Tournament Lingo
BradBeattie at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
There are 6 tournaments held a year in Japan. Here is a list of sumo terms and some context that relate to a tournament :
| Term | Meaning | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Honbasho | An official sumo tournament. These are held 6 times a year in on January, March, May, July, September and November. They take place in Tokyo, Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, Tokyo, Fukuoka. In the top 2 divions, rikishis fight for 15 days. Lower ranks fight for 7. | |
| Rikishi | The sumo wrestler | |
| Gyoji | A sumo referee. Just like everything in Japan, they are ranked | |
| Dohyo | The clay ring stage where the bout takes place | |
| Basho | A sumo tournament, not necessarily an official one. Used interchangebly with Honbasho | |
| Nobori | Banner with the wrestlers name on it gifted by sponsors of the wrestler. These will be on display outside around the arena | |
| Hakkiyoi | A phrase shouted by the gyoji at the start of a match or when rikishis are in a deadlock, meaning "put some spirit into it" or "give it your all". The gyoji yells it the first time only after both wrestlers ground both their fists on the ground | |
| Matta | hen a wrestlers charges before the opponent ground his fists on the groud. They usually call "Matta matta matta" It means stop or halt. In the context of sumo it means false start. This is when a rikishi charges before the opponent ground his fists on the groud. They usually shout "Matta matta matta" | |
| Mawashi matta | A pause in the bout where the gyoji tie's a rikishi's loose mawashi | |
| Nokota | A phrase the gyoji shouts during the bout to let the rikishis know the bout is still ongoing. It translates into 'remining' or 'still going'. They repeat it quickly in succession it sounds like tarakot-tarakot-tarakot | |
| Dohyo-iri | The ring entering cermony performed by the wrestlers in divisions 1 & 2 except the yokozuna. All rikishis from one side go in together, then the other side follows |
|
| Yokozuna dohyo-iri | The ring entering cermony performed by the yokozuna after the regular dohyo-iri. He will be accompanied by a 'sword bearer' and a 'dew sweeper' normally from the same stable, or another stable within the same group. | |
| Tate-gyoji | The 2 head gyojis. They are responsible for refereeing the final bouts of the day and maybe writing the banzuke. | |
| Shinpan | Ring side judge. They assist in refereeing the bout and can call shit on the gyoji's original decision. They are also stable masters | |
| Yobidashi | The announcer at the tournament. They assist in the tounament prep and have a number of different tasks including building the dohyo | |
| Kimarite | The winning technique. In sumo, there are 82 techniques a rikishi can use to win. | |
| Mono-ii | A conference called by the shipan to review the decison of the gyoji. This is equivalent to the VAR in football. It has 3 outcomes. Either the decision is upheld, overturned or a rematch is called. The reason for the rematch is that by the end of a bout, the gyoji MUST call out a winner even if he is unsure or they both landed on the ground at the same time. | |
| Gunbai-dori | Translates into "way of the gunbai". It's the decision called at the mono-ii that upholds the gyoji's call | |
| Sashi-chigae | The reversal of the goyoji's decision in the mono-ii | |
| Tori naoshi | A rematch decision that comes out from a mono-ii | |
| Mizu-iri | A water break. When a match gets to about 4 minutes, one of the shinpan signals to the referee to stop the match. In case of divsions 1 & 2, the bout is stopped and the referee marks their feet's postion with salt. The players take a break and then get into the same posistion they were in and resume the bout. In the lower divisions the bout is restarted from the begining |
|
| Fusensho | Win by default because opponent withdrew. In these bouts, the winner does not receive any prize money. | |
| Fusen | short for Fusensho | |
| Dohyo matsuri | The 'Ring Festival'. A Shinto ceremony in which the dohyo is purified and blessed prior to each basho. A tate gyoji takes the role of a priest and reads a norito (called Kojitsugonjo (故実言上). He then pours sake on the four corners of the ring and bury six good luck items which called Shizumemono (washed rice, dried chest nuts, dried squid, dried kelp, salt and Torreya nucifera fruits), in a center of the dohyo. | |
| Torikumi | A bout during a basho. Also refers to a sheet of paper that is displayed at the start of day which contains the bouts of the next day. Each sheet represents a bout and contains the 2 names of the rikishis | |
| Yusho | Means victory or championship. Its used to tell how many bashos a rikishi has won. Example "Hakuho has 45 Yushos" | |
| Zensho Yusho | I think Zensho means good. Zensho yusho is a yusho that is won perfectly 15-0, or 7-0 in divsions 3 and lower. Example: Harumafuji got promoted to Yokozuna after he pulled 2 zensho yushos out of his ass | |
| Jun-Yusho | Second place or runner up. Has no real significance in terms of pay or acalades. | |
| Nakabi | The half way point of the basho, basically day 8 for the top 2 divisions |
