations caused by Covid-19. It is currently unknown if this extension will be carried over to results achieved in 2020 and beyond.
 

Year	All-Japan	University	Kokutai	Corporate	Turned Professional
2000	Izumi Uchida (2)	Toru Kakizoe (4)	Toru Kakizoe (4)	Kenichi Yajima	Kakizoe, [Uchida, see 2002]
2001	Masato Miyoshi (4)	Akira Narita (4)	Akira Narita (4)	Kazuhito(?) Shigemura	Miyoshi=Asahimaru, Narita=Takekaze
2002	Masatsugu Onishi (3)	Hideki Yokoyama (4)	Izumi Uchida (4)	Akihide Asada	Onishi=Yoshikaze(Mz), Uchida=Futeno, [Yokoyama, see 2003]
2003	Koichi Kato	Yoshiyuki Kanbayashi (4)	Issei Nakano (4)	Hideki Yokoyama	Kanbayashi=Oiwato, Nakano=Buseizan, Yokoyama=Takamifuji
2004	Takayuki Toganoki	Akifumi Hakiai (4)	Akifumi Sakamoto	Tadashi(?) Maeda	Hakiai
2005	Katsuo Yoshida (4)	Keisho Shimoda (4)	Keisho Shimoda (4)	Fumio Ogasawara	Shimoda=Wakakeisho
2006	Takayuki Ichihara (4)	Tomoki Mori (4)	Takayuki Ichihara (4)	Tatsunori Kokumae	Ichihara=Kiyoseumi, Mori=Daishoumi
2007	Takashi Himeno	Shota Enomoto (4)	Satoru Shibuya	Katsuo Yoshida
2008	Mutoshi Matsunaga	Takayuki Sakuma (2)	Yasunari Miyamoto (4)	Satoru Shibuya	Sakuma=Jokoryu(Mz), Miyamoto=Myogiryu
2009	Genki Tomita (4)	Taro Morimoto (4)	Taro Morimoto (4)	Kengo Arakizeki
2010	Satoru Shibuya	Hidemasa Meigetsuin (4)	Hidemasa Meigetsuin (4)	Hiroaki Tanaka	Meigetsuin=Chiyotairyu
2011	Mutoshi Matsunaga	Naoya Shodai (2)	Masahiro Yamaguchi (4)	Kengo Arakizeki	Shodai(Mz), Yamaguchi=Daikiho
2012	Shota Endo (4)	(大輝) Daiki Nakamura (2)	Shota Endo (4)	Kengo Arakizeki	Endo, [Nakamura, see 2013]
2013	Shogo Kawabata (4)	Kohei Ichinose (4)	(大輝) Daiki Nakamura (3)	Ichinnorov Altankhuyag	Kawabata=Daishomaru, Nakamura=Hokutofuji(Mz), Ichinnorov=Ichinojo
2014	Hisashi Omichi (4)	Hisashi Omichi (4)	Kengo Arakizeki	Keisuke Yoshida	Omichi=Mitakeumi
2015	Turbold Baasansuren (3)	Kojiro Kurokawa (2)	Soichiro Kurokawa	Genki Sakamoto	Sakamoto=Daiamami, [Turbold, see 2016]
2016	Takanori Yago (4)	Turbold Baasansuren (4)	Tomohiro Saigo	Genki Tomita	Yago, Turbold=Mitoryu
2017	Tomohiro Saigo	Nozomi Nakashima (4)	Seira Shiroyama (2)	Soichiro Kurokawa
2018	Kojiro Kurokawa	Yota Kanno (2)	Seira Shiroyama (3)	Kojiro Kurokawa	Kanno(Sd)
2019	Koshiro Tanioka (4)	(泰輝) Daiki Nakamura (1)	(泰輝) Daiki Nakamura (1)	Kengo Arakizeki
2020	Hidetora Hanada (1)	Delgerbayar Purevsuren (4)	tournament cancelled	tournament cancelled	Delgerbayar=Oshoma
2021	(泰輝) Daiki Nakamura (3)	Keita Kawazoe (4)	tournament cancelled	tournament cancelled

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Asashosakari

[Gurowake 2,911]

Well, after the first two that failed to use their eligibility on time getting only 2 and 1 losses in their first 4 basho, I imagine that Shodai picking up 4 makes the Kyokai much more comfortable their ridiculous system. Any idea whether we'll be seeing Daiki Nakamura in maezumo in 2015 now that he's presumably graduated without a win in his senior year?

Is all-Japan just considered a more prestigious tournament? I suppose the field is bigger than the two that are for college/not-college, but is the Kokutai considered weaker because of the more restrictive format? You mentioned for the 2012 Kokutai event that Ichinojo wasn't there despite having been active but you didn't know if it was due to injury or having qualified due to other strong rikishi. How does one qualify for these events? Are they all straight knockout?

Edited December 18, 2014 by Gurowake

[Asashosakari 16,217]

Updated for new deshi Nakamura and Omichi, and Kawabata has a proper shikona now. And links to DB profiles added.

[Asashosakari 16,217]

Is all-Japan just considered a more prestigious tournament?

Most definitely. It's basically a "best of the best" tournament, including a special invitation to the just-crowned high school champion in addition to all the top rikishi from both the collegiate and corporate circuits (who otherwise rarely face off).

I suppose the field is bigger than the two that are for college/not-college, but is the Kokutai considered weaker because of the more restrictive format?

I can only speak from purely results-based observation, but the three-rikishi-per-prefecture makeup of the Kokutai field means that the quality of the field is very hit and miss, with some strong prefectures like Tokyo having to leave behind lots of talent while minnows like Shiga regularly show up with a trio that has no chance of winning a single bout (unless the prefecture happens to be drawn against another minnow).

And then there's the fact that the individual competition is only tacked on - it doesn't even actually count for the overall Kokutai standings, only the team competition does. That's also reflected in how it's organized: There are no individual prelim bouts, the individual playoffs simply consist of all the rikishi who went 3-0 in their team matchups. Limiting it to the 3-0's means that luck of the draw can play a big role because two strong prefectures being drawn against each other may not hurt their chances for the team competition (where the top 16 squads advance), but can see strong individual performers eliminated right away. If I'm not mistaken, the University and All-Japan championships take those who finish the prelims at 2-1 as well.

I'm not actually sure how the prefectural squads are selected. I think for the junior squads there are generally prefectural selection tournaments - might be the same tournaments that are used to send individual competitors to the National Inter-High School Championship. For the adult squads I really have no idea; I suspect in some prefectures there's simply a nomination committee in the prefectural amateur sumo federation, others may have some sort of competition-based process. Many choices are probably no-brainers anyway, especially on the weak/low-depth teams.

---

For the other three championships it should be based mainly on the university and corporate circuit tournaments, although on the collegiate side I'm not sure if the invitations are entirely results-based or if the universities just get allotted a certain number of spots for which they can then do their nominations in-house.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 16,217]

After two years an update again, and also an opportunity to replace the broken old table code.

[Asashosakari 16,217]

Opening post updated with the 2017 winners. Is Nozomi the correct reading of Nakashima's given name? I had to go by the videos from the university championship, and my track record in audio identification of names is mixed at best.

[mikawa 1,647]

On 04/12/2017 at 09:40, Asashosakari said:

Opening post updated with the 2017 winners. Is Nozomi the correct reading of Nakashima's given name? I had to go by the videos from the university championship, and my track record in audio identification of names is mixed at best.

It should be, others who have the same single-kanji given name as him are all Nozomis.

[Asashosakari 16,217]

After nearly four years, an update to the table in the opening post, with some expanded notes. Corrections and additions welcome.

[Katooshu 1,825]

Let's see if the current Daiki Nakamura can become the first to appear on the list 3 times during his college days.....