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.
I agree. I think Daishoho gets the drop with his loss to Ura. It will be great to see Ura back!
I worry about how Ura’s knees will hold up through 15 bouts, but I’m not sure postponing his rise would help him.
Me too; sounds like he’s still doing rehab.
And he was doing very careful sumo this basho. Trying to win his bouts in less than 5 seconds and as little physical burden as possible.
“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.”
This indirect comparison has a lot less weight, when there was an actual bout between two rikishi. ;)
On day 5 Chiyonoumi defeated Naya, the discussion ends then and there in my opinion…
What you say makes sense; I’m not sure it’s that much of a decisive element though. Direct confrontations do not seem to mean too much; for example playoffs do not take that into account. And yet, they could just have said: okay, A and B finish with a 14-1 record, but A has beaten B so A is the champion.
Playoffs are another thing altogether. In the lower divisions, they almost never include rikishi who met each other since they are almost always zensho-yusho. And in the upper division, the playoff system has replaced another, older system wherein the higher ranked rikishi would automatically be the champion. So maybe they could have chosen direct confrontation as a playoff decision system, but it wouldn’t be consistent as not all wrestlers get to face each other, and they preferred to have a consistent system.
Banzuke promotions can’t have decider matches, and are not even necessarily just about the numbers.
Well, they could have set alternative rules:
1. Direct confrontations between the rikishi
2. If it does not allow to decide who is the champion, then a playoff.
Why use a complicated system over a simple one? They could also have drawn lots. Point is – there is a set system for playoffs, it does not involve anybody external making decisions, and it ends in a resolution on day 15. The banzuke deliberation is a totally different occasion and setting.
And Chiyonoumi has one win against Oki, which has to count as a fusensho this basho. It’s the 18th time since 2010 that a rikishi at Ms4 finished with an 5-2 record and Naya will be only the 3rd one not to get promoted to Juryo. I’m not doing the work, but I’m pretty sure you will find lots of incidences where they overtook 4-3 records at Ms2. With just 7 bouts a basho one more win usually has a lot of impact.
In any case, Naya just doesn’t have any banzuke luck.