Report Card: Hatsu Basho 2024 - San'yaku

Finishing up our grades for the January tournament.

The March tournament gets under way next weekend. And I can’t wait to see what happens there. But before that happens, we’ve got grades from January to finish up!

You’ve already seen my report card for all the maegashira wrestlers (here if you haven’t read it yet). So now it’s time to turn our attention to the san’yaku. And in March, these big boys stole the show.

We were treated to a four horse race down the stretch with Terunofuji, Kirishima, Hoshoryu and Kotonowaka. That created a lot of drama, and amazing matches, as those elite wrestlers began facing off and taking each other out of contention.

So of course there are some high grades being handed out below. Scroll down to see those grades and my justifications for them.

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Ura

Rank: Komusubi 1 West
Record: 6-9
Grade: D+

I covered Ura’s January tournament extensively in my Spotlight feature. You can check that out below:

Takayasu

Rank: Komusubi 1 East
Record: 2-4-9
Grade: C-

Takayasu was 2-2 in bouts he appeared in during January, which is why I’m a little generous with my grade. I’m certainly more generous than the JSA have been. Takayasu has been demoted all the way down to M8 as punishment for an injury hit hatsu basho.

I like to just look out how he performed during actual bouts, though, not the absence riddled record.

Takayasu scored wins on Hokutofuji and Ura and lost to Kirishima and Wakamotoharu. Those are decent opponents to beat and there’s no shame in losing to those elite rikishi.

On Day 1 Takayasu looked precise and powerful, see below:

I love the way he moves opponents with his thrusts. They are a lot more nuanced than many other pusher/thrusters’. Takayasu swipes across opponents, directing them off balance and into danger areas. Unfortunately, though, we weren’t blessed with being able to see that over an entire tournament.

Injuries have dominated Takayasu’s career. However, prior to this pull out he did achieve three straight tournaments with kachi-koshi (10-5 in the last two). I think that shows Takayasu still has plenty left in the tank. Hopefully this latest injury won’t prevent us seeing that again in March.

Daieisho

Rank: Sekiwake 1 West
Record: 9-6
Grade: C+

I was generous with Takayasu, but I’m going to be harsh with Daieisho here. Yes, 9-6 is a winning record. But I want to see more from the ozeki hopeful.

Daieisho is a nightmare for around 85% of the banzuke. The majority of wrestlers cannot stand his forward pressure and heavy thrusting. However, the best rikishi don’t fall for it. They have become experts at nullifying Daieisho’s strengths, by either standing him up in a clinch or moving out of his way. What’s sad is that Daieisho doesn’t adjust his game plan against those guys.

That leads to losing records against the elites. Terunofuji (6-8), Takakeisho (8-18), Kirishima (6-11), Hoshoryu (4-7), Kotonowaka (5[-1]-8) all must get excited when drawn against him.

Here is his January loss to Kotonowaka:

Kotonowaka has gameplanned for Daieisho well here. He focused early on blocking Daieisho’s thrusts. That seemed to stop Daieisho from trying to push forwards. When Daieisho stopped, Kotonowaka grabbed the back of his head and tried pulling him back, as a disruption tactic. After Daieisho recovered, Kotonowaka slapped both hands on the belt and went chest-to-chest. By stepping into Daieisho and holding him upright, he prevented Daieisho from leaning forwards and pushing. When Daieisho is stood up like this, he finds it very hard to generate that same pushing power. Wrestlers more comfortable with the position, though, like Kotonowaka, are able to easily frog hop him out.

I think Daieisho’s tendency to push from his tippy toes also gets him in trouble. He’s strong enough to beat most like that, but against very stong opponents it can prove difficult. Being up on his toes also makes him less stable.

See how a Hokutofuji push put Daieisho airborne (due to Daieisho not being fully planted):

I need to see much more from Daieisho before I buy him as a potential ozeki. And I hope I see it. If he could add some nuance to his game he could be a real problem.

Kotonowaka

Rank: Sekiwake 1 East
Record: 13-2 (Jun-Yusho, Technique Prize)
Grade: A