Report Card: 2025 Kyushu Basho - Part 2
Continuing to grade the top division rikishi who were involved in the November tournament.
The first tournament of the year goes down this weekend! And I’ve got a bunch of newsletters to crank out before then. Here’s part two of my delayed report card series. The winter break was fantastic, but it has put me behind the eight-ball a little.
Even so, I enjoyed writing this. There’s some great characters in this cohort (Ichiyamamoto, Yoshinofuji, Tobizaru, Atamifuji). I hope you enjoy this and I hope it helps whet the appetite for what we’re going to be watching at the end of the week.
Our bonus gif today is Churanoumi, getting locked in.
Kotoshōhō
Rank: Maegashira 10 West
Record: 7-8
Grade: D+
Kotoshōhō’s Nagoya yushō continues to look like a bit of a fluke. His run in July was incredible and he deserves a lot of credit for it, but I remain confident that it’s not something he’s going to be able to repeat anytime soon (if ever). He wasn’t terrible in November, by any means. M10 proved a little too high for him, but that shouldn’t be a surprise. Kotoshōhō was his normal inconsistent self in Kyushu. He showed lots of aggression, though, and was able to use his underrated size and brute strength to get a notable win over Atamifuji.
Too often, though, Kotoshōhō ended up flopping onto the ground like a trout that had just been pulled out of a river. That’s a sign of him lacking focus and discipline in his thrusting attacks. That habit has tanked entire tournaments for him before. Here it just gave him one loss too many.
Daieishō
Rank: Maegashira 10 East
Record: 10-5
Grade: B+
In Kyushu Daieishō gave us the performance we were expecting in what was essentially a do-over for the former long-time sekiwake. He was demoted down to M10 for the autumn tournament after sitting out all of Nagoya. In that aki basho he went just 7-8, showing us that he was essentially rehabbing his calf injury on the fly. In November, though, he looked pretty much fully healed. And a healthy Daieishō is just too strong for most opponents he could meet in this section of the banzuke.
Daieishō had a number of easy wins that looked just like this one over Rōga:
Daieishō also showed some good mobility in this tournament, which is a great sign considering he was dealing with a leg injury. See below how he runs laps around Shōdai.
Tobizaru
Rank: Maegashira 9 West
Record: 6-9
Grade: D-
Daieishō’s team mate Tobizaru didn’t fare as well in Kyushu. He was over-promoted for this tournament, with his 9-6 record at M15 launching him to M9 due to all the open spots that freed up due to so many higher ranked wrestlers struggling last time out. Tobizaru, like Daieishō, is also recovering from an injury. He managed to survive at the aki basho despite being bandaged up like my Sumo Stomp! logo. I think he was still feeling some of the effects of that here and he didn’t have the immediate threat of a jūryō demotion to help him fight through the pain. Despite being hurt Tobizaru still entertained. He had a number of feisty displays accompanied by his trademark crowd-surfing. His fight with Ura was especially exciting. That included a massive slap delivered to the face of the Peach Prince.
Tobizaru opened with a slap on Midorifuji, too. He was then able to out-muscle the smaller man.
Much of Tobizaru’s losses were due to him getting stuck in the clinch. His best weapon is his speed. I think his current injury inventory was preventing him from pushing the pace and changing directions in ways that help him keep distance and thoroughly befuddle his opponents.
Midorifuji
Rank: Maegashira 9 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: D-
Midorifuji turns 30 this year and I think we might be beyond the point where he’s able to take a big step forwards in his career. At this point…
