• ''Any playoffs are indicated on individual wrestler articles' tournament records and elseplace, as one P for every additional bout fought by the wrestler fought on day 15. (Example given below.)'' Since 1947 a playoff system (Glossary of sumo terms#kettei-sen|) has been in place to determine the winner of the if two or more wrestlers finish with an identical score tied for first place. Until then, the would go to whoever was the higher in rank, as it was presumed they had faced better quality opposition, but this caused controversy in 1928, when
Hitachiiwa was chosen over despite the fact that one of the formers wins had come by default. There was similar criticism when new
Chiyonoyama was denied a championship in November 1945, despite winning all his matches. The wrestlers who have taken part in
the most top division playoffs are
Takanohana II with ten () and
Hakuhō with ten ().
Chiyonofuji has the highest percentage of victories, with a perfect playoff record. Playoffs with more than two wrestlers involved are fairly common in lower divisions, but have only happened a handful of times in the top division. In such cases lots are drawn to decide who fights first, the sole wrestler to remain undefeated, or to win two consecutive bouts in a three-way (Glossary of sumo terms#tomoesen|), will alone claim the . A playoff is the only occasion in which wrestlers from the same stable () and relatives can meet in tournament competition. Three-way playoffs have occurred eight times, first in
March 1956 and most recently in
January 2025, with
Hōshōryū winning the by defeating
Kinbōzan first, then
Ohō in succession. Furthermore, two cases of four-way playoffs occurred in
June 1947 and
March 1997 respectively, and a unique five-way playoff in
November 1996. – The latter's participants achieving the following scores:
Musashimaru ,
Takanonami ,
Akebono ,
Wakanohana Masaru ,
Kaiō . – Musashimaru had to win thrice to secure the . Takanonami won once but lost the final bout. Everyone else lost their only bout. Nevertheless, all four losing wrestlers are equally considered to be runners-up. (Glossary of sumo terms#kettei-sen|) ==See also==