The quarterfinal bracket is set, with Nishinoryu, Fukuzaki, and Chiyooga joining the 5 quarterfinalists from yesterday. The bouts to determine the 4 semifinalists will take place tomorrow. In terms of the promotion race, Ms3e Otsuji (4-0) is in great shape; the 4 wins he’s already recorded might be enough for an immediate return to Juryo, and one more win should ensure it. Ms8e Nishinoryu’s only shot at promotion is to win out. The other contenders are in the Ms1-Ms5 promotion zone. Both Ms1’s, Kitanowaka and Akua, are 2-2. They must chalk up at least two more wins apiece, which would make Kitanowaka’s promotion certain and Akua’s very likely. Ms2e Dewanoryu (1-3) must win out to have a shot, as do Ms4e Ishizaki (3-2) and Ms5e Kyokukaiyu (2-2), while Ms4w Kotokuzan (3-1) might be able to afford one more loss. Everyone else is out of the running. Kotokuzan visits Juryo tomorrow to fight Kazekeno. Kitanowaka goes head-to-head with Kyokukaiyu, Akua fights Ms7e Satorufuji, and Dewanoryu takes on Ms5w Tochimusashi. Come back tomorrow for updates on the yusho and promotion races.

Sometimes things work out. My concerns yesterday proved unfounded as Ms3e Otsuji won his bout in Juryo against J12w Nabatame. Combined with Ms60TD Gyotoku’s win over Sd3w Kiyota, we should have a straightforward quarterfinal bracket featuring eight 4-0 third-division wrestlers. Five of the participants booked their spots in the quarterfinals today; the other three will be determined tomorrow as shown in the bracket below. With Tenshoho and Yago getting knocked out, Takakento is the only remaining ex-sekitori. The Day 9 quarterfinal bouts will give us four 5-0 semifinalists, who will meet on Day 11 to determine our two 6-0 finalists. The only potential complication left is if these two are Goshima and Fukuzaki, who both hail from Fujishima beya and can’t meet outside of a playoff. But we’ll deal with that scenario if it comes to pass. I’ll update the full quarterfinal bracket and take a first look at the Juryo promotion picture tomorrow.

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.

Welcome to the Makushita yusho race! The format will be familiar to fans of USA college basketball or other sports with single-elimination tournaments. At the start of the basho, the 120 or so third-division rikishi are paired up in rank order. The winners continue on in the yusho bracket. Each round unfolds over two days, with the 7-0 champion usually crowned on Day 13. Disallowed pairings of rikishi from the same heya and other complications can occasionally lead to a playoff, potentially letting one-loss rikishi back into the race. A 6-1 wrestler took the yusho 14 times in the 150 basho since the start of 2000. All 14 were playoffs, with 6 to 9 rikishi taking part. Four additional playoffs during this period paired 7-0 wrestlers.

After 4 days of action, two rounds have been completed, and we have 29 undefeated rikishi. They will be paired up in rank order for round 3, with most bouts already scheduled for Day 5 and a few projected to take place on Day 6. The bracket is below; it is filled out to 32 rikishi by the 3 highest-ranked undefeated Sandanme wrestlers.

There are quite a few notable names in the 2-0 group. Surprisingly, former Ozeki Asanoyama is not one of them after Toseiryu handed him his first loss since his latest comeback started. Also out is Kawazoe, who sadly looked to be severely injured in his Day 3 loss. His heya-mate and fan favorite Enho is still in the running for the 7-0 record that would elevate him to Juryo; he is not on the Day 5 fight card, but his next opponent should be Nishinoryu. Both March Ms60TD debutants, Goshima and Fukuzaki, are still undefeated, as are two of the three May debutants, Gyotoku and Hanaoka (the third Ms60TD, Uruyama, was handed his only loss so far by Hanaoka). We also have former sekitori Takakento, Tenshoho, Daishomaru, and Yago, as well as interesting prospects such as Matsui, Anosho, Tanji, Ikarigata and Ienoshima. I’ll be back with a report on who makes in to the round of 16 in a couple of days!