John Gunning

For decades, one of sumo’s most unique selling points has been its accessibility. Contrary to foreign media’s ubiquitous framing of Japan’s national sport as a “secret world,” interaction between fans and wrestlers or stables has long been free, easy and […]

Wakaikari’s younger sibling Chugo Saito is the first-ever high schooler to get a special dispensation. Source link John Gunning

There was widespread surprise and disappointment among international sumo fans when the Japan Sumo Association announced on Dec. 19 that the capacity for next year’s July basho would be roughly 7,800. Given that Nagoya’s currently-under-construction IG Arena – which is

For the first time in seven years Japan has a new college football champion. In a thrilling back-and-forth shootout at Koshien Stadium on Sunday, Ritsumeikan University Panthers finally overcame dogged resistance from Hosei University Orange to claim the school’s ninth

1991 was a year in which there was hardly time to catch your breath, as seminal moments in history and popular culture seemed to arrive on a near weekly basis. Many were positive — decades of living in the shadow

When Daiki Nakamura (now ozeki Onosato) won back-to-back All Japan Sumo Championship titles in 2021 and 2022, it was the first time in 25 years that someone had repeated as amateur yokozuna. Incredibly, after that quarter-century-long gap — which followed

Terunofuji’s run as sumo’s only extant grand champion has passed the three-year mark, and while the Mongolian-born veteran remains by far the most successful active wrestler in the sport, whether or not he is still the best is a different

A little over 24 hours after Shohei Ohtani had arguably the greatest single game performance ever seen on a baseball diamond, 24-year-old sekiwake Onosato created some sporting history of his own. With victory over Hoshoryu, the Ishikawa Prefecture native claimed

Well on his way to ozeki, for Onosato, further promotion to yokozuna has become a question of when, not if. Source link John Gunning

Anyone following the Japan Sumo Association’s various social media feeds over the past couple of days will know that the tearing down and rebuilding of the ring in Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan has already begun. Requiring several days and dozens of