Katooshu

I'm not sure Satsumasho won a single match in college, and his activity was mostly limited to the one tournament a year that is exclusively for club members who don't usually get a chance to compete. I can't imagine that anyone who saw him in action as an amateur expected him to reach makushita easily. He started stronger than I expected in ozumo, but levelled out about where I expected him to. Extremely rare for a Nihon U grad to settle in jonidan, but in this case it's not surprising to me.

I'd notice Satsumasho had lost some hair and was wondering what the issue was. Hopefully the reports aren't true, but unfortunetly this does happen ...... Also, I have to say, it irks me how eager some people are (not so much here, but certainly Reddit and YouTube) to focus on the 'it's so unfair to Hakuho' angle in every controversy, as if he's the primary victim of injustice and the most deserving of sympathy, rather than any rikishi who've been abused. I gather that some online 'personalities' have been pushing this as part of an ongoing evil JSA narrative...

Kisenosato's year leading up to his promotion: 13-2, 13-2, 12-3, 10-5, 12-3, 14-1 If I saw those numbers without context, I'd assume that person was already a yokozuna, a good one too. It's quite remarkable only one of those was a yusho. Kise also had 4 years of being a double digit ozeki prior to that, including a trio of 13-2s. If only he had Terunofuji's fortune with 12-3/13-2 yusho. Hoshoryu's 20 or so straight KK show he's a consistent winner, not likely to bomb out, but definitely not on the same scale of success or longevity, e.g. his last year: 11-4, 10-5, 9-4-2, 8-7, 13-2, 12-3 (his other three as ozeki were 10-4-1, 10-5, 8-7). A good ozeki, but not numbers that really jump out as saying 'ya this guy has been performing like a yokozuna for a while, might as well give him a break so we can make it official'.

Oyamada sure is fun to watch, he might be my favourite from the heya

He's a comedian named Akatsu (or known to fans as Stunto, as noted above) who has also coached some amateur sumo. He's been on other Japanese programs doing his impressions too.

Fair enough, I'd guess I'd say my perception varies and that he seemed more in favour than what I'd consider a divisive or doubted rikishi to be.

Is this what has been officially said, or your assumption of what will be given?

Interesting, my perception of sumo fandom is that he has been one of the most heavily hyped and highly rated for several years now. Before he even reached ozeki I saw numerous predictions that he'd reach the highest rank. If anything, I'd say he's slightly behind the timeline that many fans predicted for him (e.g. post below).

In

Per Yahoo, Wakaikari is out, and Ryuden gets the freebie.

Well, there is a big space between putting on more size and ending up 200kg

Other observations from this basho: --I'm generally not a fan of henka, but I appreciate a rikishi who really goes for it when they pull one, and right now that's Mita. No half-hearted sidestep that draws debate about whether it counts as a henka or not; with Mita it's either a glorious jump or lightning quick, full dash to the side. Absolutely no doubt that it was an utterly massive, premeditated henka. I can enjoy athletic displays like that and it somehow feels more honest than the 'I didn't mean it' variety -I have never seen another basho with so many shimpan being toppled by falling rikishi. On one day there were two shimp who were both run over twice within about twenty minutes of each other. One of them was former Kotonishiki, who at least found it in himself to laugh at his plight. -The last few days have been very bloody in the lower divisions. Several noses popped, foreheads gashed and scraped, even chests bleeding. -Kosei's win over Daitengu was perhaps the most 'matrix' like sumo I've seen. I think it's a disservice to his effort that it was listed as an isamiashi. -Aonishiki is so satisfying to watch. His grappling skills are excellent, and he's so good at creating openings and quickly punishing mistakes. He's a bit undersized at the moment, but I'm interested to see how far he can go vs bigger, stronger makuuchi rikishi. -Noda and Wakaikari are looking like strong prospects in sandanme. Noda is from Fujishima beya, which is suddenly red hot for the future with him and the two Ms60TD who are starting next basho. -Good to see Raiho, Gonoumi, and Yago all back - regardless of how far they climb again, nice to see rikishi in better health and winning.

I'd hope they would.

I enjoy the race to yokozuna. I've seen a lot of people on social media fretting about the vacancy, wondering if there is desperation to promote a new yokozuna, hoping someone gets roped this month. But it's the journey there that is the most fun to watch for me - let it run on some more. I'd also much rather have someone earn it convincingly than just barely make it over the line. Despite the ozeki not being on fire this basho (well Hoshoryu was until recently), I think even just a bit of improvement from any three of them could be enough to get them over the line. As it stands, I still feel optimistic that Hoshoryu and Onosato can get there eventually - in Onosato's case, he'd have to have maxed out in his first year of makuuchi, at just 23-24, not to. Kotozakura I am a bit less convinced on, as I think he's probably closer to his peak and lacks a real 'wow' attribute like the other two have. But to be fair this is his first real disaster basho after nearly 20 straight KK and consistently good showings. He should get more chances. I don't think we should be that negative yet.

The Hoshozuna hype seemed premature to me. Only ozeki not to yusho last year (since July 2023 in fact, in a 12-3 playoff), and he's going to be yokozuna in January of this year? Admittedly, I know there's more to promotions than that, but it felt like a weak case at best. He's really good, showing this time and time again with his long KK streak and regular double digit wins. His technical skills are the best in sumo right now. I definitely think the yokozuna potential is serious, even for a succesful run later this year. But January 2025 just never felt the right time to me, even if he delivered a stronger record than is now possible. Now, if rikishi got extra points for winning in style, he would no doubt be yokozuna already, but that's not how it works.