Gyōji: directing a sumo bout

Five shimpan, or ringside judges, watch each contest. When they question a decision, a mono-ii brings them together in the ring. They can uphold the gyōji’s ruling, reverse it or order another bout. The referee’s initial signal and the judges’ final ruling are separate stages. The association’s fiscal-2024 report also records the use of bout video to support fair decisions. Video supplies evidence without merging the referee’s and judges’ responsibilities.

The gyōji announces the wrestlers’ names, directs preparations with his fan and changes position to observe the action. Miatte asks the wrestlers to coordinate their breathing for the initial charge. The association explains hakkiyoi as encouragement before the charge or when movement stalls. Nokotta, used while the wrestlers are moving, means that the contest remains undecided. These calls communicate the state of the bout; they do not announce a winner.

The present outfit combines a black eboshi hat with hitatare, a jacket and matching trousers. Tassels and ornamental cords carry rank colours. A striking fabric pattern alone does not identify the grade: the fan’s tassel and the referee’s footwear offer more useful clues.

The two senior titles are tate-gyōji: Kimura Shōnosuke uses purple and Shikimori Inosuke purple with white. Below them the tassels are vermilion for san’yaku grade, red and white for makuuchi, blue and white for jūryō, and blue or black below that. For the ornamental knots and cords on these lower-ranked costumes, the Sumo Museum labels the Japanese colour term ao as green. Jūryō and makuuchi grades wear tabi, split-toe socks; san’yaku and above also wear straw sandals. Lower grades work barefoot in cotton clothing with the trouser cuffs drawn in.

Gyōji also write ranking sheets, make arena announcements and perform clerical work. They lead ring-entering processions and officiate at the dohyō festival. A wooden ranking board displayed by the Sumo Museum, made for the 1955 Nagoya quasi-official tournament, shows another public writing task assigned to makushita- and sandanme-grade referees.

In a 2024 interview, Kimura Yōdō described attending the ranking conference, compiling its information and checking retirements and name changes before preparing and brush-writing the master sheet. His writing normally took seven to ten days, after which the association sent it for printing. Producing the sheet did not mean deciding the wrestlers’ promotions alone: the craft turned the conference’s decisions into a public document.

At Heian court sumo gatherings, each side supplied two tachiawase attendants to manage proceedings; there was no neutral gyōji deciding the winner. In Oda Nobunaga’s time, a role written gyōji as 行事 judged bouts while also supervising the event. Refereeing houses developed alongside Edo-period professional sumo and taught its rules and conventions. More naming houses existed than today’s Kimura and Shikimori traditions. An 1866 print shows Kimura Shōtarō and the caller Koeiji announcing the pairings; the referee wears kamishimo, a formal outfit of a kataginu upper garment and hakama trousers, unlike the present hat-and-hitatare outfit.

In May 1910, hitatare and eboshi replaced hemp kamishimo. The association’s account links the change to the spread of shorter hairstyles and complaints that they no longer suited the old outfit. The apparently ancient ensemble therefore incorporates a modern redesign. Twentieth-century designers including Wakamatsu Kayō supplied patterns for referees’ clothing: a flowing-water-and-hollyhock outfit worn by the 29th Kimura Shōnosuke is one surviving example. From 1972, promotion placed greater weight on judgement, voice and work performance.

Previously the association recommended a yokozuna, the Yoshida house approved him, and the ceremony took place at that house. Meiji Shrine records a change in 1951. On 8 June the association held Chiyonoyama’s presentation before the shrine, with the Yoshida house present. On the same occasion that house gave traditional ceremonial documents, kojitsusho, to three referees, including the 22nd Kimura Shōnosuke. An association-led ceremony could therefore coexist with continuing ties to the older ritual house.

The 22nd Kimura Shōnosuke’s memoir follows changes beyond the ring. Premises for a separate gyōji household were rebuilt late in 1957, and referees moved out of wrestling stables during the January 1958 tournament. The household dissolved at the May 1973 tournament and referees returned to individual stables. His chronology also places the ending of referees’ succession to elder names, which carried coaching and administrative roles within the association, in the late 1950s, the removal of Shōnosuke and Inosuke from those names, and the introduction of referee retirement in January 1960. These recollections describe changes in affiliation, status and the length of a career beneath the profession’s ceremonial appearance.

Training combines a stable’s supervision with specialist instruction. The association’s fiscal-2024 report assigns the upbringing of lower-ranked gyōji to stablemasters and practical instruction to senior referees and gyōji committee members. New recruits also study sumo history. Kimura Yōdō recalled learning from the senior Kimura Asanosuke when he entered the profession. The board normally settles referees’ grades for the following year after the September tournament; learning the work and assessing progress are related but distinct processes.