ryafuji

Given the results of Terutsuyoshi, Takarafuji and Atamifuji this basho maybe training there could do with a bit of a shake-up.

I've seen a lot of HNHs. That was a H.

Sorry, just catching up with with this thread and this was the first post I saw! To be fair I certainly didn't expect Hoshoryu to lose three in a row. We'll see how he does against Kiribayama tomorrow. (And maybe he would have beaten Wakatakakage...)

Still leaves Kotofuji vs Nankairyu from 1987 as the most recent sekitori example then.

I thought it was literally impossible to get promoted from komusubi to ōzeki. At least in the six tournaments a year era. I don't think they would even entertain the possibility.

I do wish you would use the dedicated thread we have for these articles instead of opening a new one every time.

1. Ryuo MK 2. Wakatakakage 11-4 3. Chiyosakae MK 4. Ryuden KK 5. Kinbozan KK 6. Chiyotora KK 7. Inoue MK 8. Hoshoryu 10-5 9. Hokuseiho KK 10. Asashinjo MK 11. Takakeisho 12-3 12. Kiribayama MK 13. Kotonowaka KK 14. Roga KK TB: 15

I still think that back trouble is a plausible explanation for his highly variable performances.

As I'm sure you know, it's widely reported that the life expectancy for ex-rikishi is between 60-65, which is about 20 years less than than the average Japanese male. I too would like to see a definitive study. This article on Konishiki from 1998 quotes "records from the Sumo Museum" which indicate that the average life expectancy of all the yokozuna and ozeki post 1925 was 56, whereas the average for a Japanese male rose from 59 to 77 since 1950. I guess we would need a larger sample size. Some guy on Yahoo Answers looked at 100 makuuchi rikishi who died between 1980 and 2002 and found that the average age was 63.6 (youngest 22, oldest 91) compared to an average of 78.7 among all Japanese males in 2002 - 15 years less.

The pressures on rikishi to return as soon as possible are so ridiculous that I'm not 100% sure he won't try and enter Kyushu. But hopefully he will take November and next January off as an absolute minimum.

I guess Hiro doesn't think it likely that the Onami brothers will ever meet in a playoff :) Also I couldn't help thinking that Sokokurai's years out of the Kyokai should have been mentioned. Of course you can understand why an official NSK channel wouldn't bring it up, but it was mentioned several times in the danpatsu-shiki itself (which I saw thanks to Chris Gould's video).

Interesting that Kise has produced over a dozen sekitori since he founded the heya but none have got past komusubi. Maybe Jokoryu could have been the one if he'd stayed injury-free.

The chances of a Dewanoumi-beya yusho-winning ozeki not being able to get hold of a kabu are surely close to zero.

I was wondering if Hiro has been the NHK commentator on the days when they've had highlights on Prime Time or is he overdubbing new commentary?

Reports are that he is leaving the Sumo Association.