Behind the Curtain - November 2009

The leaves have all changed color in Nikko, just outside of Tokyo, and on the other end of Japan, in Kyushu, we will see the beginning of another sekitori, spending out from behind the curtain, along with one returnee to the paid ranks. The Fukuoka Basho will be the debut of a wrestler who may have what it takes to reach sanyaku.

Makushita Yusho winner – Gagamaru (7-0) Ms10e puts on the silk mawashi for the first time. He becomes the third sekitori from Georgia.  "I couldn't sleep last night because I was so nervous. When I heard of my promotion I was really happy. If I wouldn't have been promoted, I promised myself to Gambarize next basho!", declared a happy Gagamaru. He lost his father in a traffic accident three years ago almost to the day. "I'm sure he's happy for me up there", he said, gazing into the distance.

Gagamaru, Oyakata Kise and Kise wrestlers visited the K International School in October, for their annual bazaar. There he said that he was very confident about getting kachi kochi in his Juryo debut. 

Gagamaru did it by taking his first Makushita championship. The makushita yusho was decided in a playoff between two 22 years old foreigners Gagamaru and Kaisei, and Gagamaru was able to grab his juryo promotion with his second yusho in his career (he won jonokuchi in his debut basho).

In addition, we have one wrestler returning to the paid ranks. He debuted in Juryo at Nagoya but had a one basho visit behind the curtain.

Kotoyukata (4-3) Ms1e managed to get a majority wins to return to Juryo. It should be nice for Kotoyukata to return to his home prefecture as a 2nd-time sekitori. His hometown happens to be in Fukuoka prefecture, the town of Tikuzyou.

What goes up, something goes down, especially in sumo, where someone just loses his slot in order for someone below to take his slot. In essence, you can consider that Ms10e Gagamaru 7-0 replaced J12w Tokushinho 6-9 and that Ms1e Kotoyutaka 4-3 replaced J10w Sotairyu 5-10. Interestingly, Kise Beya has one wrestler step out from the curtain, in Gagamaru, while at the same time, another wrestler must step behind the curtain, in Tokushinho.

Sotairyu fell 3 wins short at the Aki basho of continuing his Kachikoshi streak. Before the Aki Basho, he had 6 consecutive tournaments will a majority wins.