The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Aki 2011 edition)

        My previous blog dealt with the rikishi who had the best performances power ranking-wise in Aki. This blog looks at the rikishi who turned in good (forward moving) sumo, bad (henka) sumo, and ugly (non-forward moving sumo) in Aki.
        A simple rating system is used to determine forward moving sumo. A rikishi gets awarded 3 points for a bout he wins moving forward or throwing (and occassionally for tripping) his opponent. A rikishi gets awarded 2 points for victory resulting from a push down, a pull down, or stepping aside after the initial tachi-ai. A rikishi gets 1 point for a "lucky" victory. A lucky victory is where the rikishi wins despite being outwrestled and not through his efforts but because of some mistake by his opponent. Examples of this at Aki included Homasho's victory over Aran (where Homasho was manhandled and thrown off the dahyo and into the crowd but won because Aran inadvertently stepped out first), Takanoyama's victory over Shotenro (another unforced step out) and Baruto's victory over Takekaze (Takekaze had Baruto turned around and almost out when he fell down, and although Baruto was applying minimal pressure it wasn't sufficient to avoid this being called a "lucky" victory). A winning rikishi cannot be awarded 0 points. If he wins he is at a minimum lucky and gets one point. The one exception to this is if a rikishi henka's (steps to the side) at the tachi-ai. In the matches where this occurs the winning rikishi gets a -1, no matter how brilliant and forward moving his victory might later be.
        Losing rikishi get awarded 2 points if they move forward and almost win a match. They get awarded 1 point if they put up good resistance. If they do nothing or essentially nothing they are assigned 0 points. Finally, if a losing rikishi began the match with a henka he is given a -1.
        A perfect score would be 45 -- fifteen matches where the winner displayed forward moving sumo. In any tournament where a rikish produces a score of 2 a match -- 30 -- or more, he is displaying good sumo. The rikish who produced such scores at Aki 2011 are:

Good Sumo

39  Hakuho (13-2)
37  Kisenosato (12-3)
37  Kotoshogiki (12-3)
36  Gagamaru (11-4)
34  Kitataiki (10-5)
32  Baruto (10-5)
32  Toyonoshima (8-7)
31  Aminishiki (10-5)

The Bad

The bad rikishi are those who were guilty of multiple henkas. The list at Aki is as follows:

4  Kimurayama
4  Yoshiazuma
4  Yoshikaze

3  Aran
3  Asasekiryu
3  Sagatsukasa
3  Tokitenku

2  Kyukutenho

Not much to say here, really, because they are the usual suspects. I guess I'm mildly surprised that Kokkai could go kachi koshi with only one henka. It shows how weak the upper makuuchi division is in wake of all the banishments. Ending this part on a positive note, kudos to Takanoyama, who weighed in at under 220 pounds, for eschewing crap sumo (he only resorted to a henka once, on day 9).

The Ugly

I know the use of the word "ugly" in sumo may seem like a tautology (no offense to the few exceptions, with Homasho, Okinoumi and Kotooshu coming to mind), but in this case I'm refering to an ugly style of sumo, which is basically anything non-forward moving: most notably side stepping, pushing down, pulling down. The list of rikishi wrestling the ugliest is:

  6  Tokitenku (6-9)

  9  Aran (5-10)
  9  Yoshikaze (6-9)

10  Kimurayama (7-8)
10  Yoshiazuma (5-10)

This one wasn't even close. Tokitenku displayed the worst quality of sumo throughout Aki.* He didn't do the worst in terms of wins (or even power rating) -- not even close -- but the quality of his sumo was the poorest (or most cynical, if you prefer). The next time Mike at Sumo Talk rags on Tokitenku I'll understand why. Tied for second ugliest was Aran, my personal bete noir. I find it especially shameful for one of the taller and stronger men in the makuuchi division to resort to such crappy sumo.

        * In the interests of historical accuracy, Masunoyama got a 2, which was actually the lowest forward moving score. I don't count his performance, however, as he was injured in his fourth match and had to withdraw in his fifth with a foot injury. Kotooshu produced a 6 but only in 6 matches, as he withdrew in his seventh match, allegedly with some sort of ill-defined injury.