The is a sumo competition for elementary and middle school students held every year in Japan.
Origin
The Hakuhō Cup is a children's sumo event, second only to the annual Wanpaku National Championship. Its origins are actually in the Asashōryū Cup. The Wanpaku National Championship is an all-Japanese event, and Asashōryū wished to allow Mongolian kids on the dohyō in the Kokugikan. The first Asashōryū Cup was held in August 2009, in the Kokugikan. At the time, no individual competitions were held, and in total 12 teams of 5 wrestlers per team, each consisting of boys aged 8 to 12, competed in a team competition. The event was largely won by the Mongolian delegation, who scored a no-defeats. The competition was however a mixed success with only 1,000 people in the audience instead of the advertised 7,000. Asashōryū, who wanted to make this an annual event, was forced to retire a few months later, and the event was never repeated.
Hakuhō was then the only yokozuna and established his own event in 2011. The Hakuhō Cup in its current form is an event for boys from first to ninth grade. Around 1,300 boys attended the 2020 event, hailing from Asian countries, such as Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan, but also from the USA. Since 2014, the event is produced by Osamu Suzuki, an experienced screenwriter. The tournament is a popular event with lectures by former professional wrestlers between competitions. The Hakuhō Cup is also a place where it is not uncommon to come across professional wrestlers, whether they are retired or active, who come to encourage their son or to participate in the organization by refereeing or in some other capacity. All the members of the Miyagino stable are involved in the event. Since the event has grown into a prestigious amateur competition, many participants have had successful careers in sumo, and include sekitori like makuuchi wrestlers Ōnoshō, Ura, Kotonowaka, and maegashira Hakuōhō.
Organization
The event is an amateur sumo competition. Therefore, participants are divided into 7 divisions (ranging from first grade to sixth grade and junior high school). An eighth category, combining participants from the first seven to form groups that will compete for the team title, is also its own division. Like in professional sumo, the most deserving young wrestlers are entitled to special awards modelled on the sanshō prizes. Another prize, the Osamu Suzuki Award, is also awarded. Each wrestler competing in his division must win to advance in the competition.
During the period of the event, it is common for stables to open their doors to students to train with professional wrestlers.
Previous events
Results only began to be published in 2016
2010-2013
In 2010, the first Hakuhō Cup took place in the Ohama Sumo Hall of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. The event gathered around 750 elementary and junior high school students. Among them, 8 amateurs from Mongolia participated to a sumo event for the first time. The original event should have taken place in Mongolia in June, but the travel was cancelled and the event postponed due to the scandals that erupted within the Japan Sumo Association at the time. Professional wrestlers Ōnoshō Fumiya participated in the event and his Aomori team won the team competition of that year. Makuuchi wrestler Ura Kazuki also attended the event. The Hakuho Cup then took place in December 2011 in Osaka.
The following year, the Hakuhō Cup took place in April 2012 in Ōsaki, Miyagi Prefecture to entertain the children after the earthquake that devastated the prefecture. The location was also chosen as Hakuhō is also a tourism ambassador for the city and he felt it was also his responsibility to help the reconstruction effort. Only elementary and junior high school students from the Tōhoku region were allowed to participate in the tournament.
In 2013, the event was held on February 11 and, for the first time, took place in Tokyo at the Ariake Colosseum. The tournament was marked by the victory of the two children of Tokitsukaze stablemaster (Tokitsuumi Masahiro). His first son, Hiroichi Sakamoto, won the fourth-grade division, and his second son, Masamasa, won the first-grade division. In the same tournament, Kamatani Masakatsu (son of Sadogatake stablemaster Kotonowaka Terumasa) came third in the junior high school division.