special prizes

Haru 2020 Special Prizes

Bruce H Aoiyama, Haru Basho 2020 (Osaka), Takanosho, Ōnoshō (阿武咲) , , ,

Along with the yusho, there are a number of special prizes awarded to rikishi with notable matches or excellent scores over the 15 day tournament. They come with a nice trophy, a certificate, and most importantly money, as in ¥2,000,000! For Haru, we have these winners:

Onosho – Shukun-sho (Outstanding Performance Award)

He finished 9-6, but along the way he put dirt on Yokozuna Hakuho. Bouncing back from injury and a trip through Juryo, Onosho has been hit or miss since 2018, but finally seems to have his sumo together. He’s won the Kanto-sho 3 times, but this is his first Shukun-sho.

Takanosho – Kanto-sho (Fighting Spirit Prize)

He finished at 12-3 from Maegashira 9, and really surprised fans and opponents too. A stable mate of Takakeisho, he spent a long time in Makushita as Masunosho before making Sekitori and taking the Takanosho shikona. Only time will tell if this is his new normal or he just caught fire in the empty stadium in Osaka.

Aoiyama – Gino-sho (Technique Prize)

Big Dan held the sole lead for the yusho for a time in week 2, and showed some of his best sumo in a year. He has previously won the Kanto-Sho 3 times, but this is his first Gino-sho. He is likely to get a big promotion in the next banzuke, but always struggles above Maegashira 6.

Zensho Goeido *updated*

Andy Aki Basho 2016, injury, Takayasu (高安), Welcome , , , , , ,

As Bruce reported yesterday, Goeido won his first yusho. Bruce also has a great rundown today. Goeido managed it in spectacular fashion, going undefeated over the 15 days. This is obviously the biggest headline coming out of the Fall Tournament but there are many other key storylines:

  • Tokitenku intai – I’m very sad to see Tokitenku officially call it a career. The former Komusubi has not competed in the past year since his diagnosis with lymphoma.
  • Endo resurgence – Endo picked up a jun-yusho and the technique special prize with his 13 wins
  • Whispers of Ozeki Takayasu – Fighting Spirit special prize and 10 wins at sekiwake gives him a good first step. We need two more great tournaments!
  • WTF, Okinoumi? – One of the most spectacular runs ever, followed by a week of mediocrity
  • Terunofuji kadoban – I hope he heals quickly because another basho with a kadoban ozeki magically retaining his rank does harm to the sport.
  • Injuries – Will Hakuho and Osunaarashi be able to recover in time for November?

A Konishiki-sized “Thank You” to Bruce for his great reporting; I’m really looking forward to November! It’s always much more fun when I know there are others out there, like me, who enjoy professional King of the Hill.

If any of you all are in the DC area, maybe we can get a Happy Hour going?

Nagoya 2016: Special Prizes

Andy Nagoya 2016

Yes, I’m dragging this out because it’s going to be a long time until September. Four wrestlers took home special prizes and there were likely other candidates for special prizes, like Shodai and Ichinojo, if they had managed wins the last day. In all, four special prizes were awarded. That’s the most since September of last year.

  1. Technique: Takayasu (1st) – The technique prize hasn’t been awarded much over the past few years, only 6 times in the previous 21 tournaments. His 10 competitive wins came from using a variety of 7 different winning techniques.
  2. Fighting Spirit: Takanoiwa (1st) & Takarafuji (1st) – Takarafuji’s fighting spirit prize came by virtue of not only having 10 wins at the difficult Maegashira #2 position, but punctuating that record with wins over 4 of 7 sanyaku wrestlers faced: 1 Yokozuna, 2 Ozeki and 1 Sekiwake. It’s important to note that as a stablemate of Harumafuji and Terunofuji, he did not wrestle either of them. Takanoiwa’s strong second-place finish was rewarded with the Fighting Spirit prize…and likely a position in the rough-and-tumble top Maegashira ranks in September.
  3. Outstanding Performance: Yoshikaze (2nd) – Yoshikaze’s 10-5 record, including a critical win over cup-winner Harumafuji, ended a special prize drought of three tournaments. This time last year he started the remarkable streak of 4 special prizes and two kinboshi in 3 basho, propelling him to sekiwake. He’s fallen back of late from those highs but he still owns Harumafuji with a shocking 5-3 record against the yokozuna.

Tochinoshin, Mitakeumi Awarded Special Prizes

Andy May 2016

Tochinoshin was awarded the technique prize and Mitakeumi won the Fighting Spirit prize. I can’t help but think that Endo would have won a prize if he’d been able to win today.

In another story line, Kaisei beat an unmotivated Tochiozan easily to get his kachi-koshi and likely promotion to sekiwake for the July tournament. All I have got to say after this one is, Yeesh…. Tochiozan looked like Marcus Davis on a called run. He took today off. Ikioi would have brought it.