page_title: Glossary of sumo terms
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of sumo terms
caption_attribution_description: English: The dohyō-iri for the finals at the Aki basho at Ryōgoku Kokugikan on Sept. 28, 2014.
context_page_description: The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan.
  amazumo
  Amateur sumo, consisting of bouts between non-professionals, ex-professionals, or people otherwise ineligible to compete professionally such as women and minors. Includes individual and team competition at the international level.
  azukari
  Hold or no decision, a kind of draw. After a mono-ii, the gyōji or the shimpan "holds" the result if it was too close to call. Recorded with a white triangle. In 1927, the system was abolished and a torinaoshi now takes place instead; the last azukari was recorded in 1951.
  banzuke
  List of sumo wrestlers according to rank for a particular grand tournament, reflecting changes in rank due to the results of the previous tournament. It is written out in a particular calligraphy and usually released on the Monday 13 days prior to the first day of the tournament.
  banzuke-gai
  Outsider to the list. A wrestler who is not yet ranked, or has fallen off the banzuke due to injury or other reason for non-participation.
  basho
  Venue. Any sumo tournament. Compare honbasho.
  binzuke
  Also called binzuke abura.
context_section_description: The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. 
  amazumo (アマ相撲)
  Amateur sumo, consisting of bouts between non-professionals, ex-professionals, or people otherwise ineligible to compete professionally such as women and minors. Includes individual and team competition at the international level.
  azukari (預り)
  Hold or no decision, a kind of draw. After a mono-ii, the gyōji or the shimpan "holds" the result if it was too close to call. Recorded with a white triangle. In 1927, the system was abolished and a torinaoshi (rematch) now takes place instead; the last azukari was recorded in 1951.
  banzuke (番付)
  List of sumo wrestlers according to rank for a particular grand tournament, reflecting changes in rank due to the results of the previous tournament. It is written out in a particular calligraphy (see sumō-ji) and usually released on the Monday 13 days prior to the first day of the tournament.
  banzuke-gai (番付外)
  Outsider to the list. A wrestler who is not yet ranked, or has fallen off the banzuke due to injury or other reason for non-participation.
  basho (場所)
  Venue. Any sumo tournament. Compare honbasho.
  binzuke (鬢付け)
  Also called binzuke abura (binzuke oil). A Japanese pomade, which consists mainly of wax and hardened chamomile oil that is used to style sumo wrestlers' hair and give it its distinctive smell and sheen. It is used exclusively by tokoyama hairdressers.
  chankonabe (ちゃんこ鍋)
  A stew commonly eaten in large quantities by sumo wrestlers as part of a weight gain diet. It contains dashi or stock with sake or mirin to add flavor. The bulk of chankonabe is made up of large quantities of protein sources, usually chicken, fish (fried and made into balls), tofu, or sometimes beef; and vegetables (daikon, bok choy, etc.).
  chikara-mizu (力水)
  Power-water. The ladleful of water with which a wrestler will ceremonially rinse out his mouth prior to a bout. It must be handed to him by a wrestler not tainted with a loss on that day, so it is either handed to him by the victorious wrestler of the previous bout if he was on the same side of the dohyō, or if that wrestler was defeated, by the wrestler who will fight in the bout following. This system works well until the last match of the day (musubi no ichiban, 結びの一番) when one side will not have someone to give them the power water. This is due to the fact that one of the sides from the previous match lost and there is no next match, so there is neither a winner from the previous match, nor a next wrestler to give them the water. In this case a winner from two or three prior matches will be the one to give them the power water. This wrestler is known as the kachi-nokori (勝ち残り), which means the winner who remains.
  chonmage (丁髷)
  Traditional Japanese haircut with a topknot, now only worn by rikishi and so an easy way to recognize that a man is in the sumo profession.
  danpatsu-shiki (断髪式)
  Retirement ceremony, held for a top wrestler in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan some months after retirement, in which his chonmage, or top knot is cut off. A wrestler must have fought as a sekitori in at least 30 tournaments to qualify for a ceremony at the Kokugikan.
  deashi (出足)
  Constant forward movement. Term used to refer to when a wrestler continuously moves forward as opposed to moving backwards or being moved backwards.
  dohyō (土俵)
  The ring in which the sumo wrestlers hold their matches, made of a specific clay and spread with sand. A new dohyō is built prior to each tournament.
  dohyō-iri (土俵入り)
  Ring-entering ceremony, performed only by the wrestlers in the jūryō and makuuchi divisions. The east and west sides perform their dohyō-iri together, in succession; the yokozuna have their own individual dohyō-iri performed separately. The main styles of yokozuna dohyō-iri are Unryū and Shiranui, named after Unryū Kyūkichi and Shiranui Kōemon. A yokozuna performs the ceremony with two attendants, the tachimochi (太刀持ち, sword carrier) and the tsuyuharai (露払い, dew sweeper).
  ebanzuke (絵番付)
  Picture banzuke with paintings of top division sekitori, gyōji and sometimes yobidashi.
  fudadome (札止め)
  "Sold out," meaning 
caption: A dohyō-iri ceremony
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