This applies especially to the case of grand sumo tournament where there is a custom that "there should not be more than five ozeki (sumo wrestler of the second highest rank)"; if new yokozuna (sumo grand champion) and new ozeki come into being simultaneously when there are already five ozeki, this situation is sometimes called "tokoroten-shiki promotion" implicating ironically that "the new yokozuna has become yokozuna by being pushed out of ozeki's position (in spite of insufficient scores) because someone had to move upward in order to avoid having six ozeki."
特に大相撲では、「大関は最大で五人」という慣例があることから、大関が五人いる状態で新横綱・新大関が同時に誕生すると「誰か昇進させないと六大関になってしまうから、（成績は満点とはいえないが）押し出されて横綱になった」という揶揄の意味で「ところてん式に昇進」といわれることがある。