Hatsu 2024: Day One Highlights

Andy Hatsu 2024 , , ,

After a long wait, sumo is finally back in our lives. On Shonichi we got to reflect on the action of last year and see the new yusho portraits unveiled for Takakeisho and Kirishima. Kirishima was also given with the award for Best Rikishi of the Year, presented by Hochi News. Atamifuji was presented with the Best New Rikishi of the Year, presented by Chunichi Sports.

Makuuchi Bouts

Shimazuumi defeated Aoiyama. Aoiyama’s pull was the more poorly executed of the two. Shimazuumi attempted a pull at the tachiai but Aoiyama pressed forward. Shimazuumi recovered and was able to cycle around the ring. Aoiyama then tried a pull but Shimazuumi drove forward and shoved Aoiyama out of the ring. Yorikiri.

Onosato defeated Bushozan. Another pull?!?! Onosato met Bushozan head on at the tachiai but pulled him down for the quick hatakikomi win. Onosato’s first win in Makuuchi. Shimazuumi will face Bushozan tomorrow.

Takarafuji defeated Tomokaze. Tomokaze’s tsuppari was never powerful enough to really force Takarafuji back. Takarafuji just focused on batting Tomokaze’s arms away. The decisive moment came when Takarafuji grabbed Tomokaze’s arm and pulled him forward while pivoting to the right. This got him in behind Tomokaze where he was able to easily shove him out. Okuridashi. Takarafuji will take on Aoiyama on Day Two.

Kotoshoho defeated Onosho. Another pull? Onosho tried a pull and Kotoshoho tried to press him out. But did Kotoshoho touch down before Onosho was out or dead? Gunbai to Onosho. Mono-ii. The gyoji’s decision was overruled. Kotoshoho’s forward-moving sumo is awarded the win. Oshidashi. Kotoshoho will face Onosato in a rematch of their Juryo yusho battle; Onosho will take on Tomokaze on Day Two.

Churanoumi defeated Endo. Endo made some forward progress with his initial charge but Churanoumi resisted at the bales. From there, his tsuppari was dominant and he was able to drive Endo backwards. At the bales, it was an easy force out. Yorikiri.

Takanosho defeated Myogiryu. Takanosho was the stronger rikishi today. He weathered Myogiryu’s nodowa and pressed forward, forcing Myogiryu back and out. Oshidashi. Takanosho will face Endo. Myogiryu will take on Churanoumi.

Oho defeated Tsurugisho. Tsurugisho fought well and used fierce tsuppari to pressure Oho backwards, even pressuring him to the edge. Survival-mode Oho countered effectively and forced Tsurugisho down with a nice twisting throw. Sukuinage.

Sadanoumi defeated Tamawashi. Strong, forward-moving sumo from Tamawashi. Sadanoumi was able to counter in the same way as Takarafuji. Grab the arm and pull the opponent forward while shifting to the side. Like Takarafuji, Sadanoumi got in behind Tamawashi and forced him out from behind. Okuridashi. Tamawashi will take on Oho. Sadanoumi gets Tsurugisho.

Mitakeumi defeated Meisei. Mitakeumi drove forward while Meisei pulled. Both fell down and out at the same time. A slow decision from the gyoji in favor of Mitakeumi but the shimpan weren’t sure. Mono-ii and the shimpan decide both men fell out at the same time. Torinaoshi. We nearly got the same bout as Meisei tried, again, to let Mitakeumi’s forward momentum take him out. But Mitakeumi kept stayed in this time. He kept Meisei in front and continued to drive forward, eventually pushing Meisei out. Oshidashi.

Hiradoumi defeated Hokuseiho. Hiradoumi was on offense and Hokuseiho was on defense. Hiradoumi charged forward and eventually worked Hokuseiho out over the edge. Yorikiri. Hiradoumi will face Mitakeumi in the battle of the Umis. Hokuseiho will face Meisei as he tries to work out his arboreal-brand of sumo.

Asanoyama defeated Ichiyamamoto. Ichiyamamoto layed into Asanoyama with his tsuppari but Asanoyama was too strong. Asanoyama weathered the blows and drove forward, pushing Ichiyamamoto out. Oshidashi.

Halftime

Kinbozan defeated Shonannoumi. Kinbozan’s forward-moving sumo dominated this bout. He avoided Shonannoumi’s twisting and turning. He persevered through the kotenage arm bar. Through it all, Kinbozan kept his opponent in front and charged forward. That’s good sumo. Yorikiri. Asanoyama vs Kinbozan will be a highlight. Shonannoumi will try to claim his first win against Ichiyamamoto.

Nishikigi defeated Ryuden. Ryuden blasted Nishikigi at the tachiai with a powerful headbutt. Nishikigi absorbed it and pressed forward, throwing Ryuden off the dohyo. Sukuinage.

Shodai defeated Tobizaru. Shodai is staying in this and using forward-moving sumo. I’m shocked. He tried a kotenage but ultimately he won by corralling Tobizaru and charging forward, blasting Tobizaru from the surface of the dohyo. Oshidashi. Nishikigi vs Tobizaru will be entertaining. Ryuden gets the Modfather, Shodai.

Sanyaku

Takayasu defeated Hokutofuji. Takayasu shrugged off Hokutofuji’s attempt to grab his arm and pull him back. Instead, he drove forward and forced Hokutofuji out. Oshidashi.

Daieisho defeated Gonoyama. Powerful tsuppari from Daieisho drove Gonoyama back and a quick thrust from the side forced Gonoyama to the floor. I am eager to see if his powerful brand of sumo takes him deep into the yusho race this tournament. Tsukiotoshi.

Kotonowaka defeated Abi. Abi-zumo is difficult when the opponent is in your face. He needs a bit of separation and had that at the tachiai. He fired everything he had at Kotonowaka. Kotonowaka countered by stepping up and stayed right up in Abi’s mug, forcing him back and eventually over the edge. Oshidashi. Kotonowaka will face Gonoyama and Abi will face Daieisho on Day 2.

Takakeisho defeated Midorifuji. Midorifuji was too eager and jumped early. Matta and they reset. Takakeisho knows what’s up. Henka! Regular readers of the blog will note that matta sometimes foreshadow side-steps. It’s like an declaration of “I’m coming for you, I’m just so eager!” Takakeisho wasn’t fooled. He held back on his initial charge, rotated, and pushed Midorifuji out, easily. Oshidashi.

Hoshoryu defeated Atamifuji. Hoshoryu’s left arm battled Atamifuji’s right to keep Atamifuji from wrapping up that belt. Hoshoryu used his right arm grip to try to throw Atamifuji. While Atamifuji fought to stay upright, Hoshoryu forced him to the bales and out. Yorikiri. Atamifuji will try to recover from this loss to take on Takakeisho tomorrow. Hoshoryu will get Midorifuji.

Kirishima defeated Wakamotoharu. Quick Slapdown. Hikiotoshi. Kirishima will battle Takayasu.

Terunofuji defeated Ura. Terunofuji locked in on Ura’s arm and spun him around the ring like a little toy. Ura clawed at Terunofuji in terror as the Kaiju threatened to rip his arm off. Suddenly, he then released and let Ura’s momentum carry him out. I think “flung” is the correct verb to use here. Oshidashi? I don’t think I’ve ever seen an oshidashi where the winner is in the center of the ring, and the propelling force was centripital rather than an old-fashioned mechanical push. Terunofuji will face Wakamotoharu and Ura’s arm will be safe with Hokutofuji.

Wrap-up

The awards ceremonies and dohyo-iri — which finally included a Yokozuna dohyo-iri — built up a sense of hype going into the first few bouts. That hype was quickly flushed down the toilet with the terrible quality of sumo in the first half of Makuuchi bouts. A significant number of rikishi came into Day One prepared to run away. Thankfully, they were for the most part eliminated by alert competitors who were keen to win by actually taking on their opponents. Unfortunately, this included Onosato’s first makuuchi bout.

The Sadanoumi/Tamawashi bout, as well as Ichiyamamoto/Asanoyama, were welcome reminders that some of these guys are actually here to fight. Sadanoumi found a way to slip away from Tamawashi’s assault and won via my favorite kimarite, the almost comical Okuridashi. Ichiyamamoto might be punching above his weight at this level but he is always ready to bring it. Asanoyama is just on his path back to Ozeki.

Our spirits were again lifted in the second half of action with several great bouts, culminating in highly competitive and entertaining fights from the Sanyaku. The difference might be that these guys know they are competing for a yusho. Is this a sign that the era of the Hiramaku champion or the Hiramaku challenger is over? It just felt that even within the sanyaku, we have developed a separation…and I am not talking about how Terunofuji nearly separated Ura from his arm. If the Sekiwake and Ozeki — and Yokozuna — stay healthy, there will be a tremendous brawl to win it all in two weeks’ time. I am so eager to see it.

Winter News Update: Hatsu 2024 Prep

Andy Aki Basho 2022

A few things to note as we gallop headlong into January 2024.

Dohyo Construction Wraps-Up

Dohyo Construction

I always enjoy the week before a tournament starts. Of late, the Nihon Sumo Kyokai (aka, Japan Sumo Association) has been sharing pictures and video of the dohyo preparations in the days leading up to the tournament. Yobidashi are busy as worker bees as they haul wheelbarrows full of a certain kind of clay called, arakita tsuchi, tamp it smooth, and then carve out hollows for the tawara, the steps, and the spittoons. This process culminates in the dohyo matsuri, a ritual performed the night before the tournament, to consecrate the dohyo.

This process has already been performed at each stable at the start of the new year, in their own preparations for the upcoming tournament. However, the lower ranking rikishi are usually employed with the task of digging up the old dohyo and rebuilding the new one. If you have ever wanted to see this process, I have shared the Kyokai’s photos above. You can see that the tawara are filled with the same dirt and then they’re usually pounded into shape with beer bottles. If University sumo had been a thing here in the US, I would have totally signed up to do this each semester. A fun way to get some credits toward that engineering degree.

Shin Deshi Physicals

Another event during the lead-up to a tournament is the new recruit physical exams. This is the first tournament under the new, eased height and weight regulations. The regulations have shifted over the years and have led to some rikishi employing rather extreme measures to make the cut. Mainoumi, for example, had silicone implanted in the top of his head to make the cut. (Move over, Brazilian Butt Lift, we’ve got the Sumida Scalp Augmentation.) The new relaxed rules should do away with the unnecessary shenanigans and just make sure a rikishi is healthy enough to participate.

This tournament, we have eleven rikishi making their debuts. As soon as I have the full list, I will share it. One particular recruit to Miyagino-beya captured quite a bit of press attention. He came in at 192 cm tall has a good deal of amateur sumo experience in school in Japan, and comes from a line of Mongolian sumo champions. I had hoped the full list of recruits, and all of their shikona, would be available by the time I published this but it isn’t up yet. With the Day One torikumi out, I decided to publish now and send out an update later — possibly early next week when maezumo action starts.

YDC Open Practice

The Yokozuna Deliberation Council hosted its open practice and the status of the Yokozuna’s fitness was certainly the focus. Video highlights featured Terunofuji shoving Ozeki Kirishima and Takakeisho in heated practice bouts. Isegahama-oyakata confirmed that Terunofuji is a go to participate in the upcoming tournament and we look forward to seeing the champ back in action.

Terunofuji only completed one tournament in 2023…which he won in rather dominant fashion. However, he has been unable to participate in the last few tournaments so there has been some quiet murmuring of retirement. That will likely break out into open discussion if Terunofuji is unable to finish this tournament.

Promotion Watch

Terunofuji’s participation will clearly factor in to the dueling promotion storylines here. We have Kyushu’s champion, Kirishima, looking at Yokozuna promotion. Consecutive yusho will lock it for the Ozeki but it will be much more meaningful with the presence of Terunofuji. If he manages to defeat Terunofuji, it could be a symbolic passing of the baton to a champion who will hopefully be able to have a more active reign and bring back the Yokozuna dohyo-iri which has been a missing element from recent tournaments.

Fans also have to watch Kotonowaka’s progress during Hatsu. If he features in the yusho race he may also earn promotion to the Ozeki rank. The youngster will need 13 wins to hit that 33-win benchmark, commonly cited in the hunt for Ozeki promotion. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but a good guideline for when we need to get excited and when we can chill. If we had another 12-win yusho here, for example, it would be pretty difficult to deny him the rank, wouldn’t you think? (With three Ozeki and a Yokozuna all participating, though, I have a good feeling that the eventual winner will need 14 wins, though.)

Young Guns in the (Bath) House

Onosato charges into Makuuchi and looks to challenge Atamifuji and Gonoyama for the best up-and-comer. Meanwhile, Shirokuma is in Juryo and will see his first action under his new Shikona. Hakuoho is primed and ready to go. He’s listed on the torikumi to take on former Makuuchi wrestler Yago.

Speaking of Makushita 5, we have late-breaking news that Hakuoho’s partner at the rank, Kiryuko, saved the life of an elderly man in medical distress at a public bath. Along with his stablemate, Kokiryu, the two jumped into action. Kiryuko learned how to do CPR about a year ago with his Tatsunami-beya stablemates. Surely this is a sign that the two will have a fantastic hatsu! (Don’t mind him, Andy is known to clutch at straws at times. But his straws are made of steel.)

I’ll be back later this evening with a look at the matchups from Day One.

Banzuke Crystal Ball Postmortem

lksumo Aki Basho 2022

This is a bit late due to the holidays, but I thought I’d briefly review my banzuke forecast. Thanks to Andy for filling in and for the kinds words! The Crystal Ball really lived up to its name this time around: of the 42 Makuuchi wrestlers, my guess had 40 (!!) at the correct rank, with 31 placed exactly at the right rank and side. My only big miss was giving some leniency to M1e Asanoyama (4-4-7) by placing him at M6w, ahead of Shonannoumi and Ichiyamamoto; the banzuke committee placed him behind both, which is the correct choice if you go purely by rank and record. Asanoyama is the only rikishi I missed by one full rank, and Shonannoumi was the only other rikisihi I didn’t have at the correct rank (7e instead of 6w). My other misses were limited to 4 East-West swaps, two of which I consider completely unpredictable, and two of which I called out in my prediction post (quoted in italics):

  • I may not have been lenient enough to Wakamotoharu: Correct. He’s at M1e, ahead of Atamifuji.
  • I went against the math and moved Endo ahead of Churanoumi, which could well turn out to be a mistake: Indeed. If I had stuck with the math here and for Asanoyama, I would have tied for the winning score in Guess The Banzuke. Frustrating, since I tried to anticipate how the banzuke committee might favor higher-ranked rikishi, instead of sticking with my own quantitative approach.

One swap that I don’t think most people anticipated was S2e Kotonowaka (11-4) leapfrogging S1e Daieisho (9-6) for the top Sekiwake rank, something the committee hasn’t been doing since 2011. The best guess here, courtesy of Ryan from Grand Sumo Breakdown, is that the deciding factor was Kotonowaka’s jun-yusho. The other switch no one saw coming was the placement of Kotoshoho, who is coming up from Juryo, ahead of M5e Onosho (3-12), who not only didn’t get any leniency despite his high rank, but got bumped down half a rank more than the math called for in favor of someone being promoted from the second division.

Now on to the basho, which promises to be an exciting one across the board, especially if some of the recently injured rikishi (Terunofuji, Asanoyama, Hakuoho…) are back and in fighting form. I might do a follow-up post on what I’m most excited about across the different divisions. Given the quirks of the calendar, the January tournament starts on the latest possible day, January 14, so we have some time to cover the top storylines!

Winter Update 2023.12.29

Andy Hatsu 2024, Heya, Stables (Heya)

There are a couple more news-worthy items which have come up that I must share with you all, both related to heya. First up, Kakuryu has secured a kabu and will branch out with his own, independent stable: Otowayama. He takes Tokotsuru, the top-ranked Tokoyama (hairdresser) along with a couple of deshi, Hagane and his new recruit. Hagane is the only banzuke-ranked wrestler currently listed on the heya profile. This is fantastic news as the search has been a running drama for a few years with the 5-year shot clock running down.

Secondly, former Homasho (Tatsutagawa-oyakata) has officially been named acting stablemaster at Shikoroyama-beya, following the passing of Terao. Both he and Kakuryu…oops, Otowayama… will be gearing up in earnest for Hatsubasho once the New Year holidays calm down.

These machinations are often difficult for me to track in my head, so I am in the process of building a visualization based on the Kabu history pages at the SumoDB. There are a bunch of ways to look at these and I’m starting off with several different Gantt-style charts to look at the changes through time.

This first one that I would like to share is a list of all kabu, with color indicating whether the kabu holder is the stable master or a coach within another heya. What becomes apparent is that several names have long histories of being independent (Izutsu, Nishonoseki, Sadogatake) while others do not, like Otowayama and Ikazuchi. Homasho’s Tatsutagawa kabu has had a bit of a history as an independent heya but not as storied as Isegahama, obviously.

One thing that I would like to do is to tie the heya to exactly how storied or successful they were (have been). I’m trying to work out a defensible metric that I can use to gage such success through time. Maybe with the number of sanyaku wrestlers or top division wrestlers? It’s a tough call. Would you say that Oitekaze tops Isegahama as the most dominant heya, currently? Another tab on the visual already shows the holder by rank, as pictured on the left. Yokozuna are yellow, with lower ranking wrestlers darker shades of green. It’s interesting to see that according to the SumoDB data, gyoji had owned some of the kabu in the past.

I’ve got a draft version of another visualization that tracks the kabu by holder so that we can see how often some of these swap hands. Kobo, one of Hakuho’s former stablemates at Miyagino-beya, traded five different kabu during the ten years he remained a coach. Sanoyama is another kabu which seems to trade hands frequently, being held by Konishiki, Chiyotaikai, and recently Satoyama. However, with that visualization, there are so many holders and so few colors that it looks a bit crazy. Once I figure out a clean way to pair that down, it will be more helpful.