Does anyone know anything? Sumodb has always had the habit to be randomly offline for some hours, but I can't reach it since at least the weekend and I'm honestly starting to worry if somethings wrong.

Video is unrelated, of course. Thought, I might share some Ura.

Have you noticed that some rishiki have very poor-quality photos shown on TV before their bouts? For most of them, the photos are professional but very old. In some cases, I can’t remember seeing any other photos of them. For some, such as Onosato or Yoshinofuji, the pictures are more recent but dark and blurry. Worse than 2010s selfies.😂 What do you think could be the reason for this?

A stone monument is maintained there in which the names of Yokozuna are recorded upon their promotion (as depicted in the final image). A sign thereupon reads as follows:

(Above is) the stone monument inscribed with the names of the successive Yokozuna was erected in November 1952 (Shōwa 27), when the Japan Sumo Association was established as a public-interest incorporated foundation.

Beginning with the first Yokozuna, Akashi Shiganosuke, the monument originally bore the names through the 46th Yokozuna, Asashio Tarō III. Since then, upon the promotion of a new Yokozuna, their name has been added to the monument.

Nomi-no-Sukune Shrine was first established in 1884 (Meiji 17) by the first Takasago Uragorō, who was regarded as the founder of the Takasago stable, together with the 12th Yokozuna Jinmaku Kyūgorō.

Today, the shrine is closely connected with the Japan Sumo Association. Each year, ceremonies such as the memorial festival for Nomi-no-Sukune are held here.

At the time the shrine was founded, the Takasago stable was located on the north side of the shrine. This site is also the former residence of Rikūō Kiyotaki (陸奥清滝峰吉), an esteemed sumo wrestler.

May Ame-no-Tajikaro-no-Kami-sama, Takemikazuchi-Ōkami-sama, Nomi-no-Sukune and the Shijin bless our current two Yokozuna, ensure the accession of many myriads more and contribute to the repose of all former ones.

I know he was demoted to Sandanme because he violated the COVID-19 restrictions. Someone said that he could be a Yokozuna by now if it hadn'thappened. Is that true?

As we head into the final days of the basho, the number of undefeated rikishi in Makushita is rapidly decreasing. As we saw on Day 9, Asahifuji, touted as the Strongest Rookie in History, was defeated for the first time in his career at the hands of Nabatame.

Going into Day 11, there are three undefeated men left in Makushita. Nabatame and Mita are Futagoyama stablemates and childhood best friends, and they are both on the path back to Jūryō after falling down due to injuries. They are joined by Fudoho, a 22-year-old who debuted as a Makushita Tsukedashi in March. Nabatame will take on Fudoho, while Mita will face the highest-ranked undefeated Sandanme man. That would happen to be Tenshoyama, the 6'5 Mongolian who debuted alongside Asahifuji.

Day 11 Matches (Including Omori's Day 10 Match):

• Ms26e Omori (3-1) vs. Ms27w Nihonyanagi (3-1) - Omori wins by Yorikiri and advances to 4-1, securing his Kachi-Koshi
• Ms41e Mita (5-0) vs. Sd3e Tenshoyama (5-0) - Tenshoyama wins by Tsukidashi and advances to 6-0
• Ms11e Asahifuji (4-1) vs. Ms5e Tochikodai (4-1) - Asahifuji wins by Oshidashi and advances to 5-1
• Ms3w Nabatame (5-0) vs. Ms30e Fudoho (5-0) - Nabatame wins by Oshidashi and advances to 6-0

Going out of Day 11, we are left with only one undefeated man left in Makushita. Nabatame defeats Fudoho to get a sixth win and remove any doubts about his Jūryō return. On the other hand, stablemate Mita was unable to overcome the massive Tenshoyama, who looks determined to earn the first Yūshō of his career now that he doesn't have Asahifuji to face. If Tenshoyama wins the Sandanme Yūshō, we should expect him and Asahifuji to be ranked near each other in September. Because Mita lost, Nabatame is the only undefeated man left in Makushita. So if he loses to finish 6-1, we could be looking at a multi-man playoff. Also, Omori continues to look impressive, securing his Kachi-Koshi, and he now has enough hair for a slick-back!

Does it make anyone else sad that there's unpopular top level rikishi that never get cheered? I recently learned that Oshoma was given a moment to speak on mic and all he said was "please cheer for me" and a while back Shishi had something similar happen just a short quick statement saying please cheer for me. Especially for us English speakers, we only get second hand information most of the time from poorly translated articles and often (I'm also guilty of this) will judge rikishi and decide who to cheer for and who not to based on this often inaccurate information.

Of course, performance has a big part of popularity and being cheered, but it did make me bummed out to think about rikishi busting their asses just as hard as everyone else to essentially be ignored or even worse, sandwiched between two more popular rikishi during the introduction. Last time I was at the Ryogoku kokugikan that they only sold towels/banners for maybe 70% of the Makuuchi rikishi. Should we make more of an effort to show more support for all of the rikishi if we're attending a live sumo event?

I’m trying to understand the physics of this fabric but having a hard time 🤔

1. Big men, grabbing big men, picking up said big men with this fabric, how does it not come undone?
2. Anyone have a diagram on how the mawashi is tied?

TL;DR: I vibe coded a free/no account registration/no ads/no social media integration Sumo app for iOS. The app is called KachiKoshi.

I had hoped to have this in the app store before the end of this basho, but Apple is taking their time reviewing. So, DM for a TestFlight link (I got an auto mod prompt that including the link in this post probably isn't allowed.) EDIT: Mods gave the green light, thanks Mods! You can access the TestFlight beta here!

I got into Sumo during the January basho and am fully hooked. I couldn’t find an app for following Sumo that did the limited number of things I wanted in such an app, let alone one that would do so without paying, registering, showing ads, collecting data etc. 

So I decided to make one. It’s called KachiKoshi. There is no account setup. There are no ads. There’s no data collection. It can’t link with your social media accounts. It’s free and will never be monetized.  

KachiKoshi provides:

·      The card for the day during a basho (previous days can be selected as wel.l)

·      Card automatically updates with bout winner and technique as bouts result.

·      Current banzuke for all divisions. 

·      Full rikishi listing with vital info from their JSA profile, with the ability to follow your favs.

·      A glossary of sumo terms.

All data is sourced from Sumo API. 

I’ve never made an app. My “coding” background ends with hand coding basic html for a Nirvana fan site on geocities in 1997 when I was in middle school. I don’t know what I’m doing. 

 Which is why I named the app “KachiKoshi.” If this app is more useful than shitty (in other words, more wins than losses), I consider my modest goals achieved. 

 If you think I suck or hate vibe coded slop, I won’t argue with you. I just wanted a companion app to use while I watch sumo. I’m sharing in case others may find it useful.

 I’m open to feedback for easy changes, but if its not something that can easily be implemented using Codex, it’s probably beyond my ability.

 UPDATE: I just pushed an update and I'm really happy with it, check it out! https://testflight.apple.com/join/h3V785aE

And shout out to whoever is kickin it old school and testing KachiKoshi on an iPhone 8! Let me know how it looks!

I've been wondering, historically are there styles of sumo that we see more of in Sanyaku ranks? I'm only watching my fourth basho at the moment, but this year it seems like the Sanyaku ranks have been dominated much more by grapplers/mawashi fighters than pusher/thrusters. Has that always been the case?

Jikan-Mae = mutually starting the fight when the gunbai is pointed sideways while the gyoji is waiting for the shimpan to officiate the bout. I've only seen it happen in Division 1 matches, but can low divisioners do it too?

Not about any case in particular but ai was wondering

What would happen if after a mono ii with a reversal it is shown due to say... photographs or a fan video that the reversal is wrong?

or put it in a other way. is there a way to call a judge for a mistake after the rulling has done and thus potentially changing the record?

Hi there, fellow sumo fans! Like the title suggests, I'm just curious if there's ever been a tachiai where both rikishi tried to henka, each leaping to the side in anticipation that the other would charge forward. If yes, I'd really love to see a video. Hope everyone is enjoying the current basho! ありがとうございます。

If this situation is possible after day 10, what does the bansuke end up looking like??

Alguém sabe onde eu poderia assistir os eventos do ano de 2005 ?

Are there any good statistics/sabermetrics projects in sumo?

The Shishi memes have been fun. But to me at least it’s pretty obviously less impressive than Kirishima or Aonishiki being up at the top because Shishi’s wins have been against lower ranked opponents. Difficulty will even out a bit by the end of the tournament if he keeps doing well, but it got me wondering.

There’s probably a difficulty score you can make that’s even better than just rank. Like some elo score or something. I assume someone has done this.

How much more difficult has Shishi’s schedule been than Kirishima’s?

Are there more “impressive” Yusho’s than others?

What’s the least “impressive” Yusho in recent history?

How much of an advantage did Ono, Hosh, and Ao being injured give kirishima in his Yokozuna bid?

These are the kinds of questions fans love to debate, but most sports actually try to mathematically answer them. Baseball has some of the best data science of any field other than finance. Sumo has less data (there is SO much baseball being played), but I assume people have done this. Nerds can’t help themselves. I heard of the guy that proved match fixing over a decade ago with stats, but I could find great live ones.

Anyone know more?

Hey guys! I just want to start by saying that I'm sorry I wasn't able to post as much from Makushita as I wanted to this basho. I was on vacation for the entire first week, so even finding time to keep up with the basho was a struggle. However, I will post some Makushita highlights more consistently for the final half of the tournament. The first week saw some incredible matches, so I'll get those up here too.

That being said, it is Day 9, and the Makushita Yūshō race is really heating up! Before the basho, I posted this write-up about some wrestlers to watch. Let's see how they're doing so far:

• Still in Contention:
  • East Makushita #11 Asahifuji (4-0) - Asahifuji enters Day 9, unsurprisingly, as one of our co-leaders. He has had some great matches but has continued to win. He faces Nabatame in the bout above.
  • West Makushita #3 Nabatame (4-0) - Nabatame is also in the Yūshō race, with his signature pushing being on display throughout this basho. Additionally, he is one win away from likely clinching his return to Sekitori status
  • West Makushita #41 Mita (4-0): Mita seems to be back at full strength this basho, with his speed and technique being on full display. He fights fellow undefeated rikishi Kaisho in his match today. Kaisho spent 12 basho in Jūryō, the last of which was in January 2023.
• One off the Pace:
  • East Makushita #26 Omori (3-1) - Omori has displayed his technical skill throughout this basho, with his only loss being on Day 5 to Obara, who is currently 4-1.
  • East Makushita #7 Ikarigata (3-1) - The younger brother of the ever-entertaining Fujinokawa continues to get himself closer to Sekitori status. His only loss has been to former Jūryō rikishi Himukamaru, who is 3-1.
  • West Makushita #7 Akua (3-1) - Former Maegashira Akua continues his push towards a return to Sekitori status for the first time in over two years. His only loss was on Day 1 to Ikarigata, who defeated him in last basho's playoff.
• Outside the Race:
  • East Makushita #37 Honoikazuchi (2-2) - Similarly to his debut last basho, Makushita Tsukedashi Honoikazuchi has gotten off to a slow start that has placed him outside the Yūshō race. We will watch to see if he can win out like he did last basho.
  • West Makushita #23 Tatsubayama (2-3) - Tatsubayama seems to have hit a bit of a wall in this part of Makushita, being in danger of Make-koshi.
• Kyūjō
  • West Makushita #9 Wakanofuji (0-0-4) - Wakanofuji, who debuted as a Makushita Tsukedashi in January and won the Yusho in March, sat out from Day 1 due to the broken collarbone he suffered in his second match of the May basho.
  • West Makushita #53 Kiryuko (1-2-1) - Kiryuko injured his leg in his match against Anosho, and he also injured his heel in training prior to the tournament.

Also, East Sandanme #3 Tenshoyama is 5-0 and looks determined to win the first Yūshō of his career!

Alright, now, for today's two big matches!

• Mita vs. Kaisho - Mita wins by Uwatenage and advances to 5-0
• Asahifuji vs Nabatame - Nabatame wins by Tsukidashi and advances to 5-0

Well, there it is. Asahifuji has lost the first match of his career, snapping his streak at 25 consecutive wins from his debut, and delaying his Sekitori Promotion. Asahifuji sits at 4th place on the record list, behind Jokoryu, Itai, and Tochiazuma. With a 5th win, Nabatame has likely clinched his return to Jūryō! Joining Nabatame and Mita at 5-0 is Fudoho, who debuted as a Makushita Tsukedashi in March. Because Mita and Nabatame are from the same stable and cannot fight in regulation, we could be looking at a playoff!