TORCHBEARER 2026 update - preNagoya

The Asahifuji climb with the TORCH continues. At the beginning of the January (Hatsu Basho) tournament, the rikishi at the bottom of the banzuke (which this year was rikishi Takeda, ranked Jonokuchi 21 West) starts the journey of the 2026 TORCH. The TORCH is always passed to the winner each TORCH MATCH.

Here's the journey through Natsu:

Start-of-Natsu Rikishi: ASAHIFUJI
Start-of-Natsu Rank: SANDANME 6 EAST

Day 1: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji kept the TORCH by defeating Sandanme 5 West Hakuomaru.
Day 3: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji defeated Sandanme 4 West Oyamatoumi.
Day 6: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji defeated Sandanme 3 East Okinohama.
Day 7: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji defeated Sandanme 7 West Hinataryu.
Day 9: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji defeated Makushita 50 East Fudoho.
Day 11: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji defeated Makushita 60 Tsuke Dashi Omori.
Day 13: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji defeated Sandanme 21 West Mita.
KETTEI-SEN: Sandanme 6 East Asahifuji defeats Sandanme 77 East Kiryuko.

End-of-Natsu Rikishi: ASAHIFUJI
End-of-Natsu-Rank: SANDANME 6 EAST

Start-of-Nagoya Rikishi: ASAHIFUJI
Start-of-Nagoya Rank: MAKUSHITA 11 EAST

Where will the TORCH be at the end of Nagoya? And more importantly, where will it be at the end of 2026? (which rikishi, and which rank). On the sumo forum for over 10 years, there's been an annual contest to guess. If you're interested, you can follow now, but the opportunity to participate is only at the beginning of the year.