Kyushu Basho 2022

Takayasu & Wishing Upon a Star

Josh K Abi (阿炎), Kyushu Basho 2022, Takakeishō (貴景勝), Takayasu (高安)

Going into the historic three way playoff on senshuraku, I proudly told a friend I didn’t think I could feel disappointed, because I would be happy for any of the three contestants to win this yusho for different reasons.

In a period of massively disappointing Ozeki, a yusho for Takakeisho would have put him on a certain rope run in January. This will likely be the case anyway after an “equivalent” result in the latest tournament, though perhaps the challenge will be approached by onlookers with tempered expectations. It also would have been good to see the sport add another serial winner to its ranks, with the Tokiwayama-beya star looking to notch his third title in his prime at age 26.

A win for some-time bad-boy Abi would have been a championship for a personal favourite, a rikishi I’ve met and someone I’ve loved to watch for years now. It could be a real fillip for Shikoroyama beya, with news of the much loved stablemaster’s recent ill health, and Abi having since showed remorse for the off-dohyo troubles he caused.

But, I must confess, there was only one rikishi whose performances got me out of my seat during this basho, and only one guy I was actively cheering as a result of those efforts, and that was Takayasu.

After Hoshoryu’s second loss, I was sure this was Takayasu’s title. I’ll weigh in with analysis on Hoshoryu at a later date – but once Takayasu regained the lead, I didn’t think the trophy was going anywhere else. I was convinced it was Takayasu’s destiny to win this yusho. I punched the air after his wins against Ryuden, Oho, and Kagayaki.

What a story it could have been for the longtime bridesmaid to finally get his hands on the Emperor’s Cup! Sumo’s Susan Lucci seemed never before more likely than this tournament to make it happen, and yet here he was again on senshuraku, watching it slip away.

I tend to agree with the analysis from our friend lksumo that Takayasu could (or even should) be fast tracked to Sekiwake in order to set up a potential Ozeki run in January. It would be an uncommon scenario, but sumo could be without an Ozeki altogether should Shodai continue to falter and Takakeisho consolidate his recent fine form into a Hatsu basho title. However, I accept it may be more likely that the Banzuke committee places Takayasu at Komusubi and forces him to prove his fitness, consistency and excellence over an additional basho.

Beyond the emotional aspects, I simply felt Takayasu performed the best sumo during this tournament. Hoshoryu has his army of fans and he had a few absolutely outstanding victories (especially over the middle weekend), but in the end I think he can be happy with a special prize. While Takayasu waned slightly down the stretch, he largely brought a highly motivated, highly genki, high octane style of sumo to the tournament and his performances simply made the basho better.

With that in context, it was extremely disappointing to see the manner of his defeat to Abi in the playoff. Sumo fans will debate the approach that Abi took to the match, but the immediate question mark over Takayasu in the aftermath was not his shot at a championship but rather if he had been concussed or could stand up following the bout. This was a person who, hours before, had been the presumptive favourite to lift the silverware, and it wasn’t even clear in the moments following his playoff loss whether he could, on his own two feet, lift himself.

In some respects, it is merciful that Abi defeated Takakeisho to lift the Emperor’s Cup. Without being drawn into a debate over the content of the foregoing sumo, it did not feel that it could be right, had Takakeisho won, to see Takayasu face the indignity of having to mount the dohyo to contest another match when he was apparently barely in a condition to walk. Putting totally to one side the holder of the title, it would not have been the send off Takayasu deserved after a tournament of such poise and character, where he showed his ability to rebound from September’s yusho loss to Tamawashi.

Takayasu has been criticised and at times rightfully so for his mental approach to must-win matches. His fitness record has been picked over as one of the Ozeki to have had a mixed record of success (albeit much better than Shodai or Mitakeumi or Tochinoshin) at the rank in recent years. SumoForum stats heads have already noted that Takayasu is now one jun-yusho short of the all time record for those who never won a yusho. And that remarkable notation does not of course recognise additional tournaments like 2021 Haru, where he held a 2 win lead over the eventual champion going into the final stretch only to cough it up and finish third. It’s a double edged sword: he’s been consistently better than most when it comes to being in the title conversation, but never quite good enough to ever finish the job.

However, he has showed the spirit of a warrior and he has encapsulated, in the later years of his career, the example of how a rikishi should fight back to claim his place at the top table. He was gracious in defeat to Tamawashi in September. He may be less so after a yusho defeat that was likely even more devastating (at least on a level with this year’s earlier capitulation to Wakatakakage, if not more so because of the manner of the playoff defeat), but sumo will be better for his ability to pick himself up once again and have another go in January. 

How privileged we would be to witness that. After all, if your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. Takayasu Ganbare.

Yutakayama Retires from Sumo

Josh K Kyushu Basho 2022, Yutakayama ,

In somewhat of a surprise announcement, the Sumo Association announced today that Juryo rikishi Yutakayama of Tokitsukaze beya has decided to retire.

A veteran of six and a half years in the sport at professional level, Yutakayama will be well known to readers of Tachiai for his significant presence in the top division over the past several years.

Yutakayama burst onto the scene as a college recruit in 2016, arriving as a Sandanme tsukedashi on account of his collegiate achievements alongside future Ozeki Asanoyama. Then named Oyanagi (his last name), it looked at the outset of his career that the powerful pusher-thruster could provide a foil to Asanoyama’s (also then fighting under his real name Ishibashi) yotsu-zumo techniques.

Indeed, Yutakayama made swift work of the lower divisions and arrived in Makuuchi in just his 8th tournament. Upon arrival, he took a very notable shikona, reflective of the hopes pinned on him with respect to the huge achievements of other Yutakayamas of Tokitsukaze beya of generations past. As a prospect, his abilities were easy to dream on: a slew of oshi-zumo enthusiasts including Onosho and Takakeisho also arrived in the top division in 2017, but Yutakayama’s greater physicality marked him out as a special talent and someone who may rise quickly to challenge those in the joi and san’yaku ranks.

After a stop-start beginning to his top division tenure in which he yo-yo’d between the divisions, Yutakayama gained his footing in the upper tier of sumo. At 2018’s Nagoya basho he achieved his finest performance, coming runner-up to yusho winner Mitakeumi by a single loss at 12-3, and also notching the only special prize of his career. A tour de force performance in total, the basho was punctuated by Yutakayama’s Day 14 win against Ozeki Takayasu in their first ever meeting, and bettered the following day on senshuraku by a stunning rally against the champion Mitakeumi. Yutakayama came back twice from the bales, defeating the star of the tournament with a hooking inner thigh throw which he deployed at the third attempt in a battle and manner of victory that was not typical of his sumo style.

However, injuries were to prove too much for Yutakayama to manage, and twice sapped his runs to the joi. He never made it to san’yaku, topping out at Maegashira 1, and suffering heavy losing records on his trips to the uppermost heights of the rank and file. While it seemed his infusion into the top division would provide a challenge to Shodai’s position as top dog at Tokitsukaze beya, we never got to see Yutakayama in a position to display his abilities consistently at the upper end of the division due to the undoubted toll that his injuries took on his ability to commit power to his oshi-zumo skill set. His intai at the age of 29 is perhaps a reflection of knowing that the game was up, as he looked overmatched even in the lower reaches of Makuuchi in recent years, and most recently suffered a heavy double digit makekoshi in Juryo in Fukuoka.

While his departure feels premature, for many sumo fans it will feel difficult to take simply because it felt like it wasn’t that long ago that he could have been projected as a force in the sport. I remember tracking him as a prospect and while it’s one feeling to see a long-time top division star or personal favourite leave the sport for blue-jacketed security detail, it’s another thing to see a top talent who we can remember in a chon-mage – or even zanbara – departing before his time might otherwise have come. Indeed, the Sumo Association normally will reference as part of the intai announcement whether a retiring sekitori has taken up an elder name, and while Yutakayama qualified for a kabu on account of the duration of his service, we can infer that he will not be staying in the organisation and will be leaving sumo entirely.

In the immediate future, with interest to banzuke prognosticators, Yutakayama’s intai and the swift announcement following the basho and ahead of the banzuke meeting will open an additional place in Juryo for the 2023 Hatsu basho. My prediction is that Ms5 Hakuyozan will take his place, although I will defer to our own lksumo for how this impacts his already comprehensive analysis of the January banzuke.

An announcement as to Yutakayama’s future was not immediately given but we can expect more details in the coming days. Whatever it may entail, we wish the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Tokitsukaze-beya alum the best of luck in his “second life!”

Ozekipocalypse Now?

lksumo Kyushu Basho 2022, Mitakeumi(御嶽海), Shōdai (正代直也), Takakeishō (貴景勝), Terunofuji (照ノ富士), Wakatakakage

The photo above harkens back to the days, no so long ago, when sumo’s second-highest rank was stocked with multiple strong wrestlers. We also had Yokozuna above them on the banzuke. But the upper ranks have been dwindling ever since Asanoyama got suspended, getting bolstered only briefly by Mitakeumi’s promotion.

As Thomas laid out in his great post, we need at least two Ozeki and/or Yokozuna on the banzuke to convene a honbasho. No one is quite sure what would happen if the number dropped below this, and we probably don’t want to find out, but we are getting perilously close. For the moment, one spot is accounted for by Yokozuna Terunofuji, and we can only hope that his recent knee surgery will significantly extend his career. Ozeki Takakeisho (6-3) has been mostly solid, although he’s had his own injury issues. These two may very soon be the only rikishi standing between us and the Ozekipocalypse. For the record, the number has gotten this low exactly once in modern history, for a single basho in January of 1993.

Six days remain in the Kyushu basho, and our best bet to avoid matching this low is … Shodai? After a decent start, the kadoban Ozeki lost his last two bouts in a fairly listless fashion to drop to 4-5, and needs to finish 4-2 or better to avoid dropping to Sekiwake. Desperation-mode Shodai may yet pull another rabbit out of his hat, but with his highest-ranked opponents left to fight, the odds aren’t great.

Long as those odds may be, they are better than those that Mitakeumi (4-5) will go 6-0 to regain Ozeki, or that Wakatakakage (5-4) will win out and get promoted after a 3-basho run of 8-11-11. At this point, Hoshoryu might actually be a better bet to go 14-1 and get promoted off of 9-8-14 Y, but we are really in the realm of fantasy here. Any cavalry in the form of these two or the likes of Kiribayama, Takayasu, or (reaching here) Tobizaru won’t arrive before March or May at the earliest.

At this point, the likeliest scenario is that Hatsu will feature Terunofuji at the rare Yokozuna/Ozeki rank, with Takakeisho the sole Ozeki, Shodai seeking to rebound with 10 wins, and all eyes on who the next Ozeki might be.

Chiyotairyu Retires From Sumo

Bruce H Chiyotairyū (千代大龍), Kyushu Basho 2022, Retirement

In a surprising announcement early Sunday, Kokonoe stalwart Chiyotairyu announced that he is retiring from competition, effective immediately. His day 8 opponent, Kagayaki, will get the default win.

Chiyotairyu’s performance had been fading for the past year, with 5 make-koshi out of the past 6 tournaments. His rank had stayed in the Maegashira 10 to 15 range since November of 2019. To this sumo fan, it was clear that a good portion of his characteristic cannon-ball tachiai was not to be seen again, and that he was nursing some chronic injury.

At one time ranked as high as Komusubi, he made his top division debut in 2012 after starting sumo as a Makushita 15 tsukidashi.