List of sumo tournament top division champions

The first table below lists the champions since the six-tournament system was instituted in 1958.

[1] The championship is determined by the wrestler with the highest win–loss score after fifteen bouts, held at a rate of one per day over the duration of the 15-day tournament.

[2] Names in bold mark an undefeated victory (a zenshō-yūshō).

The following tables list the champions before the introduction of the current tournament system.

*A yūshō system giving the wrestler with the best tournament record a prize was introduced by the Mainichi newspaper in the second half of 1909, and this was officially integrated by the JSA in 1926.