No Maezumo This Basho: Shikoroyama Recruits Yamada and Kudo, Both 16, Will Still Be Presented to the Crowd on Day 8
There is no maezumo this basho even though there are new recruits. The only two eligible are Yamada and Kudo, both 16, of Shikoroyama stable, and as stablemates they cannot face each other in a basho, so their first bouts are on hold. Of the stable's four recruits, the two foreigners will debut next basho or later, and no returning wrestlers needed maezumo. Only 52 people entered professional sumo this year, the fewest since six basho a year became standard in 1958, but maezumo was held at the other basho; Nikkan Sports says it has been skipped before when there was only one recruit or during the pandemic, but a case like this is uncommon.
'I wanted to try maezumo. It's a shame,' Yamada said. Kudo: 'It can't be helped.' Kudo did judo in junior high and was scouted by Shikoroyama (ex-komusubi Homasho) but first took another path, assembling shower parts at a factory, before the stablemaster asked him again and he joined in September. Yamada, an Akita prefectural judo champion in junior high, was scouted by the okamisan, who happened to be sitting in front of him at a tournament; after watching the Aki basho ('The slap of the collision and the cheering gave me goosebumps the whole time'), he joined in October. Shikoroyama calls Yamada (170 cm, 128 kg) fiery and energetic and Kudo (169 cm, 68 kg) quiet but determined: 'Opposite types. Hardship gets split in two and growth doubles.' They will still appear at the shinjo shusse hiro on Day 8 in kesho-mawashi. Yamada wants to 'reach makushita in three years and then aim for juryo'; Kudo vows to 'become a sekitori' (Nikkan Sports).