Goeido

2020’s retired rikishi (1/2)

Timothée Heinz Tokyo November Basho , , , ,

While eagerly waiting for a fun, combattive sumo year 2021, let’s have a look back and pay tribute to the most famous rikishi – some of our readers’ favorite wrestlers – who called it a day in 2020. Some produced unforgettable moments in the past, and deserved an entirely unofficial farewell on our website. Sadly, the list always seems too extended…

Goeido Gotaro

Former ozeki Goeido Gotaro

Age of retirement: 33

Best rank: ozeki

Number of yusho (makuuchi): 1

Number of kinboshi : 1

A famous name from sumo retired early on in 2020, following the loss of his ozeki rank in January. Goeido could have benefitted from a chance to bounce straight back in March as an ozekiwake – in front of his home crowd. But Goeido did not believe his body to have enough energy left, and announced his retirement.

It took the Osaka-born rikishi quite some time to reach sumo’s second highest rank (in September 2014), having produced an incredible fourteen basho streak at the rank of sekiwake.

From then, it’s fair to say Goeido has not met expectations. His first tournaments as an ozeki were underwhelming – he got 8-7, 5-10, 8-7, 8-7 and 8-6-1 records. Actually, he got infamously nicknamed one of the kadoban brothers, alongside Kotoshogiku. But more on that later…

Goeido’s career highlight was undoubtedly his stunning zensho yusho in September 2016, which suddenly turned him into a yokozuna candidate. The dream lasted during Kyushu’s first third of the tournament, where Goeido stayed undefeated. Unfortunately, he could not keep momentum, and ended up 9-6.

Goeido had one last surge at the same place, the following year. Spectators were close to watch a nokozuna, where no less than three yokozuna were kyujo, and Harumafuji was struggling at the beginning. However, the yokozuna showed class, and also benefitted from Goeido’s incredible meltdown in order to force a playoff, and give the ozeki no chance.

Arawashi Tsuyoshi

Arawashi Tsuyoshi

Age of retirement: 33

Best rank: maegashira 2

Number of yusho (makuuchi) : 0

Number of kinboshi : 3

Poor Arawashi. While watching juryo during the Mongolian’s late career, the first stumbling block was to spot him properly. Indeed, the physical ressemblance with his “twin brother” – who actually isn’t his twin at all -, Chiyoshoma, was truly puzzling.

Then, injuries preventing him from maintaining himself among the salaried ranks. His last basho in juryo ended up in embarrassing fashion, as Arawashi stated, during a pre basho interview, that targeted the yusho, and nothing else. Alas, his weakened body abandoned him. Arawashi started strongly (3-0), but could add just two more wins, end ended up in makushita.

However, it is impossible to turn the 2020 chapter without having a look at Arawashi’s highlights. Following a fine 11-4 performance in Kyushu 2016, the Mongolian rocketed to a career high maegashira 2 the following basho – a rank that seemed too high for the light rikishi. 2017 started horribly with five losses, and then came the unexpected: Arawashi’s first two wins of the tournament, defeating Kakuryu, then Hakuho! I hotly recommend those who haven’t seen that bout against the dai yokozuna to watch Arawashi’s genius at the tachi-ai, some kind of “Harumafuji not henka” paving way to a death spin. Hakuho was left stunned, and so were we all.

Arawashi got no special prize for that feat, as he ended up make koshi. He slowly slided down the banzuke, all the way back to makushita – but not without earning a third and last kinboshi in March 2017, this time against another great wrestler, Harumafuji.

Tochiozan Yuichiro

Tochiozan Yuichiro

Age of retirement: 33

Best rank: sekiwake

Number of yusho (makuuchi): 0

Number of kinboshi: 6

Tochiozan was a hugely gifted, yotsu wrestler. The number of kinboshi he earned is impressive, but actually comes as no surprise. Several rikishi’s names immediately spring to mind, when discussions of Hakuho-less alternative reality occur: Kisenosato, of course; Harumafuji, and Kakuryu. But Tochiozan may have enjoyed an even better career – and indeed, ozeki promotion was within reach.

But Tochiozan was a wrestler of missed opportunities. He missed out on a golden chance to win a yusho in May 2012 – he cracked under pressure and let Kyokutenho lift the Cup instead.

If Tochiozan was a giant killer, giants also liked to defeat him – Harumafuji litterally bullied Tochiozan on his birthday, at the Haru basho in 2015! During his late career, Tochiozan had no less than comical bouts against Hakuho, where he seemed certain to get a seventh kinboshi, before losing in ridiculous fashion. Only Tochiozan had the secret of such losses… Without doubt, the Kochi-ken born rikishi has left the dohyo with many unanswered questions.

Wakaichiro Ken

Wakaichiro Ken

Age of retirement: 21

Best rank: sandanme 32

Having the privilege to watch a wrestler from Texas is a rare thing. Previously, American sumo fans had been able to watch another local hero, but for a very short period only – Brodik Henderson, known as Homarenishiki on the dohyo, retired under mysterious conditions, amid intimidation fears, in 2016, one year after his sumo debut.

Wakaichiro, in real life Ichiro Kendrick Young, lasted longer. He entered mae zumo in November 2016, and struggled to stay in sandanme during the first years. Results improved in 2019, and Wakaichiro actually retired early in 2020, after a series of kashi koshi that would have enabled him to slowly set his sights in makushita, being ranked sandanme 32.

Unfortunately, a series of chronic injuries prevented him to realistically target a place in the salaried ranks. Of course, one can reasonably wonder what lower ranked rikishi can get by staying down the banzuke – you don’t get paid before reaching juryo.

Earlier this year, Bruce dedicated a great article paying tribute to Mr Young.

Les lutteurs retraités en 2020 (1/2)

Timothée Heinz Tokyo November Basho , , , ,

Tandis que nous attendons impatiemment l’arrivée d’une année 2021 combattive chez les sumos, il paraît opportun de rendre un hommage aux lutteurs – certains faisant parti des préférés de notre communauté de lecteurs – ayant pris leur retraite en 2020. Nous avons eu droit à des moments inoubliables par le passé, et ces lutteurs méritent des adieux tout à fait inofficiels sur notre site. Dans ce genre de circonstances, la liste paraît malheureusement toujours trop longue…

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Have ozeki forces been expelled from the dohyo ?

Timothée Heinz Haru Basho 2020 (Osaka) , , , , , , , , ,

Asanoyama has deservedly been promoted to the ozeki rank, right after a solid 11-4 performance in Osaka. Long life the ozeki!

By the way, in terms of roles, what, exactly, is an ozeki?

The ozeki are sumo’s second highest rank, and should provide yokozuna serious competition for the Cup.

However, how often hs this been the case recently?

Recent records show us that ozeki have largely been disappointing. Let’s dig deeper into this topic, knowing that we will look back until 2010:

  1. Who has been an ozeki since then?

Kaio, Kotomitsuki, Harumafuji, Kotooshu, Baruto, Kotoshogiku, Kisenosato, Kakuryu, Goeido, Terunofuji, Takayasu, Tochinoshin and Takakeisho. That’s a total of 13.

Used to lift small cars for training: former ozeki Baruto (left)

2. Since 2010, who has not won a single basho as an ozeki?

Sadly enough, many of them: Kaio, Kotomitsuki, Kotooshu, and the four last of them: Terunofuji, Takayasu, Tochinoshin and Takakeisho. It’s more than the half: 7 out of 13.

On the contrary, Harumafuji has been the most successful, as he collected eight of his nine yusho during that period.

3. How to analyze ozeki records?

To sum up grossly ozeki ranks since 2010, Kaio was in his late career, and Kotomitsuki got dismissed in 2010.

By the end of 2011, an unseen sextet of ozeki took place after Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato’s promotions.

The trademark Kotoshogiku stretch

Harumafuji had won a yusho (Nagoya 2011) as an ozeki right before. He repeated that feat twice in a row in Nagoya and Aki of next year, securing his promotion to yokozuna.

Of the sextet, only Baruto was immediately successful, winning the January 2012 basho. But that was it, for the time being, and the sextet disagregated.

We had to wait until Osaka 2014 to see another ozeki win a yusho, namely Kakuryu – he got promoted to yokozuna right after.

A successful rise to the top: yokozuna Kakuryu

We had to wait almost two years to see more ozeki success. In fact, we could witness twelve months of ozeki bless, with three of them notching a yusho: Kotoshogiku in January 2016, Goeido in September 2016, and Kisenosato in January 2017. His second win in March came as a yokozuna.

And, incredibly, that was it. Ozeki tried, lost twice in a playoff in 2017 (Terunofuji in March, Goeido in September) ; Takayasu came close to meeting Takakeisho in a playoff in November 2018. But they visibly failed to delivered since Kisenosato’s promotion ; their health condition has been a great concern. Terunofuji fell into the abyss, Takayasu and Tochinoshin got definitively demoted. For all three of them, demotion did not came too long after their promotion – about two years. Goeido’s physical condition caused him to retire, but he had quite a long spell – a bit less than six years. Kotoshogiku failed to regain the ozeki rank early in 2017; the final blow was given by a very infamous henka by Terunofuji, and caused great scandal.

What about Takakeisho? Considered a great hope, he already suffered two grave injuries during his younr career, a knee and his chest having been hit. If he did manage to get a spot in a playoff in Aki of 2019, he hasn’t won a yusho as an ozeki yet, and I’m afraid we might not see him lift the Emperor’s Cup ever again, due to his precarious health condition.

A great future already behind him ? Ozeki Takakeisho

Unfortunately, this is truly been the ozeki’s stumbling block.

To sum up:

Only 8 bashos have been won by an ozeki since 2010 : 1 by Baruto, Kakuryu, Kotoshogiku, Goeido and Kisenosato ; 3 by Harumafuji.

Three of them have been promoted to yokozuna after the yusho; the other three have stayed at the rank but failed to deliver again.

  • From 2010 to 2012 included: 4 ozeki yusho (Baruto, Harumafuji thrice)
  • From 2013 to 2015 included: 1 ozeki yusho (Kakuryu)
  • From 2016 to January 2017 included: 3 ozeki yusho (Kotoshogiku, Goeido, Kisenosato)
  • From March 2017 to present: no yusho.
Set to break the curse? Ozeki Asanoyama

Time is ticking, and let’s hope Asanoyama will be able to break that new, worrying ozeki curse…

Update: I got a very interesting question from Abi Fan, which I thank a lot for that. He asked how ozeki fared in the previous decade.

16 yusho were won by ozeki back then:

– Chiyotaikai – 2 (July 2002, March 2003)
– Kaio – 4 (his first yusho came as a komusubi)
– Tochiazuma – 3 (January 2002, November 2003, January 2006)
– Asashoryu – 2 (November 2002 and January 2003)
– Hakuho – 3 (May 2006, Maech and May 2007)
– Harumafuji – 1 (May 2009)
– Kotoosho – 1 (May 2008).

Remarkably, the majority of all yusho winner of that decade is quoted on that list.

Intai Watch: Goeido Retires

Andy Retirement ,

Goeido has decided to call it quits after a 15-year long career. A determined yotsu specialist from Osaka, he rose quickly through the junior ranks collecting yusho in Jonokuchi, Sandanme, and two in Makushita before becoming sekitori at the close of 2006. Two years later he cracked into the sanyaku for the first time.

In 2012, he reached Sekiwake again and stayed for 14 consecutive tournaments before his promotion to Ozeki after an impressive run, picking up two jun-yusho and three consecutive tournaments with special prizes. The highlight of his career was his zensho yusho in September 2016.

Unfortunately, the later phase of his career was hampered by injury, notably his ankle. This may have contributed to consistency issues which cropped up early in his Ozeki phase. Shortly after his promotion, this blog commonly referred to him and Kotoshogiku as the “kadoban twins” for the frequency with which they were under demotion pressure. For Hatsu 2020, he was kadoban yet again due to his kyujo in Kyushu but this time he was not able to clear that status with a winning record. He finished with a poor 5-10 performance, though he gave it all in each bout.

With the Osaka tournament coming up next, it seemed a perfect time for a last stand, a chance to throw everything at getting 10 wins to reclaim his Ozeki rank or at least have a last hurrah in front of the home crowd. Perhaps the condition of his injury is too poor to perform to his expectation with too little time between now and then, even with a break from jungyo.

*Update*

The Official Sumo Kyokai account announced that Goeido of Sakaigawa-beya had acquired a kabu (stock), afterall, and would be taking on the elder name Takekuma (武隈). We’re eager to see Takekuma-oyakata build his own stable.

We will post future updates on dates for the intai ceremony. Ceremonies for top former wrestlers, of which he would certainly be included, are usually held at Kokugikan but I would hope they would be able to hold his in Osaka next March. In the meantime, Takekaze is next on the docket for this weekend.

Intai Watch 2020

Hakuho’s shock admission that he plans to retire this year has put the sumo world on notice that change is coming. Obviously, the date for Hakuho’s retirement is likely in the latter half of the year but a massive question mark remains. With his and Kakuryu’s kyujo, dates for both announcements may be soon.

There are also several big name retirement ceremonies on the docket this year.

Takekaze

Takekaze’s intai celebration will take place at Kokugikan, next Saturday, Feb. 1. We should all get used to his elder name: Oshiogawa (押尾川). Below is the announcement from his official Twitter profile. If you’ll be in Tokyo next week there are only a few seats left in the A and B rings of the upper level!

Arawashi

Arawashi announced his retirement during the Hatsu Basho 2020. The tournament was his second consecutive complete kyujo (全休). He had fallen from Juryo into Makushita for Kyushu and was no longer the top-ranked rikishi (heyagashira) at Minezaki beya. Arawashi’s retirement ceremony will be on May 31, at Kokugikan. (Hat tip to Herouth!) If I find a website, I will pass that info along.

Aminishiki

Uncle Sumo’s storied career came to an end in Nagoya last year. Versatility was his virtue, having won using some 46 kimarite. He was well adapted to win using both yotsu and oshi styles…though late in his career he became quite fond of the henka. Now known as Ajigawa-oyakata (安治川), you can go watch his retirement ceremony on October 4. Some seating has sold out but you can get lower level MASU boxes in the B and C rings, as well as A, B, and C rings of the second level.

Yoshikaze

Yoshikaze followed Aminishiki off the dohyo the following tournament after falling into Juryo. However, he’s getting his haircut one day earlier, on October 3 at Kokugikan. Tickets have not yet gone on sale but that is expected to happen around Feb. 2.

The berserker’s wild, aggressive style was still quite successful in the lower ranks of the maegashira so his kyujo and subsequent retirement appeared to be quite sudden compared to the longer slides we have seen. We look forward to seeing the deshi Nakamura-oyakata (中村) produces.