One day remains.
Yusho Race
M1e Takayasu leads with 12 wins, followed by O1e Takakeisho and M9w Abi with 11. If the leader can beat Abi tomorrow, he finally takes his long-awaited maiden yusho. If Abi prevails, they go to a playoff, which can be joined by Takakeisho if he bests Wakatakakage.
San’yaku
We have three confirmed Sekiwake for January: S1e Wakatakakage (8-6), S1w Hoshoryu (10-4) and O1w Shodai (6-8), who will have the customary one shot to regain his rank with 10 wins. Of the four Komusubi, only K1w Kiribayama (8-6) will get to stay; K1e Tamawashi (5-9), K2e Tobizaru (6-8) and K2w Daieisho (6-8) are all make-koshi.
S2w Mitakeumi (6-8) will be Komusubi with a final-day win, but maegashira with a loss. Tournament leader M1e Takayasu (12-2) will return to san’yaku; while recent precedents suggest that he’ll only be Komusubi, there’s a chance that he gets fast-tracked to Sekiwake in order to set him up for a potential early Ozeki promotion in January.
A loss by Mitakeumi and a Sekiwake slot for Takayasu would open up K1w for M1w Kotonowaka (8-6); otherwise, he is out of luck and will once again have to settle for only a half-rank promotion despite deserving better. Wins by Meisei, Wakamotoharu, and Abi would also give them records deserving of Komusubi, but they’ll have to wait unless the banzuke committee is in an uncharacteristically generous mood.
Makuuchi to Juryo
Chiyotairyu’s retirement opens up one slot in the top division. M16e Terutsuyoshi (0-14) and M15w Atamifuji (3-11) will be vacating two more. M8e Takarafuji (2-12) will go down for certain with a loss, and may drop even with a win depending on the strength of the promotion cases. So we’ll have at least three promotions, and at most four, as all other incumbents are safe. J3e Tsurugisho (10-4) is definitely coming back up. The other contenders, in a virtual tie, are J1w Chiyomaru (8-6), J3w Mitoryu (9-5), and J5e Akua (10-4). Just behind is J6e Hokuseiho (10-4), who must win and have at least one of the trio ahead of him lose tomorrow to have a shot at a Makuuchi debut.
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I am keeping my eyes open for developments in the Ichinojo story. That could have an interesting impact if anything happens over the weekend.
I’m sure Isegahama will do anything to stop three of his sekitori dropping to Juryo at the same time. So I bet he’ll save Takarafuji’s neck.
Oh wait…
If Takarafuji loses, there’s no saving him. If he wins, he still needs two losses among the four promotion contenders trailing Tsurugisho. Only then could Isegahama put his thumb on the scale. EDIT: I completely missed the joke on the first reading.
Well good job for him he doesn’t need a neck to save after all five of the Juryo guys lost… Yeeeeeeesh!
I wonder if it would have been worth a cheeky “watch this space” on Daiamami had he won the playoff, there’s precedent but probably just not enough demotables
Playoff results don’t generally figure into banzuke decisions, and Daiamami is at least a win short of even being in the conversation. One of Chiyomaru, Mitoryu, Akua, and Takarafuji will be in Juryo next time; my money is probably still on Takarafuji, but it’s a close call.