Grand Sumo returns this month with the 15 day aki basho (autumn tournament) beginning on September 15 at the historic Ryokku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. Each day of the tournament hundreds of sumo wrestlers will do battle, hunting for precious kashi-koshi (winning records) which may secure promotions in the next banzuke (rankings document).
To set up the up coming tournament (and convince you to start watching sumo) here are five storylines that I’ll be tracking this month. Veteran sumo watchers and readers of this content on Combat Press will notice that I don’t mention our two yokozuna in this post. And there’s a reason for that.
For years now, the race to find the next yokozuna and then speculation over how the new yokozuna would fare have dominated the narrative in Grand Sumo. Right now, I feel as though we may have turned a corner in the sport. We have two yokozuna atop the banzuke and they are phenomenal wrestlers. And this tournament will probably be decided based on how well they compete (and how healthy they are). But there’s a lot more going on in sumo this month than what’s happening in the Onosato and Hoshoryu camp and that’s what I want to talk about.
Wakatakakage’s final act of redemption
Wakatakakage comes into the aki basho after a 10-5 July tournament, while ranked sekiwake, and a 12-3 May tournament, while ranked komusubi. He finished as a runner-up in that May tournament. These achievements mean that Wakatakakage has an ozeki promotion within his grasp.
Promotion to the rank of ozeki, which is second only to yokozuna, is generally awarded after a wrestler puts together a run of 33 wins across three consecutive tournaments, while ranked sekiwake. However, this rule is not written in stone and, like most things in sumo, context is key.
Wakatakakage is 11 wins from that 33 win threshold. He’s gotten 11 or more wins in three of the past seven tournaments. Should he get those 11 wins this month, he is very likely to be promoted to ozeki (despite him being sekiwake for just two of the past three tournaments). Wakatakakage’s chances of promotion are helped by the fact that there is only one ozeki currently on the banzuke, Kotozakura. The Japan Sumo Association would much prefer there to be two ozeki, one for each side of the banzuke. This desire might even help Wakatakakage get the rank if he falls just short of 11 wins.
Should Wakatakakage reach ozeki it would represent an incredible comeback for the 30 year-old. The last time he was a sekiwake trying to carve out an ozeki run was in early 2023. That’s when he suffered a devastating knee injury, in a win over Kotozakura. He needed surgery to repair his ACL and that forced him out of three tournaments. Those three 0-0-15 records were enough to demote Wakatakakage all the way down to the makushita (third division). He returned to action in November 2023 and clawed his way back to makuuchi in July, 2024.
He’s been mostly great since then, banking kachi-koshi in all but one tournament and securing his promotion back to sekiwake (his career best rank). He’s looked very good in the last two tournaments and it seems entirely possible that he can push on and grab enough wins in September to secure promotion.
Aonishiki’s latest biggest test
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, at this tournament Aonishiki is in for the biggest test of his young career. We’ve said that three times now and each previous time, the 21 year-old Ukrainian has passed his test with flying colours.
At the aki basho Aonishiki will be competing at the komusubi rank. This is his first appearance as a komusubi (one of the special named upper ranks that, along with sekiwake, make up the san’yaku). The last basho was his first as a member of the joi (the name for maegashira ranks 1 to 4). The wrestlers who form the joi are tasked with tough match-ups against the entire san’yaku, the ozeki and yokozuna. Last tournament, Aonishiki thrived in the joi, going 11-4 and beating a yokozuna an ozeki and two sekiwake.
Aonishiki has gone 11-4 in all three of his top division tournaments. He’s only been competing in Grand Sumo since mid 2023 and has just 13 senior tournaments under his belt.
He’s managed to get himself to the special upper rankings, and surprise scores of opponents, thanks to his hybrid style of sumo, which incorporates a lot from freestyle wrestling. Before switching codes, Aonishiki was an international level junior wrestler in Ukraine.
Despite his inexperience and youth, Aonishiki’s results and unique style have him poised to be a main figure in sumo for years to come. And if he keeps stringing together double digit winning records, he may become the first Ukrainian yokozuna since the legendary Taiho who competed in the 1960s.
How does Kotoshoho follow up his maiden yusho?
Kotoshoho surprised everyone by taking him the yusho (championship) at the Nagoya tournament in July. He was part of a big group of low ranked wrestlers who got off to a hot start in July, while higher ranked wrestlers (including both yokozuna faltered). As the days went on, Kotoshoho kept winning and, as others began to drop off, he grew into a legitimate title contender.
In the last few days he was tested with very high level opponents including Takayasu, Kirishima and Onosato. He looked incredible against each of them, winning with very composed and highly technical sumo (a far cry from his usual haphazard style).
This all set up a bout with Aonishiki on the final day for the cup. Kotoshoho seemed immune to the pressure of that occasion. He confidently handled Aonishiki to lift his first Emperor’s Cup with a 13-2 record.
That record has catapulted Kotoshoho from maegashira 15 up to maegashira 5, one step below the joi.
The last time this happened to Kotoshoho, things did not go well. Back in January 2023 he finished runner-up, losing on the last day to winner Takakeisho. Kotoshoho, who was just 21 at the time, was then promoted to M5. He went 6-9 in the next tournament and then 2-10-3. That sent him back down the ranks. He climbed back to M5 again, but then suffered a 3-11-1 record.
Kotoshoho will hope that this time, as a defending champion, he’s able to stick the landing in the higher maegashira ranks and then progress beyond them.
Could the joi upend the san’yaku?
There is a lot of talent in the joi positions this time around. The M1 to M4 ranks include Tamawashi. Abi, Hakuoho, Oho, Atamifuji and Gonoyama.
Tamawashi is sumo’s iron man. Despite being 40, he’s been able to more than hold his own at this high of a ranking. In the last tournament he went 11-4 and handed out a few beatings to men almost half his age.
Abi is an ever-dangerous presence on the banzuke, known for his rapid fire thrusting technique. He hasn’t dropped below M3 since back in 2022 and he was ranked as high as sekiwake last year.
The other names mentioned there are all young, hungry wrestlers who have a lot of upside. For various reasons, none of them have been able to push on to the next level in their careers (despite Oho and Atamifuji both finishing runners-up).
This group is going to spend a lot of time against the yokozuna, ozeki and san’yaku (sekiwake and komusubi) wrestlers. And I think there are a lot of favorable match-ups for the joi wrestlers. Tamawashi and Hakuoho beat Onosato in the last tournament and Abi, Atamifuji and Oho are a constant thorn in the side of Hoshoryu.
This group will also get to test new komusubi Aonishiki, is the Ukrainian ‘blue whirlwind’ cracks under pressure, these guys will be the beneficiaries. The other komusubi they will face is the inconsistent and injury-prone Takayasu. With Kirishima and Kotozakura perhaps trending down (sadly), that might be another opportunity for the joi to pick up wins.
If the joi does run roughshod over the upper-ranked wrestlers then we will see wholesale changes in the banzuke in November.
Tobizaru on the brink of demotion
The affable, yet feisty, Tobizaru is coming off a poor July tournament. He went 3-10-2 and suffered an injury that then knocked him out of the last three days of the tournament. This record has seen his ranking plummet from M7 to M15. A losing record at this ranking puts him at serious risk for a demotion down to juryo.
Tobizaru, literally ‘The Flying Monkey’, is one of the most popular rikishi in the sport, well known for his meme potential and appearances on Japanese variety shows. The 33 year-old has been a staple of the top division since 2020 and he’s risen as high as komusubi. Lately he’s been a feature of the joi, known for his scrappy style and ability to surprise even the best in the game.
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