In my previous Amateur Angles columns I’ve focused on amateur sumo in an international setting. For this edition I have decided to shift my focus to what has been happening in Japan with amateur sumo. There are a couple of reasons for this: most notably the international ‘season’ is over with the recent Sumo World Championships; and November and December see the two most important amateur sumo competitions on the Japanese calendar, both of which have a potential tie in with Ōzumō.

I often find myself trying to inform people that amateur sumo is quite different from professional sumo. Spreading such a message is partly the aim of my PhD thesis, but I also field a number of questions about sumo from laypeople and have to explain that I investigate a quite different sport with different aims and goals, some different rules, and that the actual form of amateur sumo challenges the male corporeality that is associated with Ōzumō. Nevertheless, amateur sumo and its professional counterpart obviously have connections, particularly when we consider both sports within the sporting landscape of Japan.

Amateur sumo, of course, can provide a setting and training ground for athletes who wish to become rikishi. While the numbers of those who cross into the professional sumo world are small when compared to the numbers of competitors in the amateur ranks, obviously the more able athletes are tempted personally, or persuaded by others, to try their hand at Ōzumō.

These recruits usually enter in three broad categories: those who have finished compulsory schooling at the completion of junior high school (15 years old); high school leavers (around 18 years old); and, perhaps the most technically and physically able of all, those who have competed in amateur sumo at university (around 22 years old). Almost all of these shin-deshi, start in maezumō before joining the banzuke at jonokuchi level; however, a privileged few are vaulted straight into makushita at the start of their careers. I will concentrate on this small group in this column, showing how amateur sumo can contribute to a successful career in Ōzumō.

Amateur athletes who are able to start their professional careers in makushita are those who have performed outstandingly in the amateur ranks. This is judged by winning any of the following four designated competitions: the All Japan Corporate Sumo Championships, held in September; the Adult ‘A’ grade sumo competition at the National Athletic Meet in October; the National Student Sumo Championships in November; and, the All Japan Sumo Championships.

The winner of each competition is crowned respectively as the Corporate yokozuna, the Kokutai yokozuna, the Gakusei yokozuna and the Amateur yokozuna for the year. The last is the most prestigious of all, as it pits adults, university students and some high school students against one another for the supreme title in Japanese amateur sumo circles.

If an amateur athlete wins any of the above tournaments, they are eligible (if young enough) to enter Ōzumō at makushita-tsukedashi within one year of their tournament victory. This is currently the banzuke equivalent of makushita 15, although they are not listed on the banzuke until the next basho. If an athlete wins one of the first three tournaments AND the All Japan Sumo Championships then they are placed at makushita 10 for their debut basho.

This qualification can obviously give a new rikishi a good chance at getting into juryo and thus earn a living from sumo. However, the potential for an amateur athlete to achieve one of these four positions is relatively small, given that each only competes in three of the tournaments each year at best (corporate athletes cannot compete in student competitions and vice versa). Added to this, corporate athletes are often too old to be accepted into Ōzumō, and so the opportunities in each year are often open to only one or two select athletes. This has not always been the case, as prior to September 2001 the qualifications for receiving makushita-tsukedashi status were more relaxed.

The tsukedashi status has existed since before the Taisho era, but athletes were added to the banzuke at different levels. Placing them only into makushita came about in the Showa era. In 1966 it was formalized that makushita-tsukedashi status would be at makushita 60, the bottom rank in that division. If the new entrant went make-koshi he they would drop into sandanme, but on the other hand, two consecutive zensho yusho (or equivalent) would vault them into juryo. Athletes who have advanced in this way (in just two basho) include Wajima, Asashio, Musoyama, and Miyabiyama.

At this time athletes would be granted tsukedashi status without question if they had performed well and received medals in university weight class contests. However, questions were raised about the quality of the rikishi being produced from the amateur ranks, so the selection criteria was tightened in March 1993 and athletes had to have reached the final 16 competitors at the All Japan Sumo Championships. From this period we get entrants such as Kotomitsuki, Dejima and Takamisakari.

After this time the success of certain amateur athletes who had begun from maezumo caused another rethink of the conditions. For example, Hokutohikari (Hakkaku-beya) had a relatively undistinguished four years at Nihon University but still managed to make it to juryo. Likewise, Tochinohana from Meiji University had to climb from maezumo but made it as far as komusubi. Their success sparked the change to the system we have today.

So, what of recent tsukedashi qualifiers?

In 2002 the Kokutai yokozuna was a young athlete by the name of Uchida, who is now in makunouchi as Futeno. In the same year, the Gakusei yokozuna, Yokoyama Hideki from Toyo University, decided to give up his qualification and move into the workforce. The next year he competed in the Corporate Championships and became the Corporate yokozuna and decided this time to enter the professional ranks. He is now known as Takamifuji, though he is still stuck in makushita.

The overall Amateur yokozuna for 2002 was Onishi Masatsugu from Nihon Taiiku University; however, he chose to give up his tsukedashi status so that he could graduate. He later entered from maezumo in January 2004, becoming the first Amateur yokozuna to start from scratch. He has since risen in the ranks and is known by his shikona Yoshikaze.

In 2003 the Kokutai yokozuna, Nakano from Toyo University, entered Musashigawa-beya in May of the next year. So far he has dropped into sandanme and then climbed back into makushita, and competes under his own surname. The Gakusei yokozuna of 2003 has had a better career thus far. Kanbayashi Yoshiyuki, a 4th year at Kinki University, entered the professional ranks in March 2004 and has reached as high as the lower ranks of juryo (where he currently resides).

Although Kanbayashi has had his ups and downs since joining Ōzumō, they pale in comparison to the 2004 Gakusei yokozuna, Hakiai (also from Kinki University). He initially was not intending to carry on into professional sumo but rethought this upon winning tsukedashi status. His career, however, has gone backwards and injury has forced him off the banzuke.

The 2005 Gakusei yokozuna has been a little luckier, but still has had his fair share of upheaval in his short career. Nihon University’s Shimoda Keisho began with a makushita yusho of 7-0 but was denied immediate promotion to juryo. This garnered a fair amount of interest, both in the rikishi himself, and the non-selection. He wasn’t able to reproduce the form, and in fact went make-koshi two months later. He has since recovered and is sitting in high makushita, awaiting another chance to get his first payday in sumo.

So, recent recipients have sometimes chosen to relinquish the tsukedashi status in favour of a more certain career, or at least the qualifications that might aid one. Others have seized their opportunity but not always had the same success that they had at the amateur level. But, for some, the payoff for a very successful amateur career can be a fast-track into the high salaried-ranks.

So far this year, the Gakusei yokozuna is Nihon University’s Mori. The Corporate yokozuna is an old boy of Nihon University, Ishimae, though he may be just a little too old to enter Ōzumō. The Kokutai yokozuna is another Nihon University athlete, Ichihara Takayuki. As this article goes to press, the 2006 Amateur yokozuna will be announced based on the results of December’s All Japan Sumo Championships. Will one of these men take out the ultimate title, or will another name emerge? And, will any of the amateur sumo yokozuna of 2006 soon be seen in the professional ranks?



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