- Honbasho
A honbasho (本場所) is any of the six official professional
sumo tournaments held each year. Only "honbasho" results matter in determiningpromotion and relegation for "rikishi " (sumo wrestlers).A literal translation of "honbasho" is "main (or real) tournament". This term is used to distinguish these tournaments from display "basho" which are held as part of sumo tours, between the six major tournaments. Such display tournaments may have prize money attached but a wrestler's performance will not have any effect on his ranking. This type of sumo is often called "hana-sumo" (lit. flower-sumo) as it is not taken as seriously by the wrestlers. The "honbasho" tournament format is league-style.
"Honbasho" last for 15 days. Sumo wrestlers ranked in the top two divisions (
makuuchi andjuryo ) wrestle once each day, while those of the lower divisions wrestle seven times, approximately once every alternate day. The first aim for most wrestlers is to achieve "kachikoshi ", or a majority of wins, and thus ensure a promotion for the next "honbasho" tournament. In addition for each division there is a championship prize ("yūshō ") for the wrestler with the most wins at the end. A playoff on the final day is used to decide the winner in case of a tie.The six "honbasho" tournaments are:
[http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/]
ee also
*
List of sumo records
*List of sumo tournament winners External links
* [http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/sumo_schedule.html Honbasho schedule] from the Japan Times.
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