Hoshitori Contest: Banzuke Rules

[Ian Frank <ianf@aisb.ed.ac.uk>]

Here's a sumo-related topic to fill in this, ermm... lull...  between
basho:

I got a fair number of replies to the suggestion of a banzuke for the
hoshitori contest, with most of them saying things like "Does this mean
you're volunteering to design the rules?"....

OK, so I can take a hint (well, eventually :-), and with Yorikiri as my
assistant (or, rather, me as Yorikiri's assistant) came up with the
scheme attached below. It should be mostly self-explanatory, as it's
been designed to be as simple as possible to administer (in case I end
up doing that, too :-) If anyone has any comments or feedback, how
about sharing them with the list?

        - Ian.

--------------8<-----------------  CUT HERE --------------->8------------------

Provisional Banzuke Rules for Hoshitori Contest
-----------------------------------------------

Chart:
------


         PROMOTIONS          RANK       DEMOTIONS
         ----------          ----       ----------

     consecutive top 2 ---->   Y   ----> consecutive make-koshi: retire!

                           
                           +-> O  __
   3 consecutive 11-4      |        |    consecutive make-koshi
	                   |__    <-+
                           +-> S  ____
             kachi-koshi   |          |
                           |__        |
                           +-> K  __  |  make-koshi
             kachi-koshi   |        | |
	                   |      <-+-+
	                   +-- M1 __
	     kachi-koshi   |        |    make-koshi
                           |      <-+  
	                   +-- M2 __
       	     kachi-koshi   |        |    make-koshi
	       	           |      <-+  
			   +-- M3 __
			   |   .    |
			   |   .    .
			   |   .    .
             kachi-koshi   |
                           |
                           +-- J  

Explanation:
------------
	
  O As in real sumo, the main aim is to get kachi-koshi each basho.
    The hoshitori equivalent of winning 8-7 is to come in the top
    47% of hoshitori players. All players (with the exceptions of Yokozuna
    and Ozeki) that fail to do this are demoted. Komusubi and Sekiwake
    are demoted to M1 ("Make-koshi ichi-mai-me" :-), those at M1 are
    demoted to M2, M2 are demoted to M3, etc...

  O Making kachi-koshi is rewarded with a promotion to Komusubi.
    All non-sanyaku players making kachi-koshi in a tournament will be
    ranked at Komusubi for the next.

  O To be promoted to Sekiwake is harder than making Komusubi and
    requires two *consecutive* kachi-koshi tournaments.

  O Ozeki promotion requires a player to finish in the top 26%
    three times in a row (the hoshitori equivalent of making "11-4"
    three times in a row). Since finishing in the top 26% twice will
    result in Sekiwake promotion, only Sekiwake will ever be promoted
    to Ozeki.
    
  O To become Yokozuna, the prime requirement is to achieve a
    "yuushou or equivalent" twice in a row. To increase the chances of
    this actually happening(!), second place will be regarded as
    "equivalent" to a win. The three-basho record is also considered,
    so Yokozuna promotion also requires that the basho before the two
    "yuushou" was not make-koshi. This means that only Ozeki/Sekiwake
    can be promoted to Yokozuna.

  O Yokozuna cannot be demoted. Consecutive make-koshi will force them to
    retire and the player will have to start again from Juryo. (But players
    retired in this way can keep the same shikona and just add a "II" to
    the end :-).

  O New players start as Juryo wrestlers, and follow exactly the
    same promotion rules as those above: making kachi-koshi takes
    them to Komusubi, make-koshi takes them to M1. This means that
    the Juryo rank distinguishes them from regular players without
    putting them at the disadvantage of requiring a long climb to
    get to sanyaku.

  O Changing shikona is OK, but it can only change your luck, not
    your rank :-)

  O The exception to this is when any player reaches Make-koshi
    16-mai-me (!), when they'll be allowed to humanely retire
    their current incarnation, and start again from Juryo :-)

  O No exceptions for yasumi. Missing a basho is counted as make-koshi.
	
Comments:
---------

These rules will tend to cluster people between the ranks of Sekiwake
and M2 or M3, but that in itself is no bad thing.  To increase the
spread a little, the ranks are split further, to make the following
possibilities:

Y        Yokozuna
Y-       Abunai Yokozuna   (Yokozuna with makekoshi in last basho)
O        Ozeki                
O-       Kadoban Ozeki     (Ozeki with makekoshi in previous basho)
S++      Sekiwake          (Ozeki candidate)
S+       Sekiwake          (Sekiwake with 11-4 in previous basho)
S        Sekiwake  
K+       Komusubi          (Komusubi with 11-4 in previous basho)
K        Komusubi          
Mi       Makekoshi i-Maime
J        Juuryou

Applying these rules to just the Shikona that have appeared in both the
last two basho (and deciding precedence among equally ranked players by
looking at their relative positions in the most recent basho) gives:

S++  Muwashimaru
S++  Namihanada
S    Dosukoi
S    Musashidozan 
K+   Yuudachi
K    Toyonishiki
K    Aoraki
K    Yorikiri
M1   Kokuozan
M1   Obana
M2   Mairyu
M2   Beisobarumaru
M2   Mitayama

This table could be expanded by using Totoro's records of past hoshitori
contests to figure out the positions of players who have changed their
shikona, or everyone could start afresh from Juryo this basho...