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Senshuraku Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I think the Sumo Association squeezed as much out of this basho as they could have hoped for. If you go back to the early days of the tournament, you had two kadoban Ozeki with two losses each by the end of Day 3, and then the new Ozeki on the block was simply lackluster. Mitakeumi did end the tournament with double-digit wins, but you could just see from his sumo that there was nothing to get excited about. The final days of the basho did contain some drama, but the excitement was not set up by sound sumo, and so we saw little to no sound sumo on senshuraku as a result.

Sound sumo (or sumo naiyou as they say in Japanese) is not the MO these days for the Association, so they will take the full arena over the weekend and any bump in viewership they may have gotten (still waiting to see if they'll post the numbers), but the underlying problems that exist at sumo's core were not bettered by this tournament.

At the start of the day, the yusho race had been whittled down to three rikishi as follows:

12-2: Wakatakakage, Takayasu
11-3: Kotonowaka

Once again, with the lone Yokozuna missing, that leaderboard sans any Ozeki is glaring, especially with the lower tier dropping to three losses, and that has to be a sore spot for the elders. But...they'll deal with it in an effort to keep the sport going, and so we'll deal with it as well in the comments.

First up on that list was M6 Kotonowaka, who had the toughest draw of the leaders as he was paired against Komusubi Hoshoryu. Not only is Hoshoryu head and shoulders above anyone on the leaderboard, but he also entered the day at 7-7 in his sanyaku debut basho. There was little to no motivation for Hoshoryu to sell, which Kotonowaka found out the hard way. Kotonowaka kept his hands low and tight at the tachi-ai as if fishing for moro-zashi, but if you haven't practiced that move the first 14 days, it ain't gonna work against a Mongolian, and that was the case here as Hoshoryu easily got his right arm inside to send the bout to migi-yotsu.

Kotonowaka's length enabled him to grab a left outer grip, but Hoshoryu was already burrowed in deep enough. The Komusubi put his right thigh to the inside of Kotonowaka's left leg and went for a quick inside throw that moved Kotonowaka over a step laterally, and before Baby Waka could get settled with his footwork, Hoshoryu tested the maki-kae waters with his left while simultaneously setting up a dashi-nage with the right, and Hoshoryu read the situation from his opponent and decided that the inside dashi-nage throw would be best. The execution was swift and decisive and Kotonowaka went into that roll that the rikishi practice every morning as part of butsukari-geiko. Hoshoryu's win knocked Kotonowaka off of the leaderboard for good at 11-4, and the win also earns the Komusubi kachi-koshi in his sanyaku debut. Hoshoryu was beat straight up by just three rikishi this basho, and then he gave up three intentional losses on Days 8, 9, and 10 to Mitakeumi, Shodai, and Takayasu respectively.

We used to call Wakanosato the Barometer of the jo'i, but if you step back and look at Hoshoryu's tournament, it really puts this whole false banzuke concept into perspective. It was good to see him come away with at least kachi-koshi, and no, Kotonowaka could not beat the Barometer and so he isn't qualified to yusho.

With Kotonowaka out of the way, that brings us to M7 Takayasu who was paired against Suckiwake Abi, and Abi caught Takayasu with two hands to the throat knocking Takayasu completely upright and destabilizing his footwork. Takayasu tried to recover by moving right, but Abi caught him with a nice tsuki at the back of his left shoulder turning Takayasu around 180 degrees, and from there is was an easy okuri-taoshi in favor of Abi. Not much to break down here other than Takayasu got his ass kicked...by Abi. Like the previous bout covered, Abi was 7-7 coming in and had very little incentive to be bought off, and so this one was straight up and extremely lopsided. It just really puts into perspective how weak Takayasu and the three Ozeki really are. When they are attacked like this, they can do nothing. The result gave Abi kachi-koshi at 8-7 while Takayasu at 12-2 could only hope for a fixed bout in the Shodai - Wakatakakage affair at the end of the day.

Before we go there, I suppose we should comment on the Mitakeumi - Takakeisho bout that followed next. Mitakeumi henka'd weekly to his left at the tachi-ai, and Takakeisho just ran forward and down plopping to the dirt in about a second. Just great. You get a higher number of fans tuning in, and this is the type of sumo you get from two so-called Ozeki? It's a disgrace, and the Association should be ashamed of itself for soiling itself like this. Mitakeumi moves to 11-4 with the horrible win while Takakeisho rests easy at 8-7.

And that brings us to the final bout of the day, Sekiwake Wakatakakage vs. Shodai. A win by WTK would of course secure his first ever yusho with a 13-2 record. Wakatakakage won the tachi-ai here shoving Shodai upright and forcing him to move to the other side of the dohyo where WTK got the right arm inside and left outer grip, but instead of just riding that initial momentum, he hunkered down a second or two in the center of the ring presumably waiting for Shodai to make some sort of a move, but Shodai didn't even have a pot to piss in, and so Wakatakakage executed a dashi-nage with the outer left and retreated to the other side of the dohyo dragging Shodai into his own body manufacturing the yori-kiri win for Shodai.

What a laugher that was, and once again, they are making it look as if the Ozeki are having a say in this thing when that couldn't be further from the truth. After the bout the NHK Announcer loudly declared, "The Ozeki just displayed his power!!" I was like...at what point of the bout?? He lost the tachi-ai, he was easily knocked upright, and then he had no room to maneuver with WTK owning the left outer grip. At the edge, when Wakatakakage was dragging the Ozeki into his own body, Shodai had this meager right inside belt grip on one fold of the bout, and there was no horsepower whatsoever on display. Mainoumi suggested that Wakatakakage went for that curious throw because he was involved in a bout with the yusho on the line and got nervous. Uh no. That bout was thrown in favor of the Ozeki to help the Ozeki save face.

As part of the broadcast, they had cameras at the watch parties for both Takayasu and Wakatakakage in their hometowns, and the Wakatakakage fans were gathered in front of the Fukushima Eki watching on the big screen. As they showed the reaction of the WTK party watching the bout, they panned in close to Wakatakakage's father's face, and after the bout was decided, he looked over at someone to his left, adjusted his mask, folder his arms in disgust, and then glared back at the screen icily as if to say, "You effin' kiddin' me?" The dude behind him also has that look in his eyes that says, "What a bunch of shullbit." I'm pretty sure they knew it was fixed. Contrast that to Takayasu's mother who let out a long scream slumped in her chair as she looked to the heavens as if to say, "How could this be?" She knew that one was real.

The end result was Shodai's being gifted 9-6 while Wakatakakage fell to 12-3 forcing a playoff with Takayasu.

In the playoff bout, the nerves DID get to Wakatakakage causing him to henka to his right, but Takayasu reacted well firing enough effective shoves WTK's way keeping him away from the firm right inside position, and so Wakatakakage continued moving right as Takayasu held on with a feeble left inside belt grip. The pace of the bout continued its frenetic pace as Wakatakakage tested pulls and also tried to get to the inside, but Takayasu's defensive posture and defensive shoves were just too good. Finally, WTK gambled on a pull backing himself up dangerously to the edge, and Takayasu caught him with a nice tsuki causing the Sekiwake's knees to buckle, but he was just able to escape right and pull Takayasu forward before grabbing the back of Takayasu's belt and slinging him over and down for good. Was it exciting? Yes. Was it good sumo? No. It was as unsound of a bout as you'd ever care to see.

I mean, you'd think that in a playoff for the yusho, both parties would have been well versed coming into the thing, but it was a wild free for all indicative of the poor sumo displayed throughout the basho. I'm sure I'm also about the only one who noticed Wakatakakage's great counter skills at the edge in this bout that were curiously lacking in his bout against Shodai a few minutes before. What, were the nerves Mainoumi was talking about gone now because everything was on the line here? On one hand, I like Kitanofuji and Mainoumi as they are the best NHK has got, but on the other hand I hate watching a broadcast and being lied to by them after nearly ever bout.

Regardless of that, Wakatakakage defeated Takayasu straight up here picking up his first career yusho. I've read reports that it was the first yusho from a new Sekiwake in 83 years, but other reports said 86 years, and I'm not bored enough to try and figure out which is which. It's also the first time in 50 years that a rikishi from Fukushima prefecture has taken the yusho, and part of me has to wonder if Wakatakakage was allowed to do this because of the recent earthquake in Fukushima as it adds a bit of sentimental storyline. Shodai's rise to the Ozeki rank was following the Kumamoto earthquake a few years back, and my mind can't help but go there.

Did Wakatakakage deserve this yusho? Not really. He was the best of the four vying for it by far, but he bought too many bouts in week 1 for my liking. Still, it could have been worse, and we've all recognized that WTK was a decent up and comer from the last few years.

I never did see any viewership numbers from NHK as expected. I did see a headline that said NHK cut the broadcast short at the end, and so the viewers missed seeing Wakatakakage being presented as part of his gifts a year's worth of beer, one ton of fruit, and enough chanko-nabe to feed 300 people.

Another headline revealed that the Association lost approximately $30 million USD last year from general operations. We've never gotten the straight up number there, and I'm guessing it was even worse than that.

Sumo's in a tough place. In order to win back the fans that weren't part of the Takayasu watch party, you have to have championship caliber sumo on the dohyo, and we're just not seeing it...nor will we ever see it from the Japanese rikishi. The socio-economic factors in Japan have just changed, and you're never going to see the hard-nosed rikishi again...the kids who enter sumo like Oguruma-oyakata during junior high school.

Enjoy what's left of it while it lasts. See you all in May.

Day 14 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
An underlying theme this basho that has gone unspoken is the inability of the Ozeki to carry the yusho race. On a true banzuke, as soon as the lone Yokozuna withdraws from the basho--especially on Day 5 as happened here in Osaka, the Ozeki have to step up and take command of the yusho race. It doesn't mean that an Ozeki has to take the yusho in the absence of a Yokozuna, but they have to be major players and obstacles to those who do end up winning the tournament.

This basho the Ozeki have been non-factors from the beginning. Who can forget Shodai's terrible 0-4 start, and Takakeisho wasn't much better sputtering out of the gate at 1-2. Mitakeumi was buying wins early and stood at 8-2 after 10 days, but he was always on the third tier of the leaderboard. The elders in the Sumo Association know that they've put together a false banzuke and have maintained one for years now, and while the media never talk about such things, it's been obvious here in Osaka that the Ozeki have been non-factors.

I mean, if you're fighting among the jo'i ranks (M3 and above) and the Yokozuna is gone, who are you most afraid of? Tamawashi, Ichinojo, Hoshoryu, and Daieisho in that order. Nobody is afraid to fight the Ozeki because they win soft and get thrashed in defeat. Rikishi are more than willing to sell bouts to the Ozeki, but nobody is afraid to fight them.

This circumstance is obvious to people in the know, and I think some of the yaocho we've seen late in the basho here in favor of the Ozeki is an attempt to make is appear as if they are major roadblocks when nothing could be further from the truth. That theme was manifest yesterday in the Mitakeumi - Wakatakakage bout, and it reared it's ugly head again today, so let's start with the final three bouts on the day.

Up first was M7 Takayasu paired against Shodai, and the two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai with Takayasu maintaining a left outer grip. Shodai pressed Takayasu back the first half second, but the M7 used a right scoop motion to lift Shodai upright before forcing him the other direction leading with the left outer grip. Near the edge, however, Takayasu just paused and waited for the natural reaction from Shodai, which was a right scoop throw. When it came, Takayasu didn't bother pulling the trigger on a left outer grip, and so he was thrown over and down easy as you please. The whole thing took about three seconds, and this bout reminded me of my thoughts after the Mitakeumi - Wakatakakage nonsense yesterday:  when has Shodai displayed sumo like this the entire basho? The answer is easy. Never.

I don't know exactly what conversations took place in the back halls of the venue, but Takayasu was mukiryoku the last half of the bout giving Shodai kachi-koshi at 8-6. Some would say why would Takayasu give up a loss like that when the basho was his for the taking? The answer is that it wasn't his decision. I don't know the exact reason, but it's the same reason why Wakatakakage let Mitakeumi beat him handily yesterday. My opinion is that the Sumo Association is trying to makeup for the inferior performances of these Ozeki the entire basho. With the loss, Takayasu dropped to 12-2 and needed to wait for the outcome of the Wakatakakage - Takakeisho matchup.

Before we go there, we had M6 Kotonowaka taking on Mitakeumi, and from the tachi-ai, Kotonowaka struck while shading right, and before Mitakeumi could adjust, Kotonowaka gained moro-zashi and forced Mitakeumi back and across faster than Shodai defeated Takayasu. Once again, an Ozeki is embarrassed on the big stage, and as bad and as fake as Kotonowaka's sumo has been this basho, he completely outclassed Mitakeumi. Both of these dues were sitting on three losses coming in, so the result is Kotonowaka's keeping his yusho hopes alive at 11-3 while Mitakeumi was officially eliminated from contention at 10-4.

The final bout of the day featured Sekiwake Wakatakakage paired against Takakeisho, and as we've seen all basho, Wakatakakage's tachi-ai was weak, and Takakeisho was able to knock him back to the edge in the blink of an eye. The problem for the faux-zeki is that he didn't send Wakatakakage back that far in the ring with a controlled oshi attack. Wakatakakage was passive at the tachi-ai, and Takakeisho rammed into him nicely, but like Wakatakakage's bout against Kotonowaka where he lost the tachi-ai in similar fashion, WTK knew where he was the entire time, and he hunkered down ready to counter at the edge. Takakeisho could see this, and he also knew that he didn't force Wakatakakage back methodically, and so the faux-zeki panicked and went into immediate pull mode, and the result was Wakatakakage's assuming moro-zashi and driving Takakeisho back to the other end of the dohyo and across.

Due to the tachi-ai, this one wasn't lopsided start to finish for Wakatakakage, but he was in complete control after that initial clash. The win moves him to 12-2 where he is tied again with Takayasu for the lead while Takakeisho falls to a hapless 8-6. The bad news for the Association is that all of the Ozeki have been erased from the leaderboard, but the good news is there's enough interest in the three finalists that people will tune in for senshuraku.

This is how the leaderboard shapes up at the end of the day:

12-2: Wakatakakage, Takayasu
11-3: Kotonowaka

In chronological order, Kotonowaka will fight Hoshoryu first, and it goes without saying that Hoshoryu is the favorite in a straight up bout. In fact, at this juncture there is no way that Kotonowaka can defeat Hoshoryu if the latter is trying to win. Kotonowaka leaves himself too exposed at the tachi-ai, and the Mongolians can get to the inside of him at will and trip him up or throw him over. I'm not going to bother predicting this one. Just know that if Hoshoryu loses, the bout was fixed.

Takayasu draws Abi, and that is a dangerous matchup for the M7 in a straight up bout. Abi is also 7-7 heading into senshuraku, so it will be harder to buy him off. In a straight up bout, I'd say Abi is the 75-25 favorite, and I think he'll win this one (once again, assuming straight up sumo).

That leaves us with Wakatakakage who is paired against Shodai. While not as absolute as the Kotonowaka - Hoshoryu odds, Wakatakakage will win this one 90-10 in a straight up affair.

Assuming the three bouts that matter are all fought straight up, Wakatakakage is the heavy favorite to take the yusho. Even if he is tied with Takayasu at the end of the day, just recall how easily he defeated Takayasu on Day 11. There is no way to predict, however, what will be arranged and what will be straight up, so as is usually the case, the drama at the finish line comes down to will they or won't they.

Before we end, I would be remiss if I didn't comment on Kisenosato's senseless commentary the entire day. The dude has serious diarrhea of the mouth, and he figures the more words he can get in over the two hours the more authoritative he sounds. What he doesn't realize is just how much of a jackass he is in the booth with senseless commentary and spin that benefits no one.

The lowlight for me was his analysis after the M16 Kohtokuzan - M12 Chiyotairyu matchup. Chiyotairyu connected on a right hari-te and then blew the rookie off of the starting lines with his signature tsuppari attack that had Kohtokuzan backed up to the edge in about one second flat. Instead of finishing off his bidness in short order, Chiyotairyu suddenly halted his attack and put both hands at the back of Kohtokuzan's head as if to pull. Kohtokuzan was not ready to take advantage, but no matter, Chiyotairyu just backed up and out the side of the dohyo, and at the point where the rookie connected on his first tsuppari to the torso of Tairyu, the veteran had already stepped across the straw. Kisenosato's explanation for this was that Chiyotairyu didn't do enough keiko prior to the basho.

What?  How does Kisenosato know how much keiko Chiyotairyu did before the basho? Furthermore, what about the wins for Chiyotairyu where he did finish off his linear tsuppari attack? Why didn't his so-called lack of keiko affect him in those bouts? It's just nonsensical gibberish that is never backed up by factual sumo exhibited in the ring. Unsurprisingly, not a single comment was made about the content of Kohtokuzan's sumo and how he beat Chiyotairyu because he didn't. This was all Chiyotairyu dictating things start to finish and getting paid handsomely to throw a bout. Whenever you hear the excuse for a loss of "he didn't do enough keiko," you know the bout was fixed. Where is it published how much keiko each rikishi did before the basho and what is an acceptable level?  It's just abstract shullbit.

Okay, enough of that. Kohtokuzan buys his way to 7-7 and hopes that Shimanoumi agrees to will and dill (as we say in Utah) tomorrow. Chiyotairyu falls to a harmless 6-8 in defeat. Damn keiko.

Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Historically, Day 13 has been my favorite day of the basho. I called it moving day in the past meaning this was the day when the pretenders were sifted out from among the contenders in the yusho race, and it's also the day when they schedule the final bouts in the lower ranks when you have two undefeated guys at 6-0 facing off for the yusho. That was the case today in the Makushita and Sandanme Divisions, and so they showed both of those bouts and then interviewed the winners afterwards.

Both bouts were extremely well fought, and it's very rare to see the kind of tenacity and sumo basics in the Makuuchi division that were demonstrated in these two playoff type bouts, and I was very impressed with both winners. A dude from Kazakhstan named Kinbohzan won the Makushita yusho, and I think Kinbohzan in Kazakh means "freakin' beast." I snapped a pic of his interview, and this dude has all of the tools not to mention a bruising sumo body. It's one of those bodies that's got more muscle than fat even though he's not very toned. Doesn't matter. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this guy. Fighting from the Kise-beya, he has a chance to rise quickly through the Makuuchi ranks.

The Sandanme winner was a guy named Kanzaki, and he was given Sandanme tsuki-dashi debut status meaning he was decorated enough in his amateur career that it would have been a waste of everyone's time to start him from Jonokuchi. It looks like it was waste of everyone's time in Sandanme as well. The final was not close, and this guy reminds me a lot of Baruto. He's not quite as tall as Baruto, but he's got an oshi element to his sumo that Baruto never had.

In watching both of these bouts, it made me remember how much I loved watching the lower ranks. I realize now it was because there is no heavy politics in these divisions...at least I don't think there is. I'm pretty sure bouts among the Makushita Jo'i are orchestrated here and there, but the two playoff caliber bouts today were not. It was pure sumo and really enjoyable to watch.

I almost hate transitioning to the crap of the Makuuchi division, but if we must. The marquee bout of the day coming in was obviously the Mitakeumi - Sekiwake Wakatakakage matchup, and this bout had some politics behind it already coming into the day. Both dudes are products of the Toyo University's sumo team, and so Mitakeumi is technically Wakatakakage's senpai. That probably has something to do with their head-to-head record which stood at 6-2 in favor of Mitakeumi coming into the bout.

From the tachi-ai, Wakatakakage got his left arm to the front of Mitakeumi's belt with his right hand groping the right outer grip although he refused to take it. As for Mitakeumi, he took what was given getting the left arm inside, and the bout immediately went to the edge with Mitakeumi moving forward. The flow of this bout was all Wakatakakage backing up, however, and not Mitakeumi forcing him back. At the edge, Mitakeumi didn't have Wakatakakage pinned in tight, and the Sekiwake could have easily moved right and countered with a tsuki-otoshi into Mitakeumi's left side, but he opted for that very effective move and raising your right leg off of the dohyo and putting it in between the legs of your opponent. I mean, we're talking about a sport where balance is key and so it makes no sense whatsoever to lift one leg well off of the dohyo floor and just dangle it there, but that's what Wakatakakage did allowing Mitakeumi to easily nudge him back and across for the quick win.

I haven't decided what the bigger tell is in a fixed bout: 1) The loser putting his palms to the dirt with no other part of the body touching, or 2) The loser lifting a leg off of the dohyo and standing there on one foot.

If you watch the replays, you notice that Wakatakakage lets his leg hang there a bit before being forced out. That tells you that very little force was coming from Mitakeumi otherwise the instant that right foot was lifted off of the ground, WTK would have been forced down to the arena floor with some oomph. The start of this bout mirrored Wakatakakage's bout with Kotonowaka yesterday. In that bout, WTK dug in and turned the tables. Today he just kept himself upright, refused a right outer grip, and then did that stupid leg maneuver all in an effort to throw the bout. WTK was in full command start to finish here, and he threw this one in favor of Mitakeumi.

I obviously don't know what the reasoning was behind the decision to go yaocho, but I'd choose D to the following test question:

Wakatakakage threw his Day 13 bout against Mitakeumi because...

A. He was deferring to his senpai from Toyo University
B. It does not look good for all three Japanese Ozeki to have zero say in the yusho race with Terunofuji gone
C. He was offered too much money to refuse
D. All of the above

I would also answer A to the following test question:

Over the first 12 days, which rikishi did Mitakeumi blow off of the starting lines and yori-kiri with sound sumo in under three seconds?

A. Nobody

I noticed in Kitanofuji's daily column he said, "I was mistaken in my judgment by saying without hesitation that this is Wakatakakage's basho to lose instead of saying I think Wakatakakage will win."

What Kitanofuji is saying there is the same thing that I was thinking: we did not see this yaocho coming. But come it did, and so the end result is Wakatakakage's falling to 11-2 and the mighty Mitakeumi (10-3) being the cause of it. I suppose everyone wins here in some form or another.

Let's move to the next bout that featured M7 Takayasu vs. Takakeisho. Takakeisho gave the M7 his best shot from the tachi-ai moving forward looking to tsuppari, but his thrusts were quite ineffective. He did force Takayasu back a step, but Takayasu was able to halt the charge with a left kachi-age up high. Takakeisho continued for a few more seconds with a haphazard thrust attack while Takayasu continued to stand his ground with defensive shoves and kachi-age. As soon as Takakeisho went into panic mode and started swiping down and firing roundhouses from the side, you knew he was frustrated, so from that point Takayasu began looking for the belt. The two continued to dance wildly around the ring practicing social distancing at times, and through it all you could see Takakeisho getting gassed while Takayasu had his full wits about him. In the end, Takakeisho all but collapsed into Takayasu's arms getting the left arm inside, and that was Takayasu's cue to grab the right outer grip and easily dump Takakeisho over and down. Normally, I'd say a nage-no-uchi-ai should have formed here, but Takakeisho didn't have the strength or stamina to go any further. Straight up bout here with Takayasu staying patient throughout and moving into sole possession of the lead at 12-1 while Takakeisho falls to a harmless 8-5.

Before we move on, you would like to see a guy in the lead for the yusho take charge from the tachi-ai and really lay the wood to his opponent, but this bout fit the mold of Takayasu's sumo we've seen all basho: long and passive. In this case, his opponent didn't have the ability to outlast him or out duel him.

In the final bout of the day which sorta had yusho implications, M6 Kotonowaka was paired against Shodai, and the tachi-ai from both parties was bad as they both moved a bit right and essentially just traded places in the dohyo. From that point, Kotonowaka unleashed a tsuppari attack focused squarely into Shodai's throat, and the faux-zeki attempted to swipe those arms away, but he couldn't Before you knew it, Shodai was pushed back to the edge and with Kotonowaka in full control, he grabbed a right outer grip, kept his gal in snug with a left inner, and then forced Shodai back and across that final step. With the easy win, Kotonowaka keeps himself on the leaderboard at 10-3, but the only reason they're going down to three losses is to keep Mitakeumi's name on there. As for Shodai, he isn't quite out of the kadoban woods yet in falling to 7-6, and the dude is still at the mercy of his final two opponents.

With the dust settled, the leaderboard heading into Day 14 is as follows:

12-1: Takayasu
11-2: Wakatakakage
10-3: Mitakeumi, Kotonowaka

Tomorrow, Takayasu draws Shodai, and I'd say that bout is 60-40 in favor of Takayasu. Shodai matches up well yotsu-wise with Takayasu, but Shodai has been the more hapless of the two this basho. What gives Shodai fans hope is that the dude is kadoban, and he'll fall from the rank if he loses his last two. There will be heavy negotiating going on from Shodai's camp at some point over the weekend.

As for Wakatakakage, he's paired against Takakeisho, and just like all of his bouts against the Ozeki, WTK is the heavy favorite. You could just see everyone saying WTK, WTK before Day 13 because they weren't expecting yaocho. We got it in favor of Mitakeumi and that has settled everyone down again including myself.

As for the three-loss rikishi, they are paired together and Kotonowaka is the favorite there in a straight up bout. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see him defer to Mitakeumi just to help the Ozeki save a bit of face, but that's why we'll be watching.

In other bouts of interest from the day, Suckiwake Abi came in high at the tachi-ai exposing his insides to M4 Endoh...a dude who lusts for the frontal belt grip, but Endoh conveniently forgot about it today. Abi's thrusts were quite ineffective as Endoh stood his ground, and so Abi put his hands in pull position and began to execute it. At that point, Endoh could have played the reverse momentum from Abi and scored the easy push out win, but instead he grabbed a hold of Abi's extended right arm, and just backed the action up to the other side of the dohyo. Abi finally caught up and was able to push a willing Endoh across to pick up the cheap win. Both rikishi end the day at 7-6, and this was compromised in favor of Abi.

The bout before that one featured M2 Ichinojo vs. Komusubi Hoshoryu, and we were treated to a rare straight-up contest between two Mongolians. Ichinojo came with a hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the left and getting the right arm inside, and he simply smothered his way into a left outer grip on the other side and began a quick force-out charge. Hoshoryu looked to dig in and possibly maki-kae with the left, but Ichinojo was bearing down so fast, he could barely think of a movement left to set up a tsuki-otoshi before Ichinojo crushed him back and down across the straw abise-taoshi style. We all enjoy watching Hoshoryu work his craft, but you can see just how good Ichinojo was in this one as he moves to 9-4 while Hoshoryu falls to 6-7. For those of you who are new to sumo in the last ten years or so, Ichinojo is what Ozeki used to look like, and it's a shame that we can't see him do this kind of sumo every day.

Finally, I always like to keep tabs on the rookies, and M16 Kohtokuzan has been unexciting this basho. Today he was paired against M11 Terutsuyoshi, and Terutsuyoshi ducked way low at the tachi-ai throwing a wrench into things early. The move caused Kohtokuzan to go into pull mode, and Terutsuyoshi took full advantage pushing him back to the straw, but the rookie stood his ground well there fighting back with more tsuppari, but he just couldn't help going back to the pull and Terutsuyoshi was eventually able to time an oshi charge and knock his opponent across. Kohtokuzan falls to a dangerous 6-7 in defeat while Terutsuyoshi moves to 7-6.

As is usually the case, we will tune back in tomorrow...not see good sumo but to see how the drama unfolds. See you then.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
News of a North Korean missile launch near Japanese waters dominated the afternoon news cycle for obvious reasons, so by time the NHK general channel began the sumos, we were already nine contests into the Makuuchi bouts. As a result, there was nothing to riff on or spin from the get-go, but judging from the articles in the funny papers, everyone agrees that Wakatakakage has taken control of the basho. It's pretty simple really. You take the four leaders and then choose the best guy if you think he can't be bought off, and judging by WTK's dominant win over Takayasu yesterday, the dude's gonna try and win this thing.

Since I've been extremely lazy this week, let's just touch on all of the bouts today meaning we start with M15 Akua who welcomed Azuma up from the J2 rank by putting his hands forward in a protective stance as if to say, "just do me now." And Azumaryu did tugging at Akua's arm while moving left and before Azumaryu could really connect on a cheap slap at the shoulder, Akua just twisted himself forward and down. Easy yaocho call here as Akua falls to 3-9 while Azumaryu is the reverse at 9-3.

I'm not sure when M13 Chiyonokuni came back from the dead, but there he was facing M12 Kotoeko, and Kuni caught Eko with some very effective shoves from the tachi-ai, and he didn't let up until Kotoeko was driven back once, twice, three times a lady. Chiyonokuni deserved the tsuki-dashi winning technique here as he just kicked Kotoeko's ass right and proper. Kotoeko is denied kachi-koshi at 7-5 while Chiyonokuni will make a push to try and stay in the division at 5-7 (from the M13 rank). He needs one more win.

M12 Chiyotairyu delivered a hari-te with the right hand at the tachi-ai against M17 Kagayaki and then began shoving in Kagayaki's direction, but his thrusts never really did connect strongly into Kagayaki's torso, and so near the edge, Kagayaki easily moved left and scored on the simple tsuki-otoshi counter move leaving both dudes at 5-7.

M11 Myogiryu kept his feet aligned at the tachi-ai leaving himself vulnerable against M16 Kohtokuzan, but the rookie wasn't moving forward from the initial charge, and so the two engaged in a half-hearted tsuppari affair before Kohtokuzan went for an early pull. It was terribly executed, and the dude was so vulnerable, but instead of just rushing the rookie back and across, Myogiryu held up and kept him in the bout. I knew Myogiryu's intentions from the tachi-ai, but it was really obvious after he failed to make Kohtokuzan pay for that pull, so as the two resumed, the rookie went for another pull and Myogiryu lightly put both palms to the dirt. I mean, the dude bent his knees and waist the minimum distance required to touch down, and that's it. Once again, Kohtokuzan had to buy a win here as he moves to 6-6. As for Myogiryu, he falls to 5-7.

The tachi-ai between M14 Yutakayama and M11 Terutsuyoshi was neutral, and with neither dude really fighting hard, Yutakayama circled left and went for a very light pull, and Terutsuyoshi just plopped forward and down landing on two hands as he raised his butt in the air and mooned the main camera. This one was..er..half-assed and compromised as Yutakayama moves to 7-5 with Terutsuyoshi falling to 6-6.

M10 Shimanoumi and M15 Kotoshoho looked to go to migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai as Kotoshoho was able to grab a frontal belt grip with the right hand, but instead of going chest to chest, Shimanoumi was pushing his hands lightly while Kotoshoho just held onto the belt. The two traded places in the dohyo a time or two before Kotoshoho used that frontal grip to just dashi-nage Shimanoumi over and down. Shimanoumi falls to 6-6 while Kotoshoho improves to 7-5 with the decent effort.

M10 Aoiyama put a right paw into M13 Chiyomaru's body and grabbed a left outer grip from the tachi-ai, and Aoiyama just drove with his legs hard until Chiyomaru was forced back and across in a flash. Aoiyama really showed his strength here in improving to 6-6 while Chiyomaru is on the brink at 4-8.

With kachi-koshi safe in hand, M15 Tochinoshin can now make a little cash on the side, and he made his first transaction today against M9 Tobizaru keeping his arms high and wide from the tachi-ai, and with Tochinoshin just standing there like a dunce, Tobizaru shaded left going for a really bad pull at the back of Tochinoshin's shoulder, but wouldn't ya know it? It was just good enough to have Tochinoshin belly flop forward and down. I half wish they'd play a laugh track for some of these bouts as Tobizaru buys his way to 6-6 while Tochinoshin stuffs the billfold at 8-4 now.

M8 Chiyoshoma jumped to his right in wild henka fashion grabbing the outer grip of M16 Nishikigi's belt with the right hand, and the Mongolian just kept spinning right as he twisted Nishikigi over and down before Nishikigi was able to counter with a force-out attempt. This one was very close warranting a mono-ii, but the initial call was correct: gunbai to Chiyoshoma. I never like to see sumo like this as Chiyoshoma moves to 5-7 while Nishikigi is 7-5.

M17 Ichiyamamoto delivered tsuppari into M7 Okinoumi's neck from the tachi-ai, but the thrusts weren't great and IYM was not driving with the lower half. As for Okinoumi, this was a golden opportunity to swipe those arms away and get moro-zashi, but the bout was fixed going in, and so after a few seconds of ineffective shoves, Ichiyamamoto backed up going for a mediocre pull, and Okinoumi acted in kind just flopping forward and down. Ichiyamamoto buys one here in moving to 5-7, and Okinoumi at 3-9 knows exactly what he needs to do the last few days to still work his craft in the division for many basho to come.

M4 Kiribayama got the left arm inside early at the tachi-ai against M6 Hokutofuji, and as Hokutofuji looked to push up into Kiribayama with his own left hand, it kept him vulnerable on that side for the ultimate right inside position from Kiribayama. Now in moro-zashi, Kiribayama made sure his gal was pulled in snug, and then he executed the textbook yori-kiri charge from there. Nice sumo here as Kiribayama clinches kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Hokutofuji falls to 6-6.

At this point of the broadcast, NHK finally showed the leaderboard and as expected, they went down to three losses just to give it a bit more name recognition. Because of the whole missile news delay, the Tochinoshin bout was already over, so here was the Day 12 leaderboard midway through the day:

10-1: Wakatakakage, Takayasu
9-2: Mitakeumi, Kotonowaka
8-3: Takakeisho

Continuing on, Wakatakakage is obviously garnering a lot of attention these day, but his brother, M9 Wakamotoharu, is also a decent rikishi. Like his brother, he's involved in too much yaocho for my liking, but who isn't? These dudes have nice, lean bodies, and they've got good sumo skills as well, so they should have a nice future in the sport. Today against M4 Endoh, Endoh reached for the frontal belt grip as he is wont to do, but Wakamotoharu shoved him away nicely, and that prompted Endoh to shade to his right as the two traded places in the dohyo before landing in the hidari-yotsu position where Endoh had the right outer grip. Endoh went for a quick dashi-nage that had WMH on the ropes, but Endoh gave up on the move letting the youngster "hang around." With Endoh having relented in his charge, it enabled Wakamotoharu to grab a right outer of his own, and with Endoh willing, Wakamotoharu easily forced him back and across. It was cheap, but Wakamotoharu picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Endoh at 7-5 must wait one more day albeit a richer guy.

M3 Meisei looked to get the left arm inside against M5 Takarafuji, but Fuji kept him upright with a left kachi-age, and as Takarafuji pressed with that forearm, Meisei just moved to his right and exited the dohyo just like that. An oshi-dashi win I guess for Takarafuji who moves to 4-8 while Meisei falls to 1-11. Probably a lot of favors being called in here that Meisei has accumulated the last few basho.

M1 Daieisho snuck two hands into M2 Tamawashi's neck nicely at the tachi-ai standing The Mawashi upright, but before Daieisho could fire off the next volley, Tamawashi caught him with a wicked left thrust to the jaw that had Daieisho looking straight up at the rafters. From that position, Tamawashi simply churned the de-ashi and had Daieisho pushed back and across in short order. Tamawashi moves to 6-6 and that was the best jab we've seen all basho. Daieisho falls to 5-7 in defeat and probably saw a few stars for his trouble.

M8 Sadanoumi hopped forward a half step at the tachi-ai and perfectly aligned his feet, the cardinal sin in sumo, and I knew at that point what was coming. As for Ura, he knew what was coming too because he burrowed forward and low from the tachi-ai not needing a sneak attack, and Sadanoumi just put his hands at the back of Ura's head and went into pull mode backing his way outta the dohyo with Ura in tow. You can tell who was in control here because Sadanoumi turned his head looking for a soft landing on the floor below while Ura hit the deck and rolled off the dohyo wildly. Sadanoumi accepts his 3-9 record while Ura buys a rare bout this basho in moving to 2-10.

M5 Ishiura greeted Komusubi Takanosho with two hands to the neck at the tachi-ai, and the Komusubi easily brushed that aside pushing into the side of Ishiura's left shoulder and sending him outta the dohyo in a flash. Pretty uneventful bout here as Takanosho limps to 3-9 while Ishiura's return from kyujo has not gone well. He's stuck on 1-11.

Komusubi Hoshoryu slapped M3 Onosho with the right hand while moving to that side as he looked to grab a cheap outer grip with the right, but Onosho spun away sending Hoshoryu into pull mode. As Onosho looked to square up and get close, Hoshoryu would go for a pull and this happened three times before Hoshoryu caught his foe squarely in the chest with a wicked tsuki that sent Onosho sprawling over and down. Tsuki-taoshi from the front is always entertaining although everything up to that point about Hoshoryu's sumo was bad. The Komusubi moves to 6-6 with the win while Onosho just couldn't keep pace in falling to 5-7.

The first bout with major yusho implications was next as Sekiwake Wakatakakage stepped atop the dohyo to face M6 Kotonowaka. Kotonowaka used his girth to win the tachi-ai briefly looking to get his left arm inside as he knocked Wakatakakage back, but Baby Waka ended up bringing that arm to the outside and wrapping it firmly around Wakatakakage's right. As for the Sekiwake, he let his heels graze the back of the straw so he had his bearings, and then he used his deep right inside position to force Kotonowaka back to the center of the ring where they dug into migi-yotsu. On the other side, Wakatakakage was keeping Kotonowaka's left arm away from the inside, and after grappling a bit, WTK was able to pin Kotonowaka's left completely into his body, and that's the moment when the Sekiwake pounced pushing his left arm into Kotonowaka's fatty right side, and he was easily able to maneuver the M6 upright and force him back from there.

I think it's worth noting how Wakatakakage set that force-out up because against a much larger dude, he had to neutralize his opponent first, and then set up a position from which he could attack. You could see the tactical planning and execution, and the reason I'm bringing this up is because you see no such sumo skills from the following rikishi: Takakeisho, Shodai, Mitakeumi, Takayasu. Wakatakakage is not the real deal, but he's probably the closest thing the Japanese have to a Mongolian rikishi. He has the ability to fight like them more than any other rikishi. With the win, Wakatakakage sails to 11-1 while Kotonowaka is knocked out of the yusho race in my opinion at 9-3.

Before we move on, the one area keeping Wakatakakage away from greatness is his tachi-ai. His positioning wasn't good today and the result was his getting overwhelmed. He's also henka'd in a fair amount of his bouts, so if he can learn to clean that up and get the inside position from the tachi-ai, he can become a legit sanyaku rikishi. Good stuff today (and yesterday).

Suckiwake Abi gave M2 Ichinojo his best licks, but the Mongolith easily withstood the thrust attack and waited for an opening. With Abi firing away, Ichinojo timed a perfect swipe into Abi's extended left arm and got him upright just enough to where he was able to push Abi over and down tsuki-otoshi style in the middle of the ring. Mainoumi said it best afterwards in explaining, "Even though Ichinojo was on the receiving end of those thrusts, he still had room to do whatever he wanted." I mean, Ichinojo was literally standing there flat footed easily deflecting Abi's thrusts like blaster fire against the Death Star. Ichinojo picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4, and the dude seems primed to enter the sanyaku. As for Abi, his slide continues as he falls now to 6-6.

Takakeisho was completely mukiryoku at the tachi-ai keeping his left arm high and open against Shodai allowing the latter to get the right arm inside, and Takakeisho offered no resistance as Shodai forced him back and across in maybe two seconds. Shodai didn't even need a left outer grip because Takakeisho wasn't going anywhere but back. Shibatayama-oyakata didn't say it outright, but he speculated that Takakeisho kept his guard down after obtaining kachi-koshi yesterday. Yes, Takakeisho was completely mukiryoku here in allowing Shodai to move to 7-4 while Takakeisho falls right back off the leaderboard at 8-4.

In the day's final affair, M7 Takayasu stepped into the ring to face Mitakeumi and the two exhibited a very good tachi-ai coming away in migi-yotsu, but as the flow of the action caused the two to slow dance in the center of the ring and trade places, it was Takayasu who garnered the left outer grip. Takayasu positioned his feet perfectly and kept his right hip far away from a Mitakeumi outer grip, and there was nothing Mitakeumi could do to counter from this position. After standing his ground for a few seconds, Takayasu went for a force-out charge, and Mitakeumi was completely defenseless as Takayasu simply overpowered him picking up the easy win.

Isn't it interesting that when two guys who should be at the same level on the banzuke fight in a straight up bout, everything just falls into place? The tachi-ai was perfect, the footwork was perfect, the angles were perfect, the yotsu chess match was perfect. If you watch morning keiko, this is the type of sumo you see, so it was nice to see it here in the final bout of the day.

Now, as much as I appreciated the legitimacy of this bout, it shouldn't have been occurring as the musubi-no-ichiban. These two are more suited to be fighting at the bottom of Makuuchi or Juryo, and that's no exaggeration. But, there's no use rehashing how we got to this point, so we'll take it. Takayasu moves to 11-1 with the win while Mitakeumi is all but eliminated at 8-3.

This was not a desirable outcome for the Sumo Association because the leaderboard now looks like this with three more days to go:

11-1: Wakatakakage, Takayasu
9-3: Mitakeumi, Kotonowaka

That three-loss line is simply for decoration. The yusho will come down to the two leaders, and because they have already fought each other, it takes the bloom off the rose a bit.

As we look ahead to tomorrow, Wakatakakage draws Mitakeumi, and the Sekiwake has got to be thinking to himself, "Can this get any easier?" As for Takayasu, he's paired against Takakeisho, and in a straight up bout, anything can happen there. Chest to chest, of course Takayasu is the better guy, but Takakeisho is extremely squirrely, and I might give him the advantage just because Takayasu may not be quick enough to keep up with him.

We'll see, but Wakatakakage is the clear favorite to yusho because he's simply better than the three Ozeki, and if they give him Shodai on Saturday...that's a walk in the park.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
When my feed began today, they were showing the time for all of Takayasu's bouts this basho, and the average length of his bouts has been a whopping 26.5 seconds. The only explanation the announcers (Koi Announcer from NHK and Shibatayama-oyakata providing color) could give to explain it was that Takayasu was "semerareta," the passive form of the verb "to attack." In other words, it wasn't Takayasu taking charge; rather, he was the one being pushed around by his opponents.

It really is an anomaly when you analyze it. If a guy is constantly on the receiving end of these long bouts, what's the probability that he'd win 10 out of 10 of them? It's like the template I introduced earlier in the basho regarding Mitakeumi's sumo: lose the tachi-ai, get pushed back into a defensive position; get dominated the entire way; suddenly turn the tables at the edge. The probability of winning such bouts would be closer to 20%, not the 80% clip that we see Mitakeumi maintaining.

These inconsistencies are what's contributing to a lackluster basho. The general feed from NHK in Japan began a few bouts into Makuuchi today. Then, when they take that naka-iri break around 5 PM, NHK was late rejoining the sumos from the newsbreak, and they finally came back at the end of the Ichinojo - Meisei bout. Sumo hasn't led the sports segment of NHK News 9 all week, and today it was bumped by a review--not an actual match--of Japan's status in World Cup Qualifying.

NHK rarely posts the viewership numbers, and they're not posting them of course this basho, but you can just tell that sumo is not in demand. I've watched it for about 30 years now, and you just get a feel for these things. People watch sport to see greatness, not mediocrity.

Speaking of mediocrity, the leaderboard shaped up as follows to start the day:

10-0: Takayasu
9-1: Wakatakakage, Kotonowaka
8-2: Mitakeumi

Let's cover the final four bouts of the day to begin. Up first was Sekiwake Wakatakakage vs. M7 Takayasu, and with the yusho on the line for both rikishi, this one was sure to be straight up. Both rikishi bumped heads at the tachi-ai, which was a stalemate, and Takayasu was positioning for defensive tsuppari up high while Wakatakakage tested an early move to his right where he flinched on a pull attempt. He quickly reeled that hataki attempt in as Takayasu looked to square up, but Takayasu is so slow that WTK was able to work his way into moro-zashi. The Suckiwake shored up his position for about two seconds and then executed the perfect yori-kiri of Takayasu across the straw on the East side of the dohyo. As has been the case with all of Takayasu's bout, this one was one-sided in favor of his opponent. The only difference is that Wakatakakage was trying to win while Takayasu's first 10 opponents were not.

You'd have to say that Wakatakakage is the favorite to yusho at this point for the simple reason that he's the best rikishi of the four leaders. Assuming he fights against them all straight up, he's going to beat Kotonowaka and Mitakeumi. The result of this bout is both Takayasu and Wakatakakage standing at 10-1.

Let's actually go to the final bout of the day featuring M6 Kotonowaka who was paired against Takakeisho. One way to tell a legitimate leader in a basho is to examine whether or not he relies too much on the henka and pull sumo. Kotonowaka was all henka today moving to his right at the tachi-ai, but it was so poorly executed as he only offered a left stiff arm in Takakeisho's direction that barely connected. As for the faux-zeki, he wasn't blazing forward from the gun, and so he easily squared back up, and as Kotonowaka looked to advance toward his foe, he put two hands at Takakeisho's neck, but he he didn't have any momentum with which to push, and so Takakeisho executed his signature move which is to skirt left and swipe with the same arm. The move worked here to perfection as Kotonowaka was so out of sorts he was easily pushed over and down. Essentially, you had a henka to the right by Kotonowaka followed by a henka to the left from Takakeisho, and Takakeisho's move was better.

This is the rare chance that we get to call a straight up win for Takakeisho, but straight up it was. It's sad that you have an Ozeki and a so-called leader fighting the last bout of the day and all they can muster is this. O-zumo it wasn't as Kotonowaka is saddled with his second loss now at 9-2 while Takakeisho's name will likely appear on the leaderboard tomorrow as he finishes 8-3.

Shodai welcomed M5 Takarafuji who has fallen at every opportunity this basho, and that was the case today. The bout looked to go to hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Takarafuji had a right hand on the front of Shodai's belt, but instead of lifting the faux-zeki up and reeling him in, he just kept himself hunkered low allowing Shodai to move right and go for a weak slap, and that was Takarafuji's cue to just put both palms to the dirt with no other part of his body touching down. Don't look now but Shodai is 6-5 after that horrid 0-4 start!! As for Takarafuji, his make-koshi is official now at 3-8. As these two rikishi were going through their pre-bout rituals, they showed this side view of the venue, and there's still a lot of orange seats attending the event:



The final bout with yusho implications was Mitakeumi against Suckiwake Abi, and Abi connected solidly with eight or so shoves to Mitakeumi's neck and face, but he wasn't driving forward with the legs, and so finally Mitakeumi went for a swipe-down motion that grazed the inside of Abi's elbow, and that was Abi's cue to just go down. Typical Mitakeumi "win" here as he does nothing but take punishment only to see his opponent take a dive at the end. Mitakeumi stays one back with the gift at 9-2 while Abi falls further to 6-5.

At the end of the day I was wondering if NHK would drop the leaderboard down to three losses. They didn't but I bet they do to start Day 12 just to give the appearance that there's more going on with the yusho race than there really is. As it stands now, the leaderboard is:

10-1: Wakatakakage, Takayasu
9-2: Mitakeumi, Kotonowaka

Takayasu faces Mitakeumi in the final bout of the day, and I think Mitakeumi is the favorite there. If he can win, it will leave both dudes at 9-2. We've yet to see either of these guys fight offensively, so anything can happen, but I think Mitakeumi will win it.

Wakatakakage faces Kotonowaka, and WTK is the clear favorite there. If all sumo was fought straight up, I think Kotonowaka would be the better career guy in the end, but his sumo is a freakin' mess right now and has been the entire basho. Wakatakakage should waltz to victory here. If Baby Waka can't beat Takakeisho with a henka, he can't beat Wakatakakage with straight up sumo.

If the leaderboard does drop to three-losses, the aforementioned Takakeisho will be there as well as M15 Tochinoshin who was paired against M11 Terutsuyoshi today. The two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai with Tochinoshin grabbing a mammoth outer grip with the left over the top. With T-Yoshi stuck in tight, the two wrangled back and forth with their positioning, but in the end Tochinoshin was able to grab two solid belt grips over the top and defeat Terutsuyoshi by tsuri-dashi. Tochinoshin moved to 8-3 with the win, and that was his first kachi-koshi in eight basho. With the dude still at M15 after eight tournaments, you can see how he's been gaming the system and selling as many bouts as possible while still keeping himself in the division.

Since we haven't checked in on our rookie, M16 Kohtokuzan, let's go there next as he was paired today against M10 Aoiyama. As expected, Aoiyama won the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, and he was able to drive the rookie back near the edge, but Kohtokuzan defended himself well grabbing Aoiyama's extended arm and pulling him sideways a bit. That allowed Kohtokuzan to force the action back to the center of the ring, but Aoiyama recovered quickly and took charge once again with some shoves followed up by a quick pull that sent the rookie down for good. Kohtokuzan looked decent here even in defeat, and he'd be a lot better rikishi if they'd just let him sort things out on his own and fight straight up. Unfortunately, that's not the way things work as both rikishi end the day at 5-6.

That's enough for today. Wakatakakage can really take command of the basho with a win and a Mitakeumi win. If that happens, he's the clear favorite for the yusho unless something compels him to bow to a higher-ranked dude. We shall see.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I was curious to see what attendance would look like today coming off of the three-day holiday in Japan, and it was no surprise to see the upper bowl seats mostly vacant with noticeable gaps in the masu-seki again. If you look at things from a Japanese fan's perspective, what is going on in Haru that excites you? Nobody is dazzling with their sumo, so is it the fact that no foreign rikishi are on the leaderboard and haven't been the entire basho? I can't think of anything else that would inspire someone to say, "Hey, look what's going on. Let's go see the sumos!"

The fans in the stands are mostly those who purchased their seats prior to the basho, so you have that fan base in place, but it's the seats sold daily (called toujitsu-ken) that measure the true excitement surrounding a basho, and those seats were empty again in large swaths for Day 10.

If you stick with the leaderboard down to two losses, this is what we had coming into the day:

9-0: Takayasu
8-1: Mitakeumi, Wakatakakage, Kotonowaka

Unless you have a fetish for guys with hair shirts, that's a tough sell in my opinion, especially if that one-loss line starts to dwindle even further.

The meaningful bouts on paper today all occurred in the final 40 minutes, so lets start with the last seven Makuuchi bouts on the day and move in chronological order.

Up first was M6 Kotonowaka who was paired against M1 Daieisho, the most exciting guy this basho in my opinion whose not on the leaderboard. From the tachi-ai, Kotonowaka fished for the left inside while Daieisho focused on tsuppari to the throat, and while the initial charge was neutral, Daieisho quickly took command with his tsuppari attack forcing Kotonowaka to move to his right in order to evade the onslaught. Daieisho stayed square, however, and kept his de-ashi sound as he drove Kotonowaka back to the brink...where he of course halted his charge and aligned his feet waiting for Kotonowaka to make a move. Said move was Kotonowaka's moving right going for a lame pull attempt, and Daieisho's reaction was to just flop to the dirt on all fours.

As they analyzed the bout afterwards, they could only describe Daieisho's sumo as he dictated the pace throughout, and then when they went to Yoshikaze in the mukou-joumen chair, of Kotonowaka's sumo he commented, "He kept himself in a position to return fire with shoves of his own." Uh, yeah, but did he actually fight back with his own shoves? No. He needed Daieisho to completely halt his charge, and then that slapdown effort was below average. But, this is sumo in 2022 and the lesser rikishi buys his way to a 9-1 record while Daieisho graciously falls to 5-5.

Since it's sandwiched in here, lets comment on the Komusubi Takanosho - M1 Ura matchup. Takanosho was cautious at the tachi-ai waiting for Ura to make the first move, and as he does when the bout is not fixed, Ura ducked down low and moved forward. Takanosho went with the flow opting to slowly retreat and bait Ura forward whereupon the former Suckiwake moved to his right and pulled Ura off balance before pushing him down with some oomph. Ura spun around and landed right on his coccyx at the edge of the dohyo, and you could see the pain shoot through his face. The loss sends him to 1-9, and there are just too many favors being called in this basho, and the dude is ranked way too high on the banzuke anyway. As for Takanosho, he moves to just 2-8 with the win, but he's let up for all of the leaders. The only guy on the leaderboard he might not be better than is Wakatakakage.

Next up was M7 Takayasu who had his hands full with Komusubi Hoshoryu. Well, if Hoshoryu actually tried to win, but of course he didn't. He still dictated everything start to finish getting moro-zashi from the tachi-ai, and he immediately drove Takayasu sideways and to the edge, but instead of just continuing on with that easy charge, Hoshoryu brought his left arm to the outside and stopped moving his legs. Takayasu attempted to pinch in from the outside of Hoshoryu's right arm, but he wasn't skilled enough to attempt a kote-nage. With Hoshoryu still having the right arm inside, he could have forced Takayasu back and across at will, but he purposefully refrained. He also refrained from grabbing a left frontal/outer grip that was wide open, but we see that seemingly every day from Takayasu's opponents.

After a brief stalemate, Hoshoryu attempted a weak scoop throw with the right to which Takayasu countered with an equally weak kote-nage attempt that didn't phase the Komusubi whatsoever, and so Hoshoryu just pulled completely away from his inside position as the two rested arms on shoulders in the middle of the ring. After another stalemate, Hoshoryu positioned himself for a pull but never followed through on it before the two hooked up in migi-yotsu where Hoshoryu gave Takayasu the left outer without grabbing one of his own. From this point, Hoshoryu actually pulled his right arm out of the inside and held it in no man's land (think reverse maki-kae) and Takayasu still couldn't take advantage of that momentum shift. With Takayasu completely hapless--and gassed, Hoshoryu positioned his right arm in kote-nage fashion and then just walked over to the edge and crouched over waiting for Takayasu to nudge him across. It took Takayasu a few seconds to load up a force-out attempt, but he finally did and Hoshoryu offered no resistance.

I mean, I've seen some doozies in my life, but this was nearly two minutes' worth of nonsense due to Takayasu's haplessness. He made Hoshoryu do all the work in this one, and it was funny to watch Hoshoryu stand there at times and wait for Takayasu to make a move. This was just a joke of a bout start to finish, and as the announcers watched the replay, they said zero about Takayasu's sumo because there was nothing there. Nothing. But that fits our template the entire basho with these rikishi on the leaderboard. Takayasu moves to 10-0 with the gift, and the most positive comment of his sumo was, "He didn't panic." Hoshoryu falls to 4-6 but obviously knows his place.

Moving right along, Suckiwake Wakatakakage was paired against fellow Suckiwake Abi, and Abi looked to take charge with his fire hose tsuppari, but they had zero effect against WTK who stood his ground and waited for an opening to get up and under Abi's extended arms. After three or four seconds, Abi attempted to knock Wakatakakage off his perch with a right kachi-age motion to the neck, but WTK easily withstood it forcing Abi into pull mode. Once Abi began a pull, Wakatakakage was there to pounce scoring the easy force-out win in the end using his opponent's backwards momentum against him.

On one hand, I'd like to see any dude on the leaderboard take charge from the tachi-ai. WTK didn't do that today, but he used his opponent's disheveled sumo against him nicely, and at least the bout was straight up. I was also pleased to see that Wakatakakage didn't henka, but you can see that even I am having difficulty praising his actual sumo. He was passive for most of it, but he did wisely bait Abi into that pull and then take full advantage once it came. WTK moves to 9-1 but he ain't as good as that record indicates. Not even close. As for Abi, he falls 6-4 and is completely eliminated from yusho contention. Thankfully.

Mitakeumi exhibited his best tachi-ai of the basho throwing a right paw into M6 Hokutofuji's neck, and it was a very perceptive move because Hokutofuji likes to shade left at the tachi-ai, so I was encouraged to see Mitakeumi was clued into that, but despite winning the tachi-ai (yes, Mitakeumi won this one), he was unable to follow up on anything nor did he have sufficient strength to really knock Hokutofuji off of his perch. With Mitakeumi's right arm in choke position, Hokutofuji was able to secure his left arm inside at the belt halting the faux-zeki's charge altogether, and then seemingly at will Hokutofuji grabbed a right outer grip and wasted no time in driving the defenseless Mitakeumi back and across in mere seconds.

There's really not much to break down here. It's acceptable for an Ozeki to lose by yori-kiri, but it's not acceptable to lose like that. Mitakeumi was in no position to counter or put up a fight at the edge, and he just looked weak out there. I guess a better expression is to say he was exposed today, but regardless of semantics, Mitakeumi fell to 8-2 in defeat while Hokutofuji improved to 5-5 with the very nice win.

At this point, NHK reshuffled the leaderboard as follows:

10-0: Takayasu
9-1: Wakatakakage, Kotonowaka
8-2: Mitakeumi

The Mitakeumi loss was a huge detriment to the yusho race because they just lost the biggest name on the board. Yeah, he's still there because NHK is generously going down to two-losses, but they have to be careful here so that Takayasu doesn't run away with it. Takayasu can't carry a basho with his name or his sumo, and they really need something to keep people attracted for five more days. That seems like an eternity at this point, and if the yusho line doesn't drop to three losses, your yusho will come from the current top three (I don't see Mitakeumi winning out). Without any star power, there is zero compelling sumo among the contenders to grab anyone's attention.

Takakeisho was paired against M5 Takarafuji today, and Fuji grabbed an early right belt grip from the tachi-ai. When Takakeisho wasn't able to shove him away from that grip, Takarafuji just let it go as a favor. You knew the outcome at that point unless Takakeisho tripped over his own feet, and don't underestimate his ineptness in a pinch. When Takakeisho experiences the least bit of resistance from the tachi-ai, he starts to panic and go into pull/swipe mode, and he did just that backing up to the straw before shading a bit right while looking to slap Takarafuji down. For his part, Takarafuji just stood there with his arm low and extended, and the dude could have gotten to the inside at any point and just rushed Takakeisho back and across, but he dilly dallied around (dilly dallied?) allowing Takakeisho to get a right arm inside and he moved laterally, and as Takakeisho went for the lightweight kata-sukashi, Takarafuji just complied and hit the dirt. Takakeisho moves to 7-3 with the gift while Takarafuji plays along in falling to 3-7.

The final bout of the day featured Shodai against M4 Endoh, and Endoh reached for and got the early left grip at the front of Shodai's belt, but he promptly let it go as the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu. Instead of grabbing a right outer grip that was wide open, Endoh latched onto Shodai's sagari instead, and that enabled Shodai to execute a weak scoop throw with the left that was Endoh's cue to just back up to the edge and turn himself out of the dohyo as Shodai tried to keep up. They ruled it oshi-dashi, but there certainly wasn't a shove to the torso that came from Shodai, but whatever. The bout was fixed from the beginning as Shodai moves to 5-5 while Endoh graciously falls to 6-4.

I don't know that any other bouts on the day are worth mentioning, so we'll end here for now. Expect more of the same tomorrow, but at some point they need Takayasu to lose so they can expand the leaderboard and get more name recognition on there.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The theme of today's broadcast centered on the 1994 Haru basho, the last tournament to feature a tomoe-sen, or a three-way playoff for the yusho. Akebono, Takanonami, and Takatoriki each finished with a 12-3 record, and Akebono decided to wipe the dohyo with both guys' arses during the playoff ending things quickly. The tournament itself was quite anti-climactic in my opinion, but it brought me back to 1994, the year I started working in Japan and really getting to know the insides and outs of sumo.

Two of the biggest differences that stood out to me when watching the clips from 1994 (they showed a lot more than just the playoff) were 1) the way in which the fans were packed into the arena like sardines. They literally were on top of each other, and only the Japanese people could sit in seiza fashion for two hours straight and watch sumo like that. And 2) the electricity in the arena was palpable unlike today where you can get appreciative applause, but the arena is no longer electric. Back then, it felt as if the outcome of sumo was life and death for the fans. Now it feels as if everyone is just there to be entertained for two hours as if going to the picture shows.

I suppose a third difference is this: Of all the Akebono bouts they showed, he just destroyed his opponents. He won the tachi-ai, his tsuppari were perfect, his de-ashi were present, and he left his opponents no room to counter. The sumo was flawless.

Of the four yayhoos currently occupying the leaderboard this basho, they never win the tachi-ai, their opponents usually take the upper hand early, their opponents refuse solid de-ashi, their opponents refuse to secure outer grips when open, their opponents always let up on tactics that would potentially send the contenders down to the ring or out, and their opponents are always mukiryoku at the end. Do you see how I tried to talk about the leaders and their sumo and then it quickly morphed into everything the opponent was doing? There is just no substance from the four guys on top and so all talk is inevitably focused on their opponents.

It really hit me over the weekend, but this basho has lost any and all storylines other than the yusho race, but the problem there is the sumo that will be contained in the yusho race from the four contenders has and will continue to be reactionary. Whose the favorite for the Ginosho? Someone from the four. The Kantosho? The four. The Shukunsho? Likely nobody because rikishi with actual game such as Tamawashi are all holding back.

How about the rookie this basho, Kohtokuzan? A big bust who has bought every one of his wins. Where is there excitement among guys like Hoshoryu? Holding back. The rikishi with the obvious skills are all keeping themselves far away from the yusho board, and so the result is going to be a boring yusho race down the stretch with very bad sumo explained away with words and phrases such as "gaman" or "he reacted well" or "he was patient." They never used that language when talking about Akebono. Just sayin'.

Let's cherry pick bouts of interest on the day going in chronological order.

The day began with M16 Nishikigi taking on The Gambler visiting from the J2 slot today. Sentenced to just time served by missing the Hatsu basho, Hidenoumi attempted moro-zashi from the tachi-ai, but Nishikigi cut off his left arm from getting to the inside, and after a brief stalemate in the center of the ring, Nishikigi maki-kae'd forcing the bout to migi-yotsu. Hidenoumi grabbed the right outer grip but took his time before forcing Nishikigi back, but as he did, Nishikigi countered with a nice inside throw with the left cutting off the uwate from Hidenoumi and giving Nishikigi moro-zashi. From there, Nishikigi just rushed the now defenseless Hidenoumi back, down, and across the straw. Nishikigi moves to 6-3 after the nice effort while Hidenoumi's gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em better in falling to 4-5.

At this point of the broadcast, NHK showed the leaderboard and they adjusted it from yesterday by stooping down to the two-loss tier for today's version. That added Takakeisho and Abi to the mix, and my comments about the other four apply in the exact same matter to these guys as well. Six leaders and all Japanese. On paper, it's the best case scenario for the NSK, but judging from actual sumo content, to me it's a disaster.

In a complete laugher, M13 Chiyomaru came with a quick hari-zashi tachi-ai against rookie, M16 Kohtokuzan, and the move worked wonders except for the fact that Maru abandoned his right inside position as soon as he got it. At that point I knew Maru's intention and he just stood there letting the rookie attempt to push him around. Problem was he couldn't and so Chiyomaru had to do something, so he began moving slowly to his right (I know, you're thinking "Chiyomaru" and "slow" in the same sentence?) going for weak pulls, and his second pull attempt send the rookie dangerously to the edge. Even Satoh Announcer let out an "ahhh!" in horror, but Chiyomaru just stopped short of pushing his compromised foe out. Everyone knew at that point the bout was fixed, and so the two danced around the ring a bit in the most lightweight tsuppari affair you've ever seen with Maru turning his shoulders trying to give Kohtokuzan openings, and the rookie finally caught Chiyomaru standing at the edge not defending himself, and so Kohtokuzan offered a final tsuki drawing the "tsuki-dashi" winning technique. As if.

After the bout, Satoh Announcer and Terao in the mukou-joumen chair both used the same expression when describing Kohtokuzan's sumo: "he kept himself in the dohyo well." What a meaningless phrase, but once again, they use terms such as these when the winner executed no actual sumo to dictate the outcome. Good call by the producer in the truck to show this replay at regular speed instead of slow motion. Kohtokuzan oils his way to 5-4 while Maru had room to sell in falling to 4-5.

Let's climb up the ranks to M7 Takayasu who was paired against M10 Aoiyama who put an arm up high at the tachi-ai around Takayasu's neck and then just backed up to the edge of the ring...all while conveniently forgetting to pull his opponent. As is usually the case, Takayasu wasn't the one who forced the action in that direction, and so he didn't have the momentum to finish Aoiyama off, and so Aoiyama moved to his right a bit as the two traded defensive tsuppari, and with Takayasu unable to do anything, he panicked and went for a really dumb pull that left him completely vulnerable to an Aoiyama oshi-dashi victory, but Aoiyama just rushed forward and put his hands high up around Takayasu's head instead of driving his palm into the M7's chest.

It was more than obvious at this point that Aoiyama was not trying to win, and so he faked another pull back to the center of the ring, and the two jockeyed a bit more finally coming away in hidari-yotsu where Aoiyama had Takayasu's left arm completely neutralized and a wide open right outer grip had he wanted it (pictured above at right). He didn't of course, and with Takayasu completely at the mercy of Aoiyama, the Happy Bulgar faked a stupid ke-kaeshi and then just backed himself to the edge and turned his shoulder walking outta the ring as Takayasu tried to catch up. Now that I examine that pic at left, I realize that Aoiyama was attempting a kote-nage with the left breast, so maybe I shouldn't harp on Takayasu so much since it was three against one today. Yaocho doesn't get any more obvious than this as Takayasu buys his ninth win of the basho in moving to 9-0 while Aoiyama is a harmless 3-6.

Next up was M6 Kotonowaka who faced M9 Tobizaru, and incredibly (or not), Kotonowaka was unable to blow Tobizaru off of the starting lines, something you'd expect from a so-called leader. It was Tobizaru who dictated the pace here using decent tsuppari to keep Kotonowaka on the run and forcing Baby Waka to move laterally first. As Kotonowaka moved right, Tobizaru caught him by an extended right arm and dragged him forward giving Tobizaru moro-zashi in the process, but instead of positioning himself up and under his foe, he faked his way out of it whiffing on a right scoop throw, and that gave him the excuse to just run himself out of the ring while Baby Waka tried to catch up with a late shove.

I go back to clips of the Akebono bouts at the start of the day. Kotonowaka and Akebono are/were roughly the same size, so against a much lighter opponent like Tobizaru, Kotonowaka shoulda wielded the beating stick. Instead, it was Tobizaru who did all the work including running himself outta the ring and giving Kotonowaka the fake win. When Satoh asked Mainoumi about Kotonowaka's sumo content afterwards, Mainoumi said, "He watched his opponent well." I'll say he did. He watched his opponent run rings around him before exiting stage left. That's another doozy they always used to describe fake sumo from the winner: he watched his opponent well. Kotonowaka is a cheap 8-1 while Tobizaru takes the cash in falling to 4-5.

Let's move forward and touch on the M1 Daieisho - Komusubi Takanosho matchup to provide an example of a guy who wins the tachi-ai, who offers stiff tsuppari forcing his opponent to move laterally, and who uses perfect de-ashi to keep pace and push his opponent across in seconds. Just once I would like to see one of the "leaders" win in the way in which Daieisho beat Takanosho today. The Komusubi never had a chance as Daieisho moves to 5-4 with Takanosho falling to 1-8.

Up next was Suckiwake Abi who drew M5 Takarafuji, a two-loss rikishi coming in, and Abi's initial thrusts were decent, but he didn't have any legs behind them, and so Takarafuji was able to brush them aside as he shaded left, and as Abi loaded up for round two, Takarafuji got up and under his extended right arm and forced Abi to move left and fish for a pull as Takarafuji threatened the left inside. He'd never need it as he followed Abi's retreat well and shoved Abi across with little effort. How ironic that you have a two-win yotsu guy coming into the day who beat his opponent at his own game. And beat him rather easily. Abi drops off the leaderboard at 6-3 while Takarafuji moves to 3-6.

And that brings us to Suckiwake Wakatakakage, a guy who has used the henka way too much this basho. WTK henka'd left yet again today against M2 Ichinojo as the Mongolith fired a wicked hari-te with the left hand that glanced off of WTK's face, and as the Suckiwake looked to pivot out of harm's way, Ichinojo turned on a dime and had his foe pushed to the brink. He of course stopped short of attempting that last shove to win the bout, and so you knew the M2's intentions at that point. As Wakatakakage attempted to move toward the center of the ring, Ichinojo went through the kote-nage motions with the left, but he wasn't looking to do any damage, and so he let WTK get back to the center of the ring where he hunkered down with the left inside and right arm trapped a bit by Ichinojo's own left, and there the two stood until well over the one-minute mark. At about the two minute mark, Wakatakakage tested the force out waters and dashi-nage waters, but he couldn't budge his opponent, and so Ichinojo finally faked a maki-kae with the left which was really an excuse to back up to the edge, and as Wakatakakage moved forward, Ichinojo just turned to the side 90 degrees landing his right stump on the other side of the straw.

Once again, the bout fits the perfect pattern of the so-called leader losing the tachi-ai, losing the battle inside the ring, and then needing his opponent to back up and step out in order to beat him. The consensus description of Wakatakakage's sumo at the end between Satoh and Mainoumi? He persevered well. As they watched the replay, Satoh described Ichinojo's movements and only his movements because it was Ichinojo that dictated everything here. But...the end result is a fluffy 8-1 record for Wakatakakage while Ichinojo plods his way to 5-4.

M4 Endoh and Takakeisho bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai, and at that point, Takakeisho stood completely upright and started whiffing on downward pulls followed by quick shoves that never connected. The dude was flat footed the entire way, and with Endoh just laughing at the spectacle, he connected on a wicked right slap to the face that deservedly drew oohs and ahs from the crowd, and when Takakeisho tried to slap back, Endoh pounced getting his right arm to the front of Takakeisho's belt, and that gave Endoh the momentum to drive Takakeisho back with his right arm inside. Takakeisho attempted to move laterally and counter with a left kote-nage, but his feet were aligned and so Endoh was able to force him to the edge and then just body slam him down across the straw in spectacular fashion. Pretty entertaining bout here as both rikishi end the day at 6-3, and until Takayasu loses, these two are off the leaderboard.  Before we move on, a real Ozeki would never find himself in the position at right after facing an M4.  Never.  It's humiliating.

Komusubi Hoshoryu put two hands to Shodai's chest at the tachi-ai and just backed up a step thinking Shodai was moving forward, but the faux-zeki was already lost and drifting, and so Hoshoryu pushed him to the side and up against the edge, but he relented in the attack and grabbed a right outer grip dashi-nage'ing Shodai to the side a bit. Hoshoryu held that left outer in place and waited for Shodai to get the right arm inside, and as he did, Hoshoryu refused the left inside position of his own and just turned himself 90 degrees as he waited for Shodai to nudge him across the straw that final step. Hoshoryu dictated everything here as both rikishi finish the day at 4-5. As they watched the slow motion replay, Mainoumi talked only of Hoshoryu's sumo and where he made those mistakes that led to his defeat. I suppose I'm the only one who noticed he never talked about Shodai's sumo because there was nothing to talk about.

In the final bout of the day, Mitakeumi welcomed M2 Tamawashi, a tall order if there ever was one. As expected, however, Tamawashi let up after taking full control from the tachi-ai using his tsuppari to knock Mitakeumi back a step and then two, but as Tamawashi let up with Mitakeumi near the edge, the faux-zeki grabbed the front of Tamawashi's belt with the right hand, and at that point, Tamawashi went into pull mode and just backed his way across the entire length of the dohyo and across with Mitakeumi in tow. Mainoumi's description of Mitakeumi's sumo? He kept his cool as he was being attacked. Terao's description? He was under control. So, once again, nobody can point out a single sumo move that Mitakeumi employed to dictate the pace or throw Tamawashi onto his heels. It was all Tamawashi start to finish and the sumo bore that out today. The result here is Mitakeumi's being gifted an 8-1 start while Tamawashi graciously falls to 4-5.

With both Abi and Takakeisho losing today, the leaderboard is back to the same...(yawn)...four rikishi as follows:

9-0: Takayasu
8-1: Mitakeumi, Wakatakakage, Kotonowaka

I'm pretty sure I can just copy and paste my comments here tomorrow and they'll still be applicable.

Day 7 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Today's broadcast featured the career highlights of Oguruma-oyakata, or the former Ozeki Kotokaze. The dude has been a mainstay of sumo broadcasts over the last few decades, and he's popular among the viewing audience due to his charm and trademark lisp where his tongue just can't seem to get out of the way of his teeth when he talks. He turns 65 this basho and will thus be forced to retire from the Association altogether. Today's broadcast paid tribute to his long career, and I really enjoyed it. Oguruma entered sumo in his second year of junior high school, a circumstance that is unthinkable these days, and it's no coincidence that the sumo has softened considerably as the rikishi have entered professional sumo at much later ages.

I don't know the exact numbers, but I'm guessing these days about half enter once they finish high school and half enter after finishing college. You could see the trend start a couple of decades ago with guys like Dejima and Tosanoumi. The college graduates just seemed a bit softer, and now that nobody is foregoing school to enter professional sumo, the Japanese rikishi have completely lost that bulldog attitude that once made this sport compelling.

I should mention that of the many bouts they replayed from Kotokaze's career, it was easy to spot the yaocho even back then, so c'est la vie.

Due to time constraints, let's just focus on the rikishi who will presumably make up the yusho race over the coming week. I should note that NHK did not post a leaderboard at the end of the Day 7, but here are the candidates from highest rank to lowest who will make up the yusho race in week two: Takakeisho, Mitakeumi, Wakatakakage, Abi, Takayasu, and Kotonowaka. Of those six rikishi, I think there's maybe three legitimate wins this basho among the entire group.

Up first in chronological order was M6 Kotonowaka taking on M8 Sadanoumi. Kotonowaka's arms were dangerously wide at the tachi-ai, and Sadanoumi had the clear path to moro-zashi, but he simply refused to take it. After the initial strike, Kotonowaka shaded to his right looking to set up a tsuki from the side, and instead of squaring up as would normally happen, Sadanoumi just played along with the tsuki running himself outta the dohyo as Kotonowaka tried to keep up in the okuri-dashi win. Kotonowaka moves to 6-1 after a very light performance where Sadanoumi (2-5) did most of the work. Baby Waka continues to build his resume this basho based on pure yaocho.

And that's obviously the case with M7 Takayasu as well who entered the day as the only undefeated rikishi. Today he drew M6 Hokutofuji, and the two both struck well at the tachi-ai, but Hokutofuji won the initial charge driving Takayasu back a half step. But Hokutofuji halted his real sumo at that point and just backed up unnecessarily pretending to fish for a pull as he gave Takayasu the chance to move forward with tsuppari. Takayasu's thrusts were not the impetus that drove Hokutofuji back, and if you watch the slow motion replay, Takayasu's thrusts were up too high and he never connected with Hokutofuji's torso, but no matter. Close to the edge, Hokutofuji just turned sideways and stepped across due to nothing that came from his opponent. The flow of this bout was quick, and it looked like a decisive win to the sheeple, but Hokutofuji did what he wanna start to finish. After the bout, they got Hokutofuji to comment, and he said, "My tachi-ai was good, but I thought my opponent was off balance so I decided to go for a pull." Yeah, uh huh. Takayasu moves to 7-0 with the gift while Hokutofuji takes the cash at 3-4.

And that brings us to Suckiwake Abi who was paired against M1 Ura, a rikishi who is dangerous for these guys coming in with inflated records. Instead of charging forward, Ura actually backed up from the tachi-ai trying to throw a wrench in Abi's charge, and while that did allow Ura to avoid Abi's tsuppari, it also meant that if he was going to defeat his opponent, he'd have to cover the entire length of the dohyo. Abi moved forward with some hesitation keeping Ura at bay with his shoves, but because Abi's thrusts were defensive, Ura was able to slip right a bit and duck under Abi's extended arms and get the right arm firmly to the inside. From there, Ura attempted a do or die charge where he tried to force Abi across the entire length of the ring, but there was just too much real estate to cover, and Abi was able to pull Ura down an instant before the Suckiwake stepped out. They called a mono-ii to actually check whether or not Abi pulled Ura's hair, but video replays showed that Ura touched down first and the win was clean for Abi. Clean but ugly. Abi moves to 5-2 with the dangerous win while Ura falls to 1-6.

Up next was Sekiwake Wakatakakage who was paired against M1 Daieisho, and Daieisho dominated the tachi-ai driving WTK quickly back to the edge, but Daieisho then relented in his charge and waited for Wakatakakage to counter. Said counter move was WTK's slipping to his left and firing a tsuki from the side, and the willing Daieisho just squared back up with his foe and stood upright with hands wide and back to the edge. For his part, Wakatakakage rushed in and grabbed moro-zashi, and when Daieisho put his left arm high around Wakatakakage's neck, it enabled the Suckiwake to get behind Daieisho, drive him along the edge of the dohyo, and then pick him up from behind and throw him across and down with some oomph. That's not really the way you should treat a guy who just let up for you and is now completely submissive, and Kotonowaka made a similar mistake earlier on in the basho. The bottom line is this: Daieisho dominated from the tachi-ai, and the only reason that Wakatakakage got an opening here is because Daieisho let him have it. Wakatakakage created nothing here of his own doing as he moves to 6-1. As for Daieisho, he falls to 4-3 and we'll see if he has some pay back for Wakatakakage next basho.

Moving to the faux-zeki ranks, M3 Onosho dominated Mitakeumi from the tachi-ai driving him back a few steps with a nice tsuppari attack, but just like the previous bout, Onosho suddenly let up allowing Mitakeumi to make a move. Unlike the previous bout, Mitakeumi was not able pounce and provide a flashy ending. Rather, he went for a meager swipe down motion with the right hand that barely hit Onosho's left wrist, but Onosho just dutifully put two palms to the dirt giving Mitakeumi the cheap win. Oguruma did his best to explain this one away, but one thing he never mentioned was a positive aspect to Mitakeumi's sumo because it doesn't exist. Mitakeumi is gifted 6-1 while Onosho palms his way down to 3-4.

Finally, Takakeisho was paired against M2 Tamawashi, and the Mongolian knocked Takakeisho upright with some tsuppari to the neck but then immediately put both hands up high as if to pull giving Takakeisho permission to move forward and shove. As Takakeisho moved forward, Tamawashi backed up right out of the ring, and Takakeisho actually had to spin his wheels to keep up. When you're actually forcing your opponent back and out of the ring, you execute sound de-ashi or suri-ashi, but Takakeisho's feet looked like he was trying to pedal a bicycle in trying to keep up. Regardless of that, it was over in two seconds, and it looked like a nice win for Takakeisho.

I thought Sanbe Announcer said it best afterwards when he commented, "Kowagarazu ni mae ni deta," or Takakeisho moved forward without fear. I talked about it earlier this basho, but when Takakeisho knows the bout is fixed beforehand, he moves straight forward and matter of fact. When he's not sure of the outcome or his opponent doesn't give up less than a second in, he panics and goes for pulls and swipes more than he attempts to thrust. The result is Takakeisho's moving to 5-2 while Tamawashi willingly falls to 3-4.

Of the bouts covered today, only one was straight up...the Abi - Ura affair, and it's no surprise that Abi won it back pedaling. Of the rikishi who will contend for the yusho, not a single one of them has yet to win the tachi-ai in a bout and win using linear sumo where their opponent was actually trying to win. Instead, we get finishes at the edge that look like this:

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The big news of the day was of course the withdrawal of Yokozuna Terunofuji after a bland 3-2 start. Because they can't put "disinterest" on the kyujo papers, they fabricated other conditions like pain in the left knee and a bruised right heel. The problem with Terunofuji's withdrawal is that sumo--just like it's counterpart, professional wrestling--needs a heel for it to be successful and entertaining, and Fuji's departure from the festivities takes away that heel.

Takayasu has proven over and over that he can't carry a basho, and despite Mitakeumi's three career yusho, the words they used to describe his sumo on the News tonight was, "He's reacting well, and he's moving well." No "Tachi-ai." No "Tsuyoi." No "Oshi." No "Mawashi." No anything that has to do with actual sumo. The only guy in sumo over my 30 years of watching who did not move well was Konishiki once he crossed the 600 lb threshold. Everyone else moves well...even if they suck.

Aside from moving well, responding well means that you are taking the brunt of the punishment and so you need to react or counter. I would say that Mitakeumi's opponents have responded well by diving at the last second just before they push the faux-zeki across the straw, but whatever. It's all a game of words when actual sumo is lacking.

I'm quite sure you won't be getting analysis of every bout over the weekend, so let's touch 'em all today. The broadcast in Japan briefly started before the Makuuchi bouts, but they cut away for a lengthy news break missing the first few bouts of Makuuchi. That's a sign that they can keep people's attention better with more interesting things than sumo, but (un)fortunately for us, they showed replays of the first few bouts when they resumed the sumo feed.

Up first was M17 Kagayaki welcoming J1 Tsurugisho, and the two connected in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai whereupon Kagayaki just stood upright stiff as a board and let Tsurugisho drive him back in a few seconds. No counter sumo, no grunting, no uwate, nothing. Just good ole yaocho to start the day as Tsurugisho evens things up at 3-3 while Kagayaki had room to sell in falling to 4-2.

Next up was M14 Kotoshoho and M17 Ichiyamamoto in a poorly fought bout. Ichiyamamoto won the tachi-ai (which isn't saying much) and offered a few light tsuppari Kotoshoho's way, and all Shoho could do was react with some poor defensive tsuppari of his own. With Kotoshoho making no headway, IYM began backing up as if to pull, but instead of actually going for a pull, he put his left hand at the side of Kotoshoho's belt in uwate-nage fashion and then twisted his body down touching his butt to the dirt before Kotoshoho fell over. This was a very awkward bout of sumo start to finish where as usual when the bout is fixed, the winner did nothing to dictate the flow at any point. I'm not sure where they got the oshi-dashi winning technique, but they had to think of something. Kotoshoho "improves" to 3-3 while IYM falls brilliantly to 1-5.

M14 Yutakayama put two hands forward at the tachi-ai against M16 Nishikigi, but he somehow forgot to thrust with them, so he just stood there upright and waited for Nishikigi to slowly drive him back and across. Just like the first bout on the day, no attempt to counter, no heated action, nothing. Plain ole yaocho where Nishikigi moves to 4-2 while Yutakayama falls to 3-3.

The marquee matchup on the day featured M16 Kohtokuzan vs. M13 Chiyonokuni. Or not. Chiyonokuni moved a step forward from the tachi-ai with a tsuppari attack, but then he just halted and let the rookie comeback with tsuppari of his own. There was a lot of slapping going on, but the thrusts weren't really making an impact, and so Kohtokuzan went for a right tsuki-otoshi into Chiyonokuni's left side, and Kuni anticipated it just a hair early, so he began his fall before Kohtokuzan actually made contact. The rookie has purchased his three wins in moving to 3-3 while Chiyonokuni graciously falls to 4-2.

M15 Akua kept his hands high and tight at the tachi-ai gifting M12 Kotoeko what he wanna, and so Eko got the right arm inside and executed a force-out charge so fast had you blinked you would have missed it. Kotoeko moves to 4-2 with the uncontested win while Akua was completely mukiryoku in falling to 1-5.

In a curious bout, M15 Tochinoshin came with the usual kachi-age against M12 Chiyotairyu before offering a few thrusts, but then Shin relented allowing the bout to go to migi-yotsu where Chiyotairyu was close to moro-zashi. After digging in and a bit of jockeying, the two traded stances and found themselves in hidari-yotsu where Chiyotairyu had the right outer grip. Tochinoshin had the clear advantage from this stance, and as he attempted a force-out charge, his belt came loose so much so that Chiyotairyu's right belt grip was up around Tochinoshin's shoulder. Can't say I've seen that before, but with Tairyu having lost his momentum, the force-out was swift and direct in Tochinoshin's favor. Shin moves to 4-2 with the nice win while Chiyotairyu falls to 2-4.

M11 Myogiryu and M13 Chiyomaru hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Myogiryu had Maru upright enough to where the left outer grip was open, but Myogiryu didn't take it. As for Chiyomaru, he was too far from an uwate of his own and at a disadvantage, but Myogiryu didn't capitalize on it instead waiting for who knows what? Well, I know what. The two stood in a stalemate for about 30 seconds in the ring, and realizing that he was obligated to throw the bout but that Chiyomaru was in no position to make a move, Myogiryu just pulled both arms out of position and backed up near the edge, and from there Chiyomaru rushed forward and offered a light tsuki with the left, and Myogiryu's reaction was to just bowl himself forward and down back into the center of the ring. Chiyomaru clearly buys one here in moving to 2-4 while Myogiryu is even steven at 3-3.

M10 Aoiyama was slapping M11 Terutsuyoshi silly with tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but the Happy Bulgar's legs were not into it, and instead of just bullying T-Yoshi back and across, he stopped his charge and allowed the bout to go to yotsu-zumo. As Terutsuyoshi burrowed in close, Aoiyama grabbed the shaky left kote position to Terutsuyoshi's right arm inside, but you could still see that Terutsuyoshi did not have the ability to fell Aoiyama. After giving Terutsuyoshi moro-zashi, the little guy tested the right inside belt throw waters twice, but Aoiyama was just too big to throw. What was obvious here is that Aoiyama was NOT even thinking about a counter left throw that would have worked with ease. With Aoiyama having already shown that he was clearly not trying to win the bout, it was just a matter of how would he fall? Finally, Terutsuyoshi went for a weak and tired left scoop throw, and that was Aoiyama's cue to plop over and down. At least he made Terutsuyoshi work for it as both fellas end the day at 3-3.

M9 Tobizaru henka'd to his right wildly against M8 Sadanoumi, but Umi was able to square back up and keep his foe at bay with a few tsuppari. With Tobizaru having played his hand, Sadanoumi was able to grab a left outer belt and force the bout to yotsu. The problem was that he didn't have Tobizaru secured with anything to the right, and so as Sadanoumi went for the force out charge, Tobizaru countered with a right inside belt throw and the nage-no-uchi-ai was on that sent Tobizaru to the edge of the dohyo and off altogether. Sadanoumi actually touched down first, but they ruled in his favor, so a mono-ii was held where they said that Tobizaru's hand touched down first, so gumbai to Sadanoumi. In watching the replays, Sadanoumi definitely touched down first, but I don't think you can give the bout to a guy whose entire body had crossed the tawara by the time his foe touches down. Hey, at least it was a real bout of sumo as Sadanoumi moves to 2-4 while Tobizaru falls to 3-3.

M7 Takayasu was completely uncontested by M10 Shimanoumi in their bout today. Shimanoumi's tachi-ai was decent, but he wasn't looking to get inside and just backed up of his own volition. Takayasu sorta got the right arm inside, but it was less than elbow deep, and the issue was that Shimanoumi was backing up faster than Takayasu was moving forward. Shimnoumi's backward motion was definitely not due to any pressure coming from Takayasu, but it was over in under three seconds with Shimanoumi backing himself out of the ring with Takayasu in tow. This pic was the only "action pic" I could find on the wires.  Remember, the same money that was behind Kisenosato is behind Takayasu thus this clown show of a 6-0 start. Shimanoumi is richer here in falling to 2-4.

M9 Wakamotoharu and M7 Okinoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and WMH was up a bit higher than he wanted to be, but Okinoumi wasn't trying to win, and so he slowly allowed himself to be backed up to the edge, and at that point Wakamotoharu finally got the right outer grip and that enable to finally force a listless Okinoumi back and across the straw. Wakamotoharu bought this one in moving to 4-2 while Okinoumi falls to 1-5.

M8 Chiyoshoma struck M8 Kotonowaka at the tachi-ai and then backed away hoping that Kotonowaka would just push him out, but once again, if Kotonowaka's actions didn't cause Chiyoshoma's movement, he also wasn't prepared to push Chiyoshoma back, and so the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Chiyoshoma grabbed the easy right outer grip. Chiyoshoma moved Kotonowaka back to the edge, but relented also allowing Kotonowaka to grab a right outer of his own; thus, the gappuri-yotsu bout was on. Chiyoshoma had the clear advantage as Kotonowaka was up way too high, but instead of using that advantage, Chiyoshoma purposefully whiffed on a leg trip, which was really an excuse to give up his advantage. Problem was when the dust settled Kotonowaka was in an even worse position, but he still had a very loose right outer grip, and he used that to attempt to throw Chiyoshoma over, and the Mongolian complied by ensuring to touch his down his right forearm first as part of the nage-no-uchi-ai. Clear yaocho here as Kotonowaka moves to 5-1, and is this the type of yusho race we're rooting for? Guys to buy there way through to the end? That's exactly what we're going to get this basho now that Terunofuji is out. Chiyoshoma falls--literally--to 2-4.

M6 Hokutofuji went for his usual tachi-ai where he pushes with the right hand and shades left, and M4 Endoh knew exactly what was coming and as Hokutofuji moved left, Endoh just plowed forward straight into him and scored the pushout win in about two seconds. Endoh moves to 4-2 with the nice win while Hokutofuji falls to 3-3.

M1 Daieisho caught M5 Takarafuji in the chest with nice tsuppari from the tachi-ai, and as Takarafuji shaded left in an effort to throw a wrench in things, Daieisho stayed square and just pummeled Takarafuji back and across the straw in mere seconds. Nice sumo here from Daieisho as he moves to 4-2 while Takarafuji falls to 1-5.

M2 Ichinojo was composed at the tachi-ai against M1 Ura keeping his eyes on Ura's movements while fishing for a position to the inside. He'd never get it, but after Ura moved back and right in and effort to get to the inside, Ichinojo brought two hams down hard at the back of Ura's head and neck slapping him straight down for the easy peasy hataki-komi win. Ichinojo is 4-2 if you need him while Ura falls to 1-5.

Komusubi Takanosho won the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Wakatakakage and connected on enough tsuppari to cause WTK to move to the right, but Takanosho was right on the move continuing to connect on tsuppari and sending the Sekiwake on the run. Takanosho was in control from the start but for no reason moved to the side in an attempt to go for a pull, but he totally whiffed on the move and then just waited for Wakatakakage to go for a wild swipe of his own, and that was Takanosho's cure to dive to the dirt. Ridiculous. Wakatakakage is close to being demoted to Suckiwake status as he buys his way to 5-1 while Takanosho graciously falls to 1-5.

Suckiwake Abi caught Komusubi Hoshoryu nicely at the tachi-ai with two hands to the chest, and that caused Hoshoryu to back up and shade to his right in an effort to throw Abi off of his attack. And it worked. As Abi wildly rushed forward, Hoshoryu was able to slip under Abi's extended right arm and lift the Suckiwake completely upright and off balance, and from there, Hoshoryu rushed Abi across the dohyo and into the front row. Give credit to Abi for the good tachi-ai, but he couldn't follow it up, and the crafty Mongolian got the best of him. Abi falls to 4-2 in defeat while Hoshoryu moves to 3-3.

M4 Kiribayama kept his hands high and wide against Takakeisho allowing the faux-zeki to get his tsuppari attack going with some effect. Without having actually been hit by Takakeisho, Kiribayama backed up and moved left, and as Takakeisho squared back up, Kiribayama put his hands at the back of Takakeisho's head and just said do me now. You have to credit straight up forward-moving sumo from Takakeisho, but Takakeisho only does this when he knows the bout is fixed. When it's straight up, he panics from the start and goes for swipes and pulls and everything but confident, straight-forward tsuppari. Ne'ertheless, he moves to 4-2 thanks to the charity as Kiribayama falls to the same 4-2 mark.

M2 Tamawashi decided to beat Shodai, and so he did catching the faux-zeki with a couple of fierce tsuppari to the throat, and Shodai was thankfully pushed back in about two seconds. No need to get your ass kicked longer than that as Tamawashi moves to 3-3 while Shodai falls to 1-5.

In the final bout of the day, M3 Meisei put a hand to the throat of Mitakeumi at the tachi-ai and then promptly backed up and to his left. In the process, he got a hand on the side of Mitakeumi's belt as the latter looked to get the right arm inside, but before the bout could go chest to chest, Meisei just backed across the straw gifting Mitakeumi a 5-1 record. As for Meisei, he falls to 1-5 and seems to know his place in the hierarchy.  In the pic at right, Meisei has already clearly given up and yet he's still within the confines of the ring.  Typical Mitakeumi win here.

M3 Onosho picked up the freebie due to Terunofuji's absence moving Onosho to 3-3, and it's going to be painful not having a solid presence with solid sumo to close out each day. Wait, what? Shodai fights last tomorrow? I stand corrected.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Seemingly every decade, something breaks in the news regarding bout fixing in sumo. The last time was in 2011 when an actual tournament was canceled when police evidence revealed paper trails of bout fixing as part of an investigation into gambling among sumo rikishi. Prior to that, you had Itai's revelation in 2000 where he detailed how yaocho works, and I think it's worth reading because it's as if he's talking about the type of sumo we're watching now. Around 1990, then commissioner Wakanohana made bout fixing a huge issue internally because he was worried that the sport was going to lose their fans over the practice. Under "Episodes" on the former commissioner's Japanese wiki page, it even lists this as something associated to his tenure as commissioner:

In the fall of 1991, an emergency meeting was held with all of the oyakata and sekitori in attendance, and a warning was issued in regards to "Mukiryoku Sumo." According to Dewanoumi-oyakata who was serving as Chief Compliance Officer at the time, the issue of exchanging money for bouts was also addressed. Furthermore, a tape recording of an all-hands rikishi meeting in September of 1989 revealed a statement by then Executive Director of the Sumo Association, Shinichi Morishima, "We generally refer to yaocho as mukiryoku sumo." This suggests that internally the Association began using the term "mukiryoku sumo" to refer to yaocho around this time. During an NHK Special which aired on February 12, 2011, the Sumo Association issued a clarifying statement that said, "Mukiryoku sumo is lazy sumo that lacks a fighting spirit while yaocho refers to the unauthorized arrangement of a bout beforehand."

That's not from me. That's posted on Wikipedia. In between these major yaocho revelations, we've also seen other stories pop up like the mysterious death of former Onaruto-oyakata and another sumo insider named Seiichiro Hashimoto in 1996 on the same day in the same hospital of mysterious illnesses after their plans to publish a book detailing yaocho and the seedier side of sumo.

Then about 15 years ago in a court case where Kitanoumi sued a tabloid for publishing yaocho claims in their magazine, the defense produced a recording of Miyagino-oyakata (Hakuho's stablemaster) confessing to his mistress that he paid the Asashoryu camp around $30K USD to throw a bout on senshuraku between the two.

When I first started watching sumo, any time such news would break I'd simply plug my ears and make noises with my mouth until the news blew over. I didn't want it to be true and so it wasn't. The first time I actually considered such news was in 2000 when Itai dropped his claims. It followed my favorite rikishi, Musoyama's, only career yusho, which I knew was fixed, and so I confessed to Kenji that I had suspicions about certain rikishi. He would have nothing of the sort and so I brushed it off still enjoying sumo.

In 2002 we started SumoTalk and we'd talk about fixed bouts occasionally, but it didn't need to be thee narrative of the day, and so it wasn't. Now, however, it feels to me as if the bout fixing is getting so ridiculous and so brazen and so rampant that it wouldn't surprise me if it comes to a head at some point in the near future. I just don't know how they can carry on like this and not be exposed.

M17 Ichiyamamoto struck J1 Ohho well at the tachi-ai sticking him with two hands to the torso, but then IYM just ducked his head as if to say, "Pull me down, dude," and Ohho slipped a bit left and did. As is usually the case in compromised bouts, the winner dude nothing to set up the final kimari-te. This was all Ichiyamamoto leaving himself vulnerable in falling to 1-4. Ohho buys his way to 4-1 and will likely return to the division for May. Just great!

M15 Tochinoshin came with dual kachi-age against M16 Kohtokuzan, but Shin wasn't looking to force the bout to the belt. Instead, he fired wild tsuppari and attempted a few dumb pulls presumably in an effort to give the rookie an opening. Kohtokuzan was hapless, however, and so Tochinoshin went back to work at one point getting the left outer grip over the top, but he refused to get this right arm inside, and so with Tochinoshin doing everything not to win and give his opponent every opportunity, Kohtokuzan backed up for a pull and slipped across the tawara falling down in the process. Never seen the straw defeat a guy before like that, but welcome to modern day sumo. Tochinoshin moves to 3-2 while Kohtokuzan is a mess at 2-3.

M17 Kagayaki and M14 Yutakayama struck well at the tachi-ai, but Yutakayama was so upright that Kagayaki found himself in moro-zashi. As Yutakayama pivoted to his left, Kagayaki stayed snug and began a force out charge into his opponent, but Yutakayama just slid his right foot back across the straw in an uneventful three seconds. Yutakayama (3-2) did absolutely nothing to try and win this one. He came in high at the tachi-ai and then just stepped out prematurely giving Kagayaki (4-1) the uncontested win.

M14 Kotoshoho henka'd right at the tachi-ai barely touching M15 Akua with a forearm at the back of Akua's left shoulder, but Akua just ran himself out of the dohyo to the side without even trying. The contact from Kotoshoho was minimal at best, and I can't believe the Osaka fans sat there so patiently being spoon-fed all this crap. Kotoshoho buys his way to 2-3 while Akua falls to 1-4.

M16 Nishikigi was completely ukemi, or passive, at the tachi-ai against M13 Chiyonokuni not even bothering to lift his hands up as he waited for Kuni to move forward. Knowing the outcome was compromised, Chiyonokuni did move forward not even bother to fire tsuppari. Later, he struck Nishikigi upright, moved left, and then went for an average pull and Nishikigi just flopped to the dirt in defeat. A hot start to these first five bouts weren't as Chiyonokuni buys another win at 4-1 while Nishikigi had plenty of room to sell at 3-2.

M13 Chiyomaru was high and out of position at the tachi-ai against M11 Terutsuyoshi, but instead of rushing in and securing moro-zashi, Terutsuyoshi struck lightly once and then began backing up and dancing around the perimeter of the ring for no reason. I mean, there was a reason. It just wasn't to escape any heat from Chiyomaru. With Terunofuji moving laterally with his chest square to Maru providing a target, Chiyomaru eventually caught up and went for the slightest of pulls, and that was Terutsuyoshi's cue to just put both palms to the dirt before standing right back up. Chiyomaru picks up his first win...I guess...at 1-4 while Terutsuyoshi falls to 2-3.

M12 Chiyotairyu clashed well at the tachi-ai as M10 Aoiyama took complete charge staring straight into Chiyotairyu's face and pushing him back once, twice, three times a lady. Doing what Aoiyama did there is no easy task, but he showed textbook oshi-zumo in moving to 3-2 while Chiyotairyu took a licking today at 2-3. Before we move on, can you imagine Takakeisho doing the kind of sumo that Aoiyama did today?

M10 Shimanoumi and M12 Kotoeko both charged hard at the tachi-ai engaging in a slapfest early on where neither guy was committed to a full-on charge. Eventually, Shimanoumi got the right arm inside, but he focused more on a left outer grip instead of keeping Eko in snug chest to chest. He used the outer grip to dashi-nage Kotoeko to the side, but he lost the grip so the two settled in for a bit pushing into each others shoulders with a bit of separation. With Shimanoumi nudging Kotoeko back near the straw, Kotoeko pounced left grabbing an outer grip, and with Shimanoumi getting his own left outer, Kotoeko just launched his body into his opponent forcing him across the straw before Shimanoumi was able to swing him wildly down. Mukiryoku sumo this wasn't as Kotoeko picks up the wild win at 3-2 while Shimanoumi falls to 2-3.

The tachi-ai between M11 Myogiryu and M9 Wakamotoharu was average with both guys coming in high, and the two eventually settled into hidari-yotsu sumo where Wakamotoharu was reaching for the right outer grip. WMH had Myogiryu so upright that Myogiryu knew he was in trouble, and as he attempted a maki-kae with the right, Wakamotoharu pounced at the momentum shift and forced Myogiryu back and across with relative ease. Both rikishi end the day at 3-2.

M8 Chiyoshoma kept his hands low at the tachi-ai against M9 Tobizaru and just ran forward at Tobizaru's bidding. Problem was we're talking about Tobizaru, and so the Flying Monkey did little to take advantage forcing the two to slap at each other in the center of the ring. I mean, Chiyoshoma coulda gotten to the inside at any point of this bout, but he just stayed upright waiting for Tobizaru to make a move. The bout finally went to an awkward hidari-yotsu where the two weren't chest to chest, and Chiyoshoma literally just stood there as Tobizaru wrenched him around, and then Chiyoshoma pulled his left arm to the outside, and at that point Tobizaru finally executed a force-out charge easily sending Chiyoshoma back and across. Chiyoshoma (2-3) redefined mukiryoku and just plain dumb sumo here as he threw the bout in favor of Tobizaru (3-2).

M7 Okinoumi kept his hands low against M6 Kotonowaka signaling from the start that he wasn't trying to win, but Kotonowaka's tachi-ai was not good, and it gave Okinoumi the clear path to hidari-yotsu with the right outer grip, but instead of taking it, he kept his hands limp as the two traded places in the dohyo. Okinoumi had yet another chance to grab a stifling right grip that would have pinned Kotonowaka's left useless, but he pulled back again and put that arm up high around Kotonowaka's neck, and that was Baby Waka's chance to score the easy force out from there. Okinoumi was completely mukiryoku from the tachi-ai as Kotonowaka is gifted 4-1 while Okinoumi is seriously hoarding cash at 1-4.

M6 Hokutofuji henka'd left at the tachi-ai pushing into the side of M8 Sadanoumi and choking him with the right, and as Umi tried to evade and turn the tables, Hokutofuji stayed square enough that he was able to follow Sadanoumi around the ring and push him out in the end. The bout never really did settle in after the henka, and you can't call this great sumo, but Hokutofuji picks up the win moving to 3-2 while Sadanoumi falls to 1-4.

M5 Takarafuji kept his hands low at the tachi-ai giving M7 Takayasu the perfect target to attack. Takayasu attempted a few nodowa, but he couldn't get the job done even against a purely defenseless opponent, and as Takayasu let the action flow back to the center of the ring, Takarafuji accidentally got the left arm to the inside and had the path to the right outer group...all with Takayasu retreating, but of course Takarafuji relented and just stood there waiting for Takayasu to push him over and down with a light tsuki to the side. Takayasu's tsuki-otoshi attempt was weak, and Takarafuji had to dive a bit, but whatever. The shullbit sumo continues for Takayasu as he finishes the jobansen at 5-0 while Takarafuji has been extremely charitable this basho at 1-4.

M2 Ichinojo executed a quick hari-te against M4 Endoh slapping with the left and looking to get the right arm inside, but Endoh moved to the side leaving the Mongolith with a sturdy left outer grip. As Endoh tried to evade out of the yotsu-zumo contest, Ichinojo stayed square the entire way and caught Endoh at the other side of the dohyo in moro-zashi where he forced him back that final step with ease. Both dudes finish the day at 3-2.

M1 Ura tried to duck low at the tachi-ai against M1 Daieisho, but the latter was having none of it, and he kept his eyes squarely on Ura as Ura tried to evade around the ring and spring some sort of trap, but Daieisho's tsuppari connected well, and Ura didn't have a chance as Daieisho blistered him off the dohyo altogether and into the waiting arms of Hoshoryu ringside. This is what anyone not ranked at Ozeki can do against Ura, so when you don't see this vicious sumo against him, you know Ura's opponent is mukiryoku. Daieisho moves to 3-2 with the easy win while Ura is just 1-4.

Suckiwake Abi's feet were very unstable against Komusubi Takanosho from the tachi-ai, and Takanosho could have taken the easy advantage, but the bout was fixed coming in unfortunately, and so Takanosho extended his right arm and allowed Abi to grab hold of it and tug a willing Takanosho clear off the dohyo in under three seconds. In describing Abi's sumo afterwards, Koi Announcer used the term "semeraremashita" which is a passive form implying that Abi was the one being attacked and not attacking. And that was the case and is the case with Mitakeumi and Takayasu as well. They are always on the receiving end but somehow pull the rabbit out of the hat every time. Abi is a phony 4-1 while Takanosho gets paid to fall to 1-4.

Speaking of passive sumo, Komusubi Hoshoryu was just that from the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Wakatakakage keeping his hands high and wide and allowing WTK to rush forward and push Hoshoryu over to the edge with a left tsuki and right nodowa. Still, Wakatakakage wasn't the one dictating the flow of the bout, and so he couldn't finish Hoshoryu off in one fell swoop, so the Komusubi put his left arm up high wrapping it around WTK's neck, and that finally allowed Wakatakakage to get the right arm inside and score the easy yori-kiri win. Hoshoryu was mukiryoku start to finish as he falls to 2-3 while Wakatakakage buys his way to 4-1.

Shodai lost the tachi-ai yet again today against M3 Onosho who scored on some nice jabs to the neck to lift Shodai upright and off balance, but instead of finishing the oshi charge, Onosho relented and waited for the bout to go to yotsu-zumo. It eventually ended up in migi-yotsu where Onosho anticipated a nage-no-uchi-ai where Onosho would scoop with the right and Shodai would throw with the left uwate-nage, but the M3 began his dive before Shodai had fully grabbed the belt, so by the time Shodai caught up, Onosho was already on the dohyo floor resulting in an embarrassing ending for everyone. If you look at the sequence of pics at left, how does Onosho get from Point A to Point B from a belt throw?  How pathetic is it that someone ranked as an Ozeki needs Onosho to take a dive for them like this? It's disgraceful as the Shodai camp scrapes up enough cash to buy his first win while Onosho graciously falls to 2-3. Anyone who believes that this bout was real should be embarrassed.

M4 Kiribayama and Mitakeumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai...the last pose Mitakeumi wanted to find himself in, but Kiribayama played nice by refusing the left outer grip at first and agreeing to back up to the edge. Still, with Mitakeumi having set nothing up, he didn't have the momentum to force Kiribayama across, and so the Mongolian nudged the action back towards the center of the ring, and while we were blocked with the main camera angle, you could see Kiribayama go for the left outer and then just wrench Mitakeumi sideways a bit to where he was completely had. I actually paused the tape at this point to snap a picture of the pose in Kiribayama's favor that was so decisive, there was no way for Mitakeumi to escape. And I was pleasantly surprised that instead of taking a dive, Kiribayama followed through on the perfect force-out charge.

In everyone of Mitakeumi's bouts this basho that didn't involve Ura, the opponent has dictated the pace the entire way. Mitakeumi loses the tachi-ai; he's always driven to the edge; and then he somehow pulls the rabbit out of the hat in the end. You'd think in five such bouts maybe he'd win one of them, but thanks to compromised sumo, he came into the day undefeated, but Kiribayama showed here exactly how easy and decisive that even an M4 can defeated Mitakeumi if that's what they want to do. Mitakeumi was defeated soundly has both rikishi finish the day at 4-1.

M3 Meisei kept his hands out wide completely exposing his torso to Takakeisho, but the faux-zeki still couldn't knock him off the starting lines, and so Meisei continued to keep his hands high and wide as he moved laterally to the right waiting for Takakeisho to finish him off. It took about five seconds, but Takakeisho was finally able to get his bearings and push the willing Meisei back and across for good. Takakeisho is gifted one here no doubt in moving to 3-2 while Meisei falls to a harmless 1-4.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Terunofuji welcomed M2 Tamawashi, and from the tachi-ai, Tamawashi used a real tsuppari attack focused into Terunofuji's neck to keep him upright and on his heels, and all Tamawashi needed to do from that point was to drive his legs forward, and that he did sending Terunofuji back and toppling over and down as Tamawashi picks up the easy kin-boshi. I think Terunofuji was a bit mukiryoku here, but this bout was example of why I say that Tamawashi is the best rikishi on the banzuke. Regardless of any politics that may have been involved, Terunofuji falls to 3-2 while Tamawashi ekes forward to 2-3.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The two items of news that hit the wires overnight were the withdrawal announcement of Ishiura, which was no surprise, and the revelation that Aoiyama's request for Japanese citizenship was formally granted. That tells us that Aoiyama will likely remain in Japan even after retirement and why not? I would be surprised if Aoiyama stays on with the Sumo Association as an oyakata, but regardless of that, his MO now is to hoard as much cash as possible. The dude is in such control in the lower half of the banzuke that he could fight for at least another five years.

It reminds a lot of Kyokutenho. That dude was always sandbagging it down in the lower half of the division winning just enough bouts to keep his place on the banzuke but selling enough bouts to bank as much yen as possible. Kyokutenho would ultimately take over the Oshima-beya, and he had more than enough money banked to operate the stable. Understanding the dynamics going on behind the scenes like this help to explain a lot of the mediocre sumo we see on a daily basis in the Makuuchi division.

Day 4 began with M17 Kagayaki wielding the bully stick against previously unbeaten M16 Nishikigi. Kagayaki struck his foe hard from the tachi-ai with two hands to the chest and used perfect de-ashi to drive him back in linear fashion. When Nishikigi resisted at the edge, Kagayaki already had moro-zashi and so the force-out was a given from there. Nice solid start to the day as both rikishi finish 3-1.

M15 Tochinoshin engaged in a wild affair with M17 Ichiyamamoto where both dudes were sorta thrusting and sorta slapping. They weren't moving all around the dohyo, but there was no continuity to either party's sumo or to the bout. You could see that IYM couldn't really make a dent in Shin's armor, but it didn't look as if Tochinoshin was trying to take the bout to the belt. After about eight seconds of wild, unstable sumo, Tochinoshin wrapped his arm around Ichiyamamoto's neck, and the younger dude just went down. Wasn't a throw, and it wasn't really a thrust. The dude just went down, and I think Ichiyamamoto owed Tochinoshin a bout since IYM won last basho. Tochinoshin moves to 2-2 while Ichiyamamoto falls to 1-3.

M14 Yutakayama easily knocked M16 Kohtokuzan off of the starting lines with a perfect tsuppari attack, and he had the rookie driven to the edge where all he needed was that final forearm to shove Kohtokuzan beyond the straw, but wouldn't ya know it? The rookie summoned his inner Mitakeumi and somehow willed Yutakayama to fall over and down without even touching him. They ruled it hiki-otoshi because Kohtokuzan managed to touch Yutakayama's shoulder after he was already on his way down, but this was clearly a dive from Yutakayama after kicking Kohtokuzan's ass the entire way. The rookie moves to 2-2 with the gift while Yutakayama falls to 3-1, and as Kohtokuzan exited the arena, you could hear the Jedi masters sitting ringside say, "The Force is strong in that one."

M15 Akua struck M13 Chiyonokuni well at the tachi-ai knocking him completely upright thanks to Chiyonokuni's hands being way too high, and Akua looked to seize the momentum by driving Chiyonokuni back quickly. But wait...there's more!! Instead of just continuing his momentum and driving Kuni back in mere seconds, Akua decided to switch gears and grab Chiyonokuni's right arm as if to tottari him, but the dude literally dragged Chiyonokuni straight into his body and then just collapsed to the dirt pulling his foe on top of him.

When it came time for the kimari-te, I was like, "Oh, this should be good," and they ruled it kiri-kaeshi. Kiri-whatsie?? Wow! That was a big stretch, but what else are you going to rule it since you can't say the word yaocho? Sometimes I feel like instead of a live audience they should fight the sumos to a laugh track it's that unbelievable. I'm speechless as Chiyonokuni sorta moves to 3-1 while Akua should put the money he earned today towards better acting lessons at 1-3.

Before we move on, do you know the easiest way to tell yaocho? It's sumo that doesn't look like the thousands and thousands of bouts you've watched at morning keiko. I hardly dare to watch the rest, but if we must...

M13 Chiyomaru knocked M12 Kotoeko back a full step from the tachi-ai looking to take the clear advantage, but as sweet as his tachi-ai was, he went into yaocho mode putting both hands high around Eko's head waiting for his opponent to force the bout to the belt. Kotoeko complied getting the right arm to the inside, and as Maru retreated, he just dipped that right shoulder giving Kotoeko the left outer grip. After gifting Kotoeko everything but the kitchen sink, Chiyomaru offered little resistance at the edge as Kotoeko "forced" him across. These guys just can't help themselves as Kotoeko buys his second win at 2-2 while Chiyomaru is hoarding cash at 0-4.

M12 Chiyotairyu caught M14 Kotoshoho with a vicious hari-te with the right from the tachi-ai, and Tairyu was in full push mode from the beginning. And I might add it was beautiful to watch. After being knocked back a few steps, Kotoshoho tried to evade around the edge to his right, but Chiyotairyu was just too good and caught the youngster with a few more square shoves sending him out tsuki-dashi style. Yes, a legitimate tsuki-dashi! I'll take that after all the crap we've been exposed to these first four days. Chiyotairyu moves to 2-2 while Kotoshoho falls to 1-3, and you watch a bout like this and you can truly see the gap between a guy like Chiyotairyu and Kotoshoho.

M10 Shimanoumi and M11 Terutsuyoshi butted heads at the tachi-ai before Shimanoumi drove his foe back quite methodically with a nice shove attack, and with Terutsuyoshi's heels on the straw, Shimanoumi shifted gears and pulled him back to the center of the ring and down. Probably some shenanigans here as both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

Fresh off of his bender after receiving Japanese citizenship, M10 Aoiyama played dumb against a weak henka from M11 Myogiryu to his right who barely touched the Happy Bul...er...Aoiyama-san, and that was the M10's cue to just hit the dirt on all fours half a second into the bout. What a fake bout, and it just gets worse and worse it seems. Aoiyama pockets more cash in falling to 2-2 while Myogiryu should be ashamed of himself at 3-1.

M8 Sadanoumi got his left arm inside deep against a defenseless M9 Wakamotoharu, and Sadanoumi quickly rushed his foe back to the straw. The charge was actually too fast for his own good as Sadanoumi never had stability with the right arm, and he was completely vulnerable to a counter scoop throw. The bout was negotiated beforehand, however, and so instead of really unleashing a scoop throw that was there for the taking, Wakamotoharu began the throw and then voluntarily pulled the SadaMight into his own body touching his hand down before Sadanoumi touched out. Yet another fake bout as Sadanoumi buys his first win while Wakamotoharu had room to sell at 2-2.

M7 Okinoumi kept his hands low and in tight against M9 Tobizaru not even attempting to get to the inside or grab a hold of him, and Tobizaru immediately backed up as if to go for a pull, and instead of Okinoumi pushing his vulnerable foe out with some oomph, Okinoumi just dove out of the dohyo of his own volition. Good grief this is bad as Tobizaru buys an obvious win in moving to 2-2 while Okinoumi falls--literally--to 1-3 without a care in the world.

M8 Chiyoshoma struck M6 Hokutofuji well at the tachi-ai and had a smorgasbord of options open to him against his vulnerable opponent, especially after connecting on a stiff face slap, but instead of forcing the bout to yotsu-zumo against his dazed opponent, Chiyoshoma put his hands up high as if to pull, but he just retreated grabbing the back of Fuji's belt pulling him directly into Chiyoshoma's own body as the Mongolian hopped backwards and out of the dohyo giving Hokutofuji the win despite zero moves from the M6 that contributed to his cause. Chiyoshoma ran rings around his opponent today and even orchestrated the fake ending. You knew he was in full control because Shoma landed on both feet like a gymnast while Hokutofuji somersaulted out of control into the first row. Fake sumo all around as both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

M6 Kotonowaka shaded right against M7 Takayasu, and the latter was so slow to react that Kotonowaka could have pushed into Takayasu's left side sending him on the run, but Waka let Takayasu square back up failing to fire a single shove into his opponent's body. With Takayasu still incapable of doing anything, Kotonowaka connected on some very good nodowa, but he wasn't driving Takayasu back purposefully. The two finally went to migi-yotsu where Kotonowaka gifted Takayasu the left outer grip while refusing to latch onto a left uwate of his own. As Takayasu tested the throw waters, Kotonowaka grabbed the left outer but quickly let it go, so you knew he was just waiting for Takayasu to do anything worthwhile. Takayasu switched grips taking the right outer instead, and with Kotonowaka standing there like a bump on a log, Takayasu finally dumped him over via uwate-nage.

You look at Kotonowaka's left arm in the pic at right, and you can see he's not trying to counter with an inside belt throw or even a scoop throw.  He just kept it limp, which resulted in this unorthodox uwate-nage. Kotonowaka was just going along with things and picking up some extra cash today in falling to 3-1 while Takayasu's 4-0 start has been completely financed.

M4 Endoh benefited from Ishiura's withdrawal moving to 3-1 with the freebie.

M5 Takarafuji left both arms completely wide open at the tachi-ai against M3 Onosho, and so of course Onosho got to the inside and forced the listless Takarafuji back and across in about two seconds. Takarafuji was as mukiryoku in this one as you can get in falling to 1-3 while Onosho buys a win in moving to 2-2.

M2 Tamawashi moved to his left at the tachi-ai, but he didn't do anything after the henka. After the two traded useless tsuppari with Tamawashi letting the Komusubi square back up, Hoshoryu moved to to his right and instead of squaring up himself with his opponent, Tamawashi just stood there deer in the headlights looking straight ahead as Hoshoryu moved to his side.  From there, the Komusubi executed the silly pushout from behind giving him the cheap, uncontested win. I think that makes it eight yaocho in a row as Hoshoryu moves to 2-2 while Tamawashi falls to 1-3.

M4 Kiribayama caught Sekiwake Wakatakakage with two hands to the throat from the tachi-ai and drove him back two full steps, but then the Mongolian stopped driving with the legs leaving the two to fire a few wild slaps. In the process, Wakatakakage must have thought Kiribayama struck him hard enough on the right side to warrant a fake fall, and so WTK just spread both legs out wide just short of the splits as he put both palms to the dirt. Something was behind this one or Wakatakakage's got a glass jaw as both rikishi end the day at 3-1.

Suckiwake Abi put his hands way too high at the tachi-ai across the top of M3 Meisei's head opening the door for moro-zashi, but Meisei refused to take it, and just stood there facing forward while Abi moved quickly right grabbing Meisei in a kote grip, and as Abi executed a rather poor kote-nage, Meisei refused to counter with an inside belt throw or counter scoop throw of his own. Totally fake bout here as Meisei refused every opening gifting Abi 3-1 while Meisei falls to 1-3. I am just shaking my head here waiting for the next real bout.

We wouldn't get it with Mitakeumi stepping atop the dohyo to face off against a willing Komusubi Takanosho. Takanosho held up at the tachi-ai giving Mitakeumi the opportunity to deliver his best shot, and after a timid shove, Mitakeumi panicked and went for a really bad pull. Takanosho instinctively put his hand in push position, but instead of actually thrusting his opponent off of the dohyo, Takanosho belly flopped to the dirt before Mitakeumi crossed the straw. Could it really be more obvious? I'm just embarrassed for these Ozeki as Mitakeumi bluffs his way to 4-0 while Takanosho was paid off in falling to 1-3.

Takakeisho moved well at the tachi-ai against M1 Daieisho proactively firing a few tsuppari, but they had little effect. Daieisho backed up just inviting Takakeisho to push him back in linear fashion, but the faux-zeki couldn't do it. After the two traded a few more shoves with Daieisho failing to use his lower body, Takakeisho caught him in a nice choke hold with the left hand, but he couldn't push a willing Daieisho back and out with it, and so Daieisho moved to his right tripping over his own feet and the straw as he just flew sideways and down while Takakeisho was still moving forward. Takakeisho's sumo was decent here, but there was no power behind it. I mean, just picture a Chiyotairyu or a Tamawashi who mean to win by oshi-dashi, and you can not only see the power, but you can feel it. There was no such power today even against a willing Daieisho, and so the ending was the M1 tripping wildly to the side in another fake fall while Takakeisho was moving in a different direction. In a real bout, you don't have three meters of social distancing between the two rikishi when the loser hits the dirt. Give credit to Takakeisho for his effort, but Daieisho gave him the win as both dudes end the day at 2-2.

Hooboy. M1 Ura is showing that he can rough these Ozeki up any time he wanna. And he wanna today against Shodai. Ura ducked in low from the tachi-ai and grabbed the hapless Shodai's right arm using it to pull the faux-zeki forward and all the way over to the edge, and before he could square back up, Ura was into his craw pushing him out in less than three seconds. Unbelievable. A dude ranked at Ozeki gets worked like this by Ura. I really am speechless as Shodai falls to 0-4 while Ura picks up his first win at 1-3.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Terunofuji got the right arm inside against a lethargic M2 Ichinojo, and Fuji didn't even need a left outer grip to force Ichinojo back and across in about two seconds. Ichinojo didn't even try here capping off a very bad day of sumo. Terunofuji moves to 3-1 with the uncontested win while Ichinojo quietly falls to 2-2.

Four days into this thing and nobody out there gives a damn. It may be that Mitakeumi is on a path to become the sport's next Yokozuna. I don't think they can give it to him after this basho based on the poor content of his sumo, but perhaps he'll be up for promotion in May. Even if that happens, the fans aren't going to be fooled again by the second coming of Kisenosato. Everyone was buying the hype of Kisenosato's fake run to Yokozuna the first time around, but the aftermath was a complete disaster, and I think the Japanese fans can sense the same thing happening if they try and sell Mitakeumi as the next Yokozuna.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
One graphic each day of the Makuuchi broadcast I take note of is the top three streamed bouts from the previous day, and the top three bouts from Day 2 were: 1) Terunofuji - Daieisho, 2) Takakeisho - Ichinojo, and 3) Mitakeumi - Ura. Bout #1 doesn't surprise me a bit. Anytime you have a Dai-Yokozuna suffer a loss, it should be the biggest news of the day. What was notable to me, however, is that the Mitakeumi - Ura matchup was number three. You would think that with a newly-promoted Ozeki on the board that the focus would be squarely on him, and the focus from the media and the Sumo Association itself has been on Mitakeumi, but when it comes to fan interest and what they want to watch after the fact, Mitakeumi came in just third place.

In my opinion, that follows with the lack of excitement surrounding this basho in general. First, I haven't seen a ton of interest when it comes to attendance. In fact, the eyeball test tells me that the 2021 Kyushu basho is actually outdrawing the Haru basho this year here in Osaka. Secondly, I can't hear the excitement in the crowd. I've been around this sport a long time, and I THINK I've seen everything, but it just doesn't feel to me as if this basho has gained any real traction among the fans.

Take Terunofuji's loss yesterday. Daieisho did not beat the Yokozuna. There was no nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge or any back and forth sumo. Daieisho's guns weren't blazing from the tachi-ai, and he was defensive from the start. There was no hint that the Yokozuna was going to lose from the fans' perspective until Terunofuji turned his shoulder 90 degrees and left himself vulnerable. By the time it was over, the fans hadn't had enough time to get worked up into a nice lather.

And you can say the same thing for Mitakeumi's wins. The dude isn't winning any of his tachi-ai, and he's not scoring on any significant blows. The sumo he described pre-basho of kicking with his hands and driving with his legs has been non-existent. The flow of the bout just ends up at the edge where Mitakeumi finally gets enough going to execute a final push or whatever, but his opponent is already looking for the exit, so no excitement builds.

What it really comes down to is that the fans are being spoonfed favorable results on paper, but the actual sumo content generates little spark, and so the hook that has been working up until this point to some degree is starting to dull quite quickly. At least that's the sense I've had the first three days. I mean, the sumo content itself has been inexcusable, and the final four bouts of the day would bear that out again today, so let's get to it.

The day began with M17 Kagayaki taking on M16 Kohtokuzan, and Kagayaki easily won the tachi-ai and lazily thrust the rookie near the edge, but he wasn't driving with the legs and looking to win decisively. As for Kohtokuzan, he only manged a few pulls, and on his second attempt he pulled while moving so far to his left that he accidentally stepped beyond the straw before Kagayaki could run himself out of the dohyo. Kagayaki was clearly not fighting at full throttle here and he never made the rookie pay for those pulls, and the ending to this bout was tragic with both guys social distanced and tip-toeing around the edge. There is so much sumo like this that even the sheeple have to be catching on. Regardless of Kagayaki's intentions today, he accidentally won pushing him to 2-1 while Kohtokuzan is the opposite 1-2.

M17 Ichiyamamoto bested M16 Nishikigi at the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, but instead of following all the way through on that linear charge, IYM grabbed a left outer grip and tried to dashi-nage Nishikigi clear across the dohyo and out the other side. Nishikigi applied the brakes well and worked his way into moro-zashi with his back against the wall, but now in the advantageous position, he began forcing Ichiyamamoto back the other way. IYM's only hope at this point was a pull, and when he attempted it, Nishikigi was ready and pushed him across propelling him to 3-0. Ichiyamamoto really blew it here by letting on that initial thrusting charge, and he falls to 1-2 because of it.

In a similar affair, M14 Kotoshoho took the lead against M14 Yutakayama executing a nice tsuppari attack, but at the edge Yutakayama was able to wrangle his way into moro-zashi, and so back they went the other way with Yutakayama applying the force-out pressure. Just like the last bout, the early leader wasn't able to counter at the end resulting in a nice comeback win for Yutakayama via yori-kiri. Yutakayama also moves to 3-0 with the win while Kotoshoho falls to 1-2.

Two straight bout of nice sumo and counter sumo? I know. It was too much to ask because next up was M15 Tochinoshin and M13 Chiyonokuni in a severely compromised bout. The two struck well at the tachi-ai, but Shin was not using tsuppari, kachi-age, or any attempts to get to the belt. Rather, he kept himself back a bit upright throwing a few defensive thrusts. As for Chiyonokuni, he wasn't blazing off of the starting lines either throwing some timid shoves Tochinoshin's way, and after about four seconds of this nonsense, Tochinoshin moved forward and just flopped to the dirt after a very weak swipe from Chiyonokuni with the right arm. I mean, Newton's Laws of Physics dictates that this one was fake as there was not enough force applied to Tochinoshin to make him topple like that. Maybe it was all of the Jedi sitting around the ring's edge that had some influence here because this was not straight up sumo. Chiyonokuni moves to 2-1 with the win while Tochinoshin will happily pocket the cash at 1-2.

Before we move on, what is it with old Japanese people and their penchant to dress alike in Jedi robes and sit together at the sumos?? These dudes are paying like $400 bucks each to sit in those suna-kaburi seats and they add insult to injury on top of that by dressing alike in silly vests? I guess that's the one part of Japanese culture I don't have a good hold on yet, but they were surrounding both the East and West sides of the dohyo today.

M13 Chiyomaru put two hands at M15 Akua's throat from the tachi-ai and then just backed up for no reason. Because Akua wasn't the aggressor, he wasn't prepared to score the force-out win, and so the two hooked up in gappuri hidari-yotsu with Maru's intentions clear from the start. With Akua unable to budge Chiyomaru, and the latter not looking to win, they stood there for a while before Chiyomaru executed a slow maki-kae with the right whose only intention was to give Akua the momentum shift he needed. Akua's reaction was slow, but he eventually fired on a right outer grip, and instead of countering with the left inside position--the natural move, Chiyomaru just abandoned that grip altogether and stopped, dropped, and rolled himself off the clay mound altogether. It was subtle on Chiyomaru's part in abandoning the left inside like that, but you could see he was mukiryoku from the start. Akua buys his first win at 1-2 while Chiyomaru rolls to 0-3.

M12 Chiyotairyu was flat-footed at the tachi-ai and stood straight up against M11 Terutsuyoshi instead of attempting to just blow his smaller opponent off of the starting lines. As for Terutsuyoshi, he wasn't looking to go chest to chest either, and so the two stood there grabbing at each others hands and slapping against shoulders until Terutsuyoshi had no other choice but to get to the inside. T-Yoshi had the right inside, and Chiyotairyu obviously refrained from getting his own right to the inside, and he also declined a left outer grip that was there for the taking. Terutsuyoshi could do nothing from this position as the two stood in a stalemate, and so Chiyotairyu offered a token left kote-nage, but he wasn't looking to do any damage from it. When the dust settled, Terutsuyoshi had moro-zashi, but he still couldn't budge his larger foe...not to mention the dude was gassed. Chiyotairyu actually pulled his left arm out of any position for a second before grabbing the back of Terutsuyoshi's belt...which he promptly let go, and then he went for another left kote-nage that had Terutsuyoshi on the ropes, but Chiyotairyu stopped halfway, and then anticipating a counter throw from the little guy, Chiyotairyu just twisted his body over and fell to the dirt at the edge. I just about blew a snot bubble watching this one it was so fake. Terutsuyoshi fell on top of Chiyotairyu indicating that he didn't throw he his opponent; he was dragged down on top of him, but whatever. This was sumo comedy at it's best as Chiyotairyu (2-1) clearly made all the wrong moves--or no moves at all--in giving Terutsuyoshi the win and cheap 2-1 mark.

M11 Myogiryu struck M12 Kotoeko hard at the tachi-ai, got the left inside, and then forced Eko back and across the straw before the dude knew what hit him. You won't see a bout much more lopsided than this one as Myogiryu moves to 2-1 while Kotoeko falls to 1-2.

M10 Aoiyama actually caught M9 Wakamotoharu with a nice forearm as he stood up from his crouch, but then the Happy Bulgar just back pedaled his way right outta the dohyo. Wakamotoharu followed suit close enough to pick up the oshi-dashi win, but Aoiyama dictated everything here. After the bout, Wakamotoharu was touching his nose and lips looking for blood because Aoiyama caught him so sharply at the tachi-ai, so for Aoiyama not to follow up on that and just back his way out of the ring was pure funny business. In watching the slow motion replay, Wakamotoharu doesn't fire a single thrust, and his only oshi move is when Aoiyama is practically across the straw. So...Aoiyama's movement backwards was fueled of his own volition and not any pressure that came from WMH. Both rikishi end the day at 2-1.

M10 Shimanoumi focused on a right nodowa against M9 Tobizaru from the tachi-ai, and that eventually set up the left outer grip, and once obtained, Tobizaru tried to escape laterally, but Shimanoumi's hold was too good and he was able to forcefully send Tobizaru packing leading with that left outer grip. Both rikishi stand at 1-2 after three days.

M7 Okinoumi gave up moro-zashi to M8 Sadanoumi from the tachi-ai, but it didn't appear as if Sadanoumi had any urgency to his sumo. As for Okinoumi, he had the path to a left outer grip to go along with his right outer, but instead of grabbing that and trying to strong-arm Sadanoumi in kime-dashi style or reel him in close, Okinoumi allowed Sadanoumi to nudge him back near the straw before Okinoumi quickly moved right going for an outer grip that was not countered whatsoever by Sadanoumi. The result was Sadanoumi's falling square to the dohyo like a limp rag in a bout that obviously had some politics behind it. I mean, Okinoumi is the better rikishi, but this bout was bland start to finish and should have ended with a nage-no-uchi-ai as Okinoumi picks up his first win at 1-2 while the SadaMight is still winless.

M8 Chiyoshoma put both palms forward against M7 Takayasu's chest and side and then promptly backed up and then to the side and then right out of the dohyo altogether with Takayasu trying to keep up. What a silly bout this was, and it reminded me a bit of Mitakeumi's sumo where Mitakeumi barely touches his guy the entire way, and then all of a sudden his opponent his beyond the straw. Takayasu clearly buys this on in moving to a cheap 3-0 while Chiyoshoma takes the money at 2-1.

Speaking of buying bouts, M6 Kotonowaka paid off M5 Ishiura to the extent where at the tachi-ai Ishiura jumped into Kotonowaka's arms and put both of his own arms around Baby Waka's neck as if the dude was a sailor having just returned from the war. Before Ishiura could land a smooch onto his opponent's lips, Kotonowaka had him driven back to the edge where he just threw the smaller Ishiura off of the dohyo altogether and down to the venue floor. And the jilted Ishiura did not get up for a while. In fact, he needed help from former Kotoyuki to pick himself up and limp to the locker room with what looked like a sprained ankle, and it doesn't look good for the dude. The replays never did clearly show where Ishiura landed and how exactly he injured his leg, but this is a case where Kotonowaka had to read the tea leaves and not brutalize a guy who is completely mukiryoku.

From time to time, Kitanofuji will reminisce about occasions when guys would get in spats in the shitaku-beya after their bouts, and this would be one of those times. Yes, yaocho is going on all around us, but these youngsters need to learn that you don't go that strongly against a guy who is willingly mukiryoku. We'll see what becomes of Ishiura (1-2) the rest of the way, but Kotonowaka paid for this one in moving to 3-0.

And the yaocho would continue as M5 Takarafuji made no effort to defeat or even defend himself against M6 Hokutofuji. In fact, Takarafuji barely lifted his hands above his waist as Hokutofuji charged forward nicely from the tachi-ai and worked Takarafuji back and across on his second try. This was a very lopsided bout with Takarafuji making no effort to compete, and the result is both rikishi ending the day at 1-2. I know nobody cares about these middle bouts, but that's five yaocho in the last six bouts. Sheesh.

M4 Endoh lazily put a hand into M3 Onosho's face at the tachi-ai before backing up and then moving to his right at the edge. As for Onosho, he wasn't driving Endoh back with any force, and so Endoh was able to easily slip right and push the off balance Onosho over and down across the straw in a very uneventful bout where neither dude was going 100%. This type of sumo has got to be boring the fans to tears as Endoh moves to 2-1 while Onosho falls to 1-2.

M2 Tamawashi caught Komusubi Takanosho nicely at the tachi-ai with two hands up high, and then Tamawashi began a methodic tsuppari attack driving Takanosho back to the edge. Before Tamawashi delivered that decisive blow, Takanosho just turned and stepped out leading to an awkward finish, but it was easy for Tamawashi as both dudes finish 1-2. My guess is that the two just traded wins here as Tamawashi allowed Takanosho to defeat him last basho.

M4 Kiribayama kept his hands low against Suckiwake Abi basically telling his foe "hit me with your best shot." And Abi did. As Kiribayama was driven back after that first volley, Kiribayama kept his hands to the side playing no defense whatsoever, and he allowed Abi to drive him back in wham bam thank you ma'am fashion. Kiribayama clearly kept his guard down here start to finish as both guys end the day at 2-1.

M3 Meisei put his right hand at Sekiwake Wakatakakage's throat at the tachi-ai and positioned his left hand even higher. With Meisei doing no damage whatsoever and keeping his arms so high, WTK assumed moro-zashi and had Meisei forced back and out with nary a fight. Very lackluster sumo here as Meisei didn't even try giving Wakatakakage the hot start at 3-0 while Meisei falls to 1-2.

Before we get to the final four bouts of the day, let's look back and pick out the best bout up to this point. Call me crazy but I think you have to give it to Shimanoumi and Tobizaru. Who'da ever thunk?

Komusubi Hoshoryu and Takakeisho looked to hook up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but Hoshoryu just backed up immediately after the initial charge with Takakeisho in tow. With Hoshoryu's right arm lightly to the inside, he must have been waiting for Takakeisho to easily push him across, but when no pressure came from the faux-zeki, Hoshoryu reacted with a counter scoop throw at the edge thinking that something would surely come from Takakeisho. Nothing came, however, and so Hoshoryu just spun himself down and onto his back as if Takakeisho had thrown him. And that's a big as if. If you look at the pic at left, focus on Hoshoryu's left leg/foot.  Is he planting for a throw there or is he preparing to take a dive?

As for Takakeisho's throwing position, in a normal bout it would have been a left kote-nage, but you can see that he clearly was in no position to execute the move and was just along for the ride, and so while Hoshoryu's intention here was to lose the bout, Takakeisho was so out of position and so limp that as Hoshoryu twisted himself down, it spun Takakeisho over to where his left heel touched down before the Komusubi's body hit the clay. It was close--and ugly, and they called a mono-ii here, but Takakeisho clearly touched down first, so they couldn't over turn the judge's initial decision. Gunbai to Hoshoryu who defeats an opponent so hapless that he couldn't even win when his foe was trying to let him. Sheesh. Both dudes finish the day at 1-2, and is it too much to get a straight up bout the last 20 minutes of the day?

I guess not as M2 Ichinojo showed no mercy against Shodai as the two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and with Shodai unable to defend himself or counter, Ichinojo eventually grabbed the mammoth left outer grip, and once obtained, he easily forced Shodai back and across without argument. Ichinojo tends to slow things down when he's in the clinch, but there was no need to tire his foe out today. Shodai's been a tired act the last few years as he's off to an 0-3 start while Ichinojo moves to 2-1. Oguruma-oyakata commented afterwards in the media that Shodai's troubles are due to a lack of keiko. Uh, no.

M1 Daieisho dominated Mitakeumi from the tachi-ai catching him with a few tsuppari that drove him back two steps, and all Mitakeumi had to say for himself was a fistful of Daieisho's sagari with the left. However, Mitakeumi expertly ripped those sagari from Daieisho's belt with such force that the M1 had no choice but to just flop to the dirt. Wow, sagari-dashi-otoshi in favor of Mitakeumi!! They ruled it tsuki-otoshi after Mitakeumi's right hand struck Daieisho's left side mid fall, but whatever. The dive here from Daieisho was obvious after Mitakeumi got his ass kicked from the tachi-ai yet again. My point from the beginning of these comments is that I don't think the fans are that stupid to accept sumo like this day after day and still clamor to scoop up the seats. The TV numbers have also got to be abysmal because this is just getting ridiculous. Mitakeumi pays for his 3-0 start while Daieisho takes the money and runs at 2-1.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Terunofuji took a page out of Hoshoryu's book and came out half-assed against M1 Ura completely willing to lose. From the tachi-ai, Terunofuji intentionally failed to latch onto his opponent, and he just kept his arms dangling there enabling Ura to set up a kata-sukashi with the right arm as he moved around the perimeter of the dohyo to his right. Ura's not good enough, however, to set up a real kata-sukashi against a big dude like Fuji the Terrible, and so his right heel grazed the sand beyond the tawara before Terunofuji could walk himself out of his own volition. The ref signaled Ura's way because he was completely blocked from seeing Ura's heel, but they called a mono-ii and reversed the decision.

The crowd had no idea what was going on the entire time, and even Terunofuji thought he had done enough to lose, but no. We get yet another very unorthodox bout of sumo the last few minutes of the day that involves a guy who has no business being in the division let alone fighting a Yokozuna, and the result is complete confusion in lieu of the solid sumo you should expect to see at the end of each day. Terunofuji moves to 2-1 with the mistaken win, but he has clearly shown his intentions to lose the first three days of the basho. As for Ura, he falls to 0-3 and he can't vacate the jo'i soon enough.

And so we end one of the worst days of sumo in recent memory. I'm not going to count it all up, but I think we were close to Itai's standard of roughly 80% of the bouts on each day containing compromised sumo. Just like a gal who pushes 450 lbs on the scale, this sport has really let go of itself, and it's sad to see.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It really feels to me as if this basho has sputtered out of the gate. The repositioning of Mitakeumi at the Ozeki rank doesn't make things any more exciting, and it feels the same as when they added Goeido to the ranks of Ozeki alongside the struggling Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato. In a word, it all feels "forced" because it is. I was happy to see Ura left outside of the sanyaku, and I'm not sure why I should feel so protective about the sanyaku since the Ozeki and Yokozuna ranks have already been defiled by unworthy rikishi, but it is a moral victory. Ura instead of Hoshoryu? Not even the Sumo Association could justify that one.

Aside from the banzuke, the reaction from the crowd has been tepid as well, but that will happen when the acting is bad and the bouts are so grossly uncontested. From the very first bout on Day 1 it was obvious that Kagayaki let up for Ichiyamamoto, and it was like, "Here we go again" followed by a long sigh.

We had the dream team in the booth today with Goeido providing color and Asanowaka sitting in the mukou-joumen chair, so you can be sure I'll quote both of them a lot today. Or not.

The day began with rookie M16 Kohtokuzan paired against M17 Ichiyamamoto. I thought it was refreshing yesterday that the Kohtokuzan camp didn't buy the rookie a day one win, but they couldn't hold out more than 24 hours. After losing the tachi-ai, Kohtokuzan was in a defensive tsuppari posture, but Ichiyamamoto purposefully failed to apply any heat, and so as IYM inched forward, Kohtokuzan went for weak move to the right and slapdown, which was IYM's cue to just put both palms to the dirt. What an obvious yaocho this was as both rikishi stand at 1-1.  Before we move on, if you talk to Japanese people about sumo and you want to sound intelligent, the dude's name is pronounced KOH-TOKU-ZAN and not Koto-KU-zan like rikishi from the Sadogatake-beya.

M17 Kagayaki easily got his left arm inside against M15 Akua while using his right arm to push up and under Akua's left pit, and Akua didn't have a pot to piss in at this point. As Akua looked to evade right, Kagayaki stayed in tow and pushed Akua over to the edge where the dude squatted down for who knows what reason? With Akua exposed like that, Kagayaki fired two thrusts into his chest and knocked him right into the lap of the judge sitting to the West. Easy win for Kagayaki here as he he moves to 1-1 while Akua has fallen and can't get up at 0-2.

M15 Tochinoshin came with a weak kachi-age with the left that was so high he just moved that arm to the outside giving M16 Nishikigi the prime right inside position. Shin made a few token efforts to grab an outside belt grip with the left (something within his reach), but let up on that and instead went for a dumb pull whose purpose was really to allow Tochinoshin to move to the side of the dohyo and stand there exposed to his opponent. Nishikigi's a decent guy, and he easily took advantage of the move scoring the quick force-out against his compromised opponent, but this was just an uneventful bout of sumo as Nishikigi (2-0) did not set anything up. Tochinoshin sells his first bout of the basho at 1-1.

M13 Chiyomaru kept himself up too high in his tsuppari posture from the tachi-ai allowing M14 Yutakayama the lower stance from which to attack, and the taller Yutakayama wasted no time in pushing his compromised foe back and across picking up the easy win. Once again, we have a lopsided bout that is difficult to cheer for as Yutakayama calls in a favor here in moving to 2-0 while Chiyomaru falls to a quiet 0-2.

M14 Kotoshoho and M13 Chiyonokuni traded tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but neither dude was using their legs, so this was a finesse bout start to finish. Kotoshoho made a half hearted pull attempt early on giving Kuni the upper hand, and the M13 responded with a left swipe at the back of Kotoshoho's shoulder that sent him off balance. It really wasn't his intent to recover, but Kotoshoho righted the ship only to "fall prey" to another left tsuki at the shoulder that caused Kotoshoho to just dive forward and down near the dohyou edge. That was a fake fall as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

M12 Chiyotairyu bullied M11 Myogiryu back from the tachi-ai with some nice tsuppari, but for no reason he just halted that charge and allowed Myogiryu to press a hand against the top of Tairyu's shoulder. The two stood in this post for an instant before Chiyotairyu backed up going for the lightest of pulls, but it was really an excuse to let Myogiryu push him out, and that he did with a wobbly right tsuki. The problem was that Myogiryu did not dictate anything here, and his footwork was sloppy so he stepped across the straw just as Chiyotairyu fell unnaturally out of the ring taking a big chunk of the dohyo with him.  They called a mono-ii, and I think they could have ordered a do-over here, but they thankfully just gave this one to Myogiryu. Hey, just like Chiyotairyu as both rikishi settle on 1-1.

The worst yaocho on Day 1 involved Myogiryu anticipating a pull after a failed henka from M11 Terutsuyoshi. Despite no contact whatsoever from a wobbly T-Yoshi, Myogiryu just sheepishly hit the dirt a second into the bout, and Terutsuyoshi was involved in another compromised bout today against M12 Kotoeko. T-Yoshi won the tachi-ai and drove Eko back a few steps (just like Chiyotairyu in the previous bout), but he just stopped and stood there allowing Kotoeko to get the right arm inside and grab a left outer grip. With Terutsuyoshi not protesting anything, Kotoeko forced him to the edge where Terutsuyoshi attempted that ever so effective move where you set up the utchari only to forget to twist to the side before pulling your opponent directly on top of you as you fall out of the ring. That was ugly as both rikishi have been gifted wins at 1-1.

A bit of order was restored as M10 Aoiyama pummeled M9 Tobizaru with a thrust or two before thinking about a pull. That hesitation allowed Tobizaru to duck in with the right arm inside, but Aoiyama pinched in on the limb tightly in kime fashion before wrenching Tobizaru over to the side and out. This started out as a one-handed kime-dashi and ended up oshi-dashi with Aoiyama scoring the easy win and a 2-0 start. Tobizaru is 1-1.

M9 Wakamotoharu won the tachi-ai against M10 Shimanoumi bruising the M10 back a step before assuming the hidari-yotsu position, and in short order WMH was able to grab a right outer grip. Both rikishi dug in nicely for about 20 seconds, but it was the younger Haru using his size advantage to wrench Shimanoumi over to the edge and across in the perfect yori-kiri ending. I know...these weird bouts of real sumo seem really out of place as Wakamotoharu picks up his first win while Shimanoumi falls to 0-2.

Of all the yaocho we see these days, the M7 Takayasu wins bug me the most. Probably because the guy does nothing and yet still comes away with these magical finishes at the end. Today, M8 Sadanoumi was lethargic at the tachi-ai attempting nothing, which allowed Takayasu to move him back two steps, but Takayasu didn't grab his gal snug, and so it was Sadanoumi who finally forced the bout to hidari-yotsu. Sadanoumi had a right outer grip and then let it go and then thought about a right frontal grip, but didn't take that either, and you could just see that he was standing there with the right hand dangling waiting for a move from Takayasu while refusing to give himself the advantage with that right hand. Finally, Takayasu went for a badly-executed left scoop throw, and instead of countering with a nage-no-uchi-ai, Sadanoumi just put his right arm up high near Takayasu's belt and went along with the throw flopping over to the edge and down. Takayasu buys his second win in as many days in moving to 2-0, and I haven't missed this guy a bit. As for Sadanoumi, he's a bit richer today in falling to 0-2.

M8 Chiyoshoma and M7 Okinoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and you could tell this one was real from the get-go. You could see both guys trying to stay low; you could see them jockeying for position; and you could her them panting and grunting. Okinoumi grabbed an early right outer grip, but Chiyoshoma was in the lower stance. Oh, and he's also Mongolian, which gave him the true advantage. With Chiyoshoma too far away from an outer grip, Okinoumi committed first using his own right outer to half throw and half drag Chiyoshoma over to the edge, but the Mongolian dug in and used his left leg to the inside beautifully to trip Okinoumi over and down while throwing with the left inside belt grip. What a beautiful move that was, and this was easily the best bout of sumo to this point of the basho. Chiyoshoma prevails in moving to 2-0 while Okinoumi falls to 0-2 after selling his Day 1 bout to Takayasu.

Speaking of selling bouts, M5 Takarafuji was happy to comply against M8 Kotonowaka, and this was evident after a very poor tachi-ai from Waka where he stood upright and backed up a step with one arm extended looking for who knows what. Takarafuji could have easily gotten to the inside here, but instead he just pulled at Kotonowaka's left arm dragging his foe into his own body. Kotonowaka still couldn't clue in creating a bit of social distancing, and so Takarafuji responded with this awkward hop as if he was tripping backwards outta the dohyo. Kotonowaka finally caught up delivering the final blow, but this was as fixed of a sumo bout as you'd care to see as Kotonowaka moves to 2-0 with Takarafuji falling to 1-1.

M6 Hokutofuji kept his hands up high against M5 Ishiura giving the latter the clear opening to the inside, but Ishiura couldn't capitalize, and instead went for a wild kata-sukashi. The move wasn't close to working, and Hokutofuji coulda pounced there but he instead chose to execute a few of the lamest pull attempts you've ever seen from him all the while backing himself up across the length of the dohyo where Ishiura was able to provide the final shove to knock Hokutofuji across. This was a waste of everyone's time as Ishiura buys his first win while Hokutofuji falls to 0-2.

M4 Endoh and M3 Meisei were even steven at the tachi-ai before Meisei went for a quick kote-nage like move with the left. It shifted the momentum of the bout, but it didn't throw Endoh off balance, and Endoh was able to come away with the left arm latched onto the front of Meisei's belt. Endoh quickly changed that to hidari-yotsu where he grabbed a right frontal grip, and with Meisei having never really established himself during the bout, Endoh was able to throw him over and down with a nice uwate-nage. Good stuff from Endoh here as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

M4 Kiribayama vs. Komusubi Hoshoryu looked compelling on paper, but the tachi-ai was lame with neither guy going for the belt or looking to go chest to chest. I guess Kiribayama got a straight arm in there early, but the two traded places around the dohyo twice with little contact before Kiribayama grabbed a left outer grip of his compromised opponent, and as Kiribayama went for the belt throw, Hoshoryu failed to use his right arm to counter resulting in the lightweight uwate-nage in favor of Kiribayama. Not sure of the politics behind this one, but Hoshoryu gave Kiribayama the win. And that's not to say that Kiribayama can't beat Hoshoryu on his own. He may very well be the better rikishi of the two, but this bout was completely uncontested as Kiribayama moves to 2-0 while the Komusubi falls to 0-2.

M3 Onosho kept his arms up high at the tachi-ai giving Sekiwake Wakatakakage the ridiculously easy path the right inside, and WTK immediately forced Onosho back to the edge. The clear play for Onosho at this point was to skirt to his left and go for a counter tsuki-otoshi, a move that was there for the taking, but instead he just turned his back to the Sekiwake and allowed him to push Onosho down to the ring in a clump with a left tsuki of his own. Nice subtle move by Onosho to give Wakatakakage the win, but it was an easy tell. Wakatakakage moves to 2-0 with the gift while Onosho falls to 1-1 after kicking Abi's ass legitimately on Day 1.

Speaking of Suckiwake Abi, there is no way on God's green earth that he can beat M2 Tamawashi in a straight up bout of sumo, but that's not what we go today. Instead of firing any tsuppari from the tachi-ai, Tamawashi just kept his arms high and wide playing along with Abi's firehose tsuppari, which weren't great, but with a complicit Tamawashi it looked like a lopsided affair in favor of Abi. What tells you it wasn't lopsided was the necessity for Tamawashi to turn his body 90 degrees at the edge ensuring that Abi wouldn't screw anything up. And he didn't as Tamawashi attempted nothing here gifting Abi a 1-1 start while Tamawashi has banked money from both of his bouts in falling to 0-2.

The tachi-ai from Shodai and Komusubi Takanosho provided a nice slap as neither party earned an advantage from the initial charge, but that was the best shot Shodai could fire. With the faux-zeki unable to do anything, Takanosho began a tsuppari attack that knocked Shodai back in wham bam thank you ma'am linear fashion, and there was nothing Shodai could do about it. Another pathetic performance from a so-called Ozeki as Shodai falls to 0-2 while Takanosho picks up his first win.

You can tell that M1 Ura isn't trying to win his bout when he charges in traditional fashion as if to hook up in yotsu-zumo, but that's exactly what he did today against Mitakeumi. The two sorta hooked up in hidari-yotsu, but I say "sorta" because they really didn't go chest to chest. Despite Ura throwing himself into the faux-zeki's arms, Mitakeumi didn't pull Ura in close and force him back. Instead, it was Ura who had to instigate the movement and he did that by moving left and ducking low as if to set himself up for an ashi-tori attempt, but he never went for it and instead allowed Mitakeumi to get the left arm inside again and finally force the listless Ura across. Absent was the darting this way and that and any trickery that we usually see from Ura when he's trying to win. Instead, he just stood there square with Mitakeumi the entire way waiting for MiFakeUmi to attempt a force out. Took awhile to get going, but Mitakeumi finally figured it out in moving to 2-0 against two very listless opponents. As for Ura, he caused enough trouble against the Ozeki last basho, so he takes the 0-2 start here quietly.

M2 Ichinojo executed an easy hari-zashi tachi-ai against Takakeisho slapping with the left and getting the right arm inside, and Takakeisho was at the Mongolith's bidding at this point. With Takakeisho helpless and barely able to move laterally, Ichinojo grabbed a stifling left outer grip and just smothered Takakeisho back and across with no argument whatsoever. What a perfect example of a false banzuke here where you have an M2 obliterating a so-called Ozeki like that. I mean, it's one thing for an M2 to score an upset with speed and finesse, but to dominate an Ozeki chest to chest? It's simply implausible on a true banzuke. But a true banzuke we haven't as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Terunofuji was about as listless as you'll ever see him against M1 Daieisho. And Daieisho didn't even come with a tsuppari attack keeping his hands forward in a defensive posture as if to say don't hurt me. Hurting his foe was not the Yokozuna's intention as he never attempted to grab Daieisho from the tachi-ai ultimately allowing Daieisho to quickly move left. He didn't really go for a pull or throw the Yokozuna off of his game, and so the two squared back up where once again, Terunofuji made no effort to latch onto his foe or even establish an oshi attack. After a few more defensive shoves from Daieisho, Terunofuji just turned his left shoulder 90 degrees allowing Daieisho to execute an inashi move and rush the Yokozuna back and across just like that. If you watch the slow motion replay, you can see that Terunofuji doesn't make a single attempt to win the bout. No attempt to grab the belt or the upper arm and no shoves either. Just a straight up lethargic effort giving Daieisho the cheap win and kin-boshi to boot. Daieisho moves to 2-0 with the gift while Terunofuji graciously falls to 1-1.

A good measure of the excitement surrounding a basho are the individual seats located in the upper section of the venue. Most of these seats are purchased the day of, and today they were really sparse, so let's watch that as the tournament goes on.  I just don't feel any momentum so far from the basho.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The focus coming into the basho was squared primarily on newly-promoted Ozeki Mitakeumi, and so the Day 1 broadcast naturally started there. NHK showed a lengthy pre-recorded interview with the dude, and Mitakeumi went through this big spiel about his success at the previous basho. He chalked it up to his new Pilates exercise regime, and as soon as he said "Pilates" I was like, "Oh right, he mentioned that exactly zero times last basho during his yusho run."

For two minutes or so Mitakeumi was explaining his technique and how it helped him succeed in sumo last basho along with video clips of the dude in the weight room and in the keiko room practicing in front of the mirror, but noticeably lacking in the video footage were any actual bouts of sumo that illustrated the talking points.

At one point Mitakeumi held his left hand forward in the video and pointed to the ball at the base of his thumb and said, "Just picture that this is the ball of my foot and I'm kicking my opponent with my hands," and my immediate response to that was "Wait, are we talking about Daieisho now?" I don't have a single image of Mitakeumi last basho kicking anyone around with his hands, and NHK didn't have any video of such a bout either. Mitakeumi finally mentioned his bout with Abi in January and how he reacted well when Abi moved laterally, and they showed replays of that bout, but I didn't see any kicking going on from Mitakeumi's hands. I did see Abi connect on a few tsuppari that had the faux-zeki looking straight up to the rafters witch such an example pictured at left, but whatever.

They conjure these explanations out of thin air to offer some kind of explanation or justification for a rikishi's phony success or a promotion to an elite rank, and this is exactly what the whole hand-kicking technique and Pilates spin was. It was kind of like Takakeisho announcing a few years ago that he was now going to focus more on yotsu-zumo, and he promptly went out looking to get moro-zashi against a few rikishi until he inured his lower back and had to withdraw.

They say one thing but the actual sumo in the ring illustrates something completely different. Mitakeumi did say that Pilates was a German word, and I think the translation of Pilates into Japanese is "yaocho," but I'd have to follow up on that. I do know unequivocally that Mitakeumi's promotion to Ozeki was due strictly to bout fixing, and we will see that manifest in the sumo throughout his career moving forward.

As for his Day 1 sumo, he was paired against M2 Ichinojo, and I expected to see plenty of hand-kicking in that one from Mitakeumi. Or not. Without even trying, Ichinojo bullied Mitakeumi back from the starting lines with a right kachi-age, and then he connected on a shove to MiFakeUmi's torso that sent him back near the edge, and as Mitakeumi looked to move laterally, Ichinojo was in his craw again with another elbow and shove combination that was moving Mitakeumi around the ring with ease, but in the end Ichinojo faked a pull that was just an excuse to position himself at the edge with his back to the wall, and Mitakeumi was finally able to move forward and score the silly force out win...that ironically lacked any force whatsoever...as Ichinojo just walked beyond the straw a full step.

You could tell immediately from Mainoumi's trying to spin the analysis afterwards that there was nothing that came from Mitakeumi, and you can watch the bout start to finish and only see how Ichinojo dictated everything in this one. But what's new? We see this constantly in bouts that involve Japanese Ozeki. As for the hand-kicking thing, I'm sure Mitakeumi is saving the best for last. Yeah.

In the next bout, M1 Ura ducked low at the tachi-ai against Takakeisho who completely whiffed on a tsuppari attack. Before Takanosho could recover, Ura caught him with a nice shove and then needlessly moved to his right. Takanosho whiffed on a big sideways slap and was quite vulnerable, but Ura was not looking to win this thing. With Takakeisho flailing around, Ura finally just voluntarily turned himself 90 degrees at the edge and allowed Takakeisho to score final shove. The faux-zeki's best shot came after Ura was already across the straw, and this was another example of a Japanese Ozeki's inability to dictate the pace of his bout and rely on his opponent's good graces.

That wasn't the case in the next bout as M1 Daieisho came out hot against Shodai using perfect tsuppari to knock Shodai upright and drive him back and across in mere seconds. Shodai was able to do nothing in this one just as Mitakeumi and Takakeisho had no say in their Day 1 bouts, and the contrast couldn't have been more stark. Daieisho actually displayed the kind of sumo Mitakeumi was dreaming about in that opening video clip as Shodai is humiliated again.

In the final bout of the today, Yokozuna Terunofuji got the right arm inside and left outer grip against Komusubi Hoshoryu, and the Yokozuna wasted no time in mounting a forward charge that had Hoshoryu driven back and out in about two seconds.

In the interest of time, I'll have to limit my Day 1 comments to these final four bouts of the day, and they couldn't have been more illustrative of the current situation in sumo. Daieisho's win over Shodai was not an upset, and both Daieisho and Terunofuji were able to dictate the pace of their bouts from the start...something that Mitakeumi and Takakeisho couldn't do and never do unless their opponents are completely mukiryoku from the tachi-ai. The sumo bears this all out, and that's why after Day 1 we weren't able to get a sense of any real excitement surrounding the basho.