Bealzbob

Thanks Asashosakari. But just to clarify, by 'leg trip' I was more on about the inadvertent(sic) kick that precedes the attempted trip. So they 'try' the trip with the real intention of kicking the stuffing out of the foot/ankle.

Is it the 'done' (i.e. accepted) thing in ozumo to target a known injury? In other words if Kotooshu chooses to participate in Nagoya, can he expect plenty of leg trip attempts from those rikishi who could pull off such a move?

I had Myogiryu in sanyaku, then I swapped him with Kyokutenho. I figured the yusho would just push Kyok over the line. It didn't :-/ I'm also surprised Ikioi got the nod over Asasekiryu. FWIW I had Miyabiyama @ M10w & Shotenro @ M7e so only half a rank out.

I have Asasekiryu staying up at Ikioi's expense.

Oh no :-( Bad bad news. Good luck in the future Araibira. Hopefully you'll miss it and be back :-D Thanks for everything up to now. I guess I'm getting up nice and early for my footage now!!

Well one thing is for certain. He has time on his side. He's not even 19½ yet. You have to go down to Tatsu @ Ms16e to find someone younger (and he went MK). I would be confident that Chiyootori's oyakata will be well aware of his rikishi's shortcomings at this stage in his development. Though he must be doing something right in order to get to where he has at this point.

It will be interesting (for me anyway) to see how they decide to fill the final place in makuuchi for Haru. With 6 clear demotions (and an arguable 7th) from makuuchi Nionoumi, Kaisei, Kyokushuho, Sagatsukasa, Tosayutaka & Yoshiazuma (Takanoyama being the arguable). And only 5 clear promotions Tamawashi, Hochiyama, Takarafuji, Wakanosato & Ikioi. The discussion is whether you do one of the following to fill the gap 1. Promote juryo debutant & yusho winner Chiyotairyu from J13w with a 13-2Y. Something that has never been done with that rank/record combo*. 2. Promote Shotenro from J5e with an 8-7. Something that hasn't happened since 1947 rendering it irrelevant. 3. Promote Kotoyuki from J7w with a 9-6. Something that hasn't happened since 1938. See above. 4. Keep Tosayutaka (M12w 4-11). Last happened in 1959. 5. Keep Sagatsukasa (M14w 5-10). Last happened in 1956. * Sagatsukasa was promoted from J12e with a 13-2Y in Natsu '10 but that's the only instance that comes close. The pausity of candidates also saves Takanoyama IMO. How do you think the gap will be filled? FWIW I've gone for option 1. Promoting the former tsukedashi through juryo in one basho.

Subsequent responses notwithstanding. Another way of answering this is to flip it around. Go to my original post and look at the scenario. There are 6 definite demotions from makuuchi and only 5 remotely plausible promotions. The 6th 'promotion' or non-demotion will be one of the options I put forward. Given that fusensho doesn't count against a rikishi, I think his record stands on it's own merits.

It's my policy to have the first basho for all rikishi as the mae-zumo basho wheter they participate or not. Makes some things easier than having them just banzuke-gai. In the end I decided that it's not that important to differentiate if they couldn't participate in mae-zumo because of physical problems, mental problems, the oyakata decided so or the NSK decided it. Fact is this is his first basho and he wasn't in mae-zumo, so his record is 0-0-3. Don't get me wrong. That wasn't meant to be a criticism of you in any way. It was more a criticism of the NSK. He was no more a rikishi in this basho than I was.

I think you're both right :) In this instance there are plenty of deserving rikishi to fill the M1-M2 slots, but EizoShita is also right that make-koshi sanyaku rikishi regularly fall less than the usual win-loss formula for regular maegashira rikishi suggests.

Pity about the loss or he might've been sekitori for March. As it is, he'll be spending another basho in makushita. I like what I've seen though.

I've got them the other way around by virtue of Tochiozan having a higher starting rank.

You'd think he shouldn't appear in the maezumo results at all then if he wasn't allowed to participate. Ho hum.

0-0-3. What happened?

I actually think both of your komusubi slots are wrong. See you at Guess the Banzuke !! :)

This rikishi has yet to lose a match (kettei-sen versus Watanabe notwithstanding) in his first 4 basho (including maezumo). He is 21-0. According to the sumo database, only 2 other rikishi have ever debuted in maezumo and gone undefeated in their first 4 basho. Itai in 1978 & Kototenzan in 1985/1986 No-one has ever gone undefeated in their first 5. He might be one to keep an eye on. Or at 23 has he potentially missed the boat? Anyone have any opinions on him?

Has Sakumayama broken the record yet? Has anyone gone 24-0-0 before? I can't see any.

Why is it a problem that there is only one yokozuna? Why the desire to change a tried & trusted promotion criteria? It is never a good idea to knee-jerk change something just because there's someone around dominating a sport. It devalues the rank. The fact of the matter is that no-one is at Hakuho's level, so to me it seems fitting that no-one else shares his rank. Are we really saying there is someone in makuuchi who currently deserves to stand side by side with him? Ridiculous in my opinion. Instead we should enjoy and appreciate what we are seeing rather than devaluing a rank so that we can artificially put someone there with him who would plainly not deserve to be there. Formula One changed their points system in 2003 when Michael Schumacher was dominating the sport so that the WDC would be artificially close. The result was that a driver with 1 win that year (Raikkonen) came within a whisker of winning the title from a driver who had 6 wins (Schumacher), all because Raikkonen had been a consistent runner-up (or 1st loser if you prefer). It would have made a mockery of the sport, just like the diluting of the yokozuna rank would make a mockery of Hakuho's utter domination. Look at the bigger picture, not just the here & now.

Wow !! Completely unexpected, especially after neglecting this competition for a few basho. Very welcome though :) Thanks for running it !

:-D Great pics Fay.

Aye, at Aran's expense.

Homasho finished 10-5 @ M1e, not 8-7 @ M1w (you're mistaking him with Okinoumi).

I find it hard to believe that Kyushu will be Homasho's debut at Komusubi, but it will be! How someone as promising as he was has never gotten to sanyaku before now is a bit of a mystery.

Also, given that Kisenosato has just posted a 12-3 after a 10-6 and the geeku is about to be promoted with a 10,11,12 sequence, it might be argued that Kise just needs an 11 in Kyushu to match that and to follow the bouncy one into the Ozeki ranks. I know there's an argument that your sequence of wins over the 3 basho needs to be improving from one basho to the next, rather than it being a simple total of the 3 (unless the total is 34+) but there is at least a discussion to be had over whether we could be going into 2012 with 5 ozeki.

I wanted to start a poll but don't seem to have the option. Ho hum. Anyhoo, I'm just curious as to who you far more learned people think out of Homasho, Tochiozan & Kisenosato will reach the rank of Ozeki before the other 2. That is presuming that you think ANY of them will reach it. I know that up to maybe the last 2 basho Kisenosato was the great Japanese hope but that his star has temporarily waned of late, and now these 2 young bucks have burst onto the scene. So who will win the Ozeki race ? Homasho, Tochiozan or Kisenosato ?