Hakumadashi

M6e

Yoshii - J10e

39th with just the last two basho on record (I did start playing most of the games in Nagoya, but… I took some time to adjust…) , I’d definitely have taken “highest ranked player who wasn’t ranked the previous year” in an instant if you asked me where I’d end up a few months ago. Need to practice my pre-Basho games though. I thought I’d end up in a position where people would pick me in Metasumo but now I’m amidst a lot of great players Congratulations to Kaito, Flohru, and all of the individual games’ champions!

List of latest (sorted by intai, going back to 2010) rikishi whose highest career rank is M1 (that’s unlucky…) Active: Atamifuji, Hakuoho, Midorifuji, Sadanoumi Chiyonokuni (intai 2023) Yutakayama (intai 2022) Osunaarashi (intai 2018) Tosayutaka (intai 2016) Tochinowaka (intai 2015) Tokusegawa (intai 2011) Special shoutout to Wakasegawa and Wakasegawa, who in the 30s and 80s reached M1 as their career highest ranks respectively. They share a last name so are surely related, potentially father and son. The elder fought two basho at M1, as was the style at the time, and finished both with an absolutely abysmal 1-10 record. The younger fluked the rank with a 10-5 from M11(!!!), and atleast had a respectable 5-10 in the joi. He even managed to beat an Ozeki in Hokutenyu and Uwatenage then M5 Onokuni! This was the second time he had beaten Onokuni by that technique, a feat he shares only with the one and only Chiyonofuji. He then fell to Juryo within two tournaments and stayed there for over 4 years straight. He did eventually make his way back to the joi, and even got a Kinboshi in a 5-10 from M3. You can guess against whom! (This time he beat Onokuni by Shitatenage!). He followed that tournament up with a 10-5 from M7, which again got him up all the way to M1. This time he seems to have been injured, and only joined the basho on Nakabi. He got a solitary Shonichi on Day 14. Over the course of his career he spent 7 basho at M4 or above, the best result in these being a 6-9. I miss these type of mid-Maegashira to joi elevator journeyman on the current Banzuke! Maybe Gonoyama? Anyway, he sadly died in 2011 aged just 49 years, and unlike his father or other male relative he never got a Kabu.

History doesn't mean much to Takadagawa's committee. The general principle seems to be "if in any reasonable consideration, help the higher ranked rikishi", sometimes even beyond reasonable consideration (see Takayasu's Komusubi saves, or the multitude of upper Maegashira 4-11s that get treated like 6-9s recently.

Being the best pick in a category counts as some sort of win, doesn’t it?

Atamifuji will win a total number of 4 bouts over Yokozuna and Ozeki, reach Sanyaku atleast once, but have no KK inside Sanyaku before Hatsu 2027. He will lose multiple bouts against rikishi who he has atleast 5 more wins than losses against going into the bout.

Y: Onosato - 3, Hoshoryu - 1 O: Aonishiki - 1 M: An unspecified rikishi outside of the joi who got demoted due to injury-induced Kyujo in one of the 2 basho prior to Yusho - 1 (maybe Oho, Hakuoho, Yoshinofuji, Kirishima or Daieisho)

I predict Fujinokawa to have a good run of 7-9 win basho until reaching the joi for the first time, where he will get the Oshoma experience. I really want to see him fight Onosato.

The Question for 2 seems to mean the rank of the lowest ranked guy who gets beaten by Oho, but the option " He will never lose in 2026!" (either way I appreciate the thoroughfulness of including that option) implies it's about who BEATS Oho. Could you clarify which is supposed to be answered please?

If I'm not mistaken Onosato was the first to reach Yokozuna without a MK in the modern era, so for that he would certainly be the first. In pre-modern times it seems to have been somewhat common (although many holes exist in the records of course), but that's just a completely different thing from doing what Onosato has done and let alone what Aonishiki could do.

I posted it for the decades in Trivia Bits a few months ago, and it was quite painstaking to compile it. How on earth did I not think of that query.... I just wrote all yusho winners down lmao

I’d wager it’s incredibly unlikely he never goes Kyujo before 8 wins, but a full 8 losses will never happen . Surely. Have to mention that Hakuoho just got his first MK in that manner. Quite impressive streak.

I saw that too last week, but I didn’t have the time to try and compare it. My original thought was “never lost to a non-eventual-Sekitori” (I then checked for it) but of course that - while not being common - won’t be anywhere near unique. I wouldn’t be surprised if Himukamaru made Makuuchi we had another unique record set by Aonishiki, at least in the modern era for non Tsukedashi.

The 25th anniversary will be in November 2026, however this was the 25th Kyushu basho. The first basho was when the Forum was aged 0 and so on. I thought it sounded better than "24th anniversary" which seemed a random number to highlight, but I didn't realise my phrasing could be confusing.

13-16 was the infallible range of unique Yusho winners per decade in the modern era - always -, to put into perspective how insane that number is. I also just realised Aonishiki put us up to 18 for the 2020s, putting us 2 ahead of the previous record with 4 years to go.

I didn't know that, amazing. I tried to search Sumodb for the latest cases of this and found this https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Results.aspx?b=195703&d=1 (the last bout on the page) Was there a rule that Makushita rikishi fighting in Juryo got a hikiwake when "losing" the bout? Or is this a sumodb error? Did they just always get a hikiwake? (Surely not, that would make Yaocho incredibly incentivised...)

This basho seems to have been the 25th Kyushu iteration discussed on this forum. Amazing achievement given the fleeting nature of most internet usage nowadays.

remarkable… I knew I blew it on day 15, but 17th? Ouch… but prime Takayasu moment. I haven’t even won an individual game yet (the Juryo Yusho in SG I guess). I don’t have to be so annoyed about giving Tide away with a missed entry if it didn’t cost me the Green Belt. at least I can now concentrate on the World Championship for the first time! I might be getting ahead of myself (I can’t even score points in Bench any time soon) but I will ganbarise and do my brand of predicting (never bet on small guys, always bet on 7-7 rikishi against non 7-7 rikishi etc.) to achieve a Top 20 spot and reach Sekitori on the Superbanzuke. huge congratulations to @Kaito! This must be a lifelong goal for many players, I somehow scraped a win against you in SG (also against Flohru, maybe I’m extra focused against the best?) and it felt like a Kinboshi. I take you winning overall ahead of all these veterans who know how it felt to sort Takanohana, Musashimaru and Akebono in Hoshitori as an inspiration for a young Makushita guesser like me thank you Randomitsuki for the daily updates and good luck to all for Hatsu.

I always found it funny that it also means “cheap” when used as an i-adjective (like in TakaYASU). Not sure if the etymology also lines up to the logographical one or woman under roof, but it’s hilarious nonetheless.

The rikishi cost can be checked at https://www.sumogames.de/Golynohana/SALARYCAP/RikishiCost.aspx, and since they have the same lineup except for Oshoumi (74, cheapest rikishi) vs Tomokaze (85, third cheapest rikishi) BlackPinkMawashi thus has a lower overall spend. I am of course not making any judgement about how this should be applied to SB, and I definitely don't say this because you pointed out me and Mr. or Mrs. BlackPinkMawashi as co-leaders in the Masters race....

The last question could probably be rephrased as "Will President Zelenskyy make a state visit to Japan?". Atleast I'd hope that such a shining Paragon of the Ukrainian People in Japan would get an invite and some kind of honorific medal in that case.

As Koorifuu said, the H2Hs on the Top 10 are all Ozeki and Yokozuna who stay in the joi all the time. I also think it's harder to accumulate huge H2Hs nowadays because the Banzuke is a bit more volatile, but that is just gut feeling, might be wrong. To add: Tetsujin Tamawashi has 37 bouts against both Endo and Tochinoshin, 34 against Takarafuji, 27 against Okinoumi. He's just spent too much time in mid-Maegashira, where not only people fluctuate between the Joi or Juryo, but also you might not even end up fighting someone ranked right next to you, which is a de facto guarantee in the Sanyaku.

Onigatani Hatsu 1907 had 0-0-10 aged 51 and 9 months at M14. In the tournament prior he went 1-3-5-1d (god I kinda wish we'd have one basho per year with those silly result possibilities) from M11, that would be the oldest with actual bouts fought. The second oldest is a full 6 years younger, from the 1860s. The oldest "recorded" MK from a Sanyaku was Shiranui with another 0-0-10 as Ozeki in 1869. The oldest "real" MK from a Sanyaku was Tanikaze with a 4-0-6 (I guess this is an MK?) in 1794 (seriously. I wonder where this data comes from and if these bouts actually took place. It's like reading Homer, you just gotta take it for granted) Even the legendary Raiden shows up in my query with a Kyujo basho. Fujinosato had an 1-8-6 from M20w (again lol) aged just 41 in 1942, which is the oldest post-WW1 result to appear. IN THE MODERN ERA, like you presumably already guessed, Tamawashi now holds this record! He either already broke it in Aki or snuck just behind Kyokutenho in 2015 by a few days. Edit: Special shoutout to ex-Nayoroiwa who with a 4-11 from M9 in 1954 aged 39 and 11 months holds the record for Japanese rikishi and (ex-)Ozeki in the modern era. Aminishiki is the 4th modern day rikishi to turn up in this list, courtesy of what is surely one of - maybe the - oldest promotion from Juryo. The oldest Sanyaku MK in the modern era is Kayo's 3-8-intai from 2011 aged 38. Maybe Tamawashi can get this record still? His last Sanyaku appearance is already 3 years gone, which actually suprised me given how often he's fighting in the joi. He's gotten really unlucky not to be Komusubi for Aki.

Given how they've been treating outer joi 4-11 recently, I'd be surprised if Hiradoumi and Oshoma didn't get A LOT of leniency. For Shodai sadly I see bad news after an early draft of mine. Don't see how he could profit from the same leniency.