Aki 2025 discussions (results)

[RabidJohn 2,074]

1 hour ago, Jakusotsu said:

... and there's no denying he's on a serious run.

The NSK can very easily deny it. Remember Takakeisho's 9-6 at Kw, 13-2Y at Ke, 11-4J at Se, and they made him give them another 10-5 at Se before promoting him?

[Hankegami 598]

Good Day 6, everyone! Fresh remarks from live:

I didn't really noticed Tomokaze before today, probably because of his bad foot never promising good. However, he's now 5-1 after a fiery match against a Meisei in a clearly bad shape. However, the lower Makuuchi has a lot of old glories in bad shape, so it's fair game here. I take that Tomokaze feels better than most others this tournament, which makes me glad. Always rooting for the underdogs personally.

Daieisho vs. Mitakeumi was one of these geriatric bout I was talking about. I mean, Daieisho is not done yet (he was doing so well until a few months ago), but losing a fiery match against Mitakeumi tells a lot about his current condition.

About old glories, Shodai is definitively on fire. Last time he went 5-1 he won the Yusho, just saying (he was Sekiwake back then, so entirely different pool of contenders). He certainly does not move at san'yaku level, though, but he can rake up a lot of wins there in lower Makuuchi. Did we just get our dark horse for this tournament? 

Another guy staying out of the radar is Wakamotoharu, who is now quietly 5-1. He's just doing his usual stuff, and it's working. 

Now, my favorite kid. Aonishiki wonderfully resisted a major slap fest (courtesy by Takayasu) to win the Komusubi early face off. Takayasu is certainly in a bad shape (0-6), but I doubt his paws do not hurt. The kid is showing strength, resistance, and resilience. Tomorrow grand match up with Wakatakakage vs. Aonishiki - neither guy can really lose (see my post below), although probably WTK has far more to lose.

Finally, Kirishima doubled down with another loss, to Tamawashi of all people. I really hope he stops, and quickly. He cannot live off of 8-7 unless he just wants to live by.

Now, instead of making average comments about the Y/O winning around, I prefer to talk about the arasoi as it is shaping up.

First, the very bottom. Four guys stay at 0-6 with today: Takayasu, Abi, Gonoyama, and Nishikigi. Aside from Nishikigi (on his usual losing strike), the other people should the the L and stay home. They are not fit enough to be competitive in the joi as they are now. The same goes for most of the 1-5 people: Kinbozan and Daieisho, more Atamifuji who is just letting his fans down despite not performing that bad actually. The former two cannot go kyujo, though: they must rack up enough win to save their Makuuchi spot. That's really unfortunate. It's in times like this that I hope that talks about a return to some kind of kosho system will become reality.

Speeding up to the top (let the guys in the middle live their life), the 5-1 pack is extremely packed - indeed. No slowing down from yesterday. Onosato keeps showing that his only loss was just a bump in the road. Kotozakura does not appear just as inevitable, but he's moving well (definitively at his best in 2025) and keeps winning. I already commented about WMH, but I should spend two words about Takanosho now. He's performing very well, and he's not even that low in the banzuke (M7e). Looks good for a comeback to the joi in Kyushu. Anyway, how's Ura in this pack? I mean, I'm glad, but he's just doing his Ura stuff. He didn't even bother to use his bag of tricks at the moment, which tells a lot about the level of the competition he has faced these days. Finally, I already covered Shodai and Tomokaze, abut also Churanoumi deserves some credit. I admit I always sleep on him, he never stuck me as someone to follow. I am glad many people are getting the stakes high, though.

Last but not least, Hoshoryu keeps his zensho dreams alive. Today's win against Oho tells far more than keeping his front-runner position safe. Their rivalry is well-documented, and Oho is actually in a good shape (he handled Aonishiki magnificently and gave actual trouble to Onosato). In another tournament, he would have certainly handed a big L to the Nephew. Hoshoryu overcoming such a huge bump in mid-tournament shows he's really in a good shape and mindset. Looks very good for him overall. 

3 hours ago, Bunbukuchagama said:

10 wins will likely keep him at Komusubi which will prevent him from completing this Ozeki run.

It would, if a standard Sekiwake spot becomes available. Kirishima just burnt his chance today, but WTK is still on the run. Most important, last week (12/09), Head Shimpan Takadagawa-oyakata stated (japanese article, and reddit posts [1, 2] with English translation [I double checked myself via DeepL]) that he's not a fan of the 33 wins benchmark, and he looks more to the quality of sumo. To this extent, he remarked that WTK already showed this much, and he only has to get "double digits". Like many others, I take they are ready to promote him with a 10-5 (32/45) barring a major collapse in his performance. WTK is 4-2 with today, which means he still got a 2 losses' cushion for a fireproof promotion, and even 3 for a custom-tailored promotion.

I elaborate my point further. WTK has a history of 'cold starts' and winning streaks in the second week (see his DB page). Last tournament he went from 3-3 to 10-5, and he's one win ahead this time around. Previous examples - all at Sekiwake - are even more bizarre. In 2023.03 he even went from 0-5 to 7-7-1, and only his ACL injury really barred him to get KK. In 2022.09, he went again from 3-3 to 11-4. On the other hand, he also had more modest chevauchées from a bad start to a 8-7 or 9-6. Furthermore, the Y/O are doing really well this tournament, so he might face serious issues in his last stretch. This suggest s that everything can still happen, but my point is that the database strongly suggests that it is way too soon to call WTK's Ozeki run over. He's actually following his usual pattern, and there are plenty of precedents of him going on a week 2 strike to get 10+.

In the event, the current butchering of the upper Maegashira joi would open up a spot for Aonishiki even with a 10-5 if not below. However, he still must win as many bouts as he can in the perspective of an Ozeki bid o his own for Kyushu.

3 minutes ago, RabidJohn said:

The NSK can very easily deny it. Remember Takakeisho's 9-6 at Kw, 13-2Y at Ke, 11-4J at Se, and they made him give them another 10-5 at Se before promoting him?

That's a very good point, although they already wronged Aonsihiki enough by denying him a Komusubi spot last tournament. Anyway, Takakeisho also had a 9-6 in his run, while keeping everything at 10+ looks less likely to be shunned upon. Well, we can just wait and see.

[Kintamayama 47,374]

23 hours ago, Bunbukuchagama said:

Forgetting the effort and losing the battle Tanji of the shogunate was in the Arashio room during the work time "It's unprecedented" - Grand Sumo : Nikkan Sports

There was an incident where a rikishi overslept and was unable to make it to his match, resulting in a fusenpai. Tanji (19 = Arashio),  Makushita 24W , was unable to make it to his bout, resulting in his opponent Chiyotora getting a  freebie.. As a notice of absence had not been submitted, the wakaimonogashira searched the east and west dressing rooms. This blunder occurred while his Oyakata Arashio, was commentating on the makushita division on NHK. He was confused and did not understand what had happened. Just before the match, when Tanji did not appear in the hanamichi  the wakaimonogashira called out in the east and west dressing rooms, "Is Tanji from Arashio beya here?" Nobody responded, so a yobidashi hurriedly brought out the kyujo banner. At that time, Tanji was at his heya, about a seven-minute drive from the Kokugikan. After his morning keiko, he had eaten chanko and taken a nap. Another rikishi, noticing something was wrong, woke him up, and he hurriedly took a taxi to the Kokugikan. "I'm late," he said with a sigh, and went to apologize to the shinpan. While there have been cases of fusen for being late in the past, this was a rare fusen in Makushita , where bouts are held in the afternoon. Tanji's record now is 1 win and 2 losses. Afterward, he did his job as Wakatakakage's tsukebito  before heading home. Tanji was a promising wrestler who had been promoted to  Makushita at the age of 17. Takadagawa, the head of the judging department (former sekiwake Akinoshima, known for being very strict..), received the report and harshly rebuked him, saying, "This is no time to sleep," but added, "He must be frustrated and regretful. He will be a successful rikishi who will rise to the rank of sekitori in the future. He will be aware of his fate and will never do it again."

Edited September 20 by Kintamayama

[Kintamayama 47,374]

More on the Tanji incident:

Hananoumi (22, Nishonoseki, former bow-twirler), who was scheduled to compete next, was the first to notice Tanji's absence inside the Ryogoku Kokugikan. Hananoumi noticed that Tanji, who usually performs his meticulous warm-up exercises, was absent from the corridor leading to the west hanamichi. He asked Torafusayama, the wakaimonogashira n charge of proceedings, "Tanji's not here. Is he taking a break?" This was when he discovered something was wrong. The wakaimonogashira split up and searched the east and west dressing rooms, where they discovered that Tanji was absent. Unfazed by the chaos, Hananoumi pushed out Wakamiyabi (22, the funny guy from the Futagoyama videos), ranked Makushita 23E, to improve to 2-1. "Thanks to that, I was able to calm down. It eased my tension. I'm glad I won," he said

[Kintamayama 47,374]

More talk on Tanji:

Kyokai officials expressed various opinions regarding the fusen of Tanji for oversleeping. Some were harsh, calling him "lacking professional awareness." Others said, "Normally, people wouldn't say 'I overslept,' but he was honest about it. He might have been able to get away with saying, 'I took the wrong train.' But Arashio stable is close (to the Kokugikan), so that's probably not possible... If it had been a regional tournament, he might have been able to make that excuse." Meanwhile, his opponent, Chiyotora (22, Kokonoe), was awarded a freebie. While Chiyotora started this tournament with a loss, he won two consecutive matches by fusen, giving him a 2-1 record. He also won by fusen in Nagoya in July, so three of his last five wins have been freebies. You are not supposed to be happy when you win by fusen due to an opponent's injury , but someone observed, "He was grinning today.."

Trivia- Russian mother, his brother Taiga was also in sumo but retired after March.

Edited September 19 by Kintamayama

[Tigerboy1966 1,642]

Daieisho has been so disappointing this time and the injury is obviously still affecting him.

The problem is that you can't do Daieisho-sumo at 70%: it either works well or it doesn't work at all.

[Kintamayama 47,374]

Another incident occurred on day 3 during Houshouryuu's Yokozuna dohyo-iri. Houshouryuu and his tsuyuharai Meisei wore purple-based kesho mawashi, while his tachimochi Hiradoumi wore a light blue one. A Yokozuna dohyo-iri typically involves the three participants wearing the same kesho-mawashi chosen by the Yokozuna. As the name "mitsuzoroi" suggests, the three kesho mawashi have a unified design, enhancing the elegance of the Yokozuna's dohyo-iri. What exactly happened? Based on accounts from some tsukebitos, Houshouryuu's tsukebito made a mistake. Normally, the kesho mawashi worn every few days are rotated. Apparently, the tsukebito brought the kesho mawashi that  was supposed to be worn from the third day to the dressing room, but instead of taking the one that was used on the second day, he took the one he'd brought with him for the third day back to the heya.. He noticed the mistake in the shitaku-beya before the dohyo-iri on the third day, but it was too late, so Hiradoumi continued to serve as the tachimochi but with  a "mis-matched" kesho-mawashi. Fortunately, both Houshouryuu and Hiradoumi won their matches. Did the incident during the dohyo-iri affect the match? Hiradoumi said, "I was nervous about that (dohyo-iri), so the match was easier." It is an honor to serve as an attendant for a Yokozuna dohyo-iri but it also comes with a significant burden. It was a rare occurrence.

 

Edited September 19 by Kintamayama

[dingo 1,485]

A lot of interesting happenings on Day 6.

Much improved sumo from Shishi today, going chest to chest with Ryuden on the belt and actually outmuscling him. To be honest, I expected an easy win for Ryuden so that was a surprise.

Daieisho unexpectedly ran out of steam before Mitakeumi, which is another sign that he's only getting back to shape -- though no further proof was needed anyway. Mitakeumi was almost equally tired by the end of the bout but had that one last push in him to get the win.

This basho Shodai is actually... not bad? If not anything else, today's pulldown was at least effective against smaller Fujinokawa. Still, I don't think more than a simple kachikoshi should be expected.

Roga did well to deflect Kinbozan's pushes and get his favoured inside grip. If all goes well then soon he'll have company in makuuchi from his heya as Mita looks headed for a promotion. I for one am looking forward to a Mita vs Mitakeumi bout. Provided Mita won't change his shikona...

Very nice and very much "in control" sumo by Ura to beat Onokatsu with a well planned and executed throw. A pleasure to see him doing this kind of sumo as well. 

For some reason Takayasu decided to beat the everloving crap out of poor Aonishiki's face. Not sure what he did to deserve that, besides being too good at belt sumo. To Aonishiki's credit he took the pain and then sent out Takayasu when an opening appeared, proving Takayasu's new approach to his opponent ineffective. 

Wow, Tamawashi beating Kirishima was another unexpected result today! Tamawashi kept Kirishima away from the belt well and managed to get enough strong pushes in to unbalance his opponent. Seems like Kirishima lost momentum after yesterday and now has to recover his sumo fast is he wants to start another ozeki run. 

I feel like Atamifuji is one of the easiest opponents for Onosato, as his big body is actually a disadvantage on the belt, allowing Onosato to exert force on a bigger area and push Atamifuji out much easier. And Atamifuji is not nimble enough to do much else against Onosato. I expect their record to stay very one-sided. 

I was hoping that Oho would upset Hoshoryu, both to keep a good advantage in their head to head but also to let Hoshoryu join the exclusive club of all the 5-1 rikishi. 

Anyway, seems like 5-1 is the fashionable score at this point of the basho and Hoshoryu just hasn't been notified yet. On the other hand the number of unfortunate 0-6 rikishi is surprisingly big as well. Hopefully they'll get their first wins soon. 

Edited September 19 by dingo

[Yarimotsu 645]

4 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

But there has never been an Ozeki promoted from Komusubi in the "modern" era, and there's no denying he's on a serious run.

I think if they were following that logic, they'd have been obligated to promote him there already for this basho.

[Yarimotsu 645]

1 hour ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

Daieisho has been so disappointing this time and the injury is obviously still affecting him.

The problem is that you can't do Daieisho-sumo at 70%: it either works well or it doesn't work at all.

Au contraire, I think Daieisho is used to getting a lot out of his sumo at 70%, and just now finding out for the first time that it simply doesn't work at 30%. Go home and recover properly.

[hakutorizakura 692]

Interesting day, on and off the dohyo!

[Jakusotsu 6,403]

2 hours ago, Yarimotsu said:

I think if they were following that logic, they'd have been obligated to promote him there already for this basho.

Not really. There have been runs starting below Komusubi, but none finishing there.

[Sumo Spiffy 670]

Re: Aonishiki promotion: It's completely fair to say Aonishiki could make ozeki after November if he's promoted to sekiwake, meets requirements, etc.

But I think we need to look at it another way—not that his eleven wins at M1e started a run, but that his eleven wins at M1e could be part of a run. In other words, I don't think the JSA will definitively view July as part of a run that should be given a chance to end in ozeki promotion if he's 10-5 this time. I think they'll say, well, we'd rather ozeki runs consist of three san'yaku tournaments, so we'll bump him to K1e (assuming Takayasu doesn't find the fountain of youth tomorrow) and let him go from there.

[Benevolance 2,534]

I'm just jumping into the tournament now, and saw Takayasu's 0-6 and thought, "Oh, it's probably a good idea that he withdrew from the tournament" and then realized a moment later that would be displayed as 0-0-6 and then thought, "Oh. Right."

[Seseragi 16]

2 hours ago, Yarimotsu said:

Au contraire, I think Daieisho is used to getting a lot out of his sumo at 70%, and just now finding out for the first time that it simply doesn't work at 30%. Go home and recover properly.

I was expecting that even Daieisho at 50% would still be able to do alright in the lower maegashira ranks, so for him to be doing this badly he must still be pretty bad.

If he can get 4 wins will that be enough to keep him in Maegashira in November?

[Oskanohana 367]

I was pretty disappointed with Takayasu today in the komusubi battle. He understood that Aonishiki likes to have a low stance and tried to lift him up with quick tsuppari, but by now he should know that technique requires staying pretty nimble on your feet and, most importantly, mouthing "shiu-shiu" with every stroke.

[Fashiritētā 214]

Takayasu proving to the Banzuke committee , that he didn’t deserve to stay at Komosubi

[Reonito 1,791]

10 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

But there has never been an Ozeki promoted from Komusubi in the "modern" era, and there's no denying he's on a serious run.

Very limited precedents, but 10-5 and no open slots will most likely leave him at K. What do they do if he then goes nuts in Kyushu? Probably ask for one more double-digit basho at Hatsu. Let's hope he gets 11+

[Jakusotsu 6,403]

18 minutes ago, Reonito said:

Very limited precedents, but 10-5 and no open slots will most likely leave him at K. What do they do if he then goes nuts in Kyushu? Probably ask for one more double-digit basho at Hatsu. Let's hope he gets 11+

You're probably right, but it's hard to agree. On the other hand, Aonishiki will make it sooner or later, so one more basho wouldn't matter except for setting a record.

[Bunbukuchagama 987]

8 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Tanji was a promising wrestler

[Bunbukuchagama 987]

59 minutes ago, Reonito said:

Very limited precedents, but 10-5 and no open slots will most likely leave him at K. What do they do if he then goes nuts in Kyushu? Probably ask for one more double-digit basho at Hatsu. Let's hope he gets 11+

This is exactly the nightmare scenario I mentioned when they robbed him of his deserved K slot. A 10-5 would essentially become the first basho of a new run, all the 11-4s he had earlier would get discarded. 

[Bunbukuchagama 987]

1 hour ago, Fashiritētā said:

Takayasu proving to the Banzuke committee , that he didn’t deserve to stay at Komosubi

With a 1 basho delay though.

[Bunbukuchagama 987]

8 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Wakamiyabi (22, the funny guy from the Futagoyama videos),

Alas, this might remain his greatest accomplishment in ozumo.

[Asashosakari 20,297]

10 hours ago, RabidJohn said:

The NSK can very easily deny it. Remember Takakeisho's 9-6 at Kw, 13-2Y at Ke, 11-4J at Se, and they made him give them another 10-5 at Se before promoting him?

Yeah, also Baruto with 12-9-12 starting from komusubi back in the day. And this committee is even more committed to not make it easy for anyone to get anywhere. They won't find it hard to leave Aonishiki at komusubi with a 10-5 and rationalize it to themselves by treating the M1 score as irrelevant to an ozeki run to begin with, making Kyushu the second basho in his potential run rather than the third (and thus no need to have him at sekiwake).

[Bunbukuchagama 987]

6 hours ago, Yarimotsu said:

Au contraire, I think Daieisho is used to getting a lot out of his sumo at 70%, and just now finding out for the first time that it simply doesn't work at 30%. Go home and recover properly.

But London!