Natsu Ones To Watch
by Carolyn Todd
Hakuho
So, here we go again. Fired up by his marriage and the impending arrival of his first child, will Hakuho have the added incentive to make this tsuna run count? I’m going to say that he does. After the fiasco of his first attempt, with discussions of his yokozuna dohyo iri style and his victory parade before he was anywhere near promotion, this time, after the crashing down to earth of injury and kyujo, he’s kept his head down and seems to be focussing on actually deserving promotion instead of celebrating the alleged foregone conclusion of his yokozunahood. It can be said, and has been said by Asashoryu, that his henka to win the yusho was unbecoming of a yokozuna aspirant, but that’s a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ sour grapes response. Instead of cowering in the face of Asa as other sekitori have admitted to doing, he demonstrated that he has the mental strength to play the yokozuna at his own game, and that’s how he’ll eventually succeed because Asa will have a harder time beating him psychologically.
Toyonoshima
So what’s going on here?? Toyonoshima has surprised everyone with his form in the last two basho. Hatsu basho could have been a blip, to be followed by a crashing makekoshi, but no. He only just got kachikoshi but in this game that’s enough, and should bizarrely get him to komusubi after this phenomenal and unexpected rise. So far he hasn’t done badly against the joi-jin but it’ll be interesting to see if he can sustain his performance. Previously he blended in with all those other ‘T’ names mid-makuuchi but now he’s a vibrant, smiley, confident presence around the hallways. He joined sumo at the same time as his buddy Kotoshogiku but, although he was initially faster up the banzuke, for some reason it’s taken him much longer to show his full ability. Hopefully now he’ll be a another young talent to energize the top of the division.
Ichihara
So, Ichihara ended up 5-2 after the hype and attention, and lost his juryo promotion chance… However, he looked extremely strong throughout the basho and his result should be enough to put him on top of the makushita pile for Natsu. Barring catastrophe, he should get a pretty healthy promotion for Nagoya, and maybe this delay will be a good consolidation period for him – and give his hair a chance to grow a bit! That mage’s going to be a long time coming…
Homasho
11-4 and another sansho! It might just be enough to get his first komusubi slot, or not – it depends how it all shakes out. Regardless, he’ll be up there with the big boys and will definitely get to fulfill his aim of facing the yokozuna. He’s been in makuuchi for a year now and finally seems to be finding his feet. He went in at M11, fell to 14, back up to 11 for two basho, hurtled to 4, dipped to 5 – and now, who knows? And how times change! He was promoted with Baruto who shot up the banzuke and then crashed back to earth while Homasho quietly and respectfully accumulated results and sansho. He’s never faced more than two ozeki in a basho so it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with the full set (assuming we have a full set!) plus Asashoryu.
Tochiozan
After a brief 3-basho canter through juryo, 20-year-old Tochiozan achieved 11-4 at M14 in his first makuuchi basho and will get a pretty healthy promotion for Natsu. Will this turn out to be one of those first-basho flukes or will he continue to charge up the banzuke? He lost to Shimotori and Tokitsuumi in the first few days but then he got into a groove that wasn’t stopped until Roho on Day 13, and then Kotomitsuki. He ate up the lower rankers but will he be able to cope with a constant stream of more experienced sekitori?
Hoshihikari
Since his injury, Hoshihikari has come back stronger and heavier, and with more substance, demonstrated by his consistently impressive results in the last few basho, and he won the makushita yusho against Matsutani with a clean slate, although there was a dodgy mono-ii moment. The yusho was such a great achievement and the crowd applauded when the bout was first introduced, but when Hoshihikari left down the hanamichi, not one person made a sound, no applause, no nothing. Looking to Natsu, he should be very much at the top of makushita, and if his form continues, we should see him with an o-icho-mage!
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So, here we go again. Fired up by his marriage and the impending arrival of his first child, will Hakuho have the added incentive to make this tsuna run count? I’m going to say that he does. After the fiasco of his first attempt, with discussions of his yokozuna dohyo iri style and his victory parade before he was anywhere near promotion, this time, after the crashing down to earth of injury and kyujo, he’s kept his head down and seems to be focussing on actually deserving promotion instead of celebrating the alleged foregone conclusion of his yokozunahood. It can be said, and has been said by Asashoryu, that his henka to win the yusho was unbecoming of a yokozuna aspirant, but that’s a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ sour grapes response. Instead of cowering in the face of Asa as other sekitori have admitted to doing, he demonstrated that he has the mental strength to play the yokozuna at his own game, and that’s how he’ll eventually succeed because Asa will have a harder time beating him psychologically.
Toyonoshima
So what’s going on here?? Toyonoshima has surprised everyone with his form in the last two basho. Hatsu basho could have been a blip, to be followed by a crashing makekoshi, but no. He only just got kachikoshi but in this game that’s enough, and should bizarrely get him to komusubi after this phenomenal and unexpected rise. So far he hasn’t done badly against the joi-jin but it’ll be interesting to see if he can sustain his performance. Previously he blended in with all those other ‘T’ names mid-makuuchi but now he’s a vibrant, smiley, confident presence around the hallways. He joined sumo at the same time as his buddy Kotoshogiku but, although he was initially faster up the banzuke, for some reason it’s taken him much longer to show his full ability. Hopefully now he’ll be a another young talent to energize the top of the division.
Ichihara
So, Ichihara ended up 5-2 after the hype and attention, and lost his juryo promotion chance… However, he looked extremely strong throughout the basho and his result should be enough to put him on top of the makushita pile for Natsu. Barring catastrophe, he should get a pretty healthy promotion for Nagoya, and maybe this delay will be a good consolidation period for him – and give his hair a chance to grow a bit! That mage’s going to be a long time coming…
Homasho
11-4 and another sansho! It might just be enough to get his first komusubi slot, or not – it depends how it all shakes out. Regardless, he’ll be up there with the big boys and will definitely get to fulfill his aim of facing the yokozuna. He’s been in makuuchi for a year now and finally seems to be finding his feet. He went in at M11, fell to 14, back up to 11 for two basho, hurtled to 4, dipped to 5 – and now, who knows? And how times change! He was promoted with Baruto who shot up the banzuke and then crashed back to earth while Homasho quietly and respectfully accumulated results and sansho. He’s never faced more than two ozeki in a basho so it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with the full set (assuming we have a full set!) plus Asashoryu.
Tochiozan
After a brief 3-basho canter through juryo, 20-year-old Tochiozan achieved 11-4 at M14 in his first makuuchi basho and will get a pretty healthy promotion for Natsu. Will this turn out to be one of those first-basho flukes or will he continue to charge up the banzuke? He lost to Shimotori and Tokitsuumi in the first few days but then he got into a groove that wasn’t stopped until Roho on Day 13, and then Kotomitsuki. He ate up the lower rankers but will he be able to cope with a constant stream of more experienced sekitori?
Hoshihikari
Since his injury, Hoshihikari has come back stronger and heavier, and with more substance, demonstrated by his consistently impressive results in the last few basho, and he won the makushita yusho against Matsutani with a clean slate, although there was a dodgy mono-ii moment. The yusho was such a great achievement and the crowd applauded when the bout was first introduced, but when Hoshihikari left down the hanamichi, not one person made a sound, no applause, no nothing. Looking to Natsu, he should be very much at the top of makushita, and if his form continues, we should see him with an o-icho-mage!
Sumo Fan Magazine Home