Asashosakari 19,426 Posted March 15, 2024 (edited) The exceedingly tiny Day 5 ichiban shusse with just 7 qualifiers being presented: I'm really not sure on what basis they decided to have Sekimoto in front of Hamada, contrary to the normal A/B interleaving of the qualifiers. As indicated by the shusse announcements, Niiya and Noda's shusshin entries have apparently been corrected from Wakayama (where Minoshima HS is) to Kanagawa and Osaka, respectively. Somewhat strangely, Niiya's change is already reflected in his Kyokai profile (神奈川県三浦市 Kanagawa-ken, Miura-shi) while Noda still has Wakayama in there. I'll double-check everyone after maezumo has concluded. Late edit: So it turns out that the Osaka shusshin call for Noda was an apparent error, as his official profile never changed and he is being announced as from Wakayama in Natsu basho. Edited May 17, 2024 by Asashosakari 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Akinomaki 40,622 Posted March 15, 2024 (edited) On 14/03/2024 at 02:42, Asashosakari said: can someone please come up with some info about Tagonoura's Fukuoka? I felt bad building the lineup tables two posts up where he ended up as the only (!) shindeshi without any sort of mention in the thread, and thus no info link... Fukuoka had his farewell party with early graduation at Niihama Higashi middle school on Feb 21st. He wanted to go into society as soon as possible. https://niihama-higashi-j.esnet.ed.jp/plugin/blogs/show/2/7/959 Latest on Fukuoka is a comment from the detailed twitter coverer @boss_jonokuchi: really feels like Tagonoura https://twitter.com/boss_jonokuchi/status/1768240347409424453 Why did he have a haircut? Edited March 15, 2024 by Akinomaki 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yubinhaad 11,712 Posted March 15, 2024 (edited) On 15/03/2024 at 06:24, Akinomaki said: Why did he have a haircut? I've always assumed it's sort of ceremonial, to mark the start of a new path, i.e, their sumo career. Shikoroyama-beya does it with every shindeshi, the tradition continued with Hamada this time. (Personally I prefer to see that rather than a recruit with almost enough hair to make a chonmage already) On 11/03/2024 at 18:23, Yubinhaad said: Iwamoto's shikona is a bit of a verbal mouthful but translates nice - 雷嵐, Ikazuchiarashi, thunderstorm. Nice choice of kesho-mawashi for the shussehiro, from Irumagawa Ikazuchi-oyakata (former Komusubi Kakizoe). Looks like he's also had a trim since the announcement pictures at the start of the month. Edited March 16, 2024 by Yubinhaad 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 19,426 Posted March 15, 2024 (edited) Day 6 / Group A The participation numbers continue to dwindle, here it's the Isegahama pair of returnee Makotofuji and rookie Hino (both 1-1) who have dropped out, leaving 10 rikishi in action for round three. Four of them entered the day winless, 3 East / 1 West, which necessitated Takadagawa's Kokufugata switching to the West side. Meanwhile, the six shindeshi on one win were split 2 East / 4 West - and as three of the West siders were from Otowayama-beya, the shift inevitably hit guy #4 here, Nishonoseki's Amidaishin. Results: Mz1 Wakaarata (0-4) Mz13 Kokufugata (1-2) Mz24 Wakasasaki (0-3) Mz20 Seiseigo (1-2) Mz14 Narita (1-2) Mz15 Takeuchi (2-1) Mz19 Amidaishin (1-2) Mz11 Hakuryu (2-1) Mz18 Ono (1-2) Mz29 Shoryu (2-1) West side sweep, including qualification-clinching wins for all of Kakuryu's new guys. A bit of a messy order in which the 1-1 rikishi were sent on the dohyo - Takeuchi got to compete before Hakuryu again, and by now I'm really wondering if the wakaimonogashira in charge of the West side is somehow working off a differently ordered list than what the Kyokai put online, but Amidaishin and Ono were flipped around as well. (Although that could be explained by each side's organizer simply just having his own partial listing, not the full "ranking" I use here, so the East side wouldn't know how Ono and shifted Amidaishin are slotting in relative to each other.) The quality of the sumo today...well, everyone tried hard, I can attest that much. Standings: 2-win target achieved #01 Mz4 Seihakuho Miyagino 2-0 #03 Mz9 Ikazuchiarashi Ikazuchi 2-0 #05 Mz27 Imamura Nishonoseki 2-0 #06 Mz28 Sekimoto Onomatsu 2-0 --- #08 Mz15 Takeuchi Otowayama 2-1 #10 Mz11 Hakuryu Otowayama 2-1 #12 Mz29 Shoryu Otowayama 2-1 Still active Mz2 Karino Naruto 1-0-2 W | Mz1 Wakaarata Nishiiwa 0-4 E Mz7 Hino Isegahama 1-1-1 W | Mz24 Wakasasaki Nishiiwa 0-3 E Mz13 Kokufugata Takadagawa 1-2 E Mz14 Narita Takadagawa 1-2 E Mz18 Ono Miyagino 1-2 E Mz19 Amidaishin Nishonoseki 1-2 W Mz20 Seiseigo Nishonoseki 1-2 W Mz30 Makotofuji Isegahama 1-1-1 E Quite a few stables with double representation among those left, which will restrict the scheduling possibilities for the final round (including possible extra matches after everybody had one). I'm a bit afraid that the Nishiiwa duo could well remain winless. Edited March 15, 2024 by Asashosakari 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yamanashi 3,865 Posted March 15, 2024 1 hour ago, Yubinhaad said: I've always assumed it's sort of ceremonial, to mark the start of a new path, i.e, their sumo career. I kind of like it. Granted, it puts off the date of first mage awhile, but maybe that will create more incentive to tough it out in the first year. This photo looks better than the "solar corona" look most of these kids have for their first bouts in Jonokuchi. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 19,426 Posted March 16, 2024 (edited) Day 7 / Group B Surprisingly we continue with 8 active rikishi here as Soseizan has not been forced to drop out after all. Six of them enter the day with one shiroboshi, neatly split 3 East / 3 West, while both remaining winless rikishi were assigned to the East side and Hakkaku-beya's Hara is thus required to move across for his match today. Results: Mz5 Daishisho (1-3) Mz23 Ujiie (2-1) Mz6 Daikosho (2-1) Mz10 Uzumasa (1-2) Mz17 Kotokoguchi (2-1) Mz31 Soseizan (1-2) Mz12 Fukuoka (1-2) Mz26 Hara (0-3) Daishisho-Ujiie is our first repeat match - I'm not sure if they actually tried to avoid that but failed, because scheduling straight down the order would have meant Daishisho-Uzumasa which also happened already. In any case, it lasted a lot longer than it did two days ago, although the eventual outcome was the same, and both guys have arguably now been part of two of the three most exciting matches of this maezumo (this one along with Day 3 Hamada-Ujiie and Day 5 Daishisho-Hara). Decent if somewhat uninspired showing by Daikosho across his three matches, the only collegiate rookie in this group. I'm sure he'll have no trouble doing what any half-decent university graduate does, i.e. going to upper sandanme in short order, but I think the admittedly well-oiled Oitekaze machine has some work to do here if he's meant to become sekitori. Standings: 2-win target achieved #02 Mz8 Niiya Kasugano 2-0 #04 Mz16 Noda Fujishima 2-0 #07 Mz25 Hamada Shikoroyama 2-0 --- #09 Mz23 Ujiie Asakayama 2-1 #11 Mz6 Daikosho Oitekaze 2-1 #13 Mz17 Kotokoguchi Sadogatake 2-1 Still active Mz5 Daishisho Oitekaze 1-3 E | Mz3 Higohikari Kise 0-1-2 E Mz10 Uzumasa Isenoumi 1-2 W | Mz22 Nakayama Asakayama 0-1-2 W Mz12 Fukuoka Tagonoura 1-2 E | Mz26 Hara Hakkaku 0-3 E Mz21 Tamaki Asakayama 1-0-2 W Mz31 Soseizan Nishonoseki 1-2 W I guess we're most likely to see Hara vs one of the 1-win guys opening up the Day 9 action, with the loser then getting another appearance in the third bout against whoever is left from the 1-win quartet. Or maybe the absent Asakayama pair will actually come back? Edited March 16, 2024 by Asashosakari 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 19,426 Posted March 17, 2024 Astonishing scenes in maezumo today: A rikishi who wasn't called by the yobidashi stepped up to fight, and nobody said anything... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Oskanohana 261 Posted March 17, 2024 15 minutes ago, Asashosakari said: Astonishing scenes in maezumo today: A rikishi who wasn't called by the yobidashi stepped up to fight, and nobody said anything... So technically there's a way back for Hokuseiho after all? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 19,426 Posted March 19, 2024 (edited) Time to start closing things out here with... Day 8 / Group A Isegahama brother duo Hino and Makotofuji rejoined after their Day 6 absence, making for 9 active rikishi on the final day. Makotofuji moved East->West (initial split 4 / 3), while the two winless rikishi Nishiiwa-beya were both left on the East side. Results: Mz13 Kokufugata (2-2) Mz7 Hino (1-2-1) Mz14 Narita (2-2) Mz20 Seiseigo (1-3) Mz18 Ono (1-3) Mz19 Amidaishin (2-2) Mz1 Wakaarata (1-4) Mz30 Makotofuji (1-2-1) Mz24 Wakasasaki (1-3) Mz20 Seiseigo (1-4) Mz18 Ono (2-3) Mz30 Makotofuji (1-3-1) I've listed match #4 as it actually took place of course, not what was seemingly intended. The yobidashi had called Hino for a second appearance - and almost certainly correctly, as the wakaimonogashira next to him would have made him redo a wrong call immediately - but Hino's brother Makotofuji stepped up and nobody intervened. I can only guess that he was convinced that it was his turn after the other three guys sitting on the West side had already fought. The actual plan for the 9-rikishi lineup, however, was presumably this: The six highest-priority rikishi (all on one win) would battle for three qualification spots, and then the three losers would serve as opponents for the remaining trio (the two winless guys and Makotofuji as the last-listed 1-winner) to give everyone a match. That's in line with past schedules: Generally only rikishi who enter the final day at one win short of qualification (i.e. with one win here, or with two wins outside of Haru basho) get to have extra opportunities to reach the qualifying line if they lose their regularly scheduled bout. In the end, Hino missed out on a second shot here - and he quite possibly would have won, as he did beat Wakaarata back on Day 4 - and his brother ended up losing twice anyway. The schedule as it happened still kind of makes sense if one isn't aware of the diverging yobidashi call. But almost certainly, if Wakaarata-Makotofuji had actually been intended, the follow-up would have been Wakasasaki-Hino and Ono-Seiseigo instead of what actually happened. Quite a few repeat matchups, but the options to avoid them were rather limited. Narita-Seiseigo repeated from Day 4 with the same result, while Wakaarata reversed his Day 2 outcome against Makotofuji, and Wakasasaki also avenged his Day 6 loss to Seiseigo. Nice to see that nobody went winless in this group in the end. The final standings: 2-win target achieved #01 Mz4 Seihakuho Miyagino 2-0 #03 Mz9 Ikazuchiarashi Ikazuchi 2-0 #05 Mz27 Imamura Nishonoseki 2-0 #06 Mz28 Sekimoto Onomatsu 2-0 --- #08 Mz15 Takeuchi Otowayama 2-1 #10 Mz11 Hakuryu Otowayama 2-1 #12 Mz29 Shoryu Otowayama 2-1 #14 Mz13 Kokufugata Takadagawa 2-2 #16 Mz14 Narita Takadagawa 2-2 #18 Mz19 Amidaishin Nishonoseki 2-2 #20 Mz18 Ono Miyagino 2-3 Remaining order #21 Mz2 Karino Naruto 1-0-3 won on Day 2 [returnee] #22 Mz30 Makotofuji Isegahama 1-3-1 won on Day 2 [returnee] #25 Mz7 Hino Isegahama 1-2-1 won on Day 4 [presented as Amanofuji in niban shusse] #26 Mz20 Seiseigo Nishonoseki 1-4 won on Day 6 #27 Mz1 Wakaarata Nishiiwa 1-4 won on Day 8 [returnee] #28 Mz24 Wakasasaki Nishiiwa 1-3 won on Day 8 [did not attend niban shusse] The listed numbering of the one-win guys is rather speculative at this time. Back in the before times (i.e. pre-pandemic) I used to rely on Sanspo for official data that showed the true shindeshi in a single combined list with the banzuke-gai returnees, providing the exact order of everybody. Unfortunately that no longer seems to be a thing at that paper, and the two releases I've been able to turn up (Sponichi and Jiji) only have the more common separated listings, which makes it impossible to determine how the handful of returnees fit in between the larger number of shindeshi. Additionally, the data we do have seems to indicate that they haven't penalized rikishi who missed match days this time; if they had, Hino definitely wouldn't have finished ahead of Seiseigo. I briefly considered the possibility that they've only applied the penalty to rikishi who were absent all the way through, but if that were the case, Makotofuji (who returned for Day 8) ought to be ahead of Karino (who didn't), but he's not. It also doesn't look like they've done the usual A/B interleaving, not even for guys for got their win in the same round - Group B only has three one-win finishers, and the last one of them (who won in round four) was presented behind all six Group A guys. At minimum I would have expected him between Wakaarata and Wakasasaki (who also both won in round four). Then again, maybe my assumption of Wakaarata before Wakasasaki is wrong to begin with...or they've just done something completely inconsistent, which was frequently the impression I ended up having back in 2020 and before. Anyway, in the end I just threw up my hands and decided to list everybody exactly according to the timing of their single win. If no improved qualification list is coming forward, this will only be confirmed/debunked by the next banzuke release. Edited March 19, 2024 by Asashosakari 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 19,426 Posted March 19, 2024 (edited) Day 9 / Group B Late returns here as well - Asakayama's Tamaki and Nakayama came back for the final round after missing the middle two days of action. On the flipside, Soseizan did withdraw after all. Probably for the better; while he seemed to be able to walk normally on Day 7 after he'd hobbled out of the arena two days prior, he really wasn't putting up much resistance to his opponent. So, instead of the assumed five participants we ended up with six here, which made for a much cleaner schedule; each side of the dohyo featured two one-win and one zero-win rikishi without any adjustments needed. Results: Mz5 Daishisho (2-3) Mz21 Tamaki (1-1-2) Mz12 Fukuoka (1-3) Mz10 Uzumasa (2-2) Mz26 Hara (0-4) Mz22 Nakayama (1-1-2) Mz12 Fukuoka (2-3) Mz21 Tamaki (1-2-2) This lineup actually looks like they tried to avoid repeated pairings in the first two matches by flipping the order of the West side rikishi; Daishisho-Uzumasa and Fukuoka-Tamaki both would have been rehashed Day 3 bouts. The latter clash ended up happening anyway in match #4 after both Fukuoka and Tamaki were defeated in their first shot at the second win. The final standings: 2-win target achieved #02 Mz8 Niiya Kasugano 2-0 #04 Mz16 Noda Fujishima 2-0 #07 Mz25 Hamada Shikoroyama 2-0 --- #09 Mz23 Ujiie Asakayama 2-1 #11 Mz6 Daikosho Oitekaze 2-1 #13 Mz17 Kotokoguchi Sadogatake 2-1 [did not attend niban shusse] #15 Mz5 Daishisho Oitekaze 2-3 #17 Mz10 Uzumasa Isenoumi 2-2 #19 Mz12 Fukuoka Tagonoura 2-3 Remaining order #23 Mz21 Tamaki Asakayama 1-2-2 won on Day 3 #24 Mz31 Soseizan Nishonoseki 1-2-1 won on Day 3 [returnee] #29 Mz22 Nakayama Asakayama 1-1-2 won on Day 9 #30 Mz26 Hara Hakkaku 0-4 #31 Mz3 Higohikari Kise 0-1-3 [returnee] All the Group A caveats about the ranking order after position #20 apply here as well. I've put Higohikari behind Hara because of his missed matches, which could well be wrong. But it's been only two months since they ranked a 0-1-4 behind a 0-5 despite the former having the earlier sign-up number, so even if they might have waived the absence penalty for guys who actually won a match, I'm assuming it's still in effect for winless ones. Edited March 19, 2024 by Asashosakari 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Asashosakari 19,426 Posted March 19, 2024 (edited) And the niban shusse, with only 17 of the 19 eligible rikishi as Wakasasaki from Group A and Kotokoguchi from Group B were absent. On 11/03/2024 at 19:23, Yubinhaad said: Hino is using his family name for maezumo, but eventually his shikona will be 天ノ富士. The first kanji is taken from his real given name. The Isegahama website doesn't give readings, so my guess is Amanofuji. So this "change" to Amanofuji happened in time for the presentation, making it his official maezumo shikona regardless of what he was announced as on the dohyo this past week. (Perhaps the proper shikona would have prevented the Day 8 mishap...) Other additional notes: The Kyokai has yet to correct the Niiya/Niya error (profile linked for future rechecking: jp / en ). Likewise, Noda's profile (jp / en) still has him shusshined in Wakayama, not Osaka as the ichiban shusse announcement had it. The information given to the press included Wakayama as well. Impossible to know what the complete Osaka location is without a profile update. For completeness, the correction to Niiya's shusshin again, as well as one more that cropped up in the niban shusse: Niiya: 神奈川県三浦市 Kanagawa-ken, Miura-shi (was Wakayama-ken, Arida-shi) Hakuryu: 宮崎県延岡市 Miyazaki-ken, Nobeoka-shi (was Shizuoka-ken, Numazu-shi) Late edit for the sake of completeness: On 15/03/2024 at 03:41, Asashosakari said: Late edit: So it turns out that the Osaka shusshin call for Noda was an apparent error, as his official profile never changed and he is being announced as from Wakayama in Natsu basho. In addition, my projected ranking order in the preceding two posts turned out to be fully correct, astonishingly enough. Edited May 18, 2024 by Asashosakari 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
