Sumo Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
59 free Sumo trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This sumo trivia quiz covers Japan's national sport from its mythical origins to the current yokozuna. The history section runs from a wrestling match between gods in the Kojiki, through Oda Nobunaga's 1,500-man tournament that invented the ring, to Commodore Perry's disgust and the Meiji revival. Then the rules and rituals: how a bout is won, the 82 winning techniques, salt throwing, the referee's war fan, cushions flying after an upset, and why the last day is called 'the pleasure of a thousand autumns'. The life questions cover the stable system, chankonabe stew, the ban on breakfast and on driving, the 30-foot mawashi, and what a yokozuna actually earns. The champions range from Taihō and Chiyonofuji to Akebono, Konishiki, Asashōryū, Hakuhō's 45 titles, Terunofuji's comeback from the second-lowest division and Ōnosato's rise to 75th yokozuna. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on sumo, its ranks, ring, referees, tournaments and individual wrestlers, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering. BrainPickle has separate quizzes on judo, karate, wrestling and Japan.
30 of 59 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01During a sumo bout, which part of a wrestler's body alone may touch the ground?
The soles of his feet
The soles of his feet. One rare exception is the 'dead body' rule: a wrestler who touches down first can still win if his opponent was already falling with no hope of recovery.
Q 02What is a sumo wrestler called in Japanese?
Rikishi
Rikishi combines the characters for 'strength' and 'warrior', but most of them earn no salary: only the senior ones, called sekitori, are paid, and the rest get by on an allowance.
Q 03Most professional sumo bouts are over within what span of time?
A few seconds
A few seconds. A bout is a single burst that ends the moment someone steps out or touches down, yet top-division wrestlers get four minutes of ritual warm-up before it.
Q 04What do wrestlers throw into the ring before a bout as a symbolic purification?
Salt
Salt. The toss is a symbolic cleansing borrowed from Shinto, and wrestlers also rinse their mouths with 'power water', much as worshippers wash before entering a shrine.
Q 05What must both sumo wrestlers do just before they charge at the start of a bout?
Touch both fists to the ground
Touch both fists to the ground. The two men must then charge at the same instant, and the rule was so widely ignored by the 1970s that the Sumo Association had to crack down in 1984.
Q 06Which 8th-century chronicle contains the first mention of sumo, in a wrestling match between two gods?
The Kojiki
The Kojiki, completed in 712, has the god Takemikazuchi crush his rival's hand like a reed to win control of the land.
Q 07Which warlord staged a great sumo tournament at his castle in 1578?
Oda Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga. A keen fan, he staged great tournaments at Azuchi Castle and took the best wrestlers into his own service as paid retainers.
Q 08Which American naval commander was shown sumo during his 1853-54 expedition and found it distasteful?
Matthew C. Perry
Matthew C. Perry. His expedition's official account called the bouts a 'disgusting exhibition', and the Americans 'turned with pride' to showing off their telegraph and miniature railway.
Q 09In sumo, what is a kimarite?
A winning technique
A winning technique. The Sumo Association lists 82 of them, plus five ways to lose without one, such as stepping out of the ring by accident.
Q 10What marks the edge of the ring in sumo?
Straw bales
Straw bales. They are mostly buried in the clay of a ring about 4.55 metres across, and a wrestler who puts a single toe or heel over them loses the bout.
Q 11In sumo, what is a mono-ii?
A conference of the ring judges to review a decision
A conference of the ring judges to review a decision. The five judges climb into the ring to confer, and they can overrule the referee or order the bout fought again.
Q 12What is a mizu-iri, which halts a very long sumo bout?
Water break
Water break. The referee studies the wrestlers' grips and foot positions, then puts them back in exactly the same hold; as of 2025 the top division had not seen a drawn bout since 1974.
Q 13Which strike is perfectly legal in a professional sumo bout?
An open-hand slap to the face
Q 21Which wrestler's 2017 promotion ended a 19-year wait for a home-grown yokozuna?
Kisenosato
Kisenosato. He won his very next tournament but injured a chest muscle doing it, missed a record eight tournaments in a row and retired two years later.
Q 22Each sumo stable has been allowed just one of which since 2002?
Foreign wrestler
Foreign wrestler. The cap was cut from two per stable in 2002, yet overseas wrestlers, most of them Mongolian, still came to dominate the top ranks.
Q 23What is senshūraku, the last day of a sumo tournament, said to mean?
The pleasure of a thousand autumns
An open-hand slap to the face, known as harite, is legal; a closed fist, a kick to the chest or a jab at the eyes means instant disqualification.
Q 14Which feature of boxing is absent from professional sumo?
Weight classes
Weight classes. With none in the professional sport, a wrestler can be matched against a man twice his weight, which is why sheer bulk became so prized.
Q 15What is a sumo wrestler's ring name called?
Shikona
Shikona. Many wrestlers borrow part of their stablemaster's old ring name or honour their birthplace, and a big promotion is a common moment to take a new one.
Q 16Which city hosts sumo's March grand tournament, one of six held each year?
Osaka
Osaka. Its 2011 tournament was called off over a match-fixing scandal, one of the very few times a grand tournament has been cancelled.
Q 17What is the sumo ranking sheet published about two weeks before each tournament called?
Banzuke
Banzuke. Senior referees write the original out by hand in a special brush script, with names shrinking from bold at the top to tiny for the lowest ranks.
Q 18What is the lowest of sumo's six divisions, where most new recruits begin?
Jonokuchi
Jonokuchi. In everyday speech the same word means 'only the beginning', and only top amateur champions are allowed to skip it and start higher up.
Q 19Which rank sits directly below yokozuna?
Ōzeki
Ōzeki. It was once the highest rank of all, and a wrestler who holds it normally needs two straight championships to be considered for promotion.
Q 20What are the two sides of sumo's ranking sheet called?
East and West
East and West. The sides are not teams, since a wrestler can be drawn against a man from his own side, but east counts as slightly senior to west at every rank.
The pleasure of a thousand autumns. The word is an old stage term for a closing day, and sumo's ends with the newest recruits tossing a referee into the air.
Q 24Which trophy goes to the winner of sumo's top-division championship?
The Emperor's Cup
The Emperor's Cup. It is named for Hirohito, a keen fan who donated the silver trophy in the 1920s while he was still prince regent.
Q 25What does a sumo wrestler secure with a kachi-koshi in a 15-day tournament?
More wins than losses
More wins than losses. For a top-division wrestler that means at least eight wins from 15, which lifts him up the rankings, while the opposite, make-koshi, sends him down.
Q 26What does a sumo referee point towards the winner's side when a bout ends?
A war fan
A war fan. Called a gunbai, it must be pointed at one side or the other even when both men seem to hit the ground at the same instant.
Q 27What do fans traditionally hurl into the ring when a lower-ranked wrestler beats a yokozuna?
Seat cushions
Seat cushions. Arena announcements ask fans not to throw them because people have been hurt, yet a shower of cushions still greets almost every big upset.
Q 28Which everyday activity does the Sumo Association forbid wrestlers from doing?
Driving cars
Driving cars. The ban followed traffic accidents involving wrestlers, and in 2018 the Egyptian Ōsunaarashi was told to retire after a crash while driving without a licence.
Q 29What samurai-style hairstyle must sumo wrestlers grow?
The chonmage topknot
The chonmage topknot. Pulling it is one of sumo's few fouls, and a wrestler who yanks an opponent's topknot loses the bout on the spot.
Q 30What do sumo wrestlers traditionally do straight after their huge midday meal?
Take a long nap
Take a long nap. Wrestlers skip breakfast, train all morning on an empty stomach, then eat a huge lunch and sleep on it, a routine designed to pile on weight.