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The story
Ahead of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament (opening day the 13th, at Ryogoku Kokugikan), the new-recruit physical exam was held on September 4, with four candidates taking part, including 15-year-old Shinmichi Teiken of Takadagawa stable. His slight build — 165cm tall and reportedly in the 50kg range — drew surprised reactions from the stablemasters, and he says his idol is Enho. On 5ch, the thread mixed comments pointing to the ongoing shortage of new recruits and the “shrinking height” trend caused by relaxed physical standards, opinions that his weight will increase with training, safety concerns, and calls to introduce weight classes.
Nikkan Sports
[September 4, 2026, 15:10]
The new-recruit physical exam for the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament (opening day the 13th, at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo) was held on the 4th at Ryogoku Kokugikan, with four candidates taking part, including 15-year-old Shinmichi Teiken (Shinmichi Teiken; Takadagawa stable).
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
Or is this just clickbait?
You can only bulk up because your organs are tough to begin with —
if your guts were already wrecked, overeating would just give you a stomachache instead of muscle lol
What they actually get after retirement is diabetes
Some sumo wrestlers even get it while still active
He could've finished high school and bulked up to at least 80kg before joining
Not even sure he could beat Mori Rei
He's been treated like a guest so far, but once he passes the recruit exam the "tender loving care" (i.e. senior wrestlers' rough hazing) starts for real — wonder if he can take it?
Guess they'll have to keep relying on foreign wrestlers
There was even a British guy among this year's new recruits
Sure, if the ring were as big as a baseball field
Just thinking about it mechanically —
even in a pushing match, the heavier guy has the advantage
After failing the exam once, he had silicone implanted in his scalp via surgery to temporarily boost his height and pass[3][14].
Mainoumi:
"Back in my day there were still a decent number of recruits coming in, so I think around 171cm would've passed — anyone in the 160s would normally have been rejected."
"These days sumo is so short on people… I bet they're letting guys in even without the 167cm minimum. I think the rule's basically just there for show at this point."
or crushed under someone's full body weight on a throw…
I don't wanna watch that (´･ω･`) especially not live
We might actually get to see a scene in pro sumo like those "wrestler vs. a crowd of little kids" gimmick matches, where he just gets scooped up and hoisted into the air
should be written
in katakana (the script Japanese uses for foreign words)
Japanese people
don't
break their lines like that
he might still grow a lot more, but there's a limit to that
since genetics play a big role
that's basically featherweight
Must be a Gen Z thing
No need to overcomplicate it, just:
Under 100kg
100–130kg
Open weight
He's probably not expected to become a real wrestler — more likely brought in as an attendant, for chores, on chanko-cooking duty
I think this kid would've been better off just going to a normal high school…
Outmaneuvering everyone with pure speed
You can always pack on muscle weight, but you can't do much about height
Even Mainoumi was around 170cm
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
The physical standards for the new-recruit exam were relaxed in 2012, partly in response to a decline in the number of stables, establishing a system where wrestlers under 167cm and 67kg can still join via a “secondary exam.” As shown by Mainoumi’s remarks quoted in the thread and 2021 statistics (over a third of examinees were 172cm or under), small-statured recruits have become fairly common in recent years. Because Enho (around 169cm, 99kg) made it all the way to the top Makuuchi division, there’s precedent for undersized wrestlers being talked up as “technical” specialists despite their physical disadvantage. The thread split between commenters worried about safety (internal-organ strain, collision risk against much larger wrestlers) and those pointing out that weight typically increases significantly through training and the traditional chanko-nabe diet. A common misconception is that a recruit’s weight at exam time reflects his future build — bulking up after joining is a normal part of a wrestler’s development, so judging his prospects from today’s numbers alone would be premature.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Sumo] “Whoa!” A wrestler in the 50kg range is born… Stablemasters stunned by 15-year-old Shinmichi Teiken, whose idol is Enho.”
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