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Reports of Sumo Forum's death are somewhat exaggerated. As you've probably noticed, the forum has become more and more temperamental and bug-ridden of late. This is due to the underlying software lacking updates and being increasingly incompatible with current browsing technology. There is a complex story of service providers, licenses, and technology versions to explain some of that, while the rest can be summed up as "life happens". Nevertheless, after an unforeseen, unfortunately long, and frankly unforgivable period of not managing to fix things, we've finally sorted out details technical, financial, and miscellaneous, and are now able -- with apologies -- to bring you a new version of the forum software with a hopefully improved user experience. Some things are still being sorted out and tweaked, but the forum is now fully operational and open for business. As per usual, we've opened a feedback thread for comments. TL;DR: forum update happened, things changed, complain here.

The forum software has been updated to the latest and greatest in branch 4.7.x. Due to us skipping a couple of versions a lot has changed under and over the hood. There are still settings to check and tweak, please allow us a bit of time to get things running smoothly. In the mean time, feel free to leave comments and feedback related to the update in this thread.

Hakuho and Takanohana are the only ones I can find since 1990. So he will make yokozuna, win tons of yusho, establish his own stable, annoy everyone, and get kicked out of the sport.

Final Day:

Hello everyone, I would like to introduce my project that no one asked for - sumoautographs.com I’ve been collecting sumo autographs for years, and until now, I’ve only used a terrible spreadsheet to track all the information. It was not sustainable, and it was always a pain to match a specific autograph with the corresponding row in the table. There are several websites that feature sumo autographs (although many focus only on one specific type, typically tegata), but their capabilities are limited. I wanted a tool that offers filtering options. The only solution for me was to build something from scratch, specifically for this purpose. Please consider this just the first version, which is good enough to be released. Currently, the database contains about 300 autographs. I will eventually add my entire collection, but it will take some time. Everything needs to be entered manually, which is slow and error prone. As a result, there may be some wrongly annotated autographs. I would be grateful if you could report any errors to me. Autographs can be filtered by type (e.g., tegata), highest rank of the rikishi, and a set of tags, with each autograph annotated with at least one tag: Authenticity - authentic, printed, dubious (yes, there are some dubious ones - e.g. I have Nishikifuji BBM card autographed by Tohakuryu, which is dubious by default) Tegata - filters specifically only for tegatas, hand color (red, black), hand used for the handprint (left, right) Various - everything else I am open to suggestions for new tags that could improve filtering. I am also considering additional features. One issue I’d like to address is autographs signed with different shikona (e.g. Hokutoumi, but signed as Hoshi). I might add a note field that will be hidden by default and only used in these cases. In the future, I may remove the option to save/load queries. While sharing queries via sumodb is straightforward, this project does not support sharing links. I developed an option to save/load queries as JSON files, but it’s quite inconvenient and was only used for testing.

It's the same fish, just three days older.

Exil is on it. Upgrades should be out there in a few days.

Another without sumo experience, this time from the soccer club, with much more impressive features than the baseball kid for Hatsu - at age 15 189.7cm, 135kg: Koki Honda 本多紘己, 3rd year at Fuji municipal Yoshiwara No.3 middle school, joins Shikoroyama-beya. The oyakata was at the school today o He has to wait till graduation to have his dohyo debut The oyakata saw this young giant watching at the Fujisawa jungyo in April and scouted him on the spot. He came to the heya in Tokyo, took part in a training camp, was impressed by the fierce clashing of the rikishi and decided to join.

Aonishishi

While checking all the moderation tools after the upgrade, I realized that the most recent warning we had to issue is four years old. I want to say thanks to this great community and how it evolved over initially more troublesome times! Can't imagine any other moderator's job being that easy.

The winter Jungyo arrived at Itoshima, Fukuoka today. Yokozuna Houshouryuu had a total of 23 bouts. He suffered consecutive losses to pusher-thrusters he called out, 8 losses in all. However, with his sights set on Hatsu basho in Tokyo, he explained his intentions, saying, "It wasn't about winning or losing, I gave it some thought.. Being a Yokozuna means being able to withstand your opponents attacks." He started by selecting Gounoyama and withstood his powerful thrusting and pushing, but was pushed to the edge of the ring and out. He then allowed his opponent to grab his mawashi and was yorikiri'ed, resulting in a sudden four-game losing streak that caused a stir among the crowd. However, he then used his left uwate and won with a spectacular throw, getting into high gear. He excelled in both pushing and grappling, going on a commanding six-game winning streak. He won all three bouts against Yoshinofuji. His record against Hiradoumi was 6 wins and 4 losses. Houshouryuu aims to face the challenges of the hiramaku rikishi head-on, and even if he is attacked first, he needs to be able to withstand those attacks with ease, then bring opponents into his own style of sumo and win. He analyzes that one of the reasons he has not won a yusho since being promoted to Yokozuna is because when his speed and techniques are blocked, he becomes flustered, or is unable to withstand his opponents' pressure and is quickly pushed out of the dohyo. He wants to use the keiko he does during the jungyo to take a big leap forward next year. Tatsunami beya has been based in Itoshima City for many years, where they stay during the Kyushu basho. Houshouryuu received a thunderous round of applause from the local fans. "I have got to repay them," he said. Next year, he plans to win more yushos and return as a stronger Yokozuna.

Notably, all these moving urakata were in the heya from the Chiganoura (or even pre-branchout, Kasugano) days, and they're all moving across ichimon lines back to stables in the Dewanoumi group which Chiganoura-beya (as founded by ex-Masudayama) was originally part of before the succession by ex-Takamisugi took it to Nishonoseki. Conversely, the two urakata who are staying, first-class tokoyama Tokokatsu and sewanin Ranbo, were formerly part of Futagoyama/Takanohana-beya, just like ex-Takakeisho himself. So while this is ostensibly a simple continuation of an existing heya under a new name, it sure looks like it's more of an asset split in which Minatogawa-beya is being created as a spiritual successor to Takanohana-beya. Will all the rikishi actually be following Takakeisho after Hatsu basho, or are we going to see a retirement or two among the lower-rankers who don't have a Takanohana-beya background? (Long-term, all this is making me wonder if we'll be seeing an oyakatafied Takanosho moving back to Dewanoumi-ichimon as well...he was also already recruited by Masudayama, not Takamisugi. The Tokiwayama kabu being tethered to the Nishonoseki group might be an issue, assuming that's the one he is eventually in line to receive, but as we're seeing with the personnel moves here, Dewanoumi-ichimon has ways to get back what they consider theirs. That was also already true for the Chiganoura kabu which Takamisugi was allowed to use as the replacement shisho for a few years, but only until Masudayama left the Kyokai entirely.)

The Kyokai announced today that Minatogawa-oyakata (former Ozeki Takakeisho) will take over as shisho of Tokiwayama-beya after the 2026 Hatsu basho, changing the name of the heya. Current shisho Tokiwayama-oyakata (former Komusubi Takamisugi) reaches retirement age on March 1st. A few of the heya personnel will move to other heya, effective January 26th: Juryo gyoji Kimura Hideaki and Sandanme yobidashi Hiroshi move to Tamanoi-beya. Santo tokoyama Tokosen moves to Kise-beya. Sewanin Tochinoyama moves to Yamahibiki-beya. https://www.sumo.or.jp/IrohaKyokaiInformation/detail?id=726

Two new pages have been added to the Special Categories section: Sansho by rikishi Sansho by year

With all the points added, our final standings put 91 players on the board: FINAL TORCHBEARER 2025 POINT STANDINGS: 67 points - LLCoolKay 38 points - Tochinofuji 35.5 points - Ryoshishokunin 35 points - Andonishiki 32 points - kuroimori 32 points - umbriel2 31 points - Munjeezy 30 points - Gurowake 28 points - Andreas21 28 points - code_number3 28 points - Ganzohnesushi 28 points - Godango 28 points - Haidouzo 28 points - Pitinosato 24 points - Leoben 23 points - Sakura 22 points - Stupidface 21 points - Hakuhonofan 21 points - Naganoyama 21 points - Ripe 21 points - Sukubidubidu 21 points - thatsumoguy 20 points - dingo 19 points - Torideyama 18 points - rokudenashi 18 points - Taikoubana 17 points - Furanohana 17 points - Jimizakura 17 points - Kitanoedo 17 points - Profomisakari 17 points - rhyen 17 points - Unkonoyama 15 points - Masutarida 15 points - Yarimotsu 13 points - pandaazuma 13 points - Wamahada 12 points - Achiyama 12 points - Rocks 12 points - Saigo 12 points - Saruyama 12 points - Shitamachi 12 points - wolfgangho 11 points - Benihana 11 points - Bunbukuchagama 11 points - charliki 11 points - Cydrome 11 points - Jejima 11 points - Karasukurai 11 points - maorencze 11 points - Obana 11 points - RaecherLax 11 points - Reonito 11 points - Tigerboy1966 10 points - Holleshoryu 10 points - Chisaiyama 10 points - Yuninhaad 9 points - Itachi 9 points - Kurowashi 9 points - Kotogouryuu 8 points - Akōgyokuseki 8 points - Amamaniac 8 points - Athenayama 8 points - Chankomafuji 8 points - Jesinofuji 8 points - Kintamayama 8 points - Senkoho 8 points - Yukiarashi 7 points - mugatake 7 points - Suwihuto 6 points - Asterix 6 points - Kaito 6 points - kotoshikona 6 points - nutzername 6 points - orandashoho 6 points - Shokikogi 6 points - Takanorappa 5 points - Umigame 4 points - Fujisan 4 points - MumboJumbo 4 points - shimodahito 3 points - Daughter of Sukubidubidu 2 points - Aled ap Tomos 2 points - churaumi 2 points - Joaoiyama 2 points - Miselet 2 points - Mmikasazuma 2 points - Nantonoyama 2 points - Shatsume 2 points - Wakatake 1 point - Terarno No points this year for Kofjuji, a pioneer of this forum, but any donations to the international cancer advocacy network (ICAN) will always be appreciated. Congratulations to LLCookKay, the TORCHBEARER 2025 winner. I’ll be corresponding to send the prize. For those keeping tabs on how often the 25-point TORCH bullseye is achieved: 2011 - 3 2012 - 1 2015 - 3 2016 - 3 2017 - 2 2018 - 2 2019 - 1 2021 - 1 2022 - 1 2023 - 3 2024 - 5 2025 - 7 Also note that runner up, Tochinofuji, is a TORCHBEARER rookie! Nice debut. Thanks for participating and I hope you all can update your pick or, if a new player, submit a pick for next year. You can send your TORCHBEARER 2026 picks to me now, or wait until the Hatsu banzuke is released. An invite (with rules for new players) will be out soon. Pick one rank and one rikishi where you think the TORCH will be at the end of the year. This sumo game has a prize. New players are always welcome. Again, thanks. -shimodahito @Terarno @LLCoolKay @Tochinofuji @Shatsume @WAKATAKE @Nantonoyama @kuroimori @umbriel2 @Achiyama @Saruyama @wolfgangho @Rocks @Millwood @MumboJumbo

HTTPS Finally problem is solved Many thanks, Exil I like the new look Light blue is very calming No more blacklisting

I think we have been spoiled by the internet. I am sure that a lot of us on here remember a time when "fantasy" sport competitions involved filling in a form with a pen*, putting it in an envelope*, affixing a stamp* and putting it in a post-box*. *apologies to younger readers for the arcane and obsolete terminolgy

My dilemma- should i post these here or in the Winter jungyo thread? OK, I have unanimously decided to go with a dedicated thread. I hope this doesn't offend you. (BTW, when someone in Tibet can't make up his mind about something, does he go to the Dalai Lema?) The winter jungyo arrived in Sasebo, Nagasaki today. Yokozuna Houshouryuu did sumo for the first time since the Kyushu basho, having 14 bouts. He first called on Gounoyama, blocked his opponent's blows, and then sent him off on his way. He then suffered consecutive losses to Hiradoumi but recovered, winning nine straight matches against Yoshinofuji (2-0) and others, finishing the day with a record of 12-2-. It was only the second day of the tour, but he declared with determination, "Today is when the training started." He was 12-3 in Kyushu. He lost to sekiwake Aonishiki (now Ozeki) in the playoff match, missing out on his first Yokozuna yusho. He hopes to rectify that and hold the Emperor's Cup in his hands at the New Year tournament come January. When asked if today was the start of his new bid, he nodded briefly and said, "Yes."

All right. I mustered my non-existent HTML skills to bring you the Final Standings of the 2025 Sumo Gaming World Championship. Thanks to all those who played this year. Consider returning next year for another exciting year of sumo gaming!!

Perhaps he should be inducted to the Wall of Fame.

Hiya, the 2025 Kyushu Masters are in the bag. Blackpink in your area. Never having won anything Superbanzuke-related, BlackPinkMawashi gives a new color to the Green Mawashi by winning the Kyushu Masters 2025. A yusho tie in Salarycap Sumo and 10 points in GTB provided the basis for winning with 43.50 Masters points, just a tad before Kaito. Kaito wins the shukun-sho (his fourth already) by finishing in second place, and having three games in double digits. Bunbukuchagama completes his set of sansho trophies for winning his first gino-sho. He grabs the Technique Prize for strong performance both in pre-basho games (e.g., 5 games in the points) and daily games (e.g., jun-yusho in Bench Makuuchi). Kitakachiyama wins his first ever kanto-sho for having eight different games in the points. Congratulations to all the winners!

Hi! Like in many years before, I am crazy enough to create daily updates on the Masters and World Championship in Kyushu. This year, the race for the title might be particularly tight, as the four players at the top were separated by only about 10 points at shonichi. Unkonoyama was in the lead, a mere 0.16 points in front of perennial and reigning champion Pandaazuma. Andoreasu and DeRosa weren't far behind. As you can see from the graph below, only one of the main contestant has a strong basho so far, and the other three are performing well below their average performances. Unkonoyama has now barely tallied 5 points, the Panda has about 11 points, and DeRosa has even less than a single point. Compare that to Andoreasu (more than 50 points for the basho), and we have a clear leader at the moment. Andoreasu won the World Championship twice before (2013 and 2015), and he currently leads in Toto, UDH, and Sumo Game (four-way tie) for a lofty 190.37 points. Pandaazuma (158.89) stays in second place while Unkonoyama has dropped to 3rd (153.34). Meanwhile, Kaito has conquered 4th place (146.30) from DeRosa (138.40).

The final ranking, including all X bouts This basho we had in Yarimotsu's selection 6 bouts, not taking place. There were 57 X votes on these bouts. Who of the players voted for which bouts as X bout you can see in Yarimtsu's yellow table above.it is very much this basho and it has much changed in the final placement. The winner is Flohru Great Congratulations! This is the final ranking: Rk Player Pts TB 1 Flohru 14 188 2 Susanoo 14 172 3 Yarimotsu 13 197 4 Athenayama 13 156 5 Reonito 13 155 6 Hisui 13 155 7 Suwihuto 12 175 8 Tetsuarashi 12 161 9 Asset 12 145 10 Profomisakari 12 143 11 Asapedroryu 12 139 12 Bunbukuchagama 11 126 13 Ippikiōkami 11 123 14 shimodahito 10 110 15 Fashiriteta 10 105 16 KARASUKURAI 10 105 17 Andreas21 10 102 18 Seseragi 9 108 19 Tochinofuji 9 104 20 Wamahada 9 101 21 Shatsume 9 99 22 ChickyStarr 9 98 23 Gusoyama 9 86 24 Takanorappa 9 73 25 Hakuryuho 8 68 26 Benihana 8 67 27 RaeucherLax 8 57 28 Hakuhonofan 7 91 29 Green eyed dragon 7 70 30 Fia 7 61 31 chishafuwaku 7 42 32 Papayasu 6 41 33 Kimyama 4 39 Profomisakari

Parade with the only one who really did beat him - his future yokozuna rival Afterwards Yoshinofuji was driven home in the parade car Kyodo a bit late

Thank you very much my friends! It was nice to celebrate my 70th birthday in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic). Nice place to escape from the Cold! Cheers! Prost! Salute! Kampai! Наздраве! Achiyama

I think Ura is now officially engaged to that spectator. Or at least she knows him that well now.

Nice to see Gonoyama has a Plan A for when Plan A doesn't work out

Just got back from Japan and did Fukuoka on day 3. Quick comparison with kokugikan. There are only 4 rows of chair seats up at the back, the S seats going for ¥5500 are comparable to the D seats in the KKan because you have no barriers to stop you from fall forward and risking injuries. Best to get the masuseki seats one row before them, those have small tables affixed to the floor and the arrangement functions both as a chair and semi masuseki. They have more masuseki than chairs anyway. The closeness to the wrestlers cannot be overstated as they do not utilize the private routes into the venue for the sekitori (there are such routes that lower ranks use). I can attest to being inches away from Takayasu & Atamifuji walking in while buying cheering towels at a shop. I also freely roamed the wooden corridors below and the hanamichi watching some prebout preparations (Sadanoumi did his warmup in the wooden corridor, pre dohyo-iri because he was slated to fight the 3rd match in the torikumi and wouldn’t have sufficient prep time after the dohyo-iri to change into his mawashi). also watching the rikishi interactions in the hanamichi (waiting, entering, exiting, encouraging heyamates) that we don’t normally see on KKan broadcasts, is quite heartwarming. Don’t expect bentos shops inside the venue, they have a catering company where you exchange a voucher for a souvenir bag that includes bento boxes. Shops inside mainly sell snacks, alcohol and souvenirs. The food stalls are outside with food trucks and stalls. There is a seating area to eat and a live broadcast TV. Locals fans also congregate outside to cheer for Onosato (which they never get to do in Tokyo after his promotion to Ozeki). one big change this year is them moving to oyakata booth into the center instead of keeping it outside (possibly because of Takakeisho & Akiseyama shenanigans one year ago).

The opponents are Seki and Takeda. Takeda looks genuinely thrilled to bits to be in there. 50 years from now it will be "Mum, can we go home now, Grandad's telling his Asahifuji story again".

Tomorrow's highlight match is in Makushita - Kozmo (Kazuma) faces Enhou! Should be fun to watch. 93 kilos weight difference, 18 centimeter height difference. Former Makuuchi idol, next Makuuchi beast, who needs a 7-0 yusho to become sekitori next basho..

Separate thread around Ochirsaikhan's shikona and debut here. A couple of brief excerpts from there and elsewhere for context: To be exact, Tenshōyama Shōgo 天昇山 将伍 てんしょうやま しょうご. Bukhchuluun will be debuting directly in makushita in January. Day 3 The two proper rookies Takeda and Seki and the two delayed rookies Tenshoyama and Asahifuji were joined by one rikishi who had fallen off the banzuke, Sakaigawa-beya's Daikinryu. Contrary to what usually happens with returnees he was apparently added to the maezumo signup roster at the bottom rather than the top, which may imply a late decision to have him participate. I wonder if that makes it more or less likely that he'll be dropping out after just one bout... In any case, this is Daikinryu's first competitive action since March. I don't usually do any video editing because frankly I have neither the time nor the talent for it, and so I normally just start to crop from Abema's maezumo coverage once they're done cutting to makuuchi replays. But I didn't want to lose the camera pan across all five participants that they did before the replays, so there's a quick fade jump at 0:16 which might otherwise puzzle you if I didn't mention it. I'm probably not going to make a habit out of it. Results: Mz1 Tenshoyama (0-1) Mz2 Asahifuji (1-0) Mz3 Takeda (0-1) Mz4 Seki (1-0) Mz1 Tenshoyama (1-1) Mz5 Daikinryu (0-1) I've been somewhat skeptical of all the Ochirsaikhan/Asahifuji hype, but that was certainly a very convincing display against an opponent who's very likely at least of mid-high makushita strength right now. Pretty clear outcomes in the other two matches as well - Takeda looked about as clumsy as I had assumed from his physique so it's hard to judge how good Seki might be just off of this, and Daikinryu - although he'd been as high as mid-sandanme before getting injured - was quite overmatched against Tenshoyama. One bout to preside over for each of the three jonokuchi-kaku gyoji on the roster, including newbie Kimura Senshin who made his official debut here with the second match. Pretty good showing for a first time. Standings: Mz1 Tenshoyama Tamanoi 1-1 Mz2 Asahifuji Isegahama 1-0 Mz3 Takeda Nakamura 0-1 Mz4 Seki Sakaigawa 1-0 Mz5 Daikinryu Sakaigawa 0-1 I have no real idea if we'll be getting two or three days of maezumo out of this group, especially after they unexpectedly cut things short back in July.

MCP HISTORY UPDATE AFTER AKI 2025 (Go to page 19 for the first post with more details on this) TOP 5 history : 14th trophy for Doitsugo Ichimon comforting their 3rd rank. Most points won by players in the MCP. I kept the points that are granted for the ICF. MCP-1 - earns 25 points MCP-2 - earns 20 points MCP-3 - earns 15 points MCP-4 - earns 10 points MCP-5 - earns 5 points Edit : When 2 players were tied I splitted points in half. For example, 2 players tied first (25 +20)/2 = 22.5 points for each. And so on..... No changes on top. @Frinkanohana gains 17 ranks, now at #18 (25 points added as won the MCP!) @Unkonoyama gains 3 ranks, now at #36 (5 points added as ended 5th). @Yangnomazuma gains 22 ranks (!), now at #62 (15 points added as ended 3rd). Gawasukotto gains 40 ranks (!!!), now at #84 (20 points added as ended 2nd). @Joputosu gains 15 ranks, now at #89 (10 points added as ended 4th). Unofficial ratio ranking with the ratio "points won/ basho played" . At least 12 bashos (2 years) of participation and at least 1.00 ratio to be on the list. Fourth trophy for @Frinkanohana an impressive record! He joins the leaders with 4 wins @Doitsuyama and @Oskanohana . Stay tuned on Monday for Kyushu report and being completely up to date.

The next Hakuho cup will be on Feb. 7th and 8th in the Toyota Arena in Ome, Tokyo, where girls can compete. New at the cup will be adult competitions, for men and for women. The cup has parts for each school year from 1st to 6th, middle, high school, university and corporate. https://www.47news.jp/13533560.html

And that's my cue to add this and the other retirees' final appearances, including Narutaki's back in Aki. (Aki) Day 13 Ms4e Kamito (2-4) Narutaki Ms11w Day 13 Jd98e Yamadaumi (3-3) Hokutonada Jd94w Day 15 Jk9e Nishikimaru (2-4) Kyonosato Jk12e Day 15 Sd37w Taiyo (2-4) Asaobora Sd32w

Three new pages have been added to the Special Categories section: Kinboshi by rikishi Kinboshi by year Kinboshi by yokozuna

I'd still like to know what the plan was - or rather why it didn't work out - years ago when Inagawa (ex-Futeno) moved to Chiganoura, which looked like a clear-cut case of new shisho getting plenty of time to bed in before assuming leadership. But anyway, one other note: Hochi says Tokiwayama will stay on as sanyo after retirement age.

I expect he will, but it'll be as one of those ozeki with a license to perform a special ring entering ceremony.

Most maku'uchi wins in 2025, the final reckoning: 71: Onosato 56: Aonishiki 55: Hoshoryu, Kirishima 51: Takayasu, Wakatakakage 49: Oho, Tamawashi, Hakuoho 47: Daieisho, Tokihayate, Onokatsu

I was at first surprised this was out already, but then I remembered that daylight savings time ended since the last basho and so the time difference was one hour off. I specifically started looking right after the most recent top of the hour, because that's when I thought it was going to be released. https://x.com/sumokyokai/status/1992443153383854283 Some random guy who looks like a high schooler who definitely is too small to ever have been a rikishi is in the picture holding up the results for some reason instead of an oyakata recently retired. Yes I know who it is.

Regarding Takayasu as komusubi, you guys seem to be forgetting the komusubi-ozeki special rules that only apply to Takayasu. He is komusubi-kadoban as he was makekoshi on his last basho. If he makekoshis again, he'll go down to maegashira from where he can regain his komusubi status with simply 8 wins (this I'm assuming, might be 9). If he kachi-koshis tomorrow, he gets to stay as komusubi for the next two tournaments. What is not exactly clear is the rules for his potential promotion to sekiwake. Hopefully, the kyokai makes public those rules soon enough. I just hope that when he becomes Mahaderu Oyakata (or whatever kabu he gets), he's referred properly as former komusubi Takayasu and they forget about that ozeki thing that's way in the past and not at all memorable.

That action is reserved for Hakuho only

So 5 Japanese and 4 Evil Foreigners, they're still majority but only because they kicked the soccer player, they canned the bottle juggler and they hacked the real Miyagino. Well, I suppose from the other side we have Mr. Hanada and Mr. Kitao missing too. That's what happens when they dismiss the ones that liven up the party...

Seki-Toto (play): There's some very big news to start things off: We have a new yokozuna! And it's somebody who wasn't even on the radar yet just a short time ago, as the following is the entirety of his Toto career to date: 2024.09 NR 7-6-2 2024.11 Ms4e 12-3 D 1st-2nd place tie 2025.01 J4e 10-5 6th-13th place tie 2025.03 M15e 14-1 Y 1st place outright 2025.05 K2e 13-2 Y 1st place outright 2025.07 O3e 11-4 3rd-7th place tie (behind two 12-3's) 2025.09 O1e 12-3 Y 1st place outright I didn't get to talk about the player's ozeki promotion four months ago, which of course was rather unusual having come directly from komusubi, but it followed my established precedent that back-to-back yusho (actually, just back-to-back top scores, even as runner-up) are sufficient for promotion if the first one was from a high enough rank to get the player into sanyaku. On the other hand, the two promotion tournaments to yokozuna may look just a little bit soft on their own - now, as in the real thing I intend to look only at what the player has done as ozeki, not before he got there, but I also can't ignore what he did. And what he did is, quite frankly, perhaps the best 6-basho run any player has ever put up in Toto's nearly 25-year history. As such I considered third place + yusho to be a perfectly acceptable promotion case. Congratulations, Kachikoshi! In incumbent yokozuna news: Pandaazuma has had a very good time himself in recent months with four consecutive double-digit results, the last two being the near-mirror image of Kachikoshi's - Pandaazuma had 12 wins as a doten runner-up in July, and 11 wins as one of three jun-yusho players behind Kachikoshi in September. Things haven't gone nearly as well for Norizo, however: His most recent four results were only 7-8, 9-6, 8-7 and 5-9-1, so he's at two and a half demerit points and any makekoshi in either Kyushu or Hatsu (or two 8-7's) will spell the end of his 13-year yokozuna tenure. We had entered Aki basho with five ozeki but are now down to just three, as Kachikoshi wasn't the only one to leave the rank: Joaoiyama unfortunately followed up on his 7-8 from July with a 5-9-1 to earn a demotion the "regular" way (more on that in a moment). Having become ozeki less than two years ago it's already the second time he drops, after the first one was followed by an immediate return with 11 wins. Perhaps that's in the cards this time as well? Ganzohnesushi was also kadoban in Aki basho after a July 6-9, but posted credible enough 9 wins to clear his name for the new banzuke. He is the only remaining ozeki not at risk of demotion in Kyushu, as both Andoreasu and Susanoo have produced back-to-back 8-7 scores to give themselves one demerit point each. A makekoshi this month would thus give them a record equivalent to two MK and spell demotion. Good luck! All three Aki sekiwake DeRosa, Panic!attheDohyo and Kajiyanosho posted nice records with 9 or more wins and are actually on fairly lengthy streaks of 9+ wins, too, but they're all missing a real highlight result that would push them into promotable territory. (DeRosa was actually very close after Nagoya, but I should talk about that in the Aki update if I ever find the time to fill that in...) Nevertheless, a big Kyushu score could make things happen very quickly as the foundation is definitely there for all of them. That is, in fact, also true for komusubi ScreechingOwl(et) to whom I really need to apologize that he's still not sekiwake. Normally I try to promote any 9-6 or better komusubi to sekiwake. Promotions on exactly 9-6 have been waived often enough in the past - especially here in Toto, less so the other two games - that I wouldn't consider that scenario anything close to a strict rule, and so the Owl was just garden-variety unlucky when his Nagoya 9-6 didn't yield a promotion for Aki. However, this time around he was 10-5 and I'm afraid I still wasn't able to fit him in as I keep bumping up against existing sekiwake who just don't go makekoshi and the SB-mandated maximum of 12 sanyaku spots. As such ScreechingOwl sadly had to settle for one of the two required komusubi slots again. But as you can see at the very start of this post I'm quite okay with promoting players directly from komusubi to ozeki if the circumstances warrant it, and this is definitely one of those situations if something truly promotion-worthy were to happen this month. Overall, Aki basho was quite a weird tournament in that the higher-ranked players were unable to display their usually assumed skill advantage. Makuuchi players only posted a winning percentage of 50.7%, barely higher than what those in juryo (50.2%) or makushita (49.7%) achieved. The basho was also marred by severe technical problems on Day 7 which caused a number of players to pick up an absence on that day and so the number of actual kachikoshi records was - especially in juryo - somewhat lower than one would assume from balanced win-loss totals. That caused some issues starting from the low maegashira ranks where I ended up giving small promotions to 7-8 players to make things work. I did try the alternative of filling the available gaps with overpromoted KKs, but that only caused other undesirable distortions. As the "there's no good way to make the 7-8's demote" issue continued from low maegashira all the way through juryo anyway, it made more sense to treat it all the same rather than force a bad solution onto a couple of makuuchi ranks specifically just for appearance's sake. The KK players still received very healthy promotions, so I don't think there are going to be any complaints. Pandaazuma (Ye 11-4) Y1 Norizo (Yw 5-9-1) Kachikoshi (O1e 12-3 Y) Y2 - Ganzohnesushi (O3e 9-6) O1 Susanoo (O1w 8-7) - O2 Andoreasu (O2e 8-6-1) Panic!attheDohyo (S1w 10-5) S1 Kajiyanosho (S2w 10-4-1) DeRosa (S1e 9-6) S2 Joaoiyama (O2w 5-9-1) ScreechingOwl (Ke 10-5) K Oskahanada (M2w 9-6) Kobashi (M4e 9-6) M1 Kotononami (M7w 10-5) Athenayama (M1e 7-8) M2 Chishafuwaku (M1w 7-8) Konosato (Kw 6-9) M3 Warusaru (M8e 9-5-1) GONZABUROW (M2e 7-7-1) M4 Balon (M6w 8-7) Terarno (M9e 9-6) M5 TochiYESshin (M4w 7-8) Metzinowaka (M6e kosho) M6 Gaanaag (M11e 9-5-1) Mariohana (J1w 11-4) M7 Chijanofuji (M3e 5-9-1) Hisui (M11w 8-7) M8 Flohru (M5w 6-9) Unkonoyama (M3w 5-10) M9 Beeftank (M12e 8-7) Andonishiki (M13e 8-4-3) M10 Asashosakari (M5e 5-10) Rowitoro (J2e 10-3-2) M11 Chelseayama (M15e 8-7) Effinojo (M9w 6-8-1) M12 Andrasoyama (M12w 7-8) Jakusotsu (M14w 7-8) M13 Kitakachiyama (M8w 4-11) Papayasu (J3w 8-7) M14 Onakaderu (M15w 7-6-2) Bill (J4e 8-7) M15 Holleshoryu (J4w 8-7) Oortael (M10w 4-11) J1 Kaiowaka (J5e 8-7) Kaito (J2w 7-7-1) J2 Kintamayama (J1e 6-9) BlackPinkMawashi (M13w 4-10-1) J3 WAKATAKE (J10w 9-5-1) Fujisan (J5w 7-8) J4 Toonoryu (M14e 3-12) Gansekiiwa (M10e 1-1-13) J5 Choshu-yuki (J6w 7-7-1) Frinkanohana (J6e kosho) J6 Benihana (J7e 7-7-1) Takanorappa (J13w 9-3-3) J7 Anjoboshi (J7w 7-7-1) Hakumadashi (J14e 9-6) J8 Saruyama (J8w kosho) Getayukata (J9e kosho) J9 Bunbukuchagama (J12w 8-7) Biloumaru (J3e 4-11) J10 Gusoyama (Ms1w 9-3-3) Ketsukai (J8e 6-9) J11 Hakunojo (Ms8w 11-4) Oyama (Ms2e 8-6-1) J12 Ulishimaru (Ms2w 8-6-1) Profomisakari (J13e kosho) J13 Akishiki (Ms6w 9-6) Gawasukotto (Ms4w 8-7) J14 Hogashi (J14w kosho) Hitouki (J10e 5-10) Ms1 Kishikaisei (J11w 5-9-1) Unagiyutaka2 (J12e 5-6-4) Ms2 Katoomaru (J11e 4-11) Tyerenex (Ms9w 8-6-1) Ms3 Gilgamesh (Ms1e 5-7-3) Hana-ichi (Ms3w 6-9) Ms4 Gustl (NR 9-6) Kakushoyama (NR 9-6) Ms5 Achiyama (Ms7w 7-7-1) Ahokaina (Ms5e 6-7-2) Ms6 Umigame (Ms3e 5-10) Ippikiokami (NR 8-7) Ms7 Multimikstar (NR 8-4-3) Joputosu (Ms7e 6-9) Ms8 Tetsuarashi (Ms8e 6-9) Kuroimori (J9w 0-0-15) Ms9 Jimizakura (Ms13e 7-6-2) Fia (NR 7-8) Ms10 Backeido (NR 7-7-1) Chudorj (Ms6e 3-11-1) Ms11 Akagitsune (Ms5w 2-0-13) Hagetaka (Ms10w 4-10-1) Ms12 Yokaotoko (Ms12w kosho) Dan Koloff (Ms9e 3-9-3) Ms13 Asapedroryu (Ms4e 0-1-14)

Kazunofuji vs Dewanojo was the funniest bout ever.

Hitoshi's hair pull today against Hatsuyama was even more awful. Man, Hitoshi is earning rapidly a top place in my "I cannot wait for his danpatsu-shiki ceremony" list. Wakatakakage looks really deflated. I think he watched the ozeki train pass him by for good. He had a great chance last basho and he wasn't even close. Now it's the rank-and-file life. Takayasu is looking good trying to escape his komusubi kadoban. He might even start a sekiwake run if he keeps this up. I'd assume it takes 4 basho, seeing as a yokozuna-run is 2 basho and an ozeki-run requires 3. As long as it doesn't require any yusho, I think he can get it. I'm rooting for him.

That file is easily imported to a sheet, thanks. Processing it will need a while, but I will import it to the DB.

Re: Hoshoryu vs Onosato, I feel like the difference between them is that one of them has a 99.999 percentile physique while the other is average or slightly below average. Being significantly stronger than every other wrestler on the banzuke means Onosato can get away with things others can't, and it also means his gameplan, what he needs to do to win, is much simpler. Generally speaking, if he manages to keep his opponent in front of him and/or get a half-decent belt grip he will win because his strength will carry him. Hoshoryu is the opposite, his physique is a neutral factor or a net negative in a lot of matches, so he has less room for mistakes. He has to do more things right, and those things are harder to do for him. If these premises are true and we let the probabilities play out over months and years, one of our Yokozuna is going to be a lot more successful than the other because he's playing a higher percentage game all around.

This is a place for people to express opinions and ask questions. Of course you're "supposed to be here". Legendary knowledge isn't more important than just being interested in sumo.

Stuff from today. Tamanoi oyakata was supposed to do the NHK broadcast today but lost his voice and went kyujo. Ex-Kotokaze subbed for him. Makushita Kazuma the new beast in town got his mage today for the first time. And it was his 24th birthday. He will be a ruler soon. "I beat the gyoji by oshidashi so it should have been a tie,"said Ichiyamamoto who lost his bout but oshidashi'd the gyoji in the process.

The most famous maezumo bout ever the media assembled for Asahifuji vs. Tenshoyama o fans already have (reused old?) support towels oo o oo oooo o o ooo o o oo o o o o oo oo o ooo o already the star interview o The other bout: Takeda lost to Seki o