Asashosakari

My guess that I nearly forgot to submit: Onosato (Yw 11-4) Y Hoshoryu (Ye 1-4-10) Kotozakura (Oe 8-7) O --- Wakatakakage (S2w 10-5) S Kirishima (S1w 8-7) Takayasu (Kw 10-5) K Aonishiki (M1e 11-4) Tamawashi (M4w 11-4) M1 Abi (M2w 9-6) Hakuoho (M4e 8-7) M2 Oho (M2e 7-8) Atamifuji (M10e 11-4) M3 Gonoyama (M6w 9-6) Hiradoumi (M5e 8-7) M4 Wakamotoharu (M1w 6-9) Kotoshoho (M15e 13-2 Y) M5 Ichiyamamoto (M8w 9-6) Onokatsu (M3e 6-9) M6 Oshoma (Ke 3-12) Kusano (M14e 11-4) M7 Takanosho (M11e 9-6) Ura (M9e 8-6-1) M8 Kinbozan (M3w 4-11) Midorifuji (M12e 9-6) M9 Fujinokawa (M14w 10-5) Churanoumi (M13e 9-6) M10 Shodai (M13w 9-6) Daieisho (S1e 0-0-15) M11 Takerufuji (M6e 5-8-2) Mitakeumi (M16w 10-5) M12 Roga (M10w 7-8) Meisei (M5w 3-12) M13 Tokihayate (M11w 6-9) Sadanoumi (M8e 4-11) M14 Asakoryu (M12w 6-9) Tobizaru (M7e 3-10-2) M15 Shonannoumi (J2e 10-5) Tomokaze (J2w 9-6) M16 Nishikigi (J1e 8-7) Ryuden (J1w 8-7) M17 Hitoshi (J6e 10-5) Shishi (M17w 7-8) M18 --- It sounds like the only difference we might have is the two M11's...?

I suppose the sumo world might have avoided a different scandal during his active days there...

Right, this more general report of that issue slipped through the cracks last year:

After my ill-advised attempt to off-load the lower-division yusho race discussion to a separate thread last time, I'm trying something else. This is the usual promotion/demotion thread for the basho, just starting up a few days earlier than before; feel free to use it for all its regular purposes even if I'm only going to be in here for the lower divisions. 130 makushita-and-under rikishi stood at 2-0 after Day 4. One of them was active in juryo for his third appearance and won, while one in jonokuchi faced a 1-1 opponent and lost, producing 65 rikishi at 3-0 (results). Makushita (14) 3-0 Ms2e Ishizaki (Takasago) 3-0 Ms3e Asahakuryu (Takasago) 3-0 Ms10w Kamito (Tatsunami) 3-0 Ms14w Nagamura (Kise) 3-0 Ms18e Yoshii (Tokitsukaze) 3-0 Ms21e Seihakuho (Isegahama) 3-0 Ms27w Gyotoku (Tamanoi) 3-0 Ms30e Wakamiyabi (Futagoyama) 3-0 Ms33w Shimazuumi (Hanaregoma) 3-0 Ms39e Hinataryu (Musashigawa) 3-0 Ms40w Yago (Oshiogawa) 3-0 Ms48e Nihonyanagi (Onomatsu) 3-0 Ms53w Naya (Otake) 3-0 Ms54e Ikarigata (Isenoumi) Sandanme (21) 3-0 Sd1w Daishinkai (Otake) 3-0 Sd3w Kaigo (Asakayama) 3-0 Sd6w Kawamura (Naruto) 3-0 Sd12w Kotodaigo (Sadogatake) 3-0 Sd15e Mineyaiba (Shikoroyama) 3-0 Sd18w Murayama (Naruto) 3-0 Sd24e Gyokuozan (Naruto) 3-0 Sd26w Mukaida (Naruto) 3-0 Sd30w Anhibiki (Ajigawa) 3-0 Sd37w Kazeeidai (Oshiogawa) 3-0 Sd42w Kobayashi (Kasugano) 3-0 Sd46w Fujiazuma (Tamanoi) 3-0 Sd49e Seigo (Shikoroyama) 3-0 Sd52e Tochinobori (Kasugano) 3-0 Sd59e Suyama (Kise) 3-0 Sd61w Kenshin (Sakaigawa) 3-0 Sd67w Suzunofuji (Isegahama) 3-0 Sd70e Okinohama (Hakkaku) 3-0 Sd73e Yurikisho (Tokiwayama) 3-0 Sd80e Yumenofuji (Isegahama) 3-0 Sd80w Shoran (Hanaregoma) Jonidan (24) 3-0 Jd4w Higonomaru (Kise) 3-0 Jd5e Kazuma (Kise) 3-0 Jd14w Onokura (Isegahama) 3-0 Jd19w Asahabataki (Takasago) 3-0 Jd25e Kyokutaiga (Oshima) 3-0 Jd29e Sekizuka (Tagonoura) 3-0 Jd33e Hikarumusashi (Musashigawa) 3-0 Jd33w Shoketsu (Shibatayama) 3-0 Jd39e Seiyu (Hidenoyama) 3-0 Jd44w Shibuya (Nishonoseki) 3-0 Jd47w Sekimoto (Onomatsu) 3-0 Jd50w Minorufuji (Isegahama) 3-0 Jd57w Tatsuosho (Tatsunami) 3-0 Jd60w Hidano (Arashio) 3-0 Jd66w Matsuda (Sakaigawa) 3-0 Jd70w Kazunofuji (Isegahama) 3-0 Jd74w Fukushoryu (Minato) 3-0 Jd76w Kazekodai (Oshiogawa) 3-0 Jd80w Tsukioka (Futagoyama) 3-0 Jd85w Ojiyama (Tagonoura) 3-0 Jd89e Chiyofuku (Kokonoe) 3-0 Jd93e Daitensho (Oitekaze) 3-0 Jd98w Gonowaka (Takekuma) 3-0 Jd102w Wakaonehara (Nishiiwa) Jonokuchi (6) 3-0 Jk3e Kyoda (Futagoyama) 3-0 Jk5e Asakawasumi (Takasago) 3-0 Jk6w Asarikimaru (Takasago) 3-0 Jk16w Naniwamusashi (Musashigawa) 3-0 Jk20e Buomaru (Musashigawa) 3-0 Jk21e Kaki (Oitekaze) Takasago-beya has three rikishi within the top 5 makushita ranks and two of them have made it to 3-0, providing for some early torikumi complication. They will be facing the next two rikishi in line to decide who will remain unbeaten within the extended top 15 ranks promotion zone. Should that still be the Takasago duo, we'll be in for some interesting matches as it should only be getting easier for them with successively lower-ranked opponents. No other heya has multiple representation within the third division race. It's arguably too early to make any credible winner predictions here; the two Takasago guys are obviously worth attention just by virtue of their high ranking, but further down we have last basho's unexpectedly strong MsTd newcomer Gyotoku as well as returning ex-sekitori Shimazuumi, to name just two contenders that could be making an impact. Sandanme could become difficult as well thanks to no less than four Naruto-beya rikishi who are all ranked very close to each other. The lowest two of them, Gyokuozan and Mukaida, already need to be scheduled out of order for the next round. Isegahama, Kasugano and Shikoroyama also have two rikishi apiece in this race, but only the Kasugano pair is ranked sufficiently close that they might pose an issue as early as round 5 on Day 9. In this division it's hard to look past Natsu's jonidan champion Mineyaiba as a favourite; he was competitive in high makushita before the injury that sent him down, a recent track record unmatched by anybody else. The typically large jonidan competition is led by two Kise-beya rikishi in adjacent positions, but they're #36 and #37 in the overall order and so they should not actually be in line to face each other until round 6 if both get to 5-0. For former MsTd and last basho's jonokuchi winner Kazuma there should be little doubt about his ability to do that, but youngster Higonomaru poses some question marks; he has already been as high as Ms45, but a very rough 12 months since then have sent him all the way through sandanme on a combined score of 15-27 with just one KK record. The second-best contender is probably Tatsunami-beya's Tatsuosho, yet another makushita-quality rikishi who has to restart his career in jonidan after injury. The Kise-beya duo is joined in multiple representation by three rikishi from Isegahama and two from Tagonoura, but it's unlikely that these will create any torikumi effects. Lastly, the jonokuchi division has decided to come up with a same-heya deal as well, two of them even: Both Takasago and Musashigawa have placed two rikishi into this small competition. However, only one of them looks likely to be a credible yusho candidate, so it shouldn't become an issue: Musashigawa's Buomaru, Kyoda and newcomer Kaki are clearly the contenders of note here, and they're all from different heya. You won't be surprised to hear that Buomaru and Kyoda are yet more rikishi who are coming back from an injury layoff. The entire makushita bunch are in action on Day 7, the other divisions are seeing their respective matches split across both days. Any comments or predictions, feel free to add your views.

Are improvements to the games sites in the cards, too? I would really, really love to see Seki-Toto brought in line with the other games, in particular the addition of an automated banzuke page, and the replacement for anything relevant that's still hosted on Zenjimoto's anasuya.com (mainly because the links on there are dead as they still point back to sumogames.com).

I agree, and consequently I don't really understand this persistent talk of an alleged "disconnect" between the match-making and the banzuke-making that has been a staple feature of these threads for the last year or so. It is much more likely that the "exchange bout" assumption is simply false, and that they made the Daiamami - Kitanowaka match merely because it paired up two rikishi who each had a strong individual incentive to win. No other considerations are necessary to explain it, just like nothing else is necessary to explain why, say, Oshoumi and Shiden were made to fight despite their respective tournament goals (promotion and non-demotion) having absolutely nothing to do with each other. There's no disconnect because no connection was ever intended in the first place.

So three retirements, only Minatoryu will be newly banzuke-gai.

Win for the hypothesis?

Yabugasaki and Kyoda still need the yusho-doten tag in jonokuchi. In addition, Natsu and Nagoya can both use the usual 0-win/0-loss fixes to be queryable.

Many thanks for the new features! I'd like to raise an objection about the new ordering of the query fields though, in particular that it's now impossible to tab from wins directly to losses. (The order is Rank, Year, Wins, Age, Month, Losses, which frankly makes no sense at all.) Wouldn't it be better to have them arranged like this? This would also be a much smaller departure from how it was before and require no un-learning of ingrained navigating habits. 1 Rank 4 Year 2 Wins 5 Month 3 Losses 6 Age Alternatively, if the new visual layout is to stay (I can see reasons for that), the tabbing behaviour really should be changed to the following if possible: 1 Rank 2 Age 3 Year 4 Month 5 Wins 6 Losses Lastly, while we're in feature requesting mode, I'd love to see the addition of Losses as a queryable field in the bout query.

Just a heads-up, my notebook's CPU fan decided to die last night, so I'll be out of commission for anything but short comments for a bit and any "scheduled" postings I might have expected to make over the next few days will almost certainly not be happening.

Juryo down vs makushita up in numbers after Daiamami defeated Kitanowaka and both Shiden and Miyanokaze saved themselves: Down Queue Rk Diff W-L Diff Up Queue Nabatame J10w 0-0-15 6.5 < 15+7 = 22 Asahakuryu Ms3e 7-0 Mitoryu J10e 0-5-10 6.0 < 15+5 = 20 Ishizaki Ms2e 6-1 Shimanoumi J12e 3-12 3.0 < 9+3 = 12 Kyokukaiyu Ms1e 5-2 Otsuji J12w 4-11 3.0 < 7+3 = 10 Asanoyama Ms1w 5-2 Daiamami J13w 6-9 5.5 < 3+3 = 6 Nishinoryu Ms5e 5-2 (none) Kitanowaka Ms3w 4-3 (none) Takakento Ms5w 4-3

Yeah, should obviously have been conditional on him defeating Takayasu. It looks very silly now. And that's almost certainly why they awarded him the gino-sho in the first place.

I've brute-forced it. Since 1958 since I don't trust the promotion/demotion metrics to have been sufficiently comparable with fewer annual basho (and it also conveniently gets rid of all the "Dewanoumi is the überstable" years): 1964.11 Tokitsukaze x4 1974.11 Kasugano x3 1976.03 Kasugano x3 1976.09 Kasugano x3 1978.01 Dewanoumi x3 1979.07 Sadogatake x3 Nothing since. The Kasugano ones are pretty amazing since that's actually 8 different rikishi.

Didn't manage to get this written up yesterday, but I hope it's still interesting/relevant...the culmination(?) of the lower division yusho races. Day 13 Results Videos Makushita (2 > 1) 7-0 Ms3e Asahakuryu (Takasago) 6-1 Ms40w Yago (Oshiogawa) Sandanme (2 > 1) 6-1 Sd15e Mineyaiba (Shikoroyama) 7-0 Sd42w Kobayashi (Kasugano) Jonidan (3 > 2) 6-1 Jd5e Kazuma (Kise) 7-0 Jd57w Tatsuosho (Tatsunami) 7-0 Jd98w Gonowaka (Takekuma) Jonokuchi (1 > 0) 6-1 Jk21e Kaki (Oitekaze) 6-1 Jk3e Kyoda (Futagoyama) 5-2 Jk13e Kakusho (Otowayama) 5-2 Jk16w Naniwamusashi (Musashigawa) 6-1 Jk20w Yabugasaki (Yamahibiki) List without the defeated rikishi: I'll start off with the only 6-0 bout that didn't have any sort of upset, Asahakuryu's victory in makushita. Yago gave it a good shot, but I would say the bout was perfectly reflective of the power difference that we would normally expect to see when a top 5 guy goes against someone from the lower half of the division. This is going to give Yago the sort of quick boost up the rankings that fellow injury returnees Shimazuumi and Bushozan have only been able to dream of so far, but I'm still finding it hard to get invested in the idea of him actually making it back to juryo. Asahakuryu for his part has managed to cap off a fairly long and winding road through the makushita upper ranks; he has been above Ms30 for the last 12 tournaments, above Ms15 for the last eight, and has never scored worse than 3-4 in all that time. The sandanme yusho went to Kobayashi after he put himself in a superior position with a semi-henka and followed up with strong and accurate thrusting to oust favourite Mineyaiba in short order. 21-year-old Kobayashi has certainly announced himself as a prospect to watch for with this, although I doubt he's going to have the proverbial rocket strapped to his back; he will probably have his hands full around Ms30 next time. Mineyaiba might well be someone to watch out for in the lower half of makushita from around Ms40, though, as that's still quite a way off from where he was pre-injury. There have been intermittent comments about returning Kazuma looking "bored" by his inferior competition both last basho and this time, and one has to wonder if he might have underestimated Tatsuosho. He's still going to be a major favourite for the sandanme yusho in September, though. Smart sumo by the Tatsunami-beya winner, in any case, and a deserved victory. It wasn't the yusho yet, however, as... ...mid-sandanme caliber Gonowaka proved to be clearly better than newcomer Kaki and broke open the jonokuchi yusho race while securing himself a playoff spot in jonidan. He should be the underdog against Tatsuosho, but I don't think it's a foregone conclusion. The two 6-1 pairings in jonokuchi had already taken place by that time so the participants didn't actually know it would be for playoff qualification, but it didn't matter a whole lot as the two winners Yabugasaki and Kyoda were massively stronger than their opponents in any case and ended both matches quickly. Yabugasaki's loss came against Kaki back on Day 2 and was a match that was over in a blink with Kaki pulling a shitatenage right off the tachiai. Kaki and Kyoda were both defeated by Gonowaka. I suspect 18-year-old high school rookie Yabugasaki will find it the most difficult to win two matches here; between 23-year-old university graduate Kaki and makushita-experienced 22-year-old Kyoda it's a much harder call as to who is the favourite. I'm inclined to expect Kyoda to win, though. In any case these two playoffs will take place between the juryo and makuuchi division matches tomorrow, before the winners are coming right back to the stage alongside Kobayashi, Asahakuryu and the yet to be crowned juryo division champion to receive their winners' certificates. The juryo division itself may in fact add to the playoff proceedings as a tie between two or three rikishi is still possible there; 11-3 leader J11w Mita (Futagoyama) is trying to hold off 10-4 pursuers J6w Daiseizan and J14e Kotokuzan (both Arashio).

Yap, hence "interesting" outcome. In a similar-but-reversed vein, after posting I've started wondering if Nishinoryu at Ms2e might have a shot at replacing Miyanokaze at Ms1w based on some sort of "Miyanokaze already got too lucky last time" clause that would override the pure numbers. It would be quite the Houdini act to survive in juryo from J13e with 6-9 -> 7-8. (Although Chiyosakae did it from J14e less than two years ago so...)

Day 14 Rank W-L max min maxQ minQ Mitoryu J10e 0-5-9 Ms11e Ms11e 2nd 2nd Nabatame J10w kyujo Ms11w Ms11w 1st 1st Shiden L J11e 5-9 Ms2e 6th Shimanoumi L J12e 3-11 Ms5e Ms7e 4th 3rd Otsuji L J12w 4-10 Ms3w Ms5w 5th 3rd Daiamami L J13w 5-9 Ms2w Ms4w 5th 4th Miyanokaze L J14w 7-7 Ms1w 6th Kyokukaiyu W Ms1e 5-2 J12e J12e 3rd 3rd Asanoyama W Ms1w 5-2 J12w J12w 4th 4th Ishizaki W Ms2e 6-1 J11e J11e 2nd 2nd Asahakuryu Ms3e 7-0 J10e J10e 1st 1st Kitanowaka Ms3w 4-2 J14w Ms2w 5th 6th Nishinoryu W Ms5e 5-2 Ms2e Ms2e 5th 6th Takakento W Ms5w 4-3 Ms4w Ms4w 7th 7th I guess the guys in each division knew what they wanted to get out of the day... If we're taking the numbers at face value: Certainties: Kyokukaiyu, Asanoyama, Ishizaki and Asahakuryu will go up with slam-dunk promotion cases. Mitoryu, Nabatame, Shimanoumi and Otsuji will go down. Otsuji could still improve his position to finish ahead of Daiamami, but his case would be far too bad as #5 in the queue as well. Possibilities off of tomorrow's Daiamami - Kitanowaka bout: Daiamami wins: Daiamami still demotable as 5th in line, calculates to Ms2w and should lose the comparison to Nishinoryu's Ms2e. Kitanowaka calculates to Ms2w and should lose the 6th-in-line comparison to either Shiden (Ms2e with a loss) or Miyanokaze (Ms1w with a loss), or just have nobody to replace at all. Kitanowaka wins: Kitanowaka gets a record that calculates into juryo and definitely goes up thanks to the large number of demotable juryo rikishi. Daiamami joins the queue of those who are needed to accommodate the now five slam-dunk promotions. Nishinoryu (Ms2e) drops to 6th in line for promotion and can only hope to replace a losing Shiden (Ms2e) if they decide to handle them differently from Miyanokaze / Kyokukaiyu last time. I wouldn't bet on it personally, although I feel the need to point out that Nishinoryu's sole appearance up in juryo this basho was a win and came against...Shiden. Consequently, Miyanokaze should be safe no matter what. I don't like to root against guys just for data points, but I will say that the only "uninteresting" outcome here would be wins by both Kitanowaka and Shiden. They haven't made it easy for Shiden in any case, as he's going against J3e Oshoumi (8-6) who could clinch a promotable record by winning. Miyanokaze faces fellow 7-7 J4e Tochitaikai. All that aside, as already mentioned by @Reonito one makushita rikishi is getting some bonus sumo courtesy of Ura's Day 14 withdrawal...as usual it's the highest-ranked rikishi who has already had his seventh bout and is 2-5 or worse, so Ms4e Satorufuji (2-5) has an opportunity to maaaybe earn himself a bit of banzuke luck at Shimanoumi's expense. (And this time it would actually be possible to see just how much credit they're giving him, since there's another 2-5 right behind him with Dewanoryu at Ms4w...) Incidentally, looking at the list of makushita 3-5's, should Satorufuji join them he'll be only the second rikishi to get there after a 0-5 start; the other one was over 40 years ago.

Yusho Races Round 7 (Day 13) Jk21e Kaki (6-0) Gonowaka Jd98w Jd5e Kazuma (6-0) Tatsuosho Jd57w Sd15e Mineyaiba (6-0) Kobayashi Sd42w Ms3e Asahakuryu (6-0) Yago Ms40w Jk20w Yabugasaki (5-1) Naniwamusashi Jk16w Jk3e Kyoda (5-1) Kakusho Jk13e

Yusho Races Round 4 (Day 7-8) Jk21e Kaki (3-0) (2-1) Kakuho Jk19w Jk20e Buomaru (3-0) Asarikimaru Jk6w Jk5e Asakawasumi (3-0) Naniwamusashi Jk16w Jk3e Kyoda (3-0) Wakaonehara Jd102w Jd93e Daitensho (3-0) Gonowaka Jd98w Jd89e Chiyofuku (3-0) Ojiyama Jd85w Jd80w Tsukioka (3-0) Kazekodai Jd76w Jd74w Fukushoryu (3-0) Kazunofuji Jd70w Jd66w Matsuda (3-0) Hidano Jd60w Jd57w Tatsuosho (3-0) Minorufuji Jd50w mono-ii Jd47w Sekimoto (3-0) Shibuya Jd44w Jd39e Seiyu (3-0) Shoketsu Jd33w Jd29e Sekizuka (3-0) Hikarumusashi Jd33e Jd25e Kyokutaiga (3-0) Asahabataki Jd19w Jd5e Kazuma (3-0) Onokura Jd14w Jd4w Higonomaru (3-0) Shoran Sd80w Sd73e Yurikisho (3-0) Yumenofuji Sd80e mono-ii Sd70e Okinohama (3-0) Suzunofuji Sd67w Sd59e Suyama (3-0) Kenshin Sd61w Sd49e Seigo (3-0) Tochinobori Sd52e Sd46w Fujiazuma (3-0) Kobayashi Sd42w Sd37w Kazeeidai (3-0) Mukaida Sd26w Sd24e Gyokuozan (3-0) Anhibiki Sd30w Sd15e Mineyaiba (3-0) Murayama Sd18w Sd12w Kotodaigo (3-0) Kawamura Sd6w Sd3w Kaigo (3-0) Daishinkai Sd1w Ms54e Ikarigata (3-0) Naya Ms53w mono-ii Ms48e Nihonyanagi (3-0) Yago Ms40w Ms39e Hinataryu (3-0) Shimazuumi Ms33w Ms30e Wakamiyabi (3-0) Gyotoku Ms27w Ms18e Yoshii (3-0) Seihakuho Ms21e Ms3e Asahakuryu (3-0) Nagamura Ms14w Ms2e Ishizaki (3-0) Kamito Ms10w

Because ozumo is in need of "buzz" in a year that has seen two yokozuna promotions?

I disagree with the premise that any significant amount of people actually wants to see a massive 11-4 playoff full of random guys to begin with, but even if I were to accept it, my rejoinder would be: As soon as the endorphin rush subsides, those same people will be thinking, "gawd, actually nobody really deserved to lift the cup this month".

I'd argue yes, because back-to-back yusho would create an even more pressurized "how can you not make this guy ozeki now" scenario.

Hakuoho and Hiradoumi could be options if they're 7-7, I'd say. Reasonably high-ranked, good motivation. If that's not possible, yeah, hard to see who would make sense besides the other frontrunners.

Somebody has to add the common sense view that Shimanoumi is not in fact toast yet no matter what the numbers say. Appreciate your take as always, we're arguably so different in presentation style that there's something to enjoy for everyone reading this.

Day 13 Rank W-L max min maxQ minQ Mitoryu J10e 0-5-8 Ms9e Ms11e 2nd 2nd Nabatame J10w kyujo Ms11w Ms11w 1st 1st Shiden L J11e 5-8 Ms2e 4th Shimanoumi L J12e 3-10 Ms3e Ms7e 5th 3rd Otsuji W J12w 4-9 Ms1w Ms5w 6th 3rd Daiamami W J13w 5-8 Ms4w 3rd Miyanokaze W J14w 7-6 Ms1w 5th Kyokukaiyu Ms1e 4-2 J12e J14e 2nd 4th Asanoyama Ms1w 4-2 J12w J14w 2nd 4th* Ishizaki Ms2e 5-1 J11e J13e 2nd 4th Asahakuryu W Ms3e 7-0 J10e J10e 1st 1st Kitanowaka Ms3w 4-2 J14w Ms2w 5th* 6th Nishinoryu Ms5e 4-2 Ms2e Ms4e 5th 6th Takakento Ms5w 3-3 Ms4w 7th * As before, Kitanowaka 5-2 assumed behind Asanoyama 4-3 Shiden makekoshi already on Day 13 off of a 3-0 start, rough. Meanwhile, Shimanoumi really ought to be toast now - he can't finish better than 5th in line for demotion, with a virtual destination of Ms3e, and the 5th-best promotion contender already calculates to at least Ms2w. Otsuji won today, but it might be too little, too late - Miyanokaze is numerically ahead of him now (albeit only on tie-break, iffy as that is), so that's one more lifeline gone. Shiden just needs to win one more bout, and Daiamami will finish ahead of Otsuji if he can at least score the same results across Days 14 and 15. (Although that could be too little for him, too.) Asahakuryu has for all intents and purposes secured the top spot in the promotion queue by winning the makushita yusho today. No other makushita action took place, but we'll be getting plenty tomorrow: With Nishikifuji coming back tomorrow (= odd total of active sekitori), the four makushita rikishi who are being held back for juryo appearances had to be split either Day 14 one / Day 15 three, or the other way around. I'd argue that they've made the correct choice by going big for Day 14, because there's no guarantee that there will still be three sensible opponents available in juryo on Day 15. So, we're getting J11e Shiden - Ms1e Kyokukaiyu, J13w Daiamami - Ms1w Asanoyama, and J14w Miyanokaze - Ms2e Ishizaki tomorrow; both "sides" matched up in ranking order, as they usually do. Shiden and Miyanokaze can save themselves outright, while Daiamami would become nominally demotable with a loss. (And would in fact immediately become unable to finish better than 5th in line, which might already assure his demotion.) None of the makushita guys really need the win themselves, but it is what it is. I think they'll still be properly motivated, if only because that's the default mindset in high makushita and recent decisions like last basho's Miyanokaze over Kyokukaiyu have probably put the fear of god into everybody anyway. As mentioned yesterday, Nishinoryu and Takakento will also be in action against makushita opponents, and at least for Nishinoryu his result could well end up having promotion implications. How that goes exactly is largely out of his hands even with a win, however. They should have free choice for Kitanowaka's Day 15 opponent among whoever is still on the bubble then; the only juryo rikishi that he already fought is Shimanoumi.