We begin our coverage of the third division on Day 8. As a reminder, the Makushita yusho race is essentially a seven-round single-elimination tournament in which the 120 or so rikishi are reduced by half over two-day rounds until one man with a 7-0 record takes the title (occasionally, same-heya rikishi and other wrinkles throw a wrench into the works, and we end up with a playoff and a 6-1 champion).
After eight days, four rounds have been completed, leaving us with 8 undefeated wrestlers. This group is led by none other than His Roundness, former sekitori mainstay Ms3w Chiyomaru. His 4 wins already give him a good chance of returning to the salaried ranks, and one more win should all but ensure it. The quarterfinal bouts, which take place on Day 9, are as follows:
- Ms3w Chiyomaru vs. Ms16e Hatsuyama
- Ms21w Kaiseijo vs. Ms28w Kyokukaiyu
- Ms42w Mudoho vs. Ms51e Anosho
- Ms55w Asakoki vs. Ms60w Sazanami
Kaiseijo and Asakoki are lower-division lifers. Mudoho is Oho’s younger brother, and Sazanami is best-known as the occasional star of Sumo Prime Time. The other three are prospects, with the awkwardly named Kyokukaiyu the most impressive of the bunch—he debuted in January, and his record so far is 28-4, with a Sandanme yusho in May.
Some notable names are already out of the race. Of the four newcomers to the division profiled by Justin, Ms31 Inami is 3-1, Ms33 Tokitenran has struggled to a 1-3 record, Ms57 Hogasho is likewise 1-3 and not looking at all Godzilla-like, while Ms60 tsukedashi debutant Mita recovered after a nervous first loss to go 3-1. Ukrainian sensation Ms4w Aonishiki (3-1) was knocked out of the race by Ms5w Kototebakari (2-2), who then fell to Chiyomaru. Ms1w Satorufuji (1-3) picked up his first loss when he visited Juryo to fight Kayo. Ms2w Wakaikari (2-2) was another one of Chiyomaru’s victims. Others I am watching include Ms17 Kusano (3-1), Ms23 Matsui (3-1), and Ms29 Ishizaki (Asakoryu’s brother), who’s slumped to 1-3 after his 6-1 debut basho in Nagoya.
In the Ms1-Ms5 promotion zone, top-ranked Tochitaikai (2-2) can return to Juryo with two more wins. Fellow Ms1 Satorufuji must win out to have a shot, as does Ms2e Akua (1-3). Wakaikari and Ms3e Dewanoryu (2-2) needs two more wins, we’ve already discussed Chiyomaru, the Ms4 duo of Nabatame (3-1) and Aonishiki should have strong claims if they can run their win totals to five, and Kototebakari must win out and hope for favorable banzuke luck. All are in action tomorrow, and most are matched head-to-head by record, so come back after the Day 9 bouts to see where the yusho and promotion races stand!
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If one analyses this modus the final always brings together a rikishi of the upper half with one of the lower. Strange. Like Alcaraz meeting Djokovic in the first round of a tennis tournament and, let‘s say Kokkinakis in the final. Theoretically the opponents get weaker from round to round. I prefer the brackets we know from other sports.
And the upper half rikishi is about twice as likely to win the yusho, based on the last 20 years, which makes sense.
Thank you for bringing some light into the procedure! Probably this is routine reporting to you, but only by looking at the JSA ‚Matches and results‘ section I‘d never develop any idea about what‘s going on. Is there some deeper information about it anywhere?
I have a bunch of posts from previous basho trying to demystify this, but yeah, there’s not much official info on how anything in the lower divisions works. There are some good discussions over on Sumo Forum, which is where I learned a lot about how this all works. I personally enjoy following the action in Makushita and glad other folks are interested too!
The names change so rapidly. There are the guys who are there for a blink and end up long-term sekitori, there are the fading former sekitori, and a whole slew of guys who just seem to top out here and a few who have one great tournament in sandanme and get beaten back. Kototebakari might still be here for another two years and meanwhile others are going up and down the elevator. I need to figure out a method to seriously keep track of them.
Yeah, I mostly keep track of hot prospects on their way up, and stop paying attention if they stall for a while (although Kototebakari is young, dynamic and promising enough that I haven’t given up yet).