Class of 2006 (Shogo Kawabata & Shota Minami)

[mikawa 1,794]

The Class of 2006 is a list of rikishi taken from my amateur sumo database, ranked according to their results at major tournaments during elementary and junior high school. The wrestlers on this list graduated from junior high school in March 2006, after which they could choose to enter Ozumo. Otherwise, they would have graduated from high school in 2009 and then from college in 2013.

#1 Shogo Kawabata (川端 翔伍), Osaka, Daishomaru, Oitekaze (March 2014 - )
#2 Shota Minami (南 翔太), Chiba
#3 Minoru Ikejiri (池尻 実), Hyogo
#4 Shuji Higashi (東 秀次), Nagasaki
#5 Daisuke Sasaki (佐々木 大輔), Aomori, Sasakiyama, Kise (Jan 2010 - )
#6 Shin Takita (滝田 真), Mie
#7 Koichi Kataoka (片岡 孝一), Chiba
#8 Ryuta Takagi (高木 立太), Ishikawa, Takaryu, Kise (March 2014 - May 2021)
#9 Keisuke Yoshida (吉田 圭佑), Aichi
#10 Shoma Haga (芳賀 翔真), Fukushima

#11 Tomohiro Akutsu (阿久津 智洋), Tochigi
#12 Fumiya Nakagawa (中川 結哉), Osaka
#13 Tomohiko Iwashita (岩下 智彦), Saitama
#14 Kyohei Takahashi (高橋 京平), Kanagawa
#15 Kentaro Abiko (安彦 剣太郎), Tokyo, Tsurugisho, Oitekaze (Jan 2014 - )
#16 Mitsutaka Kashiwatani (柏谷 充隆), Miyazaki, Kotoeko, Sadogatake (March 2007 - )
#17 Yuki Enomoto (榎本 勇起), Kagawa, Kotoyuki, Sadogatake (March 2008 - May 2021)
#18 Kazusa Ishiara (石新 一早), Okinawa
#19 Akitoshi Ishida (石田 晃敏), Chiba
#20 Kohei Takahashi (高橋 光平), Saitama

#21 Daikichi Kasai (笠井 大吉), Kanagawa

Edited August 4, 2022 by mikawa

[mikawa 1,794]

#1 Shogo Kawabata (川端 翔伍), Osaka, Daishomaru, Oitekaze (March 2014 - )

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by mikawa

[mikawa 1,794]

#2 Shota Minami (南 翔太), Chiba

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by mikawa

[mikawa 1,794]

#3 Minoru Ikejiri (池尻 実), Hyogo

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by mikawa

[Katooshu 3,135]

Some great stuff here - thanks!

Incidentally, Kotoeko looks about as old there as he does now 

Daishomaru is an interesting one. Wanpaku yokozuna, middle school yokozuna, high school best 4, amateur yokozuna, long-time sekitori......yet he doesn't really have a particular attribute that stands out to me, he cant do anything on the belt, and he's on the smaller side. Obviously effective though.

[mikawa 1,794]

5 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Some great stuff here - thanks!

Thanks, I wasn't sure how to make the "Class of" series more engaging / appealing, which was why I decided to delete the original posts. What do you think about this new format, and do you have any suggestions please going forward?

I've since added a few more rikishi to this list, including one Tsurugisho. His highlights will be ready as soon as YouTube allows me to upload more videos lol

[Yarimotsu 522]

10 minutes ago, mikawa said:

 do you have any suggestions please going forward?

If you're going to do these for other "class of" years, I'd like to see what you know or can find out about the ones who were good but never went pro. From what I can see, there's 11 sumotori kids in your list who were better at the time than 3 who became competent sekitori, yet they chose to do other things.

Anyway it's cool to see this history

[Seiyashi 4,071]

5 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Daishomaru is an interesting one. Wanpaku yokozuna, middle school yokozuna, high school best 4, amateur yokozuna, long-time sekitori......yet he doesn't really have a particular attribute that stands out to me, he cant do anything on the belt, and he's on the smaller side. Obviously effective though.

 

33 minutes ago, Yarimotsu said:

11 sumotori kids in your list who were better at the time than 3 who became competent sekitori, yet they chose to do other things.

I wonder if it's that phenomenon where they peak early and don't actually develop that much more as rikishi than when they were competing in school, and those who didn't go on to join ozumo knew it and had that in mind as one of their reasons not to join. Because honestly, Daishōmaru isn't exactly high on my list of noteworthy sekitori even though he's been around for a while; Tsurigishō, Kotoekō, and Kotoyūki IMO are more noteworthy and they're not even that high profile.

That said, if he is that type, Daishōmaru has actually done fairly well to be in the makuuchi-jūryō exchange zone for the first half of his sekitori career.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Seiyashi

[Katooshu 3,135]

Size goes further the younger they are. A lot of these super dominant youngsters won just by overwhelming their opponents with mass, and because that worked showed no signs of developing the rest of their sumo. Eventually others catch up in strength, while also having developed other aspects of their game, and suddenly big kid isn't nearly as effective. Kiyonoumi is a case of this - won loads of national titles as a super obese primary schooler, but had less success as he aged, and is now a sandamne level pro. Toma was a similar case.

I'm sure some also fall out of love with the sport over the years and didn't take it as seriously as their peers who eventually caught up. Others will have been hampered by injury. The younger they are the more things can change, hence why the top pros often aren't among the very best on these lists.

And of course some of them end up being very good and continue competing, but just don't go pro. Kanno and Nishikawa from Chuo University both made sekitori fairly quickly and are making names for themselves, yet the best member of their university team, Daisuke Tanaka, elected to stay amateur, and to most fans would be unrecognizable. Tanaka notably beat Oshoma to win the East Japan Championship a few years ago, and also has wins over several other sekitori, as well as soon to debut Kawazoe.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Katooshu

[Jakusotsu 5,815]

10 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Daishomaru is an interesting one. Wanpaku yokozuna, middle school yokozuna, high school best 4, amateur yokozuna, long-time sekitori......yet he doesn't really have a particular attribute that stands out to me, he cant do anything on the belt, and he's on the smaller side. Obviously effective though.

He's like one of those guys at the office you occasionally see coming or going, but nobody really knows what they actually do.

[Yamanashi 3,725]

5 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

 

I wonder if it's that phenomenon where they peak early and don't actually develop that much more as rikishi than when they were competing in school, and those who didn't go on to join ozumo knew it and had that in mind as one of their reasons not to join. Because honestly, Daishōmaru isn't exactly high on my list of noteworthy sekitori even though he's been around for a while; Tsurigishō, Kotoekō, and Kotoyūki IMO are more noteworthy and they're not even that high profile.

That said, if he is that type, Daishōmaru has actually done fairly well to be in the makuuchi-jūryō exchange zone for the first half of his sekitori career.

He started at Ms15TD, so didn't have to fight his way up.  8 basho to stick in Juryo, 4 more to stay in Makuuchi.  15 more basho to reach his pinnacle at M5, then the decline through Juryo and now in Makushita. 45% winning rate in Makuuchi, 48% in Juryo.  He's got enough basho for a coaching job, but what does he bring to the table?

[Jakusotsu 5,815]

50 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

He's got enough basho for a coaching job, but what does he bring to the table?

Dice. (...says my SekiToto)

[mikawa 1,794]

#4 Shuji Higashi (東 秀次), Nagasaki

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#5 Daisuke Sasaki (佐々木 大輔), Aomori, Sasakiyama, Kise (Jan 2010 - )

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#7 Koichi Kataoka (片岡 孝一), Chiba

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#8 Ryuta Takagi (高木 立太), Ishikawa, Takaryu, Kise (March 2014 - May 2021)

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#9 Keisuke Yoshida (吉田 圭佑), Aichi

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#10 Shoma Haga (芳賀 翔真), Fukushima

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#11 Tomohiro Akutsu (阿久津 智洋), Tochigi

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#12 Fumiya Nakagawa (中川 結哉), Osaka

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#13 Tomohiko Iwashita (岩下 智彦), Saitama

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#14 Kyohei Takahashi (高橋 京平), Kanagawa

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#15 Kentaro Abiko (安彦 剣太郎), Tokyo, Tsurugisho, Oitekaze (Jan 2014 - )

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#16 Mitsutaka Kashiwatani (柏谷 充隆), Miyazaki, Kotoeko, Sadogatake (March 2007 - )

 

[mikawa 1,794]

#17 Yuki Enomoto (榎本 勇起), Kagawa, Kotoyuki, Sadogatake (March 2008 - May 2021)