Asashosakari

Scores for banzuke purposes: Asashosakari 13 (12+top) Achiyama 11 chishafuwaku 10 Jejima 10 Mmikasazuma 10 Rocks 10 ryafuji 10 Tenshinhan 10 Profomisakari 9 Ryoshishokunin 9 wolfgangho 9 Pandaazuma 8 robnplunder 8 Tsuchinoninjin 8 WAKATAKE 7 Total: 142 / 15 = 9.47 ---> -2 wins I appreciated the Kizakiumi loss not only for personal gaming reasons, but also because it made the score distribution work out much better than the alternative scenario (which would have seen 6 KK and 9 MK). The new banzuke for Aki 2019: Asashosakari (O1e 11-4 Y) O1 Mmikasazuma (O2e 8-7) chishafuwaku (O2w 8-7) O2 kuroimori (O1w 0-0-15) ryafuji (Sw 8-7) S Tenshinhan (M1w 8-7) Rocks (M2e 8-7) K Sakura (Ke kosho) wolfgangho (Se 7-8) M1 Achiyama (M5w 9-6 J) Ryoshishokunin (Kw 7-8) M2 Jejima (M4w 8-7) Bumpkin (M3e kosho) M3 Pandaazuma (M1e 6-9) Tsuchinoninjin (M2w 6-9) M4 Profomisakari (M6e 7-8) Tsubame (M5e kosho) M5 WAKATAKE (M4e 5-10) robnplunder (NR 6-9) M6 mt fuji (M6w kosho) Suwihuto (M3w 0-0-15) M7 --- Very unusual to see LKS stalwart kuroimori miss two tournaments in a row; naturally he's now kadoban for Aki basho. Mmikasazuma and chishafuwaku were kadoban this time and both have succeeded in retaining their ozeki rank - Mmikasazuma only at the finish line as she was another major beneficiary of Kizakiumi's MK today. She has also ensured that - as of Kyushu basho - she will become only the third LKS player to spend 10 consecutive tournaments as ozeki. Asashosakari is back in line for a tsuna fitting if he can actually follow up on a yusho with another strong performance for once.

Day 15 A nice little seesaw battle between Kizakiumi and Tobizaru, but in the end the newcomer to the juryo division lost, failed to be KK at the last moment, and the yusho went to - Asashosakari! It's his 10th yusho in the game. Achiyama will have to settle for the jun-yusho, his 4th overall (including one doten). The final standings: Day 15: 19/19 Decisions, TB 12 Pos Player Pts TB 1 Asashosakari 12 13 2 Achiyama 11 15 3 chishafuwaku 10 13 3 Jejima 10 15 3 Mmikasazuma 10 14 3 Rocks 10 15 3 ryafuji 10 17 3 Tenshinhan 10 13 9 Profomisakari 9 15 9 Ryoshishokunin 9 18 9 wolfgangho 9 14 12 Pandaazuma 8 16 12 robnplunder 8 16 12 Tsuchinoninjin 8 13 15 WAKATAKE 7 15 A pretty rough basho for us all; 12 out of 19 points for an outright win ain't that hot. (Compare to four months ago when it took 14/18 and 12 was the KK requirement...) And naturally every tie-breaker prediction was too high once again - will we ever learn? The new ballot for Aki 2019: 1. Tomokaze 13* Hoshoryu 8* Goeido 6 2. Takayasu 7 Chiyosakae 6 3. Tanakayama 7* Meisei 5 Tsukahara 5 Genki 5 4. Wakayama 6 Masunoyama 5 Yoshoyama 5 Izumigawa 5 Fujinotani 5 5. Shimanoumi 5 Gagamaru 4 6. Kiribayama 5 7. Ichiyamamoto 5 Kizakiumi 4 8. Kototebakari 5 9. Midorifuji 5 10. Tochimaru 5 11. Kotohayato 5 12. Yuma 5** --- 13. Abi 4 14. Kotonowaka 4 15. Tamaki 4 We can be thankful to have any new sekitori entering the ballot at all - all three had to battle back from the brink of MK, Abi and Kotonowaka both at 5-7 and Tamaki at 2-3. Thanks as always to all of you who participate in LKS, including those who sat this one out and who will hopefully be back in action in September.

That...was not expected after the 1-2 start.

The final records of the former sekitori. new KK: Irodori, Toyohibiki, Takaryu new MK: Chiyoarashi, Kitaharima, Yamaguchi Record Rank Shikona Heya Age Out HiRk M# J# 5-2 Ms1e Seiro Shikoroyama 30 1 M14 3 30 4-3 Ms1w Irodori Shikoroyama 27 1 J13 1 2-5 Ms2e Daiseido Kise 26 2 J12 3 3-4 Ms3w Churanoumi Kise 25 1 J14 2 3-4 Ms4e Chiyootori Kokonoe 26 10 K 19 16 2-5 Ms5e Fujiazuma Tamanoi 32 14 M4 17 18 5-2 Ms5w Wakamotoharu Arashio 25 2 J10 1 kyujo Ms6e Chiyonokuni Kokonoe 29 1 M1 25 16 6-1 Ms7e Akua Tatsunami 28 5 J14 2 2-5 Ms10e Hakuyozan Takadagawa 24 1 J3 6 3-4 Ms11e Kizenryu Kise 34 6 J11 9 5-2 Ms13e Asabenkei Takasago 30 7 J7 7 4-3 Ms13w Toyohibiki Sakaigawa 34 9 M2 52 14 3-4 Ms14w Chiyoarashi Kokonoe 28 36 J10 4 2-5 Ms17w Jokoryu Kise 30 3 K 15 13 0-4-3 Ms21w Masunoyama Chiganoura 28 26 M4 13 12 5-2 Ms22e Sakigake Shibatayama 33 27 J10 5 3-4 Ms23w Kitaharima Yamahibiki 32 11 M15 1 24 4-3 Ms28w Sagatsukasa Irumagawa 37 32 M9 6 22 3-4 Ms30e Nionoumi Yamahibiki 32 36 M16 1 12 2-5 Ms31e Tokushinho Kise 35 22 J6 27 3-4 Ms32w Asahisho Tomozuna 29 13 M11 4 30 5-2 Ms39w Higonojo Kise 34 31 J9 4 4-3 Ms40w Takaryu Kise 27 24 J13 1 7-0 Ms41w Chiyonoo Kokonoe 28 4 M15 2 31 5-2 Ms49e Kagamio Kagamiyama 31 19 M9 7 14 5-2 Ms53w Gokushindo Nishikido 23 4 J13 1 5-2 Ms57e Keitenkai Onomatsu 29 41 J11 1 6-1 Ms59e Terunofuji Isegahama 27 7 O 24 5 4-3 Sd37e Yoshiazuma Tamanoi 42 29 M12 3 18 4-3 Sd38w Kaonishiki Azumazeki 40 47 J6 2 5-2 Sd49w Amakaze Oguruma 28 8 M13 1 18 5-2 Sd53e Dairaido Takadagawa 39 77 J2 6 3-4 Sd71w Yamaguchi Miyagino 30 9 M16 1 18 kyujo Sd76w Ura Kise 27 9 M4 5 6 6-1 Jd14e Homarefuji Isegahama 34 6 M6 10 28 5-2 Jd27w Hitenryu Tatsunami 35 47 J13 2

Pretty terrible sumo by both, really. Was hard to believe that was a match between two 5-1's in makushita.

Motobayashi in minimum time would be my guess.

Day 14 (results, text-only results) 13-1 Ye Kakuryu 12-2 Yw Hakuho 11-3 M7w Tomokaze, M16w Terutsuyoshi 13-1 Kakuryu Y Hakuho 12-2 3-5-6 Goeido O1 Takayasu 8-3-3 (x) kyujo Takakeisho O2 Tochinoshin 0-6-8 The second major kinboshi surprise in as many days, today courtesy of Kotoshogiku who did some vintage Giku sumo to bump Hakuho out of the dohyo. Kakuryu for his part easily prevailed over Mitakeumi, so the East-side yokozuna goes into their senshuraku encounter with a one-win lead and thus two opportunities to secure the yusho, regular match or playoff. Terutsuyoshi's hopes of entering such a potential playoff were dashed by a Hokutofuji slapdown in very short order earlier in the session. With today's loss it's certain that Mitakeumi will finish no better than 9-6 for the second basho running, so that should be it for any sort of post-Aki ozeki chances. Another bunch of contenders fell out of the sanyaku race today: Aoiyama was defeated by Shimanoumi in almost trademark Aoiyama fashion, Ichinojo was surprised by Abi's powerful thrusting and (as so often) couldn't recover once he was moving backwards, and Daieisho is out anyway despite beating Ryuden. He can thank Hokutofuji and Endo for that who both improved to unpassable 9-5 records against Isegahama duo Terutsuyoshi and Takarafuji. Abi's victory has put him in position to retain his komusubi rank after all tomorrow. 8-6 Mitakeumi S Tamawashi 4-10 (x) 7-7 Abi K Ryuden 4-10 (x) M1 Hokutofuji 9-5 (x) 7-7 Aoiyama M2 Endo 9-5 M3 Daieisho 8-6 (x) M4 Ichinojo 8-6 (x) M5 M6 M7 Tomokaze 11-3 Hokutofuji and Endo are meeting on senshuraku, and this should be a straight shoot-out for a promotion to komusubi. The loser will have to hope that Abi fails to achieve his kachikoshi against Kotoshogiku (M5e 7-7) later on. A losing Endo finishing on 9-6 may also still be vulnerable to Tomokaze if he's 12-3, though after the Asanoyama snub last time it does look quite unlikely for the committee to decide that way. Incidentally, Tomokaze faces fellow 11-3'er Terutsuyoshi in what I guess can be described as a crowd pleaser matchup. (Possibly also with sansho implications, though by all rights each should be getting one unconditionally for their deep runs in the yusho race this basho, with Tomokaze also having defeated a strongly performing yokozuna of course.) Only one newly safe low maegashira today, and it's one I wouldn't have expected, namely Toyonoshima who scored his important 7th win over Nishikigi. Takagenji had his arguably best opportunity of the whole week, but even struggling Yago proved too strong for him, so it's straight loss #9 and big worries for the final day. Chiyomaru was also unsuccessful against Shohozan and enters Day 15 on the bubble as well. The yusho race in juryo is over after Tsurugisho secured the title with one day to spare thanks to another strong showing against Takanosho. Congrats to a rikishi that I suspect almost nobody would have tabbed for the championship two weeks ago. With 12 wins his upcoming top division debut should not be in doubt now, and it'll be very interesting to see what his follow-up performance will look like. He's never even been ranked above J5 before, which is extremely unusual for somebody who reaches makuuchi after such extensive time in juryo (22 basho in his case, all consecutively). Just for completeness, Tsurugisho's erstwhile pursuers went 2 and 1 today with double-digit clinching victories for Takanofuji (over Ishiura) and Daiamami (against Ichiyamamoto), and a defeat for Kiribayama (against Chiyoshoma). The wannabe promotees had a rather middling day, and only Yutakayama managed to move up to a promotable record at demotion-bound Ryuko's expense (8th loss in a row). Ishiura alternated wins and losses for the 8th straight day and remains at risk of missing out on a promotion that looked far more likely a week ago at 5-2. Azumaryu finds himself at 7-7 after losing to Daishomaru and now faces make-or-break time tomorrow in his long quest for another makuuchi appearance. M10 Takagenji 4-10 (1) (x) kyujo Yoshikaze M11 (~) 4-10 Tochiozan M12 (1) 5-9 Chiyomaru M13 (o) 7-7 Toyonoshima M14 (x) 4-10 Yago M15 Kaisei 1-10-3 (x) M16 J1 Azumaryu 7-7 (1) (1) 8-6 Ishiura J2 (1) 8-6 Chiyoshoma J3 Yutakayama 9-5 (o) (~) 8-6 Wakatakakage J4 Takanosho 8-6 (~) J5 (o) 12-2 Tsurugisho J6 J7 (~) 10-4 Daiamami J8 J9 Kiribayama 9-5 (x) Yutakayama is technically not fully safe yet as he could still end up 5th in the queue with only 4 open slots, but he'd have to have no less than 6 match results go against him tomorrow for that scenario to materialize. (I do suppose the re-appearance of the M17e slot could also give the committee an excuse to spare Tochiozan if he finishes 5-10, which would take out a presumed available slot and give us a minimum of only 3.) As noted above Tsurugisho's final match of the basho has not only become irrelevant for the yusho race but was also made downright meaningless by pairing him up with Gagamaru (J2w 3-11). We'll see if he treats it as a nice little parting gift or if his focus is now off with the yusho decided and Gagamaru actually manages to win. No crossover matches of juryo against maegashira here, which is a little surprising considering that at least Chiyomaru is ranked low enough that it would be completely normal to schedule such a bout. Chiyomaru instead faces Nishikigi (M11w 5-9) and Takagenji has received a difficult assignment against high-ranked Shodai (M3e 6-8). Tochiozan's faint survival hopes will be up in a match with Shohozan (M9e 6-8). Lower juryo enters senshuraku with three rikishi still at risk of demotion. The J10 pair Chiyonoumi and Arawashi were unable to pick up their last needed shiroboshi, the former against upper-ranker Wakatakakage and the latter against Kaisho from makushita. Conversely Kotonowaka kept himself alive for another day, this time prevailing over Sokokurai. Kaisho thus secured the crucial and potentially promotion-clinching kachikoshi, and so did Tamaki who took victory in his KK/MK decider with Hoshoryu, whose 8-basho kachikoshi streak has come to its end at the arguably most frustrating moment. (1) 5-9 Chiyonoumi J10 Arawashi 5-9 (1) J11 Aminishiki 0-3-8 (i) J12 Ryuko 4-10 (x) J13 (x) 4-10 Akiseyama J14 Kotonowaka 7-7 (1) (o) 4-2 Seiro Ms1 Irodori 4-3 (o) Ms2 Hoshoryu 3-4 (x) (o) 4-3 Tamaki Ms3 Ms4 Kaisho 4-3 Ms5 Wakamotoharu 5-1 Ms6 6-1 Akua Ms7 If you're wondering why I've marked Tamaki as a certain promotion even though I previously said that he'll be behind Wakamotoharu if he goes 6-1: The answer comes courtesy of the Day 15 schedule which sees Wakamotoharu paired up with Kotonowaka, so it's either Tamaki taking (at minimum) the third slot of three or the fourth slot of four. But of course as many as 6 slots could end up available, which in theory would bring Akua into the fold for a very surprising promotion. Based on the wealth of precedents we have he's not going to pass any of the 5 KKs from the top 5 ranks and he's also not going to be exchanged with a 5-10 Chiyonoumi (who'd be the #6 demotion candidate if everyone crashes and burns), but it cannot be ruled out with complete certainty, so he's back on the table for now. The more interesting case to watch though will be Kaisho who's all but guaranteed to be the possible #5 promotee and thus needs 5 slots to be open. Unlike Tamaki he definitely could use a Kotonowaka loss since Wakamotoharu will be ahead either way. However, a case can also be made here that 4 wins at Ms4 aren't good enough to force down 5-10's from J10, which would mean that 5 slots cannot become available for him. We'll see if the banzuke committee has to make that determination or if the Day 15 results take care of it on their own. In any case, as is customary the schedulers have also attempted to give both J10 rikishi a hard task to master if they want to avoid a demotable record, with Chiyonoumi going against J5e Kyokushuho and Arawashi up against J1w Azumaryu. Both opponents are 7-7 and Azumaryu additionally has the possibility of a makuuchi return riding on it.

Does this count? Not last rank, but last two spots. http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Banzuke.aspx?b=199311 Also noteworthy: This one was a senshuraku loss away from having 10+ in the last four spots. http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Banzuke.aspx?b=197603

Day 13 No new results yesterday, just Yuma completing his 5th kachikoshi to get onto the next ballot. Day 14 Lots of action today, however, and we very nearly finished the game here - only Kizakiumi falling to 7-7 prevented that. The other four slots were all decided, including a trio of 3-3 records moving on to two KK (Tanakayama in sandanme, Wakayama in makushita) and one MK (Hoshoryu), plus Shimanoumi posting another stunning kachikoshi in his first upper maegashira appearance. Every last one of these was a minority prediction, so the scores were low - the most frequent total was just one point (for 9 players). In addition there were 3 blank results, 1 entrant with 2 points and 2 fortunate ones who managed to get 3 decisions correct. The two Day 12 leaders were not on the lucky side, scoring nothing and one point respectively. That opened the door for new challengers, and one has successfully made his move: Day 14: 18/19 Decisions, TB 12-13 Pos Player Pts TB 1 Asashosakari 11 13 2 Achiyama 11 15 3 chishafuwaku 10 13 3 Tenshinhan 10 13 5 Jejima 10 15 5 ryafuji 10 17 7 Mmikasazuma 9 14 7 Profomisakari 9 15 7 Rocks 9 15 7 Ryoshishokunin 9 18 7 wolfgangho 9 14 12 Tsuchinoninjin 8 13 13 Pandaazuma 8 16 13 robnplunder 8 16 15 WAKATAKE 6 15 Aaaand it's a senshuraku showdown! Achiyama entered a KK prediction for Kizakiumi (as did most players), Asashosakari projected MK, so it all turns on the juryo newcomer's final match against Tobizaru.

True enough, though objectively nothing but feelings of entitlement (about the "lost" shortcut route) stopped them from simply starting at the bottom. A scant few in those years did do that - Sakaizawa comes to mind, who really didn't seem to be high on anybody's talent radar at the time but still made his way through to the sekitori ranks with little trouble. Didn't take too long for collegiates to come to grips with the new situation, in any case - nobody really looks down on guys like Hokutofuji or Shodai for having to come up from maezumo rather than Makushita 15 now, but for a while (especially before 2001) taking that route definitely marked a university rikishi as a bit of an oddity.

That's more because the recruiting from the universities went down significantly for a few years following the more severe restrictions on who can start as makushita tsukedashi in 2001, not because a greater share of talented rikishi suddenly went to university. The influx of collegiates was as high in the mid to late 1990s as it is (again) now.

Same here. His strength isn't what it once was, but the exploitable gaps in his technique are as large as ever. I don't see him as good enough to put together the necessary three or four upper makushita KKs in a row to get to and through the top 5 ranks, and going 7-0 from further down to avoid that grind is always a total crapshoot. I'll be happy to find myself surprised though if he does make it, because successful comeback stories are always nice to watch.

My impression is that ex-Musoyama is being groomed for those stopgap years, at least by his own ichimon. I don't know how he's looked at outside of Dewanoumi though, but then the group may have sufficient strength in numbers to push him through regardless.

Juryo yusho race: 11-2 J6e Tsurugisho 10-3 --- 9-4 J8e Daiamami, J9w Kiribayama, J12e Takanofuji More sumo goodness from Tsurugisho today, and as his Day 13 opponent was his sole closest pursuer Takanofuji, suddenly the yusho is almost decided. His defeated opponent as well as the two contenders who won from 8-4 will have to hope for a double slip-up by the leader now. Anyway, Tsurugisho has faced both Kiribayama (win on Day 6) and Takanofuji by now, and Daiamami shares his heya, so he's all out of direct matchups. The chasing trio has also met in all three combinations already, so tomorrow's schedule for them has ended up thusly: J6e Tsurugisho (11-2) - J4w Takanosho (8-5) J8e Daiamami (9-4) - J13e Ichiyamamoto (8-5) J9w Kiribayama (9-4) - J3e Chiyoshoma (7-6) J12e Takanofuji (9-4) - J2e Ishiura (8-5) Lower division yusho races (Day 13 results for makushita to jonidan [minus Adachi] and Day 13 for the jonokuchi trio [plus Adachi]): 6-1 Ms20w Tsurubayashi (Kise) 7-0 Ms41w Chiyonoo (Kokonoe) 7-0 Sd20e Asatenmai (Takasago) 7-0 Sd51w Terasawa (Takasago) 6-1 Sd75w Okinohama (Hakkaku) 6-1 Jd14e Homarefuji (Isegahama) 7-0 Jd44w Tokisakae (Tokitsukaze) 6-1 Jd98e Adachi (Tagonoura) 7-0 Jk27e Marusho (Naruto) 7-0 Jk27w Sakurai (Naruto) 7-0 Jk28e Motobayashi (Naruto) Sakurai had to work hard for his 7th win in a bout that lasted nearly two minutes, his stablemates got there easily, so as was mentioned earlier in the week we'll be getting the first-ever three-way 7-0 playoff in the jonokuchi division. With Adachi eliminated from the jonidan race by Marusho, Homarefuji and Tokisakae got to contest the championship directly, and once again after just four months (albeit in a senshuraku playoff there) a former top division member was unable to come through against a rookie talent. Tokisakae came out of the blocks quickly, soon found himself armlocked and nearly thrown down, but managed to hang on and overpower Homarefuji. Congrats to Tokisakae for his first yusho after he "only" finished 6-1 in his banzuke debut last time. Of course, as a university graduate these results don't say that much about his upside yet, but the next tournament around Sd45 might start to tell us something. No trouble at all for the old/young Takasago duo in sandanme, who will now be going to senshuraku for another same-stable playoff. Anyone know off-hand when we last had two of those in the same tournament...? And lastly the makushita decider, which looked much the same as the two matches in sandanme - Chiyonoo easily marched Tsurubayashi out of the dohyo here. It's taken him three basho, but Chiyonoo has found the shortcut straight back to the promotion zone now; we'll see soon if he's good enough to actually get back to juryo again.

Day 13 (results, text-only results) 12-1 Ye Kakuryu, Yw Hakuho 11-2 M16w Terutsuyoshi 10-3 M7w Tomokaze 12-1 Kakuryu Y Hakuho 12-1 3-5-5 Goeido O1 Takayasu 8-3-2 (x) kyujo Takakeisho O2 Tochinoshin 0-6-7 It's not often that Kakuryu has been outsmarted by somebody not also ranked at yokozuna, but today was such a day, courtesy of Tomokaze knowing exactly how to execute a backpeddling pulldown without compromising your own position in the process. Yubinhaad already gave some statistical details, so I'll just add that it's only the 50th kinboshi overall from M7 or lower (for comparison: M6 alone has seen 43, and that's not been a joi rank all that often). And so we enter the final weekend with the two yokozuna tied for the lead after Hakuho manhandled Myogiryu to the ground as he seems to like to do. Terutsuyoshi continued his stunning run with another strong victory over Onosho, but with the yokozuna yet to meet each other he's essentially one win behind the lead with one day to go, so he's in need of very favourable results just to get into a playoff. (More specifically, whoever ends up winning the senshuraku yokozuna showdown needs to lose tomorrow. Plus two more wins of his own, of course.) Tomokaze is out of the race for the same reason despite today's heroics. We've found our second sekiwake for Aki basho - Mitakeumi is kachikoshi now with a straight-forward overpowering of Kotoshogiku, so it's all but certain that he will be occupying the East side again while demoting kyujo ozeki Takakeisho is going to try to regain his rank with 10 wins from the West side. That just leaves the komusubi ranks to be settled, where incumbent Abi took the first of three steps to retain his position after all; a wild win over Daieisho today who did his best to hang in against Abi's relentless pushing for as long as he could, but completely failed to get his own pushing attack going. Ichinojo's reign as the virtual #1 contender for a sanyaku promotion has proved short-lived as Hokutofuji defeated him with a strong performance for his own kachikoshi today, and Endo (victory over Shimanoumi) is now also KK from a higher rank. Another joi battle saw Aoiyama prevail over Asanoyama, the latter now MK in his yusho defense. 8-5 Mitakeumi S Tamawashi 3-10 (x) 6-7 Abi K Ryuden 4-9 (x) (x) 5-8 Asanoyama M1 Hokutofuji 8-5 7-6 Aoiyama M2 Endo 8-5 (x) 6-7 Shodai M3 Daieisho 7-6 M4 Ichinojo 8-5 (x) 6-7 Kotoshogiku M5 M6 Shimanoumi 7-6 (x) (x) 8-5 Myogiryu M7 Tomokaze 10-3 (Shodai and Myogiryu would still be considered in the race in the by-the-numbers approach I usually take to decide who to list and who to eliminate, but neither can still pass Hokutofuji or Endo and there will be at most two slots open, so they're out.) Based on today's results I'm guessing Kakuryu would rather have faced Tamawashi (as Hakuho did) than Tomokaze... Tomorrow he meets freshly KK Mitakeumi, while Hakuho contends against the notionally much easier selection of Kotoshogiku. And in the sanyaku race Abi's komusubi slot will be on the line against Ichinojo. It's kind of rare for the last few days that maegashira at risk of demotion will meet head to head. Usually those matchups are all done already, but Nishikigi vs Tochiozan wasn't yet, and the fairly decisive victory by younger Nishikigi has put his veteran opponent in a harsh spot, needing to win both weekend bouts to not have to rely on banzuke luck to stay in the top division. He is the only one in this situation now after fellow oldie Toyonoshima swung Shohozan around and out of the dohyo for his almost-safe sixth win. (On a day with a lot of arm grab-related finishing in makuuchi...) Chiyomaru and Takagenji had opportunities to make sure of their makuuchi membership but neither managed to come through against Meisei and Sadanoumi respectively. At this rate Takagenji might end up having to hope that 4-11 is good enough to stay... ...and it might not be, as a single day of good results in high juryo can sometimes turn a middling race into a fairly strong one. Today's scores did exactly that with 5 of the 7 contenders between J1 and J4 posting wins, along with leading Tsurugisho who is nominally even the first contender in the unofficial promotion territory now. One more win will be advisable though given the occasional reluctance to promote rikishi from such lowish ranks as J6, especially those who would be newcomers to makuuchi. In any case all of Ishiura, Yutakayama and Takanosho have achieved their KKs now, the obvious minimum requirement to play any role in the promotion decisions at all. Tokushoryu fell to makekoshi, however, so no direct return to the top flight for him. M10 Takagenji 4-9 (1) (x) kyujo Yoshikaze M11 Nishikigi 5-8 (o) (2) 4-9 Tochiozan M12 (1) 5-8 Chiyomaru M13 (1) 6-7 Toyonoshima M14 (x) 3-10 Yago M15 Kaisei 1-10-2 (x) M16 (x) 5-8 Tokushoryu J1 Azumaryu 7-6 (1) (1) 8-5 Ishiura J2 (2) 7-6 Chiyoshoma J3 Yutakayama 8-5 (1) (~) 7-6 Wakatakakage J4 Takanosho 8-5 (2) (x) 6-7 Kyokushuho J5 (o) 11-2 Tsurugisho J6 (x) 7-6 Hidenoumi J7 Daishomaru 7-6 (x) (~) 9-4 Daiamami J8 J9 Kiribayama 9-4 (~) Credit where credit is due: That was good sumo by both Ikioi and Chiyonoumi today, and their victories over Arawashi and Sokokurai have served to move Ikioi to safe ground and Chiyonoumi just one win away from it. That wasn't exactly to be expected only a few days ago. The loss has also left Arawashi not quite safe yet as he enters the weekend, same as last basho (where he was 6-7 and needed to win one, eventually finishing 8-7). Young Kotonowaka avoided makekoshi and demotion for now, muscling Gagamaru out of the ring, but even younger Ryuko will have to regroup in makushita next time after his 7th loss in a row has ensured his demotion. Tough break after his promising 4-2 start. Ryuko's opponent was makushita guest Irodori who has thus earned the late kachikoshi and more importantly is now certain to return to juryo, hopefully for a better turn than last basho's 6-9 debut. J8 Ikioi 5-8 (o) J9 (1) 5-8 Chiyonoumi J10 Arawashi 5-8 (1) J11 Aminishiki 0-3-8 (i) J12 Ryuko 4-9 (x) J13 (x) 4-9 Akiseyama J14 Kotonowaka 6-7 (2) (o) 4-2 Seiro Ms1 Irodori 4-3 (o) Ms2 Hoshoryu 3-3 3-3 Tamaki Ms3 Ms4 Kaisho 3-3 Ms5 Wakamotoharu 5-1 The schedulers have opted to bring only one more 3-3 up into juryo, that being Kaisho against Arawashi tomorrow, while Hoshoryu and Tamaki have been given the perhaps even more cruel task of contesting their KK and possible promotion against each other. Wakamotoharu will then be filling in the Day 15 schedule, and at least by historical precedent he might be certain to earn the 3rd-best position in the promotion queue with a 6th win, potentially passing even a 4-3 Hoshoryu. (He would definitely be ahead of Kaisho and very likely Tamaki.) But just 5-2 would also be good if a 4th slot opens up, given that he should be ahead of Kaisho regardless of whether he finishes 4-3 or 3-4. Besides the Arawashi-Kaisho matchup further action will be delivered in Chiyonoumi-Wakatakakage (J4e 7-6) and Kotonowaka-Sokokurai (J5w 3-10).