Tsubame

Then let me pick the promising Sd64 Koba Daichi

Agree, with such a weight in such a young age, he will be never "full healthy" when he become 20...25. What is, in my opinion, the most important part to become a yokozuna (despite the mandatory fact of being more then talented).

That's for sure. I still remember the words of the (in)famous Eurosport commentator AvdG: "Higonoumi, die graue Maus der Makuuchi-Division." (don't know if there is a proper english translation for this)

Dispite the fact that he won today, can we regard Jokoryu as a disappointment and kick him of the list of "possible future yokozunas"? I was very disappointed by his performance this basho...:(

I took this quote from another thread, because I what to hear the opinions from others about Endo possible promotion to makuuchi... I personally thinks that even with a 14-1 yusho he will not be promoted directly to makuuchi. In january Takanoiwa took the juryo-yusho as J13e with a 13-2 and was "only" promoted to J4w. And today Endo has an even lower rank as J13w. And, as far as I can use the query correctly, the lowest position for an "instant" makuuchi promotion with 14-1Y was J11w.

I wonder exactly this question after Hakuhos bout today... thanks for the kind service!

@Hakuyobaku You are right, one would remember Harumafuji as very disappointing yokozuna. But for me it's "part of the game". Without such mediocre yokozunas (or ozekis, as you could expand the comparisions to other ranks) from time to time, we would never start discuss a possible promotion of Kisenosato with only a jun-yusho. But your consideration about Harumafuji are still right, and I agree in that point with you (but that is easy for me, as I was and will never be a fan of him). @salle No, no short memory, sir. But in those old days we had more then one yokozuna and on top of it, strong ozekis. Today we only ask wether someone is able to stand against Hakuho and maybe wins the yusho. There is no question about "who" wins the basho, but more "can someone challenge Hakuho to not win the basho". In the mid-90s there were a lot a possible yusho winner in most every tournament. My hypothesis: The more possible yusho-candidates there are, the more you oversee weaker performances of some individuals. And that's the problem of Harumafuji...

I, for my part, am very grateful, that we finally have a mediocre yokozuna. And, if I could, I would wish that Kisenosato (or someone else) will become a mediocre yokozuna too. I am really sick of all those comparisons with Asashoryu/Hakuho. Yeah, we can be proud of being eyewitness of these two god-like uber-dai-yokozunas in such a short time. But why does anyone try to rise the standards for yokozuna performance only because we saw/see two yokozunas performing way above all standards? And Harumafuji will maybe get a "warning note" due to his poor performance, but a "recommendation of retirement" after such a short time in top rank is ridiculous (even for the YDC). EDIT: And what about Baruto? Some speculated that he will might return for some bouts to stay in makuuchi. Can we expect that or is he totally out?

Why the heck turned Nionoumi around in his bout against Takanoiwa? That looked so strange and I could not find a reason...

I wonder wether trolls are also living under pyramids? ;-)

Today Takayasu showed us a great fight against Hakuho! I was much surprised and well entertained! Good job, Takayasu!

1. Hakuho 12-3 2. Kisenosato 13-2 3. Harumafuji 11-4 4. Kakuryu 10-5 5. Osunaarashi N 6. Fujiazuma N 7. Kotomisen Y 8. Hamaguchi Y 9. Takatoshi N 10. Mankajo N 11. Kotoshogiku 11-4 Tiebreaker: 11

Looks like... Hm... maybe a perfect reason to go kyujo?

Sd23W Kaito

1 A 2 A 3 B 4 B 5 A 6 B 7 B 8 A 9 A 10 B 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 B 15 B 16 A 17 B 18 B 19 B 20 A 21 B

Great pictures and nice video! I liked the moment at 0:30 in the video when Kokonoe straighten his tsuna... esp. when you know how loose sometimes swords fits their scabbards...

Further sidenote regarding Osunaarashi: The next turnament coinciding with the ramadan in this year. I guess it will be a very hard basho for him, if he is a realy muslim. I wonder if it is possible to train and fight without eating the whole day for a basho and still finish with a good result. Maybe he will hit the wall in july.

29 and no yusho more. His physicaly decline is not yet (clear) visibly, but in one year, he will have problems to "stand his ground" as yokozuna. I guess he will be longer in service as yokozuna, but no longer as a serious contender for yushos. Edit: And I agree in one point with krindel. I also see a "Akebono"-style-intai.

Do you really consider a 13-2J and a 14-1J enough for the tsuna? I cannot... My guess is, that even with a yusho next basho, he will not get the promotion. It is the loss against Kotoshogiku. If Kisenosato finished 14-1, only loosing to the yusho-winner, then you could have count it in. But so, "all" he did is showing that now you can talk about his future yokozuna-hood or the circumstances how he can become yokozuna. And I still think that the 2-yusho rule is reluctantly bend or broken. When they really do it, then when he finish with two jun-yusho and a yusho within three bashos, nothing less... So lets say J in may, J/Y in july and J/Y in september...

Thanks for the info...

Does anyone forseen that Harumafuji will became a yokozuna 1,5 or 2 years ago? I guess noone... So you can never say that there will be such a long period till the next yokozuna. Maybe one of the ozeki can make it up or we see another rikishi who rise fast through the ranks (jsut remember how fast Asa and Hak rose). We never know. And by the way: neither was Wakanohana III a mediocre yokozuna nor was Harumafuji. Both were/are great skilled rikishi with a broad spectrum of techniques. Both deserved to be yokozunas. I guess it is just the fact that in the last decade(!) we get used to see two uber-dai-yokozunas...

By the way, what was the longest KK-streak by a rikishi starting from the very bottom?

What a lucky pick! No loss! Yeah Baby... (Applauding...)

What Kakuryu did was still better (and much more entertaining) then "just slipping"...

So Kakuryu managed to "turn around accidently" in his bout. Great show and nice to see that the [banned]-club still pulls it strings in the background! (Laughing...)