hypnoowl

I wonder why Kaishin, who's been in sumo for almost 9 years now, would suddenly have short hair this basho. Seeing that he missed last basho completely, it's reasonable to conclude he ran away and cut the hair himself, but was persuaded to return. Would cutting the hair be a reason for forced retirement? Surely this can't happen very often.

Ajigawa-beya members left to right: Anhibiki, Anzakura, Agora, Akenoyama, Azuma.

Thank you for pointing that out, both Kakuryu and even Dewanojo himself also found it highly amusing . Near the end it looked like poor Kazunofuji will soon collapse from exhaustion without any help from Dewanojo.

Ura never wears those at the jungyo because there's no need to stress the knees in somewhat scripted exhibition matches and they can't be comfortable to apply and wear unnecessarily.

I'm sure it looks and feels better in person because almost everything does, but it doesn't really work very well as a televised event. Endless replays of comical exaggerated tsuridashi were beyond ridiculous.

So this is just a glorified jungyo with a crowd of mostly clueless spectators who were falsely sold a Grand Tournament. Understandable, but still rather sad.

Daiamami will most likely stay too. Of the three Dewanoryu perhaps has the best claim on the remaining spot. As a side note Kamito's three 5-2 at ms10w/2-5 at ms4 records in a row are very amusing.

Kotozakura's right knee almost buckled while pushing Hoshoryu out and he flexed it immediately after the bout. I thought it didn't promise anything good.

Mitakeumi last November haven't missed a day after being stretchered out on day 6. Even managed two wins on one leg against some rather lethargic opponents.

@KintamayamaSince the heya channel came up, I've long been wondering if there was any drama around Kikuchi that I missed? Or what is the reason he's never interviewed anymore?

While his hands do look somewhat uncanny, compared to the other guys he seems almost disoriented. Perhaps it is his old stoic rikishi facade clashing with this new youthful appearance, because he does seem more happy and healthy when passionately talking about sumo. But in still photos like this he looks more worrying than healthy.

Hoshoryu just seems to be falling apart in training, for someone who only missed 4 bouts prior to promotion this is almost uncanny and very concerning.

Is there such thing as a yokozuna curse? And is it too early to talk about it?

Boo!

Fresh juryo yusho is missing for Mita. Also such a shame about Fujiizumi, will he go AWOL again?

How do we arrive at an eight-man sanyaku, Tamawashi to K2? In my mind for them to open an extra sekiwake slot would be even crazier than keeping Takayasu the last time, as it would require overpromoting almost everyone with a KK while also breaking recent convention. On the other hand, is there really a convention to break? Looking at the 11-4 M1 query again, yes, it hasn't happened in a long time, but there was always a regular slot available. And the case of Daieisho's 13-2 is too outrageous to be considered relevant, it looks like they simply wanted to deny him a chance at ozeki, having three already with the forth in Terunofuji in the final stage of his run. If they don't mind a lot of overpromotions that extra sekiwake slot starts looking a lot less improbable, and would also open a possibility of booting both Shishi and Kotoeiho for Hitoshi and Daiseizan.

From his point of view it's quite reasonable: he has to aim high, because if he's just aiming to toil in lower makuuchi for a couple more years then why even continue with the struggle. At this point finding the will to go on must be a challenge in itself and it's a wonder he still hasn't given up trying.

Look no further than the two longest-serving ozeki Kaio and Chiyotaikai, now Asakayama and Kokonoe, who only produced one sekitori each, both barely surviving in juryo for a while and eventually falling out. And then there is Kise-oyakata with the second-biggest sekitori presence, despite never reaching sanyaku. It's also quite obvious that oyakata's personality and ability to attract talent play maybe a more significant role in the heya's success than the teaching skills alone.

Can you really apply the same amount of seasoning to both just based on age alone? Compared to Onosato Hoshoryu is almost unpalatably salty already.

I don't know if this one has come up before, but taking a look at 8-bout records yielded an interesting result. In 1972 in 2 consecutive basho Aobayama while ranked Ms1w was first passed over for a juryo promotion with a 4-3 record by a 4-4 Ms1e, and then while ranked Ms1e was again passed over for juryo promotion with 4-4 record by a 4-3 Ms2e.

I took a fascinating dive into the pool of 8-bout records. First, they only happen for makushita joy and jonokuchi and the difference in treatment is very obvious. For jonokuchi it looks like the same win amount records are treated equally. They stopped offering an eighth bout for 3-4 makushita after Haru 1972, but the 4-4's had also been treated equally with juryo promotions split 1-1 between higher ranked 4-4 and lower ranked 4-3 (funnily enough Aobayama was both the losing 4-4 and the losing 4-3). The 3-5's, on the other hand, are definitely treated a lot better than 2-5's, but still slightly or sometimes even considerably worse than 3-4's, with no Ms1 3-5 ever surviving in the promotion zone while 3-4 Ms1's and even Ms2's do so routinely.

Now let's see if Tamawashi can go 12-3 in Aki from M1, get the apple of discord S2 slot for Kyushu and finally clinch an ozeki promotion as a birthday present.

So happy Tamawashi did not let me down. Good job, Iron Man!

Tochinoshin destroyed his knees with unnecessary tsuridashi. And regarding Hoshoryu, his most embarassing losses come from ill-advised throw attempts. So yes, perhaps he would be better off without trying to force as many of those.

Not at all what I meant. It's just that his stance is doing his back no favors in the long run and people are already getting wise to the leg grab. I just wonder if he's going to be that good without the low stance. Injuries are the bane of sumo and here is a potential self-inflicted one.