YDC on the next yokozuna run

[Treblemaker]

If Kise actually wins a tournament, it might be the worst thing he ever did....

Sorry, but that is BS, sir. Winning a yusho is never a bad thing, regardless of the circumstances. Who remebers the countless ozeki who could never win a yusho (except the specific fans of them)? On the other hand, do you remember Takatoriki? I do, not only because he is the son-in-law of Taiho, but also he is a yusho winner.

And thre will allways be talks and other stuff aboud good performing japanese rikishi. And when you have the choice between talks about you with a yusho and talks about you without a yusho, what would you choose?

Fair enough argument, but then take Osh, for example. Backs into one yusho, and will be remembered, not as a once-yushoist, but as a middle-of-the-road Ozeki who never really did more than was needed to survive, in spite of a bad knee. I mean, he didn't win it 10-15 years ago, it was only 2008. Now sure, he's a big white guy from Europe, and not a Native Son, so nobody pays a lot of attention to him.

For Kise, it's a lot different. A major hopeful, if he were to win a tournament, what then? Promote him immediately? As yokozuna, he'd be a potential threat to HF and Hak, but if things stand as they have for the last 3-4 years or so with him, his success at that position (or perhaps lack thereof) might mean people like the YDC would be heaping unprecedented criticism on him, and pressure from the fans, etc....... If the crap they throw at HF is any indication (and this guy just keeps ticking like the Energizer Bunny), the reaction from Kise might be just the opposite. We know that he's got the physical ability to toss people around, from Hak to Asa to anyone on any given day. We also know that he suffers from the occasional/frequent mental skip and has lost way too matches he really should have won.

I love his intensity, his approach, his work ethic. Would I bet a few shekels on him in any given bout on any given day? Nope. He wins bouts he shouldn't, and loses too many bouts he should. By definition, this is not Yok material.

If he wins a tournament, and doesn't get promoted? Well, that opens up a whole other can of escargot. More pressure on him to repeat; the expectations would be crippling to someone not 100% confident within himself to feel that each bout is winnable. And for a number of years now, Kise just has not been able to get over that "hump". Should he pull it off once, could he do it again? As the banzuke stands now, with all those cool, dangerous young guys coming up, I'm not so sure.

[Chisaiyama]

A study of Kaio's lifetime record in the SUMODB shows a history once he reached the Sekitori ranks of frequently having to go kyujo, often in back to back bashos. Once he achieved the rank of Ozeki (thanks to his 1st Yusho and the Jun-Yusho that followed) he knew he was set for the rest of his career. In those days kosho was still in effect so in theory he could go kyujo in one basho then set out the next two before returning as a kadoban Ozeki in the next, in which he only had to win 8 to keep his rank. IMHO Kaio was intelligent and realistic enough to realize that while he had the skills and abilities to become a Yokozuna he didn't have the stamina to remain one for very long. I am certain in my mind that after that 5th Yusho when they told him he's only needed a 13-2 Yusho for the promotion (and in Fukuoka no less) that he considered long and hard what to do and then turned in a 12-3 Jun-Yusho performance and it was the last great basho of his career. What followed was anticlimactic and downright embarrassing as he went on to prove just how long, thanks to the kadoban system, a career could be stretched.

Kisenosato is certainly not in that situation, not being a doctor I cannot say with certainty but he appears healthy as the proverbial horse. He'd does appear to be lacking in self confidence and perhaps the promotion to Yokozuna would be the cure for that. Best case scenario is he would become the great Yokozuna those of us who have believed in him all these years always felt he could be; worst case he would fail, be forced to retire and we would have lost a truly great Ozeki. Either way only the Hatsu basho and the NSK will tell.