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No more backups-so be alert.. 24 hours and poof.

NHK, if you're lurking here. Let's have a moment of real talk. Quite frankly, if you just do what the pirates do, problem solved. Your coverage for people outside Japan is...poor. The NHK World digest is appreciated, but it isn't complete and comes out too late to be relevant in a world where results get spoiled by Twitter or Instagram. It may be easy for me to say, but do what Natto or Kintamayama do and make it accessible to foreigners and the audience will come. After all, the reason you are having to constantly squash pirates is because there is demand. I know the return on your investment is going to be small but we don't need much in terms of production. I know there's probably contracts and all, we can wait patiently for that to get worked out. Love, Churaumi

A 276 kilo Bluefish tuna caught yesterday fetched 207 million yen at an auction at the Toyosu market, won by the Onodera group. Upon hearing that, Yokozuna Terunofuji rushed to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Omotesando to taste some of it. "It brings good luck.." he said. The fish was so large the workers couldn't get it into the kitchen, so Terunofuji took off his hakama and helped them get it in, shouting "yoisho" as if it was part of the Yokozuna dohyo-iri.. "The maguro was delicious so that was good. I felt I would be battling in the Hatsu basho," he said.

Uniqlo announced today that it has signed an official sponsorship contract with the Kyokai. The agreement was made as part of the Kyokai's commemorative projects to mark the 100th anniversary of its founding as an incorporated foundation this December, and will see the company provide official jackets (not for sale) to be worn by sumo wrestlers and staff. The company also announced that its graphic T-shirt brand "UT" will be releasing its first collaboration with the Kyokai this spring. Details of the UT products will be released on the company's official website at a later date. A project team was formed within the company to develop the official jacket, which was made exclusively for this occasion. The company observed sumo wrestlers and staff at work, and placed importance on the tradition and formality of sumo, while also pursuing design and practicality.

Another completely random find: These two lower-division rikishi managed to get matched up in 8 straight honbasho after they somehow posted the same tournament records seven times in a row. Basho Day Rikishi 1 Kimarite Rikishi 2 Rank Shikona Result Rank Shikona Result 2023.01 1 Jd16w Genbumaru 1-0 (3-4) hatakikomi Jd17e Koshinoryu 0-1 (3-4) 2023.03 2 Jd38w Genbumaru 1-0 (4-3) hatakikomi Jd39e Koshinoryu 0-1 (4-3) 2023.05 3 Jd16w Genbumaru 1-1 (4-3) oshidashi Jd17w Koshinoryu 2-0 (4-3) 2023.07 9 Sd86w Genbumaru 1-4 (2-5) yorikiri Sd87w Koshinoryu 2-3 (2-5) 2023.09 2 Jd29e Genbumaru 1-0 (3-4) okuridashi Jd29w Koshinoryu 0-1 (3-4) 2023.11 2 Jd52w Genbumaru 0-1 (5-2) tsukiotoshi Jd53e Koshinoryu 1-0 (5-2) 2024.01 1 Jd13w Genbumaru 0-1 (3-4) hikiotoshi Jd14e Koshinoryu 1-0 (3-4) 2024.03 2 Jd29w Genbumaru 0-1 (2-5) yorikiri Jd30e Koshinoryu 1-0 (4-3)

So it's settled then. Promotion for Kotozakura and kadoban for Hoshoryu.

Having discovered in November that Abema's on-demand videos actually work with yt-dlp - that wasn't the case the last time I'd tried, though that might well be 2+ years ago now - I grabbed those files while they were still available and leisurely watched my way through the entire 15 days over the last month or so. Maybe somebody's interested in what I found to be the most interesting matches, so I put them on my Youtube channel (usually not much more than maezumo stuff ends up on there). If you're one of the handful of subscribers you will have noticed various upload flurries already. It's way too many videos to post them up individually here, so I'll just link to playlists and give their contents here in text form. Rare exceptions aside, you can expect to find the following: The primary consideration are bouts that see visibly good effort given by both rikishi, which more or less implies that they are generally longer than just a few seconds and not one-sided in nature. Nevertheless, I don't enjoy most bouts with long yotsu stalemates even though they're pretty much the archetype of a closely contested match, so those will only appear if they had some other redeeming feature (interesting flurry of activity before the stalemate, frequent attempts to break it, or a spectacular finish). Bouts that went to mono-ii will be overrepresented, but I'm still only including them if the match itself was interesting or the finish had strong "what just happened?" qualities to it. I'm a sucker for good leg trips, so those might show up even if the rest of the match wasn't that special. Some matches will be included solely because something strange happened (usually but not always as the finish). I generally don't go by "name" at all; these are noteworthy bouts, not bouts by noteworthy rikishi. Obviously some guys will still show up more than others, though, because their style of sumo is simply more likely to produce attractive matches, but I'm not clipping, say, Enho matches just because Enho is involved. Bouts from the yusho races (fifth round onwards) will not be included in the daily sets; there are separate playlists for those.

The new 39th Kimura Shonosuke joined Kitanofuji's Izutsu-beya in Oct. 1977. Till 2 years ago, he wrote the banzuke for 15 years, is a calligraphy specialist. On the 80th birthday of his former shisho, he wrote one of 福寿 for a big sensu fan, that was the souvenir of the celebration, on the back 3 torikumi of Kitanofuji, with Kotozakura, Tamanoumi and Taiho. o In 3rd, 4th year primary school he began to like sumo, when the shisho became yokozuna. He wrote him a letter with the wish to become gyoji, got one back and soon after Kitanofuji came to his house and told him he wants to have him at the heya - he left high school in first year and joined. First official job for Shonosuke: the Meiji shrine dohyo-iri o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DRYNSaojXM

Apologies for the absence but I was sent over to the big park in China to help with the old breeding situation and have only just got back now with a new Chinese name! If anyone contacted me in the last six months at my old Pandaazuma account, feel free to re-send those emails. I haven't been able to access the account and will use this henceforth. Many thanks again to Moti and whichever nameless admin helped me sort this out. Owl should be back soon too as he had the same problem.

(With apologies to Yubinhaad - not meaning to step on your toes here.) Lower division absences not officially posted yet and won't be for another 20 hours or so, but I've had the time to derive them from the Day 1 and 2 torikumi. M8e Roga (Futagoyama) M14e Hokutofuji (Hakkaku) J7w Bushozan (Fujishima) Ms36e Tatsuosho (Tatsunami) Ms40e Kamitani (Arashio) Ms41w Asanoyama (Takasago) - injured in Nagoya Ms49w Chiyosakae (Kokonoe) - injured in Aki Ms60w Mineyaiba (Shikoroyama) - absent since Kyushu Sd23w Seigo (Shikoroyama) - absent since Kyushu Sd30e Karino (Naruto) Sd51e Okinohama (Hakkaku) - injured in Kyushu Sd56w Kyoda (Futagoyama) - injured in Kyushu Jd9w Kazuma (Kise) - injured in Nagoya Jd14e Jokoki (Musashigawa) Jd46e Kaizen (Asakayama) - absent since Aki Jd50w Daibasho (Oitekaze) Jd62w Goseiryu (Takekuma) - absent since Kyushu Jd64w Masuminato (Onomatsu) - absent since Kyushu Jd75w Shunkaku (Shikoroyama) Jd80w Shoryu (Otowayama) Jd83w Shimamura (Arashio) Jd84w Daitensho (Oitekaze) Jk2e Chiyotenfu (Kokonoe) - injured in Nagoya Jk3w Kobayashi (Kasugano) - injured in Nagoya Jk10e Sadanojo (Sakaigawa) Jk10w Chiyoryusei (Kokonoe) - injured in Kyushu Jk12w Nishikimaru (Asahiyama) - absent since Kyushu Plus possibly bottom-ranked Higohikari - impossible to tell from the schedule if he's absent or just the odd man left over. Now confirmed in. In addition, still-ranked Onosho and Kyokutaisei had previously announced their retirements. Edit: Official list now available at https://www.sumo.or.jp/EnHonbashoMain/absence/.

The YDC soken was held today behind closed doors. Terunofuji was there and was 3-4 against Oonosato. He was seen doing some powerful sumo, and also, being pushed around by Oonosato. "It was as usual, but i may have a few things I need to fix, like how to use my weight to my advantage.." he said later..."My condition? I'm getting there..Diabetes? It's not like it's not there.." he added. He is definitely in a better place than he was lately, health wise. "I am able now to train with the Ozeki, and I guess i will be upping the pace now," he summed. Looks like he's ready to enter the basho.

Enhou today: Enhou- Sand 3E - Hougashou Sand 3W

Seki-Toto (play): Kyushu 2024 ended up as the third straight Toto tournament with a yusho line of just 12 wins, and the two players who achieved that win total could scarcely be ranked any lower - both veteran player Andrasoyama (who won the yusho) and second-basho rookie Kachikoshi (who finished a narrow runner-up) had entered the tournament from our small makushita division. But the championship aside, the tournament was dominated by the makuuchi half of the field, which averaged almost 55% daily wins (8.2 wins per 15). 21 players, and thus exactly half the division, finished 9-6 or better, so it won't come as a surprise that the top division scores had to be reduced by one win to make the banzuke work. The good news is that this made everything fall into place pretty well, and although - as usual - the situation relaxed significantly towards the bottom of makuuchi there are no particularly odd movements in evidence this time around, as there were no 8-7 -> 7-8 results by low-ranked players (who might have ended up with a promotion). All six top-rankers were active in the basho, but only Norizo excelled by posting division-leading 11 wins. Fellow yokozuna Pandaazuma and ozeki Susanoo did manage 9-6 records to keep their noses clean under the demotion/retirement regulations introduced this year which punish 8-7 scores. The remaining trio didn't fare that well: Joaoiyama achieved 8 wins but is in no danger of demotion from the ozeki rank for now, unlike Ganzohnesushi whose 7-8 performance has made him properly kadoban for Hatsu basho. And finally it's also red alert time for yokozuna Kaito who scored 8-7 in Aki and now just 6-9 in Kyushu. Another makekoshi will mean relinquishing his tsuna, 8 wins would keep his career alive for now but with continuing risk for Haru and beyond. So, it's up in the air just how many Y/O we're going to have in March, but for January their number will be seven thanks to a player earning promotion to ozeki with these results (the records are unadjusted): 2024.05 M9w 10-5 2024.07 M4w 12-3 D 2024.09 K1e 9-6 2024.11 Sw 11-4 It's not a super-dominant run, but 32 wins are plenty in a series of tournaments that had a combined yusho line of only 36-9. The lowish start at M4 somewhat weighed against it, but the additional 10-win performance from Natsu provided some positive counter-weight, so all in all it's a deserved promotion. Congrats, GONZABUROW! The other Kyushu sekiwake Kobashi has been flirting with promotion as well, but has yet to top 30 wins; he is leading the third-highest rank again for Hatsu. Moving up are former long-time ozeki ScreechingOwl, who was the only komusubi to finish better than 8-7, and Andoreasu who scored 11 wins at M1. That could have landed him at komusubi, but Andoreasu's Aki result was also 11-4 so I've opted to place him as sekiwake to acknowledge the potential ozeki challenge. I'll say that it's definitely gonna take something better than 32-in-3 for this M7 > M1 > S run to conclude successfully, though. (The two results before the back-to-back 11-4 were both makekoshi, so it's not only the extremely low starting rank that's not helping here.) With 10 sanyaku slots accounted for from Y to S, the komusubi rank wrote itself with just two players placed there. TochiYESshin enters on the East side by going 8-7 (after the adjustment) at M1e, his West side counterpart Athenayama is slightly lucky to move up with the same score from M2e. Not much else to say as there were no unusual decisions to make anywhere in these new rankings. As usual, the banzuke displayed below is the prettified version with the adjusted scores shown directly. The full data can be found behind the spoiler tag. Oh, BTW, all 70 players who were ranked in makuuchi or juryo for Kyushu competed in that tournament. That's not happening often, in any game. Norizo (Y1e 11-4) Y1 Pandaazuma (Y1w 9-6) Kaito (Y2e 6-9) Y2 - Susanoo (O1w 9-6) O1 Joaoiyama (O2w 8-7) Ganzohnesushi (O1e 7-8) O2 GONZABUROW (Sw 10-5) Kobashi (Se 9-6) S1 ScreechingOwl (K2e 9-6) - S2 Andoreasu (M1w 10-5) TochiYESshin (M1e 8-7) K Athenayama (M2e 8-7) Oskahanada (K1e 7-8) M1 Kajiyanosho (M2w 8-7) Chijanofuji (M3e 8-7) M2 Jakusotsu (M8w 10-5) Unkonoyama (M4e 8-7) M3 DeRosa (K1w 6-9) Itchynotoe (M5w 8-7) M4 Kotononami (K2w 6-9) Kitakachiyama (M8e 9-6) M5 Metzinowaka (M11w 10-5) Chishafuwaku (M3w 7-8) M6 Gernobono (M9w 8-7) Bill (M10e 8-7) M7 Asapedroryu (M12w 9-6) Toonoryu (M6w 7-8) M8 Flohru (M4w 6-9) Kuroimori (M13e 9-6) M9 Konosato (M5e 6-9) BlackPinkMawashi (M13w 9-6) M10 Andonishiki (M9e 7-8) Kintamayama (M7e 6-9) M11 Rowitoro (M6e 4-11) Gansekiiwa (M11e 6-9) M12 Oortael (M7w 4-11) Asashosakari (J4e 9-6) M13 Kaiowaka (J2e 8-7) Effinojo (M12e 5-10) M14 Onakaderu (J2w 8-6-1) Chelseayama (M14w 6-9) M15 Balon (M10w 4-11) Frinkanohana (J7w 10-5) J1 Holleshoryu (M15w 6-9) Biloumaru (J7e 9-6) J2 Anjoboshi (J8e 9-5-1) Saruyama (J10w 10-5) J3 Papayasu (J3e 7-8) Kachikoshi (Ms4e 12-3 D) J4 Oyama (J11e 9-6) Ulishimaru (J4w 7-7-1) J5 Hana-ichi (J1e 5-10) Terarno (M15e 3-12) J6 Bunbukuchagama (J5w 7-8) Ahokaina (J1w 5-9-1) J7 Gaanaag (M14e 2-13) Takanorappa (Ms4w 11-3-1) J8 Andrasoyama (Ms8e 12-3 Y) WAKATAKE (J5e 6-8-1) J9 Gawasukotto (J6e 6-9) Choshu-yuki (J9e 7-8) J10 Kishikaisei (J3w 4-9-2) FujiSlava (Ms3w 8-7) J11 Achiyama (J11w 7-8) Gusoyama (J12e 7-6-2) J12 Chudorj (J8w 5-9-1) Mariohana (J6w 4-11) J13 Beeftank (J9w 5-10) Ketsukai (J14e 7-7-1) J14 Joputosu (J13w 6-9) Fujisan (Ms2e 7-5-3) Ms1 Warusaru (J10e 4-11) Profomisakari (J14w 5-10) Ms2 Hakunojo (Ms5e 6-9) Katoomaru (J13e 3-12) Ms3 Unagiyutaka2 (J12w 2-9-4) Benihana (Ms3e 4-10-1) Ms4 Dan Koloff (Ms2w 3-12) Umigame (Ms1e 2-13) Ms5 Hokuseiho (Ms6e 4-2-9) Nantonoyama (Ms7w 4-10-1) Ms6 Akishiki (Ms1w 1-4-10) Multimikstar (NR 4-9-2) Ms7 Raiden (Ms8w 1-0-14) Sherlockiama (Ms6w 0-0-15) Ms8 Backeido (Ms9e kosho) Terukaze (NR 0-2-13) Ms9 -

Randomly spotted: Asonoyama appears to have a real knack for winning on the middle Sunday. Whenever he's had a Day 8 match in the last three and a half years, he won it. 16 straight and counting.

Jan. 10th 1970, Yusho portrait presentation for the 2 ozeki Kitanofuji and Tamanoumishima before the Hatsu basho, where both were going for yokozuna and got there after the basho, Tamanoshima changed the shikona to Tamanoumi then o

Hakkaku rijicho and YDC chief Yamauchi Masayuki (Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo) both praised the content of the training and Terunofuji's attitude during the session. They were watching intently from start to finish. Hakkaku said, "It feels like he's getting back on track. He just needs a little more time. He has 10 yushos under his belt, so he's obviously good... He uses his left hand well. His weight is a factor. The rest is the number of matches. Can he do that many training matches before the tournament? If he stays active until the final day, it will put pressure on the Ozeki camp. He's almost there." He commented that if Terunofuji continues to make adjustments, he will be able to show his strength and compete for the championship. Chairman Yamauchi said, "I felt he has recovered more than I expected. He was giving advice to various young wrestlers and Oonosato during the session. He is aware of his role as a Yokozuna. I always look for that", praising him both inside and outside the ring. He paid particular attention to Terunofuji giving advice to Oonosato . "I felt that Terunofuji was aware of Oonosato being his successor. I think he thinks that in the end, it is Oonosato who will take over from him in the future Even when he was facing Oonosato, he would say things like, 'It was a shame' and 'He's strong.' You can hear it when you're close. It seemed like he was sending a message to him." He also said that he felt that Terunofuji had higher expectations of Oonosato's future than of Kotozakura and Houshouryuu, who are both on a Yokozuna run this coming basho.

I dont recall seeing one, but off the top of my head I can recall, mostly based on photos Ive seen online: Takanohana taught-> Kakuryu Asahifuji taught-> Hakuho, Harumafuji, Terunofuji Akebono taught-> Asashoryu Edit: Im now going throught the internet and found photos of: Wakanohana I taught-> Onokuni taught-> Kisenosato Sadanoyama taught-> Mienoumi taught-> Musashimaru Takanosato taught-> Wakanohana III Chiyonoyama taught-> Kitanofuji taught-> Chiyonofuji taught -> Hokutoumi Taiho taught-> Wajima, Kotozakura (surprising but there is a photo that corroborates that), Tamanoumi Tochigiyama taught-> Tochinishiki taught-> Tochinoumi, Kitanoumi P.S.: Although I couldnt find direct photos, its only logical that Kitanofuji taught Hokutoumi too (Hankegami corrected me on this one) and that Wakanohana I taught Wakanohana II

Yokozuna Terunofuji almost says he's in for Hatsu. He faced Nishikifuji and others at home today for nine bouts, winning them all. "All I can do is do it. If I don't succeed, I'll have to accept that, no matter what the results will be. I have done everything I can," he said. "If he says he's doing it, we have to respect that. If he decides to enter, he will be expected to make sure to get good results.." added Isegahama Oyakata, who I have a picture with. There is no reason for him not to enter, as he seems to be in decent shape and was working out doing some weights and fundamentals and all, observes the reporter. He also lent his chest to rising star Makushita 8 Matsui who I also have a picture with from Makushita, checking out his own ring sense."My ring sense has not fully returned yet so I'll have to make some adjustments slowly but Shirley these coming two days. It's a battle with myself, not with my opponents so I shall give it my all," he added. As the attention this coming basho is focused on Kotozakura and Houshouryuu with their double yokozuna quest, he will be vying for his 11th yusho.

I would be more than happy to financially support (hopefully alongside others) a better server, if this is the problem after all... but not knowing what the problem is is even worse

I swear sometime near the end of 2016 Tamawashi was replaced with a doppelganger who was just a bit better at sumo and many years younger. I find it incredible that after being a mediocre maegashira with one fluke sanyaku appearance up to that point that he went on to become a joi regular, win two Yusho, and then continue doing decently in Makuuchi until after he turned 40. Now he's training with the sanyaku and winning!

Ozeki Kotozakura had 30 bouts today, winning 25, facing Takanoshou, Daieishou, Gounoyama and other folk. "I was able to do good keiko. I will be sharpening my body's responses," he said. When he was able to get a hold of his opponents' mawashi he was looking good. "I don't want to lose by power.." he sighed. His three opponents who came for degeiko are all pusher-thrusters, so he was looking for ways to counter their attacks. He is facing his first Yokozuna run. " I can only do what I can do..I have to go about it as usual," he explained. Tomorrow is the YDC soken. "I'll face the bouts one by one and do good, proper sumo," he summed somewhat later.

After 3 days of rest, Onosato restarted keiko on the 2nd, Kotozakura and Hoshoryu plan it for the 3rd - slow start, no bouts yet, lending his chest oo o o o oo o o o oo o o o Nakamura-beya style training in December oo o o

Konishiki (60) today while leaving the hospital had a press conference there with his wife Chie (48), who gave him one of her kidneys after he suffered from renal failure. He was in hospital since Nov. 20th and had a 6h kidney transplant surgery on the 4th, from the same doctor as Musashigawa/-maru 7 years ago. Konishiki had kidney problems for 8 years now, in August they had a one week test if the transplant was possible. He is at around 154kg now, down from 165kg before surgery, and announced he'll make it to age 99.9. o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

An unexpected Christmas present: The Kyokai site has added headshots and, more importantly, links to individual profiles to its oyakata listing, unfortunately only on the Japanese side. Even includes toshiyori name histories down to first-name changes, as seen here for Shikoroyama. And don't miss the added summaries of their rikishi careers further down on each profile page. BTW, I'm not sure if it was ever explicitly mentioned on the forum: This addition comes (somewhat late) on the heels of similar profiles appearing for gyoji, yobidashi and tokoyama around July 2023. Only wakaimonogashira and sewanin left without profiles now.

Four shikona changes on this banzuke, two each in Jonidan and Jonokuchi. In Fujishima-beya, Tsuru is now Fujinoshin, not the same kanji as Jinmaku-oyakata's active shikona (富士乃真). Two changes out of Kokonoe-beya, where Chiyotaisei and Chiyorozan have switched to using their given name in their shikona. Chiyotaisei is now Chiyoshiryu, but he keeps one of the old kanji for his new given name of Takara. Chiyorozan is now Chiyoryusei, with the new given name Ken. Finally, a minor change for Nishikido-beya's Katsunishiki, who simply adds 'no' in the middle. Jd17w Tsuru > Fujinoshin (藤ノ進, ふじのしん) Jd21w Chiyotaisei Shiryu > Chiyoshiryu Takara (千代紫龍　聖, ちよしりゅう　たから) Jk8e Katsunishiki > Katsunonishiki (葛の錦, かつのにしき) Jk10w Chiyorozan Ryusei > Chiyoryusei Ken (千代琉聖　健, ちよりゅうせい　けん) Three other rikishi change only the given name of their shikona: Sd47w Dewanojo Shota > Yoshihide (芳秀, よしひで) Jd11e Saidaiji Kohei > Kazunori (一憲, かずのり) Jd26w Chiyotaiko Shinobu > Inazuma (稲妻, いなづま) The gyoji and tokoyama promotions listed here have taken effect with this banzuke. No name change at this stage for yobidashi Akitaka following his move to Oshima-beya.