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If you read the last entry, on 超新星, you'll recognise one of the kanji in 金星: 星, "star" or "planet." It's paired here with 金, meaning "gold."
金星 (literally, "gold star") is actually two different words, depending on whether you give 星 its on reading (ancient Chinese pronunciation) or kun reading (native Japanese pronunciation). With the on reading, the word is pronounced "kinsei" and means "Venus." With the kun reading, it's "kinboshi," and means "a victory over a yokozuna by a rank-and-file sumo wrestler."
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A kinboshi is a big deal for everyone involved. For the winner, of course, who gets a permanent pay increase as well as the thrill of beating the best. For the crowd, who traditionally hurl their seat cushions into the ring as a sign of astonishment. And for the yokozuna, who will face calls to retire if they give away too many kinboshi.
Not all wrestlers qualify for kinboshi. They're only available to those in the lowest top-division rank of maegashira (which is further divided into 16 or 17 numbered sub-ranks). One of my favourite wrestlers, the small but feisty Fujinokawa, won't be able to add to his four kinboshi this tournament, because he's now a sekiwake. No matter; his ferocity still makes me laugh out loud.
The first (and so far only) kinboshi in this tournament came on Day 4, when veteran rikishi Takayasu beat Onosato in one of the funniest matches I've seen. Both wrestlers teetered at the edge of the ring; Takayasu managed to turn on one foot and stay in, while Onosato … pirouetted right out.
Takayasu's a beloved wrestler who has been runner-up in nine tournaments, but never quite managed to win. Time and again the fans get their hopes up, and time and again they're dashed. But his victory over Onosato was his seventh kinboshi and means he holds more than any other rikishi in the top division.
There's only half the usual chance of getting a kinboshi in this tournament. One of the two yokozuna, Hoshoryu, is sitting out the tournament to recover from surgery. Some people grumble that yokozuna are too willing to take time off to heal nowadays. Some grumble that they give away too many kinboshi or don't win enough tournaments. Some people will grumble about anything a yokozuna does.
Personally, I don't understand this. Where's the fun in competition if the top-ranked players always win? Don't we all love an underdog?
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Fukuyama Masaharu has introduced me to some media I wouldn't normally take an interest in. The Rurouni Kenshin films are a prime example. Based on a popular manga series, they follow the career of a former assassin who takes a vow never to kill again, but finds himself pitted against a powerful renegade who has assembled an army to terrorise the people of Japan.
Fukuyama plays Kenshin's old master, Hiko. Kenshin returns to him and asks to learn the ultimate technique of his school of swordsmanship. After a period of brutal training, he's ready to understand the secret: “Your own life is worth as much as any other.”
Wrestlers who earn a kinboshi are always interviewed afterward. Having been hauled into the media room while still panting from the bout, they rarely have anything original to say. The most common explanation they give for their unexpected victory is: “I was able to keep moving forward.”
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A couple of months ago, the “gender critical” barrister Sarah Phillimore appeared in my social media mentions, demanding I give an account of myself. When I googled her and realised what a heavyweight I was dealing with, I felt very small and persecuted.
But then I thought how strange it was that she had sought me out. I'm virtually unknown, yet it seemed this famous barrister couldn't let my statement that “trans lives are sacred” go unchallenged. It would never have occurred to me to pick a fight with her, and I wondered which of us really had power over the other.
I'm sorry to say that I inadvertently hurt some trans people when I first talked about this. A few thought I was making light of the oppression they faced. That wasn't my intention at all. I've seen the disgraceful persecution that's being funded by billionaires.
But I think that on a fundamental level, decent people are stronger than billionaires. And I think we need to believe it. Our lives are worth as much as theirs.
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Recently I won an unexpected victory. I can't talk about the details, but I was in a situation that seemed impossible, until suddenly it wasn't. I remembered something I'd heard Kurt Vonnegut say in a recorded talk: “I think my life must have been preordained, or I wouldn't have gotten away with it.”
Most of us don't experience a rain of seat cushions at such moments. But I like to think that these gold stars can continue to enrich us long after we've moved on to other fights. They give us hope by reminding us of our own worth. The only thing we can do may be the only thing we need to do: Keep moving forward.
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The 2026 aki (early autumn) basho is on until 27 September. You can watch daily highlights and live streams of days 8, 14 and 15 on NHK World Japan's website.