Asashosakari

A small blessing in disguise of not getting to write for this thread was that I didn't have to comment on Yago's quest for the yusho as it was happening. People with a memory for irrelevant information may recall that I was never enamoured with Yago's sumo prowess, not even when he was briefly doing his thing successfully up in makuuchi, but this basho really took the cake. 11 wins, of which maybe three were the result of actually good sumo. The rest looked as though he was projecting some kind of force field of suck that made his opponents forget how to wrestle. I can't remember the last time that I found myself actively rooting against somebody in a lower division yusho race, but this did it. As for the Kotoyusho-or-Tochimaru question, I'll throw Nagoya 2016 with Kitataiki vs Daishoho onto the (relatively limited) pile of precedents. While the Nagoya 2018 Kizenryu vs Akua case looks compelling, that's also the only recent case of a demoted J13e where the replacement rikishi was as low as Tochimaru is now, and it may well have been relevant that Kizenryu was a perennial failure at the juryo level, that having been his 9th unsuccessful attempt. That said, while I enjoyed Kotoyusho's work this basho I'm hoping that Tochimaru will finally get his chance to shine after the multiple near misses last year (and more even earlier in his career).

Right now I still don't buy Abi as anything more than the same 8-7 to 9-6 sanyaku regular he had worked up to be before everything went off the rails. (Of course, that alone might well make him the 5th-best rikishi in sumo at this point in time.) Perhaps there's ozeki potential in there with even further development, but an immediate breakout would majorly surprise me. So, Hoshoryu for now clearly, and maaaybe Kiribayama and Meisei if they can actually expand their occasional moments of brilliance into something steady. I'm reasonably confident that every other upper makuuchi regular besides those four can be discounted as ozeki altogether, not just "next". Daieisho doesn't look like he'll ever come close to the required consistency, Hokutofuji has amassed enough evidence that he definitely won't, and while Takanosho and Wakatakakage have been doing an excellent job by joi standards of late, I just don't see what else they can add to their existing make-up to turn themselves into 11-win rikishi. Kotonowaka...I can't quite put my finger on what kind of trajectory I expect for him, but it's not Kisenosato. He doesn't have Kise's calm, composed approach to sumo at all, and I don't really see him develop something like that. I'm not even sure that I would support the notion that there's ozeki caliber talent there. I'm kind of getting Kokkai/Tamawashi vibes instead, somebody who will be able to hang with the joi (eventually) but who will have to do it with a bit of a brawler style that will always be at risk of getting outwrestled by more technically adept opponents. And I don't really feel that Kotonowaka will be developing an imposing enough physique that could take that kind of style to ozeki.

Updated.

Heads-up for anyone that might care: I was hoping to have time to do the Promotion/Demotion thread at least from Day 10 onwards this basho, but sadly I don't. Go right ahead if somebody wants to get a separate discussion rolling.

Not a particularly surprising match-up considering the M20 came into the bout with a 7-1 record.

So there are no continental federation selections from Oceania in the women's divisions, but there's an IFS-selected replacement from Australia in women's lightweight? A bit puzzling at first glance.

I wonder what kind of punishment their bets are on.

Yes, it's equivalent to the "Highest Rank" checkbox on the banzuke pages, not the "Career Highest Rank" one.

Specifically, it's based on the data of the first basho for which you've set a restriction as part of the query. Compare this and this.

It honestly sounds like they just might be letting the rikishi quietly choose where they want to go. (Excepting those who were recruited as uchi-deshi, of course. Do we have a list for both Oshiogawa and Nakamura?) So I'm not sure it makes sense to expect the mover breakdown to be dictated by the political background of this split, i.e. ex-Takekaze being the driving force. Some of the older guys may well decide to retire after Hatsu anyway.

I mean, they could have changed Oguruma to Nakamura and just have Oshiogawa branch out, if the goal was merely to separate the two. I can't help but think that it's not just Nakamura's own financial situation precluding running a heya here at this time (not even as direct successor to an existing one), but that Oguruma-beya's main supporters might be inclined to bolt with Oshiogawa, too. Anyway...Tomokaze, eh? Kise might be getting his first sekitori in record time.

13 Terunofuji - Kotoyusho 10 Mitakeumi + Atamifuji + Abi + Asanowaka - Kanno + Tomokaze - Kaishinmaru - Tanji - Nagata 9 Shodai + Bushozan TB 14

More common than you might think. Just checking the most recent two tournaments turns up four cases: Amamidake-Satonofuji Atamifuji-Kototsubasa Kitaharima-Kotodaigo Kokuryunami-Kotoegashira

@Golynohana If it's still possible, please delete Kyoju's empty Oracle entry from the November results, my removal of it slightly changed the juryo W-L scores from what's currently shown on the game pages.

Seki-Oracle (play): Two Oracle yokozuna entered Kyushu basho with their rope on the line, having been at risk of a fourth makekoshi within their last six tournaments. Pandaazuma extracted himself from that predicament in impressive fashion with the basho's jun-yusho result and a converted 11-4 record. Choshu-yuki cut things much more close with a score of 8-7, just one point away from makekoshi. And she's not out of the woods yet since her previous three MK came bunched so closely together that it's still possible for her to go 4-MK-in-6 in the upcoming tournament. She's joined on the chopping block for Hatsu basho by our third yokozuna Norizo; he only has two recent makekoshi but they have come in back-to-back appearances, and a third straight one would also be grounds for retirement. No ozeki were kadoban in November, but that has changed now after no less than three of them went makekoshi, including freshly promoted chishafuwaku. Fellow newcomer Gansekiiwa is the only second-ranker who can breathe easy for Hatsu, although he too posted a mere 8-7 record in Kyushu. Kaito was ranked as ozeki not long ago, too, but three straight MK - two at the rank and one more as sekiwake - saw him drop back into the maegashira ranks after July. He followed up on that with the yusho in September (converted score 13-2) and another credible outing in Fukuoka, which saw him tied for third place and with a 10-5 record in hand. I considered waiving the usual requirement for three strong scores before promotion is merited, but decided against it in the end as the more recent result just wasn't quite as excellent as it would need to be for a successful two-basho run (particularly in light of the yusho winner having been miles ahead at 14-1). The pair of results is obviously an outstanding lead-in to Hatsu basho, however, where Kaito will hopefully convert on his opportunity. Pandaazuma (Y1e 11-4) Y1 Choshu-yuki (Y1w 8-7) Norizo (Y2e 7-8) Y2 - Gansekiiwa (O2w 8-7) O1 chishafuwaku (O2e 7-8) DeRosa (O1e 5-10) O2 Oskahanada (O1w 5-10) Kaito (Se 10-5) S1 Bill (M4e 14-1 Y) - S2 Golynohana (K1e 9-6) Andoreasu (K1w 8-7) K Taka (M5e 10-5) Asashosakari (M6e 10-5) M1 Oortael (M3e 8-7) Wamahada (M5w 9-6) M2 Frinkanohana (M3w 8-7) Konosato (M1e 7-8) M3 Oshirokita (K2w 6-9) Andrasoyama (Sw 5-10) M4 Torafujii (M7e 9-6) Flohru (M7w 9-6) M5 Kitakachiyama (M8e 9-6) ScreechingOwl (M6w 8-7) M6 Ganzohnesushi (M2e 6-9) Mariohana (M4w 7-8) M7 GONZABUROW (M9w 9-6) Kishikaisei (M1w 5-10) M8 Unkonoyama (M13e 10-5) Pitinosato (M10e 8-7) M9 Sakura (M2w 4-11) Shatsume (M11w 8-7) M10 Balon (M8w 7-8) joaoiyama (M9e 7-8) M11 Kotononami (M10w 7-8) Kasamatsuri (J3w 11-4) M12 Susanoo (M12e 7-8) Profomisakari (J4e 11-4) M13 Athenayama (J2e 10-5) Sukubidubidu (M11e 6-9) M14 Takanorappa (J4w 10-5) Kaiowaka (J1w 8-7) M15 Hakase (M15e 7-8) Saruyama (M13w 6-9) J1 Jejima (M14w 6-9) Terarno (J8w 10-5) J2 Ruziklao (J2w kosho) Nantonoyama (J3e kosho) J3 Holleshoryu (M14e 5-10) Kobashi (J8e 9-6) J4 Kurofuji (J6e 8-7) Tsuchinoninjin (J5e kosho) J5 Metzinowaka (M15w 5-10) Mmikasazuma (M12w 3-12) J6 Netsuzakura (J1e 4-11) Seki Haruaki (J9w 7-8) J7 Andonishiki (J7e 5-10) Kajiyanosho (J5w 4-11) J8 Fujisan (J6w 4-11) Hidenotora (J11e 6-9) J9 Anjoboshi (J9e 5-10) reeeen (J10e 4-11) J10 Doreikishi (J11w 4-11) Kintamayama (J7w 0-0-15) J11 Kyoju (J10w 0-0-15)