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I changed his birth year to 1939 which should be in line with the shown source material.

I’d like to apologise for the way I left last year. I went a bit too far in my dislike of Hoshoryu and some of it may have been a bit unfair. Another part of it was due to frustration over the tragic end of some of my favourites and perhaps some feeling of burnout. (Had been watching the top 3 divisions non stop since 2017). Looking forward to returning to sumo. The banzuke is looking intriguing: Onosato is looking like a dominant Yokozuna, Aonishiki has out of nowhere made it to Ozeki, and my guy Hatsuyama made it to Makuuchi, always had a good feeling about him.

Bad timing could be a reason, but others below yokozuna got an award as well, Terunofuji in an interview last month said he got no award at all from Mongolia - for Terunofuji as an (ex-)ozeki there should have been enough time to give him one. Lack of connections may be the reason - not on good terms with Asahoryu or Hakuho Hoshoryu posted more pics, on his personal Instagram, with parents and grandparents o o news photo o

Random GTB fact I felt like looking up... and it was a timely query as there was an interesting milestone this basho. First # is total number of basho in ranked in the top 10. Second number is total career basho. Underlined players are active, bolded players are currently in the top 10. This basho Asashosakari has now tied for the all time lead. 1 Feginowaka: 75/113 2 Asashosakari: 75/130 3 Susanoo: 52/130 4 Okisuruga: 46/60 5 Gooner: 43/113 6 Bafa: 36/65 7 Pandaazuma: 36/91 8 Reonito: 26/50 9 Tosahayate: 26/67 10 Gurowake: 25/63

And with that deep analysis I can now go form my Bench Sumo team. THanks!

Does anyone else think the banzuke looks much more elegant with 1 of each sanyaku on each side of the banzuke, and thereby also an even number of maegashira?

Already Reiwa 8 for several hours - I manually renewed the certificate for my site, the pic should display without problems now - my provider didn't notify me, that the automatic renewal after a year didn’t work. For the uma-doshi, I made a collage of all horse kesho mawashi I could find, in the middle a mix of standard elements for a year of the horse I found appealing. The top row are kesho mawashi of (later) yokozuna, 2 from yokozuna sets, thus without shikona, else only one has the name of the horse instead of the shikona on it, I put it below my avatar, a keiba kesho mawashi of Oshoma. I covered all direct naming of the donating sponsors. Most shikona should be readable, feel free to ask, if you want to know about one you can't decipher.

I'm just guessing, but Teru became a Japanese citizen in August 2021 and most likely had to renounce his Mongolian citizenship at the same time. Since he only just became Yokozuna after the July basho 2021, there might simply not have been enough time to honor him while he was still Mongolian and he was likely no more eligible as soon as he wasn't a Mongolian citizen anymore.

Same with kimarite here: https://www.sumo.or.jp/Kimarite/show

If you look at the "Rikishi Data" section on the Kyokai website, it lists all the shikona in hiragana/furigana in brackets below each rikishi. https://www.sumo.or.jp/ResultRikishiData/search/

Upon arriving at our hotel, my first sumo purchase ever was waiting for me; a yukata given to one of Chiyonofuji's supporters by Chiyonofuji himself back in the 80s. He is my all-time favourite rikishi. I have watched his bouts hundreds of times, and seen all the documentaries multiple times. I had plans for this yukata and you'll hear about them later. My contact at Tatsunami, let's call him Tee, had arranged for me to visit on August 8. I had asked for August 6, my birthday, but they weren't sure they'd be training that day. However, Tee contacted me on August 4 and asked if I'd want to switch to August 6 because the rikishi had decided to get back to training earlier. I was going to Tatsunami ON MY BIRTHDAY. Yes. My partner Vivian and I arrived at Tatsunami beya at about 7:15am. I mildly freaked out and jumped up and down a little. We waited outside and talked to one of the tour guides who was a bit taken aback by a foreigner who actually knew more about sumo than him. He was still calling Fujinokawa his old shikona, Wakaikari, and I corrected him on that. We stood outside until about 7:40am, hearing the "slap slap slap" of the boys getting training going. Seia, the new assistant at Tatsunami, came outside and tried to talk to Vivian and I in Japanese. My guy Tee said to mention that Okami-san knew we were there as official members of the International Fan Club and he ushered us in and pointed to a set of sliding doors that were closed. He must have said "Open on up" as he gestured an "Open the doors" sign with his hands...and I did...and there were all the guys except for Hoshoryu, Hokuyozan, and Mei Sei training away by themselves. Literally just Vivian and I alone watching the guys train. For 15 minutes. Magic. Then one of the assistants came in and asked us to move over to the front far corner from the door and we did so. Kazuto came over and handed us 2 pillows to sit on. "For you", he said. "Arrigato, Kazuto-san." Wow, right? He gave them to us specifically because he knew that paying supporters were coming and they'd be in first before the tourists. The. Guys. Knew. US. All the tourists filtered in behind us and not one of them were given pillows. We were honoured guests. Mei Sei entered the room and you could feel his presence as a sekitori as he was given much respect and glances and he had comments for the rikishi as Oyakata was not there (he and Hosh were off on the summer tour as of that morning, as per a later comment from Okami-san). We then watched them practice for about 2 hours. There was a point where Yukiamami came over to do push ups right in front of us against the stage, like 2 feet from us, and I turned to Vivian and said "Yukiamami!!" in a whisper, but he heard me and smiled a little and nodded, which is a lot coming from the stoic Yukiamami. At the end we were the first people allowed to take photos with the rikishi and all the other tourists were shooed away so we could get the best shots. As the tourists got their pics done after us, some kid ignored Akua giving him a "You're a cool guy" comment and trying to give him a fist bump. I came to see the whole circus aspect of how most tourists treat sumo wrestlers. I did not enjoy that. I then had my first face-to-face meeting with Tee. After months of back and forth talking about the club...this was very, very welcome. Great guy. I gave him a box of maple cookies he said he'd share with his kids. I hope they liked them. All the tourists were then asked to leave. We, however, were not tourists and we got to stay for an hour and hang with the guys. Akua was the chattiest and Yarden was there to act as interpreter as he spoke both English and Japanese very well. Akua gave Vivian a fist bump. Ya. Awesome. He also really liked my tattoos and we chatted it over. He asked us where we were from, what we'd been doing in Japan so far, and asked us if we'd been to Senso-ji yet, which was nearby. We had not and he urged us to go. More on that later... During this talk with the guys we turned around and exclaimed "OKAMI-SAN!" in unison as we saw her at the back of the room. She burst out in a huge smile seeing two foreigners who were obviously fans who knew not only the rikishi but also who she was. Okami-san was very thankful for the gifts that we brought of maple syrup and a drawing of the wrestlers, and was very impressed I gave a gift to Tee. So was so thankful she had the guys film a reaction video to the rikishi seeing the drawing my partner did--expect to see this in a future episode on their YouTube channel! Yep, Vivian and I are for real for real part of the Tatsunami culture now! In thanks for our gifts, we were given an official Tatsunami supporter t-shirt and a pencil case with their logo, which includes the famous Tokyo Skytree, visible from the moment you walk out the front door of Tatsunami beya. Right about now is when Syunrai came into the room and Vivian had Yarden translate a chat back and forth that started with her saying "You're my favourite wrestler here" to him. Syunrai asked why, she said "Because you're the cutest." He pointed at his dimples and said "Because of this?!?" We all laughed and he said he was embarrassed. I mean, like, he IS the cutest. Okaryu and Kazuto also came in, eating huge chilli dogs. I found it funny. We said hello to Okaryu, Kazuto, Kitadaichi, and Taranami by name and they nodded or said hello back. This was right about when Vivian mentioned that it was indeed my birthday. Yarden then motioned to Syunrai to come over and Okami-san and Tee started filming. Yarden and Syunrai then sang happy birthday to me. I was ...so far besides myself I was numb. Best. Birthday. EVER. Ya, I have a video of it! It was also the birthday of hairdresser Tokokei and Okami-san flagged him down for a photo of the two of us flexing our muscles. He then gave me a fist bump and a handshake. He was a real ham, great guy. Okami-san thanked us again and again, and commented how happy she was that we were there. We felt the "party winding down" vibe and started making our way to the door. We were putting our shoes on when we saw the room where they always eat as Taranami (more from him later...) came out. I pointed and went "That's where the dining room is!" and Taranami saw my excitement and grinned. I chatted with Tee for a bit outside and Okamai-san came out for one last thank you and a chat, too. I will treasure all of this forever. Giving and receiving love from those at Tatsunami has been one of the greatest honours of my life. We then hopped in a cab and drove directly to the Ryogoku Kokugikan. I bought a STACK of stuff; Two entire boxes of sumo cards--yes, I got the whole set AND a Daieisho autograph card! Flags for Hoshoryu, Mei Sei, and Kotozakura for me, plus Asakoryu for a friend. Hoshoryu magnets A Mei Sei keychain Replica tegata for Hoshoryu and Onosato. A Terunofuji t-shirt. A huge towel with a cartoon version of Onosato holding the blade and wearing his Yokozuna gear, plus another towel with cartoon versions of all current makuuchi rikishi. Last, a wonderful reversible jacket with the Kokugikan and some cartoon rikishi on one side and incredibly colourful Nobori flags on the inside. The bill hit 50,000 yen and I coulda spent twice as much. They had these cool statues of Onosato as Yokozuna, Atamifuji, Kotozakura, and Ura. The staff laughed as I pointed and exclaimed the name of each statue. Not picking up one is a big regret. Next time... After all this we went back home and rested. We went to Senso-ji in the evening, as Akua suggested. I walked by myself as my family went ahead of me (I had consumed a bottle of sake at this point...it was my birthday). While walking I saw a guy riding a bicycle who looked familiar...and had a top knot! It was Taranami of Tatsunami who I had seen earlier that day! He saw me looking at him with my Terunofuji t-shirt on and gave me a knowing look and a nod. He was not wearing his yukata so I figured he was on time for himself, so I left him alone. What a crazy Tatsunami day! Kokonoe beya The former Kokonoe beya was left to the family of Chiyonofuji when he passed. They turned it into a restaurant called Chanko Nabe Chiyonofuji. He's my all-time favourite rikishi. I had to go, right? I was outside looking at the statue of Chiyonofuji they have out there--a bust--when an old man on a bicycle stopped to point at the statue and say "Chiyonofuji! Chiyonofuji!" I smiled and said "Yes, I know." but he clearly did not speak English. So I gave him the international hand sign for "wait here" with my hands. Remember that yukata I talked about at the start? Yes, I brought it. I pulled it out of my bag and showed the old man the yukata with "Chiyonofuji" written on it over and over and the look on that old man's face...still warms my heart today. A group of 4 women in their early 50s also saw me as they went into the restaurant and didn't seem to understand why this big goofy white guy was flaunting this Chiyonofuji yukata, but they looked intrigued. I put my yukata back in my bag and went in. The first person I saw was, unmistakably, Kumiko--Chiyonofuji's wife. I was so nervous right away and here she was asking me to take my shoes off and showing me where to put them. After taking my shoes off, I told her, via Google translate, that I did not have a reservation and I only needed 1 seat. She said ok. I said I had something to show her and pulled the yukata out. I told her this was from the 80s and was given to one of Chiyonofuji's supporters by the man himself. This yukata was once in Chiyonofuji's hands. She touched her hands to her mouth for a moment and touched the fabric gingerly with a wistful smile. I sat down with my yukata on and ordered the chanko nabe and some rice. Kumiko came over and asked me to follow her. Yes, absolutely, I will follow you literally anywhere. She took me to the dohyo they had preserved and the staff took my phone...they took pictures of me on the dohyo at Kokonoe beya!!!! I'm standing just to the side of the huge Chiyonofuji portrait they have. Those 4 ladies who saw me outside? They all gave me a thumbs up and it got everyone in the restaurant to do the same! Pretty surreal. I had several conversations with Kumiko and the staff. Wonderful people. During a chat with Kumiko I told her that I was going to go to Chiyonofuji's grave tomorrow wearing my yukata to honour him. She seemed touched by this. I did indeed do just that. Wonderful statue of him. The staff asked me how I was doing and I replied "I'm so happy I could cry." I noticed the shirts all the staff had on and asked if I could buy one, whatever cost they felt was fair. They said yes and it's in my shirt drawer right now! Kumiko then came over to me with a paper bag with gifts! She gave me the most recent banzuke, a fresh table placemat, 3 drink coasters, and my staff shirt was in there. "A BANZUKE!?!" I exclaimed and they all smiled and chuckled. I finished eating around now and one of the staff came over with two tea cups--one with Chiyonofuji on it with a fish and Mount Fuji in the background, the other of top-ranked rikishi from his time. "Extra", the staff said. I was, once again, beside myself and saying thank you in every language I knew. Just the best, best time. I asked if it would be ok if I took pictures of the art around the restaurant and they said yes. I had a chat with one of the 4 ladies I saw coming in and she spoke good english so we had a chat and she said she was very happy I was there and knew who Chiyonofuji was. I sat down and the 4 looked over and we raised our glasses to one another. "To Chiyonofuji!" I told them I was ready to pay my bill and they brought over the machine but asked me to wait before I left. I waited in the hallway and a staff member took my picture with all of his trophies and his yokozuna belt they had on display but still they asked me not to leave...Kumiko wanted one more picture with me! I had taken my yukata off at this point but we went outside and took photos of Kumiko and I standing on either side of the Kokonoe logo. As she was saying goodbye she looked down at the shirt I was wearing--Terunofuji. She saw this and laughed saying his name...and patted me on the belly. Chiyonofuji's wife, Kumiko, patted me on the belly. Like a good pal would. I had felt...my nerves go through the roof earlier when our hands brushed as I accepted the bag from her...but this... I left Kokonoe Beya laughing crazier than any Joker laugh and floated the whole way home to the house I'd rented. The. End. Sorry this was so long. I'm a professional writer/editor and love detail. ;-D Uploading photos on here is not easy so I'm gonna skip it.

I went looking through my collection of various papers, brochures, tickets, etc. from the trip today and found my Chiyonofuji coasters, postcard, and business card given to me by Kumiko (Chiyonofuji's widow), as well as a greeting paper (left) and a stamp (right) from the Kokugikan. Japan loves having these public stamp things all over. I do, too. The back of the business card has their Insta handle: @chiyonofuji_chanko. Their Insta also links to their online shop with many Chiyonofuji items for sale that can be shipped abroad using the associated service they advertise when foreigners go on the site. The coaster is fun because if you put your glass in the right spot it looks like Chiyonofuji is holding your glass up. The staff thought it was amusing and I did, too.

Momijibasi noticed that Fukunohana won seven Kanto-sho but in his hoshitori the number jumps from 4th (1971.03) to 6th (1972.01), so the next two are also off by one.

Kazunofuji's new shikona wasn't picked up and he has incorrectly been placed as banzuke-gai rather than his Jd37e rank.

We have 14 active Makuuchi yusho winners on the Hatsu banzuke, 13 of them in the top division. (Not sure if there's a more elegant way to query for those still active).

Well done! Just got back from vacation and checked the results, have to be happy with my 3rd. I had Takanosho/Hakuoho the right way around (+2), but lost 5 points on Daieisho/Atamifuji/Tamawashi (–5). Otherwise exact same misses for my 64.

... now changed to Hoochie Koofuji.

Kenho is a Tokyo Nogyo graduate, reference: https://www.nodai.ac.jp/campus/club/setagaya/noyukai/sumo/. (I wonder how that slipped through back in 2011, couldn't find it mentioned in the maezumo thread either.) Kaizen is an Asahi graduate; this one was mentioned on the forum but only months after maezumo so it didn't get picked up at the time: https://www.sumoforum.net/forums/topic/34739-new-recruits-for-hatsu-2016/page/3/#findComment-303463. (A fresher reference directly from the university also here: https://www.asahi-u.ac.jp/topics/2023/16193/) Wakenokaze is a Nittaidai graduate: https://www.sumoforum.net/forums/topic/35049-new-recruits-for-natsu-2016/#findComment-303636

So that's apparently a long-standing error (looks to be dating back to Yubiquitoyama's old makuuchi rikishi database)...the DB has his birthyear as 1967 so he would have been only 58 now. Other sources - Takayama back in the day as well as ja.wiki since all the way back in 2007 when his article was created there - are saying 1965, which matches the age at death reported by Nikkan.

Kaki - J10W

Asahifuji J3w Let's see if he's really the monster he's advertised to be

asahifuji J12E

I found this on an old memory stick now you can enjoy it too (A special haiku edition of Kintaro's Musings from the 1999 Natsu basho, for the record) ================================== Welcome to Day 7 of the Natsu Basho. I'm back from a brief hiatus. I was off finding my muse. My brother, Obana, pointed out that a phrase I used in an e-mail, "One-legged fighter, stronger than one-armed fighter" was a good haiku fragment. Hmmm... I wonder... Perhaps we can sum up yesterday's action as follows: Giant Ozeki Spooked by a matta Gave Elvis the lead Yes, I know that haiku should include a seasonal (or nature) reference. For purposes of tonight's musings, we'll just say they all pertain to the Summer basho. Now, off to the races... Starting in Juryo... Otsukasa vs. Asanowaka Feisty Little Salt takes that elevator ride much farther than most Dewaarashi vs. Hoshitango Argentinean furry like a Panda Bear dropped by the Slug Beast Kobo vs. Mainoumi Crowd fave Mighty Mite may be tiny in stature but his heart beats strong Gojoro vs. Mitoizumi Sheets of salt rain down on this dohyo of his dreams A career winds down Moving on to the Makuuchi Bouts... Wakanoyama vs. Oginishiki Today a monkey No, a hairy gorilla God my shoulder hurts! Kyokutenho vs. Asanosho Tall Mongolian willing to take some sharp slaps for yorikiri Daizen vs. Hamanoshima Old man are you back? I kicked your butt twice before How did you do that?! Wakanosato vs. Wakanojo One legged Strong Man Walls come 'a tumbling down The Young Castle drops Kaiho vs. Yotsukasa Kabuki makeup Son of Leonid Brezhnev Kaiho wins today Shikishima vs. Terao Equine Terao and Porcine Shikishima Wild boar forces out horse Ganyu vs. Higonoumi Rock Man four and two The faceless one hits the ground Rock Man five and two Ohinode vs. Tokitsuumi Big Jabba-the-Hut facing off with Superman used the Kryptonite Tamakasuga vs. Kotoryu Two lads, two and four Victory is out of reach for the Dragon Harp Minatofuji vs. Tochinowaka Snarling old Guard Dog may not get kachi-koshi Ranked a bit too high. ***Halftime*** Halftime for judges Fighters stretching, fans smiling Kintaro boils soy beans Aogiyama vs. Toki King of Rock and Roll in the gleam of the spotlights is zensho no more Tosanoumi vs. Chiyotenzan Two Kinboshi but running nuke-nuke now gets the lead out Flexible fighter tumbling off the dohyo Life can be a bitch Tochinonada vs. Takatoriki Tricky old gangster continues his Natsu slide losing to Nada Dejima vs. Kotonowaka No Hello Kitty Kotonowaka now loves The Teletubbies The One Minute Man Often puts the fans to sleep Gyoji, Hakke yoi! Tochiazuma vs. Akinoshima Only a mother could love Island of Aki's dohyo polished face Takanonami vs. Kyokushuzan The Mongolian still hunting Ozeki scalps but can't get 'Nami's Musashimaru vs. Kaio Is the Band-Aid there? Kintaro's megane or The Shiroyuki? The battle is long Ebb and floe and wax and wane The Godfather wins Akebono vs. Miyabiyama Another new face hungry for a Kinboshi. Feet don't fail me now! Kotonishiki vs. Wakanohana Small Yokozuna Not ready to retire yet Really need this win. Kotonishiki sparkling on the dohyo Seventh Kinboshi ------------- We're back to three co-leaders -- Toki, Kotonishiki, and Musashimaru. Kintaro heads up the Hanamichi...

Sorting a query by the "Highest Rank" column (when it's displayed) is currently broken whenever more than one basho column is shown. Works: https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query.aspx?show_form=0&showhighest=on&form1_year=202501&columns=1&sort_by=high Doesn't: https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query.aspx?show_form=0&showhighest=on&form1_year=202501&columns=2&sort_by=high

This issue has popped up again with Tatsubayama, Tenshoyama and Asahifuji (see query link in quote).

A Nikkan article about Aonishiki's time training with the Kansai University sumo club mentions that Chisatoiwa was a second Kansai graduate to join ozumo (after sekiwake and yusho winner Yamanishiki). Confirmed by the club's own web presence (1959 entry). And it made me wonder if the (unconfirmed) Chisatoiwa reading of his shikona 千里岩 might be wrong. Kansai University has a campus called Senriyama 千里山, whose name appears to be taken from a Senriyama mountain - however, apparently that mountain's name used to be read Chisatoyama, which long ago gave its name to a (no longer independently existing) village named Chisatoyama, which is the area in which today's Senriyama campus is located. So, clear as mud, and on a quick search I haven't been able to turn up any concrete information about which reading the guy's shikona was using, Chisato or Senri. Maybe somebody else can find something.

Some gremlins have got into the data here. Specifically: Ms2e Tamakaze 0-0-1 (3-3-2) yorikiri 0-1 (1-1) J23w Notonoyama 1-0 (9-6) The draw marker makes no sense for Tamakaze here, should be a regular loss. In addition, neither his hoshitori nor his total record appear to be correct: Day 1 yorikiri J23w Notonoyama 1-0 (9-6) 0-1 Day 13 kotenage J19e Tsugaruumi 1-12 (3-12) 1-0 That Day 1 bout doesn't appear on there in any way. Gans (site currently down, link goes to archive.org) shows Tamakaze's score as 4-4, with that additional Day 1 loss in the hoshitori as well as an additional win on Day 12 - prior to the second juryo visit which constituted his eighth and final appearance of the tournament. That makes sense as the "rounds" of makushita matches were on Days 12/13 and Days 14/15 in those days. The 4-4 overall score also agrees better with his subsequent banzuke movement: Result East Next Rank West Result Next 5-3 ↑ Tatsumusashi J22e Ms1 Matsuba 3-5 Ms4e 3-3-2 Tamakaze Ms1e Ms2 Itsutsugata 4-4 Ms1w

I was just scouring the DB for the youngest-debuting rikishi listed in it, and came across a guy that we briefly talked about a few years ago when the same topic came up (name bolding not in original posts): No idea about Kinunishiki, but I don't think Shionosato's birthdate is correct. Looking around last night I found this profile which gives his age as 19 (if the database has it right, then he retired at 17). I can't know for sure what information points 7 and 8 are, but perhaps reasonable to assume they are his results in 1958.09 (8-0) and 1958.11 (4-4)?   I have to say that even though a debut at age 11 was possible in that era, his results strain credulity. As the DB has it, he would have gone 8-0 in jonidan and progressed through most of sandanme as a 12-year-old. It's unfortunate that the profile Yubinhaad turned up back then doesn't have the full birthdate, but age 19 certainly looks a lot more believable. Maybe the original source material is still available that the alleged 1946 birthyear came from?

Wrong win-loss score here for Futatsukuba after his 1998.09 Day 12 bout (the outcome itself is correct), should be 4-3 rather than 5-2: Link

More Hoshoryu... can you guess who my favourite is? This one was done on some card stock I found at work and drawn with Bic pens. This one was done digitally. I like to draw this style because it incentivizes me to colour it too, which is something I often skip.

Hoshoryu. I drew this one while testing a new brush on my art program. Spent a lot of time on the hair... it takes a lot of effort but it's always worth it!

A few months back I drew this picture of Ikazuchido, who is currently wrestling in the Sandanme division. I became interested in him as a rikishi after seeing how he throws his opponents despite being so much lighter! I mailed this picture(along with a handwritten letter expressing my support... hopefully my Japanese writing wasn't too hard to read) to him and received a response via social media after the conclusion of the ongoing basho. Easily one of my favourite sumo related memories! Please excuse the pencil marks next to the kanji... I forgot to take another picture after I erased them

The banner I designed for the Sumo Memes subreddit the only design requirements were that it needed to feature the two Yokozuna! I've done a few in this style, will try to share more in the next little while. I tried my best here to imitate the red seals I have seen stamped on tegata, it was an interesting learning experience