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It’s taken longer than I would have hoped, but here is the first instalment of my 2023 Kyushu report card series. Getting these up late is pretty true to form for me. Sorry if you were hoping to read this closer to when the event wrapped up. It’s a busy time of year, though, and much of my sumo writing/energy was taken up with my Takakeisho deep dive (which I really enjoyed).
But now let’s look at some wrestlers other than ‘The Angry Hamster’. As always the first of these report cards is dedicated to the bottom half of the maegashira. This cohort threw up some surprising performances in Kyushu.
Sumo grades for the 2023 Kyushu Basho
Kitanowaka
Rank: Maegashira 17 East
Record: 5-10
Grade: E-
I was very high on Kitanowaka before this one, so I was pretty disappointed with his performance in Kyushu. I liked the varied game I’d seen in juryo and I thought he had a physical profile that would cause problems for a lot of guys. But it was too much too soon for Kitanowaka and he struggled in pretty much every bout.
His five wins came against juryo bound Nishikifuji, Roga and Tohakuryu and injury replacements Aoiyama and Oshoma.
This bout with Takarafuji is a good example of what we saw from him in Kyushu. He wasn’t strong enough to push guys back and wasn’t smart enough with his grappling, or quick enough on his feet, to get out of the way when that failed.
Nishikifuji
Rank: Maegashira 16 West
Record: 6-9
Grade: D-
Nishikifuji has been terrible in 2023 so I’m sure he’s glad to see the back of it, even if he’s going to start the new year in the second division. In 2023 he had a combined record of 33-57 and ten of those wins came at one basho, which looks like a fluke now considering the rest of his performances.
I don’t think he knows what kind of wrestler he wants to be, which is concerning since he’s 27 years old and over 40 basho into his career. He managed 6-9 in this tournament (aided by a fusen) with his best wins coming over Tsurugisho and Hiradoumi.
I feel like Nishikifuji wilts under pressure. So makuuchi (and maybe sumo in general) is not a good place for him. See how Onosho smashes him backwards below (this came after a nervy Nishikifuji false started twice). He poked the bear in this bout (pushing Onosho all the way off the ring in the first false start) and was powerless when Onosho ratcheted up his intensity.
You’d expect better from a wrestler who trains with a murderer’s row over at Isegahama heya.
Roga
Rank: Maegashira 16 East
Record: 5-10
Grade: E
Like with Kitanowaka, I thought Roga would be able to hold his own in makuuchi. However, when he got there he looked too small and raw to make much impact at this level.
This loss against Nishikifuji (who I have already established is not very good at high level sumo) is pretty embarrassing for the Russian. He gets pushed back by one of the least imposing wrestlers in the division and leaves his hands out in no-man’s land, leading to a pretty easy drag down.
It’s back to the drawing board for him in 2024. I’d like to see him work on his mobility so he can convert those pushes back to the boundary into opportunities for him to slip free of an opponent and find an angle to win.
Churanoumi
Rank: Maegashira 15 West
Record: 9-6
Grade: C+
Churanoumi was the only makuuchi newcomer to bank a kachi-koshi in Kyushu. And he looked alright doing it. Nothing he did was terribly eye-catching, but he showed a compact strength and some wits on route to scoring wins over some of the gate-keepers of the division.
He got victories over Takarafuji, Sadanoumi, Tamawashi, Endo and Midorifuji in his maiden top division tournament. That’s pretty darn good. He’s 30 years old, so we’re probably seeing his ceiling here.
I enjoyed his win over Takarafuji a lot. See below how he lifts his leg to block Takarafuji from spinning and potentially escaping the okuridashi. I feel like his no nonsense game might serve him well in his next promotion and we might see him lingering around the lower maegashira ranks for much of 2024.
Tohakuryu
Rank: Maegashira 15 East
Record: 5-10
Grade: F
Of the makuuchi newbies, Tohakuryu was the worst. I hate to be so negative in this post, but Tohakuryu is very frustrating to watch. He’s a one trick pony, but unlike some other one trick ponies, his trick hardly ever works.
He was able to fool enough folks in juryo in the previous tournament with his lean forwards, hop back, push down routine. But most makuuchi guys weren’t buying it. They figured out quickly that if you don’t rush forwards, he can’t pull off his move, and if you grab hold of him, he has no defense against being thrown down or out.
See Tamawashi refuses to take the bait and, instead, manhandle him below.
Ichiyamamoto
Rank: Maegashira 14 West
Record: 11-4, Fighting Spirit Prize
Grade: B-
Psuedo-Abi Ichiyamamoto was the surprise of the tournament. He ended up with a shot of winning the basho in the final few days (which probably surprised him, too). He got there thanks to a pressure game fuelled by long thrusts, which he parlayed into either a hatakikomi or a push out.
He probably has the skinniest legs all all sekitori. He tries to make up for the lack of muscle there with speed, using his pins to peddle guys out. See how his foot speed to surprises Tomokaze below.
His lack of lower body strength often hampers his ability to halt other wrestler’s pushes, though. At the business end of the basho he was exposed by Daieisho, who blasted through him with ease.
However, in the last few days he did get quality wins over Ryuden and Kinbozan to show his 11-4 record wasn’t earned solely from beating up guys he’d just seen in juryo.
His record in Kyushu, which also earned him the Fighting Spirit Prize, is the best achievement of Ichiyamamoto’s career. However, I think he’ll struggle after getting promoted up the banzuke.
Tomokaze
Rank: Maegashira 14 East
Record: 7-8
Grade: C
Tomokaze was also promoted to makuuchi in Kyushu, though he has been here before. In a five tournament run in 2019 he picked up a pair of kinboshi for wins over Kakuryu. A long injury lay-off after those sent him all the way down to the jonidan. Making it all the way back to the top division is a tremendous achievement and shows a lot of grit and determination. In Kyushu he showed off some powerful sumo at times, too. Below you can see him stave off the rejuvenated Tamawashi before giving the old man the slip along the boundary.
He lost his shot at a winning record after losing to Myogiryu (who had no skin in the game at that point). The make-kochi mars his basho a little, but he still showed he has the ability (and toughness) to hang in the lower ranks of the makuuchi.
Tsurugisho
Rank: Maegashira 13 West
Record: 9-6
Grade: B-
Tsurugisho had another one of his Jekyll & Hyde tournaments in Kyushu, this time getting off to a rough start before finishing strong. The reverse was true in September.
When he’s on Tsurugisho is an extremely hard out, a man who knows how to use his bulk and girth to block advances and squash the opposition. Below he locks up Tomokaze and, thanks to how heavy and solid his trunk is, he is able to block Tomokaze from moving him back. With a strong grip on the belt he’s then able to sling Tomokaze down to the ground. However, look how much he relies on his back muscles for this move. This is a theme, with him.
A lot of his throws and lifts are all upper body, with very little hip or leg action. This was most noticeable on Day 14 when he wrenched out Mitakeumi and then was doubled over in pain.
If he keeps this kind of sumo up, he’s not going to last much longer. His knees already look battered (which is why he probably can’t rely on them for lifting power), so I’d hate to see his back also give out.
Takarafuji
Rank: Maegashira 13 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: C
The first of my ‘three gatekeepers’, Takarafuji narrowly missed out on a winning record in Kyushu. Takarafuji was who he has been most of the year, a wily veteran who can still pose problems with his guile and speed. In all but one tournament this year he’s been around the eight win mark.
At 36 he’s still got plenty of hand and foot speed and his reactions remain sharp. Here he is fooling the slow-twitch Oho with thrusts forward, deflections and an eventually circle to the left. I’m sure he would have preferred an extra two wins, but not getting them won’t hurt him in the long-run. He’ll take a bump back in the banzuke and will probably get kachi-koshi in January.
Tamawashi
Rank: Maegashira 12 West
Record: 9-6
Grade: B
Tamawashi succeeded in erasing memories of his nightmarish 2-13 aki basho with an energetic and clinical performance in Kyushu. He looked very strong off the tachiai all tournament long, either getting good jumps on his opponents or getting into position to absorb a charge and recoil with power.
Against Tsurugisho below, you can see him respect his opponent’s charge, bracing himself, and turning slightly to not get run over. Circling to the left also succeeds in breaking Tsurugisho’s grip on the belt. After he turns away from Tsurugisho’s power he drives his hand under the chin and uses it to steer his opponent back and out.
The nodowa technique was really working for the division’s oldest man this tournament. That was great to see after the aki basho where he could not get anything to work for him.
Oho
Rank: Maegashira 12 East
Record: 8-7
Grade: C
Oho is a very hard wrestler to figure out. At times he looks strong and methodical, while at other times he seems slow and predictable. This Day One win over Hiradoumi was one of his best showings in the tournament.
He hits Hiradoumi hard off the tachiai, snapping his opponent’s head back. He then goes after him, hunting down the upper part of his chest, eliciting more of those whiplash reactions. Once he has Hiradoumi on the edge, he powers forwards to deny space for an escape and uses his knee to block an exit on his right side.
This 8-7 is his best record since going 11-4 in May (when he was ranked M16). He struggled this year each time he was ranked higher than M10. He’s M11 for the January tournament, so I expect to see him around the eight win mark again.
Hiradoumi
Rank: Maegashira 11 West
Record: 9-6
Grade: B+
The Kyushu crowd was incredible this tournament (they get an A+ from me!). The crowd were especially loud for their local fighters. Hiradoumi was one of the recipients of that fanfare and he really seemed to feed off of it.
He’s already an intense competitor, sometimes overly so, but in Kyushu he was able to find a good balance of aggression and control. That helped him go on a seven bout win streak mid-basho and lock in his best record of the year (he also got a 9-6 in May) and the best since his last appearance in Kyushu (10-5).
His game is pretty one-dimensional, based around a strong tachiai (where he often leads with his head) and then a quick establishment of the hidari-yotsu (left hand inside, right hand outside) grip. After he gets his grip, he frog-hops like his life depends on it. It can be very effective when he is able to get his opponent stuck in an upright position with little room to move his feet back.
The move went perfectly for him against Ryuden, see below:
Against Churnoumi he didn’t even need to get the grip locked in, his aggressive forward charge was enough to get the job done.
Hiradoumi’s game falls apart a little when opponents force him to move laterally. But in Kyushu he was able to avoid a lot of those bouts be being so dynamic off the opening clash. I think the crowd, who pumped him up each and every warm-up, can take some credit for that.
Sadanoumi
Rank: Maegashira 11 East
Record: 8-7
Grade: B-
Hiradoumi’s stablemate Sadanoumi is also from Kyushu and he also benefited from a raucous crowd reception. Like Hiradoumi, Sadanoumi is a wrestler who brings intensity to every bout, though he’s usually more measured than his younger teammate.
He banked his second 8-7 record in a row in November, clinching the record on the last day (just like he did at the aki basho).
I think Sadanoumi is probably the last person you want to face in a Darwin match…
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