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TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A day after winning the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament in a dramatic playoff, ozeki Terunofuji said Monday it took every ounce of effort to claim his second straight championship. The 29-year-old Mongolian was thrust down by fellow ozeki Takakeisho in the final scheduled bout of the 15-day meet at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan on Sunday, leaving the pair tied with a 12-3 record, requiring a playoff to determine the champion. Terunofuji turned the tables in the sudden-death decider, keeping his rival at arm's length before slapping him to the sandy surface of the ring. The victory earned Terunofuji...

While many sumo tournaments across Japan have been forced to throw in the towel amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, a sumo federation in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture has organised a unique video contest to showcase the hard work of young sumo wrestlers who have continued to hone their skills in an era of social-distancing — a term not typically associated with the full-contact sport. Dubbed the National Sumo Kata Competition, the contest will be conducted out of the ring and in the digital arena. Hopefuls have been asked to submit home videos of their performances in three categories to be judged...

The Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, set to open next weekend, will be held behind closed doors for the first time in history due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the sport's governing body said Sunday. The Japan Sumo Association's board of directors made the decision in an extraordinary session in Osaka. Having already ruled out the possibility of staging the 15-day meet under normal conditions, the JSA weighed whether to hold the event at Edion Arena Osaka behind closed doors or call it off completely. While grand sumo tournaments have been canceled twice in the past, JSA Chairman Hakkaku said the...

U.S. President Donald Trump attended a sumo tournament in Tokyo on Sunday, watching the action from a specially prepared seat near the ring, and presented an American-made trophy to the victor. Trump was hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the final day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan. He climbed into the raised ring to present the newly made trophy, informally dubbed the "Trump Cup," to the winner at the conclusion of the 15-day meet. "In honor of your outstanding achievement as sumo grand champion, I hereby award you the United States President's Cup," Trump...

Visiting U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, watched the last day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 26 alongside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie. Trump climbed into the dohyo to present the massive "U.S. President's Cup" to the tournament winner, Asanoyama, a No. 8 maegashira, in the awards ceremony after the conclusion of the 15-day tournament. According to the White House, the U.S. President's Cup is a custom-made silver trophy, which is about 137 centimeters in height and weighs 27 to 32 kilograms. It is even larger than...

Trophy made in ...USA !!!

The Japan Sumo Association is preparing to host Donald Trump at an upcoming tournament after learning the U.S. President wants to watch a live sumo bout during his visit to Japan at the end of May, a source with the organization said Friday. The sport’s organizing body has reserved seats for Trump on May 26, the final day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, and has been considering its security measures since March, the source said. Trump and his aides have requested box seats located near the first three rows at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan during his visit, which...

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Grand champion Hakuho beat ozeki Tochinoshin on Wednesday to retain his lead at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament with 12 straight wins. Hakuho faced little challenge from the struggling Tochinoshin (6-6), who has only beaten the 41-time top-division champion once in 28 matchups. The Mongolian yokozuna hemmed up Tochinoshin after a momentary stalemate, then turned on the gas after recharging his engine and deposited the ozeki over the straw. Fighting as a demotion-threatened "kadoban" ozeki, Tochinoshin needs to secure two wins over the final three days of the 15-day meet to retain his post at sumo's second...

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Late-blooming sekiwake Tamawashi, who won his first title at the age of 34 in the just-ended New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, said Monday he does not intend to slow down his career despite taking his time to claim the Emperor's Cup. A day after winning the 15-day championship at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan with a 13-2 record, the Mongolian said he will shatter the young athlete ideal by fighting aging and working out to stay younger for longer. "I have to be young. I have to train as hard (as the younger wrestlers)," said Tamawashi, who became the...

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Ozeki Takayasu may have finished without a title, but he finished the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in style with a win over yokozuna Kakuryu on Sunday. Takayasu and Kakuryu were forced to refight the tournament's final bout on the 15th and final day at Edion Arena Osaka, where judges were unable to decide a winner in their first try. In the second try, Takayasu was too fast for the grand champion and easily forced him out. Takayasu has now won 12 bouts in consecutive tournaments. Kakuryu, who clinched his fourth career championship on Saturday, finished with a...

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- Yokozuna Kakuryu's awkward win kept him atop the standings with Brazilian maegashira Kaisei on Monday, the ninth day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament. The yokozuna was nearly blown out of the ring by a powerful but uncontrolled final charge from No. 4 maegashira Shodai (5-4), but Kakuryu made his escape tip-toeing along the ring's straw-bale border as Shodai thundered out. The Mongolian could barely control his smile after snatching victory from defeat. He had opened brightly, but Shodai repulsed his charge and seized the initiative. Everything was going the youngster's way until his failed attempt to...

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A day after clinching his first championship, Tochinoshin finished the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday by dispatching fan-favorite Endo and finishing with a 14-1 record. Tochinoshin, a third-ranked maegashira, survived a scare when he was pushed towards the edge, but he pulled himself together to force Endo (9-6) out at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan. For his achievements, the Kasugano stable's new hero received his first Outstanding Performance prize and his second Technique prize, his first since the May meet in 2016. The 30-year-old became the first wrestler to win two prizes in a single meet since...

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- Mongolian grand champion Hakuho saw his overnight lead trimmed to one win after suffering a shock first defeat at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday. Hakuho got quickly rammed out by sekiwake Yoshikaze in the day's final bout at Fukuoka Kokusai Center but in a rare act unfitting of a yokozuna, raised his arm in protest at the referee's decision. Hakuho took his foot off the pedal after the charge, suggesting he thought Yoshikaze (6-5) had made a "matta" false start. He left the ring shaking his head in disbelief after dropping to 10-1. "The yokozuna...

Tokyo (AFP) -- Japan's giant sumo wrestlers lack the mean streak needed to repel the flood of foreigners who have dominated the roly-poly sport in recent years, according to the country's first homegrown champion in a decade. Kotoshogiku, who last month ended an excruciating wait for a Japanese-born winner, said Tuesday it was no accident that Mongolians had taken over Japan's ancient sport over the past decade and a half. "All the Japanese wrestlers want to win championships," the 32-year-old told a news conference. "We eat the same meat and vegetables as them," he added. "But sumo is about winning....

I know there are a number of Japanophiles out there in Freeperland, who might be able to answer a question I have about the Akibasho, Fall Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, which will conclude early tomorrow US time. As all the sumo followers know, tournaments are 15 days long, with each wrestler having one match, and the wrestler with the most wins being crowned the tournament champion. Hakuho, the top wrestler in sumo, is 13-1 going into the last day of the tournament, but Tochinoshin, who began the tournament as juryo (the sumo equivalent of baseball's AAA), is 14-0. My question:...

Egyptian sumo wrestler Osunaarashi arrives at the Aichi Prefecture Gymnasium, where the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament is being held on July 22, 2014 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan(Getty Images) Abdelrahman Shaalan who goes by the ring name of Osunaarashi, (which translates into Great Sandstorm in Japanese) has become the first Arab and muslim to compete as a professional sumo wrestler in Japan. The 22-year-old is also the first Egyptian and African to achieve the feat. At the begining, Shaalan was a big, muscular Egyptian teenager passionate about body-building, but despite a friend's recommendation to try the ancient Japanese sport of Sumo...

American sumo wrestlers of all shapes and backgrounds descended on Jackson Hole, Wyo., for the United States Sumo Championships. The women were a small, but proud, contingent. Video at link

I've seen a pic of B Hussein & Mobama, on the WH lawn, iirc. It's of a Sumo wrestling demonstration, and shows their reaction to a classic Sumo collision. Mobama is watching like she loves it, but B Hussein is recoiling in horror, leaning back and leg drawn up. Basically looking like a pussy. Anyone have a copy I can borrow? Thanks!

When the L.A. Marathon takes place Sunday, one of the runners will attempt to set the record for the heaviest person ever to complete a marathon. Kelly Gneiting of Fort Defiance, Arizona, weighs about 400 pounds. “I am a sumo wrestler and I’ve represented the United States for the last seven years at the World Sumo Championships or World Games,” he said at a news conference Saturday at Dodger Stadium. “I don’t think anyone has used the word `marathon’ and `sumo’ in the same sentence,” he said. “I like the aspect of the two opposite-spectrum sports — sumo and marathon...

For years, promoters of sumo have been pushing for the sport’s inclusion in the Olympic Games. To get there, the International Sumo Federation has thrown its weight behind a form of the game that would offend purists and surprise most everyone else: women’s sumo. When the International Olympic Committee declared in 1994 that single-sex sports could no longer qualify as candidates for the Games, that was enough to turn tradition that featured giant men with topknots shoving each other in a ring on its head. Since then, sumo has been coming into its own internationally as an equal opportunity sport....