Sekitori

A sekitori (関取) is a rikishi (力士, sumo wrestler) who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: makuuchi and jūryō. The name literally translates to having taken the barrier, as only a relatively small fraction of those who enter professional sumo achieve sekitori status. Currently there are 70 rikishi in these divisions. The benefits of being a sekitori compared to lower ranked wrestlers are significant and include: to receive a salary and bonus (those in the lower divisions merely receive an allowance) to have one's own supporters' 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 a keshō-mawashi to wear the more elaborate ōichō chonmage hairstyle in competition and on formal occasions to become an elder in the Sumo Association if one is sekitori for long enough