Day 14 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As we entered Day 14, a single victory by either Daieisho or Shodai would immediately eliminate the four-loss rikishi from the yusho race, so let's start today's brief comments with this two rikishi. Up first was M1 Daieisho who was paired against M14 Tamawashi. From the tachi-ai, Daieisho caught Tamawashi with a thrust to the neck using both hands while Tamawashi focused on defense trying to swipe that thrust away by pushing up and under Daieisho's left armpit. With neither rikishi having gained an advantage from the start, they repeated the exact same motion: attempted thrust from Daieisho and Tamawashi's swiping up and under with the right arm. The two then engaged a third time in this same exercise, and on the third swipe, Tamawashi actually backed up a step and lowered his stance just enough to where Daieisho was able to rush in and execute a hataki-komi.

The pull down attempt wasn't great, and Daieisho needed two full steps backwards to execute it. As for Tamawashi, he could have easily rushed forward and pushed the compromised Daieisho outta the ring, but he instead just shaded a bit to his left away from his opponent and dutifully hit the dirt fully extended. The overwhelming majority of pictures on the wires from this bout focus on Daieisho's shoves and not the pull, and that's by design.  I still always give credit where credit is due, and you have to admire Daieisho's forward-thinking sumo those first three volleys, but they had little effect on Tamawashi and did not drive him back. Tamawashi was as mukiryoku as his 5-9 record, and that was really manifest by how easily and fully he went down as a result of a very mediocre and risky pull. Still, I appreciate the forward-moving sumo from Daieisho as he moves to 12-2 eliminating the four-loss rikishi outright and putting a bit more pressure on Shodai.

As for Shodai, he obviously had his hands full with Sekiwake Terunofuji who kept his arms low at the tachi-ai not even looking to latch onto his opponent. As for Shodai, he couldn't evade back to his left fast enough going for a pull that was so weak it gave Terunofuji nothing from which to react, and so he squared back up with Shodai refusing to establish a position inside or grab a left outer grip that was there for the taking. Instead, Terunofuji wrapped his left arm up around Shodai's melon leaving himself upright and completely exposed...but Shodai was unable to finish him off. Terunofuji lowered his arm into a kote grip and used that as well as his leg to defend himself as Shodai desperately tried to force him out, but he was unable and so the action moved to the other side of the ring. Terunofuji once again ducked in leaving himself vulnerable to a pull, but all Shodai could do was go for a weak slap at the back of his left shoulder...still, not enough contact for Terunofuji to present a reasonable fall, but he did run to the edge of the dohyo facing outwards with his back to Shodai who was right there. And yet...Shodai couldn't force him out, and so Terunofuji did a 360, a move that has about a 2% success rate, but Shodai couldn't capitalize. From this point, Shodai was gassed, and so the two hunkered down in the grapplin' position with neither maintain the inside position or a grip. Terunofuji eventually lowered his head drawing another pull attempt from Shodai, and as Shodai executed the pull, he slipped of his own accord and was on his way down to the dirt. Fuji did catch up instinctively and offered a slap to the back of Shodai's shoulder as he fell, but the faux-zeki was already gone by then.

I really was speechless watching this bout at Shodai's inability to defeat his opponent. Yes, Terunofuji did play defense several times throughout the bout, but he didn't make a single move to ever try and defeat his opponent. Nothing to the inside, no shoves, no belt grips, no pulls, no anything. All he did was take a counter stance with a kote grip, and then he used his leg to thwart two force-out attempts from his foe. Regardless of all that, Shodai had Terunofuji turned 180 degrees and facing the crowd at the edge of the dohyo, and he was unable to defeat his opponent. Oguruma-oyakata, who was in the booth today, explained by saying, "All Shodai was doing today was looking for the pull." I thought that was pretty spot-on analysis, but when you stop and think of it, this was the favorite to yusho going into the bout. How is it that a guy can be the yusho favorite who can't do anything but pull sumo...and terrible pull sumo at that? I took a collage of pictures during the bout of six instances where Shodai had Terunofuji in vulnerable positions, and any real Ozeki in the history of sumo would have been able to win from an of these junctures.

The most damning pic of all is the one at lower right.  I mean, Terunofuji was trying to lose this bout, but he was going to make Shodai earn it. That the faux-zeki couldn't speaks volumes and the end result is Shodai's falling to 11-3 while Terunofuji is eliminated from the yusho race at 10-4, but for those scoring at home...that's 23 wins the last basho with one more to go tomorrow. The question is: are they going to start Ozeki talk for Terunofuji? They're certainly not going to hype it to the degree as they did for the current three Ozeki.

But that's a story for next basho. As for the Hatsu basho, you can't say that it's Daieisho's to lose because they've matched him up with M5 Okinoumi tomorrow, a rikishi superior to Daieisho. Okinoumi has shown on multiple days this basho that he's more than willing to take a dive for cash, and I suspect he's going to do that tomorrow as well. The only thing that would override it is the Sumo Association's stepping in and "highly encouraging" a Shodai yusho to give more credibility to the Ozeki rank, something they did for Takakeisho last basho. I guess Okinoumi also enters senshuraku at 7-7, but a wad of cash is more important to him than kachi-koshi. It makes zero difference for an M5 like Okinoumi to finish 8-7 or 7-8. This dude can keep himself where ever he pleases on the banzuke, so we'll just have to see what he decides to do.

As for Shodai, he draws Asanoyama, and while I've had almost zero praise for Asanoyama's sumo this basho, he'll at least try to move forward and get inside while Shodai will look for the pull. That favors Asanoyama in a straight up bout, but we'll just have to wait and see.

I'm not going to make any predictions because I'm not privy to the backhall negotiations affecting the two bouts tomorrow. If the sumo is straight up, Okinoumi will beat Daieisho and Asanoyama will beat Shodai. That scenario would really dampen the yusho flame as both contenders would end the basho on a losing note. Because of that, my gut tells me that Daieisho will pick up the win (and the yusho) against a mukiryoku Okinoumi.

Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It feels as if the tournament is stuck in a rut as we had down the stretch, and that's mostly due to the vanilla sumo and obvious yaocho being used to not only keep this thing afloat, but to keep the yusho line at a respectable level. The Sumo Association going down as low as four losses by Day 13 is a real stretch just to make it appear as if things are more exciting than they really are. Here's how things stand at the start of the day:

10-2: Shodai, Daieisho
8-4: Asanoyama, Terunofuji, Meisei, Ichinojo, Kotonowaka

Let's start with the two-loss rikishi first because I don't see how they're going to allow the yusho line to drop to four losses. That brings us then to M1 Daieisho who stepped into the ring against M6 Ryuden, and as he has done all basho, Ryuden went soft on his opponent. From the tachi-ai, Daieisho was able to stand Ryuden up with two hands to the neck at the tachi-ai, and then he just executed a basic thrust attack knocking the willing Ryuden back and out in three seconds or so. Ryuden made no effort to pull or move to the side or anything, and he was clearly mukiryoku just as he was against Shodai yesterday. Normally, I'd use an expression like wham bam thank you ma'am, but it just didn't apply here because the sumo was so soft. You could just tell Ryuden was going with the flow, so it's just another academic result moving Daieisho to 11-2 while Ryuden falls to 4-9.

In the day's final affair, Shodai managed to nudge Suckiwake Takanosho back a step from the starting lines, and nudge is the correct term because it was more of Takanosho's just willingness to shade back from the start. Problem was, Shodai wasn't barreling forward and so he caught up with his gal and then went for a dubious pull. Takanosho moved forward and went through the obligatory push out motions, but he played Shodai's game and dutifully hit the dirt just before Shodai stepped out himself. This looked like an extremely close bout live, and I'm sure that many thought Shodai lost, but he was in full control...as was Takanosho who did not try and force his compromised foe out of the ring at any point. This was as light as the Daieisho bout, and it's really too bad that you get such bland, uncompetitive sumo in the midst of a yusho race like this.

Kitanofuji who was bearing false witness in the booth today let out an impromptu "ahh, nokotta!" at the finish referring to the fact that he could see Shodai had kept his feet in the ring, but it was one of those blurted out expressions signaling he had a rooting bias in the outcome. That's a no-no when covering professional sports, but are we really talking about a professional sports here or is it theater mingled with a bit of improv? When the former Yokozuna gained his composure, he commented immediately of Shodai, "ko iu sumo ha oi ne," meaning in a disgusted way that "we get sumo like this from Shodai all the time." As I've continued to point out all basho, it's NEVER about the content of Shodai's sumo. It can't be because good sumo basics for him just don't exist. The only thing that matters is the record on paper at the end of the day. Speaking of said record, Shodai joins Daieisho at 11-2 now, and in order for any of the four-loss rikishi to have hope, both Daieisho and Shodai need to lose out the final two days.

As I stated previously, both dudes will be the underdogs in all of their remaining bouts, so it's not implausible to see them lose out, but I just don't' see that scenario taking place. Daieisho draws Tamawashi tomorrow and Shodai faces Terunofuji, so you can see right there that tomorrow clearly is an instance of "will they or won't they?" Both of these Mongolians are really hard to predict. I think at times they get so disgusted with what's going on around them that they like to let loose a bit and just kick someone's ass hard as a reminder of who's boss. We'll see, but that's the only drama surrounding these two bouts tomorrow...will they or won't they?

With that, let's now touch on the four-loss rikishi in chronological order starting with M12 Ichinojo who easily forced his bout with Sadanoumi to migi-yotsu where the Mongolith also enjoyed the left outer grip. A few seconds later, Ichinojo yanked Sadanoumi over with that left outer grip, and as the two settled back in, Sadanoumi went for a maki-kae with the left, and while it did succeed, Ichinojo used the momentum shift to force Sadanoumi over and out dumping him across the straw with that left outer grip. Ichinojo sorta keeps pace with the leaders at 9-4 while Sadanoumi falls to 5-8. From the M17 rank, he's Juryo bound come March.

M15 Kotonowaka suddenly found himself on the leaderboard after buying his kachi-koshi at 8-4 coming in. Today he was paired against M10 Aoiyama who shoved Baby Waka a full step back from the tachi-ai before just halting his charge and backpedaling as if going for a pull that never came. I knew at that moment the bout was compromised, but Kotonowaka still couldn't drive Aoiyama back with straightforward sumo, and so Aoiyama sorta turned the bout to yotsu bodying Kotonowaka back without even the inside position or a grip, and that predictably enabled Kotonowaka to go for a weak right tsuki-otoshi at the edge which of course sent Aoiyama down before the youngster stepped out. This couldn't have been scripted any better as Kotonowaka moves to an ill-gotten 9-4, and point out one good move in Kotonowaka's sumo today. Yeah, that's what I thought as Aoiyama literally dives to 5-8.

M7 Meisei needed to solve M3 Onosho to keep any hope alive, but that hope was snuffed out emphatically as the two bumped heads at the tachi-ai before Onosho took control with a thrust attack that caused Meisei to move right. As he did, Onosho used a nice tsuki with the left to spin Meisei near the edge, and from there the M3 secured moro-zashi and easily worked Meisei back and across with little resistance. Meisei was dominated here as both rikishi end the day at 8-5, and I doubt Meisei will even be considered for a special prize.

Sekiwake Terunofuji welcomed M5 Endoh by latching around Endoh's extended left arm while fishing for the inside position with his own left. Endoh understandably wanted no part of a belt contest, and so he moved out right looking to spring a surprise pull trap, but it never formed and only enabled Terunofuji to just move forward and push him out from there. Terunofuji stays close at 9-4 while Endoh falls to 5-8.

Our final four-loss rikishi was Asanoyama who looked to face a stiff challenge from M5 Okinoumi if the latter was willing. It was obvious from the tachi-ai that he wasn't as Okinoumi kept his arms stiff and low just allowing Asanoyama to dictate the pace and yotsu position from the start. Asanoyama chose to get the rigth arm inside, and then he worked his way onto a left outer grip against the defenseless Okinoumi, and Okinoumi instinctively moved left putting his arm at the side of Asanoyama as if to offer a counter tsuki, but it never came. Instead, he just remained mukiryoku as Asanoyama executed a nice outer belt throw spilling the listless Okinoumi over and down. You have to give credit to Asanoyama for his execution, but it was against a totally listless guy. I mean, Okinoumi never fired on that counter tsuki nor did he bother with a nage-no-uchi-ai nor did he try and lift Asanoyama off balance. If you look at the pic here closely, Okinoumi actually has his left hand on Asanoyama's right knee...a position that is totally inviting his foe to throw him down. It was an easy win for Asanoyama who moves to 9-4. As for Okinoumi, he'll try again tomorrow for kachi-koshi at 7-6.

At this point, Meisei was knocked out of the race officially, so the new leaderboard heading into the final weekend is as follows:

11-2: Shodai, Daieisho
9-4: Asanoyama, Terunofuji, Ichinojo, Kotonowaka

In other bouts of interest, M4 Tamawashi kept his hands and elbows high against Komusubi Takayasu, and the Mongolian signaled early on that he was not trying to move forward with his sumo or win the bout. With the two glad-handing each other in the center of the ring, Tamawashi suddenly moved to his left as if Takayasu thrust into his side, but there was no contact, and all that did was set Takayasu up for the eventual oshi-dashi win in a bout where Takayasu did nothing to set it up. Takayasu picks up kachi-koshi with the gift at 8-5 while Tamawashi falls to 5-8.

In a similar bout, Komusubi Mitakeumi faced a listless M6 Kagayaki who stood upright with arms outstretched but was ready to just back up as Mitakeumi moved forward. Mitakeumi didn't really push and he didn't really have an inside position until the last split second, so it was a result of his moving forward and Kagayaki's moving backwards in tandem, and it was over in four uneventful seconds. Mitakeumi picks up kachi-koshi with the gift at 8-5 while Kagayaki falls to 5-8.

M2 Takarafuji picked up kachi-koshi in a boring bout against M7 Tobizaru where the two literally grabbed hands and wrists for a full minute and a half before Takarafuji was finally able to work Tobizaru upright and close enough to the straw before pushing him back for good. Takarafuji moves to 8-5 with the win while Tobizaru falls to 6-7, and I'm trying to determine which rikishi's schitck annoys me more in this division...Midorifuji or Tobizaru.

Speaking of M14 Midorifuji, it looks as if I'm going to have to put up with him again next basho. Today against M9 Myogiryu, Midorifuji henka'd way left, but it had zero effect on Myogiryu, and he could have easily just forced his compromised opponent back that last step from there, but Myogiryu was listless allowing Midorifuji to duck into moro-zashi and then go for a quick, uncontested left scoop throw, and Myogiryu did his part by just flipping himself over onto his back. I mean, no counter move from Myogiryu, no nage-no-uchi-ai, no nothing as Midorifuji buys his kachi-koshi outright at 8-5 while Myogiryu settles for 6-7. After the bout, Kitanofuji proclaimed, "Midorifuji is so fun to watch I can't help myself." What? I can.

M14 Hoshoryu is really coming into his own in the division. Today against M10 Shimanoumi, the Mongolian went easy on his foe refusing to get inside or take advantage, but Shimanoumi couldn't break through Hoshoryu's defense either. About eight seconds in, Hoshoryu grabbed a left outer grip and then promptly let it go, but that did send the bout to migi-yotsu, and from there, Hoshoryu attempted a few inside belt throws before sticking his right leg to the inside of Shimanoumi's left and felling him brilliantly by uchi-gake. Hoshoryu was like a cat playing with a mouse in this one trying this and that and purposefully refusing an outer grip just for the sake of winning with an inferior hold. He picks up kachi-koshi at 8-5 with the win while Shimanoumi falls to 7-6.

And finally, good ole M16 Akiseyama picked up his kachi-koshi today as M15 Yutakayama completely manhandled him at the tachi-ai finally settling for migi-yotsu with his left hand in prime position for a left outer grip, but he refrained of course and lightly bodied Akiseyama back near the edge where wouldn't ya know it...Akiseyama went for the weakest of left love taps to the side of Yutakayama's shoulder sending him into a dive roll right off of the dohyo. At 8-5, the press got their kachi-koshi interview, and this Akiseyama is kind of a living caricature similar to Takamisakari that the media likes to toy with during his interviews. Instead of the fake reverence they usually have for these guys, they'll try and goad him into certain expressions and laughter, and they got that today of course riding the interview clear until the next bout was ready to start.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 12 broadcast began with Ota Announcer quizzing Goeido (Takekuma-oyakata) on the details of the yusho race, and the focus was squarely on the two-loss rikishi, Shodai and Daieisho. Goeido's analysis was rather bland, but when asked about the sumo content of the two rikishi, he quickly uttered, "Oh, Daieisho's is a lot better." He used the English word "lucky" to describe Shodai's "win" over Okinoumi yesterday, and in every instance of the conversation, neither dude was able to pinpoint anything about Shodai's sumo that was good. The reason is because Shodai has exhibited zero positive sumo the entire basho, and it's just amazing to me the level to which sumo has dropped the last half decade.

Picking up where we left off yesterday, the leaderboard was down to the following four Japanese rikishi:

9-2: Shodai, Daieisho
8-3: Asanoyama, Meisei

Let's start there again today going in chronological order. That means we begin with M1 Daieisho who was paired today against M7 Meisei, and for the first time the entire basho, we saw some nerves from the M1. Daieisho came with his usual thrusts from the tachi-ai, but less than two seconds in he tried to set up a pull. The problem was that Meisei was not moving forward, and so when Daieisho moved forward again looking to push, Meisei was able to move left and time a nice tsuki to Daieisho's right side that sent the leader stumbling to the side himself. With Meisei in control now, he was able to time another lateral move to the right grabbing an outer grip as Daieisho moved back forward, and this forced the bout to yotsu-zumo...a style that neither of these dudes are fully comfortable with. Daieisho countered with the left inside and thought about moving right going for a counter tsuki-otoshi at the edge, but he ended up moving left going for a dangerous pull at the back of Meisei's shoulder sending him down as Daieisho himself teetered on the tawara.

This one was close, but the gunbai rightly went to Daieisho, and a couple of points to take away from this. First, while Meisei was able to trip Daieisho up a few times, he couldn't capitalize because he was playing defense. He timed forward movements from Daieisho, and so when he got him off balance, he didn't have the momentum to sill the dill. Second, at the end of the bout as Daieisho skirted the edge of the rope, he knew exactly where he was and how long he needed to keep his balance. This can particularly be seen watching the slow motion replays. Daieisho is staring at Meisei and keeping his right foot up as long as he needed to in order to win the bout. I say that to point out how easy it would have been for Okinoumi to do that--twice--yesterday against Shodai. The end result is Daieisho's moving to 10-2 while Meisei is knocked off of the leaderboard for all intents and purposes at 8-4.

The NHK News 9 broadcast invited Kasugano-oyakata to provide commentary on the bout, and he correctly identified Daieisho's hesitation in his attack. He also correctly pointed out how Daieisho was too high from the tachi-ai for his own good and that's why he didn't have any force behind his thrust attack. I listened to him break it down, and my first impression was, "Why don't you guys ever break it down honestly in this same manner when dudes like Shodai or Takakeisho are gifted bouts?" Those guys are always out of position and always too high for their own good, but there are special words reserved for them like "gaman," or persistence.

Before we move on, when they went to Kasugano-oyakata for his commentary, the camera started out with a direct view of the dude's crotch. They then slowly panned up to his head, and the former Tochinowaka is an ugly one for sure, but what's the point of showing us a full frontal of his package to start the commentary?



Maybe I should start doing that prior to my commentary. Course, you couldn't find a camera big enough to capture all of my glory (cough, sputter, clear throat).

Regaining our composure, Shodai welcomed M6 Ryuden today in what promised to be an epic bout of sumo. Or not. Ryuden literally redefined the term mukiryoku here keeping his arms wide and limp just gifting Shodai moro-zashi, and as Shodai pressed forward, Ryuden made no effort to counter or dig in, and the result was Shodai's forcing Ryuden over in front of the chief judge's seat and dumping him across from there yori-kiri style. Shodai actually ran himself about four rows deep into the suna-kaburi, and what does that tell you? How often does this happen in yori-kiri bouts? The reason Shodai ran so far into the crowd was due to the utter lack of resistance coming form Ryuden. This bout was so fake, and I think everyone knew it judging by the mild applause afterwards. Just a pathetic display of mukiryoku sumo from Ryuden who falls to 4-8 while Shodai is gifted his 10-2 mark.

With such little drama coming from these faux-zeki bouts, the only question heading into the Asanoyama - Sekiwake Terunofuji encounter was would Terunofuji let up? Thankfully no as he played the part of brick wall at the tachi-ai forcing the bout to migi-yotsu where Fuji reached for and eventually got the left outer grip. Once obtained, he used it to lift Asanoyama upright and off balance, and then he forced him over and out from there with no argument. You'll notice how Terunofuji executed this force-out without having to cross over the straw, so why did Shodai need to run four rows deep? Focusing on the bout at hand, Asanoyama got his ass handed to him here, and it's comical that the dude in defeat is the one who boasts the rank of Ozeki. It just shows you how big of a ruse this all is, but the main takeaway in the short term is that Asanoyama is knocked off of the leaderboard at 8-4...the same record now as Terunofuji

with the two three-loss rikishi losing on the day, the leaderboard has been whittled back down to two rikishi:

10-2: Shodai, Daieisho

Going back to the NHK News 9 sports broadcast and Kasugano-oyakata's comments, the oyakata stated that Shodai is now the favorite because of his rank and experience. That answer was canned and expected, but notice how he didn't mention sumo "naiyou" or sumo content in his answer.

As we head towards the weekend, Shodai draws Takanosho tomorrow while Daieisho gets Ryuden, and we'll see if Ryuden goes as soft on Daieisho as he did today against Shodai. While the Day 14 and Day 15 matchups haven't been released yet, Shodai should be paired against Terunofuji on Day 14 and then Asanoyama on senshuraku.

As for Daieisho, the speculation is Tamawashi, Okinoumi, or Ichinojo. Regardless of who gets whom, neither Shodai nor Daieisho would be the favorites in their remaining bouts assuming that the sumo is fought straight up (it won't be). I guess that's why NHK posted the leaderboard down to four losses at the end of the broadcast, but we'll flash that later.

In other bouts of interest, M5 Endoh won the tachi-ai against Suckiwake Takanosho knocking him back a full step as Takanosho looked to pull, but Endoh refused to take full charge even with Takanosho near the edge and his momentum working against him. Endoh eventually moved in extending his right arm sorta to the inside, but he purposefully kept himself far enough away to do any damage. Takanosho finally got his shat in gear and went for a weak swipe at Endoh, and the M5's reaction was to just duck his head and turn 90 degrees. From there, it was easy peasy Japanesey as Takanosho finally pushed Endoh back and across. They ruled this one oshi-dashi, but did Takanosho do anything this bout that looked like an oshi-attack? No, he was clueless throughout until Endoh just stood there at the edge inviting that final shove. Easy yaocho call here as Takanosho is gifted 7-5 while Endoh falls to 5-7.

M4 Tamawashi curiously forgot his tsuppari at the tachi-ai against Komusubi Mitakeumi as the bout looked to go to hidari-yotsu. Tamawashi was slowly moving back, however, so the bout never did go to chest to chest. With Mitakeumi unable to take charge, Tamawashi faked a pull that allowed Mitakeumi to get the left fully inside, but it was still The Mawashi dictating the pace going for a fake right tsuki and then waiting for Mitakeumi to counter. Said counter was the weakest of weak right inside belt throws, and Tamawashi just spun himself around and down to the dirt. What a laughable finish here, and you can't find one thing that Mitakeumi did to set up that ending. Just ridiculous as Mitakeumi is gifted his 7-5 record while Tamawashi literally falls to 5-7.

Komusubi Takayasu came low at the tachi-ai against M5 Okinoumi keeping his can away from Okinoumi's long arm of the law. Which is curious because if you're ranked in the sanyaku, you'd think that Takayasu was confident enough to bully his opponent from the start. The ploy did work in keeping Okinoumi away from the inside and the belt, but it was only a matter of time before Okinoumi forced the bout to hidari-yotsu. As he did, Takayasu grabbed the right outer grip first, which should have given him an advantage, but Okinoumi is the superior rikishi and it showed as he threw Takayasu off balance with an inside belt throw that most importantly took any inside position away from the Komusubi. Takayasu still maintained that outer grip, but it was Okinoumi who wrenched his foe upright and back across the straw using only that one arm. I loved the sumo from Okinoumi today as both dudes finish at 7-5, and now the question is: where was that resolve from Okinoumi yesterday against Shodai??

M12 Ichinojo struck M3 Onosho at the tachi-ai and then quickly went for an offensive pull slapping his foe down in less than two uneventful seconds. Ichinojo moves to 8-4 while Onosho falls to 7-5, and the reason I bring this bout up is because Ichinojo is being touted as a possible candidate for Daieisho down the stretch.

Don't look now but M3 Kotoshoho picked up his first winna the basho!! Against M8 Tokushoryu, Kotoshoho's tachi-ai was just horrible as he tried to come with a thrust attack, but it failed straightway, and so Shoho quickly put both hands at the back of Tokushoryu's head. At this point, Tokushoryu could have run his foe straight back and out, but he just stood there like a bump on a log with his arms out wide waiting for Kotoshoho's next volley. When it came, Tokushoryu actually grabbed Kotoshoho's left arm and turned around 180 degrees as if he was going to go for an ippon-zeoi. He didn't of course and just allowed Kotoshoho to send him down okuri-taoshi style. What a laugher of a bout here as Kotoshoho obviously buys his first win at 1-11 now as Tokushoryu falls to 2-10.

M14 Hoshoryu henka'd to his right against M9 Myogiryu grabbing the outer grip and escorting Myogiryu out from behind just like that. That's two henka two days in a row from Hoshoryu, so let's hope this doesn't become a habit. He moves to 7-5 with the cheap win while Myogiryu falls to 6-6.

It's worth noting that NHK's general broadcast joined the feed after the Hoshoryu bout meaning they felt they had better things to do than join the sumos for the start of Makuuchi. I'd be very interested to know what the ratings are for this basho.

Moving right along, M10 Aoiyama stood straight up at the tachi-ai against M14 Midorifuji going through the tsuppari motions, but his legs were not into it. The two traded thrusts in the center of the ring with Aoiyama faking a pull or two, but it was clear the Happy Bulgar wasn't looking to win the bout. About 10 seconds in, Midorifuji got the left arm deep inside...something he would never do unless he knew the bout was fixed. Once inside like that with Aoiyama doing nothing, you knew what was coming, and sure enough Midorifuji darted left kinda slapping with the right, but he didn't really need to make contact as Aoiyama was playing right along diving to the edge of the dohyo and allowing Ota Announcer to scream, "Kata-sukashi!!" How long are they going to play on this tired meme?? Midorifuji is gifted 7-5 while Aoiyama falls to 5-7.

And finally, enough people must have felt sorry enough for M16 Akiseyama that they scraped together enough dough to buy his bout against M13 Akua. The two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Akua grabbed a handful of Akiseyama's sagari instead of a right outer grip that was there for the taking. That was the first obvious sign of yaocho, but it'd get worse. With Akua showing no resistance, Akiseyama was able to drive him straight back whereupon Akua simultaneously positioned his hands for a pull up high while kicking his right leg to the inside of Akiseyama's left. Can't say I've ever seen that combination before, but whatever. It allowed Akiseyama to score the ridiculously easy not to mention uncontested yori-taoshi win. At 7-5 now, I'm sure they'll find a way to get this guy that final win to keep him in the division. Just what we need. As for Akua, he falls to a harmless 3-9.

Looking towards the weekend, here is the leaderboard posted by NHK:

10-2: Shodai, Daieisho
8-4: Asanoyama, Terunofuji, Meisei, Ichinojo, Kotonowaka

I think they gotta go that deep because there is no interest right now in just Shodai and Daieisho, especially when you examine the content of Shodai's sumo.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
At the start of Week 2, the leaderboard was getting ridiculous, but fortunately it was whittled down to just five rikishi by the end of Day 10. Even then, there is no way that Meisei and Ichinojo are going to factor into the yusho, so that knocks things down to just three rikishi: Daieisho, Shodai, and Asanoyama. Yes, even Asanoyama manages to find himself on the leaderboard after that horrific start. When you think about it, this basho got off to a disastrous start with none of the Japanese "Ozeki" able to take charge, especially in the absence of the two Yokozuna, but it's interesting how all is forgotten by propping up the two kadoban Ozeki and ensuring that they are part of the yusho race in the end.

Following formality, this is the way things shaped up as we begin the Shubansen, or final five days:

9-1: Daieisho
8-2: Shodai
7-3: Asanoyama, Meisei, Ichinojo

Let's touch on the leaders in chronological order starting with M12 Ichinojo vs. M9 Myogiryu. The tachi-ai was a stalemate with Ichinojo absorbing Myogiryu's forward charge well, but then the Mongolith quickly put his hands at the back of Myogiryu's head as if to pull, but the pull never came. The result was Myogiryu's driving Ichinojo back and out in two seconds. Watching the replays, it was definitely more of Ichinojo's just walking back then it was Myogiryu's forcing him back, but the end result is Ichinojo's taking himself right back off the leaderboard. At 7-4 now, it's clear that like Terunofuji and Tamawashi, this guy is staying away from yusho contention on purpose. As for Myogiryu, he'll take a gift like that this day till Tuesday in moving to 6-5.

M7 Meisei looked to get his arms in tight at the tachi-ai against M2 Takarafuji, who pinched inward against his opponent at first but wasn't really looking to counter or make him pay. With Takarafuji clearly mukiryoku, Meisei finally raised T-Fuji upright with a right palm to the left armpit, and then the oshi-dashi from there was academic as Takarafuji failed to contest this bout after the first two seconds. You can just see in the pic how nonchalant Takarafuji was today. Meisei buys the easy win staying on the leaderboard at 8-3 while Takarafuji falls to a ho-hum 6-5.

M1 Daieisho blasted M3 Onosho back from the tachi-ai a full step with two quick thrusts to the neck, and as Daieisho moved forward loading up for round two, Onosho began shading to his left in order to set up a counter tsuki-otoshi. Daieisho was seemingly oblivious to Onosho's movement and just kept plowing forward right off of the dohyo as Onosho lightly touched the back of Daieisho's shoulder on his way out.

You only have to go back to yesterday's bout against Hokutofuji where Hokutofuji tried the same tactic as Onosho today. In Hokutofuji's case, he moved right instead of left, but he was in far more control of his surroundings than Onosho was today; and yet, Daieisho made no attempt to adjust today. These rikishi know exactly where they're at in the dohyo at all times, and so my opinion here is that Daieisho's self march right out of the ring was planned. I can't speak with certainty of the politics behind this bout, but I've noticed the last few days that Daieisho's bouts are not showing up in the top 3 streamed bouts from the day before. Asanoyama and Shodai are, and so I think this has more to do about marketing than anything. Daieisho could have steamrolled Onosho today if he had wanted. Instead, he falls to 9-2 and aligns himself with Shodai pending the outcome of the faux-zeki's bout. As for Onosho, he moves to 7-4 with the undeserved win.

And that brings us to Asanoyama vs. Suckiwake Takanosho in a contest where the two hooked up in migi-yotsu, but before the bout could go chest to chest, Takanosho moved right going for a maki-kae. It would have succeeded but he stopped the effort midway and instead continued to move right along the edge setting up a scoop throw with the right that he once again failed to follow up on. So, less than three seconds into the bout, Takanosho was already dictating the pace in complete control of things. After stopping on that scoop throw, Asanoyama attempted to latch onto a left outer grip, but he was up too high and too far away from the belt, and once again he was vulnerable here to a force-out attempt from Takanosho, but the Suckiwake just opted to stand there and wait for Asanoyama to come in and go for a hataki-komi, and of course Takanosho just dutifully put both palms to the dirt while still in complete control. I'm just shaking my head at the thought of Asanoyama being on the leaderboard after his pathetic start, but here he is at 8-3. As for Takanosho, he falls to 6-5 after giving up the win.

In the day's final bout, M5 Okinoumi and Shodai looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu, but Shodai just moved forward recklessly without the firm left inside or a right outside position to keep Okinoumi contained, and so Okinoumi instinctively reacted stepping to his left and jabbing a right tsuki-otoshi into Shodai's side on his way down. With Shodai completely parallel to the dohyo and "dead" as they say, Okinoumi quickly stepped his left foot out for no reason other than to try and throw the bout in Shodai's favor. The judges called for a mono-ii and ruled it a tie because there was no way they could give this one to Shodai based on his complete lack of production atop the dohyo. You also look at the pic at left, and Okinoumi's left foot is still in the dohyo with Shodai ready to crash down.

In the do-over, the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu again where Okinoumi had the right outer grip, but he promptly let it go waiting for a left scoop throw attempt from Shodai. The move from Shodai was so weak, and Okinoumi was just standing there as if to offer a counter kote-nage with the right, but there was no force exerted from Shodai due to ineptness and Okinoumi due to choice. With the two now reset back in the center of the ring, they found themselves in hidari-yotsu again only this time Okinoumi maintained the outer grip. Once again, Shodai attempted to set up a left kote-nage, but Okinoumi's right leg had Shodai's left stump pinned in close, and so Shodai quickly darted right going for a left tsuki-otoshi into Okinoumi's left side (in a proper bout, he would have moved right and thrust with the right hand). Shodai did not have enough room to execute the move, however, and with Okinoumi bearing down on him, it was an easy yori-taoshi for Okinoumi. Just like the previous bout, however, Okinoumi purposefully touched his right foot out beyond the straw before completing the move giving Shodai the win by isami-ashi.

I'm actually quite speechless at how bad Shodai looks atop the dohyo, but the result is his drawing even with Daieisho at 9-2, and now you have to say that Shodai is the favorite to yusho. I mean, has this dude managed a single waza this entire basho that actually knocked his opponent back or off balance when his opponent was trying to move forward? Here you had two bouts for the price of one, and in both bouts, Shodai was completely manhandled but yet managed to win the bout because his opponent kept dipping his toe across the straw. It's just embarrassing that they're trying to pass this dude off as an Ozeki, but whatever; no use beating a dead horse. In defeat, Okinoumi falls to 6-5.

Ichinojo's defeat officially knocks all of the foreigners off of the leaderboard leaving us with the following:

9-2: Shodai, Daieisho
8-3: Asanoyama, Meisei

In other bouts of interest on the day, M4 Tamawashi offered a left tsuki against Sekiwake Terunofuji at the tachi-ai, but he wasn't trying to do any damage, and before Fuji could even catch up, The Mawashi shoved him up high once before dancing the other way to the edge of the dohyo where he just waited for Terunofuji to come and get him. Fuji came forward with a right shoulder looking to nudge Tamawashi across, but the M6 moved left and had an opening for a counter tsuki-otoshi, but he maintained his mukiryoku posture throughout finally letting Terunofuji push him out in the end. Yet another oshi-dashi win where the victor was not even trying to push. It's rare that we call a mukiryoku bout in favor of Terunofuji, but we got one here as he moves to 7-4 while Tamawashi falls to 5-6.

Komusubi Takayasu and M5 Endoh engaged in a tsuppari affair where Endoh largely just stood there allowing Takayasu to have his way. Takayasu methodically nudged the M5 back bit by bit before going for a pull, and Endoh's immediately reaction was to just put both palms to the dirt and hop along the dohyo on all fours (his knees were not touching) like he was playing army man or something. Ridiculous yaocho here as Takayasu is gifted 7-4 as Endoh falls to 5-6.

M4 Tochinoshin continued his mukiryoku ways coming with a weak right kachi-age against Komusubi Mitakeumi before just ducking his head to the side and inviting Mitakeumi to go for a pull or slap. He sorta did, but this was mostly Tochinoshin just waltzing over to the edge staying turned at a 90 degree angle to his opponent, and it was laughable how easy the oshi-dashi win was for Mitakeumi. There's that oshi-dashi kimari-te again without the victor firing a single shove until his opponent was mukiryoku at the edge. Tochinoshin's make-koshi is official at 3-8 while Mitakeumi is gifted his 6-5.

M3 Kotoshoho fell to 0-11 today after playing only defense against M7 Tobizaru who attempted to do damage with an early tsuppari attack, but if you remember when Tobizaru had that really good basho on paper, everything was okuri-dashi against mukiryoku opponents. I'm not saying Kotoshoho wasn't mukiryoku here because he was, but the point is that Tobizaru wasn't able to do much of anything with his initial shove attempts. After seven seconds or so, Tobizaru got the right arm to the inside with Kotoshoho still doing nothing to defend himself or set up a counter move, and after a few more seconds of realizing he didn't have the strength to force Kotoshoho back, Tobizaru went for a shove into his opponent's chest, and Kotoshoho backed up to the edge and hung there leaning back a bit before he just turned and flopped down harmlessly to the arena floor below. As a I mentioned a few days ago, I think Kotoshoho is paying back everyone who helped him rise to M3 in the first place. Tobizaru limps to 5-6 with the non-contested win.

If the ashi-tori move were as easy as it looked today in the M12 Terutsuyoshi - M6 Ryuden bout, these guys would do it all the time. At the tachi-ai, T-Yoshi easily ducked under a listless Ryuden grabbing his left leg, and Ryuden didn't even try to swat him away. Instead, he stayed forward the whole time just hopping himself across the straw. Terutsuyoshi set him down lightly as well across the straw because if more force was applied here, there's possibility of injury. Anyway, this was a totally fake bout arranged beforehand in Terutsuyoshi's favor. He moves to 5-6 with the gift while Ryuden is richer at 4-7.

You know I would never overlook an M14 Midorifuji win by kata-sukashi!! I got my fix today as M8 Tokushoryu just stood there at the tachi-ai with the C3P0 arms letting Midorifuji get a left frontal grip on the belt and the inside position with the right, and instead of clamping in tight from the outside, Tokushoryu just leaned forward as Midorifuji executed his signature move, and Tokushoryu (2-9) complied by putting both palms to the dirt and throwing himself over wildly. What a fake bout as Midorifuji moves to 6-5 with the gift.

The only reason worth bringing up the M14 Hoshoryu - M8 Kiribayama bout today is because Kiribayama was fully aware of what was going on in the dohyo after Hoshoryu henka'd to his left at the tachi-ai. Instead of reacting and trying to put on the brakes, Kiribayama just put his palm to the dirt in defeat in a bout that was obviously arranged beforehand. I think Daieisho did the same thing today. He knew what was going on, and he could see Onosho moving, but he just plowed his way forward and outta the dohyo altogether. The result of this bout is both Mongolians ending the day at 6-5.

And finally, M16 Akiseyama was defeated again, this time at the hands of M11 Kotoeko who took some time to work his way inside of Akiseyama's blubber, but he finally got the right arm in well enough to where he was able to knock Akiseyama upright and then force him to the side. At the edge, Kotoeko secured the left outer grip, and that was the final piece that allowed him to nudge Akiseyama across the straw for good and down to a 6-5 record after reeling off 6 straight "wins" to start the basho. Akiseyama will be lucky enough to have someone buy him the last two wins to stay in the division because lord knows he needs it. As for Kotoeko, he improves to 5-6 with the textbook win.

Just three days ago we were talking about Daieisho with a two-bout lead at the turn, but just like that, he finds himself tied now with Shodai. Ability-wise, Daieisho is easily the better rikishi as he proved on Day 3, but politics have begun to seep into his sumo. As for Shodai, he's been gifted every one of his bouts this basho, and so the winner will come down to whether or not the NSK thinks it's okay to have Daieisho take the yusho. There is nothing endearing about him to the fans, so I'd have to say king's to Shodai at this point.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The biggest news heading into Day 10 was the announcement that Takakeisho had finally withdrawn from the tournament. The reason cited for the withdrawal was an injured left ankle purportedly suffered in his Day 3 defeat at the hands of that annoying clay mound that tends to stick up from the arena floor. I still remember commenting on Takakeisho's toe getting caught in the sand on Day 3, but an ankle injury? Dude did not have a limp through Day 9 nor did he bother to tape the joint up, but it's all a ruse to help cover for his hurt pride. Still, I'm surprised he waited this long, and he won't be missed.

As for the broadcast, they opened up with a new piece they do from time to time called "Waza no shinzui," or the essence of the waza. Today's waza, or skill, on display was none other than my favorite, kata-sukashi, and they used Asahifuji bouts from that Yokozuna's career to demonstrate the technique. I mean, trying to maintain interest in sumo by highlighting the kata-sukashi is like my trying to sell the benefits of a land line for your telephone needs. It's completely useless, but whatever.

As I am wont to do in week 2, I am going to follow the leaderboard today which means I'll comment on every single bout.

Up first was M16 Akiseyama who looked to shake off his three-day skid against Juryo rikishi, M16 Azumaryu, but Akiseyama was weaker than weak at the tachi-ai as Azumaryu tooled both hands at the front of the defenseless Akiseyama's belt finally coming away with a right inside and left outer...both near the front of the belt. From there, Azumaryu lifted Akiseyama upright and easily forced him back, and Akiseyama's ability to stand his ground was so weak, Azumaryu just dumped him on his can across the straw. When no money is changing hands, Akiseyama is so weak it's embarrassing. He falls to 6-4 and off of the crazy leaderboard altogether.

M15 Kotonowaka came with a few thrusts from the tachi-ai against M14 Hoshoryu, but they had such little effect the Mongolian was able to burrow in getting the left arm inside and the right outer grip. Hoshoryu used that right arm to keep Kotonowaka upright and then he placed his right leg to the outside of Baby Waka's left stump using that to trip his foe over as he forced him back. This was a textbook soto-gake and Kotonowaka could barely defend himself. Hoshoryu is even steven at 5-5 and this was a perfectly executed bout for him. As for Kotonowaka, he falls to a still-inflated 6-4 record.

After watching the introduction to the broadcast, I had a vomit bucket at the ready just in case they had M14 Midorifuji beat M12 Ichinojo by kata-sukashi. From the tachi-ai, Midorifuji was able to weasel in close and get moro-zashi, but that's a meaningless stance against a guy like Ichinojo or Terunofuji. At this point, Midorifuji could have attempted a kata-sukashi, which would have required him to move either direction and go for a shoulder slap with the arm opposite the direction he was moving in, but Ichinojo had him pinched in too tight to move. With Ichinojo egging on Midorifuji to make the first move, the rookie hunkered down low abandoning moro-zashi altogether, and so the Mongolith worked his right arm inside and grabbed a left outer grip. Still using his strategy of tiring his foe out, Ichinojo just stood there rebuffing Midorifuji's early uchi-muso attempts and then allowed him to work his arms this way and that, but the bottom line was that Midorifuji couldn't move his opponent around. At about two and a half minutes into the bout, Midorifuji was completely worn out enabling Ichinojo to force him back and across with little fanfare. Whew. Ichinojo moves to 7-3 with the win, and he's like a boa constrictor content to just stay wrapped around his opponent until he exhausts his breath. As for Midorifuji, he falls to 5-5.

M10 Aoiyama was lethargic at the tachi-ai extending his arms out of obligation but not trying to do any damage to M17 Sadanoumi. Two or three seconds in, Aoiyama feigned a pull attempt and that gave Sadanoumi the opening he needed to finally move forward and push Aoiyama back to the edge. The Happy Bulgar began to load up a left kote-nage throw, and he was in perfect position to execute it, but he let up on the attempt and instead allowed Sadanoumi to force him across that last step. Easy mukiryoku call here as Sadanoumi buys the win moving him to 5-5 while Aoiyama falls to the same mark.

At this point of the broadcast, they took us down memory lane back to the 1996 Haru basho where Asahiyutaka (the guest oyakata in the mukou-joumen chair) defeated Yokozuna Takanohana picking up his first career kin-boshi. I actually remember that bout well, and can you guess what the winning technique was?

Moving right along, M12 Terutsuyoshi came in low against M9 Myogiryu forcing the latter to try a few early slaps...one at the back of the head and the next along Terutsuyoshi's back, but the T Train just kept on plowing forward knocking the compromised Myogiryu back and across in about two seconds. Terutsuyoshi moves to 4-6 with the win while Myogiryu's biggest mistake was not going for the kata-sukashi at 5-5.

M8 Tokushoryu and M13 Akua hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Akua had his gal raised up just a bit higher. With neither dude maintaining an outer grip, the chess match was on as the two grappled in the center of the ring for about 20 seconds before Tokushoryu looked to press in with his belly, but Akua countered quickly moving left and setting up an inside belt throw. Tokushoryu was not planted to the dohyo sufficiently and while he did get a right outer grip while being thrown, he was not ground to the dohyo, and so Akua's little flip knocked Tokushoryu over and onto his knees. Not exactly the textbook throw, but we'll give Akua credit here as both dudes end the day at 2-8.

M7 Meisei went for an early pull of M8 Kiribayama setting up a brief right outer grip for the smaller dude, but Kiribayama broke it off and pushed Meisei upright with the right hand while having his left hand in the perfect position to grab a right outer grip. He refrained, however, and so I knew he was mukiryoku at this point. With Meisei had and unable to do anything, Kiribayama darted to his right setting up the perfect kata-sukashi (yes, THAT move!), but he never executed it. Instead, he used it as ruse to just bring himself upright, on the move, and over to the edge to where Meisei could latch onto a right outer grip and force Kiribayama back. The Mongolian attempted to set up a counter throw, but he purposefully planted his left foot beyond the straw in doing so giving the bout to Meisei at that point. Easy yaocho call here as Meisei moves to 7-3 while Kiribayama falls to 6-4.

M11 Kotoeko and M7 Tobizaru engaged in a thrust affair where both guys were really looking to set up a pull. Both dudes connected on some nice jabs, but neither had the confidence to score the linear push out win. About six seconds in, they got in the clinch, and the bout looked as if it might go to the belt, and from this point Tobizaru panicked and went for yet another pull, but with his foe right there on the inside now, Kotoeko was easily able to exploit it and drive Tobizaru back and across in mere seconds. It's one thing to go for quick pulls and swipes when both dudes are pushing, but when they're in tight, it's extremely ill-advised as Tobizaru can attest to today. Both guys end this bout at 4-6.

M6 Ryuden and M15 Yutakayama looked to hook up in migi-yotsu as Yutakayama tried to choke Ryuden out of the belt contest, but Ryuden lifted up nicely on Yutakayama's extended arms swiping them away to the extent he was able to get the right arm inside and grab a left grip at the front of Yutakayama's belt, and from there the force-out was academic as Ryuden held his gal in snug avoiding a counter tsuki-otoshi attempt in felling Yutakayama yori-taoshi. Ryuden moves to 4-6 while Yutakayama falls to 6-4.

M6 Kagayaki blasted M10 Shimanoumi back from the tachi-ai with a perfect thrust attack and nice de-ashi, and even though Shimanoumi tried to move laterally to his right, Kagayaki was onto him like white to rice and had Shimanoumi pushed back and out in just a few seconds. Kagayaki dominated this moving to 5-5, and how I wish this guy would go all out every day. As for Shimanoumi, he falls to 6-4 after a sound defeat.

M3 Kotoshoho was proactive from the tachi-ai attempting to execute a thrust attack against M2 Takarafuji, but Takara Boom De Ay was having none of it standing there like a brick wall and working his way into the left inside position as a frustrated Shoho moved back and right. With Kotoshoho on the move, Takarafuji wasn't able to pull his gal in snug, but he did have enough of the left inside to where he bodied Kotoshoho back and out before Kotoshoho's counter right tsuki attack could knock Takarafuji down. This was close indeed, but Kotoshoho's left foot barely stepped out before Takarafuji's right hand touched down. They called a mono-ii to make sure, but the initial call was correct. Gunbai to Takarafuji and his 6-4 mark while Kotoshoho is an ee gads 0-10.

At this point the two M1's stepped into the ring to do battle. Daieisho is the sole leader of the basho, but he can't be given Storyteller status because he needs assistance from the M4's to win out. As for Hokutofuji, he's no slouch either, so Daieisho had his work cut out for him. Daieisho won the tachi-ai taking advantage of Hokutofuji's penchant to strike and move back right, and the leader had Hokutofuji pushed back to the tawara in no time, but Hokutofuji used the tawara to his advantage countering with a right tsuki into Daieisho's armpit that threw him off balance and allowed Hokutofuji back into the bout, but as the two reconnected, Hokutofuji was looking to retreat again, and this time Daieisho caught him with a few more potent thrusts scoring the tsuki-dashi win in the end. Daieisho moves to 9-1 with the nice win while Hokutofuji falls to 2-8.

M4 Tochinoshin led with a low right kachi-age against Komusubi Takayasu and then another forearm with the left up high where his elbow was extended. That move just screamed for Takayasu to get to the inside, and he did turning Shin 90 degrees and pushing the listless Tochinoshin back and across as the Georgian faked a stupid pull move near the edge. Tochinoshin did nothing to get to the belt here, and he was completely mukiryoku giving Takayasu the largely uncontested win. With the gift, Takayasu moves to 6-4 while Tochinoshin pads his billfold at 3-7.

Komusubi Mitakeumi and M3 Onosho fired simultaneous thrust attempts from the tachi-ai before Mitakeumi quickly slapped downwards against Onosho's extended arms, and the M3 dutifully just put both palms to the dirt and that was that. Mitakeumi oils his way to 5-5 while Onosho drops to 6-4.

Sekiwake Terunofuji took on Suckiwake Takanosho absorbing the latter's push attack from the tachi-ai and latching on around both arms, but the Mongolian still let Takanosho force him back. At the edge, Terunofuji put on the brakes and wrenched in tight bringing Takanosho to the tips of his toes, and at this point Fuji the Terrible could have kime-taoshi'd his opponent down or swung him out or whatever, but he released all pressure and just allowed Takanosho to back up to the other side of the ring kinda going for pulls, but they had no effect. Terunofuji still went with the flow and offered a wild push before stepping out of the dohyo before his opponent.

Watching live, it looked as if Terunofuji won the bout, and the judge ruled his way, but they quickly called a mono-ii and reversed the decision. Terunofuji knew where he was at all times, and he was casually watching Takanosho's feet when he stepped out. Teru could have kept his right foot up for 10 more seconds if he needed to, but he stepped out first giving Takanosho the win. This was another one of those bouts where Terunofuji did all the work including stepping out in the end. As he's done all basho, Terunofuji has taken himself out of contention with timely losses to Japanese opponents, and his failure to re-latch onto Takanosho when he had him at his bidding or push him out for real were signs of his mukiryoku attitude from the start. At 6-4 Terunofuji has no intention of winning this tournament while Takanosho is gifted a 6-4 record of his own.

At this point of the broadcast, they announced the withdrawal of Takakeisho giving M5 Okinoumi the freebie and boosting him to a 6-4 record. Takakeisho will go from Yokozuna candidate to kadoban Ozeki just like that.

Speaking of kadoban Ozeki, Asanoyama moved one step closer to keeping his rank when M4 Tamawashi caught him with a few early thrusts from the tachi-ai standing him straight up before completely relenting and allowing Asanoyama to move in and assume the right inside position and left outer grip. Tamawashi flinched at a counter move near the edge, but he was 100% mukiryoku at this point allowing Asanoyama to score the easy force-out win. Asanoyama moves to 7-3 with the gift while Tamawashi falls to 5-5.

The day's final bout featured Shodai taking on M5 Endoh, and Endoh dominated this one throughout standing Shodai up with a nice choke hold at the tachi-ai before pulling him forward by the left arm setting up the path to an outer grip. Of course, instead of grabbing the belt, Endoh just backed up to the straw letting Shodai charge forward. Shodai had zero momentum, however, and couldn't nudge Endoh back, and so Endoh moved right easily grabbing the right outer for reals, and he had the simple path to dashi-nage Shodai out that last half step. He didn't of course letting Shodai settle in with the left arm inside whereupon Endoh hopped around on one foot waiting for Shodai to make a move, and said move was a right tsuki from Shodai that was Endoh's queue to just spin around and out before Shodai hit the dirt. I'm not sure why they called a mono-ii here because it wasn't even close as Endoh did everything including taking the final dive out of the ring with his knees locked and legs limp. Just ridiculous how they let up for Shodai, and with the gift, he has officially reached kachi-koshi at 8-2 meaning we have to put up with this Ozeki nonsense for at least two more basho. As for Endoh, he falls to 5-5 but will be handsomely paid for letting up here.

At the end of the day, the leaderboard was whittled down to a more manageable level, and for every Shodai loss moving forward, I'm sure they're going to have Daieisho go down in defeat to keep things close. The way we stand at the end of 10 days is as follows:

9-1: Daieisho
8-2: Shodai
7-3: Asanoyama, Meisei, Ichinojo

There is no way that Ichinojo is going to keep himself in this thing, so it will come down to the other four. I don't see how it isn't Daieisho or Shodai in the end, and can you imagine if Shodai ends up taking the yusho after all the crap sumo from his this basho?

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 9 broadcast began with NHK displaying a chart that showed all of the rikishi who have gone on to yusho after leading by two bouts at the end of Day 8...a circumstance Daieisho found himself in heading into the day. In the modern era of sumo it's happened eight times in the past, and each of the yusho rikishi were either Yokozuna or Ozeki. Kitanofuji surmised that whether or not Daieisho takes the yusho is a matter of how he feels about it (kimochi no mondai), so there you have it! It's of course a little bit more complicated than that. Daieisho finds himself in this position simply because he did not allow himself to be bought out the first five days, and he received some help from Terunofuji and Kagayaki two of the last three days. Daieisho is a rikishi with game for sure, and I still think he's the favorite to yusho because he can beat more of his remaining opponents straight up than Shodai, but politics rules the day in sumo, and the NSK is going to do all it can to ensure that we have an exciting finish.

M15 Yutakayama came with his usual tsuppari attack against Shohozan visiting from Juryo, and Shohozan easily stood his ground before gaining moro-zashi. Instead of defeating Yutakayama soundly with the advantageous position, he pulled his left arm in towards his gut allowing Yutakayama to grope Shohozan's right arm. It was an extremely awkward position, and Shohozan had the clear path to grab a left frontal belt grip and force Yutakayama back and across, but he instead turned his own back to the edge and waited for Yutakayama to do something. Problem was the M15 couldn't, and so Shohozan stepped to the side grabbing a left outer, and he had his foe dead to rights here, but with Yutakayama still uselessly tugging at Shohozan's right arm, the Juryo dude just spun himself across the straw and down dragging Yutakayama with him. My goodness, this was such an unnatural bout as soon as Shohozan gained moro-zashi, and there's no way someone could watch this and not realize that it was compromised.

As soon as I typed that, they panned in close to Yutakayama distributing the chikara-mizu to Hoshoryu, and I noticed the saying on a dude's shirt sitting ringside: Quite Acid. So that explains how you enjoy sumo these days. Pop some acid and just sit back. Yutakayama is gifted his 6-3 record while Shohozan has been hoarding cash of late.

M12 Terutsuyoshi henka'd to his right in ugly fashion against M14 Hoshoryu, and while it threw the Mongolian off balance from the start, as Terutsuyoshi looked to square back up, Hoshoryu moved to the left himself pulling Terutsuyoshi as he went managing to yank T-Yoshi out of the ring as Hoshoryu balanced along the straw. This was another ugly bout of sumo as Hoshoryu moves to 4-5 while Terutsuyoshi falls to 3-6.

M14 Midorifuji and M11 Kotoeko engaged in a pretty feisty slapfest from the tachi-ai, but both dudes were really looking for the pull, so as active as their thrusts were, neither dude was having much effect. This continued for close to 10 seconds before Kotoeko went for the pull first. It wasn't executed well, but Midorifuji had no momentum, so he couldn't make Eko pay. After Kotoeko survived his weak pull attempt, Midorifuji went for one of his own, and Kotoeko did make him pay finally moving forward with confidence and pushing Midorifuji back and across easily. Kotoeko ekes his way to 3-6 while Midorifuji falls to 5-4.

A couple bouts later, the man on the hana-michi reporter called up to Sanbe Announcer in the booth and dutifully reported that he had just spoken with Kotoeko and learned that Kotoeko was indeed aware of the kata-sukashi potential from Midorifuji, and so his plan was to be ready for it and just react naturally when it came. Good grief, they will not let this phony kata-sukashi narrative go? It's been the most useless storyline of the basho, and keeping it alive will sell exactly zero tickets moving forward.

M16 Akiseyama's momentum continues to sag much like his boobs (sorry couldn't resist). Today against M10 Aoiyama, Akiseyama was listless at the tachi-ai offering a weak right arm forward at the tachi-ai, and Aoiyama just latched onto it executing a kote-nage with the left that sent Akiseyama over and off balance near the edge, and the Happy Bular was right on top of him offering a final shove to the chest that sent Akiseyama back onto his arse. Shame on anyone who believed that Akiseyama's 6-0 start was legit. He's now been fully exposed at 6-3 while Aoiyama hasn't had an easier win in his career standing now at 5-4.

M10 Shimanoumi and M17 Sadanoumi bumped foreheads at the tachi-ai with Sadanoumi coming away with the right arm inside. Instead of pressing in and going for the left outer, he actually retreated a bit keeping that left arm back. Shimanoumi pressed forward with a left outer of his own, but he didn't have the right inside position, and so Sadanoumi just set up his opponent's win for him by moving to the right and putting his hands high as if to go for an ill-advised pull. Not even Shimanoumi could blow this one as he easily pushed Sadanoumi back that final step. Shimanoumi moves to 6-3 with the gift while Sadanoumi falls to 4-5.

Hooboy. M9 Myogiryu was passive at the tachi-ai coming close to getting the inside position against M15 Kotonowaka but waiting for his opponent to make the first move. Said move was Kotonowaka's lightly skirting to his left as if to set up a pull, and this gave Myogiryu moro-zashi. Now, Kotonowaka has never demonstrated in this division his ability to fight back from moro-zashi, and he was done here...except for the fact that Myogiryu refused to force him back and across. Myogiryu did have his gal completely upright with head raised close the edge, but he just stopped and waited for a half kote-nage from Baby Waka with the right and then a meager left tsuki from the other side, and that was Myogiryu's cue to just hop across half the dohyo to the other side and out. What an easy yaocho call here as Myogiryu could have done his opponent in with that moro-zashi in mere seconds. The result on paper is Kotonowaka's moving to 6-3 while Myogiryu drops a notch to 5-4 with more money in petty cash.

When I posted the two-loss rikishi yesterday, M8 Kiribayama had quietly snuck into that group, but M12 Ichinojo pounded him back into place today in a pretty good bout that saw these two Mongolians hook up in gappuri migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai. I admire Kiribayama's resolve for agreeing to this stance, but he had no chance against Ichinojo. As he is wont to do, Ichinojo just stood his ground and let his opponent tire himself out, and then about 45 seconds into the bout, Ichinojo mounted his force-out charge uncontested. Good win for Itchy as he moves to 6-3 while Kiribayama falls to the same mark.

M13 Akua went for a quick pull of M7 Tobizaru from the tachi-ai, but Tobizaru's oshi attack wasn't good enough to dispatch him straightway. After that failed oshi attack, Tobizaru went for a pull of his own that wasn't well executed, but Akua didn't make him pay either. I guess it was Akua's turn next to go for a stupid pull, but Tobizaru still didn't push him out, and so Akua put both feet against the straw and then just belly flopped forward to the dirt with Tobizaru trying to catch up. They ruled it hataki-komi, but Akua's fall had nothing to do with a slapdown. This was a compromised bout for sure as Tobizaru limps to 4-5 while Akua falls to 1-8.

M5 Okinoumi reached for and missed on a left frontal belt grip at the tachi-ai against M8 Tokushoryu who backed up a bit causing Okinoumi to move forward without a cause, and so Tokushoryu was able to get the left arm inside and force Okinoumi completely upright. The natural instinct here is to go for the force-out, which Tokushoryu did, but he stopped short of the straw as Okinoumi tried to set up a right tsuki-otoshi and then quickly switched over to the left. During this moment of indecision, Tokushoryu could have forced him back and across but instead, he just took the tsuki-otoshi bait and flopped forward with exaggeration in defeat. Okinoumi is the better rikishi of the two, so I believe Okinoumi was calling in a past favor here as he moves to 5-4 while Tokushoryu falls to 2-7.

In a wild affair, M4 Tochinoshin and M7 Meisei bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai with Shin's coming with a kachi-age and not looking to latch on straightway. As the two continued to bounce into each other, Meisei darted left throwing Shin off balance a bit, but he was able to square back up with both rikishi trading shoves yet again. This time it was Tochinoshin's turn to move right throwing a wrench into Meisei's attack, and before Meisei could really recover, Tochinoshin got his left paw at the back of Meisei's belt and sent him down from there. Meisei's fall was a little unnatural, so I'm not sure of any politics behind this one, but the end result is Tochinoshin's moving to 3-6 while Meisei falls to 6-3.

At this point of the broadcast, they posted the first leaderboard as follows:

8-0: Daieisho
6-2: Shodai

The point here being that NHK wasn't going to go down to the three-loss mark, so at this juncture of the day we were down to a two-horse race.

M3 Kotoshoho was passive against M3 Onosho throughout their bout today. The younger Shoho actually moved forward at the tachi-ai, but he wasn't shoving, and so Onosho was able to halt him with some hands to the throat before both dudes darted this way and that with Onosho looking for a kill shot and Kotoshoho constantly on defense. They went around the ring a time or two before Onosho caught Kotoshoho with a few shoves near the edge sending him back for good. Not sure what Kotoshoho's MO is this basho. Perhaps he used all of his goodwill in rising up to M3 and now the favors are being called in. For the record, I've never really praised his sumo and called frequent yaocho in his favor in previous tournaments, so I think it's just a matter of the Force balancing itself out. Onosho moves to 6-3 with the vibrant win while Kotoshoho falls to 0-9.

And that brings us to M1 Daieisho who was unable to bully M2 Takarafuji from the tachi-ai with his usual tsuppari attack, and so the veteran Fuji took charge early catching Daieisho with a nice tsuki using the left hand into Daieisho's extended right arm. That completely dissolved Daieisho's momentum, and as he looked to square back up, Takarafuji continued to breeze left going for another tsuki to Daieisho's right arm, and the second volley really threw the leader off balance. From there, Takarafuji pounced going for a hataki-komi that easily slapped a frustrated Daieisho down across the straw and to his first loss.

Isn't it interesting how Daieisho has struggled the last two days against rikishi with street cred? And what I mean by street cred is they actually have real game; we just don't get to see it consistently because they're always mixed up in the politics. Kagayaki is a beast when he wants to be, and Takarafuji (5-4) is a stubborn old veteran who is tough to move around.

Daieisho's first five opponents are or were coddled rikishi who have benefited from heavy yaocho to either take a Makuuchi yusho or be elevated to the Ozeki ranks...and in most cases both. Terunofuji let him win on Day 6 as did Kagayaki on Day 8, and then sandwiched in between that is another useless rikishi who has risen to Sekiwake due to heavy yaocho in Takanosho.

News 9 Sports explained it away as the lack of pressure when a guy fights (and beats) everyone ranked above him, and then his remaining opponents are all ranked beneath him. He takes them all lightly because he's ranked higher than them, and so that's why it will be easy for Takarafuji to lose focus. They even produced a graphic that showed the nine hira-maku yusho the last 30 years, and only one M1, Mitoizumi, was able to yusho from that rank in Nagoya 1992.

I can see how a guy might seem over confident and buy into his own hype, but you can clearly see who Daieisho dominated legitimately and who he has struggled with. Daieisho is better than his opponent tomorrow, M1 Hokutofuji, but he's still gotta be careful. Hokutofuji is much better than Daieisho's first five opponents.

And speaking of M1 Hokutofuji, he executed his usual tachi-ai against Komusubi Mitakeumi striking with the right hand and shading left, and it worked wonders as Hokutofuji choked Mitakeumi upright and to the side with the right hand, but he let up on the throat hold leaving his arm up high allowing Mitakeumi to get his left hand up and under that extended right arm lightly forcing Hokutofuji back and across. They ruled it oshi-dashi, which was curious because Mitakeumi didn't offer a single shove, but it goes back to my comments yesterday as to why oshi-dashi is so inflated these days. Mitakeumi moves to 4-5 with the gift while Hokutofuji falls to 2-7.

M6 Kagayaki sent both hands to the throat of Suckiwake Takanosho at the tachi-ai, but Kagayaki was not driving forward with his legs, and so he ultimately allowed Takanosho to get the right arm inside and mount a quick force out attempt. Because Takanosho lost the tachi-ai and because he hadn't shored up his foe with the left arm, Kagayaki was able to move quickly left at the edge and score on the quick counter tsuki-otoshi move. It looked to me as if Kagayaki stepped out an instant before Takanosho hit the dirt, but they were too lazy to call a mono-ii so gunbai to Kagayaki who moves to 4-5 while Takanosho falls to 5-4.

Sekiwake Terunofuji reached for the left frontal grip against M6 Ryuden and barely latched on before Ryuden shoved him back with a nice choke hold, but he couldn't keep Fuji the Terrible away for long as the two ultimately hooked up in hidari-yotsu. Ryuden actually had the early right outer grip, but Fuji was too strong for him to handle, and he wrenched his hips breaking off the outer while grabbing a right outer of his own, and once obtained, Terunofuji scored the easy force-out win. This was the best technically fought bout on the day by far from both parties, but sumo like this is too few and far between as Terunofuji moves to 6-3 with Ryuden dropping to 3-6.

Coming off the heels of Daieisho's loss, Shodai now found himself just one loss back as he faced M4 Tamawashi. Tamawashi grazed Shodai in the face with the right hand at the tachi-ai and then stood him straight up with some effective nodowa, and Shodai was had at this point. In desperation, he swiped with a left tsuki that barely connected, but that was Tamawashi's cue to just circle himself sideways and out of the ring as Shodai looked to catch up with a final shove. For good measure, Tamawashi gave one of those useless Rockettes kicks near the edge to further destabilize himself.  This bout lasted maybe 3 seconds, and it was basically Tamawashi showing Shodai who was boss with some nice choke holds and then his dancing around and out of the ring giving Shodai a win where he made zero positive contact against his opponent. Clear yaocho here as Shodai is gifted his 7-2 record...with the oshi-dashi kimari-te of course, and now he's right back in the yusho race, which will help maintain interest in the second week. As for Tamawashi, he graciously falls to 5-4 and will still have a lot to say when he faces Daieisho later on.

I mentioned that NHK flashed the two-man leaderboard after Meisei was knocked from the two-loss rank, but someone from the Association must have gotten to the producer because after the Shodai bout, they reposted it now down to the three losses, and this was the result:



Hooboy. I'm trying to find a rikishi who didn't test positive for Corona NOT on that leaderboard. The last few days I've raised the concern about Daieisho's running away with the yusho because exactly zero people would be interested in that, so it looks like they're now committing to a circus yusho race.

Speaking of circuses, I'm so relieved the final nail in the coffin of Takakeisho's Yokozuna run was hammered in a few days ago, but the dude keeps coming back for more punishment. Today against M5 Endoh, the M5 reached for a frontal belt grip with the left, but credit Takakeisho for keeping him at bay. Still, you could just see that Takakeisho was not comfortable moving forward with an oshi attack, and so he eventually backed up and shaded to his left going for a weak pull/swipe. Endoh easily survived and responded with cautious tsuppari of his own, and as Takakeisho looked to thrust his way back into the bout, Endoh darted right timing a pull that caused Takakeisho to just belly flop to the dirt.

I thought this was easily Takakeisho's best performance of the basho. I know he lost, but he didn't align his feet from the tachi-ai, and I thought he gave Endoh quite a bit of trouble. If the dude was forced to fight like this every day, he'd be a much better rikishi than he is. The faux-zeki is still hapless, and to even mention the words Yokozuna and Takakeisho in the same sentence should cause anyone to blow a snot bubble, but I'll point out good effort when I see it. Unfortunately for Takakeisho it resulted in defeat as he falls to 2-7 while Endoh picks up the win and a nice stash of kensho at 5-4.

In the day's final bout, Asanoyama and Komusubi Takayasu hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Asanoyama's attack was so light that Takayasu easily grabbed a left outer grip. Now with the upper hand, Takayasu promptly let go of his outer grip and decided to go for a very weak scoop throw with the right arm instead. The move defied logic and enabled Asanoyama to grab a left outer of his own and score the ridiculously easy force-out win which coincidentally contained no force. Asanoyama is safely through now at 6-3, and he only needs to buy two more wins to keep his rank. Damn. As for Takayasu, he falls to 5-4 after letting his foe win.

After the bout, NHK flashed the leaderboard down to three losses, and the reason they did is because of this:



I have not harped on attendance this basho because I know how sensitive the Japanese people are to things like the Corona virus, and then they have the state of emergency in place in Tokyo and other major metropolitan cities. Still, the NSK is allowed to admit 5,000 people into the arena per day, but this is what it looked like as Asanoyama and Takayasu were preparing for their bout. They're also not posting TV numbers for a reason, so they've got to try and make this thing interesting down the stretch.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As we head into week 2, the tournament is Daieisho's to lose. There are two major variables in play right now in determining the yusho. First is the number of foreign rikishi who will NOT let up for Daieisho. At some point in week 2, Daieisho will be paired against the two M4's, Tochinoshin and Tamawashi, so assuming that neither of those foreigners let up for Daieisho, the M1 will finish with 13 wins or so. The second factor, then, is the ability for any other rikishi to keep himself at two losses. At the start of Day 8, Shodai and Akiseyama were the only one-loss rikishi, but they both went down, and so there's already a two-bout gap with Daieisho's schedule getting lighter by the day (until he reaches M4 opponents) and everyone else's schedule getting more difficult.

It's conceivable that Daieisho could win this thing by three bouts, but that then introduces the problem of how do you keep people interested in the tournament when there's no yusho race? We'll see how it all plays out, but I expect one of the M4's to defeat Daieisho to try and keep a yusho race in tact, but I'd say it's at least 80% right now that Daieisho takes the yusho.

The theme for the Saturday broadcast was kimari-te, or winning techniques, and they went through how the Association determines the official kimari-te. As part of the production, NHK produced a graphic that showed the top 10 kimari-te from 1978 vs. the top 10 kimari-te in 2020. I'm not sure why they picked such a random number as 1978, but here was the chart:



There are some definite noticeable trends as follows:

* Yori-kiri wins (the staple in orthodox sumo) have decreased 33%

* Oshi-dashi wins have increased 60% without an increase in oshi-zumo rikishi

* The three moves from 1978 no longer in the top 10 are yori-taoshi, tsuri-dashi, shitate-nage...moves that all required chest to chest sumo

* The three moves that have replaced them are tsuki-dashi, okuri-dashi, oshi-taoshi...moves that do not require chest to chest sumo

* Tsuki-otoshi--a counter move in 1978--has increased 100% and is now often used as an offensive tool in compromised bouts

* Uwate-nage--a skill that requires multiple sumo basics--has decreased by more than half

* In 1978 there were three kimari-te that are non-frontal moves; in 2020 that increased to 4

The two outlier kimari-te are tsuri-dashi from 1978 and tsuki-dashi from 2020. By the time I began watching sumo, tsuri-dashi was a very rare technique, and I attribute its rapid demise to the increased weight of the rikishi. There were a lot more skinny dudes four decades ago.

As for tsuki-dashi, it's also a rare technique in a legitimate bout, so to see it soar like that without an increase in push-first rikishi is an anomaly in straight-up sumo.

If you think about oshi guys--or push-first rikishi--who reached Yokozuna and Ozeki in my three decades plus following sumo, you have Hokutoumi (Yokozuna) and Chiyotaikai (Ozeki) and that's it. Musashimaru and Akebono were also very good at oshi-zumo, but they could battle at the belt just as well and were not considered oshi guys. Asashoryu also began his career as an oshi/tsuki guy, but he ended it as a yotsu-zumo specialist. So, my conclusion for the sudden surge in tsuki-dashi--and the huge climb in oshi-dashi victories--despite a lack of push-only guys like Hokutoumi and Chiyotaikai is the large increase of bouts the last few years that feature mukiryoku opponents.

Across the board, the trends suggest a swift move away from chest to chest sumo and the increase of less-skilled techniques. In short, the quality of sumo in the Makuuchi division has lessened, and the bouts are not as competitive as they used to be.

Turning our attention to rikishi of interest from the weekend, the gag-myself-with-a-spoon bout featured M14 Midorifuji and M15 Kotonowaka on Saturday. In the midst of all this talk about kimari-te, I just KNEW they were going to have Midorifuji win by kata-sukashi. Kotonowaka stood upright at the tachi-ai allowing Midorifuji to get in close, but instead of assuming moro-zashi, he groped Kotonowaka's left arm with both arms of his own as he jumped out right. He nearly stumbled over his own two feet with the move, but Kotonowaka failed to make him pay, and so Midorifuji was able to regroup and assume moro-zashi. With Kotonowaka still standing there doing nothing, Midorifuji awkwardly set up a kata-sukashi by hooking his right hand up and under Baby Waka's left armpit, and when the mediocre shoulder slap came, Kotonowaka just put his shoulder to the dohyo and rolled into a summersault. The result of a kata-sukashi looks like the result of a hataki-komi, so to see the much larger Kotonowaka react like this was totally fake.

The Sadogatake-beya is one of the most wheeling and dealing stables out there, so it was no surprise to see this bit of theater on Saturday.

As for our leader, M1 Daieisho, he easily destroyed Suckiwake Takanosho with a straight up oshi attack on Saturday, but he needed a freebie from M6 Kagayaki on Sunday to pick up kachi-koshi at the turn. Daieisho meant well at the tachi-ai, but he ran into a brick wall in Kagayaki who himself is a very good oshi guy, and this was the first bout so far where Daieisho was forced to fight defensively. Kagayaki had Daieisho pushed over to the edge in a few seconds, but instead of finishing the leader off at the edge, he kept his arms extended and waited for Daieisho to grab Kagayaki's left arm and execute a tottari. It was well executed, but Kagayaki also aided the throw by diving forward giving Daieisho his second compromised win of the tournament. I thought they'd pair him with the M4's before someone at M6, but this bout was indicative of Daieisho needing a bit of help in order to yusho. For now, he's still perfect at 8-0.

On his tail coming into the day was Shodai who faced M3 Onosho on Saturday. Onosho easily won the tachi-ai standing Shodai upright and getting his right arm inside with the left hand right on Shodai's outer belt. Instead of beating Shodai at the belt, however, Onosho refused to grab the outer grip and then just backed his way to the edge of the dohyo and waited for Shodai to come and shove him out. This bout was a perfect example of why we see more oshi-dashi when the victor did nothing whatsoever to set it up. It's just an easy kimari-te in a fake bout of sumo.

On Day 8, Shodai wasn't so lucky against Komusubi Mitakeumi. In a bout that was very hard to break down because it was so unorthodox, Shodai offered a quick shove at the tachi-ai into Mitakeumi's chest before going for a left tsuki, and while it knocked Mitakeumi off balance a half step, Shodai wasn't there to finish him off, so when the two did square up, Mitakeumi gained moro-zashi. He wasn't able to hold his gal in snug, however, and so Shodai was able to back out of it creating some separation. When the two connected again, Mitakeumi gained moro-zashi again although his left arm was very shallow, but still...Shodai was unable to do anything, and so Mitakeumi worked him over and out. What another good example of the kimari-te chart above where the sumo was so soft and unorthodox. Yes, Mitakeumi won by yori-kiri, but there was little force exerted here, and the two rikishi definitely did not go chest to chest. In terms of the yusho race, Shodai falls now to 6-2 giving Daieisho a very comfortable cushion.

As long as we're talking about the faux-zeki, Takakeisho racked up another fake oshi win over M4 Tochinoshin. The two bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai where Tochinoshin already started backing up with his hands high, and as Takakeisho moved forward, Tochinoshin went for a wild slap at the side of Takakeisho's belt, and there was such little pressure anywhere in this bout, Takakeisho flopped down forward after executing the final "push." Once again, an oshi win that was not set up whatsoever.

The gift gave Takakeisho another fake win at 2-5, but he would not meet such agreeable circumstances on Sunday. Against M4 Tamawashi, the two traded simultaneous shoves from the tachi-ai before both going for light swipes or pulls. Tamawashi finally knocked Takakeisho off balance with a right swipe to the shoulder, and as Takakeisho looked to claw back into the bout, he went for a few wild left swipes with the left arm (his only consistent move in a real bout), but he just threw himself off balance and turned his back in defeat. Tamawashi needed one more light shove to the back to send Takakeisho about four rows deep where he wiped his sweat on a poor fan in the suna-kaburi, but the end result was Takakeisho's falling to 2-6. If the dude had a little bit more pride, he'd go kyujo, but I think that's just reserved for real Yokozuna and Ozeki.

And that brings us to Asanoyama. On Saturday, he faced M3 Kotoshoho who gave up the easy right inside position and left outer grip to the faux-zeki who pushed his foe to the edge. He wasn't able to get him across, however, and so Kotoshoho bent over and grabbed a left frontal grip of his own, but instead of going chest to chest, Kotoshoho just stayed low and let Asanoyama force him over to the side and down yori-taoshi style. It was a very awkward ending because there was little actual force in the bout. Usually, a yori-taoshi occurs because the guy with his back to the edge is stubborn and won't budge. Here, the yori-taoshi occurred right after the two guys moved laterally across half the dohyo. This was a great example of mukiryoku sumo.

On Sunday against M5 Endoh, it was a very similar bout...a yotsu contest that really didn't go chest to chest. At the tachi-ai, Endoh offered a light shove up high but then just backed up waiting for Asanoyama to rush forward and get the right arm inside. Before the two guys could really hook up, however, Asanoyama lightly forced Endoh back and across, and it was just as much a result of Endoh's backing up of his own volition. I mean, no time for an outer grip, no grunting from either guy, and no force whatsoever. Asanoyama is gifted a 5-3 record now, but his sumo has been so light and soft. It's embarrassing.

I suppose we also need to comment on M16 Akiseyama. Against M12 Ichinojo on Saturday, the Mongolith stood straight up and was flat-footed at the tachi-ai, but Akiseyama was too timid to really move forward and try and do damage. As a result, the two looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu, but Ichinojo turned away, and when Akiseyama went for a mediocre thrust with the right arm, Ichinojo swiped at it lightly sending Akiseyama down and off balance. Ichinojo could have easily forced this one chest to chest, but it was another light contest with a weak fall in the end.

On Sunday, M7 Meisei completely exposed Akiseyama blowing him off the starting lines and using a nice tsuppari attack to force the old guy upright and back quickly. At the edge, Akiseyama was unable to defend himself as Meisei got the left arm inside and forced his foe out just like that. The result leaves both of these guys at 6-2, and so here is the leaderboard as we begin week 2:

8-0: Daieisho
6-2: Shodai, Meisei, Kiribayama, Akiseyama

I've seen more promising leaderboards in my day, but sumo has to lie in the bed it's made for itself. I'll resume my regular reports starting tomorrow.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The big three heading into Day 6 were Daieisho, Akiseyama, and Meisei in that order if you measure media coverage and hype, but it's really going to come down to Daieisho and then maybe Shodai as all of the furreners are staying well behind the pace. Kirishima, whose duty it was to bear false witness in the booth today, spent most of the intro to the broadcast trying to dissect what's different about Daieisho's sumo this basho. I was like...nothing. The real answer is simply: he's not throwing any of his bouts against the Japanese darlings. But whatever. With Sadogatake-oyakata providing commentary from the mukou-joumen chair, it was sure to be a bland day of commentary.

And speaking of bland commentary, let's get right to it starting with M14 Hoshoryu who looked to get both arms inside against J7 Nishikigi, but the latter used a nice left kachi-age to keep Hoshoryu away from the belt, and when Hoshoryu eventually did get both arms inside, it was only elbow deep as Nishikigi pinched in hard from the outside. Nishikigi definitely had the advantage at this point, but he chose not to apply any pressure, so when Hoshoryu tested a quick uchi-gake and then a quick scoop throw with the left, Nishikigi dutifully went down. You watch Nishikigi's legs at the end, and they were limp as a noodle during the fall. Normally a guy would dig in and be forced to hop around a bit, but whatever. Hoshoryu has to buy his first win at 1-6 against a Juryo guy.

Before we move on, I see that the Japanese media is starting to comment on Asashoryu's recent tweets. He tweeted out his embarrassment for Hoshoryu's 0-5 start, and then he also mocked the current level of sumo these days. And he's totally correct. I'm sure all of history's legitimate Yokozuna and Ozeki look at what's going on today and just shake their head in disbelief.

M14 Midorifuji executed a quick face slap against M17 Sadanoumi before getting both arms inside against a listless Sadanoumi, and Sadanoumi just stood there and let himself be forced back in linear fashion. You watch Midorifuji in his losses, and he's a deer in the headlights atop the dohyo lacking any confidence, but when he knows going in that he's gonna win, you see sumo like this...against a fully mukiryoku opponent. Midorifuji has purchased his 4-2 record while Sadanoumi falls to 3-3.

M12 Ichinojo literally stood straight up at the tachi-ai with his left arm out wide and right arm just dangling there in front of M15 Kotonowaka, and so when Baby Waka maneuvered himself into moro-zashi, Ichinojo did nothing to stop it. Once obtained, Kotonowaka executed another linear force-out that was completely uncontested. As if. Three bouts in on the day and three yaocho as Kotonowaka is gifted 5-1 while Ichinojo falls to 4-2 with a fatter billfold.

For some strange reason, M16 Akiseyama started well behind his own starting line today against M12 Terutsuyoshi, so his tachi-ai consisted of his standing up and taking a few awkward baby steps towards his opponent, and Terutsuyoshi was just standing there waiting for him grabbing and early belt grip with the left and then quickly assuming moro-zashi. With Akiseyama having no position whatsoever, Terutsuyoshi instinctively drove him back to the edge and then just let up waiting for the counter move to come. Said counter was a mediocre tsuki-otoshi with the right hand, and Terutsuyoshi just crashed to the dirt beyond the straw right on cue. Akiseyama's 6-0 start is a steaming pile of shullbit while Terutsuyoshi falls to 2-4.

M15 Yutakayama used a right kachi-age at the tachi-ai against M11 Kotoeko, and Eko was able to trap that right arm inside with a nice left tsuki. It threw a wrench in Yutakayama's attack for sure, but he was able to shake out of it at the edge and then begin a thrust attack driving Kotoeko back to the other side of the dohyo. At this point, Kotoeko went for an awkward swipe moving right, but Yutakayama was able to catch him just enough to send him across the straw with little fanfare. Boring bout as Yutakayama moves to 4-2 while Kotoeko falls to 2-4.

M10 Aoiyama slammed both forearms into M13 Akua's chest at the tachi-ai and then quickly back-pedaled going for the offensive pull, and there was nothing the bewildered Akua could do. This one was over in a second and a half as Aoiyama moves to 4-2 while Akua falls to a useless 1-5.

M7 Tobizaru came with a feisty shove attack against M10 Shimanoumi at the tachi-ai putting the latter on defense the first part of the bout, but Tobizaru was unable to apply sufficient pressure to push Shimanoumi close to the edge. After fooling around a bit trying to look for a pull of his opponent, Shimanoumi finally mounted an oshi charge of his own, and he was able to quickly push Tobizaru back spinning him around 180 degrees where he nudged him across that final half step. Shimanoumi evens his record at 3-3 while Tobizaru is lost in the division at 1-5 without sufficient funds to buy bouts.

M6 Ryuden kept his hands high at the tachi-ai voluntarily back pedaling to where his left foot was nearly touching the straw, and when M9 Myogiryu caught up with him, he went for a soft pull that sent the willing Ryuden down a few seconds in. I mean, Ryuden was just waiting for the hataki-komi here as he falls to 1-5 while Myogiryu moves to 3-3.

M8 Kiribayama looked to thrust M6 Kagayaki back from the tachi-ai, but Kagayaki was proving too big of a load for the Mongolian to push around, and when Kagayaki unleashed some thrusts of his own, he sent Kiribayama dangerously back to the edge. With Kiribayama on the brink and standing there with a big target painted on his chest, Kagayaki halted his attack and waited for Kiribayama to move right and pull Kagayaki down with two hands to the head. Kagayaki was more than willing to fall here as Kiribayama moves to 4-2 against a mukiryoku opponent. As for Kagayaki, he falls to 3-3 with plenty of room to sell more bouts. It wouldn't surprise me if Kagayaki has already saved up enough money to buy his oyakata stock.

M5 Endoh got the left arm inside early against M8 Tokushoryu and stood his foe up fast enough that he was able to work his right arm to an outer grip, and from there, it was Endoh's using that superior position to wrench Tokushoryu around and eventually out easily surviving Tokushoryu's counter throws and tsuki. I mean, Tokushoryu is a load to move around especially for a smaller dude like Endoh, but this was a nice display of sumo as Endoh moves to 3-3 while Tokushoryu falls to 2-4.

M5 Okinoumi rebuffed M7 Meisei's charge with a right kachi-age, and with Meisei unable to budge his taller foe from the tachi-ai, it was Okinoumi who used a cautious shove attack to keep Meisei upright and away from the inside until Okinoumi was able to fire on a left tsuki to Meisei's right side that easily felled him a few seconds in. Meisei suffers his first defeat at 5-1 while Okinoumi quietly moves to 4-2.

M1 Hokutofuji came with his usual tachi-ai against M3 Kotoshoho thrusting with the right arm and shading left, but Kotoshoho played it well with a left tsuki that sent Hokutofuji further left. He couldn't capitalize beyond that, however, as Hokutofuji's planted his right hand into a nice hazu grip up and under Kotoshoho's left armpit, and he not only lifted the taller M3 completely upright but he grabbed a left outer grip to boot. By the time Kotoshoho attempted to counter with a right scoop throw, it was too late as Hokutofuji bodied the youngster down just before Hokutofuji crashed down himself. Isn't it obvious when you see a real bout like this one? Great stuff as Hokutofuji moves to 2-4 while Kotoshoho falls to 0-6. We'd be treated to at least a dozen bouts like this every day if all of sumo was straight up (sigh).

Our two Komusubi, Takayasu and Mitakeumi, dueled today starting out in hidari-yotsu where Mitakeumi looked to force his foe out first, but he didn't have Takayasu pinned in tight on the other side, and so Takayasu was able to grab the right outer grip, pivot to his left, and then use that momentum to sling Mitakeumi across the straw with the uwate. In a best case scenario, that would have been an uwate-nage, but I'm not complaining. Any time we get a straight up bout of sumo from these two, I'll take it. Takayasu moves to 3-3 with the win while Mitakeumi falls to 2-4.

M1 Daieisho's yusho hopes hinge on whether or not his foreign opponents will let up for him. You have Tamawashi floating out there and Tochinoshin, and then Daieisho drew Sekiwake Terunofuji today. Daieisho struck Fuji well at the tachi-ai but didn't knock him out of sorts, and Terunofuji could have halted that attack and latched onto his foe, but he just went with it all nice and mukiryoku allowing Daieisho to thrust him back, over, and out in about five seconds. I'll always give credit to a straight up sumo attack, which Daieisho employed today, but it still doesn't mean that Terunofuji didn't let him win. He obviously did, but I'm okay with it because I really like Daieisho, who now finds himself in firm control of the basho at 6-0. Terunofuji nonchalantly falls to 3-3 in defeat, so we'll see what the other two foreigners choose to do against Daieisho moving forward.

One of those foreigners is M4 Tamawashi who drew Suckiwake Takanosho, and Tamawashi was not in a giving mood today knocking Takanosho upright from the tachi-ai with his long arm of the law tsuppari, and then he knocked the Suckiwake back and to the side wham bam thank you ma'am tsuki-dashi style. This is what I mean when I say Daieisho needs a coupla other foreigners to let up for him, and it really is will they or won't they? Tamawashi didn't today as both of these dudes end up at 4-2. Daieisho draws Takanosho tomorrow and can score a similar win although he doesn't quite have the strength to send Takanosho into the lap of the ref in waiting as Tamawashi did today.

As we continue to move forward this basho, recall that baseline M4 Tochinoshin set in his bout with Endoh in regards to how he looks when he really tries to win because that grit was definitely lacking today against Shodai to no one's surprise. Tochinoshin came with the C3P0 arms at the tachi-ai today before firing on a wild tsuki with the right hand that sent Shodai a step sideways. Shodai was actually had at this point, but Shin reacted by bringing his left arm up high and extending his elbow out wide in useless fashion, and that was all Shodai needed to execute the force-out from there with Shin continuing to keep his hands high and wide. Shodai moves to 5-1 with the gift while Tochinoshin graciously falls to 2-4.

Up next was Takakeisho who received some thankful charity from Kotoshoho yesterday, but M3 Onosho has a reputation to live up to...namely, he's one of the two dudes that Kisenosato touted so highly on Day 2 (0-6 Kotoshoho is the other). When it comes to fighting Takakeisho for any dude ranked among the top 16 of the banzuke, it's merely a matter of choice. Takakeisho actually exhibited his best tachi-ai of the basho putting his left foot forward and offering a thrust Onosho's way, but he brought that right foot forward and completely aligned it with the left, and from that point, he lost all momentum. I think he knew it too because his response to Onosho's shove attack was a weak pull, the result of which was Onosho's sending the faux-zeki at least three rows deep into the suna-kaburi. Adding insult to injury, it was Takakeisho's duty to sit ringside afterwards to guard the East side during the last bout of the day, and so he had to live with the ass kicking in full view of everyone. Onosho moves to 4-2 with the easy win while Takanosho gave his best shot in falling to 1-5. Yokozuna shmokozuna.

In the day's final bout, Asanoyama and M2 Takarafuji looked to hook up in migi-yotsu, but Takarafuji did his foe a favor just backing away and moving left across the edge of the ring to the other side. When Asanoyama chased him down, the two hooked back up in migi-yotsu for reals, and Takarafuji grabbed a left outer grip against the defenseless faux-zeki. With Asanoyama unable to stand his ground, the two danced clear across the dohyo where Takarafuji simply swung Asanoyama over dashi-nage style and then down with that left outer belt grip. And it wasn't as if Takarafuji was trying that hard; it was more a case of Asanoyama's being so hapless in the ring. The end result is both dudes standing at 3-3, and it's clear that Asanoyama needs a lot more help if he's going to keep his fake rank.

Before we conclude, a Yokozuna or Ozeki should NEVER find themselves in this position:



Never. I guess the fetal position at the base of the dohyo is worse, but this is inexcusable for someone ranked at Ozeki. It's no wonder Asashoryu is going Donald Trump and getting so anxious on Twitter these days.

I guess if there's a silver lining to salvaging this basho, NHK has been messaging early and often that a variety of rikishi have won the last five Hatsu tournaments, and they've also been spotlighting Daieisho heavily after his easy run over the three faux-zeki the first three days. That's not a ton to go on for the sport, but it's all they've got at this point. That and a 36 year old dude with saggy breasts.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I think NHK and the Sumo Association sensed that they needed something to spice up the basho, and so at the start of Day 5 they treated us to a walk down memory lane by showing highlights of the key bouts from the 1993 Hatsu basho. Akebono defeated Takanohana on senshuraku to pick up his third career yusho and cement his promotion to Yokozuna, and Takanohana was also promoted to Ozeki following the exciting tournament. You just looked at the crowd and how tightly they were packed in and the raw emotion just flowing through the arena, and it reminded us old timers why we still pay attention to the sport. On one hand, it was refreshing to see sumo like that again, but on the other hand, I don't see how one can help not to contrast the sumo from 1993 with what we see on the dohyo today.

Takakeisho's Yokozuna run is done for this tournament, but anyone who was around in 1993 who watches Takakeisho today can tell he's a huge fraud. When they cut back to reality--yes, that harsh reality that is the 2021 Hatsu basho, Kitanofuji just slumped in his chair with his jaw tightened as if he didn't want to let go of the moment. I don't think any of us who witnessed sumo back then wanted to come back to reality, but Tobe Announcer asked for his opinion, and he hemmed and hawed a bit trying to collect his thoughts before finally offering, "Everyone was so young back then." It was an interesting statement, but what was he going to say? It's obvious to everyone in the know.

Forcing ourselves back to reality, M15 Yutakayama and M17 Sadanoumi kicked off the day in a bout that saw Yutakayama pummel Sadanoumi this way and that with a nice tsuppari attack, and Yutakayama had so many chances to finish his foe off, so the longer it went, the longer it looked suspicious. In the end, Yutakayama had Sadanoumi pushed near the edge where the Sadamight quickly moved left. Instead of adjusting, Yutakayama continued to shove straight forward into thin air and that allowed Sadanoumi to get deep to the inside and force Yutakayama back the last few steps. Both guys end the day at 3-2 and this bout was compromised.

Hidenoumi visited from Juryo to take on M14 Midorifuji and what happened to that silly kata-sukashi nonsense surrounding the rookie they made a big deal bout early on?  In an obvious straight up bout, Midorifuji came with ineffective tsuppari that didn't faze Hidenoumi whatsoever, and so the veteran Hidenoumi timed effective thrusts of his own and dared Midorifuji to come in close. Midway, the bout looked to go to migi-yotsu, but Midorifuji decided to tsuppari his way out of it, and from there Hidenoumi took charge thrusting his way into the right inside position followed by a left outer grip near the edge, and it was ballgame at that point. Midorifuji falls to 3-2, and his sumo is night and day when the bouts aren't compromised.

Speaking of compromised bouts, M14 Hoshoryu easily won the tachi-ai against M16 Akiseyama flirting with the inside and grabbing a right outer grip, but he just wouldn't commit to the superior position keeping the action in the center of the ring. Hoshoryu finally grabbed a frontal belt grip with the right that was an outer, and he had Akiseyama cuffed and stuffed, but instead of positioning himself slightly to the side of his opponent, he just stayed square and let Akiseyama force him back and out in linear fashion. This was yet another bout where the loser does all the work including guiding his foe to victory in the end. Akiseyama's 5-0 start is totally illegitimate. As for Hoshoryu, he falls to 0-5 and his banking serious yen this tournament.

M12 Terutsuyoshi ducked in low against M15 Kotonowaka with the clear path to the right inside and frontal belt grip with the left, but he completely ignored the belt and monkeyed around by groping Kotonowaka's right elbow. After waiting for Baby Waka to make a move, which came in the form of a right outer grip, Terutsuyoshi had moro-zashi, but he just let go of his left inside position and allowed Kotonowaka to throw him across the straw uwate-nage style. I mean, this totally should have gone to a nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge, but Terutsuyoshi just let go of his strong hand. Total yaocho here as Terutsuyoshi makes all the wrong moves gifting Kotonowaka a 4-1 start while T-Yoshi falls to to a harmless 2-3.

M13 Akua knocked M11 Kotoeko back a full step from the tachi-ai but then just kept his hands up high doing nothing. This allowed Kotoeko to get the right arm inside and easy left outer grip whereupon he mounted a force-out charge. Instead of digging in or trying to move laterally, Akua just agreed to go straight back and let Kotoeko mount him at the edge for the yori-taoshi win. Akua was completely mukiryoku in this one giving Kotoeko the win, and the highlight came at the end of the bout with Akua laying square on his back at the edge of the dohyo. The dude put both feet straight into the air and then lowered them so hard that the momentum allowed him to slide upright onto his butt and then into the standing position all without using his hands. Dude's no break dancer, but it was an impressive move nonetheless as Kotoeko ekes forward at 2-3 with Akua falling to 1-4.

M12 Ichinojo was no nonsense against M10 Shimanoumi knocking him back from the tachi-ai and using a perfect shove attack to send his foe back once, twice, three times a lady. This was perfect linear sumo from Ichinojo who dismantled Shimanoumi in under three seconds. Good stuff as the Slug moves to 4-1 while Shimanoumi falls to 2-3.

M10 Aoiyama came forward with cautious tsuppari against M9 Myogiryu, and after a few seconds, the Happy Bulgar tested the pull waters a bit. Myogiryu couldn't make him pay for the momentum shift despite rushing in to get the right arm inside, but Aoiyama countered with his own right ham to the inside and easily bodied Myogiryu across from there. Pretty bland bout as Aoiyama moves to 3-2 while Myogiryu falls to 2-3.

M8 Kiribayama moved out left grabbing a quick outer grip of M7 Tobizaru's belt, and he added insult to injury with the right hand in tight as well at the front of Tobi's belt. The defenseless Tobizaru flailed a bit even bringing his hands high as if to mount a neck throw, but Kiribayama just put a fork into him and threw him down with that initial left belt grip. This was totally uncontested as Kiribayama picks up the easy win at 3-2 while Tobizaru falls to 1-4.

M8 Tokushoryu kept his arms wide open at the tachi-ai inviting M7 Meisei to grab moro-zashi, but Meisei managed to foul it up by keeping his own right arm high and outside. Now in migi-yotsu, Tokushoryu had the easy path the yori-kiri victory, but Meisei paid for the win, so Tokushoryu just stood there and allowed Meisei to attempt a left inside belt throw. That didn't go very far, and once again, Meisei was compromised against the larger Tokushoryu, but last year's yusho rikishi completely separated himself from his smaller foe and literally just stood there as Meisei gathered his wits and charged again. I mean, Meisei was so hapless here throughout, and so Tokushoryu finally put his hands up high as if to pull only he backed himself outta the dohyo with Meisei in tow. What a crock'a shat this was as Meisei buys his 5-0 start while Tokushoryu graciously falls to 2-3.

The mukiryoku sumo would continue as M5 Okinoumi and M6 Ryuden looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu, but they curiously weren't chest to chest circling in the center of the ring a bit with neither guy going for an outer grip. You could just see them avoiding tough contact when finally Okinoumi pulled at the back of Ryuden's head causing Ryuden to go into his awkward dive to the dirt. It was so unorthodox that Okinoumi stumbled himself to the dirt trying not to trip over his foe, and so in the end you had two guys sitting there next to each other in a heap in the middle of the dohyo. Trust me, sumo bouts are not supposed to end like that, and I'm not sure what the arrangement was going in, but Ryuden completely deferred to his foe today. This should have been a great display of yotsu-zumo, but all we got was puff sumo as Okinoumi moves to 3-2 while Ryuden falls to 1-4.

M6 Kagayaki caught M5 Endoh with two paws under the neck at the tachi-ai, and he promptly lifted Endoh upright with the shoves and used perfect de-ashi to knock Endoh back quickly. Endoh tried to move right to counter, but Kagayaki was into his craw the entire way shoving Endoh back and across in no time. That how yer supposed to fight 'em as Kagayaki moves to 3-2 with Endoh falling to 2-3.

M4 Tamawashi did the same thing to M3 Onosho lifting him upright with two hands to the neck only instead of charging forward and shoving Onosho back, Tamawashi switched gears and pushed Onosho forward and down with a left hand to the face in less than two seconds. For what it's worth, Tamawashi is the best active rikishi this basho on the banzuke. Yes, he's better than Terunofuji when he wants to be. The Mawashi and Onosho both end the day at 3-2, and Onosho got his ass kicked in this one.

And that brings us to the undefeated M1 Daieisho. Akiseyama and Meisei are getting a bit of ink, but Daieisho is the favorite to yusho at this point because he's defeated the supposed top guys. Actually, the real competition will come when Daieisho faces the furreners, and no, Komusubi Takayasu does not count as foreigner. True to form this basho, Daieisho used his effective thrust attack to bully Takayasu upright and around the ring. Credit Takayasu for trying to stand in there and use his bulk against Daieisho, but the M1 is simply a better rikishi with better technique, and so he pushed Takayasu around and out in a bout that should have been ruled tsuki-dashi. At the end, Takayasu attempted a weak pull of Daieisho's arm, but Daieisho had all the momentum and sent Takayasu a few rows deep. Good stuff here, and I wouldn't mind seeing Daieisho take the yusho as he moves to 5-0. As for Takayasu, he falls to 2-3 and was simply outclassed.

Komusubi Mitakeumi got the right arm inside at the tachi-ai against Suckiwake Takanosho, but you could see Mitakeumi not pressing in strong. He still had Takanosho bullied back to the tawara in two seconds flat, but he refused to finish him off. I mean, Mitakeumi had moro-zashi if he had wanted it, but he just refrained keeping his arms a bit high before going for a pull and inviting Takanosho to finally rush forward and score the awkward yori-taoshi win in the end. Both dudes fell awkwardly which happens in a fixed bout, and Mitakeumi definitely sold this one. Takanosho moves to a weak 4-1 with the gift while Mitakeumi settles for 2-3.

M1 Hokutofuji actually caught Sekiwake Terunofuji with a nice right paw to the throat that stood Fuji the Terrible upright, but Hokutoriki didn't have the ability to push him back, and so Fuji toyed with the right inside before yanking Hokutofuji's right arm away and getting the right arm inside for good. Hokutofuji still put up a good fight denying Terunofuji the left outer grip, but Fuji is just too damn good, and he ultimately shoved Hokutofuji to the side and out with some nice paws to the torso. Good stuff from Terunofuji as he methodically moves to 3-2 while Hokutofuji falls to 1-4.

And that brings us to Takakeisho who was welcomed with nervous applause as he stepped into the ring with M3 Kotoshoho who was obviously playing along today. Kotoshoho actually won the tachi-ai and advanced forward a half step, but he stopped applying any pressure towards Takakeisho and just waited for the faux-zeki to make a move, and about three seconds in Takakeisho went for his signature left swipe whereupon Kotoshoho couldn't bowl himself to the dohyo fast enough. Nice fake bout to gift Takakeisho his first win, and I think even the sheep knew this one was a favor. Kotoshoho falls to 0-5 and will be rewarded somehow for this.

I am so glad the Tochinoshin - Endoh bout happened yesterday because it was a clear example of how Tochinoshin acts when he's trying to win. Contrast that with his nonsense today against SoftyNoYama in a bout that saw Tochinoshin weakly move back and left after delivering a hari-te at the tachi-ai just waiting for Asanoyama to rush in. Tochinoshin stood completely upright with his hands up high as Asanoyama moved him back that last half step. It took less than two seconds, and the excuse is going to be a failed tachi-ai from Tochinoshin, but this was blatant yaocho on the part of the Georgian. Asanoyama should be embarrassed to be given wins like this as he limps to 3-2 while Tochinoshin falls to 2-3.

In the day's final bout, M2 Takarafuji had the clear path with the left arm to the inside and a right outer grip for the taking against Shodai from the tachi-ai, but Takarafuji swung that left arm to the front of his body and ran a bit forward anticipated a right tsuki from Shodai. That thrust from the faux-zeki never came, however, and so Takarafuji squared back up with the left inside and right outer grip to boot, but instead of forcing the listless Shodai back and out, Takarafuji spun around to the other side of the ring and out with Shodai in tow. These two never did go chest to chest though I guess it was technically a yotsu-zumo bout. In reality, this was just pure nonsense and as fake of sumo as you'd ever care to see as Shodai is gifted a 4-1 start while Takarafuji does his duty at 2-3.

I'm pretty sure this day ain't gonna be revisited down memory lane, and so that's a wrap on the first five days of the basho. Hooboy. Can't wait for the last ten days. Or maybe I can.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I suppose the biggest news from Day 4 was Japan's expansion of the state of emergency for more large cities and regions due to increased Covid-19 cases and the detection of new strains from other countries. Japan is highly encouraging its citizens to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary, so that begs the question...how necessary is the Hatsu basho? Like going to the grocery store or getting that pachinko fix, they are going to let the Hatsu basho continue, but with all the turmoil going on in society, this tournament seems more like a nuisance than a necessity.

Part of that has to do with the "elite" rikishi unable to grab the headlines early in the basho...at least the positive headlines. NHK News 9 led their sumo coverage the night of Day 4 with pictures of Daieisho and Onosho...not exactly fodder to counter the negative news surrounding Corona.

We began the day with M15 Yutakayama entertaining Azumaryu visiting from Juryo, and the two exhibited a solid tachi-ai both looking to shove each other upright. After a few volleys, Azumaryu went for a quick pull that gave Yutakayama the left inside, and Azumaryu countered with a right outer grip. An outer grip is great if one has the inside position as well, but Ryu didn't and so his throw/dashi-nage attempts were limp as Yutakayama stood strong. With Azumaryu still focused on a belt throw, Yutakayama was deep enough to the inside to where he used his left leg at the back of Azumaryu's right to trip him over soto-gake style. What a great way to start the day, and why can't all Makuuchi bouts be contested like this? Yutakayama moves to 3-1 with the nice win.

M14 Hoshoryu came with his right arm high pushing towards M17 Sadanoumi with his left arm out wide, and it was a very ineffective start. This gifted Sadanoumi moro-zashi a second or two in, but Hoshoryu still had room to work with a right outer grip. The Mongolian pivoted out right as if to set up a throw, but then he just let go of the belt giving Sadanoumi free reign. The Sadamight quickly forced Hoshoryu over in front of the chief judge, and Hoshoryu instinctively set up a counter kote-nage with the right, but he intentionally stepped his left foot way beyond the straw in order to set up the throw. The throw worked wonders causing the Sadamight to touch down first, but Hoshoryu had already disqualified himself by stepping out gifting Sadanoumi the ill-gotten win. Hoshoryu falls to 0-4 and should be banking some money this basho while Sadanoumi is 2-2.

Thank the gods for Daieisho and Onosho; otherwise, the marquee matchup on the day would have been M16 Akiseyama vs. M14 Midorifuji. In the battle of these two unbeatens, Midorifuji just bounced off of Akiseyama's fat at the tachi-ai, and when he went back in for more, the M16 shoved the rookie away until he could secure a right arm inside and left arm wrapped around Midorifuji's right. After this initial flurry from the tachi-ai, Akiseyama backed up a half step executing a nice maki-kae with the left giving him moro-zashi, and Midorifuji's response was a worthless keta-guri attempt. Midorifuji toyed with the idea of a left outer grip, but he purposefully refrained likely not wanting to go chest to chest with Akiseyama and pressing the latter's boobs in even further. Either that or he wanted to neutralize Akiseyama's right inside positioning since the beast had his left so far inside he was grabbing the back of Midorifuji's belt. With Midorifuji unable to execute an offensive maneuver, Akiseyama dug in enjoying moro-zashi, and after a few large breaths with his gut nearly touching the dohyo it was hanging so low, he executed the textbook force-out win leading with moro-zashi. Pretty good bout here too as Akiseyama moves to 4-0 while Midorifuji suffers his first loss at 3-1.

M13 Akua had the C3P0 arms at the tachi-ai against M15 Kotonowaka giving the latter moro-zashi from the get-go, so Akua's only chance from this point was to use a right outer grip and set up a counter throw. As he moved out literally to set up the throw, Kotonowaka stayed close and pinned Akua's right leg inside disabling him from lifting it off the dohyo, and the result was Kotonowaka's just leaning his body into Akua and forcing him to the dirt yori-taoshi style. Kotonowaka moves to 3-1 with the win while Akua falls to 1-3.

Not sure what M11 Kotoeko's MO was from the tachi-ai against M12 Ichinojo, but Eko moved a bit right looking for who knows what, but Ichinojo used his good speed to get his right arm hooked up and under Kotoeko's left, and with Kotoeko already turned 90 degrees, Ichinojo just pushed him out of the ring in one fell swoop. That's what you call a failed tachi-ai on the part of Kotoeko, but what else was he going to do? Ichinojo moves to 3-1 with the laughable win while Kotoeko falls to 1-3.

M10 Aoiyama knocked M12 Terutsuyoshi back with a few shoves from the tachi-ai, but you could just tell that Aoiyama wasn't using his de-ashi. He made it as far as Terutsuyoshi's starting line, but then he put his hands up high as if to pull with the pull never coming. That was Terutsuyoshi's queue to begin his own oshi charge, and Aoiyama just backed up in tow giving Terutsuyoshi the ridiculously easy oshi-dashi win. Aoiyama let up big time here as both rikishi stand at 2-2.

M7 Meisei and M10 Shimanoumi both came in low at the tachi-ai bumping heads, and with Shimanoumi not looking to grab his smaller foe, Meisei stood Shimanoumi up nicely with a right paw to the throat. Shimanoumi moved left and got his left arm inside if he had wanted it, but he kept it in there half-assed applying no counter pressure to Meisei whatsoever. As Shimanoumi let Meisei press forward, Shimanoumi got his right arm inside, and he had a ton of options open to him, but he just stayed upright and went with the flow giving Meisei the easy push out win. Shimanoumi was mukiryoku here falling to 2-2 while Meisei stays..er..uh..perfect at 4-0.

M9 Myogiryu and M7 Tobizaru engaged in an oshi affair where both guys were really looking to set up a pull. Both dudes got their shots in and Myogiryu had his feet touching the back tawara a time or two, but Myogiryu is the better rikishi not mention the more experienced, so he was willing to give up some space in order to spring his sneak attack. About seven seconds in when Tobizaru went for another pull, Myogiryu made his move shoving Tobizaru across the entire length of the dohyo pushing him out as Myogiryu himself crashed down to the dirt. Gunbai to the veteran in this bland affiar as Myogiryu moves to 2-2 while Tobizaru is 1-3.

M6 Ryuden and M8 Kiribayama hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Kiribayama was polite enough to just stand there and let Ryuden get a right outer grip. If you watch the tachi-ai, Ryuden hopped forward and aligned his feet extremely awkwardly, and the Mongolians will not let a mistake like that slide...unless their intention is not to win the bout. And that was the case here as Kiribayama waited for Ryuden's outer grip, and then he refused to attempt any sort of a counter move as Ryuden just forced him back and across. I mean, Kiribayama made it look good, but he was mukiryoku here never making a single attempt to win the bout. Ryuden picks up his first win at 1-3 while Kiribayama is content at 2-2.

M8 Tokushoryu put his hands to M6 Kagayaki's neck and then slowly moved to his right going for an early pull. Any rikishi looking to win his bout would have been able to exploit that bad move from Tokushoryu, but Kagayaki was taking the cash here, and so he was completely oblivious to his opponent's moves and just plopped forward and down in a bout that didn't even go two seconds. Both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

M4 Tochinoshin came with a right kachi-age as he is wont to do, but M5 Endoh was pushing upwards beneath Tochinoshin's right armpit at the tachi-ai, and with Shin's left arm rendered way high, Endoh slipped underneath the kachi-age and into moro-zashi a few seconds in. Tochinoshin quickly countered with dual outer grips as Endoh forced him to the edge, but Shin took full advantage of the tawara and used that and his superior strength to halt Endoh's momentum and slowly wrench him upright. With Endoh higher than he wanted to be, Shin went for a left outer grip, but Endoh stood firm desperately trying to belly Tochinoshin across, but it just wasn't to be. Endoh simply couldn't overcome Tochinoshin's strength, and so the Private slowly but surely nudged Endoh back to the other side of the dohyo and out. This was a great bout of sumo, and it proves that even though a Japanese rikishi can maybe win the tachi-ai, they can't beat the foreign rikishi unless the furreners let them. I mean, how many Tochinoshin bouts have we seen where his opponent doesn't even have the good position Endoh maintained today, and yet Shin will just walk back and across failing to counter? It's obvious for those who have eyes to see as both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

M4 Tamawashi caught M5 Okinoumi with a right paw to the neck at the tachi-ai, but he wasn't moving forward, and so Okinoumi was able to fire some shoves of his own. With both guys higher than they wanted to be, no one's shoves and any effect, and Tamawashi backed up allowing Okinoumi to come forward and get the left arm firmly inside. Okinoumi is a belt guy, and he should have been in full control here, but Tamawashi used a nice left tsuki to easily and softly send Okinoumi down across the edge. Tamawashi was dinking around here and he still easily won the bout as both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

M1 Daieisho and Komusubi Mitakeumi traded thrusts from the tachi-ai, but Mitakeumi was just thrusting to thrust. Daieisho was thrusting with a purpose, and so he placed effective shoves into Mitakeumi's neck and torso, and while Mitakeumi stood pat for a few seconds, Daieisho simply overpowered him and knocked the Komusubi back once, twice, three times a lady. They correctly ruled the kimari-te as tsuki-dashi, which meant it was an official ass kicking, and there was nothing Mitakeumi could do here.

I think if you had a true banzuke, you'd have all of the foreign rikishi at the top except for Hoshoryu, and then the top Japanese guys would be Daieisho, Okinoumi, Ryuden, and Chiyotairyu. I'd say those four are the top tier, and then you'd create a second tier with guys like Endoh and Myogiryu. I really enjoy it when these top Japanese rikishi are let loose like this, and it just shows in their sumo. You will never see Takakeisho, Asanoyama, or Shodai do what Daieisho did today or what he's been doing all basho. Never. Daieisho is 4-0 if you need him while Mitakeumi falls to 2-2.

Sekiwake Terunofuji knocked Komusubi Takayasu back a full step from the tachi-ai, and the real former Ozeki here had plenty of chances to grab his flailing gal and pull her in close, but it was just laughable how light Terunofuji was going after that initial charge. With Takayasu doing absolutely nothing, Terunofuji began pawing at the tack of Takayasu's head as if to go for a pull, but the love taps were so light it was obvious what was going on. With Takayasu having done nothing to defend himself or set Terunofuji up, he finally managed to put his hands at the back of Fuji's head, and that was the Terrible's cue to just duck his head and run himself outta the ring putting two palms to the dirt and then hopping down to the arena floor landing on both feet in the perfect dismount. After the bout, Mainoumi lied through his teeth when he said, "If Takayasu does sumo like this today, I think he has a chance to return to the Ozeki rank." Mainoumi of course did not offer a single waza that Takayasu actually employed that would boost him back to Ozeki, and it amazes me how anyone could hear this comment and not question it after what they witnessed on the dohyo. Sheep. Terunofuji falls to 2-2 early on while Takayasu lands on that same mark, and you heard it here first: Takayasu is on his way back to the Ozeki rank!!

M1 Hokutofuji offered a feeble right hand forward while shading left against Sekiwake Takanosho, and as mediocre as Hokutofuji's tachi-ai was, Takanosho could do nothing with it. The Suckiwake sorta had a hand on Hokutofuji's right arm, but then Fuji just dipped his left shoulder, turned in towards his foe, and waited for the swipe to come. And it was an extremely weak swipe, but Hokutofuji was already bowling himself down to the dirt. This bout lasted maybe two seconds, and it was poor acting on the part of Hokutofuji. Once again, we have a bout here where nobody can explain what the victor did to set up his "win." The result is Takanosho's moving to 3-1 while Hokutofuji falls to 1-3.

Next up was M3 Onosho paired against Asanoyama. The sumo gods giveth and the sumo gods taketh away, and that's the case with Onosho today. I mean, the dude padded his 3-0 start coming in with yaocho, but Asanoyama needed the win worse. At the tachi-ai, Onosho threw his left arm about as wide as you could get gifting Asanoyama the right inside, and with Onosho just voluntarily standing up straight, Asanoyama had him forced out in two seconds never once flirting with a left outer grip. Mainoumi correctly pointed out that Onosho's mistake was opening up his left side like that. He just conveniently left out that it was purely intentional to give Asanoyama the cheap win. Asanoyama moves to 2-2 with the gift while Onosho is saddled with his first loss at 3-1.

M3 Kotoshoho took a page out of Onosho's book throwing his left arm out wide at the tachi-ai, and then for no reason he just shaded laterally as if already looking to exit stage left. With Shodai doing absolutely nothing, Kotoshoho spun around the dohyo, backed himself to the edge, and then performed my favorite waza when trying to throw a bout: kick your leg forward as high in the air as you can get it. I mean, why would a guy ever do that in a bout of sumo? Shodai was clearly not connecting on shoves or thrusts or anything, but even if he was, why would a guy ever need to pretend like he's one of the Rockettes? Okay, full disclosure. I like to dress in fishnets and heels and do leg kicks myself, but I don't do it while fighting a bout of sumo. The end result is Shodai's moving to 3-1, Kotoshoho's falling to 0-4, and that song One from A Chorus Line stuck in my head.

In the day's final bout, would somebody finally let Takakeisho win? Or would they grab the kensho and run? That somebody was M2 Takarafuji, and it didn't look to me as if Takarafuji exactly had dollar signs in his eyes. I mean, the dude stood straight up at the tachi-ai and just let Takakeisho offer the first volley, but with Takakeisho's feet perfectly aligned (as usual), Takakeisho thrusts into Takarafuji's chest had no effect. Bored out of his skull, Takarafuji slowly moved left and didn't look to exactly time a pull. I mean, he did motion that way, but he wasn't trying to yank Takakeisho out of the ring because believe me, he coulda done it. Takarafuji fully stood there and waited for Takakeisho to square back up, and the latter was trying to tsuppari I suppose, but he already looked gassed to me. Thinking he had to do something, Takarafuji grabbed Takakeisho's extended right arm, and he was in the perfect position to just yank him out of the ring again, but instead he just let go and grabbed a weak left outer grip. Takakeisho tried to counter with a right inside, and that was Takarafuji's cue to sashay the two near the edge, but before a nage-no-uchi-ai could form, Takakeisho haplessly let go of the belt and just plopped to the dirt beyond the straw. I mean, they ruled it uwate-nage, but Takarafuji did not plant in order to set up a throw. His feet were aligned just like Takakeisho's at the tachi-ai, but Takakeisho just plopped forward and down.

Remember Kitanofuji's Day 1 statement that the theme this basho was Takakeisho's "juatsu"? That was just born of the blabber these guys need to make up day in and day out to help support the narrative, namely that Takakeisho is a candidate for Yokozuna, but I don't see how anyone can watch this crap day in and day out and actually believe that Takakeisho is a Yokozuna candidate or that he, Asanoyama, and Shodai are Ozeki. Takakeisho drops to 0-4 in ignominious defeat while Takarafuji is even steven at 2-2.

It's just sad to see what's become of sumo, and I realize that back when I began watching it wasn't a clean sport. There were always things that bugged me, and I know what it's like to try and justify these anomalies away to make believe that it's all real, but at least the rikishi back in my day had actual game.

The early Day 5 headlines do not have Takakeisho withdrawing, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Prior to the end of 2020, Sumo held a general keiko session on December 18th where all of the Makuuchi rikishi were invited. They chose this date because it was well before the year-end festivities, and so it gave sumo a chance to garner a few headlines prior to the Hatsu basho. On December 20th, NHK's Sunday Sports News show featured clips of this keiko session, and in particular they focused on Hakuho and Takakeisho doing butsukari-geiko. If I had to describe the scene in one word it would be "horrified." It was the lightest, senseless keiko I've ever seen, and Hakuho was handling Takakeisho like a China doll.

I compare that to the type of keiko I witnessed back in the early to mid-90's morning after morning during the Kyushu basho, and the contrast couldn't have been wider. The only two words I could think of to describe the Yokozuna candidate, Takakeisho, were "light" and "fragile."

This softness from Takakeisho, Asanoyama, and Shodai is translating directly into the hon-basho the last few minutes of every broadcast, and Day 3 was a perfect example. The word they commonly use to describe these guys' sumo is "gaman," but back in my day, I never saw anyone crack a plywood wall in the keiko room with his opponent's back using patience.

Moving to the action on the day, M17 Sadanoumi was as limp as M16 Akiseyama's breasts at the tachi-ai just keeping his arms open (waki wo hiraku) and gifting Akiseyama moro-zashi, and with the Sadamight making no effort to do anything, Akiseyama easily wrenched Umi to the side and out in maybe three uneventful seconds. This was a mukiryoku clinic on the part of Sadanoumi who falls to 1-2 while Akiseyama buys his way to 3-0.

M15 Kotonowaka welcomed Churanoumi up from Juryo today, and it was Churanoumi who looked to take charge from the tachi-ai offering feisty tsuppari that kept Baby Waka upright and away from his belt. Curiously, Churanoumi was not moving forward even though he had multiple chances with Kotonowaka pushed upright and on defense. About 10 seconds in and still fighting from the center of the ring, Churanoumi got in close as if to clinch, and you could see him just dip that left shoulder inviting the slapdown, and before Baby Waka could even execute it, the Juryo dude felled himself to the dirt. Obvious fall here even watching live as Kotonowaka buys win number two. I actually liked what I saw from Churanoumi today, so I'll keep an eye on him moving forward.

M14 Hoshoryu did his best bump on a log impression against M14 Midorifuji just gifting the rookie the easy right inside and left outer grip. To make matters worse, with Midorifuji unable to do anything despite the advantageous position, Hoshoryu brought his right arm from the inside out giving Midorifuji moro-zashi. Midorifuji shored up his left belt grip near the front, but he still couldn't bully Hoshoryu around, which was telling and so Hoshoryu committed his second bone-headed move by bringing his right arm over the top of Midorifuji's right shoulder grabbing the back of his belt. The only position in sumo worse than this one is being turned around 180 degrees and so Midorifuji was finally able to force Hoshoryu over and down watashi-komi style. Or was he? As the two went across the straw, Hoshoryu still maintained that grip on the back of the rookie's belt, and the momentum of the fall actually caused Midorifuji to touch down first, but whatever. Everyone knew the fix was in so why complicate it with a mono-ii? At 0-3, Hoshoryu is busy writing his next book Stupidest Intentional Sumo Moves for Dummies while Midorifuji has bought his 3-0 start.

M13 Akua attempt a bad keta-guri at the tachi-ai against M15 Yutakayama moving left and sweeping with the right leg. The trip attempt didn't faze Yutakayama as much as the henka did, but he quickly recovered and used stiff tsuppari to keep Akua upright. After jabbing at his foe for five or six seconds, Yutakayama got the left arm inside, and from there he forced Akua back near the edge before reversing gears on a dime and dumping Akua back to the center of the ring with a nice scoop throw. Very well executed bout from Yutakayama who moves to 2-1 while Akua falls to the opposite 1-2.

M11 Kotoeko looked to shade a bit left at the tachi-ai, but M12 Terutsuyoshi was already into his grill using a sharp oshi attack just pushing into the compromised Kotoeko's torso and knocking him back in maybe two seconds. Terutsuyoshi picks up a nice win as both rikishi end the day at 1-2.

M12 Ichinojo looked to get his right arm to the inside at the tachi-ai against M10 Aoiyama, but instead of complying with the yotsu-contest, Aoiyama drove a nice tsuki with the left into Ichinojo's right side knocking him upright just a bit and into the perfect position for Aoiyama to execute a very nice tsuki-dashi win. Both rikishi end the day at 2-1, and Ichinojo was definitely Lazy the Hutt in this one.

M8 Kiribayama and M10 Shimanoumi engaged in a light tsuppari attack where Kiribayama seemed to focus more on sideways slaps rather thatn straight-forward oshi-zumo with de-ashi to boot, but the superior rikishi, Kiribayama, won in the end eventually knocking Shimanoumi upright enough to where he could turn the tables on a dime and score the hataki-komi win. Both rikishi end the day at 2-1.

At this point of the broadcast they showed an interesting graphic: the winners of the last five Hatsu basho. The list is as follows:

2016 Kotoshogiku
2017 Kisenosato
2018 Tochinoshin
2019 Tamawashi
2020 Tokushoryu

It's a very telling graphic. There are no Yokozuna on that board (I know Kisenosato was gifted the rank after his yusho), and it's just a hodgepodge of random rikishi that exemplifies the instability of the sumo content in general. That 2016 Kotoshogiku yusho is where the Sumo Association really sold its soul to the devil, and we are going to have yet another new name to add to that list in 2021 that won't be a Yokozuna.

M9 Myogiryu henka'd to his left against M8 Tokushoryu and quickly got a left arm inside where he immediately went for a scripted scoop throw that bowled Tokushoryu over and down in a second flat. Tokushoryu knew it was coming and aided in the exaggerated dive as both rikishi end the day at 1-2.

M7 Meisei and M7 Tobizaru engaged in a decent slapfest, and you could just see Tobizaru using his shove attack to try and set up a pull. The problem was he wasn't getting the best of Meisei, and so the better rikishi in Meisei was able to push Tobizaru upright, off balance, and down across the straw in the end. I enjoyed this bout quite a bit as Meisei moves to 3-0 while Tobizaru falls to a useless 1-2.

M6 Kagayaki and M5 Okinoumi engaged in a light hidari-yotsu affair, and I say light because Okinoumi was not going at full throttle here. Even Yoshida Announcer watching the replay described Okinoumi's yotsu "attack" as chuto-hanpa, or merely mediocre. With Okinoumi mediocre, Kagayaki was eventually able to body him upright enough to grab the right outer grip, and from there Okinoumi made no effort to counter giving Kagayaki the ho-hum yori-kiri victory. Both rikishi finish the day at 2-1.

M5 Endoh and M6 Ryuden connected in a hidari-yotsu affair where Ryuden just stood there and allowed Endoh to grab a right outer grip and just flip him over and down a few seconds in. Ryuden had the clear path the right outer and tinkled the ivories a bit feigning to go for the equalizing grip, but this one was pre-determined giving Endoh the lightweight dashi-nage win that was obviously arranged beforehand. Endoh moves to 2-1 with the win while Ryuden continues to save up for that oyakata stock at 0-3.

M3 Kotoshoho and M4 Tamawashi engaged in an awkward-looking tsuppari affair that saw Kotoshoho backpedaling nearly off balance a few seconds in. As for Tamawashi, he wasn't looking for the kill from the start, and so the two ended up in hidari-yotsu where Tamawashi maintained a very loose right outer grip on one fold of the belt up near Shoho's left armpit. As Kotoshoho pressed forward, Tamawashi countered with a left scoop throw at the edge that Kotoshoho actually survived, but he was so off-balance that Tamawashi was able to grab him by the outer belt and twist him down for good uwate-hineri style. In terms of sumo basics, this was a poorly fought bout of sumo, and I attribute it to Tamawashi's going light on his Japanese foe. Tamawashi picks up his first win at 1-2 while Kotoshoho falls to 0-3. So much for Kisenosato's blabber yesterday about Kotoshoho making a Takanohana-like impact.

M2 Takarafuji had the path with the left arm inside at the tachi-ai against Komusubi Takayasu, but he just pulled the arm back towards his body and allowed Takayasu to dictate the pace with migi-yotsu. With Takayasu unable to latch onto an outer grip, he was really over-extended and exposed, but Takarafuji pulled his right arm clear away from his foe letting Takayasu completely regroup. At this point, Takarafuji refused to do anything as the two stood there a bit in the center of the ring in the grapplin' position before Takarafuji let Takayasu turn him slightly and then tap him on the left butt cheek sending him down. What a silly, mukiryoku finish here as Takarafuji anticipated that final contact before taking the obvious dive, and the result is both rikishi standing now at 1-2.

Sekiwake Takanosho was intentionally defenseless at the tachi-ai today against M3 Onosho keeping his hands up high and allowing Onosho to push him back a step or two before Takanosho just slid his left foot back to touch the tawara followed by two palms to the dirt before a real slapdown could come from No Show. The M3 is clearly purchasing his wins so far this basho as he moves to 3-0 while Takanosho falls--literally--to 2-1.

Sekiwake Terunofuji and M4 Tochinoshin hooked up in the classic gappuri migi-yotsu position from the tachi-ai and with Terunofuji maintaining a left outer grip at the front of Shin's belt. Tochinoshin's inside was rendered useless by Terunofuji's outer, and that enabled Fuji the Terrible to force his foe back and out in mere seconds. Of course, Tochinoshin is no Onosho, but who is? Fuji moves to 2-1 while Tochinoshin falls to 1-2.

I guess we can now label M1 Daieisho the Ozeki Killer although he technically is just beating up a bunch of stiffs. Today against his third faux-zeki in as many days, Daieisho stood ShoDie up straight with some nice tsuppari, and Shodai's gaman was nowhere to be found today. He offered a few swipes from the side with both arms that were completely ineffective, and that allowed Daieisho to thrust him back wham bam thank you ma'am. Daieisho has three Ozeki scalps now at 3-0 while Shodai suffers his first beatdown tsuki-dashi style. One media outlet who is counting kensho out of pure boredom reported that Daieisho has pocketed 1,110,000 yen so far this basho. That's a lot of money for such easy work, but Daieisho ain't a dumbass.

And that brings us to Takakeisho who needs serious help from anybody to pick up his first win. He actually got some help from M1 Hokutofuji today who held back at the tachi-ai waiting with arms wide open (remember that Creed song?!), but Takakeisho's feet were aligned at the tachi-ai and so he had no ability to drive forward into Hokutofuji. He did lunge, and Hokutofuji instinctively moved to his right to evade, but he didn't execute a counter pull and so Takakeisho was able to attempt another oshi attack, but with zero de-ashi, Hokutofuji couldn't be shoved back. Frustrated, Takakeisho next tried to move left and pull Hokutofuji out of the ring, but he barely connected, and with no force being applied, the two hooked back up in the center of the ring as if to grapple. Takakeisho did connect on a nice face slap drawing quite a bit of blood in the end, but that was his best shot. With the two looking for positioning in the middle of the ring, Takakeisho's left toe got stuck in the dirt, and he just plopped over and down onto one knee.

Takakeisho's fall had nothing to do with Hokutofuji's inaction, and this was actually a tsuki-hiza, but there's no way that they are going to saddle an embarrassing kimari-te like that onto a supposed Japanese Yokozuna candidate. They called it tsuki-otoshi in the end, but I defy anyone to point out where the tsuki, or downward thrust, came from Hokutofuji that caused Takakeisho's fall. He was simply holding onto Takakeisho's arms around the elbow area when Takakeisho went down.

The end result is Takakeisho's falling to 0-3 while Hokutofuji just backed into this one moving to 1-2. I mean, how hapless is Takakeisho? His opponent wasn't trying to do anything and he still couldn't pick up his first win. Takakeisho's biggest flaw is his footwork. He ALWAYS aligns his feet from the tachi-ai, so out of the gate, he can't create any forward momentum unless his opponent just backs up. A secondary flaw of Takakeisho is his poor stamina, and this guy barely belongs in the Makuuchi division if that. What a joke that they're trying to pass him off as a Yokozuna. At least Kisenosato had street cred the first half of his Makuuchi career.

In the day's final bout, Komusubi Mitakeumi caught Asanoyama with a nice kachi-age to the torso with the left arm, and with Asanoyama coming with his usual soft tachi-ai, Mitakeumi just drove him straight back and out with nary a belt grip. These three faux-zeki are so bad, I'm starting to feel guilty about making fun of Kisenosato, Kotoshogiku, and Goeido back in the day. Mitakeumi picks up a nice wad of kensho moving to 2-1 while Asanoyama falls to 1-2.

Out of the gate, we only have four undefeated rikishi left: Akiseyama, Midorifuji, Meisei, and Onosho. My spine is already tingling!!


 

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
With the spike in Corona cases all over the world, the Hatsu basho is really the last thing on anyone's mind right now. In the case of Japan, society tends to be over-protective in general, and then don't discount the Olympic games looming again this summer. As the host nation, Japan is so heavily invested in making the games a success that they're taking extra precautions to ensure that the Covid virus doesn't wreck everything. Add to that the 16 sekitori who are kyujo heading into the basho, and in a normal world (remember when we used to have a normal world?) cancelling the Hatsu basho outright would seem to be the logical decision.

The reasons they decided to still hold the basho is likely two-fold. First, the Sumo Association desperately needs the money. The gate receipts are going to be down more so this January than they have been during Corona, but they can still fleece NHK on the broadcast rights. Sumo would not be broadcast live these days if it was up to public broadcasting stations who rely on commercial revenue, but they can and do suck at the NHK teet, so they're going to milk that for all it's worth.

Second, this is the off season for every other major sport in Japan, and so it gives them an opportunity to grab the top headlines in the sporting world. As a result, it feels as if this basho is being force-fed to us with everything else that's going on.

As for major storylines heading into the basho, the planned headline was Takakeisho's quest for Yokozuna. In line with this, Kakuryu conveniently withdrew yet again citing a fake injury, and then Hakuho has been derailed with a positive Corona test, so there won't be any Yokozuna standing in his way for something like the fourth basho in a row.

As a secondary storyline, Asanoyama and Shodai enter the basho as kadoban Ozeki, so I guess we have that to look forward to as they fake their way to eight wins or more.

Other than that, the Corona virus spike is still the lead story, especially in the absence of good sumo, so let's get to the Day 2 action.

The line-up in the booth for NHK was Sawataishi Announcer calling the action and Kisenosato providing his diahrhea of the mouth color. AmiShneaky was in the mukou-joumen chair, and then the crew was joined online by a well-known comedian, Koji Imada, and the day began with Imada asking Kisenosato a series of questions. The first one that I saw (there may have been more questions before my feed began) was: Who is the Reiwa version of Takanohana?

This was presented in the context of Takanohana's win over Chiyonofuji in 1992 that ultimately led to the Yokozuna's retirement two days later. Imada quipped that in the comedy world, the veterans are always challenged by the young up-and-comers, and so who did he [Kisenosato] think were the young rikishi who would set the tone in the Reiwa era?

Kisenosato mentioned Kotoshoho and Onosho specifically, and I actually had to rewind the tape and think to myself...did he just say Onosho? The guy that started out 0-13 last July? Yes, you heard it straight from the fake Yokozuna's mouth: Onosho. Part of his reasoning was that Onosho comes from the same class as Takakeisho. Oh, I see. I thas to do with everything but the actual sumo.

The next question from Imada was: Who are some rikishi in the Makushita division that you have high hopes for? The answer there was a 21 year-old from the Shikoroyama-beya named Itoh and then a 20 year-old from the Fujishima-beya named Suzuki. NHK showed one clip each of these two fighting in Makushita, and unfortunately, those would largely be the most competitive bouts we'd see on the day.

Moving to the Makuuchi bouts, the day began with M16 Akiseyama, the rikishi whose claim to fame are the flattest double-D's in the sport. Today he faced Shohozan visiting from Juryo, and when Shohozan moved right at the tachi-ai, Akiseyama had no answer except for a lame pull attempt. When Shohozan didn't even attempt to make him pay, you knew the fix was in, and Shohozan allowed himself to be forced around and out by a weak left kote grip from Akiseyama who "improved" to 2-0 with the gift.

After this lame start to the day, it was time to go back to Imada-san again who asked the next loaded..er..spontaneous question: what technique (or waza) by which particular rikishi should we focus on on this basho? For this question, they went to Aminishiki, and he pretended to think for a bit before offering: Uh, I like Midorifuji (the rookie this basho) and his kata-sukashi move.

To tell you the truth, I was thinking more along the lines of Terunofuji and his kote grips from the outside, but remember...I'm not following a script.

NHK and the crew were of course, and that's why the producer had clips queued up at the ready even though these guys were pretending to have no fore-knowledge of the questions and answers.

With that in mind, it's time to visit the M15 Kotonowaka - M17 Sadanoumi matchup, and this one began with a good tachi-ai where Kotonowaka came forward well and grabbed an early left outer grip. Outer grips can be effective if they're close enough to the front of the belt, but Baby Waka's wasn't, so despite having the nice inside right position, the veteran Sadanoumi chose to just stand there and wait for Kotonowaka to work his own right arm to the inside. I mean, the backside replay showed zero inaction from Sadanoumi when he could have seized moro-zashi or at least moved laterally with that nice inside position, but this one was compromised, and so the Sadamight took the pain and allowed Kotonowaka to force him straight back and across with zero argument. Ho hum as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

We were all on the edge of our seats next as M14 Midorifuji stepped into the ring to face M15 Yutakayama, and true to the script, Yutakayama leaned a bit left with both arms out wide and just stood there waiting for Midorifuji to hook his right hand up and under before moving left and going for...wait for it...the kata-sukashi!! The bout maybe took two seconds and Yutakayama just dutifully put both palms to the dirt before Midorifuji had actually executed the shoulder slap, but whatever. Midorifuji has paid for his 2-0 start while Yutakayama pockets some cash at 1-1.

M12 Ichinojo went for an early pull of M14 Hoshoryu from the tachi-ai, and when that didn't work, he assumed the right inside position and left outer grip as Hoshoryu charged forward. Hoshoryu countered with the right inside position of his own, but his left was way too far away from an outer grip. Not that it would have made a difference as Ichinojo took his sweet time while shoring up that left outer grip. Hoshoryu attempted a few maki-kae with the left, and then he also tried to attack with his inside right position, but Ichinojo just smothered him eventually getting two outer grips and forcing Hoshoryu to the edge where he felled him yori-taoshi style. Ichinojo is a cool 2-0 while Hoshoryu is the opposite at 0-2.

In the worst bout of the tournament to this point, M13 Akua lamely moved right at the tachi-ai looking to latch around the outside of M12 Terutsuyoshi's extended left arm, but before he could even get the grip and presumably set up a kote-nage, Terutsuyoshi just put his right forearm to the dirt followed by his left palm. No other part of Terutsuyoshi's body touched down...a clear sign of yaocho, and it wasn't just that. Akua whiffed at the tachi-ai and still had Terutsuyoshi down in less than a second. Terutsuyoshi said afterwards that he heard something pop near the front of his right shoulder, and you know what happens when someone lets up in the ring. Akua buys his first win at 1-1 while Terutsuyoshi falls to 0-2.

M10 Shimanoumi connected on a light ottsuke with the right hand at the tachi-ai against M11 Kotoeko's right teet, and Eko's reaction was to just back up and out. Shimanoumi did catch his foe with a right paw to the neck that proved the winning thrust, but this bout was arranged from the get-go. Before they showed the replay, Kisenosato confidently declared, "I'm sure when they show the reverse angle, we'll see a dominant thrust move from Shimanoumi's left hand." Then when they went to the tape, Shimanoumi did absolutely nothing with that left hand, and so Kisenosato explained afterwards, "Sometimes you have to use the right ottsuke to set up the left." I'm fully enlightened as Shimanoumi arranges his 2-0 start while Kotoeko falls to 1-1.

The worst acting from day 1 came at the hands of M10 Aoiyama who looked to repent of his ways today against M8 Tokushoryu. Aoiyama moved forward well from the tachi-ai delivering one or two thrusts before using a light kote grip to move Tokushoryu near the edge. As Tokushoryu looked to square up, Aoiyama threw a few more methodic thrusts, but Tokushoryu anticipated a pull attempt, and so he just dove forward and down with no such contact from Aoiyama. Aoiyama tried to catch up with his falling prey, but it was too late. No matter, they explained it all away as a legitimate hataki-komi win. Whatever as both dudes end the day at 1-1.

M8 Kiribayama shaded a bit left at the tachi-ai against M9 Myogiryu but came away with nothing, and so Myogiryu had the chance to attack with the left inside. A true attack never came, and so Kiribayama was able to back up to the other side of the dohyo with his own left arm sort to the inside, and Myogiryu just walked into a really lame kata-sukashi attempt. There was no real pressure from either dude in this bout where Kiribayama likely called in a favor. When Myogiryu went down, he put both palms to the dirt and then both knees directly behind his hands leading to a very awkward fall, but this bout was just awkward start to finish as Kiribayama moves to 1-1 with Myogiryu falling to 0-2.

M6 Ryuden did absolutely nothing from the tachi-ai against M7 Tobizaru just standing there with arms exposed out wide waiting for the Flying Monkey to do something. Tobizaru did connect on a wild left tsuki--something we'd see from Takakeisho, but it had little effect on Ryuden. In fact, nothing that Tobizaru did had much effect on Ryuden, and this was mostly a case of Ryuden going along with the flow and just backing himself out in line with Tobizaru's light attack. Very little "action" or actual waza to describe in this fixed bout as Ryuden falls to 0-2 with Tobizaru buying his first win at 1-1.

M7 Meisei attacked up and into M6 Kagayaki's body from the tachi-ai in moro-hazu style, but it was clear that Kagayaki was not fighting back. Kagayaki's quite a load to move around the ring, and he made Meisei work for it, but Kagayaki didn't do anything to attempt to win the bout even when Meisei whiffed on a swipe attempt and was extremely vulnerable. After letting Meisei back into the bout, Kagayaki continued to stand upright where Meisei finally connected on a few shoves that sent the willing Kagayaki back and across. Light work here as Meisei moves to 2-0 while Kagayaki falls to 1-1.

In a bland affair, M4 Tochinoshin did absolutely nothing at the tachi-ai against M5 Okinoumi just leaning into his foe waiting for him to dictate the pace. Problem was, Okinoumi wasn't doing much dictatin' as we say in Utah, and so they traded places in the ring with Tochinoshin keeping both arms out wide until Okinoumi finally pinned him against the edge with a light moro-zashi. Tochinoshin had a firm left outer grip and plenty of options to move laterally and counter, but he just stood there at the edge before finally agreeing to step back and across. You can't really point to a single move form Okinoumi this bout where he forced Tochinoshin against the edge and then where he actually forced him across. It was just this light dance where Tochinoshin did most of the work in defeat. Okinoumi is gifted this one at 2-0 while Tochinoshin falls to an agreeable 1-1.

Oh brother. M4 Tamawashi offered an extended left arm low at the tachi-ai that completely halted M5 Endoh's momentum, and from there a befuddled Endoh offered a really bad pull or swipe, and Tamawashi's reaction was to quickly put both palms to the dirt. And this all in less than two seconds in the fakest bout you'd care to see in the division. With the "win," Endoh moves to 1-1 while Tamawashi has sold both of his bouts this basho at 0-2.

Fresh off of his victory over Takakeisho yesterday where he really didn't do anything to win, Komusubi Mitakeumi welcomed the veteran, M2 Takarafuji in a bout that saw Mitakeumi come with both arms in low and Takarafuji pinching in from the outside creating a stalemate in the center of the ring. Both dudes grappled like this for about 10 seconds before Takarafuji was able to pivot literally to the right and swipe Mitakeumi over to the edge. Before the Komusubi could square back up, Takarafuji caught him with the left arm firmly to the inside, and the force-out was academic from there. Great patience from Takarafuji as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

M3 Onosho caught Sekiwake Terunofuji in the mouth at the tachi-ai with the crown of his head, but the impact didn't move Fuji back at all. With Onosho there for the taking and Terunofuji's right arm near the front of Onosho's belt, Terunofuji just stood there upright not bothering to latch onto his foe. This enabled Onosho to force a willing Fuji back a step, but he still didn't have any momentum to knock Terunofuji across. Having given the former Ozeki his best shot, the left side of Onosho's belt was completely exposed, but Terunofuji refrained from grabbing anything and continued to stand there as Onosho finally forced him across.

Terunofuji reported afterwards that one of his teeth was loosened after taking that shot from Onosho's head at the tachi-ai, but it didn't effect his sumo at all. When a guy is seeing stars, you can just tell, but Terunofuji had his wits about him from start to finish here. He simply chose to let Onosho beat him in near linear fashion without once ever trying to throw a wrench Onosho's way. Perhaps it was Kisenosato's prophecy at the start of the broadcast to watch out for Onosho this basho, but regardless of this or that, Terunofuji simply let Onosho win this one and move to 2-0. As for Fuji, he falls to 1-1 and isn't it curious how nobody is bothering to suggest Terunofuji as an Ozeki candidate despite his winning 34 bouts over the last three basho that includes one yusho and a jun-yusho where he took it to a kettei-sen? It's just the perfect example of bias against foreign rikishi in sumo, and that fact can't be disputed.

Kisenosato's other can't miss-rikishi, M3 Kotoshoho, was a big miss today against Sekiwake Takanosho...intentionally. Kotoshoho shaded left at the tachi-ai as if to pull, but he never did go for a pull or a Midorifuji shoulder slap or anything. With Takanosho doing nothing and vulnerable, Kotoshoho just danced around the ring to his left staying upright and never going for a move against his foe, and Takanosho sorta caught him with a shove to send him out, but it was more of Kotoshoho's just stepping out on his own. In short, this was a terrible bout of sumo from both parties that saw Takanosho move to 2-0 for doing exactly nothing while Kotoshoho is now 0-2.

After largely pulling and retreating himself out of the ring yesterday with little contact coming from Mitakeumi, Yokozuna hopeful Takakeisho stepped into the ring to face M1 Daieisho. At the start of the Day 1 broadcast, Kitanofuji was asked what he thought the theme of this basho was. His reply was Takakeisho's "juatsu," or pressure. In this case, the pressure does not refer to nervousness at the prospect of reaching Yokozuna; rather, it refers to the weight behind Takakeisho's sumo.

Maybe it's just me, but I've yet to see any weight from Takakeisho's sumo his entire career, but what do I know? Apparently a lot because Takakeisho had his ass handed to him at the hands of M1 Daieisho. After aligning his feet at the tachi-ai as he always does, Takakeisho had no power or juatsu behind his thrusts, and so Daieisho laughed them off, fired five or six potent thrusts of his own, and then slapped the Yokozuna candidate down with ease. A real Yokozuna is something that an M1 is afraid to fight. Takakeisho is a joke and someone guys with game can defeat in a fashion that we saw Daieisho dominate him today. I mean, it's not out of the question for Takakeisho to buy his next 13, but the major headline heading into this basho has vanished like a fart in the wind. As for Daieisho, he wields the beating stick against his Japanese counterparts at this level when he wants to, and the first two days are proof of dat. He definitely did yesterday against Asanoyama more so than against Takakeisho today, but just look how easily this dude's moved to 2-0 after kicking Asanoyama and Takakeisho's respective asses.

Asanoyama forgot yesterday that in order to win a bout, he actually has to pay up, so he repented overnight and sent some cash M1 Hokutofuji's way. The M1 came with his usual tachi-ai of a thrust with the right (a kachi-age today) while shading left, and with Asanoyama doing nothing to dictate the pace from the tachi-ai, Hokutofuji had the right inside if he wanted to attack that way. He didn't and just continued circling left slowly waiting for Asanoyama to do something, and the faux-zeki finally got his right arm to the inside and once established, he went for a rather light scoop throw that magically sent Hokutofuji two meters in the opposite direction. Nice dive from Fuji as Asanoyama moves to 1-1. Hokutofuji falls to 0-2 with the loss, and before we move on, the announcers were commenting of Asanoyama, "He looks relieved to have picked up that first win." Are we talking about an Ozeki here? How about going out and kicking your opponent's ass in Ozeki fashion. Elite rikishi aren't relieved when they win.

And that brings us to Shodai, the only one of the three who managed to escape Day 1 with a...well...win. Today against Komusubi Takayasu, the bout was trying to go to hidari-yotsu, but Takayasu was keeping his arm tucked in against his stomach instead of using it to stand Shodai straight up. Shodai had his own left arm sorta to the inside but with no pressure coming, Takayasu had no choice but to get the left arm inside where he grabbed Shodai's belt. Not wanting to maintain the advantage, Takayasu quickly let the inside belt go despite a right outer on the other side. As for Shodai, he attempted a left scoop throw...at least I think he did. Problem was that Takayasu wasn't moved a centimeter and was still in full control of the bout. At this point, Shodai went for an ill-advised pull that was terribly executed, and Takayasu had his gal at this point if he wanna, but he didn't, and so he ended up waiting for Shodai to move forward before Takayasu grabbed Shodai's extended left arm and pulled it directly into Takayasu's gut as the former faux-zeki just flopped down on one knee across the straw.

The first words out of Kisenosato's mouth to describe Shodai's sumo today was "gaman," or patience. Remember that word from last basho?? That was the excuse used for supposedly elite Japanese guys winning despite their terrible sumo, and that was definitely the case here. The irony here is we're the ones who are being asked to gaman our way through this terrible, fake sumo. I mean, I look back on the day and was there more than three legitimate bouts?? For the second day in a row, Shodai's opponent just pulled him [Shodai] into his own body as he backed out of the ring. The end result is a gifted 2-0 start for Shodai while Takayasu gently falls to 0-2.

As Shodai walked down the hana-michi and through the back halls of the venue, they had a camera with audio up close on him, and the dude was wheezing as if he was about to give birth. The announcers speculated whether or not he was slightly injured or just winded due to his impressive display of gaman. We shall see.

As for me, I should post comments on all the weekdays this basho, but there are no promises for the weekends.