Report Card: 2024 Natsu Basho - Part 2: Oshoma, Ryuden, Churanoumi, Mitoryu and Nishikifuji

Continuing to grade the top division rikishi who competed in May.

Last week I released the first of my 2024 natsu basho report cards (link) and revealed my plan to reduce post length and up post frequency. I haven’t had any complaints about that, so I’ll keep chugging along with this.

Before I get onto this next set of grades, I just wanted to share some more thoughts about the future of Sumo Stomp!

I’m thinking about changing how I do results posts.

My current idea is to forgo the long all-encompassing results posts which have 15 days worth of results, highlights and analysis in one place. Instead, I’m thinking of doing independent daily posts which contain just that day’s action. Then, instead of sending you a spoiler free email telling you to check out the results post, that is hosted on a different site, my daily emails during a tournament would say “spoiler alert” and you would simply scroll down for the results, highlights and my analysis from that day.

This would simplify and speed up my production quite a bit. Those daily results posts would also be great places to have discussions about the basho here on Substack.

Oh and all those posts would be free for everyone, too.

OK, now that housekeeping is out the way, onto the grades!

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Oshoma

Rank: Maegashira 14 West
Record: 10-5 (Fighting Spirit Prize)
Grade: B+

Oshoma was one of the breakout stars of the May tournament. In his rookie makuuchi basho the Mongolian scored double digit wins and took home a kanto-sho.

We’ve seen lots of newcomers, and low ranked wrestlers, rack up big records in the first half of a tournament only to fall away once the match-making gets tougher. However, from early on I felt like Oshoma was going to stick around this tournament. He was scoring early wins with an air of confidence and ease that made it look like he was competing at below his level.

His hot start saw him get to 5-1, with that lone loss being to the plucky Churanoumi. He then took back-to-back losses to veterans Hokutofuji and Tsurugisho (in a bout where Oshoma looked like he took it easy on his very injured opponent). After that he won four straight, which included big wins over Kotoshoho and Shodai. That set up matches with Wakamotoharu and Hoshoryu. He lost those bouts, as you’d expect of a rookie, but he didn’t look overwhelmed or out of place in doing so. On Day 15 he scored his tenth win with a great victory over Kinbozan.

Oshoma got his wins with great timing, smart belt grips and very heavy hands.

Oshoma’s favored grips shaded either towards the front or back of the mawashi, looking to either push opponents straight back or pull them forwards. In the bout with Kinbozan below, he used a front grip with his left hand to elevate Kinbozan and then force him back and out.

In bouts where he went with a grip towards the back of a belt (like the Tomokaze bout below) he would shift to the side and drag his opponents forwards for the okuridashi.

The lifting/pulling strength he showed in these types of wins carried over to his thrusts and slaps, too. Against Shodai (below), Oshoma showed firm thrusts but I was most impressed by how he was able to wrench Shodai forwards when he got his hand on the back of his neck.

In May Oshoma struggled to implement his winning strategies when opponents paid lots of attention to blocking his arms. Below is a great battle with Wakamotoharu. Wakamotoharu was able to prevent Oshoma from pulling him around by pushing on his elbows, at first, and then breaking his grip on the belt (with a nifty hip twitch). With the belt was blocked off from him, and his other arm pinned by an underhook, Oshoma wasn’t able to use his arm strength to any great affect and was unable to prevent himself from being shoved out.

Hokutofuji also targeted Oshoma’s arms. He got his hands into Oshoma’s armpits and drove upwards, preventing Oshoma from extending and threatening with a grip or any decent thrusts of his own.

Despite those losses, though, this was still a great tournament for the 27-year-old. And I’m expecting him to get kashi-kochi in Nagoya.

Ryuden

Rank: Maegashira 14 East
Record: 10-5
Grade: B

Ryuden also got to double-digit wins this tournament. But that wasn’t very surprising. Ryuden typically does well when ranked this low. Since returning to makuuchi (due to his suspension for COVID violations and various other tabloid incidents) he’s been very inconsistent and has struggled whenever he gets promoted to the joi (he was 3-12 as M5 in January). But at M14 he’s still able to rack up lots of wins.

In this tournament he looked more mobile than he has in recent showings, displaying enough lateral movement to side-step Hokutofuji and then parlay the move into what was ruled an uwatedashinage (looked like a slap down to me). This was the flashiest of Ryuden’s wins, though. Seven of his ten victories were yorikiri, where he was able to bully smaller and/or less athletic opponents.

The big knock on Ryuden, though, is his decision making. Sometimes it seems like it takes him a long time to figure out either what he’s going to do or what the dangers are in the situation that he is in (like when he stalled out as Ura set him up for a tsutaezori earlier this year).

Against faster opponents, this slow decision making can really upend Ryuden. See below how Ichiyamamoto’s frantic thrusts were able to stun Ryuden and drive him back and out. During that assault, Ryuden looked caught in two minds about whether to thrust over or under Ichiyamamoto’s arms, the lack of commitment to either means he was unable to change the momentum of the bout.

Ryuden will get a decent jump in the rankings now and, if the past is anything to go by, he’ll probably go 6-9 in Nagoya.

Churanoumi

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

Churanoumi showed some slight improvement in May as he continued to tread water in the lower maegashira ranks. The 31-year-old debuted in makuuchi in November and scored a 9-6 record. Since then he’s gone 7-8, 7-8 and now 8-7. He was ranked M13 for the last three basho.

Churanoumi is a textbook tweener in sumo. At 5’10” and 311 lbs he’s not that big or that small. But he does seem both strong enough and quick enough to not get exposed by wrestlers who are either much bigger or must faster than him.

Below you can see how the bigger Tomokaze tried to bully him along the boundary. Despite giving up almost 90 lbs to Tomokaze, Churnoumi was able to stand up to the push and prevent his heels going over the straw. What I like about this bout, though, is that even with a hand in his face, Churanoumi had the composure to secure a grip with his left hand and pull off the winning move just in time.

Churanoumi’s defense was on display when he got into thrusting battles, too. He lost this bout to Tamawashi below, just barely, but I think it shows how well he can do in these situations; as he times his opponents’ thrusts and resets well to fire back some of his own.

For an even better example of Churanoumi’s defense, check out his epic bout with Roga below (one of my favourites from the whole tournament).

Churanoumi is likely at his ceiling right now. But, even so, he’s proved himself an entertaining watch in the lower end of the rankings. And I fancy him to keep his head above water down here for a few more months at least.

Mitoryu

Rank: Maegashira 13 East
Record: 2-9-4
Grade: D

Mitoryu returned to makuuchi in May after a five tournament stint in juryo. He won the yusho in March to earn his way back to the top division. Things didn’t go well for him, though.

Mitoryu has great size, but not much athleticism to go along with it. Without being able to pump his arms or legs at any great rate, he’ll always be second best to wrestlers who are as strong as he is but are more active. You can see that disparity below in his bout with Hokutofuji on Day 6.

Active and aggressive wrestlers don’t have to be that big to give Mitoryu problems, though. See below how sumo’s own junkyard dog, Sadanoumi, is able to force him back and then out, with a small, yet explosive, hop against the boundary.

Mitoryu is desperate for a long clinch where he can lean on his opponents and wear them down. However, he’s only really able to force that gameplan on wrestlers who are much smaller than him or less mobile. His only wins this tournament were over guys who fit into one of those categories (Tokihayate and the injured Tsurugisho).

Mitoryu pulled out of the tournament on Day 11. He will be back to juryo for Nagoya. Remarkably, he’s only 30. However, the amount of weight he carries on his frame probably has him feeling like a man five or ten years older. I’m not sure if he has the energy or fitness to fight through that bulk to make another run at the makuuchi.

Nishikifuji

Rank: Maegashira 12 West
Record: 5-10
Grade: D-

Another double digit loss for Nishikifuji. That’s happened in five of his eleven top division tournaments. Worryingly, this is the worst result he’s ever had while ranked so low. Previously, he banked 5-10 (and worse) when ranked up around M4.

I thought we had seen some progress in March, when he survived with an 8-7 record off the back of 10-5 in juryo. However, in May he backslid and, again, looked like a rikishi without a plan.

Nishikifuji is consistently outmuscled on the dohjo. And he just doesn’t have above average speed, defence or grappling to make up for it.

See how easily Ichiyamamoto is able to move him across the ring below. Ichiyamamoto has improved when it comes to strength, yet he’s still known mostly for his annoying pitter-patter thrusts rather than powerful pushes that send guys sliding over the clay.

Hokutofuji is known for his power. See how he’s able to get Nishikifuji out with little resistance. This bout looked like a butsukari drill for Hokutofuji.

The smaller Tokihayate wasn’t able to outmuscle Nishikifuji. However, look how Nishikifuji overcommitted to his thrusts, leaving him terribly exposed when the quicker Tokihayate slipped to the side.

Tokihayate forced Nishikifuji to the side with a great thrust to his shoulder. If you look at all of these videos you can see that Nishikifuji is easily moved when his opponents hit him high. I think this is because he doesn’t have a lot of power in his legs and what little power he does have there is wasted, since he doesn’t bend his knees much in an attempt to access it.

Nishikifuji will probably be sent down to juryo again in Nagoya and I think he needs that. Hopefully he gets to spend a few tournaments down there to figure out what he needs to do to be successful in this game. In addition to putting on more muscle, I’d like to see him work on his speed and try and become a better version of Tohakuryu.

Imagine if in this bout with Roga, instead of spinning when he did, he jumped backwards and tried to bring Roga with him.

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OK folks, that’s your lot for today. For our next post I’ll be looking at Ichiyamamoto, Hokutofuji, Sadanoumi, Kinbozan and Shonannoumi.

Take care!