Remember the story of Tamanoi beya? It suffered a coronavirus outbreak shortly before the Aki basho, with many rikishi and staff testing positive, and all 28 rikishi in the heya were made to go kyujo for the entire September tournament as a precaution. This raised the question of what would happen to their positions on the banzuke: would the absences be treated as losses, as they normally are, meaning large drops in rank, or would special dispensation be given? At the time, the NSK said this issue would be considered after the basho.

Well, we have our answer. As could be inferred from the announcement of the Juryo promotions, everyone will keep their place, including the two sekitori, J7 Azumaryu and J14 Fujiazuma, and one resident of the Makushita promotion zone (Ms1-Ms5), Ms2 Shiraishi. I know there was a difference of opinion about how this should be handled, but personally I believe this was the right thing to do under the exceptional circumstances.

Here’s the story on NHK; it’s in Japanese, but you can get the gist with Google Translate.

The banzuke committee met today, and while the full results won’t be released until October 26, we do get a few tidbits now to hold us over. In addition to Shodai’s promotion to Ozeki, the new promotions to Juryo have been announced. Four rikishi will receive sekitori status, none of the them for the first time.

The promotions are Ms1e Takagenji (4-3), who rose as high as M10 and is returning to Juryo after a one-basho absence, former Komusubi Ms1w Jokoryu (4-3), who’s spent the past 9 basho in Makushita, Ms2e Chiyonoumi (4-3), who, like Takagenji, is making an immediate return, and, wait for it, Ms5w Ura (6-1)!!!

It is a bit of a surprise that Chiyonoumi got the nod over Ms4w Naya (5-2), who will have to wait at least one more basho for his sekitori debut. Chiyonoumi lost to Daishoho on his visit to Juryo, while Naya defeated the same opponent, and such results have been weighted heavily in promotion decisions recently, but apparently the difference in rank proved decisive.

The corresponding demotions are not announced, but we can make some educated guesses. First, there are no new sekitori retirements. Second, we know that one slot opened due to Kizakiumi’s retirement prior to the basho, and that J13 Oki (0-15) and J14 Kitaharima (5-10) are certain demotions. That leaves one slot to account for. My guess is that the last man out is J12 Daishoho (6-9), and that the two sekitori members of Tamanoi beya, J7 Azumaryu and J14 Fujiazuma, who were held out of the basho with their entire heya as a COVID-19 measure, get to stay in Juryo, presumably with similar treatment for lower-division members of the heya. Otherwise, there should have been a slot for Naya, unless only the higher-ranked Azumaryu’s sekitori status has been preserved, and Fujiazuma will go down in place of Daishoho. Let’s see if any news trickles out; otherwise we’ll know in late October.

During the board meeting held today, Shodai’s promotion was approved unanimously. Here he is raising the customary fish. Congratulations and best wishes, Shin-Ozeki!

＜新大関！正代＞
鯛を持って笑顔の新大関 正代。#sumo #相撲 #新大関 #正代 pic.twitter.com/pFqcKNdU2l

— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) September 30, 2020

The whole ceremony (including all the awkward stage directions and transitions) was streamed live on YouTube, and can be seen here:

As expected, the November sumo tournament will be held in Tokyo, instead of the customary Fukuoka Kokusai Center. Since the Osaka tournament in March, the Japan Sumo Association has re-homed the tournaments to the Kokugikan in an attempt to limit exposure of the athletes to sources of COVID-19. As a result, both the Nagoya basho, and now the Kyushu basho will take place in Tokyo instead.

The association seems to be gaining confidence on their measures to conduct a sumo tournament in the midst of a pandemic, and they are increasing the number of tickets they will place for sale for each day of the November tournament. There has also been declarations that the restrictions on joint training, or degeiko, will be relaxed in the coming days to permit high ranking rikishi from small stables the chance to train against someone of their own skill level.