Report card: Natsu Basho 2023 - Maegashira 9-17
Grading all the rikishi from the May Tournament. First, the lower half of the rank-and-filers.
Hey everyone,
The natsu basho is over and now we have to wait until July for more Grand Sumo action. In the meantime, though, I’m going to have some fun on Substack and write some exclusive/premium content.
Below you’ll find my letter grades for the lower half of the maegashira ranks. This post is going to be free for everyone, but the report cards for the rest of the banzuke will include a pay-wall.
Now… let’s get to the grades.
Kagayaki
Rank: East Maegashira 17
Record: 7-8
Grade: F
This was Kagayaki’s third losing record in a row so it’s safe to assume he’ll be moving down to the juryo division in the next banzuke. The harsh grade here is because Kagayaki had to win in this tournament to save his top division status and he just wasn’t able to deliver. A torrid start (1-5) to the tournament pretty much sealed his fate.
Mitoryu
Rank: East Maegashira 16
Record: 5-10
Grade: F
It was an underwhelming tournament for Mitoryu, whose record was ruined by a stretch where he lost nine matches in a row. Most of those losses were due to oshidashi. Among those were losses to fellow aging pusher/shovers. Mitoryu debuted in the top division last year at 28-years-old (which is pretty late), so he shouldn’t have as much wear and tear on his body as some of the others he was smashing into. Even so, he wasn’t able to get through other struggling shovers like Daishoho, Takarafuji, Hokutofuji and Aoiyama.
Oho
Rank: West Maegashira 16
Record: 11-4
Grade: A
This was a statement tournament for the 23-year-old. He’s part of an exciting generation of rikishi that includes Hokuseiho, Ochiai/Hakuoho, Gonoyama, Tamashoho, Hiradoumi, Kinbozan, Roga and, of course, Hoshoryu. Despite breaking into the first division last year, he’s been quiet other than a 10-5 tournament last November.
After two losing records Oho found himself on the brink of demotion back down to juryo in May. However, he responded with a fantastic showing, with eight different kimarite spread over his 11 wins, including a hikiotoshi against last tournament’s nearly-man Midorifuji and a sotogake on the giant Hokuseiho.
Those wins showed off a level of craftiness befitting a much older veteran. He was able to pair those types of performances with some strong push outs you’d expect from such a young buck.
Ichiyamamoto
Rank: East Maegashira 15
Record: 4-11
Grade: F
Oh Ichiy… This one hurts. The man from Hokkaido has had back-to-back 4-11 records now after scoring a 10-5 record in the January tournament. In March he had a number of exciting and close bouts, which had me thinking he was more unlucky than anything else. However, this tournament he looked rash, ill-prepared and unfocused. He attacked head-on far too much, which ended in a few too many face-plants for my liking (like this one versus Takarafuji).
Tsurugisho
Rank: West Maegashira 15
Record: 9-6
Grade: B+
Tsurugisho was a pleasant surprise this tournament. His sumo doesn’t have much nuance, but he proved he can be a real handful when he gets ahead of steam and catches someone flat footed (like he did versus Sadanoumi below).
Tsurugisho had put together a 9-3 record by Day 13. However, bouts versus the elite Wakamotoharu, Hoshoryu and Asanoyama pushed him down a peg.
Asanoyama
Rank: East Maegashira 14
Record: 12-3 (jun-yusho)
Grade: A+
There’s not a grade high enough for what Asanoyama accomplished in May. The former ozeki was making his return to the top division after months spent in the wilderness due to a suspension over COVID protocol violations. He won his way through the lower divisions, showing each time that he was leagues ahead of his competition. The same happened at the May tournament.
Ranked at maegashira 14 Asanoyama was fed a diet of the rank-and-filers and he showed he’s just too good for them.
See how he handled Chiyoshoma below:
This bout demonstrated how strength and lateral quickness can be a devastating double-team in sumo. Asanoyama is able to immediately force Chiyoshoma backwards and shuffle to the right as soon as he senses his opponent looking for an angle to either escape or set up a throw or a trip. He blocks those attempts while still surging forwards and scoring the yorikiri.
His three losses came to Hokuseiho, Daieisho and Terunofuji. There’s no shame in losing to the yokozuna and eventual tournament winner. And he faced Daieisho on a day the sekiwake needed a win to maintain his shot at ozeki promotion. The loss against Hokuseiho was his low point of the tournament, but the enormous Miyagino product is going to handle and lift out many good wrestlers in his young career.
Myogiryu
Rank: West Maegashira 14
Record: 9-6
Grade: B
Despite being 36-years-old Myogiryu showed he is still strong enough to hang in the makuuchi. He was able to beat a handful of guys ranked above him this tournament, mostly thanks to his tremendous upper body strength. Most of his wins were rather straight forward, so despite his decent record it wasn’t a very memorable tournament for him. He did have this entertaining slap war with Aoiyama, though.
Chiyoshoma
Rank: East Maegashira 13
Record: 8-7
Grade: B
This was a very good performance from the 31-year-old Chiyoshoma, following up a 9-6 record in March. He scored some big wins over Tamawashi, Onosho, Sadanoumi and Ryuden and did so with a lot of panache. His quickness and craftiness with trips posed a lot of problems, see his deft pivot and hatakikomi over Sadanoumi below as evidence of that.
Ichinojo
Rank: West Maegashira 13
Record: 0-0 (intai)
Grade: Ungraded
Ichinojo retired before the tournament began, shortly after winning the juryo championship in March. You can read more about his retirement here (link). That was written before tabloids reported that Ichinojo’s retirement was a forced one, allegedly because of his alcoholism. Reports state that complaints were being filed to the sumo association because of raucous parties Ichinojo was hosting as his apartment, neighbouring the stable.
If he were still competing, I believe he would have had no trouble getting a winning record this basho and posing a big risk to those chasing promotions. However, now I just hope he gets whatever help he needs.
Aoiyama
Rank: East Maegashira 12
Record: 5-10
Grade: D
It was a bad tourney for the Bulgarian, who seemed out of ideas in a lot of his bouts. He would charge forwards, throw hands and then be caught flat-footed once his opponent circled away and changed angles. His pushing/thrusting style given him great longevity, but not a lot of success. His stablemate Tochinoshin retired this year at 35 (a year younger than Aoiyama), mostly due to years of hoisting dudes up in the air. Despite this style keeping Aoiyama in the game, his decline in foot-speed and reflexes means he’s become an easy out for a lot of guys in the makuuchi. His only win of note in May was a nifty katasukashi on Hokutofuji on Day 15. That didn’t do much to erase how often he was on the receiving end of a low octane push/force out, though.
Kotoeko
Rank: West Maegashira 12
Record: 8-7
Grade: B
Kotoeko is another personal fav of mine. In May I enjoyed seeing him put together his second 8-7 record in a row and do so with his patented brand of Jack Russell sumo. Despite being 5’9” he’s so good at stopping bigger wrestlers (which is mostly everyone) getting a hold of him. And once he gets his own hold in, he’ll hulk out and bunny hop his bigger foes out over the straw. He’s also sneaky good with his throws and this tournament made a few big pushers pay for trying to simply run him over.
Hokuseiho
Rank: East Maegashira 11
Record: 8-7
Grade: B-
Hokuseiho obviously has a bright future in sumo. Although, despite this being only his second ever top division tournament, I’m starting to have doubts over whether he can fully realize his potential and become an ozeki or yokozuna in the future.
He’s as good or better than most others ranked around him in the division and he can dispatch of them with his go-to move quite easily. That move is locking up on the mawashi immediately off the tachiai, something he can do most often because of his incredibly long arms, and then leaning on his opponent. His huge size advantage, and very long legs, means he is able to easily rest his weight on his opponent and tire them out. This process seems to tire Hokuseiho out, too. However, more often than not he’s able to win the race for a second wind and score an anti-climatic yorikiri. His youth (only 21-years-old) is probably the source of his cardio, so we’ll see if that stays as he gets older and more banged up in the sport.
His go-to technique worked a lot in May, but he was dreadfully exposed whenever he met someone with athleticism and a high fight IQ. See what Kiribayama (the most savvy strategist and technician on the scene) did when the big man tried to lean on him.
Here you see how upright Hokuseiho is in these clinches. Wrestlers with strong judo were able to consistently get him off balance with trips that a deeper and more cautious clinch could have avoided.
Daishoho
Rank: West Maegashira 11
Record: 6-9
Grade: C
March was Daishoho’s first tournament back in makuuchi since 2019. In that tournament he flew under the radar (obscured mostly by the successes of Kinbozan and Hokuseiho who had been promoted alongside him) and was able to record a kachi-koshi. This time around, it was a lot harder for him. His thrusting arsenal wasn’t particularly impressive or effective and when you commit to this style you really need to be excellent at it, or else you’re likely going to be batting .500 or less (see Daieisho and Takakeisho).
Ryuden
Rank: East Maegashira 10
Record: 5-10
Grade: D
Mrs. Sumo Stomp!’s least favourite rikishi slumped to another lopsided losing record this tournament. The ‘love-rat’, as we’d call him in the UK, is a few years removed from a serious pelvis injury and there might be something else going on with him now. He went 9-6 in January and looked formidable. But during his 2-13 March tournament and this go around he’s looked incapable of driving with force or preventing people from pushing him out. Below you can see him collapse to loss versus Asanoyama on Day 9.
Takarafuji
Rank: West Maegashira 10
Record: 5-10
Grade: D
Age has truly caught up with the 36-year-old former sekiwake. When you rely on yorikiri and oshidashi to get your wins, you’re really going to have a drop off in performance once you become older, weaker and stronger than most in the division. Without the guile and technique of a Chiyoshoma or Kotoeko, Takarafuji found himself running into too many brick walls in the May tournament. This 5-10 record comes after two consecutive 8-7 tournaments. A low-point in May was his loss to the banged up and under-performing Kotoshoho.
Onosho
Rank: East Maegashira 9
Record: 8-7
Grade: C+
I find Onosho rather frustrating to watch. His pre-fight routine seems too easy to predict and game-plan for. I do respect his creativity, though, which we saw with this single leg takedown over Mitakeumi.
2023 started well for Onosho. He went 10-5 in January, losing out on a Technique Prize on the last day of the tournament (after a DQ for grabbing Hoshoryu’s top-knot). However, in March he had to sit out the last half of the tournament with a minor knee injury, leading to a 4-5-6 record. He got a winning record in this tournament, but without many big statement wins.
Hiradoumi
Rank: West Maegashira 9
Record: 9-6
Grade: B
I love Hiradoumi and I think he’s at least komusubi material. He’s quick and pugnacious in both attack and defence and he was able to win in a variety of ways in May. He reminds me a bit of Harumafuji.
This is his fifth top division tournament, after a rather sputtering career in the lower divisions. In makuuchi he’s had kach-koshi three out of five tournaments, with his two losing records both being 7-8.
This tournament he struggled against much larger opponents (Ryuden and Hokuseiho) and took losses to the only elite guys he faced (Kiribayama, Asanoyama and Hoshoryu). I’m excited to see him tested again by those elite talents. However, I’d like to see him try and create less (and thus take less) damage off the tachiai. A few of his bouts in May had me wince from the impact he generated off the blocks (especially this clash with Takanosho).
Below is his sadogate win over Chiyoshoma on Day 15. Here you can see his quickness and reaction speed at being able to hop around Chiyoshoma’s better-than-average tripping game, before finding a hook and trip of his own.
I hope you enjoyed this. Do you disagree with a grade here? Tell me why in the comments.
Next up I’ll grade the remaining maegashira wrestlers.
Have a good one!
I don't disagree with your grade for Hokuseiho, but I think he has incredible potential. He has done well up till now depending on his physical attributes. But to succeed in the top division, he will need to buckle down in his training and hone his techniques. If he does, the sky's the limit.