🏆 He had never played a sport before he turned 19. He was planning to work in hotels. Instead he went twenty-two years without missing a single day on the dohyo and rewrote the all-time record for top-division appearances. On March 10, 2026, Mongolian-born Tamawashi hit 1,470 makuuchi appearances to tie the record, then pushed it to 1,497. Then in July, he dropped to the second division for the first time in thirteen years. One streak ended. Another is still running.

March 10: 1,470

Day three of the Spring Basho at EDION Arena Osaka. The moment Tamawashi, ranked west maegashira 9, stepped onto the dohyo, his career top-division appearance count read 1,470, level with the all-time mark held by former sekiwake Kyokutenho, now the stablemaster Oshima.

His opponent was Shodai, a former ozeki. He went for the throat with his right hand off the tachiai, trying to lift Shodai upright, got countered, and was pushed out. Three straight losses to open the tournament. The milestone came with a loss. The arena applauded anyway.

His comment afterward was good. Happy on one hand, ashamed of his own sumo on the other. Complicated. And: he wanted to keep wrestling his own sumo without thinking about the record.

Oshima, the man he'd just caught, told reporters that it had been more than ten years since he retired, and that even back then he'd figured it would be either Aminishiki or Tamawashi who broke it, and that even so it was genuinely remarkable, and that Tamawashi seemed stronger in body and spirit than before. He added that makuuchi is the major leagues, in baseball terms, and staying there is the hard part.

The next day, at 1,471, he stood alone at the top.

Then July, and Juryo

The count is stuck at 1,497. Not because he retired. Because he isn't in the top division anymore.

At the Summer Basho in May, ranked west maegashira 13, he went 2-13. He doesn't talk about injuries, but his right leg was taped solid from below the knee to the ankle, which told the story. On the final day he turned a question back on reporters: how many years has it been since I dropped to juryo? Then said the first thing was not to let it sour him.

On June 29 the Sumo Association released the banzuke for the Nagoya Basho, which opened July 12 at IG Arena. Tamawashi: east juryo 7. He hadn't been out of makuuchi since re-entering it in July 2013, thirteen years ago. At 41 he is the oldest sekitori in the sport.

So the records split. The 1,497 top-division appearances stay first all-time, but they stop climbing for now. The consecutive top-division appearance streak, which had reached 1,152, is over. That's third all-time; Takamiyama holds the record at 1,231.

The other one lives. His consecutive appearance streak since his debut stands at 1,793, first all-time, and if he doesn't withdraw before the final day in Nagoya it becomes 1,808. That would pass Terao at 1,795 and Aminishiki at 1,805, putting him third all-time in total career appearances as well.

His career record after the Summer Basho is 897-897 with 2 absences. Exactly even. Three more wins gets him to 900, the ninth wrestler ever.

The 19-Year-Old Who Wanted to Work in Hotels

Tamawashi Ichiro, born Batjargal Munkh-Erdene, arrived on November 16, 1984 in Ulaanbaatar. He intended to go into the hotel business and had no athletic background. His sister, studying in Japan, suggested sumo. He entered at 19.

It happened by accident. Visiting his sister, he was walking around Ryogoku and passed the Izutsu stable, where he met a Mongolian wrestler who had just joined. That was Kakuryu, later a yokozuna. Kakuryu connected him to the veteran Kyokushuzan, and in January 2004 he made his debut out of Kataonami stable.

He reached makuuchi in the autumn of 2008 and stuck there on thrusting and pushing, but the peak came late. In January 2019, at west sekiwake, he went 13-2 and won his first championship at 34. In the autumn of 2022 he won his second at 37 years and 10 months, the oldest champion since sumo moved to six tournaments a year. His kinboshi and special prize at 40 years and 8 months are also age records. His consecutive appearance streak from debut became the outright record in September 2024 and is recognized by Guinness World Records.

Asakayama, the former ozeki Kaio, said on NHK commentary that you don't see decline in his sumo, that his physique doesn't look like it has lost tone, and that you can't maintain a body like that without doing the basic conditioning and training, and that very few people manage it.

He took Japanese citizenship in March 2024.

"Maybe at 40 You Can Finally Say One Day, One Bout"

Sumo has a phrase: one day, one bout. Focus on the match in front of you and nothing else. Tamawashi disagrees, sort of.

At around 20, he says, it's "let's work hard this year." At 30, "let's work hard these six months." At 35, "let's work hard this tournament." Maybe at 40 you can finally say one day, one bout. Because if you think one day, one bout from the start, you'll pull, you'll sidestep, you'll figure winning today is enough.

Twenty-two years of not missing a day is arguably contained in that. He was looking at his career on a long axis, so he never wrestled in the way that wrecks a body for the sake of one afternoon.

He does let slip the other thing sometimes: when does it end, is it all right to keep clinging on. One reason he's still standing there is his second son, born on the day of his first championship. He wants to still be wrestling when the boy starts elementary school.

Can he climb back? A re-entry to makuuchi at 41 would be a record in itself. Nagoya started on July 12.

Who in your country is still at the top level past 40? And what's keeping them from stopping?

References