Sumo’s officiating cohort is a world of its own

Sumo had a changing of the guard atop its referee rankings this month with the retirement of Kimura Shonosuke and the promotion of Kimura Shonosuke.

That’s not a printing error. In Japan’s national sport, gyōji (referee) names are connected to rank, with the aforementioned Kimura Shonosuke moniker (and the Shikimori Inosuke name) being the officiating equivalents of the top rank of yokozuna.

In fact, it’s an even more exclusive club in one sense — while Onosato is the 75th yokozuna, the new holder of sumo’s top referee rank is just the 40th Kimura Shonosuke.

The key difference between rikishi and gyōji, however, is that the former are promoted through merit — more wins than losses in a tournament normally results in a rise up the banzuke — while the latter steadily move up the ranks as senior men ahead of them reach retirement age.

Promotion isn’t automatic, though, and the Japan Sumo Association has on occasion left the two tate-gyōji ranks (Kimura Shonosuke and Shikimori Inosuke) unoccupied for a period of time.

A history of missed calls in the ring, or behavior that results in sanction outside it, will impede a referee’s progress up the rankings.

Even without such missteps, having a younger man ranked ahead of you will lessen the odds of reaching the top of the officiating tree.

As is the case with stablemasters and other members of the JSA, retirement is compulsory upon reaching the age of 65, so even though the 39th Kimura Shonosuke only ascended to that role in 2025, he had to step aside this month for the new incumbent.

The 40th Kimura Shonosuke turned 63 last month and therefore his time at the pinnacle of his profession will similarly be brief.

Sumo’s new top referee has already been a tate-gyōji for a while, though, being promoted to Shikimori Inosuke in January of last year.

Name changes, by the way, aren’t exclusive to the two tate-gyōji, as referees may also be known by several different appellations as they rise up through the ranks.

If frequent name changes and numerous people being known by the same name sounds like something out of a David Lynch movie, rest assured — it’s one of the least complicated elements of sumo’s officiating world.

So intricate is the world of gyōji that there is a whole subset of fans for whom it is by far the most interesting part of the sport.

The late sumo commentator Doreen Simmons was known for her fascination with gyōji minutia, and would often offer up detailed breakdowns on air of the meaning and history of kimono, tassels, war fans and various other items connected to referees.

Indeed, even if you completely ignore the officiating aspect of the job there is a multitude of interesting aspects to gyoji life — everything from calligraphy to costumes, and ranging from mundane logistical tasks to carrying daggers as a symbol of their willingness to … well, fall on their sword.

Gyōji are, along with yobidashi (ring announcers) and tokoyama (hairdressers), part of a collective known as urakata (people behind the scenes).

The English translations of the job descriptions — particularly in the case of gyōji and yobidashi — don’t do them justice, however, with their presence a vital part of the operation of many aspects of sumo life.

Lower-ranked gyōji, who like wrestlers live in stables, can do everything from keeping a track record of training bout numbers to acting as a personal assistant to stablemasters.

A gyōji performs a ring purification ceremony in January 2013. | JOHN GUNNING

One of the most important jobs a gyōji may be asked to do at some point in his career is writing the banzuke.

Ensuring that hundreds of wrestler names — written in a unique calligraphy style — are correct in size, ratio, and character choice is a monumental endeavor, particularly when there is no room for error and a single mistake means starting over from the beginning.

Gyōji also play a religious role in the ring purification ceremony that takes place before each tournament, lead wrestlers into the arena each day before the ring entering ceremonies and are involved with the operation of some JSA departments.

Many fans often identify gyōji by the patterns of the kimono they wear, or the sound of their voices, but rarely dive into the personal histories of the men themselves.

For those looking to expand their knowledge of the sport, that’s something which is worth exploring, as the backstories of many of the men in brightly colored robes rival those of the mawashi-clad rikishi over whom they officiate.

Indeed some gyōji had dreams of being wrestlers themselves but, because of physical limitations, stable needs or other factors, ended up in a different part of the sumo world.

Gyōji have also been involved in various scandals over the years, with one of the most recent and high profile incidents being the dismissal of Kimura Ginjiro over the embezzlement of millions of yen from the wrestlers’ association fund.

In November the new Kimura Shonosuke will begin his reign atop the sumo officiating pyramid, and there will be several other men with new names and new tassel colors further down the rankings.

Seeing gyōji in new roles — particularly if they have been waiting for promotion for a while — will please their fans. For less tuned-in sumo watchers the changes may come as a surprise.

If the latter decide to dig deeper and end up going down the rabbit hole of sumo gyōji life they’ll be rewarded by a world equally as rich as that of the wrestlers, and one that may add a whole new dimension to their sumo-watching experience.