A banzuke(番付), officially called banzuke-hyō(番付表) is a document listing the rankings of professional sumo wrestlers published before each official tournament or honbasho. The term can also refer to the rankings themselves. The document is normally released about two weeks before the tournament begins. On the banzuke wrestlers are divided into East, which is printed on the right, and West, which is printed on the left. Each wrestler's full shikona (ring name), hometown and rank is also listed. The top of the page starts with the highest ranked makuuchi wrestlers printed in the largest characters, down to the wrestlers in the lowest divisions which are written in much smaller characters. The name of gyōji (sumo referees), yobidashi (ring attendants), shimpan (judges) and oyakata (elders of t