Yamanashi

I believe your intuition is correct; the only way to have many yusho winners is to somehow not have dominant Yokozuna in several basho. On that note: Yusho by rank 1952 - present Yokozuna 250 Ozeki 91 Sekiwake 19 Komosube 5 M1-15 20

OK, I made up this list so one can check off Yusho winners when checking a basho:

I remember commenting in another thread that Kotooshu's lone yusho (14-1) included wins over eight current or future Y/O, and I see he beat nine yusho winners. His only defeat ... Aminishiki!

Just putting up a "Thanks" emoji seems inadequate for the prodigious amount of work you put into this series. But ... thanks!

Behold, the macaron dohyo!

Considering that there will only be a limited number of Yokozuna and Ozeki in a basho, it seems you'd need to have several hiramaku yusho winners around to run up the number.

Ah, yes, I forgot about that one. Named for that little fishing village where they make all those chopsticks

I didn't know whether to react with a "sad" or a "ha!ha!" emoji -- both, I guess. The heya part: yeah, he's gone since 2012, maybe Takanohana didn't have enough time to "raise him up right." Of course, if Saito-san was trying to get funds to join the koenkai, that's different.

Well, my point is that the rikishi's real name would have to seem "natural" to the Japanese language. If my first name were Ken, it wouldn't seem strange to have that name in Japan (though a person might say "Hmm, how did this foreigner get a Japanese given name?"). There don't seem to be any non-Asian surnames I can think of that would "pass" as an acceptable Japanese surname, let alone pass the test of sounding and looking "Sumo-like". To the first point: The DB is down now, but when I checked "Endo" and "Shodai", there were multiple predecessors, almost all with the family name "Endo" or "Shodai". I've only come up with single examples of "Baruto" ... or "Torakio". Postscript 1: My comments about the foreign Oyakata only suggests that they may "think outside the box" more when establishing their new heya. Of the first five uchi-deshi from the new Narutobeya, only one (Oshozan) seems to have a shikona relating to the Oyakata or the stable (though, of course, I may be wrong). Postscript 2: I don't remember receiving this information from the Forum, but I guess there is some oversight (at least unofficially) from the NSK on assigning shikona. So, no crazy ideas would ultimately get through? Postscript 3: I seem to be getting jumped on more often for my opinions lately. I take it as a badge of honor!

My guess is that this would have to start with an oyakata -- maybe a Mongolian like Tomozuna (ex-Kyokutenho) or other foreigner like Naruto (ex-Kotooshu). On the other hand, these may want to mollify the Committee by being sufficiently "conservative" about such practices. Isn't the major hurdle to using foreign shikona the fact that there are so few Japanese surnames that have homonyms in other languages (I know, you can think of dozens, but I can't). If they could use first names, there are several rikishi who would have pleasant-sounding shikona. Baruto Kaito's first name is actually Kaido! Unfortunately, his last name is Höövelson.

Tatsunami: I see a little of the dissipated look of Charlie Sheen.

Naruto: Left side, from front: Honma (Jd), Anzai (Mz), recruit, recruit Right side, from front: Torakio (Jd), Sumidagawa (Jd), Yobidashi recruit, Oshozan (Jd) Back: recruit

Koenkai. How does this work for an individual rikishi, and what sort of support does a heya receive. Does a popular sumo retiree take along his support group when he takes over a new or existing stable? And does a heya support group look out for a veteran rikishi who might be facing retirement with few prospects?

Yoshikaze and Chiyomaru: their smiling faces couldn't look more different, but you can't help but love both of them.

Agree (except that if Terunofuji had 13 wins instead of 20, I believe he would be facing intai). That was my point (so I guess it wasn't pointless). If Terunofuji's problem is diabetes, there are sometimes dietary and hormonal treatments that can manage the symptoms and return the "energy" of patients. If Kisenasato's problem is un-healable and he were not shielded by his status, he would probably be in Makushita by now with a 13-20-57 record; anyone with his impressive resume (and age) would retire rather than face life outside of sekitori. I probably misunderstand the whole thing, but I'd rather retire as a Yokozuna than as an ex-Ozeki Ms12. Sorry I didn't stick to my promise and move on, but I deeply respect your opinions and know that you have always tried to be fair in your judgements. So, I wanted to give it one more shot.