Katsunorifuji

Not sure if I missed reading this somewhere, but is there a reason why they posted the slander?

I got back in to watching sumo in 2018 right as he was taking off and looking almost unstoppable. I remember thinking the era of Hakuho dominance would end only to be replaced by the reign of Takakeishio. Sad to see him retire but hope the future works out well for him.

Just popping in to say thanks again for putting this together. Kotooshu might not have anyone in the top divisions but I take a sense of satisfaction seeing him on the top or near the top each basho.

I voted Abi because I didn’t see Mitakeumi before I clicked submit. I think Abi will work his way back up quickly but I also don’t see Mitakeumi falling too far from where he is now. I think they’ll be neck and neck in January 2023 but give the edge to Mitakeumi.

I missed the day one matches and just realized today (day 3) that there was no Tochinoshin. Sad to think that this might be the end of his sumo career and I didn’t even catch the announcement the he was out for the basho. Kind of like sleeping through the moon landing. I know someone else mentioned this earlier, but with Hokutofuji so far down in the ranks I would not be surprised to see him competing for the yusho, especially if Terunofuji and the Ozeki pick each other off in the last few days.

These two sentences sum up the basho for me perfectly. The first couple days were interesting but it looked pretty early on that Terunofuji was going to waltz away with the yusho. It got a bit interesting again at the end but I never had much doubt about the end results. But Hakuho vs Terunofuji Part II was the real pre-basho story to me and it’s too bad we didn’t get to see it. I had doubts Hakuho would make 15 days let alone that they’d both be 14-0 again, but up until his withdrawal was announced the dream still existed.

I’ll admit I was never a big fan of Hakuho, similar to how I didn’t like the late 1990’s New York Yankees. One person dominating was a great news story and good for the record books, but when it’s almost a forgone conclusion who is going to win each basho it’s easy to lose interest for a fan looking for excitement. But you can’t fault a man for being great at what he does and no one did sumo the way Hakuho did. The sport will miss him and in a way so will I. As to the idea that his records will stand the test of time, one can make the case that with a Yokozuna whose near the end of his career and the inconsistent Ozeki we have now that the time is ripe for someone young and promising to rise through the ranks start a new era of super dominance. But hopefully not too dominant, it’s kind of fun knowing a guy like Tokushoryu could hold up the trophy again.

Thank you for putting this together! It’s right what I was looking for. Basically wanting to see how each heya was doing looking back over a longer trend and year to date works great for that. As someone who spends the majority of his working day in Excel I appreciate the difficulty that comes with inputting this kind of information into a message board format My goal was to see how all the heya did over a longer term (Naruto in particular!) with the idea that those with consistent high performance should see their members advancing up the rankings. So far it looks like Naruto is not doing what I’d expect or at least that the people driving their winning records are either way down in the lower division or alternate 7-0 basho with 3-4 basho.

Naruto making their way back to the top, look at that! Thanks for posting these, it’s one of the threads I like to follow each basho. One question, when the tournament wraps up how hard would it be to make a chart showing how each heya has done win percent wise over the last year or two? Or does that already exist somewhere I haven’t seen? I think it’d be interesting to see if some heya always stay statistically near the top of bottom of this list.

I think I say this almost every basho, but there is a man who wants to stay in sumo and fights every match like he’s got to win it. I don’t know how many more basho we’ll see him around for but I do know sumo will be poorer when he’s moved on.

Terunofuji is just THAT good right now. If he keeps up his current pace I expect him to have the first three yusho of 2022 in the bag by the end of the year.

With the way Terunofuji is going I expect him to wrap up the November yusho by the end of this basho. He’s like a machine and I just don’t see anyone beating him at this point. Maybe Shodai?

Yusho: Terunofuji 14-1 Jun-Yusho: 5 way tie at 12-3 but doesn’t include any Ozeki or Sekiwake

Already a lot of great commentary on Hakuho above but I’ll add my take from the last two days. My initial reaction was Hakuho is smart and knows exactly what he needs to do to beat Shodai and Terunofuji. But my second thought was he knows he can no longer beat these guys through the strength and skill he used in the past. The key being that Hakuho knows his days of dominance are over. And this was the perfect Haukho written storybook ending. Your last win is for the yusho over the guy who is going to replace you as the sole Yokozuna. If he does come back for win 900 next basho how does that end? Withdrawing after his first or second loss? Sticking it out and potentially ending his career with 10-5? Not the story someone so focused on their legacy wants to go out on. The best case scenario is he he comes out strong and repeats what he did this basho. But based on his performance the last two days does he really have confidence in himself to do it again? I think he’s planning to come back in September now, but once he thinks things through (maybe right after the olympics) he will retire.

Wow that was some bad math on my part. Not sure what I was thinking there but at least I left out my Terunofuji 17-0 zen yusho predication from the post.

Three days in and I don’t know if anyone can beat Terunofuji. All that tape on his knees reminds me that he isn’t Superman and he could easily fade as the tournament rolls on, but it’s just hard to see that happening. Outside of Hakuho I can’t see anyone really challenging him, and I’m not sure Hakuho even can. It does also look like this may be the last Tochinoshin tournament. He’s held on so well despite his injuries but it looks like all the will and effort in the world can’t get him a KK this time. Then again we’ve got 9 days to go so stay tuned.

If Naruto beya is always near the top of the list and Oshoryu is struggling so much does that mean there might be another rikishi who will take over as the great hope to make it to juryo?

I haven’t been as active on the boards as I would have liked the last few months but I’ve done my best to stay plugged into sumo world and wanted to share my thoughts on the basho. Congrats to Terunofuji as he is clearly the man to beat now. I think he’ll be my pick to win each basho now, replacing Takakeisho. Super happy to see Aoiyama have his annual super basho. Someone else already mentioned this but once a year he makes noise and almost surprises the world. Maybe next March (or sooner!) he’ll be holding a trophy. Tochinoshin not walking away with a KK but doing enough to hang with the pack. I’ve said it before and hope to say it again in May, but this man wants to be here. Hokutofuji, a really great showing that kind of slid under the radar. I wish he would have won on day 15 because 10 wins just has a bigger mental appeal than 9. And sliding down the banzuke, Oshoryu has another bad showing. What’s going on?

I could see a yusho this month followed by promotion. But I just as easily see a 10-5 basho. So I voted soon but not yet. He’s good and given the fact that there isn’t much other consistent competition at the top I think he’ll put together back to back yusho at some point soon.

Kotooshu has to be a happy man right now. Best overall record and Oshoryu with a KK. Here’s hoping they carry that momentum into 2021.

Hokutofuji off to a good start. Usually he starts slow and plays catch up but a good 4-0 start only slowed down by Terunofuji. Hopefully he doesn’t let that stop him and can get back in the yusho race. If I could pick someone to win because I want them to it’s be Chiyonokuni. But it’s looking like Terunofuji or Takakeisho at this point. But with the way the basho is going (or 2020 is going even) I wouldn’t be surprised if someone sitting in 2 losses pulls out the yusho.

1 A 2 B 3 B 4 B 5 B 6 B 7 A 8 A 9 B 10 A 11 B 12 X 13 A 14 A 15 B 16 B 17 A 18 A 19 A 20 A 21 B

Should this be interpreted that he’s not 100% and this basho will be a struggle?

Out of curiosity, can a Yokozuna be forced to retire if they keep missing basho? I know that the powers that be can reprimand or recommend retiring, but if Hakuho or Kakuryu want to sit out three or more basho, could they theoretically do that with out being forced out of sumo?

I don’t see any of the former Ozeki getting their rank back but the poll required an answer so I went with Terunofuji. I think he has the best chance of the 4 and I wouldn’t be surprised that much if he did. But at the same time I just don’t see any of these guys putting the required string of wins together from that high up in the banzuke. Voted Kotoshogiku to retire first and that will be a sad day. And see Terunofuji as the last to go since he still seems consistent enough to hang around for a while. Takayasu also looks to have gotten back into his form a bit so maybe he can outlast Terunofuji though. I would also love to see Tochinoshin hang around for a while longer as he definitely has the fight and desire left in him. But I don’t see him outlasting Terunofuji or Takayasu.