OSAKA – The Japan Sumo Association on Wednesday formally promoted Mongolian-born ozeki Kakuryu to sumofs highest rank in a unanimous vote to become the 71st yokozuna.
His promotion was confirmed after the rankings for the summer basho in May were decided followed by a meeting of the JSAfs executive board. Kakuryu, whose birth name is Mangaljalav Anand, is the first to attain the top rank since Harumafuji did so at the 2012 Autumn basho.
gI am determined to focus all my efforts to train even harder and be certain to give all my strength not to defile the yokozuna name,h Kakuryu said at the ceremony held at Hoganji Temple in Osaka.
The 28-year-old Kakuryu posted a 14-1 record in his second consecutive tournament en route to winning his first career title at the recently concluded Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka. He received the green light for yokozuna promotion after a meeting of the JSAfs Yokozuna Deliberation Council on Monday.
gI am really determined that I have to give my utmost. I have to become a wrestler who is respected,h he added.
His stablemaster Izutsu said, gItfs great that he made it this far. As a yokozuna I want him to wrestle as long as he possibly can.h
Kakuryu is the sixth foreign-born wrestler to be promoted to sumofs highest rank. Three Mongolian-born rikishi, including Hakuho and Harumafuji, currently sit at the top rank.
Just my own .02 but I think they're jumping the gun here. Yes, he's been great his last two basho winning the last one and losing to Hakuho in a playoff in the other. But other than those since getting promoted to ozeki two years ago he's only had one other basho where he had more than 10 wins. It wasn't that long ago people were saying they shouldn't have promoted Harumafuji, hopefully they won't be saying the same thing about Kakyryu shortly.
Just my own .02 but I think they're jumping the gun here. Yes, he's been great his last two basho winning the last one and losing to Hakuho in a playoff in the other. But other than those since getting promoted to ozeki two years ago he's only had one other basho where he had more than 10 wins. It wasn't that long ago people were saying they shouldn't have promoted Harumafuji, hopefully they won't be saying the same thing about Kakyryu shortly.
That's the problem when there are no cut-and-dried guidelines for promotion to yokozuna.
In the case of Harumafuji, didn't he have back-to-back zensho yusho? I don't think the JSA had a choice--they had to elevate him after consecutive undefeated championships.
You're right in pointing out Kakuryu's less than stellar record as an ozeki; treading water seems to be the habit of most of those who have attained that position in the last fifteen years or so.
I wouldn't be surprised if part of the JSA's rationale for promoting Kakuryu is to open the door for a native Japanese to be promoted to yokozuna without having to win back-to-back championships or even winning a championship. (after all, 13--2 is only one win from being 14--1).
shin2 wrote:
In the case of Harumafuji, didn't he have back-to-back zensho yusho? I don't think the JSA had a choice--they had to elevate him after consecutive undefeated championships.
You're right he did. He didn't really leave them with any alternative.
I wouldn't be surprised if part of the JSA's rationale for promoting Kakuryu is to open the door for a native Japanese to be promoted to yokozuna without having to win back-to-back championships or even winning a championship. (after all, 13--2 is only one win from being 14--1).
Could be but I can't think of any Japanese doing that well. Kisenosato had some good basho but didn't really step up to the plate when the chips were down (how's that for mixing metaphors?) and get a win when he had to.
Endo was being touted as the next great hope but this last basho he was at maegashira 1 and his first five matches were against both yokozuna and the three ozeki. He came out of that minefield 1-4 ended with a 6-9 record. It'll be interesting to see how he does in May now that he's seen what it's like to wrestle the big kids.
Something tells me nobody asked, "So, who's the new fat kid?"
Harumafuji enrolls in university master course
Yokozuna grand champion Harumafuji has enrolled in a master's course at Hosei University to study economic development.
The top-ranked sumo wrestler passed an exam for working people to enter Hosei Graduate School of Regional Policy Design in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
He attended his first seminar on Saturday, after returning from a tour of Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Harumafuji, whose real name is Davaanyam Byambadorj, says he took a correspondence course on law from a university in his home country Mongolia last year.
He says he aims to attend Hosei University once or twice a week to complete his master's degree.
A 54-year-old company employee who attended the same seminar says he admires Harumafuji's determination to study despite being very busy, and he will try to copy his example.
Professor Yoshiyuki Okamoto, who is in charge of the seminar, says he was surprised at first but the research plan submitted by Harumafuji showed his strong will to study.
Okamoto says Harumafuji seems to have awareness of such issues as pollution and income disparities that are linked to the rapid growth of Mongolia's economy.
The Sumo Association says Harumafuji is the first reigning Yokozuna to attend a graduate school.
Round the turn and headed for home, day 9. Hakuho still alone at the top 9-0 both the other yokozuna have two losses. They don't make yokozuna like they used to. The only other guy with a realistic shot at winning is Kisenosato at 8-1. This is Hakuho vs. Endo. Gives you some idea of how good Hakuho is. Endo is considering a rising star and he looks like it's his first sumo match ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhEzkzfdAtc&index=39&list=PL556B0EVMUL0M-zVWlMHQFCvwsgD2fLRq
I suppose you could call Kisenosato losing to Aminishiki on day two an upset. But Kisenosato always figures out a way to screw things up so I don't know if it was really that big an upset.