Make-koshi

Make-koshi ( Japanese負 け 越 し) is a negative victory record of a sumo wrestler in a basho (tournament).

In these tournaments, fights of an uneven number are always contested, so that it can always be clearly stated whether a fighter - a sumōtori - has lost more fights than won, or vice versa. The ranking of the sumōtori depends on how they perform in the tournaments.

If a fighter loses more duels than he wins during a tournament, this is called make-koshi and leads to a downgrade in the banzuke . (There are two exceptions, however: a yokozuna can never lose his rank, and an Ōzeki is only demoted after two make-koshi in a row.)

Since in the highest leagues, the Makuuchi and the Jūryō Division, every fighter has to fight a fight on each of the 15 days of the basho, he achieves make-koshi if he does not achieve more than seven wins. In the lower leagues ( Makushita , Sandanme , Jonidan and Jonokuchi ) there is only seven days of fighting, so there are three wins or less here.

The level of the make-koshi determines how far a fighter is downgraded, ie a 6–9 is much less favorable than a 7–8, although it means only one more defeat.

See also: kachi-koshi