The holidays mean that the January rankings will be released early—Sunday or Monday, depending on where you are in the world. I took an early look at some of the key banzuke decisions immediately after the Kyushu basho; now here’s my full banzuke guess. Scroll down for a brief analysis.
The named ranks should be correct; the only plausible change would be to slide Wakamotoharu ahead of Daieisho. The identities of the first 5 maegashira are clear, though several arrangements for M1e-M3e are possible. The biggest wildcard is probably how much of a parachute the 4-11 M4 duo of Churanoumi and Oshoma are given. There are several potential local switches, especially in the long run of wrestlers of similar rank with 8-7 and 7-8 records in the middle of the banzuke. And Nishikifuji could well end up at M17e, though given his recent treatment and the general incumbent preference, I’ve opted to bump him up a rank in my prediction. Anyway, we’ll see how close I got in a few days; in the meantime, let me know what you think in the comments.
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I left this message under the previous post, but since more people are going to see Iksumo’s Crystal Ball predictions, I repost it here.
I just heard about Onosho’s retirement. His retirement ceremony is already scheduled for June 2025.
Does anyone know when is the retirement ceremony for Aoiyama? If you know the date, do you know how and where I could purchase a ticket and see the event? I would very much like to attend and if possible participate in the cutting of Big Dan’s hair. Thank you!
I have 30 exact matches and 3 rank hits on the opposite side of the draw with your guess. This one seemed to be pretty straight forward in placing most of them. I gave Gonoyama the full 7 rank bump up to M1w and Kirishima at M2w with Atamifuji at M3e. I put Kagayaki at M16e above Nishikifuji (M17e) and Takarafuji above Mitakeumi at M7 and M8.
Hopefully the committee will be as generous in promotions and as forgiving in demotions as we seem to be agreeing on.
I’ll be surprised if they drop Kirishima that far…but Gonoyama, Tobizaru, and Atami could certainly be rearranged in almost any order. The others are all possible. They have to be generous, forgiving, or both to fill all the ranks—a few guys sucked up most of the wins, so everyone else ate a lot of losses but still have to go somewhere…
I also had those same assignments in my guess.
Debutante guesser with my new shikona Wakanosabi 若の錆
Hmm…Be interesting to see Hakuoho back in the bright lights..Hope he holds up. Sad to see Asakoryu back in the j barge, but hey onwards and upwards..Wonder if Onosho’s bail out is going to significant…And the eternal question…good Shodai or Bad Shodai this time around ?
Onosho bailed after the banzuke meeting, and was ticketed for makushita anyway, so I don’t think it affects the banzuke. Asakoryu probably just needs a 9-6 to bounce right back up. Hoping as ever for good Shodai!
For some reason I want to flip Ura and Chiyoshoma but that would be very generous to Chiyoshoma. I’m very happy to see Hakuoho back. But I really want to see what’s up with Kawazoe.
Yeah, Chiyoshoma technically computes half a rank ahead of Ura, but given the difference in strength of schedule and the fact that he’s getting a big over-promotion regardless, I pushed Ura and Hiradoumi ahead. I’d be a little surprised if he ended up ahead of Ura, less so if they flip him and Hiradoumi.
My guess was very similar, identical from M6 down to M15. I will probably come unstuck by overp-romoting my favourites: Chiyoshoma, Kagayaki, it’s all your fault!
The new Banzukes up…..
lksumo — I was just checking my status on SumoGames and noticed that we shared the same rank this past basho for ISP (Ms27). Small world, eh?
I could be very mistaken, but I don’t believe lksumo plays any of the honbasho games…
I thought he was doing GTB. Not sure, though. I have attempted once or twice and got thrashed.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear, by “honbasho games” I meant those played during the actual basho (one of which, ISP, the previous comment talked about).
Ah, gotcha.