Natsu 2026 Lower Division Review
There's more to sumo than Makuuchi, and here's what happened below the top division in the May sumo tournament.
Wakatakakage’s playoff win in an injury-scarred Natsu basho certainly will be what’s most remembered from this May. Not only did Wakatakakage win a basho that probably should have been Kirishima’s to take, tracking the leaderboards ups-and-downs was difficult throughout the basho. But if, like many sumo fans, you only paid close attention to the top division, there was a wealth of sumo below that.
Here’s a look at what happened beneath Makuuchi. In many cases, the six lower divisions produced as much drama as the top division.
Juryo
In the second division, Kazuma stood tall with a 12-3 record from Juryo #6 East. Kazuma is an absolute load of a sumotori (185 cm and 205 kg) who was a Makushita Tsukedashi in July 2024 after amateur success at Nihon University. Then he was injured in his first career basho. Sitting out four whole basho, Kazuma then raced through the four lowest levels. He has now gone 30-15 in three Juryo basho. He may not make it to Maegashira yet, but he’ll be solid when he does.
There was a pileup of positive records above Kazuma. The Juryo #1 pair of Onokatsu and Daiseizan were both 9-6. Former Emperor’s Cup winner Takerufuji was the runner up with 11 wins at Juryo #2 West. That duo must be promoted. Juryo #4 West Asasuiryu had 10 wins, a record that theoretically places him at the same rank after promotion as Kazuma. We’ll have to see who the Banzuke makers reward.
Two more names should be mentioned for this most recent Juryo division. Kazekeno was 10-1, but closed with a four match losing streak. He is a 26 year old former University man who has been in sumo since 2022. The Juryo yusho could have and probably should have been his. The other name to mention is Enho. The former Maegashira and all-around entertaining sumo little man has been on return from awful leg injuries. He not only made it back to the second division, but secured an 8-7 to stay there and hold off retirement. He isn’t near a Makuuchi return, but he’s a little closer.
Makushita
Sumo’s third division had, get this, a seven-way playoff between 6-1 rikishi. In the first playoff match, Omori faced Ikarigata. Omori is a brand-new Makushita Tsukedashi fighting out of Oitekaze-beya. Ikarigata is a teenage Sandanme Tsukedashi from a year ago, who is also Fujinokawa’s younger brother. Ikarigata won with a tsuridashi (the frontal lift out.) The second match featured Toshunryu, a 27-year-old Makushita mainstay, against Mudoho, Oho’s younger brother who has stalled out in upper Makushita with one Juryo appearance. Mudoho won with a straight ahead oshidashi. In the final first-round playoff match, 19-year old Tanji faced veteran and former Maegashira Akua. Akua won with a kakenage, or the hooking inner thigh throw, in a display of veteran wherewithal.
In the second set of matches, Tsushimanada joined the proceedings. (The order is all determined by random draw.) The 32 year old former Juryo wrestler from Sakaigawa-beya has been in the fading portion of his career, but got to this playoff during Natsu. His playoffs lasted one match as he lost to Akua via Oshidashi. The other semifinal was between Mudoho and Ikarigata in the younger-brother-of-a-Makuuchi-wrestler derby. Ikarigata picked up the simple oshidashi to set up the final.
And Ikarigata won the final match with a henka. Technically, he is credited with a hatakikomi victory and the Makushita yusho. Still, he sidestepped Akua. Maybe it’s a credit to Ikarigata’s sumo. After going through the wringer, he sized up his bigger and older opponent to know exactly how to win. He is a 19-year-old with a lower division championship to his name.
A special shout out should also be given to Arashifuji, who is the only rikishi to earn promotion from Makushita to Juryo after the Natsu basho. This particular promotion into the salaried ranks is always announced immediately after the conclusion of the tournament. That way the rikishi have time to prepare kesho-mawashi and other parts of being a sekitori. Unusually, there is just one. Arashifuji is an Isegahama wrestler (because that stable needed more sekitori) who used to be part of Miyagino before…well…we don’t have time to recount all of that. You have Google. Arashifuji is a 21-year-old who greatly favors pushing, and should be a future Makuuchi regular.
Sandanme
Sandanme also had a playoff! Compared to the chaos of Makushita, this was a tame affair. It was a one-on-one battle between Asahifuji and Kiryuko. While it wasn’t a seven man free-for-all, it was a rematch of the Jonidan playoff from the Haru basho. Once again, from either end of the division, Asahifuji and Kiryuko both won 7 and lost none. The lower divisions are scheduled where wrestlers with the same record square off each day in hopes of preventing this. When one rikishi dominates at the very top and another at the very bottom of a lower level, they need an eighth match to settle things. This has now happened to Asahifuji and Kiryuko in Jonidan and then Sandanme.
And Asahifuji got the better of him again. In fact, Asahifuji has gotten the better of everyone he’s met. Officially, he has begun his career with a 21-0 record through his first three basho. You can’t do better than that—except that he has. In each of his first three basho, he won the yusho in a playoff. Technically, he has won 24 in a row to start his career. The record for most wins to start a career
belongs to Jokoryu, who had 26 wins to start his career and Asahifuji can pass with another yusho. But Makushita slows guys down for a reason.
Kiryuko, in fact, only received his first losing basho when he was in Makushita, back in September 2022. Kiryuko actually made it all the way up to Juryo, but was injured in March 2025. He’s now on the comeback trail, going 15-0 in his comeback tournaments. He’s only lost to Asahifuji in 2026.
That fact–and the incredible hype around Asahifuji–would suggest that Asahifuji has the brighter future. On the other hand, Kiryuko is five months younger (October 2002 vs May 2002) than Asahifuji and has already made Juryo. Clearly, both rikishi are way better than everyone in the lower divisions. Don’t be surprised if either makes quick work of Makushita. Just don’t expect immediate 7-0s again when they get there. Only spending three or four basho in Makushita is an amazing feat.
Jonidan
Jonidan was won outright in regulation–what a concept! 18-year-old Shosei of Nakamura-beya took the prize. In addition to fighting for a stable with an extremely common Japanese surname, he goes by his personal given name as a shikona. Even weirder, he has kept his family name, Tanaka, as the personal name in his shikona. Go figure. But get used to it, because he’s probably pretty good. May was just his second tournament, and he now has a career record of 13-1, plus a playoff loss in March. He’s a squat widebody who loves pushing, but also has won a few times with throws. He is well ahead of the bottom two divisions now, and he doesn’t turn 19 until next February.
Jonidan is strange. It doesn’t have the guys who can’t get out of the lowest division, but the real up-and-comers blow past it. The competition always feels lackluster. Jonidan has people slowly fading into retirement after a career that stalled out in lower Makushita, or early twenty-somethings who have never quite sorted out professional sumo. It’s a chore as much as a challenge. Shosei just handled it while barely an adult.
Jonokuchi
Sumo’s bottom division was won by Hakugetsuro, a brand-new fighter out of Asahiyama-beya. He is a 24-year-old Mongolian out of Senshu University, so he probably should have beat all comers in Jonokuchi. Doing what you should is still better than the alternative. He isn’t big, but did seem to overwhelm people. He had two hatakikomi victories, plus an abisetaoshi (“backward force down,” a.k.a. falling really hard on someone.)
More interesting as a prospect is Nakazawa, who is an 18 year old debutant that only lost to Hakugetsuro. In addition to winning a lot–the most important criteria for a rikishi–Nakazawa won with okuridashi twice. That’s a signal he was both more athletic than his opponents, since he got behind them, and he knew how to take advantage of it. He’s also at Kise stable, which means the Sekitori he can train with regularly are Ura, Churanoumi, Kinbozan, and Shimanoumi. That certainly runs the gamut of styles. Nakazawa is not big (177 cm and 129 kg), but he’s done enough to be watched more closely in July.