The NSK has been stingy with sekitori promotions again—there are only two. Both Ms1s posted 4-3 records and will be fighting in the salaried ranks in May. Chiyoarashi returns after spending a single basho in Makushita; quite a contrast with his previous gap between Juryo appearances, which lasted over eight years! And Tochimaru (pictured) makes his sekitori debut after toiling in the lower divisions for a decade and being passed over last time.
The two clear corresponding demotions are J14w Kotoyusho (4-11) and J12e Hakuyozan (4-11). The lack of other promotions means that J10w Churanoumi (5-10) and J14e Takakento (7-8) survive with records that certainly put them on the demotion bubble. Missing out on promotion is Ms3e Nishikawa (4-3), who I thought would go up, as well as Ms4e Tsushimanada (4-3) and Ms5w Hokuseiho (5-2), who seemed like long shots.
Umm, looks like a proper villain…..:)
I am continually surprised at how forgiving the NSK is for poorly performing rikishi at the bottom of Juryo. This set of promotions/demotions sounds like an “Aw, heck. We have to pick someone” scenario. I suspect that the NSK will be just as lenient with the rikishi in the top division which is why it’s going to take a while for us to see new rikishi in the upper ranks. Ten years toiling away to finally get to Juryo! Congratulations, Tochimaru!
It used to be that a demotable record sent you down, unless there was no remotely plausible candidate to replace you. Now it seems the opposite—you stay unless your record is completely beyond the pale, or there’s an overwhelming promotion case. And even within a division, they seem happy with minimal demotions for very bad records, which wouldn’t have been the case even a couple of years ago.