How to read a banzuke

A printed banzuke puts East on the right and West on the left, because it is read as if you were facing the dohyo. Tachiai — like most English guess-the-banzuke boards — uses East | Rank | West so the higher side is on the left as you scan.

Calligraphy size is rank. Yokozuna names are the largest. Maegashira shrink as the numbers climb. Extra yokozuna or ozeki are not a layout error; the Kyokai will add a Y2 or O3 row when the people are there. That is why the guess board keeps those slots even when they start empty.

Stables (heya) are printed on the official sheet too. They are training houses. Members still fight each other — open a stable from a name or the directory.

The current official sheet is a read-only twin of this layout. Until the next banzuke drops it shows the last published ranking, colored with the same kachi green and make red as the guess board.