Join team Tachiai as we cover the final day of the Natsu Basho live. VIP appearances by heads of state, crazy Maegashira yusho winners, and your favorite sumo bloggers up all night. What could go wrong?
We do expect the President to show up at some point close to the and with the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. The other open question is. will the Emperor attend as well?
Our operatives inside the Kokugikan and stationed in front of their computers around the world will be here to cover all of the action up to the last trophy.
Reminder to readers – we want to keep comments open and running, but if things get too rowdy and political, you may find that they are locked.
Many of the storylines we’ve been following were resolved by the outcomes of today’s bouts, but for a number of rikishi, plenty is at stake on the final day. First off, congratulations to Asanoyama on a well-deserved victory! He becomes only the 19th maegashira to claim the yusho in the six-basho era, and the lowest-ranked winner in 19 years. Although he did not fight a full slate of San’yaku rikishi, Asanoyama’s fight card was by no means light and includes victories over many of the top performers of this tournament, punctuated by the clinching win against the strongest Ozeki, Goeido. Tachiai hopes that this is only the first of many big fish we see him lift.
Yesterday’s debacle prevented us from seeing the yusho come down to exciting final-day bouts, and I’m sad not to see Tochinoshin (or for that matter, Tamawashi, who improved to 10-4 under the radar) get a shot at his second top-division championship (I’m sure fans of Kakuryu feel the same way). But Tochinoshin did get his crucial 10th victory and will once again be Ozeki in Nagoya, and it’s hard to argue that any of the three jun-yusho leaders have been in championship form recently.
San’yaku Scenarios
Today’s matches really clarified the San’yaku picture for Nagoya. Tochinoshin’s victory guarantees that he will vacate his Sekiwake West slot via promotion. Ichinojo’s demotion to the rank-and-file got even more certain with his 10th loss/absence, which removed any chance of him only dropping to Komusubi. And Mitakeumi locked down his modern-record 15th consecutive tournament in lower San’yaku when he picked up his 8th win. That’s one slot claimed, and two guaranteed to open. The remaining questions revolve around the occupants of those slots, their order, and the final Komusubi slot.
These questions should be resolved tomorrow by the outcomes of three key bouts matching up all six rikishi still in the conversation: M4 Abi (9-5) vs. M3 Tamawashi (10-4), M8 Asanoyama (12-2) vs. K Mitakeumi (8-6), and K Aoiyama (6-8) vs. M5 Ryuden (9-5). Mitakeumi, Tamawashi, and Asanoyama should be ranked in San’yaku no matter what. The final slot is Abi’s with a win. Should he lose to Tamawashi, a Ryuden victory over Aoiyama would make Ryuden West Komusubi. If Abi and Ryuden both lose, then it’s not clear whether Abi’s 9-6 record at M4 would be sufficient to relegate a 7-8 Aoiyama to the rank-and-file, or if he’d get to merely slide over to the West side a la Mitakeumi last basho.
Mitakeumi will be ranked Sekiwake with a win, and possibly with a loss and a loss by Tamawashi; otherwise, he should stay East Komusubi. Likewise, Tamawashi will be Sekiwake with a win, and possibly with a loss if Mitakeumi loses. I’ll make my predictions for the exact order after tomorrow’s results are in.
Kachi-koshi and Make-koshi
Six rikishi have left their banzuke fate until the final day. And of course, the schedulers have paired them up in “Darwin bouts,” so that three of them will fall on each side of the line between winning and losing records. It’ll be Tomokaze vs. Sadanoumi, Onosho vs. Chiyomaru, and Shohozan vs. Enho. None are involved in the promotion/demotion scenarios discussed above and below, so the biggest things at stake are Tomokaze’s record of never recording a make koshi as a professional, and Enho’s health. Take care of yourself, pixie.
Juryo Demotions and Makuuchi Promotions
After today, this looks quite clear. Toyonoshima, visiting from Juryo, got his 8th win and will be back in the top division in July. He defeated Ishiura, who sealed a trip to Juryo with his 9th loss. He joins Chiyoshoma and Tokushoryu on the down elevator. (Tochinoshin’s re-promotion means that the M17e rank will be going away along with Chiyoshoma.) Coming up with Toyonoshima will be the Juryo yusho winner, Takagenji (13-1), and Kotoyuki (10-4). Kagayaki removed himself from demotion danger with his 4th win, and while Terutsuyoshi still needs one win, he will probably survive for the second straight time even with a 6-9 record near the bottom of the division, as the next-best candidates for promotion, the J4 duo of Takanosho and Azumaryu, both 7-7, won’t have a strong enough claim even with a final-day win.
Several of tomorrow’s matchups can only be described as “bouts of sadness”: slated-for-demotion Chiyoshoma vs. Juryo visitor Ikioi, both 4-10, just-barely-safe Kagayaki (4-10) vs. slated-for-demotion Ishiura (5-9), and slated-for-demotion Tokushoryu (3-11) vs. the ghost of Yoshikaze (4-10).
Come back tomorrow for a full wrap-up of the Natsu basho and predictions for Nagoya!
Day 14 showed us another look at the future of sumo. We have been getting these a few times a year since Hakuho has gone into an on again / off again mode, and can no longer be counted on to dominate a basho. With Harumafuji out of sumo all together, the mainstays that would keep the lower ranks beat down have been removed, and new champions are free to emerge. We have moved from the homogenized “Every yusho is Hakuho” world into an environment where a hard working, dedicated and skilled Maegashira 8 can take the yusho. Our hearty congratulations to Asanoyama.
We noticed Asanoyama some time ago, and he distinguished himself early with his solid sumo, and his fantastic attitude. Every day he mounted the dohyo, no matter what the score, he was just happy to be doing sumo that day. Since his top division debut, I made and used the somewhat humorous tag “Asanoyama ❤️ Sumo”, but it really shows. Some time in the past year, he has dialed in a classic style that looks straight out of a 19th century wood block print, and has used it this May with great effect.
Congratulations to Asanoyama, it could not have happened to a nicer guy.
Highlight Matches
Toyonoshima defeats Ishiura – Toyonoshima picks up his 8th win, and more or less ensures that Ishiura will be headed back to Juryo. Ishiura is still struggling to enact a working pixie sumo formula, and Juryo is a fine place to sort that out once again. But Hakuho’s dream of having a dohyo-iri with Enho and Ishiura is on hold for a while longer.
Shimanoumi defeats Enho – After a cold start, Shimanoumi comes roaring back to score at least 9 wins for Natsu, and putting Enho on the make/kachi-koshi line. Enho is clearly still suffering from whatever happened to his right thigh, and it may have gotten worse in his day 14 loss.
Shohozan defeats Terutsuyoshi – That’s 2 of the 3 pixies with make-koshi records for May. The entire cohort faded into week 2, but I hope nobody thinks this is a repudiation of the pixie sumo style. They will be back after some tune-ups. But this many losing records at the bottom of the banzuke raises the question of who is going back to Juryo.
Daishoho defeats Tochiozan – Daishoho once again executes well, picking up his 9th win while giving Tochiozan his make-koshi. The match was really all Daishoho, who took the inside road at the tachiai, and did as he pleased with Tochiozan.
Kagayaki defeats Sadanoumi – Sadanoumi’s opening gambit fails, and he finds himself without workable defensive foot placement. Kagayaki plows ahead and bodily removes Sadanoumi from the dohyo for the win.
Yago defeats Nishikigi – Nishikigi’s preferred arm-bar hold seems to have run out of gas at least for this basho. He manages to pin Yago’s left arm, but after consoldiatinlg his position, Yago uses a maemitsu grip to maneuver Nishikigi over and out for a loss.
Tomokaze defeats Chiyoshoma – Chiyoshoma goes down to his 10th loss, and will be deep back in the Juryo pack for July. Tomokaze has one more day to secure his 12th consecutive kachi-koshi.
Abi defeats Meisei – I cringe now when I see a monoii in the top division. It’s like “What kind of nonsense is Onomatsu oyakata going to utter this time?”. They give the win to Abi, both men advance to a respectable 9-5.
Chiyotairyu defeats Tokushoryu – Out running Chiyoshoma in the race back to Juryo is Tokushoryu, who has looked absolutely terrible this basho. His sumo is so much better than this, and I just have to assume some new or old injury has limited him.
Tamawashi defeats Kotoeko – Tamawashi goes to double digits, and complicates the Nagoya San’yaku picture somewhat. His sumo is back to being strong, focused and able to overcome quite a bit. Will he he turn it up to 11?
Endo defeats Onosho – Did you see the point where Onosho is driving forward, and decides he wants to try to pull Endo down? Yes, that’s the moment where the match was lost. Endo is too sharp to throw that kind of opportunity away.
Daieisho defeats Chiyomaru – Chiyomaru seemed to have zero power today, and Daieisho was fully charged. Solid center-mass thrusting attack from Daieisho for the win. Although he is make-koshi, his sumo is holding up well into the end of the second week.
Hokutofuji defeats Yoshikaze – Yoshikaze’s sumo is completely broken right now. His style is usually fast paced strike-and-move combos that leave his opponents reacting, usually at least a half step behind. Whatever is plaguing you, Yoshikaze, we hope you can heal.
Myogiryu defeats Kotoshogiku – Kotoshogiku held the advantage in this match until he got a bit too eager to close the deal, giving Myogiryu a narrow window to rally and execute a throw. Great kubinage in a tight spot from Myogiryu.
Okinoumi defeats Aoiyama – Aoiyama decides to pull, and gets it stuffed in his mawashi by Okinoumi. Cut it out guys!
Mitakeumi defeats Takarafuji – Mitakeumi picks up his 8th win and secures a return to at least Komusubi for July. This match was all Mitakeumi, with him gaining the inside grip at the tachiai, staying low and just driving ahead.
Ryuden defeats Ichinojo – Ryuden picks up win 9 in this well executed match against Ichinojo, who is fighting better than I expected given his injury. I think we are just starting to see what Ryuden is capable of.
Shodai defeats Takayasu – Takayasu is a complete wreck this basho. He seems to have neglected the superior lateral mobility that Shodai brings to nearly every match, and finds his forward pressure against Shodai’s chest instantly transformed into a tumbling move into thin air.
Asanoyama defeats Goeido – Good sumo today from Goeido, but Asanoyama was better. Congratulations to overcoming both an Ozeki and an Ozekiwake to take the cup! His only losses where to hard core oshi-power rikishi (Tamawashi and Onosho) who shut down Asanoyama’s yotsu attack. Goeido took him on chest-to-chest, but Asanoyama kept low and focused his power forward.
Tochinoshin defeats Kakuryu – Well, can’t put it off any more. That henka had really no place at this level of sumo. I get why he did it; he’s hurt, he needed one more win to get back to Ozeki, and he thinks he was robbed day 13. He needed one more white star by any means he could get one. Kakuryu should have known this and made him eat it, but Kakuryu is himself at only about 80% genki, and is probably expecting the left hand outside followed by the sky crane. Welcome back to Ozeki Tochinoshin. If you don’t get your body back in fighting shape, you are going to be right back here again by Kyushu.
