We last checked in on the third-division yusho race after 2 rounds of bouts, when we had a 32-man bracket (the 29 rikishi who went 2-0 in Makushita, supplemented with the top 3 undefeated Sandanmne wrestlers). The third round of bouts gave us fourteen 3-0 Makushita rikishi. Among the wrestlers we’ve been following, former sekitori Takakento, Tenshoho, and Yago made the cut, as did March Ms60TD debutants Goshima and Fukuzaki, May debutant Ms60TD Gyotoku, and January Sd80TD debutant Ikarigata (Wakaikari’s brother). Fan favorite Enho lasted one round longer than former Ozeki Asanoyama, but he was handed his first loss by Nishinoryu in an exciting bout that required a monoii to confirm the outcome. Neither Enho nor Asanoyama will be returning to Juryo in July, but both can improve their chances for September by adding as many wins as possible to their 2-1 records. Also falling to 2-1 were Mongolian prospect Kyokukaiyu and Ms60TD Hanaoka.

We should now have a 16-man bracket, but life is not always simple. The complication this time is that our top-ranked 3-0 contender, Ms3e Otsuji, is taking his turn in Juryo on Day 7, where he will face J12w Nabatame. The bracket below shows how the rest of the matchups should go, and four of them have indeed been scheduled for Day 7 (Gojinyu-Kazenoumi, Tenshoho-Goshima, Yago-Kototsubasa, and Gyotoku-Kiyota). But there are two possibilities for the quarterfinals, depending on the outcome of Otsuji’s bout. If he wins, he takes the top rung in the bracket, faces the winner of Nishinoryu-Takakento, and everything proceeds accordingly. If he loses, all the quarterfinal pairings have to shift down one rung (the winner of Nishinoryu-Takakento fights the winner of Gojinyu-Kazenoumi, etc.). This scenario has additional potential complications: if Goshima and Fukuzaki both win, the pairings will have to be shuffled to avoid a same-heya matchup between them. And if Gyotoku loses, we’ll be on track for only 3 quarterfinal bouts. We’ll know which timeline we’re in tomorrow, and I’ll update the quarterfinals and take a first look at the Juryo promotion picture on Day 8.