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Grand Sumo’s first tournament of the year is almost here. And, I have just finished my grades for the past tournament. I certainly want to have these out a lot quicker after the next tournament (he says).
I hope these have been worth the wait for you all. I’ve really enjoyed writing them and reacquainting myself with the men we’ll be watching perform very soon.
This final report card is focused on the elites. The paywall (sorry) cuts the piece off at Hoshoryu.
Hokutofuji
Rank: Komusubi 1 West
Record: 5-10
Grade: E+
Hokutofuji looked a shell of the wrestler who took the Nagoya tournament by storm in July. He tread water in the September tournament to earn an 8-7 record and promotion to komusubi. However, at the Kyushu basho he struggled mightily and appeared to be nursing some kind of lower body injury.
Being injured is bad enough, but being injured and matched against the best talent out there is a nightmare position for any wrestler, especially one who has just clawed his way up to this promotion.
Some of his explosiveness did creep out in bouts with Wakamotoharu and Abi (both of whom also struggled this tournament), but mostly he seemed to not have enough juice in his legs to power people across the clay like he had in previous appearances.
In addition to that power being sapped, the injury seemed to drain some of Hokutifuji’s enigmatic, and infectious, personality. He didn’t seem as intense and, frankly, wild as we’d expect. Him knowing he couldn’t fight to his fullest might have been a morale dampener and in many bouts he seemed to give up at the end and look quite dejected.
See this loss to Ura, below:
Ura is excellent at this hand fighting game, but you can’t tell me that the Nagoya Hokutofuji wouldn’t have fought tooth and nail to spin out of that position.
So it’s a low grade for me, but I’m hoping his low energy approach to this past basho helped preserve his health and that we see him back to his explosive best in January.
Abi
Rank: Komusubi 1 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: D
There are no secrets with Abi. He knows what he’s good at. His opponent’s know. We know. And Abi seems fine with that. He continues to play his game of thrust, thrust, pull down/side-step with a decent amount of henka thrown in to add a little spice.
His sumo is very hit and miss and that has resulted in his records this year being around the 8 win mark, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, but never by much.
With Abi, distance is key. If he can dictate the range where the fight takes place he has a good chance of winning. If his opponent controls the distance (and, specifically, deprives him of it) his chances diminish.
See how he gets this win against Shonannoumi. He gets his hands up high and fully extends his arms. That distance created by his fully extended arms means there is a lot of room for Shonannoumi to lean into… and then fall through as Abi steps away (something made easier by all that space).
Against Hokutofuji, Abi doesn’t get his arms straightened out. Hokutofuji does not relent from the throat thrusts and keeps coming forwards. That means Abi is not able to extend his arms and push him back to create space. If he can’t find space with his arms, Abi tries to find it with his feet, by moving backwards. But that only helps the surging Hokutofuji, who gobbles up more of that space in between them and leaves Abi with nowhere to go but out.
I think success against Abi is down to character more than anything. You have to accept that you’re going to get hit in the face and throat and be ready to either slip those strikes or walk straight through them. When Abi is ranked high, like he was here, he’s always going to find more guys who don’t care about getting hit in the face.
Kotonowaka
Rank: Sekiwake 2 East
Record: 11-4, Fighting Spirit Prize
Grade: A
Kotonowaka is becoming a bit of a silent assassin in makuuchi. He’s on a 12 basho kachi-koshi streak (second only to Hoshoryu) and he is now working on an ozeki run. He had been quietly putting up numbers this year as a komusubi, but I feel like the Kyushu basho was one of his loudest tournaments to date.
He looked dynamic throughout the basho mixing power and very high fight IQ to score wins off some excellent opponents. His win over Takakeisho was masterful (see that in the Takakeisho section) and this katasukashi on Daieisho was fantastic.
The fact Daieisho wasn’t able to move Kotonowaka off the tachiai says a lot. Kotonowaka has an impressive ‘armour of fat’, but he’s also got a lot of muscle hiding underneath. He’s able to stop Daieisho here without bending his knees, meaning a lot of the strength he’s using to stop one of the most forceful pushers in the game is coming from just his back and shoulders.
Kotonowaka’s intelligence is on full display in this bout, too. He quickly isolates Daieisho’s right shoulder for the swing down. This makes me think he had this move planned from the get-go and that it’s a product of scouting Daieisho (someone he’s done well with in the past and has already beaten by hikiotoshi and hatakikomi).
I think this sekiwake is going to make more noise in January and he’s the most likely candidate for a new ozeki in the first half of 2024.
Wakamotoharu
Rank: Sekiwake 1 West
Record: 6-9
Grade: D-
I wish I knew what was wrong with Wakamotoharu. He’s one of my favourite rikishi to watch, but not like this.
He looked lackadaisical in Kyushu. It was almost like he didn’t want to be there. So many of his losses ended with him turning from his opponent, lightly stepping out the ring or being somewhat agreeably thrown down.
He’s not usually like this. Wakamotoharu is one of the most intense, and brutal, wrestlers on the circuit. He’ll get embroiled in fire-fights with thrusters and do terrifying sacrifice throws with grapplers on the edge of the ring (which make me wince every time).
But in Kyushu he looked like a different person. I didn’t read any reports of him being hurt and he wasn’t wearing any kind of strapping. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the kind of person who would keep an injury hidden to not tip off an opponent.
If he was healthy, though, this performance has to be chalked up to a mental issue. Which, to me, is more concerning. If something was on his mind, my only hope is that it was nothing major and that it can be recovered from here in the New Year.
Wakamotoharu did suffer a big let down in his career in 2023, losing out on a shot at an ozeki promotion and then faltering at each opportunity to start a new run. Coming up short (despite winning nine bouts in two previous tournaments to this one) might have lead to Wakamotoharu just wanting to close out the year and turn over a new leaf in 2024.
I don’t take pleasure in recapping Wakamotoharu’s failings from this basho, but look below. If are sloppy enough to dangle an arm and let Abi, of all people, pull off a throw, something’s not right.
Daieisho
Rank: Sekiwake 1 East
Record: 9-6
Grade: B-
Like Wakamotoharu, Daieisho stumbled when given the chance to earn an ozeki promotion this year. He also stumbled in a play-off with Kirishima in March in a bout that could have dramatically shifted sumo’s narrative for 2023.
In Kyushu he was good, but not good enough, again.
Daieisho is a monster against the lower ranked wrestlers, but he struggles to find ways to win against ozeki and sekiwake class opponents.
Against the rank-and-filers he mostly just runs over his opponents. So I was actually quite pleased to see him utilize a little more craft in this bout with Gonoyama:
In this bout he does a great job of reacting to the straw on his right foot when Gonoyama hits him with that big double hand thrust. Daieisho treats the straw like lava and shows off how nimble he can be along the boundary.
In Kyushu he went 1-2 against ozeki. He beat Takakeisho, which is a rare thing (‘Keisho was checked out at that point, though) and fell to Kirishima and Hoshoryu. He’s 8-18 against Takakeisho over his career. Against Kirishima he’s got a 6-10 record. Against Hoshoryu he’s 4-6.
In his bout with Kirishima, the eventual champ shows how strong he is, standing up to the thrusting power of Daieisho. This win is more about Kirishima’s brilliance than Daieisho’s failings. Watch as Kirishima thrusts across Daieisho’s body. On the finishing sequence he uses his left arm to strike the right side of Daieisho’s chest. This twists Daieisho’s body and causes Daieisho to stick out his left leg. With his legs so far apart he is an easy target for a slap down.
If Daieisho wants to get past sekiwake he’ll need to do things against higher ranked wrestlers that have me fawning over him like I did Kirishima here.
Hoshoryu
Rank: Ozeki 2 East
Record: 10-5
Grade: A-
Hoshoryu looked mostly back to his best in Kyushu, rebounding from a slightly shaky aki basho. His 10-5 is a great record and very ozeki-like. However, he didn’t feel like a major threat to win the tournament, with Atamifuji and Kirishima streaking just ahead of him.
Even so, it has to go down as a very successful second ozeki basho for the Golden Boy. Hoshoryu, when he’s fit and calm, is a difficult opponent for any wrestler. He can push you forwards, and out, and he can make you pay when you push him back, too.
His judo is the best in all of sumo. His technical ability to execute a throw in any situation is bolstered by his keen mind for grappling and his ability to sense the exact moment to trigger a throw attempt.
See how against Asanoyama he his pulled to the side by his very strong opponent, but as his right foot is swiped across the ground he recognizes when it lands in the perfect position to trigger the throw.
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