The world’s greatest sport, of course, being sumo.

One of the most important things to understand about sumo is the ranking system. There are six divisions of sumo, and the top division, Makuuchi, is 90% of what this blog will cover. That division is subdivided into others. Below is a graphic that explains the ranks, which I will explain further.

The Ranking System

Makushita

Makushita is the third-highest division of sumo and feeds into juryo. Makushita often varies back and forth between consisting of younger rikishi struggling to find their places and mostly older rikishi injured or speculating about retirement. The Makushita-tsukedashi system, however, has made Makushita a more exciting place for the rikishi in recent years. The system has existed since 1912 in favor of college graduate wrestlers, and in 1966 was adapted to let successful amateurs enter sumo at the rank of Makushita 60. 2001 changed the rules again so that wrestlers who had won any of the four most important amateur tournaments could enter sumo at Makushita 15 and wrestlers who had one two entered at Makushita 10. Most recently, the system changed in 2023 as a reaction to recent tsukedashi and eliminated entrances at Makushita 10 and 15, instead adding extra ranks at the bottom of Makushita for the tsukedashi to take their places. Sandanme-tsukedashi exists but is rarely used, as wrestlers who achieve it are usually also Makushita-tsukedashi or do not compete in professional sumo.

The tsukedashi system didn’t see much success for about half a century, with its first early triumph being Ozeki Yutakayama. Wajima in 1970 was the first graduate of the system to reach Yokozuna and restored the JSA’s faith in the system. Various graduates reached Maegashira, Komusubi, and Sekiwake in the years after, and 6 graduates reached Ozeki. In the more recent years of sumo, active wrestlers Mitakeumi and Oshoma as well as others reaching higher ranks in Makuuchi. The new era was unofficially begun in the 2023 New Year’s Tournament with the arrival of Ochiai, a protegé of former Yokozuna Hakuho. Ochiai had begun wrestling in fourth grade and won a championship in September 2022 that allowed him to enter sumo in 2023. When he reached the top division after an incredibly fast rise, he changed his name to Hakuoho (which remains his shikona as of Kyushu 2025) and fought well in his first tournaments in Makuuchi before injury forced him back down the banzuke. Onosato’s debut in May 2025 heralded his unheard-of rise into the top division. He is the second Yokozuna ever to benefit from the tsukedashi system and has had the quickest rise to Yokozuna ever recorded. Other recent successful benefactors in Makuuchi are Onokatsu and recent sensation Kusano. Matsui, Kazuma, Goshima, Fukuzaki, Gyotoku, Kakueizan, Hanaoka, and Ryusho are all active Makushita-tsukedashi in Makushita as of Kyushu 2025, and Asasuiryu and Mita have both made it to the second-higheset division of Juryo.

Onosato alone proves that the tsukedashi system is becoming a crucial part of sumo and allows stablemasters to let favored and successful pre-professional rikishi enter sumo higher up. The system has recently excelled mainly in Onosato, Hakuoho, and Kusano, though Onokatsu, Asasuiryu, and Mita have also had impressive careers in the sekitori ranks considering their youth. It’s an effective way of giving the younger rikishi a chance to shine and giving fans a list of rikishi to keep their eye on, but it isn’t foolproof, considering the system failed to benefit yusho winner Takerufuji simply because Hakuoho and Onosato won too many of the amateur tournaments from him to be able to secure a rank. He and Ukrainian sensation Aonishiki both fought up the ranks from Jonokuchi, as did Kinbozan, Fujinokawa, and Atamifuji, as well as other young and successful Makuuchi wrestlers as of Kyushu 2025.

Makushita wrestlers are often chosen to be the tsukebito, or personal attendants, for sekitori (Juryo and Makuuchi) wrestlers and are also sometimes chosen to perform the bow-twirling ceremony. They and the rikishi below them in Sandanme, Jonidan, and Jonokuchi often help to cook and clean the stables where they live in place of the higher-rankers. Makushita and below also are not allowed to wear colored mawashi and live with certain other prohibitions until (or if) they are able to become sekitori. Makushita usually has up to 120 members, with 60 East and 60 West. Makushita and lower rikishi only fight 7 out of the 15 days of the tournaments, which leads to a higher percentage of playoffs for tournament victories. Makushita follows a bracket-like format, as the winner is usually a 7-0 rikishi.

Juryo

Juryo is the first of the two sekitori ranks and is the first division where rikishi wear colored mawashi and mawashi-ken, which are elaborate half-skirts attached to their belts holding advertisements or relative images that the rikishi wear while performing together before bouts. Juryo is also the first division where wrestlers receive a salary and are not required to hold the servile positions that a Makushita wrestler would. There are typically 28 wrestlers in Juryo, and if there is an uneven number of wrestlers in Makuuchi, a different Juryo rikishi daily from the top will fight a top division rikishi. If there is an uneven number of Juryo rikishi, including when one is fighting in Makuuchi for the day, a wrestler from the top of Makushita will fight in Juryo. Juryo and Makushita often serve to test the rikishi and Juryo is the first time they will fight for 15 days instead of 7, which sometimes leads to injury issues. The top of Juryo and bottom of Makuuchi often have rikishi exchanged between tournaments based on whether they have a kachi- or make-koshi (positive or negative) record in the previous tournament, whereas the bottom of Juryo often has returnees from the top of Makushita as well as the debutants.

Maegashira [MAKUUCHI]

The Maegashira are the bottom ranks of the Makuuchi division; Maegashira 5-17 typically form the Maegashira ranks, though there has been a Maegashira 18 (Shishi for Aki 2025, for example) in the recent tournaments with a lack of Yokozuna or Ozeki. Maegashira 4 and up are part of the joi (or joi-jin,) which translates to “higher rankers.” The 17 to 18 ranks of Maegashira have a total of 34 or 35 men and form the majority of Makuuchi, meaning that every member of the top division will typically fight a Maegashira at least half the time. The joi often fight the ranks of sanyaku (Komusubi and up) on the first days, and Maegashira who have enough wins to be in contention for the yusho fight higher rankers in the second week of the tournament. Their rank determines who they will fight even then; a Maegashira 4 in the yusho race will likely have already fought sanyaku in the first week, whereas a Maegashira 14 in the same position will not have.

Komusubi [MAKUUCHI]

There are typically 2 Komusubi ranks, but can be more if several upper Maegashira have outstanding tournaments that mean they essentially cannot mathematically be denied promotion. The Komusubi will often fight Yokozuna and Ozeki but also serve as obstacles for Maegashira in yusho contention and are often challenged by those far below them if the Komusubi are not successful or the Maegashira are. Komusubi are the first rank in sanyaku, which means “top three ranks” but also almost always includes a Yokozuna. There are always Komusubi ranks in a tournament and Maegashira are promoted simply by achieving positive records.

Sekiwake [MAKUUCHI]

There are usually 2 Sekiwake ranks but can be more if there are fewer higher-up rikishi, which happened in Nagoya 2023 with Hoshoryu, Daieisho, and Wakamotoharu all having earned the rank. Sekiwake will usually fight Yokozuna and Ozeki but generally serve as challenges for the Maegashira to face until the path of the tournament is clearer. Sekiwake usually have their sights set on the rank of Ozeki and require roughly 33 wins over 3 tournaments to achieve. Wakatakakage in Aki 2025, for example, has 22 wins over his last two tournaments and is aiming for Ozeki promotion. There are almost always Sekiwake ranks in a tournament.

Ozeki [MAKUUCHI]

There have been between 0 and 6 Ozeki throughout the history of sumo, usually with between 2 and 5 Ozeki at any given time. For Ozeki, the task is always to win a yusho and then aim for Yokozuna promotion, which is usually achieved through two yusho, a yusho and a jun-yusho (second place), a yusho and a double-digit score, or two jun-yusho. The exact criteria is not official but generally involves one yusho and one extremely impressive performance in a subsequent or prior basho. 2025 has seen an odd era for the Ozeki rank and thus Onosato and Hoshoryu have shared the rank of Yokozuna-Ozeki so that someone can perform the ceremonies of an Ozeki on both the East and West sides of the banzuke. Ozeki can have one losing tournament at their rank before they are kadoban in the next, which means in a corner or in danger. After going kadoban twice, they lose their Ozeki rank and have to achieve double digits in the next tournament to earn their way back. If they don’t, they have to earn it back the same way that they did the first time. Kirishima, Mitakeumi, Shodai, and Asanoyama are all examples of active sekitori who have fallen from Ozeki as of Kyushu 2025.

Yokozuna [MAKUUCHI]

Yokozuna is the highest rank possible to achieve in sumo and is impossible to lose, even with sequential make-koshi (losing records.) As of Kyushu 2025, 75 Yokozuna have achieved the rank and Hoshoryu and Onosato are the two active as 74th and 75th. The Yokozuna perform dohyo-iri, a pre-tournament stomping ritual, with two members of their stable or ichimon to bear ceremonial weapons alongside the Yokozuna. This fantastic video of Yokozuna Akebono demonstrates dohyo-iri from up close.

Dai-yokozuna has been achieved 19 times, by Terunofuji, Hakuho, Asashoryu, Musashimaru, Takanohana, Akebono, Chiyonofuji, Kitanoumi, Wajima, Kitanofuji, Taiho, Wakanohana I, Tochinishiki, Futabayama, Tsunenohana, Okido, Tachiyama, Inazuma, and Tanikaze. The rank denotes a Yokozuna who has earned 10 or more Makuuchi yusho in their careers. It is not an official title but considered a special honor awarded by the JSA.

The rarely seen Yokozuna-ozeki is a rank given to a lower-ranked or sole Yokozuna when there is only one active Ozeki. For example, the denotation appeared in Nagoya 2025 when it was given to Onosato so that he could act as a second ozeki for the West side of the banzuke opposite Kotozakura. For all other purposes, the Yokozuna-Ozeki acts exactly like their full rank and, like in the situation of Nagoya 2025, is usually equivalent to simply holding the rank of West Yokozuna.