As a reminder, here was the 5-0 semifinal bracket going into Day 11:

• Ms11e Kitaharima vs. Ms21e Narutaki
• Ms42w Satorufuji vs. Ms57e Daikisho

37-year-old Kitaharima put his two decades of professional sumo experience to good use, taking the initial charge then shifting to the side to easily dispose of Narutaki. He is now on a 13-win streak going back to his Aki Sandanme yusho, and is looking to secure the automatic promotion that comes with a 7-0 record from the Ms1-Ms15 ranks, which would tie the record for most career sekitori promotions with 9. His opponent will be the latest Isegahama prospect, 19-year-old Ms42w Satorufuji, who has won 29 bouts and lost only 5 in his career, though one of those losses was to none other than Kitaharima in Sandanme in September.

The promotion picture is starting to clear up. Two spots are open in Juryo as a consequence of Hakuoho’s absence and Azumaryu’s withdrawal, and injured J11e debutant Hitoshi (1-10) now has a demotable record. So there will be space for all three leading promotion candidates: Ms1e Hakuyozan (4-2), top Isegahama prospect Ms1w Takerufuji (5-1), and Kitaharima if he wins.

The remaining four promotion contenders are ranked Ms2w and lower, and all currently sport 3-3 records, so they can do no better than 3rd in the promotion queue (4th if Kitaharima wins). In rank order, they are Oshoumi, Tochimusashi, Kitadaichi, and Tsushimanada. Their fates will be decided in a series of crossover bouts with endangered Juryo incumbents (Chiyosakae, Takakento, Tenshoho, Chiyomaru), starting with Oshoumi vs. J14e Chiyosakae (5-6) tomorrow. Each will have to win his final bout to even qualify for promotion, but a win does not guarantee it, depending on other results.

As a reminder, here was the 4-0 quarterfinal bracket going into Day 9:

• Ms1e Hakuyozan vs. Ms11e Kitaharima
• Ms21e Narutaki vs. Ms25w Kotokenryu
• Ms42w Satorufuji vs. Ms36w Chiyonoo
• Ms57e Daikisho vs. Sd1e Asonoyama

Kitaharima pushed out top-ranked Hakuyozan with relative ease, Narutaki prevailed over Kotokenryu, Satorufuji had an impressive belt win over the veteran Chiyonoo, and Daikisho won the division crossover bout against Asonoyama. So we’re left with four men vying for the title. The semifinals will take place on Day 11 and should look like this:

• Ms11e Kitaharima vs. Ms21e Narutaki
• Ms42w Satorufuji vs. Ms57e Daikisho

37-year-old Kitaharima, who has over two decades of professional sumo experience, is having a late-career resurgence, with 12 consecutive wins going back to his Aki Makushita Sandanme yusho (apologies for the error in the prior posts). He is looking to secure the automatic promotion that comes with a 7-0 record from the Ms1-Ms15 ranks, which would tie the record for most career sekitori promotions with 9. The latest Isegahama prospect, 19-year-old Ms42w Satorufuji, has a career record of 28-5 in only his 5th basho, with 5-2, 7-0, 6-1, 5-2, and 5-0 records and a Jonidan yusho in May. I don’t have anything especially notable to say about the other two seminalists. Come back on Wednesday to see how this plays out.

The promotion picture is starting to clear up. Two spots are open in Juryo as a consequence of Hakuoho’s absence and Azumaryu’s withdrawal. Several other incumbents are in trouble. The Ms1 duo of Hakuyozan and his West-side counterpart, top Isegahama prospect Takerufuji (they really need to get more inventive with these shikona) are both 4-1 and should be locks to go up. Takerufuji debuted at Kyushu last year and has posted scores of 7-0 yusho, 7-0 yusho, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 5-2 to date, so his sekitori debut is eagerly anticipated. Kitaharima could claim a third promotion spot by winning out, but is not in the running with anything less than the yusho.

The rest of the wrestlers in the Ms1-Ms5 promotion zone have more of an uphill climb. They need to pile up wins and hope for losses by their fellow contenders and the endangered Juryo men. Ms3e Tochimusashi, who’s struggled after an impressive Juryo debut at Aki 2022 (with a yusho, no less!), is currently in the best shape at 3-2. The only action tomorrow is Ms4w Tsushimanada (3-2), who’s wrapped in so much tape that he looks like a mummy, visiting Juryo to take on J11w Hidenoumi (4-3-2), who is back after 3 days off following a calf injury and needs at least a win or two to stay in the salaried ranks. This battle of the wounded should be followed by a number of other cross-division bouts between promotion hopefuls and those trying to defend their sekitori status in the closing days.

Please see the first post in this series on the mechanics of the Makushita yusho race. After 8 days and 4 rounds of bouts, we are left with 7 undefeated rikishi. They are matched up in rank order on Day 9, with the lowest-ranked of the 7 taking on the highest-ranked undefeated Sandanme wrestler, and the results of those bouts will determine our semifinalists. Without further ado, here’s the 4-0 bracket:

• Ms1e Hakuyozan vs. Ms11e Kitaharima
• Ms21e Narutaki vs. Ms25w Kotokenryu
• Ms42w Satorufuji vs. Ms36w Chiyonoo
• Ms57e Daikisho vs. Sd1e Asonoyama

Since making his sekitori debut in 2018, Hakuyozan has bounced back and forth between Juryo and Makushita, and has already done enough to earn immediate re-promotion. Kitaharima, who took the Aki Makushita yusho, is looking to secure the automatic promotion that comes with a 7-0 record from the Ms1-Ms15 ranks, which would tie the record for most career sekitori promotions with 9. Kotokenryu is a 19-year-old Mongolian prospect from Sadogatake beya who is fighting at his highest career rank. The latest Isegahama prospect, 19-year-old Ms42w Satorufuji, whose career record stands at 27-5, is matched up with Kokonoe veteran Chiyonoo, who’s made a couple of brief Makuuchi appearances in his career. I don’t have anything especially notable to say about the other quarterfinalists. Come back tomorrow to see how this played out.

There was little action in the Ms1-Ms5 promotion zone, so check out yesterday’s post for where things stand. Tomorrow’s action should go some way toward sorting out who’ll be getting a salary in January.

I previewed the Makushita yusho and promotion races yesterday. There were some consequential bouts on Day 7, so here’s a brief update. In the undefeated bracket, Ms1e Hakuyozan (4-0) easily ran his record against Ms7e Chiyonoumi (3-1) to 13-0 to stay in the yusho race and clinch an immediate return to Juryo. The only other man with a shot at the automatic promotion that comes with a 7-0 record in the top 15 ranks is the September yusho winner, Ms11e Kitaharima (4-0), who still has a chance to earn a record-tying 9th promotion to Juryo. The other two 4-0 rikishi are journeyman Ms21e Narutaki and the latest Isegahama prospect, 19-year-old Ms42w Satorufuji, whose career record stands at 27-5. They will be joined in the quarterfinals by the three rikishi from the six-deep 3-0 group who prevail in their Day 8 bouts (plus the highest-ranked undefeated Sandanme rikishi).

In the Ms1-Ms5 promotion zone, the above-mentioned Hakuyozan is going up, and top Isegahama prospect Ms1w Takerufuji (3-1) is in good shape for a sekitori debut, needing just one more win. Everyone else likely needs to win at least two out of three to have a shot.

In Juryo, 4 men have started to separate themselves from the pack in the race for top-division promotion. They are the recently demoted J1e Aoiyama, J1w Kotoshoho, and J2e Bushozan, all 5-2, and uber-prospect J5e Onosato (6-1), who leads the second-division yusho race.

At the other end of the spectrum, absent J6w Hakuoho, J8e Chiyomaru, and J14w Azumaryu are all set to be demoted to Makushita, and debutant J11e Hitoshi (1-6) will be hard-pressed to find the wins he needs to stay while fighting on one ankle. Also struggling to stay above the demotion line is J14e Chiyosakae (3-4). More updates as the division exchange races unfold.