Rikishi

A 力士, 相撲取り or, more colloquially, お相撲さん, is a professional sumo wrestler. follow and live by the centuries-old rules of the sumo profession, with most coming from Japan, the only country where sumo is practiced professionally. Participation in official tournaments () is the only means of marking achievement in sumo, with the rank of an individual based solely on official wins. The number of active peaked at 943 in May 1994, at the height of the "Waka-Taka boom," but had declined to 665 by January 2022. In popular use, the term can mean any sumo wrestler and be an alternative term to (sumo practitioner) or the more colloquial . The two kanji characters that make up the word are "strength/power" and "gentleman/samurai"; consequently, and more idiomatically, the term can be defined as "a gentleman of strength". Within the world of professional sumo, is used as a catch-all term for wrestlers who are in the lower, un-salaried divisions of , , and . The more prestigious term refers to wrestlers who have risen to the two highest divisions of and and who have significantly more status, privilege and salary than their lower-division counterparts. Sumo#Life as a professional sumo wrestler The life of a professional sumo wrestler is strictly regimented and has detailed prescriptions and rules for that have been observed for centuries, so much so that can be seen more as a way of life than a career. are expected to grow their hair long, in order to be worn in a style of , a topknot similar to the samurai hairstyles of the Edo period. Furthermore, they are expected to wear the and traditional Japanese dress at all times when in public. Sumo life centers around the training stables, to which all active wrestlers must belong. Most wrestlers, and all junior ones, live in their stable in a dormitory style: training, cleaning, eating, sleeping and socializing together. List of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers Professional sumo is practiced exclusively in Japan, but wrestlers of other nationalities participate.