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I know the fans are always impressed by shiko, but isn't this getting a little too up-close and personal?

Tamawashi (Kataonami beya), 40 years and 4 months old, is ranked at Maegashira 7 west for the Haru Basho. His consecutive appearances since his debut are the longest in history. but there are about two other records that he may break every tournament.. He doesn't really care about that anymore, and it's become customary for him to answer, "Maybe it will become a topic of conversation after I retire." He won nine bouts last tournament, becoming the second person in history to get a kachikoshi in two tournaments in a row in his 40s. On the final day of the tournament, he lost to Kotoshouhou in the bout for the Fighting Spirit Award, missing out on tying Kyokutenhou for the record for being the oldest rikishi to win one of the three sanshos, but there is a good chance that he will set another record in the future. During last basho he began saying some surprising things: "I want to further improve myself as a person, Tamawashi. As a human. To do that, I have to study. I've been a rikishi for 20 years, but there are still many things I haven't noticed or don't understand. I'm not good at sumo, after all." Interview, by Kentarou Tsukasawa: When I asked him, "Are you bad at sumo?" he thought for a while, then looked ahead and began to speak. "I'm still lacking. When will I get better? I can't get better at oshi-zumo. I'm not a genius, and I'm very clumsy. That's why it's fun. There are a lot of things to look forward to." Many Mongolian wrestlers enter sumo after graduating from high school or university in Japan, but Tamawashi has worked hard despite having no sumo experience and has won the yusho twice. He has a great personality and is excellent at fan service. He cares for the people around his lodgings at regional tournaments and always expresses his gratitude. At home, he is a good father and seems flawless, but he says he is still growing. Tamawashi's sumo is often described as youthful, and when interviewing him in the dressing room, his skin looks tight and there is no sign of aging. The oldest-ever active makuuchi wrestler is Noshirogata, who retired in the May tournament in 1936 at the age of 41 years and 1 month. Since the introduction of the six-tournament system in 1958, Kyokutenhou (currently Ooshima Oyakata) is the third - ever oldest rikishi active in Makuuchi at 40 years and 10 months, with the rest born in the Meiji and Taisho eras. Tamawashi is of course the oldest rikishi in Makuuchi at the moment and I would like him to break that record as well..

Everybody makes that distinction because going head on or moving to the side before any contact is made are not the same thing.- Japanese commentators (calling it a "shift" instead of a henka-when it's a henka they call it loud and clear), newspaper articles, etc. I even invented a name for it - HNH. And I do not appreciate being called a fanboy.

Same thing. It probably became a Harumafuji non- henka when he started doing it more, but it is called a henka non-henka for the benefit of foreign fans who don't see the difference. We blessed few are here to guide them. As I watch all bouts from March 2015 lately for some reason, it seems every other Harumafuji bout was an HNH. I also don't see why any Harumafuji fanboy should be offended by this. It's a good technique that with time has grown apart from a henka per se and usually ends as an uwatenage, as opposed to a henka which usually ends with hatakikomi or hikiotoshi or loud sighs from the crowd or shouts of "FOUL!! NOT FAIR!" by the FNF (Fanboys not Fanboys). Fanboy:

Guys, don't get your panties in a bunch. Chiyoshoma looked like Chiyonofuji today disposing of none other than Taiho's offspring. The mongolian dominance is ensured for the foreseeable future with him. The Nephew's task is just keeping the seat warm for him.

I have a story a little different, about a sumo wrestler, rather than a heya. It was back in 2001 that I visted Tokisukaze-Beya and noticed a skinny, hard-working wrestler. At the time, the folks on the old sumo listserve were adopting wrestlers, so I adopted him. Through someone else on the listserve, I was introduced to a woman who was a big sumo fan. She had the official yearly sumo book and sent me the pictures of all the heya wrestlers. I picked out his picture and she told me his name was Okinoumi, a guy way down in the lower divisions. She also gave me the heya address. After each basho, I would send Okinoumi a postcard in Romanji...hoping he could read it..., yet never heard back from him. A couple years later I was in Tokyo for a business meeting with Paramount Pictures and contacted Doreen Simmons. She graciously agreed to take me to Tokitsukaze-Beya for morning keiko and introduce me to Okinoumi. I got to watch him practice and afterwards Doreen and I went around out back, where he was doing some clean-up work. She introduced me to him and was my interpreter as he told me that my postcards were an inspiration to him. It was a thrill to meet him personanly and talk with him, even briefly. Doreen even took our photo together!

Opening notes: My recent Youtube playlist obsession continues with one for this maezumo, in case you find yourself with a desire to rewatch the bouts without having to scroll all through this thread again. Incidentally, if anybody has questions about what I'm posting, do feel free to ask. I try to consider which aspects of maezumo might need explaining, but obviously I'm likely to take some stuff for granted that isn't widely known. BTW, somehow it hasn't really been remarked upon in any place I've seen discussing the new recruits: This year's crop is bringing us our first six rikishi born in the 2010s. Apologies if pointing that out makes you feel old(er), but if so I'm at least no longer the only one now. Day 2 / Group A Abema was nice enough to start off the session with some close-ups of the waiting deshi and gyoji, so there's about two minutes of optional content in the video that you may want to skip. As mentioned, Dewanoumi's Hashimoto was not in action so this group got out of the blocks with 15 participants for now. Results: Mz1 Umeyama (1-0) Mz4 Asahirai (0-1) Mz8 Shunta (1-0) Mz11 Kido (0-1) Mz16 Kazekodai (1-0) Mz12 Teranishi (0-1) Mz22 Futagawa (0-1) Mz20 Yamanobe (1-0) Mz23 Kazeoka (1-0) Mz26 Hokutonada (0-1) Mz27 Sumiyoshi (0-1) Mz29 Asarikimaru (1-0) Mz28 Uchima (1-0) Mz31 Terui (0-1) Mz30 Matsuda (1-0) Mz4 Asahirai (0-2) An odd number of rikishi means an extra appearance for the loser of an earlier bout, generally the first one among those who entered the day with the same wins as the rikishi who needs an opponent. (Today everybody started 0-0, of course.) So, this session started and ended with Asahirai losing, after he unfortunately ran into not one but two opponents that were older, (likely) more experienced, and outweighed him by some 40 kg, to boot. A good start by the two Futagoyama rookies Umeyama and Shunta, the latter showing off some nice densha-michi sumo right off the bat. Conversely two losses for Tamanoi, although Teranishi was (unlike Kido) involved in a competitive bout. The next match saw a victory by the smallest rikishi of this group, yokozuna great-great-grandson Yamanobe, though I suspect he'll have greater difficulty attaining his next win. A relatively quick loss for former rugby player Hokutonada in bout five, but I have to say that his form already looked better than that of other recent recruits with that sort of background, namely Ono and Kikuchi, who retain an unhelpful tendency to lean too far forward and keep their head way too low (as though they're pushing in a scrum). There's some of that in Hokutonada, too, I think, but perhaps it helps that he has already done at least some sumo in school before going pro now. His opponent Kazeoka obviously knows what he's doing, but it remains to be seen how much talent there truly is behind his (ahem) balanced build of 177 cm / 177 kg. (The largest weight among all the maezumo shindeshi, and only 4 kg behind collegiate tsukedashi Goshima who's three and a half years older.) Three one-sided matches closed out the day; their next bouts should prove more interesting (to us and them) for Asarikimaru, Uchima and Matsuda. The latter showed very good form, but that's to be expected from a Tottori Johoku grad. Terui looked about like we all probably expected, and on what we've seen in this session he's arguably the top contender for finishing this group winless. Standings: Mz1 Umeyama Futagoyama 1-0 E | Mz4 Asahirai Takasago 0-2 W Mz8 Shunta Futagoyama 1-0 E | Mz11 Kido Tamanoi 0-1 W Mz16 Kazekodai Oshiogawa 1-0 E | Mz12 Teranishi Tamanoi 0-1 W Mz20 Yamanobe Dewanoumi 1-0 W | Mz21 Hashimoto Dewanoumi 0-0-1 W Mz23 Kazeoka Oshiogawa 1-0 E | Mz22 Futagawa Nishikido 0-1 E Mz28 Uchima Nishonoseki 1-0 E | Mz26 Hokutonada Hanaregoma 0-1 W Mz29 Asarikimaru Takasago 1-0 W | Mz27 Sumiyoshi Nishonoseki 0-1 E Mz30 Matsuda Sakaigawa 1-0 E | Mz31 Terui Minato 0-1 W Unlike maezumo in the other five annual tournaments, rikishi will finish their participation in this one as soon as they have two wins, rather than the usual three, so the next round on Day 4 will already see the first set of qualifiers. As the East side dominated today's bouts there are going to be some temporary side adjustments in both subsets - the 1-winners should see either the Futagoyama duo or the Oshiogawa pair switching to the West side, among the winless ones it's less obvious who's going East since we don't know whether or not Hashimoto is joining the battle.

Houshouryuu went to Arashio beya for degeiko, facing the likes of Daieishou, Wakamotoharu, Wakatakakage and Tobizaru. 16 bouts, 15 wins. "I wanted to hit stronger than the others.." he said, going for some low tachiai by pushing and showing excellent belt work. His only loss came in his 14th bout, to Wakatakakage. "I was going for a zensho.. I was lower and though he'd go for a pull down..The elbow? No more problems, just pondering if to wear a bandage or not.." he said later (had one on today). Two days ago he had food poisoning and accordingly, the rushes. "I'm fine now. I ate as usual even though I had diarehoweveryouspell it- I didn't want to lose weight," he divulged.

Of course he's upset. If he's got two birthdays, he's going to age at twice the rate. It's not as if he's going to get twice the number of presents.

Yusho Races Round 4 (Day 7-8) The tsuridashi led to injury (rather oddly and unexpectedly), please be mindful of that while watching. Jk16w Aoki (3-0) (2-1) Hikarumusashi Jk14w Jk13w Tenrosei (3-0) Chiyotenfu Jk7w Jd98e Asasakurai (3-0) Kobayashi Jk3w Jd96e Kogomaru (3-0) Wakaikki Jd92w Jd87w Kaihiryu (3-0) Shibuya Jd80w Jd79e Shotaimu (3-0) Daitengu Jd71w Jd67e Hienriki (3-0) Yoshiazuma Jd64w Jd58e Yumenofuji (3-0) Okada Jd60e [kimarite: kubinage] Jd47e Niiya (3-0) Chiyoshiryu Jd50e Jd38e Arise (3-0) Chiyotaiyo Jd41w Jd32e Okinohama (3-0) Tochigidake Jd36e Jd25w Hokuyozan (3-0) Sakai Jd21w Jd14e Kotetsu (3-0) Hokutosakae Jd19w Jd4e Daikisho (3-0) Chikuba Jd11e Sd79e Oginosho (3-0) Agora Jd2w Sd71w Senshoho (3-0) Gohakuun Sd67w Sd61e Imamura (3-0) Taiyo Sd65w Sd54e Raiho (3-0) Uzumasa Sd59w [kimarite: tsuridashi] Sd43e Daishoki (3-0) Tochinobori Sd46w Sd39w Dogo (3-0) Asagyokusei Sd33w Sd26e Wakaterumoto (3-0) Chiyosakae Sd29w Sd21w Asanoyama (3-0) Oginohama Sd17w Sd9e Oka (3-0) Yago Sd12w Sd7w Kotonofuji (3-0) Fukuzaki Ms60TD Ms60TD Goshima (3-0) Dairinzan Ms55w Ms45e Seihakuho (3-0) Tokitenran Ms52w Ms39e Kawazoe (3-0) Daishomaru Ms43w Ms34e Tendozan (3-0) Enho Ms30w Ms23e Hananoumi (3-0) Oshoryu Ms28e Ms18e Nobehara (3-0) Hamayutaka Ms14w Ms10e Dewanoryu (3-0) Akua Ms6w [kimarite: kakenage]

Don't worry about it Sir. You're the best!

Urayama Shousei (22) from Kindai (captain of the sumo club) will be joining Otowayama beya in May. From the same town as Asanoyama, Toyama. "I hope to face him soon." He qualifies for Makushita tsukedashi status. 183/165. "He has the appeal of constantly moving forward. If he can add technique to that and shed another layer or two, I expect he will be able to become a sekitori." said Otowayama Oyakata. Urayama also spoke enthusiastically, saying, "(Otowayama) is good in the areas of technique that I lack. I hope I can absorb as much of that as possible." He decided to go into sumo around last summer. Until then, he had been working as a teacher, and succeeded his father, Hideki, who passed away eight years ago, as a coach for the high school sumo club. Last spring, his meeting with Otowayama Oyakata was a turning point for Urayama. When the Oyakata asked Urayama, "What do you want to do in the future?" Urayama replied, "I want to train sumo wrestlers." Hearing this, Otowayama answered, "If that's the case, why don't you do sumo yourself?" Urayama: "After speaking with the Oyakata several times, I thought I could grow both as a sumo wrestler and as a person. My father trained many students (at his alma mater, Toyama Commercial High School), and I admired him, but I wanted to take on the challenge. After much consideration, I decided I wanted to enter sumo." Among the popular rikishi from Toyama Prefecture is ex-Ozeki Asanoyama Six years ago, when Asanoyama won his first championship in the Natsu basho, he felt the tremendous excitement in his hometown. This basho will see Asanoyama returning to action after his injury, ranked at Sandanme 21. There is a real possibility that they will face each other in May when Urayama is scheduled to make his debut as a Makushita tsukedashi, and he declared with confidence, "I've challenged him in my mind since I was little. If we ever meet, I want to win." Asanoyama was always his goal. "I saw the excitement around Asanoyama in our local area. I want to do even better than that and surpass him." When he told Asanoyama about his wish to enter professional sumo, he was encouraged by him saying, "Do your best." He is taking on the challenge, also inheriting the wish of his father, who always wanted to become a professional rikishi. He is fired up. "I want to become a sekitori as soon as possible."

I refuse to believe it will happen. I'm not getting hurt again.

After practicing shokkiri for twenty years, it finally pays off for Tamawashi.

The (completely legal) Harite of Damocles will be hanging over his head until May.

NikkanSP premium has a 2 parts story of Kandayu o before getting ill, Yonokichi Natsu 2017 o rehab o writing sumo-ji for rehab oo o o his writings - 5 years after entry an ita-banzuke, recent o o in proper attire at the hospital o return to work 2018 o 2015 Hatsu o o o o oo this basho o with Kimura Motoki - the 2nd part (next week) is about their friendship o oo

Yokozuna Houshouryuu dohyo-iri:

Houshouryuu went for his first degeiko as a Yokozuna to the Tokitsukaze Ichimon rengo keiko held at Otowayama beya in Higashi-ku, Sakai City, where he went 9-4 against Ozeki Oonosato. He looked good, having a total of 20 bouts, and commented, "Oonosato is strong and this was great keiko. I'm feeling good." Houshouryuu, who was taking part in his first degeiko before the tournament, was not aware that Oonosato would be there as well and said, "I was lucky. I wanted to face him, so this was my chance." The match up was even until the middle of the bouts, with Houshouryuu losing to his opponent's de-ashi, but he showed his presence by winning six bouts in a row at the end. He unleashed a powerful right nodowa, and he didn't seem to have any major problems with his right elbow, which was bandaged.

I looked at all these cases and could clear up most of them, for rikishi who reached makuuchi the japanese wikipedia has a heya history, but sometimes with unclear time of the change - here the kabu history in sumo reference often was very helpful, leaving only a few debatable cases where I assumed the time of the heya change. Some lower division cases I could solve because they were obviously part of a bigger heya move and it's clear from the shikona convention which of the two involved rikishi moved. There still are some cases left where I have no clue, four with a single bout (Isegahama, Kitanoumi, Kokonoe and Kumegawa), the remaining case in Dewanoumi with two bouts and the Isenoumi case with one common rikishi in 3 bouts.

Haru 2025 starting lineup: O1e Onosato: 11 KK, 109-40, 2x M yusho M15e Aonishiki: 8 KK, 60-12, Jd, Jk yusho J14w Kusano: 5 KK, 24-11 Ms1w Ishizaki: 4 KK, 22-6 Ms4w Mita: 3 KK, 17-4 Ms11w Okaryu: 5 KK, 26-9 Ms13w Inami: 6 KK, 31-11 Ms32w Noda: 5 KK, 27-8 Ms52e Shimizuumi: 4 KK, 22-6, Jk, Jd yusho Sd6e Goseizan: 3 KK, 18-1-2 Sd29e Furuta: 3 KK, 16-5

「何があっても休場しない。負けても休場しない。相撲を取るのが僕の仕事なんで」と語っていた。 "No matter what happens I won't go kyujo. Even if I'm losing I won't go kyujo. My job is to do sumo," he had said prior to the basho when the banzuke was announced.

I take it you never saw Chiyonofuji. My recollection is of the 'death stare' occurring before each of his matches. It never went on for long, though. So I don't believe it breaks hinkaku for a yokozuna. The stare-down between Hoshoryu and Gonoyama that caused all the comment a while ago was problematic because it just went on and on, and time is a constraint. Hoshoryu's always musubi-no-ichiban currently, so I imagine he gets told the time available while he's waiting in the hanamichi, and it's usually not excessive.

Tobizaru vs Takayasu was a corrida, with Takayasu playing the brave but predictable bull. He kept charging until El Mono Volador wore him out. Even the way it finished was reminiscent of a matador delivering the coup de grace. Has Tobizaru been reading Death in the Afternoon?

Day 3 / Group B Even two absences here in the second half with (Koto)Terao and Sato, but as they were the highest-"ranking" deshi on each side of the dohyo it arguably didn't change anything for everybody else's matchups. Again some camera pan across the waiting masses first, so skip ahead to 0:50 for the action. Results: Mz7 Kazeoki (1-0) Mz5 Yasuda (0-1) Mz9 Ikazuchishu (0-1) Mz6 Kadomura (1-0) Mz10 Ikazuchiarata (0-1) Mz13 Yamagishi (1-0) Mz14 Sawazaki (0-1) Mz17 Wakahasegawa (1-0) Mz15 Kazenohana (0-1) Mz18 Wakajin (1-0) Mz24 Ryugi (0-1) Mz19 Satomatsunaga (1-0) Mz25 Yamauchi (0-1) Mz32 Imada (1-0) I'm not sure anybody had "Nishiiwa-beya recruits wrestlers who are good enough for a 3-0 day in maezumo" on their 2025 sumo bingo card, but here we are. But first things first: The day started off with a nicely competitive match between middle schoolers Kazeoki and Yasuda, ended with a rather violent kirikaeshi(?) legsweep takedown - somewhat surprisingly not executed by Yasuda, the kid with the karate background, but rather by Kazeoki, about whom we haven't read anything yet. (May have to go searching...) A mono-ii worthy bout came next, but the typical Haru basho skeleton crew of just two shimpan didn't move, so the win went to Kadomura unchecked. Impossible to tell from the stream footage whether that was actually correct, thanks to a camera operator's head obscuring Kadomura's hand as it touched down. The bout itself was over so quickly that I have no idea what to think about the one-year Nittaidai member's skills yet (nor about those of his aite Ikazuchishu, really). A pretty awkward tachiai by Yamagishi in the third bout, at least by "high schooler with sumo club experience" standards, but although he had to contend against the biggest deshi in this group (170 kg after middle school!), Yamagishi was easily capable of besting Ikazuchiarata. I think ex-Kakizoe's gonna have a lot of work to do with the latter at Ikazuchi-beya... (And why was he trying to step off the dohyo directly without using the step carved into its side? That looked super awkward.) Next up, the three victories by Nishiiwa's motley crew of Waka(no)Sato-named recruits (aged 20, 18 and 15 in order of appearance). Looked pretty good, too, albeit against not a lot of resistance by any of their three opponents, it must be said. Sawazaki tried to lead with his shoulder which we frequently see from rookies who are still somewhat afraid of going straight ahead in the tachiai, and it put him in a bad position for the entire duration of the bout. Kazenohana, at just 71 kg the lightest deshi in this month's maezumo, was simply overpowered altogether, and Ryugi appeared to be without much of a match plan, just trying to hang on against Satomatsunaga's onslaught. It was just one bout each, but Satomatsunaga actually looked the best to me despite being the youngest of the three Nishiiwa guys, and I wouldn't be particularly surprised if, in just a couple of years' time, he'll be the heya's second-highest ranked rikishi (behind Mikinosato)...Nishiiwa is that barren for talent. And lastly, the match that the assembled press had been waiting for. Yamauchi tried to hang on to the best of his abilities, but judo champion and literal rocket scientist Imada made the expected short work of him. BTW, I wonder if that was the maezumo matchup with the greatest age difference ever? 2010-02-05 vs 2000-09-10, so 9 years 148 days. (But it might be exceeded in a couple of days anyway...Satomatsunaga is a conceivable second opponent for Imada, and he's another 18 days younger than Yamauchi.) Standings: Mz6 Kadomura Isegahama 1-0 W | Mz2 Kototerao Sadogatake 0-0-1 E Mz7 Kazeoki Oshiogawa 1-0 E | Mz3 Sato Isegahama 0-0-1 W Mz13 Yamagishi Otowayama 1-0 W | Mz5 Yasuda Isegahama 0-1 W Mz17 Wakahasegawa Nishiiwa 1-0 W | Mz9 Ikazuchishu Ikazuchi 0-1 E Mz18 Wakajin Nishiiwa 1-0 W | Mz10 Ikazuchiarata Ikazuchi 0-1 E Mz19 Satomatsunaga Nishiiwa 1-0 W | Mz14 Sawazaki Onoe 0-1 E Mz32 Imada Otowayama 1-0 W | Mz15 Kazenohana Oshiogawa 0-1 E Mz24 Ryugi Tagonoura 0-1 E Mz25 Yamauchi Tagonoura 0-1 E An emphatic West side performance in this group, so lots of deshi will be finding themselves on the opposite side from today to make the Day 5 torikumi work.

Seki-Toto (play): For the first time in four tournaments we got a yusho line better than 12-3, but a different trend continued in that Hatsu basho was the third straight edition won by a player outside of the top division: Juryo-ranked Terarno posted the tournament's only 13-2 record to take the championship. Well done! It was a pretty competitive game all around, with the makuuchi players thankfully not dominating for a change. Only 7.7 wins on average, with 23 KK against 19 MK, while the juryo division produced an almost balanced line of 187-188-15 with 11 KK and 15 MK. That gave me hopes of an unimpeded banzuke-making session. All 12 sanyaku-ranked players were active in the tournament, but only a single one scored better than 9-6 and half of them went makekoshi. (Optimism levels rising further...) Let's get the unfortunate big news out of the way first: Yokozuna Kaito, who was on the tsuna-chopping block after an 8-7 in Aki and a makekoshi in Kyushu, found himself MK again on Day 14 and fell afoul of the intai criteria at that point, so I'm really sorry to declare the end of his time at the game's top rank after just five tournaments. Here's hoping your second career turns out as well as that of our previous retired yokozuna Susanoo, who was back in the maegashira-joi after just one year and an ozeki again after two and a half - Best of luck! The other two yokozuna Norizo and Pandaazuma posted unspectacular 9-6 scores. Another sad outcome occurred at the ozeki rank where Ganzohnesushi has produced consecutive 7-8 records to ticket his demotion to sekiwake. Shin-ozeki GONZABUROW went 7-8 as well and will be kadoban for Haru basho, and Joaoiyama has also left himself at risk of demotion for the upcoming basho after back-to-back 8-7's (= equal to one makekoshi). Just Susanoo kept his name clean by going 9-6. Nevertheless, Susanoo's not our only ozeki who won't have to worry about losing the rank after Haru. Two months ago I wrote the following: Talk about rising to the occasion: Andoreasu produced one of Hatsu's two 12-3 jun-yusho scores to give himself 34 wins, making this an easy call for promotion. Congrats! This will be Andoreasu's second time as ozeki in Toto, following an ill-fated stint back in 2020 that was over after just three tournaments. His run in tabulated form: 2024.09 M7e 11-4 J (2nd-6th place) 2024.11 M1w 11-4 (3rd-8th place) 2025.01 S2w 12-3 J (2nd-3rd place) Hatsu's other two sekiwake didn't do nearly as well; Kobashi had 21 wins from Aki and Kyushu but only went 8-7 to put a serious damper on his promotion hopes, and ScreechingOwl posted a double-digit makekoshi. As both komusubi went MK as well and no high maegashira excelled either, there was only one feasible candidate for the second sekiwake slot: demoted ozeki Ganzohnesushi. The komusubi rank also enters Haru basho with the minimum population of two, but both players (Chijanofuji and DeRosa) have moved up with records that were promotable by the numbers, so no luck was required for them. If you've been scoring along at home, your sanyaku count will be just 10 now. Seki-Toto has been practically nailed on for 12 sanyaku spots during the last several years (and frequently I would have needed even more than that, requiring harsh decisions to avoid it), so this is unusual indeed. For posterity, the list of tournaments since 2016 that had something other than 12 sanyaku: 13: 2016.07 11: 2024.01, 2021.07, 2020.11, 2020.09, 2020.07, 2019.05 10: 2020.03, 2019.11, 2019.09 9: 2020.01 So, other than a brief period from mid-2019 to late 2020 - that era had three yokozuna but mostly just one or two ozeki - it's been hard to cut back the titled ranks even to 11, let alone to 10. I welcomed the unexpected opportunity, which was slightly bad news for several players who came close to qualifying for a promotion to komusubi, but the banzuke ended up working out fine even with the reduction-induced downward force on everybody's nominal ranks, so there was no need to hand out any extra slots. Not much else to say about this banzuke. Winner Terarno and jun-yusho maegashira Oortael received small discretionary boosts but, other than that, all top division ranks were filled straight by the numbers, as was the upper half of the juryo division. Norizo (Y1e 9-6) Y Pandaazuma (Y1w 9-6) Susanoo (O1e 9-6) O1 Joaoiyama (O1w 8-7) GONZABUROW (O2w 7-8) O2 Andoreasu (S2w 12-3) Kobashi (S1e 8-7) S Ganzohnesushi (O2e 7-8) Chijanofuji (M2e 9-6) K DeRosa (M3w 9-6) Itchynotoe (M4e 9-6) M1 Gernobono (M6w 10-5) Jakusotsu (M2w 8-7) M2 Unkonoyama (M3e 8-7) Oortael (M12w 12-3) M3 Athenayama (Kw 7-8) Andonishiki (M10w 11-4) M4 Oskahanada (M1e 7-8) TochiYESshin (Ke 6-9) M5 Asapedroryu (M7w 9-6) ScreechingOwl (S1w 5-10) M6 Kajiyanosho (M1w 6-9) Toonoryu (M8e 8-7) M7 Flohru (M8w 8-7) Kotononami (M4w 7-8) M8 Kitakachiyama (M5e 7-8) Konosato (M9w 8-7) M9 Terarno (J6e 13-2 Y) Asashosakari (M13e 9-6) M10 Balon (M15w 10-5) Effinojo (M14e 9-6) M11 Gansekiiwa (M12e 8-6-1) Chishafuwaku (M6e 6-8-1) M12 Chelseayama (M15e 9-6) Metzinowaka (M5w 5-10) M13 Kintamayama (M11e 7-8) Bill (M7e 5-10) M14 Papayasu (J3w 10-5) Kachikoshi (J4e 10-5) M15 Kaiowaka (M13w 7-8) Biloumaru (J2e 8-7) M16 Anjoboshi (J2w 8-6-1) Kuroimori (M9e 4-9-2) J1 Rowitoro (M11w 5-10) BlackPinkMawashi (M10e 4-11) J2 Kishikaisei (J10w 11-4) Gaanaag (J7w 9-6) J3 Saruyama (J3e kosho) Takanorappa (J8e 9-5-1) J4 Bunbukuchagama (J6w 8-7) Onakaderu (M14w 5-10) J5 FujiSlava (J11e 10-5) Holleshoryu (J1w 6-9) J6 Andrasoyama (J8w 8-7) Oyama (J4w 7-8) J7 Frinkanohana (J1e 5-10) Warusaru (Ms1w 10-5) J8 Unagiyutaka2 (Ms3w 10-3-2) Profomisakari (Ms2e 9-6) J9 Gawasukotto (J9w kosho) Ulishimaru (J5e 5-3-7) J10 Hana-ichi (J5w 5-10) WAKATAKE (J9e 6-9) J11 Choshu-yuki (J10e 6-9) Chudorj (J12w 7-8) J12 Mariohana (J13e 7-8) Getayukata (NR 10-5) J13 Gusoyama (J12e 6-9) Joputosu (J14w 7-8) J14 Ahokaina (J7e 3-11-1) Ketsukai (J14e 6-9) Ms1 Katoomaru (Ms3e 7-8) Beeftank (J13w 5-10) Ms2 Benihana (Ms4e 7-7-1) Sakura (NR 8-7) Ms3 Hisui (NR 8-7) Fujisan (Ms1e 5-7-3) Ms4 Umigame (Ms5e 6-9) Achiyama (J11w 2-8-5) Ms5 Hokuseiho (Ms5w kosho) Dan Koloff (Ms4w 5-10) Ms6 Akishiki (Ms6w 4-11) Hakunojo (Ms2w 2-13) Ms7 Raiden (Ms7w kosho) Multimikstar (Ms7e 1-0-14) Ms8 Nantonoyama (Ms6e 0-2-13) Backeido (Ms8w 0-0-15) Ms9 Terukaze (Ms9e 0-2-13) Kaito (Y2e 7-8) Ms10 -