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In January I acquired a folded, two sided poster of kimarite illustrated by the late Kototsurugi. Bilingual (Japanese/English). Wish it was a booklet.

I cannot comment on any speculation about my promotion to yokozuna in May, when I would become the first 59-year-old and the first Englishman to attain the rank. But as the JSA has not explicitly issued a statement that this will not happen... well.. draw your own conclusions.

Kokutai runner up, and winner of numerous tournaments throughout college, the uwatenage whiz Masaki Hanaoka, a Nihon University grad, will be turning pro with Sakaigawa. MsTD approved. He was a team mate of Kusano's from primary school through college, but goes elsewhere this time. For perspective, in his 2nd year I already rated him at ozeki on my college banzuke: 2022 Collegiate Sumo + Banzuke - Page 2 - Amasumo Discussions - Sumo Forum. With him joining ozumo, the top 5 on that banzuke are all pros now. Here he is in the 135kg weight class final last year.

Nishonoseki Ichimon held a rengo-keiko today at Oshiogawa beya with 5 Juryo rikishi. Kotoeihou, Wakanoshou, Kazekenou,, Ootsuji and Wakaikari who came for degeiko and is from Tokitsukaze Ichimon. About 30 bouts between them. As the Haru jungyo is mainly attended by Makuuchi wrestlers, the Juryo rikishi who remain in Tokyo at this time of year are lacking in practice partners. In an effort to overcome this situation, the Juryo rikishi have been going back and forth between the heyas of their Ichimon for the past few days, competing with each other. Kazekenou, who is in good shape, reflected, "Various rikishi of similar ranks came to visit us. There are many different types, so it was good keiko." Wakaikari, who came for keiko at the invitation of Sadogatake Oyakata was positive, saying, There are lots of training partners, so the keiko is better than usual. I'm glad I had this opportunity."

Ding ding ding!

Our 37 survivors collected a total of 118 wins and 158 losses in this basho, with 11 kachi-koshi and 26 make-koshi (inclusive of Higohikari's one-bout late entry). There were two particularly outstanding performances. Tamawashi recorded double-digit wins for the first time since 2022 Aki (his second yusho), and is the first 40+ rikishi to do so since Kyokutenho in 2014 Kyushu. It was also his third consecutive kachi-koshi. Meanwhile in Jonidan, Hienriki made a 6-0 start for the second time in his career, sadly this time he couldn't win the last bout to match his Sandanme yusho from 2014 Nagoya, but it's still a great result. It looks like Takarafuji is in that stage of his career where a double-digit Maegashira rank is the best he can hope for, although after this 3-12 disaster it might take a while for him to even return there. Day 5 saw a bout between the youngest active Showa-born rikishi (Hirose) and the oldest active Heisei-born rikishi (Tsubakifuji). Not their first meeting overall, but Hirose didn't become the youngest Showa-born until the retirement of Chiyotairyu a couple of years back. On the same day, 195.4cm Yoshiazuma took on 166cm Fujinonami, not quite the shortest rikishi of all but still quite a difference. Day 6 saw a bout between fellow survivors Azumanami and Amamidake, who happen to share the same date of birth, November 29th 1984. Kaorufuji - 900th career bout, Day 11. Hirose - 300th career win, Day 3. Full results for 2025 Haru in banzuke order:

That's how you get ponies.

Takayasu’s latest heartbreak creates sumo history My column today

Hmm, I can't find any trace of this having been mentioned on the forum until now. (I ran into it on ja.wiki.) On December 8, 2023, Lynn Matsuoka reported the passing of her ex-husband, former maegashira Iwatora. They had moved to the US following his active career, first to Hawaii and then to New York, where he eventually established a Japanese restaurant, nowadays run by their two sons. Edit: A local paper reported the date of death as December 5.

Just noticed also that Sendagawa-oyakata (ex-Tokushoryu) has moved from Kise-beya to Nishikido-beya.

Did I miss something? Haven't seen any announcement about him retiring. Easy mistake as we have spent more time discussing Hokutofuji than any of the guys who have officially retired.

Training news from the jungyo: Oonosato and Takayasu, who faced each other in the playoffs of Haru, had mixed results in morning keiko yesterday. Defending champion Oonosato had a total of 12 matches with 5 wins and 7 losses. He ended the session with 4 straight losses, not being able to beat Kirishima even once. He also struggled against Maegashira Ounokatsu with 3 wins and 2 losses and had 2 wins and 1 loss against Meisei. "I took on opponents I don't like facing. I want to practice hard for the rest of the tour," he said, choosing rikishi who he felt he had trouble dealing with as his opponents.. Takayasu, who missed out on the yusho at Haru, joined the tour on the 12th and began training on that day. With a total of 6 wins and 1 loss, he said, "My movements aren't bad. I was able to do it while thinking," he said.

rengo-geiko today o o o earlier Nishonoseki Ichimon assembled the rikishi not at the jungyo at other heya to have them train, on the 13th at Sadogatake-beya, the 14th at Takadagawa-beya Wakanosho, Kotoeiho, Mudoho oo o o

It seems like Isegahama-oyakata has also denied this rumour: https://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/202504090000803.html (This might probably show up a bit late since I just decided to come out of lurkdom, and the post still needs to be approved)

Recent "news" along the line of this: Onosato denied the right of yokozuna promotion; the reason for Onosato's sudden retirement; Hakkaku fired; Hoshoryu intai ...

Tameikis Ranking after Haru Basho 2025 Hello dear 21 gamers! Once again I added to the ranking dates of Hatsu Basho 25 the Hatsu 25 results and subtracted the results of Hatsu Basho 24. and subtracted those of Hatsu Basho 24. So I got the following new ranking on the results of the last 6 Bashos: Nr Name Points TB1 Score Average Av.TB 1 Susanoo 64 950 6 10,67 158,33 2 Hisui 58 885 6 9,67 147,50 3 Fashiriteta 55 791 6 9,17 131,83 4 Yarimotsu 54 902 6 9,00 150,33 5 Papayasu 52 746 5 10,40 149,20 6 Benihana 51 747 6 8,50 124,50 7 Gusoyama 51 736 6 8,50 122,67 8 shimodahito 51 733 6 8,50 122,17 9 Bunbukuchagama 51 711 6 8,50 118,50 10 Flohru 49 733 5 9,80 146,60 11 Wamahada 49 715 6 8,17 119,17 12 Tochinofuji 48 622 6 8,00 103,67 13 Asapedroryu 47 693 5 9,40 138,60 14 Andreas21 47 687 5 9,40 137,40 15 Karasukurai 47 684 6 7,83 114,00 16 Profomisakari 46 696 6 7,67 116,00 17 ChickyStarr 45 628 6 7,50 104,67 18 WAKATAKE 44 616 5 8,80 123,20 19 Fujisan 44 605 5 8,80 121,00 20 Hakuryuho 44 541 6 7,33 90,17 21 Rokudenashi 43 562 5 8,60 112,40 22 Athenayama 43 533 6 7,17 88,83 23 Shatsume 41 557 5 8,20 111,40 24 RaeucherLax 41 512 6 6,83 85,33 25 Eatplaylovesumo 40 589 5 8,00 117,80 26 Fia 39 511 6 6,50 85,17 27 chishafuwaku 38 497 5 7,60 99,40 28 Hakuhonofan 33 504 5 6,60 100,80 29 Asset 29 372 4 7,25 93,00 30 E9 27 411 3 9,00 137,00 31 Takanorappa 26 372 3 8,67 124,00 32 Mizuma 26 358 4 6,50 89,50 33 Ippikiōkami 22 273 3 7,33 91,00 34 Hidenotora 19 265 3 6,33 88,33 35 Kotowazasato 12 222 2 6,00 111,00 36 Jeauonosato 12 172 1 12,00 172,00 37 grocerybird 11 151 1 11,00 151,00 38 Furansumo 10 145 1 10,00 145,00 39 Hohofuji 10 129 1 10,00 129,00 40 Kimyama 9 184 1 9,00 184,00 41 Polarkatsu 8 132 1 8,00 132,00 42 Jimizakura 7 111 1 7,00 111,00 43 Jogn 6 87 1 6,00 87,00 44 Suwihito 5 75 1 5,00 75,00 We see a very clear lead of the Haru winner S u s a n o o . Great C o n g r a t u l a t i o n ! As ever in the past rankings we have some Players who not have participated on all six Bashos, but have very good averages. For them but only including such players who participated 4 or more times I made a second table sorted by average of points and average of TB1: Nr Name Points TB1 Score Average Av.TB 1 Susanoo 64 950 6 10,67 158,33 2 Papayasu 52 746 5 10,40 149,20 3 Flohru 49 733 5 9,80 146,60 4 Hisui 58 885 6 9,67 147,50 5 Asapedroryu 47 693 5 9,40 138,60 6 Andreas21 47 687 5 9,40 137,40 7 Fashiriteta 55 791 6 9,17 131,83 8 Yarimotsu 54 902 6 9,00 150,33 9 WAKATAKE 44 616 5 8,80 123,20 10 Fujisan 44 605 5 8,80 121,00 11 Rokudenashi 43 562 5 8,60 112,40 12 Benihana 51 747 6 8,50 124,50 13 Gusoyama 51 736 6 8,50 122,67 14 shimodahito 51 733 6 8,50 122,17 15 Bunbukuchagama 51 711 6 8,50 118,50 16 Shatsume 41 557 5 8,20 111,40 17 Wamahada 49 715 6 8,17 119,17 18 Eatplaylovesumo 40 589 5 8,00 117,80 19 Tochinofuji 48 622 6 8,00 103,67 20 Karasukurai 47 684 6 7,83 114,00 21 Profomisakari 46 696 6 7,67 116,00 22 chishafuwaku 38 497 5 7,60 99,40 23 ChickyStarr 45 628 6 7,50 104,67 24 Hakuryuho 44 541 6 7,33 90,17 25 Asset 29 372 4 7,25 93,00 26 Athenayama 43 533 6 7,17 88,83 27 RaeucherLax 41 512 6 6,83 85,33 28 Hakuhonofan 33 504 5 6,60 100,80 29 Mizuma 26 358 4 6,50 89,50 30 Fia 39 511 6 6,50 85,17

MCP HISTORY UPDATE AFTER HARU 2025 (Go to page 19 for the first post with more details on this) TOP 5 history : So many unaffiliated. Such a waste ! Find your Ichimon people. Enter the game ! Most points won by players in the MCP. I kept the points that are granted for the ICF. MCP-1 - earns 25 points MCP-2 - earns 20 points MCP-3 - earns 15 points MCP-4 - earns 10 points MCP-5 - earns 5 points Edit : When 2 players were tied I splitted points in half. For example, 2 players tied first (25 +20)/2 = 22.5 points for each. And so on..... @Norizo expands his lead. @Toonoryu +9 ranks, now #17. Metzinowaka +19 ranks, now #22. @GONZABUROW +3 ranks, now #79. @Watashi +38 ranks, now #97. Unofficial ratio ranking with the ratio "points won/ basho played" . At least 12 bashos (2 years) of participation and at least 1.00 ratio to be on the list. @Kajiyanosho and @Bunbukuchagama completed 12 basho and make a thunderous entry in these standings respectively at #1 and #2. @Toonoryu also enters these standings at #58. Winners recap. First title for Metzinowaka. Congrats !

After quite some time Ishikawa has now officially been hired as of this month (list en, list jp, profile); he's joining the sumo world as Shikimori Tomosaburo 式守 友三郎. You might notice that the first kanji of the given name is also present in his real given name, albeit with a different reading. The remainder may be a reference to his shisho Otowayama (ex-Kakuryu), who has gone by Rikisaburo since his active days.

"the town mayor and the Sugaru sumo jinku club performed an Onosato support jinku" I wonder how Onosho felt at his retirement party when they started singing songs for Onosato - I get that Onosato is popular, but that seems a bit much

The cynic in me is bemused at the thought of Miyagino trading favours with the government for this to happen, with the hopes Isegahama gives his stable back as a result

Can I be Tigerboy's tachimochi? I really like mochi, so I think I would be good at it.

Day 15 - Results new KK: Daiamami, Kotokuzan, Daishoho, Chiyomaru, Yuma, Yoshiazuma new MK: - A strong 18-10 finish to Haru basho, including a massive 6-0 by the 3-3 group. Daiamami completed the turnaround from 0-3 to kachikoshi courtesy of a walkover win against injured top division veteran Hokutofuji, and astonishingly secured a return to juryo. The last one to do that was Tomokaze just over two years ago. It turned out to be a forgettable basho for the other two active promotion zoners; Tochimaru finished 2-5 with five straight losses and Tenshoho barely avoided the zenpai record with his sole victory on Day 13. Two head-to-head clashes took place among 2-4 rikishi in high makushita, which saw Takakento and Kitaharima defeating Tochimaru and Kaisho. Kotokuzan will be moving back into the top 5 ranks as another rikishi who converted his last-round KK opportunity; Daishoho did so as well but might be caught in a traffic jam and not get in despite KK at Ms7w. Tochimusashi is caught in that jam as well but should have the inside track over Daishoho with his Ms9w 5-2 result. Akua picked up a sixth win and will be one of the highest-ranked makushita wrestlers next time. Further makushita 6-1 records were produced by two Miyagino-via-Isegahama rikishi: Enho posted that score for the fifth straight basho, becoming only the fourth rikishi ever to do so (and the first who wasn't an ozumo debutant to start), while heyamate Kawazoe lost in the yusho decider and might not even make it into the top 15 ranks for Natsu. The sandanme yusho ended up as a straight-forward affair; both Asanoyama and Asagyokusei were placed against 5-1 opponents for lack of a different option, but only the former ozeki was able to come through, winning the title without a need for an extra playoff. Both guys will be going back into makushita for the May tournament, as are Chiyonoo (five straight wins from 0-2) and Yago. Chiyosakae, who had started 4-0, had a rough second week and finished with just a minimum kachikoshi, and will have to spend another basho in the fourth division. Fujiazuma should be the only ex-sekitori who's headed from Ms to Sd, making for a much reduced overall presence in the lower division next time. Yoshiazuma very nearly blew a 3-0 start for the second time in three basho, but this time his 3-0 -> 3-3 journey ended in kachikoshi after all. Dairaido won on senshuraku and may or may not have done enough to avoid the trip to jonidan with his two wins; it's very close. The next rikishi up from these two will likely be poor Asanowaka, whose last three scores have been 2-5, 1-6, 2-5 as any hope of a return to salaried status slips further and further away. Amakaze will round out the Natsu sandanme contingent, probably a handful of ranks ahead of Asanowaka. No ex-sekitori retirements were announced after the end of Haru basho, so the 29 guys not named Daiamami will feature on the next list again, alongside a quartet of juryo demotees. Rank Shikona Heya Record Haru 2025 Results Age Out Last J HiRk Ms2e Daiamami Oitekaze 4-3 X – X – X – O – O – O – – – O 32 1 2025.01 M11 Ms2w Tochimaru Kasugano 2-5 – O O – X X – – X – X – X – – 32 15 2022.09 J11 Ms3e Shimazuumi Hanaregoma kyujo – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 28 1 2025.01 M12 Ms5e Bushozan Fujishima kyujo – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 29 1 2025.01 M12 Ms5w Tenshoho Isegahama 1-6 – X – X X – X – X – X – O – – 22 7 2024.01 J10 Ms6e Kotokuzan Arashio 4-3 – O X – – O – X O – X – – O – 31 12 2023.03 M16 Ms6w Akua Tatsunami 6-1 O – O – O – O – O – X – – – O 34 6 2024.03 M10 Ms7e Takakento Tokiwayama 3-4 X – – O – X X – – X O – O – – 29 8 2023.11 J4 Ms7w Daishoho Oitekaze 4-3 O – – X X – – O X – O – O – – 30 1 2025.01 M9 Ms8w Kaisho Asakayama 2-5 X – X – – X – O – O X – – – X 30 13 2023.01 J2 Ms9w Tochimusashi Kasugano 5-2 – O – O X – – O – O – X – – O 26 7 2024.01 J7 Ms11e Kitaharima Yamahibiki 3-4 X – O – – X O – – X X – – – O 38 6 2024.03 M15 Ms14e Tsushimanada Sakaigawa 2-3-2 – – – – – X – X O – – X – O – 31 4 2024.07 J9 Ms15e Asashiyu Takasago 2-5 – X X – – O – X O – – X – X – 30 21 2021.09 J13 Ms16e Chiyomaru Kokonoe 4-3 O – – X – O X – – O X – – O – 33 2 2024.11 M5 Ms27w Yuma Onomatsu 4-3 X – O – – X X – – O – O – O – 26 7 2024.01 J13 Ms30w Enho Isegahama 6-1 – O – O O – O – X – – O O – – 30 11 2023.05 M4 Ms39e Kawazoe Isegahama 6-1 – O – O O – O – O – O – X – – 25 9 2023.09 J13 Ms41e Nionoumi Yamahibiki 3-4 – X O – X – X – O – – X – – O 38 69 2013.07 M16 Ms43w Daishomaru Oitekaze 4-3 – O – O – O X – X – – O – X – 33 17 2022.05 M5 Ms46e Fujiazuma Tamanoi 2-4-1 O – – X – O X – – X – – – – X 37 26 2020.11 M4 Sd10w Asanowaka Takasago 2-5 – O – O X – – X X – – X X – – 29 15 2022.09 J4 Sd12e Chiyonoo Kokonoe 5-2 – X X – – O – O O – – O – – O 33 19 2022.01 M14 Sd12w Yago Oshiogawa 5-2 – O – O O – O – X – O – X – – 30 16 2022.07 M10 Sd21w Asanoyama Takasago 7-0 Y O – – O O – – O O – O – O – – 31 3 2024.09 O Sd29w Chiyosakae Kokonoe 4-3 – O – O – O O – X – – X – – X 34 3 2024.09 J8 Sd33w Asagyokusei Takasago 6-1 – O O – – O – O O – O – X – – 31 29 2020.03 J12 Sd52e Dairaido Takadagawa 2-5 X – X – O – X – – X – X – – O 44 110 2006.07 J2 Sd65e Amakaze Oshiogawa 5-2 – O – X – O X – – O O – – – O 33 41 2018.03 M13 Jd64w Yoshiazuma Tamanoi 4-3 O – O – O – – X X – – X – O – 47 62 2014.09 M12

Gotta love Google translate: "He is the strongest active wrestler at four-way."

And the experiments continue. Some of the videos are now "members only". You need to become a member and that will cost around seven US dollars per month. For now, only to access the archives, another new feature. The dailies are still free, but I have a feeling that in the near future they will show all bouts and you will need to be a member to watch everything on the channel. Probably not live, but a few minutes after the end of the day, as they have been doing lately, now around 12 bouts per day, upping the number of bouts daily slowly but Shirley. https://www.youtube.com/@sumo-video

A recent change to https://www.sumo.or.jp/IrohaKyokaiMember/oyakata/ indicates that sanyo Kagamiyama (ex-Tagaryu) has moved from Isenoumi-beya to Oitekaze-beya; it appears the update occurred yesterday, March 31. Kagamiyama is the third sanyo to be attached to Oitekaze now, whatever that means.