RabidJohn

Nah, what you're looking at is the injury that was announced well over a year ago: a detached pec. That hollow next to it (i.e. towards his shoulder) has been there for a long time. Check out the pics of his ceremonial dohyo iri over the last year.

Wakatakakage and Chiyonoumi will both miss the makuuchi wall. That's not a matter of opinion, as they're both in juryo...

@ryafuji & @Asashosakari Thanks for the replies. From reading the 'Banzuke', 'New juryo' and other threads hereabouts, I was aware of the 'tradition' of taking a new or 'proper' shikona on promotion to juryo or makuuchi, so I probably should have made myself clearer. Have there been any rikishi who changed shikona on promotion to ozeki, then reverted because they immediately hit a downward slump?

Surely not in Osaka... I know, "Don't call me Shirley."

Some of these between-basho topics are excellent! Rikishi always come across to me as a very superstitious bunch. You know, not shaving for luck, reverting to a previous mawashi colour when a change to a new one coincides with a poor run of results, etc. So much so, I'm surprised any of them dare switch from a shikona that's done them proud so far. Do they ever switch back if a name change proves 'unlucky'?

Is that not the way it works?

You just have to be a little patient. The mods will change your status soon.

Look again. Tochinoshin's glass is the other side of the jug, distorted by the glass of the jug.

Kisenosato knows. I believe the purpose of his own statement about the next basho he enters being make or break was to prepare the fans for the worst.

@Kintamayama That was brilliant. Please do more "last ever" basho summaries!

The odd zabuton was also thrown for defeats of ozeki this time, which I'd not seen before. It was commented on earlier in this thread. The Nagoya crowd seemed keen to find reasons to celebrate. Regardless of what it started out as, I'm fairly certain now that zabuton throwing is a celebration of an underdog's victory, rather than expressing disapproval at a yokozuna allowing himself to be beaten.

Sorry for taking a while to get around to this, but how about Mitakeumi? He was an oshi-zumo specialist, but he showed some pretty expert yotsu-zumo on the way to his yusho. It's been an evolution in his sumo for at least two years. I've suspected for a while that his apparently poor keiko results are because he's trying to master new (to him) techniques. How else did he learn to beat Hakuho on the belt? I wouldn't describe him as a yotsu expert, but he's getting more and more proficient at it; enough to be described as an all-rounder now, rather than an oshi-zumo specialist. I thought his gino-sho was particularly well deserved this time. --- I knew (and posted here) that Yutakayama would be a serious senshuraku opponent for Mitakeumi, but I didn't expect him to be quite so serious! He's turning out much better than I anticipated after his hokey-cokey makuuchi debut.

Mitakeumi has been my favourite rikishi for a while now, so I'm thrilled with his hatsu yusho. I hope he can make it 14-1 tomorrow. Yutakayama is a serious opponent, as he showed against Takayasu today.

Oh yeah! Mitakeumi didn't fall for Goeido's shenanigans at the shikiri-sen - and shed his loses-in-streaks tag. Dude looks like a winner atm. At the other end of the scale, is Yoshikaze going for a zen-pai (if there is such a thing) 0-15? Distinct loss of fighting spirit from a formerly feisty rikishi, who has been among my favourites. I'm with Morty; it's time for Yoshikaze to give his face a permanent rest.

The one who got two sashi-chigae in May... And have they ever leapfrogged a mid-makuuchi gyogi past four sanyaku ranks straight into one of tate jobs?