Shikona

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A shikona (Japanese: 四股名 or 醜名) is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Edo period, where they were used as a means to attract customers and hide the identities of the rikishi.^[1]

Like standard

divisions, the suffix -zeki (関) is used instead of the usual -san (さん). The given name is often, but not always, the wrestler's original name, and may be changed at the whim of the individual wrestler. Foreign wrestlers always adopt a new, Japanese given name.

Often, on first joining professional sumo, a wrestler's shikona is the same as his family name. As a wrestler rises through the ranks of sumo, he is expected to change his shikona. Stables often expect their wrestlers to adopt new shikona on entering the professional jūryō division.

generally adopt a new shikona on joining as trainees, even if those shikona are simply the character koto (琴) attached to the beginning of their original family names.

Ring names vary widely, depending on the individual stable's tradition and somewhat less on the preferences of the wrestler. Wrestlers from the

Kitanoumi

.

Wrestlers that show promise may also take the shikona of a well-respected wrestler of the past to whom they have some sort of connection, such as being from the same stable or being a close relative. A historic example of wrestlers from the same stable are the two

(栃東知頼).

Wrestlers occasionally change their ring names in an effort to improve their luck, reinvigorate themselves, or for other personal reasons. For example Kotoōshū Katsunori (琴欧洲 勝紀), whose performance had been disappointing since promotion to ōzeki made a subtle change to the last character of his name, with (州) becoming (洲), in a bid for better results. Kaiō (魁皇) was originally read as Kaikō when he adopted the name, but he later switched to Kaiō, which he felt was stronger-sounding. The low-ranker Hattorizakura, known for his extreme lack of success with just three career wins to 209 losses, changed his shikona in January 2021 to Shōnanzakura, a reference to the Shōnan region of Kanagawa Prefecture where he is from, but also using the kanji for "victory."^[2]

A few wrestlers, such as

to have kept his real family name.

Foreign wrestlers usually take a shikona at the outset of their careers. Much more often than Japanese wrestlers, they are often shikona that give a clue as to their origin: the names of Russian brothers

, his city of origin. Mongolian wrestlers are often identifiable by their use of the characters eagle (鷲, washi), horse (馬, uma, ma, or ba), wolf (狼, rō), or dragon (竜 or 龍, ryū), which are all venerated in Mongolia.

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms

References