We already covered the specific challenge for Mitakeumi, and his bid to become the first tadpole to reach Ozeki. There remains the question of the two younger tadpoles: Takakeisho and Onosho. Takakeisho returns to the san’yaku as Komusubi West, while Onosho is just outside of the joi-jin at Maegashira 6.

At only 22 years old, Takakeisho is still on the upward march of his sumo career. His first visit to Komusubi resulted in a 5-10 drubbing that included some important matches. His day one match against Kisenosato was a clear signal of the Yokozuna’s level of damage. It is quite likely we may see a rematch between these two for day 1 of Aki. In the following tournament (March, Osaka 2018) he withdrew from competition with an injury, after started 3-8. Since then he has delivered back to back 10-5 records, and is clearly set to challenge sumo’s top men once more.

While the same age, Onosho started professional sumo 18 months earlier. He spent a good deal of time in Juryo, and at one point dropped back down to Makushita. From there he was driven to higher performance, and landed at Komusubi for Kyushu in 2017, and managed a kachi-koshi after a disastrous 1-6 start. The following tournament in January featured his withdraw from completion on day 10, and remaining out of competition for March as well to heal. His re-entry in May saw him take the Juryo yusho as a pit-stop back to the top division. His 10-5 record in the sweltering heat of Nagoya was only enough to boost him from Maegashira 11 to 6, but frankly for Aki this is a very good rank for him. In the middle of the Maegashira crew, he can and will do a lot of damage to the likes of Asanoyama, Kagayaki, Chiyonokuni and Abi.

Clearly both men are rising stars of the sumo world, and are solid contenders for residency in the san’yaku starting some time in 2019 or 2020. Both of them are very round, very strong and seem to be overwhelmingly driven to train and win. In comparison to some long-serving Makuuchi vets, their youth and energy will likely prove overwhelming. Against their peers (Abi, Kagayaki) their compact body shape and brutal oshi-zumo may seem tough to beat.

The challenge for Takakeisho will be to see him fare better against the Yokozuna and Ozeki corps. The challenge for Onosho will be to see him overwhelm the other rising stars of the Makuuchi. I consider the anticipated Onosho – Yutakayama bout sometime in week 2 as a touchstone of the battles of 2019. Likewise I think the Takakeisho – Hakuho rematch, and the Takakeisho – Kisenosato rematch will be a litmus test of the old guard against the young stars.

We wish both men good health and overall an injury-free Aki basho. We are especially hopeful that we will see Takakeisho make broader use of his “Wave Action Tsuppari” technique, and that Onosho will return his blazing red mawashi to active use.