With the official November banzuke released, let’s take a look at how the Crystal Ball fared.
Komusubi
Right off the bat, my Komusubi West prediction was wrong. They went with M4e Shodai (10-5) over my guess, M7e Wakatakakage (12-3), and M2w Oho (9-6). Like I said, you could make valid arguments for any of the three, and at least I am happy to see my favorite wrestler (yes, you read that right) back in the named ranks.
M1e-M2e
Had I picked Komusubi West correctly, I probably would have gotten this right, but with my choice of WTK there, I went with Shodai-Oho-Hiradoumi rather than the actual order of Oho-Hiradoumi-WTK.
M3e-M4e
I got the three contenders here right, but erred a bit on the order by going with M2e Atamifuji (7-8), S1e Abi (5-10), and M7w Churanoumi (10-5). Abi got even more leniency than I expected, going ahead of Atamifuji, who can be miffed at his slight over-demotion.
M14-M17
The main thing I’m happy about is picking all 42 Makuuchi rikishi correctly, since the promotion-demotion picture wasn’t obvious at all. In terms of the exact rankings, Nishikifuji lucked out yet again by getting placed ahead of Onokatsu despite deserving to be behind him. And getting the last three rikishi right—M12e Bushozan (4-11), J11w Takerufuji (13-2) and J8e Asakoryu (11-4)—got me minimal Guess the Banzuke points because the banzuke committee ended up placing Bushozan at M17w, behind the borderline Juryo promotions.
Elsewhere
Here’s what I wrote in my prediction post:
Other smaller question marks: Roga/Gonoyama, Takayasu/Ichiyamamoto, Tamawashi/Meisei, Hokutofuji/Sadanoumi. And of course, count on the banzuke committee to make some completely unanticipated decisions that’ll leave us scratching our heads.
I got all those orders right, but it didn’t matter, because boy did the banzuke committee live up to that expectation. The main trend was the return of very lenient demotions for upper maegashira with terrible records. M1e Takanosho (4-11) landed a full rank higher than he deserved, and M3e Mitakeumi (4-11) benefited by a rank and a half. He and Wakatakakage were my biggest misses, but the overall effect of a lot of small differences on my GTB guess was … not good.
Oh well. I’m happy to see new Ozeki Onosato, Shodai at Komusubi, Wakatakakage climbing the ranks, and Shishi, Takerufuji, and Asakoryu in the top division! In Juryo, Hakuoho is back up to J2, Aonishiki debuts at J11, and Wakaikari and Kotoeiho (the artist formerly known as Kototebakari) at J13. On to the basho!
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Thank you so much, you were really fast! I was eagerly looking forward to this.
How nice, that they granted Shodai the Komusubi slot! Good news, I think, and it will be a lively set of match ups all in all.
In the lower maegashira lies a huge rumble in the air, I‘m excited to see all the action there soon. Also need to watch the whole Juryo happening from day to day. What a party!
Can Shodai be my most favorite and least favorite wrestler simultaneously?
I know exactly how you feel
LOL Yes!
Yeah, Mitakeumi and Takanosho really screwed things up for me, too. Not obvious to me the justification for either of them there.
Lower was better – got almost everything from 12 down, except of course Nishikifuji (I guess he must buy good Oshougatsu presents)..
Congratulations to Asashosakari for his winning guess!
Just because no one mentioned it here yet, pretty surprised to see Oshoumi save his rank at J14 with a 6-9 and Asanoyama get bounced down to Makushita. Given how bad his injury situation has been since his return from suspension (6 kyujo from 11 sekitori basho) I wonder if his intai has just been accelerated. I guess we’ll see if he competes.
It mirrors what they did last time in Makuuchi with Nishikifuji and Onosho, so I’m not surprised. The word is that Asanoyama is doing rehab and expecting to be back in March, when he’ll be in Sandanme, so it’s not really consequential for him.
Then there could be an Enho vs. Asanoyama bout in Osaka
I sure hope Enho is no longer slumming in Sandanme after another two tournaments…
I disagree that it’s inconsequential anyway. Hypothetical J14w Asanoyama would have dropped only 13-ish ranks in the next banzuke-making session; now he’s going down 40, and for March it’s going to mean ~Sd21 rather than ~Ms53. Basically the only scenario where that’s not a sizable disadvantage is if he’s going to go 7-0 in sandanme and would have only gone 6-1 in makushita.
I stand corrected :)
I am so thrilled to see Takerufuji back in the top division !!!! \o/
That bottom of the division will be fun to watch ! Heck, this whole basho now will be astonishing and exciting to watch !
I think there’s more than Sake going on here with Nishikifuji, Mitakeumi, and Takanosho. As far as Shodai, Oho and Wakatakakage, I thought they might give that one to Oho. After the Banzuke was out, Oho’s dad said he thought the reason Oho didn’t get the Komusube slot was because of his you tube channel, which he took down!
You still had most of the positions correct – there wasn’t any way to predict Mitakeumi and Takanosho or even Nishikifuji – I’d like to know if anyone out there did.
Can’t wait for the basho to begin!!!
Thanks as always for adding a awider perspective, greater depth and a sense of balance to the mysterious world of Sumo..
Oho, a true Ozumo blue blood, should know better than to try to horn in on the Kyokai’s turf with his own YouTube channel. He’s young, he’ll learn. Great to have the speedster, Takerufuji back in the big time. I’d like to see Takeru and the Sanyaku wrestlers, led by the other two Ozeki, really challenge Onosato this basho. Onosato needs some adversity in his rise, this Wunderkind.
…Oho Youtube channel?