After the Nagoya basho, I reviewed the performance of the wrestlers who debuted at Ms60 under the Makushita tsukedashi system after it was changed at the end of 2023. Let’s take a brief look at how our protagonists fared at Aki.
Winning records
After the blazing start to his career, M6w Kusano hit a bit of a wall in upper Makuuchi but won his final bout to finish 8-7, posting his 10th winning record in 10 basho. He will be rewarded with yet another career-high rank, at which he should face a full slate of sanyaku opponents. J4w Mita got off to a fast 7-0 start and looked like he could improve on his 11-4 July yusho and easily earn promotion, but he went 2-6 the rest of the way and finished 9-6, which will bump him up but won’t be enough to make Makuuchi. Ms5w Goshima (just renamed Fujiryoga) took full advantage of his rank just inside the promotion zone, going 6-1 to earn sekitori promotion after only four basho; his only loss was in a hard-fought belt bout with former maegashira Kitanowaka. Ms22e Hanaoka, who debuted in May, went 4-3 to post his third-straight kachi-koshi. The most recent debutant, Ms40w Ryusho, finished with his second-straight 5-2 record. And Sd26e Kazuma, who got injured in his first basho in July 2024, continued his comeback by adding the Sandanme yusho to the Jonokuchi yusho he claimed in May; his record during his return is now 20-1, and he should be ranked right around Ms15 in November. Finally, as a bonus, there’s Ms34w Ikarigata, Fujinokawa’s brother. He debuted as a Sandanme tsukedashi in January, went 6-1 in each of his two fourth-division basho, had a 3-4 setback in March in his first Makushita appearance, but has since recovered with consecutive 5-2 scores which should see him rise to around Ms20.
Losing Records
J12w Asasuiryu (the brother of Asakoryu; both started their careers under their family name Ishizaki) went 7-8 in his sekitori debut. He did do just enough to earn a second chance in Juryo; in fact, he’s likely to stay at the same rank. Ms6w Fukuzaki, who debuted alongside heya-mate Goshima and had kept pace with him until this basho, hit the single-digit Makushita wall hard, finishing with a 2-5 record that’ll send him ten or so ranks lower to regroup. And Ms9e Matsui, the first in this group to debut back in March 2024, posted his second make-koshi in his second basho in the single digits, going 3-4. He’s still only 20, and on the small side at 118 kg, so he has time to develop.
Absences
Ms14e Gyotoku looked like a beast in his first two basho, with a combined 11-3 record. He lost a hard-fought bout to Kotokenryu on Day 2, and then failed to appear for his scheduled Day 4 bout. I just rewatched his Day 2 loss, and there was no sign of injury. The only information I could find on Sumo Forum was that he had apparently been sick before the tournament, and may still not have been feeling well enough to continue. Hopefully we’ll see him back and fully fit in November; he was ranked high enough that even a winless record won’t drop him out of the division. Finally, Sd30w Kakueizan (originally Urayama) never fought in July, apparently sustaining a knee injury in training right before the tournament. He did not appear in September, and I haven’t seen any news about the timeline for his return.
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Names to watch for going forward. There’s so much going on in the other divisions, yet you manage to cleanly extract all the salient points. Thank you Iksumo!
My thanks as well. Your coverage adds a depth of interest, and shining a light on promising upcomers gives us some individuals to focus on and follow as they move through their careers.
Great dudes, all of them :)
Thanks for the review!
(Hope you didn‘t get talked out of the banzuke preview this time. I‘d really miss it!)
Nope, it’s coming! Just needed some time to think it through and pull together something cogent; it’s a doozy!
I‘m astonished that a 7-0 from Sd26 overtakes a 5-2 from Ms34! That’s a sixty ranks difference, unbelievable.
Yeah, a 7-0 in any of the bottom 3 divisions is an automatic promotion to the next division, so 7-0 at even Sd80 (or Sd100 before Sandanme shrank) gets to Makushita, and if you’re higher up in Sandanme, you go correspondingly higher up. I know our commenter Asashosakari compiled detailed numbers on lower-division promotions over on Sumo Forum, maybe he’ll see this and chime in, or a search on there could probably uncover more info.
That’s very hard for those who are taken up to the higher divisions to fill the lossless brackets. They almost certainly lose the chance for a yusho (does that mean money, too) and for a rocket promotion, too.
It’s usually someone from the top few ranks of Sd against someone in the lower quarter of Ms, so it’s not a huge skill gap. And sometimes they hold their own; not an elegant query, but: https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query_bout.aspx?show_form=0&year=2024-now&rank1=sd&losses1=0&lossesopt1=1&rank2=ms&losses2=0&lossesopt2=1&sort_by=record1
I disagree about the skill gap, because as U say the meet lower Ms, but most of the times this are Tsukedashi, who are much better than their rank.
I took your query and have optimized (?) it a little bit:
https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query_bout.aspx?show_form=0&group_by=rikishi1&year=2024-now&ms=on&nofusensho=on&nofusenpai=on&losses1=0&lossesopt1=1&lowerd1=on&losses2=0&lossesopt2=1
There have even been seven rikishi in this century who went on to win the sandanme yusho though having fought up to three Ms:
https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query_bout.aspx?show_form=0&group_by=rikishi1&year=2000-now&ms=on&nofusensho=on&nofusenpai=on&losses1=0&lossesopt1=1&y1=on&lowerd1=on&losses2=0&lossesopt2=1
Kinda off topic, but I heard that Takarafuji has announced his retirement – anyone else seen that? One of the greats..
Yes, he is twelfth of all times when it comes to losses in makuuchi…
but he is also in the top 50 winners ever and 16th in the number of makuuchi bouts!
Longevity is a sure-fire way to get onto records lists. Most makuuchi losses is an interesting one – sustained makuuchi average-ness or something. Who heads that list?
Kyokutenho with 773. Tamawashi is the active leader with 743, good for 4th place.
And he also had perfect attendance, not one day of kyujo. I will miss him, but wish him well in his new Oyakata chapter!
That‘s true, not even covid could stop him. One therefore could argue that he was even more iron than the iron man Tamawashi who missed three bouts back in 2022.
So we have witnessed the last voyage of the Tarabune! It was a grand trip, he had his share of success. I’ll never forget the time Andy (I’m pretty sure it was Andy) commented on a rikishi going for a Kubinage against him and dropped a line like, “he tried to wrap around Takarafuji’s neck, but due to a childhood accident (a joke of course), Fujisan has no neck to wrap.” Something along those lines, it made me chuckle like a schoolchild. Good times. Thanks always to to Team Tachiai for all the content! And thanks to Takarafujizeki for his long career, class and stoicism in and on the dohyo!!!