New recruits Hatsu 2026

[Asashosakari]

17 hours ago, Yubinhaad said:

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.

A fan on Discord - who IIRC was also very early reporting Sukhbat's introduction to Asahiyama-beya in the first place - says it's Hakugetsurō. Quite a mouthful if true.

[Tochinofuji]

On 08/01/2026 at 22:31, 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.

Very much looking forward to seeing how Wakanofuji does in his debut! Hopefully his matches will be picked up in the travel diaries of a certain illustrious member here... (@Kintamayama, onegai itashimasu!) 

[Naganoyama]

NSK data:
SHIKONA	KANJI	NAME	HEYA	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	DOB	BIRTHPLACE
Sukhbat Ariunerdene	スフバット・アリュンエルデネ	Sukhbat Ariun Erdene	Asahiyama	176	130	29 - October - 2001	Mongolia
Ishida Renma	石田　漣眞	Ishida Renma	Oshima	175	133	26 - March - 2008	Kanagawa
Ito Kazuma	伊藤　和真	Ito Kazuma	Kokonoe	183	123	15 - October - 2007	Chiba
Nakazato Masaki	中里　昌暉	Nakazato Masaki	Tatsunami	184	144	29 - April - 2007	Nagasaki
Nara Subaru	奈良　昴	Nara Subaru	Takasago	176	135	20 - October - 2005	Aomori
Shiroishi Ren	白石　蓮	Shiroishi Ren	Oshima	174	95	27 - January - 2008	Hokkaido
Tanaka Shosei	田中　翔盛	Tanaka Shosei	Nakamura	175	156	06 - February - 2008	Oita
Yanagisawa Jinto	柳澤　仁利	Yanagisawa Jinto	Oshima	176	123	28 - August - 2007	Kanagawa

 

[Yubinhaad]

On 08/01/2026 at 15:34, Asashosakari said:

Ishida Renma -> Kyokurenma 旭漣眞 きょくれんま [given name not announced but clearly now different ]

His profile on the heya website shows 悠 as the new given name, but unfortunately they don't give readings for the given names. 

[Asashosakari]

On 10/01/2026 at 11:43, Asashosakari said:

A fan on Discord - who IIRC was also very early reporting Sukhbat's introduction to Asahiyama-beya in the first place - says it's Hakugetsurō. Quite a mouthful if true.

Confirmed by the heya.

 

[Asashosakari]

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

Takasago-beya: Nara Subaru 奈良 昴, 20 years old, Aomori prefecture Kitatsugaru-gun Nakadomari-machi

His heya profile has him as Asasubaru Shichigoro 朝昴 七五郎 あさすばる しちごろう.

(Via boss_jonokuchi on X and that in turn via an attentive user on Discord.)

Nakamura-beya's Tanaka will also need a proper shikona as there's already a Tanaka on the banzuke. That heya's website currently still has him as Tanaka (in the hoshitori at the bottom of the page), but already with a "name to be changed" disclaimer attached.

[Asashosakari]

Banzuke-gai Kyokuhayate will not be part of maezumo, as Oshima-beya reports him as still sidelined by a foot/ankle injury.

I also came across a brief fan tweet indicating that Toramusashi was seen in a recent Musashigawa-beya video, but no idea if that means he's good for a return.

 

[Asashosakari]

On 06/01/2026 at 05:26, Asashosakari said:

Nakazato 184 cm / 144 kg (Daily)

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.

Oh, one thing that I...didn't forget to mention, but rather intentionally skipped at the time: That Daily Sports article unusually claimed that while the Teruyutaka shikona has already been thought up for Nakazato, it's planned for him to use it "starting with the March tournament". I didn't put much stock in it at the time that I read it - I thought it's just some obtuse writing by a journalist who thinks that only banzuke-printed shikona matter - but I've since seen a fan claim that they were told the same thing by Nakazato personally.

I for one don't see much of a point in him doing maezumo and especially the shusse presentation under his real name when they already know what shikona to give him, but it's possible that we'll be seeing it play out like that for his maezumo debut in a few hours anyway. So, don't be surprised if there's "Nakazato" rather than "Teruyutaka".

(Tatsunami-beya as a whole has no history of doing things that way, so that's not where it's coming from.)

Edited yesterday at 16:54 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari]

Final administrative notes before we get to the coverage: Nakazato is indeed competing in maezumo under his real name, so he's only going to become Teruyutaka at a later time. (Or perhaps not at all if they're getting other ideas all of a sudden...) Meanwhile, Nakamura-beya's Tanaka has been sent to the dohyo under his real given name, competing as Shosei 翔盛 しょうせい. The Nakamura-beya website includes given names and readings for them, so we'll find out his eventually, but currently he has no profile yet.

And finally, one of six banzuke-gai rikishi has signed up as Kokonoe-beya's Chiyoryusei is accompanying shindeshi stablemate Ito to maezumo. This is already his third time through maezumo - and would be the fourth if his original dohyo debut hadn't been derailed by the pandemic back in 2023. He only did one bout the other two times he came back from banzuke-gai status and (spoiler) judging from his match today it's likely that it's going to go the same way again.

[Asashosakari]

Day 3

The action starts at 1:45 if you're not into enjoying the pre-session atmosphere.

Results:

Mz1   Chiyoryusei (0-1)       Mz4   Kyokugosei (1-0)
Mz2   Asasubaru (1-0)         Mz5   Kyokutaiyo (0-1)
Mz3   Shosei (1-0)            Mz6   Kyokurenma (0-1)
Mz8   Ito (0-1)               Mz7   Nakazato (1-0)

Taped-up Chiyoryusei wasn't the biggest test, but ex-baseball player Kyokugosei looked decently competent there. More pure aggression than actual sumo skills for now, but if people can hype up the likes of Hikarumusashi on little more than the same thing... Kyokugosei's two heyamates didn't fare as well today - Kyokutaiyo looked honestly a bit clueless out there (this ain't judo, looking for a collar grip won't do much good), and Kyokurenma had the misfortune of going against Shosei who is probably the best in the field here. Asasubaru has a two and a half year age advantage on Shosei though, so perhaps it's not a foregone conclusion who's going to finish 3-0. The final bout was a bit of a nothingburger, and probably would have been even if Ito had managed to get a proper tachiai going. Will be difficult for Ito to get a win in this crowd.

Standings:

Mz2  Asasubaru   Takasago   1-0 E   |   Mz1  Chiyoryusei  Kokonoe  0-1 E
Mz3  Shosei      Nakamura   1-0 E   |   Mz5  Kyokutaiyo   Oshima   0-1 W
Mz4  Kyokugosei  Oshima     1-0 W   |   Mz6  Kyokurenma   Oshima   0-1 W
Mz7  Nakazato    Tatsunami  1-0 W   |   Mz8  Ito          Kokonoe  0-1 E

Tomorrow's pairings will be easy to make if Chiyoryusei stays in, but he probably won't.

[Asashosakari]

Lulit was on location:

(The Kyokai's picture coverage is included in her message, matches 1 and 4 listed West-to-East there for who knows what reason.)

Edited 3 hours ago by Asashosakari