Octofuji

Wakatakakage convinced me. As Kintamayama said, it looked like Ozeki sumo and for once I don't think he was joking. On the other hand Asanoyama looked nervous (and relieved to win while retreating) in his first bout back in juryo.

I enjoyed the incongruous guitar solo!

It's partly because he had a lot of wins this year, 55 compared to Terutsuyoshi's 31 (not including fusen) and Chiyoshoma's 38.

Thanks for the edit @Jakusotsu that's a lot easier to read!

Only one basho since 2000 had fewer fusen than this one (Kyushu 2016 with 3). http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query_bout.aspx?show_form=0&amp;group_by=basho&amp;g_op=<=&amp;having=6&amp;year=>1999&amp;rowcount=5&amp;kimarite=74&amp;onlyw1=on (Number of bouts in this query are all doubled, I guess there's a way to correct for this but I don't know how)

Ichi Pop and the Sujos

I've just been looking him up, what an extraordinary career! And still had trouble starting his own stable it seems.

Thanks, I had thought it was only Ozeki or Yokozuna but I had forgotten about Takekaze. So Aminishiki (and Takekaze) would qualify by means of 97 (and 86) makuuchi tournaments. It must be pretty rare to make 25 san'yaku tournaments without meeting one of the other two criteria (Tochiozan had 25 san'yaku tournaments but had more than 60 makuuchi anyway).

Can any Oyakata open a new stable in principle? Or do they have to have reached san'yaku?

Yes, it's strange to think of sumo as technologically advanced of other sports by several decades!

Sounds just like a gyoji

And presumably being on the receiving end of a henka is normally less likely to lead to injury. I remember in May 2019 when Takakeisho had his ill-advised single day mid-basho re-entry, some were praising Aoiyama for kindly doing a henka to protect the Ozeki from himself.

I've just watched the March playoff and I'd totally forgotten that Takayasu was henka'd in that one too (HNH'd maybe, I couldn't tell...). But because Wakatakakage didn't win immediately and the ensuing bout was so exciting the henka clearly didn't stick in my memory. As for concussion vs. mental collapse, Takayasu crumples as soon as his head makes contact with Abi. That must surely be a physical response, maybe a bit like when Takakeisho just 'stopped' v Ichinojo a while back.

I thought this was just something us fans bothered about, I didn't know there was an actual trophy (even if it must feel a bit like a consolation prize).

There have been very few 0-15 records. The most recent is Itai in July 1991 who went from M14 to J9. So if that's anything to go by Terutsuyoshi should be fine. http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query.aspx?show_form=0&amp;form1_losses=15&amp;form1_m=on Oki and Fujiazuma have recently gone 0-15 in juryo (in successive bashos, in fact), so I was surprised to find how rare a 'feat' this is overall. http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query.aspx?show_form=0&amp;form1_losses=15&amp;form1_j=on

Unless they treat an 11-9-12 non-yusho the same way as Goeido's 12-8-12.

Nine wins would make his Ozeki bid much more feasible next time, no?

He's great to watch, hopefully he'll get a special prize

I certainly hope not, but he will be in Makushita soon if he has another basho like this one...

Yeah I just watched his bout against Tsurugisho and he didn't even fall off the dohyo. He is much changed.

I was happy for Isegahama too that he didn't have to watch three of his wrestlers lose in a row, especially after Terutsuyoshi almost ended up in his lap. I've got so used to the gentle decline of wrestlers like Shohozan and Kotoshogiku, it's a shock to think that Takarafuji and Terutsuyoshi could be retired or in Makushita as soon as March.

Yeah it must be a very strange feeling. Aoiyama strikes me as a very inconsistent yardstick to base this kind of decision on, if Chiyotairyu had met him on another day the consequences could have been very different. But it sounds like he had made up his mind anyway.

So if he did lose one more that would be 9-8-13 = 30 wins, without the historic double digit records that Asanoyama and Shodai could boast... The hurry to promote being the risk that Takakeisho gets demoted presumably, since Terunofuji can probably take as long as he wants to heal? And the assumption that only one Ozeki is a disastrous state-of-affairs? Promoting Shodai with 32 wins hasn't worked out too well, if I was the Kyokai I would take a punt on either Takakeisho, or Wakatakakage getting to a total of at least 30 by next Basho.

It's good to see Enho doing better at 7-3. A juryo yusho playoff with him and Hokuseiho would be fun!

Wow. An eight-way playoff involving three of the bottom four on the banzuke? Now that's what I call ridiculous!