2020 in sumo

Tournaments

Hatsu basho">honbasho">basho

Haru basho

Natsu basho

Nagoya basho

Olympic exhibition

Aki basho

Kyushu basho

News

January

• 9: Ishiura is docked 20 percent of one month's salary by the Japan Sumo Association following an incident in training at Miyagino stable when he came to blows with a junior ranked wrestler, Hokahō, after a series of heated bouts, leading to them having to be separated by Hakuhō. Hokahō is warned, while stablemaster Miyagino Oyakata is docked 20 percent of his salary for three months.
• 25: Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter Princess Aiko watch the final nine matches of Day 14 of the Hatsu basho, the first time they have attended sumo since the Emperor ascended to the throne in May 2019.
• 26: The final day sees two maegashira, Shōdai and Tokushōryū, in contention for the championship. Shōdai defeats Mitakeumi to finish on 13–2, but in the final match Tokushōryū defeats ōzeki Takakeishō to win the yūshō with a 14–1 record, avoiding the need for a playoff with Shōdai. He only returned to the makuuchi division this tournament at the very bottom rank of west maegashira 17, and he is the first to win the championship at the lowest rank since Takatōriki in March 2000. He is also the first winner from Nara Prefecture in 98 years. Visibly emotional after the championship-winning bout, Tokushōryū at 33 is the third oldest first-time yūshō winner since the six tournaments per year era began in 1958, after Kyokutenhō and Tamawashi. He also receives his first ever special prizes, for Fighting Spirit and Outstanding Performance. Shodai also gets a share of the Fighting Spirit Prize, as does makuuchi debutant Kiribayama who scores 11–4. Hokutofuji is awarded the Technique Prize and also finishes on 11–4. Endō receives a share of the Outstanding Performance Prize for beating both yokozuna, Hakuhō and Kakuryū, although both end up dropping out of the tournament with injuries. Ōzeki Gōeidō can only score 5–10 and faces demotion from the rank after 33 straight tournaments at ōzeki, the tenth highest in history. The jūryō division championship is won by former ōzeki Terunofuji with a 13–2 record, continuing his comeback from injury. Former maegashira Arawashi retires.
• 28: Gōeidō's retirement is announced, leaving sumo with only one ōzeki for the first time in 38 years. Gōeidō is the first ōzeki to retire at that rank since Kaiō in 2011. He is staying in sumo as a coach under the elder name of Takekuma.
• 29: The promotions to jūryō are announced. There is one newcomer,, a Kindai University graduate from Isegahama stable. The other four are all returning:,, former maegashira Akiseyama, and.
• 30: Furiwake Oyakata, the former Takamisakari, is announced as the new head coach of Azumazeki stable. Its future had been in doubt following the death of the previous Azumazeki Oyakata, ex-Ushiomaru, last December.

  February

• 1: The retirement ceremony of former sekiwake Takekaze is held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.
• 3: A number of top wrestlers take part in the soy bean-throwing at the Setsubun festival at Narita-san Shinshō-ji Temple in Narita, Chiba.
• 4: The Sumo Association announces that it will hold an exhibition tournament from August 12 to 13, shortly after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, to show sumo to an international audience. Dubbed the "Grand Sumo Tournament Rooting for the Tokyo 2020 Games", it will be part of the larger Nippon Festival, a nationwide collaboration focused on showing Olympic visitors Japan's culture and arts.
• 4: Chairman Hakkaku and Head of Public Relations Shibatayama tell a meeting of wrestlers and stable masters that the ban on individual wrestlers posting on social media, introduced after an image uploaded by Abi showed another wrestler tied up as a prank, is to be continued indefinitely. "One person’s mistake can cause trouble for everyone. Fans have been driven away by scandals in the past" says Hakkaku.
• 9: The 44th Fuji TV one day tournament is held at the Kokugikan. Takayasu defeats Myogiryu in the final.
• 17: Sandanme Wakaichirō Ken, a wrestler of mixed African-American and Japanese ancestry who grew up in Houston, Texas, retires. With his retirement, there are no active rikishi from North America.
• 23: The Sumo Association says the March tournament in Osaka will go ahead despite the current coronavirus outbreak, although it urges those attending to take suitable anti-viral measures.
• 24: The banzuke for March is released, with Tokushōryū rising from maegashira 17 to maegashira 2 in the rankings. Shodai returns to sekiwake for the first time since January 2017. The retirement of Gōeidō creates room for a maegashira 18, with Kotonowaka Masahiro making his makuuchi debut at the expense of his injured stablemate Kotoyuki, who drops to jūryō. Kotonowaka is the son of his stablemaster, ex-sekiwake Kotonowaka Terumasa, and it is the ninth time that a father and son have both reached the top division. Returning to makuuchi are Nishikigi and Daiamami.
• 26: Coming under increasing pressure to cancel the March tournament, the Sumo Association says it will make a decision on March 1. The J.League has postponed all matches until March 15, the Tokyo Marathon organizers have restricted entry to elite runners only, and Olympic organisers have cancelled training events.
• 28: The Sumo Association admits that the tournament is unlikely to be held in a "regular fashion".

  March

• 1: The Sumo Association confirms that the March Basho in Osaka will be held behind closed doors. The tournament will be broadcast, but will be cancelled if any wrestler is found to have contracted the coronavirus. This will be the first closed door basho since a June 1945 tournament where only injured World War II veterans were invited to attend.
• 8: With the tournament underway several wrestlers remark on how odd it is to fight in a virtually empty arena, with Enhō commenting, "It’s like I can’t raise my fighting spirit...It made me wonder what I’m fighting for."
• 15: Chiyomaru withdraws from the tournament with a fever. After two straight days with a temperature of above 37.5 °C he undergoes a test for the coronavirus, which comes back negative on March 17. He re-entered the tournament on March 18.
• 22: The tournament ends with both Yokozuna on identical scores deciding the championship in the last bout, the first time this has happened since 2013. Hakuho wins the match to take his 44th yūshō with a 13–2 record. Kakuryū is runner up on 12–3 alongside maegashira Takanoshō, who wins the Fighting Spirit prize. Aoiyama who had been sole leader only to lose his last three matches and finish on 11–4, gets the Technique Award. Ōnoshō wins the Outstanding Performance prize for his victory over Hakuhō on Day 10. Asanoyama finishes on 11–4, his fourth straight double-digit score, and the judging committee recommend his promotion to ōzeki.
• 25: Asanoyama's promotion to ōzeki is officially announced. It is also announced that three wrestlers are returning to the jūryō division – former maegashira Fujiazuma and, plus Asanoyama's stablemate. There are no wrestlers making their jūryō debut this time.
• 26: Former maegashira Sōkokurai retires to take over Arashio stable.

  April

• 3: The May 2020 and July 2020 tournaments are both postponed two weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak; the July tournament was previously moved forward a week to avoid conflict with the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which have since been postponed to a year.
• 10: The Sumo Association confirmed the sport's first coronavirus case. Sandanme 11 wrestler Shobushi of Takadagawa stable, whose identity was not disclosed at the time, tested positive after developing a fever some six days earlier. All sumo wrestlers and officials were ordered to stay indoors until further notice. The Sumo Association's communications director, Shibatayama, told reporters that the situation around the world had become more serious and that the JSA needed to decide the direction they would be going in with regard to the already-postponed May basho.
• 17: Former sekiwake Toyonoshima retires.
• 25: The Sumo Association announced that stablemaster Takadagawa and five wrestlers tested positive for the coronavirus. One of the affected wrestlers was Hakuyozan, a jūryō wrestler in Takadagawa stable, while the other four were lower-division wrestlers whose identities and stables were not disclosed. Shibatayama from the Sumo Association said that the banzuke for the May tournament would be published on 27 April as scheduled, but noted that the tournament could still be closed to the public or cancelled depending on the situation.
• 27: The banzuke for the Natsu basho is released. Asanoyama makes his debut at ōzeki, and Kotoshōhō makes his top division debut. Okinoumi returns to the sanyaku ranks for the first time since November 2016, and Terunofuji returns to makuuchi after a 14 tournament absence during which he fell to jonidan.

  May

• 1: The Sumo Association said it would review the schedule for the May basho if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe follows through with plans to extend Japan's state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• 4: Following the extension of Japan's national state of emergency until 31 May, the Sumo Association officially cancels the May Grand Sumo Tournament. It is the second cancellation of a basho since 1946, and the first since March 2011 amidst a match-fixing scandal. The Sumo Association also announced it was making plans to move the 2020 July basho from Nagoya to Tokyo, with the meet likely to be conducted behind closed doors.
• 13: The Sumo Association announced the death of sandanme wrestler Shobushi from multiple organ failure after contracting the coronavirus one month earlier. The 28-year-old was the first sumo wrestler to die from the virus, and is also thought to be the first person in their 20s to die from the virus in Japan. He suffered from diabetes and in 2016 had to withdraw from a bout because of hypoglycemia. JSA chairman Hakkaku says, "We cannot find any words to say when we think about the broken hearts of his family. I can only imagine how hard it must have been, battling illness for over a month, but like a wrestler he endured it bravely and fought the disease until the end. I just want him to rest peacefully now."
• 18: COVID-19 antibody testing is made available to all Sumo Association members, including wrestlers and stablemasters.

  June

• 22: Sumo Association spokesman Oguruma confirms that although the Japanese government will allow events with up to 5000 spectators from July 10, the aim is to hold the next tournament in an empty arena. The ban on wrestlers visiting other stables for training may be lifted two weeks before the start of the tournament if it is medically safe to do so.

  July

• 6: The Sumo Association announce the results of their antibody testing. Of the 891 personnel tested, five came up positive for antibodies. Four were cleared after PCR testing, while one was believed to have been infected in May and already cured. The Association does not confirm whether any were wrestlers or if they were other members.
• 10: The Sumo Association confirm that the July tournament will go ahead, with a decision on whether to admit spectators to be made at a later board meeting.
• 13: Nakagawa stable is closed down after three wrestlers complain of physical and verbal abuse by its head coach, the former Asahisato. Nakagawa Oyakata is demoted two rungs in the Sumo Association's hierarchy and transferred to Tokitsukaze stable. Nakagawa stable's wrestlers and personnel are divided up amongst seven different stables.
• 13: Former maegashira Seirō retires after a 15 year career due to health problems.
• 13: The Sumo Association announces its decision to open the July basho in Tokyo to a maximum of 2,500 spectators per day, which is less than one-fourth the total capacity of the Kokugikan. It is also announced that the November tournament will be switched from Fukuoka to Tokyo, and that all remaining jungyo tours this year are cancelled.
• 15: Former sekiwake Tochiōzan retires. He is staying in sumo as a coach under the name Kiyomigata Oyakata.
• 19: The July tournament opens with the limited number of spectators required to wear masks, have their temperature taken, and sit apart with only one person in the four-seat masu boxes. Fans have been instructed to applaud and not cheer, and not approach any wrestlers for autographs.
• 26: Abi is removed partway through July tournament for violations against the JSA's coronavirus containment guidelines. JSA chairman Hakkaku described Abi's actions as "unpardonable".

  Deaths

• 12 Jan: Former makushita 13 Midiorimine, better known as professional wrestler Kazuo Sakurada, aged 71, from arrhythmia.
• 28 Feb: Former makushita 15 Daishōchi, aged 35, from an unspecified illness.
• 28 March: Former jūryō 2, elder brother of Terao and Sakahoko, aged 60, from heart failure. His death was not disclosed until 16 May.
• 13 May: Sandanme 11 Shobushi, aged 28, from multiple organ failure caused by the coronavirus.