Aki 2025 discussions (results)

[Jakusotsu 6,392]

No voices yet that Hoshoryu was robbed because Onosato clearly touched down first? Alright by me. 

[Katooshu 3,485]

Just now, Jakusotsu said:

No voices yet that Hoshoryu was robbed because Onosato clearly touched down first? Alright by me. 

Predictably all over Reddit, why did I bother looking there 

[RabidJohn 2,069]

I hope the NSK and YDC are as happy with the outcome of the Aki Basho as I am.

And the only really wacky thing was Ura doing conventional sumo!

Congratulations to Onosato on clinching his first yusho as a yokozuna, but I really appreciate Hoshoryu showing up to demonstrate he's a match for the big guy. 

I also hope no one holds Aonishiki's loss to Wakamotoharu against him. A rikishi of his experience should be losing to such belt technicians more often than he does.
His trajectory suggests ozeki after Kyushu, but beyond that I'm not sure. Getting the consistent 12+ wins he'll need to rise any higher feels harder than it was just a year ago.

I absolutely did not see it coming, but I'm not disappointed by Wakatakakage and Kirishima both at 6-9. Sekiwake should be hard, and with a bit of luck one or both might be eligible for kinboshi in Kyushu. An Eric Idle song springs to mind...

 

[Jyuunomori 238]

It is truly wonderful time right now. In the Great Mongol Era, it looked so bleak for a Japanese Yokozuna to emerge, Kisesonato managed to emerge...but didn't thrive.

But our boy Oonosato is not only thriving, but dominating. It has been so long since we had a dominant Japanese Yokozuna.

Other remarks:

Ura was fantastic this basho. He just did pure conventional sumo and managed double digits. It is good stuff.

Aonishiki can become Ozeki, and hopefully does in next year. He is so young and has so much potential to get stronger and even more skilled in Sumo. He is still in his bodybuilding mode. Too bad his missed his Shukun-sho.

Shodai from years ago showed up. Weird.

Takanosho had one of his best tournaments ever. Congratulations to him.

Also there is some incredible new blood coming up the ranks. Sumo ain't done heating up!

 

[shantan123 23]

25 minutes ago, RabidJohn said:

I hope the NSK and YDC are as happy with the outcome of the Aki Basho as I am.

And the only really wacky thing was Ura doing conventional sumo!

Congratulations to Onosato on clinching his first yusho as a yokozuna, but I really appreciate Hoshoryu showing up to demonstrate he's a match for the big guy. 

I also hope no one holds Aonishiki's loss to Wakamotoharu against him. A rikishi of his experience should be losing to such belt technicians more often than he does.
His trajectory suggests ozeki after Kyushu, but beyond that I'm not sure. Getting the consistent 12+ wins he'll need to rise any higher feels harder than it was just a year ago.

I absolutely did not see it coming, but I'm not disappointed by Wakatakakage and Kirishima both at 6-9. Sekiwake should be hard, and with a bit of luck one or both might be eligible for kinboshi in Kyushu. An Eric Idle song springs to mind...

 

Just gonna ramble a lil about aonishiki and throw some opinions out there. He's still a raw and inexperienced wrestler who is achieving 11 wins even facing the best wrestlers. He has a lot of room to improve and he will, both physically and mentally. I believe he will be a wrestler that always achieves double digit scores at a minimum (as long as he's healthy, touching wood) because whilst he may struggle against big guys like onosato, he's still good enough now, even as raw and inexperienced as he is, to beat enough of the rest.

It's only a matter of time before he picks up a yusho. If he can cut down on his losses against lower ranked guys which he probably will, he will steal a yusho here and there. 

Even if he never manages to crack onosato, I believe eventually he could become yokozuna but it will take a little luck i.e. onosato picking up a few losses. But this will likely be in the more distant future. I think he will be ozeki for a little while

Edited September 28 by shantan123

[Koorifuu 1,120]

Probably the best outcome for ozumo as a whole. The two yokozunae take it to a kettei-sen in which the homeboy takes a controversial win. This is surely going to raise antecipation for Kyushu.

[Faustonowaka 160]

Why was there a different Gyoji for the playoff? Shonosuke did the last regular bout, but for the playoff it was Inosuke…

Edited September 28 by Faustonowaka

[Tigerboy1966 1,633]

Maybe more of a "Trivia Bit" but...

Despite losing "in regulation" today, Onosato has wrapped up the "most wins in a calendar year" prize, as Aonishiki, Kirishima and WTK all lost.

The top 10 going into Kyushu are:

• 60   Onosato
• 44   Aonishiki, Kirishima, Wakatakakage
• 43   Hakuoho, Hoshoryu, Takayasu
• 42   Oho, Tamawashi
• 40   Onokatsu

[RabidJohn 2,069]

4 hours ago, Faustonowaka said:

Why was there a different Gyoji for the playoff? Shonosuke did the last regular bout, but for the playoff it was Inosuke…

I believe they always do that quite often. I know I've seen orange-tasselled sanyaku gyoji officiating play-offs when there was only one tate-gyoji.

Edited September 28 by RabidJohn

[Kintamayama 47,226]

38 minutes ago, Faustonowaka said:

Why was there a different Gyoji for the playoff? Shonosuke did the last regular bout, but for the playoff it was Inosuke…

Yokozuna Oonosato won his fifth championship in two basho. He lost to Yokozuna Houshouryuu in the main bout, but won the playoff match. The second bout was adjudicated by the 39th Kimura Shounosuke (63, Kokonoe) in the main bout, and the 43rd Shikimori Inosuke (62, Kasugano) in the playoff bout. Usually, Shounosuke  only officiates the last bout, while Inosuke officiates the last two bouts before the musubi no ichiban. Why did the two gyoji switch positions for the main bout and the playoff bout this time? Inosuke explained, "It's because of order. I officiated the deciding bout (the playoff bout) in January. The playoff bout ended with the second bout, but if there had been a third bout, I would have handed it over to Shounosuke (it was a three way playoff). Shounosuke officiated the playoff bout in March. There were no playoff bouts in May and July, so it was my turn in September." There was a monoii during the playoff bout, but Oonosato won as per the gyoji's original decision.  Regarding the decision, Inosuke reflected, "I wondered why they called that monoii. I had no hesitation (in deciding on the decision).

Edited September 28 by Kintamayama

[Kishinoyama 625]

1 hour ago, Jakusotsu said:

No voices yet that Hoshoryu was robbed because Onosato clearly touched down first? Alright by me. 

Of course you could easily see the "dead body" of Hoshoryu. 

[dingo 1,477]

49 minutes ago, Koorifuu said:

Probably the best outcome for ozumo as a whole. The two yokozunae take it to a kettei-sen in which the homeboy takes a controversial win. This is surely going to raise antecipation for Kyushu.

OK, I'll bite. Why was it controversial? To me it looked close, but a clear Onosato win. 

[Kishinoyama 625]

7 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

Regarding the decision, Inosuke reflected, "I wondered why they called that monoii. I had no hesitation (in deciding on the decision).

Be careful Inosuke. A Yokuzuna made the famous "Even a child could see that I won" comment after a torinaoshi was called. The shimpan of course were outraged. Don't dare question the shimpan. They are always right. 

[Kintamayama 47,226]

In the playoff match, a monoii was called after Oonosato yoritaoshi'd Houshouryuu. Former Ozeki Kotokaze who served as commentator for the NHK broadcast, expressed his understanding, saying, "It's a good idea to call a monoii with this type of sumo. It's an important match, so it's a difficult call for the shinpan." After the shimpans' deliberation, Kokonoe, head of the judging department (former ozeki Chiyotaikai), announced, "I will explain the current discussion. The referee's decision was in favor of Oonosato, but there was a monoii that suggested Oonosato's foot might have turned. After deliberation, it was determined that Oonosato's foot had not turned. The decision is in line with the decision of the gyoji, and Oonosato is declared the winner." After the bout, Kokonoe commented on the circumstances at the time. "I could see it, but one of the shimpans commented that 'his foot may have turned back'. They checked his hands and feet in the video room and there was no mistake. We checked everything." The announcement in the arena explained about his foot, but it was also revealed that they had checked to see if his left hand had touched down first..

Edited September 28 by Kintamayama

[Koorifuu 1,120]

14 minutes ago, dingo said:

OK, I'll bite. Why was it controversial? To me it looked close, but a clear Onosato win. 

There ya go. "Close". It might not be large, but there's some margin for discussion on whether that was the right decision. That's enough to get people talking and build up the hype for next time.

I don't get the "OK I'll bite" part though. That almost made it sound like my statement was controversial when it feels like it's one of the most common sense things I've ever written!

[dingo 1,477]

7 minutes ago, Koorifuu said:

There ya go. "Close". It might not be large, but there's some margin for discussion on whether that was the right decision. That's enough to get people talking and build up the hype for next time.

I don't get the "OK I'll bite" part though. That almost made it sound like my statement was controversial when it feels like it's one of the most common sense things I've ever written!

I just meant that close to me doesn't equal controversial. Close but a clear Onosato win seems different from close and misjudged. 

[Jakusotsu 6,392]

1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

The announcement in the arena explained about his foot, but it was also revealed that they had checked to see if his left hand had touched down first..

Hmm. Checking your priceless video again at 17:19, it looks to me like Onosato touched down first, so I'd have expected something like a dead-body ruling.

[Sumo Spiffy 665]

1 hour ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

Maybe more of a "Trivia Bit" but...

Despite losing "in regulation" today, Onosato has wrapped up the "most wins in a calendar year" prize, as Aonishiki, Kirishima and WTK all lost.

The top 10 going into Kyushu are:

• 60   Onosato
• 44   Aonishiki, Kirishima, Wakatakakage
• 43   Hakuoho, Hoshoryu, Takayasu
• 42   Oho, Tamawashi
• 40   Onokatsu

I know injuries are the primary reason for this, but this is still wild as hell.

[Kishinoyama 625]

29 minutes ago, Sumo Spiffy said:

I know injuries are the primary reason for this, but this is still wild as hell.

Aonishiki might be in second place by himself but he was still in Juryo in January.

[krindel 688]

Out of all the impressive achievements of Onosato, this is not exactly the most oustanding one... It is rare  (6 times in the modern era) but the only reason Onosato is clinching the award already is because his opponents have been disappointing and/or absent and/or too young to have 5 full basho in makuuchi (Aonishiki). So not really an achievement for him per se, rather an indictment on his opposition level... 

On 54 occasions have rikishi achieved 60 or more wins in the 5 first basho of the year in the modern era. Even more if you take "any 5 consecutive basho" and not just January - September. We have had 6 basho a year for 68 years now. In 44 of those years (65%) the top rikishi after Aki basho had 60 wins or more. In 10 years we even had two rikishi with over 60 wins at the same time. Asashoryu in 2005 and Hakuho in 2010 clinched the awards after Aki despite Tochiazuma and Baruto having 52 and 53 wins respectively.

Rikishi	Year	Wins up to Aki	Difference from next
Kitanoumi	1974	61	17
Asashoryu	2005	70	18
Hakuho	2008	66	18
Hakuho	2010	72	19
Terunofuji	2021	62	18
Onosato	2025	60	16

So yeah, nice bit of trivia, but it is not the most impressive thing Onosato has done this year :D.

 

Edited September 28 by krindel

[Faustonowaka 160]

3 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Yokozuna Oonosato won his fifth championship in two basho. He lost to Yokozuna Houshouryuu in the main bout, but won the playoff match. The second bout was adjudicated by the 39th Kimura Shounosuke (63, Kokonoe) in the main bout, and the 43rd Shikimori Inosuke (62, Kasugano) in the playoff bout. Usually, Shounosuke  only officiates the last bout, while Inosuke officiates the last two bouts before the musubi no ichiban. Why did the two gyoji switch positions for the main bout and the playoff bout this time? Inosuke explained, "It's because of order. I officiated the deciding bout (the playoff bout) in January. The playoff bout ended with the second bout, but if there had been a third bout, I would have handed it over to Shounosuke (it was a three way playoff). Shounosuke officiated the playoff bout in March. There were no playoff bouts in May and July, so it was my turn in September." There was a monoii during the playoff bout, but Oonosato won as per the gyoji's original decision.  Regarding the decision, Inosuke reflected, "I wondered why they called that monoii. I had no hesitation (in deciding on the decision).

And because of this arrangement, both tate-Gyoji got to referee an intra-Yokozuna bout on the same day, after a 5 year hiatus (Kakuryu vs Hakuhou, Haru 2020).

Edited September 28 by Faustonowaka

[Kotomiyama 177]

Excellent finish for a great basho.

Somehow Onosato appears to shaky at times, but he is able to regroup and impose his monstrous force. I think he currently lacks the technique to keep the rank once his physique starts to fail, but I reckon he has margin to improve.

In my opinion Hoshoryu has dispelled the doubts that one might have of his worthiness as a Yokozuna. I hope that he sees today as the day he proved Onosato is mortal and draws force and spirit from it.

[Sakura 1,524]

1 hour ago, Kotomiyama said:

I think he currently lacks the technique to keep the rank once his physique starts to fail.

This is true of all Yokozuna. They can't get demoted to Ozeki, only encouraged to retire. At some point their physical decline, whether that be by major injury or general ware and tear,  will not be able to be compensated for by their technique.

[RabidJohn 2,069]

1 hour ago, Kotomiyama said:

I think he currently lacks the technique to keep the rank once his physique starts to fail, but I reckon he has margin to improve.

I think we've got a few years of bulldozing to come, and he absolutely should continue to play to his best advantage, but yeah, he has much room for improvement on the yotsu side. 

[Kintamayama 47,226]

6 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

Hmm. Checking your priceless video again at 17:19, it looks to me like Onosato touched down first, so I'd have expected something like a dead-body ruling.

They NEVER (OK, I don't remember ever) cite the "dead body rule" (I laugh at its many faces) when explaining a decision.