With the Kyushu basho just around the corner, it’s time to check in with the latest soon-to-be-obsolete-somewhat-abridged edition of the Tachiai Heya Power Rankings. If you’re a keen follower of this series, apologies for the tardiness: I had some trouble in the calculations until I worked out that (like many others it sometimes seems!) I had failed to adequately credit Goeido with the points he deserved for his Jun-Yusho in the previous tournament!
I debated how to handle the current iteration of these rankings, as it is the last edition of the rankings to feature the now-defunct Takanohana-beya. As the Kyushu honbasho will be the first grand sumo tournament where Takakeisho, Takanoiwa and Takagenji compete under the Chiganoura flag, I decided to keep Takanohana on the charts for one last run. This means that the end-year ranks that we will publish following the basho will – depending on performance – provide a boost to a stable which had previously only counted Takanosho as a recent sekitori.
And with that preamble out of the way, let’s crack on with the list:
… and here’s that chart organised into Top 20 format:
- (+7) Miyagino. 104 points (+64)
- (+1) Sakaigawa. 85 points (+27)
- (-1) Tagonoura. 80 points (+15)
- (+1) Kasugano. 56 points (+11)
- (+5) Izutsu. 45 points (+10)
- (+-) Oitekaze. 43 points (-1)
- (+-) Kokonoe. 41 points (-1)
- (+1) Takanohana. 35 points (-2)
- (**) Kise. 28 points (+19)
- (-9) Dewanoumi. 25 points (-70)
- (+1) Minato. 25 points (even)
- (+4) Hakkaku. 23 points (+3)
- (+1) Takadagawa. 22 points (+2)
- (-1) Isenoumi. 20 points (-3)
- (-4) Tomozuna. 17 points (-11)
- (+3) Oguruma. 17 points (+1)
- (-13) Tokitsukaze. 15 points (-43)
- (-3) Kataonami. 15 points (-5)
- (**) Sadogatake. 15 points (even)
- (-2) Isegahama. 14 points (-4)
(legend: ** = new entry, +- = no movement, tiebreaker 1: higher position in the previous chart, tiebreaker 2: highest ranked rikishi on the banzuke)
Analysis
First of all, there were very few wild moves on this edition of the chart. This is because no sansho (special prizes) were awarded, which generally give non-yusho winning rikishi (and subsequently their stables) a big boost up our chart. So in the absence of that, and due to the fact that finally all of the Ozeki and Yokozuna participated fully last time out, all of the “big” stables made modest gains.
Miyagino replaces Dewanoumi at the top owing to Hakuho’s return to dominance, and Mitakeumi scratching across a kachi-koshi instead of turning in the kind of performance that would have sealed an Ozeki promotion and granted him some additional prizes along the way. Sakaigawa mounts their best ever tally on these charts owing to resurgent Goeido’s Jun-Yusho.
Further down the ranking, Takanohana-beya will make its last ever placing on this chart at #8 with a solid effort from its sekitori, before certainly being replaced on the listing by non-charting Chiganoura-beya next time out. That stable should immediately find itself firmly in or around the top 10 should Takakeisho, Takanoiwa and Takanosho continue their good form. Kise-beya, meanwhile, joins the top 10 this time out off the back of Tokushoryu’s unlikely Juryo-yusho, but will need to show more consistency and better performances from their myriad of sekitori at Kyushu, as the last couple of basho have otherwise been disappointing for comeback star Ura’s stable.
The bottom of the chart is much of a muchness, the only other two notable positions being Tokitsukaze’s precipitous fall owing to Yutakayama’s previous Jun-Yusho turning into a 3 win thrashing in the Joi-Jin. The stable might see a little bit of a bounce next time, should Yutakayama return to form at a lower rank and returning vet Toyonoshima give some youngin’s the business down in Juryo. And at the very bottom, somehow clinging on to the ranks, is former powerhouse stable Isegahama.
Next time out, Oguruma‘s Tomokaze may well add to that stable’s total, as he makes his professional bow next week in Fukuoka and I have hotly tipped him for a kachi-koshi. And there will certainly be change at the top: Hakuho’s kyujo announcement earlier today means that some other stable will claim the Tachiai crown next time out. Who will it be?
As usual, I’ve been waiting for this, though it pains me to see the death throes of Isegahama beya.
Enho declared that now that he made Juryo #10, he is going for the Juryo yusho, no less. If he does that, I suppose Miyagino beya won’t evaporate completely next time. But well, if Enho takes the Juryo yusho, I’ll probably be too fascinated with the porcine aerial maneuvers to care.
The thing is, Isegahama and Sadogatake are weaker here than Izutsu even though they’ve got a ton of recruits while Izutsu is Kakuryu. I imagine it will be challenging for Chiganoura to all of a sudden have to take care of several sekitori.
This is true – although when Kakuryu is kyujo as he will be next time out, Izutsu’s score takes a dive. It’s kind of what you see with a stable like Minato (Ichinojo) or Kataonami (Tamawashi) – they live and die with the one sekitori they have. But Miyagino likely won’t fall lower than 8th at a minimum next time if Ishiura and Enho grab KK, whereas Izutsu may well go lower. I know the methodology heavily weights towards anyone with a higher rank, but when you look at the prominence and responsibility of those rikishi I think it’s OK. Adding the points deduction for kyujo helped to balance this, especially since yokozuna get hit with the -10 (full kyujo) more than anyone else – most other rikishi just get a part kyujo -5.
A stable like a Kokonoe, Kise or Oitekaze could easily overtake them in these circumstances, but none of the sekitori they have are ever able to put together runs of consistency at all. A couple tournaments ago we saw Kise with 7 guys in Juryo… and I don’t think any of them even had a winning record!
I have thought about widening this to include the lower divisions, not just the professional ones, but the issue I have with that is that you’re awarding fractions of a point at that stage for nothing. Maybe factoring in a couple points for lower division yusho/playoff appearances might be wise in future.
Another note here that I think is important especially re: sekitori and a stable like Isegahama – they have a bunch of recruits, but one of the things that Herouth’s jungyo reports have made abundantly clear is that even the guy at Juryo 14 West is sooooo much more prominent in the sport before/during/after/inbetween basho/on tour/on social media/in coverage than the guy at Makushita 1 East. So it doesn’t feel like Isegahama having a bunch of guys on hand to dry out Takarafuji’s mawashi moves the needle when you think about who’s showing up.
Actually, Chiganoura seems to be getting on like a house on fire. Takanosho is absolutely thrilled about being able to train with sekitori every day (until now he had to go on degeiko and you can’t do that every day). How the oyakata will handle the characters of some of his new deshi is a different question. I have a suspicion that Takanoiwa actually pulled his law suit not just because of the pressure on his family, but also because his new oyakata told him to get that out of his back yard by the end of the month. If there is anything stablemasters hate, it’s being questioned by the press about something they knew nothing about, and stablemasters can make their deshi’s lives uncomfortable in return. Chiganoura has a reputation as a smiling Oni. I wouldn’t worry too much about him.
Yago needs to apply counter measures here so he takes the Juryo yusho and gains makkuchi debut for new year!
I agree that it would be nice to see him finish his Juryo tenure with a flourish…. but just the 8 will of course do! I wouldn’t sleep on someone like a Daishoho who has been very quietly putting together a nice run, or one of the newish wave. It’s been mostly vets winning the Juryo title recently.
agree with you there Josh, 8-9 will do for Yago from me! and u absolutely correct re Daishoho, very stealthily and quietly moving up the ranks. smart play.
Well our favourite dragonfly has a chance to prove the banzuke committee wrong as he squares off againt Chiyomaru on Sunday. The man with the big chin versus the man whose chin disappeared into his neck.
Fly my little dragonfly, fly!
Oguruma and Tomozuna beya’s ganbarre!!!!!