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2014 Haru Post-basho Report
It's
difficult for me to report on day 14 and senshuraku, and then follow up with a
post basho report as well because I've already used up my takes in the daily
reports, so I'm going to combine some of my takes from senshuraku into my
post-basho report and call it good for the Haru basho. To start off, I was
really bothered by the conclusion of the Haru basho, and it had nothing to do
with Kakuryu's taking his first ever yusho but more to do with all of the yaocho
from day 13 on. I don't remember a basho where more rikishi received rewards and
accolades whether it was in the form of kachi-koshi or a special prize or even a
yusho where it was set up by fake sumo. I guess what's bugging me the most is
Yokozuna Hakuho's three-bout losing streak to conclude the basho. Now, I don't
know why Hakuho chose to let up in his final three bouts starting with
Kotoshogiku on day 13, but with a banzuke this bad and a Yokozuna that good, it
really insults my intelligence to see him finish 0-3 not to mention how it
demeans the rank.
Of course, the problem with sumo right now is the Sumo Association has lowered
the bar so much in order to give the Japanese rikishi a shot at anything that
becoming a Yokozuna or an Ozeki doesn't mean what it used to. My take with
Kakuryu's promotion to Yokozuna is largely the same as it was when Harumafuji
secured the rank: he fulfilled the low requirements expected of the current
Japanese rikishi, but when I look back on two plus decades of watching sumo, not
only is he not a Yokozuna but he'd be lucky to qualify as a borderline Ozeki.
More than lowering the standards in regards to achieving a new rank, I just hate
to see Hakuho's greatness cheapened like this, and I can only imagine the
turmoil felt inside by the truly great Yokozuna of the past. But...beggars can't
be choosers, and this is the path the Sumo Association decided to take, and so
they must live with the consequences.
The biggest story coming out of the Haru basho in my opinion is the right wrist
injury that Hakuho suffered on day 13 after taking a fall to benefit
Kotoshogiku. Kane and I were looking for any sort of news reports about the
injury after it happened, but we were both surprised that more wasn't being made
of it. Even in the day 14 and day 15 broadcasts the injury didn't seem to be a
concern to anyone, and the excuse of his injured wrist was not used in the media
to explain his three-bout losing streak. Now, an outlet here and there may have
mentioned it, but it certainly wasn't a talking point, the kind of topic you see
every media outlet hype when it's part of the Association's agenda. So, if
Hakuho's wrist wasn't a difference in his day 14 and day 15 bouts, what was the
reason for his performance? I don't even need to review both of the bouts on
senshuraku (he actually won the first one by tsuki-otoshi, but it was ruled
doutai, or both rikishi hit down at the same time). Hakuho was lethargic and
upright in both contests, and so I'm wondering why?
I can only speculate as to the motive behind Hakuho's performance or the kinds
of conversations that took place in the back halls of the venue the final few
days, but I just have this uneasy feeling that we've seen the last of Hakuho's
dominance...for all of the wrong reasons. In the past, I've mentioned how it's
curious that foreign Yokozuna will all of a sudden come up with these phantom
injuries that lead them to go kyujo. Most recently it was Harumafuji and his
ankles, but those injuries can't be traced to any particular bout or even a
particular basho, and the same goes for Asashoryu's elbow injuries and
Musashimaru's wrist injuries. In the case of Hakuho, I guess we can trace this
new right wrist injury to his day 13 bout, but on day 14, there he was grabbing
Kakuryu's belt and holding on with the right hand, not something he'd be able to
do if his wrist really was injured. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that
so little over the last three days of the Haru basho made any sense to me, and
with the high volume of yaocho occurring over that same span, I'm uneasy as to
the motive behind it all.
On that note, let's review the performance of the rikishi starting with
newly-crowned Yokozuna, Kakuryu. From the start of the basho, it looked as if
Kakuryu was in his usual cruise-control mode meaning he was headed for 9 or 10
wins. He won the first two days by hataki-komi and then lost to Okinoumi on day
3, and by that point, I thought his Yokozuna run was over. For the rest of week
1, he fought nothing but a bunch of stiffs where he put together a nice string
of yori-kiri wins, but on day 8, he was back to his pull sumo ways against
Goeido. While he did beat the Sekiwake, it looked to me as if he purposefully
left himself open should Goeido have the wherewithal to capitalize. Against a
rikishi with game in Tochiohzan on day 11, he was back to his pull sumo and to
this point, he looked as if he was just going through the motions. His sumo
certainly didn't look like that of a Yokozuna, but the Kak won a ridiculously
easy bout against Harumafuji on day 12 before setting up his win against
Kisenosato with yet another pull when he could have easily gained moro-zashi
from the tachi-ai and ended it that way. Hakuho let him win on day 14, and so he
only needed to defeat Kotoshogiku on senshuraku to clinch his first career
yusho. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel.
As we look back on the Kak's performance, it lacked any real drama or any
attitude for that matter on the part of the Ozeki. Normally when a rikishi is
hot and gets on a run, he just kicks everyone's ass, but Kakuryu never really
roughed anyone up. He just plodded along, found himself at 10-1 heading into his
first Yokozuna contest, and then was given the green light to beat Kotoshogiku
on senshuraku. I don't mean to detract from Kakuryu's promotion because I have
been constantly stressing the fact that Kakuryu is a much better rikishi than he
has been allowed to show the last few years, but his performance in Haru wasn't
anything special. Still, when you're trying to measure up to standards that were
lowered for Japanese rikishi previously (namely Kisenosato and his last two faux
runs), Kakuryu didn't have to be great to go 14-1.
Exactly two years ago, Kakuryu found himself in this same position...a one bout
lead heading into senshuraku with a stiff as is final opponent. He threw his
bout to Goeido two years ago, so I'm wondering why he was allowed to beat
Kotoshogiku and clinch promotion. There is no way that the Sumo Association is
fine with three dominant, Mongolian Yokozuna on the banzuke, and if these three
fought all-out every day of every basho, you would have the three Yokozuna at
12-0 with everyone else around 7-8 wins by day 13 every basho. Since that's
obviously not going to happen, what is in the cards to keep everything in check?
I think we'll find out starting with the Natsu basho, but my fear is that
Kakuryu and Harumafuji will rule the roost for a season while Hakuho struggles
with this wrist injury in a 2 for 1 trade that pads the career yusho count of
HowDo and Kakuryu while keeping Hakuho's in check. I hope I'm wrong in that
speculation, but we've seen the last few years that there has been much give and
take in sumo all in an effort to give the appearance that the Japanese rikishi
are at least on the same playing field as the Mongolians when everyone knows
they're not.
As for Yokozuna Hakuho, his sumo took a very similar course to Kakuryu in that
he left himself open and, but no one was really able to exploit it until he met
his fellow Mongolians. Hakuho also relented quite a bit on his bruising tachi-ai
where he reaches for the right inside position in order to set up the left outer
grip. Instead, we saw a lot of kachi-age and a lot of tachi-ai where he stood
more upright instead of plowing straight ahead. I'm not buying any of his losses
this basho, and I think the last legitimate loss he suffered was to Myogiryu
back at the 2013 Hatsu basho. As I mentioned earlier in the basho, Hakuho had
never once allowed another rikishi to overtake him for the yusho, but it did
happen here in Osaka, and I think that's another factor causing me to feel too
uneasy about things as we head into the Natsu basho. I really don't have
anything else to say about the Yokozuna; his ending in Osaka was a fluke, and
we'll just have to wait to see what the reasoning behind it all was.
Yokozuna Harumafuji seemed more aggressive this basho than his two countryman,
but he was also coming off of a kyujo and needed to re-establish himself. His
sumo was marked by his fierce nodowa tachi-ai where he drives his opponents back
a few steps at the tachi-ai, but HowDo sure had a difficult time finishing guys
off after obtaining that initial momentum. Still, there was too much craziness
going on this tournament for me to really comment on his strengths and
weaknesses.
The fourth rikishi on the board this basho was Ozeki Kotoshogiku who needed two
obvious yaocho at the hands of the Yokozuna to even finish at 8-7. Once again,
allowing Kotoshogiku to score those two wins is not only an effort to help the
Geeku get his kachi-koshi, but it also tells the Japanese fans that "yes, our
guys can still compete with and beat these Yokozuna." Yeah, right. Kotoshogiku
is running on fumes, and his only legitimate win over a kachi-koshi rikishi was
against Yoshikaze on day 11, but I even have my doubts there.
Rounding out the Ozeki, Kisenosato was a step better than his countryman
checking in at 9-6 without the benefit of two wins over the Yokozuna, and
I think this is about where the Kid belongs on the banzuke. I'm sure we'll see a
few more manufactured runs for Kisenosato, but I think this is about as straight
up of a basho as we've gotten from the Ozeki since he was promoted to that rank.