So.

I just said some pretty positive things about ex-Terunofuji, and now I’m rueing my words. Ex-Terunofuji (current Isegahama-oyakata), a few days ago, underwent questioning by the JSA for acts of violence against a younger wrestler. The wrestler in question was recent transfer from Miyagino-beya, Hakunofuji, and Nishikifuji is also being questioned due to being “aware of the circumstances.” Isegahama is still coaching practice, but Hakunofuji has not been in attendance, and Isegahama was not in attendance at Atamifuji’s sekitori promotion party. The main thing that separates this from the other violence scandals, most recently ex-Makuuchi Hokuseiho’s, is that ex-Terunofuji self-reported the event in front of the wrestlers in Isegahama-beya rather than waiting for them to investigate.

Violence scandals have always been a part of sumo, regrettably, ever since 2007, when Tokitaizan of Tokitsukaze-beya tragically died at age 17 after being beaten by his oyakata and senior wrestlers. Yokozuna Harumafuji and Asashoryu also faced serious violence scandals that led them to retire, as did Kumagaya-oyakata shortly after. The most recent issue was that of Makuuchi Hokuseiho, who was forced into retirement shortly after the events.

The transfer of ex-Hakuho’s Miyagino-beya to ex-Terunofuji’s Isegahama-beya was messy for the wrestlers involved, but I did not imagine something like this would happen. Before this, I thought very highly of Terunofuji, and it’s upsetting that something like this occurred, especially less than a month after his retirement. Supposedly, Terunofuji threw a bottle of sake at Hakunofuji in front of Nishikifuji, and the three of them reported the event together. I hope that Hakunofuji and other impacted wrestlers are safe and well. Hakunofuji, along with Yoshinofuji, Toshinofuji, Enho, and several other rikishi, recently made the switch to Isegahama-beya, and I hope that all of them, as well as the originally Isegahama-beya rikishi, are safe and that ex-Terunofuji will fix his mistake or be banned from the JSA, as has happened before. It’s appalling that things like this continue to happen in the sumo world. Let’s hope that Hakunofuji and the rest of Isegahama are safe and sound.

The other startling pre-basho news is that Midorifuji is suffering from a heart condition, the exact definition and severity of which is unclear. Obviously, that is terrible news, and I hope that a) it becomes a little clearer what he’s suffering from and b) he is okay. I will be sure to update on any future updates; his illness was only a footnote in an article about the scandal at Isegahama-beya, which mentioned that Hakunofuji is still recovering from his torn ligament as well, and implied that they are the only two possibly-injured Isegahama boys. I hope they both recover from whatever is ailing them. Much love to them both.

Moving on to some brighter topics…

I covered my usual selection of ceremonies and sumo events in my Hatsu Basho Wrap-Up Post, so look at that for discussion of the Hatsu basho, the exhibition events in between, the rikishi’s vacations, and ex-Yokozuna Terunofuji’s danpatsu-shiki retirement ceremony.

But we’re done looking at the past, and now let’s turn our eyes to the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium for our 2026 Haru Basho Banzuke!

Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. Our Makushita debutants are, overall, a pretty unlikely bunch, but there are some good candidates in there, including Ryuho from Otowayama-beya (Kirishima’s stable), who won the Kyushu Jonidan yusho and has gone 6-1 in his other two career tournaments. He is going to be a sekitori sooner rather than later and I’m excited to see what he can do in Makushita. Our other interesting debutant is Kinoshita from Tokitsukaze, who is a Makushita-tsukedashi, and boy, he is big. I’ve never seen him fight before outside of a few clips, so it’ll be interesting to see what he can do in Makushita. He looks strong, but all the tsukedashi do, now don’t they?

Other figures to watch in Makushita include: Himukamaru, mostly because he’s in Ura’s stable and I think he’s fun to watch. Takakento, who has come very close to Makuuchi but not quite there yet before, and is returning from an injury. Enho, a fan favorite from the ever popular Isegahama beya, maybe making his sekitori return in May. Shimanoumi, who has been in Makuuchi and wants to get back into Juryo. Nobehara, the Yusho winner from last time around. Yoshii, because his name is fun. Kaki, who was won yusho in three out of his four career tournaments, also has a fun name, and is probably going to do well. Those are really the most interesting guys in the promotion zone in my opinion, but I’m probably forgetting an ex-Tsukedashi or two. Those guys are everywhere.

Moving up to Juryo, we have the thrilling and enchanting return of Shimazuumi. I truly don’t know if he’s going to be a yusho threat or squeak by, but I love his sumo and I love his personality, so I hope he does well. He was just making a place for himself in Makuuchi when he got a serious knee injury and fell down to Makushita. He is probably my third or fourth favorite sumo wrestler ever, behind Ura, Churanoumi, and probably Fujinokawa. He is amazing. Here’s a GIF of him hanging out with Ichiyamamoto.

Ryuden, Sadanoumi, and Tomokaze have earned their barge-of-the-damned conductor badges as three of the top four ranks of Juryo, with J2E taken up by young, buff hopeful Asasuiryu, the younger brother of Asakoryu. He has been consistently solid and I hope he makes his debut next time around! Kotokuzan, like Shimazuumi but a bit longer-term, is on his comeback run as well and is sticking to the bottom of Juryo. Toshinofuji was Hakuho’s golden boy before Hakuho said his goodbyes to the JSA, and now he’s making his sekitori debut. He’s probably going to be quite good, but these guys surprise me. Kazuma is Kise’s best prospect and had a disappointing (but kachi-koshi!) debut last time around. Hopefully he can get a yusho or a jun-yusho or osmething. Sumo’s saddest man, Hatsuyama, made a stunning drop from Makuuchi to J9W, which is, uh, pretty rough. He went 2-13 so it’s kind of valid, but it is definitely a little extra. Takerufuji, who won the Makuuchi yusho two years ago, has had some serious injury trouble. He could be 7-8 or 12-3. It’s too early to tell. The main yusho competitor is probably Wakanosho, who won last time around.

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Hoshoryu kicks off the Makuuchi banzuke; he and Onosato had the same record in Hatsu, so he kept the Yokozuna East rank. As far as I know, his injury is healing well, but I’m not sure if he’s going to be at 100% or still recuperating. Hoshoryu at his best might be one of very few rikishi who can mess up Aonishiki’s Yokozuna run, and I would sure love to see our Tatsunami boy racking up those wins. As I’ve said, he’s my favorite of the Triumvirate and I love his sumo so much when he’s healthy and active. So let’s hope for that.

Onosato‘s 10-5 Hatsu record, like I said earlier, was the same as Hoshoryu’s. We had the rare (but interesting) basho with two injured Yokozuna, and Onosato, I will say, looked a bit more injured than Hoshoryu. As I’ve seen some others saying, the fact that Onosato still got that 10-5 record while basically fighting one handed is pretty insane. Obviously, he is probably the best sumo wrestler active when healthy and may be the main yusho threat… if he’s healthy. And that’s a big “if”. Like I did with Hoshoryu, I’m assuming that very little news is good news, and he’s put up a pretty good fight in the practice bouts I’ve watched.

Aonishiki is the leading threat for the yusho, which would make this his third consecutive yusho and almost certainly secure his Yokozuna promotion. Like every other sumotori, he has his eye on the belt, but his dreams are pretty close to being realized. Aonishiki is both a stellar rikishi and seems to be a humble and friendly person off the dohyo, and he gave the world the gift of bringing his babyish tsukebito Kaiyuma to the sumo world’s attention. Aonishiki is an incredible rikishi, and we may well be calling him Yokozuna in May. With the health of both Yokozuna in question, Aonishiki’s circumstances for promotion are very, very good; I try not to root for him because of his dominance, but I can’t help it, and having a Ukrainian Yokozuna would be outstanding for the sport, as well as his family, his stable, and his country. But let’s not speak of that until he makes his case this basho.

Kotozakura is our sole Ozeki West. That’s the most positive thing I can say about him. He’s such a frustrating rikishi to root for; there is something just out of reach for him, and I can’t tell if it’s due to injury, skill, or maybe even a mental issue that he can just never get those double digits, except for the occasional 5-10. Like he always does, he went 8-7. He is such a great rikishi when he really fights for it, but he just hasn’t been. Wake up, Zaku.

Our Sekiwake East is one of the main stories in this basho: Kirishima. As I’ve said before, I think he’s close to Hoshoryu in power and he’s fully capable of coming back to Ozeki. Kiri was so, so close to Yokozuna two years ago and the fact that he’s now fighting to get back to Ozeki both makes me sad and hypes me up for this basho. I’m actually not sure if this is a possible promotion for him if he does very well or not, since the first basho in his streak of wins came from the Maegashira ranks, not san’yaku. They didn’t require three san’yaku basho from Aonishiki, and Kirishima has also been at Ozeki before, so I definitely think it’s possible. But we’ll have to see how well he performs.

Our Sekiwake West is steady old Takayasu, who just turned 36! Happy birthday and much love to the Old Bear, who is in his 92nd sekitori basho, which is… crazily impressive. He was in Juryo before I was born, and he’s still chugging away in Makuuchi! Unlike Kiri, I do not have it on my Takayasu bingo card for him to return to Ozeki, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him mixing things up for the younger rikishi this basho.

Wakamotoharu is 32 and has never won a sekitori yusho, but has two Makushita ones under his belt. He made his sekitori debut 6 years ago and has only been in Makuuchi for a little over 4 years. I still find that startling because Wakatakakage, his little brother, has been up for so much longer and it feels like Wakamotoharu has been with us longer. And in a way, he has, because of Wakatakakage’s kyujo. I like Wakamotoharu, though I wish he’d go make-koshi to make room for some of the brilliant up-and-comers.

Atamifuji is the man of the hour as much as anyone besides Aonishiki can be. Despite the scrutiny on his stable recently, Atamifuji remains wildly popular for his cheery disposition and extremely round features. I am quite partial to the large gentleman, and he is making his san’yaku debut in the highly contested Komusubi West spot opposite Wakamotoharu. I wish him the best of luck and hope that he can repeat his 12-3 and jun-yusho from last basho, though this is a career high rank, so he might need some luck.

Wakatakakage and Yoshinofuji are an interesting Maegashira 1 pair. Wakatakakage wants to get back up into san’yaku, and Yoshinofuji wants to make his debut, so these two want Kirishima, Takayasu, Wakamotoharu, and Atamifuji to lose so they can get up. They both, as often happens, had a good bid for Komusubi, but Atamifuji’s was better. I, for once, am in agreement with Hakkaku about that decision; promoting the jun-yusho and special prize winner over two rikishi who technically kachi-koshi’ed closer to the rank than he did was the right way to go. But these two have their sights set on san’yaku, as ever.

Fujinokawa and Churanoumi are quite possibly my third and second favorite rikishi, in that order. Fujinokawa has just turned 21 and is astonishingly young, small, and talented; he is a blast to watch and I often put his matches as Match of the Day when I can’t find one, just because he always makes it fun. Churanoumi endlessly entertains me because I can’t find a single outstanding quality about his sumo, he’s just good. I love that someone who is just consistently better than average is now knocking on the door of sanyaku. Churanoumi has continued to surprise me and I am excited for this basho.

Hiradoumi‘s last basho at Maegashira 3 resulted in a 4-11, but hopefully he can follow up a strong performance from last basho and keep his place in the joi-jin. Hiradoumi is lots of fun, but I fear that he simply isn’t big enough to ever break san’yaku. Still, he is definitely a long-term Makuuchi competitor. Opposite him is Oho, coming off of another disappointing san’yaku performance, who is looking to get back up into san’yaku and probably looking for a kinboshi or two. Last basho, he beat both Ozeki, Sekiwake Kirishima, and also Ichiyamamoto. That would be a good list of people, except for the fact that those are the only people he beat. This was a pretty typical basho for Oho.

Daieisho is still making his san’yaku comeback after some serious knee trouble and has elbowed his way back into the joi-jin. He did go 7-8 last time, but was not dropped a rank, which I think was fair given who’s around him. He and Takanosho, his rank buddy, will be focused on giving a better performance this time around and getting back into san’yaku for May or July. I am consistently surprised that Takanosho is never that good. Some basho he looks like a Yokozuna, and some basho he looks like a toddler. But who knows what March will bring? Anyway, they bring up the end of the joi.

Moving on, we have Abi, Kotoshoho, Ichiyamamoto, and Onokatsu. Abi had a terrible time in September and November, dropping him down the banzuke so he could have a good tournament in January. Get this! He was at M12 and with a 10-5 is now at M5. Ridiculous. That is just ridiculous. He and Kotoshoho are both one-time yusho winners and I wouldn’t be astonished if either or both of them had a good tournament or went 4-11. That’s kind of just how Kotoshoho rolls. Ichiyamamoto is coming off a challenging tournament at M1, his career high. I did not expect him to be incredible last basho, and I think being down here might be good for him. Opposite him, Onokatsu keeps chugging steadily along, very, very rarely earning more than 7 or 8 victories. He and Kotozakura should start a club.

Oshoma, Hakunofuji, Ura, and Shodai are an extremely interesting group of rikishi. We do not like Oshoma; that is all. Three of his last four tournaments have been make-koshi and I’m not sure he’s going to light up Osaka. Hakunofuji, unfortunately, has been the subject of a lot of discussion recently. It’s unclear whether he was actually harmed in the incident with ex-Terunofuji, but I certainly hope not. He’s also been having a lot of ligament trouble in his knee and still grappling his old shoulder problem (see what I did there?), which really sucks for a young and successful rikishi. Hopefully, he heals up & maybe can move to a better stable. I feel Ura and Shodai belong at the same rank and I’m glad that they’re together again; neither of them had a great basho last time, but being lower down means they have a better chance this time. Ura’s home basho, too!

I wish the best to all four of these rikishi, but these are not the “hot ranks” of the basho. It’s always a fun day with Tokihayate; he’s another one of those guys like Nishikifuji and Roga who I look at and go, “You’re in Makuuchi?” He’s always been at the same level of pretty OK, erring on the side of good. Tamawashi is still going strong (and popular!) at age 41. Gonoyama is still going less strong at age 27 (and will turn 28 shortly after the basho). He is in his hometown basho, though, which is lovely! Roga, the man from Russia, is not. Roga is a very strong rikishi and I always feel like he could be just a little better, but he never is. I think he’s not quite ready or hasn’t quite hit an unlock, but his sumo is strong, his reflexes are good, and he’s talented. He just isn’t great, and that surprises me a little bit.

Shishi, Oshoumi, and the Takasago boys (minus one!), Asakoryu and Asanoyama, are our M11-M12. Shishi, the decidedly less stellar Ukrainian, has made himself even less likable to foreign fans by saying that he’s tired of the Aonishiki hype. I get it, but I also don’t get it. He’s pretty awesome, Shishi. I am just so glad that Oshoumi is still in Makuuchi and that he had a good tournament last time around. I like seeing young, un-immediately awesome guys come up and do well, even if they don’t exactly make a huge show of it. I find it very funny that Asakoryu has half a rank over his much more famous stablemate Asanoyama;I wonder if that rankles. It probably doesn’t. Anyway, Fujinokawa is the only rikishi I think is similar enough to Asakoryu to make the comparison fair; otherwise, he really is in a league of his own in terms of style and size. Asanoyama is not, but he is wildly popular and I’m all for the long return to san’yaku, if he can make it. Good luck to them both.

Tobizaru is not my favorite wrestler, but he is for a lot of people; the Flying Monkey, as he calls himself, is probably widely considered to be the second-most entertaining rikishi in Makuuchi, after Pink Man Ura, of course. Fujiseiun is the much more interesting of the two. He is, excitingly, making his Makuuchi debut exactly 5 years after his professional debut and 17 basho after his juryo debut. Now, that’s a weird stat. Fujiseiun is 28, which is not young to be making a Makuuchi debut, but is not old for a Juryo mainstay. We rarely see guys like him stick around in Makuuchi, with the notable exception of Wakamotoharu. But he did quite well at J1 last time, so he’s all the way up at M13. Should be interesting. At M14, we have Chiyoshoma. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I want to ask the sumo world officially: do we think Chiyoshoma is ever bitter that Abi gets more hate than him? I mean, look at Chiyoshoma. He henkas at every turn. He never smiles. He rarely helps his opponents up. But then this nodowa chap turns up out of nowhere, henkas for a yusho, and even gets hate from Yokozuna? What if Chiyoshoma wanted to be the Heel first, Abi? Did you ever think about that? Anyway, he’s fine. Next to him is Nishikifuji, who is involved in this whole Hakunofuji scandal, and a perfectly average rikishi.

Midorifuji is ever popular; the big news from him is that he’s not practicing due to a heart condition. The severity of it is unclear and hopefully he’s making a recovery. While I would never, of course, wish anything bad upon Midorifuji, he’s in better physical shape (and size) than some of his compatriots, so that puts him in a better position than some other rikishi might be. Best of luck to him in his recovery. Mitakeumi is dangerously low in Makuuchi but does not often pay visits to Juryo, so let’s hope for a kachi-koshi this time around. The last Takasago-beya boy, Asahakuryu, went 8-7 in his Makuuchi debut last time, which is pretty good. Hopefully he can follow it up with another kachi-koshi in March. Kinbozan went 11-4 in his Makuuchi debut. The problem is, that was exactly three years ago, not two months. He’s a strong rikishi, but he lacks a certain… subtlety…

I am so glad that these two get to share the last ranks together!! Fujiryoga is making his Makuuchi debut alongside his stablemate Fujiseiun, the first stable pair to debut together in over 15 years. Fujiryoga has incredible hair and incredible sumo (I’ll leave the comments open if anyone wants to argue about which is more exciting, but it’s definitely the gel), and I would not be surprised if he did quite well this basho. He might be another Hatsuyama, but he’s made a meteoric rise similar to those of Onosato and Yoshinofuji; this basho marks one year in pro sumo for him, which is very impressive. Good luck to him and to Kotoeiho, who is not debuting in Makuuchi, but definitely hoping for better luck this time around. He debuted in Makuuchi last July with a disappointing 6-9, and has been inching his way back up through Juryo until now.

I forgot in Fukuoka and there’s not a whole lot of point in celebrating the hometown rikishi in Tokyo, but I will give a special shoutout to Ura, Gonoyama, and Asakoryu, and wish them luck in their hometown basho! I mean, we always wish Ura luck. And we’re typically on Asakoryu’s side as well. But good luck to them all.

May the best hopefully-not-Aonishiki-because-that-would-be-repetitive-but-he’d-be-a-Yokozuna-so-it-wouldn’t-be-that-bad-and-also-how-cool-would-it-be-if-Ura-won-a-yusho-but-then-there’s-also-guys-like-Kirishima-oh-boy-sumo-time-again… win.

(I mean. Ura yusho, amirite or amirite?)

EDIT MARCH 6: Midorifuji is not competing due to heart failure requiring one month of treatment. Hakunofuji is in, despite having “torn multiple ligaments”. And Kise-beya’s Juryo man Shiden retired.

The severity of Midorifuji’s condition is not totally clear, but we all wish him the best of luck going forward. Please stay strong and recover and focus on your health over your sumo, Midori. Odaijini.