It’s been quite the year for grand sumo, and it was hard for me to remember that some of these things happened this year, not the last! Let’s look at the year in review, including this year’s debutants, yusho winners, and rapidly transforming san’yaku.

Hatsu 2025

First things first: at the beginning of this year, we had Terunofuji. We got just four matches from the Dai-Yokozuna until he pulled out following his loss to Tobizaru; he announced his retirement on January 17. And, bizarrely, the sumo world hadn’t even been focused on him: all eyes were on Kotozakura, after his 14-1 yusho in November. His rope run was abruptly ended, however, when it became clear he’d sustained some sort of injury (whether to his back, his knees, or his ego is unknown) and he had a catastrophic 5-10 basho.

All eyes rolled, then turned to the man opposite him on the banzuke, Hoshoryu. Onosato was eyeing the Emperor’s Cup, but Hoshoryu was set on the yusho and the belt. With the Yokozuna and the senior Ozeki having disaster tournaments, he lost to a random group of Maegashira and had a stellar 12-3 yusho. He beat both Kinbozan and Oho, the two young threats down the banzuke, to secure the yusho. That left everyone with the same question: does he get the promotion? On January 29, the answer was revealed: yes.

There were pretty much immediate concerns that Hoshoryu wasn’t up to the task; it wasn’t clear yet whether Onosato was either, and it was obvious Kotozakura had no business as a Yokozuna. Sumo fans speculated that Hoshoryu was only promoted because he’s a legacy or because the JSA needed a Yokozuna; as a Hoshoryu fan, I do think there’s a little truth in that. The rare circumstance of having no Yokozuna was definitely weighed in the decision of whether or not to promote him. But I do think that he’s proved himself since then.

Haru 2025

Spoiler alert: Hoshoryu had a rough Yokozuna debut. He was struggling from the get-go and ended up winning, losing, and pulling out for five days each. With the exception of Abi and Oho, san’yaku did well, and the Waka brothers at Maegashira 1 both had pretty good showings. Takayasu had a really good tournament. But two people dominated this basho: East Ozeki Onosato and top division debutant Aonishiki.

There had already been a lot of hype around Aonishiki; his entry into Japan and into sumo was pretty well-documented, and he went 11-4, a very strong showing for his first basho in Makuuchi. Seven rikishi had wins in the double digits; Ozeki Onosato and Takayasu both finished with 12-3 records, meaning they faced off in a playoff. Onosato won, claiming the Emperor’s Cup, and Onosato officially began his Yokozuna run.

I’d also like to mention that Churanoumi went 11-4. Let’s go, Chu! (We do not talk about Ura make-koshi–they basically aren’t real. They never happened.)

Natsu 2025

Hoshoryu was back and in rare form; this time he proved that he earned that rank. He did not, let’s be clear, win the tournament. But he did come really close. Ura was hurt, which was bad. Churanoumi was just… kind of bad. He was a little overranked. Kinbozan did very well, though! (Rough basho for Kise.)

Aonishiki went 11-4 again, this time from Maegashira 9, as did Kirishima from Sekiwake. There was some discussion of the latter making it back up to Ozeki, and right beneath him on the banzuke, some people had questions about Wakatakakage’s 12-3 showing. Poor old Takayasu went 6-9, and Kotozakura was (as always) 8-7, but the rest of san’yaku got double digit victories, which is pretty impressive.

Onosato won with relatively little fanfare in terms of the actual tournament; he lost to Hosh, who defended from the zensho-yusho, but Onosato’s 14-1 record was a very, very loud knock on the doors of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council. I can’t imagine the meeting took more than five minutes; on May 28, they announced that Onosato would be promoted to Yokozuna. There was so little opposition–only Hoshoryu actually managed to beat him, which says something about Onosato that still (unfortunately for Hoshoryu) holds going into 2026: he is really difficult to beat.

Nagoya 2025

Hoshoryu screwed everything up again–he managed one win and four losses before he took one look around the banzuke and was like, “I’m out of here.” Onosato was good, but he wasn’t Onosato good, meaning he finished 11-4. It’s kind of depressing that that’s not an amazing showing by his standards–the bar is stratospherically high.

Shockingly to everyone, Kotozakura went 8-7. So did Kirishima, which was nice, but didn’t encourage the hope for his re-promotion. Daieisho basically exploded his right calf, and he missed the entire tournament. Endo was recovering from his knee surgery and also missed the basho. Takerufuji, Hidenoumi, and Tobizaru all got hurt and spent 2 days out. Ura got his positive record, tweaked his knee, and decided not to tempt fate, so he pulled out for the last day. Wakatakakage went 10-5 and got everyone’s hopes up for a promotion to Ozeki. Oshoma sucked; Takayasu was pretty good. San’yaku was pretty divided.

You might have noticed no one in san’yaku did very well. If you did, you would be correct. It was a really weird tournament. Fujinokawa had his first tournament up, and his first with the new shikona, and he went 10-5. Kusano also made his debut, which was very exciting. He and the young Ukrainian (not Shishi, who punched his ticket to Juryo) both went 11-4. But it was Maegashira 15 Kotoshoho who walked away with the yusho. Usually, the basho winners look really happy; he looked kind of surprised. And no one looked more depressed than Kotozakura at Kotoshoho’s party. A lot of people got hurt, which I guess is part of it, and Onosato was under a lot of pressure–but that was a strange basho.

Aki 2025

Starting it off with the best news ever to come out of sumo: Kotozakura actually managed nine wins this time! He pulled out for one day, but other than Takerufuji, no one else spent any time in the infirmary, a striking contrast to the last tournament. I should mention that poor Takerufuji tore his bicep; he didn’t fight at all. Endo was in Juryo and also sat out for the whole tournament. There were some rumors that Kirishima broke his wrist; I have yet to confirm if that rumor was ever true, but he went 6-9, so it’s possible.

Ura went 10-5, and Chu went 9-6! Fujinokawa got a little roughed up and ended at 6-9. It wasn’t unexpected, considering he was a little overranked. Aonishiki continued his streak of 11-4 records, this time from Komusubi, his san’yaku debut. Everyone else in san’yaku did pretty bad–Wakatakakage, notably, went 6-9 and thoroughly ruined his chances at the promotion to Ozeki, as did Kirishima. However, the Yokozuna both went 13-2, and Onosato got the victory after a narrow playoff victory. Mixing it up from the Maegashira ranks was the astonishing Takanosho, who ended 12-3 and pretty proud of himself.

Kusano got a little stuck and went 8-7. It was a very exciting basho for the top two guys and Aonishiki, who have made it pretty clear that they’re going to dominate 2026. Kudos as well to Takanosho, who really hasn’t, but he did do very well in September.

This was the first basho I covered on the blog, though I didn’t end up getting to the last five days because I was extremely busy. Thank you to all the readers from the start!

Kyushu 2025

Basic though it may be, this was my favorite basho of the year. Guess what? Kotozakura went 8-7 again. Onosato was 11-4 and Hoshoryu was 12-3. Kusano showed up with a new shikona, Yoshinofuji, and he went 9-6 with some pretty impressive wins. Endo finally gave up and retired down in Juryo.

Meisei had surgery the month before on his back and showed up on Day 10 after missing the first nine days. Onosato pulled out on the last day and seems to be struggling with his shoulder; more about that next year. Ura and Chu both went 8-7, which was very nice. My heart went out to Oho and Takanosho, who were really struggling, but the rest of san’yaku was great!

The main story was the three guys who are looking to make 2026 a very interesting year for sumo. Onosato, Hoshoryu, and Aonishiki dominated the banzuke. Onosato pulling out on Day 15 meant that Hoshoryu got a default win and then faced Aonishiki in a playoff, which Aonishiki won and used to secure his promotion to Ozeki. Kirishima was very good and will be coming back up to san’yaku.

Closing Remarks

What a year for sumo! Two new Yokozuna, a new Ozeki, and good old Kotozakura make up the top two bars of the banzuke, restoring balance to the world of sumo. The only reason I don’t want Aonishiki to become Yokozuna is that he’ll restore an annoying gap on one side of the banzuke. It’s very aesthetically displeasing. We also have some very exciting young rikishi across the lower divisions, so it will be interesting to see how they fare.

As we wrap up the year, I’d like to acknowledge the legacy of Uchidate Makiko, died two weeks ago on December 17. She was 77 years old. She was the first female member of the YDC (Yokozuna Deliberation Council) and a Japanese screenwriter.

I’d also like to acknowledge Wakatozakura, who died this spring at the rank of Jonidan 72. He died on April 14 at age 33. He was in severe pain during the Osaka basho and went to the hospital in March; he died from necrotizing fasciitis, a horrifying disease that’s also called “flesh-eating disease”. He started sumo at age 15 and joined Shikihide-beya, and he spent his 17-year career in Jonokuchi and Jonidan. Rest in peace to them both.

2026 is looking to be a very interesting year for sumo; it seems pretty likely that we’ll have three Yokozuna by this time next year: Onosato, Hoshoryu, and Aonishiki. The big question for me is what Kotozakura is going to do, and whether Kirishima, Yoshinofuji, and the other guys around their ranks are ever going to get up to Ozeki. Also, I’m excited to see whether Fujiryoga, Kazuma, and especially Asahifuji are really good. I’m betting on yes. I’m thinking that Ura will probably make it to Yokozuna–he still has time.

More on 2026 in the banzuke preview. Happy New Year and thank you to all the rikishi for making this year such an incredible one!

New Year’s Resolution: Kotozakura getting more than 8 wins in at least two tournaments. It isn’t a hope; it’s a resolution. I’m going to make it happen. I’m manifesting it.