Most Similar and Most Challenging Yusho Schedules

[Eikokurai 3,418]

Perusing the hiramaku yusho records of Kotofuji and Kotonishiki just now a couple of things struck me. First was the similarity of their schedules, though not perhaps a big surprise given it was the same year, but second was the number of yusho or eventual yusho winners they faced along the way: seven.

Both fought and beat Mitoizumi*, Takatōriki*, Konishiki, Kirishima and Akebono.

Both fought but lost to Takahanada*.

Kotonishiki fought but lost to Wakahanada, while Kotofuji fought and beat Asahifuji.

Additionally both men fought and beat Ryōgoku and Tochinowaka.

 

This leads me to two queries:

1. What have been the most identical schedules fought by two yusho winners? Since Yokozuna and Ozeki fight a fairly predictable schedule each time there’s probably quite a few of these, but sumo history is full of surprises.
2. Who has faced the most yusho or eventual yusho winners en route to their winning own championship? What if this is restricted to only opponents who had already won?

*An interesting side-note is that all these men also won hiramaku yusho too.

[Yamanashi 2,919]

9 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

Perusing the hiramaku yusho records of Kotofuji and Kotonishiki just now a couple of things struck me. First was the similarity of their schedules, though not perhaps a big surprise given it was the same year, but second was the number of yusho or eventual yusho winners they faced along the way: seven.

Both fought and beat Mitoizumi*, Takatōriki*, Konishiki, Kirishima and Akebono.

Both fought but lost to Takahanada*.

Kotonishiki fought but lost to Wakahanada, while Kotofuji fought and beat Asahifuji.

Additionally both men fought and beat Ryōgoku and Tochinowaka.

 

This leads me to two queries:

1. What have been the most identical schedules fought by two yusho winners? Since Yokozuna and Ozeki fight a fairly predictable schedule each time there’s probably quite a few of these, but sumo history is full of surprises.
2. Who has faced the most yusho or eventual yusho winners en route to their winning own championship? What if this is restricted to only opponents who had already won?

*An interesting side-note is that all these men also won hiramaku yusho too.

Considering that there will only be a limited number of Yokozuna and Ozeki in a basho, it seems you'd need to have several hiramaku yusho winners around to run up the number.

[Eikokurai 3,418]

27 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

Considering that there will only be a limited number of Yokozuna and Ozeki in a basho, it seems you'd need to have several hiramaku yusho winners around to run up the number.

Asashoryu has a few examples where he fought no fewer than ten yusho winners or eventual winners. At Aki 2009 for instance he fought Baruto, Tochinoshin, Kyokutenho, Kotoshogiku, Chiyotaikai, Kisenosato, Harumafuji, Kaio, Kotooshu and Hakuho. I’ve not checked further (yet) to see if there are basho where he or anyone else fought more. 

I think yusho won around times of transition or without a dominant Yokozuna are most likely to have multiple yusho winners active at the same time, particularly where the condition of having already won a yusho comes in (as opposed to those who won a yusho later).

 

 

[Yamanashi 2,919]

4 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

Asashoryu has a few examples where he fought no fewer than ten yusho winners or eventual winners. At Aki 2009 for instance he fought Baruto, Tochinoshin, Kyokutenho, Kotoshogiku, Chiyotaikai, Kisenosato, Harumafuji, Kaio, Kotooshu and Hakuho. I’ve not checked further (yet) to see if there are basho where he or anyone else fought more. 

I think yusho won around times of transition or without a dominant Yokozuna are most likely to have multiple yusho winners active at the same time, particularly where the condition of having already won a yusho comes in (as opposed to those who won a yusho later).

 

 

I remember commenting in another thread that Kotooshu's lone yusho (14-1) included wins over eight current or future Y/O, and I see he beat nine yusho winners.  His only defeat ... Aminishiki!

[Eikokurai 3,418]

2 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

I remember commenting in another thread that Kotooshu's lone yusho (14-1) included wins over eight current or future Y/O, and I see he beat nine yusho winners.  His only defeat ... Aminishiki!

I made a mistake in my previous post. I overlooked Kotomitsuki who won a hiramaku yusho in 2001. So that basho Asashoryu actually fought 11 future or ex-champions, of whom five had already won a yusho.

[Yamanashi 2,919]

OK, I made up this list so one can check off Yusho winners when checking a basho:

[Eikokurai 3,418]

1 hour ago, Yamanashi said:

OK, I made up this list so one can check off Yusho winners when checking a basho:

Nice! :)

[Yamanashi 2,919]

13 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

Asashoryu has a few examples where he fought no fewer than ten yusho winners or eventual winners. At Aki 2009 for instance he fought Baruto, Tochinoshin, Kyokutenho, Kotoshogiku, Chiyotaikai, Kisenosato, Harumafuji, Kaio, Kotooshu and Hakuho. I’ve not checked further (yet) to see if there are basho where he or anyone else fought more. 

I think yusho won around times of transition or without a dominant Yokozuna are most likely to have multiple yusho winners active at the same time, particularly where the condition of having already won a yusho comes in (as opposed to those who won a yusho later).

 

 

I believe your intuition is correct; the only way to have many yusho winners is to somehow not have dominant Yokozuna in several basho.

On that note:

Yusho by rank 1952 - present

Yokozuna       250

Ozeki              91

Sekiwake      19

Komosube      5

M1-15           20