Yamanashi

"'Flying Monkey'! Too Silly for a Sanyaku!" ... "Flying Gorilla"?

Ozeki Shodai, predicted by our prophet Kintamayama

@Otokonoyama, @Yubinhaad, @Asashosakari, thanks for the information. It just struck me as strange. Is there any such rule for announcing a Yokozuna?

"Hiroko, you got your hair done .... uh .... what's that smell? "It's bintsuke! I got my hair done at Tokotama-san's new salon, Oichomage."

Strange choice of messengers, especially in status-conscious Japan: two former Sekiwakes welcome Shodai to the Ozeki Club. Isn't there some sort of procedural rule about that??

Everyone is different. There are those (probably not Kotoshogiku) who see a drop to Juryo as at least a couple more paychecks before you make that irrevocable step and retire. Considering the career record (96 basho as a sekitori, one-third of those as Ozeki!), his deferred salary and other payments should be substantial. I'd think he would want to step into his Oyakata shoes ASAP, but maybe he wants to savor this a little longer.

Pretty obscure here, but I'm trying to figure out the effect University sumo has on Makuuchi performance. For Aki basho: Out of all 42 rikishi, 7 are Mongolian (& no University), 16 are Japanese w/ University, 19 are Japanese/other (& no University). Weighting this number by M17 = 0, M16 = 1, etc up to Yokozuna = 20, we get: Mongolian 84, University 169, other 185. Per capita: Mongolian 12.0 (~M5), University 10.6 (~M6), other 9.7 (M7). Having two Mongolian Yokozuna and 4 University guys in Sanyaku helps those groups; however, the numbers show a separation among groups. What I take from this is that the effect of entering after college is a slight positive rather than a negative right now. The age gap due to starting later out of University and other factors I will leave to the real stat jocks on this forum.

Also, I 'd like to know, just for the information, when does "the day" reset? Is it on Japan time? On some days I get a stop put on at about 9 AM EDT.

Also, he's the major factor for keeping injured rikishi off the BG list. "They also serve who only stand and get yorikiried."

A possible explanation: Sunday -- constant drinking starting after final ceremonies until early morning Monday -- phone call asking when we can meet; "Hell, not tomorrow, my head is exploding!"; How about Wednesday?; "Yah, yah, goway byebye." Tuesday -- "We should have met today. Oh, what are we talking about tomorrow?" Wednesday -- meeting

I wish there were a "Wow" icon. That was a surprise.

I am embarrassed to say it, but I laugh every time at the Hakkaku announcement shtick. Keep it up! The Jonokuni matchups are especially fascinating for their occasional display of uninspired sumo. For example, Day 15 Kotokino vs Kenho: they look like they're trying to steal each other's wallet!

"I also want to apologize to Kintamayama-zeki for taking so long and making him look like a fool. I hope he is vindicated now!" Gee, that's great. The guy remembers the people who supported him when ... wait WUT?

Do you think, deep in his heart of hearts, he would have taken fewer heya wins in exchange for one more win for Oshoryu at Ms9?

He seems to be hitting that upper Makushita wall. No one at Narutobeya (including his co-winners in the Jk yusho) are much of a challenge. He needs some work with his peers from other heya, I think, maybe some before next basho.

Go to the Off-Topic thread. Select "Have a go at a Haiku!". Pour out your anguish and despair in 5-7-5 blank verse. Repeat until the next banzuke is published.

Now those two would be worth seeing, since I'm sure Giku will heal (just not before he's at Sd45). They met 42 times on the dohyo; Toyonoshima won the first four at lower ranks, then 28-12 Giku after that. He has a world-class scowl, especially before a match. He makes me think of Achilles sulking while the Trojans are beating the crap out of the Greeks at Troy. More disaster for the Greeks, more scowling ...

Akebono spent a year at Hawaii Pacific University on a basketball scholarship. If he had done Sumo first and then basketball, he probably would have fouled out of every game.

I wrote this in January 2019. It's closer to correct than a lot of my opinions. Imagine a cultural anthropologist finding the Hatsu 2019 final results and trying to deduce the structure of Ozumo from that one piece of data: "The strongest wrestlers, or rikishi, are the Sekiwake, as shown in the final win/loss table. The Ozeki class contains veteran wrestlers who have passed their prime, but continue to hold rank as long as they maintain an 8-win average. The Yokozuna consists of recently retired rikishi who, as in golf, participate in the first few rounds for the sake of loyal fans, but remove themselves early in order to maintain their health. We admit to having no definitive idea what the Komosubi class does. Although more research is needed, we now believe that this rank contains rikishi who are being punished for some infraction. Perhaps the discovery of more banzuke will clarify some of our assumptions." 

Well, he's the rare sumo wrestler who likes to punch people ... ooh, sorry, too soon??

My thoughts exactly. Maybe they're prepping for Oldboy Sumo 2022: Kasugayama (Ikioi) vs Naruto (Kotooshu) and Furiwake (Shohozsan) vs Ajigawa (Aminishiki).

To paraphrase The Princess Bride: "Never go in against a Mongolian when kachi-koshi is on the line." Kotoeko-Takarafuji: I love both those guys; I wish there were a special torinaoshi where both combatants get a win.

It reminds me of the signs on walls in the U.S.: "No Loitering". Of course, only loiterers will be hanging around long enough to read the sign.

Which is why Sumo has it all over Fight Club. When you've been using judgement calls rather than legalese for 250 years, people will usually give you a little slack. While many of their decisions and rules seem "inefficient", there aren't many instances where I've felt that they are just off-base. Except for their obsession with Tochinoshin's heel, of course -- now that's delusional.

It certainly wouldn't be well received by me. As others have mentioned, the problem takes care of itself "in the top two divisions", as several recent retirees can attest. And it preempts some iconic moments in Sumo history, like the Yusho of Kyokutenho. There have been 20 retirements by current or former sekitori in the last two years, and 12 were less than 35; the rest: Satoyama, 37 (Ms9); Takekaze, 39 (J12); Aminishiki, 40 (J11); Yoshikaze, 37 (J7); Toyonoshima, 36 (Ms7); Kizenryu, 35 (Ms8); Sokokurai, 36 (Ms41); Tokushinho, 36 (Sd4). I daresay most of these were doing well after 35, and knew to retire when they stopped doing well. Now if you check the running count of ex-sekitori that comes out each basho, there are plenty of sad, deluded souls who keep tryiong to get back to Juryo and keep falling farther back each year. But they don't affect "the top two divisions." If I had to guess some names of "dead wood", they might include Shohozan, Tochinoshin, Tokushoryu, Kotoshogiku, Ikioi, Kitaharima, etc. Of those, only Giku is over 35, and I bet he's intai within a month. Another good candidate would be Akiseyama (35), but the old guy is currently 11-3, so it would be awkward to force retirement on him now. It doesn't seem like an arbitrary cutoff would really give us more advantages than disadvantages here.