Sumo Name Generator

Professional sumo wrestlers do not fight under their birth names. Each rikishi is given a shikona, a ring name usually assigned by his stablemaster, and the names follow a compact set of conventions. Most are two or three kanji read together: a stable prefix followed by an evocative ending. Chiyo- names come from Kokonoe stable, Koto- from Sadogatake, Waka- and Taka- historically from Futagoyama, Asa- from Takasago, Kiri- from Michinoku, and Hokuto- from Hakkaku. The endings are drawn from nature and grandeur: -yama (mountain), -umi (sea), -fuji (Mt. Fuji), -ryu (dragon), -kaze (wind), -maru (a suffix used for ships and boys), -hana (flower), -nishiki (brocade), -zakura (cherry blossom), and -kuni (country).

The possessive particle no often links the two halves, giving names such as Chiyonofuji ("Chiyo's Fuji"), Kisenosato, and Wakanohana. Champions' names are retired and rarely reused, and a wrestler may take a new shikona on promotion, borrowing an element from a legendary predecessor. Foreign-born rikishi receive Japanese shikona too: Hakuho ("white peng-bird") for the Mongolian yokozuna, Akebono ("dawn") for the Hawaiian one.

The list above mixes real yokozuna and ozeki with newly built names that follow the same rules, so they sound right whether you are naming a character in a manga, a video game fighter, or a fantasy sumo league. Every name is a valid combination of genuine sumo elements.