As noted yesterday, this was the quarterfinal bracket:
Super-prospect Asahifuji had perhaps his toughest match yet against Fudoho, just prevailing at the edge by shitatenage to counter his oppenent’s uwatenage attempt. He will next face Omori “the handsome”, who nonchalantly swatted aside Tatsubayama after the latter engaged in a pre-bout stare-down worthy of Hoshoryu. Veteran Akua defeated Anhibiki and will next fight Tanji, who came out ahead in a spirited battle with Ikarigata. If Omori can stop Asahifuji, we’ll have a straightforward title decider on day 13 between him and the winner of Akua vs. Tanji. Otherwise, that winner will be matched with the best available 5-1 opponent, opening the door to a big playoff.
By remaining undefeated, Tanji also keeps alive his hopes of Juryo promotion should he finish 7-0 in the extended promotion zone. Here are how things stand in the regular promotion zone:
Takakento, Shimanoumi, and injured Wakanofuji are already out of the running, and no one else is exactly breaking down the door, though Arashifuji (formerly Matsui) is currently in pole position. We’ll have a better sense of the exchange picture after the next round of bouts.
It’s day 8, which means the first 4 rounds of lower-division bouts have been completed. Here’s the day 9 bracket for the quarterfinals:
We get our first look at super-prospect Asahifuji, who visits from Sandanme to fill out the bracket. He fights Fudoho rather than lowest-ranked Omori in order to break up the Tokitsukaze pair of Fudoho and Tatsubayama. Asahifuji is the Isegahama Mongolian who trained in the heya for several years before his debut while he waited for ex-Terunofuji to retire and open up the foreigner slot. He was very highly touted, and hasn’t disappointed to this point, taking the Jonokuchi and Jonidan yusho and running his career record to 18-0 (not counting two playoff wins). His opponent debuted at Ms60TD in March with a 4-3 record.
Tatsubayama is another Mongolian who debuted last July, took the Jonokuchi yusho, and has a 27-3 record (with two absences). He’ll fight newcomer Omori, aka “the hunk.” The third bout pairs Anhibiki, who also took the Jonokuchi in his first basho, in January 2024, but has slowed down since, with former maegashira, salt thrower, and bow twirler Akua, the only grizzled veteran to make the quarterfinals. Finally, we get Tanji, who started 4 years ago but is still only 19, against Ikarigata, Fujinokawa’s more highly touted brother. It promises to be a good day of action tomorrow!
I know this is late, but I wanted to post my official guess for the record before the banzuke is released tomorrow. Please see this post for some of the reasoning.
Congratulations to Kirishima on his third yusho and impending Ozeki re-promotion. Let’s take a look at how the Haru results might reshuffle the rankings for Natsu.
Counting Kirishima, we’ll have two Yokozuna and three Ozeki, one of whom, Aonishiki (a shocking 7-8), will need a winning record in May to hold his rank. Sanyaku will expand to 9, and M17w will disappear. Two sanyaku slots will be vacated by Kirishima going up and K1e Wakamotoharu (a disastrous 3-12) going down. K1w Atamifuji (9-6) looks set to follow his Komusubi debut with a Sekiwake debut. The other three spots should be filled by S1w Takayasu (7-8), whose last-day win over Atamifuji should be just enough to stay in the named ranks, M1e Wakatakakage (8-6-1), and M5w Kotoshoho (11-4), although there’s room for debate about how to order them. M2e Fujinokawa (8-7) and M4w Takanosho (9-6) just miss out and should occupy M1. With a 9-man sanyaku, the joi line only goes down to M4e, and I expect these ranks to be filled out by Yoshinofuji, Ichiyamamoto, Hiradoumi, Oho and Daieisho, although M10e Gonoyama (10-5) could also be in the conversation.
Key question marks for the rest of the maegashira ranks are how far Wakamotoharu and M2w Churanoumi (4-11) will drop, as well as how far the rikishi promoted from Juryo will rise. Speaking of which, there are only two clear promotion cases: J1e Ryuden (9-6) and J3w Wakanosho (11-4), who is set to make his top-division debut. It looks like J3e Daiseizan (8-7) will suffer his 5th straight narrow miss. So two rikishi will drop from Makuuchi. The first is absent Midorifuji, though we are more concerned about his health. The second will likely be M6w Onokatsu (1-6-8), whose one win (by hansoku, no less!) probably won’t be enough to save him. The only other candidate is newcomer M17e Fujiryoga (7-8), who will be lucky to hang on to the bottom of the banzuke by the skin of his teeth.
There’s more movement between Juryo and Makushita. Dropping out of the sekitori ranks are J12w Tsurugisho (0-15), whom I fully expect to call it quits, J13e Shimazuumi (2-9-4), J14w Kotokuzan (4-11), and newcomer J13w Fujitensei (5-10), the Ms60TD high-schooler who frequently looked overmatched at this level. Taking their places will be Ms2w Okaryu (6-1), Ms2e Hakuyozan (5-2), Ms1w Tochitaikai (4-3), and, saving the best for last, Ms4e Enho (5-2)! If this is correct, Enho will have reached his longstanding goal of 30 sekitori basho, qualifying him for elder status should he wish to remain in the sumo association after he hangs up his mawashi.
We’ll find out about the Juryo promotions in a couple of days, but the rest of the rankings won’t come out until April 27. In the meantime, let me know what you think in the comments.
