Jejima

It is now 17 years I started setting a poll about Hakuho! Will this one be the last one? (I asked that question last year too.) Please add a comment with your prediction below - and also say how many zensho yushos you think he'll win in 2020, for the fourth question to this poll. Please also predict if and when you think he will retire this year for a new fifth question! Previous polls:- 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005

Question 1 Hakuho won just one yusho this year in March. It was his 44th career yusho. This was predicted by almost half of us, so I won't list them all here - but it will be taken into account for the eventual yusho winner. Question 2 I will adjust the predictions for this poll to reflect the missing basho. This poll was started after the one win that Hakuho picked up in January. So that one win is a given for everyone. After that, there were a further four bashos, instead of five. Hakuho had a further twenty-three wins after that first basho. So, we will add 25% to that, to get 28.75, to take into account the 'missed' basho of May. Then add the given win from January, to get 29.75 as the actual correct prediction considered for this poll. Kaninoyama and Rocks both predicted 30 wins, which is pretty much spot on! Okay, let's look back to Question 1 for these two.... Oh, they both got that one correct too. Question 3 Hakuho never bettered the 14 day win streak that he had from the end of 2019 going into the start of 2020 - although he came close with 13 wins between the end of the March basho to day 10 of the July basho. Rocks was one of many that got this correct. So, the yusho goes to Rocks and Kaninoyama can have the jun-yusho .

There seems to be a glitch with Sumo reference here --> http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=8900 For his day 12 loss to Chiyootori, Akiseyama has a dash (same as for when a Makushita rikishi does not fight that day) instead of a kuroiboshi (black circle). Chiyootori also has the dash instead of a white circle shiroiboshi here --> http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=6928

Takakeisho began his Makunouchi career in January 2017. He began his sanyaku career in January 2018. He won his first ever yusho in November 2018. He became an Ozeki (twice!) in 2019. In 2020, he won his second Makunouchi yusho, and his fourth Makunouchi jun-yusho. He was the youngest rikishi currently in Makunouchi for every time that this poll was created for the past four years - but no longer. With the likely promotion of Midorifuji (25 days younger than Takakeisho) in January, along with the much younger Kotonowaka, Hoshoryu and Kotoshoho, Takakeisho will begin 2021 as the fifth youngest Makunouchi rikishi. How will this young man (aged 24) do in 2021? Please expand on your votes in the comments below. Please say how many yushos and how many jun-yushos you think that he will win. Comments will be used as a tie-breaker for deciding yushos at the end of the year, if required. Previous Takakeisho polls: 2020 2019 2018 2017

Question 1: Takakeisho retained the Ozeki rank that he had at the start of the year. Over half of us voted for that, so I won't bother listing here. Question 2: His longest winning streak was 10, from day 14 of the September basho until his loss on day 9 of the November basho. Morty, Oshirokita, Ryoshishokunin, Kintamayama and ChickyStarr all predicted this. Okay, let's cross-reference these five with Question 1.... Oshirokita, Ryokishishokunin and ChickyStarr all got that one correct too - so these three look like good yusho contenders.... Question 3: He won one yusho and one jun-yusho in 2020, making a total of two. Seven players got this correct:- code_number3, Benihana, Ginkitsune, Katsunorifuji, ChickyStarr, Shatsume and Jejima. So, with three correct answers out of three, the yusho goes to ChickyStarr!

I should get some sort of booby prize as this was the first time that I did not bet on myself!

In 2020, one yusho was won by a Yokozuna, one by an Ozeki, one by a Sekiwake and two by M17s! One basho was also cancelled. How about in 2021? Which ranks do you think will win the Makunouchi yushos in 2021? Please write your predictions in the comments below. Please also mention which rikishi (give names!) you think will actually win the yushos (and how many). This will be used as a tie-breaker (if needed) to decide the yusho winner for this poll at the end of the year. Similar polls can be found for previous years below. 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008

This is going to be a tough poll to 'judge', as we only had 5 yusho winners in 2020 - and this poll was begun after the first. Question 1 Two yushos (March and November) were won by a Yokozuna or Ozeki. This was predicted by I am the Yokozuna, Oshirokita, Kotononami and Jejima. Question 2 One yusho (September) was won by a Sekiwake or Komusubi. This was predicted by Oortael, Terao, Morty, Shatsume, Kotononami, Joaoiyama, Kaminariyuki and MumboJumbo. Question 3 Two yushos (January and July) were won by rikishi ranked below sanyaku (ranked below M16, in fact!). This was predicted by I am the Yokozuna, code_number3, Kintamayama, Oshirokita, Katsunorifuji, Kaminariyuki and WAKATAKE. The following four players are in two out of the three above lists (difficult to be in all four, due to the cancelled May basho): I am the Yokozuna, Oshirokita, Kotononami and Kaminariyuki. So, let's check the comments for those four, to see if we can determine a winner... Only two of them made comments - so it's between Oshirokita and Kaminariyuki to see who gets the yusho (the other will claim the jun-yusho).... Tokushoryu can be ignored - as he had already won a yusho. (That would have been an impressive prediction back in December of last year, if I had made the poll in time!). Oshirokita also correctly predicted a yusho for Takakeisho. as did Kaminariyuki. This is getting tough. Not really Kaminariyuki also predicted a yusho for Hakuho - and Oshirokita didn't. So, the yusho goes to Kaminariyuki. The jun-yusho goes to Oshirokita.

Will Mitakeumi make to push to higher ranks in 2021? Or will he start descending down the banzuke? Please comment below, in case a tie-breaker is required to decide the yusho. (Any comment is automatically better than none.) Previous polls: 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

Question 1 Mitakeumi will not drop below M3W on the January 2021 banzuke - so his lowest rank for the year inclusive will be M3W , his rank back in March 2020. This was predicted by over one third of us, namely Benihana, Rocks, Joaoiyama, Shatsume, Pitinosato, Jejima and MumboJumbo. Question 2 In July 2020, Mitakeumi lost to eventual Yusho winner Terunofuji on the last day of the basho. Terunofuji was ranked at M17E! Katsunorifuji came closest with his prediction of M13. Question 3 Mitakeumi's highest rank in the time frame was Sekiwake - as predicted by just about everybody. However, Katsunorifuji, Jejima and Joaoiyama all got it wrong. So, that means five people got both Question 1 and Question 3 exactly correct. So whoever predicted the lowest rank (out of those five) for Question 2 can claim the yusho.... Well, four out of the five all went with M8 - wrong! MumboJumbo chose M9 - so marginally closer. A bit of a squeaker, but the yusho goes to MumboJumbo!

Kaio got four of his five yushos at the rank of Ozeki. I think you mean Yokozuna. I see what you mean now. You are saying that Mitakeumi might rack up five yushos in his career whilst not progressing further than Sekiwake on the banzuke.

Koorifu did not make a comment, and thereby loses by default. (Nantonoyama correctly said that Kotoshogiku would get one KK. We have no idea how Koorifu would have split the KKs, because he did not comment....)

Shohozan is the oldest sekitori (a rikishi ranked in either Makunouchi or Juryo). He will be turning 37 in February. He had a year in 2020, going MK in all five of the bashos that took place. He dropped from M7E in January 2020 to J2W in November 2020. He will probably be ranked around J5 on the January 2021 banzuke. Is 2021 the year when he decides to hang up his mawashi? Please include your predictions (be as precise as you can!) in the comments below. Please also include in your comment your guess for either a) Shohozani's rank on the January 2022 banzuke or b) Shohozan's final banzuke rank before he goes intai in 2021 (These might well be used as a tie-breaker!) Previous poll: 2020

Question 1 Kotoshogiku retired during the past basho in November. Nobody predicted this! The closest (Sep/Oct bracket) were Joaoiyama, Nantonoyama and Koorifu. Question 2 Shohozan has not retired this year - as predicted by everyone except Konosato. Question 3 Shohozan had five MKs in 2020! Kotoshogiku managed to get an 8-7 KK in July. So, the total number of KKs for this pair is one. ChickyStar, Pitinosato and Rocks all came closest with two. This is going to be tricky to award a yusho. Question 2 can be ignored (apart from ruling out Konosato from contention.) So, let's look at the comments for the players who came closest in Questions 1 and 3.... Rocks two KK predictions were for Shohozan. Nope. Nantonoyama predicted one KK for Kotoshogiku. Yep. None of the other players under consideration above left a comment. So, another yusho to Nantonoyama.

This is a weird poll to close.... Question 1 Abi ended the year with just 15 wins (due to injury and punishment) Ryuden ended the year with 38 wins. So, Ryuden ended up with 23 more wins than Abi. The closest was Nantonoyama with +8 wins in favour of Ryuden. Question 2 Ryuden and Abi met twice in 2020 - and Ryuden won them both. Rocks and WAKATAKE came closest with +1 to Ryuden. (Nantonoyama came the next closest with 'zero') Question 3 Ryuden will be ranked somewhere around M7 in January 2021, whereas Abi will be in Makushita. So the difference in ranks will be between 30 and 40 (probably). Nantonoyama came closest(!) with Ryuden +3. So, I am happy to award the yusho for this poll to Nantononoyama! I think there is no need to do this poll for 2021 - so it is retired for the time being.