Sumo wrestling gets its first Japanese grand champion in 7 years as 24-year-old Onosato reaches top rank

Tokyo — Japan has a new sumo grand champion — or yokozuna — and the big news is he’s Japanese. Onosato, the new grand champion, weighs 421 pounds and he is the first Japanese competitor to reach the top rank since 2017. By comparison, the average weight of an NFL lineman is just over 300 pounds.

The sport has recently been dominated by Mongolians. Prior to Onosato, six of the previous seven yokozunas have been from Mongolia.

“I’ll devote myself to training so that I will not disgrace the title of yokozuna,” Onosato said Wednesday, dressed in a formal kimono and bowing as he sat on the floor. “I will aim to become a one-and-only yokozuna.”

Onosato, whose real name is Daiki Nakamura, is only 24 and was promoted Wednesday to sumo’s top rank by the Japan Sumo Association. Onosato was promoted by winning last week’s Summer Grand Sumo Tournament, which came after he won another prestigious tournament in March.

Onosato is from Ishikawa prefecture, which was hit on Jan. 1, 2024, by a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed about 600 people in the prefecture and caused widespread damage. Much of the destruction was centered on an area known as the Noto Peninsula.

“I will work hard as a yokozuna to encourage and cheer up the Ishikawa prefecture and the Noto region,” he said.

He then added: “I determined that yokozuna should be my goal once I entered the world of sumo,” he said. “It’s not easy to achieve and I’m really delighted.”

Sumo is regarded as Japan’s national sport, or most sacred sport, and many of the ritual elements are connected to Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion.

Sumo’s origins date back more than 1,000 years, and Japan is the only country where it is contested on a professional level, though competitors come from around the world. 

Last year the sumo world lost one of its contemporary greats, Hawaii-born Akebono, who died at the age of 54. The American was the first foreign-born wrestler to reach the level of yokozuna.

The sport is highly regimented with many wrestlers living in communal training facilities where food and dress are controlled by ancient traditions.

Onosato’s promotion will set up an instant rivalry with Mongolia-born Hoshoryu, who is the other wrestler in Japan to hold the yokozuna title.

The Japanese news agency Kyodo said the two sumo stars are due to meet in a tournament in July in the central city of Nagoya.