HenryK

I can't find the strenght ratings any more. Are they on ice?

To the extent that they raise the quality of and versatility in ozumo and thus make if more interesting it's a good thing. As long as Japanese rikishi are competitive in the sanyaku ranks I'm not really concerned about rising foreign participation. It would be a matter of concern only if the sport becomes so de-Japanised that the Japanese public loses interest -- as this would of course be suicidal. But by and large the Japanese public seems to have been quite prepared to welcome foreign rikishi into Japans national sport -- imo very much to its credit. :-P

me too .... :-P Same here. TTo S and K I normally refer as "junior sanyakyu" or "lower sanyaku" ranks.

But Kisenosato was still promoted to K. That a M1e with KK was not promoted to Sanyaku hasn't happened in almost 40 years.

Sorry to continue on the off-topic thread but it interests me so... How far back do you go? Where did the Japanese come from? The Ainu? Controversially, they are or were Korean or Chinese... But come on, we're all related if you go back far enough. Many westerners will admit they can't tell the difference between asians and many sumo fans will say it takes time to learn to recognize different rikishi without their shikona. It takes time and doesn't mean you are a racist. And while foreign born rikishi will always be soto (outside), they can learn the nihongo (Japanese) and keigo (respect language) and the proper way to ojigi (bow) and general teinei (politeness) and kei (respect) WHILE STILL RETAINING THEIR IDENTITY which is as a gaijin sumo wrestler. I for one have no problem with a smile from Baruto when he wins or goofs up, and Asashoryu's pumped fists and grins in victory, as long as it is done with respect. They are not Japanese and should not have to pretend they are, but they must remember what they do and where they do it. Many say that Asa goes not have proper kei or teinei but I think it is too much to expect him to understand the Japanese dichotomy of having too much pride to show emotion. Well said.

The great Yokozuna rivalry dominated also this basho, but I also really liked what we saw at lower sanyaku and higher maegeshira ranks. Ama, Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato confirmed why people talk about them as future Ozekis; Kokkai and Baruto had superb bashos (seems the latter has largely overcome his knee problems) and looked every bit like long-term sanyaku material, and even the old warhorse Kyokutenho showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with. Not to forget Asasekiryu, Tokitenku and Miyabiyama, who produced solid bashos right from the middle of the meatgrinder. It seems to me that the gap between these fighters and the Ozekis has become smaller, hence we may see quite a bit of change in the upper ranks (except Y) in the next two years. The next basho will have the strongest Y-M2 line-up in a long time. Views?

I admit that I did not check this very carefully, but from a superficial analysis I believe that one could also argue for the opposite. If they did promote Kokkai to Komusubi it would be the first time (at least in recent times) that they open up an additional Komusubi slot for someone who was out of the meatgrinder/did not have regular sanyaku opponents. A 12-3 from M4 or M5 has always, without exception, resulted in a sanyaku slot the basho afterwards. So it would be unprecedented for Kokkai to miss out. EDIT : In fact, going further than that, even maegashira 6 has always without exception achieved sanyaku after a 12-3. There are plentiful examples of going from a rank > M2 into a K2 slot I just think the odds are heavily heavily stacked in Kokkai's favour. Sure, but the last time they openend an extra sanyaku slot for 12-3 and <=M4 was for Kaiketsu in 1972. And his case was arguably stronger, as he was (at M7w) tied with the eventual winner (S1E Hasegawa) after 15 days, and missed out on the yusho only in the play-off. Which means Kokkai's case is pretty much unchartered territory, which gives the NSK quite a few degrees of freedom. What is likely to move the odds against him in my opinion is that the NSK won't be able to put a plausible M2/M3 together if Kokkai moves to K. Btw, if we disregard the "extra sanyaku slot" business the odds would also be pretty favorable for Baruto -- since 1958, 9 out of 10 M7s were promoted to sanyaku after achieving 12-3.

Having mulled over this for some time, I expect Kokkai to be M1E, Baruto M1W, Kyokutenho M2E, Wakanoho M2W, Miyabiyama M3E, Kakuryu M3W, Tokitenku M4E, Aminishiki M4E. Bad banzuke luck for Kokkai, but everything else would simnply be too messy (including because there would be noone for M2W). And I expect Wakakirin to stay in makuuchi.

Kootooshu and Takekaze went MK, while no less than 6 sanyaku ranked fighters just edged out an 8-7. The winner of the first ever game of "who will bite the dust" with a perfect score of +3 is Washuyama. Four other players managed to get positive scores -- Sokkenkayama with a minimalist pick of Takekaze; Vikanohara, Profomisakari and Higginbotham because they got Takekze right, another rikishi wrong, but correctly guessed that 2 sanyaku would be MK.There are also 4 losers who ended up with negative scores. Here is the full ranking. Washuyama +3 Vikanohara +1 Profomisakari +1 Sokkenaiyama +1 Higginbotham +1 Gusoyama -1 Hidariashiyama -1 HenryK -1 Holleshoryu -2

You think they will take Hakuba over Wakakirin? Would be a little rough. As for the Baruto/Kokkai story, I agree 4 Komosubi will make more sense than 4 Sekiwake. If they do 4 Sekiwake, Kisenosato should be one of them rather than Bart. My gutfeeling though is that Kokkai and Baruto will be at M1.

At first it might have looked suspicious but it is not that much. Kotomitsuki had been dominating Taikai prior to their matchup in November, wherein Taikai looked 6 or 7 years younger. Nothing more expectable than a return to the previous status, i.e., Mitsuki dominating with ease. The more strangest bout to say the least was Kaio and Taikai, when the older ozeki did not even try... But the 8-7 records for the trio is rather a result of inconsistent sumo than a previously organized thing. Don't you think ? You may of course be right. Still, well, a little odd though how Chiyo and Kaio collapsed after their strong starts, and how Mickey just about edged it out..... Next basho will have an extremely tough line-up all through the meatgrinder.

...almost as good as Hatsu. Two Yokozunas of roughly equal strenght is exactly what ozumo needed. And lots of promise in the area S-M7 in this basho. Suddenly there is tons of life in the sport. If anything makes me suspicious it is not this final bout, however, but that all three surviving Ozeki managed to come out exactly at 8-7. Mickey-Chiyo might just have been.... well.

Looks like a Kise/Ama Sekiwake/Komosubi swap at this stage, and a Komosubi promotion for Kyokutenho.

Very nice win by Yoshikaze, almost losing by yorikiri to his bigger opponent after a poor tachiai, recovering smartly thanks to quick feet and a quick brain, then spinning Otsukasa round like a wheel and finally putting him on his back with a kiriaeshi. I like this guy. Physically he is clearly at a disadvatage to most of his opponents, but he has tons of heart and fighting spirit, and more often than one would think he finds a way to win. I doubt he'll ever make it to sanyaku, but never count Yoshikaze out. Baruto's sumo looks better by the day. Maybe he is regaining some confidence in his body.

This was a brutal throw. Asashoryu put all his weight on Aminishiki's neck till Aminishiki gave in and flip-flopped out of the ring, with Asashoryu landing on top of him. I reckon Asashoryu could have had that easier -- he was about to push Aminiski out of the dohyo anyway. He replied about the previous day's match where something similar occured and said Kakuryu was still fighting to stay in the dohyo so he had to fight to push him out. I expected he'd say something similar about today's match as it really was brutal with Amini doing a sommersault on the floor outside the ring but so far all I've seen reported as being said by Asa is いい相撲になっている, ii sumo ni natte iru, becoming good sumo. Yea, WOW, the last two Asashoryu fights ended nasty. Day two was completely unsportsmanlike. Day three was freakin' scary and also unnecessary. And I'm an Asashoryu fan. But wow, he really is a powderkeg. He's gonna take over Takamisakari's role as chief whack job. I agree, even though I found this one worse than the day before -- the Aminishiki throw looked really dangerous. Well we know that Asashoryu has this super-competitive edge that makes him go especially hard after opponents who have annoyed him in the past (Aminishiki, Kisenosato) and intimidate folks he fights for the first time. Hopefully we don't see more of this.

I'm not saying Baruto looks good, quite to the contrary I'm just saying that Roho looks absolutely terrible, unable to stop anything, even just Baruto's forward movement. Few rikishi can stop Baruto's forward movement once he has them solidly pinned to his chest. Baruto is still incredibly strong, I'm not sure whether even Hakuho matches him in this department. But what he badly lacks is agility. In my expectation, Roho vs. Wakanoho isn't a done deal at all. But we'll see.

This was a brutal throw. Asashoryu put all his weight on Aminishiki's neck till Aminishiki gave in and flip-flopped out of the ring, with Asashoryu landing on top of him. I reckon Asashoryu could have had that easier -- he was about to push Aminiski out of the dohyo anyway.

I'm still having problems. I've been registered for a long long time and had no issues until about two months ago. I get logged in fine, select the bout I want...but when I click on the screen to start the video just like always, the video doesn't play, but instead it just cycles through a list of the matchups for that day. It's been like that for a couple months and happens on both Firefox and Safari... Mac OSX here. Ideas??? I had also registered in the past and just re-registered..

Disclaimer: Question marks indicate my lack of terminology and general knowledge when it comes to describing the technical aspects of sumo. They were locked for a few seconds, Shunketsu had a migi-uwate (?). Then he made a lightning-fast dashinage move (?) that spun Tosayutaka out of balance. Then the oldie easily pushed him out from behind. The bout is online now

Did the same thing and it worked (I'm browsing in Explorer, btw). Cheers. Kisenosato looked great.

Yeah, same here -- tragedy :'-( What error exactly do you mean? Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/infosumo/www/info/header.php:20) in /home/infosumo/www/info/modules/Forums/viewforum.php on line 155

Yeah, same here -- tragedy :'-(

Any more takers? It's a simple game but could become quite interesting, especially if played over several bashos.

Thanks for all the updates, Kintamayama. Duno what I would do without you bewteen bashos.

Jk 26E Fukao (newby pick)