mikawa 1,794 Posted March 28, 2019 (edited) Starting from middle school, sumo tournaments are no longer gakunen-betsu (separated by year groups). That means first years compete on a level playing field with second and third years, in what can be described as "open" tournaments (like in golf). Third years usually have an advantage over everyone else, but things don't always go their way. For example, the final of a national middle school tournament back in 2010 was constested between TWO second-years. And the winner? Utetsu Fumiya, who is now known by another name - Onosho. This banzuke takes into account the following tournaments: 29th National Middle School Student Championships 48th National Middle School Championships 9th Hakuho Cup East Yokozuna - Ochiai Tetsuya (落合 哲也), TottoriWest Yokozuna - Tebakari Taiki (手計 太希), Saitama East Ozeki - Takeda Shoichiro (竹田 章一郎), TochigiWest Ozeki - Nishika Haruto (西加 陽斗), Kagoshima East Sekiwake - Yoshii Ko (吉井 虹), ShizuokaWest Sekiwake - Otsuji Riki (大辻 理紀), Hyogo East Komusubi - Kawazoe Fuma (川副 楓馬), KumamotoWest Komusubi - Arutangereru Sosorufu (アルタン ゲレル ソソルフー), Tottori East Maegashira 1 - Fujita Kazuto (藤田 一翔), ChibaWest Maegashira 1 - Kosaka Tsuyoshi (小坂 剛司), Tokyo East Maegashira 2 - Hanafusa Kai (花房 海), TokyoWest Maegashira 2 - Hamaguchi Hayato (濱口 颯翔), Kagoshima East Maegashira 3 - Komiyama Toa (小宮山 翔海), TokyoWest Maegashira 3 - Ichikawa Taiyo (市川 太陽), Tokyo East Maegashira 4 - Izumi Atsushi (泉 厚志), SaitamaWest Maegashira 4 - Wakita Kotaro (脇田 晃太郎), Kagoshima East Maegashira 5 - Nagamura Akihiro (長村 晃宏), MiyazakiWest Maegashira 5 - Inoue Goshi (井ノ上 豪志), Wakayama East Maegashira 6 - Kodama Yuto (児玉 優翔), AkitaWest Maegashira 6 - Kimura Joichiro (木村 丈一郎), Tochigi East Maegashira 7 - Takko Asahi (田子 麻聖), AkitaWest Maegashira 7 - Shirakawa Daito (白川 大翔), Kagawa East Maegashira 8 - Nishijo Takuto (西條 卓斗), NiigataWest Maegashira 8 - Kakuta Toratoshi (角田 虎紀), Ishikawa East Maegashira 9 - Lee Bill Christopher (リ ビル クリストファー), KanagawaWest Maegashira 9 - Yagi Yuma (八木 裕真), Hyogo East Maegashira 10 - Uchida Kyota (内田 京汰), ShizuokaWest Maegashira 10 - Magoshiro Masami (孫城 雅巳), Saga East Maegashira 11 - Kobayashi Arashi (小林 嵐), SaitamaWest Maegashira 11 - Yamashita Sho (山下 昇), Kochi East Maegashira 12 - Yamato Yuji (山藤 勇治), GifuWest Maegashira 12 - Iwamoto Yoshikazu (岩本 修和), Kagoshima Sanyaku Photos East Yokozuna - Ochiai Tetsuya (落合 哲也), Tottori West Yokozuna - Tebakari Taiki (手計 太希), Saitama East Ozeki - Takeda Shoichiro (竹田 章一郎), Tochigi West Ozeki - Nishika Haruto (西加 陽斗), Kagoshima East Sekiwake - Yoshii Ko (吉井 虹), Shizuoka West Sekiwake - Otsuji Riki (大辻 理紀), Hyogo East Komusubi - Kawazoe Fuma (川副 楓馬), Kumamoto West Komusubi - Arutangereru Sosorufu (アルタン ゲレル ソソルフー), Tottori Comments The race for East Yokozuna for the middle schoolers was always going to be between Kumamoto's Kawazoe Fuma and Tottori's Ochiai Tetsuya. These two are pretty much your perfect sumo wrestler - big, strong, powerful, quick feet and quick thinking, have a great ring sense, technically sound, and on top of all that, a very strong desire to win. Therefore, it is no surprise to find Ochiai Tetsuya at the top of this banzuke. The kid even has a gym in his own home! But what about Kawazoe Fuma, you might be asking? Why then is he not at West Yokozuna? Well, he was on course for the just that (and then some) when he claimed second place at the Middle School Student Championships, but an injury suffered incredibly early on at the Middle School Championships soon derailed those plans, and so he has to settle for East Komusubi. I've always felt that Fuma is the best wrestler in his year group, but sometimes he's just been really unlucky. Their head-to-head record is 1-0 to Tetsuya. Tetsuya was the most successful wrestler, but the most impressive wrestler over the past year has got to be Tebakari Taiki, younger brother of Ozumo hopeful Kototebakari. He's been getting audiences excited everytime he's stepped onto the dohyo. Taiki is a perfect example of "size doesn't matter" in sumo. He's very tall and strong, he's (relatively) thin, his sumo is very very clever. Taiki is basically the next Ura, but taller. You can see just how skillful he is by the way he dealt with Yoshii Ko, last year's Middle School Yokozuna, in the following bout (from 16:32): As a sumo wrestler, West Ozeki Nishika Haruto is like an older version of Nakanishi Kaishin. He's short, strong and very clever with his sumo. However, unlike Kaishin, Haruto did not have anywhere near as much recognition during his primary school days, despite having been a national semi-finalist once. A lot of that has to do with two club-mates of his, whose stories had been told in this Amasumo article. Since then though, he has gotten better and better and better, and winning the Middle School Student Championships last year was certainly a deserved reward for his hard work. Now if only he had won the other tournament instead, then Sumiyo could boast of another Yokozuna...... If I were to write a "Rivalries in Amateur Sumo" article about Tebakari Taiki, then the story would also involve Hanafusa Kai. Those two have been at it since a very young age, so much so that when a radio program asked Kai who his rival was, he instantly replied "Tebakari Taiki-kun". I'll go into Kai's own sumo story another time, and boy has it been an adventurous one, but now that Kai has graduated from middle school, this does have serious consequences for his club (Mitaka Sumo Club), for whom he's been club captain for the past couple of years. The reason for this is that Mitaka's rise has had a lot to do with recruiting Hanafusa Kai, and later on Kodama Hayato. Together, they have won numerous honours for the club, including 1 Wanpaku Championship and 4 Hakuho Cups, and they've even helped the club reach the final of the National Club Championships. However, now that Kai has graduated and Hayato has also left the club (along with his younger brother Kodama Sosuke and someone else called Yamashita Toma), it means that Mitaka only have 2 members remaining who can hold their own in the ring, and both of them happen to be in the same year group, and that year group just happens to be Grade 6. In other words, Mitaka will likely struggle to win another team match for a long time. But one thing we can definitely look forward to are the second-years Fujita Kazuto and the Mongolian-but-now-moved-to-Tottori kid Sosorufu. They will both be exciting prospects over the next year, and let's not forget that we will be having a famous and long-time rivalry renewed - Narita Rikido and Uchida Kyota. It's going to be a straight shoot-out between Team Tottori and Team Shizuoka. And for the fourth banzuke running, we get to mention a member of Tachikawa Renseikan - last year's club captain Ichikawa Taiyo. Taiyo started sumo when he was in Grade 4, and has seen huge improvements in his sumo over the years. So much so that he has been a vital member of Team Tokyo for the past two years, helping the team to reach a national quarter-final and then a national final. His favourite rikishi is Abi. Edited March 31, 2019 by mikawa 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikawa 1,794 Posted March 28, 2019 (edited) Question Time: At the start of this post, I mentioned that a national middle school final in 2010 was contested between TWO second-years, one of whom was Onosho. But who was the other over-achieving second-year? Hint: He has also joined Ozumo since then, and I have written about him here in the Amasumo Section Edited March 28, 2019 by mikawa Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bumpkin 438 Posted March 28, 2019 East Maegashira 9 - Lee Bill Christopher, Kanagawa. Please explain? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Otokonoyama 2,735 Posted March 29, 2019 4 hours ago, Bumpkin said: East Maegashira 9 - Lee Bill Christopher, Kanagawa. Please explain? Child of foreign nationals residing in Japan attends a local school, joined the sumo club, and apparently does reasonably well in competition. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikawa 1,794 Posted March 29, 2019 @Bumpkin As Otokonoyama said. And here's a photo of Christopher Lee, he's second from right: 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Katooshu 3,138 Posted March 29, 2019 (edited) 17 hours ago, mikawa said: Question Time: At the start of this post, I mentioned that a national middle school final in 2010 was contested between TWO second-years, one of whom was Onosho. But who was the other over-achieving second-year? Hint: He has also joined Ozumo since then, and I have written about him here in the Amasumo Section That has to be Masa Yamamoto, aka Kiyonoumi! I'm sure in the days of his amateur glory he had higher expectations than a career in mid-sandamne.... Though, looking on the brighter side, he will be at a career high rank next basho and with 5 wins would be promoted to makushita... Edited March 29, 2019 by Katooshu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikawa 1,794 Posted March 29, 2019 @Katooshu Absolutely, and the thing is, Toma Tsuguto's path and circumstances have been very similar to his up until the end of Middle School. It would be interesting to see if Toma can overtake Yamamoto on the banzuke. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites