Banzuke

[1] The rankings on the banzuke are decided by an assembly composed of 20 sumo judges and three supervisors who gather a few days after each official tournament.

The degree of a wrestler's success or failure will help give the assembly a benchmark for figuring how far he rises or falls in the rankings.

[2] High-ranking gyōji then take on the laborious task of copying down the new rankings on a traditional Japanese paper roll called a maki.

They carefully write down the kanji characters of each wrestler participating in a tournament in a calligraphy style called sumo moji.

The banzuke information is carefully guarded for several weeks before it is released, which is usually on the Monday 13 days before an official tournament begins.