Rigel

It would be nice for the fans to have Asanoyama fight Kakuryu. It would be an extreme break with tradition, but it would help give us some closure on whether he really "deserved" the yusho. (we'd all obviously be assuming the day 14 tochinoshin-kakuryu match would have been henka-free if the sumo association hadn't ruined everything)

I've watched this a few times, and I am not at all going to say this was a fix, but I think Kakuryu knew the henka was coming, and he accepted it. He came in VERY low into a roll as if "this is how to make it look good without getting hurt". No hesitation, no shock, no disappointment, just immediately a resigned "yep, I figured that was going to happen, ok fine".

If tochinoshin finishes 9-6 at this point, that would actually be compelling evidence (after day 13 anyway) that the sumo association has no influence whatsoever on the results of matches. They obviously cant ask Kakuryu to throw his match, but what about day 15?

Yeah, thats where I am at now. I don't buy into the conspiracy theories at all (we can hear a lot of the shimpan argument which is rare in sports), and I don't think this was a "robbery" as in the officials were trying to steal anything. This was the result of a bad replay system and 5-6 old men trying to remember what they saw in their old eyes 5 minutes ago.

That supposed mark is not where his heel went down, and it is not hard to see. Look at the straw bales, you can see where that supposed mark is in the 2nd pic vs the first. It is just a shadow.

After reading the fuller explanation on tachiai, I'm a little more sympathetic to the shimpan. If there's anyone to blame its either the replay technology, or the replay officials for being too timid or untrained to quickly make and argue the best call. The head shimpan asked the replay guys what they saw and he got a big fat shrug in return, so the replay guys were no help to him. "The ruling on the field must stand" is not a thing in Japan. Maybe it should be, but it isn't, if a shimpan said he saw something the gyoji didn't, they have to go with that. The guy who said he saw the heel touch suggested maybe they vote on it, but the others told him, no we didn't see anything, we can't vote, you must call it now.

So, thats it then, right? This is definitive proof that nobody in sumo ever listens to the doctors. Kisenosato was not that long ago, but that doesn't seem to faze Hakuho at all.

If we ignore walkover (fusen) wins and playoff matches, and only focus on regular matches contested, and if we also require at least 5 matches or more, I get this list of Hakuho's record vs each opponent. I assume you can take that list and trim it down however you want. The wrestler who had the most success (by winning percentage) against Hakuho was the 68th Yokozuna Asashoryu Aminishiki 37-4 Aoiyama 19-0 Aran 12-0 Asasekiryu 13-2 Asashoryu 13-12 Baruto 25-3 Chiyotaikai 21-6 Chiyotairyu 9-0 Dejima 10-2 Endo 9-1 Futeno 8-1 Gagamaru 5-0 Goeido 38-6 Harumafuji 37-21 Hokutofuji 4-1 Hokutoriki 11-0 Homasho 17-0 Ichinojo 12-2 Ikioi 13-2 Iwakiyama 6-3 Kaio 26-5 Kaisei 13-0 Kakizoe 9-1 Kakuryu 41-7 Kisenosato 45-16 Kitataiki 6-0 Kokkai 9-2 Kotomitsuki 22-9 Kotooshu 35-10 Kotoshogiku 56-5 Kyokutenho 28-2 Mitakeumi 8-2 Miyabiyama 23-4 Myogiryu 18-1 Okinoumi 20-1 Roho 6-1 Shodai 8-1 Shohozan 15-0 Takakeisho 4-1 Takamisakari 5-1 Takarafuji 13-2 Takayasu 18-2 Takekaze 22-1 Tamanoshima 7-1 Tamawashi 14-1 Terunofuji 9-4 Tochiazuma 6-5 Tochinonada 7-2 Tochinoshin 27-1 Tochiozan 38-2 Tokitenku 18-1 Tosanoumi 6-1 Toyohibiki 5-1 Toyonoshima 31-3 Wakanosato 11-6 Yoshikaze 15-3

I got a question for the banzuke experts, we all know that when an Ozeki is demoted with 2 Sekiwake already there, then they will create a 3rd sekiwake slot, but what conditions have to exist for them to create a 3rd slot for a promotion? Specifically, if Takakeisho wins but is somehow denied a promotion (unlikely but lets run with it), and Tochinoshin gets pushed down, would a 14-1 jun-yusho do it to create a 3rd slot for Ichinojo? And more generally, what in the abstract do you think has to happen for a promotee to force a 3rd sekiwake or komosubi slot?

It's not really considered a demotion. There's something else going on here, normally he would have been shifted west, but they have an unspoken exception at sekiwake where the better candidate for ozeki promotion is always east. If he was not on an ozeki run, takakeisho would have been west.

I think I agree, people are too quick to say that "everything before Ozeki doesn't count" as if it were written down somewhere. Its accurate almost all the time and good as a rule of thumb especially for "back to back yusho equivalent", but if you actually are talking about back-to-back-to-back Yusho in Sanyaku? There at least has to be a discussion, but in his case age probably would weigh against him.

Regarding Kisenosato and whether he will be given "credit" for showing up even though he lost all his matches: This (a lower-ranked yokozuna shows up and doesn't win any matches while a higher ranked yokozuna doesn't show up at all) has happened 4 times from the 1900's to today, but it has not happened in a long time, the last time was May 1954. They have NOT been consistent with how they handle it, so there's no precedent or seemingly any way to predict what they will do. Of those 4 times, the yokozuna who showed up seemed to get "credit" twice (May 1953, May 1918), and did not twice (May 1954, May 1948).

lol It is an absolute, for sure lock that if Japan wants a dohyo-iri in the opening ceremony, then they will get it. The opening ceremony is when the IOC turns anything and everything (within reason, I mean they wont allow anything truly shocking) over to the host country to tell the story of their nation. If Japan wants to devote 10 minutes to tell the story of sumo, then the IOC will be like "ok, fine just make sure thats its grand, flashy, and interesting". It can even be solemn and serious if they want, as long as its grand and there's a big story told behind it.

Aside from this, he would also have to be critically injured, like a broken leg or something to not be able to do a simple dohyo-iri. So, the risk seems very minimal. If his leg or foot hurts or something, just load up pain meds, get a cortizone shot, or whatever and get through it.

My theory on the final match was that Takayasu was defending a potential henka, you could see that on the first false start. Whether or not Hakuho was ever planning a henka, he saw that too, and went full strength on the tachiai to blast him out.