Atenzan

Absolutely delighted with 21st place after a long absence, I'll be sure to get 211th next time round judging by how this game treats people.

Interestingly enough, I can find bottles of tonkatsu sauce in the local Chinese supermarkets but not the Japanese ones. I am a frequent visitor to the Chinese supermarkets in large part due to my actual East Asian condiment of choice, Lao Gan Ma.

True- I also find it quite funny that I "grow" 2cm during visits to the physio- they measured me before and after once. I still don't know if it was to gloat, make fun of me or to prove a point.

Very late to the party, but the most enlightening thing about this is the complete lack of mention of a *one-yusho* "equivalent". To be honest, when I was first getting into sumo in 2014-15ish, I came across an ancient text written in Babylonian cuneiform (or a post on the sumo mailing list archives, either one) that described a "yusho equivalent" as: -Y with 12+ wins -D with 13+ wins -Any form of 14+ wins, even a 14-1J And the prophecy went, should an ozeki string two basho of the above in a row, he shall be made yokozuna, amen. I took this to be way more of a hard and fast rule than it was. Post-Futahaguro and up to that point in time, I think this was a fairly accurate rule of thumb anyway, but I wish I had read what Kamitsuumi posted instead. But the phrasing "2-basho renzoku yusho-shita [...] kore ni junzuru seiseki" paints a different picture entirely, and one that can be naturally relaxed to enable easier promotion when there's no yokozuna or at least a gaggle of exceptionally strong ozeki without seeming like a cop-out. From 2008 to 2014 inclusive, the average wins for a yusho was higher than it is now, and the yusho winner achieved less than a 13-2 only once, in the exceptionally strange for its time Kyokutenhou yusho. So, a YDC in those days could argue that a 13J-12Y wasn't really something that, if replicated, would consistently produce 2 yushos- it wouldn't be seiseki (results) that junzuru (correspond) to 2-basho renzoku yusho (2 consecutive yusho). In recent years, however, 12-3 yushos are very common. Can a 13 followed by a 12 earn you 2 yushos? Sure, why not, with no Asashouryuu/Hakuhou/Harumafuji to stop you, that could easily happen. Every full calendar year since 2021 has at least one instance where the makuuchi yusho was no higher than 13-2 in one basho and no higher than 12-3 in the basho immediately following it. So, based on the admittedly fuzzy Japanese, I don't see this as a soft promotion.

Houshouryuu is about to be the first yokozuna since Tochinoumi (49th) to gain promotion never having earned a shukun-sho, and thus will be the only living yokozuna to have done so.

Seems to be common across sports. Usain Bolt wanted to be a cricketer, IIRC.

Alright, so collectively we were off by 3.47 half-ranks, so as a group we had him somewhere between M2w and M3e. Call it M2-haridashi.

As I recall, I was completely stumped by that decision. I wonder what his average rank was in that basho's GTB guesses, which are invariably better than whatever crap the Kyokai comes up with .

Because I had a brain fart, I accidentally discovered that Hakuhou has fought the most bouts from the east side than anyone else. The gap between 1 and 2 (Chiyonofuji, 66 fewer bouts from the east than Hakuhou) is a little smaller than I expected, as Hakuhou also holds the record for basho ranked Y1e and in that case the gap between 1 and 2 is more than three years' worth.

Speaking of off-time activities, I still haven't given up my childhood dream quite yet, which is becoming a professional pool player. I was probably on track to achieve that by 2024ish until Covid set me about a year back- currently fighting to get back in form. I won a nice little 8-ball tournament today in Athens, suitably happy with myself. If I can turn pro for a year or two in future at some point and then go back to pursuing a "normal career", I'll be thrilled.

Yes, that's my "nerd shelf". Some nice stuff there.

Peter isn't going outdoors on his own anytime soon, I'm afraid: he was born with only one eye and he can't see out of the other.

I love cats with human names, my own cat is called Peter :)

Takakeishou finally looked like an Ozeki facing a lowly opponent today.

You have to go back seventeen and a half years to Haru 04 to get a makuuchi banzuke without a current (Aki 21) makuuchi rikishi on it- but more than thirty years to get one that doesn't include a current makuuchi shikona. Can you figure out whose fault this is?