mikawa 1,794 Posted April 17, 2018 (edited) 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: 28th National Middle School Student Championships 47th National Middle School Championships 8th Hakuho Cup East Yokozuna - Mukainagano Shingo (向中野 真豪), TottoriWest Yokozuna - Ezure Haruki (江連 春樹), Ibaraki East Ozeki - Takei Sakutaro (武井 朔太郎), ShizuokaWest Ozeki - Ochiai Tetsuya (落合 哲也), Tottori East Sekiwake - Narumi Shoma (鳴海 匠馬), AomoriWest Sekiwake - Yamamoto Takeru (山本 剛瑠), Mie East Komusubi - Urayama Shusei (浦山 秀誠), ToyamaWest Komusubi - Ito Yasuki (伊藤 寧), Chiba East Maegashira 1 - Shirakami Reiji (白神 嶺治), IshikawaWest Maegashira 1 - Hanaoka Masaki (花岡 真生), Hanaoka East Maegashira 2 - Sakamoto Hirokazu (坂本 博一), ChibaWest Maegashira 2 - Yoshii Ko (吉井 虹), Shizuoka East Maegashira 3 - Shinkawa Taira (新川 大楽), OitaWest Maegashira 3 - Kume Kiyoshi (粂 貞), Yamagata East Maegashira 4 - Fujita Kazuto (藤田 一翔), ChibaWest Maegashira 4 - Goshima Masaharu (五島 雅治), Wakayama East Maegashira 5 - Nobehara Toma (延原 闘真), OsakaWest Maegashira 5 - Kawazoe Fuma (川副 楓馬), Kumamoto East Maegashira 6 - Yada Shota (矢田 翔大), OitaWest Maegashira 6 - Kubo Kaishi (久保 海心), Ehime East Maegashira 7 - Sato Kazuki (佐藤 架月), NagasakiWest 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), KanagawaWest Maegashira 8 - Sato Soya (佐藤 綜哉), Miyagi East Maegashira 9 - Kitano Soma (北野 颯馬), TochigiWest Maegashira 9 - Sakaigawa Keisuke (境川 圭佑), Aichi East Maegashira 10 - Omura Akihiro (大村 晃央), ShizuokaWest Maegashira 10 - Kawakami Ryusho (川上 竜昌), Kumamoto East Maegashira 11 - Tebakari Taiki (手計 太希), SaitamaWest Maegashira 11 - Eda Motoki (江田 基騎), Oita East Maegashira 12 - Kiyota Junpei (清田 純平), FukushimaWest Maegashira 12 - Soma Kento (相馬 健人), Tochigi East Maegashira 13 - Ishikawa Tsuyoshi (石川 剛), KochiWest Maegashira 13 - Nakajima Daisuke (中島 大輔), Nara East Maegashira 14 - Nakamura Takumi (中村 巧), YamaguchiWest Maegashira 14 - Nakata Daiki (中田 大樹), Saga East Maegashira 15 - Nakazato Tomotaka (仲里 智隆), OkinawaWest Maegashira 15 - Ihara Daiki (伊原 大輝), Tokushima East Maegashira 16 - Sato Takanori (佐藤 貴規), AkitaWest Maegashira 16 - Sato Kazato (佐藤 風翔), Aomori East Maegashira 17 - Kodama Ryo (児玉 亮), HiroshimaWest Maegashira 17 - Kodama Yuto (児玉 優翔), Akita Sanyaku Photos 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 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 April 21, 2018 by mikawa 1 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Katooshu 3,138 Posted April 18, 2018 (edited) 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 April 18, 2018 by Katooshu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikawa 1,794 Posted April 18, 2018 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. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites