Sumo Scene / The Subtle Beauty of the 3-Way Championship Playoff

By Kuniyuki Kamimura / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

16:11 JST, February 19, 2025

When the dust cleared on the final day of the New Year tournament in January, Mongolian-born ozeki Hoshoryu had made a dramatic turnaround to come away with the title, earning him promotion to the top rank of yokozuna.

“I will train many times harder than before,” Hoshoryu said at the ceremony on Jan. 29 informing him of his promotion that made him the 74th yokozuna in the history of the sport. “I will aim to win a double-digit number of titles.”

By the middle of the tournament, Hoshoryu’s chances of securing the promotion were fading fast. Through nine days, he had already been dealt three losses — all to maegashira-ranked wrestlers. Fortunately, his hopes got a boost when none of the tournament leaders could pull away and the championship race tightened.

In the end, it came down to a three-way playoff between Hoshoryu and the maegashira pair of Kinbozan and Oho. Hoshoryu overwhelmingly swatted the two aside to take the title.

Having to win three bouts in a row on the final day — his final regulation match against Kotozakura and the two playoff bouts — left an enormous impact. It cannot be denied that the drama of a three-way playoff played a decisive role in Hoshoryu’s promotion to yokozuna.

It is an interesting system that determines the champion when three wrestlers finish in the lead with identical records. To win the title, a wrestler must beat the other two in consecutive matches. Theoretically speaking, the playoff can go on endlessly as a pattern of one wrestler winning a match then losing the next is repeated.

Having said that, almost every three-way playoff in the past was decided in the first round of matches. There can be various reasons for why this is so — a difference in level as indicated in the rankings, the momentum each wrestler has at the end of the tournament — but no clear explanation exists. And that makes it all the more exciting.

There was one instance in the past in which the playoff went to a second round. The 1990 Spring tournament came down to three-way battle between yokozuna Hokutoumi, ozeki Konishiki and sekiwake Kirishima. Konishiki began the proceedings by beating Hokutoumi, only to subsequently lose to Kirishima. Given a second chance, Hokutoumi overcame fatigue and reeled off two straight wins to take home the Emperor’s Cup.

The former yokozuna, now Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku, once said in reliving the moment, “It’s like I used the energy needed for three tournaments.” It could also be said that his pride as a yokozuna came into play.

In last month’s playoff, Hoshoryu was also the highest-ranked of the three. Moreover, it was a crucial moment for him with a potential promotion to yokozuna on the line.

Terunofuji, the lone yokozuna in the rankings, had just announced his retirement a few days before, and Hoshoryu’s victory was a reflection of his strong sense of responsibility as the next face of the sport.

— Kamimura is a sumo expert.