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mikawa

Middle School Banzuke 2017

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Following on from the Grade 6 banzuke, here is the banzuke for Middle School rikishi, which is created by adding up their results in national competitions during the past 12 months. Most of them are third (final) year students in Middle School, but there are some who are still in their second year. The places listed are not necessarily their home prefectures, but rather where they attended Middle School. Every banzuke will list the top 42 rikishi in each category.

This banzuke takes into account the following tournaments:

 

East Yokozuna - Mukainagano Shingo (向中野 真豪), Tottori
West Yokozuna - Ezure Haruki (江連 春樹), Ibaraki

East Ozeki - Takei Sakutaro (武井 朔太郎), Shizuoka
West Ozeki - Ochiai Tetsuya (落合 哲也), Tottori

East Sekiwake - Narumi Shoma (鳴海 匠馬), Aomori
West Sekiwake - Yamamoto Takeru (山本 剛瑠), Mie

East Komusubi - Urayama Shusei (浦山 秀誠), Toyama
West Komusubi - Ito Yasuki (伊藤 寧), Chiba

East Maegashira 1 - Shirakami Reiji (白神 嶺治), Ishikawa
West Maegashira 1 - Hanaoka Masaki (花岡 真生), Hanaoka

East Maegashira 2 - Sakamoto Hirokazu (坂本 博一), Chiba
West Maegashira 2 - Yoshii Ko (吉井 虹), Shizuoka

East Maegashira 3 - Shinkawa Taira (新川 大楽), Oita
West Maegashira 3 - Kume Kiyoshi (粂 貞), Yamagata

East Maegashira 4 - Fujita Kazuto (藤田 一翔), Chiba
West Maegashira 4 - Goshima Masaharu (五島 雅治), Wakayama

East Maegashira 5 - Nobehara Toma (延原 闘真), Osaka
West Maegashira 5 - Kawazoe Fuma (川副 楓馬), Kumamoto

East Maegashira 6 - Yada Shota (矢田 翔大), Oita
West Maegashira 6 - Kubo Kaishi (久保 海心), Ehime

East Maegashira 7 - Sato Kazuki (佐藤 架月), Nagasaki
West Maegashira 7 - Tatsunokuchi Naohiro
(竜口 尚大), Fukuoka

East Maegashira 8 - Lee Bill Christopher (リ・ビル・クリストファー), Kanagawa
West Maegashira 8 - Sato Soya (佐藤 綜哉), Miyagi

East Maegashira 9 - Kitano Soma (北野 颯馬), Tochigi
West Maegashira 9 - Sakaigawa Keisuke (境川 圭佑), Aichi

East Maegashira 10 - Omura Akihiro (大村 晃央), Shizuoka
West Maegashira 10 - Kawakami Ryusho (川上 竜昌), Kumamoto

East Maegashira 11 - Tebakari Taiki (手計 太希), Saitama
West Maegashira 11 - Eda Motoki (江田 基騎), Oita

East Maegashira 12 - Kiyota Junpei (清田 純平), Fukushima
West Maegashira 12 - Soma Kento (相馬 健人), Tochigi

East Maegashira 13 - Ishikawa Tsuyoshi (石川 剛), Kochi
West Maegashira 13 - Nakajima Daisuke (中島 大輔), Nara

East Maegashira 14 - Nakamura Takumi (中村 巧), Yamaguchi
West Maegashira 14 - Nakata Daiki (中田 大樹), Saga

East Maegashira 15 - Nakazato Tomotaka (仲里 智隆), Okinawa
West Maegashira 15 - Ihara Daiki (伊原 大輝), Tokushima

East Maegashira 16 - Sato Takanori (佐藤 貴規), Akita
West Maegashira 16 - Sato Kazato (佐藤 風翔), Aomori

East Maegashira 17 - Kodama Ryo (児玉 亮), Hiroshima
West Maegashira 17 - Kodama Yuto (児玉 優翔), Akita

 

Sanyaku Photos

East Yokozuna - Mukainagano Shingo (向中野 真豪), Tottori

Mukainagano.jpg

 

West Yokozuna - Ezure Haruki (江連 春樹), Ibaraki

Ezure.jpg

 

East Ozeki - Takei Sakutaro (武井 朔太郎), Shizuoka

Takei.jpg


 

West Ozeki - Ochiai Tetsuya (落合 哲也), Tottori

Ochiai.jpg

 

East Sekiwake - Narumi Shoma (鳴海 匠馬), Aomori

Narumi.jpg


West Sekiwake - Yamamoto Takeru (山本 剛瑠), Mie

Yamamoto.jpg

 

East Komusubi - Urayama Shusei (浦山 秀誠), Toyama

c686d328-91ef-4488-a5d0-dd78814150fa.jpg


West Komusubi - Ito Yasuki (伊藤 寧), Chiba

Ito.jpg

 

Comments

The very big and poweful Mukainagano Shingo has won every bout thrown his way during the past year bar one. This meant that he won both the Middle School Student Championships and the Hakuho Cup with convincing performances, and is unequivocally the best middle school rikishi last year. The only dent in his otherwise perfect performance was his semi-final loss to Urayama Shusei in the Middle School Championships, the result of a henka I might add. Two championship victories, but no Yokozuna title.

West Yokozuna Ezure Haruki had a very consistent year, as he always does. Although he's not as big as some of the others, Ezure is a very skilled rikishi, and knows exactly when to make a move, as was the case in the Hakuho Cup during his road to the final. He'll definitely be one of the names to watch out for in 2-3 years' time in the high school tournaments.

Of all the sanyaku rikishi on this list, 7 of the 8 were in their final year of middle school, but not Ochiai Tetsuya. Ochiai was still in his second year, and yet he was already able to hold his own against older opponents. He is strong and hardworking, and will be an invaluable captain for Team Tottori this year, especially as he will be backed up by Narita Rikido. Ochiai once met Hakuho during a Jungyo, who commented that Ochiai had a "good body" for sumo.

Both sekiwake can be considered as "小兵力士" (a category of rikishi that Ura and Ishiura are holding the torch high for). They have small bodies for sumo, but underestimate them at your peril. Narumi Shoma is one of the strongest rikishi on the list, and that certainly helped him (along with a bit of luck) on his way to the Middle School Yokozuna title. Yamamoto Takeru, on the other hand, is not as strong, but he certainly knows his way around the dohyo.

West Maegashira 1, Sakamoto Hirokazu, is the eldest son of Tokitsukaze-oyakata. He and his brother Sakamoto Shoma are both big names on the amateur sumo circuit, but Hirokazu is definitely the better all-round rikishi. He was integral to Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club's journey to becoming national champions last year, and has looked very good individually as well.

Other notable rikishi on the list include Nobehara Toma and Kawazoe Fuma, who were both pitted against Takatoriki on this TV program; Kume Kiyoshi, who has now entered Ozumo; Kitano Soma, who was the club captain of Komatsuryu Dojo last year; and Tebakari Taiki, whose older brother Toshiki joined Sadogatake Beya at the start of 2018.

Edited by mikawa
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Great post as always. Good to get to know these guys, and I'm really looking forward to the high school banzuke.

Do you know if this is Mukainagano doing keiko with Toma at around 8:04 of the video? It looks like him, although this footage I believe is from the start of the year, and I wasn't sure if he'd already be training at Tottori Johoku.

 

Edited by Katooshu

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7 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Do you know if this is Mukainagano doing keiko with Toma at around 8:04 of the video?

That is indeed Mukainagano, who appears to have joined Tottori Johoku. He is two years younger than Toma.

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