Hokuseiho - Shot at a record?

[Kaminariyuki 498]

I just did a search on SF for Hokuseiho and a few of the stalwarts here had certainly mentioned him in various threads, "New Recruits," etc. But, I have to give a nod to Tigerboy1966 who said on August 1 last year, after the kid's first basho and first zensho yusho in jonokuchi:

"In the longer term, I think that I have seen the future of sumo. It's big, ugly, mean and Mongolian and it's name is Hokuseiho."

I think he was simply being figurative or talking about the kid's sumo when he said "ugly" but I consider this one of the more prescient observations on the forum in the past year. There should be an SF sansho of some sort.

[rokudenashi 298]

I wondered whether this one would play out similarly to the Tokisakae bout from Haru where Hokuseiho allowed his more compact opponent to get a deep grip and enforce their gameplan before he had a chance to gather his bearings. However it seems that the training with Ishiura has paid off as Hokuseiho seems much more comfortable dealing with this sort of wrestler, which is promising to see.

It will be a completely different situation in Aki though as many others have said and it is reasonable to expect that guys like Nishikifuji, Midorifuji and Kaisho will give him real trouble. How long it takes him to acclimatise to this level of competition is the real question. I did not expect him to get through Makushita in only 3 tournaments, but here we are...

[Asashosakari 19,104]

13 minutes ago, Kaminariyuki said:

I just did a search on SF for Hokuseiho and a few of the stalwarts here had certainly mentioned him in various threads, "New Recruits," etc.

FWIW, the oldest coverage of him will be in the amasumo section, under his real name (mainly under the transliteration Dawaaninji as far as I can tell).

The very first mention seems to have been this passing one in a results post of mine from 2017, heh. Little did anyone know...

[Seiyashi 4,072]

2 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

The very first mention seems to have been this passing one in a results post of mine from 2017, heh. Little did anyone know...

That thread also mentions a couple of other rising stars, including the most probable next ozeki (and maybe even yokozuna). But he deserves his own fanclub page, surely.

Speaking of which, it'd be great to see how he deals with full oshi specialists and good yotsu technicians. I don't think the former will allow him the overshoulder morozashi that easily, and the latter might still be able to do something despite that grip (in particular leg grapplers like Terutsuyoshi and Ura, or trippers like Hoshoryu).

[Gurowake 4,031]

A Youtube comment on his yusho-clinching match: "I have a feeling "I'm tired of Hokuseiho winning all the time" is something we're going to be hearing in about five years."

[Seiyashi 4,072]

8 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

A Youtube comment on his yusho-clinching match: "I have a feeling "I'm tired of Hokuseiho winning all the time" is something we're going to be hearing in about five years."

Some trivia: Hokuseiho only needs 8 makuuchi yusho, maximum (assuming Hakuho doesn't add to his 44) to tie Miyagino with Kokonoe as the most successful heya in terms of yusho won (52). If Hokuseiho turns out to be as big as we think he is, that's definitely within the realm of possibility.

Edited July 16, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Kaminariyuki 498]

1 hour ago, Gurowake said:

A Youtube comment on his yusho-clinching match: "I have a feeling "I'm tired of Hokuseiho winning all the time" is something we're going to be hearing in about five years."

It can, of course, go badly in so many ways. It would be cool to see him yusho in juryo on his way to makuuchi. Does anyone know how many rikishi have gotten a yusho in all six divisions?

[Katooshu 3,182]

As far as familiarity goes, Hokuseiho has won all his rematches, including avenging 2 of his 3 losses. His style isn't really hard to decipher and his approach is rather predictable, but there's more to beating someone than knowing what to expect - I'm pretty sure most opponents know what Terunofuji is going to do, but that doesn't stop him from overpowering them.

Even just going by familiarity, unless someone does keiko with him, they will likely only face him a max of once every 2 months, and don't have many training partners to match his dimensions, style, and strength.

Still, sekitorihood brings bigger, tougher opponents, and twice as much sumo over 15 days. Excited to see how he adjusts to it.

Edited July 16, 2021 by Katooshu

[Gurowake 4,031]

1 hour ago, Kaminariyuki said:

It can, of course, go badly in so many ways. It would be cool to see him yusho in juryo on his way to makuuchi. Does anyone know how many rikishi have gotten a yusho in all six divisions?

The latter Tochiazuma is the one I know off the top of my head.  I think someone else managed it a long time ago.  It's not very common.  Ryuden has all 4 lower division Yusho (Makushita from right before he made sekitori, and the other 3 on the way back up after his injury hiatus), and has a reasonable chance to pick up a Juryo yusho in a few basho; it seems unlikely that he'll win a Makuuchi Yusho, but I don't think anyone ever expected Tamawashi or Daieisho to either until they did.  Getting those 4 lower-division Yusho is generally the "hardest" part unless you seriously want that achievement and sit out intentionally to fall down in rank to get the chance.  Even Terunofuji didn't get a Jonidan or Sandanme Yusho on his way back up.  He clearly wasn't at full strength then, but that'll generally be true for most that return from injuries that put them back at the beginning - they'll probably start a bit before they're at 100% because they know they'll steamroll over most of the lower ranks.

Edited July 16, 2021 by Gurowake

[Seiyashi 4,072]

21 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

I think someone else managed it a long time ago.  It's not very common. 

Haguroyama was the other in 1941.

[Jakusotsu 5,892]

4 hours ago, Kaminariyuki said:

It can, of course, go badly in so many ways.

Like Hokuseiho turning out to be just another Yago?

[Gurowake 4,031]

2 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

Like Hokuseiho turning out to be just another Yago?

I was thinking more Ichinojo.

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,262]

He seems kind of like Terunofuji the way he goes over the back of everyone, but not as strong. Terunofuji would have just drop Ishizaki on the other side of the bales.

I still think he has some things to pick up and practice before he becomes some dominate sanyaku wrestler.

[Kaminariyuki 498]

17 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

I still think he has some things to pick up and practice before he becomes some dominate sanyaku wrestler.

His record was awfully impressive in makushita but at age 19 one would think juryo and makuuchi should slow him down a little. He clearly has a lot to learn, but the potential is rather awesome.

On 16/07/2021 at 13:41, Gurowake said:

The latter Tochiazuma is the one I know off the top of my head.  I think someone else managed it a long time ago.  It's not very common.

Wow, that was quite a record for a guy who didn't quite get the rope. Thanks for the response. I'm out of "likes" so I can only thank you in writing. 

 

 

[Kaminariyuki 498]

On 16/07/2021 at 10:33, Seiyashi said:

Some trivia: Hokuseiho only needs 8 makuuchi yusho, maximum (assuming Hakuho doesn't add to his 44) to tie Miyagino with Kokonoe as the most successful heya in terms of yusho won (52). If Hokuseiho turns out to be as big as we think he is, that's definitely within the realm of possibility.

If Hakuho doesn't get there by himself first? (mostly kidding)

[Seiyashi 4,072]

3 minutes ago, Kaminariyuki said:

On 17/07/2021 at 00:33, Seiyashi said:

Some trivia: Hokuseiho only needs 8 makuuchi yusho, maximum (assuming Hakuho doesn't add to his 44) to tie Miyagino with Kokonoe as the most successful heya in terms of yusho won (52). If Hokuseiho turns out to be as big as we think he is, that's definitely within the realm of possibility.

If Hakuho doesn't get there by himself first? (mostly kidding)

Well, now he only needs 7...

[neonbelly 226]

On 16/07/2021 at 21:01, Gurowake said:

I was thinking more Ichinojo.

I want to believe Hakuho's Klingon warrior influence would prevent Hokuseiho from becoming a massively overweight cruise-control rikishi.

That said, Ichinojo looked so good in his makuuchi debut that no one could have believed it of him, either.

[Kaminariyuki 498]

I was feeling mighty nostalgic this weekend, and went through some of my old photos and videos from January, 20520. Here is one of my favorite videos from our very fortunate Miyagino beya visit, showing Hokuseiho before he went mae-zumo. Ishiura  is doing shiko in the background and another of the rikishi does a slightly humorous practice exercise in the foreground. It was an extraordinary experience to be able to visit, particularly as the pandemic would fall down around our ears only weeks later. . I hope we shall one day be able to visit the heyas again and watch asageiko. If I ever get to go again, it would be great to take a couple of the sumo forum crew along.

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by Kaminariyuki
"heyas" had been auto-corrected to "hyenas" and thus, Washuyama's post below. :) I should proof my messages before submitting.

[Washuyama 639]

40 minutes ago, Kaminariyuki said:

I hope we shall one day be able to visit the hyenas again...

I know what you meant, but this is what came to mind...

 

 

[Tigerboy1966 1,423]

On 16/07/2021 at 16:21, Kaminariyuki said:

I just did a search on SF for Hokuseiho and a few of the stalwarts here had certainly mentioned him in various threads, "New Recruits," etc. But, I have to give a nod to Tigerboy1966 who said on August 1 last year, after the kid's first basho and first zensho yusho in jonokuchi:

"In the longer term, I think that I have seen the future of sumo. It's big, ugly, mean and Mongolian and it's name is Hokuseiho."

I posted that after watching Herouth's coverage of the lower divisions over on Tachiai. The "ugly and mean" part refers to his sumo: he was overwhelming people on brute strength and was not averse to the occasional dame-oshi. I seem to recall that Herouth had been following his progress since his amateur days and thought that he was a bit of a bully.

[Katooshu 3,182]

In his first year of high school, after an innocent matta from an opponent, he then had an obviously intentional matta of his own, complete with a fully wound up haymaker slap to the opponent's face and angry stare. Definitely looked like a hot head, although I never saw him do something like that again.

[Kaminariyuki 498]

I suppose we'll see how he behaves as a sekitori. He certainly has challenges in the next basho, and there's scant question that he has a rebel as a mentor. Hokuseiho was quite polite the only time I've met him. I somehow had the impression that we weren't intended to talk to the lower ranking rikishi, so I don't think I said anything other then "arigato" to him.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Kaminariyuki

[Katooshu 3,182]

One outburst in his first year of high school doesn't make him a bully or questionable sort for me, and I think his behaviour has been fine enough as a pro, albeit he's not the type who consistently shows much attention to downed opponents (though I believe some rikishi consider that condescending). But early days yet, I wouldn't expect us to know his character very well yet.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Katooshu

[Churaumi 735]

We'll see what happens to him next basho, when the competition is able to deal with him. Probably the hardest basho he's had yet. If he can get his technique better and continue building his body more like Ishiura than Toma, there's no reason we fans couldn't get back-to-back "once in a lifetime" rikishi. From the same stable, even.

[Inside Sport Japan 762]

On 02/08/2021 at 07:27, Kaminariyuki said:

 Here is one of my favorite videos from our very fortunate Miyagino beya visit, showing Hokuseiho before he went mae-zumo.

You must have linked the wrong one. No Hokuseiho in that video.