Report card: 2024 Kyushu Basho - Part 1 (Plus Tegata prize winner announcement)
Let's grade some of the big boys who threw down in Fukuoka.
The Kyushu basho was awesome. We got to see two ozeki at the top of their games, smashing the competition and setting up an epic finish. But Kotozakura and Hoshoryu weren’t the only rikishi competing in November. In this three part series I will look at all the makuuchi wrestlers and grade them on their performances. This first part covers the bottom half of the maegashira ranks. This includes some newbies, one or two stand outs, and a whole lot of guys just scraping by.
The grades are below, but before we get to those - I’ve got winners to announce!
Elizabeth Oldham won our prize draw and will receive a Takakeisho tegata courtesy of TegataStore.com (once the CandaPost strike is over).
Alex Hedstrom was the runner-up and he will receive a torikumi, also courtesy of TegataStore.com.
Thank you for everyone who showed interest in this competition and for those who went over to check out TegataStore. They tell me November was a banner month for them!
For transparency sake, here’s how I determined the winner:
First I exported the list of paid subscribers and put them into an spreadsheet. I then repeated some entries based on subscription tier (three entries total for annual subscribers, six entries total for founding subscribers).
I simply copied and pasted those entries within my spreadsheet.
That gave me a list of 234 entries.
I then asked google to pick a number between 1 and 234. It picked 130. Elizabeth was the 130th entry on the spreadsheet. I then repeated the number draw and drew Alex’s number.
I really enjoyed running this giveaway and it feels great to be sending out these very cool sumo artifacts to Sumo Stomp! readers. Hopefully this is the first of many giveaways!
Anyways, onto the grades.
Bushozan
Rank: Maegashira 17 West
Record: 3-8-4
Grade: F
It was a tough tournament for Bushozan. Our little rain frog was bounced around the dohyo and missed considerable time due to injury. He lost his first five bouts in Kyushu before notching a win over the hapless Nishikifuji. He was kyujo on Day 7 and came back on Day 12 to try and salvage some pride. He found a little of that in beating Ryuden and Tamawashi on the final two days.
This was Bushozan’s sixth makuuchi tournament and he’s only managed kachi-koshi once. This latest make-koshi will see him go back to juryo. I think we’re going to see him yo-yo between divisions a few more times, but I’d be very surprised if he ever manages to get any higher in makuuchi than he already has (M12).
Bushozan suffers the same consequences as other undersized wrestlers. However, his bulk makes him slower than those guys and easier to catch and execute throws on.
See how Kitanowaka handles him below.
I wanted to include this Kitanowaka clip because he’s likely to be promoted back to makuuchi in the new year. He used a move on Bushozan here that I noted the last time he was in the top division. I was happy to see him go to this throw a few times in November.
Asakoryu
Rank: Maegashira 17 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: D+
Asakoryu had a tough start to life in the top division. And he’s probably going to be sent back down to juryo after a spirited make-koshi. He didn’t get enough wins to stay up in his maiden campaign, but I was still impressed by some of his bouts.
Like Bushozan, he’s undersized. However, he’s far quicker and his weight is more muscle than fat. This helps him evade big men and execute throws when he gets a slim window of opportunity.
See him face-plant Ryuden below.
Asakoryu often used a collar tie, a staple of freestyle wrestling, to establish/maintain both connection and distance with his opponents. This allowed him to keep his hips far back and prevent bigger opponents grabbing his belt and out-muscling him for a force out.
See below how he forced Meisei into this position.
After establishing this position, the battle for wrist control becomes all-important. You can see how both Asakoryu and Meisei tried to control the other’s free arm in the above clip. Meisei was trying to force that arm aside so he could grab onto the belt. Meisei was impatient, though. He went for the belt despite Asakoryu holding his wrist. Asakoryu was able to move from the wrist to a defensive position on the inside, pushing Meisei’s elbow up to prevent the belt grab. Because Meisei didn’t have any hold on him, Asakoryu was able to step to the outside and slap him down for one of his best wins of the tournament.
Asakoryu will likely be demoted, but I think he’s got a chance of sticking in makuuchi if and when he comes back up.
Takerufuji
Rank: Maegashira 16 West
Record: 10-5
Grade: B
Takerufuji made his long awaited return to top-flight action in November, eight months after his sensational yusho debut. And, for the most part, he looked pretty darn good.
He waltzed through juryo in September, looking much like the version of himself that stormed through the haru basho. And we saw a lot of that in November, too.
Takerufuji’s top asset is his tachiai. He blitzes off the line with speed and power that overwhelms most opponents. He likes to direct all that energy high into his opponents’ chests. He wants them to move backwards and lean back, too. When an opponent is leaning back their hands are high (and not on his belt). He then either thrusts into the chest or gets underhooks (like he does on Onokatsu below) to score a push or force out.
Takerufuji lost a few bouts due to lapses in focus during this tournament. His first loss, to Tokihayate, was due to an inadvertent step out. His next defeat, to Shonannoumi, came after he tried to spear his opponent out, despite being too far away (which gave Shonnnaoumi lots of time and space to side-step).
Given how good Kotozakura and Hoshoryu were in this tournament, those early losses were enough to force Takerufuji to play catch-up for the majority of the tournament. When match-making shifted later on in the basho he lost three in a row, to Gonoyama, Onosato and Abi. He beat each of those guys during his wonder tournament in March.
Takeurufji getting 10-5 is very impressive. I think it shows that he’s more than a lower maegashira wrestler. I think the jury is still out on whether he is san’yaku material, though. I don’t think his yusho was a fluke. I just think things will be much harder for him from this point on. He’s the rookie pitcher who struck out the side. But now all those hitters have seen his fast-ball and they can start to adjust their swing.
The pressure is on him to adjust now.
Shishi
Rank: Maegashira 16 East
Record: 5-10
Grade: E+
Shishi was a fun addition to makuuchi in November. He entertained us with some extended matches and some balancing tricks along the straw. However, that didn’t translate into many wins. His 5-10 will probably put him back in juryo and I think that will do him some good.
He has good size, but I don’t think he has the athleticism or intensity needed to beat a lot of the rikishi he might encounter in the top division. His style reminds me of Oho. However, Oho has lately made up for his slowness with meanness. Shishi’s sumo is even slower than Oho’s and it has a gentle feel about it.
I’ve also noticed Shishi looks at the ground a lot. Sumo’s like driving in that you need to “look where you want to go”. Shishi doesn’t want to go head first into the ground, but that’s where he looks and that’s where he often ends up going. See that below, against Kitanowaka.
The best name on his record in November was Midorifuji. He scored the win, after a long bout, when Midorifuji collapsed under his weight on a throw attempt. If you watch the bout, though, you’ll notice Midorifuji is dictating what happens. Watch Shishi’s thrusts and slaps as well. They are almost apologetic, like he’s not comfortable striking at 100% power. He’ll need to lose that if he wants to gain respect from the top division.
Tokihayate
Rank: Maegashira 15 West
Record: 6-9
Grade: D+
I liked what I saw from Tokihayate this tournament, in spite of his losing record. He’s undersized, but not so small that he is seriously disadvantaged. He also has decent strength and above average footwork and grappling. Those really help his lack of mass go unnoticed in many of his bouts.
Tokihayate has a very good uwatenage (over arm throw). He landed two of those this tournament (see below against Sadanoumi). He wins 16% of his bouts by uwatenage. The average wrestler wins by that technique just 4.61% of the time.
I was really impressed by his composure. That comes in handy when you have an opponent bearing down on you and you need to pivot and execute a throw. Tokihayate’s composure really showed in the below match with Ichiyamamoto, too.
Ichiyamamoto, and his evolved form Abi, test their opponent’s composure and fortitude and win when said opponent’s relent or fade under pressure. In this bout, though, Tokihayate weathered the storm and kept his eyes on Ichiyamamoto. By staying engaged he was able to see and time Ichiyamamoto’s attacks and set up his finish.
Onokatsu
Rank: Maegashira 15 East
Record: 9-6
Grade: C+
Onokatsu got off to a hot start this tournament. If you read my daily updates, you’d remember I was skeptical that this would translate into a serious title push. He won his first six bouts, but three of those opponents were just up from juryo and one of them Kayo who was called up from juryo for that specific bout.
In the second week of the tournament the wheels fell off for him against guys in the top half of the rankings.
At the moment Onokatsu looks quite one-dimensional. He’s a hidari-yotsu player. Hidari-yotsu is left arm inside, right arm outside. When he gets that he, more often than not, gets the yorikiri (frontal force out) win. In his young career he’s won close to 65% of his bouts by yorikiri.
Here he is getting that grip on Shonannoumi and then marching him out. In this bout he was able to get his left arm secured immediately off the tachiai.
With rikishi like him, you often need to simply stop that grip being established to stand a chance of winning. Watch what Wakatakakage does below.
Wakatakakage knew Onokatsu wanted to put his left arm underneath his right arm. So he kept that right arm close to his body and then grabbed Onokatsu’s belt. Onokatsu then panicked and tried to get his left arm inside. But as he focused on that, Wakatakakage was moving him backwards and eventually out.
This is a horrible match-up for poor Onokatsu. Wakatakakage’s brother Wakamotoharu is the hidari-yotsu master. So Wakatakakage probably has more experience defending that move than anyone in the sport.
Wakamotoharu relies on that move, and the yorikiri, a lot. But even so, his yorikiri finish rate is 37%. His next used kimarite is oshidashi (frontal push out).
If Onokatsu wants to be more successful, and less easily targeted by better wrestlers, he’ll need to mix his sumo up a bit and significantly bring down that yorikiri rate.
Nishikifuji
Rank: Maegashira 14 West
Record: 6-9
Grade: D-
Nishikifuji saved his skin as a top division wrestler in September, going 8-7 from M17 (after being remarkably spared a juryo demotion after going 6-9 from M17 in July). I wouldn’t be surprised if Nishikifuji gets a harsh demotion this time around to make up for the gift he was given earlier in the year.
I commended Tokihayate for his composed sumo. Nishikifuji’s sumo is the opposite. Everything he does feels anxious. In the below bout with Chiyoshoma he looks really out of control. He chased Chiyoshoma, his thrusts mostly missed the mark and he passed up opportunities to latch onto the belt. It all resulted in Chiyoshoma grabbing his belt and purposefully driving him out.
His best win this tournament was over Meisei (below). But that only happened because Meisei got very silly with his arm placement and gifted Nishikifuji a very easy opportunity to run him off the ring.
He was demoted to juryo in January and then bounced right back up, after a 10-5 performance. He’s struggled since then, though. I think he needs a more prolonged stay in juryo to figure out what he wants his sumo to look like. Because right now it looks like a mess.
Chiyoshoma
Rank: Maegashira 14 East
Record: 11-4
Grade: B+
Chiyoshoma was one of the surprises of the Kyushu basho. The Mongolian veteran impressed with an 11-4 record. That record included some wins over quality opponents like Midorifuji, Takayasu and Ura. I think he was robbed when it came to the technique prize, though. He won by six different kimarite, including katasukashi (under shoulder swing down), yoritaoshi (frontal crush out) and uwatenage (over arm throw).
Chiyoshoma finished the tournament by winning eight in a row. Eleven wins is the most he’s ever had in makuuchi. His previous career best was 9-6, which he’s done on five occasions.
Chiyoshoma is so much fun to watch. He’s not as unpredictable as Tobizaru and Ura, but his wide array of attacks gives him a similar vibe on the dohyo. He has great movement and I like how he uses a really wide stance to create space.
See below how he opened up his stance against Takayasu. He took up a lot of space when he did that. Then he put his weight onto his left foot and closed that space, quickly. This gave him a nice long runway to drag Takayasu through on route to the hatakikomi (slap down).
He uses this wide stance for defense, too. See below how he sprawled against Ura, reminiscent of how fighters block takedowns in MMA. After shooting his hips back and widening his stance, Chiyoshoma had lots of space to pull Ura down in front of him.
I’m not sure how much more of a ceiling Chiyoshoma has at makuuchi. But I love having him in the division. He’s a fun and different puzzle for the other wrestlers to try and figure out each time.
Shonannoumi
Rank: Maegashira 13 West
Record: 8-7
Grade: C
Shonannoumi succeeded in getting a kachi-koshi and rebounding from a terrible 3-12 tournament in September. Shonannoumi went 3-12 when ranked M5, his career high. He’s been M5 three times and has a combined 17-28 record from those tournaments. He’s also gone 11-19 during his two tournaments at M6. His only kachi-koshi in the top division have come when ranked M10, M12 and now M13.
He’s still only 26, but I have serious questions about his mentality and whether he’ll ever strive to be better than a middling maegashira guy.
He is blessed with great size and he clearly has a high understanding of grappling. He just doesn’t fight with any kind of noticeable intensity or desire.
In a lot of his victories he looks like he’s on cruise control. It’s tempting to be impressed by how effortless Shonannoumi makes his finishes look (like this one against Hokutofuji).
But after watching a lot of Shonannoumi, this effortless demeanour feels more negative than positive. Especially when you see him turn away or step out along the edge, instead of digging in and taking a risk to try and win.
I think he’ll be around this ranking for as long as he wants. He’s too big and too good to bank a big losing record and get demoted. And I just don’t think he has the nerve to push on from this position and compete with the elite talent (guys Jurgen Klopp might call ‘Mentality Monsters’).
Ryuden
Rank: Maegashira 13 East
Record: 4-11
Grade: E
For the last few years Ryuden has been yo-yo-ing between the lower and higher halves of the maegashira rankings. He’s been able to beat-up the competition when ranked low and then been exposed for his lack of mobility when ranked high.
In Kyushu he delivered one of his worst ever performances, despite being ranked at M13. The only times he’s lost more bouts was when he was M7 in 2018 (3-12), M5 in January (3-12) and M2 in 2023 (2-13).
Taking this big a loss from M13 might be sign that this is the beginning of the end for Ryuden. The lopsided record might even see him demoted from makuuchi for the first time since an injury hit 2021 run.
In Kyushu this November he looked slow and stiff. And he was easily pushed around by his opponents, even the little ones (see him getting tossed by Tokihayate and Asakoryu below).
I think Ryuden deserves to be on retirement-watch as we start 2025. I think he probably packs it in around March.
Sadanoumi
Rank: Maegashira 12 West
Record: 4-11
Grade: E
Sadanoumi, like many of his fellow Kyushans, went 4-11 on his home island. That makes three make-koshi in a row for the veteran. He’ll likely be fighting for his makuuchi life in January. At this tournament he suffered a seven-day losing skid. During that period he took a lot of losses to relative newcomers in the division.
He lost to Shishi, Asakoryu and Tokihayate. This time last year I was calling him one of our makuuchi gate-keepers, alongside Aoiyama and Myogiryu. Aoiyama and Myogiryu have both put on their blue jackets and have dates with the barber. I have the feeling Sadanoumi won’t be far behind them. I can’t really call him a gate-keeper anymore, since so many folks are able to waltz by him now.
At 37, this is simply a case of age catching up to ‘Sads’. Despite his flesh getting weak, his mind is still willing, though. He still fights with tenacity, but he just doesn’t have the muscle he needs to get folks over the line (or stop him from being pushed over the line — as seen against Shishi below).
One of the sadder moments for Sadanoumi this tournament is when he went up against Takerufuji (below).
After going back and forth for a little, The Tanimal elected to move backwards and drag Sadanoumi down. He didn’t need to put much effort into the slapdown, though. Sadanoumi didn’t have the steam left to follow him and simply slumped into the dirt more or less on his own.
Hokutofuji
Rank: Maegashira 12 East
Record: 7-8
Grade: D
If there’s a job opening for gatekeeper in the lower maegashira ranks, then Hokutofuji might be the man for the job. Last year we saw a flash of him being a title threat, but he’s spent all this year at M9 and lower. He’s not had a kachi-koshi since September 2023, either. That’s the tournament after his amazing Nagoya run where he came close to his first ever yusho.
He’s 32 now. So I doubt we’re going to see him get over the hump and become a san’yaku wrestler again or someone with a serious shot at a yusho. He can still be a very fun watch, though, and someone who can test younger wrestlers.
In Kyushu he beat Bushozan, Tokihayate, Roga and Asakoryu. He also took out some fellow veterans, including Takayasu and Meisei. So there’s plenty of fight left in ‘The Beserker’, even if his body is starting to slow down.
And it’s not slowed down by much! See his match with Asakoryu below. It’s pretty impressive that he was able to pivot and stay in, on a bum knee, and then keep pace with Asakoryu before scoring the slapdown.
Hokutofuji’s speed and aggressiveness in attack can come at a cost, though. He likes to put his head down and drive. And that leads to a lot of hatakikomi losses (like this one against Ichiyamamoto).
Hokutofuji loses over 16% of his matches by hatakikomi. The average wrestler loses close to 8% of his matches that way. Oshi-zumo (pushing/thrusting) practitioners, like Hokutofuji, are always going to be more susceptible to this. In the Ichiyamamoto match you can see that when Ichiyamamoto is turned to the side, instead of trying to go for his belt, Hokutofuji elected for a straight thrust. He didn’t get good contact with that, though. When Ichiyamamoto turned back to him, Hokutofuji put his head into his chest and drove forwards. Putting your head in the middle of someone’s chest is great if you’re using yotsu-zumo (belt grabbing style), but in this situation it was pretty easy for Ichiyamamoto to slide, unimpeded, to the side and get the win.
Here comes the paywall! I haven’t done this in around a year, but I think it’s fair for me to reserve some of these deep dives for those who support Sumo Stomp! with paid subscriptions. After the paywall you’ll find write-ups on ‘All Violence Team’ member Meisei, Tamawashi, Takarafuji, Ichiyamamoto, Takayasu and Midorifuji.
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