Chiyozakura

Yesterday I was told about a new sumo newsletter.The first edition was published a week ago but they still send out free copies of the debut edition. Try: http://www.eslclass.net/sumonation.htm

I think we shouldn't rush Shimotori and Towanoyama into Ozeki candidates without any matches in Makuuchi. I have no idea what to think of these two guys, but from what I have read Shimotori seems to have the potential to make Sanyaku in the not so far future while Towanoyama is too slow. Buyuzan had two nice Makuuchi basho, but he has not faced any real competition. Yes he won two straight san-sho, but that is no indicator. I think the last to do so was Chiyotenzan, who even won three straight, but these days he is nothing but an average Maegashira. I think Buyuzan will be no different. Right now the only serious Ozeki candidate is Kotomitsuki, while Wakanosato and Asashoryu have the potential to be considered in the near future. The rest of the division is happy to reach Sanyaku and can only dream of staying there. So the competition is not that tough in lower Sanyaku. One point I want to raise is: What should an Ozeki be? I think Ozeki should post double figures in wins. Of course they can fall short sometimes but then they should be able to make 12 in other basho. A Yokozuna in contrast should be consitently fighting for Yusho. So I think that Musoyama is a good Ozeki, Dejima was a good Ozeki until he got his injuries and Chiyotaikai has been a very good Ozeki in the last basho (plural). Whenever he finished he made double digits. He only was kadoban when he was injured. Kaio is a similar case. Tochiazuma has been Ozeki caliber since he returned from his last injury and he has grown stronger over the last year. Miyabiyama on the other hand was the only real Ozeki disappointment. So there is no Ozeki problem. I think we will have a new Yokozuna in the not so far future, and my three candidates are Tochiazuma and Kotomitsuki, plus Chiyotaikai if a Yusho and a Jun-Yusho are considered enough. Maybe even two are three of them will reach the rank in the next two years. Of course the current Yokozuna and Kaio could spoil it if they return as the force they once were. Then Musashimaru could block the Yokozuna rank for some time, Kaio could be promoted or even Takanohana could regain his dominant position.

Do you know which tasks the Rijicho will have? Who are the new head shimpan? I guess Musashigawa and Kokonoe remain in that posotion but Sakaigawa should have been replaced because of age. Any news on that?

Point one of your argumentation is wrong as Kotomitsuki won 34 bouts, 13 in September, 9 in November and 12 in January. Buyuzan will (probably) not be promoted to Ozeki in March. He has never been in Sanyaku before and it is still not safe that he will be Komusubi next basho. There is still the possibility that Takanonami gets the second Komusubi spot. Even if Buyuzan is promoted to Komusubi his promotion will (probably) not be promoted as there has never been an Ozeki promotion from Komusubi position, at least not in the modern era. Also I am pretty sure that lower Maegashira results don't count as my favourite example Takanosato shows.He went 36-9 in three basho and was not promoted. To get these number Buyuzan would need a 15-0. The problems of Musashimaru and Miyabiyama won't help Buyuzan as they are in the same Heya so he would not face them anyway. Of course everything I write is still based on my old understanding of promotions, which was absolutely wrong last basho...I was sure they would promote Mickey and I thought there was no way Tochiazuma and Chiyotaikai could both be Yokozuna candidates next basho...so maybe Daizen will be promoted to Ozeki with a kachi koshi next time, who knows? (Blush...)

I won't judge anyone's promotion chances anymore as I was sure they would promote Kotomitsuki... To Tochiazuma: With the exception of the playoff he had a great basho, especially if you take into consideration that the Ozeki debuts usually are rather unspectular results. The playoff itself was a big disappointment. Should Tochiazuma be able to stabilize his Sumo on that level he will certainly win some more Yusho, but this first one has a negative touch. Playoff matches are usually special, these are matches that people will talk about in later times, especially if it produced the first Yusho of a rikishi. In these matches heros are born and legends are made, but only if there is a good and intense match. Tochiazuma fought no bout, but he avoided facing Taikai a second time. Of course one can say that it is Chiyo's own fault that he fell for that henka, but the fans lost a great match.

I don't think that this really is important.There has been a lot of talk about it on the ML, but I still have to see a case where promotion is denied.I think this won't be a case to be taken into consideration because Kotomitsuki has been so good that it would surprise me if he got less then 12 wins this basho. There have been 5 Ozeki before and there were even times when all were at least good Ozeki (for most part of their career), as in the mid 80's with Wakashimazu, Asashio, Hokutenyu, Onokuni and Kitao. At one time there was even the chance to have 6 Ozeki when Hokutoumi was promoted. The NSK avoided this situation by promoting Kitao to Yokozuna, although he had not won a single Yusho. Good Sekiwake records like Hokutoumi's garantee promotion, even if it is crowded.I think Kotomitsuki will be no different. PS. I hope this time I made no mistakes with the quote option...

I think Taka just needs the time to recover.He suffered a serious injury which cannot be taken lightly.If he was a rank and file Maegashira he could compete with 50%, but being a Yokozuna he has to be a Yusho candidate everytime he climbs the dohyo.One cannot compare Takanohana, one of the greatest Yokozuna ever, with Onokuni, who's Yokozuna career was one of the weakest. Three bashos absence are not rare. Akebono missed 3 basho in a row twice, I think, also Hokutoumi missed 3 basho. Both were able to make strong comebacks and live up to Yokozuna expectations.

When I reinstalled my system I also deleted the link for the Juryo webcast. Can some one help me?

I don't think I should try to judge your paranoia :-P but I did not see anything unusual with the zabutons in the last basho. There sometimes are zabuton rains after important or great matches even if the Yokozuna won. I would rather say that the zabuton rain is good as bored spectators won't throw their zabuton. Usually the goo part of the match comes from Maru's opponent though as he has to overcome Maru's strong defense.

The zabuton rain is normal when a Yokozuna loses.It would not be different if it was Takanohana. Still I get a little bored of Maru, too.His wins a re not impressive as he has a great advantgae through his body which he uses very well.I know that sports is about making best of your advantages but still I think Maru's sumo is boring. Watching our current Ozeki is much more exciting, not to mention the two Sekiwake. It is premature to talk about Maru's retirement.Last year he was better than ever, despite his 4 yusho in 99. Would he retire now this of course would make the way to Yusho easier for the new generation of rikishi, which would not be the worst thing for Sumo.I can't wait for Kotomitsuki to make Yokozuna...

This year two important Oyakata will retire.Takasago, who thanks to Toki's driving abilities lost some of his power in the NSK, will retire in March and will be succeeded by Wakamatsu Oyakata, former Ozeki Asashio V.These will probably create a popular new Takasago Beya with Toki and Asashoryu, plus maybe Asasekiryu, should he make it to Makuuchi. Also our current Rijicho (Tokitsukaze, not Kotoseiya Yuichi!!!) will quit after the Nagoya basho. Is it already clear who will be next Tokitsukaze Oyakata?

In Germany there are mainly prices of 5.99DM or now 2.99

From what I read the next Rijicho should be Kitanoumi, as he is very popular within the Kyokai, was co-elected last time and gave it up for Tokitsukaze and last but not least had an outstanding career.Also Futagoyama had too many scandals in the past years. Tokitsukaze is a historic Heya and won't vanish like Tatsutagawa.It is a historic Heya founded by the great Futabayama and produced Yokozuna Kagamisato plus two Ozeki, Kitabayama and Yutakayama.Also the Tokitsukaze name is a very special one as there were already two Tokitsukaze Rijichos. Still the Heya is everything but blooming right now. Aogiyama has never been more than a Maegashira, Tokitsuumi could be lucky to make Komusubi one day, and Shimotori is not more than a hopeful right now.But looking at our current Sanyaku there are lots of hopefuls that I expect more from. Should there be a merger I think Tokitsukaze would want a Heya with some good rikishi. And Minato Beya is everything but a great Heya.Minatofuji is by far the best rikishi in it, and his career is nearly over and he never achieved anything in Makuuchi.I cannot see any future stars in Michinoku and Izutsu, too...Maybe Shikihide is another option as the Heya is still new one and Shikihide Oyakata, the former Komusubi Ozutsu, has some reputation. Obviously right now there is no Fujishima Beya to merge with so I think there will just be a new Tokitsukaze Oyakata.This could also be a freshly retired rikishi, like it was the case with Tatsunami and Asahiyutaka three years ago.But I can hardly believe that Aogiyama is the right man for it. His career was average and he is no relative of Tokitsukaze.The other two Oyakata in the Heya are not known to me so I guess that their position within the NSK is more or less meaningless. Putting this together it does not look good for the once mighty Tokitsukaze Beya

I will join, too.Is there a deadline that I missed somehow?I want to join when I know who will participate in Juryo next basho.Right now I'm only sure that Kotoryu will be missing.

The GtB winner of May or July 2001 Jindrabono was a multiple entry.As a result of this Moti now allows only one entry pro e-mail adress.Should I be wrong with this please correct me, Moti-San! I think that in a game like GtB this double entry is an important advantage.As I experienced Feginowaka is an expert in Banzuke making, but this basho his score was relatively low as Asashoryu was promoted to Sekiwake leaving most of the rikishi half a rank higher than expected.Had he made a second entry he says he would have had 71 points and a clear Yusho, and I have no reason not to believe him. In other games the advantage is not as big because one certain point like the Asashoryu Sekiwake promotion does not cause a chain reaction like this. Speaking of sportsmenship double entries are not accetable, but there is no way of avoiding them.Nothing is easier to get than a second or third e-mail adress and then there is no way of catching a double entry.In the case of Jindrabono nobody would have seen it if the person hadn't told us...

Hoshifransu: Your scenario would not bring Miyabiyama back to Ozeki as the three basho would not have been near or in Sanyaku.He will have to go the hard way back up, which is probably a question of health for him.

So did I get that right that the last years at school in Finnland are flexible?So it is possible to finish the Finnish form of high school in two to four years?In Germany we already have difficulties reducing the years in school up to the studies from 13 to 12 years, although it is different from state to state. Another weakness of the German school system is foreign language.You only start to learn English in the 5th grade and then don't have to learn another language, if you don't want to.You have to learn Latin then, but I have never seen somebody speaking Latin fluently so I don't consider it a real language. An often raised topic is the time children spend at school..In the first grade a child in Germany usually spends only 4 hours a day in school.I remember my first two years very well as I spent most of my time playing football.Once you finished your tasks you could go and play until the last child in the class had finished, too....wonderful years :-/

What I really wanted to write was "You cannot find ALL substances anyway". In sports like cycling you get the impression that it is a question of luck and knowledge of doping if you are caught or not.Once the Tour de France has ended you can wait some time to find out if the winner really is the winner or if they found steroids.Even if they don't it is still doubtful that with so many athletes caught the best of them all did not take anything... My point is that you either have a system that really works without any backdoors for cheaters or you leave it completely.The current system has even legal ways to avoid it.If you have certain illnesses you are allowed to take medicine that contains illegal substances that could help you in your sport.

The question to me is: Is Doping in Sumo a bad thing? In sports like cycling you get the impression that nearly everybody is doping and there is a competition to hide it.If athletes want to improve their performances with doping it is alright to me. There are still many legal ways to push you up which are as dangerous as forbidden substances. In Germany we had the already legendary story of Dieter Baumann who was tested and for three or four years now is saying that somebody manipulated his toothpaste...how many football players tested positively consist that they did not know about the doping? I am really happy that these discussions do not exist in Sumo.You cannot find any substances anyway...

I remember a Chiyotaikai interview where he said that he plans to change his style later in his career when he loses speed.There have been rikishi changing their styles during their careers, Musashimaru is a good example. In the first half of the 90's he did mainly oshi Sumo, and then started to change his style to yotsu sumo.I think the main reason was that there is a smaller margin of error in yotsu sumo.One missed slap can decide the match against you. Of course with his massiv body it is easier for Musashimaru to adopt to a different style...but still I think Chiyotaikai could make it.