Wakawakawaka

What a sour ending to the basho... I was rooting for Takayasu because he was the most dominant rikishi for most of the tournament and of course wanted to see him finally win a yusho. Takakeisho's performance grew on me as the basho went on as her showed a lot of fighting spirit, and crucially in contrast to recently, IIRC almost all of his wins were moving forward instead of slapdowns. Abi's performance didn't look especially strong, he looked like his normal Komusubi self, just fighting an M9 schedule, of course he's going to rack up a lot of wins just like the last 2 tournaments he was in this neighborhood on the banzuke. In all the talk of the void at the top in terms of dominant Yokozuna and Ozeki, I'm thankful that IMO this has not tainted the yusho. Again IMO all of the yusho winners in 2021 and 2022 earned it with exceptionally strong performances, I don't feel the same way about Abi. Then we get to the playoff and he henka's Takayasu (there's a time for everything, this is not the time) > Takayasu injured, now I have to root for Abi against Takakeisho just so poor Takayasu doesn't have to mount the dohyo again and risk further injury. Then Abi has the audacity to 'deny' his 'henka' showing he knows he did something 'wrong'. >:( 2023 for Abi. January = Kyujo, March = Yusho, May = Kyujo, July = Yusho, September = Kyujo, November = Yusho ;)

How many points do I get if I correctly guess that the yusho will be won with 15 straight ashitori by Terutsuyoshi?

Hello all! I remember bits and pieces of watching sumo as a kid (Musashimaru was my favorite) and happened by it on NHK for Kyushu 2019, and have been in love with it since. The excitement of the sport and the austerity of tradition is such an engaging combination. Nice to meet you all :)

Thanks ya'll. Indeed, I've been quite impressed with the 2 Waka bros in Makuuchi, very much like their 'brand of sumo' That and Raja Pradhan's enunciation of Wakatakakage cracks me up every time :P

Here's what I got, probably erring on the side of leniency for demotions. Hoping Terutsuyoshi gets to hang on for one more tournament. When he's confident he's exciting. Hiradoumi had an impressive start too, I'm interested to see what he could do with another shot.