New recruits Natsu 2025

[Katooshu 3,464]

I think he's better than Ishizaki, up there with how I rated Kusano and Onokatsu entering ozumo, though whether he progresses as a pro like they have is yet to be seen. His frame is rather average for sekitori standards and he could do with building his strength more, as sometimes he could be overpowered by stronger, mauling foes before making his skill count. 

I do think he should establish himself in makuuchi eventually though, with the usual caveat about health, as technically he's so good. 

Edited April 22 by Katooshu

[Akinomaki 41,570]

A bit confusing news from TBS - this haru/spring, Sora Maeda (175cm, 143kg) 前田壮來（まえだそら ）has joined Nishonoseki-beya, says the article, the video in it says Sora Tanaka 田中壮來  newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/1875784?display=1

He was at his middle school in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto with the oyakata and wants to start at the Natsu basho this spring

- I again can't post the video, nor link or pics

Edited April 24 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 41,570]

 

[Akinomaki 41,570]

 o

[Akinomaki 41,570]

Urayama on the 29th started proper training at Otowayama-beya. On the 30th 5-1 with sandanme and below and  close to 10 minutes butsukari-geiko with Kirishima

o o

[Akinomaki 41,570]

14 will be at the shindeshi-kensa tomorrow, 3 with msTD qualification, last time with 3 or more was 26 years ago Haru 1999, with the later Kotomitsuki, Hamanishiki and Takamisakari.

For Oitekaze-beya Shuta Kaki 可貴秀太 (22, 190cm) from Kanazawa Gakuin-dai, the 3rd from there after Enho and ms Yoshiyasu. Runner-up in the national weight class tournament in the below 135kg category. 

o

From high school also Akihito Yabugasaki 藪ケ崎晃仁 やぶがさき あきひと (18) for Yamahibiki-beya, from Wakayama pref. Minoshima high, best 8 with the team at the interhigh. In first year 189cm, 145kg https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/img.p-kit.com/usasumo/1661487574029984100.pdf

3 from middle school, Yano (16) is a drop-out from Tokushima Myozai high. Takahara isn't mentioned, maybe he's not fit yet. Sora is a Tanaka, not a Maeda, for Ajigawa-beya a Yuma Nakamura 中村悠真 (there's a female singer with that name) from Aomori Sanbongi nogyo high.

And Yushiro Shimogama  下釜航士郎 from Nagasaki Isahaya agrc. high school

Edited May 1 by Akinomaki

[Katooshu 3,464]

Kaki is decent, but not particularly promising. His Kanazawa Gakuin senior Yoshiyasu is probably a good comparison in style, frame, and ability. 

Here he is in a long one at the All Japan Championship a couple years ago. If you skip to 25:44 you can see him vs Onosato.

But that brings me to a more promising Oitekaze beya recruit - word is that Ryusho Kawakami, Nihon University standout, brother of former juryo Ryuko, and nephew of Onoe oyakata, has joined the heya and is already training there. He has an Ms60TD qualification through a top 8 finish at the student championships. Wouldn't start in Natsu but expect to see him in ozumo soon.

About 187cm/120kg - a bit stiff in his movements, but very strong and stable for his size, likes to tsuridashi opponents and pull out the utchari. Reminds me of a lighter Wakamotoharu. He won a couple tournaments in college and generally had good finishes. He was also a high school and college teammate of Kusano and debuting Hanaoka.

Here he is in black

[Asashosakari 20,131]

Full list:

Nakamura Yūma (18)	中村 悠真	Ajigawa	Aomori
Minami Aoto (18)	美浪 碧仁	Hidenoyama	Okayama
Tanino Masato (16)	谷野 魔裟斗	Hidenoyama	Tokushima
Tanaka Sora (19)	田中 壮來	Nishonoseki	Kumamoto
Kaki Shūta (22)	可貴 秀太	Oitekaze	Ishikawa
Urayama Shūsei (22)	浦山 秀誠	Otowayama	Toyama	MsTd
Hanaoka Masaki (22)	花岡 真生	Sakaigawa	Kumamoto	MsTd
Shimogama Kōshirō (19)	下釜 航士郎	Sakaigawa	Nagasaki
Suetomi Seiya (15)	末冨 聖也	Sakaigawa	Yamaguchi
Gyōtoku Kōsuke (22)	行徳 康祐	Tamanoi	Tokyo	MsTd
Inakawa Sōsuke (15)	稲川 颯介	Tamanoi	Iwate
Munkh-Erdene Buyantogtokh (19)	ムンフェルデネ ブヤントグトフ	Tokitsukaze	Mongolia
Nakaie Bruno Yūji (15)	中家 ブルーノ ユウジ	Yamahibiki	Aichi
Yabugasaki Akihito (18)	藪ケ﨑 晃仁	Yamahibiki	Wakayama

Name readings as made available in official data. Yabugasaki is listed with a rarer saki kanji variant there than the Sponichi article had, I've opted to include the officially given one. We'll see which one the Kyokai actually posts up in his profile during the basho.

Nakamura and Kaki will have their next birthday during the basho, Hanaoka's is also in May but after senshuraku.

The prefectures given are current addresses and so some shusshin may end up differently; high school graduates in particular are somewhat frequently listed with the locations of their schools initially. (And incidentally, Munkh-Erdene's address is given as Tokyo, Sumida-ku, presumably as the location of Tokitsukaze-beya; I listed "Mongolia" in the table anyway to avoid confusion. He's definitely coming in as a foreign-registered rikishi.)

Inakawa will need a shikona straight away as the kanji (though not the reading) of his surname are identical to the Inagawa kabu and thus off-limits. Ditto Nakamura, which is of course a name where that situation comes up a lot more often.

So, should be 10 fresh participants in maezumo, plus whoever of the currently five banzuke-gai rikishi also turns up. (That link will only work when the DB is updated for Natsu.) Double representation for Hidenoyama, Sakaigawa and Yamahibiki, and possibly also for Oitekaze in case unranked Daibasho returns.

Edited May 2 by Asashosakari

[Kintamayama 46,753]

14 passed the tests today. Anyone know Bruno's background?

Edited May 2 by Kintamayama

[Jakusotsu 6,320]

2 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Anyone know Bruno's background?

Yes.

[Kintamayama 46,753]

30 minutes ago, Jakusotsu said:

Yes.

Wow, very cool..

[Morning 92]

I would like to quibble over the articles title translation which is a pun in German. Yes, it can mean "your hardest opponent is yourself", but the more obvious translation is "your heaviest opponent is yourself" or just going with the alluded base saying in both languages "your biggest opponent is yourself".

[Asashosakari 20,131]

Tamanoi-beya announced that Gyotoku will be competing under his real name, while Inakawa will adopt 東颯海 Tōsōumi as his shikona, the middle kanji being taken from his real given name (which might imply that he'll be changing that part as well).

 

Somehow I feel like I've seen Inakawa in another recent shindeshi class before...can't figure out who he reminds me of.

Edited May 2 by Asashosakari

[Yubinhaad 11,927]

On 01/05/2025 at 10:23, Akinomaki said:

From high school also Akihito Yabugasaki 藪ケ崎晃仁 やぶがさき あきひと (18) for Yamahibiki-beya, from Wakayama pref. Minoshima high, best 8 with the team at the interhigh. In first year 189cm, 145kg

Younger brother of now-Hakuonada, as noted six years ago:
 

On 17/02/2019 at 17:16, Yubinhaad said:

Meanwhile, Rento Yabugasaki from Hyogo prefecture (藪ヶ崎 蓮人) is joining Yamahibiki-beya, where the shisho is also a Hyogo native. The articles give him as 185cm and 155kg. He has a younger brother also involved in sumo at middle school level, if I recall correctly?

 

On 17/02/2019 at 21:41, mikawa said:

Regarding what @Yubinhaad said, it does look like that Yabugasaki Rento has a younger brother, called Yabugasaki Akihito, who was a Wanpaku quarter-finalist when he was in Grade 5. Akihito will be starting middle school this coming April, a few weeks before another Akihito is set to graduate.

[Akinomaki 41,570]

Measurement pics are all of the 3 msTD - evenly distributed

Hanaoka

oo

Urayama

oo

Gyotoku

o o

 

but also now Tanino has an article:  he'll start with his real family name for now, but wants to have his first name 魔裟斗 as shikona. Both parents were big fans of K-1 fighter/talento etc. Masato and for that reason gave him the name.

o o

He started with sumo in 2nd year middle school, after first doing baseball - thus he has 3 years of sumo experience

[Akinomaki 41,570]

Hidenoyama-beya is now one to post with Japanese and English audio - today short self introductions of the 2 new recruits, Tanino and Minami

 

[Naganoyama 6,016]

NSK data:
SHIKONA	KANJI	NAME	HEYA	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	DOB	BIRTHPLACE
Buyantogtokh	ブヤントグトフ	Buyantogtokh Munkh Erdene	Tokitsukaze	188	156	29 - June - 2005	Tokyo
Gyotoku Kosuke	行徳	Gyotoku Kosuke	Tamanoi	178	143	22 - October - 2002	Tokyo
Hanaoka Masaki	花岡	Hanaoka Masaki	Sakaigawa	180	134	29 - May - 2002	Kumamoto
Inakawa	稲川	Ianakawa Sosuke	Tamanoi	178	113	23 - March - 2010	Iwate
Kaki	可貴	Kaki Shuta	Oitekaze	190	132	16 - May - 2002	Ishikawa
Minami	美浪	Minami Aoto	Hidenoyama	178	111	02 - June - 2006	Okayama
Nakaie	中家	Yuji Nakaie Buruno	Yamahibiki	180	87	25 - June - 2009	Aichi
Nakamura	中村	Nakamura Yuma	Ajigawa	168	111	12 - May - 2006	Aomori
Shimogama	下釜	Shimogama Koshiro	Sakaigawa	173	108	01 - December - 2005	Nagasaki
Suetomi	末冨	Suetomi Seiya	Sakaigawa	175	143	23 - December - 2009	Yamaguchi
Tanaka	田中	Tanaka Sora	Nishonoseki	175	140	04 - April - 2006	Kumamoto
Tanino	谷野	Tanino Masato	Hidenoyama	168	78	15 - January - 2009	Tokushima
Urayama Shosei	浦山	Urayama Shusei	Otowayama	184	170	23 - January - 2003	Toyama
Yabugasaki	藪ケ崎	Yabugasaki Akihito	Yamahibiki	180	163	10 - October - 2006	Wakayama

 

[Asashosakari 20,131]

Ugh, so the claim that Buyantogtokh is from Tokyo has actually made it into the released data... That's not getting fixed on their site until July now, I guess. Hopefully at least Inakawa's misspelled real name will be addressed faster.

Meanwhile, the Kyokai profile data uses 崎 in Yabugasaki, but a Kyokai tweet about the maezumo start used 﨑...

For those who may not have seen it yet: Doitsuyama already added the shindeshi profiles to the DB.

Day 3

Only the two shindeshi with tomena real names have adopted proper shikona immediately; Inakawa -> Tōsōumi 東颯海 was already mentioned in the thread, and Nakamura -> Azuma 安寿真 is the other one (kanji confirmed, reading assumed based on yobidashi/gyoji).

The 10 rookies are being joined by two returnees, namely Oitekaze's Daibasho (joining heyamate Kaki) and Kokonoe's Chiyoryusei. Both last competed in November, although they fell off the banzuke after different basho. They're almost four years apart in age (Daibasho 17, Chiyoryusei turned 21 today), but they're actually both from the same debut class, Haru 2023, and this is in fact their first maezumo participation as that was one of the Haru classes who had their bouts cancelled due to pandemic precautions. Chiyoryusei has not fought under his present shikona yet; in his last dohyo appearance he was still known as Chiyorozan.

And on with the first of probably five days of maezumo action. Like last time, should you find yourself wanting to watch all days in one go without having to scroll through this thread, a Youtube playlist will have them in order.

Results:

Mz1   Daibasho (1-0)          Mz2   Chiyoryusei (0-1)
Mz3   Kaki (1-0)              Mz4   Azuma (0-1)
Mz5   Shimogama (1-0)         Mz6   Tanino (0-1)
Mz8   Tosoumi (1-0)           Mz7   Minami (0-1)
Mz9   Suetomi (0-1)           Mz11  Yabugasaki (1-0)
Mz10  Tanaka (1-0)            Mz12  Nakaie (0-1)

Well, that's two rookie mistakes out of the way for new gyoji Shikimori Tomosaburo; gotta remember which rikishi belongs to which side and what their shikona is!

(Actually, since the gunbai nearly went the wrong way in his second bout as well, I wonder if, rather than East/West confusion, the first error was what I suspect I would struggle with if I were to referee a bout...you're looking for one rikishi doing a thing you should make your judgement on, i.e. step out / touch down, but then you're expected to immediately point to the other rikishi's side after your mind was just focused on the loser.)

It's obvious what took Chiyoryusei out of action; do we know why Daibasho was out? Confident start for the latter, in any case, and as a "was competitive in lower-mid jonidan" known quantity he should be a good yardstick for judging the true rookies this week.

As the only collegiate debutant down here in Mz and with no huge pedigrees among the younger newbies, it's probably safe to anoint Kaki as the favourite for a 3-0 finish. It remains to be seen if anybody else can come through undefeated; with normal scheduling we'll only enter Day 5 with three 2-0 scores, so one of them may still get taken down then.

Anyway, just based on size and hailing from one of the more prominent high school programmes, Yabugasaki is presumably the second favourite for a 3-0...either in addition to Kaki or perhaps even as a potential threat to him, should the schedule happen to match them up.

In other observations: Tosoumi and Tanaka looked strong, but weren't really tested today. Suetomi is pretty massive for a middle schooler at 143 kg and even though he wasn't able to resist even bigger and older Yabugasaki, he'll likely find beatable opposition soon. Everybody else wasn't able to show much yet (including the one winning rikishi I haven't mentioned, Shimogama), hopefully the Day 4 pairings prove a little less lopsided in nature. 

Standings:

Mz1   Daibasho    Oitekaze     1-0 E   |   Mz2   Chiyoryusei  Kokonoe     0-1 W
Mz3   Kaki        Oitekaze     1-0 E   |   Mz4   Azuma        Ajigawa     0-1 W
Mz5   Shimogama   Sakaigawa    1-0 E   |   Mz6   Tanino       Hidenoyama  0-1 W
Mz8   Tosoumi     Tamanoi      1-0 E   |   Mz7   Minami       Hidenoyama  0-1 W
Mz10  Tanaka      Nishonoseki  1-0 E   |   Mz9   Suetomi      Sakaigawa   0-1 E
Mz11  Yabugasaki  Yamahibiki   1-0 W   |   Mz12  Nakaie       Yamahibiki  0-1 W

Edited May 14 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari 20,131]

Bonus content: The session shot live from the West side by Lulit, and the Kyokai's two-part picture reference. Let's hope this all embeds in one go...

 

Edited May 13 by Asashosakari

[Yubinhaad 11,927]

16 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

Nakamura -> Azuma 安寿真 is the other one (kanji confirmed, reading assumed based on yobidashi/gyoji).

That's right, his profile on the heya website says あずま.

 

I didn't save the post but I remember boss jonokuchi mentioned that Daibasho's kyujo was because of a neck injury.

[Kintamayama 46,753]

OK, one of them is Brazilian- Kaisei was guest commentator and said something about it yesterday when they showed the maezumo on NHK. Nakaie Bruno, perhaps?

[Kintamayama 46,753]

46 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

OK, one of them is Brazilian- Kaisei was guest commentator and said something about it yesterday when they showed the maezumo on NHK. Nakaie Bruno, perhaps?

Confirmed by Kaisei himself on the broadcast and backed by Mr. Murray Johnson- Nakaie is Brazilian, at least half I guess.

https://files.fm/u/5d65a4y2rt

Edited May 14 by Kintamayama

[Asashosakari 20,131]

@Doitsuyama A couple of small errata: Urayama's given name is Shūsei, not Shōsei, and Tanaka's is Sora, not Sōra. (Although I see that kanji is usually read with a long vowel....) And in Buyantogtokh's profile there's an errant ? in his name.

Day 4

The rather low amount of resistance that heavily knee-strapped Chiyoryusei put up yesterday should perhaps have been a clue - he's already out of the competition, having done the minimum required to feature on the next banzuke. We're continuing with just 11 participants here.

Yesterday's lopsided match outcomes necessitated several movements ahead of today's matches: winless Azuma competed from the East side, while 1-win duo Shimogama and Tosoumi were shuffled over to the West.

Results:

Mz4   Azuma (1-1)             Mz6   Tanino (0-2)
Mz9   Suetomi (1-1)           Mz7   Minami (0-2)
Mz6   Tanino (1-2)            Mz12  Nakaie (0-2)
Mz1   Daibasho (2-0)          Mz5   Shimogama (1-1)
Mz3   Kaki (2-0)              Mz8   Tosoumi (1-1)
Mz10  Tanaka (1-1)            Mz11  Yabugasaki (2-0)

Somewhat more competitive action today as expected, although Hidenoyama's new pair Tanino and Minami still looked rather overmatched against their heftier opponents in the first two bouts. That led into the first rikishi needing to pull double duty this basho - Tanino found an aite more to his liking in Nakaie, and flung him around in typical lightweight matchup fashion.

(Side note: What a massive vocal improvement by Shikimori Tomosaburo compared to yesterday...at least for the first call ahead of Tanino - Nakaie. He slipped a bit again for subsequent ones, but his newbie predecessor Kimura Yunosuke needed months to get anywhere near that level of voice projection, so that bodes well. Now, on to remembering the shikona every time...)

Great action in Daibasho - Shimogama followed in bout number four. Almost a shame that it didn't lead to any winner, but the torinaoshi was a fair decision, IMHO. The rematch was shorter but no less energetic, eventually to be won by returnee Daibasho. I'm actually a bit surprised that his highest KK rank so far was only Jd75; the eye test makes him look more skilled than that to me.

The arguably expected outcomes in the final two matches with clear victories for Kaki and Yabugasaki, although their opponents Tosoumi and Tanaka proved to be no pushovers.

Standings:

Mz1   Daibasho    Oitekaze    2-0 E   |   Mz4   Azuma      Ajigawa      1-1 W   |   Mz2   Chiyoryusei  Kokonoe     0-1-1 W
Mz3   Kaki        Oitekaze    2-0 E   |   Mz5   Shimogama  Sakaigawa    1-1 E   |   Mz7   Minami       Hidenoyama  0-2 W
Mz11  Yabugasaki  Yamahibiki  2-0 W   |   Mz6   Tanino     Hidenoyama   1-2 W   |   Mz12  Nakaie       Yamahibiki  0-2 W
                                          Mz8   Tosoumi    Tamanoi      1-1 E
                                          Mz9   Suetomi    Sakaigawa    1-1 E
                                          Mz10  Tanaka     Nishonoseki  1-1 E

They're gonna need to fill in that fourth spot in tomorrow's two 2-0 matches, the choice being either double duty for a 1-2 or 0-3 loser (hopefully not the latter, because that would probably be a foregone conclusion), or using one of the 1-1 rikishi straight up and having the extra appearance take place in the lesser matches. Scheduling straight down the order would mean Daibasho - Yabugasaki as the first 2-0 match, but that would give Yabugasaki the chance to jump ahead of Kaki in the qualifier queue, which they might want to avoid. On the other hand, if it's Daibasho vs random pick and Kaki - Yabugasaki, we're dooming one of the arguably best two participants to a delayed finish, so maybe also not that desirable. Should be interesting to see which way they go.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention him yesterday: The young guy who was seated behind shimpan Takekuma then, and right behind the gyoji position today, ought to be Tatsunami's gyoji applicant Seia. Presumably it's going to take a while until we see him in action; Tomosaburo was an observer for no less than three tournaments before he was officially hired.

[Asashosakari 20,131]

Oh, I forgot one other possibility (perhaps even the best one): Filling the spot with a 2-1 winner from the 1-1 bouts.

Today's Kyokai action shots from maezumo:

[Asashosakari 20,131]

Day 5

First day with full qualifiers being determined, and they did decide to place a winner from the 1-1's into the 2-0 bouts. In other required adjustments: 1-1 Tanaka moved over to the West side, and 0-2 Minami to the East.

Results:

Mz7   Minami (0-3)            Mz12  Nakaie (1-2)
Mz5   Shimogama (2-1)         Mz4   Azuma (1-2)
Mz8   Tosoumi (1-2)           Mz6   Tanino (2-2)
Mz9   Suetomi (1-2)           Mz10  Tanaka (2-1)
Mz1   Daibasho (2-1)          Mz11  Yabugasaki (3-0)
Mz5   Shimogama (2-2)         Mz3   Kaki (3-0)

Things opened up with a bout that was fought hard, but looked really awkward - gotta do what you have to do for that first win, I guess. Nice job by Nakaie. I'm hopeful that Minami won't be leaving this maezumo session winless in the end, either, but it has to be pointed out that as a high school graduate he has lost to all three middle schoolers in the field now. (Well, there are four, but the last one is his heyamate Tanino.)

The three 1-win matchups followed. Quick finishes in favour of Shimogama and Tanaka in the first and third, but the middle one between Tosoumi and Tanino was a nice little tussle. Tanino should be getting the attention of the lower division devotees very soon, being somewhat of an upscaled-in-size (though still small) version of his stable's cult favourite Kosei and apparently gifted with a decent combination of speed and technique as well. (On another note, the Suetomi - Tanaka bout had a bit of an odd mirror image quality to it with both being basically the same size, even though they're three and a half years apart in age.) 

The session closed out with the two qualifier bouts, scheduled in regular fashion after all and with early winner Shimogama completing the field. The two expected favourites prevailed in decisive fashion, which means that Yabugasaki has in fact jumped ahead of Kaki to finish this maezumo as the nominal #1 qualifier. Not that it means that much, of course; the 3-0 records are the thing they'll both be happy to have in hand. Hopefully we'll see them against each other in jonokuchi in Nagoya, possibly as early as their first bout if the schedule works out that way.

Standings:

3-win target achieved
#01  Mz11  Yabugasaki  Yamahibiki   3-0
#02  Mz3   Kaki        Oitekaze     3-0

Still active
     Mz1   Daibasho    Oitekaze     2-1 E   |   Mz4   Azuma    Ajigawa     1-2 W   |   Mz2   Chiyoryusei  Kokonoe     0-1-2 W
     Mz5   Shimogama   Sakaigawa    2-2 E   |   Mz8   Tosoumi  Tamanoi     1-2 E   |   Mz7   Minami       Hidenoyama  0-3 W
     Mz6   Tanino      Hidenoyama   2-2 W   |   Mz9   Suetomi  Sakaigawa   1-2 E
     Mz10  Tanaka      Nishonoseki  2-1 E   |   Mz12  Nakaie   Yamahibiki  1-2 W

The next session should feature two bouts each among the rikishi of the left-hand and middle columns, and presumably Minami facing one of the 1-win losers to complete the schedule.