25 Under 25, 2026 Edition

With the Nagoya basho about to begin, we take our annual look at the young rikishi that are worth watching.

Join us for the Nagoya Basho at Fantasizr: https://www.fantasizr.com/sport/Fantasy-Basho-Nagoya-2026

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Since 2022, I’ve been doing a look at 25 rikishi to watch under 25. This is not about who has the best possible future career, which I tend to leave for my Next Yokozuna piece each January. I view this as trying to answer “Who is worth watching for the future in general?”

What is interesting is I had to make a lot of tough choices. These 25 rikishi aren’t the only ones under 25 worth watching. For example, Kazuma is making his debut in the top division this basho just before turning 25. He’s not here, partly because he made it and turning 25 essentially means a sumotori has entered his prime. I think Kazuma will improve, but not overwhelmingly. Also not here are Yoshinofuji and Hiradoumi, who just turned 26. There are plenty of rikishi with promising futures who don’t make it.

These are the standouts, either by performance or intrigue. They are listed by highest rank achieved, which explains why Aonishiki is on top and someone like Kiryuko is ahead of people above him on the Banzuke.

Here is the full list, with some data about each rikishi and a small write up.

Sekiwake #2 West Aonishiki
Aonishiki Arata | 安青錦 新大

Ajigawa | Ukraine
March 23, 2004
182 cm | 6’ 0”
142 kg | 312 lbs
Career High Rank: Ozeki
Career Record: 135 Wins-42 Losses-15 Absences
Aonishiki is down from where he was at the start of the year. He has been demoted to Sekiwake after two straight losing records in his second and third Ozeki basho, with the last one being a full absence.
So let’s all remember that this is a 22 year old who has already been Ozeki and won two Yusho and a Jun-Yusho. His future is still excessively bright, and the only dent is that he did have to sit out for an injury. If he’s healthy (those words...), Aonishiki is a favorite for any yusho.
On the dohyo, he is one of the pound-for-pound best. His surprising strength and unbelievable leverage allows him to maneuver opponents around. He is also amazingly inventive, using kimarite like uchimuso (hitting an opponent in the thigh with your hand), kirikaeshi (putting your thigh into the back of the other guy to trip him over), and susoharai (kicking the other guy’s leg out from under him.)
His work to learn Japanese and dedicate himself to sumo shows his effort. He’s also still the second-youngest rikishi in Makuuchi. Expect him to come back and be good.

Sekiwake #1 East Atamifuji
Atamifuji Sakutaro | 熱海富士

Isegahama | Shizuoka
September 3, 2002
187 cm | 6’ 2”
197 kg | 433 lbs
Career High Rank: Sekiwake
Career Record: 250 Wins-185 Losses-4 Absences
Atamifuji feels like he’s been around forever, but he doesn’t turn 24 until September. He has now been a Sekiwake for two basho, and he is the highest ranked rikishi on this list. Even if he never hits a higher gear, this is a solid career and Atamifuji has made his mark on sumo.
But he easily could hit a higher gear. He has improved to maintain a Sanyaku slot, and his recent improvements came with a new partiality for oshidashi. That suggests he is attacking more straight ahead to better use his size, rather than waiting and working out how to win a mawashi battle.

Maegashira #1 East Fujinokawa
Fujinokawa Seigo | 藤ノ川 成剛

Isenoumi | Kyoto
February 22, 2005
177 cm | 5’ 10”
123 kg | 271 lbs
Career High Rank: Maegashira #1
Career Record: 135 Wins-82 Losses-3 Absences
Fujinokawa is both the lightest and the youngest man in sumo’s top division right now. He is already a Maegashira #1 at 21, and he has an excellent combination of skills and strength. In particular, he gets inside an opponent as well as anyone. From there, he can do almost anything. The Japan Sumo Association lists his top kimarite as “oshidashi, sukuinage, hatakikomi,” but the “etc.” category having 62% of his wins over the last year. They might as well say “He could do anything.”
Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that Fujinokawa clearly has so much room for growth. (Well, not physically, he will always be diminutive.) He is eligible for this list for another three years. Maybe his ceiling is limited by his size, but he is currently getting reps against the biggest and best. Fujinokawa is already good and hasn’t come close to his peak.

Maegashira #3 West Hakunofuji
Hakunofuji Tetsuya | 伯乃富士 哲也

Isegahama | Tottori
August 22, 2003
181 cm | 5’ 11”
159 kg | 350 lbs
Career High Rank: Maegashira #1
Career Record: 160 Wins-99 Losses-40 Absences
Hakunofuji has already had a career-and-a-half, including a great debut, a stable change due to scandal, and three name changes. In all of that, it’s important to remember he is not yet 23 and has won 61% of his career matches. Considering he started as a Makushita #10, that means all his matches have been against serious competition. There’s no reason to think the man dubbed the “Reiwa Monster” doesn’t have some monstrosity still in him.
The reason to think he won’t be a consistent Sanyaku man in the future is injury. He has already missed 40 matches in a three-and-a-half-year career. He also now always looks like he’s battling a rolled ankle or a stiff back. There was also the small matter of his current stablemaster (former Terunofuji, the third Yokozuna to be his stablemaster) hitting him with a beer bottle when he acted like a drunken ass. A positive eventual unfolding of his career is easy to imagine, but a negative one is also imminently possible.

Maegashira #7 East Kotoeiho
Kotoeiho Hiroki | 琴栄峰 央起

Sadogatake | Chiba
July 8, 2003
184 cm | 6’ 0”
142 kg | 312 lbs
Career High Rank: Maegashira #7
Career Record: 157 Wins-104 Losses-1 Absences
Kotoeiho showed up in Makuuchi for the first time in Natsu. He went 10-5, hanging in contention until the final weekend. The three match losing streak he closed with shows that Kotoeiho isn’t quite ready for serious contention.
But he has time. He just turned 23, and he’s a really good athlete for a sekitori. He also just proved he can hang in a match with most Maegashira. Kotoeiho is one of those guys who was on the bigger end through the lower ranks, and needed to adjust to the bigger size of the average Makuuchi rikishi. His focused and sound sumo (he is a Sadogatake man, after all) should allow him to handle bigger rikishi.

Maegashira #9 East Fujiryoga
Fujiryoga Masaharu | 藤凌駕 雅治

Fujishima | Aichi
February 27, 2003
180 cm | 5’ 11”
181 kg | 398 lbs
Career High Rank: Maegashira #9
Career Record: 61 Wins-27 Losses-0 Absences
I would not rate Fujiryoga too highluy in a career ceiling ranking. He is already 23, built like a bulldog, and hasn’t been an especially flashy rikishi so far. There is just no reason he won’t be around Makuuchi for awhile.
Fujiryoga’s a former amateur champion who took full advantage of Makushita Tsukedashi status. He also won a Juryo yusho and just scored 10 wins as a Maegashira. I would be stunned if he ever came anywhere near an Ozeki run. A few Sanyaku appearances and the occasional yusho contendership wouldn’t be terribly shocking.

Maegashira #11 East Wakanosho
Wakanosho Eido | 若ノ勝 栄道

Minatogawa | Tochigi
August 22, 2003
178 cm | 5’ 10”
145 kg | 319 lbs
Career High Rank: Maegashira #11
Career Record: 139 Wins-79 Losses-12 Absences
Wakanosho is about as strong a pusher-thruster as you will ever encounter on the dohyo. In 28 career basho in professional sumo, he was won just two matches by yorikiri. That would seem limiting, but his stablemaster--the former Takakeisho--was one of the best pure pushers to ever put on a mawashi. After a good debut, the evidence would show Wakanosho can be a good one.

Makushita #53 West Kiryuko
Kiryuko Hirokazu | 木竜皇 博一

Tatsunami | Chiba
October 31, 2002
177 cm | 5’ 10”
138 kg | 304 lbs
Career High Rank: Juryo #12
Career Record: 119 Wins-73 Losses-42 Absences
Last March, Kiryuko was a 22 year old in Juryo who looked like he’d be on the rocketship into Makushita. Instead, he suffered a right knee injury to multiple ligaments and dropped down the rankings.
Now, Kiryuko is a 23 year old in Makushita who has been demolishing the lower levels as he gets back to where he was. He isn’t big. He is the son of a former sekitori Tokitsuumi, and it shows. Kiryuko uses yorikiri and oshidashi nearly equally. He is a year behind where he once was, but he’s probably still on a Makuuchi path.

Makushita #3 East Fujitensei
Fujitensei Maaru | 藤天晴 真逢輝

Fujishima | Kagoshima
January 9, 2007
172 cm | 5’ 8”
139 kg | 306 lbs
Career High Rank: Juryo #13
Career Record: 37 Wins-27 Losses-0 Absences
Fujitensei made his Juryo debut in March, where he went 5-10. Then he went 3-4 in his return to Makuuchi. That is not the strongest recommendation for the future. Just remember he is 19 and a former Amateur Yokozuna who qualified for Makushita Tsukedashi status.
There is no one ranked above him who is younger than he is.
Fujitensei is still figuring himself out against guys with at least three or four years on him that know who they are. His next year may not be pretty. If he is just scraping into Juryo for Nagoya 2027, he will still be a 20-year-old in the second division.

Juryo #13 East Arashifuji
Arashifuji Kanato | 嵐富士 奏凪人

Isegahama | Fukuoka
October 12, 2004
172 cm | 5’ 8”
123 kg | 271 lbs
Career High Rank: Juryo #13
Career Record: 57 Wins-40 Losses-1 Absences
Arashifuji will be making his Juryo debut in Nagoya. He is a 21-year-old who entered sumo as a Miyagino wrestler, but now fights for Isegahama-beya (like they needed another sekitori.)
He is relatively small for a top-division wrestler and overwhelmingly favors oshi-zumo to an absurd degree. He feels like a fan-favorite even if he can’t push all the way to Sanyaku in his career.

Makushita #1 East Tanji
Tanji Jun | 丹治 純

Arashio | Fukushima
June 5, 2006
185 cm | 6’ 1”
144 kg | 317 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #1
Career Record: 105 Wins-65 Losses-5 Absences
Tanji is in a sport where if he gets a winning reciord, he becomes a sekitori. He has been more good than great in his career, often needing a few tries to stick at a level. Tanji also loves to grab a mawashi as much as anyone you’ll find. That all is fairly run of the mill in most cases, but Tanji turned 20 in June. He is still very young and has already made it this far.

Makushita #7 East Ikarigata
Ikarigata Chugo | 碇潟 忠剛

Isenoumi | Kyoto
February 24, 2007
174 cm | 5’ 9”
126 kg | 277 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #7
Career Record: 42 Wins-21 Losses-0 Absences
Ikarigata is your reigning, defending Makushita champion after winning a seven man playoff with a henka. He is Fujinokawa’s younger brother, but maybe a little smaller and a little more interesting in ring.
He is 19 and in the range where another Makushita yusho gets him into Juryo. That is one of many reasons to keep an eye on Ikarigata.

Makushita #11 East Asahifuji
Asahifuji Hideki | 旭富士 英毅

Isegahama | Mongolia
May 17, 2002
187 cm | 6’ 2”
148 kg | 326 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #11
Career Record: 21 Wins-0 Losses-0 Absences
How good is Asahifuji? Well, so far, no one has been able to beat him. Asahifuji is perhaps the most hyped debutant in years, having lived and trained in Isegahama-beya for years before officially joining Grand Sumo in January. An impressive physical specimen, Asahifuji has gone 21-0 in three professional basho.
Except he has actually won 24 straight matches. Asahifuji has won yusho playoffs after going 7-0 in his first three basho. The last two were against Kiryuko. Predicting him to go 7-0 in Nagoya feels ridiculous only because it has never happened. The most wins to start a career is 27, from Jokoryu a decade and a half ago.
Asahifuji may have a limit on his ceiling, because he is already 24 and doesn’t have the overwhelming size of a Hakuho, Terunofuji, or Onosato. These are questions about his future Yokozuna potential, not whether he’ll be a quality Makuuchi fighter. He is really, really good and likely more than ready to compete with Maegashira.

Makushita #17 East Ryuho
Ryuho Kazuma | 竜鳳 和真

Otowayama | Kyoto
June 12, 2007
175 cm | 5’ 9”
156 kg | 343 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #17
Career Record: 29 Wins-6 Losses-0 Absences
Ryuho is built like a square, turned 19 a month ago, and has shot through the Banzuke so far. Upper Makushita often puts a brake on young rikishi’s careers because they are facing veterans with savvy and physicality for the first time. Ryuho might get bogged down in the third division, but time is on his side. He is also another recruit for ex-Takakeisho’s Minatogawa-beya.

Makushita #20 West Uzumasa
Uzumasa Arata | 太秦 新太

Isenoumi | Kyoto
October 29, 2008
187 cm | 6' 2"
138 kg | 304 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #18
Career Record: 56 Wins-35 Losses-0 Absences
Uzumasa is three ranks behind Ryuho and somehow over a year younger. He’s never been stellar, but he joined sumo as a 16 year old and keeps winning more than he loses. On the dohyo, he has gone for oshidashi and yorikiri almost equally. He also is at the age and stage of his career where he is still finding his brand of sumo. Remember, he can be on this list until 2032. (If we’re all still here and I’m still doing this.)

Makushita #23 West Tatsubayama
Tatsubayama Takashi | 龍葉山 高志

Tokitsukaze | Mongolia
June 29, 2005
189 cm | 6’ 2”
153 kg | 337 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #23
Career Record: 28 Wins-5 Losses-2 Absences
Tatsubayama has been steamrolling the lower divisions since joining sumo a year ago. Tokitsukaze’s designated foreigner, Tatsubayama is a recently turned 21-year-old Mongolian with good size and clearly too much ability for the lower divisions. He has won 28 of his 33 competitive matches, but worryingly also has missed a match in two separate basho due to injury. If he is healthy, then this is someone who will be in Makuuchi very, very quickly.

Makushita #26 Omori
Omori Yasuhiro | 大森 康弘

Oitekaze | Ishikawa
July 9, 2003
185 cm | 6’ 1”
120 kg | 264 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #26
Career Record: 6 Wins-1 Losses-0 Absences
Omori is a Makushita Tsukedashi out of Kanazawa Gakuin University who went 6-1, then lost in the crazy 7 man playoff that decided Makushita in May. His regulation loss was to Asahifuji, while his playoff defeat was to Ikarigata. You just read about them.
There is not much to say about Omori, because he is still fairly new to sumo. He is not particularly bulky for a sumotori, so his style should be interesting. Once he makes Juryo, he’ll get a shikona starting with “Dai,” which is the Kanji his name already starts with. That could be fast if he keeps up how he started.

Makushita #39 East Takahara
Takahara Keito | 高原 契斗

Futagoyama | Kanagawa
March 22, 2007
173 cm | 5’ 8”
115 kg | 253 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #39
Career Record: 26 Wins-9 Losses-0 Absences
Takahara is still a teenager and somewhat on the small end for a rikishi. He has just found ways to beat people consistently in his short career.
Makushita should change that a little bit, because he will need to beat rikishi who are big and skilled now. And he did go 4-3 last time out in his shin-Makushita basho. He’s won with yorikiri, oshidashi, and a variety of throws, so presume he’ll find ways to contend. As a 19 year old, that process may take awhile without him getting on the wrong end of the age curve.

Makushita #58 East Kaida
Kaida Tatsuma | 甲斐田 龍馬

Kasugano | Oita
August 3, 2007
192 cm | 6’ 4”
158 kg | 348 lbs
Career High Rank: Makushita #58
Career Record: 11 Wins-3 Losses-0 Absences
Kaida was a Sandanme Tsukedashi in March as a high school wrestler. Since then, he’s gone 5-2 and 6-1 in two Sandanme basho. He is already huge, and so far has practiced straight-ahead sumo. There may not be much finesse here, but Kaida (or whatever his ring name will end up being, likely starting with Tochi since he’s a Kasugano man) probably won’t need a lot of finesse to succeed.

Sandanme #3 East Tenshoyama
Tenshoyama Shogo | 天昇山 将伍

Tamanoi | Mongolia
May 18, 2004
197 cm | 6’ 6”
172 kg | 378 lbs
Career High Rank: Sandanme #3
Career Record: 18 Wins-3 Losses-0 Absences
Generally, a 6 foot-6 inch Mongolian who has gone 6-1 in each of his first three basho would be getting attention. Unfortunately for Tenshoyama, he has had to face Asahifuji twice. Like everyone who has faced Asahifuji, he lost those matches. He also lost to Kiryuko. Those are very respectable losses.
He mostly wins by yorikiri, but has enough pushing wins to show he can handle adversity. Importantly, you also can’t teach size and Tenshoyama unquestionably has size.

Sandanme #16 East Kazemitsuki
Kazemitsuki | 風光希

Oshiogawa | Iwate
September 27, 2006
176 cm | 5’ 9”
134 kg | 295 lbs
Career High Rank: Sandanme #16
Career Record: 21 Wins-7 Losses-0 Absences
Kazemitsuki is nearly 21 and is 21-7 in four basho to get him to Sanme. Comnpared to some of the other names on this list, that may seem uninspiring. This is still someone far away from his peak winning most of his matches. He also will likely bulk up a little bit. While he doesn’t have Future Superstar as obviously in his future as others, expect to see Kazemitsuki in Makuuchi. (Barring injury, of course.) It just may take a few years.

Sandanme #26 East Shosei
Shosei Tanaka | 翔盛 田中

Nakamura | Oita
February 6, 2008
175 cm | 5’ 9”
157 kg | 345 lbs
Career High Rank: Sandanme #26
Career Record: 13 Wins-1 Losses-0 Absences
Shosei has lost once in his two professional basho. Clearly, he’s ahead of the lowest divisions. I would have one big worry about him moving forward. He is at a height to weight ratio that would suggest he’s going to get too big as he gets in his twenties and subsides on regular stable Shannon amounts.

Sandanme #62 East Sekishoryu
Sekishoryu Hiromasa | 関将竜 大将

Sakaigawa | Fukuoka
September 19, 2007
173 cm | 5’ 8”
83 kg | 183 lbs
Career High Rank: Sandanme #62
Career Record: 15 Wins-6 Losses-0 Absences
Sekishoryu has averaged a 5-2 over his three career professional basho. He is definitely a step ahead of the rikishi in Jonokuchi and Jonidan. However, he has the opposite problem of Shosei. He may be too small as he moves up the rankings. He is currently 83 kg. Even Enho, the lightest of modern sekitori, was always around 100 kg at his lightest. The benefit for Sekishoryu is that he only knows sumo when he is seriously undersized.

Jonidan #38 Nakazawa
Nakazawa Musashi | 中澤 睦士

Kise | Tokyo
September 13, 2007
177 cm | 5’ 10”
129 kg | 284 lbs
Career High Rank: Jonidan #38
Career Record: 6 Wins-1 Losses-0 Absences
Nakazawa went 6-1 in his debut basho in May, which makes him the best of the most recent debutants. That’s not much to go on, but it is an early indicator he has something to offer going forward.

Jonidan #63 Nojima
Nojima Hinata | 野島 陽向

Nishonoseki | Oita
April 2, 2007
164 cm | 5’ 5”
98 kg | 216 lbs
Career High Rank: Jonidan #63
Career Record: 5 Wins-2 Losses-0 Absences
Another prospect who has been good early on but is astonishing small, Nojima is a remarkable 164 cm. He is worth watching because he is so small. He could easily be overwhelmed by normal sized rikishi, but if he even gets into Makushita he will be a fan favorite. And isn’t that worth hoping for?