Gyoji
Encyclopedia
Sumo
is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...
wrestling in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Gyōji usually enter the sumo world as teenagers and remain employees of the Sumo Association until they retire aged 65.
Responsibilities
The gyōji's principal and most obvious task is to referee bouts between sumo wrestlers. After the yobidashiYobidashi
The yobidashi calls a professional sumo wrestler, or rikishi, to the dohyō immediately prior to his bout...
has called them into the ring it is his responsibility to watch over the wrestlers as they go through the initial prebout staring contests, and then coordinate the initial charge (or tachi-ai
Tachi-ai
The tachi-ai is the initial charge between two sumo wrestlers at the beginning of a bout.There are several common techniques that wrestlers use at the tachi-ai, with the aim of getting a decisive advantage in the bout:...
) between the wrestlers. During the bout he is supposed to keep the wrestlers informed that the bout is still live (it is possible for a wrestler to brush his foot outside the ring without realising it). He does this by shouting "nokotta nokotta!" (残った、残った！), which in English is roughly, "You're still in it! You're still in it!" The gyōji also has the responsibility to encourage the wrestlers to get a move on when action between them has completely stopped, for instance, when both of them are locked up on each other's mawashi
Mawashi
In sumo, a mawashi is the belt that the rikishi wears during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a keshō-mawashi as part of the ring entry ceremony or dohyo-iri.-Mawashi:...
in the middle of the ring. He will do this by shouting "hakkei yoi, eh! hakkei yoi, eh!" Furthermore, when a wrestler has apparently fallen to the clay, the gyoji is expected to determine the winner of the bout. His most obvious accessory is a solid wooden war-fan, called a gunbai
Gunbai
thumb|right|A sumo gyoji wielding a gunbaiThe is a type of Japanese war fan.-Description:Gunbai were used by samurai officers in Japan to communicate commands to their troops, and were solid, not folding, and usually made of wood, wood covered with metal, or solid metal.It is also a key accessory...
which he uses in the prebout ritual and in pointing to the winner's side at the end of each bout.
The gyōji's decision as to the winner of the bout can be called into question by one of the five referees, or shimpan
Shimpan
are the judges of a professional sumo bout. In a sumo honbasho tournament five shimpan sit around the ring to observe which wrestler wins the matchup. When judging tournament bouts they wear formal Japanese dress of otokomono, haori with mon, and hakama...
, who sit around the ring. If they dispute the result they hold a mono-ii (lit: a talk about things) in the centre of the ring, aided through an earpiece to a further two shimpan in a video room. They can confirm the decision of the gyōji, overturn it, or order a rematch. The gyōji is not expected to take part in the discussion during a mono-ii unless asked to do so. In many cases, a match may be too close to call, or the gyōji may not have managed to get a clear view of the end of the bout. Regardless, he is still obliged to make a split second decision as to his choice of "winner". This creates pressure for a gyōji, especially considering that a reversed decision is like a black mark: too many and it may affect his future career.
In addition to refereeing matches, gyōji have a number of other responsibilities, including the calligraphy in the writing of the wrestlers ranking list, called the banzuke
Banzuke
This article is about the banzuke document, for a list of wrestlers as ranked on an actual banzuke see List of active sumo wrestlersA , officially called is a document listing the rankings of professional sumo wrestlers published before each official tournament or honbasho. The term can also...
. They also are responsible for keeping the records of wrestler results, and in determining the technique used by a particular wrestler in winning a bout. All gyōji are associated with one of the heya
Heya
In sumo wrestling, a heya , usually translated into English as stable, is an organization of sumo wrestlers where they train and live. All wrestlers in professional sumo must belong to one. There are currently 49 heya , all but four of which belong to one of five ichimon...
or training stables throughout their career and will be expected to assist their stablemaster also.
Ranking
Career progression is based on a ranking system similar in name to that used for sumo wrestlers (see sumoSumo
is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...
). The rank nominally represents the rank of wrestler that they are qualified to referee for. However, unlike sumo wrestlers, promotion is to a large degree determined on length of service. Typically a gyōji's promotion is only held up if he has made too many mistakes in determining the outcome of matches, except for the topmost rank where leadership skills may play a more significant role.
- tate-gyōji
- sanyaku-gyōji
- makuuchiMakuuchior is the top division of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers , ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments....
-gyōji - juryo-gyōji
- makushita-gyōji
- sandanme-gyōji
- jonidan-gyōji
- jonokuchi-gyōji
The tate rank denotes the two chief referees.
Top gyoji (makushita ranked and above) are assigned tsukebito, or personal attendants in their stable, just as top wrestlers (sekitori
Sekitori
A sekitori is a sumo wrestler who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: makuuchi and juryo.Currently there are 70 rikishi in these divisions...
) are. These may be junior referees or lower-ranked wrestlers. There is a superstition in the sumo world that a wrestler serving a gyoji will not go on to have a successful career.
Uniform
Ashikaga shogunate
The , also known as the , was a Japanese feudal military regime, ruled by the shoguns of the Ashikaga clan.This period is also known as the Muromachi period and gets its name from Muromachi Street of Kyoto where the third shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu established his residence...
period.
Like the sumo wrestlers, gyōji ranked at Makushita level and below wear a much simpler outfit than those ranked above them. It is made of cotton rather than silk and is about knee length. The outfit also incorporates a number of rosettes, and tassels which are normally green, but can be black in colour. Within the dohyō
Dohyo
thumb|A dohyōThe dohyō is the ring in which sumo wrestling bouts are held. A modern dohyo is a circle of rice-straw bales 4.55 meters in diameter, mounted on a square platform of clay 6.7m on a side, and 34 to 60 cm high. The surface is covered by sand.A new dohyō is built prior to each...
they are also expected to go barefoot.
On promotion to lowest senior rank of Juryō the gyōji will change into the more elaborate full length silk outfit. The rosettes and tassels on his outfit will also change to be green and white. He is also entitled to wear tabi
Tabi
are traditional Japanese socks. Ankle-high and with a separation between the big toe and other toes, they are worn by both men and women with zori, geta, and other traditional thonged footwear. Tabi are also essential with traditional clothing—kimono and other wafuku as well as being worn by...
on his feet.
As he moves further up the ranks there are additional small changes:
Makuuchi
Makuuchi
or is the top division of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers , ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments....
ranked gyōji merely need to change the colour of the rosettes and tassels to orange and white.
On achievement of Sanyaku rank the rosettes and tassels become solid orange and he also is allowed to wear straw zōri
Zori
are flat and thonged Japanese sandals made of rice straw or other plant fibers, cloth, lacquered wood, leather, rubber, or—increasingly—synthetic materials...
on his feet in addition to the tabi.
As described above, the two holders of the topmost rank, equivalent to yokozuna and ōzeki, are the tate-gyōji. The rosettes and tassels are purple and white for the lower-ranked tate-gyōji and solid purple for the higher-ranked one. Furthermore both the top two gyōji carry a short dagger visible in the belt of the outfit. This is supposed to represent the seriousness of the decisions they must make in determining the outcome of a bout, and their preparedness to commit seppuku
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
if they make a mistake. In reality if one of the two top-ranked gyōji has his decision as to the victor of a bout overturned by the shimpan then he is expected to tender his resignation instead. However, the resignation is generally rejected by the Chairman of the Japan Sumo Association
Japan Sumo Association
The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Rikishi , gyōji , tokoyama , and yobidashi , are all on the Association's payroll, but the organisation is run...
. A tate-gyōji's submission of his resignation can usually be regarded as simply a gesture of apology from one of the highest-ranked referees for his mistake. There have, however, been rare cases where the resignation has been accepted, or where the gyōji concerned has been suspended from duty for a short period.
Ring Names
As with virtually all positions in the Sumo Association, including the wrestlers and the oyakata, the gyōji take on a professional name, which can change as he is promoted. All gyōji will have either the family name Kimura or Shikimori and will acquire a fairly old-fashioned personal name by the time they reach the senior levels. In addition the lower-ranked tate-gyōji is always named Shikimori Inosuke and the higher-ranked one Kimura Shōnosuke (It is traditional in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to give the family name first.) These two names are based on famous gyōji from the Edo Period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
.
The current highest-ranking gyoji is the 35th Kimura Shōnosuke and has held the position since May 2008. He is the first gyoji born after World War II to reach the top rank, and is from Miyazaki prefecture
Miyazaki Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Miyazaki.- History :Historically, after the Meiji Restoration, Hyūga Province was renamed Miyazaki Prefecture....
.