#nobehara

[gocchandesu]

YOU DID IT BABY BOY WE'RE ALL SO PROUD

[sycamoretrees]

i know this won't mean anything to most of you, but my two best lower-division sumo guys Enho and Nobehara are fighting today and i am: stressed about it. this match isn't particularly important in the grand scheme of things but it is to ME so i'm gonna explain the situation out of stress under the cut to cope lol

for context - sumo is divided into divisions, with the top two divisions counting as the professional ranks where you get paid a good salary. Everyone is trying to reach these top divisions. If you win more matches than you lose in a tournament, you move up the rankings, and if you do that enough, you eventually get promoted to the top divisions.

Enho and Nobehara are currently in the top 30* or so guys in Makushita, the third division. At this level, they are a couple of good tournaments away from making it to the professional ranks. However, in sumo, if you have a losing record in a tournament, you sink down in the rankings - meaning you have to make up all that ground again in the next tournament, if you can. There are 6 tournaments a year, so it can take a long time to get back to where you started.

Nobehara

Nobehara (23) is currently at his highest ever rank. He's made it to Makushita five times before in his 4 year career, falling back down to the lower divisions all five times. He's improved on his best ranking two tournaments in a row, and is currently sitting at Makushita 13 with a 2-2 record**. he is also my FAVOURITE SPECIAL GUY from the stable i follow through their youtube channel, he's the jocular older brother-type with a heart of gold, who had a bit of an emotional breakthrough leading to this last 6 months or so of success where he stays at a more even keel whether winning or losing, and he really really wants to make it to the professional divisions. His stablemate Mita just got promoted to the lower professional division this tournament, where he's doing very well, and Nobehara is now the highest ranked guy in the stable not in the professional divisions.

Enho

Enho (30), meanwhile, spent four and half years in the top two divisions, rising pretty high in the top division for much of it, before ongoing near-career-ending neck problems forced him to withdraw from competition in May 2023, for what would be a 14 month absence from the sport. His ranking plummeted to the sixth and lowest division, meaning that since his return in July 2024, he's been fighting his way back up as if starting his entire sumo career over again. He has also achieved a 6-1 result in every tournament since his return, five in a row, which is crazy. He is also very very handsome. Oh and also, Enho is CRAZY small for a sumo wrestler? As an extremely rough eyeballed estimate, the average top division rikishi is about 6ft1 and 340lb - Enho is on the wrong side of 5ft6 and about 224lb***. Enho is ALSO sitting at 2-2 currently.

(an added nuance is that Nobehara has mentioned being somewhat mentored by now-retired rikishi Ishiura who went to the same high school as him - Ishiura and Enho were/are close friends and stablemates, so there is a Connection going into this match)

Anyway, their bout today won't confirm a winning or losing record for either guy, but it will push each of them a crucial step closer to it****. And it will also hurt my HEART.

as a reward for reading this far (nobody read this far lol) here are a couple of fun Enho matches:

*there are two guys per rank, so being ranked Makushita 15 or higher puts you in that 30 guy contender bracket

**rikishi (wrestlers) in Makushita or lower divisions have 7 matches per tournament, so at least 4 wins are needed for a winning record. In the top divisions, rikishi fight every day of the 15-day tournament so a minimum of 8 wins is needed

***here's a picture of him next to NJPW wrestler Taichi, who isn't even particular big for a regular pro wrestler

(source)

****i am not gonna say who i think is going to win. but i know.

[theeleganceofthewolf]

I'm so proud of him

[myrakkanen]

so happy that Nabatame and Nobehara got their winning records already 🥰💕