Ranks

Ranks are the titles sumo wrestlers hold to show how good they did relitave to there rank last tournament

THIS PART IS REAL

What Are The Ranks, And How Do Tournaments Work?
well, every sumo starts at a division known as MAE-ZUMO. some actually start at a special rank in the division of MAKUSHUTA known as MAKUSHITA-TSUKEDASHI.

after MAEZUMOU sumo wrestlers enter a division Known As JONOKUCHI the ranks in JONOKUCHI are like almost every other division JONOKUCHI 1 Is the best rank in JONOKUCHI. and whatever the lowest JONOKUCHI rank is in the tournament is the worst. there are typically 40-50 JONOKUCHI ranks in spring. and about 10-39 JONOKUCHI ranks all other times. This is because Japanese teens graduate in spring.

If a Sumo wrestler does good enough in JONOKUCHI they can make it to JONIDAN. Just Like JONOKUCHI, JONIDAN 1 Is The Best rank in JONIDAN, and whatever is the lowest is the worst. In all divisions, there are two sumo wrestlers with each rank, East and West. There are typically 100-120 JONIDAN ranks.

If the Sumo Wrestler in this introduction to ranks does good in JONIDAN after his Promotion from JONOKUCHI, He will Make it so SANDANME. Just like the previous two divisions SANDANME 1 is the best rank in SANDANME. and whatever is at the bottom of SANDANME is the worst. there are typically 100 SANDANME ranks.

If This Sumo Wrestler is lucky enough to make it to SANDANME and does good there. they will make it to MAKUSHITA. like it was said before, sumo Sumo Wrestlers start at MAKUSHITA. there are typically 60 Makushita ranks.

If a Sumo Wrestler Has mastered the lower divisions. He Will Make it to JURYO. JURYO has something different than the previous 3 divisions. Sumo Wrestlers who have made it there get some rewards. 1. They can change the color of there Mawashi (the diaper like things you see them fight in.) 2. They get to wear decorative aprons over there mawashi in the entering ceremony. 3. They get to have 15 matches instead of 7. Typically, The JURYO division consists of 13 JURYO ranks.

Did you Know? that the name JURYO means Ten Ryo. Because that used to be then salary that JURYO wrestlers got.

If the Sumo Wrestler has made it through all these divisions. they will make it to the top division. MAKUUCHI. however, MAKUUCHI consist of 5 Sub-Divisions. So I will tell you about them.

MAEGASHIRA is the first sub-division in MAKUUCHI. it is the sub-division that all New MAKUUCHI wrestlers start at. There are typically 12-16 MAEGASHIRA Ranks BUT! there used to be around 18-25 MAEGASHIRA ranks.

KOMUSUBI is the rank that good MAEGASHIRA Wrestlers get. it is the lowest rank in San'Yaku. There can be 2-4 KOMUSUBI Wrestlers.

SEKIWAKE is the next rank in San'Yaku It Is The rank that good KOMUSUBI wrestlers go to.

OZEKI is next, to be promoted to ozeki, you have to get at least 33 wins in the past 3 Tournaments. there are always 2-6 OZEKI Sumo Wrestlers

Did you Know? that before the war, Sumo Wrestlers could go straight from KOMUSUBI to OZEKI.

YOKOZUNA is the next rank and the highest rank achievable in sumo. to get this rank, a Sumo Wrestler would have to win 2 Tournaments in a row or an Acceptable performance at OZEKI. only 71 Sumo Wrestlers Have Ever Made It to YOKOZUNA in the history of the sport. 4 of those 71 may not have even existed. sometimes there are 0 YOKOZUNA other times there are 1, 2, 3 or 4.

TOURNAMENTS. every 2 months they hold a sumo tournament over the course of 15 days. with all the active Sumo Wrestlers. they hold them in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, And Fukuoka. Sumo Wrestlers Within the divisions of JONOKUCHI, JONIDAN, SANDANME And MAKUSHITA have only 7 fights of the possible 15, But Sumo Wrestlers within the ranks of JURYO, MAEGASHIRA, KOMUSUBI, SEKIWAKE, OZEKI and YOKOZUNA fight in all 15 unless the are injured, then they can sit out.

The Code
on the articles of Sumo Wrestlers. you will see a career record of them. The Ranks Go Like So:

JKxx e/w (JONOKUCHI)

JD xxx e/w (JONIDAN)

SD xxx e/w (SANDANME)

MS xx e/w (MAKUSHITA)

J xx e/w  (JURYO)

M xx e/w  (MAEGASHIRA)

K xx e/w  (KOMUSUBI)

S xx e/w  (SEKIWAKE)

O xx e/w  (OZEKI)

Y x e/w   (YOKOZUNA)

for the records it goes like this: amount of wins-amount of losses-amount of sit outs-amount of draws d/a/o

for the hoshitori (wins and losses chart) it goes like this: Win: O Loss: * Sit Out: - Loss By Default: # Win By Default: % Draw: ^

for the prizes it goes like this: Y: Yusho (Tournament Win) K: Kanto-Sho (Fighting Sprit Award) S: Shukun-Sho (Outstanding Preformance Award) G: Gino-Sho (Technique Award) Kinboshi: (MAEGASHIRA Defeats YOKOZUNA)

for the month and year of a tournament, it goes like this: XXXX.XX

Example: Kokuyama Hiroshi

1995.05 Ms15e O-O-O|-O-O-|O-O-O 7-0 Y Yusho

1995.07 J10e OOOOO|OOO*O|***** 9-6

1995.09 J3e  OOOOO|OOOOO|OOOOO 15-0 Y Yusho (1st)

1995.11 M8e  OOOOO|OOOOO|OOOOO 15-0 YKS Kanto-Sho (1st) Shukun-Sho (1st) Yusho (1st)

1996.01 S1e  **#--|%#---|- 1-4-10

1996.03 M13w -|-|- 0-0-15