Seki-Toto/Quad/Oracle banzuke for Hatsu 2026

[Asashosakari]

(The scoring adjustments necessitated by the malfunctioning Exidrono automation have been taken into account for these rankings.)

Seki-Toto (play):

For the first time since Haru 2023, no player managed to earn 12 wins, so the Kyushu title came down to a trio of 11-4 entrants with TochiYESshin coming out on top against runners-up Flohru and Hogashi.

The overall scores were superficially sensible with the top division averaging "only" 7.75 wins with 23 KK and 17 MK, but the banzuke-making still ran into major troubles in the joi. Only a single lower sanyaku player finished makekoshi (and just 7-8 at that)...that spot went to the yusho winner who was ranked M5w for Kyushu, but there were more promotable records than that and further KK scores that overcrowded the high maegashira ranks. The most fair (but also rather ugly) solution turned out to be to hand out small demotions to a trio of 8-7's and a kosho player...sekiwake duo Joaoiyama and DeRosa thus find themselves dropped to komusubi (although Joaoiyama is actually the 10th-ranked player on both the old and the new banzuke...), while Kotononami and Athenayama took one-rank demotions as maegashira. Sorry about that, but I think you'll see that the players who did better than 8-7 were also treated quite harshly.

Starting individually at the top, the new East yokozuna is Norizo courtesy of 10 wins, but he had entered the basho in danger of intai and that's still the case for Hatsu basho as the four tournaments from Haru to Aki 2025 had been so bad (details in last basho's update) that he's in need of at least 8 wins this month. Pandaazuma goes to Y1w despite a credible 9-6 score in Kyushu. Shout-out to his entire 2025 campaign which saw him scoring 9+ wins in all six tournaments, with a strong 62 wins in total for the year. (On a side note: Three other players also achieved kachikoshi in all six basho, these being ozeki Susanoo with 55 wins, Warusaru with 56 and Hisui with 55. Warusaru should be in sanyaku on this new banzuke but sadly isn't, while Hisui had only started to play last January and isn't quite there yet.)

Thirdly, shin-yokozuna Kachikoshi unfortunately had a rough debut at the highest rank and finished 7-8. Things looked fine through ten days with a 7-3 interim record, but then the wheels fell off. I'm sure Hatsu basho will see a return to form and something more similar to the six straight 10+ wins results that had gotten him the tsuna in the first place.

We had four ozeki back in September before Joaoiyama got demoted in that tournament. His Kyushu follow-up unfortunately only amounted to 8 wins, so his demotion has become permanent. Two previous drops had seen him bounce back with 11-4's both times, but no such good fortune this time around. We don't have three ozeki for Hatsu though, either, as another one has had to take the ride down to sekiwake after Kyushu: Andoreasu had only achieved 8-7's in July and September, putting him at risk of demotion under the rules revised two years ago, and sadly a 7-8 in Kyushu has completed two full demerit points to trigger his demotion.

Yet another ozeki just barely avoided the same fate for now but might follow soon: Susanoo is in fact at three consecutive 8-7's, so he's now so deep in demerit land that even another 8-7 won't be enough to secure his position for March. In other words: Andoreasu needs 10 wins to regain the ozeki rank, and Susanoo needs 9 to keep it. Thus, the only ozeki in good standing for Hatsu is Ganzohnesushi after a convincing 10-win score.

Due to the shenanigans that have seen 8-7 treated as demotable we actually only have two sekiwake now (down from four) as both komusubi scored 9 wins and I couldn't possibly hand out a promotion to sekiwake on that. It's demoted Andoreasu on the West side with Kajiyanosho as the only sekiwake holdover on the East. The latter isn't much of a promotion contender for Hatsu as he has shown great consistency (four consecutive 10-5's and now a 9-6) but without overly impressive win totals. Perhaps a yusho could sway opinions in a favourable direction, anything less probably doesn't make enough of a difference.

If you're scoring along at home you already know that there must be five komusubi - the two incumbents ScreechingOwlet and Oskahanada, demoted ex-sekiwake Joaoiyama and DeRosa, plus yusho winner TochiYESshin - for the usual maximum allowable 12 sanyaku slots. Sorry to everyone who didn't make the cut.

After M8e it almost looks like a normal banzuke, so starting from there everyone should be reasonably happy with their new positions.

Norizo (Y1w 10-5)           Y1   Pandaazuma (Y1e 9-6)
Kachikoshi (Y2e 7-8)        Y2   -
Ganzohnesushi (O1e 10-4-1)  O    Susanoo (O1w 8-7)
Kajiyanosho (S1w 9-6)       S    Andoreasu (O2w 7-8)
ScreechingOwlet (Ke 9-6)    K1   Oskahanada (Kw 9-6)
Joaoiyama (S2w 8-7)         K2   TochiYESshin (M5w 11-4 Y)
-                           K3   DeRosa (S2e kosho)

Chishafuwaku (M2w 9-6)      M1   Panic!attheDohyo (S1e 7-8)
Warusaru (M3w 9-5-1)        M2   Kotononami (M1w 8-7)
Athenayama (M2e 8-7)        M3   Gaanaag (M6w 10-5)
Flohru (M8w 11-4 D)         M4   Balon (M4w 8-7)
Kobashi (M1e 7-8)           M5   Hisui (M8e 9-5-1)
Chelseayama (M11w 10-5)     M6   Chijanofuji (M7w 8-7)
Effinojo (M12e 10-5)        M7   GONZABUROW (M4e 7-7-1)
Konosato (M3e 6-9)          M8   Metzinowaka (M6e 6-9)
Terarno (M5e 5-10)          M9   Beeftank (M9w kosho)
Kitakachiyama (M13w 8-7)    M10  Papayasu (M14e 8-7)
Onakaderu (M14w 8-7)        M11  Asashosakari (M10w 7-8)
Rowitoro (M11e 7-7-1)       M12  Mariohana (M7e 5-10)
Andonishiki (M10e 6-8-1)    M13  Kintamayama (J2w 9-6)
Unkonoyama (M9e 5-10)       M14  Frinkanohana (J6e 10-5)
Toonoryu (J4w 9-6)          M15  Andrasoyama (M12w 6-9)

Hakumadashi (J8e 10-5)      J1   Benihana (J6w 9-5-1)
Jakusotsu (M13e 5-10)       J2   Anjoboshi (J7w 9-5-1)
Kaiowaka (J1w 7-8)          J3   Holleshoryu (M15w 6-9)
Kaito (J2e 7-8)             J4   Hogashi (J14w 11-4 D)
WAKATAKE (J3w 7-7-1)        J5   BlackPinkMawashi (J3e 6-9)
Bill (M15e 4-11)            J6   Choshu-yuki (J5w 7-8)
Oortael (J1e 4-11)          J7   Fujisan (J4e 5-10)
Takanorappa (J7e 6-9)       J8   Gilgamesh (Ms3w 9-5-1)
Hitouki (Ms1e 8-5-2)        J9   Gusoyama (J10w 7-8)
Gustl (Ms4w 9-6)            J10  Bunbukuchagama (J9w 6-9)
Ketsukai (J11e kosho)       J11  Oyama (J12e 7-8)
Biloumaru (J10e 6-9)        J12  Profomisakari (J13e 7-8)
Kakushoyama (Ms5e 8-7)      J13  Akishiki (J13w kosho)
Gansekiiwa (J5e 3-2-10)     J14  Hakunojo (J11w 6-9)

Kishikaisei (Ms1w 7-8)      Ms1  Ippikiokami (Ms7e 8-7)
Fia (Ms10e 9-6)             Ms2  Gawasukotto (J14e 6-9)
Asapedroryu (Ms13w 10-5)    Ms3  Ulishimaru (J12w 5-10)
Hana-ichi (Ms4e 7-8)        Ms4  Hagetaka (Ms12e 9-5-1)
Katoomaru (Ms2w 6-9)        Ms5  Achiyama (Ms5w kosho)
Ekigozan (NR 9-6)           Ms6  Tetsuarashi (Ms8w 7-8)
Umigame (Ms6w 6-9)          Ms7  Multimikstar (Ms7w kosho)
Saruyama (J8w 0-0-15)       Ms8  Getayukata (J9e 0-0-15)
Joputosu (Ms8e 6-9)         Ms9  Jimizakura (Ms9w kosho)
Unagiyutaka2 (Ms2e 3-8-4)   Ms10 Tyerenex (Ms3e 3-8-4)
Ahokaina (Ms6e 4-11)        Ms11 Akagitsune (Ms11w kosho)
Chudorj (Ms11e 5-10)        Ms12 Backeido (Ms10w 2-6-7)
Dan Koloff (Ms13e kosho)    Ms13 Yokaotoko (Ms12w 0-0-15)

 

[Asashosakari]

Seki-Quadrumvirate (play):

Things weren't quite as bad in Kyushu (44% wins) as they had been in Aki (42%), but it was another rather below-average tournament for Quad. However, whereas Aki basho had a clear frontrunner who took the yusho with impressive 12 wins, this time around nobody went beyond 10...chishafuwaku took the yusho in a narrow tie-break decision over Ketsukai and Oskahanada. Furthermore, unlike Aki's all-around low scores this time there was a clear distinction between the makuuchi-ranked players who clocked in at 48% with nearly balanced 19 KK / 21 MK, and the lower-rankers who only managed to get to 40%, with just 6 KK and 38 MK. The result of that was something I've quite possibly never done before in my Quad or Toto banzuke-making. (Maaaybe once? I'm honestly not sure.)

(Meandering meta discussion follows...skip the next three paragraphs if you're not interested in "behind the banzuke" stuff.)

Some exposition: I consider scoring adjustments only as a last resort when the banzuke really doesn't work well without them. Sometimes they're just common sense, like two months ago when basically the whole field averaged more than one win below 7.5...it would be pointless to leave it like that. Sometimes they're forced because the best players (all of makuuchi or just the top ranks) have scored too well and there's just nobody to demote if their scores aren't reduced.

Beyond that, I try to stay away from adjusting. In particular, that means that I don't adjust lower-ranked players upwards just because they've scored badly. For one thing, the lowest-ranked players having the worst results is exactly what you'd expect to see if the rankings are reasonably meaningful. For another, the "best of the worst" are going up automatically anyway...if you're 7-8 down in the handful of makushita ranks, there's nobody better to stop you from getting a (small) promotion. But the biggest reason is my overall approach which specifically rewards players for having a kachikoshi: If you've paid any attention to my banzuke-making at all, you know that going 8-7 is much more valuable than going 7-8. Specifically, it's treated as a two-win difference rather than just one win. I do that intentionally to avoid the staleness that affects a number of other games' banzuke. (It has other benefits beyond that, but that's the main reason it exists.)

But it also means that adjusting players' results from 7-8 to 8-7 gives them an outsized benefit in my framework - which comes at the expense of other players, especially the "real" kachikoshi who end up with less room to promote them because some of it is taken up by the 7-8 -> 8-7 scores instead. I don't like that, and therefore I'm generally not doing it even when the average score in that lower part of the rankings has fallen significantly short of 7.5 wins. (Other banzuke makers don't have that issue...if you're treating the difference between 6 and 7 wins the same as the difference between 7 and 8, and the same as the difference between 8 and 9, adding or subtracting wins doesn't change the players' relative positioning.)

In any case, all of these words just to say: This time the situation below makuuchi was so dire that I decided to give everybody down there an extra win anyway. Even with the adjustment the KK / MK split is still only 13 / 31, and no 6-9 -> 7-8 players actually received a demotion. It's not going to become a regular thing.

The actual results of the basho, beyond the already-mentioned yusho decision: Two ozeki finished 8-7, which was good news for Ganzohnesushi who was soft kadoban and is entirely in the clear now, less good for Kobashi who was already hard kadoban and avoided demotion but hasn't improved his status going into Hatsu basho. (For those not inclined to review the rules, hard kadoban after two makekoshi can only be reversed with 9+ wins.) Norizo scored an unfortunate 5-8-2 record and has gone from soft to hard kadoban, so we enter the next basho with two ozeki in immediate danger of demotion.

Just one of three sekiwake achieved kachikoshi, and 9-6 Kitakachiyama was in fact the only player between ozeki and M4 to go better than eight wins. In adjusted terms his last five tournaments have been 10-5 / 8-7 / 8-7 / 10-5 / 9-6 (started from M7; only the last three scores were in sanyaku), which has come close to satisfying the standard for a promotion to ozeki, but it's not quite there yet. Great chance for Hatsu basho, though! He is joined at sekiwake on the new banzuke by two rather lucky komusubi who have gone up with simple 8-7's...that's below my usual "promote on 9 wins" line, but one slot had to be filled and it felt wrong to hold back the other player, so both Choshu-yuki and Kaito have got promoted. They're further away from ozeki than is Kitakachiyama, but not so far that it's impossible. May take a near yusho-quality result, though.

No holdovers at komusubi; as just mentioned two of them moved up, two others went down. A trio of newcomers thus feature at the fourth-highest rank, those being Joaoiyama who had 8 wins as the top maegashira, plus the two yusho runners-up Ketsukai and Oskahanada who were both ranked at M5 in Kyushu. The sanyaku ranks have shrunk from 10 to 9 slots.

Not much else to say. Business as usual throughout the maegashira ranks, then (after the adjustments) kind of business as usual in juryo and below.

As always the first banzuke display shows only the adjusted win-loss records, the one in spoilers also the original ones.

Ganzohnesushi (O1e 8-7)      O1   Kobashi (O2e 8-7)
Norizo (O1w 5-8-2)           O2   -
Kitakachiyama (S1w 9-6)      S1   Choshu-yuki (K1w 8-5-2)
-                            S2   Kaito (K2e 8-7)
Ketsukai (M5e 10-4-1 D)      K1   Oskahanada (M5w 10-5 D)
joaoiyama (M1e 8-7)          K2   -

reeeen (M2e 8-7)             M1   ScreechingOwlet (K1e 7-8)
Oortael (M2w 8-7)            M2   Flohru (S2w 6-9)
Joputosu (M4w 8-7)           M3   Athenayama (S1e 5-10)
Andrasoyama (M1w 7-8)        M4   Pandaazuma (K2w 6-9)
DeRosa (M7e 8-4-3)           M5   Kotononami (M10w 9-6)
Frinkanohana (M11e 9-6)      M6   Bill (M3e 6-8-1)
Unkonoyama (M3w 6-9)         M7   Andoreasu (M10e 8-6-1)
Susanoo (M4e 6-9)            M8   lonewolf (M13w 9-6)
Mariohana (M12e 8-7)         M9   chishafuwaku (J1e 11-4 Y)
Kachikoshi (M16e 9-5-1)      M10  Asashosakari (M8e 6-9)
Rowitoro (M14w 8-7)          M11  Hogashi (M8w 6-9)
Jakusotsu (M9w 6-9)          M12  Kishikaisei (M7w 5-10)
GONZABUROW (M6e 4-10-1)      M13  Balon (M6w 4-11)
Beeftank (M14e kosho)        M14  Warusaru (M13e 7-8)
KonyaGaYamada (J1w 9-6)      M15  Achiyama (M15w kosho)
Kajiyanosho (M15e 7-8)       M16  Kakushoyama (M12w 5-10)
TochiYESshin (M11w 4-11)     M17  -

BlackPinkMawashi (M16w 6-9)  J1   Kyodaitimu (M9e 2-5-8)
Kintamayama (J6w 9-6)        J2   Andonishiki (J3w 8-7)
Terarno (J4e 8-7)            J3   Doreikishi (J9e 9-6)
Kamibaka (J11w 9-6)          J4   Asapedroryu (J2w 6-9)
Bunbukuchagama (J3e 6-9)     J5   Metzinowaka (J5w 7-8)
Hisui (J2e 5-10)             J6   Chocshoporyu (J11e 8-7)
Kasamatsuri (J7e 7-8)        J7   Sukubidubidu (J7w 7-8)
Anjoboshi (Ms2e 9-6)         J8   Panic!attheDohyo (J8w 7-8)
Papayasu (J14e 8-7)          J9   Hakase (J4w 4-11)
Kaiowaka (J9w 6-9)           J10  Hironoumi (J6e 4-11)
Jejima (J12w 7-8)            J11  Oyama (J10w 6-9)
WAKATAKE (Ms3e 8-7)          J12  Fujisan (J13w 7-8)
Hagetaka (J12e 6-9)          J13  Terukaze (Ms5e 8-7)
Takanorappa (Ms5w 8-7)       J14  Furanohana (J14w 6-9)

Gansekiiwa (J8e 2-13)        Ms1  Akagitsune (Ms1w kosho)
Tetsukabe (Ms2w 6-9)         Ms2  Holleshoryu (Ms1e 5-10)
Kuroimori (J5e 0-0-15*)      Ms3  tetsuarashi (Ms4e 6-9)
Getayukata (J13e 3-12)       Ms4  Multimikstar (Ms4w kosho)
Hakumadashi (Ms7w 7-8)       Ms5  Umihiyama (Ms3w 5-10)
Hakunojo (Ms6e 6-9)          Ms6  ballerscuba (Ms8w 7-8)
Unagiyutaka (Ms7e 6-9)       Ms7  Tyerenex (Ms8e 6-9)
Saruyama (J10e 0-0-15)       Ms8  Gusoyama (Ms6w 5-10)
Fia (Ms9e 6-9)               Ms9  yamakuma (NR 6-9)
Jimizakura (Ms10e kosho)     Ms10 Profomisakari (Ms10w 5-10)
Backeido (NR 2-13)           Ms11 Ruziklao (Ms11e 0-0-15)

Spoiler

Ganzohnesushi (O1e 8-7)           O1   Kobashi (O2e 8-7)
Norizo (O1w 5-8-2)                O2   -
Kitakachiyama (S1w 9-6)           S1   Choshu-yuki (K1w 8-5-2)
-                                 S2   Kaito (K2e 8-7)
Ketsukai (M5e 10-4-1 D)           K1   Oskahanada (M5w 10-5 D)
joaoiyama (M1e 8-7)               K2   -

reeeen (M2e 8-7)                  M1   ScreechingOwlet (K1e 7-8)
Oortael (M2w 8-7)                 M2   Flohru (S2w 6-9)
Joputosu (M4w 8-7)                M3   Athenayama (S1e 5-10)
Andrasoyama (M1w 7-8)             M4   Pandaazuma (K2w 6-9)
DeRosa (M7e 8-4-3)                M5   Kotononami (M10w 9-6)
Frinkanohana (M11e 9-6)           M6   Bill (M3e 6-8-1)
Unkonoyama (M3w 6-9)              M7   Andoreasu (M10e 8-6-1)
Susanoo (M4e 6-9)                 M8   lonewolf (M13w 9-6)
Mariohana (M12e 8-7)              M9   chishafuwaku (J1e 10-5 Y -> 11-4)
Kachikoshi (M16e 9-5-1)           M10  Asashosakari (M8e 6-9)
Rowitoro (M14w 8-7)               M11  Hogashi (M8w 6-9)
Jakusotsu (M9w 6-9)               M12  Kishikaisei (M7w 5-10)
GONZABUROW (M6e 4-10-1)           M13  Balon (M6w 4-11)
Beeftank (M14e kosho)             M14  Warusaru (M13e 7-8)
KonyaGaYamada (J1w 8-5-2 -> 9-6)  M15  Achiyama (M15w kosho)
Kajiyanosho (M15e 7-8)            M16  Kakushoyama (M12w 5-10)
TochiYESshin (M11w 4-11)          M17  -

BlackPinkMawashi (M16w 6-9)       J1   Kyodaitimu (M9e 2-5-8)
Kintamayama (J6w 8-6-1 -> 9-6)    J2   Andonishiki (J3w 7-7-1 -> 8-7)
Terarno (J4e 7-8 -> 8-7)          J3   Doreikishi (J9e 8-7 -> 9-6)
Kamibaka (J11w 8-7 -> 9-6)        J4   Asapedroryu (J2w 5-10 -> 6-9)
Bunbukuchagama (J3e 5-10 -> 6-9)  J5   Metzinowaka (J5w 6-9 -> 7-8)
Hisui (J2e 4-11 -> 5-10)          J6   Chocshoporyu (J11e 7-6-2 -> 8-7)
Kasamatsuri (J7e 6-9 -> 7-8)      J7   Sukubidubidu (J7w 6-9 -> 7-8)
Anjoboshi (Ms2e 8-6-1 -> 9-6)     J8   Panic!attheDohyo (J8w 6-9 -> 7-8)
Papayasu (J14e 7-7-1 -> 8-7)      J9   Hakase (J4w 3-12 -> 4-11)
Kaiowaka (J9w 5-10 -> 6-9)        J10  Hironoumi (J6e 3-10-2 -> 4-11)
Jejima (J12w 6-9 -> 7-8)          J11  Oyama (J10w 5-10 -> 6-9)
WAKATAKE (Ms3e 7-8 -> 8-7)        J12  Fujisan (J13w 6-9 -> 7-8)
Hagetaka (J12e 5-10 -> 6-9)       J13  Terukaze (Ms5e 7-7-1 -> 8-7)
Takanorappa (Ms5w 7-7-1 -> 8-7)   J14  Furanohana (J14w 5-9-1 -> 6-9)

Gansekiiwa (J8e 1-4-10 -> 2-13)   Ms1  Akagitsune (Ms1w kosho)
Tetsukabe (Ms2w 5-10 -> 6-9)      Ms2  Holleshoryu (Ms1e 4-11 -> 5-10)
Kuroimori (J5e 0-0-15*)           Ms3  tetsuarashi (Ms4e 5-10 -> 6-9)
Getayukata (J13e 2-3-10 -> 3-12)  Ms4  Multimikstar (Ms4w kosho)
Hakumadashi (Ms7w 6-9 -> 7-8)     Ms5  Umihiyama (Ms3w 4-11 -> 5-10)
Hakunojo (Ms6e 5-10 -> 6-9)       Ms6  ballerscuba (Ms8w 6-7-2 -> 7-8)
Unagiyutaka (Ms7e 5-6-4 -> 6-9)   Ms7  Tyerenex (Ms8e 5-6-4 -> 6-9)
Saruyama (J10e 0-0-15)            Ms8  Gusoyama (Ms6w 4-11 -> 5-10)
Fia (Ms9e 5-10 -> 6-9)            Ms9  yamakuma (NR 5-9-1 -> 6-9)
Jimizakura (Ms10e kosho)          Ms10 Profomisakari (Ms10w 4-10-1 -> 5-10)
Backeido (NR 1-7-7 -> 2-13)       Ms11 Ruziklao (Ms11e 0-0-15)

 

Edited Friday at 06:35 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari]

And yet more S4 rules blather... These are the ozeki score adjustment rules as they have been in effect for almost 20 years:

Quote

Upward adjustments: Should the average winning percentage of all active players fall short of 43.3% (= 6.5 wins when extrapolated to 15 days), all players ranked as ozeki will have one win added to their scores. In the event of an average score below 36.7% (= 5.5 wins), the adjustment will be +2 wins. Absences do not count for the calculation of the winning percentage, only days actually played.

Downward adjustments: Should the average winning percentage of all active players OR of the subset of makuuchi players alone be above 56.7% (= 8.5 wins), all players ranked as ozeki will have one win subtracted from their scores. In the extremely unlikely case of an average score above 63.3% (= 9.5 wins), the adjustment will be -2 wins. Here, too, absences will not be considered.

These rules are obviously not symmetrical, and after so much time I'm honestly not 100% sure why I chose some of that specific wording. The intent of the downward rule is still pretty clear - it would look very odd if the scores are sky-high, everybody else in makuuchi has theirs reduced but the ozeki don't get a minus 1 as well just because some non-makuuchi players dragged down the average score, and likewise it would also be odd if ozeki didn't get adjusted even though the entire field has outscored them. I suspect the upward rule doesn't look at makuuchi separately because it's already very difficult for the ozeki to get that +1...we've had quite a few tournaments where the average result was something like 6.8, and the entire field got upgraded except for the ozeki players. They get other breaks (like needing 3 MK for demotion), so I'm okay with that.

However, the Kyushu results really tested the boundaries of plausibility here. The exact result averages were:

Makuuchi: 6.93 wins - 7.57 losses - 0.50 absences (277-303-20), 47.76% wins (= 7.16 wins per 15)
Juryo/Ms: 5.50 wins - 8.32 losses - 1.18 absences (242-366-52), 39.80% wins (= 5.97 wins per 15)
All players: 6.18 wins - 7.96 losses - 0.86 absences (519-669-72), 43.69% wins (= 6.55 wins per 15)

That came dangerously close to giving the three ozeki an extra win even though makuuchi as a whole was nowhere near an adjustment. It's very uncommon for Quad to have such a massive difference in performance - in fact it's usually the case that difficult (= low-scoring) tournaments favour the lower-ranked players because they make more unconventional picks and therefore avoid the biggest traps. As such this was arguably the most edgy of edge cases and it might never happen again this way, but I still don't want to risk seeing it go through for real; I think pretty much everyone will agree that it would have been most outrageous for the ozeki to benefit from the particularly terrible juryo-and-below results in Kyushu.

I still don't think that the rules need to be fully symmetrical (which would mean that ozeki only get +1 if the averages are below 6.5 for all players and for makuuchi alone); that would make it even harder for ozeki in a low scoring environment, and as I said it's already pretty hard as it is. It just needs a safety net of sorts to prevent completely undeserving bonus wins, and I don't want to have to do it on discretionary powers alone. As such, barring vocal disagreement I'm going to rephrase things the following way, effective with Hatsu 2026:

Quote

Upward adjustments: Should the average winning percentage of all active players fall short of 43.3% (= 6.5 wins when extrapolated to 15 days) AND that of the subset of makuuchi players alone fall short of 46.7% (= 7.0 wins), all players ranked as ozeki will have one win added to their scores. In the event of an average score below 36.7% (= 5.5 wins) / 40.0% (= 6.0 wins), the adjustment will be +2 wins. Absences do not count for the calculation of the winning percentage, only days actually played.

If makuuchi is below 7.0, chances are very high that the entire division needs to be adjusted anyway (or at least that it's plausible to do so), so the ozeki wouldn't stick out by getting a +1, too.

Edited Thursday at 14:48 by Asashosakari

[Asashosakari]

Seki-Oracle (play):

Oracle's Kyushu edition ended with the top four players each one point apart of one other, a close but decisive outcome. Flohru was the champion, followed by Papayasu in the jun-yusho position, and Kirinoumi and Beeftank taking third and fourth place, respectively.

Last basho's update opened with...

On 16/11/2025 at 06:14, Asashosakari said:

The top ranks of this game have been hemorrhaging players over the last couple of years

...and sure enough, Kyushu knocked off yet another one. Ozeki chishafuwaku fell short of kachikoshi by a single point for the second straight tournament, for the most hard-luck demotion imaginable. And we might just be without any Y/O altogether soon as freshly promoted DeRosa opened up his new stint at the second-highest rank with a makekoshi as well, making himself kadoban for Hatsu.

I'm not a big fan of "emergency" promotions, but two potential candidates did give me something to think about:

Andoreasu

2025.05 S2w  9-6    10th place
2025.07 S1w 14-1 Y   1st place
2025.09 S1e  8-7    18th-21st place
2025.11 S2w  9-6     6th-7th place

Flohru

2025.03 M4e  9-6     7th place
2025.05 M2e  9-6    11th place
2025.07 K1w 12-3     7th-9th place
2025.09 S2w  8-7    16th-17th place
2025.11 S3e 12-3 Y   1st place

31/32 wins are very borderline as far as Oracle ozeki promotions go, and both players' runs were really hurt in my (more important) "combined finishing position" metric by those Aki basho 8-7's...usually I'm looking for the three results to total no higher than 20 places, and both runs are well beyond that with 25+. The scores prior to the last three basho were also merely adequate and don't add much oomph to the strength of their runs. Consequently I had to give a thumbs down to both cases, but they're both very much still in the running to get promoted with a strong Hatsu showing.

Flohru is (quite obviously) the top-ranked sekiwake for Hatsu, while Andoreasu has only taken the S2e spot. In between there's the Kyushu fourth-place finisher who also has had "close but no cigar" results as far as a possible promotion to ozeki is concerned:

Beeftank

2025.03 M1e 10-5     3rd-6th place
2025.05 K2e 11-4     4th-6th place
2025.07 S1e  7-8
2025.09 K2e  9-6    12th-13th place
2025.11 K1e 11-4     4th place

That one is clearly a much easier "nope" due to the makekoshi, but that's still a very rough run to have and not get anything out of it (yet).

The sekiwake ranks are rounded out by Norizo who likely needs a yusho to receive any promotion consideration (Aki was good, but Kyushu barely KK), and demoted chishafuwaku who can get back immediately with a sufficiently strong result. Best of luck to all five players, I'd really love to be able to promote at least one of you next time.

The komusubi ranks are even more crowded with no less than six players having had Kyushu results that qualified them for it and the Y/O shortage making it possible to accommodate all of them without exceeding the 12-sanyaku limit. One to watch here is Kirinoumi who has posted back-to-back top 3 finishes. He was only ranked M16e and M5e for those, but yet another result like that could even see him skip straight past sekiwake.

All in all this banzuke worked out without any issues. After last basho's ugly low makuuchi crunch there were exactly four demotable maegashira and four promotable juryo players this time around, making the swaps easy.

DeRosa (Ow 6-9)             O    -
Flohru (S3e 12-3 Y)         S1   Beeftank (K1e 11-4)
Andoreasu (S2w 9-6)         S2   Norizo (S1w 8-7)
-                           S3   chishafuwaku (Oe 7-8)
Pandaazuma (K2e 8-7)        K1   Kirinoumi (M5e 11-4)
Torafujii (M1w 9-6)         K2   Choshu-yuki (S1e 7-8)
Bunbukuchagama (M2w 9-6)    K3   joaoiyama (M3w 9-6)

Hisui (K2w 7-8)             M1   Gansekiiwa (S2e 5-10)
BlackPinkMawashi (M9w 10-5) M2   Pitinosato (M7e 9-6)
Papayasu (M13w 11-4)        M3   Kakushoyama (K3w 6-9)
Yarimotsu (M3e kosho)       M4   Ganzohnesushi (M2e 7-8)
ScreechingOwlet (M1e 6-9)   M5   Mariohana (M6w 8-7)
Kishikaisei (M4e 7-8)       M6   Balon (M4w 7-8)
Shatsume (M5w 7-8)          M7   Wamahada (K1w 3-12)
Kitakachiyama (M9e 8-7)     M8   Oskahanada (M11w 8-7)
Asashosakari (M7w 7-8)      M9   Warusaru (M14e 9-6)
Frinkanohana (M8e 7-8)      M10  Asapedroryu (M6e 6-9)
TochiYESshin (M15w 9-6)     M11  Susanoo (M13e 8-7)
Hakumadashi (J2w 11-4)      M12  Andrasoyama (M14w 8-7)
GONZABUROW (M11e 7-8)       M13  Kachikoshi (J3w 11-4)
Oortael (M10w 6-9)          M14  Metzinowaka (M12e 6-9)
Kaito (J5e 10-5)            M15  Athenayama (J1w 8-7)

Unkonoyama (J4e 9-6)        J1   Bill (M10e 4-11)
Asashoyu (J10w 11-4)        J2   Kobashi (M8w 3-12)
Oshirokita (J3e kosho)      J3   Panic!attheDohyo (M15e 5-10)
Tyerenex (M12w 4-11)        J4   Rikioi (J8w 9-6)
Kotononami (J1e 6-9)        J5   ballerscuba (J8e 8-7)
Holleshoryu (J2e 6-9)       J6   lonewolf (J11e 9-6)
Fia (J12e 9-6)              J7   Kaiowaka (J4w 6-9)
Joputosu (J7e 7-8)          J8   tetsuarashi (Ms1w 10-5)
Takanorappa (J13w 9-6)      J9   Kasamatsuri (J11w 8-7)
Hakase (J5w 6-9)            J10  Terukaze (J10e kosho)
Sukubidubidu (J6e 5-10)     J11  Fujisan (J7w 5-10)
Backeido (NR 10-5)          J12  Hagetaka (J14w 7-8)
Anjoboshi (J13e kosho)      J13  Multimikstar (J9e 3-12)
Profomisakari (J14e 4-11)   J14  reeeen (Ms4w 6-9)

Ruziklao (J6w 0-0-15)       Ms1  Doreikishi (Ms1e 3-12)
Gusoyama (J9w 0-15)         Ms2  Terarno (Ms3w 3-12)
Andonishiki (Ms4e 3-12)     Ms3  Saruyama (J12w 0-0-15)
Hakunojo (Ms2e 0-0-15)      Ms4  glacier (Ms2w 0-0-15)
Umihiyama (Ms5e kosho)      Ms5  WAKATAKE (Ms5w kosho)
Aisukurimu (Ms3e 0-0-15)    Ms6  -

[Randomitsuki]

I just wanted to take a look at the Toto banzuke on https://sekitoto.sumogames.de/Banzuke.aspx. Any idea what happened there? Many ranks and players are missing.

 

[Asashosakari]

1 hour ago, Randomitsuki said:

I just wanted to take a look at the Toto banzuke on https://sekitoto.sumogames.de/Banzuke.aspx. Any idea what happened there? Many ranks and players are missing.

 

FWIW, I reported that back when the banzuke display was added ahead of Aki basho, and it's apparently related to players not having signed up for the new basho yet. I'm not entirely sure why it works differently from the other games and if/when it's going to be fixed.