Training Line, Banzuke drop, Aki Basho, and Amazumo Worlds!
Cheeky Chanko September 2025
Wow! It’s September already!? Aki Basho AND Amazumo Worlds! We here at Cheeky Sumo could not be more excited for this month. To show it we have a whole new training line dropping headlined by our new Competition Mawashi coming out in time for the Aki Basho! Cotton twill, shimekomi fold. We cannot recommend them highly enough.
Be sure to subscribe to the Cheeky Chanko Blog to have the latest edition sent to your inbox every month and get Cheek Peeks at our upcoming designs!
Cheeky is partnering with the wonderful Sumo Kaboom again this basho to sponsor their Most Creative Bingo Board special prize. Click HERE to claim your BINGO card. Time to get creative!
Here is the winner from the Nagoya basho. The nicknames are great! Harry Potter for Roga and Hairy Harry Potter for Takayasu! Hahahahaha! They won their choice of a t-shirt or sweatshirt from Cheeky Sumo!
Great job, Finley!
This basho we are also partnering with Sumo Stomp! They have some of the best Grand Sumo analysis around with daily write-ups during bashos and report card write-ups going wrestler by wrestler in between. We will be offering one of our Shitatenage sweatshirts for their Aki Basho Subscriber Giveaway. Get on over there and subscribe for your chance to win!
Grand Sumo - Kotoshoho’s First Yusho and Aki Banzuke Drop
Kotoshoho defeats Aonishiki by tsukiotoshi.
Credit: Sumofan2 (fandom.com/wiki)
After taking last month off from the Cheeky Chanko blog, we sure do have lots of Grand Sumo news to cover. First, Kotoshoho was finally fully healthy from his broken toe earlier this year and put it all together for his first yusho at the Nagoya basho! His 13-2 record came with some excellent wins against Takayasu, Kirishima, and Onosato. His final bout against Aonishiki for the tournament win was classic Kotoshoho all basho; calm, powerful, and violent. Mentioning Onosato, both he and Hoshoryu had underwhelming tournaments. Hoshoryu had to pull out after Day 4 due to a toe injury that had him at 1-3. Onosato finished at a respectable 11-4, but we’ll have to wait until Aki to see if he can take home his first yusho as Yokozuna.
Next, the Aki Banzke dropped a few days ago! Not a whole lot of surprises there. Maybe after the craziness of the past few banzuke the elders wanted to get back to basics? Anyway, the yokozuna switched places, which makes sense. Aonishiki is now in the named ranks at Komusubi West. That makes him the fastest ever to reach the Sanyaku from the bottom. Faster than Kotooshu, Konishiki, and Asashoryu. Not bad!
Daiesho was dropped to M10e, which was nice of them. Also, it was so sad to see him lose his Ozeki run. Love the Battle Pug!
Shishi somehow managed to hang on in the Makuuchi. I think I would have like to see Mita moved up and Shishi get a tourney down in the Juryo, but I guess Mita’s 11-4 yusho didn’t convince the elders he deserved quite that big a jump. Would have been more fun than another 15 nights of Shishi though…
US Sumo - Great US Tournaments and Amazumo Worlds!
There is all kinds of news to catch up with in the US Sumo scene. First, the Salt City Sumo Slam was in Sandy, UT on August 2nd. It was held during Fitcon 2025 and there was some excellent sumo happening out in the desert. Also, is that a Salt City Sumo theme song I hear? Awesome.
What a spectacular looking shirt!
Next, Cheeky Sumo was proud to sponsor the Big Palm Sumo Open in Panama City Beach, FL. We cannot thank Florida Sumo enough for asking Cheeky Sumo to help design their event logo and create their event shirts and towels! Check them out at cheekysumo.com. Much love to Allejandro, Dustin, and Cornelius! Also congratulations to Cornelius on the yusho!
Christina Griffin, Madison Guinn, Lizbet Perez, Kellyann Ball. Credit: u/insideSportJapan
Last, but certainly not least, Amazumo World Championships are happening September 13th and 14th in Thailand. Cheeky Sumo is a proud supporter of Team USA! We will have the live stream link up on cheekysumo.com Sept 13 and 14. Be sure to check out some great sumo and cheer on Team USA!
Junior Women’s
Lightweight: Melody Brodowski
Middleweight: Ziba Danesh
Heavyweight: Rossy Para
Openweight: Alexandra Weissmalik
Junior Men’s
Lightweight: Anthony Perez
Middleweight: Adam Danesh
Heavyweight: Gabe Tolentino
Openweight: N/A
Women’s
Lightweight: Madison Guinn
Middleweight: Ashley Smallwood
Light Heavyweight: Mellanease Miranda
Heavyweight: Eros Armstrong
Openweight: Kellyann Ball
Men’s
Lightweight: Edobor Konyeha
Middleweight: Gabriel Unick
Light Heavyweight: Seth Adams
Heavyweight: Hayden Southall
Openweight: Dominus Davis-Williams
Sumo Style: Dressed to Impress
Example of yukata vs kimono.
Sumo’s traditions extend far beyond the doyho. Whenever rikishi are in public they are expected to look and behave in very certain ways. The JSA requires wrestlers to wear traditional Japanese clothing whenever they travel for tournaments, appear at official events, or are otherwise in public representing their stable or the sport. Wrestlers are allowed to wear a yukata or kimono, depending on the rank of the rikishi.
For lower ranked wrestlers the choice is easy; they wear a yukata robe and get wooden sandals for all official or formal situations. A yukata is a cotton robe, similar to a kimono but much simpler. The name "yukata" literally translates to "bathing cloth," reflecting its original use as a robe worn after bathing in a communal bath or at a hot spring. They are tied with a sash called a chirimen. Lower ranked wrestlers must wear these to all events no matter the season. Even in winter they are not permitted to wear even a coat or scarf to reinforce their strict lifestyle and the hierarchy of sumo.
The Golden Dragon.
Credit: u/shroomcircle
Rikishi in the sandanme and makushita divisions have a few more freedoms in their clothing choices. In addition to the yukata and geta they can add a short overcoat called a haori to give some protection from the weather. They can also wear seta sandals with socks, which are much more comfortable than the wooden geta.
The Sekitori - juryo and makuuchi - enjoy the most freedom in their style. They are allowed to wear luxurious silk kimono. Unlike the yukata of the lower ranked wrestlers, which are plain and use muted colors, the kimono of sekitori wrestlers are often covered in intricate patterns with bright colors. These kimono are usually highly personalized by the rikishi and can even have the names of other wrestlers the rikishi considers friends or that they want to emulate in the ring.
Cheeky Sumo is taking that sumo style point to heart with our upcoming training drop. This month’s Cheek Peek will feature one of our ringside ready Training Hoodies! Pick one up this month to channel your favorite wrestler’s fighting spirit.
Sumo Trivia
Last month’s question: During the construction of the dohyo, what is often buried in the center as an offering?
Answer: Items to cleanse the dohyo and offerings to the kami. These usually include: torreya nuts, dried chestnuts, salt, washed rice, dried squid or cuttlefish and kombu.
September 2025 Cheeky Chanko Trivia Question:
This month’s question: What is sometimes written on yukata or kimono as a sign of friendship or respect?
Till next month!
We're incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support we've received since our launch! This was our sixth month live, and we couldn't be happier with the response. Thank you to everyone who's visited our site, followed us on social media, liked our posts, and made a purchase. We're committed to bringing you fresh designs, with plans to release two or more new items every basho. In the meantime, don’t forget to take a look at our current designs featuring the one very Cheeky Shiko and the popular kimarite series.
Oh and we have two kinds of mawashi now!
