My name is Kimitoshi Koyanagi , Japanese. I am a sumo fan with approximately 50 years of experience watching the sport. My English is poor. But I aim to share the appeal of sumo with the world, focusing on analyzing and providing commentary on the bouts and their content during tournaments.
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Grand Sumo 2026 January Tournament Day 1 ~ The Rikishi I Paid More Attention to Than Aonishiki
At last, the opening day of the 2026 January Tournament (Hatsu basho) has arrived. How will the newly promoted Ozeki Aonishiki fare? What about Onosato, returning after an absence? And how will former Ozeki Asanoyama perform after regaining his place in the makuuchi division?
As always, this tournament offers plenty of highlights for sumo fans. However, for me, the single most intriguing bout of the day was in the jonokuchi division (the lowest division on the banzuke). I have never looked forward to jonokuchi bouts this much before a tournament, nor have I ever been this excited watching a jonokuchi match.
In sumo, jonokuchi refers to the lowest rank on the banzuke (the official ranking list of rikishi).
The bout in question was Asahifuji versus Tenshoyama. Both of them are newcomers.
If any overseas sumo fans already knew these two, they would truly qualify as hardcore connoisseurs.
Please take a look at this astonishing bout.
This is a match between rookie rikishi.
This is jonokuchi sumo.
Can you believe it?
Asahifuji is a 23-year-old from Mongolia. Among sumo fans, he had been dubbed “the strongest trainee in history.” He entered the sumo world as a trainee at Isegahama stable, but due to the foreign-rikishi quota, he was unable to make his professional debut for four and a half years. During that long period of keiko (training), however, he developed skills said to rival those of makuuchi rikishi. As a result, he was widely regarded as the strongest pre-debut rikishi ever.
The shikona (ring name) Asahifuji was inherited from his former stablemaster, the 63rd yokozuna. It is extremely rare for a shikona once used by a yokozuna to be bestowed upon a newcomer. This episode alone speaks volumes about how highly the stable regards him.
His opponent, Tenshoyama, is a 21-year-old from Mongolia. At 1.97 meters tall, he is the tallest active rikishi today. He belongs to Tamanoi stable. Although he lost to Asahifuji in this bout, I believe he is a rikishi with tremendous potential.
I very much look forward to seeing where both of them will be one or two years from now. I hope you will keep a close eye on them as well.
Onosato defeated Hoshoryu in a championship playoff between yokozuna, both having finished with a 13–2 record. With this victory, Onosato claimed his fifth career championship, his first since being promoted to yokozuna, and his first in two tournaments. The Onosato–Hoshoryu matchup turned out very differently from what I had expected. In the honwari (regulation bout), I thought Onosato would charge forward with an unhesitating attack at the tachi-ai (initial charge). Yesterday, Hoshoryu won with a henka (sidestep at the initial charge) at the initial charge. Precisely because of that, I believed it would be extremely difficult for him to attempt a second consecutive henka in such a high-stakes yokozuna showdown for the championship. I assumed Onosato thought the same way—but I was wrong. In the honwari bout, rather than focusing on the kind of sumo he wanted to impose, Onosato seemed too preoccupied with the possibility that his opponent might attempt another henka or some other varia...
As many of you know, Hoshoryu won the January tournament and was promoted as the 74th Yokozuna. During his victory interview, he shared that after experiencing the heartbreak of losing on the final day of the November tournament, he made a promise to "a certain person." He vowed to channel that frustration into the January tournament and win the championship no matter what. That "certain person" is Ruri Kubota, whom Hoshoryu refers to as his "mother in Japan." And the boy who sat beside Hoshoryu in the open car during the victory parade was none other than Ruri’s son, Teruchika, whom Hoshoryu calls his "younger brother in Japan." Teruchika has Down syndrome. Hoshoryu first met Teruchika and his mother in 2019, when he was still in the Juryo division. Their connection began when Hoshoryu was invited to coach Teruchika through Kashiwa Sumo Club, where the club’s representative happened to be Hoshoryu’s former high school mentor. Hoshoryu was deep...
KirishimaーYoshinofuji The bout between these two rikishi—both of whom have been showing excellent form this tournament—lived up fully to expectations. At the tachi-ai (initial charge), Yoshinofuji clearly had the better hit, but Kirishima succeeded in getting moro-zashi (double inside grips). From there, Kirishima’s right kaina-no-kaeshi (inside arm turn-back) was effective, and his movement to cut off Yoshinofuji’s right uwate (outside grip) was particularly impressive (0:39-40 in the video). Kirishima is a rikishi with undeniable ability, yet when he is carrying even a minor injury, it tends to show very clearly in his results. Judging by his performances in the previous tournament and this one, however, he appears to be in good condition. Although the bout could easily have turned into a one-sided affair, Yoshinofuji showed admirable resilience and fought on stubbornly. HoshoryuーHakunofuji In the first bout, Hoshoryu’s tachi-ai (initial charge) was not good. His body came...
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