Kachikoshi and Makekoshi: Why the Eighth Win Matters
One wrestler per division wins the championship. The other several dozen are all playing for something else, and it is the thing that actually moves careers.
Sumo records two words against every wrestler at the end of a tournament, and almost everything that happens next follows from which one he got.
勝ち越し(kachikoshi) — a winning record. More wins than losses.負け越し(makekoshi) — a losing record. More losses than wins.
There is no third outcome. A wrestler finishes on one side of the line or the other.
Where the line sits
The line follows the number of bouts, so it is not always eight.
In the top two divisions a wrestler has fifteen bouts, so the line is at eight. In every division below them he normally has seven, and the line is at four. (A wrestler in the lower divisions is sometimes given an eighth bout, so seven is the usual number rather than an invariable one.)
What it changes
The record decides which way you move on the next banzuke. A winning record pushes you up; a losing record pulls you down. And because the sheet is one continuous list, that movement can cross boundaries that matter a great deal.
- A makekoshi at the bottom of the second division can drop a wrestler out of the salaried ranks entirely.
- A kachikoshi at the top of the third division can carry him across that same line the other way.
- For an ozeki already on kadoban, the eighth win is what keeps the rank.
So the same number means something different to every wrestler on the card, depending on where he is standing.
The 優勝 (yusho) is awarded in each division to the wrestler with the most wins — so in any one division that is one man out of dozens. The great majority of the rest, every tournament, are playing for the majority line instead. Follow that and you have something to care about in almost every bout.
Reading it on screen
Beside each wrestler's name you will see a row of circles: white for a win — 白星 (shiroboshi) — and black for a loss — 黒星 (kuroboshi). Both are filled in, so you are reading colour, not shape.
Count the white ones. That is the whole of it.
The bout that decides it
Because the line falls in the middle of an odd number, a wrestler can arrive at the last day sitting exactly on it — seven wins and seven losses in the top divisions, with one bout to go.
That bout decides which of the two words goes against his name, and therefore which direction he moves for the next two months. It is often the tensest thing on the card, and it is almost never the last bout of the day.
The trap for new viewers
It is easy to assume that a wrestler with, say, ten wins and no chance of the championship has nothing left to play for. He has: every win past the line still pushes him further up the next sheet. Nobody is playing out a dead rubber.
What to watch for
From about the tenth day, start counting. Find the wrestlers sitting on seven wins, or on seven losses, and watch those bouts rather than only the famous names at the end of the day.
You will be watching the thing that actually decides where everyone stands in two months' time.
The document these records are rewriting, six times a year.