Soon after each basho, the NSK holds the banzuke meeting. Although the full banzuke will be published only days before the next basho, the names of promotees to Juryo are announced immediately. This is done in order to allow new promotees and their heya to get ready with the necessary equipment for a sekitori: A silk mawashi (also known as a shime-komi), with stiffened sagari, a kesho-mawashi and an akeni (luggage box), as well as a tsuke-bito (manservant), a private room, and so on.
The list of juryo promotees includes Tachiai favorite Enho.
Enho has achieved sekitori status within the minimum required six basho (mae-zumo, followed by one each in Jonokuchi, Jonidan, Sandanme, then two in Makushita), and is only the fourth rikishi in modern history to do so.
“I couldn’t believe it”, said the shin-Juryo. “A result of 4-3 at Makushita #6 is not usually enough for promotion, though I had a tiny hope and my heart was throbbing. Today as I came out of the bath I was told I made it. ”
Enho has been appearing in zanbara, untied hair, throughout his career and has only achieved a young chon-mage for Miyagino’s senshuraku party. Now he will need more time yet to grow his hair for an appropriate oicho-mage.
Another new promotee to Juryo is the “elder” Taka Twin, Takayoshitoshi:
His advance to sekitori status marks the first time in history in which there is a pair of active sekitori who are twins.
Hint: to tell Takayoshitoshi from Takagenji, look for the mole on Takayoshitoshi’s right lip. If they smile an open smile, Takagenji will display a gap in his front teeth.
The other promotees to Juryo are all former sekitori. They include Yago (Oguruma beya), Terutsuyoshi my main man (Isegahama beya), Shimanoumi (Kise beya), Tobizaru the flying monkey (Oitekaze beya), and Akiseyama (Kise beya).
There has not been such a large group of Juryo promotees (7 in total this time) since the great purges of 2011 when nine rikishi were promoted to Juryo.
No promotion for the 7-0 makushita winner Wakatakakage. I believe that you can only get promoted if you start from Ma15 or better but I thought they might have made an exception in this case.
I saw at least one newspaper which thought the same. But apparently the banzuke committee doesn’t like creating precedents.
It’s probably for the best in the long run. If the polysyllabic one is good enough to be promoted he should prove it again in March. Premature promotion seldom does a wrestler much good… as Enho might be about to find out. I hope they give Gagamaru lunch before he fights Enho or else we might never see the little guy again.
The question is whether he’ll be able to see the little guy. Enho will likely disappear under his strata of… body tissue… looking for his famous mae-mitsu.
My worry is not that Enho won’t be able to win some bouts – he’s unconventional, skilled and strong enough to cook up some trouble – but it revolves around his health. Little guys who live off of throwing much bigger men end up with all sorts of shoulder/leg maladies. The men who will land on top of him as he flies off the dohyo will be much bigger now. It’s possible that Enho would have been better off taking his time to pack some weight before becoming a sekitori, but then who would choose unpaid labor over being fairly compensated, right?
The problem is that gaining weight is not going to solve that problem. If you’re hot by a flying elephant, you’ll be just as crushed if you are 90 as you would be if you’re 120kg. And since he flies of the dohyo whether he wins or loses, there is not much he can do about it.
The positive aspect of gaining weight/strength is that you may be able to win a few bouts in more conventional manners. Flying off the dohyo 5 times in 15 days would be preferable to flying off the dohyo 10 times in 15 days. He’ll never be a yorikiri machine, but it’s a numbers game.
Wow, quite the promotion wave into Juryo – keep in mind folks that means the same number out or down. Makes one wonder about the Makuuchi <-> Juryo swaps, too.
I am delighted to see Tobizaru back in Juryo. Much like Abi, I think he is one to watch, more so than Enho, who may (as Tigerboy points out) be over-promoted at this point.
Tooting my own horn here, but my prediction was spot-on. So I believe I also have the names of the dropouts correctly. Basically, the wave is due to Ura and Toyohibiki’s injury-related kyujo, and Osunaarashi’s scandal-related kyujo.
I suppose Enho will inherit Yamaguchi’s room and tsukebito. People on Twitter are all like “All of Hakuho’s uchi-deshi are sekitori!”, but they have forgotten Newton’s third law of (sumo pro)motion.
The bottom of Juryo was a garbage fire, with four terrible performances in addition to the four kyujo. Shouldn’t have anything to do with Makuuchi Juryo.
sumo.or.jp lists Enho at 169 cm and 94 kg. I hope he can avoid injury and continue to grow stronger. He’s old enough that further height would be surprising.
Wrestling giants is dangerous work. Wishing Enho good fortune.
Would this make him the lightest Rakishi to reach Sekitori? (at least in modern times) Takanoyama Shuntarō was around 216-220 when he made his Juryo debut, so Enho here is lighter at 207, also at 5’6″ probably one of the shortest Sekitori too…
Frankly, I don’t trust the sumo DB when it comes to weights. Take a look at how much they have for Terunofuji.
Although Mainoumi was frequently listed at 171 cm and 101 kg, it was fairly obvious that neither of those numbers reflected the truth. He even inserted a silicon implant on his head to “get taller” back when the height requirement to enter the sumo association was different. Enho and Mainoumi are pretty much the same size.
It’s possible to make Juryo in one less basho from Mae-zumo than anyone has so far. Jokoryu was one win away from doing it. Enho could have gone 7-0 in Kyushu and been promoted. There’s no room for error, but a 7-0 your first four tournaments is just barely good enough in theory.
How? The “standard” 21-0 never lands you above Makushita 16. And they don’t promote anybody below Makushita 15 to Juryo.
Of course it does, nowadays.
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query.aspx?show_form=0&columns=4&n_basho=3&form1_wins=7&form1_year=196007-now&form1_jk=on&form2_wins=7&form3_wins=7