Technical History of Sumo?

[nagora 88]

Is there any good online resource giving a timeline of the technical changes to Sumo rules and organisation in one place? When 15 bouts came in, when Yokozuna became an awarded title, changes to qualifications for ranks, creation and changes to divisions etc.

[sahaven111 176]

Unfortunately not.. but some people around this forum are practically human sumo encyclopedias! 

[Seiyashi 4,097]

You might want to poke around either here or on other fan sites and resources for reference materials that they list or mention. What you're asking for should almost certainly exist somewhere in Japanese, so it'll be behind a language barrier, but I wouldn't be surprised if Naganoyama had something like this on his own website, and I know Tachiai's Andy has an article on sumo books (in Japanese) that he possesses that might be what you're looking for.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Jomangor 29]

13 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

You might want to poke around either here or on other fan sites and resources for reference materials that they list or mention. What you're asking for should almost certainly exist somewhere in Japanese, so it'll be behind a language barrier, but I wouldn't be surprised if Naganoyama had something like this on his own website, and I know Tachiai's Andy has an article on sumo books (in Japanese) that he possesses that might be what you're looking for.

This is good advice. Specifically, this is a link to references on the tachiai blog.

I'm with you, however. I also wish there were a centralized reference. If you find one, please let us know!

[nagora 88]

5 hours ago, Jomangor said:

This is good advice. Specifically, this is a link to references on the tachiai blog.

I'm with you, however. I also wish there were a centralized reference. If you find one, please let us know!

Thanks, and to everyone else. I will keep looking.

[Eikokurai 3,437]

On 26/05/2021 at 19:12, nagora said:

Is there any good online resource giving a timeline of the technical changes to Sumo rules and organisation in one place? When 15 bouts came in, when Yokozuna became an awarded title, changes to qualifications for ranks, creation and changes to divisions etc.

Not exactly what you’re asking for, but some time ago I made a timeline of honbasho evolution which depicts number of basho per year, what month, number of days per basho and the number of rikishi in Makuuchi on the banzuke. I need to update it for 2021 and finish the rikishi numbers, but I could add some other details to it at some point down the line.

[Yamanashi 3,861]

8 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

Not exactly what you’re asking for, but some time ago I made a timeline of honbasho evolution which depicts number of basho per year, what month, number of days per basho and the number of rikishi in Makuuchi on the banzuke. I need to update it for 2021 and finish the rikishi numbers, but I could add some other details to it at some point down the line.

This would be useful! (Sorry, just ran out of reactions).

[Eikokurai 3,437]

On 29/05/2021 at 23:29, Yamanashi said:

This would be useful! (Sorry, just ran out of reactions).

When I get a spare evening, I'll double-check the data and update it. I can't remember what state I left it in -- I suspect I got to about 1950-something with the rikishi numbers and after that they're just copy-and-pasted placeholder numbers. These little projects of mine rarely get finished. I start them on a whim one night when I'm bored and then forget about them.

[nagora 88]

8 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

When I get a spare evening, I'll double-check the data and update it. I can't remember what state I left it in -- I suspect I got to about 1950-something with the rikishi numbers and after that they're just copy-and-pasted placeholder numbers. These little projects of mine rarely get finished. I start them on a whim one night when I'm bored and then forget about them.

That sounds familiar...

Anything you have is appreciated.