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It was kind of lost in the YDC report on rikishi and degeiko that there were some other revisions proposed to help improve the technical side of sumo. Foremost among them, the YDC wants to introduce a Gatcha element to honbasho. Sumotori will be given one free Move Capsule each day of the tournament. This Move Capsule will contain one 'winning move' that they're permitted to use; defeating an opponent with a move other than the one designated results in a do-over. Additional Move Capsules can be purchased for 100Y each, but to acquire favourites like yorikiri, oshidashi and the dreaded henka, rikishi or their supporters will need to purchase the Premium Move Capsules, valued at 1,000Y each. Premium Move Capsules may also contain special events like "What Mono-ii?" and "The Gyoji is Clearly Blind" to help provide an edge in close bouts, and epic cards like, "Araiso oyakata, with a folding chair, in the parking garage" to help guarantee those Fusen wins.

If you take Terunofuji's given name as transcribed in the database (GANERDENE Gantulga), you can anagram it to A Gargantuan Legende which sounds like a proper mix of English and German for exactly me to find.

At times watching Hakuho, I was convinced he'd picked a kimarite ahead of time and was determined to win using only that. I guess when things get that easy for you, you can play around. I always wanted to see him go full on mimic mode though - beat the Geek with a humpty bumpty, grunting sweaty power tsuridashi vs Tochinoshin, ashitori vs the little guys, or pull a Takarafuji and get stoically beaten up for a minute or two while the opponent exhausts themselves and eventually falls over.

I missed it until the other day, but a new tokoyama joined Kasugano-beya ahead of this basho, 18-year-old Tokotochi (床栃), who turns out to be the younger brother of Makushita rikishi Tsukahara. Tokotochi was involved in a sumo club during elementary school, but switched to baseball from junior high school onwards. Seeing his brother's efforts in sumo rekindled his interest, so he dropped out of high school and joined him in Kasugano-beya, with the dream of preparing his oichomage if and when he becomes a sekitori. For now, he is practising regular chonmage on the many rikishi at the heya, including his older brother.

... which reminds me of Larry Bird, who played a game predominantly with his left hand against Portland in 1986 (47 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists). Hakuho used 41 different winning kimarite in his career; I suspect of the 18 that were used 3 or fewer times, some of them came about because he "hadn't used it before."

Well played, @Benevolance

The YDC was arguing about Hakuho's sumo for about an hour before someone pointed out he wasn't active anymore.

Where other sports have their 'Grand Slam', sumō has zenroku basho seiha (全6場所制覇). The ultimate variant of this is the nen(?) roku basho kanzen seiha (年6場所完全制覇). Meaning 'total dominance of six basho in a year', it refers to the accomplishment of sweeping all championships in a calendar year. To date this has been achieved by only one man: Asashoryu in 2005. Others have come close, including Hakuho twice in 2010 and 2014, but have always fallen short at five yusho. Besides the two Mongolian greats, eight other rikishi have secured the equivalent of a 'career grand slam' (zenroku basho seiha tassei 全6場所制覇達成), winning all six honbasho at least once, only non-consecutively. The first man to achieve this feat was Taiho, who clinched his first title as a sekiwake in November 1960 and later completed the set of six with his 11th yusho overall in May 1963. From first to last, it took him 15 tournaments. The fastest anyone has reached the milestone is 11 tournaments. Again, this honour belongs to Asashoryu, who between November 2002 and July 2004 picked up eight yusho, securing his career slam with victory in Tokyo. Of course, just a year later he went on to accomplish the grand slam proper, as mentioned above. In contrast, it took Musashimaru more than five years and 32 tournaments to fill his trophy cabinet. He does, however, have the unique distinction of doing it with exactly his first six yusho. Chiyonofuji and Kitanoumi did it the 'slowest' in the sense that they didn't seal the deal until their 13th career yushos. Of the ten men, Hakuho stands alone as the only one to have a career grand slam of zensho yusho (zenroku basho zensho yusho 全6場所全勝優勝). He (has) won each of the six annual tournaments with a perfect 15-0 record at least once, completing the feat with his record-breaking 33rd championship in January 2015. Hakuho's remarkable career has actually seen him complete the career grand slam four times over, a record he shares with the legendary Taiho. No man has ever completed the grand slam in chronological order. That is, nobody has won six yusho in the order Hatsu > Haru > Natsu > Nagoya > Aki > Kyushu. Asashoryu had already completed his set of six before his full-year sweep in 2005, so it doesn't count. Among currently active rikishi with yusho to their name, Terunofuji is closest to making it. He has won three of the six honbasho, having won Natsu twice. Mitakeumi has ticked off two, but Takekeisho only one as he won both his yusho at the November Kyushu tournament. Of course, several others are on one yusho apiece only, so I won't bother mentioning them. I made a couple of tables charting the progression of the ten Yokozuna's career grand slams that I thought may interest some of you as a reference. Enjoy (finding mistakes)! https://ibb.co/GPhCCxY

(Very late announcement this time...) New: Kotoyusho - Ms1w 4-3, Sadogatake-beya, Nara, 27 years old Shiba, now Shiden 紫雷 - Ms2w 5-2, Kise-beya, Tokyo, 29 years old Kitanowaka - Ms3e 5-2, Hakkaku-beya, Yamagata, 21 years old Returning: Chiyoarashi - Ms4e 5-2, Kokonoe-beya, Chiba, 30 years old, 3rd promotion, back after 49 basho

That's what I remember. Awhile back I asked if some of those ex-Makuuchi down in Sandanme were still (figuratively) cashing their kinboshi checks, and the word was that they only receive them while a sekitori.

Been watching Shiba since he started, pretty good class of newbies that basho.

I swear I didn't look at @just_some_guy's picks beforehand! I thought I was being original picking Takanosho... Terunofuji Y Takakeisho O Shodai Takanosho O

No success, not this Enho beaver, but since September 6th, the company now sells Enho-chanko beaver https://hokka.jp/news/【9-6月発売】大相撲力士の-炎鵬-監修「炎鵬ちゃん/ Unfortunately, no kensho for him in juryo - dohyo-iri at the Aki basho o

from the online press conference of the new recruits in the kokugikan Kitanowaka o o local NHK with part of the press conference vid Shiden o oo Kotoyusho with Sadogatake-oyakata at the heya oo o o o

This was Terunofuji's stellar year.... January: S1E (11-4) - Jun-YushoMarch: S1E (12-3) - YushoMay: O2W (12-3) - YushoJuly: O1E (14-1) - Jun-YushoSeptember: Y1W (13-2) - YushoNovember: Y1E (15-0) - Yusho Both Asapedroyru and Totorofuji predicted his rise to Yokozuna! (Most of the rest of us predicted a promotion to Ozeki.) Twenty-two people took part in this poll. Let's see how 'we' did on the questions - keeping an eye out for how Asapedroryu (A) and Totorofuji (T) do... He won four yushos (20 AT). He won two jun-yushos (16 AT) He was promoted to Ozeki (18 AT) He NEVER went kyujo in 2021 (3 AT) He NEVER had a Makekoshi (7 T) He won ZERO kinboshis (21 AT) He won ZERO Fighting Spirit Prize (20 AT) He won one Technique Prize (5) He won one Outstanding Performance Prize (7 A) He never had double digit losses (22 AT) So both Asapedroryu and Totorofuji did well, getting 8/10 correct on the specific predictions. So, the winner of the yusho will be decided by who came closest to the number of Yorikiri wins by Terunofuji in 2021. Terunofuji won 34 times by yorikiri. Nobody got this exactly correct, but just_some_guy (33), Gajingai (35), MumboJumbo (35) and Kintamayama (35) all were one-off. Totorofuji was a little off with 22, but Asapedroryu was rather close-ish with 29. So, the yusho goes to @Asapedroryu and the jun-yusho to @Totorofuji.

Ichinojo's 2021 went thusly.... January: M12E (9-6) March: M6W (7-8) May: M6W (9-6) July: M2W (10-5) September: K1W (8-7) November: K1E (5-10) I think that he will be ranked in the joi-jin in January (around M3). This was predicted by MumboJumbo, Totorofuji, Jejima and Bombur. He managed four KKs over the year, as predicted by nearly a third of us, including MumboJumbo, Totorofuji and Bombur. His best result was 10-5. This was predicted by slightly over a third of us, including MumboJumbo, Totorofuji and Bombur. So, it's down to those three to see who will win the yusho! To the comments we go, for the kettei-sen.... MumboJumbo thinks that Ichinojo will be ranked at M4E in January 2022 - which might well end up being spot on! No comments from either Totorofuji or Bombur. So, yusho to @MumboJumbo. Jun-yusho shared by @Totorofuji and @Bombur.

The bashos for 2021 were won as follows:- January - M1W Daieisho (13-2) March - S1E Terunofuji (12-3) May - O2W Terunofuji (12-3) July - Y1E Hakuho (15-0) September - Y1W Terunofuji (13-2) November - Y1E Terunofuji (15-0) So, four yushos won by Yokozunas or Ozekis, as predicted by Hakuryuho, Joaoiyama, MumboJumbo, I am the Yokozuna, just_some_guy, Gaijingai, Shinobi Steve, Totorofuji, ChickyStarr, WAKATAKE, Tsubame, Morty and Pitinosato. One yusho won by a Sekiwake or a komusubi, as predicted by Hakuryuho, MumboJumbo, I am the Yokozuna, Totorofuji, WAKATAKE, Tsubame, Pitinosato, Benihana, Hakuhonofan, Kintamayama, Churaumi, Jejima, Rubensan and Oshirokita. And one yusho won by a rikishi ranked outside of the sanyaku, as predicted by MumboJumbo, I am the Yokozuna, Totorofuji, WAKATAKE, Tsubame, sahaven111, hakutorizakura and Oshirokita. I notice that some people participating cannot count up to six (unless they were predicting either cancelled bashos - or additional bashos?) Anyway, the players who got all three questions correct are:- MumboJumbo, I am the Yokozuna, Totorofuji, WAKATAKE and Tsubame. So, let's check the comments of these five to see who came closest to getting the full prediction... MumboJumbo:- Two correct. Plus a little more for predicting Terunofuji's Sekiwake yusho. Tsubame:- Also two correct. Plus a little less for guessing the wrong rank for Terunofuji. WAKATAKE:- Two correct. Plus a decent little extra for guessing Terunofuji's Ozeki yusho (which is a more risky prediction than a Sekiwake yusho, as it also involves a promotion to Ozeki) I am the Yokozuna and Totorofuji did not make any comments, so are out of the running. I note that Pitinosato realised in his comments that he could not count, and actually predicted three correctly - the most of any player.... Hmmmm, what to do? Well, this is poll is for the ranks, rather than for actual rikishi, which is the tie-breaker. We don't know where Pitinosato would have placed the missing sixth yusho, so I think he has to be out of the running. So, yusho to @WAKATAKE , jun-yusho to @MumboJumbo , Fighting Spirit Award to @Tsubame and @Pitinosato can have the Outstanding Performance award.

I'd been sitting on that post since Harumafuji retired. [ed.: a bit over three years] Hey now, there's an off-hand comment I made back in 2014 about a potential bit of trivia for which I'm still waiting for the guy in question to finish his career so it becomes true. At last! Higoarashi did proceed to win his second makushita yusho in Kyushu 2014 and didn't reach juryo afterwards, so he has now set that unique but unfortunate bit of sumo history.

That won't necessarily prevent it from becoming a long series....

Well since this is sumoforum... Would something like this work? 1. Yokozuna 2. Ozeki 3. Sekiwake 4. Komusubi 5. Maegashira 6. Juryo 7. Makushita 8. Sandanme 9. Jonidan 10. Jonokuchi

Time to start closing the annual polls (and opening some new ones for next year's action!) The top of the banzuke for January 2022 will look like this:- Terunofuji Y Takakeisho O Shodai Pretty much everybody predicted that both Hakuho and Kakuryu would not make it onto the January 2022 banzuke. Yamanashi and Totorofuji were the only two who foresaw the lack of Asanoyama. Presumably for his performances, rather than predicting his punishment? But it still counts! Both of these two did not predict the fall of Shodai. They both predicted Kakuryu's intai. However, Yamanashi did NOT predict Hakuho's intai. Therefore, Totorofuji was the only person to get this question completely correct. For question two, Totorofuji was one of two who voted for an 'Other' as a Yokozuna on the new banzuke. But she also voted for Shodai - and for NO Yokozunas. So, spoiled her ballot? Terao also voted for 'Other' - along with Asanoyama. For question 3, a lot of people correctly voted for both Takakeisho and Shodai. I will check to see which of them - if any - did not vote for anyone else... Terao is one. MumboJumbo and Oortael got both, and also had Terunofuji as an Ozeki, which I think is closer than Terao's guess (without Terunofuji anywhere). I think that Totorofuji spoiled her vote again, as she had no Ozekis ticked, as well as some Ozekis. Let's go to the comments.... Well, this was looking like it was going to be a difficult one to decide who could have a yusho, until I read the penultimate comment. Oortael's prediction is not bad at all! He has the three actual top-rankers in the correct order - just keeping Terunofuji at the rank of Ozeki. Asanoyama is also included there, but I think that is understandable. So, a yusho to @Oortael for this poll!

Like a few of you, I have been waiting for this. Here's the updated Graph. The reason why I've been waiting is that I made a couple of non-insignificant visual additions directly after publishing the previous version. Thus my hands are all bloody for rubbing them for a full year. So the changelog: Visual helps have been added for determining year and month while scrolling around with large magnification. So no more whining about whichmonthwhatisthisshit. The circles showing absences of former champions now carry more information. First of all, you can now always see how many former champions were absent at a given basho. In case one or more former champion(s), was/were absent because of demotion to lower divisions, this is also indicated now. The left edge of the Graph has been visually updated to present the initial stage of affairs in I-1958 in a more pleasing way. As for trivia that were easily visually available and have relevance for stuff happening in 2021: Thankfully, Hakuho rode West, since his annoying success had been putting the vertical integrity of the Graph in danger for quite a while. In fact, we saw a new record of 62 active banzuke wins in III-21, just before Kakuryu retired. The record for most different yusho winners on the banzuke was tied at 11 in III-21 (previously also XI-20 and VII-00). After Hakuho's retirement the yusho-experience-level dropped to 15 for XI-21, which is the lowest since IX-93 [!], in the aftermath of the 4-Yok retirement phase (Chiyonofuji, Onokuni, Asahifuji & Hokutoumi) between V-91 and VII-92. Back then this event produced the lowest YEL at 6 in VII-92. Terunofuji's consecutive yusho in III-V-21 were the first consecutive yusho since Kakuryu's in III-V-18. (And the same-Yokozuna-consecutive-yusho-drought was only ended with Terunofuji's IX-XI-21 wins.) The previous point translates into 15 basho without consecutve wins. This is the second longest such phase in modern history. The longest one came at 20 basho between XI-74 and I-78, when Kitanoumi and Wajima played pingpong a lot. In terms of participation, 2021 saw only 4 Yokozuna attendances (2x Hakuho, 2x Terunofuji). This is the lowest number since 1994, when Akebono was the sole Yokozuna. The lowest number all-time is in 1992 with 2, which was of course the time of Nokozuna. We had 2 Yokozuna retirements this year, which most previously happened in 2003 with Takanohana II and Musashimaru. Additionally, the two retirements came within four basho (Takanohana II's and Musashimaru's were in I-03 and XI-03, respectively). You have to go back to 1992 to find the retirements of Asahifuji (I-92) and Hokutoumi (V-92), which were shorter apart and are complemented by 1991's retirements of Chiyonofuji and Onokuni, which came in consecutive basho (V-VII-91). New Yokozuna Terunofuji is the first Grand Champion to have won two yusho at Sekiwake. He is only the third Yokozuna to have won a yusho at Maegashira. The previous guys were Takanohana II and Sadanoyama. The latter had won his first Makuuchi yusho in V-61 at M13w in his THIRD Makuuchi basho (which is in the exceptional category together with Miyabiyama's speedrun to Ozeki). Suggestions and critique: Don't hesitate. If you enjoy this and want to give back, you could help me out with what I posted in another thread.

I wouldn‘t recommend picking me in Metasumo 2022. As for 2023, we‘ll see…

The CM is on the Nagatanien site now, no video on the YT channel (yet? only visible in Japan?) https://www.nagatanien.co.jp/enjoy/cm/detail/229/ They didn't use his real voice, but at least not a kids voice like Haribo. No story for this CM, only that Terunofuji appears And Terunofuji is back on the list of CM talento as of today, Endo is at no.1 there https://www.nagatanien.co.jp/enjoy/cm/talent_lst/6/

Water, water, everywhere. There are four water-related kanji appearing in over 2000 shikona. Nada/Yo (洋) meaning ocean is in 238 shikona. Umi/Kai (海) meaning sea is in 744. Umi/Ko (湖) meaning lake is in 65. Kawa/Gawa (川) meaning river is in 1024 (many real names). There are others, but these four are the most common. They are usually (not always) found as the final character of the shikona but, in most cases, have no connection with the meaning of the other characters. Many are preceded by the name of a place or by part of the rikishi's real name. It seems as if they are often added for the sake of euphonics. And, the character for water itself, Mizu/Mi (水) appears in 109 shikona. Mito (水戸) is a city in Ibaraki which shows up in 10 shikona including that of Mongolian Mitoryu. And, since I mentioned (戸), it is the do in Edo. Its meaning is family or household, but it shows up in the names of several old cities, a lot of real surnames and 261 shikonas.