Shikona

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A shikona (Japanese: 四股名 or 醜名) is a sumo wrestler's stage name.

As with standard Japanese names, a shikona consists of a 'surname' and a 'given' name, and the full name is written surname first. However, the given name is rarely used outside formal or ceremonial occasions. Thus, the current yokozuna Asashōryū Akinori is usually referred to as simply Asashōryū. When addressing a sumo wrestler or the makuuchi or jūryō divisions, the suffix -zeki (関) should be used instead of the usual Japanese -san. The given name is often the wrestler real name, although foreign wrestlers are invariably given a Japanese name.

While a shikona can be the wrestler's own surname, most upper-division rikishi have a shikona different from their surname. A typical shikona consists of one, two or three kanji. Often, part of the name comes from the wrestler's master, a place name (such as the name of a province, a river, or a sea), the name of a weapon, an item identified with Japanese tradition (like a koto (琴) or nishiki (錦)), or a term indicating superiority. Often, waka indicates a wrestler whose father was also in sumo; in this case, the meaning is junior.

Wrestlers can change their shikona, often to mark significant rise in rank, but sometimes in the hope of a change in fortune after poor performance. Takahanada, son of former ōzeki Takanohana (貴乃花), changed his name to Takanohana (貴ノ花) when he himself was promoted to ōzeki, and subsequently changed the characters to 貴乃花. More recently Kotoōshū, whose performance has been disappointing since promotion to ōzeki, subtly changed the last character of his name, 琴欧州 becoming 琴欧洲, in a bid for better results. Veteran ōzeki Kaiō (魁皇) was originally called Kaikō, but changed the pronunciation to Kaiō as it was felt to be a stronger-sounding name.

Many foreign rikishi are given shikona that give a clue as to their origin: the names of Russian brothers Rohō (露鵬) and Hakurozan (白露山) both contain the character 露, which is an abbreviation for Russia; Kotoōshū (琴欧州), the first European to reach makuuchi (top) division, contains the characters 欧州, meaning Europe. Another notable example is the wrestler Sentoryū (戦闘竜), which means fighting war dragon but is also homophonous with St. Louis, his city of origin.