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Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Let's start off today's discussion by talking about anchors in a basho. Sometimes I'll use the term "carry a basho," and it refers to rikishi who keeps a sense of order in the house. By the end of the first week with no Yokozuna or Ozeki on the banzuke, you had Midorifuji undefeated and then Hoshoryu and Kiribayama already saddled with three losses. Now, Takakeisho cannot carry a basho, but if you have a dude ranked at Ozeki and he's near the top of the leaderboard, that acts as an anchor or a baseline for the yusho race. What we had going here at the Haru basho was a Lord of the Flies tournament with pure chaos and no clear baseline...similar to what you usually see in the Juryo division for example.

Along with this chaos, you had the WBC going on and Japan making their run, and so sumo was getting pounded in the ratings. I actually applaud the fans in Osaka for continuing to turn out because nobody wanted to watch the sumos on television, and I don't think they care about it now. I mean, you had NHK start their general broadcast at 5:05 PM yesterday. That doesn't even give viewers an hour's worth of sumo, but NHK knows the numbers and they are feeding content to the public based on measurable demand, and so it's no skin off their back if Sumo takes a backseat.

The last three days have been key for this tournament because the farce that was Midorifuji's run has been put in check, and then you've had the two Mongolian Ozeki, Hoshoryu and Kiribayama, step up and restore order or become anchors for the basho. Neither of these dudes are gonna yusho, but they entered Day 12 still on three losses apiece, and they put on a very good display of sumo when they met yesterday to show the fans that hey, there is good sumo here, and these two are in the yusho hunt, so this yusho race is legitimate after all.

Hoshoryu would continue to spin that narrative today in his bout against M5 Midorifuji, so we may as well start there. From the tachi-ai, Hoshoryu had the path to the left arm inside, but instead of demanding it, went for a pull instead but stopped short of finishing Midorifuji off near the edge. After completely letting Midorifuji back into the bout, Hoshoryu stood there and gave his foe moro-zashi, and Midorifuji gave it his best shot, but he couldn't come close to forcing Hoshoryu into any danger. After a brief stalemate, Hoshoryu began a kime-dashi move but then quickly got the right arm inside turning the bout to migi-yotsu, and once again, the Mongolian left himself vulnerable giving Midorifuji the left outer grip, but MFJ could do nothing with it and was completely gassed, so when Hoshoryu went for an inside belt throw, Midorifuji had had enough and just hit the dirt.

This bout had three or four twists and turns, and it appeared as if Midorifuji gave it a great effort, but in reality, Hoshoryu was just toying with him. For those who want to believe, they can use this bout to justify Midorifuji's 10-0 start because Hoshoryu is a playuh and Midorifuji supposedly gave him a great match. Actually, Midorifuji didn't do much; it was all Hoshoryu creating the illusion that Midorifuji is better than he really is to give credence to MFJ's 10-0 start. The Mongolian was gracious in victory as he moves to 9-4 while Midorifuji is knocked down another spot to 10-3.

That meant that Komusubi Daieisho could take sole possession of first place, so let's go there next. Daieisho was a bit passive at the tachi-ai absorbing M4 Meisei's charge and then shading left going for a light inashi. As Meisei looked to square back up after the curveball, Daieisho was there to greet him with his strong tsuppari attack, and Meisei made no effort to defend himself from that point giving Daieisho the fairly easy win in about six seconds. Daieisho's tachi-ai was passive, but once he got going, the sumo looked good. He moves to 11-2 with the win while Meisei is a harmless 4-9, and don't look now but Daieisho is alone in first place.

By way of review, the leaderboard at the start of the day was as follows, so let's touch on the three-loss rikishi:

10-2: Daieisho, Midorifuji
9-3: Kiribayama, Wakamotoharu, Kotonowaka

Going in chronological order, Komusubi Wakamotoharu was paired against M7 Hokutofuji, and the two were not in perfect sync at the tachi-ai where Hokutofuji caught WMH with an early paw to the neck, and the Komusubi's reaction was to move right. Wakamotoharu didn't go for a pull, however, and so Hokutofuji got the left arm inside and went for the right outer grip all while forcing Wakamotoharu dangerously to the brink. And then Hokutofuji magically stopped his charge. He didn't grab the right outer there for the taking, and he didn't force Wakamotoharu back that final step even though WMH was completely had. Instead, Hokutofuji allowed his foe to push the action back to the center of the ring, and when Wakamotoharu finally went for his own yori-kiri charge, Hokutofuji couldn't step back and out fast enough.

What a crock'a shat this bout was. Hokutofuji dominated the first few seconds and completely let his foe off the hook. Sometimes it gets so ridiculous I actually laugh out loud, and this was one of those moments when Hokutofuji had Wakamotoharu with his back arched over the straw. So stupid as Wakamotoharu is gifted 10-3 wile Hokutofuji gets paid in falling to 7-6.

Sekiwake Kiribayama slapped towards M6 Endoh's face a bit at the tachi-ai with Endoh coming in low, and then the Sekiwake moved left and scored a perfect inashi move up and under Endoh's left triceps area, and that twisted Endoh 90 degrees allowing Kiribayama to bum rush him out in no time. School was in session here as Kiribayama moves to 10-3 while Endoh falls to 8-5.

Our final three-loss rikishi was Komusubi Kotonowaka facing Suckiwake Wakatakakage in the day's final bout, and WTK got the right arm in from the tachi-ai, but Kotonowaka just pushed him back with his own right hand to the face. Near the edge, Wakatakakage darted left grabbing the firm outer grip on that side, but he wasn't positioned inside with the right arm. As Kotonowaka did settle in with the deep right arm position, he forced Wakatakakage back to the edge, and Wakatakakage went for a desperate left belt throw that was countered by a left watashi-komi from Kotonowaka, and the combination sent both rikishi crashing down into a heap beyond the straw.

They ruled in favor of Kotonowaka, but this was a tie if I ever saw one, and the do-over was the correct all. You could tell that Wakatakakage's right leg was bothering him, but he manned up and went for round two. In the do over, Wakatakakage stayed low from the tachi-ai sending Kotonowaka into pull mode, and WTK wisely just persisted moving forward with a nice oshi charge, and when Kotonowaka went for that second pull, Wakatakakage silled the dill. He moved to 7-6 with the win knocking Kotonowaka out of the yusho race at 9-4, but Wakatakakage unfortunately withdrew from the tournament prior to the Day 14 bouts citing a legitimate injury to his right leg.

With the dust settled on the day, the leaderboard was reshuffled as follows:

11-2: Daieisho
10-3: Kiribayama, Wakamotoharu, Midorifuji

Because Kiribayama was paired against Wakatakakage on Day 14, that will guarantee an 11-3 mark for the Mongolian, and it also eliminates the possibility of a Day 14 yusho for Daieisho.

Daieisho draws Midorifuji tomorrow, and it's not a guaranteed win for Daieisho, but he's the heavy favorite.

Wakamotoharu is paired against Hoshoryu, and it goes without saying that Wakamotoharu cannot beat the Sekiwake. Doesn't mean Hoshoryu won't throw it, but let's see what happens.

J3 Ichinojo visited from Juryo and crushed M14 Bushozan at the tachi-ai striking his girth into the rookie a few times before easily felling him with a left outer belt throw. JabbaNoJo moves to 12-1 with the win staying one ahead of Asanoyama for the Juryo yusho. As for Bushozan, he falls to 4-9, and I don't think the dude has won a single bout of his own this tournament. He needs to win out to stay in the division.

And finally, I was very interested in the M11 Azumaryu - M15 Ohho matchup today following Asanoyama's dismantling at the hands of Ohho yesterday. With just two wins coming in, Azumaryu grabbed a left frontal belt grip at the tachi-ai as Ohho tried to push into Azumaryu's face before getting the left arm inside, but it was all academic as Azumaryu (3-10) simply yanked Ohho forward and down with that early belt grip. It was too easy, so you have a two-win guy coming in handily defeating the rikishi who handily defeated Asanoyama yesterday. Asanoyama's a huge fraud, and the proof is in the pudding as Ohho is knocked down to 6-7.

We'll leave it short and sweet for today and pick it back up tomorrow.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The number one story this entire basho has been Asanoyama fighting in Juryo. His bouts continue to be the most streamed online, and his name has come up more in the media than any other rikishi. His popularity has not been based on his sumo in the ring because it's been unexciting and fake, and so it can only be based on the constant media hype surrounding him. And for what? All Asanoyama is these days is a name, and he was exposed today in a truly embarrassing moment for sumo.

Today against M15 Ohho, the bout was not fixed, and it completely exposed Asanoyama's fallibility. From the tachi-ai, the two hooked up in migi-yotsu, and Asanoyama thought he briefly had a sniff of a left outer grip, but once Ohho's girth made it's full impact into Asanoyama's body, he lost the left outer, and it became a pipe dream from there. Asanoyama's mistake was that he focused on that left outer without having the right established to the inside, and so two seconds into the bout, Ohho had moro-zashi and was bearing down hard. Asanoyama thought about a right counter kote throw, but he didn't have the strength to execute it, and so as Ohho drove him back, the Juryo rikishi thought about a maki-kae with that same right, but he was too far gone. Ohho dominated this bout and completely shut down the former faux-zeki.

And we're talking about Ohho here. If you had to define Ohho's style prior to this match, you'd say it's largely oshi-zumo.  If you had to define Asanoyama's style prior to this bout you'd say it's dominantly yotsu-zumo.  And yet, the oshi guy schools the yotsu guy at his own game. This is the best Ohho has looked in the ring his entire career, and it was allowed to happen because Asanoyama is over ranked on the banzuke. Way over ranked. Asanoyama did not have a bad day here. He and his stable bought so much into his own hype that they thought he could handle a 5-6 rikishi coming into the day. They thought wrong, and regardless of Asanoyama's promotion to Makuuchi next basho and regardless of his fake double digit performance coming up in May, he can't erase this bout. This was the real Asanoyama, and anybody who wants to beat him will in this fashion.

The reason I started with that is because Asanoyama defines the current state of sumo wrestling. Everything is fabricated. The popular rikishi are not popular because of their ability in the ring. Take the two dudes from Hakuho's stable getting all the hype in Ochiai and Hokuseiho. Their oyakata all but guaranteed them kachi-koshi from the start, but now that they've been forced to fight in straight up bouts, they're getting defeated handily, and Ochiai has lost his last three. And these are not close bouts. It's obvious that they are not all they're cracked up to be.

In my opinion, this can't continue on forever. I just don't believe people are so gullible and naive as to buy these shenanigans basho after basho.

And speaking of shenanigans, let's review the leaderboard at the start of the day:

10-1: Midorifuji
9-2: Daieisho
8-3: Hoshoryu, Kiribayama, Wakamotoharu, Kotonowaka, Endoh, Chiyoshoma

Curiously, NHK DID show the large leaderboard straight out of the gate for the Day 12 broadcast, so why not do that on Day 11 or Day 10? I think it's obvious that sumo knows a Midorifuji runaway yusho would be devastating because that dude is no different from Asanoyama. This run has been totally manufactured and when people really scrutinize his sumo, they realize how hollow it is.

Let's work our way up the ranks focusing mainly on the leaders but also on bouts of interest like the previously mentioned Asanoyama - Ohho affair.

Justice dictated that M14 Kinbohzan become the first of the three rookies this basho to kachi-koshi. Today against M17 Mitoryu, Kinbohzan demanded the right inside position from the tachi-ai, and as he bore down on his opponent, he secured the left frontal belt grip, and with Mitoryu moving as fast as he could around the perimeter of the ring, he had no chance to set up a counter move. Kinbohzan dominated this one start to finish in picking up kachi-koshi at 8-4. Mitoryu is still alive at 6-6, and he's looked good in stretches.  Before we move in, if Kinbohzan was Japanese, would he be hyped differently in the media?  I couldn't find a single picture of his kachi-koshi win on the wires.

M15 Hokuseiho was up next, and his tachi-ai against M12 Takarafuji was awful. The kid stood straight up in reaching for a right outer grip, and while his length allowed him to get it, he was completely vertical with Takarafuji maintaining an inside left grip at the back of the rookie's belt. It was once, twice, three times a yori as Takarafuji (5-7) dispatched Hokuseiho in about four seconds sending him to a 7-5 record. Seems as if Hakuho has a bit more coaching to do with this youngster. I think Hokuseiho can turn things around, but at least half of his wins were purchased, and so he gets into a straight up affair against a veteran, and it wasn't just a bad day.

While we do have a smattering of Mongolian rikishi on the three-loss line, there is no way they're going to yusho. M16 Chiyoshoma was the first to pull out (cool) facing M11 Takanosho today. After winning the tachi-ai and getting the left arm firmly inside, Takanosho went for a light kote-nage with his right arm about two seconds in, and Chiyoshoma just spun around and down to the dirt on the other side of the dohyo. He shook his head as if to say, "What just happened?" From that "throw"? Are you kidding me? Endoh's allowed to ask what just happened after getting his ass kicked by Hoshoryu, but this? What a fake bout as Chiyoshoma drops to 8-4 while everybody's going to be fearing Takanosho's kote-nage moving forward at 7-5. Or not.

Let's give props to M13 Daishoho today for picking up a deserved kachi-koshi against M9 Hiradoumi. The two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and it was Hiradoumi who worked his way into the left outer grip first. Daishoho was pressing in hard, however, chest to chest, and it was obvious that Hiradoumi didn't have the strength to force him out. After a 10 second stalemate, Daishoho broke off Hiradoumi's outer grip, and when Hiradoumi went for a desperate maki-kae with that left, Daishoho pounced picking up the comeback win. Sumo is glorious when it's real, and Daishoho has been good this basho at 8-4 while Hiradoumi falls to 6-6.

Two bigger names in terms of records the first half of the basho were M10 Nishikifuji and M7 Takayasu, and from the tachi-ai, Nishikigi was simply the quicker rikishi diving into the left inside position, and while Takayasu flirted briefly with a right outer grip, you have to have position established to the inside as well to do anything with the uwate. Takayasu wasn't established to the inside, and so the dashi-nage attempt was weak with his hand slipping off of the belt altogether, and from there it was an easy yori-kiri for Nishikigi who picks up a very good win this basho leaving both dudes at 7-5. The sumo from both parties here wasn't great, but the bout was real and worth mentioning.

The most dangerous job in sumo is referee for an M8 Ura bout that isn't fixed and is against a rikishi who can't wrap him up straightway. Because M5 Kotoshoho isn't known for sound sumo, he wasn't able to latch onto Ura early, and so the action darted all over the ring to the chagrin of the gyoji, but he fortunately dodged the action just enough until Kotoshoho was able to fell Ura with a wild kote-nage with the right. Ura added some exaggeration to his fall, but this was real as Kotoshoho moves to 4-8 while Ura falls to 6-6.

And it was at this point on the day--well after 5 PM--that NHK finally started the sumo broadcast for their general channel. That is not good on Day 12 when they enter the sumo broadcast with less than an hour to go. NHK knows the numbers although they'll never publish them, but it tells you where the interest level is for the Japanese public in general regarding sumo.

I feel like M2 Abi is going to be a player in the division for the next year or two...not because he's great, but because he's good enough to win a few on his own, so you mix that in with a bitta yaocho, and he should have some staying power.

Today against M3 Mitakeumi, Abi jumped right and got his hand on the back of Mitakeumi's belt, and he easily pulled the former faux-zeki over in a second flat. Cheap henka for Abi in moving to 7-5 while Mitakeumi suffers make-koshi again at 4-8.

Let's move to the most likely candidate to yusho, Komusubi Daieisho. Today he was paired against M7 Hokutofuji, and Daieisho caught Hokutofuji by the throat and executed that solid tsuppari attack we're used to seeing from Daieisho. Hokutofuji had no answer for the onslaught, and they correctly ruled his one tsuki-dashi. This was easily Daieisho's best sumo of the basho as he moves to 10-2 while Hokutofuji falls to 7-5.

Our first three-loss Komusubi, Kotonowaka, entered the ring next to take on M4 Meisei, and Kotonowaka was terrible at the tachi-ai giving up the left inside position and right outer grip to Meisei straight out of the gate. The problem was the fix was in, and so Meisei took his left arm and brought it to the outside gifting Kotonowaka moro-zashi, and from there it was a walk in the park for Baby Waka as Meisei showed no resistance. They called it a maki-kae when Meisei gave up the left inside position for no reason, but it was more like obvious yaocho. Kotonowaka's 9-3 record is a huge fluke while Meisei gets paid to fall to 4-8.

Komusubi Wakamotoharu was next hoping to keep his yusho hopes alive against fellow three-loss rikishi, M6 Endoh, but Wakamotoharu's tachi-ai was terrible as he came in too upright and allowed Endoh the left inside position, and it should have been a walk in the park for Endoh, who had the clear momentum, but near the edge you could literally see Endoh lean forward and lock his knees so that his legs were perfectly straight, and when Wakamotoharu attempted a feeble--and I mean feeble-- kote-nage with the right, Endoh just dove out of the ring altogether.

When you execute a throw, you need to establish a point of strength with your leg...in this case it would have been the left leg for WMH, but his body was facing the inside of the ring with both feet along the straw as he attempted the weak throw.  IN a way, it resembled the ami-uchi move, but that wasn't what WMH was trying to do here. This bout was fixed from the start, and the acting was terrible to boot as Endoh takes one for the team in falling to 8-4 while Wakamotoharu obviously bought this one in moving to 9-3. I mean, this was a perfect example of a guy who "wins" but they can't tell you why afterwards watching the slow motion replay.

Komusubi Tobizaru sold his soul to the devil today against M1 Shodai. Tobizaru had the hari-zashi tachi-ai open to him, but he purposefully whiffed with the right hand slap and then refrained from getting the left inside. Instead, he moved to his right for no reason because Shodai certainly wasn't applying any pressure, and Tobizaru literally ran out of the ring as Shodai tried to keep up. They ruled it yori-kiri, but that implies force was involved. Anything but as Shodai ekes closer to kachi-koshi at 7-5 while Tobizaru graciously falls to 4-8.

And that brings us to M5 Midorifuji who stepped into the ring against Suckiwake Wakatakakage. The tachi-ai was decent as both dudes slapped into each other, but it was Wakatakakage who came away with the early right arm inside. The problem was that his feet were aligned and he was standing straight up, so when Midorifuji went for a desperate kubi-nage with the right, Wakatakakage wasn't in a position to make him pay. WTK still had moro-zashi, and so he slung Midorifuji over to the other side of the ring in an attempt to push him out, but once again, WTK's footwork was all wrong, and so he was forced to go for a pull. He almost whiffed on the move, but Midorifuji wasn't grounded to the dohyo from the start, and so he couldn't make the Suckiwake pay, and in the end, Wakatakakage pulled Midorifuji into a face plant across the straw.

Wow, this bout was a complete mess, and as I mentioned yesterday, a dude starting out 10-0 implies that he's performing dominating sumo. Midorifuji was hapless in all facets today, and you can see that when the bout is straight up with something on the line, he just panics like leedle girl. I'm not sure who said what, but somebody in the Association came to their senses about Midorifuji running away with the yusho.

The crazy thing is, I think the yusho has to come down to either Daieisho or Midorifuji, and after watching things unfold today, Daieisho is now the favorite, but let's just see in what direction the money flows. The end result form this bout is Midorifuji's falling to 10-2 while Wakatakakage made plenty of errors in moving to 6-6.

And that leads us to our Ozeki duel to end the day between Kiribayama and Hoshoryu. Hoshoryu attempted a hari-zashi slapping with the left in an attempt to get that same left to the inside, but Kiribayama was too quick and ducked under grabbing a left outer grip while flirting with a right at the front of the belt. The two finally settled in at the center of the ring ducked down a bit with Kiribayama's solid left outer against Hoshoryu's shallow right inside, and it was poetic to see the two fit and lean Mongolians positioned like this. After gathering their wits for a few seconds, Hoshoryu tested the soto-gake waters with the right, but that momentum shift allowed Kiribayama to latch onto the front of Hoshoryu's belt with the right, and KBY immediately went for the force-out kill. Hoshoryu survived briefly, but he was gassed and susceptible to the left outer throw that game shortly thereafter. Midorifuji-like sumo this wasn't as the two Mongolians really put a nice cap on the day as Kiribayama moves to 9-3 while Hoshoryu falls to 8-4.

With the dust settled, the leaderboard heading into Day 13 is as follows:

10-2: Daieisho, Midorifuji
9-3: Kiribayama, Wakamotoharu, Kotonowaka

I just don't see Kiribayama spoiling Team Japan's fun, and Daieisho is easily the best of the rest, so he controls his own destiny.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Big ups to Japan for winning the World Baseball Championship, and I think the country has been enthralled with the event to the degree they were with the World Cup if not more so. Word on the street in Japan is that nobody wants to see sumo right now, and I'm sure the WBC hype will continue through to the end of the basho.

My broadcast today naturally began with focus on Midorifuji, and with Mainoumi in the mukou-joumen chair, he and Koi Announcer were talking about Midorifuji's kimari-te presumably because we saw the rare kimari-te, wari-dashi, yesterday, and then Mainoumi made sure to drop in a kata-sukashi reference.

The two concluded that Midorifuji's kimari-te were based on his reactions in the ring to what his opponents were doing, and that right there is 1) the truth, but 2) it's a huge contradiction to the overall storyline the first 10 days.

Whenever you have a guy who's 10-0 with the next closest rikishi 8-2, it implies that the dude who is 10-0 is dominating. That's certainly not the case with Midorifuji's sumo, and how does a guy dominate when his opponents are the ones dictating the action? You cannot go 10-0 in sumo let alone any other sport by being passive and reactionary. Dominant rikishi or dominant teams have signature styles and they brandish it constantly because they know their opponents can rarely beat them at their own game. So in effect, the broadcast today was celebrating this 10-0 start, and yet the conclusion was that Midorifuji wasn't the one dictating it. It's a huge contradiction that nobody seems to ever pick up on.

With that, one other thing that really stood out to me the first few minutes of the broadcast was that they didn't publish the leaderboard. That's unheard of during the Shubansen, or final five days, so the question is why aren't they brandishing the leaderboard? Yesterday they showed a mini leaderboard in the bottom right corner a few bouts in, but they didn't show it on today's broadcast until after the penultimate bout.

Coming into Day 11, the leaderboard shaped up as follows:

10-0: Midorifuji
8-2: Kotonowaka, Daieisho, Endoh

That ain't much to write home about, especially with five more days to go, so let's focus on the leaders and the other rikishi who came into the day at three losses and then maybe another bout of interest or two.

That means were start with M14 Kinbohzan, a dude that sure doesn't feel like a rookie. He was paired today against M13 Daishoho, and the two struck chest to chest coming away in the migi-yotsu position where both dudes grabbed left outers. After a stalemate of about five seconds, Daishoho broke off Kinbohzan's outer grip rather easily and then forced a listless Kinbohzan back and across. Daishoho's sumo here was perfect. His tachi-ai was good and he made all the right moves, but I just didn't see Kinbohzan do anything to apply pressure or counter. He had a chance to execute a left tsuki and then a really good scoop throw with the right, but he refrained on both. It was still good sumo from Daishoho as both dudes end the day at 7-4, and this officially eliminates Kinbohzan from the yusho race.

Let's skip ahead to M16 Chiyoshoma vs. M10 Nishikifuji who hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and with Shoma pressing forward, Nishikifuji tested the counter kote waters with his right arm, but Chiyoshoma was applying too much pressure and keeping NFJ upright, and the instant that Chiyoshoma secured the right outer grip, it was curtains as Chiyoshoma clinched kachi-koshi at 8-3 with the easy win. Nishikifuji falls to 6-5 after losing five of his last six.

M10 Myogiryu was quick out of the gate against M15 Hokuseiho, and he had the rookie up right with his left hand in perfect position to grab a frontal belt to compliment the right inside, but Myogiryu didn't take it straightway signaling his intentions at that point. He still had Hokuseiho in a huge pickle because the dude had no momentum with his hips high like that, and so Myogiryu actually grabbed the left frontal belt and then used it to pull Hokuseiho forward into Myogiryu's own body and the M10 just backed out of the ring with Hokuseiho in tow. It was kind of disguised, but the fix was obvious here if you know what to look for. Hokuseiho moves to 7-4 and bought this one as Myogiryu settles for 4-7 a richer man.

M14 Bushozan and M9 Hiradoumi gave us a great fight. The sumo wasn't textbook as the rookie didn't want to go chest to chest at first, but you could tell both dudes wanted to win, and Hiradoumi (6-5) was the cooler cat here finally getting a right arm inside and then a left as Bushozan (4-7) was thinking pull all the way. This bout had nothing to do with the yusho, but it was well contested and worth mentioning.

At this point of the broadcast, they showed the three most popular bouts from the day before, and it's still the two Juryo guys at #1 and #2 and then Midorifuji. Hooboy.

Let's skip all the way ahead to M2 Abi vs. M3 Nishikigi in a bout where Abi took charge from the start catching Nishikigi in the throat with both hands standing him up and pushing him back a step, and as Nishikigi tried to lean forward, Abi shifted gears and showed Nishikigi (2-9) the trap door with a nice hataki-komi. Abi is only 6-5, but he's thrown a few bouts to this point.

The biggest reaction to any of the bouts today came when M8 Ura stepped in the ring to face M1 Shodai, which is an indication that the fans are not really there to see a yusho race unfold; rather, they're there to see rikishi who get a lot of hype. Having said that, I've warmed up to Ura a bit the last few basho because he's gotten fat enough and he's got enough experience to sort of stand his ground with some of his opponents, especially when he's ranked at M8 and fighting shlubs like Shodai. Ura was genki at the tachi-ai getting the right arm inside when the tachi-ai dust settled, but he's still not good enough to force a guy back and out legitimately, but Ura kept enough pressure on that Shodai had to fight defensively, so when Ura darted right going for a pull at the back of Shodai's dome, the former faux-zeki had no answer. Legit win for Ura as both of these dudes settle at 6-5.

Our first leader on the day was Komusubi Kotonowaka who was paired against M7 Hokutofuji, and Hokutofuji won the tachi-ai by catching Baby Waka by the throat with the left while he pushed into the kid's tit with the right...and believe me, there's a lot of tit to be pushed. Kotonowaka is a load for sure, and Hokutofuji wasn't pressing him back, and so when Kotonowaka tried to make a forward surge, it was Hokutofuji's cue to spring the pull trap by moving right at the edge and slapping Kotonowaka down to an 8-3 record. Hokutofuji was in charge throughout as he improved to 7-4 with the nice win.

Following those two yayhoos was the most anticipated bout of the day, the Komusubi Wakamotoharu - M5 Midorifuji matchup. Wakamotoharu came with a nice kachi-age with the right while working his left arm inside against a largely defenseless Midorifuji, and with Wakamotoharu bearing down and looking to set up the yori-kiri win, Midorifuji darted left in desperation going for a pull, but Wakamotoharu had set himself up nicely by winning the tachi-ai, and so he was right there to send Midorifuji across and down in spectacular fashion. As I suspected, in the first straight up bout that Midorifuji fought this basho, he got his ass kicked. I mean, it's one thing to lose after a 10-0 start, but to not have a single say in a bout against Wakamotoharu?? It's all a big contradiction and a clear sign that Midorifuji's 10-0 run was paid for. It just can't be disputed or justified as he falls to 10-1 while Wakamotoharu picks up kachi-koshi with the very nice win at 8-3.

Before we move on, Wakamotoharu's sumo has been unimpressive the last few basho. Yeah, I know he's in the sanyaku, but money can buy you anything in sumo (i.e. Midorifuji's 10-0 start). The point is that he looked like a man among boys today, which shows you just how weak and inconsequential Midorifuji is in this division.

Midorifuji's loss opens up the door for the other two-loss rikishi coming in, and it was Komusubi Daieisho's turn to close the gap. He was paired against M7 Takayasu, and I can't figure out what Daieisho's doing with his sumo this basho because he has rarely shown us the straight up thrust attack he's known for. And that was the case yet again today as he came with the C3P0 arms and then shaded back and to his right literally gifting Takayasu the path to victory, but Takayasu was to hapless, and so the action went to the other side of the ring where Daieisho largely kept his hands high and wide again. Takayasu was too hapless to capitalize, so in the end, Daieisho caught his foe with a nice left inashi (pictured there at left) that sent Takayasu over to the edge, and just as he squared back up, Daieisho was there to finally offer a thrust that knocked Takayasu back and across. Daieisho moves to 9-2 with the win, but his sumo was flawed today. As for Takayasu, he's knocked out of the kitchen at 7-4.

In a bad bout of sumo, Sekiwake Kiribayama and M4 Meisei struck each other at the tachi-ai, but it was one of those bouts that didn't go chest to chest nor was it a push contest. Instead, both dude used straight arms into each other's body until Kiribayama quickly moved left going a for a slight pull that sent Meisei to the deck rather easily. Koi Announcer asked Mainoumi if Kiribayama simply applied too much pressure, and Mainoumi frankly said, "No. It was more like Meisei (4-7) was too flimsy." Good call, and that sums up this anticlimactic bout that saw Kiribayama find his way onto the leaderboard at 8-3.

The day's final match featured Sekiwake Hoshoryu taking on the two-loss M6 Endoh, and Endoh henka'd to his left at the tachi-ai, but his foot got caught in the dohyo throwing him off balance, and that allowed Hoshoryu plenty of time to recover, grab the right outer grip, and then whip (as opposed to spin) Endoh around in a full circle and down forcefully to the dohyo. Sheesh. This was one of those bouts where the guy who got henka'd was pissed, and he took it out on his lesser foe. I'm pretty sure Endoh's not going to try that again, especially against a Mongolian, and it was nice to see a guy kicking ass and taking names atop the dohyo. The result is Hoshoryu's moving to 8-3 while Endoh falls to the same mark leaving us the following leaderboard heading into the final four days:

10-1: Midorifuji
9-2: Daieisho
8-3: Hoshoryu, Kiribayama, Wakamotoharu, Kotonowaka, Endoh, Chiyoshoma

That's a lot more interesting than Midorifuji running away with this thing illegitimately.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
With all that's been going on in the World Baseball Championships, sumo is going to be a small blip on the radar in Japan if not a nuisance for the next couple of days, so maybe it's good that a lot of people aren't paying attention to this basho. With six days to go and this haphazard leaderboard, anything can and likely will happen. I can't recall a single bout that sole leader, Midorifuji, has won straight up, and it will be obvious the first time he's involved in a bout where his opponent tries to beat him.

They started the broadcast today by showing the leaderboard, but they only showed a tiny one in the lower right corner of the screen. I wonder if they're half trying to hide it. When you post the leaderboard by rank, this is what it looks like:

M5
Komusubi
Komusubi, M6, M7

There is a bit of name recognition on the board, but it's nobody that you'd really pay to see:

9-0: Midorifuji
8-1: Daieisho
7-2: Kotonowaka, Endoh, Takayasu

Let's just cover the rikishi with three losses or less coming into the day meaning we start with M11 Takanosho vs. M16 Tsurugisho. Tsurugisho connected on a nice face slap with the left that likely threw Takanosho off of his game, and Tsurugisho ended up grabbing a firm left outer grip to Takanosho's right inside. TS was simply too big here, and he used his weight to literally force Takanosho back and across for the nice win leaving both dudes at 6-4.

I can see the yusho line falling to 12-3, but it ain't going to 11-4, so both these guys are done.

At this point in the broadcast, they showed the top three streamed fixed bouts from the previous day. Making the cut were:

#1 Asanoyama vs. Roga (thrown in favor of Asanoyama)
#2 Midorifuji vs. Ura (thrown in favor of Ura)
#3 Ochiai vs. Hakuyozan (thrown in favor of Ochiai)

Moving right along, M16 Chiyoshoma was thrown a changeup by M10 Myogiryu who stood straight up at the tachi-ai and offered a stiff arm Chiyoshoma's way to keep him at bay, and it worked wonders. Chiyoshoma hesitantly tried to thrust his way in, but Myogiryu's long arms were playing a nice defense. Chiyoshoma next connected on a face slap, but then Myogiryu returned the favor with an even bigger slap and pounced going for the quick force out, but Chiyoshoma adjusted nicely and pulled Myogiryu down before the latter could push Shoma out. Not great sumo as both were socially distanced throughout as Chiyoshoma moves to 7-3 while Myogiryu is 4-6.

M10 Nishikifuji is falling fast (i.e. the money has run out), and M13 Daishoho just crushed him back from the tachi-ai drawing oohs and ahs from the crowd, and with both these guys socially distanced, Nishikifuji's only hope was to move right and circle around the ring, but Daishoho stayed true and easily pushed Nishikifuji back and across leaving both dudes at 6-4.

M9 Hiradoumi destroyed M13 Kotoeko off of the starting lines forcing the bout to hidari-yotsu where Hiradoumi gained the left outer grip thanks to that fabulous tachi-ai, and Kotoeko had no answer in this nice bout where Hiradoumi's yori-kiri was textbook. The contrast between real sumo like this and sumo that Midorifuji's involved in is stark. Kotoeko falls to 6-4 while Hiradoumi is even steven at 5-5.

I know neither of these guys are three losses or better, but it's worth pointing out the M15 Hokuseiho - M8 Ura matchup was real and contained all of the expected elements you'd expect to see in a yotsu bout. There was pressure applied at the belt, there were a few nage-no-uchi-ai, and the bigger guy used his weight to win the bout. While the rookie did win here, it was noticeable that Hokuseiho's sumo is not polished. He wins the day at 6-4 while Ura falls to 5-5, but Ura's looked decent this basho.

The most compelling bout of the day was the M14 Kinbohzan - M7 Takayasu matchup, and it was real, so Kinbohzan took charge early with some nice shoves to Takayasu's throat, and the former faux-zeki knew he was in trouble, and so he moved to his left trying to escape while fishing for a pull, but the rookie was having none of it as he pushed Takayasu across with ease.

Here you have a former...uh...Ozeki...and a veteran in Takayasu, but Kinbohzan just schooled him. It was so telling watching this bout how much sumo is and has been orchestrated when talking about Takayasu. Both dudes finish the day at 7-3, and this knocks Takayasu from the leaderboard.

The next leader to fight was M6 Endoh taking on M1 Shodai, but Endoh's tachi-ai (footwork) was bad even though he moved forward, and so Shodai proved to be a brick wall as the bout moved to hidari-yotsu. Shodai felt as if he had a chance, and so he rushed a force-out charge, but Endoh was able to slip left at the edge and fell Shodai with a hurried scoop throw. Not a lot of continuity in this one as Endoh moves to 8-2 while Shodai falls to 6-4.

Up next was Komusubi Wakamotoharu who faced M4 Meisei, and the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu, and Meisei purposefully whiffed on a right outer grip attempt and then played defense eventually allowing WMH to score the yori-kiri win. Meisei (4-6) was mukiryoku here as Wakamotoharu moves to 7-3.

And that brings us to M5 Midorifuji who was paired against Komusubi Tobizaru. The tachi-ai here was good as the two hooked up in migi-yotsu, and Tobizaru grabbed the left outer grip only to let it go straightway. As Midorifuji tried to force Tobizaru back, the latter voluntarily kept his left hand open and elbow back far away from the outer grip, so I knew who was going to win at that point. Still, Midorifuji was extremely uncomfortable in this position, and he was at Tobizaru's bidding. For his part, Tobizaru was standing firm, and so Midorifuji backed near the edge, and at that point Tobizaru could have used his momentum against him and scored the easy force-out, but he was just along for the ride as Midorifuji tugged at Tobizaru's belt out wide drawing the wari-dashi kimari-te.

I'm not even going to pretend like I knew what wari-dashi was, and it was the first time in 11 years since the division has seen the move, and I'm pretty sure whatever bout it was back then was fixed like this one. If Midorifuji really had the strength to execute a wari-dashi move like that, he wouldn't have been on his heels the entire time in this one, but the dude was on defense, and Tobizaru played a big part in that wari-dashi.  Speaking of Tobizaru, he could have also easily grabbed the left outer and he could have forced Midorifuji back and across multiple times, but he took the cash instead in falling to 4-6.

Komusubi Kotonowaka welcomed M2 Abi, and you could see Abi's tsuppari attack was defensive from the start as he chose not to cross his starting lines. Kotonowaka wasn't exactly blazing forward thanks to Abi keeping him at bay with shoves to the throat, and then finally Abi retreated for no reason and as Kotonowaka caught up to him, he sorta caught Abi with a shove, but it was all Abi stepping out wildly and then diving to the dirt as if he was sliding into second base.  Safe!!

As they showed the slow motion replay, Hakuho's explanation of Kotonowaka's bout was, "He won the tachi-ai," all the while the replay showed Abi sticking jab after jab into Kotonowaka's neck from the tachi-ai. It was a good example of the analysis saying one thing and something totally different playing out on the screen. Whatever. Kotonowaka obviously bought this one in moving to 8-2 while Abi is taking the cash this basho at 5-5, and how do you make a guy go feet first and sideways with oshi-taoshi?

M3 Mitakeumi stuck Sekiwake Kiribayama at the tachi-ai and then moved left, but the move was harmless allowing KBY to grab moro-zashi, and he used his gut nicely to hoist Mitakeumi onto his tip toes and back, and at the edge, Kiribayama hoisted Mitakeumi across tsuri-dashi style. They ruled it yori-kiri, but it was easy pickings for Kiribayama who was just playing around here in moving 7-3 while Mitakeumi falls to 4-6.

Sekiwake Hoshoryu attempted a hari-zashi tachi-ai against Komusubi Daieisho slapping with the left and looking to get the right inside with the left outer grip, but Daieisho didn't even bother with his tsuppari attack moving right in an attempt to pull the Sekiwake out of the gate. The move failed miserably as Hoshoryu squared back up, got moro-zashi, and quietly escorted Daieisho back and across. Daieisho (8-2) was as high up as I've ever seen him, but Hoshoryu (7-3) was a gentleman about it in handing Daieisho a crucial loss in terms of the yusho race.

The result means that Midorifuji now has a two-bout lead over three other dudes as follows:

10-0: Midorifuji
8-2: Kotonowaka, Daieisho, Endoh

Hooboy, that's a bad leaderboard, and I don't see how they let Midorifuji run away with this thing.

What does it say about your basho when on Day 10 the final bout of the day features two guys with losing records in Suckiwake Wakatakakage vs. M5 Kotoshoho?  If I was paying for sponsor banners I'd be pissed.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. Midorifuji draws Wakamotoharu, and anything can happen in that one.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I have never seen a circus of a basho like this. I'm sure it's happened a few times the past three decades where all of the Yokozuna and Ozeki were kyujo, but it always felt as if there was some kind of anchor holding things in place. Here in Osaka, however, the closest thing we have to an anchor is Komusubi Daieisho, and that ain't saying much. Midorifuji is still undefeated heading into the day, but the dude has bought this run outright no question.

The Sumo Association should be ashamed of itself for letting the sport become what it has. I can't believe people are shelling out money for this, especially with other events like the UEFA quarterfinals and WBC baseball semis going on. It's so hard to watch a real professional sport and then tune back into the sumos and partake of the crap they're feeding us.

The most popular rikishi right now are Asanoyama and Ochiai in that order, and those guys aren't even fighting in Makuuchi. They keep showing their replays as part of the top three streamed bouts from the previous day, and inevitably their bouts are fixed. Sorry, but they just are.

NHK held the leaderboard today until the Midorifuji bout because there were 12 rikishi coming into the day at three losses, so a Midorifuji loss today would take the leaderboard from seven guys to 19 guys...half the division!!

We'll just go down to two losses, so the leaderboard that I'm really not even paying attention to shapes up as follows:

8-0: Midorifuji
7-1: Daieisho
6-2: Kotonowaka, Shodai, Endoh, Takayasu, Kinbohzan

The day began with M15 Hokuseiho taking on M16 Chiyoshoma, and Chiyoshoma easily got two hands to the throat driving Hokuseiho back and upright, and as the rookie looked to lean forward, Chiyoshoma slipped left, grabbed an outer belt grip, and dashi-nage'd Hokuseiho forward and down all in about three seconds. Chiyoshoma schooled the rookie here in moving to 6-3, and Hokuseiho falls to 5-4 having shown little in his bouts against quality opponents in straight up bouts.

Up next was rookie M14 Bushozan who was paired against M16 Tsurugisho, and Tsurugisho dominated the tachi-ai pushing the rookie back two steps, but he refrained from an all out charge and instead went Takakeisho backing up and going for useless swipes. That purposefully gave the momentum to Bushozan, but the kid still couldn't do jack, and so it took Tsurugisho putting an arm up high around his foe's head and saying, "Push me out already." And he did sending Bushozan to a cheap 4-5 while Tsurugisho had room to sell in falling to 5-4.

M13 Kotoeko henka'd lamely to his right and didn't even connect on a pull of M15 Ohho, but Ohho went down anyway in this scripted bout. What a useless display here as Kotoeko keeps himself on the leaderboard at 6-3 as Ohho falls to 4-5.

M17 Mitoryu and M12 Takarafuji moved forward at the tachi-ai and then just stood there pushing into shoulders and elbows and not pushing hard I might add. The two just stood in a stalemate at that point for about 20 seconds until Takarafuji (2-7) literally backed up and out barely thinking about a pull and giving Mitoryu the cheap win at 4-5. What ugly stuff, and why did I even cover this bout??

We finally got a good tachi-ai from M12 Kagayaki and M11 Takanosho, but then it was all ruined when Kagayaki just started backing up while pretending to pull, and Takanosho was able to stick him hard near the edge and send him across. Takanosho bought this one in moving to 6-3 while Kagayaki ho hums his way to 3-6.

The one thing that can't happen this basho is having rookie M14 Kinbohzan take the yusho. The dude's been throwing just enough bouts to stay out of the spotlight, and that was the case again today against M10 Nishikifuji. The two should have gone into migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but Kinbohzan purposefully didn't get his right arm in deep. On the other side, Nishikifuji had a grip on the front of Kinbohzan's belt but he was too small and two weak to lift him up. And there the two stood for a bit until Kinbohzan anticipated a pull move from Nishikifuji and just put both palms to the dirt. They ruled it inside belt drag down as NFJ had that inside belt grip, but it was anything that as you have to move your feet and pivot on one leg to execute a dashi-nage. The two were in the clinch and then Kinbohzan put two palms to the dirt leaving both dudes at 6-3.

M10 Myogiryu and M13 Daishoho hooked up in migi-yotsu, but Daishoho didn't even contest the bout keeping himself up high and then faking a pull that was just an excuse to let Myogiryu score the easy push out. Lackluster stuff as Myogiryu moves to 4-5 while Daishoho rests at 5-4.

In a similar bout, M9 Aoiyama kept his hands high and wide at the tachi-ai against M7 Takayasu, and then Aoiyama just backed all the way up to the tawara making sure he stepped out before he slapped Takayasu to the dirt. Yet another bout where a dude on the leaderboard picks up the win by doing nothing. Takayasu moves to 7-2 while Aoiyama is nonchalant at 4-5.

M11 Azumaryu and M6 Sadanoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Azumaryu stayed upright enough to allow Sadanoumi to grab the uncontested left outer grip before the two moved over near the edge. Sadanoumi was way too upright for his own good and was susceptible to a counter right scoop throw form Azumaryu (0-11), but the latter just stood there and agreed to step back and across with mediocre force coming from the Sadamight (2-7).

M6 Endoh and M9 Hiradoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu and then the two hunkered down into a stalemate in the center of the ring. Instead of looking for the left outer, Hiradoumi ducked down and wrapped both arms around the outside of Endoh's forearms essentially giving Endoh a shallow moro-zashi. Endoh still wasn't in a position to attack, and so Hiradoumi telegraphed a slow maki-kae attempt with the right whose only purpose was to allow Endoh to score the easy force-out. Endoh stays on the board at 7-2 with the gift while Hiradoumi falls to 4-5.

After the intermission, M8 Ura and M5 Midorifuji hooked up in migi-yotsu, and if there's one guy smaller than Ura it's Midorifuji to the tune of 30 kg. Ura had Midorifuji in a pinch for sure if he wanted the deep right inside, but he didn't take it and instead moved right near the edge where he faked a pull all the way to the straw and then arched his back for no other reason than to allow Midorifuji to push him across. Once again, we have a guy on the leaderboard who did nothing to set up his win, and when Ura is throwing bouts for you, it says a lot.

Midorifuji's entire basho has been a joke, but he maintains sole possession of the lead at 9-0 while Ura falls to 5-4.

The M8 Ichiyamamoto - M5 Kotoshoho bout was a great example of how bad the sumo content in the division is right now. The tachi-ai was bad and then both guys were too upright firing defensive shoves whose only purpose was to look for a pull. Ichiyamamoto tripped over his own two feet twice, but KSH was in no position to make him pay, and in the end of a very haphazard bout, Kotoshoho went for a dumb pull and Ichiyamamoto pushed him into the first row hard. Kotoshoho (1-8) is lucky he didn't get hurt here as Ichiyamamoto barely moves to 3-6.

M7 Hokutofuji (5-4) picked up the freebie after M4 Onosho (4-5) withdrew for who knows what.

M3 Mitakeumi and M3 Nishikigi struck lightly at the tachi-ai with Nishikigi staying low and likely whispering to his foe, "Go for a pull, go for a pull." Mitakeumi sorta did, but it was as gentle as they come, but no matter as Nishikigi just rumbled and stumbled his way outta the dohyo giving Mitakeumi the cheap win. Mitakeumi's just 4-5 while Nishikigi dumps this one in falling to 2-7.

In a basho like this, you know the M1 Tamawashi camp isn't going to play spoiler against a contender, and he sure let up today against Komusubi Daieisho. The two greeted each other with tsuppari, but the difference was that Tamawashi was just upright and moving backwards of his own volition as Daieisho moved forward, and at the edge, Tamawashi just squatted across the straw leaving a big target on his chest, and Daieisho didn't miss. The bout lasted maybe three seconds and curiously, Daieisho did nothing to cause Tamawashi's retreat. Whatever as Tamawashi falls to a laughable 1-8 while Daieisho is the opposite at 8-1.

Two rikishi coming into the day at two losses were Komusubi Kotonowaka vs. M1 Shodai, and this bout was all over the place so much so that it's really hard to describe what happened. It reminded me of a yotsu version of the Ichiyamamoto - Kotoshoho bout earlier only nobody ever had a definitive inside position and the footwork was awful. The action went back and forth across the ring where Kotonowaka was able to take advantage of a tiring Shodai in the end pushing him down as Kotonowaka took a knee in the process.  That ending at right is something you never see in morning keiko.

This bout was so typical of the basho itself in that there is no continuity to be found. We may as well be rolling dice here to determine the outcomes as Kotonowaka moves to 7-2 while Shodai falls to 6-3.

M2 Abi was quick out of the gate putting two hands towards Komusubi Wakamotoharu's neck, but then he never pushed opting to position his right arm in kote position and then in kubi-nage position, but all he was really doing was moving himself over to the edge and staying upright so Wakamotoharu could score the force-out win that contained no force coming from WMH whatsoever. What a stupid bout this was as Abi threw it here in falling to 5-4 while Wakamotoharu is gifted 6-3.

Komusubi Tobizaru henka'd wildly to his right against Sekiwake Hoshoryu, but Hoshoryu recovered easily, and as Tobizaru looked to square back up, it was Hoshoryu's turn to execute a collected pull, and he dragged Tobizaru out of the ring without incident. Watching live it looked as if Hoshoryu got a bit of hair, but they didn't think so as Hoshoryu moves to 6-3 while Tobizaru is just clowning around at 4-5.

The tachi-ai between Suckiwake Wakatakakage and M4 Meisei was decent, but then Meisei just backed up to the edge due to no pressure from WTK, and Meisei dragged Wakatakakage down on top of him at the edge of the dohyo. Horrible stuff for the penultimate bout of the day, but then again, this basho has been horrid as both rikishi end the day at 4-5.

I think I've been waiting all tournament for the bout we got between Sekiwake Kiribayama and M2 Ryuden. The two hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Kiribayama got the early right, but Ryuden is no slouch and easily the best Japanese rikishi on the banzuke, and he dug in well using his long arm of the law to grab an outer of his own sending the bout to gappuri hidari-yotsu. Kiribayama was in control throughout, but Ryuden was too big of a load for him to handle straightway, and so Kiribayama kept up the pressure for 20 seconds or so until he tired Ryuden out and then broke off Ryuden's outer, and in the end he was able to score the yori-kiri.

When you think about it, this was kind of a dangerous bout because after all of the crap we've seen from the start of the tournament, you get a bout like this and it jogs everyone's memory into thinking, "Oh yeah, this is what this sport used to look like." Yeah, used to. Not anymore as it's mostly a clown show, but I sure appreciated this brilliant display of sumo from both dudes as Kiribayama moves to 6-3 while Ryuden's 1-8 is as big of a joke as Tamawashi's. As effin if.

I'm just surprised how many fans are showing up for this basho, but there's something there that the die hards can see that I sure can't. At the end of the day, the potpourri leaderboard shaped up as follows:

9-0: Midorifuji
8-1: Daieisho
7-2: Kotonowaka, Endoh, Takayasu

9 other rikishi to be named later lurk at 6-3

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The storyline anchor this basho coming in was the potential promotion of Takakeisho to Yokozuna. It's obvious that Takakeisho isn't even sanyaku material let alone Yokozuna material, so the big question coming in was how bad does the Association want this? If you remember Kisenosato, there was talk of Yokozuna promotion for three years or more, and the pattern would go Kisenosato takes the jun-yusho and then he'd be up for Yokozuna promotion the next basho only to fail in the end. This repeated itself over and over until finally the Association determined that they really needed a Japanese Yokozuna, and so they orchestrated two consecutive yusho and finally got their wish.

The problem was that like Takakeisho, Kisenosato wasn't even sanyaku material. Oh, there was a time in his career when he was a legit sanyaku dude, but not late in his 20's and into his 30's. After Kisenosato's illegitimate promotion, his career took a nosedive. The Association got what it wanted and then the rest was left up to the Kisenosato camp, and he ended up retiring barely able to finish two basho over a span of two years.

Now we have Takakeisho who is obviously not a Yokozuna, so the real question was how bad does the Association want him promoted? It's been clear the first five days that the Takakeisho camp isn't bankrolling wins every day, and today the faux-zeki was paired against M3 Mitakeumi, and Takakeisho got one lick in today from the tachi-ai as he knocked Mitakeumi back a half step from the charge, but that was it. You could see that Takakeisho had no more ammo, and so he went into pull/swipe mode as Mitakeumi took his time fending off Takakeisho's antics until the faux-zeki went for a pull, and the instant that happened, Mitakeumi forced him back and across with some oomph leaving both rikishi at 3-3.

There was no sign of injury today in Takakeisho's sumo, but the dude withdrew prior to Day 7. I mean, this was getting ugly, and it was obvious from the start that the same money was not there backing Takakeisho as there was in January. It's better to go out this way than to continue to get humiliated and display sumo in the ring that doesn't even remotely resemble Yokozuna sumo for two straight weeks.

As I was reading the funny papers afterwards, they were making a big deal out of the fact that there were no longer any Yokozuna or Ozeki actively fighting. I actually had to think about that one for a sec because I see one Yokozuna (Tamawashi) and two Ozeki (Hoshoryu, Kiribayama) fighting every day. Oh well. What do I know?

It was also interesting today to see Takakeisho come in third place again on the "most streamed bouts from the previous day." Asanoyama was #1 of course, and then Mitakeumi - Wakatakakage was #2. Sheesh, how do you not beat those two dudes in second place if you're a Yokozuna candidate? I think it says a lot that nobody was really getting into this Yokozuna run besides the media.

Let's head back down to the bottom of the division and work our way up cherry picking bouts of interest (sorry Sadanoumi vs. Meisei).

Looks like M15 Hokuseiho's allowance money was three day's worth because the last two days he's been forced to fight straight up. Today's opponent was M13 Daishoho, and Daishoho's tachi-ai was terrible as he stood straight up and shuffled his feet, but the rookie was not coming forward, and so the two ended up in migi-yotsu a half step behind Daishoho's starting line. Daishoho quickly grabbed the left outer grip and easily kept Hokuseiho up high and away from an outer of his own. The two tussled for over a minute with each attempting nice force out charges, inner belt throws, etc., but Hokuseiho simply didn't have the tools to use his size advantage to win the bout, and so the veteran Daishoho won in the end. Daishoho is not all that, but in a straight up bout, he bested Hokuseiho leaving both dudes at 4-2.

Hokuseiho has gotten all of the ink this basho, but the 800 lb. gorilla in the room is really M14 Kinbohzan. Today the rookie was paired against M13 Kotoeko, and Kotoeko attempted a lame henka from the start that barely fazed the rookie, but Kinbohzan purposefully did not take advantage, and so after attempting a few fake tsuppari, Kotoeko got the right arm deep inside but before he could really do anything, Kinbohzan dove over and down as Eko tried to make it look like a scoop throw. Hey, Kinbohzan made more money from this bout alone than he could have in an entire year in his home country. The kid ain't dumb in falling to 4-2 while Kotoeko obviously paid for this one in moving to 5-1. Just great: the prospects of Kotoeko on the leaderboard in week 2.

M9 Aoiyama couldn't be bought off today, and so M10 Nishikifuji had a fight on his hands. Luckily for him, Aoiyama was lazy and looking pull, and so NFJ was able to apply decent pressure with a tsuppari attack, but Aoiyama was simply too large. In the end, Aoiyama grabbed a left outer grip near the back of his foe's belt, and Nishikifuji countered in kind with the right inside, and the nage-no-uchi-ai was on. Hey, a nage-no-uchi-ai. It must be real!! And it was as Aoiyama's girth was just too much for Nishikigi to handle as Aoiyama (4-2) used his body nicely to send NFJ across the straw and down to his first loss at 5-1.

The best bout of the day followed with M11 Takanosho vs. M9 Hiradoumi, and it's so obvious when you watch this that the sumo was real. I'm not going to break it down, but it's worth re-watching it was that good as Hiradoumi put on a great show in moving to 3-3 while Takanosho's 4-2 record is inflated.

One interesting thing I've noticed on the sports shows is that they are largely ignoring M7 Takayasu and focusing on Daieisho saying, "Daieisho is the only rikishi ranked in the sanyaku and above who is undefeated."

They probably can't ignore Takayasu for long, especially following the withdrawal of Takakeisho, and today's opponent was the hapless M8 Ichiyamamoto. IYM came with a tsuppari attack, but there was no meat on the bone, and so Takayasu was able to shove his foe back and around although Takayasu's own shoves were anything but textbook. With the two slipping around more than they were making legit contact, they finally hooked up in migi-yotsu, and as both dudes were reaching for an outer grip, Takayasu shifted on a dime unleashing a very nice inside belt throw with the right. Good stuff here, and while Takayasu had bought some of his wins this basho, this one was legit as he moves to 6-0. As for Ichiyamamoto, he falls to 0-6.

The next bout was as cheesy as they get with M6 Endoh standing around after the tachi-ai against M5 Midorifuji just waiting for the kata-sukashi to come. I mean literally, after Midorifuji got the right arm inside against a defenseless Endoh, the latter just stood there waiting for the move, and when it came it was poorly executed, but so what?  Endoh just put both palms to the dirt with no other part of the body touching down. Scripted as Midorifuji buys another in moving to 6-0 while Endoh had plenty of room to sell at 4-2.

I know Daieisho's the one who'll get most of the yusho hype, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Abi hoisting the cup in the end. Today's opponent was M5 Kotoshoho and Abi's tachi-ai was not good. His footwork was terrible, and it actually allowed Kotoshoho to catch him a bit, but Kotoshoho's sumo is also terrible, and so Abi was able to recover, move left, and pull Kotoshoho down with a hataki-komi. You'll notice how Kotoshoho ended up on his back here because it was a real bout. It was ugly but real as Abi moves to 5-1 with Kotoshoho hapless at 0-6.

In a laugher, M1 Tamawashi caught M1 Shodai with two hands to the neck, but then he just stood there waiting for a move from Shodai. Said move was a weak tsuki with the right hand to the back of Tamawashi's left shoulder, and the real Yokozuna just stumbled forward and down in exaggerated fashion. Sir Isaac Newton was reeling in his graves after this one for sure as Shodai moves to 4-2 with Tamawashi falling to 1-5. Go figure, and that's how you know the majority of this is fake.

In a battle between two Komusubi (maybe "battle" isn't the right word here), Tobizaru stood straight up against Wakamotoharu waiting for something to happen, but WMH wasn't doing anything and so Tobizaru moved laterally and actually had Wakamotoharu in a pickle as he was late to square up, but once again, Tobizaru just waited for a weak slap to the side of his head, and then he dove down and twisted around putting a nice cherry on top of the yaocho. What a waste of time as WMH moves to 4-2 while Tobizaru is earning a great living here at 3-3.

Two more Komusubi met up in Daieisho and Kotonowaka, and I have no idea what happened here. Daieisho forgot his effective tsuppari charge and left himself completely vulnerable to Kotonowaka, and Daieisho even lifted his left leg off of the dohyo and pointed it forward...a clear sign that the dude is giving himself up. But Kotonowaka was completely hapless and as he moved forward, Daieisho moved left and went for the lightest of pulls, and Kotonowaka just hit the dirt. I really don't know what to say here. Daieisho is a much better rikishi than that, and Kotonowaka was completely hapless. What I do know is that Daieisho was not trying to win this with his brand of sumo. No way. Still, he finds himself at 6-0 while Kotonowaka falls to 4-2.

M2 Ryuden was kind to Suckiwake Wakatakakage just standing there and allowing the former yusho winner to force him out. Wakatakakage has fallen and can't get up. I can't believe he's still ranked at Sekiwake, but it appears the well is starting to run dry. Both rikishi finished the day at 1-5.

I'd like to see any Japanese rikishi do what Sekiwake Kiribayama did today against M3 Nishikigi. The one thing you notice about these Mongolians is they have days when they are obviously looking to win and they turn it on in this fashion. I don't think there's another Japanese rikishi who could have done this soto-gake business against Nishikigi. I mean, we never see it from them. Ever. Kiribayama better be careful as he moves to 4-2 while Nishikigi took a hard fall today at 1-5.

I'm sure I'll manage a few comments on the weekend, but if there ever were any wheels to this basho, they've already fallen off.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
With the Round Robin games completed from the World Baseball Championship and a few days off until the quarterfinal knock-out round, Sumo can finally take the spotlight on the sports shows for a few days. The problem with that is they ain't got much to show off. Takakeisho is struggling after Abi easily defeated him on Day 4 with a below average hataki-komi attempt, and then Ichinojo showed that he couldn't be paid off by the Asanoyama camp in Juryo as the Mongolith handed Asanoyama his first loss yesterday.

What was interesting about that Asanoyama - Ichinojo matchup is that Asanoyama looked very good. In fact, I think it was his best performance since rejoining the Juryo ranks. Yes, he did lose, but he was finally involved in a bout that wasn't compromised, and it brought a little bit more out of him than usual, which was nice to see.

The washed up Ozeki and former Ozeki like Asanoyama are going to have to carry the baton for another year or two before the Hakuho Empire really takes hold. You have rookie Hokuseiho in Makuuchi now and Ochiai in Juryo, and those two guys are getting a lot of ink because...well, the media is telling the fans to pay attention. Hakuho has a ton of cash on hand, and I can see him bankrolling these two dudes to the elite ranks of the banzuke.

The crazy thing is I don't even know how good they really are because too many of their bouts are compromised.

There are a host of dudes at 5-0 or 4-1 heading into the day, so I'm going to start off with a breakdown of the NHK News 9 Sports segment. As previously mentioned, it was finally the lead on the sports shows tonight with the WBC taking a few days off, and they brought Shibatayama (former Yokozuna Onokuni) into the studios for post bout commentary.

After the obligatory crotch shot of the oyakata (why does NHK do this?!), they had him comment on the Takakeisho - M2 Ryuden bout, which was the most puff bout of sumo you've ever seen. From the tachi-ai, Ryuden (1-4) kept both arms out wide, stood straight up, and then just backed out of the ring kinda pretending to reach for a right outer grip. NHK News showed replays from various angles of this bout where Takakeisho finished at 3-2, but they never showed a slow motion replay because Ryuden's mukiryoku antics were so obvious.

What was interesting, though, was Shibatayama's breakdown of the match, and this is a direct quote: "Takakeisho won with good sumo today, and I'm sorry I have to say this, but Takakeisho can't do anything in the ring once his momentum is halted."

Takakeisho's momentum was not halted today, so it was interesting that Shibatayama pointed this fact out here. When it came to breaking down how Takakeisho won today, he said nothing...only "His sumo was good" but no actual explanation of a technique used or his approach from the tachi-ai. There was nothing there today as Ryuden backed out of the ring faster than Takakeisho could push him out, which is why they didn't slow down the replays.

The next bout highlighted was the Komusubi Daieisho - M1 Shodai matchup where Daieisho caught Shodai with a right paw to the throat from the tachi-ai that sent Shodai back quickly, and as Shodai (3-2) shaded a bit to his left looking for a counter scoop throw, Daieisho (5-0) bodied him across before he could get anything going.

Of this bout Shibatayama said, "The key point to this bout was the contact Daieisho made at the tachi-ai. With his arms extended, Daieisho exposed his right waki (armpit) area a bit to Shodai's left hand, but he used his body well to force Shodai back and neutralize Shodai's counter attempt. This was a kansho (or complete ass whoopin') today."

Both the Daieisho bout and the Takakeisho bout were very similar in that they only lasted two or three seconds, and the action was completely linear in favor of the victor, so why the different breakdown?

For Takakeisho, Shibatayama said the obligatory, "His sumo was good," but then he didn't explain how or why with examples. Instead, he opted to criticize Takakeisho generally. For the Daieisho bout, he actually broke it down from the tachi-ai and then mentioned how Daieisho cut off Shodai's counter attempt by using the body to keep him neutralized.

Even if you don't watch the bouts, you can tell which bouts were real and which bouts were fake by how they break them down afterwards, and I thought this was a perfect, unintentional example from Shibatayama.

With the win, Daieisho moved to a cool 5-0 while Shodai's early "momentum" was exposed here as he falls to 3-2.

Let's move back down to the banzuke where J3 Ichinojo played spoiler again choosing to fight straight up against rookie, M15 Hokuseiho, and the two struck well at the tachi-ai ending up in gappuri migi-yotsu. Ichinojo bore down from there easily cutting off the rookie's left outer, and from that point Hokuseiho had no fight left in him. As he is wont to do, Ichinojo made Hokuseiho stand around for a minute, and then he attacked forcing the rookie back and across. Hokuseiho maki-kae'd with the left giving him moro-zashi near the edge, but he was already back pedaling on his way out.

I wonder if part of the problem between Ichinojo and his oyakata is that Ichinojo doesn't always hold the party line. I think the top three ink generators the first five days have been Asanoyama, Takakeisho, and Hokuseiho, and now Ichinojo has beaten two of those guys soundly the last two days, and it wasn't even close. Ichinojo moves to 5-0 with the nice win while the rookie suffers his first loss at 4-1 having fought just two legit bouts so far.

M17 Mitoryu picked up his first win with some ugly sumo against another rookie, M14 Bushozan. Mitoryu went out wide for the left outer from the tachi-ai and dangerously backed up pulling Bushozan forward and down near the edge. Poor sumo all around as both dudes finish at 1-4.

M14 Kinbohzan henka'ed to his left against M16 Tsurugisho grabbing the cheap outer grip and using TS's momentum against him to usher him out in under two seconds. Tsurugisho was not happy being done by a rookie like that, and it was a cheap win on Kinbohzan's part. I want to see the dude win straight up as he moves to 4-1 while Tsurugisho falls to 3-2.

M16 Chiyoshoma was aggressive from the tachi-ai against M13 Kotoeko forcing the bout to migi-yotsu with a solid left outer grip to boot, but you could see his sumo was loose as he didn't want to reel Kotoeko in. With Kotoeko doing nothing, Chiyoshoma pretended to go for a left kote-nage, but it was really an excuse to force the bout to a nage-no-uchi-ai, so he could dive to the dirt. Kotoeko tried to keep up with a right scoop throw if you can even call it that, but this was just a matter of Chiyoshoma diving and putting his right forearm down. How can anyone watch this bout and not think it wasn't thrown in Eko's favor? The result sends Kotoeko to 4-1 while Chiyoshoma had plenty of room to sell at 3-2.

In a similar bout, M13 Daishoho won the tachi-ai against M15 Ohho and drove him back and around with an oshi attack, but you could see it was loose meaning he wasn't really applying pressure. With Ohho near the edge, he went for a swipe down in desperation that didn't connect, but that was Daishoho's cue to just flop down to the dirt. Another easy, obvious yaocho call as Ohho ekes his way to 2-3 while Daishoho had room to give at 3-2.

M12 Takarafuji and M11 Takanosho hooked up in hidari-yotsu sort of from the tachi-ai, and while yotsu-zumo is Takarafuji's strength, he pulled out (cool) for no reason at all creating an excuse to back up so Takanosho could move forward and send him across the straw in an uneventful bout. Takanosho buys his way to 4-1 here while Takarafuji falls to 1-4.

M10 Nishikifuji and M9 Hiradoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where NFJ gained the right outer grip against his defenseless opponent. The two jockeyed for a bit in the yotsu position, but when Nishikifuji went for a right outer belt throw, Hiradoumi just went with the flow instead of trying to counter with a left inside belt throw or a scoop throw, thus those listless legs in the pic at right. It is what it is as Nishikifuji has bought his way to 5-0 while Hiradoumi falls to 2-3.

M7 Takayasu caught M8 Ura with two hands to the face keeping the shorter Ura at bay with nice face pushes. Ura fought well, however, and managed to come close to getting to the inside, but Takayasu was trying to win and was simply too powerful, and he was able to push Ura down in the end. As is often the case, Ura exaggerated his fall when he knew he was going down, but this was a legit win for Takayasu who moves to a quiet 5-0...I say quiet because some of these other youngsters are getting a lot of press. Ura falls to 3-2 in defeat.

M6 Sadanoumi went chest to chest against M5 Midorifuji knocking him back a step and getting the right arm inside, but instead of wrenching Midorifuji upright, Sadanoumi raised his posture giving Midorifuji the free left outer grip, and before he could do anything with it, Sadanoumi just leaned back and out of the ring as if he was being forced out. As if. All of the orchestration here was coming from the Sadamight who sells one in falling to 1-4 while Midorifuji buys his way to 5-0.

M5 Kotoshoho and M6 Endoh traded turns gaining momentum during the bout, but neither dude wanted to move forward, and so there were light shoves and light dancing with both guys looking for the pull. It stands to reason then that in the end, Endoh showed Kotoshoho the trap door by quickly skirting right and connecting on a fairly lucky tsuki that sent Kotoshoho (0-5) across and down. This was boring stuff, and the only reason I commented on it was because Endoh moves to 4-1.

M4 Meisei connected with a nice shoulder into M2 Abi's torso from the tachi-ai that blocked and neutralized Abi's tsuppari attack, but from there, Meisei just opened himself up and refused to take advantage. Once Abi recovered, he offered tsuppari up way too high for his own good, and Meisei coulda slipped into moro-zashi, but he didn't and stayed limp until Abi could finally chase him out of the ring. Meisei dictated most of this one in falling to 1-4 while Abi moves to 4-1 with the cheapo win.

Komusubi Tobizaru and Komusubi Kotonowaka moved a lot and stayed busy in the ring, but both dudes did not want to go chest to chest. Whenever you see this, you know they're both looking pull, and there were multiple occasions when Kotonowaka was so upright that Tobizaru could have rushed in for moro-zashi or an ashi-tori, but he never did. At the end of this bout not worth describing further, Tobizaru had the right arm inside and Kotonowaka dead to rights, but instead of scoring the force-out win, he moved near the edge and let Kotonowaka push him out cheaply in the end. Kotonowaka certainly hasn't earned this 4-1 start while Tobizaru falls to 3-2.

M1 Tamawashi was kicking Komusubi Wakamotoharu's ass with fine tsuppari, but he wasn't driving with his legs as that would have caused him to win the bout. With WMH doing little, he finally managed a paw to Tamawashi's upper back, and that was the Mongolian's cue to just dive forward and down. Wow, WMH took his licks in this one as he buys his way to 3-2 while Tamawashi is a harmless 1-4 and a bad actor to boot.

Sekiwake Wakatakakage and M3 Mitakeumi displayed a pretty good yotsu fight primarily with inside rights, but then Mitakeumi managed moro-zashi towards the end. With the two putting on a fine performance, Wakatakakage was able to drag Mitakeumi down with a nice outer belt throw in the end. However, a mono-ii was called where it was determined that WTK's knee touched down shortly after the tachi-ai, and it was due to an uncontrolled start we frequently see from Wakatakakage. Sucks for him in falling to 0-5 while Mitakeumi lucks his way to 2-3.

Oh my goodness, that fake fall from Sekiwake Kiribayama (3-2) had to be the worst bit of acting I've seen in a long time. I'm not sure how you rule that kimari-te, but that was the fakest finish I've seen in awhile. M4 Onosho (4-1) wasn't hapless during the bout, but he couldn't put a mukiryoku KBY away, and so the Mongolian squatted in the middle of the ring, and then just did a 180 falling to the dirt without a touch from his foe.

And as long as we're talking about Mongolians taking dives, Sekiwake Hoshoryu (2-3) got moro-zashi from the tachi-ai, but he held up and waited for a kote-nage from Nishikigi (1-4), and it was weak for sure, but that was Hoshoryu's cue to just go with the flow and twist his body down. What nonsense this was as the Mongolians are slowly taking themselves out of the yusho race.

It's a bit early to talk yusho, so let's give it three or so days to let all these 5-0 and 4-1 rikishi thin out. Really, at this point anything can happen, but if I had to make an early call, it will come down to Daieisho, Takayasu, and Hokuseiho although they won't let Hokuseiho yusho as a rookie.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
We're only three days in, and it already feels like déjà vu with the pending leaderboard that will likely feature Takakeisho, Takayasu, Abi, and Tobizaru. You have Terunofuji who pulled out (cool) from the beginning. Hoshoryu withdrew himself from the yusho race two days in, and somebody had to win the Kiribayama - Tamawashi matchup today; otherwise, it's likely that both of those dudes would have given up losses to other opponents. You have Ura at 3-0, and Juryo Asanoyama at the same mark, and it's clear that they are going to try and manufacture excitement this basho by propping up the same, tired rikishi.

The Day 3 broadcast began with the introduction of a new Juryo rikishi, Tamasho'oh. I was like hey, this dude's a Mongolian and he's tall, and he look young, but then I actually had to rewind the tape when they said it's taken him 11 years to get to Juryo. And sure enough, he's 30 years old! To his credit, he has started 3-0 in Juryo, but I don't think it's worth getting excited over a 30 year-old.

With that, let's focus on the Makuuchi bouts, which began with M17 Mitoryu taking on M16 Tsurugisho. The tachi-ai was on the slow side, and that may be an understatement as both dudes hooked up in migi-yotsu, and it didn't look as if Mitoryu (0-3) wanted to win this one as he backed up with his arm high allowing Tsurugisho (3-0) to force him back and across easy as you please.

J2 Tochinoshin was also slow at the tachi-ai allowing M16 Chiyoshoma to get his right arm at the front of the belt, and while Shin briefly had his own right arm inside, Chiyoshoma forced him upright and maki-kae'd quick as a cat getting moro-zashi and forcing Tochinoshin back and across with a brief tussle at the edge as Tochinoshin thought about an utchari. Probably best that he didn't try it as Chiyoshoma picks up the win in moving to 2-1 while Shin is 0-3.

M14 Bushozan and M15 Ohho treated us to a nice match where each dude focused on shoves as they knocked each other around the ring. About 10 seconds in, it looked as if the rookie was tiring out, and Ohho had him close to the edge, but I think Ohho let up and allowed Bushozan to turn the tables and score the cheap win in the end. I'm not fond of Ohho (0-3) by any means, but I think he sold this one as Bushozan is awarded that token first win in the division at 1-2.

I was very curious to see what would happen between M14 Kinbohzan and M15 Hokuseiho, the last of the three rookies to face off against each other these first few days, and the result was disappointing as the two hooked up in gappuri migi-yotsu from the start (meaning they had simultaneous left outers), but Kinbohzan just straightened his back bringing himself voluntarily upright, and that allowed Hokuseiho to score the uncontested win. Kinbohzan assisted by quickly stepping his right foot across, and I just hate to see yaocho like this between two promising rikishi.

It's no surprise that the Japanese rikishi won here in moving to 3-0 with only one of those wins being legit while Kinbohzan settles for 2-1. And quite happily I might add. The kid's gonna make a ton of money here in Japan and compared to what Kazakhstan has to offer him, he's quite content giving up strategic losses.

M12 Takarafuji kept his elbows extended up high and all that did was allow M13 Kotoeko to get to the inside and force the listless (and willing) Takarafuji back and across in about four seconds. Very uninspiring stuff as Eko moves to 2-1 while Takarafuji falls to 1-2.

M12 Kagayaki was comically mukiryoku in his contest against M13 Daishoho. The taller Kagayaki did offer a hand up high at the tachi-ai, but then he just backed up getting the right arm lightly inside as Daishoho moved forward. With no pressure coming from DSH, Kagayaki moved laterally but you just watch his two hands and you can see he was trying to do nothing. His right hand was clenched in a useless fist while the palm of his left hand was wide open and facing upwards instead of grabbing a left outer grip that was right there for the taking. With Kagayaki (0-3) in this mukiryoku stance, Daishoho easily forced him back and across picking up a cheap third win at 3-0.

M11 Takanosho turned his right shoulder inwards at the tachi-ai begging M10 Nishikifuji to grab him in the kote grip, but NFJ was too hapless to do so, and so Takanosho moved lightly to his right pretending to pull, but then he just flopped to the dohyo as if he tripped over his own two feet. Nishikifuji was in prime position to get his ass kicked here, and he never did score a legit move as Takanosho orchestrated this one start to finish. They ruled it yori-taoshi, but it was nothing of the sort as Takanosho dives to his first loss at 2-1 while Nishikifuji is a fake 3-0.

Speaking of mukiryoku sumo, M11 Azumaryu stood straight up from the tachi-ai allowing M10 Myogiryu to secure moro-zashi freely, and once obtained, Azumaryu made no effort to counter as Myogiryu forced him back and across without incident. Boring stuff here as Myogiryu buys his way to 1-2 while Azumaryu falls to 0-3.

At this point they visited the three most streamed bouts from yesterday, and the order was this:

#1 Asanoyama - Chiyonokuni
#2 Shodai - Kiribayama
#3 Takakeisho - Tamawashi

It's a bit surprising to see Takakeisho fall to third place, but it shows that the guy doesn't have a ton of popularity.  Chiyonokuni's effort--if you can call it that--was to put his hands forward and back up giving Asanoyama the quick oshi-dashi win.  I didn't see Asanoyama's Day 3 pic, but I can already tell what happened by the unorthodox ending in the pic at right.

As for the Juryo featured bout on the day, they of course chose Ochiai who lost the tachi-ai to Takakento, but the latter went limp after that and allowed Ochiai to turn the tables and score the soft win in the end.

I know people are thinking, "How can you call all these bouts fake already?" Trust me. Wait until Ochiai gets to Makuuchi and then it's going to be very obvious.

M9 Hiradoumi was flatfooted and upright from the tachi-ai against M8 Ura, and he'd keep himself vulnerable throughout with poor lower body work. As for Ura, he wasn't able to do jack, and so Hiradoumi used a few half-hearted thrusts as he inched backwards. With Hiradoumi dictating everything and staying vulnerable, Ura finally got his left arm inside, but he still couldn't force a willing Hiradoumi across, and so in the end, Hiradoumi just spun around and jumped off the dohyo landing perfectly on the venue floor. I'm not sure if the crowd was applauding Hiradoumi's dismount or the fact that Ura "won," but Ura is gifted 3-0 nonetheless. Hiradoumi falls to 1-2 and the rampant yaocho on the day is getting silly.

M8 Ichiyamamoto and M9 Aoiyama briefly traded tsuppari across the starting lines before Aoiyama backed up going for the decent pull. Ichiyamamoto couldn't survive the move and was slapped down for his third loss in as many days. As for Aoiyama, he's a harmless 2-1 after the easy win.

M6 Sadanoumi had his right hand at the front of M7 Takayasu's belt from the tachi-ai, but he refrained from grabbing it and then slid that hand up the sagari and then high and wide. It was clear at that point that Sadanoumi would not contest the bout, and so they traded places in the ring and harmless shoves as Takayasu worked the willing Sadanoumi back and across with little contact and little effort. Takayasu buys yet another one here in moving to 3-0 while Sadanoumi is a bit richer at 1-2.

M7 Hokutofuji ran towards M6 Endoh from the tachi-ai, but instead of striking him and moving to the side, Hokutofuji just hovered over the top of Endoh as if to pull. The pull never came and so Hokutofuji held that awkward position until Endoh forced him back and across in maybe three seconds. Yet another uncontested bout as Endoh moves to 2-1 while Hokutofuji falls to 0-3.

M4 Meisei and M5 Midorifuji struck each other well at the tachi-ai, but then Meisei took a similar approach as Hokutofuji the previous bout keeping himself upright and not attempting an offensive maneuver until Midorifuji had pushed the willing Meisei out. Ho hum as Midorifuji buys his way to 3-0 with Meisei falling to 1-2.

M4 Onosho and M5 Kotoshoho looked to hook up in migi-yotsu, but then as Onosho shaded left, Kotoshoho (0-3) just stood there facing forward allowing Onosho (2-1) to send him down with a light tap against the shoulder about two seconds in.

Following all of these fake bouts, it was interesting to hear Hakuho break them down afterwards as we all watched the slow motion replays. He never talked about how the winner did this move or that to take charge; rather, he always pointed out the negative aspects of the loser like, "His balance was bad" or "he didn't know what to expect from his opponent." Even if those statements were true, why not dissect how the winner did what he did to win? It's just non-existent in these fake bouts.

Moving right along, M3 Mitakeumi got the left arm inside from the tachi-ai against Komusubi Wakamotoharu and executed a rushed charge leaving himself vulnerable, but instead of grabbing a right kote grip and stepping out wide to set up the counter throw, WMH just stayed square earning him a trip down to the venue floor below where Mitakeumi landed right on top of him. This was the result of a mukiryoku Wakamotoharu who offered no resistance at the edge and so Mitakeumi's momentum took both dudes into the front row unnecessarily. Mitakeumi gets some charity here in moving to 1-2 while Wakamotoharu has yet to fight in a straight up bout at 2-1.

Komusubi Tobizaru henka'd to his right, but the move was bad leaving him fully exposed. M3 Nishikigi did not take advantage, however, and just went with the yaocho flow dutifully flopping forward and down. As he fell, Nishikigi forgot to let go of Tobizaru's belt with the left, and that caused Tobizaru to flip wildly over his opponent's body. Regardless of that, this was another fake bout giving Tobizaru a 3-0 start while Nishikigi flops to 0-3.

Komusubi Daieisho met M2 Ryuden with two thrusts from the tachi-ai, but he wasn't moving Ryuden back. With Daieisho's arms outstretched, Ryuden could have easily gotten to the inside, but that wasn't in the plan today, and so he backed up and out of the dohyo with Daieisho in tow. This was a cheap oshi-dashi as Daieisho moves to 3-0 while Ryuden falls to the opposite 0-3 a richer dude.

Sekiwake Hoshoryu seemed willing to give Komusubi Kotonowaka moro-zashi from the tachi-ai, but Baby Waka didn't demand it, and so Hoshoryu got his right arm inside sending the bout to migi-yotsu with Kotonowaka maintaining an outer left. While Kotonowaka did have the outer left, he had nothing with the right arm, and so his force out charge came up flat allowing Hoshoryu to slip into moro-zashi himself, turn the tables, and then force Kotonowaka back and across. Hoshoryu picks up his first win at 1-2, and he wasn't even fighting at full strength here. As for Kotonowaka, he's saddled with his first loss at 2-1.

M2 Abi caught Suckiwake Wakatakakage with a nice paw to the neck at the tachi-ai giving Abi the advantage from the start and knocking WTK onto his heels, but Abi's footwork was poor disabling him from scoring the wham bam thank you ma'am win. As Wakatakakage resisted near the edge, Abi switched gears going for a pull, and while the move wasn't beautiful, it was enough to send the shaky WTK over and down to his third loss in as many bouts. As for Abi, he moves to 2-1 and credit him for the good tachi-ai. At least the bout was real.

M1 Tamawashi was proactive with his tsuppari from the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Kiribayama, but you could see that he wasn't trying to connect with KBY's torso, and so as Tamawashi pressed forward with ineffective shoves (on purpose), Kiribayama was able to easily slip left and send the willing Tamawashi over and down with a methodic scoop throw. Kiribayama moves to 2-1 with the light win while Tamawashi falls to 1-2.

In the day's final bout, Takakeisho easily brushed off an M1 Shodai kachi-age attempt and shoved the upright Shodai back and across in about three seconds. Who knows if Shodai had the ability to move laterally, but he didn't and credit Takakeisho with the nice win. As I look at the banzuke, I don't see any other future Takakeisho opponent where the Yokozuna candidate is the favorite, so good to see him pick up the win here in this fashion as he moves to 2-1 while Shodai falls to the same mark.

The good news for Takakeisho is that he won. The bad news is the dude came up a bit limp afterwards. Takakeisho's got his left heel taped up, and it looked as if he tweaked something in that foot during the bout. He gingerly walked back to his side of the dohyo, and that slight limp continued down the hana-michi. The injury won't affect the bouts he buys moving forward, but if someone isn't willing to negotiate in the future, Takakeisho will be a sitting duck (as if he isn't when 100% healthy).

It's just something to talk about, and at least it's a built in excuse now if he does not obtain the Yokozuna rank.

We'll see what tomorrow brings, but the storylines are already getting stale in my opinion.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I've spent the last four last days in Indian Wells watching the ATP and WTA 1000 level tennis tournament there, and can you imagine what's going through my head after watching world class tennis up close for a spell only to come home knowing that the Haru basho was waiting for me? I think it may take me a bit to really get going this basho, but I did watch the NHK broadcast the first two days, so let's touch on the storylines.

The big news on Friday before the basho was the withdrawal of Yokozuna Terunofuji, and last weekend on NHK's weekend sports shows, they were showing clips of Terunofuji actively conducting keiko at his stable, and he looked great. The dude is not injured, and there were no reports of injury last week nor any speculation that he may not be ready to go.  Whatever they reported in the media regarding the reason for his withdrawal is not true. Terunofuji has left the building to remove a major presence from the tournament to keep as most of the limelight on Takakeisho as possible.

Speaking of Takakeisho, the entire lead-in to the Day 1 bouts was talk about how Osaka and the Kansai region have not produced a Yokozuna in exactly 100 years. The last dude to do it was someone named Ohnishiki, who I'm not even going to pretend that I've heard of, but Ohnishiki was born in Osaka and retired exactly 100 years ago.

We see this all the time where sumo will pimp a guy big time prior to his hometown basho (or directly preceding an exhibition in his hometown), and that was the case with the Takakeisho "yusho" in January. Sumo's gotta do whatever it can to drum up storylines and sell tickets, so putting a Kansai guy up for Yokozuna promotion for the Haru basho is a great way to do it.

The only problem is that Takakeisho does not seem to be that popular. I was curious to watch the Day 2 broadcast and note what the most streamed bouts were from the day before, an once again, Asanoyama was #1. It really is incredible that a dude ranked in the Juryo ranks is more popular than a Japanese Yokozuna candidate, but thems the facts.

Takakeisho promptly got his ass kicked on Day 1 at the hands of Tobizaru, and when you have a guy who is supposedly Yokozuna material, he should easily be able to handle a weak Tobizaru who was back pedaling as part of his offensive. Takakeisho was hapless to read the situation, however, and Tobizaru easily dragged him down across the edge in less than three seconds.

Tobizaru has shown in the past that he is completely willing to beat the fake Japanese Ozeki and take the kensho, and that was the case on Day 1. It wasn't a great start obviously for Takakeisho, but it's simply going to come down to how many people agree to be bought out.

In the case of Takakeisho--a Takanohana recruit, you have to go back about 15 years ago when Takanohana created a huge ruckus in the the Sumo Association when he tried to negotiate behind doors to assume the Commissioner's throne. While Takanohana had a handful of oyakata in his corner, he wasn't able to scheme his way to the top, and there were a lot of oyakata livid at Takanohana for breaking protocol and trying to disrupt the fixed election that seats the 10 board of directors. Hey, fixed elections in sumo and fixed bouts. Go figure.

Anyway, I think there's still some bad blood directed at Takanohana, and there are a few oyakata who want to see Takakeisho fail. Not living in Japan for a few decades, I've lost track of who runs what stable and who belongs to what Ichimon, but I think it's going to be a factor here in Osaka. Takakeisho needs to buy almost every win. I think he can beat Shodai straight up, but that's about it. The majority of oyakata are supportive of another Japanese oyakata, but there are some against it if it's Takanohana's prodigy.

If you look at Takakeisho's Day 2 opponent, Tamawashi, you see the best guy on the banzuke who is rarely ranked in the sanyaku, and that's a clear sign of his oyakata completely selling out to the Association and keeping his Mongolian rikishi in check. Tamawashi's arms were high and wide at the Day 2 tachi-ai, and he just backed up from there allowing Takakeisho to "push" him out in about two uncontested seconds.  You always know when a bout is fake when the loser lifts one leg off the ground and point it forward or to the side completely taking away his balance.  That was the case here as Kataonami-oyakata once again pimps his rikishi to help maintain the narrative of Takakeisho's Yokozuna candidacy.

In the eyes of the fans, it's clear that they're more focused on Asanoyama. The disgraced former Ozeki didn't quite make the Makuuchi ranks, but he "fought" M17 Mitoryu on Day 1, so they could get him into the Makuuchi broadcat. Mitoryu schooled his foe at the tachi-ai getting the right inside and left outer grip, but instead of defeating Asanoyama in textbook yori fashion, Mitoryu just backed up to the edge and let Asanoyama force him across. I guess force isn't the best word to use because Asanoyama had no momentum whatsoever, but no problem. Instead of executing a right tsuki-otoshi that was there for the taking, Mitoryu just backed out giving Asanoyama the cheap win. Asanoyama is fighting on the level of his former fake Ozeki like Shodai and Takakeisho. He's a fraud, but the Takasago Ichimon has tons of cash, and so they're going to see him back to the top ranks of the banzuke.

We have three rookies this basho, and two of them are worth watching. Kinbohzan is already better than any Japanese rikishi on the banzuke, and he easily dispatched Bushozan on Day 1 and Ohho on Day 2. I mean, you watch the way he's throwing his competition around, and his limit is however high his oyakata allows him to climb. Here is yet another foreigner who is going to dominate when he wants to just like the Mongolians.

Our second rookie is Hokuseiho, who hails from Hakuho's stable, the Miyagino-beya. Hokuseiho stands at 2.04 meters, which is a tie for tallest all time alongside Akebono and Kotooshu. One of the best moments on Day 1 was when talking about tall rikishi, Mainoumi said of Akebono, "I didn't even know he had an upper body because all I ever saw were his legs."

Hokuseiho absorbed a very nice tsuki from Ohho on Day 1, but he survived well and then showed us decent yotsu skills to turn the tables and win by yori-kiri. On Day 2, he dominated our third rookie, Bushozan, and basically Bushozan is another one of these Japanese rookies who is 27 years old and will amount to nothing. I mean, he could buy his way to a higher rank, but there is no excitement surrounding him.

Kinbozan and Hokuseiho should be players for years to come in the division, and in the case of Hokuseiho, he's got huge financial backing behind him, so we'll see what happens.

Lesser observations from the first two days are that Shodai has obviously bought two wins the first two days against the Mongolian Sekiwake, Hoshoryu and Kiribayama.

Ura has been gifted a 2-0 start, and when that happens, it shows how desperate the Association is to create storylines.

The worst fake fall on Day 1 was Chiyoshoma's dive against Tsurugisho, and then Day 2's award went to Endoh who took another fake fall against Takayasu.

Finally, when the banzuke was released, one of the biggest dudes generating headlines was Ochiai, another rikishi from Hakuho's stable who is a new Juryo rikishi. His Day 1 bout was rigged and we'll continue to monitor how much hype he gets throughout the basho.

Finally, what is it about Osaka that makes all of these old people dress like Jedi and sit close to the ring? I just don't understand the appeal to a dude in his 70's to wear a costume in public.

Anyway, that's a wrap on my impressions of the first two days in Osaka. Time permitting, I'll cover all of the Day 3 bouts.