Day 1 Comments

Day one of the oft unpredictable Haru basho brought several mono-ii and nage-no-uchiai (the throw happy George was surely elated), but in the end it was a predictable start on paper once the dust settled. 

The storylines of Osaka do not center on Asashoryu for a change, but don't bet against Sho. He may be underpracticed but he only has to fight once a day, folks. It doesn't matter that he's out of breath after 7 practice bouts. He's as good once as he ever was, and it showed today against Komusubi Miyabiyama. After a tsuppari start, Sho got inside and promptly dumped Miyabi via a rare "okuri-nage", or throw from behind one's opponent. Since becoming Yokozuna, never has two basho gone by without an Asashoryu yusho. I look for that trend to continue, lower TV ratings be damned. 

All eyes were on Yokozuna candidate Tochiazuma of course, and he delivered against new Komusubi Roho. The Russian presented an interesting strategy to come in just as low as Azuma, but the Ozeki matched the effort with poise and eventually forced Roho into an ill-advised pull which sealed his fate. Oshi-dashi. Roho should check his newly purchased white Hummer, which was to symbolize "shiro-boshi", for black specs.

It was painful to watch Ozeki Kotooshu struggle to even crouch in preparation for his bout with M1 Tamanoshima. Gingerly would summarize his day one approach. However, there was nothing suspect about his heart as Oshu overcame Tama despite not garnering the morozashi he was shooting for. The right knee held up okay amid a spirited oshi-zumo and Oshu eventually got Tama off balance to force him out. Considering he never touched the belt and the knee being what it is, I'd say Oshu came away very happy with a day one victory. So did the crowd, which seemed to behind the embattled Bulgarian. 

Now it's time for the Kadoban kyodai, or "brink of demotion brothers". First Kaio, who in true Kaio fashion, snagged defeat from the brink of victory to start the basho off in a disappointing fashion. One of the couple gyoji-sashi-chigae, or "gyoji over-rulings" of the day, the judges correctly determined that Ama successfully tight-roped the tawara long enough for the ungainly Kaio to step out of the ring. Kaio seemed hurried to get rid of Ama as if he didn't want to get locked up with the ubiquitous little guy. No dice, as Ama sidestepped the overanxious Ozeki to put up a yellow light on Kaio's 9th quest to keep rank. 

Fellow brink-of-demotion brother Chiyotaikai did his thing against Kokkai, banging into the Georgian and winning via pull down once he realized they guy wasn't moving. Chiyo seems to be able to win despite sub-par sumo early one, then garner momentum later so we'll have to take a wait-and-see outlook here. Kokkai, of course, is commencing Haru basho with a heavy heart as he is still mourning the recent death of his father.

What better opponent than The Pretender (Hokutoriki) for Sekiwake Hakuho to begin his quest for Ozeki? Easy as pie. Cake. Makes me want to shout "HEY, HOKU, HOW ABOUT PUTTING UP A FIGHT FOR ONCE?". The Pretender went straight for the pull-down after a token moro-te tachiai. It's about as bad as sumo gets, folks. It took about 2 seconds for Hakuho to push Hoku out. An uneventful start to Hakuho's quest to become the 4th youngest Ozeki in history behind Takanohana, Kitanoumi and Taiho. Not bad company.

Down in the rank-and-file, M11 Takamisakari came out in a new blue suit ready to shed the make-koshi devils once and for all. Robo-cop has make-koshied on day 15 for two basho straight now. Despite eating a stiff harite at the tachiai from Roho's little bro Hakurozan, Sakari proceeded to smother the Russian with persistent pressure and an excuse me Uwate-nage win. 

Lastly, our old friend M13 Kyokushuzan thought he started the basho with a historic win against January's Juryo yusho rikishi Tochinonada (13-2), but a mono-ii and questionable over-ruling of the referee's decision saddled Shu with a sour day 1 loss. Kyokushuzan now holds the dubious record of most consecutive hiramaku basho in history at 54, dating way back to May of 1997. Congratulations to Shu for climbing atop the record books, cementing his place in sumo to represent the ultimate in mediocre performance.