New recruits Hatsu 2026

[Akinomaki]

The article doesn't mention if he'll join for Hatsu or Haru, but reporting to the mayor indicates he'll join soon - no it's Haru, as a new article reports

Hiroto Umeki 梅木 広兜（ひろと） (18, 173cm, 145kg) from the sumo club of Oita pref. Hita forestry engineering high school will join Hanaregoma-beya, as the 3rd from the school, the last was 2 years ago Ikazuchiarashi. Influenced by his uncle he started with sumo at age 6, going to a sumo club in Nita from his hometown Kusu. The rikishi he aims for is heya sempai Ichiyamamoto, oshi-zumo is his speciality.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/media/2025/11/20251119-OYS1I50033-1.jpgo

Best result is a runner-up this year at the pref. level interhigh and win with the team as taisho o

http://www.oita-press.co.jp/-/media/Images/oita-press/2025/06/01/JDC2025060100859_01_59821.jpg

(VPN for Japan)

At the kokuspo juniors this year, he lost in the first bout of the final tournament https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku81caDgdrI

the other 2 from Rinko high

On 05/03/2024 at 15:56, Akinomaki said:

On 01/03/2024 at 15:49, Akinomaki said:

Oita Hita-rinko high, sumo club member Kazuki Iwamoto 岩元風樹  (170cm, 145kg), Hita local, had the press conference to join Ikazuchi-beya. The oyakata was at the school for the announcement today. He started with sumo age 3 and wanted to become a rikishi from early on, one loved and supported by all, aiming for yokozuna. He won at the prefecture interhigh and was at national tournaments.

Even a small oyakata like Kakizoe gets an even smaller deshi

with the eldest brother of Iwamoto, the sumo club advisor

The 2nd from the school after Kotodaigo to go into ozumo.

Edited December 12, 2025 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki]

The 2nd new recruit for Nakamura-beya, Nakatsu higashi high 3rd year Shosei Tanaka 田中翔盛  (174cm, 155kg), also from Oita pref. Undefeated in pref. tournaments and in the best 5-8 at the kokuspo juniors in 1st year. The tsukioshi specialist has straightforward goals: "The goal in front of me is winning, the goal from now on is, I want to gambarize and become sekitori." Shisho Yoshikaze graduated from the predecessor, Nakatsu kogyo high school and had his eyes on Tanaka since he was in middle school.

The oyakata was at the school on the 25th

http://hochi.news/images/2025/11/25/20251125-OHT1I51301-L.jpgo

 

Edited December 13, 2025 by Akinomaki

[Reonito]

I'm sure it's somewhere on the forum, but do we know yet who'll start at Ms60TD at Hatsu?

[Asashosakari]

1 hour ago, Reonito said:

I'm sure it's somewhere on the forum, but do we know yet who'll start at Ms60TD at Hatsu?

Only Bukhchuluun for sure so far. Any others will probably be announced before the Kyokai staff go on their Christmas / New Year's break.

Edited November 26, 2025 by Asashosakari

[Akinomaki]

New recruit without sumo experience for Oshima-beya: Jindo Yanagisawa (or -zawa) 柳沢仁利 (177cm, 117kg), 3rd year at Kanagawa pref. Hakusan high in Yokohama, baseball club member.

He got interested in sumo by watching a yusho ketteisen of Hakuho and Asashoryu on YT, in winter last year he got in contact with Kyokutaisei via Instagram, that led to entering the heya.

The rikishi of his aspiration is Hoshoryu

The oyakata was at the school today with Kyokukaiyu (from Kanagawa pref's Asahigaoka high)

o o

o o ooo

with the club members

o

Edited December 8, 2025 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki]

From Nakadomari town (home of Takarafuji) for Takasago- and not Isegahama-beya: Subaru Nara 奈良昴 (20, 178cm, 130kg), from the sumo club of Aomori stronghold Goshogawara agriculture and forestry high school. He reported to the town mayor on the 9th that he aims for sekitori and wants to become a strong rikishi loved by all. He started to do sumo at the Nakadomari dojo at age 6, with the team he had the yusho at the 74th national high school newcomer tournament in 2022, runner-up at the Kanazawa tournament in 2023 and 3rd at the interhigh.  o

o

local TV news clip https://www.aba-net.com/news/news-167736.html

Edited December 10, 2025 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki]

The shindeshi kensa for the basho is on Jan.5th, as usual the same day as the YDC keiko soken.

Pre- and post-basho schedule https://www.sanspo.com/article/20251212-O2HOHVD6HFPIPCA7EBEET4B6IM/#:~:text=相撲 

[Akinomaki]

On 26/11/2025 at 10:15, Akinomaki said:

The 2nd new recruit for Nakamura-beya, Nakatsu higashi high 3rd year Shosei Tanaka 田中翔盛  (174cm, 155kg), also from Oita pref. Undefeated in pref. tournaments and in the best 5-8 at the kokuspo juniors in 1st year. The tsukioshi specialist has straightforward goals: "The goal in front of me is winning, the goal from now on is, I want to gambarize and become sekitori." Shisho Yoshikaze graduated from the predecessor, Nakatsu kogyo high school and had his eyes on Tanaka since he was in middle school.

Tanaka started with sumo in 2nd year primary school and wants to become a rikishi like Ura, with speed as his characteristics and popular. 

o o

- with tsukioshi alone, he won't produce the popular sumo that Ura shows

Edited December 13, 2025 by Akinomaki

[Yubinhaad]

Oshima-beya will have two new recruits for this basho, the other one is 17-year-old Ishida Renshin? (石田 漣眞), a third-year student at Asahigaoka High School and part of the sumo club there. The shisho and past Asahigaoka graduate Kyokukaiyu visited for a press conference last week.

[I am the Yokozuna]

On 16/12/2025 at 22:08, Yubinhaad said:

Ishida Renshin? (石田 漣眞)

Ishida Renma

[Yubinhaad]

Oshima-beya announces a third new recruit for this basho, 17-year-old Shiraishi Ren (白石 蓮). He's a member of the judo club at Iwamizawa Agricultural High School in Hokkaido, but has visited the heya a few times for experience and now joins formally.

 

 

[Akinomaki]

8 have applied for the shindeshi kensa on the 5th, among them a one year late Mongolian, for Asahiyama-beya

On 02/11/2024 at 09:42, Akinomaki said:

4th years with tsukedashi

sdTD

...

Arjunerdene Sükhbat アリュンエルデネ  スフバット (Tottori->Senshu)

Sükhbat or Sukhbat is 24 and needs the extended entry exception for accomplished athletes, till Aki he could have started as sdTD with the best 16 result at the student championships, but he entered the heya at the usual time for university graduates (around May) and had to do the 6 months kenshu period (I guess he didn't find a heya early enough). He arrived in Japan as 2nd year high school student and started as first year at Tottori Johoku. o

Edited December 25, 2025 by Akinomaki

[Asashosakari]

May has somehow become more common over the last few years, but traditionally the shindeshi-kensa months for university graduates have been January and March.

[Akinomaki]

On 25/12/2025 at 22:24, Akinomaki said:

8 have applied for the shindeshi kensa on the 5th, among them a one year late Mongolian, for Asahiyama-beya

Sukhbat

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2025/12/26/kiji/20251226s00005000047000c.html

On 10/12/2025 at 21:30, Akinomaki said:

From Nakadomari town (home of Takarafuji) for Takasago- and not Isegahama-beya: Subaru Nara 奈良昴 (20, 178cm, 130kg), from the sumo club of Aomori stronghold Goshogawara agriculture and forestry high school.

Classmate of Anhibiki, after graduation he got a job in his hometown and was at corporate sumo tournaments.

Others from high school sumo are Nakamura's Tanaka, Ishida Renma, who has a best 8 result only with the team - beating Saitama's Tamiya once at the interhigh team qf, and Masaki Nakasato/-zato 中里昌暉 (18) from Hokusho Nogyo high in Hirado, Nagasaki for Tatsunami-beya - he was at a Kyushu tournament.

o

2 from other sports, 1 not yet in the thread

[Ryoshishokunin]

On 25/12/2025 at 22:24, Akinomaki said:

 till Aki he could have started as sdTD with the best 16 result at the student championships, but he entered the heya at the usual time for university graduates (around May) and had to do the 6 months kenshu period (I guess he didn't find a heya early enough).

As if there weren't enough reasons to be annoyed at the kenshu system.  I feel like if the JSA is making them wait, their TD qualifications should *also* wait.  

[Akinomaki]

On 26/12/2025 at 23:05, Akinomaki said:

Masaki Nakasato/-zato 中里昌暉 (18) from Hokusho Nogyo high in Hirado, Nagasaki for Tatsunami-beya - he was at a Kyushu tournament.

Nakasato (186cm, 140kg) is from Sasebo and first did judo. He was diagnosed with ADHD in nursery school and was in a special class till middle school graduation. He learned that the school he thought about to go to had a sumo club as well, he loved sumo and decided to proceed to Hokusho Nogyo high in Hirado.

His shikona - from the start - is made from one kanji each of the shikona of the new shisho Asahiyutaka and the name of the school's sumo coach: 照豊, so likely read Teruyutaka - could be just from the shisho, Asahiyutaka Katsuteru 旭豊 勝照

o

[Asashosakari]

On 25/12/2025 at 22:24, Akinomaki said:

8 have applied for the shindeshi kensa on the 5th (...)

I'm late with the data, but here it is.

• Asahiyama-beya: Ariunerdene Sukhbat アリュンエルデネ スフバット, 24 years old
• Kokonoe-beya: Ito Kazuma 伊藤 和真, 18 years old, Chiba prefecture Asahi-shi
• Nakamura-beya: Tanaka Shosei 田中 翔盛, 17 years old, Oita prefecture Nakatsu-shi
• Oshima-beya:
  • Ishida Renma 石田 漣眞, 17 years old, Kanagawa prefecture Chigasaki-shi
  • Shiroishi Ren 白石 蓮, 17 years old, Hokkaido prefecture Iwamizawa-shi
  • Yanagisawa Jinto 柳澤 仁利, 18 years old, Kanagawa prefecture Yokohama-shi Izumi-ku
• Takasago-beya: Nara Subaru 奈良 昴, 20 years old, Aomori prefecture Kitatsugaru-gun Nakadomari-machi
• Tatsunami-beya: Nakazato Masaki 中里 昌暉, 18 years old, Nagasaki prefecture Sasebo-shi

Tanaka, Ishida and Shiroishi are all of regular high school graduation age and just haven't turned 18 yet at this time; their birthdays are between now and the end of March.

Height/weight data could become available today, if one of the papers decides to publish what went on at the shindeshi kensa. (So far I'm only seeing articles about Sukhbat...)

Looks like Kokonoe's Ito is the only mystery kid about whom information hasn't already been posted in the thread.

[Akinomaki]

The 8 passed the initial checks and wait for the results of the medicals, to be announced on day 1

The papers mainly with Sukhbat, pics only him so far

o o o o

oo o

but the NSK posted all 8 (Thumbnails with heads cut off, I switched it to small, which is quite big though, linked to really big)

Nara

o

Tanaka

o

Yanagisawa

o

Shiraishi

o

Ishida

o

Nakazato

o

Ito

o

Sukhbat

o

 

Edit: later pics from the papers: Yanagisawa, Nakazato

o o o

Edited January 6 by Akinomaki

[Asashosakari]

Some official height/weight data that has surfaced so far:

Nakazato 184 cm / 144 kg (Daily)
Sukhbat 176 cm / 130 kg (Nikkan and others)
Yanagisawa 176 cm / 123 kg (Sanspo)
 

On 04/01/2026 at 10:26, Akinomaki said:

Nakasato (186cm, 140kg) is from Sasebo and first did judo. He was diagnosed with ADHD in nursery school and was in a special class till middle school graduation. He learned that the school he thought about to go to had a sumo club as well, he loved sumo and decided to proceed to Hokusho Nogyo high in Hirado.

Nakazato says that he likes to cook and he's actually looking forward to be put on chanko duty. He had originally sent a hand-written letter to Tatsunami-beya requesting to be allowed to join, and Tatsunami-oyakata ventured out to Nagasaki to meet him in person one day after the end of Aki basho, which surprised Nakazato. It won't come as a shock that he had formed certain expectations of the heya atmosphere from the stable's prominent Youtube presence, and so far he's grateful and happy that things are just like he had hoped for. "All the anideshi are very kind," he says.
 

On 08/12/2025 at 12:17, Akinomaki said:

New recruit without sumo experience for Oshima-beya: Jindo Yanagisawa (or -zawa) 柳沢仁利 (177cm, 117kg), 3rd year at Kanagawa pref. Hakusan high in Yokohama, baseball club member.

Yanagisawa was the cleanup hitter for his team and he's said to have hit 11 home runs during his high school career. (I have no idea if that's many for three years at that level, but I guess he wouldn't have kept batting fourth if he wasn't good at it.) He wants to bring his baseball-honed strength to sumo and employ a powerful style of fighting, aiming to reach the top division as the "first" goal for his career. Well, then.
 

On 25/12/2025 at 22:24, Akinomaki said:

On 02/11/2024 at 09:42, Akinomaki said:

4th years with tsukedashi

sdTD

...

Arjunerdene Sükhbat アリュンエルデネ  スフバット (Tottori->Senshu)

Sükhbat or Sukhbat is 24 and needs the extended entry exception for accomplished athletes, till Aki he could have started as sdTD with the best 16 result at the student championships, but he entered the heya at the usual time for university graduates (around May) and had to do the 6 months kenshu period (I guess he didn't find a heya early enough). He arrived in Japan as 2nd year high school student and started as first year at Tottori Johoku. o

Nikkan noted Sukhbat's "fluent" Japanese as he stated a goal of getting to juryo in two years or less. He originally did judo back in Mongolia at the initiative of his father, a world-class judoka in his own right. (I believe this is him: Batbayar Ariunerdene...a young father, only 18 years between them. Incidentally, he's now governor of Bulgan Province and a regional youth judo tournament appears to be named after him.) Moving to Japan to do sumo at Tottori Johoku Sukhbat was surrounded by teammates such as the future Hakunofuji and Mienofuji and apparently didn't have any really major results; Nikkan highlights a last 32 in the national high school championship during his senior year.

Things picked up somewhat in university, although his biggest successes "only" came in weight-limit competition: In his third and fourth years he finished runner-up in the under-135 kg category of the national student weight-class championships both times, and won the category outright in the East Japan championship during his third year. As noted above he did reach the last 16 of the (open-weight) national student championship as a senior as well, but that appears to be the extent of his claims to fame in unrestricted competition. Perhaps not such a surprise that he found it difficult to secure a heya, and at the kensa he expressed his gratitude to Asahiyama-oyakata (and -okamisan): "If they hadn't taken me in, I'd be back in Mongolia now. I'll be doing my best to repay their generosity."

(I can't help but note that he's been training under professional conditions for some eight months now and he's still under 135 kg. According to Mainichi's data from the 2024 student championship he had the same 130 kg back then, so it's not a case of him having competed at -135kg while being significantly below the limit. He just hasn't put on any weight at all in the last year and a half. Could prove problematic as the rest of his skill package doesn't quite appear to make up for his lack of size as it does for, say, Futagoyama's Mita or the about-to-debut Bukhchuluun.)

Edited January 6 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari]

On 05/01/2026 at 09:38, Asashosakari said:

Oshima-beya:

• Ishida Renma 石田 漣眞, 17 years old, Kanagawa prefecture Chigasaki-shi
• Shiroishi Ren 白石 蓮, 17 years old, Hokkaido prefecture Iwamizawa-shi
• Yanagisawa Jinto 柳澤 仁利, 18 years old, Kanagawa prefecture Yokohama-shi Izumi-ku

The heya itself released their shikona a few days ago:

Ishida Renma -> Kyokurenma 旭漣眞 きょくれんま [given name not announced but clearly now different ]
Shiroishi Ren -> Kyokutaiyo 旭大陽 きょくたいよう
Yanagisawa Jinto -> Kyokugosei 旭轟星 きょくごうせい

Pictures!

Spoiler

-taiyo, -gosei, -renma:

-renma, -gosei, -taiyo:

Kyokurenma:

Kyokutaiyo:

Kyokugosei:

 

[Asashosakari]

Bukhchuluun will be making his debut on Day 2, and the Fanclub torikumi preview has his shikona as 和歌ノ富士. No confirmed reading (his Kyokai profile still isn't updated), but fairly safe to say that it's Wakanofuji - the first two kanji must have been taken from his shisho's former shikona, Tochinowaka 栃乃和歌.

Edited Friday at 06:31 by Asashosakari

[Tochinofuji]

51 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

Bukhchuluun will be making his debut on Day 2, and the Fanclub torikumi preview has his shikona as 和歌ノ富士. No confirmed reading (his Kyokai profile still isn't updated), but fairly safe to say that it's Wakanofuji - the first two kanji must have been taken from his shisho's former shikona, Tochinowaka 栃乃和歌.

Profile now updated, with the Wakanofuji reading confirmed. 

[Yubinhaad]

10 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

Bukhchuluun will be making his debut on Day 2, and the Fanclub torikumi preview has his shikona as 和歌ノ富士. No confirmed reading (his Kyokai profile still isn't updated), but fairly safe to say that it's Wakanofuji - the first two kanji must have been taken from his shisho's former shikona, Tochinowaka 栃乃和歌.

 

Nearly eleven years since we last had three five-character shikona at the same time. This is one that hasn't been used before.

By the way, I've seen online that Sukhbat's shikona will be 白月狼 when he eventually debuts in March, but no reading given yet.

[Reonito]

Don't we have enough fujis in Isegahama?

[Gurowake]

On 05/01/2026 at 23:26, Asashosakari said:

Yanagisawa was the cleanup hitter for his team and he's said to have hit 11 home runs during his high school career. (I have no idea if that's many for three years at that level, but I guess he wouldn't have kept batting fourth if he wasn't good at it.)

Hitting 11 home runs in high school is generally really good, at least from my perspective where they were extremely rare due to a general lack of boundaries - usually the outfield went on essentially much further than anyone could realistically hit it, and there weren't any spectators in that direction.  It does depend on the places he's playing though.  I recall one game I played in high school where they set up a temporary boundary that was pretty arbitrary.  One guy on our team hit two home runs that game that would have just been very long fly balls that might have gone past the outfielders without the boundary, but probably wouldn't have been good enough to round all the bases.