Primary School Banzuke 2018 - Grade 4

[mikawa 1,794]

It's now become tradition here in the Amasumo Section to look back over the past year of amateur sumo action at 2 different points of the year - the Unofficial Amateur Sumo Awards at tbe end of each year, and the Amateur Sumo Banzuke series at the end of March.

Over the course of this week, we'll be looking back to see who has been the most successful wrestlers in amateur sumo in Japan, starting with the primary school banzukes and culminating with the university banzuke. These lists are produced by adding up how well each wrestler did in national level tournaments over the past year. Unlike last year though, there will be a bonus post on Sunday, so stay tuned.

This banzuke takes into account the following tournaments:

• 34th Wanpaku National Championships
• 31st National Primary School Championships
• 9th Hakuho Cup

 

East Yokozuna - Shigemura Konosuke (重村 鴻之介), Kagoshima
West Yokozuna - Toyoda Rinnosuke (豊田 倫之亮), Kagoshima

East Ozeki - Ogasawara Kosuke (小笠原 広祐), Aomori
West Ozeki - Tamiya Aiki (田宮 愛喜), Aichi

East Sekiwake - Aoki Kanta (青木 貫太), Shizuoka
West Sekiwake - Badnaanyambuu (ﾊﾞﾄﾞﾅｰﾆｬﾝﾌﾞｰ), Mongolia

East Komusubi - Yamauchi Kiyora (山内 清良), Chiba
West Komusubi - Hiraga Eita (平賀 瑛大), Mie

 

East Maegashira 1 - Tajima Chiaki (田島 千照), Gifu
West Maegashira 1 - Takezawa Hikaru (竹澤 光), Saitama

East Maegashira 2 - Nishizaki Soma (西崎 想馬), Tokyo
West Maegashira 2 - Kato Dogo (加藤 道悟), Hyogo

East Maegashira 3 - Otawa Yu (大田和 優), Ibaraki
West Maegashira 3 - Jike Ruiki (寺家 琉唯輝), Oita

East Maegashira 4 - Uegaki Rinto (上垣 凜人), Osaka
West Maegashira 4 - Nakamura Hiromi (中村 大海), Saitama

East Maegashira 5 - Okuma Kazuki (大熊 一輝), Niigata
West Maegashira 5 - Kimura Yakumo (木村 弥雲), Kanagawa

East Maegashira 6 - Tanaka Mikito (田中 未来斗), Nagano
West Maegashira 6 - Ishihata Akihito (石畠 彰人), Toyama

East Maegashira 7 - Fujimoto Sora (藤本 空), Toyama
West Maegashira 7 - Hori Arata (隍 新太), Kyoto

East Maegashira 8 - Munfuchuruun Temuuren (ムンフチゥルーン テムーレン), Mongolia
West Maegashira 8 - Kubota Hikaru (久保田 光瑠), Nagano

East Maegashira 9 - Yoshimoto Yohei (吉本 陽平), Kumamoto
West Maegashira 9 - Yoshino Shuntaro (吉野 俊太朗), Shizuoka

East Maegashira 10 - Tagaya Shu (多賀谷 宗), Akita
West Maegashira 10 - Yamamura Teppei (山村 哲平), Hokkaido

East Maegashira 11 - Okamoto Sunao (岡本 素直), Osaka
West Maegashira 11 - Hoshi Yuito (星 結仁), Niigata

East Maegashira 12 - Watanabe Eishin (渡部 瑛心), Fukushima
West Maegashira 12 - Yuasa Hiroto (湯浅 空人), Niigata

  

Sanyaku Photos

East Yokozuna - Shigemura Konosuke (重村 鴻之介), Kagoshima

 

West Yokozuna - Toyoda Rinnosuke (豊田 倫之亮), Kagoshima

 

East Ozeki - Ogasawara Kosuke (小笠原 広祐), Aomori

 

West Ozeki - Tamiya Aiki (田宮 愛喜), Aichi

 

East Sekiwake - Aoki Kanta (青木 貫太), Shizuoka

 

West Sekiwake - Badnaanyambuu (ﾊﾞﾄﾞﾅｰﾆｬﾝﾌﾞｰ), Mongolia

 

East Komusubi - Yamauchi Kiyora (山内 清良), Chiba

 

West Komusubi - Hiraga Eita (平賀 瑛大), Mie

 

Comments

I think that it's incredibly fitting that the 2 Yokozunae on this banzuke shared the Yokozuna titles in real life, with Shigemura Konosuke being the Wanpaku Yokozuna and Toyoda Rinnosuke the Primary School Yokozuna. Both of them hail from Amami Oshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, and both of them have a very strong oshi-attack. Even though Toyoda bettered Shigemura at the Hakuho Cup, not qualifying for last year's Wanpaku Tournament was ultimately too big a gap to make up.

Closely behind the 2 "sukes" is yet another "suke" - Ogasawara Kosuke from Aomori. From what I've seen of him, Ogasawara might actually be a better all-round wrestler than the top 2, it's just that some of the bouts last year didn't quite go his way. He'll look to bounce back stronger this year, so definitely keep an eye on him.

Going into the Hakuho Cup last month, I expected the Yusho to be fought between the 3 "sukes", but a boy from Mongolia had other ideas. Badnaanyambuu is his name. He had to go through all "sukes" if he wanted to win the Hakuho Cup, and that he did. Strong arms allowed him to throw down both Shigemura and Ogasawara, and a well-timed sotogake (outer leg trip) did the job in the final against Toyoda. He'll likely be back next year to defend the Hakuho Cup, can he one over Japan's elite again?

Shizuoka's Aoki Kanta is a short rikishi with a strong pushing attack (remind you of anyone in Makuuchi?) However, he hasn't yet shown too much skill-wise, which limits what he can do when he's up against the 3 "sukes", who are all stronger than him.

Tamiya Aiki, who is the son of former Ozeki Kotomitsuki, has been steadily improving his sumo over the past year. He has actually used more techniques in his bouts than any of other rikishi on this banzuke, but sometimes he doesn't time his moves right. If he can get better at making the right choices in his bouts, then a Yusho is certainly not beyond him.

Before the start of the year, I would have tipped Tajima Chiaki to get some good results, because he is a former Hakuho Cup runner-up. However, he's not quite performed to his potential, and so narrowly missed out on a sanyaku spot.

This year's banzuke only includes the top 32 rikishi of each year group, compared with last year's top 42. As such, just missing out on the list is Tachikawa Renseikan's Tsurumi Yusei, who would have been West Maegashira 15. I'm mentioning him for personal reasons, and despite being not so bulky, Yusei has gone from losing his first bout in the Tachikawa qualifers to reaching the Wanpaku Tournament and winning 2 bouts there, all in the space of a year. He's the only Grade 4 (soon to be Grade 5) at Tachikawa Renseikan at the moment, so it's great that he is so dependable. With his help, Team Renseikan made it all the way to the quarter-finals at last year's National Club Championships.

Two of his club senpai at Renseikan did make it onto a banzuke this year, which we'll talk about when the time comes.

And last but certainly not least, how can we talk about the Grade 4s without mentioning a certain Motomura Kosei. He's not done much in any of the individual tournaments, but he was responsible for one of the bouts of the year. Here’s a video of that bout,  which has made him famous on Japanese Twitter, and deservedly so:

 

Edited March 25, 2019 by mikawa

[Katooshu 3,260]

Awesome--I've really been looking forward to these, they are must reads for anyone looking to learn more about the amateur scene 

[mikawa 1,794]

15 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Awesome--I've really been looking forward to these, they are must reads for anyone looking to learn more about the amateur scene 

Many thanks for your support Katooshu, it is always much appreciated!