Mochikyukin

Mochikyukin (持ち給金) is a system of payment for sumo wrestlers that supplements the basic salary that sekitori earn.

This bonus is calculated using a fairly complex formula. When a wrestler enters professional sumo, he is credited with 3 yen. This value increases every time he makes a kachikoshi victory, with the an increase of 0.5 yen (or 50 sen) for every win greater than losses. No deduction is made for a makekoshi record

There are minimum values of mochikyukin that are paid to wrestlers of different rank. (Juryo, Makuuchi, Ozeki and Yokozuna). If a wrestler is subsequently demoted the difference between the value prior to promotion and the minimum value will be deducted from the mochikyukin account. The minimum value for a Juryo wrester is 40 yen.

There are two ways to obtain a big jump in the mochikyukin. Winning the Makuuchi yusho (or championship) gives a mochkyukin bonus of 30 yen, which increases to 50 yen if the championship was won with a "perfect" (15-0) score. A Maegashira will receive a 10 yen bonus if he can defeat a Yokozuna during a tournament. Such a win is called a kinboshi (lit. gold star)

The value of the mochikyukin account is multiplied by 4000 yen to give the bonus, which is paid six times a year (once for each tournament) to the sekitori wrestler.

This means that a kinboshi victory will be worth 240,000 yen per annum additional income for the remainder of the wrestler's career. Although he never won the makuuchi championship, the wrestler Akinoshima won 15 kinboshi during his career, which gave him a mochikyukin account that was larger than many Ozeki.

With its strong bias towards large kachikoshi scores and top division championships, the highest mochikyukin accounts are credited to the strongest yokozuna. Mochikyukin accounts of over 1000 yen (corresponding to an additional income of 24 million yen per year) have been achieved by the very strongest Yokozuna such as Taiho and Chiyonofuji.