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2016 Hatsu Post-basho Report
On that note, let's cover some of the individual
performances starting with Yokozuna Harumafuji. Once again, it's really
pointless for me to break down his sumo when everything is not straight up. The
highlight for me was his bout against Kisenosato. You could just see that he was
fired up after all the Mongolians sacrificed for Kotoshogiku, and so he came out
and just stormed through the Ozeki. Then, when they actually called a mono-ii
and made both guys stand there to wait for the judgment, you could see a look on
Kisenosato's face like, "Just give him the win...please." They didn't and made
them go once more, and once again, Harumafuji just destroyed Kisenosato off of
the dohyo and into the area of the chief judge sitting in front of the dohyo. We
all know that when he wants to do it, Harumafuji can blow any rikishi besides
Hakuho off of the starting lines with a choke hold and his freight train shove
attack. We just never see it more than once or twice a basho any more. It's yet
another one of those noticeable traits missing from an elite rikishi's sumo as
this movement continues of lowering the bar and of conditioning fans to get used
to the Mongolians fighting below their real ability.
As for Hakuho, we all have that vision of him fighting from the East side
smoothly charging forward, getting the right inside position, and the ultimate
left outer grip. When he was allowed to dominate the sport, we saw this
beautiful tachi-ai day after day after day. Now, however, we rarely see this
signature move from the Yokozuna. I mean, is there anyone who thinks that
Kotoshogiku could really deny Hakuho that right inside position if he wanted it?
If Hakuho wants to win that bout, there's no way he pulls his right arm to the
outside giving Kotoshogiku the Ozeki's favored position, hidari-yotsu. It's just
little things like this that aggravate me to no end, primarily because most fans
don't get it. Oh well. The Hakuho highlight this basho had to have been his
sitting ringside there watching Toyonoshima defeat Kotoshogiku on day 13. The
look on the Yokozuna's face was priceless. It was all he could do not to shake
his head in disbelief and go, "You dumbasses." I know he was thinking it. As for
Hakuho's bout against Kisenosato, I think it actually trumps the Takanohana -
Wakanohana playoff bout at the 1995 Kyushu basho for most obvious yaocho in the
modern era...and that's saying something. The old Taka - Waka bout was so fake,
even Kenji admitted as much to me.
Rounding out the Yokozuna, Kakuryu is not as obtuse as he's made out to appear
in the media. Primarily, the talk always seems to surround his "pull habit."
Kakuryu does not have a pull habit. He's actually one of the best offensive
pullers in the game, but he's smart enough to know that when he needs to go
mukiryoku, the easiest way is to put both hands at the back of his opponent's
head and feign the pull. Like his fellow countryman, he is currently going
through the motions...and still winning 11-12 bouts per basho in his sleep.
In the Ozeki ranks, Kisenosato actually struggled most of the basho. By day four
he was already 2-2, and nobody took him seriously the rest of the way. Heading
into the final weekend, he was 7-6 with two of the three Yokozuna left on his
schedule. After just getting his ass handed to him...twice on day 13, the final
two Yokozuna just rolled over for him inflating his record even further to 9-6
and conditioning the fans for even more yaocho to come. It's simply not worth
breaking down his basho day by day, but he's probably got the usual 2 - 3
legitimate wins mixed in with those nine. A true champion he ain't. He didn't
earn his way to the rank, and the content of his sumo can't even be described. I
mean, somebody do me a favor and tell me this guy's style? Okay, I know the
frequent position he assumes in most of his losses, but starting from the
tachi-ai, what does he do to win his bouts?
Then there's Ozeki Goeido. I finally had an epiphany that will enable me to
describe this guy's style to a T. You start with a blindfold and a baseball bat,
you make him touch his nose to the base of the bat, you spin him around in a
circle three times, you tie his shoelaces together, and then you finally stand
him straight up and send him into his tachi-ai. Kane had the best line of the
tournament when he texted me Saturday morning and said, "Well, Goeido got his
double digits!" If you're scoring at home--and I am!--Goeido's record as an
Ozeki now is 65-70. Maybe prior to the tournament when he declared, "First
things first, I want to win in double digits," he actually meant, I hope to pick
up my 10th legitimate win as an Ozeki...in my CAREER. Good night this dude's
bad.
Rounding out the Ozeki, word is that Terunofuji had successful knee surgery and
is planning to participate in the Haru basho. His stable master has been
extremely optimistic regarding Fuji the Terrible's progress. He's going to be
one of the last storylines as we head into Haru, and I actually think he should
sit out the March tournament and then regain his Ozeki rank by winning 10 in
May. You know that his countrymen wouldn't stand in his way.
In the Sekiwake ranks, there's really nothing Tochiohzan could do this basho as
the dude ended up 7-8 with that eighth loss coming at the hands of Kotoshogiku
on day 14. If you're going to boost Kotoshogiku up with extra wins in a
tournament, that means someone else has to lose out, and Tochiohzan took his
lumps in January. The good news is that nobody just kicked ass in the sanyaku /
upper Maegashira, but how could they? You're propelling an Ozeki to 14 wins who
normally averages 8 or 9, and those wins have to come from somewhere. Ultimately
what I'm trying to say is that Tochiohzan's demotion should be lateral, so
expect him to maintain the West Sekiwake slot in March instead of the East. BFD.
Counterpart Yoshikaze will move one slot over to his East after finagling his
eighth win against Tochinoshin on senshuraku. The sole difference between
Yoshikaze and Tochiohzan is that Yoshikaze didn't defer in his bout to
Kisenosato. These are likely two of your top three Japanese rikishi, and I'd say
15 wins between them is pretty par for the course.
There's nothing really worth commenting about regarding the Komusubi. Ikioi
finished an expected 5-10 while Tochinoshin one-upped him at 6-9. I can't say
enough about Tochinoshin and his willingness to play ball. I think he's easily
the fifth best guy in all of sumo right now, but his record will never reflect
it because of the color of his skin.
M1 Aminishiki had one bright moment the entire basho, and that was his counter
utchari at the edge against Tochinoshin. Other than that, this guy is all henka
and pull. Counterpart Shohozan was useless this tournament, and it's funny
because when they let him go straight up against Goeido on day 7, he kicked the
Ozeki's ass. Shohozan was only fighting at this level because they buoyed him up
in Kyushu in front of the hometown fans.
It was good to see M2 Takarafuji pick up kachi-koshi. When speaking of the
Sekiwake, I said that they were two of the best three Japanese rikishi on the
banzuke, and I think Takarafuji is the other. Despite giving up wins to two
Ozeki, the dude managed a kachi-koshi without help from his friends checking in
at 8-7. Expect a similar performance from him as a Komusubi in March.
I have a lot of respect for M2 Aoiyama. Like Tochinoshin, he's a guy that
actually could flirt with the Ozeki rank if they would just unleash him. There
should be no surprise that he finished 7-8 after an 0-7 start. Through those
first seven days, he fought the three Yokozuna, who aren't going to defer to
him. He unfortunately got Terunofuji while he was still around, so there's four
losses. And then he gave up political losses to two Ozeki and probably
Yoshikaze. If Tochinoshin is number #5 on the banzuke, this guy is #6 with
Osunaarashi out.
I'm still trying to figure out if M3 Ichinojo is just entirely out of shape or
if some of this is for show. You remember when Yamamotoyama was around. That
dude was just so fat he couldn't move around sufficiently in the dohyo. I don't
think Ichinojo has gotten to that level, but something here just doesn't add up.
No real comments on M3 Kaisei (5-10) or M4 Kyokushuho (7-8), so let's touch
briefly on M4 Kotoyuki, who likely earned hisself (as we say in Utah) a Komusubi
spot for March. The dude finished 9-6 that included a loss to Harumafuji, and
the one thing I really like about Kotoyuki is that none of his bouts are fake.
This was all legitimate stuff, and so you can see what someone can accomplish
just outside of the jo'i with a good tachi-ai, good de-ashi, and a solid brand
of sumo with no variation. Dude's an oshi guy, and he sticks to his guns. You
may remember that I really used to have a thing for this guy, but when he dissed
Hakuho...oh, about a year ago...when the Yokozuna asked him not to bark like a
dog prior to his bouts, the rose has lost its bloom a bit. Speaking of that,
should be interesting for Kotoyuki to finally face up with the Yokozuna at a
hon-basho after ignoring his advice. Trust me, Hakuho has not forgotten about
it. Anyway, Kotoyuki is one of the bright spots in sumo of late because you know
that all of his fights are straight up. That will change when he enters the jo'i
because coming from the same stable as Kotoshogiku, Sadogatake-oyakata now has
an extra pawn with which to work.
In the same vein, it was also nice to watch M6 Okinoumi fight the full two
weeks. Okay, he did give Shodai the freebie on day 14, but like Kotoyuki, it was
nice to watch a guy work his craft for nearly the entire tournament. Okinoumi's
10-5 will propel him back into the jo'i for March where of course politics will
take over, and he'll just be a pawn in the division.
M7 Toyonoshima had a great run making a mockery of the banzuke as he posted a
12-3 record with all three of those losses coming to legitimate sanyaku caliber
rikishi. On day 13 after he drubbed Kotoshogiku, Toyonoshima actually made the
comment in the dressing room, "I hope I didn't just betray the country." The
fact that he even said it indicates that he knew what was brewing. I mean, if
you're the dark horse in a yusho race, and you just scored a huge win over a
previously undefeated, you should be fired up. Toyonoshima wasn't. He spent time
afterwards second guessing himself...almost as if he had to defend his actions.
Defend them against what? Anyway, Toyonoshima looked good against the watered
down competition as he picked up a deserved special prize. He did make amends on
senshuraku for beating Kotoshogiku. After the Ozeki clinched his bout against
Goeido, when he returned back into the tunnel, there was "rival" Toyonoshima
waiting for him eager to offer a congratulatory handshake. I'm telling you, the
cheese was so thick after this yusho that Pizza Hut has apparently ponied up for
some kensho banners next basho in order to get in on the action.
I expected the M8 rank to dominate, and we got it from Takayasu (11-4) and not
so much from Myogiryu (8-7). In fact, Myogiryu was down 5-7 and needed a three
bout winning streak to clinch kachi-koshi. I get the sense that Myogiryu's body
can only take a beating for so long and then he has to drop down the ranks and
recover. He just didn't look sharp this basho, but just wait...in a few more
tournaments he'll regain his Sekiwake slot.
Let's close with the two rookies. M12 Shodai picked up a fighting spirit prize,
which is customary for a rookie who can win in double digits. The dude had a few
bones thrown his way, but generally, he appears as if he'll be a good edition to
the division. I like Shodai and Mitakeumi and think they will ultimately make it
to the sanyaku. As for M16 Kagayaki, I'm not going to write him off just yet.
It's not like he's one of those guys that makes his debut after 50 some odd
total tournaments in sumo. He needs to learn how to compete in the division, and
I think he could get there someday. I'm not thinking sanyaku material at this
point, but I haven't written him off after one horrible debut. And it was
horrible.
Well, in the days proceeding the tournament, Japan has absolutely gone gaga for
Kotoshogiku. Oh, and I failed to mention that he held his wedding reception at
the end of January...yet another opportunity to milk the headlines. It'd be one
thing if the Ozeki actually earned it all, but inviting all of this extra
scrutiny is a slippery slope as I've previously mentioned. For starters,
Kotoshogiku is officially up for Yokozuna promotion in March. I know, I should
have warned you not to eat anything before reading that sentence, but he is
seriously being considered for the Yokozuna rank. It's almost as if the last
couple of years never happened let alone the last fifteen days. If you're the
Sumo Association, I just don't think you want to invite too much scrutiny moving
forward. What if you have a bunch of fans who have been turned off from sumo
over the last few years willing to give the sport another shot? If the
Association puts the same product atop the dohyo that they did in January, the
returning fans are going to be even more disgusted by what they see. You just
have to be so careful when playing with yaocho fire, but the Association
apparently feels it's necessary.
Since the Hatsu basho marked the 10 year anniversary since the last Japanese
rikishi yusho, I'll end this report reminding you all of the 16 year anniversary
since Itai sent shockwaves through the sumo world with his revelations that as
many as 80% of the bouts of his time were fake. I went through and reread some
of the articles when Itai made the declaration, and it was quite fascinating how
Itai's claims make perfect sense, especially on the heels of the 2016 Hatsu
basho. It's also interesting how Itai's detractors use the same arguments
against him that many people use against me. Ultimately, the attempt is to place
the focus on everything imaginable...except the actual sumo.
It was George W. Bush who famously said, "Fool me once, uh, shame, uh, shame on
you. Fool me (long pause)...don't fool me again!" I know that nobody wants to
believe that they've been "fooled twice," but I don't know how else to break
down what I'm observing atop the dohyo. Until then, read the following stories
from the past to tide you over until the next basho.
New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/03/sports/03iht-wrestle.2.t.html
Time Magazine: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053678,00.html
Google "Itai sumo wrestler" for more information on him.