special prizes

初場所 2016, 15日目: Special Prizes

Andy Hatsubasho 2016 , ,

Shodai’s makuuchi career is off to a great start; 10 wins and a Fighting Spirit award. To provide a bit of a comparison with highly touted debuts: Endo got his first kanto-sho after his third tournament while it took Ikioi almost 2 years to pull it off. Of course Ichinojo’s rise was even quicker as he scored two special prizes and a kinboshi, finishing in second place upon his debut. However, we’ve all seen the ups-and-downs those three have gone through. Continue reading →

November 2015, Day 15: Storylines

Andy November Tournament 2015 , ,
  1. Harumafuji Yusho
  2. Special Prizes
    1. Technique: Yoshikaze
    2. Fighting Spirit: Ikioi & Shohozan
  3. Homarenishiki 6 Wins, Promotion to Sandanme
  4. Goeido Kachi-koshi
  5. Death of Kitanoumi
  6. Injuries

20002308Yusho: The first storyline from this month’s tournament is that Harumafuji picked up his 7th Yusho. He’s the fourth different winner over the last four tournaments: Terunofuji(五月), Hakuho(七月), Kakuryu(九月), Harumafuji (十一月). The last time there were four different winners in a row actually wasn’t that long ago. Coincidentally, it was also the last time there were four winners all in the same calendar year, 2012: Baruto(一月), Hakuho(三月), Kyokutenho(五月), Harumafuji(七月).

Special Prizes: Yoshikaze had another great tournament. As Myogiryu and Tochinoshin faltered, he will likely be able to take over the vacated sekiwake spot. He was only just able to pick up his kachi-koshi on Saturday, losing on Sunday to Ikioi.

Ikioi had another stellar tournament and won the fighting spirit prize along with Shohozan. They finished the tournament tied with Hakuho with 12 wins. It was Ikioi’s 4th fighting spirit prize, his second in a row. Ikioi is particularly strong in these middle maegashira ranks. As I’ve noted before, he’s had a lot of success when ranked M4-M6. I really appreciate how he goes after every bout with the same intensity.

Homarenishiki: The up-and-coming Canadian wrestler, Homarefuji, is doing well and is moving quickly up the ranks. He’ll likely jump into the top half of Sandanme division, likely into the Sd40s.

Goeido Remains Ozeki. Barely.: I’m not a big fan of people who just do the minimum. So with Goeido seemingly kadoban every other tournament, I just wonder how much longer this can go on. At sekiwake, he was so solid, almost never going make-koshi over the course of 14 tournamets & more than two years. Only twice he finished with 7 wins and five times he had 10 wins or more. However, as ozeki he has yet to win 10 bouts in a tournament. He can’t string together more than four wins in a row and it’s usually just two in a row…if that.

賞(shou): Prize

Andy Japanese Language

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As a sumo fan, you likely have this kanji, 賞, in your vocabulary already. What we usually see it used on is the 三賞(sanshou), literally three prizes: 技能賞(ginoushou), 殊勲賞(shukunshou), and 敢闘賞(kantoushou). These are also known as the technique, outstanding performance, and fighting spirit prizes.  We usually see it translated as prize or award, like in the phrase ノーベル平和賞(no-beru heiwashou) a.k.a. the Nobel Peace Prize. On the right is a prize that I got a few months ago at work for being the man.