Sasanishiki

OK, so I've been thinking about Pizango (Kazutsukasa) and his disappearnace from maezumo in Haru Basho. Might it be something to do with his eligibility? If he is being treated as a foreigner then there is a problem because Irumagawa has Mongolian Aratoushi. The latter is realtively new and has done well up until hitting the wall in sandanme, going MK in the last basho and withdrawing before the end. What to do with Pizango then? One of them will have to count as a naturalized Japanese if Pizango is to return, and I'm assuming that he is the one who counts as he would not have come so far.

Sorry, I'm not understanding this proclamation, even when it has been repeated. All those "WHEREAS" parts make me expect that it resolves somehow, but it doesn't seem to. ;-)

Except that we'll let everyone leak rumours about when the tests are going to be held...

And so the mystery continues about this half foreigner. I wonder if he'll be back? If not then we'll probably never find out about his background and back story, which would be a pity. Nishi posted a scan in another thread and it turns out our Pizango Kazuya is actually also known as Pablito Medoza and hails from the Philippines. I can't really read much else because the print is small. What I could make out is that he was at school in Nagoya.

I doubt they have curry in the obento...

"Yes, Moderator"

No, not for the top four positions because at other times there has always been at least one Japanese rikishi around.

What surprises me about that list is the number who are politicians in their 20s! I can't imagine having had such responsibility at such a young age, let alone the life experience to bring to the job.

There already has been some retiree talk in this thread

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be more important that his mother was Jewish rather than his grandfather? I get your point, however.

Kinryuzan (Bomb about to be blown...) The list on the Japanese side of the NSK site says it is Kaneyama from Kitanoumi-beya, who was also banzuke-gai, not Kinryuzan from Matsugane-beya. Strangely the Japanese side says Wani should be Wanito, but this is incorrect. It is even correctly listed as Wani elsewhere on the NSK site.

Yes, Manny got into sumo after he'd been at college, so he was probably a touch too old. (I've seen something on wikipedia that said he was born in 1960, but I think that date must be incorrect as it makes him too old.)

Well, the two could be one and the same in some situations: a kadoban ozeki who then goes MK; a former makuuchi veteran who drops to juryo; a long-time sekitori who is now consigned to a drop to makushita; even a yokozuna who realises that he has lost his mojo mid-basho. All might result in a tear or two flowing upon the loss.

This thread go tme looking a little more closely at Kaio in the past 18 months, thanks to the wonderful Doitsu-base (Holiday feeling...) I looked at his record since May 2007, which was the last time that Kaio got double digit wins (10-5) as we would expect him to as an ozeki. He is in his 11th basho since then, although he had to withdraw from two of those in the first week. I've therefore looked at the remaining 9 basho (including this one), where he has scored 8 or 9 each time - I don't really expect him to win the next two bouts he has this basho! I was intrigued by the idea that Kaio scrapes his KK to hold his rank and that this could be explained by back-scratching (I realise there is another thread on this). I was surprised to find that, although he has only limped over the line in terms of the amount of wins each basho, in none of these 9 basho has he come down to needing a win on the win on the final day to get KK. He reached his KK on Day 11 three times, day 12 four times, and days 13 & 14 once each. I think this shows a couple of things: that he struggles in general when he faces the ozeki and yokozuna later in the basho, and that he perhaps has been saving himself to prolong his career. Taking the first point, it must be noted that Kaio has not beaten Hakuho in the two and a half years since he became ozeki (0 from 12 in that time), and he has only beaten Asashoryu twice (2 of 14) in the last four years! I decided to do a break down of his record against the yokozuna, ozeki, sekiwake, komusubi and maegashira in each of these 9 basho to see where he struggles. With such a small sample I am hesitant to make definitive statements, but it appears that he has struggled against the Y all along, begun to struggle with the ozeki (although as conclusively), and is starting to struggle with the sekiwake (which sort of backs up my thoughts that he is losing his parity in fellow ozeki match ups). He has stayed reasonably steady against the komusubi and maegashira, with some allowance for off days. I think these numbers show that he is below the quality he once displayed and does not figure among the elite in terms of teh sumo he displays (which pains me to say because I've always had a soft spot for Kaio). However, likening him to the kaido rikishi (the big kids who were a spectacle) or the kanban ozeki (those that only did dohyo-iri and did not compete) is perhaps stretching the truth. I'm loathe to make a table of the results I've made due to me not knowing how to (yes, I know there is also a thread about that at the moment). However, if you look in the database at Kaio's last year and a half, and particularly the last five basho, you'll see him trailing off against the O and S in particular.

Appendix, like Kaio?

Just looking at the photos on his site, it looks like he has lost about a third of the bulk that he had a couple of years ago, maybe more. I would also think that he would have had to lose a fair bit of weight before they could put him under the knife.

Perhaps he was reading the paper?

If you mean Hakuho and Harumafuji, he faced the former three days ago and the latter today.

Is it just me or will 2 wins in the next four days be difficult for Kotomitsuki? Asashoryu tomorrow, meaning he'll probably have to win two of the last 3 matches just to survive at ozeki.

At 2-7 Chiyotaikai stil has a chance of KK, however slim. I don't think we can say that he is sticking around to give free wins at the moment. If he was something like 2-11 and still hanging on to last out the basho then we might question his motives.

Do we think there will be a kensho bonanza on senshuraku if the two yokozuna are both 14-0? I would like to see this.

And so the mystery continues about this half foreigner. I wonder if he'll be back? If not then we'll probably never find out about his background and back story, which would be a pity.

Junior world champion, but I get your point about the experience, particularly as he also competed in the senior Mongolian team last year as well.

Nicholas Hobbes tells very little. I wonder if this is a hatchet job or whether the sub-editors butchered it until it was almost meaningless? the best part is actually when he considers the subcutaneous fat and that they are active, not obese. That oculd have been a brilliant angle to take further but then seems very underdone (leading me to ask the question above). James, perhaps you could do an article along these lines so that the subject is treated with some seriousness?

He vaguely looks like a flasher (Holiday feeling...)