Sumo’s newest yokozuna is all smiles — but major challenges await

Hoshoryu (front, second from left) celebrates after being promoted to yokozuna on Wednesday in Tokyo. | JIJI

by JOHN GUNNING
January 29, 2025

It’s January 2025 and Hoshoryu is officially sumo’s 74th yokozuna.

Just nine days ago the possibility of that sentence being true seemed remote.

With three losses after the midway point of the year’s first tournament, and trailing the unbeaten Kinbozan and three other wrestlers, Hoshoryu’s chances of winning the Emperor’s Cup — which he needed to have any chance of being promoted — appeared all but gone.