New recruits Haru 2025

[Akinomaki 40,814]

On 06/02/2025 at 10:45, Akinomaki said:

A report from local TV on Teranishi https://www.nbs-tv.co.jp/news/articles/?cid=21810

Now at 177cm, 134kg. He broke a knee-bone - fracture of the left tibial tuberosity, Tamanoi helped with rehab measures

Another local report about Teranishi, about the same title, but in different order, mostly the same scenes, also on different order, but with the results from the final middle school tournament for him, the Hakuho cup.

 

[Akinomaki 40,814]

On 28/02/2025 at 21:50, Asashosakari said:

Terui Ryusei (18) 照井 隆世 Minato

Terui (18, 180cm, 89kg) from Kitakami, Iwate, graduated from Konan Gijuku Morioka high school, has no sumo experience and nearly no other sports experience as well - he was in the go&shogi club. He wanted to not just watch but also try to do sumo and phoned the heya and applied for joining there.

He aims for sekitori, final goal is yokozuna, but the first kachi-koshi in jonokuchi.

http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/article/2025/3/5/180712

[Katooshu 3,335]

"Although he doesn't have much experience in exercise"

Good luck to Terui, he will need it 

Edited March 5 by Katooshu

[Yubinhaad 11,768]

Oshiogawa-beya reveals the shikona for their four shindeshi:

Ishii > Kazeoka (風凰花 / かぜおうか)
Kumai > Kazenohana (風ノ華 / かぜのはな)
Yokose > Kazekodai (風紅大 / かぜこうだい)
Ginya > Kazeoki (風桜輝 / かぜおうき)

The middle kanji of Kazekodai is from his high school, Koryo.

 

Elsewhere, Nishiiwa-beya gives Matsunaga's shikona as Satomatsunaga, so he's probably the younger brother of Tokinosato (Wakamatsunaga), who retired a couple of years ago. He's from Habikino, Osaka and reported as 171cm, 133kg. 

 

Takasago-beya's Hirai is from Sakai city, Osaka and a graduate of Hamadera Junior High School there. 170cm, 103kg. Both Takasago recruits will be Asafamilyname for now.

Edited March 9 by Yubinhaad

[Naganoyama 5,949]

NSK data:
SHIKONA	KANJI	NAME	HEYA	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	DOB	BIRTHPLACE
Fukada	深田	Fukada Shinpei	Ikazuchi	173	170	21 - June - 2009	Fukuoka
Fukuzaki	福崎	Fukuzaki Maaru	Fujishima	172	143	09 - January - 2007	Kagoshima
Futagawa	二川	Futagawa Kosen	Nishikido	168	123	11 - September- 2009	Tokyo
Ginya	銀谷	Ginya Koki	Oshiogawa	172	121	01 - December - 2009	Akita
Goshima	五島	Goshima Masaharu	Fujishima	180	181	27 - February - 2003	Aichi
Hasegawa	長谷川	Hasegawa Keiji	Nishiiwa	172	117	13 - July - 2004	Aomori
Hashimoto 1	橋本	Hashimoto Tatsuyuki	Ikazuchi	173	115	03 - July - 2008	Tokyo
Hashimoto 2	橋本	Hashimoto Yamato	Dewanoumi	174	101	02 - July - 2009	Osaka
Hirai	平井	Hirai Seiya	Takasago	171	101	08 - June - 2009	Osaka
Imada	今田	Imada Kosei	Otowayama	173	120	11 - September- 2000	Tokyo
Ishii	石井	Ishii Oshi	Oshiogawa	177	177	10 - October - 2006	Akita
Jin	神	Jin Teppei	Nishiiwa	173	108	25 - January - 2007	Aomori
Kadomura	門村	Kadomura Issa	Isegahama	175	128	06 - December - 2005	Tokyo
Kido	城戸	Kido Taiga	Tamanoi	177	154	08 - May - 2006	Ehime
Kumai	熊井	Kumai Ao	Oshiogawa	173	71	26 - July - 2006	Akita
Kyoda	京田	Kyoda Rikimaru	Takasago	183	123	26 - March - 2002	Osaka
Matsuda	松田	Matsuda Ten	Sakaigawa	172	146	02 - April - 2005	Tottori
Matsunaga	松永	Matsunaga Sera	Nishiiwa	171	131	23 - February - 2010	Osaka
Osanai	小山内	Osanai Kaimu	Hanaregoma	175	126	19 - January - 2007	Hokkaido
Sato	佐藤	Sato Ryoun	Isegahama	182	123	18 - August - 2009	Chiba
Sawazaki	澤崎	Sawazaki Ko	Onoe	166	107	06 - March - 2010	Kagoshima
Soma	相馬	Soma Shunta	Futagoyama	177	139	06 - January - 2010	Tochigi
Sumiyoshi	住吉	Sumiyoshi Yuma	Nishonoseki	166	101	28 - December - 2009	Chiba
Takasu	高巣	Takasu Aoi	Tagonoura	175	139	03 - December - 2009	Fukuoka
Teranishi	寺西	Teranishi Ren	Tamanoi	176	139	30 - May - 2009	Nagano
Terao	寺尾	Terao Shota	Sadogatake	175	108	14 - January - 2010	Fukuoka
Terui	照井	Terui Ryusei	Minato	180	89	27 - July - 2006	Iwate
Uchima	内間	Uchima Haruma	Nishonoseki	183	158	17 - September- 2009	Okinawa
Umeyama	梅山	Umeyama Sotaro	Futagoyama	177	143	14 - February - 2007	Gunma
Yamagishi	山岸	Yamagishi Aoi	Otowayama	178	117	15 - August - 2006	Nagano
Yamanobe	山野邊	Yamanobe Chikara	Dewanoumi	168	77	17 - February - 2010	Tokyo
Yamauchi	山内	Yamauchi Toshihiro	Tagonoura	170	119	05 - February - 2010	Chiba
Yasuda	安田	Yasuda Shoma	Isegahama	187	114	11 - May - 2009	Osaka
Yokose	横瀬	Yokose Haruto	Oshiogawa	173	130	16 - March - 2007	Chiba

 

[Morning 85]

Hashimoto 1 and Hashimoto 2 are fortunately not in the same heya.

[Seiyashi 4,108]

One of them will need a name change anyway. I believe NSK requires shikona to be unique. 

[Yubinhaad 11,768]

On 08/03/2025 at 16:49, Yubinhaad said:

Both Takasago recruits will be Asafamilyname for now.

Correction to that, Takasago-beya has now announced that Kyoda will start as Asarikimaru instead, with the new given name of Tetsuji (朝力丸 哲次).

 

Hanaregoma-beya announced that Osanai will take the shikona Hokutonada (北斗洋), combined from his home city of Hokuto and the shisho's first shikona, Tamanonada.

[Asashosakari 19,682]

The maezumo competition groups with 32 shindeshi and no returnees, so a neat 4x8 split - which was promptly made irrelevant for the actual competition by three deshi being absent for the starting days.

Maezumo Haru 2025, Group A (even-numbered days)
Rank	Name	Heya	Born	Height	Weight	Shikona	Shi-k	Info
East side
Mz1	Umeyama Sotaro	Futagoyama	2007	177 cm	143 kg
Mz8	Soma Shunta	Futagoyama	2010	177 cm	139 kg	Shunta	駿太
Mz16	Yokose Haruto	Oshiogawa	2007	173 cm	130 kg	Kazekōdai	風紅大
Mz22	Futagawa Kosen	Nishikido	2009	168 cm	123 kg
Mz23	Ishii Oshi	Oshiogawa	2006	177 cm	177 kg	Kazeōka	風凰花
Mz27	Sumiyoshi Yuma	Nishonoseki	2009	166 cm	101 kg
Mz28	Uchima Haruma	Nishonoseki	2009	183 cm	158 kg
Mz30	Matsuda Ten	Sakaigawa	2005	172 cm	146 kg
West side
Mz4	Hirai Seiya	Takasago	2009	171 cm	101 kg	Asahirai	朝平井
Mz11	Kido Taiga	Tamanoi	2006	177 cm	154 kg
Mz12	Teranishi Ren	Tamanoi	2009	176 cm	139 kg
Mz20	Yamanobe Chikara	Dewanoumi	2010	168 cm	77 kg
Mz21	Hashimoto Yamato	Dewanoumi	2009	174 cm	101 kg
Mz26	Osanai Kaimu	Hanaregoma	2007	175 cm	126 kg	Hokutonada	北斗洋
Mz29	Kyoda Rikimaru	Takasago	2002	183 cm	123 kg	Asarikimaru	朝力丸
Mz31	Terui Ryusei	Minato	2006	180 cm	89 kg

 

Maezumo Haru 2025, Group B (odd-numbered days)
Rank	Name	Heya	Born	Height	Weight	Shikona	Shi-k	Info
East side
Mz2	Terao Shota	Sadogatake	2010	175 cm	108 kg	Kototerao (?)	琴寺尾
Mz7	Ginya Koki	Oshiogawa	2009	172 cm	121 kg	Kazeōki	風桜輝
Mz9	Hashimoto Tatsuyuki	Ikazuchi	2008	173 cm	115 kg	Ikazuchishū	雷修
Mz10	Fukada Shinpei	Ikazuchi	2009	173 cm	170 kg	Ikazuchiarata	雷新
Mz14	Sawazaki Ko	Onoe	2010	166 cm	107 kg
Mz15	Kumai Ao	Oshiogawa	2006	173 cm	71 kg	Kazenohana	風ノ華
Mz24	Takasu Aoi	Tagonoura	2009	175 cm	139 kg	Ryūgi (?)	隆葵
Mz25	Yamauchi Toshihiro	Tagonoura	2010	170 cm	119 kg
West side
Mz3	Sato Ryoun	Isegahama	2009	182 cm	123 kg
Mz5	Yasuda Shoma	Isegahama	2009	187 cm	114 kg
Mz6	Kadomura Issa	Isegahama	2005	175 cm	128 kg
Mz13	Yamagishi Aoi	Otowayama	2006	178 cm	117 kg
Mz17	Hasegawa Keiji	Nishiiwa	2004	172 cm	117 kg	Wakahasegawa	若長谷川
Mz18	Jin Teppei	Nishiiwa	2007	173 cm	108 kg	Wakajin	若神
Mz19	Matsunaga Sera	Nishiiwa	2010	171 cm	131 kg	Satomatsunaga	里松永
Mz32	Imada Kosei	Otowayama	2000	173 cm	120 kg

Thankfully the absences by Hashimoto (Dewanoumi version), Terao and Sato didn't hinder the identification of who belongs where, so this should be accurate; Hashimoto and Sato have to be where their respective Dewanoumi and Isegahama stablemates are, and Terao must be in the last remaining spot in Group B East that wasn't otherwise being assigned already.

The Oshiogawa quartet was split two and two between the two groups. Somewhat unusual but not unheard of - I guess they're seeing 4 out of 16 as potentially problematic from a match-making perspective.

The adopted shikona are confirmed other than Kototerao - educated guess based on the usual heya policy - and Ryūgi for whom the Kyokai made the kanji available in a tweet after the Day 3 matches but which I'm not entirely sure isn't actually Ryūki. Also not confirmed at this time is whether absent Hashimoto and Sato are going to use a proper shikona or their real surnames. (The double Hashimoto problem has already been solved by the Ikazuchi one, though.)

Some summary notes about the class (these counts include the two tsukedashi). Recruits by heya:

4: Oshiogawa
3: Isegahama, Nishiiwa
2: Dewanoumi, Fujishima, Futagoyama, Ikazuchi, Nishonoseki, Otowayama, Tagonoura, Takasago, Tamanoi
1: Hanaregoma, Minato, Nishikido, Onoe, Sadogatake, Sakaigawa

The count of 18 different heya having recruiting success this spring is actually identical to last year's Haru basho despite there being 7 more rookies in total.

Recruits by age:

15 (middle school graduation age): 17
16 (one year beyond middle school): 1 - Ikazuchishu
18 (high school graduation age): 10
19 (one year beyond high school): 2 - Kadomura (left university) and Matsuda (worked)
20 (two years beyond high school): 1 - Wakahasegawa
22 (university graduation age): 1 - Goshima (MsTd)
23 (one year beyond university): 1 - Asarikimaru
24 (two years beyond university): 1 - Imada

Asarikimaru's March 2002 birthdate normally implies a university class of 2024 membership, but the articles about his joining Takasago-beya mentioned that he only got into university one year after graduating from high school, so his university graduation is now.

For completeness the data of the two tsukedashi:

Tsukedashi Haru 2025
Rank	Name	Heya	Born	Height	Weight	Shikona	Shi-k	Info
Ms60Td	Goshima Masaharu	Fujishima	2003	180 cm	181 kg
Ms60Td	Fukuzaki Maaru	Fujishima	2007	172 cm	143 kg

I'll be populating the "Info" column of the tables with links to posts within this thread at a later time.

Various stuff that's arguably mostly of interest for DB maintenance @Doitsuyama:

Several rikishi adopted (parts of) their given names as part of their new shikona, so their shikona given names might now be different from their real ones:

• Mz7 Kazeōki - the ki 輝 is part of his real given name Kōki
• Mz8 Shunta - that's his real given name turned shikona wholesale as he's the brother of Futagoyama heyamate Soma, who already uses the surname as shikona (though I wouldn't be surprised if both change for the next basho)
• Mz10 Ikazuchiarata - the arata 新 is part of his real given name Shinpei (read as shin there)
• Mz23 Kazeōka - the ō 凰 is part of his real given name Ōshi
• Mz24 Ryūgi - the gi 葵 is an alternative reading of his real given name Aoi
• Ms29 Asarikimaru - real given name Rikimaru, shikona given name confirmed as Tetsuji 哲次 in the preceding comment

(A small unrelated note since we hadn't mentioned the Ikazuchi names in the thread yet: Ikazuchishu's 修 kanji likely comes from his alma mater Shutoku HS, boss_jonokuchi notes. As he's only 16, he presumably dropped out.)

University Sumo club tags: Goshima - Takushoku, Kadomura - Nippon Sports Science

(Did Asarikimaru ever represent Chiba University in competition even though it has no club? Not sure it should be noted on the DB... One of these days we may have to revisit the "non-sumo university" topic.)

And lastly, as Akinomaki pointed out, Imada's proper ima kanji should apparently be different from the one that the Kyokai posted on his profile.

Edited March 11 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 19,682]

On a meta note:

On 19/01/2025 at 17:30, Asashosakari said:

BTW, rather unusual that Aoki went entirely through maezumo with his real surname. It wasn't that rare until 5 or so years ago, but among the most recent nearly 20 Isegahama recruits he's only the second one after Takerufuji. Most others competed with a proper shikona straight away, a few at least got one for the presentation.

January's Isegahama recruit Aoki didn't get a shikona for the banzuke this basho either, and this month's rookies Yasuda, Kadomura and (presumably) Sato are also appearing in maezumo under their real names. Just speculating: Is that an early policy implementation by whoever the next Isegahama shisho will be?

[Asashosakari 19,682]

Opening notes: My recent Youtube playlist obsession continues with one for this maezumo, in case you find yourself with a desire to rewatch the bouts without having to scroll all through this thread again. Incidentally, if anybody has questions about what I'm posting, do feel free to ask. I try to consider which aspects of maezumo might need explaining, but obviously I'm likely to take some stuff for granted that isn't widely known.

BTW, somehow it hasn't really been remarked upon in any place I've seen discussing the new recruits: This year's crop is bringing us our first six rikishi born in the 2010s. Apologies if pointing that out makes you feel old(er), but if so I'm at least no longer the only one now.
 

Day 2 / Group A

Abema was nice enough to start off the session with some close-ups of the waiting deshi and gyoji, so there's about two minutes of optional content in the video that you may want to skip. As mentioned, Dewanoumi's Hashimoto was not in action so this group got out of the blocks with 15 participants for now.

Results:

Mz1   Umeyama (1-0)           Mz4   Asahirai (0-1)
Mz8   Shunta (1-0)            Mz11  Kido (0-1)
Mz16  Kazekodai (1-0)         Mz12  Teranishi (0-1)
Mz22  Futagawa (0-1)          Mz20  Yamanobe (1-0)
Mz23  Kazeoka (1-0)           Mz26  Hokutonada (0-1)
Mz27  Sumiyoshi (0-1)         Mz29  Asarikimaru (1-0)
Mz28  Uchima (1-0)            Mz31  Terui (0-1)
Mz30  Matsuda (1-0)           Mz4   Asahirai (0-2)

An odd number of rikishi means an extra appearance for the loser of an earlier bout, generally the first one among those who entered the day with the same wins as the rikishi who needs an opponent. (Today everybody started 0-0, of course.) So, this session started and ended with Asahirai losing, after he unfortunately ran into not one but two opponents that were older, (likely) more experienced, and outweighed him by some 40 kg, to boot.

A good start by the two Futagoyama rookies Umeyama and Shunta, the latter showing off some nice densha-michi sumo right off the bat. Conversely two losses for Tamanoi, although Teranishi was (unlike Kido) involved in a competitive bout. The next match saw a victory by the smallest rikishi of this group, yokozuna great-great-grandson Yamanobe, though I suspect he'll have greater difficulty attaining his next win.

A relatively quick loss for former rugby player Hokutonada in bout five, but I have to say that his form already looked better than that of other recent recruits with that sort of background, namely Ono and Kikuchi, who retain an unhelpful tendency to lean too far forward and keep their head way too low (as though they're pushing in a scrum). There's some of that in Hokutonada, too, I think, but perhaps it helps that he has already done at least some sumo in school before going pro now. His opponent Kazeoka obviously knows what he's doing, but it remains to be seen how much talent there truly is behind his (ahem) balanced build of 177 cm / 177 kg. (The largest weight among all the maezumo shindeshi, and only 4 kg behind collegiate tsukedashi Goshima who's three and a half years older.)

Three one-sided matches closed out the day; their next bouts should prove more interesting (to us and them) for Asarikimaru, Uchima and Matsuda. The latter showed very good form, but that's to be expected from a Tottori Johoku grad. Terui looked about like we all probably expected, and on what we've seen in this session he's arguably the top contender for finishing this group winless.

Standings:

Mz1   Umeyama      Futagoyama   1-0 E   |   Mz4   Asahirai    Takasago     0-2 W
Mz8   Shunta       Futagoyama   1-0 E   |   Mz11  Kido        Tamanoi      0-1 W
Mz16  Kazekodai    Oshiogawa    1-0 E   |   Mz12  Teranishi   Tamanoi      0-1 W
Mz20  Yamanobe     Dewanoumi    1-0 W   |   Mz21  Hashimoto   Dewanoumi    0-0-1 W
Mz23  Kazeoka      Oshiogawa    1-0 E   |   Mz22  Futagawa    Nishikido    0-1 E
Mz28  Uchima       Nishonoseki  1-0 E   |   Mz26  Hokutonada  Hanaregoma   0-1 W
Mz29  Asarikimaru  Takasago     1-0 W   |   Mz27  Sumiyoshi   Nishonoseki  0-1 E
Mz30  Matsuda      Sakaigawa    1-0 E   |   Mz31  Terui       Minato       0-1 W

Unlike maezumo in the other five annual tournaments, rikishi will finish their participation in this one as soon as they have two wins, rather than the usual three, so the next round on Day 4 will already see the first set of qualifiers. As the East side dominated today's bouts there are going to be some temporary side adjustments in both subsets - the 1-winners should see either the Futagoyama duo or the Oshiogawa pair switching to the West side, among the winless ones it's less obvious who's going East since we don't know whether or not Hashimoto is joining the battle.

Edited March 11 by Asashosakari

[Akinomaki 40,814]

For Group A the media focus on future Tsunenohana II Yamanobe

On 27/02/2025 at 21:08, Akinomaki said:

The great-great grandson of Tsunenohana, the first yokozuna of the Showa era, 15y old Chikara Yamanobe  山野辺力（ちから） (15), joins the heya of his ancestor, Dewanoumi. He's from Tokyo and started with sumo age 4 and was at the zenchu last year.  o (I can find him neither in the team nor the individuals sumou.zenchuu.jp/eventresult)

Tsunenohana was the first dai-yokozuna (= reached 10 yusho), was later Fujishima- and Dewanoumi-oyakata and rijicho.

Yamanobe started with sumo at the Komatsuryu dojo, but was in the Ryogoku middle school team at allegedly the zenchu - the school is not listed in the results, likely the papers mixed it up with the national prefectures or another national tournament.

oo o o o oo

Yamanobe commented: "From now on the start, I want to reach the rank of great-great-granddad." And he wants to do a sumo like Wakamotoharu.

Else only Asarikimaru is of media interest (Hochi got the opponent wrong)
oo

[Akinomaki 40,814]

Group B has the whole media focus on Imada

o o o o o oo o o  o 

[Asashosakari 19,682]

Day 3 / Group B

Even two absences here in the second half with (Koto)Terao and Sato, but as they were the highest-"ranking" deshi on each side of the dohyo it arguably didn't change anything for everybody else's matchups. Again some camera pan across the waiting masses first, so skip ahead to 0:50 for the action.

Results:

Mz7   Kazeoki (1-0)           Mz5   Yasuda (0-1)
Mz9   Ikazuchishu (0-1)       Mz6   Kadomura (1-0)
Mz10  Ikazuchiarata (0-1)     Mz13  Yamagishi (1-0)
Mz14  Sawazaki (0-1)          Mz17  Wakahasegawa (1-0)
Mz15  Kazenohana (0-1)        Mz18  Wakajin (1-0)
Mz24  Ryugi (0-1)             Mz19  Satomatsunaga (1-0)
Mz25  Yamauchi (0-1)          Mz32  Imada (1-0)

I'm not sure anybody had "Nishiiwa-beya recruits wrestlers who are good enough for a 3-0 day in maezumo" on their 2025 sumo bingo card, but here we are. But first things first: The day started off with a nicely competitive match between middle schoolers Kazeoki and Yasuda, ended with a rather violent kirikaeshi(?) legsweep takedown - somewhat surprisingly not executed by Yasuda, the kid with the karate background, but rather by Kazeoki, about whom we haven't read anything yet. (May have to go searching...)

A mono-ii worthy bout came next, but the typical Haru basho skeleton crew of just two shimpan didn't move, so the win went to Kadomura unchecked. Impossible to tell from the stream footage whether that was actually correct, thanks to a camera operator's head obscuring Kadomura's hand as it touched down. The bout itself was over so quickly that I have no idea what to think about the one-year Nittaidai member's skills yet (nor about those of his aite Ikazuchishu, really).

A pretty awkward tachiai by Yamagishi in the third bout, at least by "high schooler with sumo club experience" standards, but although he had to contend against the biggest deshi in this group (170 kg after middle school!), Yamagishi was easily capable of besting Ikazuchiarata. I think ex-Kakizoe's gonna have a lot of work to do with the latter at Ikazuchi-beya... (And why was he trying to step off the dohyo directly without using the step carved into its side? That looked super awkward.)

Next up, the three victories by Nishiiwa's motley crew of Waka(no)Sato-named recruits (aged 20, 18 and 15 in order of appearance). Looked pretty good, too, albeit against not a lot of resistance by any of their three opponents, it must be said. Sawazaki tried to lead with his shoulder which we frequently see from rookies who are still somewhat afraid of going straight ahead in the tachiai, and it put him in a bad position for the entire duration of the bout. Kazenohana, at just 71 kg the lightest deshi in this month's maezumo, was simply overpowered altogether, and Ryugi appeared to be without much of a match plan, just trying to hang on against Satomatsunaga's onslaught.

It was just one bout each, but Satomatsunaga actually looked the best to me despite being the youngest of the three Nishiiwa guys, and I wouldn't be particularly surprised if, in just a couple of years' time, he'll be the heya's second-highest ranked rikishi (behind Mikinosato)...Nishiiwa is that barren for talent.

And lastly, the match that the assembled press had been waiting for. Yamauchi tried to hang on to the best of his abilities, but judo champion and literal rocket scientist Imada made the expected short work of him. BTW, I wonder if that was the maezumo matchup with the greatest age difference ever? 2010-02-05 vs 2000-09-10, so 9 years 148 days. (But it might be exceeded in a couple of days anyway...Satomatsunaga is a conceivable second opponent for Imada, and he's another 18 days younger than Yamauchi.)

Standings:

Mz6   Kadomura       Isegahama  1-0 W   |   Mz2   Kototerao      Sadogatake  0-0-1 E
Mz7   Kazeoki        Oshiogawa  1-0 E   |   Mz3   Sato           Isegahama   0-0-1 W
Mz13  Yamagishi      Otowayama  1-0 W   |   Mz5   Yasuda         Isegahama   0-1 W
Mz17  Wakahasegawa   Nishiiwa   1-0 W   |   Mz9   Ikazuchishu    Ikazuchi    0-1 E
Mz18  Wakajin        Nishiiwa   1-0 W   |   Mz10  Ikazuchiarata  Ikazuchi    0-1 E
Mz19  Satomatsunaga  Nishiiwa   1-0 W   |   Mz14  Sawazaki       Onoe        0-1 E
Mz32  Imada          Otowayama  1-0 W   |   Mz15  Kazenohana     Oshiogawa   0-1 E
                                            Mz24  Ryugi          Tagonoura   0-1 E
                                            Mz25  Yamauchi       Tagonoura   0-1 E

An emphatic West side performance in this group, so lots of deshi will be finding themselves on the opposite side from today to make the Day 5 torikumi work.

Edited March 13 by Asashosakari

[Akinomaki 40,814]

7 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

I'm not sure anybody had "Nishiiwa-beya recruits wrestlers who are good enough for a 3-0 day in maezumo" on their 2025 sumo bingo card, but here we are.

Maybe only at a basho like this, where 2-0 is the qualification - easier to gambarize

Edited March 12 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 40,814]

The 2 in focus in group A reached the ichiban-shusse, Asarikimaru 2-0

o  o o

and the g-g-g-son 2-1

o o  o

win with his speciality katazukashi  - he says he properly views the bouts of Midorifuji. He's eager to do 7 bouts and wants to get kachikoshi, actually 5 or 6 wins.

the ancestor: Dewanoumi-oyakata

o 

Tsunenohana kanreki dohyo-iri with Futabayama (Tokitsukaze) as tachimochi and Chiyonoyama as tsuyu-harai, 22nd Shonosuke

will Yamanobe  find a kesho-mawashi of Tsunenohana for the shusse hirou?

Edited March 12 by Akinomaki

[Asashosakari 19,682]

Day 4 / Group A

Hashimoto continues to be absent for now. The 1-win group saw the two Oshiogawa deshi shifted to the West side as expected, while the winless half of the field underwent larger changes with both Tamanoi rikishi going East and Nishikido's Futagawa the other way. Regular match-making ensued after those setup activities, the wrestlers from each side being paired up in order.

Results:

Mz11  Kido (1-1)              Mz4   Asahirai (0-3)
Mz12  Teranishi (1-1)         Mz22  Futagawa (0-2)
Mz27  Sumiyoshi (0-2)         Mz26  Hokutonada (1-1)
Mz31  Terui (0-2)             Mz4   Asahirai (1-3)
Mz1   Umeyama (1-1)           Mz16  Kazekodai (2-0)
Mz8   Shunta (2-0)            Mz20  Yamanobe (1-1)
Mz28  Uchima (2-0)            Mz23  Kazeoka (1-1)
Mz30  Matsuda (1-1)           Mz29  Asarikimaru (2-0)

Mz1   Umeyama (1-2)           Mz20  Yamanobe (2-1)
Mz30  Matsuda (2-1)           Mz23  Kazeoka (1-2)

Some bonus sumo today as the four losers of the 1-0 playoffs were paired up again to produce two more qualifiers for tomorrow's ichiban shusse presentation. Asahirai was called upon for an extra match once more as well, this time against Terui (who had to switch sides before his match). Terui proved just the right opponent to finally give Asahirai his first win, and with today's performance pretty much confirming yesterday's assessment I suspect we'll be seeing that happen a couple more times.

I would have to say that I underestimated Yamanobe the other day - while he was overmatched by strong Shunta, he ended up having little trouble with his stablemate Umeyama despite the size and age difference. Kazeoka, on the other hand, arguably demonstrated his work-in-progress aspects again - while he clearly has some idea how to use his bulk, he still ended up getting outmuscled by smaller (though by no means small) opponents both times. Umeyama similarly looks like he has mastered the basics well but still has a lot to learn, and I think today's results were an appropriate outcome with him and Kazeoka becoming the two non-qualifiers out of the eight hopefuls.

Joining Shunta in direct qualification was Asarikimaru - after Day 2's pulldown win a slapdown/katasukashi combination today. He seems to know very well what he's capable of, but I'm skeptical that it's going to carry him very far. Uchima is obviously a greater prospect; I'm generally far from convinced by middle schoolers who come in as big in size as he is, but he clearly isn't only big, so maybe Nishonoseki can work some magic with him over the next few years. Lastly, Kazekodai - he proved stronger than fellow high schooler Umeyama in their match-up, but I don't think the difference is very big. Certainly the low man on the direct qualifier totem pole, and most likely behind Matsuda as well.

Out of the winners of the various 0-1 bouts I think I'd have to pick Hokutonada as the one who looked the best today.

Standings:

2-win target achieved
#01  Mz16  Kazekodai    Oshiogawa    2-0
#03  Mz8   Shunta       Futagoyama   2-0
#05  Mz28  Uchima       Nishonoseki  2-0
#07  Mz29  Asarikimaru  Takasago     2-0
#09  Mz20  Yamanobe     Dewanoumi    2-1
#11  Mz30  Matsuda      Sakaigawa    2-1

Still active
     Mz1   Umeyama      Futagoyama   1-2 E   |   Mz21  Hashimoto  Dewanoumi    0-0-2 W
     Mz4   Asahirai     Takasago     1-3 W   |   Mz22  Futagawa   Nishikido    0-2 E
     Mz11  Kido         Tamanoi      1-1 W   |   Mz27  Sumiyoshi  Nishonoseki  0-2 E
     Mz12  Teranishi    Tamanoi      1-1 W   |   Mz31  Terui      Minato       0-2 W
     Mz23  Kazeoka      Oshiogawa    1-2 E
     Mz26  Hokutonada   Hanaregoma   1-1 W

I'm looking forward to the 1-win matches in this group's next round on Day 6, as outside Asahirai there are arguably no obvious winners and losers. It's also going to be interesting to see how much commitment (if any) the wakaimonogashira in charge of the action have to avoiding repeat matchups - Asahirai has already faced both Umeyama and Kido, and Kazeoka-Hokutonada has happened as well, all pairings that are likely to happen again without extra effort to get around them. The 0-win pairings are easy to set up if Hashimoto finally joins, otherwise one of them will presumably end up facing the other two. (Unless they do something else entirely and mix and match rikishi from both columns.)

[Yubinhaad 11,768]

Yamanobe looks so youthful that I can't shake the idea that he took a wrong turn at a wanpaku sumo competition and ended up on the ozumo dohyo by mistake. Can't fault the effort or skills though.

Have the wakaimonogashira running maezumo been told to smarten up while they're on camera? It's slightly strange to see them in suit jackets outside of the senshuraku ceremonials. And they're back in their regular Kyokai work jackets when they return to the arena minutes later.

Terao is indeed shown as Kototerao on his heya profile page.

 

17 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

Yamauchi tried to hang on to the best of his abilities, but judo champion and literal rocket scientist Imada made the expected short work of him. BTW, I wonder if that was the maezumo matchup with the greatest age difference ever? 2010-02-05 vs 2000-09-10, so 9 years 148 days. (But it might be exceeded in a couple of days anyway...Satomatsunaga is a conceivable second opponent for Imada, and he's another 18 days younger than Yamauchi.)

Good spot, and not far away. So far I can only find two greater age differences, for Katozakura (now Gokishin) in 2020 Haru. He was 9 years, 8 months, 24 days older than Haruku, and 9 years, 7 months, 6 days older than Ezura.

[Asashosakari 19,682]

Day 5 / Group B

We're complete in this group now as both Kototerao and Sato joined the competition.

Lots of side movement ahead of today's matches. The entire Nishiiwa trio was sent to the East, with fellow 1-winner Kazeoki (Oshiogawa) headed the other way. Winless deshi Sawazaki (Onoe) and Ryugi (Tagonoura) went to the West side.

Fair warning: There's a very rough fall in the match starting after 5:30, though the rikishi in question was eventually able to leave under his own power.

Results:

Mz2   Kototerao (1-0-1)       Mz3   Sato (0-1-1)
Mz9   Ikazuchishu (1-1)       Mz5   Yasuda (0-2)
Mz10  Ikazuchiarata (1-1)     Mz14  Sawazaki (0-2)
Mz15  Kazenohana (0-2)        Mz24  Ryugi (1-1)
Mz25  Yamauchi (1-1)          Mz3   Sato (0-2-1)
Mz17  Wakahasegawa (1-1)      Mz7   Kazeoki (2-0)
Mz18  Wakajin (2-0)           Mz6   Kadomura (1-1)
Mz19  Satomatsunaga (1-1)     Mz13  Yamagishi (2-0)
Mz2   Kototerao (1-1-1)       Mz32  Imada (2-0)

Mz17  Wakahasegawa (1-2)      Mz6   Kadomura (2-1)
Mz9   Ikazuchishu (1-2)       Mz19  Satomatsunaga (2-1)

If you might have thought - like I did - that 16 active rikishi would mean 8 matches no matter what, you'd have been wrong, too. With 7 winners and 9 winless competitors, they decided to use fillers for each set separately rather than scheduling one 1-0 vs 0-1 bout. The amusing side effect is that this essentially caught up both Kototerao and Sato's participation schedules after their non-appearances two days ago. Ikazuchishu, next one in line from the earlier 0-1 bouts, also ended up getting an extra match in the "bonus round" as they needed a fourth body for that, but he wasn't able to convert his unexpected qualification opportunity.

In addition, they flipped the order of two West side rikishi (Kazeoki and Kadomura) from what normally ought to have happened in the match-making. I'm really not sure why they did this, but a wild bit of speculation would be that it was an attempt to engineer at least one Nishiiwa winner so they wouldn't have all three of them clogging up the intended two bonus bouts.

Sato didn't offer much in our opening match, and while Kototerao is clearly pretty green as well he showed some good basics in winning, I thought. Against Imada he unsurprisingly didn't stand a chance later. Meanwhile, Sato's second appearance came against Imada's other opponent from back on Tuesday, Yamauchi, and this one didn't go much better for Sato than his first bout had. Probably this group's favourite for finishing winless.

Short kid Sawazaki (166 cm) and skinny Kazenohana (71 kg) also remain without a shiroboshi and weren't particularly competitive against their respective opponents today, but both are looking more capable to my eyes. Sato stablemate Yasuda rounds out the 0-2 field, and I'm honestly a bit puzzled by his performances so far, but perhaps a karate background doesn't transfer nearly as well as judo and wrestling do...he's looking kinda clueless about what to do in a sumo bout. If they're unlucky, both Isegahama kids might not find a beatable opponent as they're obviously not going to get any opportunity to face each other.

The 1-0 playoffs started with a good bout that was marred by Kazeoki's scary-looking head-first tumble to the floor. Fortunately it appears that he came away from it reasonably unscathed and, as he was in fact the winner of the match, also qualified for the public presentation some four hours later, which he did show up for. Pretty good-looking action in the next two matches as well, although the winners Wakajin and Yamagishi both came through in fairly decisive fashion. However, their opponents Kadomura and Satomatsunaga proceeded to win easily themselves in the two bonus matches.

I think it's fair to say after today's exploits that it's more appropriate to think of Kadomura as "high school graduate who turned pro a year late" rather than "former member of the Nittaidai university sumo club". Can't imagine that he'll duplicate what Midorifuji and Nishikifuji did back in the day after they left Kindai University early in their second year to join Isegahama-beya. (What is it with that heya and university dropouts?)

Standings:

2-win target achieved
#02  Mz7   Kazeoki        Oshiogawa   2-0
#04  Mz18  Wakajin        Nishiiwa    2-0
#06  Mz13  Yamagishi      Otowayama   2-0
#08  Mz32  Imada          Otowayama   2-0
#10  Mz6   Kadomura       Isegahama   2-1
#12  Mz19  Satomatsunaga  Nishiiwa    2-1

Still active
     Mz2   Kototerao      Sadogatake  1-1-1 E |   Mz3   Sato        Isegahama  0-2-1 W
     Mz9   Ikazuchishu    Ikazuchi    1-2 E   |   Mz5   Yasuda      Isegahama  0-2 W
     Mz10  Ikazuchiarata  Ikazuchi    1-1 E   |   Mz14  Sawazaki    Onoe       0-2 E
     Mz17  Wakahasegawa   Nishiiwa    1-2 W   |   Mz15  Kazenohana  Oshiogawa  0-2 E
     Mz24  Ryugi          Tagonoura   1-1 E
     Mz25  Yamauchi       Tagonoura   1-1 E

It's open season for Day 7 in the left-hand column as none of these six deshi have faced each other yet; either the Ikazuchis or the Tagonouras will be fighting from the West side. The 0-2 matches write themselves and should be Sawazaki vs Sato and Kazenohana vs Yasuda. (Barring surprise withdrawals, of course.)

Probably relatively short sessions the next two days, without any additional matches beyond the one for each contestant (one potentially required fill-in aside, of course).
 

Edited March 13 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 19,682]

The ichiban shusse presentation of the 12 qualifiers thus far:

 

[Asashosakari 19,682]

Day 6 / Group A

Still no sign of Hashimoto, and Asahirai joined him on the sidelines today. That left just eight active rikishi and it was the expected short session with only four matches. 0-2 Sumiyoshi went East -> West and 1-1 Hokutonada West -> East to make it work.

Results:

Mz22  Futagawa (0-3)          Mz27  Sumiyoshi (1-2)
Mz1   Umeyama (2-2)           Mz31  Terui (0-3)
Mz23  Kazeoka (2-2)           Mz11  Kido (1-2)
Mz26  Hokutonada (2-1)        Mz12  Teranishi (1-2)

Pretty straight-forward match-making...winless rikishi in order, with the last one of them serving as the opponent of the first 1-win rikishi, then the rest of those in order. And no repeats yet!

Umeyama and Kazeoka, the two deshi who lost twice in qualification opportunities on Day 4, easily came through against today's opposition. Hokutonada encountered slightly more resistance, but also earned his second win in convincing fashion. The clear highlight of the day - and arguably the entire maezumo week - came in the opening match though, with Futagawa and Sumiyoshi fighting hard for that first win. Rather unfortunate that one of them had to remain winless after that effort.

Standings:

2-win target achieved
#01  Mz16  Kazekodai    Oshiogawa    2-0
#03  Mz8   Shunta       Futagoyama   2-0
#05  Mz28  Uchima       Nishonoseki  2-0
#07  Mz29  Asarikimaru  Takasago     2-0
#09  Mz20  Yamanobe     Dewanoumi    2-1
#11  Mz30  Matsuda      Sakaigawa    2-1
---
#13  Mz1   Umeyama      Futagoyama   2-2
#15  Mz23  Kazeoka      Oshiogawa    2-2
#17  Mz26  Hokutonada   Hanaregoma   2-1

Still active
     Mz4   Asahirai     Takasago     1-3-1 W |   Mz21  Hashimoto  Dewanoumi  0-0-3 W
     Mz11  Kido         Tamanoi      1-2 W   |   Mz22  Futagawa   Nishikido  0-3 E
     Mz12  Teranishi    Tamanoi      1-2 W   |   Mz31  Terui      Minato     0-3 W
     Mz27  Sumiyoshi    Nishonoseki  1-2 E

Assuming the two absent rikishi are not joining/returning for the final round on Day 8 and nobody else drops out as well, the schedule will likely be this:

Futagawa vs Terui
Sumiyoshi vs Kido
winner bout 1 vs Teranishi

And if they're feeling like it:

loser bout 2 vs loser bout 3 (but definitely not if it's the two Tamanoi rikishi, of course)

Unfortunately for Terui it's looking pretty good for my Day 2 prediction that he's gonna end up bottom of the pile in this group...

Hashimoto will have to appear on Day 8, else he is not getting on the May banzuke.

[Asashosakari 19,682]

Day 7 / Group B

All 10 still-active rikishi showed up for the penultimate day of action of this group, so we got the expected five matches. The two Tagonoura kids moved over to compete from the West side today, and that was all the adjustments required.

Results:

Mz14  Sawazaki (1-2)          Mz3   Sato (0-3-1)
Mz15  Kazenohana (0-3)        Mz5   Yasuda (1-2)
Mz2   Kototerao (1-2-1)       Mz17  Wakahasegawa (2-2)
Mz9   Ikazuchishu (2-2)       Mz24  Ryugi (1-2)
Mz10  Ikazuchiarata (2-1)     Mz25  Yamauchi (1-2)

Dang, Ikazuchiarata really has almost nothing going besides his size. Yamauchi obviously isn't all that skilled at this stage either, but he made a valiant effort to find an angle of attack against his much bigger aite. However, in the process he also found himself out of position frequently (and at times hilariously), and gave Ikazuchiarata tons of opportunities to win the match much earlier than he ultimately did. By contrast, Wakahasegawa and Ikazuchishu didn't have a lot of trouble collecting that second win.

The two winless rikishi after today's bouts are arguably the two who deserve it. Sato looks very awkward in his movements, and Kazenohana sadly has just got overpowered by everyone until now. First win for Sato's stablemate Yasuda thanks to that, and out of the remaining 1-win contestants he might well be the best one now.

Standings:

2-win target achieved
#02  Mz7   Kazeoki        Oshiogawa   2-0
#04  Mz18  Wakajin        Nishiiwa    2-0
#06  Mz13  Yamagishi      Otowayama   2-0
#08  Mz32  Imada          Otowayama   2-0
#10  Mz6   Kadomura       Isegahama   2-1
#12  Mz19  Satomatsunaga  Nishiiwa    2-1
---
#14  Mz17  Wakahasegawa   Nishiiwa    2-2
#16  Mz9   Ikazuchishu    Ikazuchi    2-2
#18  Mz10  Ikazuchiarata  Ikazuchi    2-1

Still active
     Mz2   Kototerao      Sadogatake  1-2-1 E |   Mz3   Sato        Isegahama  0-3-1 W
     Mz5   Yasuda         Isegahama   1-2 W   |   Mz15  Kazenohana  Oshiogawa  0-3 E
     Mz14  Sawazaki       Onoe        1-2 E
     Mz24  Ryugi          Tagonoura   1-2 E
     Mz25  Yamauchi       Tagonoura   1-2 E

Kazenohana's the only one left here who isn't a middle school grad, but he could certainly pass for one as well.

Five of the 19 possible matches among these rikishi have already taken place, but straight-forward pairings would amazingly avoid almost all of them, so Day 9 might well end up as:

Kazenohana vs Sato
Kototerao vs Yasuda
Sawazaki vs Ryugi
winner bout 1 vs Yamauchi (could be a repeat if Sato has won)

Possibly followed here as well by:

loser bout 2 vs loser bout 3

Unlike Group A they would still have two rikishi on one win at this point here (the losers of bouts 4 and 5), but I have a feeling they won't bother to give them yet another match. Unless Yamauchi has lost, perhaps, as he's the only rikishi who might reach this point having done only one bout on the day. (And the usual same-heya caveat applies as well, of course - it could be the two Isegahama or two Tagonoura rikishi, which would preclude the match entirely.)

The 0-win match-up looks a lot more open here than in Group A, so both Kazenohana and Sato still have a good chance to avoid finishing last.

[Morning 85]

What happens if someone doesn't get two wins. Do they have to show up again next time for another try, do they get rejected, promoted anyway, fed to others till someone takes pity and loses?

[Akinomaki 40,814]

1 hour ago, Morning said:

What happens if someone doesn't get two wins. Do they have to show up again next time for another try, do they get rejected, promoted anyway, fed to others till someone takes pity and loses?

No win is required for the shusse, those with 0 wins simply end up last - only one appearance at maezumo is enough to give entry to the banzuke/jonokuchi

[Asashosakari 19,682]

Day 8 / Group A

Surprise! Asahirai is back and Hashimoto is in. That made the match-ups even easier to create as they were just able to play off the four 1-win rikishi in two rounds while the winless trio did their own thing.

Results:

Mz22  Futagawa (1-3)          Mz31  Terui (0-4)
Mz11  Kido (1-3)              Mz4   Asahirai (2-3-1)
Mz12  Teranishi (2-2)         Mz27  Sumiyoshi (1-3)
Mz21  Hashimoto (1-0-3)       Mz31  Terui (0-5)

Mz11  Kido (2-3)              Mz27  Sumiyoshi (1-4)

This hasn't been Terui's week...now a partial wardrobe malfunction to top it all off. At least he didn't look completely overmatched in today's two matches. Late joiner and nominally West-assigned Hashimoto was told to sit on the East side from the start, so I can only surmise that the wakaimonogashira in charge of the whole thing also anticipated that Terui would become his opponent as the losing side of the first match.

The two "first round" matches among the 1-win rikishi were done in order of entry ranking which meant a repeat bout from Day 4 - this time Asahirai managed to defeat Kido, although I'm really not sure about that gunbai (and neither was anybody besides Shikimori Kazenosuke, it appeared).

I'm feeling a bit sorry for Sumiyoshi (pictured in the video thumbnail, thanks Youtube) that he has become one of the handful of rookies to miss out on the two-win mark - other than his first loss to much older Asarikimaru he hasn't looked bad at all. I won't be too surprised if he actually KKs next time; from his low jonokuchi position he'll avoid all the big boppers of the class and he should easily be competitive against the various other kids that are going to end up down there. A match-up I would have liked to see for how those two stack up to each other is Asahirai vs Sumiyoshi, maybe we'll get that in May.

By contrast, Futagawa's one-win finish has looked rather more appropriate to me. No idea where Hashimoto slots in properly after his three missed days and today's quick outing against Terui, so that'll be something for next basho as well.

In any case, both Tamanoi rikishi managed to secure their second win at Sumiyoshi's expense to leave this maezumo on a high note - after what, at least to me, felt like pretty disappointing results considering they're both big lads who have come in with a decent amount of sumo (Teranishi) / other sports (Kido) experience, not to mention that the latter is 18 already.

The final Group A standings:

2-win target achieved
#01  Mz16  Kazekodai       Oshiogawa    2-0
#03  Mz8   Shunta          Futagoyama   2-0
#05  Mz28  Uchima          Nishonoseki  2-0
#07  Mz29  Asarikimaru     Takasago     2-0
#09  Mz20  Yamanobe        Dewanoumi    2-1
#11  Mz30  Matsuda         Sakaigawa    2-1
---
#13  Mz1   Umeyama         Futagoyama   2-2
#15  Mz23  Kazeoka         Oshiogawa    2-2
#17  Mz26  Hokutonada      Hanaregoma   2-1
#19  Mz4   Asahirai        Takasago     2-3-1
#21  Mz12  Teranishi       Tamanoi      2-2
#23  Mz11  Kido            Tamanoi      2-3

Remaining order
#25  Mz27  Sumiyoshi       Nishonoseki  1-4
#27  Mz22  Futagawa        Nishikido    1-3
#29  Mz21  Hashimoto       Dewanoumi    1-0-3
#31  Mz32  Terui           Minato       0-5

The position numbers after #23 are very speculative for now; I've made dual assumptions about that, namely the smaller one that they're going to use the same ranking logic they did for last year's Haru maezumo (which wasn't quite the same as in previous years), and the much bigger one that the other group's matches will actually unfold as I think they will tomorrow. We won't have to wait long for confirmation in any case, though, as the final Group B matches will be followed by the second presentation only hours later.

Day 9 edit: Rank order adjusted with the confirmed positions.

Edited March 17 by Asashosakari