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A sekitori (関取) is a sumo wrestler who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: makuuchi and juryo.
Currently there are 70 rikishi in these divisions. The benefits of being a sekitori compared to lower ranked wrestlers include:
- to receive a salary and bonus (others merely receive an allowance)
- to have one's own supporter's club
- to wear high quality men's kimono and other items of attire
- to have a private room in the training stable
- to be able to get married and live away from the training stable
- to have junior rikishi to effectively act as their personal servants
- to wear a silk mawashi with stiffened cords (called sagari) in tournament bouts
- to participate in the ring entrance ceremony and wear kesho-mawashi
- to wear the more elaborate oicho chonmage hairstyle on formal occasions
- to become an elder in the Sumo Association if one is sekitori for long enough
The name literally translates to having taken the barrier, as only a relatively small fraction of those who enter professional sumo achieve sekitori status.
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