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Recent local news from Baruto is that he is planning to compete this basho. He is determined to stay in Makuuchi and will aim for 2-3 wins at the later part of the tourney. He's coming in "cold", but hopefully he'll be against sufficiently weak rikishi so he can get the required wins with minimal strain. Fingers crossed for good match-ups and no complications. :) Personally I would think a drop to Juryo wouldn't be that bad as it would allow more recovery time and then a better "ease in" period when returning. However I have a feeling that his stable is putting some pressure on, probably convincing him that it's not good for someone who was the top Ozeki a year ago to fall so far so fast. Baruto is fairly humble himself so I don't quite see him being that adamant about staying in Makuuchi. He has had plenty of experience falling to Juryo and coming back amazingly strong.

If he wins the next Yusho with 15-0 I'd think he has a fair shot at a promotion. But anything less probably won't cut it. To be fair Kisenosato has had a very solid record as an Ozeki and this jun-Yusho was pretty good one, losing only to a Yokozuna and an Ozeki while managing to beat one Yokozuna. That to me shows clear Yokozuna quality. But I'm no expert of-course. First we need to see how he does the next basho before trying to overly speculate. :P

When I'm looking at his record it always makes me wonder how someone can be so average of an Ozeki after such an amazing performance on his Ozeki run. When looking at his momentum at that time you would have thought - that's a Yokozuna right there, no doubt about it. Yet for 7 years all he has shown are two good basho's basically, all else being average.

I know and I respect that. It's just a personal thing. It's hard for me to explain properly I guess. I know the banzuke is different from "whoever actually wins the basho" and sumo is different from other sports. Probably has to do with the way other sports are where the winner of a tournament such as the World Series or the Super Bowl are are also considered the best of the sport for that year. But in sumo you have the top of the banzuke and then someone else may win the basho, but the top of the banzuke remains. It's just a different system (and world) and I respect that. So with too many Yokozuna, to me alone anyway, it would feel like it might not be such an accomplishment. We already have some people who felt that Harumafuji is a weak Yokozuna and maybe shouldn't have gotten the promotion. Then other feel that there might be some relaxation of the rules to get Kisenosato into Yokozuna(dom) just so there would be a Japanese at the top again. I'm one of the people that feels it should be really, really hard to get to the rank. Like three basho wins in a row with at least two of them being perfect with no losses. That's just me though and like I said, I respect everyone else's views too. Actually I feel that if there are more Yokozuna it means that each Yokozuna is likely to be that much more powerful than you average Sekitori and it is that much more of an accomplishment to become one. Think about it. Hakuho has shown amazing numbers by winning so many bouts in a row, so many bashos etc. But you have to consider the fact that he was the solo Yokozuna for a while. Almost three years he ruled alone. A portion of his wins don't seem that amazing to me simply because he lacked a serious rival to challenge him at that time. Sure some of the Ozeki put up a fight every now and again, but most of the time he was completely out of everyone's league. Now obviously he really was/is *That* good. But at the same time I can't help but to feel that a Yusho is worth less when you are basically the only true contender for it. So right now, every Yusho Hakuho takes is worth much more in my eyes because of Harumafuji offering solid resistance. If Kisenosato gets promoted as-well, - each Yusho will further go up in value. Winning a Yusho seems way more of an accomplishment when you have to contend with multiple similarly skilled opponents.

That does make plenty of sense. Indeed if he continues performing as well it is only a matter of time until he gets the needed Yusho and the promotion. But you know... internet forums are all about crazy speculation. I do appreciate the discussion. :-)

Even with Kisenosatos "special circumstance"? :-DAbsolutely. Promoting him to ozeki one win short is one thing, saddling him with the tag "the Japanese stopgap yokozuna who didn't deserve to get there" is quite something else. He might not have to win back-to-back yusho, but I really doubt anything less than yusho + high-quality jun-yusho is going to do it, at least for the next few years where they can still believe (correctly or not...) that he's in his prime and will have more opportunities. For some reason I can't get into the sumo database right now, but how many Yokozuna have there been active at the same time in the past? If let's say Kisenosato does become Yokozuna and there are then three of them, would they really expect another Yokozuna candidate for example to take away the Yusho from three Yokozuna? Is something like that a potential factor? Has something like that happened before? Where three active Yokozuna have failed to get Yusho and a lower ranked rikishi took it down? Sorry for the questions, but it looks like you can answer stuff like this pretty much off the top of your head. :-)

Never going to happen again thanks to Futahaguro, that's pretty safe to say. Even with Kisenosatos "special circumstance"? :-D Well I guess we have to see. Rather early speculation anyway as it's not uncommon for any Ozeki to get a good score but being unable to follow up properly. Most Ozeki manage a jun-Yusho or even Yusho at one point without repeating the performance the next basho. But still... fun to throw the idea of 3 Yokozuna around.

Well, pretty sure there is no requirement to actually get a yusho to be promoted. Is there? Two Jun-Yusho should be enough with high enough scores. Even less so when there are two Yokozuna already. It would be a fairly tall task for anyone to take a Yusho away from two Yokozunas. Not saying it can't be done, but obviously it's more difficult compared to there being a single Yokozuna who might just be having a bad basho. Also I don't see losing to Hakuho as a sign of him not being ready. Obviously winning would show he is up to snuff for sure. But at the same time Hakuho is one of the greatest of all time and it's no real shame to lose against him. He did beat Harumafuji and that should be enough to keep his promotion chances quite real if he can follow up the next basho. Besides. We all dream all the time. No matter how good the score, it's all speculation until the next basho comes along. So many have shined once.

It wasn’t really a henka, it was just sidestepping, something Harumafuji did a lot this basho. Kisenosato certainly displayed yokozuna-level sumō this basho, and I hope he can continue this way. It would be fantastic to have 3 yokozuna! Oh and by the way, I really liked how Kisenosato went like “I won’t take your shit” at the first tachi-ai, when Hakuhō wasn’t putting his hands down. Tomorrow is gonna be another exciting day, Harumafuji certainly has the capabilities of beating Hakuhō, and seeing Kisenosato’s form nothing short of Hakuhō would beat him (I’m not sure, but is he fighting Kakuryū?). Yeah I kept replaying the initial clash and indeed they made fairly solid contact. And you're right, it definitely looked like Kisenosato showed true confidence and even a bit arrogance from the get go. That attitude is very much needed for a Yokozuna. If you don't believe you can win, if you don't believe you are as good as the other guy and even better, you most likely aren't. And Kisenosato had no problem showing it this time. He knew he was good enough and he went in with full power. But obviously Hakuho is not your average Yokozuna, he is a man with a plan. But again I just want to say that Kisenosato has definitely paved the way for a Yokozuna promotion if he can follow up the next basho. He has had very solid Ozeki numbers despite the questionable promotion and there is no doubt that him becoming Yokozuna would be an immense promotion for the entire sport in general. We might see an explosion in popularity.

Most don't get to the top by being the nice and honorable guy. In this regard it's not like Kisenosato exactly shines either with his techi-ai antics. Regardless I think Hakuhos dominance has been so great over the years that there's little that can diminish his stature.

Man that was an insane battle. Kisenosato really showed he is a force to be reckoned with. Even after being henkad he kept going strong and made Hakuho really work for that win. To actually make Hakuho go for a henka. Seriously... Okay, maybe more like half a henka or something. But still. Even if Kisenosato loses the bout tomorrow, I think he is still a Yokozuna candidate. He has to follow up with another high jun-Yusho at the very least. Beating Harumafuji definitely helped his credibility as-well. Next basho is going to be very exciting to watch. To dream of a time with 3 Yokozuna battling it out... awesome.

Well, if you lose by basically losing your balance and tripping on yourself - it does kinda show you're not quite an Ozeki anymore. Kotooshu has obviously been declining for a while, possibly regular injury related. But he still has one match left to avoid demotion. And even if he happens to lose, he has a chance for a comeback with 10 wins the next basho. But to be honest I don't see him getting those 10 wins either. We may indeed see his retirement this year if he happens to lose tomorrow. But then again. Kotooshu has tons of experience and he seems to be quite good at making small come-backs. We'll have to wait and see.

Goeido again with no luck...

Such a close one for Takanoyama this time. After watching the replay it does seem like the loss was justified. Just sucked that he put in so much effort to seemingly win and then get told he lost halfway during the bout.

Even if Kisenosato loses the next two matches, he can still be technically heading for a Yokozuna promotion, yes? If he follows up with a Yusho or a 14-1 jun-Yusho, it could happen right?