Haru basho is over, Juryo promotions have been announced, so we’re going to have a quiet, slow news day while we get ready for Natsu, right? WRONG. Let’s give Andy time to think up some great fake headline about Will Smith deciding to tie on a mawashi and turn pro, seeking a one-time age exemption from the Kyokai. Nope. Not going to happen. Instead, we get real news. The Kyokai announced a few scheduling items of interest for the summer.

1. Tickets for the Nagoya tournament will be made available for a 100% capacity of 7,448 people. It will be the first tournament since Hatsu 2020 to be fought with no restrictions on crowd capacity. At this point I’ve not seen news on relaxing other restrictions, such as limits on cheering, mandatory mask-wearing, etc. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any further updates.
2. Jungyo will return after the Nagoya basho! So this means that infamous promotional tour will wind its way from Nagoya to Tokyo in August. Again, I’ll post updates when the dates are announced.
3. The Sandanme division is being reduced from 100 ranks to 90, with a possible further reduction to 80. Wrestlers who turn pro and earn the privilege of starting in Sandanme will begin their careers ranked Sandanme 90.
4. Finally, the Sumo Kyokai has updated their Japanese website. It is an upgrade on the mobile responsiveness and the overall design appears to be more modern. To compare with the former look-and-feel, visit the English site. There are also a few more features on the new site, my favorite part is the horoscope page. Apparently, April 1 is going to be great if you’re an Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius. I’m going to have a rather “meh” day and am not as active because I’m stressed. And I need a lucky UV mask. I wonder…what’s a UV mask?

I am going to have some fun with these horoscopes. The lucky colors are the most fascinating to me because the colors are wild. Aside from my rather hum-drum “gold” lucky color, some of these others have very interesting names, like Usukobai which appears to be a light pink. If we could accumulate a database of shimekomi colors using this, that would be a dream come true. Getting the story behind the names and any secret connections to sumo would be cool.