Ranks

One ladder. East of a rank is listed slightly above west of the same rank. They are not conferences — see how to read a banzuke. Lower number is higher rank: M1 sits above M16. The sheet is redrawn after every basho.

1. 1. Yokozuna 横綱

   Grand champion. Never demoted — they retire. A losing basho here is intai talk, not a drop.

2. 2. Ozeki 大関

   Champion. Two losing basho and they fall to sekiwake. Kadoban is the warning after the first.

3. 3. Sekiwake 関脇

   Named rank below ozeki. A strong basho here is the ozeki run.

4. 4. Komusubi 小結

   The lowest named rank. Often a brutal schedule against the men above.

5. 5. Maegashira 前頭

   Numbered ranks in the top division. M1 sits above M16. How far the numbers run depends on how many yokozuna and ozeki there are.

6. 6. Juryo 十両

   Second division. Twenty-eight salaried men. Promotion to makuuchi is the prize.

7. 7. Makushita 幕下

   The upper unsalaried division. Seven bouts. The joi (Ms1–Ms15) can still make juryo.

8. 8. Sandanme 三段目

   Below makushita. Seven bouts. A long climb from here to a salary.

9. 9. Jonidan 序二段

   Second from the bottom. Most new men spend time here.

10. 10. Jonokuchi 序ノ口

    The bottom of the published ladder. New recruits usually start here after maezumo.

11. 11. Banzuke-gai 番付外

    Off the published ranking. Active men who did not sit this basho’s ladder.

Sanyaku and sekitori

Sanyaku are the named ranks above the numbered maegashira: yokozuna, ozeki, sekiwake, and komusubi. Yokozuna and ozeki are the top of the card. Everyone from yokozuna through maegashira is makuuchi — forty-two men on a typical sheet.

Sekitori are the salaried men: makuuchi and juryo. They fight fifteen times, have their own rooms, and wear a finer mawashi on the dohyo. Everyone below is unpaid, lives in the heya, and fights seven bouts a basho.

A maegashira win over a yokozuna is a kinboshi. Komusubi and above do not receive one.

Who can fall

Yokozuna are not demoted. Consecutive poor basho is how intai conversations start — they retire, they do not drop to ozeki.

An ozeki who goes make-koshi becomes kadoban. One more losing basho and they fall to sekiwake, never below. A 10-win return basho at sekiwake usually puts them back; that is convention, not a statute.

Promotion the other way is also convention. An ozeki run is typically two strong sekiwake basho, or about 33 wins across three sanyaku tournaments. Yokozuna promotion is two consecutive yusho — or the equivalent — plus the Kyokai’s judgment of character. The association decides; the numbers are the usual yardstick.

Everyone else moves with the record. Kachi-koshi usually holds or lifts you. Make-koshi usually drops you. A juryo yusho almost always means makuuchi. A make-koshi at M16 is how you meet juryo again. The inspector on the guess board shows where a rank and record have actually landed.