Report Card: 2024 Haru Basho - Maegashira 1-8
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Last week I released the first half of the maegashira rankings (hit those up here if you missed them - link). To continue our march up the banzuke, this report card gives out grades to the rest of the maegashira ranks.
In this edition we have a couple of guys who fared very well in March, including Onosato, Takayasu and Gonoyama and some fan favourites like Ura, Tobizaru and Midorifuji.
Let’s get into it!
Takayasu
Rank: Maegashira 8 West
Record: 11-4 (jun-yusho)
Grade: A
In March Takayasu continued to show what he’s capable of when he’s healthy and able to compete for all 15 days. Takayasu’s game is power meets intelligence. He uses his brute strength economically and effectively, to either move opponent’s into dangerous positions or back them off from getting an advantage over him.
In this basho I took extra notice of what he was doing off the tachiai. You can see in the examples below how compact he is in these opening clashes, with his arms tight to his body. This does two things; it gives him a chance to get a very good early grip on the front of his opponents’ belts and it makes it hard for an opponent to isolate and/or establish an underarm position.
When I watched this move, in various bouts, I noticed that Takayasu can parlay that opening into a diverse set of follow-up moves.
Against Sadanoumi (below) he went for the belt with his left hand and was able to get his fingers on the belt right away, but Sadanoumi defended by keeping his hips back. Sadanoumi then swam his right arm under Takayasu’s left to try and get a grip on Takayasu’s belt. Takayasu seemed very prepared for this counter. He appeared to let Sadanoumi get the underhook, as it allowed him to reach further around Sadanoumi to get a grip on the rear of the mawashi. Once he had that, he used his free hand to drive Sadanoumi’s head down for a nice uwatenage win.
Against Tamawashi (below), Takaysu lead with a low right hand, looking for the belt. Tamawashi proved a pretty tough customer, though, driving at Takayasu’s throat (as you’d expect). Takayasu decided to ignore the belt to defend those thrusts, sliding his right hand up from the belt area and using it to push back Tamawashi’s left hand and put him on the back foot. A fire fight ensued after that, but Takayasu stood his ground, meaning that Tamawashi was forced to close distance when he thrusted. When he had him in close, that’s when Takayasu went back to the belt, scoring another uwatenage win.
What happened against Tamawashi is what also happened against Onosho (below), only it happened far quicker. Takayasu stayed compact in the tachiai, again with one hand low. But he gave up on a belt grab and immediately went to thrusting. Onosho’s forward momentum brought him close enough for Takayasu to reach around him and grab the back of the belt. Once that happened Onosho looked like Barney getting thrown out of Moe’s.
Against Daiamami (here) Takayasu also went compact in the opening clash, with hands fishing for the front of the belt. He was able to get an inside grip on Daiamami, but Daiamami was able to use his size and bulk to mitigate the risk of Takayasu tossing him from that position. Given how slow Daiamami is, Takayasu had plenty of time to secure a matching grip on the other side. Once he had both hands on the belt, he stepped up into Daiamami’s space and easily forced him out.
In his bout with Shodai (below), Takayasu had that same closed posture off the tachiai, but he didn’t go for the belt at all. He instead sent thrusts under Shodai’s chin. When Shodai resisted, Takayasu found himself walking backwards, with his hands nowhere near Shodai’s belt. From there Shodai was able to keep pushing and get him out, even though he stumbled a little towards the end of the bout. This bout illustrated how important it is for Takayasu to not block off his own chances of snapping his massive hands onto a belt.
The 11-4 record here is a wonderful rebound from an injury hit 2-4-9 January (where he was competing as komusubi). This was his first jun-yusho since 2022, where he was a runner-up in three of the four tournaments he competed in. Before that 2-4-9 record, Takayasu had back-to-back 10-5 records.
Onosho
Rank: Maegashira 8 East
Record: 9-6
Grade: B+
‘Truculence’ is the word that comes to mind when I watch Onosho. Like Sadanoumi, who I praised in my previous scorecard, Onosho brings intensity to every bout. He doesn’t seem intimidated by big names. Nor does he take his foot off the gas for small names. And, at times, he seems to summon up extra power and aggression for bouts against opponents he especially wants to beat (I remember a recent tournament where he seemed to thrust extra hard to get out Nishikifuji; who had clocked him on a false start).
I think his win against Onosato could be filed under last category. The first time these two met was in the January tournament, where Onosato was already off to a hot start. In that bout Onosho dug his heels in and came up with a big win over the highly touted rookie. They met again in March, with Onosato again off to a good start. Onosho (below) seemed extremely motivated to retain his perfect record over the youngster.
You can see that Onosho was strong enough to halt Onosato’s top tier opening shove, albeit temporarily. Holding Onosato up for a second meant Onosho had some time to think before being blasted out. He used that time to plot an escape to his left. Onosho showed very impressive foot speed in moving around the boundary here, while also displaying great strength in being able to stop Onosato pushing him out while he was in a vulnerable spot.
A real strength of Onosho’s is how he’s able to quickly get himself set to push after moving his feet. See against Kinbozan (below) where he alternated between strong pushing and shuffling his feet (in response to Kinbozan’s pushes). In Onosho’s last push forwards he also defended an uwatenage from Kinbozan, who is pretty good at scoring the throw in that position. A big reason why Onosho was able to defend against that throw is because he was so quick at moving his feet towards the end of the bout and ensured that he stayed square to Kinbozan (which is where you want to be when pushing) and didn’t get stuck side-on (which is where Kinbozan needed him for the throw).
One of Onosho’s best wins this tournament came against Midorifuji. Midorifuji is the king of making guys look silly when they lean in against him. Onosho knew this and you can see how he made sure to only thrust when his feet were set and he was close enough to Midorifuji that he wouldn’t be leaning too far across the ring. In the last few thrusts of the match you can see Onosho close the distance, shuffling his feet towards Midorifuji, to make sure he was able to push, while also ensuring that if Midorifuji made him miss, it was unlikely that he would fall forwards.
The 9-6 in March follows up a 10-5 record in January. Onosho will be promoted a few places for May, which will put him right around that area where has struggled as of late.
Tamawashi
Rank: Maegashira 7 West
Record: 7-8
Grade: D+
Tamawashi continues to perform at a decent rate, despite being the oldest man in the makuuchi (he’ll be 40 in November). His 7-8 is only his second losing record in the last five tournaments. Getting this record from M7, at his age, is nothing to sneeze at. He came just one win shy of a kachi-koshi after competing against a pretty challenging field. Among his losses this tournament are Onosho, Takayasu, Gonoyama, Hokutofuji, Midorifuji and Onosato. I wouldn’t have picked him to win many of those bouts. However, his seventh and eighth losses did come against wrestlers I would have picked him to beat: Nishikifuji and Endo.
Here’s the make-koshi securing loss to Endo on Day 13.
In this bout Tamawashi got completely sold by Endo’s side-step, forcing him to lurch into No Man’s Land. One of Tamawashi’s big mistakes in this bout was that he surged forwards without having his nodowa throat thrust fully locked in. When he has it locked in, and moves, forwards, he can still be a devastating rikishi. Just ask Kinbozan.
Kinbozan
Rank: Maegashira 7 East
Record: 6-7-2
Grade: D+
Kinbozan took home a losing record in March, partly thanks to three bouts he had to skip after a hard fall into the crowd (at the literal hands of Tamawashi). He was 6-6 in bouts he showed up to, which is why I’m grading him kindly here.
I think Kinbozan, who deserves credit for being able to hang in the makuuchi since his promotion a year ago, is still trying to figure himself out as a wrestler.
He has great size and a wonderful reactive throwing game (see how he was able to sling Gonoyama down off his back-foot below). However, when he’s pushing forwards (and not moving back under pressure) he looks a little lost.
Kinbozan was able to move Tobizaru backwards on Day 14 (below). However, in moving forwards rather haphazardly, Kinbozan gave up a great grip on his belt. Kinbozan’s mediocre speed gave the faster Tobi more than enough time to use that belt as a lever to get himself around the back of Kinbozan and push him down.
Kinbozan was able to get Tsurugisho moving backwards too, which is not easy (below). However, he again gave up a grip on his belt to do so. This time he gave Tsurugisho a grip on both sides. The more experienced rikishi was then able to expertly use Kinbozan’s momentum against him, turning him with a slight bit of elevation to make sure he landed out of bounds.
I’d love to see Kinbozan bring his advancing and retreating games into unity and show the same kind of intelligence he does on the back foot while moving forwards. At the very least, it would be good to see him do more to avoid and break those holds on his belt.
Gonoyama
Rank: Maegashira 6 West
Record: 10-5
Grade: B
Gonoyama’s 10-5 record deserves a few footnotes. His double digit wins are thanks to two fusen victories in March (versus Tsurugisho and Tobizaru). That being said, he has never lost against those two wrestlers (in five combined bouts). Even so, I don’t think Gonoyama had the kind of tournament where he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as those who came close to pipping Takerufuji at the post.
Gonoyama is a very good wrestler and I think he will make komusubi this year. However, he’s only got one high-level move. It’s a very good move, but if you like to see a wrestler with a big bag of tricks Gonoyama is not your guy.
His pushing/thrusting is extremely effective due to a number of factors. He’s incredibly strong (and at his peak performing age currently). His size allows him to drive upwards, through his opponent, while moving them backwards (see below how his angle of attack gives the larger and only marginally stronger Mitakeumi all kinds of trouble). And he’s technically very polished. When he pushes he keeps his pins his opponents’ arms to block belt grabs and he keeps his head central to ensure he doesn’t roll off to the side.
Against Daieisho this tournament, Gonoyama did show something a little different. He got the soon to be former sekiwake with a good slap down. This win came after three losses to Daieisho. In those losses Daieisho out shoved Gonoyama, so the younger rikishi probably went into this one wanting to try something different.
In January Gonoyama earned his first ever win against Hoshoryu. He got the win using his usual pushing/thrusting game. He tried to repeat that in March, but was met with Hoshoryu’s usual judo throw.
10-5 might be enough to get Gonoyama back to M3 (his highest ever rank). The first and only time he was ranked that high he took a 5-10 losing record (his only losing record since joining the top division).
I think Gonoyama might struggle again at that high a ranking, especially since this area of the banzuke has gotten much younger and stronger (with names like Takerufuji, Onosato and Atamifuji).
Tsurugisho
Rank: Maegashira 6 East
Record: 2-3-10
Grade: Ungraded
Tsurugisho went down painfully on Day 4 during his bout with Hiradoumi. It appeared as though he suffered a pretty serious knee injury and I’d be very surprised to see him suit up in May. He was 2-1 prior to that loss and was looking pretty decent with that slick win over Kinbozan (above) and a big slap down on Midorifuji. The injury affected record here comes after three kachi-koshi in a row for the Oitekaze man.
Onosato
Rank: Maegashira 5 West
Record: 11-4 (jun-yusho, gino-sho, kanto-sho)
Grade: A
Co-Main Event podcast favourite Onosato continued to impress in March, locking in his second 11-4 record in only his second ever top division basho (and only his sixth senior basho ever).
Onosato could have pushed a wounded Takerufuji to a play-off if Takerufuji faltered on the last day. Once the chance of winning the championship was off the table, Onosato lost to Hoshoryu ensuring he and the Rising Dragon shared second place (along with Takayasu).
I had some doubts about Onosato heading into this one. That’s mainly because in his debut tournament he seemed very one note. His devastating charge was enough to beat most of the folks he encountered in January, but it fell short of overwhelming Terunofuji, Kotonowaka and Hoshoryu.
This tournament was pretty similar. Onosato’s opening rush again overwhelmed the competition, with his losses coming only to Kotonowaka, Hoshoryu, Takerufuji and Onosho (who beat him in January, too).
Just like in January, Onosato was facing a lot of opponents for the first time this tournament (eight of his eleven wins were against fresh faces). Because of this my opinion of him hasn’t moved a great deal. I still see him as a rookie pitcher with one elite pitch. I think a lot of the guys in makuuchi were willing to entertain going chest to chest with him just see what he’s got.
Onosato has pretty much been through the whole line-up now, though. So I think in May we’re going to see more opponents deciding not to play to his strengths. I am very eager to see how much trouble this causes Onosato. If he continues to blast through foes or, better yet, show a throw or a hold along the way, then I think the sky’s the limit for him.
And I’m optimistic that there are more levels to Onosato’s game to be uncovered. He’s young and blessed with a body type that makes any kind of sumo open to him.
All that being said, he did show a flash of diversity when facing Abi (below).
Abi was one of the few wrestlers to get a good jump on Onosato this basho. However, Onosato responded perfectly to Abi’s throat thrusts, calmly stepping away and using his height advantage to pull off the hatakikomi.
Onosato also showed off some intelligence against Meisei (who he was facing for the second time in his career). Meisei felt Onosato’s charge in January. This time around he opted against a shoving match.
You can see that Meisei tried to isolate Onosato’s right arm. He was looking for a hikiotoshi or perhaps even a katasukashi there. Onosato recognized this though and quickly pulled his arm out of danger. Meisei then tried to pull Onosato down along the edge, but the young man closed on him so quick he didn’t have the time or space to execute.
In his three high profile losses this tournament, Onosato allowed his opponents to get good grips on him. Takerufuji was able to prevent Onosato from escaping his charge with a solid grip on Onosato’s right side.
Kotonowaka tried to establish a hold on Onosato’s belt, but shifted to the right arm for the winning kotenage.
And Hoshoryu was able to touch Onosato’s belt (on the right side again) off the tachiai and use that position to transition to the shitatenage.
Those three losses owe a lot to the brilliance of Onosato’s opposition. Even still, it’s a little telling that they all found success by going under Onosato’s right arm. That’s a hole he should look to sure up as he gets ready to face this calibre of rikishi on a daily basis in May.
Midorifuji
Rank: Maegashira 5 East
Record: 7-8
Grade: C-
This was a slightly disappointing tournament for Midorifuji (another CME favourite). He got off to a poor start to the basho (3-5) before finding a bit of a groove. After that he pulled off three katasukashi in a row (versus Hoshoryu, Kotoshoho and Shodai) and then scored a yorikiri over Kirishima.
After those wins he was brought back down to earth with losses to Takayasu, Onosho and then Sadanoumi (in a Darwin match).
This tournament showed us the good and bad with Midorifuji. He’s capable of hitting that katasukashi or a hikiotoshi on anyone, if he survives the opening clash. I feel like he too often will take the brunt of the tachiai hoping to get the close contact he needs to execute the katasukashi. I also think he takes these clashes full on sometimes because he wants to show he can also push and shove the big guys around.
This is all very commendable. But I think he’d find more success if he mixed in some more defence to his game and sprinkled in a henka here or there across a tournament. Those could make the difference between a 7-8 and an 8-7. And when you’re as small as he is you need to try and seize any advantage you can get. Otherwise you end up like Enho, someone with a great highlight reel who is demoted for taking too many losses and banged up from how much contact they have taken.
Anyways, let’s break down Midorifuji’s best win of the tournament.
Here’s the full speed:
Here’s the slow-mo.
Here’s another angle:
And here’s Hoshoryu’s reaction:
I think Hoshoryu is smiling because he knows he messed up. But I don’t want to take anything away from Midorifuji here, since this win is also due to his mastery of the katasukashi.
By focusing on the slow motion we can see that Midorifuji fakes using his right hand to attack Hoshoryu’s face off the tachiai and then lets that arm drift down to Hoshoryu’s belt, now faking a grab there. That second fake makes Hoshoryu respond by overhooking that arm and reaching towards Midorifuji’s belt. Once he’s reaching over though, that gives Midorifuji the angle and the purchase he needs to wrench Hoshoryu’s left shoulder down. As soon as Hoshoryu is moving downwards, Midorifuji uses his unmatched speed to zip away from Hoshoryu’s other arm and put his second hand on top of the shoulder. Once he gets those two hands on the shoulder he’s able to complete the move and make Hoshoryu touch down.
Midorifuji favours his opponent’s left side for this move. And I feel like Hoshoryu must have known this. He was probably kicking himself that he gave Midorifuji the underhook there.
To read the rest of this premium article, which includes grades for Hiradoumi, Tobizaru, Takanosho, Oho, Meisei, Atamifuji, Asanoyama and Ura, subscribe to Sumo Stomp! on Substack today.