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.

Yeah, that Jd19w Yago - Sd36w Daikosho looks ugly. Probably my preferred torikumi solution would be to do Tsushimanada - Mudoho and get Ishizaki a 4-1 guy on the promotion zone, but there are none for him as I said before, only Hokutomaru from Ms13 (extended promotion zone at least) and that's only if he wins tomorrow. Getting him a Ms16+ rival with 1 loss would not be to my liking. If you free Aron that way, the Sandanme conundrum gets somewhat solved. It'd be really funny to get the Oitekaze boys on a 3-way play-off in the end. No, even funnier, they all win their 6th bout, then lose their 7th and we get a 16-or-so men playoff for the first 6-1 sandanme yusho in history (those on the 70's don't count because Sandanme was only 80 ranks back then....oh wait...) I'd also like if possible to reserve the Daikisho-Gonosho pair for a jonokuchi yusho decider on day 13, but that would be not blind torikumi making, as it probably should be. And talking about delaying pairs, if they delay Shishi-Aonishiki and it's a juryo yusho decider for senshuraku maybe they can even make an event out of it in the broadcast with flags and all that nonsense, but they're probably too chauvinistic to do that. Besides, they should keep their focus on the Chiyoshoma hatsu-yusho festivities.

I was about to say you're crazy, but it's not that uncommon, totally forgot about these somewhat recent ones Query Basho Day Rikishi 1 Kimarite Rikishi 2 Rank Shikona Result Rank Shikona Result 1997.03 13 Ms8e Kogawa 6-1 tsuridashi J12w Kyokutenho 7-6 (8-7) 1998.09 13 Ms6w Takeuchi 7-0 yoritaoshi J13w Gokenzan 5-8 (6-9) 2009.09 13 Ms10e Gagamaru 7-0 hikiotoshi J12e Hoshikaze 5-8 (7-8) 2013.05 13 Ms7e Osunaarashi 7-0 yorikiri J13e Akiseyama 5-8 (7-8) 2016.01 12 Ms6w Tochihiryu 6-1 tsukitaoshi J14w Dewahayate 6-6 (8-7) I only posted here the latest ones, the query has all the makushita-7-bout-era. Nice one to start the trend, Wakanosato vs Kyokutenho, those were the times. Oh, and with Terunofuji's retirement, if there is no lower sanyaku multiplication (not really on the cards now), the M18e slot will appear on the banzuke again. Not a bad list of fellas this one. M18e Rikishi 1 2 > Date Rank Record Date Rank Record Kotonowaka 2020.03 M18e 9-6 2020.07 M13w 4-6-5 Oho 2022.01 M18e 7-8 2022.03 J1e 10-5 With a little help from the first guy on this list, we can even get to M18w in a couple of bashos.

Oh, I was wishing some days ago for a Shimanoumi late surge and an 8-7 makuuchi promotion from J5, but that hope is long gone. If Ishizaki is the only 6-0 after the next round in makushita there might not be a high-ranked 5-1 available for him. He's already faced Otsuji, Takakento and Kaisho. If Hitoshi loses tomorrow in juryo against Tohakuryu (god knows what can happen there, for sure it's not gonna be pretty, I'm hoping for a double henka), next best option is tomorrow's winner of Hokutomaru-Kiokukaiyu (and he'd have to win his next bout also). Maybe they go old school anyway and pair him against a 4-2 or 3-3 opponent vying for promotion?

I don't see this yotsu ability you speak of. I haven't seen him grab the mawashi and control his opponent and the pace of the bout. If forced to grab the mawashi, he just does and drives forward all the same, as he did to Wakatatakage the other day, just bullying him. It takes immense strength to "just walk forward" as he does, but I don't see any ability at all to deny the opponent, pull an offensive uwatenage, maybe shift gears with a dashi-nage, much less go full gappuri-yotsu and really measure his strength against a pure yotsu specialist. He is not at all able to control the opponent (and himself) and win steadily and safely. At the moment, he's just a bulldozer that nobody can stop consistently and can only be beaten by pulldowns or his own overeagerness, but that's partly the fault of the sorry bunch we have at the top of the sport now. Yup, that's his whole schtick, he's made a juryo janitor career out of it. Daishoho was another one of those, but now he's just embarrassing. Today's loss against Daiseizan's tectonic sidestep was on a whole other level of apathy even for him. He doesn't even care even when he's effectively losing his salary. Oh, and Tochimusashi today copied his pal Hakuyozan's move and needlessly dragged Kotokenryu to the stands with him. Those two are something else.

A problem I can predict is the lowest ranked rikishi tie-breaker. If the code checks it from the altered banzuke, oh boy, maybe it can check the real banzuke then. Still, it's messy, but it's a patch until Chiyoshoma's ascension. The main issue is of course the problems you can't think of. You change a line of code and hilarity ensues.

I was surprised by the torikumi makers pairing 6-0 Chiyoshoma and 0-6 Roga, but it has happened before among maegashiras. With yokozunas and ozekis is much more usual as their opponents are more or less pre-programmed on the first week. I know that this also holds somewhat true for the rest of the torikumi, but come on, guys, it's day 7, you can tweak it a little bit. 6-0 vs 0-6 maegashira only Basho Day Rikishi 1 Kimarite Rikishi 2 Rank Shikona Result Rank Shikona Result 2006.11 7 M9w Asasekiryu 6-1 (10-5) oshidashi M7e Tamanoshima 1-6 (2-9-4) 2015.03 7 M6e Aminishiki 7-0 (8-3-4) hikkake M8e Shohozan 0-7 (1-14) 2025.01 7 M5w Chiyoshoma 6-0 M8e Roga 0-2-4 I wouldn't put past Chiyoshoma losing tomorrow against an injured Roga. Still, Asa's secretary did it first. For completionists, same query adding lower sanyaku and juryo. 6-0 vs 0-6 (S,K,M,J) Basho Day Rikishi 1 Kimarite Rikishi 2 Rank Shikona Result Rank Shikona Result 1981.03 7 S1e Takanosato 7-0 (10-5) kotenage K1w Fujizakura 0-7 (3-12) 1982.09 7 S1e Wakashimazu 7-0 (12-3) yorikiri K1e Takamiyama 0-7 (5-10) 2006.03 7 J11e Baruto 7-0 (15-0) yoritaoshi J7e Daishodai 0-7 (3-12) 2006.03 7 J6w Kyokunankai 7-0 (10-5) yorikiri J10e Toki 0-7 (2-13) 2006.11 7 M9w Asasekiryu 6-1 (10-5) oshidashi M7e Tamanoshima 1-6 (2-9-4) 2006.11 7 S1w Kotomitsuki 7-0 (9-6) uwatenage M1w Iwakiyama 0-7 (2-13) 2011.11 7 J11w Tokushoryu 7-0 (10-5) yorikiri J12e Tamanoshima 0-7 (0-9) 2015.03 7 M6e Aminishiki 7-0 (8-3-4) hikkake M8e Shohozan 0-7 (1-14) 2016.05 7 J13e Sato 7-0 (11-4) hatakikomi J5w Akiseyama 0-7 (1-14) 2025.01 7 M5w Chiyoshoma 6-0 M8e Roga 0-2-4 Asa's secretary's achievement is more impressive this way. That Sato on the second-to-last line is Takakeisho, by the way. (I refuse to use Chrome, sue me)

A suggestion in case Hoshoryu's promotion doesn't come true and there's no way to fix the automation code properly before next basho. Would it be possible to feed the system a fake banzuke with let's say Takerufuji as a yokozuna? Everybody is picking him anyways and I'm sure the BSYDC can grant him this temporary status. This way we'll somewhat respect the "if there's no yokozuna, pick an extra maegashira" rule. It'd be a wacky patch, but hey, I like Chiyoshoma. Just spitballing.

So KOTO-nishiki botched a call in favour of KOTO-nowakazakura. Hmmm...I wonder.... On happier news, Chiyoshoma absolutely demolished and rolled the most accomplished active rikishi on the current banzuke while Tamashoho awkwardly won against Shonannoumi so the WCP (Wackiness Conservation Principle) holds true. Maybe that's why Yago came back from injury. He's needed as a wacky back-up to keep the universe from collapsing on itself. Yeah, I saw that too. If the extra shove is a dame-oshi, how do we call that, a dame-tottari? Oh, Hakuyozan, you magnificent bastard.

There's no need for Hoshoryu to be promoted immediately when the next mongolian dai-yokozuna is ascending the ranks and sitting now at Maegashira 5. He was just waiting for an appropriate substitute in Tamashoho, who will keep the amount of wackiness in the sumo universe somewhat stable.

Was there a rule in bench were you could pick an extra maegashira in case there was no possible yokozuna or did I just dream of it? Well, it won't be necessary anyway, as of day 4 Hoshoryu is cleaning house easily. Let me just watch how he disposed of out-of-form Atamifuji today. Oh, heavens, no....