Morty

Bugger. The Kise stat for me that counts most is that he beat Hakuho 16 times during a period when Hak was at his peak. And Hak always made him earn it. They fought each other once as Makushita (Kise lost), meaning every victory occurred when Hak was either Ozeki (3) or Yokozuna (13). That speaks to how good Kise was. The only other rikishi with comparable records are Harumafuji, Asashoryu and Kotoosho. His sumo was relatively one dimensional and he relied heavily on just a couple of techniques (which was his downfall in the end because he couldn't adapt to the injury). But he was extremely good at what he did, making the most of his natural size and strength. His sumo was always conducted going forward. I always cheered for Kise, because he was always gachinko. I knew he had the ability to get to Yokozuna but I feared he would never get his head right enough to make it to the rope. It's an incredible shame that his career was finished prematurely by a poorly managed injury just when he made it. I'll have some sake tonight and will drink a toast to all the pleasure (and frustration) he has given me as a sumo fan.

The Joi is packed with strong young eager talent and the Ozeki/Yokozuna ranks are mostly old and/or injured. There has to be a point where the guard decisively changes and this basho may be it. Hak will probably still be going a couple of years from now but I reckon he will mostly be contending against guys ten years younger than him in a year or two.

Hak just loves messing with Tochiozan. I vote that was deliberate. When he finally retires Hak should get a gig on Strictly Come Ballroom - he would walk it in with those twinkle toed moves. Two headbutts settle bouts today - Kagayaki nuts Sadanoumi as good as any I have seen late on a Friday night in Glasgow, and Yoshikaze knocks himself out a bit nutting Okinoumi in the chest. Mitakeumi on this basho, and Nishikigi looks the goods.

Given the choice I reckon almost every rikishi would take the rope and a shorter career. There have only been 72 Yokozuna over 300 odd years and achieving it brings fame and glory to the recipient. No matter what happened after he got the rope, no-one can take the fact that Kise is a Yokozuna away from him. He would have taken that option 100% of the time.

As soon as that match was finished the first words out of my mouth were "he's done". He can't match it with the top rankers anymore. The young up and comers are too strong for him and the older guys know how to exploit his weakness. And the fact he was always so one dimensional and relied on his strength, size and techniques that supported those attributes mean he can't change his style. A shame, but I think we only have two active Yokozunae at the end of this basho. A real shame that he was brought low by an injury that almost perfectly diminished all his strengths as a rikishi.

Thanks for making me aware of this show, I really enjoyed it

Would be interesting to compare the top ten juryo.

He continues his slow steady improvement and ends up an Ozeki, with Yokozuna to follow in 2020

Ryuden looks to me to have slightly more upside, so I picked him to be ahead of Abi, 50-40 (people are going to work Abi out)

I think he'll be an Ozeki after March, and I wouldn't then be surprised if, given he stays healthy, he is a Yokozuna by the end of the year. I think he'll be the only multiple yusho winner for the year, but I'm not sure if they will be consecutive. But his trajectory mirrors the greats so...

I suspect high M (1-3) but I wouldn't be surprised if he went the Terunofuji route either because carrying all that weight is bad for you

No zensho, only 1 yusho, 3 kyujo

Hak - 1 Kak - 1 Takayasu - 1 Takakeisho - 1 (as Ozeki) Mitakeumi - 1 Onosho - 1

"Sportsmanship" and being a "good winner" or "good loser" is a western European ideal that is entirely absent from many other cultures which don't have any concept of sportsmanship or any of the values encompassed by that term. So we need to be careful about transferring that value to Japanese, Mongolian or any other non-Western culture. Just because we think that way, doesn't mean they do.

Oooh, I love a graph update. Good job