Tochiouzan and Goueidou - Career watch

[Shimpu 0]

Thanks a lot Kaikitsune. All news most welcome. This topic is one of my favourite. :-)

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Amidia-san had written about the only loss Kageyama suffered in Nagoya basho. The bout against Shiraishi was the following kind (translated from her blog):

Kageyama stepped in hard from the right but couldn't get into his favourite migi-yotsu. Instead it went into hidari-yotsu. Kageyama used the right hand outside grip trying to go forward while lifting Shiraishi up but Shiraishi used ottsuke from the right and while going forward he broke Kageyama's right hand outside grip. Little by little Shiraishi established a low stance position with head on Kageyama's chest. Kageyama went for shitatenage which doomed him and Shiraishi yorikiried thanks to impetus. It was a 43 second bout.

Amidia-san's always fascinating lower division emphasized sumo blog:

http://ameblo.jp/blogamidia/

I suppose now is the time to start using the new shikona Tochiouzan...

Edited August 11, 2006 by Kaikitsune Makoto

[sekihiryu 51]

Always bump up this thread in the future and ponder about their sumo and progress. (In a state of confusion...)

bumpity bump

Aki 2006 Kageyama is renamed Tochiozan and makes his Juryo debut on top of 3 solid makushita performances

Ms1E (6-1) Ms3W (5-2) Ms7W (5-2)

Sawai on the other hand is dillydallying in comparison with Ms7W (4-3) Ms9W (4-3) Ms5W (3-4) and is placed at Ms6 this basho

Edited September 10, 2006 by sekihiryu

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Update Aki 2006 day 8:

Tochiozan lost today with another hatakikomi, this time against Oga. He is now 4-4 in his juryo debut which is acceptable but not as good it could be based on his winning quality. Three hatakikomi losses is not good. Whether some of those were henka is not known at the moment.

Sawai has reached kachi koshi by beating Raiko today. 4-0 at Ms6 means he pretty much needs to win all remaning bouts to get promoted to juryo. In order to do that he has to beat Tamaasuka next. In any case perhaps Sawai is finally getting past his awkward stagnation in makushita and has a good chance for the second career 7-0 makushita yusho.

[Shimpu 0]

Three hatakikomi losses is not good. Whether some of those were henka is not known at the moment.

Hmm, I think it's better to highlight this weakness now in juryo. He has a lot of time to improve. It must be a henka, with his forward moving tachi-ai he probably is pretty vulnerable for sidesteps. He must be really pissed off when he loses in such manner. Good - wrath is good for these who doesn't resign.

Sawai has reached kachi koshi by beating Raiko today. 4-0 at Ms6 means he pretty much needs to win all remaning bouts to get promoted to juryo.

Very good start. Indeed. Probably his back is ok as for now but I think there is also a influence of Hochiyama who is in Makuuchi (Sawai is very effective against him during keiko) and Tochiozan in Juryo. He is a top man and maybe he just realize it.

Edited September 17, 2006 by Shimpu

[Araiguma_Rascal 0]

I tuned in early today to catch Sawai's bout. He won quite handily going forward with a quick yorikiri.

I will be watching tochiozan's bout, too.

[Araiguma_Rascal 0]

Tochiozan's bout was a long one in which he managed to get a right-hand grip on the larger Daimanazuru's mawashi, but was unable to do anything with it. He kept trying various attempts of pushing or throwing, but was unable to move Daimanazuru, who waited for Tochiozan to get tired and then pushed him out.

Edited September 18, 2006 by Araiguma_Rascal

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Update Aki 2006:

Sawai took the yusho with his second 7-0 yusho in makushita and will be promoted to juryo and joins Tochiozan only one basho behind. Sawai's path to 7-0 yusho:

Sawai sukuinage Bushuyama

Sawai yorikiri Shoketsu

Sawai sotogake Yanagawa

Sawai oshidashi Raiko

Sawai yorikiri Tamaasuka

Sawai kotenage Maeta

Sawai hatakikomi Isobe

So far I have only seen his bouts against Tamaasuka and Isobe. Against Tamaasuka he did Hayateumi-like inside surge and seemingly effortlessly took Tamaasuka out. He secured his yusho with a henka against Isobe on day 13. Finally after a rather long pause he will probably face his rival Tochiozan again in Kyushu basho and he already said he is looking forward beating him.

Hopefully back problems have gone away and no chronic element left. Good to see both in juryo at the same time. Won't be long before Tochiozan leaves juryo and Sawai must try to keep up.

Tochiozan also secured his kachi koshi today with a yorikiri win over Tamarikido. He maintains the likely record of advancing towards makuuchi without a single backward going win. He has lost too many times by a slapdown/pulldown even though he doesn't have overly forward leaning stance. Basically his tachi-ai has been rather bad on most days, or should I say cautious. Nevertheless he has shown good sumo in his juryo debut and can polish his record to 9-6 on senshuraku.

[Araiguma_Rascal 0]

Basically his tachi-ai has been rather bad on most days, or should I say cautious.

Impressive bashos for both young rikishi. I suppose that it is important to be cautious at the tachiai if opponents are always trying for the henka or hatakikomi.

I think it is impressive to never win by going backwards, but OTOH, could that be a weakness because he is too predictable? Eventually, most rikishi will resort to the henka once in a while, if just to keep their opponents guessing. Like in baseball, a pitcher who always throws strikes would not be a good pitcher because the batter does not have to guess.

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

I think it is impressive to never win by going backwards, but OTOH, could that be a weakness because he is too predictable? Eventually, most rikishi will resort to the henka once in a while, if just to keep their opponents guessing.

Well it is more important to learn a strong sumo style first so he certainly goes for that. I am sure he will exploit any overly reckless tachi-ai by bulldozers in makuuchi but for a 19 year old never going for henka sure is a solid building ground.

Some comments about Tochiozan's Aki basho:

Day 4 Kyokunankai win oshidashi

Good tachi-ai and follow-up when Nankai pulled.

Day 5 Takanowaka win oshidashi

Worked his way inside and pushed Takanowaka strongly out of the dohyo when Taka tried to create distance.

Day 6 Kaiho win yoritaoshi

Ended up in hidari-yotsu which is not Tochiozan's style. Yet he outmuscled Kaiho handily and dropped him with a clean yoritaoshi

Day 9 Daimanazuru loss yorikiri

Tochiozan only got right hand inside but not left hand outside, Daimanazuru kept him off the belt and Tochi never got any initiative going anymore. Daimanazuru yorikiried him after a stalemate.

Day 11 Dewaotori win yorikiri

Cautious bout by Tochiozan despite the fact that Dewaotori was not genki this basho. Some leaning by Tochi preventing Dewa from getting too close, then morozashi and yet some stalemate, finally a drive and easily blocked Dewa's kotenage attempt and won with yorikiri.

Day 12 Otsukasa loss hikiotoshi

Otsukasa's typical tachi-ai trick by slamming and then immediate whole body withdrawal while pulling the arms back too. Tochiozan wasn't ready for this move and lost by hikiotoshi.

Day 13 Buyuzan win oshitaoshi

Took Buyuzan's impact, was about to get inside when Buyuzan pulled, Tochiozan followed it well and hit Buyuzan in the middle of the chest causing a complete oshitaoshi loss to Buyuzan.

Day 14 Tamarikido win yorikiri

Very fast migi-yotsu stance and drove Tamarikido out easily.

So Tochiozan went 9-6. Of his 6 losses 4 were either hatakikomi or hikiotoshi. He was outpowered against Daimanazuru not getting his own sumo going and day 2 bout against Hokutoiwa may have been similar too but haven't seen nor heard about it. All wins strong as usual. He never really has weak wins. Always wins being in control more or less. Hardly ever any last ditch efforts either.

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Amidia-san's blog is a true treasure box. She writes so much about makushita and sandanme

that it is simply superb. I didn't have a chance to see more than the henka bout and

Tamaasuka-bout from Sawai this basho so here are some comments by Amidia on Sawai's

bouts. These are all Amidia-san's comments translated into English (not word for word

always but close)

Day 3 Shoketsu yorikiri win

Head on tachi-ai, Sawai got left hand inside and went forward, Shoketsu tried kotenage

but Sawai hung on, used his right hand mae-mawashi grip, tightened his right elbow

blocking Shoketsu's left hand inside attempt. Morozashi was the result and yorikiri win.

Day 6 Yanagawa sotogake win

Yanagawa attacked from the left, Sawai used right ottsuke to eliminate Yanagawa's left

and attacked from the side. Yanagawa wanted to get Sawai upwards and pulled. Sawai had

right hand on the front of the belt and while Yanagawa had left hand inside Sawai kept

his head low. When Yanagawa went for katasukashi Sawai dropped him with sotogake while

going forward.

Day 8 Raiko oshidashi win

Raiko stepped hard at the tachi-ai but pulled immediately. Sawai didn't go down and got

left hand inside grip. Raiko got right hand outside but Sawai broke the grip right away,

went for shitatedashinage once, then again and while Raiko tried some kekaeshi action,

Sawai pushed him out with oshidashi.

Day 9 Tamaasuka yorikiri win

In previous encounters between these two, it was Tamaasuka who got into his favourite

position. Record between them is 1-1. Today Sawai got right hand and also left hand in

resulting in quick morozashi win. Sawai commented on Tochiozan's juryo promotion with "It

is a big stimulus to me, one bout at a time I want to concentrate fully".

Day 11 Maeta kotenage win

Maeta attacked from the left while Sawai hit head-on. Both wanted to get left hand inside

and Maeta won that battle, clinging to Sawai, Maeta tried to take Sawai backwards using

left hand inside and clinging to Sawai's right side. Sawai reacted by circling to the

right and dumping Maeta with kotenage. Sawai displayed some good lower body work and went

to 6-0.

Day 13 Isobe hatakikomi win

Sawai shifted to the left right after impact and clinched makushita yusho in a very short

bout. In Haru basho Isobe had oshitaoshied Sawai. "That time I was attacked from below

and not liking that I ended up pulling. Today I'll step hard at the tachi-ai and want to

raise my opponent up" Sawai said before the bout. In reality there was no raising aite up

but yusho was decided at the tachi-ai.

Last year in Kyushu basho Sawai won yusho, after that he has been in high makushita. In

Hatsu and Haru basho a make-koshi was the result and he couldn't do the kind of sumo he

wanted. "By doing keiko I finally have been able to do my own sumo in honbasho" he

reflected. His mother was watching his yusho deciding bout.

Next basho he will face juryo tension. "I want to step sharply at the tachi-ai and go for

yori immediately" he aspired.

[Araiguma_Rascal 0]

Sawai's new shikona is Goeidou Goutarou. In Japanese:

豪栄道 豪太郎

（ごうえいどう ごうたろう）

Edited November 12, 2006 by Araiguma_Rascal

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Update after Kyushu 2006:

Tochiozan continued his streak of kachi koshi with another 9-6 in his second juryo basho. He also defended the unique record of never going backwards while winning. He had 7 yorikiri wins and 3 oshidashi wins, no henka, no slapdown attempts even. He lost twice with hikiotoshi without getting much sumo in, was once surprised by Shunketsu's last ditch kubinage and was outskilled by Tsuumi and Jumonji. On the other hand he had very strong wins against 4 former makuuchi, including Wakanosato and Shimotori. More details to come but another solid, although not optimal, basho on his way to makuuchi where he probably debuts in Haru basho making him the youngest makuuchi rikishi.

Goeido had a rough start and showed his biggest weakness of not dealing well with oshi-attacks. Once he got into yotsu he was very dangerous as always. He finished the basho with 4 straight wins, including a nice yorikiri pibot against Wakanosato and also had two kirikaeshi techniques. 8-7 in his juryo debut is a fine start but he has a lot more to work on than Tochiozan if he wishes to be already a competent makuuchi rikishi in 2007. Tachi-ai and oshi-tolerance are the biggest kadai of all to him. More details of his bouts later.

[kotooshu_bulgaria 0]

Looking forward to seeing these two in Makuuchi, as well as Yoshikaze. I hope that they will be able to displace the veterans who manage to stay in Makuuchi simply thanks to their higher level of experience.

[aderechelsea 125]

i didn't know where to post this thought i had today on Tochiozan so .... let's try here.

I was watching his bouts of this basho and i noticed that he doesn't get his hips really low at the tachi-ai. That way he is not getting all the force he could produce from his legs and this is probably why his tachi-ai is very soft.

his de-ashi though is extremely good and that's why he is not losing much.

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Tochiozan scored 10-5 in Hatsu 2007 and gets promoted to makuuchi for Haru basho. His juryo career was 9-6, 9-6 and 10-5. Upward trend. He beat Shimotori in play-off but then lost to Toyohibiki so got only jun-yusho. Very strong sumo again. He has scored 12 consecutive kachi koshi since his debut in sumo. If he continues that in Haru, it will be his 13th. This sentence was important for the mathetically challenged.

In the meantime Goeido made it possible for Tochiozan to take part in play-off. Goeido beat Shimotori with morozashi tsuridashi to get his kachi koshi on senshuraku. His juryo career is 8-7 and 8-7. We will discuss his entity later on with more detail.

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Hatsu basho 2007 - Tochiouzan

Tochiouzan has possibly performed for the last time in juryo in Hatsu basho. 10-5 was enough for makuuchi promotion. The 19-year old had another successful basho with plenty of strong sumo. Lets discuss his basho more into detail.

Day 1 won against Katayama by hikiotoshi

Strong tachi-ai followed by sticky sumo holding his ground well. Quite beltless tussle and Tochi got into sukuinage position from which he yanked Katayama strongly down with a powerful hikiotoshi.

Day 2 won against Kitazakura by okuridashi

The bout went to migi-yotsu form at first, Kitazakura seized left hand outside grip but Tochiouzan broke the grip, proceeded with pushes and a big right handed ottsuke turned Kitazakura around. The rest was routine pushing from behind. Strong okuridashi.

Day 3 won against Wakanosato by oshidashi

Wakanosato failed at the tachi-ai, pulled and Tochiouzan charged him out with ease.

Day 4 lost against Satoyama by hikiotoshi

Satoyama hit low and while Tochi kept his hips low trying to dig into Satoyama, Satoyama yanked him by the arm and pulled him down.

Day 5 won against Ryuho by yoritaoshi

Hidari-yotsu bout where Ryuho didn't get right hand outside. Tochiouzan rampaged forward and slammed Ryuho down with a big yoritaoshi.

Day 6 won against Asofuji by oshitaoshi

Asofuji didn't find a way to do much anything and Tochiouzan just looked closely, exerted pressure and Asofuji collapsed at the edge.

Day 7 lost against Shimototi by yorikiri

Shimotori got into his form without letting Tochiouzan get left hand outside grip. After some positional game, Shimotori drove wriggling Tochiouzan out with a solid yorikiri.

Day 8 won against Hokutoriki by tsukiotoshi

Excellent pushing attack by Hokutoriki but Tochiozan defended well and did left hand ottsuke to fling Hoku down before reaching the dohyo edge. This bout could be declared as the first ever bout where one could say Tochiouzan didn't win by either going forward or by purely powerful pull etc. Yet, it was also a bout where Hokutoriki got into his game but couldn't close the deal in the midst of Tochiouzan's strong defense. Good lower back power and good tsukiotoshi.

Day 9 lost against Hochiyama by yorikiri

Awkward loss where Tochiozan got good left hand outside grip after tsuki-tussle, went for throw and found himself surprisingly on the edge without leverage.Hochiyama had easy task to take him over the edge.

Day 10 won against Masatsukasa by yorikiri

Solid pushing and straining, found a way to morozashi and while Masatsukasa tried a throw, Tochi drove him out.

Day 11 loss against Kaiho by yoritaoshi

First bout was undecided. Mono-ii had Kaiho in the driver's seat. Got immediately inside, did fast arm grasping, makiotoshi turn and never gave Tochiouzan time to regroup. Neat yoritaoshi for Kaiho.

Day 12 won against Ryuo by oshidashi

Fast tachi-ai by Tochi enabled him to get initiative and Ryuo's pushing was ineffective, nice ottsuke and blasting Ryuo out.

Day 13 lost against Kobo by okuritaoshi

After tachi-ai Kobo withdrew and kept pulling and avoiding Tochiouzan and Ouzan went down

Day 14 won against Toyozakura by hatakikomi

Toyozakura got into perfect tsuppari form, Tochi withheld and then yanked Zakura past and down.

Day 15 won against Shunketsu by yorikiri

Left hand inside and power sumo with yorikiri finish brought Tochiouzan a chance to win juryo yusho in a play-off.

1st play-off bout against Shimotori:

Migi-yotsu again, Shimotori got left hand outside but this time Tochi had it too and did fast circling move and threw down Shimotori strongly before Shimotori could work on his own left hand outside techniques. Strong payback with uwatenage.

2nd play-off bout against Toyohibiki:

Powerful tachi-ai by both, Toyohibiki had all his power behind him and had perfect angle. Tochi tried to withstand but couldn't get back into the bout. Toyohibiki won with oshidashi. This was the third time Toyohibiki and Tochiouzan met on honbasho dohyo and the first time Toyohibiki managed to beat him. The first meeting was in Haru 2005 where both of them made their debuts in pro sumo.

Tochiouzan should be ready for makuuchi division. Migi-yotsu is strong, hidari-yotsu is not bad either. Ottsuke is good as is tsuki-defense. Tools are great. Expectations are high. Most interesting makuuchi debutant for sure.

Edited February 16, 2007 by Kaikitsune Makoto

[Doitsuyama 1,197]

This was the third time Toyohibiki and Tochiouzan met on honbasho dohyo and the first time Toyohibiki managed to beat him.

Nitpick alert?! Playoff bouts don't count as honbasho bouts. Honbasho dohyo is meaningless in itself, otherwise those one-day shows in Kokugikan must be counted too...

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Tochiouzan shone in his makuuchi debut with a stunning 11-4 record and extended his uninterrupted streak of kachi koshi to 13 since his debut in ozumo. After two 9-6 basho in juryo and one 10-5 basho he improved to 11-4 in Haru basho. The contents of his sumo were familiar O3 quality. Forward going sumo seems so embedded in his style that he basically never goes backwards. The rare slapdowns are not retreating ones.

Tochiouzan and Homasho must be the best new stars in makuuchi. Tochiouzan is said to be very diligent at keiko doing the basics well and also not slacking around but at the same time it is said that his sumo is not as strong at keikoba as it is in honbasho. In honbasho he is always going forward and resists also when forced into defensive while at keikoba he looks as if he gives up easier when put to defensive and doesn

[Kintamayama 45,974]

Tochiouzan shone in his makuuchi debut with a stunning 11-4 record and extended his uninterrupted streak of kachi koshi to 13 since his debut in ozumo. After two 9-6 basho in juryo and one 10-5 basho he improved to 11-4 in Haru basho.

Wow. 4 basho as a sekitori 4 Kks,and not even one 8-7.. Awesome.

[kaiguma 0]

Wow. 4 basho as a sekitori 4 Kks,and not even one 8-7.. Awesome.

It certainly is. I started looking around to compare with others.

Tochiozan (from Kageyama):1st 4 seki-basho

9-6 J11e

9-6 J7w

10-5 J2w

11-4 M14e

Akebono went 8-7 in his juryo debut, as did Takanohana. Chiyotaikai went 8-7, 8-7, and 6-9. Kaio: 8-5-2, 9-6, 7-8. Konishiki: 11-4,4-5-6, 13-2, 11-4. Who knows if they had tough opponents, injuries, etc. etc. but numbers are numbers for what it's worth.

Tochiazuma (from Shiga):first 6 seki-basho to heating seki-wall.

10-5 J12e

10-5 J6e

12-3 J3w

10-5 M15w

9-6 M10w

6-9 M4w I don't have Tochiazuma's career record handy, so I don't know if this was his first wall-heating.

Kotooshu

10-5 J10e

13-2 J3e

9-6 M14e

11-4 M10w

9-6 M4e

4-11 Kw ---first ever wall-heating

Asashoryu

9-6 J7e

11-4 J3w

9-6 M12w

9-6 M6e

8-7 Kw

7-8 Ke --- 2nd wall, 1st was 3-4 from Ms12w

Kotomitsuki

9-6 J12e

11-4 J7e

13-2 J1w

0-0 M8e

9-6 J6w

14-1 J4e

13-2 M9w

4-11 Sw ---- First real wall, as only MK was a complete withdraw due to injury. [is that technically mk?]

Hakuho

9-6 J12e

12-3 J8w

12-3 M16e

11-4 M8e

8-7 M3e

12-3 M1w

11-4 Kw

8-7 Sw

9-6 Se

6-3-6 Se -----This would have been his first wall-heating, had he not gotten MK his very first jonokuchi basho (3-4)

While some of them posted more total wins over the first 4 basho, no one developed an uptrend as they progressed, especially no uptrends for others as shin-maku. Kotomitsuki had a very strange trajectory, so it's hard to compare. Tochiazuma and Hakuho came very close, and in fact I'd only say Hakuho's first 4 really outshine Tochiozan's. I'd call that a very good sign. (Censored...)

Edited March 28, 2007 by kaiguma

[Asashosakari 19,943]

Hakuho

...

6-3-6 Se -----This would have been his first wall-heating, had he not gotten MK his very first jonokuchi basho (3-4)

Not quite. He had another make-koshi in high Sandanme.

[Doitsuyama 1,197]

It certainly is. I started looking around to compare with others.

Somehow you forgot Musashimaru who went 11-4, 10-5, 11-4 (makuuchi debut), 9-6 (joi-jin), 9-6, 8-7 (komusubi debut) and then a few more kachi-koshi.

While some of them posted more total wins over the first 4 basho, no one developed an uptrend as they progressed, especially no uptrends for others as shin-maku.

I'd say Hakuho's 12-3 in his makuuchi debut is a big uptrend compared to the 12-3 in lower juryo the basho before. Don't look only at the numbers, the strength of competition is an enormous factor in strength evaluation.

[Kotoseiya Yuichi 3]

Kotomitsuki

(...) 4-11 Sw ---- First real wall, as only MK was a complete withdraw due to injury. [is that technically mk?]

The injury happened outside honbasho so he couldn't enjoy kosho, thus dropped down to J6N for Nagoya Basho 2000. So, a makekoshi. Later in 2002 the drop to M6N from sekiwake was due to Sadogatake not submitting the kyujo notice in time as the graveness of the injury (broken jaw) was not realized in time. A make-koshi again. Hmph. But those were the rules at the time.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Kotoseiya Yuichi

[kaiguma 0]

Hakuho

...

6-3-6 Se -----This would have been his first wall-heating, had he not gotten MK his very first jonokuchi basho (3-4)

Not quite. He had another make-koshi in high Sandanme.

Yes, I missed that one. thanks - I checked this all manually, so . . .

. . . I also missed Musashimaru. Thanks to Doitsuyama too.

While some of them posted more total wins over the first 4 basho, no one developed an uptrend as they progressed, especially no uptrends for others as shin-maku.

I'd say Hakuho's 12-3 in his makuuchi debut is a big uptrend compared to the 12-3 in lower juryo the basho before. Don't look only at the numbers, the strength of competition is an enormous factor in strength evaluation.

It's kind of strange that you left my comment on Hakuho from the quote: "in fact I'd say only Hakuho's first 4 really outshine Tochiozan's."

I think it was obvious that I was using "uptrend" only numerically, but I used Hakuho as counterpoint immediately after . . .