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I know the fans are always impressed by shiko, but isn't this getting a little too up-close and personal?

Tamawashi (Kataonami beya), 40 years and 4 months old, is ranked at Maegashira 7 west for the Haru Basho. His consecutive appearances since his debut are the longest in history. but there are about two other records that he may break every tournament.. He doesn't really care about that anymore, and it's become customary for him to answer, "Maybe it will become a topic of conversation after I retire." He won nine bouts last tournament, becoming the second person in history to get a kachikoshi in two tournaments in a row in his 40s. On the final day of the tournament, he lost to Kotoshouhou in the bout for the Fighting Spirit Award, missing out on tying Kyokutenhou for the record for being the oldest rikishi to win one of the three sanshos, but there is a good chance that he will set another record in the future. During last basho he began saying some surprising things: "I want to further improve myself as a person, Tamawashi. As a human. To do that, I have to study. I've been a rikishi for 20 years, but there are still many things I haven't noticed or don't understand. I'm not good at sumo, after all." Interview, by Kentarou Tsukasawa: When I asked him, "Are you bad at sumo?" he thought for a while, then looked ahead and began to speak. "I'm still lacking. When will I get better? I can't get better at oshi-zumo. I'm not a genius, and I'm very clumsy. That's why it's fun. There are a lot of things to look forward to." Many Mongolian wrestlers enter sumo after graduating from high school or university in Japan, but Tamawashi has worked hard despite having no sumo experience and has won the yusho twice. He has a great personality and is excellent at fan service. He cares for the people around his lodgings at regional tournaments and always expresses his gratitude. At home, he is a good father and seems flawless, but he says he is still growing. Tamawashi's sumo is often described as youthful, and when interviewing him in the dressing room, his skin looks tight and there is no sign of aging. The oldest-ever active makuuchi wrestler is Noshirogata, who retired in the May tournament in 1936 at the age of 41 years and 1 month. Since the introduction of the six-tournament system in 1958, Kyokutenhou (currently Ooshima Oyakata) is the third - ever oldest rikishi active in Makuuchi at 40 years and 10 months, with the rest born in the Meiji and Taisho eras. Tamawashi is of course the oldest rikishi in Makuuchi at the moment and I would like him to break that record as well..

Everybody makes that distinction because going head on or moving to the side before any contact is made are not the same thing.- Japanese commentators (calling it a "shift" instead of a henka-when it's a henka they call it loud and clear), newspaper articles, etc. I even invented a name for it - HNH. And I do not appreciate being called a fanboy.

Asanoyama has lodged a formal complaint to the authorities regarding the two birthdays on the calendar of a forum. "The fact that he doesn't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and it has caused a lot of bother to me and people at the club, to which I apologize.." he said, as his lawyer handed me a summons.

Same thing. It probably became a Harumafuji non- henka when he started doing it more, but it is called a henka non-henka for the benefit of foreign fans who don't see the difference. We blessed few are here to guide them. As I watch all bouts from March 2015 lately for some reason, it seems every other Harumafuji bout was an HNH. I also don't see why any Harumafuji fanboy should be offended by this. It's a good technique that with time has grown apart from a henka per se and usually ends as an uwatenage, as opposed to a henka which usually ends with hatakikomi or hikiotoshi or loud sighs from the crowd or shouts of "FOUL!! NOT FAIR!" by the FNF (Fanboys not Fanboys). Fanboy:

Guys, don't get your panties in a bunch. Chiyoshoma looked like Chiyonofuji today disposing of none other than Taiho's offspring. The mongolian dominance is ensured for the foreseeable future with him. The Nephew's task is just keeping the seat warm for him.

I have a story a little different, about a sumo wrestler, rather than a heya. It was back in 2001 that I visted Tokisukaze-Beya and noticed a skinny, hard-working wrestler. At the time, the folks on the old sumo listserve were adopting wrestlers, so I adopted him. Through someone else on the listserve, I was introduced to a woman who was a big sumo fan. She had the official yearly sumo book and sent me the pictures of all the heya wrestlers. I picked out his picture and she told me his name was Okinoumi, a guy way down in the lower divisions. She also gave me the heya address. After each basho, I would send Okinoumi a postcard in Romanji...hoping he could read it..., yet never heard back from him. A couple years later I was in Tokyo for a business meeting with Paramount Pictures and contacted Doreen Simmons. She graciously agreed to take me to Tokitsukaze-Beya for morning keiko and introduce me to Okinoumi. I got to watch him practice and afterwards Doreen and I went around out back, where he was doing some clean-up work. She introduced me to him and was my interpreter as he told me that my postcards were an inspiration to him. It was a thrill to meet him personanly and talk with him, even briefly. Doreen even took our photo together!

Opening notes: My recent Youtube playlist obsession continues with one for this maezumo, in case you find yourself with a desire to rewatch the bouts without having to scroll all through this thread again. Incidentally, if anybody has questions about what I'm posting, do feel free to ask. I try to consider which aspects of maezumo might need explaining, but obviously I'm likely to take some stuff for granted that isn't widely known. BTW, somehow it hasn't really been remarked upon in any place I've seen discussing the new recruits: This year's crop is bringing us our first six rikishi born in the 2010s. Apologies if pointing that out makes you feel old(er), but if so I'm at least no longer the only one now. Day 2 / Group A Abema was nice enough to start off the session with some close-ups of the waiting deshi and gyoji, so there's about two minutes of optional content in the video that you may want to skip. As mentioned, Dewanoumi's Hashimoto was not in action so this group got out of the blocks with 15 participants for now. Results: Mz1 Umeyama (1-0) Mz4 Asahirai (0-1) Mz8 Shunta (1-0) Mz11 Kido (0-1) Mz16 Kazekodai (1-0) Mz12 Teranishi (0-1) Mz22 Futagawa (0-1) Mz20 Yamanobe (1-0) Mz23 Kazeoka (1-0) Mz26 Hokutonada (0-1) Mz27 Sumiyoshi (0-1) Mz29 Asarikimaru (1-0) Mz28 Uchima (1-0) Mz31 Terui (0-1) Mz30 Matsuda (1-0) Mz4 Asahirai (0-2) An odd number of rikishi means an extra appearance for the loser of an earlier bout, generally the first one among those who entered the day with the same wins as the rikishi who needs an opponent. (Today everybody started 0-0, of course.) So, this session started and ended with Asahirai losing, after he unfortunately ran into not one but two opponents that were older, (likely) more experienced, and outweighed him by some 40 kg, to boot. A good start by the two Futagoyama rookies Umeyama and Shunta, the latter showing off some nice densha-michi sumo right off the bat. Conversely two losses for Tamanoi, although Teranishi was (unlike Kido) involved in a competitive bout. The next match saw a victory by the smallest rikishi of this group, yokozuna great-great-grandson Yamanobe, though I suspect he'll have greater difficulty attaining his next win. A relatively quick loss for former rugby player Hokutonada in bout five, but I have to say that his form already looked better than that of other recent recruits with that sort of background, namely Ono and Kikuchi, who retain an unhelpful tendency to lean too far forward and keep their head way too low (as though they're pushing in a scrum). There's some of that in Hokutonada, too, I think, but perhaps it helps that he has already done at least some sumo in school before going pro now. His opponent Kazeoka obviously knows what he's doing, but it remains to be seen how much talent there truly is behind his (ahem) balanced build of 177 cm / 177 kg. (The largest weight among all the maezumo shindeshi, and only 4 kg behind collegiate tsukedashi Goshima who's three and a half years older.) Three one-sided matches closed out the day; their next bouts should prove more interesting (to us and them) for Asarikimaru, Uchima and Matsuda. The latter showed very good form, but that's to be expected from a Tottori Johoku grad. Terui looked about like we all probably expected, and on what we've seen in this session he's arguably the top contender for finishing this group winless. Standings: Mz1 Umeyama Futagoyama 1-0 E | Mz4 Asahirai Takasago 0-2 W Mz8 Shunta Futagoyama 1-0 E | Mz11 Kido Tamanoi 0-1 W Mz16 Kazekodai Oshiogawa 1-0 E | Mz12 Teranishi Tamanoi 0-1 W Mz20 Yamanobe Dewanoumi 1-0 W | Mz21 Hashimoto Dewanoumi 0-0-1 W Mz23 Kazeoka Oshiogawa 1-0 E | Mz22 Futagawa Nishikido 0-1 E Mz28 Uchima Nishonoseki 1-0 E | Mz26 Hokutonada Hanaregoma 0-1 W Mz29 Asarikimaru Takasago 1-0 W | Mz27 Sumiyoshi Nishonoseki 0-1 E Mz30 Matsuda Sakaigawa 1-0 E | Mz31 Terui Minato 0-1 W Unlike maezumo in the other five annual tournaments, rikishi will finish their participation in this one as soon as they have two wins, rather than the usual three, so the next round on Day 4 will already see the first set of qualifiers. As the East side dominated today's bouts there are going to be some temporary side adjustments in both subsets - the 1-winners should see either the Futagoyama duo or the Oshiogawa pair switching to the West side, among the winless ones it's less obvious who's going East since we don't know whether or not Hashimoto is joining the battle.

Houshouryuu went to Arashio beya for degeiko, facing the likes of Daieishou, Wakamotoharu, Wakatakakage and Tobizaru. 16 bouts, 15 wins. "I wanted to hit stronger than the others.." he said, going for some low tachiai by pushing and showing excellent belt work. His only loss came in his 14th bout, to Wakatakakage. "I was going for a zensho.. I was lower and though he'd go for a pull down..The elbow? No more problems, just pondering if to wear a bandage or not.." he said later (had one on today). Two days ago he had food poisoning and accordingly, the rushes. "I'm fine now. I ate as usual even though I had diarehoweveryouspell it- I didn't want to lose weight," he divulged.

Of course he's upset. If he's got two birthdays, he's going to age at twice the rate. It's not as if he's going to get twice the number of presents.

Yusho Races Round 4 (Day 7-8) The tsuridashi led to injury (rather oddly and unexpectedly), please be mindful of that while watching. Jk16w Aoki (3-0) (2-1) Hikarumusashi Jk14w Jk13w Tenrosei (3-0) Chiyotenfu Jk7w Jd98e Asasakurai (3-0) Kobayashi Jk3w Jd96e Kogomaru (3-0) Wakaikki Jd92w Jd87w Kaihiryu (3-0) Shibuya Jd80w Jd79e Shotaimu (3-0) Daitengu Jd71w Jd67e Hienriki (3-0) Yoshiazuma Jd64w Jd58e Yumenofuji (3-0) Okada Jd60e [kimarite: kubinage] Jd47e Niiya (3-0) Chiyoshiryu Jd50e Jd38e Arise (3-0) Chiyotaiyo Jd41w Jd32e Okinohama (3-0) Tochigidake Jd36e Jd25w Hokuyozan (3-0) Sakai Jd21w Jd14e Kotetsu (3-0) Hokutosakae Jd19w Jd4e Daikisho (3-0) Chikuba Jd11e Sd79e Oginosho (3-0) Agora Jd2w Sd71w Senshoho (3-0) Gohakuun Sd67w Sd61e Imamura (3-0) Taiyo Sd65w Sd54e Raiho (3-0) Uzumasa Sd59w [kimarite: tsuridashi] Sd43e Daishoki (3-0) Tochinobori Sd46w Sd39w Dogo (3-0) Asagyokusei Sd33w Sd26e Wakaterumoto (3-0) Chiyosakae Sd29w Sd21w Asanoyama (3-0) Oginohama Sd17w Sd9e Oka (3-0) Yago Sd12w Sd7w Kotonofuji (3-0) Fukuzaki Ms60TD Ms60TD Goshima (3-0) Dairinzan Ms55w Ms45e Seihakuho (3-0) Tokitenran Ms52w Ms39e Kawazoe (3-0) Daishomaru Ms43w Ms34e Tendozan (3-0) Enho Ms30w Ms23e Hananoumi (3-0) Oshoryu Ms28e Ms18e Nobehara (3-0) Hamayutaka Ms14w Ms10e Dewanoryu (3-0) Akua Ms6w [kimarite: kakenage]

Don't worry about it Sir. You're the best!

Urayama Shousei (22) from Kindai (captain of the sumo club) will be joining Otowayama beya in May. From the same town as Asanoyama, Toyama. "I hope to face him soon." He qualifies for Makushita tsukedashi status. 183/165. "He has the appeal of constantly moving forward. If he can add technique to that and shed another layer or two, I expect he will be able to become a sekitori." said Otowayama Oyakata. Urayama also spoke enthusiastically, saying, "(Otowayama) is good in the areas of technique that I lack. I hope I can absorb as much of that as possible." He decided to go into sumo around last summer. Until then, he had been working as a teacher, and succeeded his father, Hideki, who passed away eight years ago, as a coach for the high school sumo club. Last spring, his meeting with Otowayama Oyakata was a turning point for Urayama. When the Oyakata asked Urayama, "What do you want to do in the future?" Urayama replied, "I want to train sumo wrestlers." Hearing this, Otowayama answered, "If that's the case, why don't you do sumo yourself?" Urayama: "After speaking with the Oyakata several times, I thought I could grow both as a sumo wrestler and as a person. My father trained many students (at his alma mater, Toyama Commercial High School), and I admired him, but I wanted to take on the challenge. After much consideration, I decided I wanted to enter sumo." Among the popular rikishi from Toyama Prefecture is ex-Ozeki Asanoyama Six years ago, when Asanoyama won his first championship in the Natsu basho, he felt the tremendous excitement in his hometown. This basho will see Asanoyama returning to action after his injury, ranked at Sandanme 21. There is a real possibility that they will face each other in May when Urayama is scheduled to make his debut as a Makushita tsukedashi, and he declared with confidence, "I've challenged him in my mind since I was little. If we ever meet, I want to win." Asanoyama was always his goal. "I saw the excitement around Asanoyama in our local area. I want to do even better than that and surpass him." When he told Asanoyama about his wish to enter professional sumo, he was encouraged by him saying, "Do your best." He is taking on the challenge, also inheriting the wish of his father, who always wanted to become a professional rikishi. He is fired up. "I want to become a sekitori as soon as possible."

Takayasu appeared on the YouTube channel "Toyonoshima's Sumo-chan SUMO" hosted by ex-Toyonoshima (41). When asked about his memories of his senior, former Yokozuna Kisenosato (current Nishonoseki Oyakata), Takayasu expressed his gratitude, saying, "There are so many memories. Kisenosato really took care of me. We were both from Ibaraki, so he really loved me. He took me out to eat almost every day, and I ate a lot. I was able to gain weight thanks to Kisenosato." Takayasu also shared a memorable episode with Kisenosato. "When I won the makushita yusho and was then promoted to Juryo, he took me out that evening to dinner again. As we were leaving after the meal, there happened to be a passport photo machine. I don't know what he was thinking, but Kisenosato said, 'Yasu (Takayasu), let's take a commemorative photo!' and I was like, 'What, with this?!'...It's not a "fun picture taking" booth, it's a passport photo machine booth.. It's small, isn't it? So Kise sat on the chair in the middle. I popped my head in from the side like Hyokkorihan (a Japanese comic who sometimes pops into pictures..) and we took a photo together," he revealed. The video

I refuse to believe it will happen. I'm not getting hurt again.

After practicing shokkiri for twenty years, it finally pays off for Tamawashi.

The (completely legal) Harite of Damocles will be hanging over his head until May.

NikkanSP premium has a 2 parts story of Kandayu o before getting ill, Yonokichi Natsu 2017 o rehab o writing sumo-ji for rehab oo o o his writings - 5 years after entry an ita-banzuke, recent o o in proper attire at the hospital o return to work 2018 o 2015 Hatsu o o o o oo this basho o with Kimura Motoki - the 2nd part (next week) is about their friendship o oo

Yokozuna Houshouryuu dohyo-iri:

Houshouryuu went for his first degeiko as a Yokozuna to the Tokitsukaze Ichimon rengo keiko held at Otowayama beya in Higashi-ku, Sakai City, where he went 9-4 against Ozeki Oonosato. He looked good, having a total of 20 bouts, and commented, "Oonosato is strong and this was great keiko. I'm feeling good." Houshouryuu, who was taking part in his first degeiko before the tournament, was not aware that Oonosato would be there as well and said, "I was lucky. I wanted to face him, so this was my chance." The match up was even until the middle of the bouts, with Houshouryuu losing to his opponent's de-ashi, but he showed his presence by winning six bouts in a row at the end. He unleashed a powerful right nodowa, and he didn't seem to have any major problems with his right elbow, which was bandaged.

I looked at all these cases and could clear up most of them, for rikishi who reached makuuchi the japanese wikipedia has a heya history, but sometimes with unclear time of the change - here the kabu history in sumo reference often was very helpful, leaving only a few debatable cases where I assumed the time of the heya change. Some lower division cases I could solve because they were obviously part of a bigger heya move and it's clear from the shikona convention which of the two involved rikishi moved. There still are some cases left where I have no clue, four with a single bout (Isegahama, Kitanoumi, Kokonoe and Kumegawa), the remaining case in Dewanoumi with two bouts and the Isenoumi case with one common rikishi in 3 bouts.

Haru 2025 starting lineup: O1e Onosato: 11 KK, 109-40, 2x M yusho M15e Aonishiki: 8 KK, 60-12, Jd, Jk yusho J14w Kusano: 5 KK, 24-11 Ms1w Ishizaki: 4 KK, 22-6 Ms4w Mita: 3 KK, 17-4 Ms11w Okaryu: 5 KK, 26-9 Ms13w Inami: 6 KK, 31-11 Ms32w Noda: 5 KK, 27-8 Ms52e Shimizuumi: 4 KK, 22-6, Jk, Jd yusho Sd6e Goseizan: 3 KK, 18-1-2 Sd29e Furuta: 3 KK, 16-5

Day 9 / Group B And the final session for this basho's maezumo. The Tagonoura duo was shuffled over to the West side of the dohyo again. Results: Mz2 Kototerao (1-3-1) Mz5 Yasuda (2-2) Mz14 Sawazaki (1-3) Mz24 Ryugi (2-2) Mz2 Kototerao (1-4-1) Mz25 Yamauchi (2-2) Mz15 Kazenohana (1-3) Mz3 Sato (0-4-1) Rather not the schedule I had envisioned...no additional qualifying opportunities here in Group B, bar Kototerao whose second appearance filled the sixth slot in the 5-strong group of rikishi who had a win before today. I wonder if they would have done Sawazaki-Yamauchi as an additional match if the third bout had gone differently, but didn't want to give Kototerao yet another match. All in all, not much to quibble with the results in this group, IMHO. That 0-win matchup turned out much less competitive than I hoped it would be, and Sato is arguably the well-deserved bottom finisher here...reviewing his four matches I'm forced to say that he didn't so much do sumo as attempt to engage in self-defense. So, Kazenohana was able to get his first and only win here, and I suspect it's not going to go much different for him in jonokuchi to start...against the low-rank lifers he might stand a chance, but nearly all the other shindeshi clearly outclassed him, and they're going to be his main opposition at least for May and July. Sawazaki's a bit of an odd combination of lack of height (166 cm) with neither significant strength nor particular technical prowess, so the charitable reading would be that there are many ways in which he can improve over the next few years. His basic approach to his bouts looked okay. Kototerao's main issue appeared to be that he was very easily overpowered for somebody with decent physical stats (175 cm / 108 kg). But he was willing to take the fight to his opponents, so that's one key ingredient he's not missing. More strength will hopefully come in time. Consequently, today's bouts didn't leave much doubt about the final three 2-win finishers. I'm looking forward to see Yasuda in regular competition - as mentioned before I've been a bit puzzled by what he's shown so far, and I can't shake the feeling that he can be better than that. About the two Tagonoura middle school kids Ryugi and Yamauchi I'm honestly leaving this maezumo session without much of an opinion at all yet - Yamauchi had that lengthy if rather awkward bout against heavy Ikazuchiarata on Day 7, but other than that all their matches were one-sided deals either in their favour or their opponents', so none of those bouts allowed them to show very much. I think it's safe to call both of them "long-term projects", though. The final Group B standings: 2-win target achieved #02 Mz7 Kazeoki Oshiogawa 2-0 #04 Mz18 Wakajin Nishiiwa 2-0 #06 Mz13 Yamagishi Otowayama 2-0 #08 Mz32 Imada Otowayama 2-0 #10 Mz6 Kadomura Isegahama 2-1 #12 Mz19 Satomatsunaga Nishiiwa 2-1 --- #14 Mz17 Wakahasegawa Nishiiwa 2-2 #16 Mz9 Ikazuchishu Ikazuchi 2-2 #18 Mz10 Ikazuchiarata Ikazuchi 2-1 #20 Mz5 Yasuda Isegahama 2-2 #22 Mz24 Ryugi Tagonoura 2-2 #24 Mz25 Yamauchi Tagonoura 2-2 Remaining order #26 Mz2 Kototerao Sadogatake 1-4-1 #28 Mz14 Sawazaki Onoe 1-3 #30 Mz15 Kazenohana Oshiogawa 1-3 #32 Mz3 Sato Isegahama 0-4-1 Last year they ranked the one-win contestants strictly by the timing of their single wins, which meant that multiple guys from the same group could end up back-to-back in the combined order. This year they've apparently returned to a simple ABABAB interleaving; Kototerao had the earliest win of them all (on Day 5), but has ended up behind Group A's Sumiyoshi who only won on Day 6, and likewise Sawazaki won before Futagawa. At least the sorting within each group still seems to be following the win timing. And with that we're done here after 54, altogether very interesting, maezumo matches. It was nice to see an uptick in recruits over last year's all-time low, but I'm holding out hope that they'll eventually manage to get back to pre-pandemic levels, too, producing Haru classes with 40+ rookies again. (Although it's been amusing to see the more newbie-ish corners of the sumo fandom going all, "wow, soooo many!" even about this year's 32 this past week. If they only knew...) On a final note: I'm planning a new feature thread to accompany the return of an old one, so this should not be the last time you'll read about these rookies this year.

Day 4 / Group A Hashimoto continues to be absent for now. The 1-win group saw the two Oshiogawa deshi shifted to the West side as expected, while the winless half of the field underwent larger changes with both Tamanoi rikishi going East and Nishikido's Futagawa the other way. Regular match-making ensued after those setup activities, the wrestlers from each side being paired up in order. Results: Mz11 Kido (1-1) Mz4 Asahirai (0-3) Mz12 Teranishi (1-1) Mz22 Futagawa (0-2) Mz27 Sumiyoshi (0-2) Mz26 Hokutonada (1-1) Mz31 Terui (0-2) Mz4 Asahirai (1-3) Mz1 Umeyama (1-1) Mz16 Kazekodai (2-0) Mz8 Shunta (2-0) Mz20 Yamanobe (1-1) Mz28 Uchima (2-0) Mz23 Kazeoka (1-1) Mz30 Matsuda (1-1) Mz29 Asarikimaru (2-0) Mz1 Umeyama (1-2) Mz20 Yamanobe (2-1) Mz30 Matsuda (2-1) Mz23 Kazeoka (1-2) Some bonus sumo today as the four losers of the 1-0 playoffs were paired up again to produce two more qualifiers for tomorrow's ichiban shusse presentation. Asahirai was called upon for an extra match once more as well, this time against Terui (who had to switch sides before his match). Terui proved just the right opponent to finally give Asahirai his first win, and with today's performance pretty much confirming yesterday's assessment I suspect we'll be seeing that happen a couple more times. I would have to say that I underestimated Yamanobe the other day - while he was overmatched by strong Shunta, he ended up having little trouble with his stablemate Umeyama despite the size and age difference. Kazeoka, on the other hand, arguably demonstrated his work-in-progress aspects again - while he clearly has some idea how to use his bulk, he still ended up getting outmuscled by smaller (though by no means small) opponents both times. Umeyama similarly looks like he has mastered the basics well but still has a lot to learn, and I think today's results were an appropriate outcome with him and Kazeoka becoming the two non-qualifiers out of the eight hopefuls. Joining Shunta in direct qualification was Asarikimaru - after Day 2's pulldown win a slapdown/katasukashi combination today. He seems to know very well what he's capable of, but I'm skeptical that it's going to carry him very far. Uchima is obviously a greater prospect; I'm generally far from convinced by middle schoolers who come in as big in size as he is, but he clearly isn't only big, so maybe Nishonoseki can work some magic with him over the next few years. Lastly, Kazekodai - he proved stronger than fellow high schooler Umeyama in their match-up, but I don't think the difference is very big. Certainly the low man on the direct qualifier totem pole, and most likely behind Matsuda as well. Out of the winners of the various 0-1 bouts I think I'd have to pick Hokutonada as the one who looked the best today. Standings: 2-win target achieved #01 Mz16 Kazekodai Oshiogawa 2-0 #03 Mz8 Shunta Futagoyama 2-0 #05 Mz28 Uchima Nishonoseki 2-0 #07 Mz29 Asarikimaru Takasago 2-0 #09 Mz20 Yamanobe Dewanoumi 2-1 #11 Mz30 Matsuda Sakaigawa 2-1 Still active Mz1 Umeyama Futagoyama 1-2 E | Mz21 Hashimoto Dewanoumi 0-0-2 W Mz4 Asahirai Takasago 1-3 W | Mz22 Futagawa Nishikido 0-2 E Mz11 Kido Tamanoi 1-1 W | Mz27 Sumiyoshi Nishonoseki 0-2 E Mz12 Teranishi Tamanoi 1-1 W | Mz31 Terui Minato 0-2 W Mz23 Kazeoka Oshiogawa 1-2 E Mz26 Hokutonada Hanaregoma 1-1 W I'm looking forward to the 1-win matches in this group's next round on Day 6, as outside Asahirai there are arguably no obvious winners and losers. It's also going to be interesting to see how much commitment (if any) the wakaimonogashira in charge of the action have to avoiding repeat matchups - Asahirai has already faced both Umeyama and Kido, and Kazeoka-Hokutonada has happened as well, all pairings that are likely to happen again without extra effort to get around them. The 0-win pairings are easy to set up if Hashimoto finally joins, otherwise one of them will presumably end up facing the other two. (Unless they do something else entirely and mix and match rikishi from both columns.)