Hankegami

Hello there! I can pester y'all with a few comments being Sunday. So... I guess we have to look after Onosato and Takayasu, barring surprises. Hoshoryu is not having a bad first Yokozuna basho overall, but he's not moving around certain obstacles he should if he wants to remain in Cup contention. The only serious black horse (and not only his horse is black apparently) I can see is Takerufuji. I highly doubt that Churanoumi (7-1), Meisei (6-2) and Tamawashi (6-2) can play major spoilers at this point. I mean, the race is still wide open, but one must covet the Cup to win it. The guys mentioned above are having a good basho, anyway. I am particularly happy for Tamawashi - what a guy. Also, no one is heading toward a hard MK at the moment, except for Nishikigi and Shonannoumi (and Nishikifuji). However, those two have a history of late tournament recoveries, so it's not impossible they're going to limit the damage at the end. Again about MK, Kotozakura seems more and more likely to keep his Ozeki spot. Just three more wins and he gets his eight. Well, that's it. Let's see how things will unfold next week. Individual collapses can still happen () but I doubt the entire arasoi will face a total crumbling.

Some precious footage from Youtuber Sumo Flashback, uploaded just yesterday. The video is about the history of the NSK chairmaship, with a lot of most interesting photos and old videos. The most important thing for this topic is his photo of Wakanohana I teaching the dohyo-iri to Wakanohana II (25:19), more the already known photos of Tochinishiki teaching Sadanoyama (28:35), Sadanoyama teaching Mienoumi (31:10), and Mienoumi teaching Musashimaru (43:40). More generally, this video is a small gem for old-ish footage. We also have footage of the kanreki dohyo-iri of Tochinishiki in 1985 (23:13) and Wakanohana I in 1988 (25:59), which I never saw before personally.

I always took Kashiwado and Tamanoumi's promotion records to be integrated with their previous results. Kashiwado went 13-2Y 12-3J in Hatsu and Haru 1961 but wasn't promoted in that occasion. Tamanoumi went 12-3J 12-3J 13-2Y between Hatsu and Natsu 1968 but wasn't promoted again. In this sense, they brought a respectable record to back their promotion "on the occasion" (with Taiho and Kitanofuji respectively). They also won a yusho already, which Futahaguro did not. More generally, I feel that the early NSK was prone to make "thinking back" decisions. The first ever Yokozuna promoted by them, Chiyonoyama, was denied promotion with a 13-2Y 12-3Y back-to-back after Hatsu 1950 'because of his youth' (he was not yet 24). He was then promoted in 1951 with a single 14-1Y after a 8-7 post the previous tournament. The cases of Chiyonoyama and Kashiwado always felt to me like a "we should have promoted him back then" move. I don't know if we are to take Hoshoryu's promotion as evidence for more things to come, but I still am sceptical about a return to full equivalent results to be considered. The "at least one yusho rule" still stands. Hoshoryu made it, and Kirishima was one humiliating loss away from hitting the same result last year. I cannot see any reason for them to scrap this part of the requirements also.

There's quite the insistence in this and other articles in portraying him as a troublemaker out of thin air. Although Hoshoryu didn't help by avoiding to discuss any previous Yokozuna as his role model. Another man would have mentioned Futabayama (same stable) who is much good for all seasons in sumo discourse. Also, the rumors from the decision-making process show there is some factionalism at play. Hoshoryu seems to be backed by the people I expected the least to back him, such as Takadagawa (who until a few months ago was so old-fashioned not to take in college graduates) and Hakkaku (again, never a beacon of reformism as far as I know). Or at least it is if one associate conservatism with sterner rules. In a different perspective, Hoshoryu's promotion falls well into pre-1990s Ozumo practices. Whether the reason, his critics - or just the media - are now opening the hinkaku can of worms, also as good for all seasons as any mention of Futabayama can be. They're Mongolians, for Amaterasu's sake. Take a hint The ultimate meaning of those generalized accusations - as I see them - is that Ozumo should get rid of foreigners altogether to get its original purity back. This also would solve the problem of the lack of Japanese Yokozuna, all in one hit.

Time will tell. Anyway, for "Dai-Yokozuna" I mean getting 20+ Yusho in the 6 basho per year era. I still acknowledge that hitting 10 is already a good deal, but 40% of Yokozuna did that. Getting 10 in the 2 basho era (when the moniker stuck around) was an entirely different issue. Only 5 Yokozuna out of the about 35 from Tokyo sumo to be elevated to the rank before Tochinishiki and Wakanohana I (who hit 10 but in a 4 basho per year era) hit that mark, that is 14%. We can raise up their number to 7 by adding the two Yokozuna who finished their career with 9 Cups but are generally regarded as Dai-Yokozuna nevertheless (Umegatani I, Tochigiyama). That makes 20%. From Taiho onward (#48-73), 6 men out of 26 hit 20+, i.e. 23%. That fits. Personally, I would like there were separate terms to indicate those who hit 10 (which put them in a minority), and those who hit 20+ (the top of the top). In any case, that's too soon to imagine how far Hoshoryu will get. He already has 2 Yusho and at least 5 years of "reign" (possibly more, most Yokozuna hit 7). Those make up for at least 30 basho. With his current pace (1 Cup every 18 months, or every 9 basho), he can be expected to rack up 3-4 more Yusho for a career total of 5-6. Low-key, but not bad altogether. However, I expect him to increase his pace in the future - he changed his gear only four months ago in Kyushu, we cannot understand how much he's changed just yet. More than anything, we have yet to frame the 2025-2030 period of sumo in its general context. Six career Yusho are perfectly excusable when a Dai-Yokozuna is around. But are we going to get one anytime soon? Onosato is expected to take on this role, but those are expectations and not guarantees. I think things will be somewhat clearer by Kyushu 2025 - we'll see whether Hoshoryu effectively changed his pace and managed to get at least another Yusho, and what Onosato and Kotozakura did on their own.

They are the Osaka sumo Yokozuna. I left them out because they belonged to a different association altogether, and I have zero clues about their customs on teaching dohyo-iri. Also, Miyagiyama is definitely performing Unryu there: he's getting up after the squat. Onishiki (D) also performed Unryu, our best known photo of him clearly shows that.

Chiyonofuji being promoted at 26 y 2 m wants a word with you, preferably through a Medium. He's actually the prime example of Yokozuna doing big at 30+, and certainly the guy in @RabidJohn's mind in his previous post. About that, I also wish Hoshoryu a long, healthy career, but in most cases rikishi begin to slow down after they hit 30, so I was just being prudent there. For a general discussion about the age of most Yokozuna at promotion, I found this post on reddit. Also, keep i mind that before 1961 (Taiho and Kashiwado), a Yokozuna was expected to have a certain age, which skews the chart a bit. At 25 y 8 m, Hoshoryu falls in line with the age of promotion of Onokuni (25), Chiyonofuji (26), Wakanohana II (25), Wajima (25), Tamanoumi (26), Tochinoumi (26), Chiyonoyama (25 but denied promotion at 24), Futabayama (25), Musashiyama (26), Tochigiyama (26), Onishiki (26), and Umegatani II (26), Hokutoumi was slightly younger (24), but still out of the 21-23 bracket of most "young and successful" Yokozuna. Mixed bag of names, so feel free to pick your favorite prospect.

Thanks a lot. My guess is Musashimaru in any case. He's the only Dewanoumi Yokozuna to be an active oyakata. In my analysis in the other topic (here), I point out that Yokozuna from the same ichimon take absolute precedence. Even in case of Hoshoryu opting for Shiranui, I expect Musashimaru to teach him the style upon consultation with especially Isegahama. Taiho did the same by teaching Kotozakura the style despite being an Unryu practitioner himself. EDIT: Italian blogger ItalianiOzeki just confirmed that Hoshoryu will choose Unryu, officially because it has been the traditional style of all Dewanoumi Yokozuna. Tatsunami originally belonged to the Isegahama ichimon (hence the Shiranui tradition), but they shifted to Dewanoumi in 2018 because of the Takanohana issue. Hoshoryu will get his tsuna made and will be taught the dohyo-iri by Musashimaru on the 30th, as per ItalianiOzeki.

As I just posted in the other topic, Hoshoryu is promoted with the same record of Wakanohana I, Kitanofuji ,and Hokutoumi, and indirectly also of Kashiwado and Tamanoumi. Those are not really bad comparisons for him. Although I hope no one is expecting for him to be the next Dai-Yokozuna, I'm positive he can become a respectable holder of the rank. I sincerely wish him some five years of good results before the thirties catch up with him as well.

Apologies for being late to the party - I am even posting after Hoshoryu has been officially confirmed as Yokozuna as per @Kaninoyama's report here. I will try to make up for it with a hefty contribution to the ongoing discussion. A rapid query on Sumo db (here) shows every known 12-13 wins, 25/30 Y or JY results from Ozeki. The cases which are of interest for us (yusho + equivalent combination) are: Wakanohana I (promoted), Kashiwado (denied), Tamanoshima (future Tamanoumi, denied), Kitanofuji (promoted), Hokutoumi (promoted), Kaio (denied), Takakeisho (denied). I posted the same search a while ago and, again, it's a mixed bag. Both Kashiwado and Tamanoshima were later promoted with questionable results, but it is understood that their previous run was also considered in those decisions. Kaio failed to hit the 13 wins benchmark he was explicitly demanded for by the Committee, and Takakeisho was asked for a third strong showing. Many in this forum know the cases of Kaio and Takakeisho from first-hand experience, so I will discuss them separately. What stands out for both Kaio and Takaeisho are two things 1) their outstanding number of career yusho, and 2) their history of injuries. Kaio had been kadoban 5 times by the time of his tsuna run (including an instance in Hatsu 2003 when he would have been demoted, were not for the kosho seido system which allowed him to sit out one tournament without repercussions). Takaeisho had been kadoban 2 times before his run, including one instance in which he was demoted to Sekiwake only to regain his Ozeki rank in the following tournament. Now, I already argued in other posts in this thread that I was not 100% on board with promoting Hoshoryu. However, I am also trying to understand what the Committee is thinking. As others have already brought up, Hoshoryu is a successful Ozeki with another Yusho, two career jun-yusho, and a string of 18 basho without a MK. He doesn't have a history of frequent injuries, and in the overall he promises to be a reliable presence on the dohyo. By those measurements, he surely constitutes a better bet than Kaio and Takakeisho. His promotion still fells a bit rushed, but on the brighter side he surely stepped up since Kyushu. His sumo looks like the updated version of Kirishima (who fares very well whenever not injured) but without his downsides (recurring neck injury). In short, yes, I think the NSK is promoting him because they are not really at ease with leaving the Yokozuna spot empty, but Hoshoryu is not a bad bet. He's more experienced than Onosato, and has less issues than Kotozakura - as showed in this basho. He can be the top dog for a while, at least until someone else shows up (Onosato when he finally wakes up?). That's a far more complex question than some might think about. Tatsunami-beya was home of both Unryu (Futabayama) and Shiranui practitioners (Haguroyama, Futahaguro), with a recent tradition leaning more toward Shiranui through Futahaguro (also, Haguroyama once was the stable master, while Futabayama branched off to found Tokitsukaze-beya). However, I personally think he will choose Unryu for a number of reasons 1) He will be already promoted with a questionable record - he doesn't need to make things worse by taking up Futahaguro's style; 2) His uncle practiced Unryu - family matters; 3) His Ozeki rival Kotozakura (also with good chances to get the rope on the long run) is going to choose Shiranui for sure; 4) Mongolian Yokozuna used both styles, but Shiranui was famously used by Hakuho and Harumafuji (not the most popular guys in the Association), while Unryu was used by Kakuryu, the 'good boy' of the bunch; 4b) Again about Harumafuji, he doesn't want to be associated with an infamous kinboshi dispenser especially if he's widely maligned to become another one. In general, choosing Unryu over Shiranui would avoid comparisons with the worst part of the legacies of Futahaguro and Harumafuji, at the same time "hiding in the woods" his association with Asashoryu through a widely used style (also, I bet he would do a Takanohana & Kakuryu style Unryu dohyo-iri - down with the chest - just to distance himself further by his uncle's stand-up version of the entrance). Extra props if Kotozakura becomes Yokozuna and they can showcase their rivalry also through their different styles.

This detail about Tachiyama is most interesting. I assumed he was taught by yet another Yokozuna despite of his use of the Shiranui style. Given our more recent evidence of Taiho teaching Kotozakura, I assumed similar circumstances. I was wrong. Anyway, it is clear that my preliminary chart is to be updated as we gather more evidence. One thing we should dig deeper is the role of the gyoji until at least the 1920s. Aside from Tachiyama' s case, I recall that Tochigiyama took over Takasago stable from yet another gyoji (Kimura Soshiro). This shows that gyoji once had experience as sumo coaches, which is probably the reason Tachiyama was taught by one of them. Also, Tachiyama was part of Tomozuna stable, but unfortunately I don't have sources for its history before 1946 (foundation of the most recent stable with this name). I cannot check if his teacher was also his stable master. Alternatively, how old was the 16th Shonosuke? He might have been asked to teach Tachiyama as a prime witness of Unryu's dohyo iri. Back to the general topic, it's hard to ascertain whenever Yokozuna began to teach the dohyo iri to each other. I remain positive that it became a separate skill as soon as the general dohyo-iri became increasingly stylised. Sumo DB shows that Makuuchi was made up of just 20 rikishi up to the 1870s. Their number was gradually expanded in the 1880s to about 24 wrestlers, then 26 (1883) 28 (1884), 30 (1889), 36 (1893) - well, we get the trend. However, photographic evidence shows that the focus of the Yokozuna dohyo-iri already shifted from the stomps (as depicted in most woodblocks) to the pose in the 1860s, with a few woodblocks showing Unryu with his open arms, and the 1869 photos of Shiranui II and Kimenzan in poses. In short, I still think that my graph is still generally acceptable (the trend has to be started at some point between the 1860s and 1890s), but we must double check the single cases to be really sure. The best teacher for a Yokozuna dohyo-iri is a fellow Yokozuna, but exceptions are still possible in some cases (Tachiyama wanted to learn a long forgotten style). On a last note, I want to express all my admiration to @rokudenashi for his wonderful interactive chart - it's just too cool! Just be ready to add one more photo in a few days (most likely under Musashimaru, who is the only Yokozuna-Oyakata in force at the Dewanoumi ichimon)

Just looked up the Italian prize for obvious reasons (the list). A Murano glass plate, that's nice - although a bit souvenir-ish. If I get the gig correctly, it's not brand new but has been presented since 2023, and is for the Hatsu basho only.

So, Day 14 is done. There's a lot to unfold. The main news of the day is Kingbozan defeating Kirishima after a long bout on the belt. I was sincerely impressed, since Kimbo never resembled me a guy capable to do much more than a yorikiri with a belt grip. This win also confirms him as sole leader on the penultimate day. Now it's his tournament to lose. Tomorrow he has to win against Oho, who kept his 3 losses today. Oho looks good but somewhat Shodai-ish in his manners to me (not this Shodai, though). He doesn't give me the pants on fire attitude that Kinbozan has. Anyway, Oho wins - playoffs, Kinbozan wins - he gets a nice 13-2Y. Hoshoryu fans, of course, root for a playoff. Oho and Kinbozan don't have many precedents together, so there's little to be seen in the crystal ball. Kimbo won once when Oho was doing bad, and Oho won another time when Kimbo was doing awful. Tomorrow they will face each other for the first time while carrying both a good result. Aside from that, the san'yaku might open up a few spot tomorrow. Wakamotoharu is deep down, and both Abi and Wakatakakage are 7-7. Abi will have to face Daieisho, who with 10 win can start an Ozeki run and a 11th win would be cozy from his point of view (he's not going to get the rank anytime soon, though, even with a 11-4 he would need a 14-1 next basho to reach 33 - at best it's the first of three, and Daieisho already failed a few shots to the rank). Wakatakakage will face fellow 7-7 Ichiyamamoto instead - easier on paper, but Itchy will just not give up his shot for the joi. The only contenders in the joi are Kirishima and Oho, so just one of them going MK would suit them both. Otherwise, it will be a battle of which 10+ guy gets shafted (Kirishima ATM, being one loss down). Going beyond the yusho, I am most glad that Tamawashi got his 9th win. First time for him since Kyushu 2023. Tomorrow he has a shot to 10 (not happening to him since his 2022 Aki yusho).He actually has a softball on that, since he's paired against an ailing Kotoshoho tomorrow. Elders in the Committee gonna help fellow elders on the dohyo. Tamawashi actually looked a bit uneasy on his knees after the basho, but hopefully he's going to be alright. I am also happy for Hakuoho's 9th win. The boy has a lot of raw talent, but his injuries wrecked him. I hope he found his way finally. He will have a somewhat difficult path to 10 in Takayasu tomorrow. Props to Shonannoumi too. I wouldn't bet half a dime on him getting KK last week. Ah, and Shodai of course got MK after ruining the party here and there. Being a fan of his is almost a painful as being a fan of Mitakeumi - and I am a fan of them both somehow (I guess I like dark horses). He's followed by Tobizaru, the YokoSlayer himself. Never invite them to your party. And of course Mitakeumi is just a win away from being technically demotable now (sigh). The funny thing is that his recent wins are making him looking good, so they might actually talk about that with a 12-3PP Yusho (three-way playoff if Oho and Hosh both win). Takakeisho did the same, poor guy (12-3J 13-2Y), but he had two (sitting out) Yokozuna above him, which makes a difference somehow. I am not enthusiast about such a scenario either, but I am still a Hosh fan so... playoff, but Hoshoryu does not take the Cup while he keeps his Yusho run alive for Haru with a 12-3DD?

Seriously?!?! And here goes my meticulous bout-per-bout analysis with Excel and everything... Well, I guess this makes Daiesho quite available for Kinbozan if Oho loses on Day 14.

Yep. I think it's going to be Oho, though, especially if the latter wins tomorrow. Also, Daieisho is most expected to take up Onosato on Day 15. I can see their match to be scrapped for a match vs. Kinbozan only if the Kazhak wins (12-2) and Oho loses (10-4), forcing the Committee to go for the highest wrestler available as his final test. Were Oho to win (and therefore providing a 11-3 scorer available), he'll be Kinbozan's final foe in a classical Darwinian match. I think it would be still Oho also in case both him and Kinbozan lose tomorrow (11-3 vs. 10-4), also not to scrap a top match for little reason. Furthermore, a M3w is supposed to be a less difficult foe than a S1w, and the NSK would certainly prefer to get a better chance for a 12-3Y. About that, we still have a chance for a 11-4 Yusho (shudders). First of all, I tried to figure out the most likely pairings for this Sunday. I got: Kotozakura vs. Hoshoryu; Daieisho vs. Onosato; Takerufuji vs. Kirishima; Kinbozan vs. Oho. Now, all we need is 1) Hoshoryu wins vs. Takerufuji (11-3) tomorrow but loses to Kotozakura (11-4); 2) Daieisho wins both his matches (11-4); 3) Takerufuji loses tomorrow (10-4) but wins vs. Kirishima (11-4); 3) Kirishima wins vs. Kinbozan (11-3) but loses vs. Takerufuji (11-4); 4) Oho loses tomorrow (10-4) but wins vs. Kinbozan (11-4); Kinbozan loses both his matches (11-4). This nightmare scenario would entail a 5 men playoff between Hoshoryu, Daieisho, Kirishima, Oho, and Kinbozan. I don't know you, but I root for a 12-3Y scoreline at the least.