The torikumi for the openings days is up! Day 1 is exactly as I had forecast. For Day 2, the only difference is that it’s Shodai vs. Takanosho and Mitakeumi vs. Ura instead of the other way around; astute reader Sakura had pointed out that this should be the case in a comment on my post. Lots of exciting matchups to look forward to on both days; let the Tachiai coverage of the 2022 Haru basho begin!
Curious if anyone backs out due to Covid. I suspect not as they would have withdrawn before the bouts were announced
Can’t wait for Sunday
The press chief said nobody is out due to Covid, except for a gyoji I think
Out of interest, if someone did go kyujo for the basho today (e.g. due to covid), would the torikumi for Monday be revised? Or is it set in stone once announced, even if there’s no chance the rikishi will return?
Good question; I think they wouldn’t redo day 1, but they’d redo day 2. I’ve never seen someone lose by fusen on two consecutive days.
That would make sense. Onoe stable has just gone kyujo due to covid, but they don’t have any sekitori and it seems the torikumi is only posted 2 days in advance for Makuuchi, not even Juryo. Possibly that’s to give more flexibility to move someone up from Juryo in case of a prebasho Makuuchi pullout.
It’s really just because the next day’s makuuchi matches are something that’s worth promoting on the current day’s TV (and in the old days radio) broadcast. The juryo competition isn’t that relevant in comparison, so there’s no issue with creating the next schedule only after the day’s matches have already taken place. (And of course in makushita and below it’s because the Swiss-style scheduling outright requires the latest results to be known.)
What is the difference overall between M1/M2 and komusubi? I’ve heard the step up in competition being a reason for the struggles of a shin-komusubi, but is it that different than M1 or M2?
They should fight very similar slates of opponents, including all san’yaku; its basically a round-robin among the top 16 rikishi.
The reason (shin-)komusubi tend to struggle is the same that all guys in that general area struggle, a lack of consistency. It doesn’t really matter whether a guy who just had a kachikoshi in the maegashira meatgrinder got promoted to K or just to M1/2 – in most cases he overperformed to get that kachikoshi and shouldn’t be expected to repeat that in the next tournament.
Terunofuji v Hoshoryu, Takakeisho v Ura, Mitakeumi v Ichinojo, Abi v Onosho – an amazing day one torikumi!
Yes definitely potential for a few upsets in those four matches!