Report Card: 2024 Haru Basho - Maegashira 9-17

Grading the top division rikishi who were involved in a historic March tournament.

The dust has now settled on an astonishing 2024 haru basho. That tournament saw top division rookie Takerufuji score an improbable and historic yusho. The young Isegahama man was pushed almost all the way by another youngster, top division sophomore, Onosato.

As always, I’m here to give out report cards for all the makuuchi wrestlers. This first post will be concerned with the lower half of the maegashira, which of course includes our tournament winner.

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Ok, now that the housekeeping is out the way, let’s get to some grades.

Takerufuji

Rank: Maegashira 17 East
Record: 13-2 (yusho, gino-sho, shukun-sho, kanto-sho)
Grade: A+

This is a pretty obvious grade. For what Takerufuji accomplished in March, and how it he did it, our newest purple powered rikishi must receive the highest grade possible.

Takerufuji was able to dominate his fellow low rank-and-filers and then seamlessly adapt to the stiff competition that came his way in the second week of the tournament.

Unlike his stablemate Atamifuji, Takerufuji was able to get himself to the precipice of history and then, instead of back away sheepishly, summon up the steel to leap forwards.

Takerufuji’s demeanour appeared unflappable throughout the tournament, even when — on the last day — he entered the ring on a badly injured ankle. Despite the injury, Takerufuji sealed his yusho with a win over Gonoyama. That win was followed by a warm, yet muted, smile.

Takerufuji earned his win with extremely precise sumo. He was blisteringly fast off the line and that meant he was able to establish his preferred positions immediately, while also disrupting his opponents’ openings.

Most of his bouts looked like his win over Churanoumi on Day 6. Check that out below, slowed down so we can get a good look at it.

That ending squat and light grab on the belt to stop Churanoumi falling is… *chef’s kiss

Takerufuji likes to start pretty far back of the line and he doesn’t squat all that deeply. He bolts at his opponents from his half squat and is high and rising when he hits their chests. His upper body strength, most noticeable due to those massive traps, then takes over and helps him get his opponents quickly on the back-foot.

Takerufuji is also very compact with his pushing, so he is able to focus all his strength and energy into a very narrow focus of attack. He is a pinpoint pusher, as opposed to a wide moving barrier like Asanoyama and Nishikigi.

The first household name he faced in March was Abi. Against Abi his neck muscles prevented him from being turned by Abi’s opening thrust. From there Takerufuji used his quick feet to make sure he stayed square to Abi, putting him in perfect position to push him out once Abi was side-on.

Takerufuji’s best win came against Kotonowaka. I’m looking forward to all the duels that are awaiting these two in the future.

Kotonowaka was one of the only wrestlers Takerufuji could not move backwards off the tachiai. Watch below as the ozeki stubbornly digs in his heels and proves how hard he is to move.

I think Kotonowaka was looking for a katasukashi here, hoping to maximize on his size advantage over Takerufuji (just like he did against Midorifuji in January). Since Takerufuji trains with Terunofuji, he’s well practised at getting his arms out of danger, though. In this bout he recognized what Kotonowaka was looking for and pulled away. I think he created this distance mostly to avoid Kotonowaka’s grip, but it had the added benefit of making Kotonowaka lurch forwards. That provided the opening for Takerufuji to do what he does off the tachiai (only this time from a standing position).

His first loss came versus Hoshoryu on Day 12. And I think we need to chalk this up to Takerufuji having never faced Hoshoryu before and him deciding to test whether his charge was quicker than Hoshoryu’s throw. It wasn’t.

Now he knows that, it will be interesting to see what he does the next time they face-off.

Against Asanoyama, Takerufuji was disrupted from using that narrow pushing power and was forced to try and match Asanoyama with wide pushing power. This is because Asanoyama was able to swallow up Takerufuji off the tachiai. Going in high against Asanoyama really works to the former ozeki’s strengths. You can see below that Asanoyama was able to catch Takerufuji and immediately snap on his preferred underhooks.

Takerufuji got hurt in this match. Initially I thought that was due to his landing off the dohyo. But watching back you can see him kick out with his left leg early in the bout and maybe roll his right ankle slightly before that.

In the title clinching bout with Gonoyama, Takerufuji was notably slower and less forceful off the tachiai. That let Gonoyama establish a similar position to what Asanoyama did a day earlier. Without a size disadvantage though, Takerufuji was able to out muscle Gonoyama, pushing him back and lifting his shoulders to break Gonoyama’s grip on the belt. Gonoyama did well to stay in, but in saving himself he left a window for Takerufuji to get his hands free and get off those precision pushes to his chest and gut.

That win capped off an incredible tournament for the 24-year-old. It will be fascinating to see how he does in May, likely from a position like maegashira 1. I’m optimistic of his chances, given how unfazed he seemed going against ozeki calibre opponents just two months removed from juryo.

Daiamami

Rank: Maegashira 16 West
Record: 7-8
Grade: D+

Daiamami didn’t get the kachi-koshi in March and he will almost certainly be demoted down to juryo. I think that’s a shame, though. I actually enjoyed his performances in March. He might be one of the least athletic guys in the top two divisions (he can barely sit in a squat), but when the action starts he is very strong and can be difficult to handle.

He showed the best of himself in this bout with Shodai below:

Daiamami’s grip on the left side looked rock solid here and I like how he twisted his wrist and was able to keep Shodai in front of him while he worked for the yorikiri. You can see Daiamami use his left knee to block Shodai and keep him off balance, too.

Given what we’ve seen with Mitoryu in juryo, I think there’s a good chance we see Daiamami pop back up to makuuchi at least once more this year.

Endo

Rank: Maegashira 16 East
Record: 5-10
Grade: E

If you’d been following Endo for the past 18 months you knew this was coming. After slumping to 5-10, Endo will also be going down to juryo. That will be the first time he’s been in the second division since 2016.

The former komusubi was inconsistent through much of 2023 and 2022. But this 5-10 mark is his third 5-10 in a row. In each of those tournaments Endo had a six bout losing streak (seven in March). I think those long streaks show that Endo is really struggling to show up for bouts. He often seems checked out, both before and after a contest. And his sumo looks one note with a complete lack of fortitude or creativity.

Below are his bouts with Ichiyamamoto and Shonannoumi. You can see in both these bouts that, whether it’s going forwards or backwards, Endo just doesn’t have a plan (or desire) to get out of bad situations.

I’m really hoping he can regroup in juryo and not only find ways to win, but also perhaps ways to enjoy his craft.

Roga

Rank: Maegashira 15 West
Record: 7-8
Grade: D

Roga lost his final day Darwin match with Kotoshoho to bank a 7-8 record and possibly send himself back down to juryo. That loss was an odd bout and I think it summed up a lot of Roga’s sumo.

Despite getting a good grip on Kotoshoho and being able to shuck him to the side, Roga was unable to get the push out. See above how, when he tried to lever Kotoshoho out, he fell to the side. Part of that was Kotoshoho doing some smart work with Roga’s arm, but a lot of it was down to Roga not paying attention to how Kotoshoho was trying to move him. Roga also tried to push Kotoshoho out despite his feet being both very far away and not square to his opponent. I think he should have closed the gap during this final phase and stepped to the right instead of leaning so hard against half of Kotoshoho’s body.

This lack of attention and/or spatial awareness has plagued Roga in the top division. And, given his lack of size, he really needs to be a lot better in those departments if he wants to stand a chance against guys who are a lot stronger than him.

I’m going to use Roga as an excuse to share this Takerufuji gif now, since it’s one of my favourites from the tournament.

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Myogiryu

Rank: Maegashira 15 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: E+

Myogiryu might be getting demoted after a pretty poor showing in March. I praised Myogiryu often last year for how he was able to stay in shape and rebound after bad tournaments. Sadly he’s started 2024 with back-to-back make-koshi (having gone 5-10 in January).

At 37 now, most bouts are an uphill battle for Myogiryu. He remains an extremely strong wrestler (who could probably bench more weight than most his rivals), but the years and injuries are really starting to catch up with him.

I often refer to Myogiryu as a gatekeeper in the maegashira ranks, but in March he wasn’t able to keep the gate shut very well. His wins came over the juryo bound Daiamami and Kitanowaka, two juryo call-ups in Tomokaze and Tokihayate, the woefully inconsistent Ryuden and the likely injured Hokutofuji.

Myogiryu must draw a lot of confidence from his physical strength and I worry that, as he diminishes there, his compete level and mentality are also waning.

See how Shonannoumi (who is improved, but can still be very meek in the ring) is able to withstand Myogiryu, sling him to the side and then essentially dunk on him with a bit of a grandstanding shove out.

Kitanowaka

Rank: Maegashira 14 West
Record: 3-12
Grade: F

Kitanowaka needs to improve a lot if he has desires of being a long-standing makuuchi wrestler. He will be sent back down to juryo after a pitiful 3-12 record in March. This was his second shot at the top division, having come up in November and then immediately sent back down after a 5-10 showing.

Specifically, Kitanowaka needs to improve his strength. Far too many wrestlers were able to take his best shot, stay in bounds and then take him out.

Check out that sequence happening below against Endo (someone whose struggles we have already discussed).

Kitanowaka lost his 13 bouts by eight different kimarite. I think that speaks to him being weak across multiple dimensions, being someone as likely to be pushed back as he is to be flipped over.

Nishikifuji

Rank: Maegashira 14 East
Record: 8-7
Grade: C-

Outside of Takerufuji, there aren’t many positive stories among the lower half of the rank-and-filers. Nishikifuji is one of the few strugglers who managed to earn a kachi-koshi, though. This comes after he was sent down to juryo on the back of a dreadful 2023 campaign.

The stint in the second division seems to have served the forgotten Isegahama man well, though. In March he looked more dynamic than at any time during last year. He also seemed to have more of a plan, intent on using his speed and elusiveness to get the fight where he needed it.

His improvement was on fully display versus Tamawashi (someone who easily handled him in his previous two meetings).

Nishikifuji seized the flow of this fight by dodging Tamawashi on one of the veteran’s expected thrusts forwards. This was great and a far departure from what we saw last year with Nishikifuji, where a lack of activity often meant he was stuck in full defense mode during his bouts.

Tamawashi was the best opponent he beat in March. Anyone else he fought ranked M10 or higher handed him a loss. In May he will likely still be ranked below M10, so he has a chance of piecing together another 8-7 record. I still have doubts he can compete at a level higher than that, though.

Churanoumi

Rank: Maegashira 13 West
Record: 7-8
Grade: D

After a decent January, Churanoumi stumbled a little in March, just losing out on a winning record. Churanoumi is marginally bigger than a “small guy” and has marginally above average speed. Against lower ranked (and similarly sized) foes that means he is often able to both move guys around and get out of their way when he has to.

He did that beautifully against Roga (see below):

When he meets someone much larger he can struggle, especially when that larger opponent is someone who likes to grab a belt. See what happened with Shonannoumi below, where Churanoumi wasn’t strong enough to break the hold and thus could not escape the force out. When he couldn’t evade Shonannoumi along the boundary he went for a throw, but you can see that he didn’t get his leg planted, or anywhere near the right position. If that’s something he wants in his arsenal, he’ll need to improve his technique considerably.

Ryuden

Rank: Maegashira 13 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: D-

Ryuden struggled in March despite being ranked in an area where he’s usually able to bank a kachi-koshi. Ryuden is 33, but his injury history has him fighting like a man five years older.

Ryuden’s past injuries are most notable in his complete lack of lateral movement (likely due to his very serious hip problems). You can see against Tamawashi below that when he is forced back he doesn’t attempt a single side step. I don’t know if that’s because he’s incapable of side-stepping effectively under pressure or if it’s just not something he thinks about. Either way, it means he’s a pretty easy push out once you get him moving backwards.

Shimazuumi

Rank: Maegashira 12 West
Record: 0-4-11
Grade: Ungraded

Shimazuumi only made it through three bouts before bowing out due to a torn calf muscle. So no grade here. Calf injuries in sumo can take a long time to recover from (since these guys will be competing when they should be resting), so Shimazuumi’s shot at being a makuuchi mainstay will likely have to wait.

Shonannoumi

Rank: Maegashira 12 East
Record: 9-6
Grade: B-

After some pretty bad showings, Shonannoumi showed us something in March. His strong, albeit slow, pushing game with a sprinkling of grappling threat, lifted him to a 9-6 record and was reminiscent of his 10-5 Fighting Spirit Prize winning effort in his makuuchi debut last year.

In the tournaments between now and then Shonannoumi had looked timid and lazy in the ring. However, he seemed energized in March and down for a fight.

Look how he met Onosho (who is always down to fight) on Day 9.

Shonannoumi takes very long and looping steps. Against smaller guys he’s able to skim along and push them out. But sometimes this high stepping gets him in trouble. It provides too big a window of him being stood on just one foot. If he gets shoved during that window, he’ll be off balance and likely sent backwards.

In his top division debut Shonannoumi executed a number of sexy throws. I especially remember his kotenage on Nishikigi. He scored a pair of kotenage in March. Below is his throw on Shodai (someone he has a 3-0 record against now).

Shonannoumi is a slow-twitch fighter, like Oho and Shishi. However, he also has good timing so he’s able to use his methodical swipes and thrusts to good effect, like when Shodai rushed in on him in the above clip.

Shonannoumi’s throws are a little odd looking because he seems to use just his upper body. He doesn’t really use his legs to generate torque or use his knee to lift/trip his opponent during the process. He simply tangles arms and then uses his shoulders and back to thrash people down.

Sadanoumi

Rank: Maegashira 11 West
Record: 8-7
Grade: C+

Sadanoumi brought the ruckus in March. Was there any doubt he would, though?