banzuke

Final Weekly Update of 2024

Andy Jungyo (巡業), Konishiki, Retirement, Sumo Topics , ,

This week’s update will be a short one. As I mentioned over on Blue Sky, though the Kyushu tournament is over and Hatsu won’t begin for a few weeks, there is always a lot going on in the Sumo World. I hope that platform will offer another interesting and active forum for fans to enjoy and share sumo-related content, discussion and analysis.

At this point, there aren’t a whole lot of active accounts on there so I created a “Starter Pack” with the goal of featuring strictly sumo-related content. Hopefully, one day there will be an ongoing, sustained conversation there.  Currently, we’re on there as @tachiai.bsky.social, so if you provide sumo-related content and are active on the platform, let us know and we’ll get you added to the Starter Pack. We’re also intrigued by the algorithm flexibility and some of the other features.

I do not think traffic will really take off there until the stables and the Sumo Association have accounts there. When they’re producing content for Blue Sky, we’ll see it take off. The big venue still seems to be YouTube, and here’s the Sumo Prime Time wrap-up video for 2024.

End of Winter Jungyo

This year’s winter tour wrapped up in Okinawa in front of a large crowd of more than 10,000 sumo fans. Sumo on the Jumbo-tron! This event featured a makuuchi elimination-style tournament. The final bout featured Hoshoryu taking on Oho to win the Okinawa Basho.

Banzuke Release

As Leonid mentioned in his Crystal Ball post, the banzuke was released early this past week and as usual, there are several items of note. Tamashoho (Kataonami-beya) was promoted to Makuuchi for the first time. Several wrestlers were re-promoted, including Kinbozan, Hakuoho, Kitanowaka and someone’s favorite bullet-train, Kagayaki. Hakuoho’s return has been eagerly anticipated given his obvious talent.

Konishiki Recovery

News from Tokyo that Konishiki had been hospitalized last month in kidney failure. His wife, Chie, donated her kidney and after a successful operation, Konishiki is in recovery. He has been spending precious time over the holidays with the youngsters at Musashigawa-beya. We hope to see him again at a Sumo+Sushi event in the future.

SumoDB Rollercoaster

Tachiai is forever indebted to the sumo database (sumodb.sumogames.de). At last check, the site was back up. I had reburied some new squid that I buried under my computer is seasoned with salt, sake, and some ground kachi-kuri. Hopefully this one will do the job.

The data that’s there and the interface are such valuable contributions to sumo-fandom. Whether you’re new to sumo and hope to learn more about the active rikishi, or you’re an old hand trying to tweak your GTB methodology, or a wannabe journalist pulling up stats for a retired rikishi, that site is invaluable. Unfortunately, it had been down for quite a bit over the past few weeks. As hours turn into days, many of us begin to fear the worst.

Onosho and Kyokutaisei Retired

As of our last post, Onosho (Onomatsu) and Kyokutaisei (Oshima) announced their retirements.

Onosho’s announcement was sudden as he is only 28 years old, but expected as he had been injured. He was an early rival of Takakeisho and a founding member of Bruce’s “Tadpole” cohort. He rose quickly through the lower divisions and established himself in the top division, peaking at Komusubi. But knee injuries really hampered his ability to stay among the joi-jin and press for higher rank.

He spent much of last year in the upper half of the rank-and-file but his final fall was rather swift. He was ranked Maegashira 5 in Nagoya but destined for Makushita by Christmas, so he decided to retire. He will not stay with the Kyokai but we are eager to see what he plans to do in his second career.

Kyokutaisei had a lengthy stint as sekitori, mostly in Juryo. He briefly did break through the tatami ceiling and rise into the top division, even earning a fighting spirit prize. However, he had spent the last few years in Makushita and was destined to fall back into Sandanme for Hatsu Basho. Ranked at Sandanme 20 to start 2025, Kyokutaisei decided to retire. He will not be staying with the Kyokai, either.

Wrap-up

My apologies for the rather perfunctory write-up. It’s been a crazy week. Next year, I hope Tachiai can host a Bonenkai. Maybe we’ll do it over Zoom or Teams or something so we can all forget the year, wherever we are. We are really excited for 2025 but I have a feeling 2026 will be even better!

Nagoya 2024 Banzuke Released

Andy Nagoya 2024 ,

The Kyokai released the ranking sheet for this month’s tournament. Onosato is ranked at Sekiwake for the first time and Hiradoumi is shin-komusubi. Daieisho returns to the rank. Five wrestlers were promoted back into the top division from Juryo: Wakatakakage, Endo, Choyoshoma, Kagayaki, and Bushozan. Nishikifuji survives at M17E. Asanoyama fell to Maegashira 12 East. If he is healthy, he could clean up.

Further up the banzuke the joi was an interesting puzzle. As things worked out, though, there are a lot of veterans who should make for quite the interesting set of match-ups. Meisei, Atamifuji, Wakamotoharu, Mitakeumi, Takayasu, Gonoyama, Tobizaru and Ura? Mitakeumi is probably the only soft opponent there. Ura takes a battering but is certainly dangerous for upsets. Gonoyama and Atamifuji are still rather new up here but are solid. This might spell trouble for the guys up in sanyaku, especially Terunofuji, Kirishima and the Ozeki.

The focus of the early part of the tournament will undoubtedly be Onosato. Can he manage another tournament of double-digit wins? Can he beat Hoshoryu? He is certainly on everyone’s radar for an Ozeki run. If he starts out strong, oh boy.

In Juryo, the three guys who were promoted occupy the bottom positions with Hakuoho right above. These guys will need strong tournaments to save their sekitori status. Meanwhile, Onokatsu is one rank away from the top division and Takerufuji is at Juryo 2 East. Given the difficulties Tokihayate had, we can probably look at Onokatsu and Takerufuji as early favorites for promotion to the Makuuchi in September. The biggest question mark being Takerufuji’s ankle.

Way down in Jonokuchi, Enho will likely battle to remain in the sport. He has been practicing lately so I bet the plan is for him to fight the full, seven-day schedule rather than do the 1-bout trick to avoid going banzuke-gai. Definitely my early favorite for the Jonokuchi yusho!

Natsu 2024 Banzuke Review

Andy Natsu 2024, Natsu Basho , ,

On Tuesday, the Sumo Kyokai released the banzuke for the upcoming May tournament. So, what are the big highlights? Starting at the top of the banzuke, Kotonowaka is now, Kotozakura. Ozeki Kirishima is kadoban. Wakamotoharu stays at Sekiwake for the second consecutive basho. He’s joined at the rank by Abi (on the West), who returns to the rank for the first time since 2022 — and the first time since his yusho. Asanoyama and Onosato were both promoted to Komusubi, for Onosato it’s his first time in sanyaku. Takerufuji jumped up to Maegashira 6 East after his yusho.

We have two new promotions to the top division with Oshoma from Naruto-beya at M14W and Tokihayate (Tokitsukaze-beya) at M15E. Mitoryu, Tomokaze, and Takarafuji return to Makuuchi. Onokatsu, Tochitaikai (Tsukahara), and Kazekeno were promoted to Juryo for the first time while Chiyomaru returns.

SumoDB Banzuke

In a six-basho career, Onosato’s got the second fastest sanyaku promotion after Ichinojo’s lightning fast 5-basho trip to Sekiwake. From his top division debut, he hits sanyaku after two tournaments. That’s in the realm of guys like Asashoryu, Ryogoku, and Konishiki. The hype machine will be in overdrive for both Onosato and Takerufuji this basho, that’s for sure.

So, what am I watching this tournament? Obviously, Takerufuji. You can’t just walk in to the top division and win a yusho without getting everyone’s attention.

Takerufuji is just far enough down the banzuke that he is outside of the “joi” so he should not have the most difficult schedule. That being said, if he’s undefeated after Nakabi or in the yusho race, he will get hit with a bigger challenge. Given his injury, though, I think we will all be surprised if he is in this title race.

It’s anyone’s guess who will take this championship. I am hopeful that the Yokozuna or one of the Ozeki rolls to a convincing 14-1 yusho. Right now, I am thinking Kotozakura has the best opportunity to claim his first title.

Winter News Update 2023.12.27

Andy Banzuke (番付), Hatsu 2024 ,

We sumo fans get a bit of a Christmas present this year with the release of the banzuke for Hatsu 2024. That probably goes double for the big Ura fans out there as he was promoted to Komusubi for the first time. Congratulations, Ura, and welcome to sanyaku! And, Congratulations to Leonid, too, for really knocking this banzuke guess out of the park. A few swaps here and there but his forecast really hit the mark.

Other big stories from the new ranking list are the first time promotions of Onosato and Shimazuumi to the top division, while Aoiyama, Kotoshoho and Bushozan make their returns. Takayasu also makes a return…to sanyaku! The former Ozeki ended the year strong and may see 2024 as his best shot to reclaim his rank and/or win a yusho. Well, at least his fans hold out hopes.

Obviously, at the top of the banzuke we have the lone Yokozuna, Terunofuji. Hoping to join him is Kirishima. By virtue of his 13-2 yusho in November, the Ozeki is on his first tsunatori or “rope-run”. If he wins in Tokyo, he will be a lock for elevation to the sport’s highest rank. If he can do it with Terunofuji’s full participation, it could cement his legitimacy.

With Terunofuji’s third consecutive kyujo in November, his seventh in eight tournaments, one wonders if he can not only come back in fighting shape but last another year and a half until Isegahama’s retirement. Or, what is probably more likely is that he could come back and shut me up, entirely, by competing for the yusho. Flame me for being the Debbie Downer, if you will, but I really do wonder what the plan is here and how it might be impacted by a new Yokozuna.

Speaking of promotion candidates, we definitely have a couple of eager Sekiwake here. Either would likely require a yusho for any long-shot promotion after Hatsu; but both can set themselves up for some real promotion chatter in Osaka with strong performances here. I think we would really want to see a strong first week from Daieisho, in particular. He has faltered early in each of his last two tournaments. Beating maegashira with consistency will be a strong sign.

At the other end of the banzuke, we will get to see the first action of Ajigawa-beya recruit, Anhibiki. It will be interesting to see if he can follow the lead of Aonishiki and Anosho and claim the lower division crown. Anosho has already cracked his way into Makushita and Aonishiki will be one to watch in Jonidan. Ex-Aminishiki is developing a nice outfit there to fill up this great looking building.

Well, we here at Tachiai are just eager for the action to start!