I consider myself to be a fairly responsible person. However, this time I was not a fairly responsible person, considering I wrote almost the entirety of this post after the end of the Hatsu basho and then forgot to post it. I’ve now edited it to encompass events throughout February, and I will be posting along with the Banzuke Preview. Oh boy, sumo season!

Notably, there are no koen, or interspersed events between basho, between January and March. This created time for the rikishi to go on a much-deserved vacation, including the Isegahama boys spending their break in Thailand. They must have had a fun time, because Takarafuji posted on his Instagram apologizing for making rude posts while drunk. From what I’ve heard, it was not actually too bad, so I’m glad they’re having fun. I was surprised to see them vacationing internationally; from what I’ve seen (with the notable exception of Hakkaku-beya), the boys usually stay in Japan, but Isegahama-beya can definitely afford a nice vacation, so that’s cool, I guess. I can no longer find the picture, but I’m very sure that I saw one of Yoshinofuji hanging out with a tiger. New kesho-mawashi?

The first big sumo event since the Hatsu tournament was the danpatsu-shiki, or hair-cutting ceremony, of Dai-Yokozuna Terunofuji. This was one of the first danpatsu-shiki that I’ve actually watched, and was a bit teary-eyed at the end; Terunofuji performed a glorious dohyo-iri flanked by Onosato and Hoshoryu, with Hosh as swordbearer and Onosato as dewsweeper, and given the great honor of holding Teru’s 3-year-old son, Temujin. It’s rare to have two excellent Yokozuna sending off another excellent Yokozuna, and I thought that it was both very symbolic and very nice. There were no sumo scandals that I’m aware of (huzzah!) between now and Hatsu, except for what I consider to be the greatest scandal the sumo world has ever seen, which was Hakuho’s danpatsu-shiki outfit.

This was the best picture I could find. That thing looks like spray-painted tin foil. I’m really not here to criticize Hakuho as a person, but he made a dark fashion choice that day. Also at Terunofuji’s party, eight lower division boys from Isegahama-beya performed a mock tournament in honor of Terunofuji, with Mongolian star Asahifuji taking the prize. Sekitori wrestlers took to the dohyo afterwards for some “funny sumo”, with Hoshoryu performing a liftout of Onosato–one that, while staged, also reminded me of how strong he is–whom he dumped unceremoniously on Oshima-oyakata. Oshima seems to have a running joke with Kirishima and Hoshoryu about throwing salt or other rikishi on him, but Kirishima was either not in attendance or not in the mood at the Kaiju’s ceremony.

Terunofuji was a great Yokozuna and will be a great mentor to the Iseghama boys; it’s rare to have an oyakata so well versed in the highs and lows of sumo. Terunofuji’s comeback story is one for the ages (along with Asanoyama and let’s say Ura too) and I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll see of Isegahama-oyakata. May you be just as inspiring but not quite as injury-prone in your coaching years, Kaiju.

Moving on! There were three events in the first weeks of February, the NHK Charity tournament and the recently renamed ex-FujiTV tournament. But FujiTV has had their fair share of scandals, just like sumo, but the one-day long tournament remained. So it’s called the One Day Tournament; Hakkaku really has a knack for naming these things. There was also the Hakuho Cup. Like I said, I’m not going to give a speech about my opinion of Hakuho until he does something interesting, but I do like the Hakuho Cup.

I’m just going to put it bluntly: the One day Tournament was not exciting. Hiradoumi had a few fun bouts and got the honorary Fighting Spirit Prize; Abi and Hoshoryu made it to the end and Hoshoryu took him out for the prize of 2,500,000 yen. The break between Juryo and Makuuchi was actually the most exciting part; ex-Maegashira Aoiyama and eternally balding ex-Maegashira Hokutofuji went back to the dohyo for an exhibition bout. In the NHK Charity events, there was some shokkiri (funny sumo) and really not much else. The highlight was Atamifuji’s performance alongside J-pop girl group STU48. This picture, I think, really sums up Atamifuji very well. He looks so out of place, and yet… so right.

Now let’s go back in time in this badly-organized post and cast our minds back through the February fog to the Hatsu basho.

Shin-Ozeki Aonishiki took the Emperor’s Cup for the second time in a row, with a slate of very strong Maegashira competitors, and also Kirishima. We had the potential going into the last day of a highly unlikely 5-man playoff, and unsurprisingly, Oshoumi did not beat Atamifuji, so that did not happen. However, Aonishiki also beat Kotozakura, meaning that those two advanced to a playoff right after the Yokozuna battle in the musubi-no-ichiban, which Hoshoryu won. Aonishiki took the playoff victory and sent Atamifuji home with the Fighting Spirit Prize.

Let’s congratulate the special prize winners!

Kirishima‘s special prize truly warmed my heart. This is his second fighting spirit prize and 11-4 record in a row, which means his Ozeki run is looking exactly as good as it needs to, if he can follow it up in March. And I sincerely hope he does. Kirishima is, in my opinion, very similar in skill level to Hoshoryu; I’d like to remind everyone that he was once just one bout away from Yokozuna. The main difference that separates the two Mongolians is that Kiri’s injuries have been much, much more problematic than Hoshoryu’s, and that’s not his fault. I think getting back to Ozeki would be great for Kirishima, since it would give him both time to recuperate from his injuries and a serious ego boost. Big congratulations to Kirishima on another successful basho and here’s to the Ozeki run.

Yoshinofuji just keeps going no matter what. The kid has never had a negative record, but I do think he’s hit a bit of a wall in the joi-jin lately; strangely, he seems to be doing better in his Yokozuna/Ozeki bouts than he is in his Maegashira bouts, but he’s still a great rikishi all around and I would not be surprised to see him making an Ozeki run in 2026 or 2027. He’s a very strong and solid rikishi, and his bouts are generally great, even the ones he loses. It isn’t a lack of ring sense or a lack of experience, like some of the younger rikishi, but there’s something in his sumo that just isn’t quite san’yaku quality yet. Some of his bouts seem to surprise him, which might be it. He’s got time, though, and he’s a great rikishi. Congrats on his second consecutive Special Prize, though he somehow managed a Technique Prize, not a Fighting Spirit prize, last time. That makes no sense. But this one does! Great job.

Atamifuji is so sweet and so hard-working, and that makes it extremely difficult to not root for him. I think he deserved to receive the Outstanding Performance on top of the Fighting Spirit Prize, but as usual, Hakkaku and I disagree. 12-3 from Maegashira 4, however, is the definition of an outstanding performance, regardless of the prize. He went up against the best of the best and exactly 80% of the time emerged on top, earning himself a jun-yusho alongside the prize. He had a great break with his Isegahama friends and emerged as the heyagashira (highest ranked wrestler) of Isegahama for March. More on that later.

Congratulations to all our special prize winners! And now on to the objectively more important rikishi earning some objectively more important prizes: the Pink Mawashi Hall of Fame Inductees.

(Disclaimer: Not all of them are actually inductees. Some of them are though!)

The Match of the Basho Award, as usual, goes to what was simply the most atmospheric and climactic match of the basho: and what could that be except the playoff between two gifted young rikishi, Aonishiki and Atamifuji? Atamifuji poured his heart into the bout, but once Aonishiki gets his hands on the belt, it’s hard to get him off. Atamifuji forced Aonishiki to the edge but Aonishiki spun out of the way and grabbed Atamifuji’s head, forcing him to the clay with a brilliant kubinage. They both showed up in great form and ready to rumble, and rumble they did. What a great match. Congratulations to Aonishiki, who will definitely be getting this one a lot, and gets his second consecutive MotB Award.

The Kimarite of the Basho Award, as usual, goes to what I thought was both the rarest and best executed kimarite of the tournament. Like Aonishiki, Midorifuji has already had a KotB Award, but his kimedashi victory over Hatsuyama on Day 10 is both a rare kimarite and just a brilliantly executed victory. Hatsuyama had a terrible tournament, but this was one of the few bouts where he seemed actually awake and concentrated, and Midorifuji had a rough go of it. They went back and forth for quite some time, with Hatsuyama using Midorifuji as a chinrest, and then Midorifuji danced Hatsuyama to the edge, struggled, and forced the much larger rikishi out by kimedashi. Congrats, Midorifuji.

The Veteran Award often makes me very nostalgic for days past, which was not helped by spending time looking at the March 2022 banzuke earlier today. I will say that our veterans weren’t doing too hot this tournament, but I want to say that my definition for the purpose of this award is an experienced rikishi, not necessarily a very old one. And in that case, the award is without a doubt Kirishima‘s. The ex-Ozeki performed brilliantly and blew most of his opponents out of the water to finish 11-4. Well done, sir, well done. He was also the only rikishi on the East side of the banzuke with double digit wins, besides Hoshoryu. The honorary mention is definitely Asanoyama.

The Up-And-Comer Award is probably my overall favorite each time, just because I love it when our young rikishi really prove themselves. And because I don’t think Atamifuji counts as a young up-and-comer anymore, there could be no other recipient but Oshoumi. I’d like to think that I usually have a pretty good idea of who’s going to do well or do terribly, but Oshoumi really surprised me. I’ve liked Oshoumi for a while, but I did not expect him to do so well in this tournament. 10-5 is a very strong record for someone so new to Makuuchi, and all of his individual bouts were interesting in their own way. I am so happy for him and so proud of him for that basho. Congratulations, Oshoumi!

The Disaster Basho Award is, I’ll admit, partially from the fact that I drafted the same guy in two separate fantasy tournaments and… he went 2-13. Hatsuyama was a rikishi that I had very, very high hopes for. I truly did. I thought he might even be in the yusho race. But no. He showed up every day with lackluster and weak sumo, and only managed to scrape together two wins before slinking off back to Juryo. I know I’m being hard on him, and this was his Makuuchi debut. But he was very strong in Juryo and something was just not right with him this tournament. He didn’t look injured, which people who go 2-13 usually do; he just looked… exhausted. It’s okay to have an off basho, Hatsuyama, but did it have to be the one I drafted you for? Rest up, and good luck in Juryo.

The Miracle Basho Award seriously could not go to anyone but Atamifuji. No one came close to touching the brilliant performance that Atamifuji put up, except, of course, the yusho winner Aonishiki. But among the Maegashira, Atamifuji clearly stood out as the best candidate for san’yaku, and he will be making his san’yaku debut in March as a Komusubi opposite Wakamotoharu. Best of luck to him and congratulations on a beautiful basho.

The Pink Heart Award goes to an unlikely candidate, but I’ve really thought this through. Onosato has more than proved himself as a rikishi, but this basho, he proved something else: character. He looked to be in a lot of pain after most of his bouts and seemed to have both back and shoulder troubles, and I spent most of the basho trying to telepathically get him to go kyujo. But he didn’t. I don’t know if it’s because Hakkaku or Nishonoseki wouldn’t let him, but they weren’t the ones fighting, Onosato was. And he just kept fighting. That shows both tenacity and resilience, which I know all of the rikishi possess, but I still think it’s great when they really show it. For Onosato, who has barely struggled with injuries or even losing in his career, it really impressed me to see him taking failure and difficulty so well and fighting so hard. This is the first basho where he’s seemed more human than kachi-koshi machine, and I thought that was very interesting.

The Pink Star for Effort has gone to more than one rikishi in the past and unfortunately, I think it’s time to do so again. Ura and Ichiyamamoto can only be described as endearing and fun rikishi. If sumo was a popularity or even a personality competition, Ura would be a Yokozuna and Ichiyamamoto would be an Ozeki. But it isn’t. And they both went 4-11. Ura seemed to just be a bit overranked, and Ichiyamamoto seemed to both be nursing a neck problem and also up higher than he’s used to. But this isn’t an unusual situation for either rikishi and I wish them the best in the future.

The Best Pink Mawashi Award is given to Ura for having a pink mawashi.

Now on to one of my favorite parts of the day… A Look at the Champions!

Aonishiki did Aonishiki things. I like him, I really do, but I’ve spent so much time talking him up already that I want to spend my attention on other things. Aonishiki, you are fantastic, and I wish you the best. Let’s move on to Juryo.

The Juryo yusho winner was Wakanosho! I was expecting the win to go to either Kazuma or Fujiryoga, young prodigies making their sekitori debut this basho, but Wakanosho was on my list of “Eh, maybe this guy, if Kazu and Fujiryoga are hurt.” And Kazuma might have been hurt–he did finish kachi-koshi, but he started off with a string of losses and didn’t really look as sure as he could have in his bouts. Fujiryoga went 9-6. So neither of them sucked too badly. But Wakanosho! He and Fujiseuin, another on-the-young-side-but-not-really-that-impressive-up-until-now rikishi, battled up until Day 15, where Wakanosho took the victory. Some Juryo yusho aren’t impressive because all the good people went up to Makuuchi or got hurt and went down to Makushita. That wasn’t one of those basho. He had a slate of strong opponents and still managed to come out on top; congratulations to Wakanosho for his first career yusho!

Down in Makushita, Nobehara emerged as our champion. The sumo world, as far as I know, has no reason to hate Nobehara, except for the fact that the rikishi he beat for that yusho was Enho, the small and wildly popular ex-Miyagino Isegahama transfer. I freely admit that although I follow his stable’s YouTube channel, Nobehara did not make much of an impression on me until this basho. He is 23 and had been pretty consistently not so good until this basho. EIther he’s taking anabolic steroids, he had a breakthrough, or he just had a really good tournament. Hopefully it’s the second and we’ll see another great performance from him from far higher up the banzuke. Congratulations to Nobehara for also his first career yusho!

The artist formerly known as Kawazoe likes to mess with everyone by changing his name so that we don’t recognize him when he comes back after one of his 400 injuries. To me, he will always be Kiho, but he took the name Hananofuji for his Sandanme yusho after sitting out for two basho and doing well in Jonidan last time around. Kiho/Kawazoe/Hananofuji is a strong rikishi and it’s not really the sandanme boys’ fault that they couldn’t beat him. This was his second sandanme yusho. He’s been in Juryo before and I don’t think it’s crazy to see him come back pretty soon, as long as he keeps his ankle out of trouble.

Koseiryu, I was only aware of because he’s from Otowayama-beya, whose heyagashira is Kirishima and whose coach is Kakuryu. That was the only reason. But now I know him because he won a Jonidan yusho, so that’s nice. Koseiryu debuted one year ago and has already been pretty badly hurt, which is rough. It’s also his first career yusho. Great job, kid, and stop getting hurt.

Asahifuji, the greatest rookie of all time, fought his fallen-from-glory stablemate Aoifuji, (his glory was Jonidan 5–to each their own) and beat him soundly. Please take note of their profile pictures on sumo.db and ask which one I wanted to win.

I want to discover why their pictures are so different. Asahifuji looks like someone just took away his favorite teddy bear and ripped it to shreds in front of him, which is sad because his stable is Isegahama, so the closest thing he has to a teddy bear is Atamifuji. Aoifuji, on the other hand, looks like someone sewed the teddy bear back together and gave it to him. Unfortunately, disposition is not what really matters in sumo. But if it was, Aoifuji, you’d be at least in Makushita.

This is Asahifuji’s first career basho and also yusho. He’s on the Kaki path of winning his debut tournaments in the lower three divisions, except he probably won’t go 5-2 in his Makushita debut. (Sorry, Kaki.)

Sorry for the insanely long post… you can tell I’ve got the sumo fever again! And this was supposed to be broken into two posts originally. In the next week, I’ll release my banzuke preview; it is an amazing banzuke and one of my favorite youngstars is making his debut in Makuuchi! But more on that later.

Sleep well, and dream of Aoifuji.