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Time for the start of another honbasho. This time we're back in Tokyo at the Kokugikan and as always there will be plenty to talk about. Potential historic promotions, potential high-profile demotions, debuting rikishi, and more. Le'ts get right to the rankings:
*Debuting Wrestlers: There are two wrestlers making there debut in the top division this month. First, at East Maegashira 13 we have Amakaze. As you may be able to guess from his name, he's coming out of Oguruma Beya, the same stable as his very experienced seniors Yoshikaze and Takekaze. He had a great tournament in Juryo in the last tournament, going 13-2 and winning the Juryo championship. However, he had been ranked quite low in Juryo, at the West 11th Juryo rank, so he received a huge boost up the rankings which might be too much for him. I wouldn't expect a winning record from him this time, but it'll be good experience for him, and maybe his championship last time has lit a fire under him. Joining him in making his top division debut is Chiyoshoma, a Mongolian wrestler training (again, you guessed it) out of the Kokonoe stable. He'll be feeling bittersweet after making his top division debut just after the passing of his stablemaster, former Yokozuna Chiyonofuji. Chiyoshoma and the other Kokonoe Chiyo boys will want to put in a great show this tournament to honor their late stablemaster. He's relatively light, but had been settling in to the top Juryo ranks, getting winning records, so the step up to the top division won't be as jarring as it will for Amakaze. I expect a winning record from him.
*Maegashira: Looking at the rest of the Maegashira ranks, after a disastrous July tournament Endo finds himself all the way down at M14. He's hugely popular, but his injury has really put the brakes on his rise up the ranks (which was frustratingly slow already). I think he should be able to get a winning record at this rank, but I'm not going to expect anything too phenomenal. Gagamaru is back up to the top division after dropping to Juryo for one tournament in July. I often find myself rooting for Gentleman Gaga and I find him pretty likable, but he has been struggling at the bottom of the top division for a while, so I don't know what to expect from him. Higher up the ranks at M8, we see Kotoyuki who had an even worse July tournament than Endo. Going 2-13 has dropped him all the way down from Komosubi, so he'll have a real desire to climb back up into the Sanyaku ranks. We've seen some great sumo from him, so I think he'll be able to start that climb here in September, and get a pretty good record. He's definitely capable of double-digit wins here, which would be just what he needs. Jumping way up the ranks, we have Ichinojo at M3 after a decent 9-6 tournament in July. Unfortunately he's dealing with a back injury and may have to pull out of the tournament. He injured his back during one of the tours and spent time in an osteopathic clinic and hasn't been training much at all leading up to this tournament. Hopefully, as so often happens in sumo, he doesn't try to compete with a bad injury and just exacerbates the problem.
*Komosubi and Sekiwake: Moving up into the Sanyaku ranks, at Komosubi we have a Sanyaku regular in Tochiozan. He's doing well lately, and just needs a winning record here to settle back in to the upper ranks. He's joined by Kaisei who fell out of Sekiwake after a 7-8 record last time. His last tournament wasn't a disaster for him, and I'd expect him to go either 8-7 or 7-8 here. I feel like settling into the upper ranks is all about consistency, and the last two tournaments for him have been right on that winning or losing edge, which is a fine place for Kaisei to be. Then in the Sekiwake ranks we have two guys coming off of great tournaments, both making their Sekiwake debuts. Takarafuji went 10-5 in July, got a Kinboshi for beating a Yokozuna, and got the Kanto-sho Fighting Spirit Prize. It's great to see him doing well, and I certainly hope he can get another winning record here. His counterpart at Sekiwake this tournament will be Takayasu, who went 11-4 last tournament and picked up the Gino-sho Technique Prize. He's shown some really exciting and aggressive sumo which is a lot of fun to watch, so I'll definitely be rooting for him too. Just as an interesting piece of history, the last three tournaments have all had pairs of wrestlers making their Sekiwake debuts. There haven't been three successive tournaments with two Sekiwake debuts since 1938 (when there were four such tournaments in a row).
*Ozeki: While we have a couple of surging Sekiwake, the Ozeki ranks are a bit different. Two of the Ozeki this tournament will be fighting to preserve their ranks and avoid demotion. Kotoshogiku was only able to pick up one win in the first six days of the July tournament before dropping out. It's the same old injury woes for Kotoshogiku and I think it will be tough for him to avoid demotion. Also facing demotion, Goeido struggled last tournament and ended with a 7-8 record. I don't remember any obvious injuries he had to deal with, so although I think it should be a bit easier for him to get a winning record, it'll still be difficult. Terunofuji narrowly avoided demotion last tournament, getting his 8th win on the final day. He'll be relieved to still be competing as an Ozeki but bouncing in and out of potential demotion Kadoban status is no way to live your life as an Ozeki, and Terunofuji is too good to be in that position. He just needs to get the injuries sorted out. Last tournament he looked good at the beginning and then started struggling as the tournament went on and I'd expect the same thing this time around. Standing above all of these struggling Ozeki, as usual, is Kisenosato who will be again looking for a championship win to get him Yokozuna promotion. He came so close last tournament, and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes right down to the wire again.
*Yokozuna: Finally, looking to the Yokozuna we have Kakuryu who is also coming off a tournament he had to pull out of. Presumably he'll be competing in this tournament though, and he'll want to make up for lost time. He hasn't looked too great since winning the tournament in last years' September basho, so it would be great to see a resurgence from him, even if he doesn't get the Yusho. It's odd seeing Hakuho anywhere other than the absolute top rank, and as usual injuries has led to him struggling quite a bit at the end of the last tournament. As of the time that I wrote this it's still unclear whether he will compete in this tournament or not. He's having a lot of trouble with his knee and had trouble with his toe last tournament, and has said that if he's not ready he won't enter, but that he's doing everything he can to get ready to compete. And at the top of them all, Harumafuji had a great tournament in July and will be bringing some good momentum into the Aki Basho. He just needs to keep it up, avoid too many early losses, and stick to his speedy sumo.
-----------------------------
So there we go!
Stay tuned to Kintamayama's YouTube Channel for daily highlights of the top division, and the taka sumo YouTube Channel for possible daily posts of the NHK digest of the top day's action (in Japanese). Also check out Robert Mensing's YouTube Channel for English versions of the NHK digest episodes (although I don't think they include all of the top division matches). Or go straight to the source, on NHK World's Sumo website.
And as usual, for anyone who'll be watching the sport for the first time, please feel free to ask any questions you might have here and someone will try to answer them. Also be sure to check out my Introduction to SUMO thread for a brief (although slightly outdated at this point) overview of the sport.
@gorgonon also mentioned wanting to host a game for the tournament here, which sounds like a lot of fun so I'll leave the details to him!
Hakke-yoi!
*Debuting Wrestlers: There are two wrestlers making there debut in the top division this month. First, at East Maegashira 13 we have Amakaze. As you may be able to guess from his name, he's coming out of Oguruma Beya, the same stable as his very experienced seniors Yoshikaze and Takekaze. He had a great tournament in Juryo in the last tournament, going 13-2 and winning the Juryo championship. However, he had been ranked quite low in Juryo, at the West 11th Juryo rank, so he received a huge boost up the rankings which might be too much for him. I wouldn't expect a winning record from him this time, but it'll be good experience for him, and maybe his championship last time has lit a fire under him. Joining him in making his top division debut is Chiyoshoma, a Mongolian wrestler training (again, you guessed it) out of the Kokonoe stable. He'll be feeling bittersweet after making his top division debut just after the passing of his stablemaster, former Yokozuna Chiyonofuji. Chiyoshoma and the other Kokonoe Chiyo boys will want to put in a great show this tournament to honor their late stablemaster. He's relatively light, but had been settling in to the top Juryo ranks, getting winning records, so the step up to the top division won't be as jarring as it will for Amakaze. I expect a winning record from him.
*Maegashira: Looking at the rest of the Maegashira ranks, after a disastrous July tournament Endo finds himself all the way down at M14. He's hugely popular, but his injury has really put the brakes on his rise up the ranks (which was frustratingly slow already). I think he should be able to get a winning record at this rank, but I'm not going to expect anything too phenomenal. Gagamaru is back up to the top division after dropping to Juryo for one tournament in July. I often find myself rooting for Gentleman Gaga and I find him pretty likable, but he has been struggling at the bottom of the top division for a while, so I don't know what to expect from him. Higher up the ranks at M8, we see Kotoyuki who had an even worse July tournament than Endo. Going 2-13 has dropped him all the way down from Komosubi, so he'll have a real desire to climb back up into the Sanyaku ranks. We've seen some great sumo from him, so I think he'll be able to start that climb here in September, and get a pretty good record. He's definitely capable of double-digit wins here, which would be just what he needs. Jumping way up the ranks, we have Ichinojo at M3 after a decent 9-6 tournament in July. Unfortunately he's dealing with a back injury and may have to pull out of the tournament. He injured his back during one of the tours and spent time in an osteopathic clinic and hasn't been training much at all leading up to this tournament. Hopefully, as so often happens in sumo, he doesn't try to compete with a bad injury and just exacerbates the problem.
*Komosubi and Sekiwake: Moving up into the Sanyaku ranks, at Komosubi we have a Sanyaku regular in Tochiozan. He's doing well lately, and just needs a winning record here to settle back in to the upper ranks. He's joined by Kaisei who fell out of Sekiwake after a 7-8 record last time. His last tournament wasn't a disaster for him, and I'd expect him to go either 8-7 or 7-8 here. I feel like settling into the upper ranks is all about consistency, and the last two tournaments for him have been right on that winning or losing edge, which is a fine place for Kaisei to be. Then in the Sekiwake ranks we have two guys coming off of great tournaments, both making their Sekiwake debuts. Takarafuji went 10-5 in July, got a Kinboshi for beating a Yokozuna, and got the Kanto-sho Fighting Spirit Prize. It's great to see him doing well, and I certainly hope he can get another winning record here. His counterpart at Sekiwake this tournament will be Takayasu, who went 11-4 last tournament and picked up the Gino-sho Technique Prize. He's shown some really exciting and aggressive sumo which is a lot of fun to watch, so I'll definitely be rooting for him too. Just as an interesting piece of history, the last three tournaments have all had pairs of wrestlers making their Sekiwake debuts. There haven't been three successive tournaments with two Sekiwake debuts since 1938 (when there were four such tournaments in a row).
*Ozeki: While we have a couple of surging Sekiwake, the Ozeki ranks are a bit different. Two of the Ozeki this tournament will be fighting to preserve their ranks and avoid demotion. Kotoshogiku was only able to pick up one win in the first six days of the July tournament before dropping out. It's the same old injury woes for Kotoshogiku and I think it will be tough for him to avoid demotion. Also facing demotion, Goeido struggled last tournament and ended with a 7-8 record. I don't remember any obvious injuries he had to deal with, so although I think it should be a bit easier for him to get a winning record, it'll still be difficult. Terunofuji narrowly avoided demotion last tournament, getting his 8th win on the final day. He'll be relieved to still be competing as an Ozeki but bouncing in and out of potential demotion Kadoban status is no way to live your life as an Ozeki, and Terunofuji is too good to be in that position. He just needs to get the injuries sorted out. Last tournament he looked good at the beginning and then started struggling as the tournament went on and I'd expect the same thing this time around. Standing above all of these struggling Ozeki, as usual, is Kisenosato who will be again looking for a championship win to get him Yokozuna promotion. He came so close last tournament, and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes right down to the wire again.
*Yokozuna: Finally, looking to the Yokozuna we have Kakuryu who is also coming off a tournament he had to pull out of. Presumably he'll be competing in this tournament though, and he'll want to make up for lost time. He hasn't looked too great since winning the tournament in last years' September basho, so it would be great to see a resurgence from him, even if he doesn't get the Yusho. It's odd seeing Hakuho anywhere other than the absolute top rank, and as usual injuries has led to him struggling quite a bit at the end of the last tournament. As of the time that I wrote this it's still unclear whether he will compete in this tournament or not. He's having a lot of trouble with his knee and had trouble with his toe last tournament, and has said that if he's not ready he won't enter, but that he's doing everything he can to get ready to compete. And at the top of them all, Harumafuji had a great tournament in July and will be bringing some good momentum into the Aki Basho. He just needs to keep it up, avoid too many early losses, and stick to his speedy sumo.
-----------------------------
So there we go!
Stay tuned to Kintamayama's YouTube Channel for daily highlights of the top division, and the taka sumo YouTube Channel for possible daily posts of the NHK digest of the top day's action (in Japanese). Also check out Robert Mensing's YouTube Channel for English versions of the NHK digest episodes (although I don't think they include all of the top division matches). Or go straight to the source, on NHK World's Sumo website.
And as usual, for anyone who'll be watching the sport for the first time, please feel free to ask any questions you might have here and someone will try to answer them. Also be sure to check out my Introduction to SUMO thread for a brief (although slightly outdated at this point) overview of the sport.
@gorgonon also mentioned wanting to host a game for the tournament here, which sounds like a lot of fun so I'll leave the details to him!
Hakke-yoi!
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