Why a Sumo Reference?

The internet is a wonderful thing where you can get everything, right? Well, there is a glaring void of past Ozumo data, and even in Japanese that's difficult to find. To my knowledge the best Japanese sources for comprehensive data are from Takayama-san (a lot of rikishi details) and Gans-san (sekitori banzuke and bouts back to 1757), with the Japanese Wikipedia providing a little additional information. It's getting quite scarce for data below juryo level.

All these sites don't have a lot of crosslinking between banzuke and rikishi. There is a fine English Sumo Information site which does have crosslinking, but it's not as deep as the mentioned Japanese sites.

Of course there used to be hakkeyoi.net, offering all that and rich query tools too, but sadly this site seems to have disappeared.

What are the main features?

Well, mainly lots of data: Sekitori banzuke are available back to 1757, full banzuke down to jonokuchi are complete back to 1989 with several basho before 1989 complete as well. Makuuchi and juryo bouts are complete back to 1909, with all kimarite for makuuchi since 1927 and for juryo since 1989 (and a few dozen basho before 1989). All lower division bouts are complete since 1999 plus a third of the basho between 1989 and 1998.

Rikishi details are complete for a lot of rikishi, including shikona histories, yearly heights and weights, real names, birth dates, heya etc. There also is a photo for more than 700 rikishi available. You also can see the rikishi bouts by opponent or by kimarite. Many rikishi details also can be seen on banzuke pages by configuring the respective options.

Another matter of importance is that every data page is available on English and Japanese. You can always switch between English and Japanese by clicking on the rightmost link in the navigation line at the top.

An important feature from hakkeyoi.net is living on here, it's the possibility to make banzuke or bout searches. Here you can restrict the banzuke or bouts to the one you wish, and choose to group them.

Have Questions?

This site offers a lot of data, but not everything gets explained in detail. That's partly because it's assumed that you already know a bit about sumo if you reached this site, but also because of a lack of time to go into explaining basic sumo terms.

The best place for asking questions is the Sumo Forum, where you will get answers quickly. A feedback form for private contact is also available.

Do you want to contribute?

I'm still looking to expand the database as I'd like to have more full banzuke (and rikishi details) for the Showa era. I'd also like to have complete lower division bouts for the Heisei era, about 40 basho are still missing. For about 25 more basho I do have the bouts, but would like to add the kimarite.

I'm still looking for help to get the necessary sources which mainly are "Sumo" magazines. Only "Sumo" from Baseball-magazine-sha does have all the details. So, if you do have "Sumo" magazines from 1995 or earlier and are willing to help the Sumo Reference site, please contact me.

Also, the data on this site as well as the programming certainly still has a few errors. Please report such errors.

Thanks

I am grateful to a lot of people who helped me with this site. Yubiquitoyama, Nekonishiki and aderechelseamaru were big helps in collecting data. Nowadays Nishinoshima is stepping in. I'd also like to thank Takatamale and Itachiyama. Asashosakari was invaluable in finding lots of errors. Photos of current rikishi are mostly from Fay, with some from ilovesumo and Nishinoshima. The artwork on the front page is from Nishinoshima, the favicon from Odoriou. Kashunowaka from hakkeyoi.net inspired me for many of the ideas and designs. Kofuji, the mastermind behind sumogames.com, is providing valuable resources in hosting this site.