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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 12h

It’s not ozumo san (大相撲さん) it’s o-sumo san (お相撲さん) . Essentially “a person who does sumo” with the honorific “o” in front of it.
The English translation is “wrestler” because “Mr. Sumo doing person” isn’t something we would naturally use in that language.

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 15h

The oldest photo I can find of myself in a sumo situation.

There are people on Sumo Forum that would be able to tell you not only the date and location but also the results of
the bouts involving rikishi in the background within minutes of being shown this image.

#Sumo

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 21h

Are you Irish?

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 21h

If sumo is going to Chicago during the Bears season then so am I. 😄

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 23h

Post pandemic sumo exhibitions

London 2025
Paris 2026

If these events signal a return to regular overseas JSA events where would you like to see be next?

Somewhere new like Dublin or Helsinki? Perhaps a return to Honolulu or Mexico City?

#Sumo

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 1d

The difficulty is in finding something that compares to the two-way nature of the achievement. Ohtani is a unicorn in modern elite pro sports.

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 1d

Sumotori is a kind of general term but it's not one you see used much anymore. It's mostly found in foreign media these days.

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 2d

Had I known that James Richardson of Gazzetta Football Italia fame was going to be the person commentating / presenting I’d have taken up some of those offers to go to London.

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 2d

5. Sumo wrestlers aren’t “treated like gods”. They are treated like star athletes of the nation’s national sport.

6. Sumo dates back to a 23 BC bout between Nominosukune and Taimanokehaya

#Sumo

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 2d

3. Sumo is the sport not the people doing it. They are rikishi (or wrestlers in English).

4. Using the full name of rikishi isn’t common or standard in Japan. It’s just Onosato not Onosato Daiki etc.

#Sumo

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 2d

So many requests / mails etc about sumo in London.
Here’s the FAQ answers

1. It’s the 30th organised tour outside Japan not the second - though the format in London in 91 and 2025 has been slightly different.

2. It’s not a ‘real’ tournament - it’s an exhibition - think preseason football.

#Sumo

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 12d

20 years ago with Chiyonofuji at the JSA 80th anniversary event.

Today is the 100th anniversary ‘basho’

#Sumo #相撲

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 12d

Not how that works. London is just an exhibition, not an actual tournament. There isn’t a new banzuke for it.

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 13d

Ozeki Kotozakura will be kyujo from the London Tour

#Sumo #相撲

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 17d

The view upwards from the dohyo in the Kokugikan when the roof is raised.

#Sumo #相撲

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 19d

Difficult one. Aonishiki is the obvious candidate. Kusano maybe - far too early to tell. I don't know if there are any other future ozeki in makuuchi currently. As for yokozuna. Again it's hard to see who apart from Aonishiki has that as a possibility.

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 19d

Was on the cards were it not for the outside the ring stuff.

John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 20d

*underselling

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John Gunning @johngunningsumo.bsky.social · 20d

I was adamant in Dec 2023 that (the then juryo rikishi) Onosato would make ozeki by the end of 2024.

Turns out even that 'wild hot take' which was roundly mocked by my co-hosts - and in sumo spaces online - was unselling just how good he'd be in ozumo.

#Sumo #相撲 #Onosato #大の里