alaninjapan

Does the basho count include the basho that wasn't a basho after the scandal?

Love all of the stats and top 10 lists. keep'em coming

Today Shohozan, in danger of 0-15, lost to Sadanoumi, whose father, also Sadanoumi, went 0-15 in the Osaka basho of 1988. Call Mulder and Scully,

If he does retire, I hope NHK and the sumo establishment give him some sort of roving reporter gig. It would be the best incentive I can think of to improve my Japanese enough to follow his witty commentary.

If it is a bad ACL injury, that puts footballers (soccer) out for 6-9 months at best. For a top level sumo guy with the stresses and the weight, give it a year or cripple yourself for life.

They have to turn lead into gold in front of the committee, and agree that Takamisakaris antics were good for sumo. After that there is a jungle challenge section which involves eating huge amounts of terrible food, hence the run of succesful Hawaiians, and more recently, shooting monkeys with poison darts from horseback, which is why it helps to be Mongolian.(What happened to the horses subjected to Hawaiian sized chaps remains a closely guarded secret). After that they have to perform the Japanese national anthem without falling asleep and declare their love for at least one Japanese "comedy" duo. If at this point they can find at least one Japanese lady who promises to stand by/under/in the shadow of her man, they are in with a shout. After that it is down to a ritual involving chanko entrails, envelopes full of cash, and how many cherry blossoms are visible in the Imperial garden by the 1st of April. Then if the number of letters in their family name is larger than the square root of their cup size the committee will take an interest. I may have missed a stage or two about acceptable levels of acne scar tissue as a ratio to wedgie tolerance, and something called the Pathraker, or Skywalker, in less reliable journals, but I think I have covered the basics. May you enjoy a long time appreciating sumo and its administration.

Going on the 16th

please let his name be Kanada or Rokiyama

I think Goeido got over-promoted. An adequate sekiwake is not an ozeki. 8-7 forever shouldn't tickle the top ranks. I have lived in Kansai, Nara, in particular for the last 13 years and we have perilously few sumo boys as it is, but i do hope this promotion wasnt another Takanohara bums on seats in Osaka plan. The guy just doesnt look good enough, all those tournaments in sanyaku dont lie.

How hard is it to come back after the scissors of doom, maybe unexpected injury recovery or change of heart(not literally)?

Homepage showing Harumafuji has pulled out of the basho.

ok, that would make more sense. I was just reading off the sumo reference site, the sumogamesdotde one.

Terunofuji was 161kg at the weigh-in in 2011/11 at his Maezumo debut. Terunofuji was 158.5kg at the weigh-in in both 2012/11 and 2013/11 including his Juryo debut. When he gets weighed again in 2014/11 he could conceivably enter Sanyaku at a weight lower than he entered Maezumo. I assume this would be incredibly rare. Any data? Cheers.

I think that is extremely harsh. Kotooshu set the "first European" record in just about every category, except becomng Yokozuna. Fighting in an era of two dai-Yokozuna, it seems difficult for him to have acheived any more. If his style wasn't the most all out banzai attack, but a little more thoughtful, then I don't think thats something to hang him with. Well played on a great career, reaching about number 3 in the world rankings and claiming a major title.

Just a guess, but I think if you asked Tochinoshin if he would rather be in Juryo, with a chance at more cash, or back in the top flight with the glory and a good shout at knocking over a bunch of the lower Maegashira, he would bite your hand off for the latter.