Kinboshi is a notation used in professional sumo

Sumo

is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

 wrestling to record a lower-ranked (maegashira) wrestler's victory over a yokozuna.

It is believed that the term stems from the usage of the terms shiroboshi (lit: white star) to designate a bout victory, and kuroboshi (black star) to designate a bout defeat. Thus, a "gold star" designates it as a special victory.

A kinboshi victory increases the balance in the maegashiras mochikyukin

Mochikyukin

Mochikyūkin 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...

 account by 10 yen. This balance is converted using a multiplier, presently 4,000, and added to the wrestler's bonus in every subsequent tournament in which he competes as a sekitori

Sekitori

A sekitori is a sumo wrestler who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: makuuchi and juryo.Currently there are 70 rikishi in these divisions...

. With six tournaments a year, this one victory corresponds to a pay increase of 240,000 yen per annum for the remainder of the wrestler's sekitori career.

The kinboshi record is held by former sekiwake Akinoshima who won 16 bouts against yokozuna when ranked as a maegashira.

List of top Kinboshi earners

Rank	Name	#	Status
1	Akinoshima	16	oyakata
2	Takamiyama	12	oyakata
2	Tochinonada	12	active
3	Tosanoumi	11	retired
5	Kitanonada	10	deceased
5	Annenyama	10	retired
5	Tsurugamine	10	deceased
5	Dewanishiki	10	deceased
5	Ōzutsu Ōzutsu Takeshi Ōzutsu Takeshi is a former sumo wrestler from Mie, Japan. Beginning his professional career in May 1971, he was ranked in the top makuuchi division continuously from March 1979 to January 1992, and his record of 1170 consecutive bouts there is the second best in history after Takamiyama. His...	10	oyakata
10	Mitsuneyama	9	deceased
10	Tamanoumi Tamanoumi Daitaro Tamanoumi Daitaro, real name Tomohiro Miura, was a sumo wrestler from Oita, Japan. His highest rank was sekiwake. He won a top division tournament championship in 1957...	9	deceased
10	Hasegawa Hasegawa Katsutoshi Hasegawa Katsutoshi is a former sumo wrestler from Sorachi, Hokkaidō, Japan. He began his professional career in 1960, reaching the top division in 1965. He won eight special prizes for his achievements in tournaments and earned nine gold stars for defeating yokozuna. He won a tournament...	9	oyakata
10	Fujizakura	9	oyakata
10	Takatoriki	9	expelled

Restrictions

Kinboshi are not awarded to sanyaku ranked wrestlers who defeat a yokozuna, nor is it awarded if the maegashira beats a yokozuna with a default win (or fusensho). It is also not given if the yokozuna is disqualified for using an illegal move (or hansoku). While it is not uncommon for an underperforming yokozuna to withdraw midway through a tournament giving a default win to one or more maegashira wrestlers, a hansoku yokozuna loss has only happened once when Asashoryu was disqualified for pulling Kyokushuzan's hair in the July tournament of 2003.

Other uses

The term kinboshi is used outside sumo in informal language. It can mean a major victory, or (in slang) a beautiful woman.

Ginboshi (or silver star) is also used informally to denote a maegashira victory over an ōzeki. However, there is no monetary bonus for such a win, nor are official ginboshi records kept.