mikawa

Even seasoned veterans from the amateur sumo scene in Japan have to adapt to the World Championships, it's different to what they're used to. Komatsuryu Dojo is one of the best places that John could have trained at, the level of sumo there is very very high, even the kids at Komatsuryu are not to be underestimated. That injury though, it's horrible just reading about it, can't imagine what it must have been like for him during those initial four months.

Out of the wrestlers from his year group (the class of 2019), I'd say that Yoshii Ko is probably the joint third best rikishi among them, though admittedly the top two talents (Ochiai Tetsuya and Tebakari Taiki) have chosen to go onto high school.

Yup, three daughters and a son.

Kotoshoho will soon be a prospect in Makuuchi, he's a great talent for sure.

It's now become tradition here in the Amasumo Section to look back over the past year of amateur sumo action at 2 different points of the year - Mikawa's Amateur Sumo Awards at the end of each year, and the Amateur Sumo Banzuke series in March/April. Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking back to see who has been the most successful wrestlers in amateur sumo in Japan, starting with the primary school banzukes and culminating with the university banzuke. These lists are produced by adding up how well each wrestler did in national level tournaments over the past year, with the Top 32 included in the banzuke. This banzuke takes into account the following tournaments: 35th Wanpaku National Championships 32nd National Primary School Championships 10th Hakuho Cup East Yokozuna - Nakamura Hayato (中村 颯斗), Shizuoka West Yokozuna - Kai Yota (甲斐 陽太), Miyazaki East Ozeki - Sato Iroha (佐藤 珀呂汎), Kumamoto West Ozeki - Odaira Maki (大平 真輝), Niigata East Sekiwake - Uno Kyosei (宇野 恭晟), Ishikawa West Sekiwake - Tsubaki Rui (椿 留一), Niigata East Komusubi - Yamaguchi Ryojiro (山口 凌次郎), Okayama West Komusubi - Ganbaatar Dorjtseren (ガンバータル ドルジツェレン), Mongolia East Maegashira 1 - Hayase Shunta (早瀬 駿太), Kagoshima West Maegashira 1 - Onodera Shion (小野寺 汐音), Iwate East Maegashira 2 - Kanazawa Towa (金澤 永和), Chiba West Maegashira 2 - Suekawa Atsuki (末川 敦喜), Tokyo East Maegashira 3 - Yasui Reiya (安井 礼也), Ishikawa West Maegashira 3 - Matsumoto Sota (松本 崇汰), Ehime East Maegashira 4 - Nagai Hiito (永井 陽翔), Yamagata West Maegashira 4 - Miura Seiyu (三浦 惺侑), Aomori East Maegashira 5 - Ota Keisuke (太田 圭亮), Aichi West Maegashira 5 - Yamada Toji (山田 透史), Aichi East Maegashira 6 - Yamanobe Reiya (山野邉 玲優), Ibaraki West Maegashira 6 - Iwaki Toa (岩木 闘空), Aichi East Maegashira 7 - Hosoi Aoshi (細井 蒼孜), Saitama West Maegashira 7 - Klinmee Koki (クリンミー 光輝), Miyagi East Maegashira 8 - Miyoshi Kosei (三好 幸晟), Osaka West Maegashira 8 - Uchima Haruma (内間 悠天), Okinawa East Maegashira 9 - Okita Junya (大北 純也), Oita West Maegashira 9 - Terao Genta (寺尾 彦太), Kanagawa East Maegashira 10 - Iwamoto Takeshi (岩本 岳士), Hyogo West Maegashira 10 - Toda Hayato (戸田 勇翔), Kumamoto East Maegashira 11 - Kimura Noa (木村 望愛), Hokkaido West Maegashira 11 - Kawamoto Masaya (河本 優也), Tottori East Maegashira 12 - Izumi Yuma (泉 優真), Saga West Maegashira 12 - Maki Yozan (牧 鷹山), Tokyo  Sanyaku Photos East Yokozuna - Nakamura Hayato (中村 颯斗), Shizuoka West Yokozuna - Kai Yota (甲斐 陽太), Miyazaki East Ozeki - Sato Iroha (佐藤 珀呂汎), Kumamoto  West Ozeki - Odaira Maki (大平 真輝), Niigata East Sekiwake - Uno Kyosei (宇野 恭晟), Ishikawa  West Sekiwake - Tsubaki Rui (椿 留一), Niigata  East Komusubi - Yamaguchi Ryojiro (山口 凌次郎), Okayama West Komusubi - Ganbaatar Dorjtseren (ガンバータル ドルジツェレン), Mongolia

This week on learning sumo's kimarite from a 10 year old...... Here's that legendary komatasukui (小股掬い) I was talking about earlier. It's translated as "over thigh scooping body drop", its description is "A kimarite in which the attacker attempts to throw his opponent and, when the opponent steps forward to defend himself, the attacker grabs his leg, near the thigh, and pulls upward driving the opponent over backwards". Even the announcers had to pause and think hard before they recalled this kimarite. Kudos to them for remembering such a rare technique!

Comments 2019 was the year when we finally have English coverage of amateur sumo tournaments on YouTube, with Chris Gould posting videos of the All Japan Amateur Championships, the 9th and 10th Hakuho Cups, and even a regional tournament in Kashiwa. It's definitely a start! For most of the past year, the race for East Yokozuna seemed to be between two boys in particular - Shizuoka's Nakamura Hayato and Niigata's Tsubaki Rui. In fact, they contested both of the national finals in 2019, with one win apiece. What decided it was the 10th Hakuho Cup last month, when Primary School Yokozuna Hayato reached the quarter-finals, but Wanpaku Yokozuna Rui couldn't get that far. Nakamura Hayato, hailing from the powerhouse sumo club that's Yaizu, is very good at countering his opponent's moves and also at creating opportunities in his bouts. Believe it or not, in his first ever bout at the Wanpaku Tournament, against an opponent whom he could have just pushed out of the ring, young Hayato actually pulled off a komatasukui. Who needs frontal force out when you can just execute an over thigh scooping body drop! His club-mates certainly have many great things to say about him in the short video below. His only weakness? Not as much power as some of his main rivals. East Ozeki Sato Iroha is the latest in a long line of talented rikishi from Kumamoto's Uto Junior Sumo Club. He beat Kanazawa Towa in one of the bouts of the tournaments on his way to winning the Hakuho Cup in 2019, and a quarter-final finish helped Kumamoto to the team title at the Wanpaku Tournament. Iroha might not be as big as many of his opponents, but a strong fighting spirit and good technical ability meant that he's always one of the last wrestlers standing in a tournament. Mongolian kid Ganbaatar Dorjtseren isn't quite the phenom that his compatriot Altangerel Sosorkhuu was for the past few years, but to be amongst the sanyaku ranks on this banzuke, having only been part of 2 of the 3 tournaments, really shows that him and sumo go together. However, truth be told, Dorjtseren isn't as skilled as someone you'd expect coming from the land that's produced the likes of Hakuho and Asashoryu, but he's only 10 years old, so there's still a long way to go. Skills wise, the pinnacle of this year group is three wrestlers - the aforementioned Nakamura Hayato, along with Chiba's Kanazawa Towa and Tokyo's Suekawa Atsuki. Towa comes from a wrestling background, the same as his older brothers Riku and Sora, so most of his bouts inevitably involve various kinds of throwing moves. To think, he wouldn't even be doing sumo if it wasn't for the TV series Kinboshi Sumo Club, itself a direct result of Kotoshogiku winning that Yusho four years ago. And now, he is one of the best sumo wrestlers for his age in the entire country. The equally skilled Suekawa Atsuki is thin for a sumo wrestler. When you see his stature, you would think that he might be somewhat good at sumo, but "somewhat good" would be a huge understatement. Simply being part of Komatsuryu A, last year's national club champions, says a lot about how good he is, because of just how many kids in his club who are competing for places on their first team. His position on the team won't be in danger any time soon, since Atsuki is very very good. He's even able to pull off something like this:

Someone on the internet compiled a banzuke for university rikishi, taking into account all of their results from last year. Very useful for getting to know all the contenders in the college sumo scene: Kurokawa Kojiro (黒川 宏次朗) Takushoku University Y Turbold (トゥルボルド) Nihon University Ishibashi Hiroki (石橋 広暉) Kindai University O Oyanagi Ryota (小柳 亮太) Tokyo University of Agriculture Kizaki Shinji (木崎 信志) Nihon University S Miwa Hayato (三輪 隼斗) Nippon Sport Science University Murata Ryo (村田 亮) Toyo University K Sasaki Kodai (佐々木 耕大) Nihon University Kajisako Haruki (楮佐古 明輝) Tokyo University of Agriculture M1 Ikegawa Yuki (池川 勇気) Kindai University Tamaki Kazuma (玉木 一嗣磨) Kindai University M2 Osanai Takuma (長内 拓磨) Kindai University Yago Taiki (矢後 太規) Chuo University M3 Miyashita Haruya (宮下 治也) Takushoku University Nishikata Wataru (西方 航) Nippon Sport Science University M4 Yoshimoto Yuto (吉本 雄斗) Chuo University Sawada Hideo (沢田 日出夫) Nihon University M5 Takemasa Shinnosuke (武政 進之介) Meiji University Nishino Tomonori (西野 倫理) Toyo University M6 Furukawa Takahiro (古川 貴博) Nihon University Shiroishi Masahito (白石 雅仁) Toyo University M7 Uchiyama Shota (内山 翔太) Chuo University Futoda Masabumi (太田 雅章) Toyo University M8 Nakajima Nozomi (中島 望） Nihon University Osanai Riki (小山内 力樹) Nihon University M9 Nakajima Ryosuke (中嶋 亮介) Toyo University Torioka Ryosuke (鳩岡 良祐) Takushoku University M10 Omura Taihei (大村 泰平) Kyushu Institute of Info Sciences Muramatsu Yusuke (村松 裕介) Nippon Sport Science Uni. M11 Nishizawa Motoyasu (西澤 元康) Nippon Sport Science University Nakamura Yuya (中村 友哉) Kanazawa Gakuin University M12 Yamagushiku Shogo (山城 将吾) Nihon University Kizaki Shinnosuke (木崎 伸之助) Nihon University M13 Furukawa Haruki (古川 晴貴) Nihon University Nakai Takumi (中井 巧) Kyushu Institute of Info Sciences M14 Nakamura Soki (中村 壮希) Kindai University Minami Yuta (南 友太) Nippon Sport Science Uni. M15 Hashimoto Yukikazu (橋本 幸一) Kyushu Institute of Info Sciences Saito Shin (齋藤 真) Tokyo University of Agriculture M16 Nagata Shoki (永田 将輝) Kindai University Ichiki Takaya (一木 隆冶) Kyushu Institute of Info Sciences M17 Nakamura Ryutaro (中村 竜太郎) Kindai University

Now that Collegiate Ozeki East has become an Ozumo Ozeki, why don't we take a look at the other sanyaku members from this banzuke? This is also to kickstart the amateur sumo banzuke season for 2019-2020, which I will post here in the Amasumo Section over the next few weeks. Yokozuna East: Kurokawa Kojiro (黒川 宏次朗) Currently working as a member of staff at Takushoku University. Yokozuna West: Turbold (トゥルボルド) Currently in Juryo, his shikona is Mitoryu. Ozeki East: Ishibashi Hiroki (石橋 広暉) Our new Ozeki Asanoyama. Ozeki West: Oyanagi Ryota (小柳 亮太) Currently in Makuuchi, his shikona is Yutakayama. Sekiwake East: Kizaki Shinji (木崎 信志) Currently in Juryo, his shikona is Churanoumi. Sekiwake West Miwa Hayato (三輪 隼斗) Middleweight World Champion, currently part of the Itoigawa Sports Association in Niigata. Komusubi East: Murata Ryo (村田 亮) Injury has set him back, or else he would have been a sekitori long ago. Back in Makushita now with a 6-1 record this basho. His shikona is Murata. Komusubi West: Sasaki Kodai (佐々木 耕大) Currently working in the Tottori Prefectural Office, occasionally coaches at Tottori Johoku High School with Ishiura's dad.

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Feisty, spirited, skilled. Those are some words which I would use to describe Tochigi's Mita Taiki (三田 大生), last year's Middle Weight World Champion. He's like the Enho of last year's high school sumo, just somewhat more powerful and slightly less small. When he said "foreign rikishi are very strong once they get a hand on the mawashi, so I have to take care not to let that happen", that's Baruto, Tochinoshin etc. right there. The bouts I've had at Tachikawa Renseikan Sumo Dojo can also attest to that. The sumo club at Kindai University will be very happy to welcome him to their team.

The girl showed great heart in her training and in her competition bouts, it was truly inspirational. However, she does seem to have a habit of trying to force the double inside grip, which can easily backfire against better opponents. The medal was fully deserved though. Wonder what happened to all those kids in Aomori who grew up doing sumo? Do many of them stop doing sumo when they reach high school, or did they simply choose to go to a high school elsewhere in the prefecture/country? Four newbies in a row seems like a lot. Many thanks for sharing, it was very enjoyable to watch!

Dawaaninji's backstory has finally confirmed that he really is a Mongolian kid who grew up in Hokkaido. The amasumo crew did suspect as much.

Ready to relive THAT bout from last year's Hakuho Cup? Both boys share their memories from that match, with comments from Akatsu (an entertainer) and Marvin Junior (a coach at Kashiwa Junior, Chris Gould's sumo club):

A short video featuring Nakamura Hayato, last year's Primary School Yokozuna and Wanpaku Ozeki. He's the latest in a long line of talented rikishi from Yaizu Junior Sumo Club in Shizuoka. He says that he wants to train harder than anyone else, and even at home, he watches a lot of professional and amateur sumo bouts to learn from them and to incorporate their moves in his own sumo. His training partners say that 10-year-old Hayato shows strength, technique and bout awareness that are very rare at his age. n.b. That was a beautiful katasukashi (under-shoulder swing down)

第３１回全国選抜高等学校相撲弘前大会 Individual Competition Winner - Hoshiba Shinsuke (干場 伸介), Kanazawashiritsu Technical High School (Ishikawa) Runner-Up - Saito Daisuke (齋藤 大輔), Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama) Semi-Finals - Maeda Yuto (前田 悠翔), Kanazawa Gakuin High School (Ishikawa) Semi-Finals - Kawazoe Keita (川副 圭太), Buntoku High School (Kumamoto) Quarter-Finals - Yamauchi Ko (山内 康), Sambongi Agriculture High School (Aomori) Quarter-Finals - Kasai Towa (葛西 永遠), Goshogawaranorin High School (Aomori) Quarter-Finals - Ida Shota (井田 翔太), Minoshima High School (Wakayama) Quarter-Finals - Kudo Koya (工藤 光矢), Hirosaki Vocational High School (Aomori) Team Competition Winner - Kaiyo High School (Niigata) Runner-Up - Kanazawashiritsu Technical High School (Ishikawa) Semi-Finals - Adachi Shinden High School (Tokyo) Semi-Finals - Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama) Quarter-Finals - Buntoku High School (Kumamoto) Quarter-Finals - Minoshima High School (Wakayama) Quarter-Finals - Kindai High School (Osaka) Quarter-Finals - Sambongi Agriculture High School (Aomori) Videos Individual Quarter-Final #1 - Yamauchi Ko (山内 康) vs Saito Daisuke (齋藤 大輔) Individual Quarter-Final #2 - Kasai Towa (葛西 永遠) vs Maeda Yuto (前田 悠翔) Individual Quarter-Final #3 - Kawazoe Keita (川副 圭太) vs Ida Shota (井田 翔太) Individual Quarter-Final #4 - Hoshiba Shinsuke (干場 伸介) vs Kudo Koya (工藤 光矢) Individual Semi-Final #1 - Saito Daisuke (齋藤 大輔) vs Maeda Yuto (前田 悠翔) Individual Semi-Final #2 - Kawazoe Keita (川副 圭太) vs Hoshiba Shinsuke (干場 伸介) Individual Final - Saito Daisuke (齋藤 大輔) vs Hoshiba Shinsuke (干場 伸介) Team Quarter-Final #1 - Adachi Shinden High School (Tokyo) vs Buntoku High School (Kumamoto) Team Quarter-Final #2 - Kaiyo High School (Niigata) vs Minoshima High School (Wakayama) Team Quarter-Final #3 - Kindai High School (Osaka) vs Kanazawashiritsu Technical High School (Ishikawa) Team Quarter-Final #4 - Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama) vs Sambongi Agriculture High School (Aomori) Team Semi-Final #1 - Adachi Shinden High School (Tokyo) vs Kaiyo High School (Niigata) Team Semi-Final #2 - Kanazawashiritsu Technical High School (Ishikawa) vs Saitama Sakae High School (Saitama) Team Final - Kaiyo High School (Niigata) vs Kanazawashiritsu Technical High School (Ishikawa) Comments The big and powerful Hoshiba Shinsuke was able to win the tournament by defeating Saitama Sakae's Saito Daisuke in the final. The tall and strong Saito appeared in a documentary about Toma Tsuguto (當眞 嗣斗, the monster from Okinawa), where he knocked out the huge Toma in the quarter-finals of the Middle School Championships. Both Hoshiba and Saito are big names in their year group (although Saito is a year younger). Another big name in the tournament was Kawazoe Keita, former Hakuho Cup winner and older brother of the Kawazoe siblings from Udo Junior Sumo Club in Kumamoto, the newly crowned Hakuho Cup champions. His fighting style is a bit like Ura, where he relies on his skill and agility to win his bouts. Kaiyo High School have some talented rikishi in their midst, such as their 2nd and 3rd team members, Takahashi Yuta (高橋 優太) and Nakamura Taiki (中村 泰輝), the latter of which came second at last year's Inter-High. Saitama Sakae also boasted a strong team, as apart from Saito, they also had Tebakari Toshiki (手計 富士紀, who for me is the best in his year group) and Naya Konosuke (納谷 幸之介, the most successful of Taiho's grandsons).

Looks like it. 2020's going to be an interesting year for Amasumo, quite a few tournaments have been moved to a different time or location due to the Olympics.

Past and present members of Mitaka Sumo Club returning to Subaru Sports Center to send off Ikeda Koji. This time he's dressed a bit more appropriately. I think he's the first member from the club since their inception to join Ozumo (Tanakayama doesn't really count).

Maybe so, but we do include the Hakuho Cup in our amateur sumo banzuke, so there's that. Plus, it's great experience for the kids to face opponents who train differently to them, and thus use a different style of sumo

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone! It's that time of the year again when we celebrate another exciting year in amateur sumo. We've had the Hakuho Cup become a viral topic across Japanese media, even spilling over to Western sumo fans.We've had English content creators on YouTube covering more amateur sumo tournaments than ever before, with one of them even becoming friends with an izakaya-owning sumo family in Kashiwa, bringing us some amazing insights about their sons, Kotoshoho and Taiki. However, this was also the year when one of the greatest wrestlers in amateur sumo history, two-time High School Yokozuna and two-time University Banzuke-topping Shiroyama Seira, decided to quit his sumo club at Toyo University. No official reasons were given, but there are rumours to suggest that Seira, pictured below, may have suffered a severe injury of some sort. Being in his fourth and final year of university, Seira was expected to grab multiple titles this year, but instead, the spotlight belonged to someone else.  These awards are not necessarily given to the most successful rikishi in each category (we've got the amateur sumo banzukes for that), but are awarded to the individual or team who impressed me the most during the past year. Nine days, nine awards, here we go.

Anyway, many thanks for taking the time to read through all this. I sincerely hope that more sumo fans find out about amateur sumo in 2020, and hence come to appreciate how well amateur sumo complements Ozumo. You'll never feel empty between Honbashos again. Happy new year everyone, hope you have a great 2020!

College Club of the Year 2019 marked the end of the Toyo University era in college sumo. With their best member and team captain Shiroyama Seira going AWOL, Toyo University have gone from winning four national titles in 2018 to zero in 2019. Sure, they did reach four finals this year, but as Araiso-oyakata can attest, only Yushos can get you to Yokozuna. Now that Toyo University are no longer winning as much as they used to, Nihon University, Nippon Sport Science University and Chuo University have all had multiple tournament wins this year, with the first two leading the way with three national titles each. With Student and Kokutai Yokozuna Nakamura Daiki on their team, you may have expected Nippon Sport Science University to pretty much get a free win every match, but things didn't quite work out that way. Daiki may have dominated in the individual competitions, but when it comes to team matches, there's a Kazakh mountain who kept on getting in his way - Nihon University's Yelshin, a guy who came so so close to becoming Amateur Yokozuna. Both Nippon Sport Science University and Nihon University having been so impressive this year, it was very very hard to decide which of them should be the college club of the year. And so, let's leave this decision to their incredibly exciting match at the National Student Championships, the most important team competition in college sumo. It was at the semi-final stage of the tournament, winner takes all. Nippon Sport Science University on the near side, Nihon University on the far side: Congratulations to Nihon University, the college sumo club of the year. In the end, it was decided by a Kawazoe of Kumamoto. We started these awards with Kanazawa Towa's semi-final loss to Kumamoto's Sato Iroha, and we ended these awards with Nittaidai's semi-final loss to Kumamoto's Kawazoe Keita. That does seem very fitting doesn't it? Maybe I should have given the Sumo Club / Dojo of the Year award to Kumamoto's Uto Junior Sumo Club? Hmm......

@Yamanashi @Katooshu Thanks for the support, it's much appreciated. I really enjoyed writing this series, and it has brought back so many great memories from the past year. One final award, and then it's onto 2020!

College Rikishi of the Year I feel like Akinomaki and Katooshu will kill me if this award didn't go to Nakamura Daiki, this year's Student Yokozuna plus Kokutai Yokozuna. One look at his results from the past year shows you why: All Japan College Sumo Uwajima Tournament: Quarter-Finals All Japan College Sumo Usa Tournament: Semi-Finals All Japan College & Corporate Sumo Wakayama Tournament: Winner All Japan College Sumo Kanazawa Tournament: Semi-Finals All Japan College Sumo Towada Tournament: Semi-Finals National Student Weight Classes Championships (Heavyweight Division): Winner Kokutai (Senior Division): Winner National Student Championships: Winner And if these results by themselves aren't impressive enough, please consider the fact that Nakamura Daiki is only a first-year at Nippon Sport Science University. For a freshman to tear up the college sumo scene like this is just simply amazing, and to become the first freshman Student Yokozuna in 29 years? That's just the icing on the cake. The 193 cm (6 feet 4) and 165 kg (25 st 14 lb) Daiki, who wears the signature blue mawashi of Nittaidai, has a very powerful thrusting attack. Many of his bouts end up like this: If you are somehow able to get to his belt before his thrusting attack can take into effect, then he's able to do this to you: And if you think you've figured him out and able to counter against anything he can throw at you? Seven years ago, a second-year Nakamura Daiki became Student Yokozuna. Six years ago, he added the Kokutai Yokozuna to his collection. Five years ago, he graduated Nippon Sport Science University with 13 national titles to his name. And now, he has returned to college sumo to finish what he started.

Good point, I'll re-phrase it to "but Kumamoto did win the Inter-High, which is worth more than any other tournament in high school school, and far more than any tournament other than the Kokutai Juniors".