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In January I acquired a folded, two sided poster of kimarite illustrated by the late Kototsurugi. Bilingual (Japanese/English). Wish it was a booklet.

Congrats to Daiamami! Coming off of a 4-11 and a year straight of MK, he opened this basho with an 0-3 record, wisely securing himself the worst strength of schedule possible, then proudly beat 3 lower-ranked struggling rikishi before being scheduled a promotion-deciding match against a 3-11 opponent who was always unlikely to show up for the match. Brilliant tactics by this man, who so clearly deserves another shot at Juryo.

He's 32. College grad who started in Maezumo, made it to CH Komusubi in 24 basho; 7 kinboshi, and a JY less than two years ago. A very good career, but his style has set him up for a lot of pounding, especially since his injury in Jan 2024. Aminishiki was like the old junkball pitcher who could still get some guys out; Hokutofuji is like the ace reliever who's lost 10 mph off his fastball and gets lit up every outing.

The 2009 publication 妖艶粋美 Bewitching Beauty 甦る天才絵師 The Revival of a Genius Artist 鰭崎英朋の世界 The World of Hirezaki Eihō deals mostly with the ukiyo-e artist's bijin-ga (beautiful women) and kuchi-e (book covers) but has a final chapter exploring the artist's sumo illustrations. Eihō was the sumo illustrator for the Tōkyō Asahi Shimbun from 1901 (Natsu Basho) until Senshuraku of the Hatsu basho of 1923. I have collected the illustrations from Chapter 6 in a web page: https://tommycrouch.com/sumo/48te/eiho/_eiho.html Some standouts are: sumo coverage Tōkyō Asahi Shimbun 東京朝日新聞 6 June 1915 (text and furigana readable in the large image), the monoii with comments from the judges and a ring side ozeki (I wonder from where Eihō observed the action?), and ukiyo-e prints: 1942 照國 Sekiwake Terukuni (future 38th yokozuna), 1942 双葉山 Futabayama cover, and 双葉山 Futabayama 鏡岩 Kagamiiwa 16 May 1936 Day 8.

A few pictures from Kawabuchi's danpatsu-shiki, which took place at Shikoroyama-beya's senshuraku party. Three shots from Chiyohokkai's danpatsu-shiki. Goshimaru was greeted by some of his heya mates in the hanamichi following his final bout, and then announced his retirement to the supporters at the senshuraku party. Musashigawa-beya says his danpatsu-shiki will take place back at the heya in Tokyo in the near future. Saidaiji joined what was then Irumagawa-beya after graduating from Okayama University of Science High School. He served as tsukebito to Shishi, and when he was still learning Japanese he would act as an interpreter of sorts, translating questions from the media into simpler terms that Shishi could understand. He plans to return home to Okayama prefecture to learn about agriculture, in order to help his mother who is a grape farmer there. His danpatsu-shiki was apparently livestreamed on the Ikazuchi-beya Instagram.

That's how you get ponies.

Hmm, I can't find any trace of this having been mentioned on the forum until now. (I ran into it on ja.wiki.) On December 8, 2023, Lynn Matsuoka reported the passing of her ex-husband, former maegashira Iwatora. They had moved to the US following his active career, first to Hawaii and then to New York, where he eventually established a Japanese restaurant, nowadays run by their two sons. Edit: A local paper reported the date of death as December 5.

Just noticed also that Sendagawa-oyakata (ex-Tokushoryu) has moved from Kise-beya to Nishikido-beya.

Did I miss something? Haven't seen any announcement about him retiring. Easy mistake as we have spent more time discussing Hokutofuji than any of the guys who have officially retired.

Haru 2025, Senshuraku (Final) O1e Onosato: 12-3Y, 12 KK, 121-43, 3x M yusho M15e Aonishiki: 11-4, 9 KK, 71-16, Jd, Jk yusho J14w Kusano: 14-1Y, 6 KK, 38-12, J yusho Ms1w Ishizaki: 3-4, 4 KK, 25-10 Ms4w Mita: 5-2, 4 KK, 22-6 Ms11w Okaryu: 3-4, 5 KK, 29-13 Ms13w Inami: 4-3, 7 KK, 35-14 Ms32w Noda: 3-4, 5 KK, 30-12 Ms52e Shimizuumi: 3-4, 4 KK, 25-10, Jk, Jd yusho Sd6e Goseizan: 5-2, 4 KK, 23-3-2 Sd29e Furuta: 5-2, 4 KK, 21-7 New Ikarigata: 6-1, 2 KK, 12-2 New Gonosho: 5-2, 2 KK, 11-3 New Wakaikazuchi: 6-1, 2 KK, 12-2 New Okada: 5-2, 2 KK, 10-4 New Goseimaru: 5-2, 2 KK, 9-5 New Ikazuchihayate: 5-2, 2 KK, 9-5 New Ideno: 4-3, 2 KK, 8-6

According to JSA Hoshoryu is still ozeki, so all is good. https://www.sumo.or.jp/EnSumoDataRikishi/profile/3842/

Tameikis Ranking after Haru Basho 2025 Hello dear 21 gamers! Once again I added to the ranking dates of Hatsu Basho 25 the Hatsu 25 results and subtracted the results of Hatsu Basho 24. and subtracted those of Hatsu Basho 24. So I got the following new ranking on the results of the last 6 Bashos: Nr Name Points TB1 Score Average Av.TB 1 Susanoo 64 950 6 10,67 158,33 2 Hisui 58 885 6 9,67 147,50 3 Fashiriteta 55 791 6 9,17 131,83 4 Yarimotsu 54 902 6 9,00 150,33 5 Papayasu 52 746 5 10,40 149,20 6 Benihana 51 747 6 8,50 124,50 7 Gusoyama 51 736 6 8,50 122,67 8 shimodahito 51 733 6 8,50 122,17 9 Bunbukuchagama 51 711 6 8,50 118,50 10 Flohru 49 733 5 9,80 146,60 11 Wamahada 49 715 6 8,17 119,17 12 Tochinofuji 48 622 6 8,00 103,67 13 Asapedroryu 47 693 5 9,40 138,60 14 Andreas21 47 687 5 9,40 137,40 15 Karasukurai 47 684 6 7,83 114,00 16 Profomisakari 46 696 6 7,67 116,00 17 ChickyStarr 45 628 6 7,50 104,67 18 WAKATAKE 44 616 5 8,80 123,20 19 Fujisan 44 605 5 8,80 121,00 20 Hakuryuho 44 541 6 7,33 90,17 21 Rokudenashi 43 562 5 8,60 112,40 22 Athenayama 43 533 6 7,17 88,83 23 Shatsume 41 557 5 8,20 111,40 24 RaeucherLax 41 512 6 6,83 85,33 25 Eatplaylovesumo 40 589 5 8,00 117,80 26 Fia 39 511 6 6,50 85,17 27 chishafuwaku 38 497 5 7,60 99,40 28 Hakuhonofan 33 504 5 6,60 100,80 29 Asset 29 372 4 7,25 93,00 30 E9 27 411 3 9,00 137,00 31 Takanorappa 26 372 3 8,67 124,00 32 Mizuma 26 358 4 6,50 89,50 33 Ippikiōkami 22 273 3 7,33 91,00 34 Hidenotora 19 265 3 6,33 88,33 35 Kotowazasato 12 222 2 6,00 111,00 36 Jeauonosato 12 172 1 12,00 172,00 37 grocerybird 11 151 1 11,00 151,00 38 Furansumo 10 145 1 10,00 145,00 39 Hohofuji 10 129 1 10,00 129,00 40 Kimyama 9 184 1 9,00 184,00 41 Polarkatsu 8 132 1 8,00 132,00 42 Jimizakura 7 111 1 7,00 111,00 43 Jogn 6 87 1 6,00 87,00 44 Suwihito 5 75 1 5,00 75,00 We see a very clear lead of the Haru winner S u s a n o o . Great C o n g r a t u l a t i o n ! As ever in the past rankings we have some Players who not have participated on all six Bashos, but have very good averages. For them but only including such players who participated 4 or more times I made a second table sorted by average of points and average of TB1: Nr Name Points TB1 Score Average Av.TB 1 Susanoo 64 950 6 10,67 158,33 2 Papayasu 52 746 5 10,40 149,20 3 Flohru 49 733 5 9,80 146,60 4 Hisui 58 885 6 9,67 147,50 5 Asapedroryu 47 693 5 9,40 138,60 6 Andreas21 47 687 5 9,40 137,40 7 Fashiriteta 55 791 6 9,17 131,83 8 Yarimotsu 54 902 6 9,00 150,33 9 WAKATAKE 44 616 5 8,80 123,20 10 Fujisan 44 605 5 8,80 121,00 11 Rokudenashi 43 562 5 8,60 112,40 12 Benihana 51 747 6 8,50 124,50 13 Gusoyama 51 736 6 8,50 122,67 14 shimodahito 51 733 6 8,50 122,17 15 Bunbukuchagama 51 711 6 8,50 118,50 16 Shatsume 41 557 5 8,20 111,40 17 Wamahada 49 715 6 8,17 119,17 18 Eatplaylovesumo 40 589 5 8,00 117,80 19 Tochinofuji 48 622 6 8,00 103,67 20 Karasukurai 47 684 6 7,83 114,00 21 Profomisakari 46 696 6 7,67 116,00 22 chishafuwaku 38 497 5 7,60 99,40 23 ChickyStarr 45 628 6 7,50 104,67 24 Hakuryuho 44 541 6 7,33 90,17 25 Asset 29 372 4 7,25 93,00 26 Athenayama 43 533 6 7,17 88,83 27 RaeucherLax 41 512 6 6,83 85,33 28 Hakuhonofan 33 504 5 6,60 100,80 29 Mizuma 26 358 4 6,50 89,50 30 Fia 39 511 6 6,50 85,17

MCP HISTORY UPDATE AFTER HARU 2025 (Go to page 19 for the first post with more details on this) TOP 5 history : So many unaffiliated. Such a waste ! Find your Ichimon people. Enter the game ! Most points won by players in the MCP. I kept the points that are granted for the ICF. MCP-1 - earns 25 points MCP-2 - earns 20 points MCP-3 - earns 15 points MCP-4 - earns 10 points MCP-5 - earns 5 points Edit : When 2 players were tied I splitted points in half. For example, 2 players tied first (25 +20)/2 = 22.5 points for each. And so on..... @Norizo expands his lead. @Toonoryu +9 ranks, now #17. Metzinowaka +19 ranks, now #22. @GONZABUROW +3 ranks, now #79. @Watashi +38 ranks, now #97. Unofficial ratio ranking with the ratio "points won/ basho played" . At least 12 bashos (2 years) of participation and at least 1.00 ratio to be on the list. @Kajiyanosho and @Bunbukuchagama completed 12 basho and make a thunderous entry in these standings respectively at #1 and #2. @Toonoryu also enters these standings at #58. Winners recap. First title for Metzinowaka. Congrats !

After quite some time Ishikawa has now officially been hired as of this month (list en, list jp, profile); he's joining the sumo world as Shikimori Tomosaburo 式守 友三郎. You might notice that the first kanji of the given name is also present in his real given name, albeit with a different reading. The remainder may be a reference to his shisho Otowayama (ex-Kakuryu), who has gone by Rikisaburo since his active days.

Daily Sports was first to publish the intai list this time; only 7 names are on it. Taiga (Arashio) Saidaiji (Ikazuchi) Shinhakuho (Isegahama) Kawabuchi (Shikoroyama) Goshimaru (Musashigawa) Chiyohokkai (Kokonoe) Tappa (Otake)

"the town mayor and the Sugaru sumo jinku club performed an Onosato support jinku" I wonder how Onosho felt at his retirement party when they started singing songs for Onosato - I get that Onosato is popular, but that seems a bit much

The standings have been updated after the Haru SB Masters. And we have a change at the top as this might become a duel between two former Metasumo champions... @Kaito (275.13) @Ganzohnesushi (272.45) @Sumo Spiffy (254.75) Follow the link below to see the full results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OOVnQG2Lj57JWifouPc91CMt23teZ_0W/view?usp=sharing

I guess he wasn't the new Hakuho after all.

I got a confirmation instantly yesterday... Also, there are about 8,000 plausible combinations I discovered. And that's just for M9-M11.

Mita oo o o Mudoho o o o o oo Miyanokaze o ooo o vid o o o

Losing to a couple inferior opponents each basho is a pretty regular thing in sumo, not really the sign of a big choke. Onosato did it too. Often you'll see the losses in 12-3/13-2/14-1 records are not all to the highest ranked rikishi or those with the best records, but also to comparatively non-descript opponents who didn't perform well. It was a neck and neck yusho race with probably our next yokozuna - who even without the rank is arguably sumo's top performer now (winner of 3 of the last 6). It was not one in which Takayasu had a big lead and gave it away with a series of poor performances. Even in the loss to Churanoumi he came out blazing, and in the playoff he gave Onosato a scare with the throw attempt near the edge; he didn't run into his chest and immediately collapse as he did in Nov 2022 vs Abi. I agree he has choked before and his jun-yusho to yusho rate is almost sad to see, but I felt he delivered this time - by the tiniest of margins it just wasn't quite enough to edge the best guy at the moment.

Gotta love Google translate: "He is the strongest active wrestler at four-way."

Pictures of various Oshiogawa-beya members were making the rounds on social media recently (1, 2) that include a new yobidashi trainee referred to as 風一, presumably to be read Kazeichi. (I'll just copy-paste the wording from my gyoji post a few minutes ago...) Assuming he's eventually hired, this will max out the yobidashi capacity of 45 until the next retirement; the next scheduled departure is that of sanyaku yobidashi Shiro (second in seniority behind younger fuku-tate yobidashi Katsuyuki), who turns 65 in December 2027.

He still did the thing. You have to make it conditional if you want to claim a first here: "In the 6B/Y era" or "in the 15-day basho era".

New: Miyagi, now Miyanokaze 宮乃風 みやのかぜ - Ms1e 4-3, Nakamura-beya, Okinawa, 26 years old Mudoho - Ms3w 4-3, Otake-beya, Tokyo, 23 years old Mita - Ms4w 5-2, Futagoyama-beya, Tochigi, 23 years old Returning: Daiamami - Ms2e 4-3, Oitekaze-beya, Kagoshima, 32 years old, 2nd promotion, back after one basho former maegashira