Memorable Ozeki Runs

[Eikokurai 3,433]

Now that Tochinoshin has pretty much wrapped up his ozeki promotion, I thought I’d ask what people’s favourite or most memorable ozeki runs from history have been. I appreciate some of us might not have witnessed that many with our own eyes, so feel free to count any you’ve enjoyed post facto.

For me, it has to be Kotomitsuki’s, purely for the first-hand memories. 2007 was the year I lived in Japan and it just happened to be a very significant one. Asashōryū got suspended for skipping a jungyo to play football in Mongolia, some bloke called Hakuho got promoted to Yokozuna (I was there for Haru when he won the first of his back-to-back yusho) and then Kotomitsuki captured the Japanese public’s attention by going on a run for ozeki. I remember well the excitement and tension that built across the first 10 days, the anxiety when he lost on day 11 one win shy of the target of 33 and the palpable relief when he won on day 12. His promotion was felt particularly because he’d been a sekiwake for so so long and there hadn’t been a new Japanese ozeki since Tochiazuma five years earlier. It was the era of emerging Mongolian dominance and people were thrilled to finally have a homegrown hero they could cheer for (who wasn’t Kaio or Chiyotaikai, haha). I couldn’t help getting swept up in it all and it’s one of the key factors for getting me hooked on sumo in the first place.

Of course, Kotomitsuki screwed it all up but we’ll pretend that didn’t happen for now. :)

[Jakusotsu 5,754]

For me it was Chiyotaikai, simply because the idea never occured to me that there could ever be anyone other than Wakanohana, Musashimaru, or Takanonami as Ozeki - and suddenly there he was, opening a floodgate of possibilities. (In my mind, that is...)

[Tsubame 355]

Wakanohana (III)

As this guy was one of the first sumotori I could recognize without any more hints or helps when I start watching sumo. He won a yusho and then a couple of good bashos after it and got promoted. His joyful, jovial personality hooked me to the sport and he become one of my alltime favorite sumotori.

 

Kotoosho

Because his run through the ranks and fast ascent. It was very impressive. But I cannot really remember any details anymore.

 

Miyabiyama's second try

Memorable in the way that he fulfilled all the criterias, but still got not (re)promoted to ozeki. No discussion needed here why. And it always remembers me that there are no fixed rules for promotions and that you have to consider all the circumstances.

[ryafuji 806]

Has to be Kirishima's November 1989 to March 1990 run for me. At the age of 30 and with a combined 11-34 record in his three previous visits to sanyaku, he went 10-5, 11-4J at komusubi and then 13-2 at sekiwake in the first three way playoff for 25 years, to become an ozeki 91 tournaments after his professional debut.

[Eikokurai 3,433]

6 hours ago, Tsubame said:

Wakanohana (III)

As this guy was one of the first sumotori I could recognize without any more hints or helps when I start watching sumo. He won a yusho and then a couple of good bashos after it and got promoted. His joyful, jovial personality hooked me to the sport and he become one of my alltime favorite sumotori.

 

Kotoosho

Because his run through the ranks and fast ascent. It was very impressive. But I cannot really remember any details anymore.

 

Miyabiyama's second try

Memorable in the way that he fulfilled all the criterias, but still got not (re)promoted to ozeki. No discussion needed here why. And it always remembers me that there are no fixed rules for promotions and that you have to consider all the circumstances.

I like your outside-the-box thinking with the Miyabiyama one. One more win in the third basho might have got him over the line but there’s something about the number 10 in sumo that is so open to interpretation; sometimes it’s a big number and other times it’s just not enough.