A document seen as above is called banzuke, which you can always find before an official tournament of sumo. The document is to be read from right to left and top to bottom. It indicates the rankings of the professional sumo wrestlers entered in the race. On the banzuke, wrestlers are divided into East, which is printed on the right, and West, which is printed on the left. A banzuke is often considered a collector’s item by sumo fans.

However, the document you see above has little to do with sumo. It is called yado-banzuke, which is published annually by BIGLOBE, a popular onsen search engine in Japan. Whereas the rankings on a regular banzuke are decided by an assembly composed of sumo judges and supervisors, the yado-banzuke is a reflection on the 26,156 votes gathered from regular guests. The people of Japan have voted, and they have determined their favorite onsen resort.

For eight years in a row, Dai-ichi Takimotokan has been fortunate enough to be elected as a guest favorite on BIGLOBE. Further more, we have been awarded the Yokozuna title for the fourth time this year! Yokozuna is the highest rank in sumo, and it usually takes a wrestler a lifetime of training to get there. We feel incredibly honored to be given the highest rank as an onsen resort. We would certainly continue the efforts to repay the affection from our guests.