Mochikyūkin

In sumo, sekitori-ranked wrestlers receive a monetary reward at the end of each tournament that supplements their basic salary. This system is called rikishi hōshōkin (力士褒賞金), and it is based on a personal bounty held by each wrestler called mochikyūkin (持ち給金; lit. "salary holdings" or "possession wages").

In addition to their monthly salary, rikishi are eligible to receive monetary awards based on their performance in tournaments. These bounties are paid six times a year, at each tournament, to sekitori-ranked wrestlers (competing in the jūryō division or higher). Wrestlers in the makushita division and below do not receive a salary, though they are given an allowance.

Since the most common way to increase the bounties is to achieve kachi-koshi (having more wins than losses) in a tournament, a match in which a wrestler stands at seven wins and seven losses on the final day of a tournament will decide whether he achieves kachi-koshi or make-koshi (more losses than wins). This occurrence is sometimes referred to as kyūkin sumō (給金相撲; lit. "wage sumo"); a win in these circumstances is called kyūkin naoshi (給金直し; lit. "wage correction"), and a loss is called mukō kyūkin (向こう給金; lit. "opposite side wage").

The yokozuna with the smallest bounty was the 60th yokozuna Futahaguro, who never won a championship. Having been in the makuuchi ranks for only 20 tournaments, he had received only ¥169 at the time of his expulsion.

When a wrestler enters professional sumo, he is credited with ¥3.^[1] Every time he achieves kachi-koshi, this value increases by ¥0.5 (or 50 sen) for each additional win over the number of losses (e.g. ¥1.5 for a 9–6 record). No deduction is made for a make-koshi record, a leave of absence, or a suspension.

There are minimum values of mochikyūkin that are paid to wrestlers of different rank (jūryō, makuuchi, ōzeki and yokozuna), should they not be eligible for a greater amount already. If a wrestler is subsequently demoted, any amount awarded through these minimums in excess of that earned via the wrestler's win-loss record will be deducted again from the mochikyūkin account.

In addition, wrestlers with outstanding performancs will receive bonuses. A maegashira will receive a ¥10 bonus if he can defeat a yokozuna during a tournament. Such a win is called a kinboshi (lit. "gold star"). Former sekiwake Akinoshima won 16 kinboshi during his career,^[2] which gave him a mochikyūkin account that was larger than those of many ōzeki.

Winning the makuuchi yūshō (championship) gives a bonus of ¥30, which increases to ¥50 if the championship was won with a "perfect" record of 15–0, which is called a zenshō yūshō (全勝優勝).

The value of the mochikyūkin account is multiplied by a predefined number to give the actual distributed monetary bonus to the sekitori wrestlers; the current multiplier, since the year 1998, is 4,000.^[3] This means that, as an example, a kinboshi victory will be worth ¥240,000 per annum additional income for the remainder of the wrestler's career.

With its strong bias towards large kachi-koshi scores and top division championships, the highest mochikyūkin accounts are credited to the strongest yokozuna. Mochikyūkin accounts of over ¥1,000 (corresponding to an additional income of ¥24 million per year) have been achieved by the very strongest yokozuna such as Taihō, Chiyonofuji and Hakuhō.

Hakuhō broke the record of ¥1,489 set by Taihō.