Best of 2016 Rikishi

[Akinomaki 40,666]

Best rikishi in some category - with and without awards, those will come later.

Most makuuchi wins of the year of course goes to Kisenosato, but most losses is a nice list as well. Also to be high on this one, it is crucial to be in makuuchi the whole year, with very few days kyujo. After Aki Tokushoryu was top, but dropped to juryo - Ikioi was 2nd and Sokokurai and Tochinoshin were 3rd. http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/12/03/kiji/K20161203013834170.html

　（１）Sadanoumi ５１（８、８、８、８、７、１２）

　（２）Tochiozan ５０（８、１１、７、７、８、９）

　（２）Kaisei ５０（１０、４、７、８、９、１２）

　（４）Ikioi ４９（１０、５、１１、１０、８、５）

　（４）Shohozan ４９（１０、１１、４、１０、７、７）

　（４）Aoiyama ４９（８、８、９、７、６、１１）

　（７）Yoshikaze ４８（７、１１、８、５、８、９）

　（７）Sokokurai ４８（７、８、８、９、１０、６）

　（７）Terunofuji ４８（３、７、１３、７、１１、７）

　（１０）Tochinoshin ４７（９、９、５、９、１０、５）

Sadanoumi is 25th on the list of most wins this year and with 43.3% has a better winning percentage than Terunofuji with 40.7%. Both Kaisei and Tochiozan were 3 basho in sanyaku. Tochiozan as plain makuuchi had wins against 1 yokozuna and 3 ozeki in Nagoya.

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Dapeng 235]

On 12/3/2016 at 08:35, Akinomaki said:

Ikioi was 2nd and Sokokurai and Tochinoshin were 3rd

Sadanoumi is the first in the ranking, but why Ikioi the 2nd, and Sokokurai 3rd and Tochinoshin 4th?

[Sakura 1,489]

22 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

Sadanoumi is the first in the ranking, but why Ikioi the 2nd, and Sokokurai 3rd and Tochinoshin 4th?

I think after Aki, they were 2nd 3rd and 4th, but their performances in the last basho were better so they dropped down.

[Akinomaki 40,666]

1 hour ago, Sakura said:

1 hour ago, Dapeng said:

Sadanoumi is the first in the ranking, but why Ikioi the 2nd, and Sokokurai 3rd and Tochinoshin 4th?

I think after Aki, they were 2nd 3rd and 4th, but their performances in the last basho were better so they dropped down.

Yes, Tokushoryu then was 1st - and Tochinoshin joint 3rd.

On 3.12.2016 at 14:35, Akinomaki said:

 After Aki Tokushoryu was top, but dropped to juryo - Ikioi was 2nd and Sokokurai and Tochinoshin were 3rd.

 

[Maguroyama 27]

On the other end of the table - most wins that is - we have Kisenosato winning the "title", without winning a single yusho during the year. I cannot find any example of this happening after 1970. Has it ever happened?

[ryafuji 815]

1 hour ago, Maguroyama said:

On the other end of the table - most wins that is - we have Kisenosato winning the "title", without winning a single yusho during the year. I cannot find any example of this happening after 1970. Has it ever happened?

Not in the six tournaments a year era, no.

Edited December 7, 2016 by ryafuji

[Akinomaki 40,666]

Hochi has the voting for their pro sports awards going on - but apparently that's only by snail mail - and maybe for paying subscribers of the site. Nikkan (odd) awards have started, decided by the sumo reporters.

One that didn't make it into an "award" (one of the 5 Nikkan ozumo taishou) is the result of the heya watch (maybe they didn't want to steal the idea from Naganoyama):

Of 44 heya the one with the best winning percentage of 2016 is Asahiyama of ex-Kotonishiki, 61.8%: Asahiryu 19-2, Asahikuni 8-6 and Asahinishiki 7-13.

2. Asakayama of ex-Kaio: 58.2% - 6 rikishi, Kaido with 31-11

3. Tagonoura, with Kisenosato and Takayasu: 56.1%

4. Izutsu 55.9%

5. Miyagino 55.5%

6: Tokitsukaze 7: Azumazeki 8: Sadogatake 9: Takanohana 10: Nishikido ... 23: Takasago 50.0%

Isegahama got pulled down by Terunofuji and has just 48.7%

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/column/sumo/news/1749293.html

photo from the start of the heya, taken on June 28th: Asahinishiki, Asahiryu and Asahiyama-oyakata

 

Edited December 9, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,666]

Nikkan awards were published in the paper since the 9th and with delay now on the net.

The "No force-out, please!" award (AKA "He surely won't use yorikiri") goes to Takekaze: no yorikiri at all this year among his 46 wins - and none last year: his last was at his last bout of 2014. "Sumo at the mawashi is not my style - I haven't learned to do it." The former student yokozuna did judo before starting sumo in high school: there he got hammered in this style. In university he became a bit more versatile, but Oguruma-oyakata told him: "You may do well with a mawashi grip, but you're lousy when someone gets a grip on you." - so he abandoned all yotsu-zumo. And with this style and as the oldest in makuuchi after Aminishiki dropped to juryo, he had one of his best years so far: 4 kachi-koshi in makuuchi.

the next best at avoiding are

Kotoyuki with just 1 yorikiri
Aoiyama 2
Tochiozan 3
Tamawashi 4
Shohozan 5
Okinoumi 11
Takayasu 12
Ikioi, Yoshikaze 13
...
Kisenosato 36

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/1749404.html

 

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,666]

The 2nd day saw Nikkan deviate from awarding to makuuchi: the juryo actor award - it goes to Ura. Nikkan simply added up the NSK juryo kanto seishin spectator votes for this year - results for last basho are here (only the top 3 each day, not the number of votes):

Ura got 2604 (in 4 basho), then Ishiura with 2165 (in 5), Satoyama 1763 (5), Kitaharima 1137 (5) and Sato 979 (4).

Ura had especially many votes in his shin-juryo basho in May - and there for his spectacular moves on day 4 and day 10 (the koshinage) - on those days he had more votes than the top for makuuchi, which both days was Kisenosato.

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/1749878.html

Nikkan does not mention if the count includes the votes for the rikishi when they had one basho in makuuchi. Ura likely had his votes included when he as makushita had his bout in juryo on day 6 of the Haru basho - he was juryo top that day. Ura also as juryo was voted top in makuuchi on day 10 of the Aki basho.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Kintamayama 45,345]

Now, the monoiis. There were 49 monoiis in Makuuchi in 2016. And who was the guy that lost the most after a monoii? Goueidou- 4 times. The thing is, in all 4 of these bouts, he was awarded the win initially by the gyoji- referee. The decision was reversed three times and a redo was decided the other time. Still, he never complained. "When a  monoii is announced, I always think I lost, because when I lose I usually know. It won't help me to grumble since it won't change the outcome anyway.." he said. When asked since when he has this attitude, he answered: "Since I was born.."

[Akinomaki 40,666]

2 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

There were 49 monoiis in Makuuchi in 2016. And who was the guy that lost the most after a monoii? Goueidou- 4 times.

The detailed results for the "You can't be serious!" award of those who got robbed the most by the shimpan of the win the gyoji had given to them, either by direct loss or by having to do a tori-naoshi.

in the format

1. result after mono-ii as: confirmed-wins vs. not confirmed, which could still be a win after tori-naoshi, but no further info is given for Tochinoshin and Takekaze
2. the not confirmed detailed numbers: (sashi-chigae,tori-naoshi)
3. - number of mono-ii that year (including those the gyoji gave to the other)

Goeido: 0-4 (3,1) - 4

Takekaze 0-3 (2, 1) - 4

Tochinoshin 1-2 (1,1) - 3

Myogiryu 0-2 (2,0) - 3

Chiyotairyu 1-2 (2,0) -3

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/1751294.html

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Rocks 1,809]

4 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Now, the monoiis. There were 49 monoiis in Makuuchi in 2016. And who was the guy that lost the most after a monoii? Goueidou- 4 times. The thing is, in all 4 of these bouts, he was awarded the win initially by the gyoji- referee. The decision was reversed three times and a redo was decided the other time. Still, he never complained. "When a  monoii is announced, I always think I lost, because when I lose I usually know. It won't help me to grumble since it won't change the outcome anyway.." he said. When asked since when he has this attitude, he answered: "Since I was born.."

Interesting. 2 of the 4 which were reversed against him occurred in hatsu when he went 4-11. The 1st against Kakuryu Kintamayama says "Gyoji points to Goueidou. Monoii, obviously. Short one.' which means it's clear the decision was wrong. In the 2nd he is disqualified for a hair pull in what I think was a clearly wrong call. While Goeido does put his hand on his head there isn't a hair out of place on Takarafuji's head at the end of the bout. No hair pull IMO.

The 3rd reversed against him was pretty rough and occurred in the last basho and effectively killed his Yokozuna run as it gave him 2 losses and he had yet to face any Y/Os. It's debatable but I still say his heel was not down in this match against Okinoumi. Bad call IMO opinion. This one also has a little head shake by him, that's all, when he hears the decision against him showing his stoic attitude. Maybe he needs to be a little less stoic about these things.

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by Rocks

[Rocks 1,809]

On 12/3/2016 at 08:35, Akinomaki said:

Best rikishi in some category - with and without awards, those will come later.

Most makuuchi wins of the year of course goes to Kisenosato, but most losses is a nice list as well. Also to be high on this one, it is crucial to be in makuuchi the whole year, with very few days kyujo. After Aki Tokushoryu was top, but dropped to juryo - Ikioi was 2nd and Sokokurai and Tochinoshin were 3rd. http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/12/03/kiji/K20161203013834170.html

　（１）Sadanoumi ５１（８、８、８、８、７、１２）

Forgot to comment on this. Yes some of the guys have losses nearly as high as Sadanoumi but most of those started in sanyaku so they had  a bigger drop to make to be demoted to juryo. Plus Sadanoumi is the only guy on this list with only 1 KK and even that was at 8-7. Sadanoumi started the year at M9 and after 4 straight MKs was M10. Yes they were all 7-8 but how the heck does that happen? I realize because of how high he was ranked at M8 and the lack of guys needing promotion from juryo he is likely to still be in makuuchi in Hatsu but if he is anything but M16 after ending a year like that at 3-12 it's criminal.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Rocks

[Akinomaki 40,666]

That's the most interesting so far for me: the "You surely paid for the lesson"-award of who below ozeki missed the most kensho in his bouts - and Endo is not in the top 5 - those just below ozeki are the usual suspects, but the ozeki and yokozuna missed much more.

Top was Yoshikaze with 413 - what he got this year were 169 kensho. What he didn't get is still less than that of the worst at missing-out among the yokozuna/ozeki - of course it's Hakuho (with one kyujo): from his grip 448 kensho could escape (he won 1524).

And Yoshikaze's reaction? "Wow, 12 million Yen (in the envelopes)? There's no regret on my part." "Getting that much attention is an incentive for me." "I want to do sumo that gets applause even when I lose, that makes one think 'It was worth putting the kensho on that'. I'm still young!"

the other results

Kaisei had 370 kensho which he lost

Tochiozan 369

Takarafuji 359

Aoiyama 355

 

The real losers, the ozeki and yokozuna - the top is no surprise:

Terunofuji missed 615 kensho

Kotoshogiku 568

Harumafuji 536

Kakuryu 529

Goeido 527

Kisenosato 517

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/1751616.html

After the next banzuke is out, the full list of kensho that all rikishi then still in makuuchi won in 2016 will be published by Nikkan.

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,666]

Another ranking that didn't make it into an award by Nikkan: henka and the success of it

All movements to the side at the tachi-ai were counted as henka, also after a partial contact. Inashi to the side after a proper contact never was henka, but the writer doesn't exclude it from the henka definition for this list.

33 rikishi in makuuchi did it, in all 101 times, with 74 resulting in a win.

Most henka came from Sokokurai, with a 7-3 result. Among the multiple culprits the best henka winning percentage has Kotoyuki, he's 5-1, the worst Shohozan with 1-3. Some only gave it one try and lost: Kitataiki and Chiyootori.

43 rikishi met with a henka - the preferred victims were the usual blind attackers: Toyohibiki with a 2-6 result and Kotoshogiku with 2-5, but then Kaisei with 1-4, who falls for it especially when he carefully watches his opponent at the tachi-ai - he needs to work on this weak point. The only one with more wins than losses after henka was Kagayaki with 2-1.

Those who were the whole year in makuuchi and didn't henka were: Kakuryu, Okinoumi, Tamawashi, Kaisei, Shodai, Takanoiwa, Ikioi and Ichinojo.

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/column/sumo/news/1751950.html

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Rocks 1,809]

36 minutes ago, Akinomaki said:

Those who were the whole year in makuuchi and didn't henka were: Kakuryu, Okinoumi, Tamawashi, Kaisei, Shodai, Takanoiwa, Ikioi and Ichinojo.

Kisenosato henkaed? I'd like to see that.

[Katooshu 3,265]

A rather unsurprising victim....

 

[Rocks 1,809]

OMG it was Giku!?!?!? They are best buds too. That is too funny. Thanks.

[Akinomaki 40,666]

Today rikishi with the best winning ratio when fighting opponents then higher on the banzuke, also the same rank on the east as the one on the west. The problem with this is: the really high-up rikishi have only few bouts of that kind.

Top is Kisenosato with 55.6% (his overall winning percentage is 76.7%) from a 10-8, so he really deserves the "Bring them down!" award. 3-2 against Hakuho and Kakuryu, 2-4 against Harumafuji - and 2-0 against the Japanese yusho winners that took the east ozeki spot from him twice this year. But those losses against the really low ones ...

The other ozeki are miserable: Kotoshogiku 33.3%, Goeido 29.2% and Terunofuji 28.6%.

The next best ones:

Takayasu with 51.2% from a 21-20 - with 3 basho in sanyaku plus 1 at m1 against all y/o  - a really good result, but just like heya-mate Kise he couldn't get the promotion.

Then with 50% Hakuho, but only from a 2-2.

No. 4 is Takekaze, the oldest - this must be his year - 48.8%, 20-21, 2 basho at m7, the rest even lower.

No. 5 is Shodai - that really looks promising - 48%, 24-26

http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/1752055.html

Edited December 16, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Tenshinhan 1,607]

2016 makuuchi records:

Kisenosato	69 – 21
Harumafuji	67 – 23
Hakuho	62 – 13 – 15
Kakuryu	57 – 22 – 11
Goeido	56 – 34
Takayasu	53 – 37
Shodai	52 – 38
Kotoshogiku	47 – 35 – 8
Mitakeumi	47 – 41 – 2
Tamawashi	47 – 43
Kotoyuki	46 – 44
Okinoumi	46 – 44
Takekaze	46 – 44
Takanoiwa	45 – 45
Myogiryu	44 – 46
Takarafuji	44 – 46
Tochinoshin	43 – 47
Yoshikaze	42 – 48
Aoiyama	41 – 49
Ikioi	41 – 49
Shohozan	41 – 49
Kaisei	40 – 50
Sokokurai	40 – 48 – 2
Tochiozan	40 – 50
Sadanoumi	39 – 51
Chiyootori	37 – 46 – 7
Daishomaru	35 – 40
Endo	35 – 32 – 8
Ichinojo	34 – 41 – 15
Terunofuji	33 – 48 – 9
Gagamaru	31 – 44
Tokushoryu	30 – 45
Toyohibiki	30 – 45
Nishikigi	28 – 32
Arawashi	27 – 18
Daieisho	26 – 34
Kagayaki	26 – 34
Chiyotairyu	24 – 36
Kyokushuho	24 – 36 – 15
Chiyonokuni	21 – 22 – 2
Toyonoshima	20 – 25 – 15
Amuru	17 – 24 – 4
Chiyoshoma	17 – 13
Hidenoumi	16 – 29
Aminishiki	14 – 18 – 28
Ishiura	10 – 5
Kitataiki	10 – 20
Hokutofuji	9 – 6
Osunaarashi	9 – 7 – 29
Kitaharima	6 – 9
Satoyama	6 – 9
Amakaze	5 – 10
Seiro	5 – 10
Akiseyama	4 – 11
Homarefuji	4 – 15 – 11
Sadanofuji	4 – 11
Jokoryu	2 – 4 – 9

[Akinomaki 40,666]

Now the real awards start: today the Japan professional sports awards. For sumo Goeido gets a meritorious deed award. The big awards of course go to baseball. http://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2016122000854&g=spo

[Akinomaki 40,666]

One of the 3 distinguished persons in sports this year honored by the Mombu-kagaku-sho is Washuyama, the former Dewanoumi-oyakata. Ishiura is built the same and names Washuyama as the rikishi of his aspiration. http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/sumo/20161220-OHT1T50208.html

It was the same ceremony as the pro-sports awards:

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by Akinomaki

[Washuyama 641]

19 hours ago, Akinomaki said:

One of the 3 distinguished persons in sports this year honored by the Mombu-kagaku-sho is Washuyama, the former Dewanoumi-oyakata. Ishiura is built the same and names Washuyamaa as the rikishi of his aspiration. http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/sumo/20161220-OHT1T50208.html

It was the same ceremony as the pro-sports awards:

 

I approve of this post!  

[hamcornheinz 839]

Takekaze looked pretty good this year, although like usual he seems to have been stabbed in the eyes all the time.

[Akinomaki 40,666]

On 20.12.2016 at 17:25, Akinomaki said:

Now the real awards start: today the Japan professional sports awards. For sumo Goeido gets a meritorious deed award. The big awards of course go to baseball. http://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2016122000854&g=spo

The complete list is at http://www.jpsa.jp/topics.html

Not yet mentioned was the newcomer award for sumo: it goes to Mitakeumi.

The awards are for 15 professional sports categories - keiba has 2, golf men and women. All top class awards went to baseball, so they have none in the plain merit category, but one in the newcomer category, in spite of having also the best overall newcomer award: he's listed twice. Merit and newcomer awards go with 100 000Yen each.

Goeido and Mitakeumi were at the jungyo and not at the ceremony, Dewanoumi-oyakata was there for Mitakeumi - and could meet there with his predecessor Washuyama.

Edited December 23, 2016 by Akinomaki