Sumo Scene / 2 New Yokozuna Make 2025 a Year of Great Upheaval, 2026 Shaping Up to be Exciting Time for Sumo

By Kuniyuki Kamimura / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

10:49 JST, December 24, 2025

With the curtain about to fall on 2025, we can look back on a year in which the sumo world can be said to have undergone a great upheaval.

Take a moment and go back to the rankings for the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in January. Terunofuji was the sole yokozuna, with the three ozeki Kotozakura, Hoshoryu and Onosato sitting one level below him.

Kotozakura had just won his first title at the previous tournament in Kyushu in November, raising high hopes for him to follow that up in Tokyo and earn promotion to yokozuna.

But things could hardly have gone more askew. Kotozakura was dealt a series of losses early on, quickly ending any possibility of a bump up to the top rank. To make matters worse, Terunofuji withdrew from the tournament after starting with a 2-2 record and never looked back, announcing his retirement from the sport.

In one fell swoop, sumo was suddenly facing the dire situation of having no yokozuna.

Amid the chaos and hand-wringing, a new hero emerged from the cracks. Hoshoryu broke away from the pack and seized the Emperor’s Cup, winning a three-way playoff with two maegashira-ranked wrestlers with a powerful performance for his second career title.

Though his promotion may have been regarded as a bit indulgent, his achievement of the rank of yokozuna marked the start of a seismic shift in the sport. Onosato won both of the next two tournaments, the Spring tourney in March and Summer tourney in May, to join Hoshoryu in the top rank.

After facing the prospect of having no yokozuna, sumo suddenly had a rivalry between grand champions.

Meanwhile, Kotozakura, hampered by injuries and other issues, languished as an ozeki with mediocre results throughout the year.

But the biggest surprise was still to come. Throughout the year, we saw the rapid rise of Aonishiki, culminating with his promotion to ozeki after winning the year-end Kyushu tournament in November — that was after the new star from Ukraine started the year in the second-tier juryo division.

Aonishiki made his makuuchi-division debut in March and shot up the rankings after posting 11 wins in four consecutive tournaments. On the back of winning his first career title in Kyushu, he moved just one step away from achieving the “Japanese Dream” of becoming a yokozuna.

Reflecting on the year, the Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (former yokozuna Hokutoumi) said: “No doubt, Hoshoryu’s promotion to yokozuna in January was big. It spurred others on. Next year, we will likely see the emergence of new yokozuna and ozeki.”

We surely can expect to see unexpected stars rise in the ring in 2026 as well.

— Kamimura is a sumo expert.