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Yokozuna is the highest rank of sumo wrestling. It was not recorded on the banzuke until 1890 and was not officially recognised as sumo's highest rank until 1909. Until then, yokozuna was merely a licence given to certain ōzeki to perform the dohyō-iri ceremony.
Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. For more information, see kachi-koshi and make-koshi. Wrestlers are also ranked within each division.
The ōzeki (大関), or champion rank, is immediately below yokozuna in the ranking system. Until the yokozuna rank was introduced, ōzeki was the highest rank attainable. Technically, there must always be a minimum of two ōzeki on the banzuke, one on the east side and one on the west.
Wrestlers can be listed in the order of their rank as of the most current March/Haru 2025 banzuke, by clicking the 'Current rank' sorting button.; The East side of the banzuke is regarded as more prestigious than the West side and those ranked on the East will generally have had a slightly better record in the previous tournament than those with the same rank on the West.
At the pinnacle of the ranking system is the rank of yokozuna (横綱). [26] Yokozuna, or grand champions, are generally expected to compete for and to win the top division tournament title on a regular basis, hence the promotion criteria for yokozuna are very strict.
The Sumo Association even began to think about a demotion system applied to yokozuna but the idea was later dropped under pressure from sumo purists and traditionalists. [5] To maintain the dignity of the rank, it was instead decided that yokozuna should be recommended by experts with a deep knowledge of sumo, like the House of Yoshida Tsukasa ...
The list includes yokozuna and ōzeki (the highest rank before the yokozuna rank was introduced), but excludes so-called kanban or "guest ōzeki" (usually big men drawn from local crowds to promote a tournament who would never appear on the banzuke again) and wrestlers for which insufficient data is available.
By 2020, over 250 wrestlers have been promoted to the rank of ōzeki throughout the entire history of the sport. [1] Wrestlers who went on to be promoted to yokozuna are tabulated in the list of yokozuna. [2] Active wrestlers (September 2024) are indicated by italics. The number of top division yūshō (championships) won by each ōzeki is also ...