Gyoji

A Gyōji (行司) is a referee in professional sumo wrestling in Japan. Gyōji usually enter the sumo world as teenagers and remain employees of the Sumo Association until they retire aged 65. The gyōji's principal and most obvious task is to referee bouts between sumo wrestlers. After the yobidashi has called them into the ring it is his responsibility to watch over the wrestlers as they go through the initial prebout staring contests, and then coordi... more

A Gyōji (行司) is a referee in professional sumo wrestling in Japan. Gyōji usually enter the sumo world as teenagers and remain employees of the Sumo Association until they retire aged 65. The gyōji's principal and most obvious task is to referee bouts between sumo wrestlers. After the yobidashi has called them into the ring it is his responsibility to watch over the wrestlers as they go through the initial prebout staring contests, and then coordinate the initial charge (or tachi-ai) between the wrestlers. During the bout he is supposed to keep the wrestlers informed that the bout is still live (it is possible for a wrestler to brush his foot outside the ring without realising it). He does this by shouting "nokotta nokotta!" (残った、残った！), which can be translated from Japanese to mean "You're still in it! You're still in it!" The gyōji also has the responsibility to encourage the wrestlers to get a move on when action between them has completely stopped, for instance, when both of them... less