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The first sumo tournament of 2024 has rolled around, and brings with it an exciting storyline. We've got a big promotion opportunity in the first tournament of the year, and we've got a young up-and-comer making big waves and with some big momentum coming into the tournament. After 2023, a year with a lot of high-profile absences, but where younger wrestlers and wrestlers with a lot of potential really stepped up and put on some excellent performances, will this be their year? Let's start off with a look at the January banzuke:
Top Division Debuts: First up, we have Shimazuumi who will be completely overshadowed by his fellow debutante this tournament. He's been around for a while and never put up any particularly amazing tournaments. He's coming off of a couple of good 9-6 tournaments though so should have some momentum. I don't see 8 wins for him this time, but you never know! Alongside him, though, is another bright up-and-comer who is making his top division debut after just four tournaments in the professional sport. Onosato is also coming off of a couple of good tournaments, but his are slightly more impressive. Back to back 12-3 records saw him blaze through Juryo and into the top division. I would expect him to feature prominently throughout 2024, and this amateur Yokozuna will definitely have his sights set high. He's got an excellent physicality for the sport, is young, and has former-Yokozuna Kisenosato for a stablemaster. I think Kisenosato has done a lot to research modern training and I actually have a lot of faith in him as the head of a stable. It will be a lot of fun to see how Onosato represents the former Yokozuna's new stable as its star wrestler.
Maegashira: I'll speed through these ranks as usual, but Churanoumi did well in his debut tournament to end with a 9-6 record, so we'll see how he's able to perform this time. I'm a big fan of slowly going up the ranks, so he might be biting off a bit more than he can chew this time, but it shouldn't be too bad. Meisei dropped down quite a bit after a rough 4-11 November tournament, and M9 is way too low for him. I'd look for him to get double-digits here, although he's eked out 8 and 9 win tournaments at similar ranks before so who knows. Asanoyama's return to the top division has been a bit underwhelming but has been marred with absences. It would be nice to see a vintage performance here to put him at least within striking distance of the sanyaku ranks again. His counterpart at M7 Ichiyamamoto had a pretty triumphant return to the top division and I never know what to expect from him. He's at a career high, but he can pull out some surprising wins moving backwards which I'd guess he'll have to do a lot this tournament. I've consistently been pretty impressed with Gonoyama and I think he can go far. He's also at a career high and I think he may also struggle to get his 8 wins, but it will be valuable experience for him, and even if he ends with a 6-9, he'll learn plenty. Finally, the big man Atamifuji is coming off of a third straight 11-4 tournament, and a second straight jun-yusho and kantosho winning tournament. He struggled when he first debuted in the top division but took some great lessons from that failure and came back with a vengeance. I'm really excited to see how he does in 2024 and this could be a year where he and Onosato get to compete for the headlines. Let's see a sanyaku promotion-worthy tournament.
Sanyaku: We've got a lot of fun at Komosubi this tournament. Finally making his sanyaku debut after falling way, way down to the Jonidan division, fan-favorite Ura will get to dazzle the fans in his pink mawashi as a Komosubi. I think shifting away from focusing so much on wild techniques and solidifying his fundamentals was a great move for him and has really paid off. I'm sure this was partially just a pragmatic decision to protect his injuries, but it's given him far more options and he still has the magic he can pull out when he needs it. Alongside him is Takayasu who's done a good job of working himself back up to the sanyaku ranks. His recent trips to sanyaku have been pretty unlucky, however, as his tournament promoted back to Sekiwake saw him sit out after five days, and his previous Komosubi tournament saw him out after day 11. Hopefully this time will go better for him. Sekiwake looks great this tournament as well, with bulldozer Daieisho and Kotonowaka capable of beating anybody.
Ozeki: First up at Ozeki we have Takakeisho who wasn't able to seal the deal in November. I don't think that was much of a surprise and it will probably be tough for him to string together two tournaments, although far from impossible. When his style works he looks great, but when it doesn't work it can look pretty abysmal. Hopefully he can at least stay in the yusho race this time. Hoshoryu was able to put on a better performance, as expected, after a disappointing Ozeki debut and I think he'll do even better here. He's got what he needs to be competing for the yusho, and it would also be great to see him competing for the title up to the final days.
Of course the biggest storyline coming into this tournament will be Kirishima's hunt for the big promotion. He looked great in November, showing excellent strength and looking really solid and it would be great to see him performing at that level in January and further into 2024. If he can, he's got a great shot at promotion to Yokozuna.
Yokozuna: The top dog has been out for a while, and didn't factor into 2023 much at all apart from a flawless May tournament. But Terunofuji will be back this time and the reports of his preparation have all been pretty good. He's been putting up good numbers in practice matches and it seems like the time off will hopefully result in him coming in relatively "injury free" (with a million asterisks). Hopefully 2024 goes better for him than 2023 did!
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So there you go!
Viewing options: I can never remember who's around posting highlights and stuff these days, so hopefully we'll get some YouTube channels posted here early on! Kintamayama should be posting highlights on Rumble, I'm guessing Natto will be posting on Youtube as well.
And it's always great to have new people join the fun and start following the sport, but it's definitely not the easiest sport to understand when you first start watching. If you're new, feel free to ask questions! Also feel free to head over to the Introduction to SUMO thread to get a basic (although very outdated) introduction to the sport.
Hakke-yoi!
(as usual I'll just @ everyone that has posted about sumo or posted in sumo threads, hopefully it works)
@EL CORINTHIAN @shincheckin @rmongler @JkMMA @PurpleStorm @Asurah @Sano @Okajima @RJ Green @winterbike @LC Shepard @Bluesbreaker @s_o_c_a_r @Slick_36 @Muppettoker @Oshime2 @DatCutman @catchwrestle @rodgerdodger @Sapp @Apollo33 @MoreKane @BoxingMMA @ChickenBrother @what-wut @Adjaar @TheRuthlessOne @elreece @Tone C @Nameless King @GSP_37 @Kaybee @Fluffernutter @Stormtrooper85 @Jin Akutsu @AZ103 @Sumomike @listrahtes @BananaManPoo @Emporio Alnino @pv3Hpv3p @Jose Beehive @Nova44 @Sticko @650lb Sumo @Fox by the Sea @Paolo Delutis @JacJeanFinger @Fork @Dadbod Dorado @moonwolf @MoreKane @DonkeyKong @Chokez @PBAC @Rob Battisti @Vogg @Macaque @don't ask @Smokes
