Oskanohana

I don't know if this has been acknowledge in amongst the hundred posts talking about Hoshoryu's promotion, but he's the first in the 6-basho era to leapfrog over a fellow ozeki to get the rope. Both previous O1w -> Y promotions were promoted alongside their own O1e's and had the decency of losing their kettei-sen to their superiors. Now, some would say this is a Kotonowakazakura factoid maybe, as he's the first to get leapfrogged over and left in the dust and what a remarkable job he did of it. Query

The makushita jo'i for next basho looks like an eclectic bunch, as always. From juryo, Daiamami and Shimazuumi should get a spot to defend yotsu pride, Daishoho won't have a spot nor pride. Kyujo Bushozan is pretty much on the line: if he's demoted exactly 12 ranks he goes to Ms5w. Sometimes they do 12, sometimes they do 14, it depends, on what, I cannot say. Here are the makushita results so you can make your own mind. I've boldened 5 guys that can't be really denied 7-0 Ms44e Mudoho (aka Oho's younger brother) 6-1 Ms4w Hitoshi Ms8w Ishizaki (aka Ishizaki's younger brother, I mean....Asakoryu, that's the name) Ms17e Mita Ms31w Gojinyu 5-2 Ms1e Wakanosho Ms5w Otsuji Ms7e Tochimaru (aka the fastest gun in the east) Ms14e Kotokenryu 4-3 Ms1w Kazekeno Ms3w Kusano Ms4e Miyagi (aka yet another vertically challenged prospect) Ms6e Nishinoryu (aka a pretty normal yotsu guy, so he sticks out like a sore thumb amongst this bunch) Ms7w Tenshoho Ms9w Takakento 3-4 Ms2e Kotokuzan Ms2w Akua For the other 3 spots, the 5-2 bracket is done and from the 6-1, Mita has a shot but they seem to be going harsher on 6-1 promotions. If I had to bet, Sadogatake impersonator Kotokuzan and kakenage master Akua stay as a package as they like to give another shot to Ms2's minimal make-koshi and then we'd have Bushozan vs Tenshoho vs Mita for the last spot. If Bushozan is going to participate in Haru, he'd be hard done if he gets left out after getting 10 consecutive KK's in juryo (still boggles my mind this). So there you go, now you can have a guess on who will be denied a sekitori spot for Natsu in favour of keeping Shimanoumi.

I wouldn't be so sure. There's a lot of karaoke bars, pachinko parlors and whatnot where one guy can get drunk and do all kinds of shenanigans. It has happened before, I've been told.

I have to pay my dues for being an idiot, taking a gamble and not putting Terunofuji's score in the appropriate range, thus losing the rope by one miserable point. On the bright side, I'm allowed to fight for sanshos again, yay. I leave you in the capable hands of my fellow yokozuna @Kaito It's been a pleasure serving as the Oracle's 9th Yokozuna. I will gambarize and aim for a return to the rank as soon as possible.

I suppose this is not counting tsukedashi starts, because Ichinojo did it in 5, which is certainly unbeatable by a jonokuchi starter.

Before @Jakusotsu praises me as the savant I truly am, I'll say that I was very close to going down to pick Enho straight up or as a joker, but I was wary that his injuries might reappear just like Kawazoe's, so I settled on the reliable (for his rank) but unspectacular Mudoho. Then he pulled another Osanai.

When it's sandanme, I get them right. Meanwhile in sekitori-toto... Oskahanada On M18e news, Kiri(bayama)shima has claimed Wakamotoharu's sanyaku spot for himself as the incumbent lost to that Abi clone that was born before Abi. The former ozeki might lose the sekiwake nod to Oho or maybe even Abi if everything goes tits up from now on, but that doesn't look very likely after 10 wins in a row for him. Kiri(bayama)shima faces sole leader Kinbozan tomorrow and will tie him on the leaderboard with a win, opening even more the yusho race. Takanosho and Oho will face tomorrow thus eliminating the loser from forced komusubi promotion, but keeping the winner's hopes intact for senshuraku. Oh, and Oho is also fighting for the yusho, mind you. Abi and Wakatakakage need one more win to stay as komusubi. Wakatakakage has the easy task for him of dispatching Ura (8-0 H2H). Abi gets perennial yusho hopeful Takayasu, but the last 2 times they were paired, Takayasu couldn't find his way to the dohyo. Let's hope he does tomorrow.

Maybe they're debating if it's a verónica or a chicuelina. They really should adopt bullfighting names for the kimarite on some of these dodges. The word hikkake doesn't have that much flair.

He's been a favourite of mine even dating to his Shiba times. I was bummed when he finally got promoted to juryo (at the ripe age of 30) and wasn't allowed to fight because of that gambling nonsense that they finally decided that he didn't do but was still penalized preventively for it. It took him 8 more bashos in the makushita grinder but he finally got to be a proper sekitori. I'm hoping for a Churanoumi-esque late career surge for him. Pity, because this basho he had a great chance for a makuuchi promotion without getting stonewalled by the banzuke immobilists.

Fixed it.

Ahem-ahem*cough*cough*trrhemm-nosato.

I'd like to call this the race to M18e, thank you. We can't forget Takanosho, who, as M1e, will get a komusubi spot if he gets the last 3 wins and KK, regardless of openings (if my quick survey of the db serves me right). And if Kiri(bayama)shima gets to 10 wins I don't see how they keep him down also (they've never done it before). Funnily enough I can see a scenario where, even with no openings on the current ones (so WMH goes 7-8 and both komusubi get KK), Takanosho ends 8-7, Kirishima goes 9-6 and they promote both to extra komusubi as otherwise it'd look bad comparatively; and in contrast if Takanosho goes MK and Kirishima goes 9-6, they slide Kirishima to M1e as they have been happy to do before. So we might have a multiplication of komusubi on our hands: the incumbents and Takanosho have the keys. With those bad news out of the way, Koto(nowaka)zakura is strongly (or weakly?) pushing for a Natsu M18w inauguration in the modern era. He'll have to do another stinker next basho. I'm rooting for him against all reason. Lower sanyaku, can you keep it down and not multiplicate, please? T'was close. Thanks for all the insight. Chiyodaigo-Daimasakari and Noda-Daikosho were the chosen pairs. If the Dai's lose, we'll have an 11 or 12 men playoff (depending on what Aron does on his trip to makushita). I might give the slightest of nods to Daimasakari and Noda but no more than 55-45 if any at all. Anyways, we have a decent shot at a six-one senshuraku Sandanme sundown showdown. Make it happen, boys.

And we have the chance of a 6-1 Sandanme massive play-off with 10 guys or so. What's the usual torikumi practice in here for these 6-0 guys? I'd guess putting the closest 5-1 to each one on the banzuke? Thing is with Ai (Jd89) this round they paired him against a Jd71, skipping Jd87, Jd79, Jd77 and Jd76 and some guys closer but below Jd89 on the banzuke. Do they pick the rival randomly around those on the vicinity or do they choose a strong fella purposefully? The solution would be of course to let them fight it out directly as in this case there can't be the doubt of maaaybe one losses willingly to the other so both promote to makushita (if one of them was Sd51+, for instance, which is the cut point for 6-1 promotions), but no, that can't be done.

Did they finally call a sokubiotoshi? I've been tired for years of them calling hatakikomis by default. The db is out now, but I feel like a sokubiotoshi is veeeery rarely called.

We can call it the Haru Technical Examination Tournament.