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The time has come for the first tournament of 2019, being held in Tokyo at the Kokugikan. 2018 was a rough year for the guys at the top of the sport, and at least for the moment all three Yokozuna are going to be taking part in this tournament and will be aiming to start the year off right.
Let's look at the banzuke:
Making his debut in the top division this tournament will be Yago, a former Chuo University sumo wrestler. He's coming off of a 10-5 record at Juryo 1, and will be making his top division debut in his 11th tournament since entering professional sumo.
There are quite a few guys lower down in the ranks who I think are quite talented, but have been struggling lately. Yutakayama rose up to M2, but has gotten double digit losses in the two tournaments since that promotion and is thus starting 2019 way down at M14. I think he's much better than this rank, and he should be able to turn his record around and pick up at least 10 wins. Yago's counterpart at M13, Kotoyuki is also very talented, having competed in the sanyaku as a Sekiwake and Komosubi. Since that time though, he's gradually fallen down the ranks and in the second half or 2017 and in 2018 struggled to even stay in the top division, bouncing in and out of Juryo.
Moving up the ranks a bit to M8, Kaisei struggled with injuries in November, joining the tournament on day 3, and leaving before the final day. When he was competing he didn't fare much better, only picking up 3 wins and looking pretty weak on the other days. No idea how healthy he is, but hopefully he can put in a better performance. In my opinion he's often fairly unimpressive, but I think he belongs around the upper Maegashira ranks. Onosho, on the other hand, is a guy that I really believe in. He bounced right back after sitting out a tournament, winning the Juryo yusho and getting double digit wins in his return to the top division. He stumbled with a poor performance in September, but again had a great response with a special prize-winning 11-4 record last tournament. Onosho is definitely sanyaku material in my opinion, and I'd love to see him start 2019 off with a winning record here, and I'd even say he should get double digit wins again.
Again, jumping up the ranks, Ichinojo is another frustrating wrestler who can look unbeatable or entirely lackluster on any given day. After spending the majority of 2018 in the sanyaku as a Sekiwake, he'll be starting this year at M1. I really like Ichinojo, and I believe he can do great things and be a yusho challenger if he can consistently compete at his best. The best I'm hoping for from him though is squeaking by with an 8-7 record.
Moving up to the sanyaku ranks, Mitakeumi was looking like 2018 would be his year after winning the tournament in July, but he lost momentum since then, not picking up the double digit winning records he would have needed for Ozeki promotion. He's coming off a 7-8 losing record, but I'd expect him to have a good tournament here and regain his Sekiwake rank. Alongside him is Myogiryu who hasn't been in the sanyaku since 2015. This is a big tournament for him, as he's been slowly climbing up the ranks of the top division in 2018 after spending a lot of time struggling to stay in Makuuchi and bouncing in and out of Juryo. He's another guy that burst onto the scene when he made his top division debut, quickly getting promoted into the sanyaku but then struggling to stay there in the following years.
Looking at the Sekiwake, Tamawashi is one of the most dangerous rikishi in the sport in my opinion. He can really dominate anybody if he can do his brand of sumo and can look absolutely fantastic some days, while overall struggling to get a winning record overall and not really challenging for the yusho. His counterpart, making his debut as a Sekiwake is the November yusho winner Takakeisho. Coming off of a fantastic tournament, with 13 wins and a yusho, Takakeisho would love to continue his momentum into 2019. It's too early to start really thinking about this, but this is a springboard for him to start an Ozeki run and 10 wins should be his target. 8 wins is good enough (even having a decent losing tournament is OK) though, as I think it's more important for him just to get comfortable at this rank and slowly work on the Ozeki run.
Moving on the the Ozeki and the guys at the top of the sport, we start to see the wrestlers who have been most affected by injuries. Tochinoshin has been struggling with his injuries, but even so has managed to just barely pull off winning records in his last two tournaments. He has said he will be competing in this tournament, but he has had to sit out some of his training days due to his injuries so as usual he'll be coming in with injuries so I don't think anything more than 8 or 9 wins can be expected from him. I think for him it's just about maintaining his rank and slowly recovering from his injuries. Goeido had to pull out at the end of the November tournament, but thankfully for him he pulled out after getting his 8th win. The only news I've seen from his pre-tournament training says that he went 13-1 in one of his training sessions, so although that doesn't say too much at least he's not hobbled by his injuries. And at the top of the Ozeki, Takayasu had an excellent 2018. Aside from sitting out one tournament in May, he picked up four tournaments with 11 or more wins, with three of them being jun-yusho tournaments. He's challenging for the championship consistently, getting really good numbers, and doing what an Ozeki is supposed to do. He's still chasing his first tournament championship though, and with all of the injuries at the top, 2019 looks like a good year for him to finally get a yusho. It should be noted, however, that he is dealing with a cold or possible flu heading into the tournament.
Cross your fingers, wear your lucky socks, avoid black cats, say your Hail Marys, and eat your Lucky Charms because for the moment... knock on wood... all three Yokozuna will be entering the first tournament of 2019. God knows how long they'll stay in, but they should all be there on day 1. Kakuryu will be coming into this tournament having sat out the last tournament of 2018. He had a pretty up-and-down year in 2018 with two yusho wins, but two tournaments that were looking good only to be thrown away in the second week with Kakuryu picking up loss after loss in the final few days, and two tournaments that Kakuryu sat out. He seems to have been having pretty good training sessions, so hopefully he'll be able to come in healthy and not lose momentum as the tournament reaches its conclusion. Hakuho only won one tournament in 2018 and had to sit out four. It was without a doubt his worst year in sumo since he joined the sport in 2001. He's still the top dog though, and I'd expect him to be coming into this tournament with a lot of determination. It's sort of shocking to see Kisenosato's name at the top of the banzuke, but he was the only Yokozuna to enter the November tournament, so by default he gets the top spot. Never mind that he lost every one of his matches, and had to pull out of the tournament on day five. He had a decent comeback tournament in September, getting 10 wins after failing to complete a tournament since winning the championship in his first Yokozuna tournament in March 2017, but then looked dreadful in November. For Kisenosato, at this point in his career, it's just a desperate fight for survival.
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Jesus, I actually had time to write this one out and as a result it was a long one.
Stay tuned to Kintamayama's YouTube Channel for daily highlights of the top division, and 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. There's also a great blog at tachiai.org with news and information.
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 probably outdated at this point) overview of the sport.
Hakke-yoi!
(as usual I'll just @ everyone that has posted in recent sumo threads)
@babycart @EL CORINTHIAN @shincheckin @rmongler @JkMMA @PurpleStorm @Asurah @Sano @josh from md @Okajima @RJ Green @winterbike @LC Shepard @Bluesbreaker @hyu244 @s_o_c_a_r @Slick_36 @Senshi @Muppettoker @argy-bargy @Edison Carasio @ChainFlow @Oshime2 @DatCutman @catchwrestle
