Editing Sumo (section)

===Japan===
Sumo is also practised as an [[amateur sports|amateur sport]] in Japan, with participants in college, high school, grade school or company workers on [[works team]]s. Open amateur tournaments are also held. The sport at this level is stripped of most of the ceremony. Most new entries into professional sumo are junior high school graduates with little to no previous experience,<ref name="uni2019">{{cite news|author=Gunning, John|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2019/03/18/sumo/college-graduates-mixed-success-sumos-school-hard-knocks/|title=Sumo 101: College graduates in sumo|newspaper=[[The Japan Times]]|date=March 18, 2019|access-date=December 25, 2020|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225144819/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2019/03/18/sumo/college-graduates-mixed-success-sumos-school-hard-knocks/|url-status=live}}</ref> but the number of wrestlers with a collegiate background in the sport has been increasing over the past few decades.<ref name="uni2020">{{cite news|author=Gunning, John|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2020/11/11/sumo/universities-foreign-wrestlers-sumo/|title=Universities offer foreign wrestlers new path to pro sumo|newspaper=[[The Japan Times]]|date=November 11, 2020|access-date=December 25, 2020|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125225219/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2020/11/11/sumo/universities-foreign-wrestlers-sumo/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times International Edition|The International Herald Tribune]]'' reported on this trend in November 1999, when more than a third of the wrestlers in the top two divisions were university graduates.<ref>{{cite news|author=Kattoulas, Velisarios|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/09/sports/IHT-college-sumo-wrestlers-overshadow-old-guard.html|title=College Sumo Wrestlers Overshadow Old Guard|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 9, 1999|access-date=December 25, 2020|archive-date=May 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512191014/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/09/sports/IHT-college-sumo-wrestlers-overshadow-old-guard.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nippon Sport Science University]] and [[Nihon University]] are the colleges that have produced the most professional sumo wrestlers.<ref name="uni2019"/> The latter produced [[Hiroshi Wajima]], who in 1973 became the first, and remains the only, wrestler with a collegiate background to attain the rank of ''yokozuna''.<ref name="uni2020"/>

The most successful amateur wrestlers (usually college champions) are allowed to enter professional sumo at ''[[Professional sumo divisions#Makushita|makushita]]'' (third division) or ''[[Professional sumo divisions#Sandanme|sandanme]]'' (fourth division) rather than from the very bottom of the ladder. These ranks are called ''[[Glossary of sumo terms#M|makushita tsukedashi]]'' and ''[[Glossary of sumo terms#S|sandanme tsukedashi]]'', and are currently equivalent to ''makushita'' 10, ''makushita'' 15, or ''sandanme'' 100 depending on the level of amateur success achieved. All amateur athletes entering the professional ranks must be under 23 to satisfy the entry, except those who qualify for ''makushita tsukedashi'' or ''sandanme tsukedashi'', who may be up to 25.