2021 "Kozumo" Hatsu Basho discussion thread

[Amamaniac 2,078]

1 hour ago, Ichimawashi said:

So if we are destined for a new winner each January basho, that means Shonnanzakura has a chance, in about 2620 or so?

And Hanakaze in 2621! 

[Amamaniac 2,078]

I've scanned the list of Top Division champions in the modern 6-annual-tournaments era, and this is the first time that there have been six different champions in a row (including two makujiri winners).  This further cements the fact that oozumo is in a (not-quite-post-Hakuho) transition era. 

[Gurowake kindly double checked the list of yusho winners and identified a stretch with eight different champions in a row (i.e., Kyushu 1990 – New Year 1992).]

Edited January 24, 2021 by Amamaniac

[RabidJohn 1,663]

Congratulations to Daieisho. Anyone started a poll yet on who'll get their hatsu yusho in Hatsu 2022?

Inosuke cutting off any possible escape for Shodai there... Far worse than a sachi-chigae IMO. Hakkaku should let him go.

[Morty 1,480]

5 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

I didn't catch the replay.

The replay shows clearly that Inosuke got his foot underneath Shodai's as Shodai was being pushed out, causing Inosuke's sandal to come off. So instead of getting his foot up against the tawara it ended up on a moving object. Even if he was probably likely to have lost anyway, Shodai was totally right to be annoyed. Has there ever been an instance where a bout was called a torinaoshi because of gyoji interference?

[Gurowake 3,915]

So I'm guessing Wakanohana wasn't doing those yusho predictions in Hakuho's heyday?  Or was he just not wanting to be obvious back then and was trying to make a prediction that other people wouldn't be making?  Certainly over the past couple years, especially when Hakuho has been absent, it's understandable to never be accurate given how many different winners there have been, but 5-10 years ago, Hakuho was an extremely safe and obvious pick.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Gurowake

[Tigerboy1966 1,376]

I miss Wakanohana demonstrating the moves with his assistant/stooge in the good old pre-viral days. The bloke in question also did impressions of yokozuna dohyo-iri on the last day of the broadcast. Does anyone know who he is?

[Kashunowaka 300]

1 hour ago, Morty said:

The replay shows clearly that Inosuke got his foot underneath Shodai's as Shodai was being pushed out, causing Inosuke's sandal to come off. So instead of getting his foot up against the tawara it ended up on a moving object. Even if he was probably likely to have lost anyway, Shodai was totally right to be annoyed. Has there ever been an instance where a bout was called a torinaoshi because of gyoji interference?

It's a good thing that this bout was essentially meaningless.

[Gospodin 187]

1 hour ago, Morty said:

The replay shows clearly that Inosuke got his foot underneath Shodai's as Shodai was being pushed out, causing Inosuke's sandal to come off. So instead of getting his foot up against the tawara it ended up on a moving object. Even if he was probably likely to have lost anyway, Shodai was totally right to be annoyed. Has there ever been an instance where a bout was called a torinaoshi because of gyoji interference?

Not entirely sure, but I think for instances like that gyoji count as part of the "environment". Like in football, when the referee inadvertently deflects the ball.

[Rocks 1,807]

7 hours ago, Thorbjarn said:

t was long overdue, but Ikioi forfeitting a match at last was a bit of a shock. The times, they are o' changing. The change of guard is in full swing. 

I'm wondering if he will go Intai. He's dropping out of the paid ranks next basho. A broken finger doesn't seem like anywhere near enough for Ikioi to miss a match.

[Yamanashi 3,723]

6 hours ago, Jemuzu said:

I can only guess he thinks he was impeded by the gyoji at the end but clearly didn’t make any difference to the result 

Shodai probably thought he could pull a twisting throw at the edge (since he's done it so many times before), but in this case he'd have to throw two guys.

[Tigerboy1966 1,376]

3 minutes ago, Rocks said:

I'm wondering if he will go Intai. He's dropping out of the paid ranks next basho. A broken finger doesn't seem like anywhere near enough for Ikioi to miss a match.

He's owned a kabu stock for about 4 years so he can retire from the ring and become an elder any time he wants. It would be tough luck on the bloke he's loaning it to but that's life.

[Tigerboy1966 1,376]

2 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

Shodai probably thought he could pull a twisting throw at the edge (since he's done it so many times before), but in this case he'd have to throw two guys.

Shodai has had bucketloads of luck this basho so he can hardly complain. What's that phrase about karma being a female of the canine genus?

[Gurowake 3,915]

9 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Indeed how many maegashira rikishi have ended up with 12 wins but remained sansho less?

Tochinoshin, Natsu 2017; Tochiozan, Nagoya 2017.  I remember these specifically because I picked them in games that awarded points for sansho, and was furious that they weren't awarded any, especially two basho in a row.

[Kashunowaka 300]

As far as I can see, three gino-sho winners is a first.

[Yamanashi 3,723]

9 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

Indeed how many maegashira rikishi have ended up with 12 wins but remained sansho less?

I don't know if someone has answered this already, but of the last 50 times that a Maegashira has won 12, 4 have not won a prize:

Miyabiyama M14e 7/2004

Goeido M14e 11/2010

Tochinoshin M10e 5/2017 (Jun-Yusho!)

Tochiozan M5w 7/2017.

Maybe someone on the Forum can explain why Kasuganobeya was in the doghouse during Summer 2017.

[Gurowake 3,915]

I'm glad Daieisho was able to get the Yusho with a pretty good record, especially for these days with no dominant Yokozuna.  Too many times there have been joi maegashira that do very well against the sanyaku but flounder against their maegashira opponents.  I thought after his first two losses we might see the same thing happen, and am very glad that it didn't.

[Gurowake 3,915]

1 minute ago, Yamanashi said:

Goeido M14e 11/2010

This was his return to Makuuchi after being suspended for a tournament for gambling (with many others) and falling to Juryo.  He had already been Sekiwake and had a few joi KKs, so a 12-3 from M14e was not particularly notable.  The same could be said, though to a far lesser extent, for the two Kasugano-beya ones.  Sansho tend to be awarded more for breaking expectations than doing well for what rank you're at.

[Yamanashi 3,723]

3 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

This was his return to Makuuchi after being suspended for a tournament for gambling (with many others) and falling to Juryo.  He had already been Sekiwake and had a few joi KKs, so a 12-3 from M14e was not particularly notable.  The same could be said, though to a far lesser extent, for the two Kasugano-beya ones.  Sansho tend to be awarded more for breaking expectations than doing well for what rank you're at.

Out of reactions.  Consider this my virtual "Thanks" emoji.

[Amamaniac 2,078]

1 hour ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I miss Wakanohana demonstrating the moves with his assistant/stooge in the good old pre-viral days. The bloke in question also did impressions of yokozuna dohyo-iri on the last day of the broadcast. Does anyone know who he is?

I believe this is the guy you are referring to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50HEIuFw6aM

He seems to go by the name Akatsu.

[lackmaker 431]

How unusual is it for all junior sanyaku to get a minimum of 9 wins?

[Tigerboy1966 1,376]

56 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

Tochinoshin M10e 5/2017 (Jun-Yusho!)

Well in this case a prize was probably in order, but I find that they don't tend to give prizes to top guys who have dropped down the ranks due to injury or poor performance. The 2017 model Tochinoshin was doing no more than expected by racking up a huge KK at M10. It's like "of course you got 12 wins, you're Tochinoshin, don't expect us to throw you a biscuit".

[Shinobi Steve 146]

Congratulations to Daieisho!

I’m incredibly happy to be a member of this forum. Prior to day 1 of the basho, there was a tremendous amount of doom and gloom in other online communities. I think we can all agree that we were thoroughly entertained for the past 15 days. It was far from the sham basho that many outside of this forum were predicting. 

[Kashunowaka 300]

35 minutes ago, lackmaker said:

How unusual is it for all junior sanyaku to get a minimum of 9 wins?

It happened as late as July last year, but the instance before that was in 1966.

[Asashosakari 18,783]

25 minutes ago, Shinobi Steve said:

I’m incredibly happy to be a member of this forum. Prior to day 1 of the basho, there was a tremendous amount of doom and gloom in other online communities. I think we can all agree that we were thoroughly entertained for the past 15 days. It was far from the sham basho that many outside of this forum were predicting. 

On that note, I wonder how much overlap there is between fans who claimed that all these absences would make a mockery of the basho, and fans who are demanding that injured rikishi should be allowed penalty-free absences all the time...

[dada78641 884]

On the final day, Yutakayama stole the Bento Award away from Kotoyuki:

Some pics of the yusho ceremony, for posterity:

Really excellent performance by Daieisho!