Since questions about Juryo come up a fair bit, I though I’d post my projections for the Kyushu banzuke. The methodology is the same as for Makuuchi, but these have received a lot less curation by hand, and I know less about precedents that go into making the Juryo rankings—in particular, how promotions from Makushita are treated. Makuuchi demotions in red; Makushita promotions in green.
Wow, my favorite all-time small man, Ishiura, drops to six? He’ll have to have one helluva great tournament in November to get back up where we want him.
Going 4-11 at the last rung on the Makuuchi ladder will do that (he could be as high as 4, I guess). He’ll probably need to flip that record around to come back up, like Yutakayama did a year or so ago (4-11 followed by 11-4).
Guys like that are interesting but I wonder how much staying power he and Enho will have in Makuuchi. Will they be like Satoyama? Takanoyama? Few will have the staying power of Mainoumi, and even he was solid mid-rank Maegashira.
Frankly, it’s amazing that they can get up there at all, given the size disadvantage.
Is Enho being touted ”the next Ishiura”? Whatever that means.
Enho is more than 2 inches shorter than Ishiura and weighs 45 lbs less. He could literally limbo under Abi.
Watching his bouts surely is entertaining and I tend to root for the smaller guys anyway, but for Enho going up against opponents that are almost twice his size all the time must be grueling. I don’t see him competing at a competitive level in the makuuchi. To me it looks like the trend is rather going in the direction of even bigger and more powerful rikishi.
It’s sad because his talent is exceptional and if there were weight classes I’m sure he would dominate his.
Almost exactly the same measurements as Mainoumi, though. With talent and determination, he may well make it to Makuuchi – but sanyaku would be a tall order.
Pun intended? 😉
Yutakayama was on his way up career-wise when he got those 11 wins. I’m not sure Ishiura’s sumo career is trending upward.
And people wonder why Kyokutaisei bothered coming back last basho when he was clearly injured. Because if he sat out the rest, he ends up there – deep in Juryo and at least two bashos away from making it back (if ever).
Also, it’s really sad to see Gagamaru demoted. I wonder if he’s going to continue. 31 doesn’t sound that old, but he’s been a sekitori for nearly a decade, which probably takes a massive toll on a body that size.
Well, he never had much else but his size going for him. Ever since he got that kinboshi vs Harumafuji in may 2015 his career went downhill. He only managed 7 kachikoshi in 21 tournaments. He is too weak on the belt for a guy of his size. Maybe he will make it up to Juryo again simply with his size, but I don’t think he will still be a sekitori by the end of next year. He just never developed his sumo further and at 31 he is probably not going to learn new tricks.