Sumo Scene / Sumo Wrestlers Debut at Spring Tournament as New Recruits Shrink in Number

By Kuniyuki Kamimura / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

18:32 JST, April 1, 2026

Spring is the season of new beginnings and new encounters.

While pro sumo accepts new rikishi prior to each of its six annual Grand Sumo Tournaments, the Spring tournament in March, which coincides with school graduations, is called the “employment tournament.” It is there that each year many young men take their first steps as sumo wrestlers with the dream of becoming a future yokozuna.

At this year’s Spring tournament, the fresh recruits stepped into the ring in Osaka for their first professional bouts.

Two wrestlers made their debuts as “tsukedashi” — wrestlers who, based on their achievements in amateur sumo, are allowed to skip over the lowest ranks and enter straight into the makushita or sandanme divisions.

The other 18 — whose names have yet to be added to the banzuke listing — started their pro careers in maezumo, which comprises bouts between unranked wrestlers.

Spectators who jammed into the sumo arena shortly after 9 a.m. applauded warmly as the new rikishi, whose hair is still not long enough to tie into a simple topknot, gave it their all in the ring.

For the newcomers, their first time in the spotlight comes at the “shinjo-shusse hiro,” a ceremony held on the eighth day of the tournament.

Having completed their maezumo bouts, the new rikishi line up in the ring wearing the ceremonial kesho-mawashi aprons of their stablemasters or senior stablemates, and are introduced to the audience in the arena.

This is a traditional ceremony to announce that they will officially be listed on the banzuke as jonokuchi division wrestlers from the next tournament. After the ceremony, you often see them go around making courtesy visits to the stablemasters in the arena.

The declining number of new rikishi is a major challenge for the sumo world. This year, only 20 prospects took the physical exam ahead of the Spring tournament, which typically sees the highest number of applicants.

This was the lowest number since 1973, when it became normal for young people to enter the profession after completing compulsory education.

Although the popularity of pro sumo shows no signs of waning, with crowds filling the arenas to capacity day in and day out, it is disappointing to see that this popularity is not translating into more newcomers into the sport.

With athletes now having more sports to choose from, many stablemasters are finding it difficult to recruit new wrestlers. Seeing firsthand the glamorous ceremony for them, I felt the difficulty of passing this slice of traditional culture on to the next generation.

— Kamimura is a sumo expert.