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Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Sumo Association has done a good job of setting things up to this point. You have enough Japanese rikishi generating headlines and involved in the yusho race, and then you also have the strength of the Mongolians to remind people that really good sumo is still possible. They're going to have to take the yusho line down to three losses if they want more than two bodies on the leaderboard into the weekend, but it's not like they haven't been preparing the fans to accept lower yusho lines.

The Day 12 broadcast was pre-empted yet again today for a collegiate rugby match taking place in Tokyo, but at this point, there isn't much to talk about besides the leaderboard, so let's review that to start off:

9-2: Kirishima, Kotonowaka, Atamifuji
8-3: Hoshoryu, Midorifuji, Ryuden, Ichiyamamoto

Touching on bouts of interest, let's start today with M11 Sadanoumi vs. M13 Tsurugisho. The Hutt used a nice moro-te-zuki at the tachi-ai to knock Sadanoumi upright, and then he grabbed a quick outer grip with the left. Sadanoumi tried to spin out of it, but the two ended up in gappuri migi-yotsu near the edge, and from there, Tsurugisho used his gut perfectly to keep Sadanoumi upright before spinning him around and across the edge.

Tsurugisho's sumo of late has been fantastic, and I didn't even highlight that moment in his bout against Hokuseiho when he picked the youngster up clear off his feet in a sweet tsuri move (pictured at left). This stellar sumo technique is worth pointing out, especially with the lack of good sumo we see the final 30 minutes of the broadcast. This is how it's supposed to work, so kudos to Tsurugisho as he moves to 7-5 while Sadanoumi falls to 6-6.

The M15 Churanoumi - M11 Hiradoumi bout had yusho implications a few days ago, but it's still worth mentioning their contest here. Hiradoumi knocked Churanoumi upright and back so hard his eye bandage went flying into the air landing in the corner of the dohyo. In the pic at right, I have the eye bandage circled in yellow, and that sucker flew in a high arc in the air from the center of the ring over to where you see it now. With Churanoumi's bell rung from the start, Hiradoumi pushed him back and across in less than two seconds. Churanoumi's start was so inflated, and now that he's involved in these straight up bouts, he's getting his ass kicked in falling to 7-5. As for Hiradoumi, he picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4, and I loved his tachi-ai today.

Let's fast forward all the way ahead to the M14 Ichiyamamoto - M4 Nishikigi bout, which was a fixed bout of sumo, but since Ichiyamamoto is still on the leaderboard...

Ichiyamamoto came with his usual tsuppari that didn't have much of an affect against Nishikigi, but the latter stood upright anyway and went for a weak pull retreating back and to the left. Ichiyamamoto rushed in getting the right inside with the left outer grip, and the last thing the dude wanted to do was go to the belt against Nishikigi. Course, that's if Nishikigi was trying, but he wasn't. Instead of digging in chest to chest, he just backed up and across with IYM in tow. This was a sleeper, but Ichiyamamoto still keeps himself on the leaderboard with the ill-gotten win at 9-3 while Nishikigi falls to 6-6.

Up next was M10 Ryuden who was paired against M3 Takayasu, and from the tachi-ai, Takayasu's footwork was a complete mess, but Ryuden failed to rush forward even though the left inside was wide open, so you knew the bout was fixed at that point. Instead of going chest to chest, reeling his gal in snug, and taking the bout to the belt, Ryuden allowed himself to be lightly pushed back, and then finally near the straw, he got the left inside and had his right hand at the side of Takayasu's belt (as pictured), but he refrained from grabbing a right outer grip. With Ryuden intentionally fumbling this way and that, Takayasu went for a rather mediocre inside belt throw, and Ryuden just stumbled forward and dove out of the ring. They ruled it kata-sukashi, but Takayasu never touched Ryuden's shoulder to slap him down. They had to think of something as both rikishi end the day at 8-4 with Ryuden falling off of the leaderboard.

M1 Asanoyama and Komusubi Hokutofuji gave us a good fight hooking up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Asanoyama lunged for the early left outer. Hokutofuji sensed it coming and backed away pulling Asanoyama off balance just enough to where Hokutofuji moved left, turned the tables by knocking Asanoyama upright, and then Hokutofuji pulled the trigger on the quick push out from there as Asanoyama's last hope was a pull. Hokutofuji moves to 4-8 while Asanoyama is giving it his all but just coming up short at 1-11.

Suckiwake Daieisho and M5 Midorifuji were out of sync at the tachi-ai with Midorifuji jumping the gun just a bit and Daieisho standing upright with feet aligned, but Midorifuji's initial charge forward was thwarted easily, and after taking a moment to gather his wits, Daieisho pulverized Midorifuji back, down, and across for the nice tsuki-taoshi win. Both dudes end the day at 8-4 and Midorifuji is knocked off of the leaderboard. For now.

In the Ozeki ranks, Kirishima welcomed Suckiwake Kotonowaka by offering a quick thrust at the tachi-ai that knocked Kotonowaka upright just enough to where the Ozeki moved in grabbing a left frontal grip that was an outer, and that was coupled with the sufficient position with the right inside. The bout was over at that point as Kotonowaka didn't have a pot to piss in, but Kirishima let Kotonowaka hang around and make it look as if he was a load to force out. I mean, Kirishima coulda scored a yori-kiri win in three seconds; he has the soto-gake leg trip open with his left leg; and he could have pivoted and executed an outer belt throw, but he graciously let Kotonowaka stay in the ring for 32 seconds before forcing him back and across. At least they didn't have to lie about anything afterwards, and Hakuho (who was providing color) said it best when he commented, "Kotonowaka didn't have any options."

While Kirishima scored the nice and easy in that moves him to 10-2, the value in the loss for Kotonowaka is that in the eyes of the fans, he gave it a great fight proving that he's a strong rikishi. I mean, yes, he's big and has those sweet double-decker tits, but he displayed no sumo technique here and didn't come close to offering a legit counter move. Kotonowaka falls to 9-3 but he's a shoe-in Ozeki candidate come January, and he'll probably get it.

Up next was Takakeisho vs. Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, and Takakeisho's charge was so light he didn't even attempt any thrusts. As he moved in close to Wakamotoharu, the Suckiwake could have easily gotten moro-zashi, but he kept his hands up high doing nothing but wait for a pull from Takakeisho. Takakeisho's tachi-ai and initial positioning was so bad, however, that he couldn't execute a pull straightway, and so he backed up two steps with Wakamotoharu moving forward, and at this point, WMH could have easily used Takakeisho's backwards momentum against him and shoved him across, but he waited for the pull that finally came, and WMH started to run out of the dohyo by himself.  He stopped on dime, turned around, and waited for Takakeisho to execute that final push making it look more legit, but this was obviously fixed.

Once again, we get a polluted oshi-dashi win although Takakeisho was not doing oshi-zumo, but it gives Takakeisho kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Wakamotoharu suffers make-koshi at 4-8. This..uh..win was big for Takakeisho because chances are good he won't win another bout, so that kachi-koshi keeps him at the Ozeki rank for at least two more basho.

The day's final affair featured Ozeki Hoshoryu who welcomed M8 Atamifuji, and the two struck well before Atamifuji opened himself up across the starting lines giving Hoshoryu the path to moro-zashi. I say "path" because the Mongolian didn't seize it opting to keep his hands in the middle of Atamifuji's torso instead of pushing him up high or latching onto the belt. With Hoshoryu just standing there waiting, Atamifuji lumbered to his left setting up a left kote-nage, and dude took like three steps to set it up, but Hoshoryu sensed it coming and just locked his knees and dove outta the dohyo.

The bout was obviously fixed in favor of Atamifuji, and once again, the sumo content from the youngster was just awful, but the result keeps a Japanese rikishi on the top rung of the leaderboard and also all but guarantees the yusho will be decided on senshuraku.

The only thing they're saying about Atamifuji on the news at night is, "He's got that great smile." (ano e-gao). We see this often where they find something to identify a rikishi because they can't do it with anything sumo-related.

With the dust settled, the leaderboard is whittled down to four dudes as follows:

10-2: Kirishima, Atamifuji
9-3: Kotonowaka, Ichiyamamoto

None of them fight each other on Day 13, so that same leaderboard could very well carry into Saturday.

Kirishima draws Daieisho, and that one will be interesting. Currently these two are tied for the Nenkan Saitasho, so a Daieisho win puts him one ahead of Kirishima.

Atamifuji gets Takayasu, and Takayasu is the favorite by far in a straight up bout, and don't be surprised to see Kirishima lose tomorrow IF Atamifuji is defeated by Takayasu.

Kotonowaka is paired against Ryuden and will need yaocho to win the bout.

Ichiyamamoto will fight Midorifuji, and I'd say that one is fiddy-fiddy in a straight up bout.

It's really hard to predict yaocho, but it's easy to detect it when it occurs, and so that remains the drama. Whose gonna do what and what bouts will be straight up?

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 11 broadcast began with a frank discussion between Yoshida Announcer and Tochiazuma in regards to the yusho race. As NHK flashed the leaderboard that listed 10 rikishi, Yoshida Announcer said, "We've got a lot to sort out here." Tochiazuma quipped that this basho is just following the pattern from the entire year where there have been a lot of playoffs and a lot of congestion on the leaderboard late into the basho. He surmised that the yusho line would likely end up at 12-3, but he didn't dismiss the possibility of another 11-4 yusho.

What Tochiazuma was really saying is that there has been a lot of parity in sumo this year, and there has. The problem is the parity has been created by lowering the bar, and that's being reflected in the final yusho tally. We had an 11-4 last basho, and then every other yusho except for Terunofuji's championship in March has been 12-3. If you're wondering why Terunofuji always withdraws these days, it's to give the other rikishi a chance... particularly the Japanese rikishi, and it's sad to see them satisfied with these constant yusho lines at 12-3 or even 11-4.

Greatness is 15-0. Excellence is 14-1. Good is 13-2.

To say that 12-3 is average is an overstatement. A yusho rikishi should never lose three bouts in a basho, especially with such a weak banzuke.

The Makuuchi division is becoming more and more like Juryo (i.e. a lower tier).

But that's the circumstance we find ourselves in as we head into the Shubansen, or final five days, so let's focus on the leaderboard below and then comment on other bouts of interest as we find them:

8-2: Kirishima, Kotonowaka, Atamifuji, Ichiyamamoto
7-3: Hoshoryu, Takakeisho, Midorifuji, Ryuden, Hiradoumi, Churanoumi

M13 Tsurugisho fired a few thrusts M13 Takarafuji's way from the tachi-ai, but as TS advanced, Takarafuji was able to force the bout to hidari-yotsu in the center of the ring where both dudes looked for outer grips. Takarafuji would get the right outer first, but Tsurugi the Hutt shook his hips twice breaking it off. Takarafuji would grab the outer one more time and execute a force out charge, but the Hutt was just too big to force back and across, and Tsurugisho (6-5) was able to turn the tables at the edge and force Takarafuji (3-8) down and out. This bout did not have yusho implications, but it was as real of a bout of yotsu-zumo as you're going to find. Good tachi-ai; chest to chest; battle for the outer grip; cutting off the outer grip; counter moves at the edge from both rikishi, etc.

Sheesh, my intention was not to cover M11 Sadanoumi and M17 Kitanowaka, but the sumo here was beautiful as well. Kitanowaka (4-7) used his size to grab the upper hand, but good counter sumo from the Sadamight (6-5) at the edge allowed him to turn the tables and win in the end. Can you imagine if every bout on the day was as hotly contested as these two bouts?  Can you imagine seeing a guy like Kotonowaka, Atamifuji, or Takakeisho winning a bout in this fashion?  I can't either.

The first bout with yusho implications on the day featured M15 Churanoumi vs. M8 Atamifuji, and the hotly contested sumo that preceded this bout quickly disappeared here. Atamifuji's arms were wide at the tachi-ai (as they are wont to be), but instead of burrowing in with the deep right arm, Churanoumi just backed up and Atamifuji followed him to the edge and lightly pushed him across without a contest. There was no battle here whatsoever, and why is it that the bouts that really matter in terms of the yusho race are soft and uncontested like this? I noticed it right away, but I'm curious what the sheeple thought as well. To describe this bout in one word:  casual.  Atamifuji moves to 9-2 by doing absolutely nothing but walking forward three steps while Churanoumi thankfully withdraws from the leaderboard at 7-4.

Rookie PullHakuRyu was in fine form today blowing a nice tachi-ai against M8 Endoh and going for endless pulls until Endoh had him pushed back and across. Both dudes check in at 3-8.

Two three-loss rikishi fought today in M11 Hiradoumi vs. M5 Midorifuji, and Midorifuji pressed the action from the tachi-ai looking to get the left arm inside. Hiradoumi thought about it for an instant and then pulled back perhaps because Midorifuji was on the cusp of grabbing a right outer grip, but that indifference and hesitation by Hiradoumi cost him because he found himself upright with arms out wide, and so Midorifuji waltzed into moro-zashi easy as you please and forced Hiradoumi back from there.

This was actually a very well fought bout by Midorifuji who thankfully put to bed that tired 7-0 win streak by Hiradoumi coming into the day. I mean, Hiradoumi was second guessing himself from the start, and you'd think that if a guy had a legitimate 7-0 streak going that he would have figured something out during that span that he could have employed today. That wasn't the case as Midorifuji moves to 8-3 with the good win while Hiradoumi is thankfully knocked off the leaderboard at 7-4.

Three-loss M10 Ryuden was paired against M4 Nishikigi, and these two are my favorite Japanese rikishi and the best two on the banzuke in my opinion. The two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and it was obvious that NG wasn't trying to get his left inside position established properly. This should have been an all out yotsu brawl, but with NG standing a bit upright, Ryuden was able to grab the right outer grip with little difficulty, and the force out was just as soft. Nishikigi thought about faking an utchari at the edge, but I'm sure he thought what's the point?

I'm not sure what kind of agreement was in play here, but Ryuden picked up the far too easy win in moving to 8-3 while Nishikigi falls to a quiet 6-5.

M2 Shodai has been gifted a lot of wins this basho and Komusubi Abi has given up a lot of wins, but we got a firm dose of reality today when these two meet as Abi caught Shodai with two hands to the neck and choked him back and across in two seconds. I'll take it as Abi moves to 4-7 while Shodai falls underwater at 5-6.

The forgotten M14 Ichiyamamoto stepped into the ring to face Suckiwake Daieisho, and this wasn't even a contest...not because Daieisho is a superior rikishi (he'd win 6 out of 10 straight up bouts) but because Ichiyamamoto knows his place in the sport. Daieisho came with his usual tsuppari tachi-ai, which looks great when he knows the bout is fixed, and Ichiyamamoto fumbled around a bit before Daieisho went for a light pull, which was IYM's cue to put both palms to the dirt. Daieisho moves to 7-4 with the gift while Ichiyamamoto is still on the leaderboard at 8-3, and you know they aren't taking IYM seriously because they did not pair him with a fellow leader tomorrow (he draws a 6-5 Nishikigi).

Up next was the biggest bout of the day for the Japanese fans: Takakeisho vs. Suckiwake Kotonowaka. Unfortunately, it was a big dud as Takakeisho reads the headlines too and knows that he was yesterday's news...two days ago. Kotonowaka kept his arms pointed low at the tachi-ai while Takakeisho moved forward crashing into Kotonowaka as if hitting a brick wall, and then he just stood there waiting for Kotonowaka to step left and go for a very light tsuki to the side. That was Takakeisho's cue to just run forward and outta the dohyo altogether.

I'm not sure if this bout was actually fixed going in; rather, I think Takakeisho was simply resigned to his fate. He knows he can't beat Kotonowaka straight up, and so he just gave up on the bout. Kotonowaka moves to 9-2 by doing nothing while Takakeisho falls off the everything board at 7-4, but the key takeaway from this bout regarding both parties is the simply awful sumo content. The wins by both of these dudes have been soft and the kimari-te have been weak. And I'm not referring to the actual name of the kimari-te, but I'm referring to the technique that was supposedly used to set up the win and then sill the dill.

Less and less do I hear the phrase "sumou no naiyou" because it's just terrible and non-existent in these bouts that are supposed to be meaningful.

In the Ozeki ranks, Hoshoryu welcomed M1 Asanoyama by demanding the right arm inside while grabbing a firm left outer grip, and Asanoyama used his length to latch onto an outer grip of his own. Asanoyama tried to press the action first using that outer grip to execute a throw, but Hoshoryu survived it easily and finished the nage-no-uchi-ai by executing a perfect inside belt throw with the right adding insult to injury by landing on top of Asanoyama who was thrown into a heap in the corner of the dohyo.

Asanoyama took his time picking himself up off of the ground, and I don't blame him. It's days like these when the dude has to be thinking, "How much longer do I want to do this?" After beating Takakeisho in his first bout back, Asanoyama has been ravaged since then in falling to 1-10 while Hoshoryu improves to 8-3.

Before we move on, Hoshoryu is the last guy on the banzuke you want to fight right now if you haven't paid him off.  Remember his bout yesterday against Wakamotoharu.  For two straight days he's been kicking ass and taking names, and this type of stellar sumo is simply non-existent from every Japanese rikishi on that leaderboard.  When the Mongolians fight as Hoshoryu has done the last two days, it truly is beautiful sumo...worthy and expected  of an Ozeki I might add.

They've paired Hoshoryu with Atamifuji tomorrow, and it goes without saying what Hoshoryu can do in that one...if that's what his camp decides to do. I'm not gonna speculate on it because I have no idea.

In the day's final bout, Ozeki Kirishima welcomed Suckiwake Wakamotoharu and the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai although there was some hesitation from Kirishima at first. Once the Ozeki decided to go with hidari-yotsu, he grabbed a right outer grip and easily wrenched Wakamotoharu upright, over, and then out. Wakamotoharu knew he was doomed here in falling to 4-7, and I'm sure he stepped out early to avoid the ending he went through yesterday. As for Kirishima, he stays on the top rung of the leaderboard at 9-2. 

And speaking of the leaderboard, this is how it shapes up heading into Day 12:

9-2: Kirishima, Kotonowaka, Atamifuji
8-3: Hoshoryu, Midorifuji, Ryuden, Ichiyamamoto

The two key bouts tomorrow are the aforementioned Hoshoryu - Atamifuji matchup and then they've paired Kirishima against Kotonowaka.

The Ozeki are 100% favorites in straight up bouts (think Hoshoryu sumo vs. anything Kotonowaka or Atamifuji have displayed), and I think it's best if we come away with Kirishima taking sole possession of things at 10-2 and Hoshoryu standing firm at 9-3. It just looks good to have figures of strength at the top of the board in my opinion, but we'll see.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
We talked early on about how there were so few storylines besides Takakeisho's quest for Yokozuna, and ever since Takakeisho's loss to Asanoyama on Day 8, the air has been let out of the media balloon. A secondary storyline has been the Nenkan Saitasho, but that can't carry interest in a basho by itself, especially now that Daieisho is tied with a Mongolian for most wins this year. In the absence of any hot storylines, the media has to go with name recognition, and so it was no surprise to see NHK News 9 lead with this graphic:



So, you're coming into Day 10 of a basho, and you have a guy in sole possession of first place, and yet, he's not highlighted as one to watch, and they didn't even show a replay of his bout on the news. Does that really make sense? What is newsworthy then if the sole leader in the yusho race isn't even highlighted?

The reason Ichiyamamoto is being ignored is because he's not going to take the yusho just like Atamifuji was never going to take the yusho in September. The Sumo Association has to manipulate results and then generate news headlines in order to justify the banzuke and all of the shenanigans we're seeing in the ring.

Kirishima has the name and the rank (along with legitimate sumo) while Kotonowaka has the pedigree as his grandfather was a well-known Yokozuna. I don't see Kotonowaka taking the yusho this basho just because his sumo has been so terrible, but out of all current Japanese rikishi on the banzuke, Kotonowaka is the most likely to be crowned as the next Yokozuna in the years to come. The Sadogatake-beya has been one of the wealthiest stables since I've been watching sumo, and Kotonowaka has the name. That's why you'll see a Kotonowaka yusho before someone like Atamifuji or Ichiyamamoto, and it's just the way that politics in sumo works.

Anyway, that's why they chose Kirishima and Kotonowaka to highlight today on the news.

By way of review, NHK finally posted a leaderboard at the end of Day 9 as follows:

8-1: Ichiyamamoto
7-2: Kirishima, Kotonowaka, Atamifuji, Churanoumi

They've already signaled with that graphic who are really yusho candidates from that list, and if you're thinking about one of the three-loss rikishi taking the yusho...I doubt any of them will win out, and so you'd have to lower the yusho line to 11-4 again to realize that.

I don't think they can allow that to happen again. Sumo needs a solid yusho this basho from a solid rikishi, and so that's why Kirishima is the clear favorite heading into today to yusho.

Let's turn to the Day 10 bouts starting with M12 Ohho vs. M17 Kitanowaka. This was a very good bout of yotsu-zumo from the tachi-ai between two big fellas who battled for just over a minute largely from the hidari-yotsu position where both had outer grips. The deciding factor was Kitanowaka's decision to go for a maki-kae with the right. He didn't get it, and Ohho was able to kote-nage him over to the edge and across for the nice win, but the point is...that was a true maki-kae in that it's a do or die move. When you see numerous maki-kae in a single bout or a bout not ending within two seconds of a maki-kae, the bout was fixed. This was obviously straight up as Ohho picks up a nice win at 6-4 while Kitanowaka has a few things to work out at 4-6.

Let's move to the red-headed stepchild, M14 Ichiyamamoto next. He was paired against M11 Hiradoumi, and what was the desired result of this bout in terms of creating more excitement for the basho? You had a Kyushu kid in Hiradoumi riding a six bout winning streak, and then Ichiyamamoto was just deadwood at the top of the leaderboard, and so IYM came out intentionally soft keeping his hands high and wide at the tachi-ai before backing up and moving to his right. Hiradoumi had nothing to do with Ichiyamamoto's movements, and before we knew it, IYM was standing upright with his heels on the tawara, and so Hiradoumi moved in and scored the gimme yori-kiri from there.

And that in a nutshell is sumo wrestling these days. Results are maipulated for the benefit of the sport's popularity as Ichiyamamoto falls to 8-2 while Hiradoumi sorta improves to 7-3.

I suppose we should talk about M10 Ryuden since Ichiyamamoto's defeat now extends the leaderboard down to the three-loss rikishi. Ryuden was paired against M12 Tamawashi, and Tamawashi came out kicking ass and taking names standing Ryuden upright from the tachi-ai and driving him around the ring with his tsuppari attack, but he never looked to push Ryuden out. After a few seconds, Tamawashi let up keeping his hands up high, but Ryuden was in no shape to go chest to chest. The two finally settled in with Ryuden managing a right inside position wrist deep, but he was in no position to attack, and so Tamawashi faked a pull and a kote-nage setting himself up at the edge for a yori-taoshi victory in favor of Ryuden.

Ryuden did absolutely nothing to dictate Tamawashi's movement or the general pace of the bout. It was all Tamawashi who gifted Ryuden the win at 7-3 while Tamawashi keeps himself off of the new leaderboard at 6-4.

Two-loss rikishi, M15 Churanoumi, was paired against M9 Mitakeumi, and the rookie was softer than soft cream at the tachi-ai allowing Mitakeumi to plow his way forward and get the right arm inside, and Churanoumi really did nothing from there as he faked a pull and set himself up to be forced out in a matter of seconds. Churanoumi has been involved in so many fake bouts this basho, I'm not sure if he was overwhelmed here or if he was trying to lose. It looked like the latter as he falls to 7-3 while Mitakeumi moves to 6-4.

Before we skip forward to the next bout of interest, it's worth noting the three most streamed bouts from yesterday:

#1 Kotonowaka - Hoshoryu
#2 Asanoyama - Kirishima
#3 Takakeisho - Nishikigi

Wow, Kotonowaka assumes the number one spot. People recognize him, and that's why he'll go places.

M8 Atamifuji faced M6 Shonannoumi, and the tachi-ai was soft here with Shonannoumi coming away with the left inside, but instead of standing pat and shoring up that position, he just slowly backed his way to the edge with Atamifuji in tow. Atamifuji really didn't do anything, but four seconds later Shonannoumi waltzed back across the straw giving Atamifuji the cheap win. Once Shonannoumi crossed the tawara, Atamifuji did this little suri-ashi exercise and squatted down low just as you do in keiko, but the bout was already over by then. They said that Atamifuji used an ottsuke with the right into Shonannoumi's side, but the reverse angle replay showed that Atamifuji wasn't even making contact with that hand. Whatever. This bout was fake as Atamifuji is gifted kachi-koshi and an 8-2 record while Shonannoumi quietly falls to 6-4.

M3 Takayasu battered M5 Midorifuji this way and that with a nice tsuppari attack, but he really wasn't putting his weight behind it, and so around they ring they went with Midorifuji unable to do anything. Did I say anything? It was obvious that Takayasu wasn't trying to win, but he had the upper hand first moving Midorifuji around with tsuppari and next grabbing a right outer grip, but he never did anything with the advantageous positions, and so it was a matter of waiting to see how the bout would conclude. In the end, Midorifuji ran to the other side of the dohyo and brought his left arm to the outside of Takayasu's outer grip and went for a really weak kote-nage, and that was the first time Takayasu could react to a Midorifuji move, and he just hopped forward and spun around across the edge.

As if. This is the scene right before Midorifuji executed that throw, and you can see how committed Takayasu's right arm/hand is. That arm should either be up into Midorifuji's armpit generating a scoop throw, or it should be grabbing the belt to counter with an inside belt throw thus creating a nage-no-uchi-ai, but Takayasu's MO was to throw the bout, and that's exactly what he did. Midorifuji stays in contention at 7-3 while Takayasu falls to 6-4.

At this point of the broadcast, they replayed all of the bouts up to this point, and so the feed I get here in the States wasn't pre-empted, but the general broadcast in Japan was until about 5:15 PM. I'm not sure what took precedent, but the numbers this basho must not be good for them to put sumo off for this long.

Let's move to the Suckiwake Kotonowaka - M4 Gonoyama matchup where Gonoyama won the tachi-ai knocking Baby Waka upright, but then Gonoyama dipped his right shoulder towards his opponent similar to what Hoshoryu did yesterday. That move gave Kotonowaka an ill-gotten left outer grip, and Gonoyama's right was so half-assed to the inside it was obvious he was leaving himself vulnerable. Kotonowaka applied pressure as if to throw with the left outer, but there wasn't much force behind it. The first attempt failed, but on the second attempt, Gonoyama just hit the dirt and rolled over.

Just like the Takayasu bout, whenever a guy is executing a throw against you from the outside, you always counter with an inside throw. Well, let me clarify. If you're trying to win the bout that's what you do, but that was obviously not the case here as Gonoyama was bought and paid for in falling to 4-6 while Kotonowaka's 8-2 is incredibly weak. I mean, they ruled that uwate-nage, but that was the softest throw I've ever seen. Just watch the slow mo replays and focus on Gonoyama's right arm if you want to see the yaocho.

M1 Asanoyama executed a very nice tachi-ai against Suckiwake Daieisho halting the latter in his tracks and knocking him back a half step. As Daieisho tried to tsuppari his way back into the bout, Asanoyama put both hands high as if to pull, but the pull never came and Daieisho took the gift from there "winning" by oshi-dashi. Daieisho moves to 6-4 and stays tied with Kirishima for the Nenkan Saitasho while Asanoyama falls to 1-9.

Ozeki Hoshoryu force his bout with Suckiwake Wakamotoharu to migi-yotsu, and as Hoshoryu looked to wrench WMH upright, the Suckiwake used his length to grab a left outer grip. Without pausing, Hoshoryu executed an inside belt throw to immediately shake his opponent off of that grip, and as they squared back up, Hoshoryu had moro-zashi. With Wakamotoharu upright, Hoshoryu executed a quick force-out charge that drew a counter tsuki attempt from WMH at the edge with the right, but it would never fully form as both dudes went crashing off of the dohyo altogether. Wakamotoharu took the brunt of this fall, but he was able to catch himself with his hand to lessen the blow. I mean, these guys have to be tough to survive something like this and bounce right back up, but you wouldn't want to crash land like that everyday. Hoshoryu picks up the forceful yori-taoshi win in moving to 7-3 while Wakamotoharu gave a very respectable fight in falling to 4-6.

Ozeki Kirishima pushed M4 Nishikigi upright from the tachi-ai with a left paw to the jaw, and then as NG looked to duck back in, Kirishima moved left going for a light swipe and Nishikigi just rushed forward exposing his behind to the Ozeki, and Kirishima lightly rushed him out okuri-dashi style from there. This was simply a matter of the two rikishi trading wins. Nishikigi got the win last basho, and it was Kirishima's turn today as the Ozeki moves to 8-2 with Nishikigi falling to 6-4.

Komusubi Abi didn't even bother to go for his usual tsuppari attack at the tachi-ai against Takakeisho instead standing upright and keeping his hands high in a defensive posture. It took Takakeisho about two seconds to move in and attempt a pull, and it wasn't a very good one, but Abi did most of the work stumbling forward and down giving Takakeisho the cheap win. Takakeisho moves to 7-3 with the gift, but it's interesting how they aren't talking Yokozuna run anymore and how can you with all these pull wins?. As for Abi, he knows his place in falling to 3-7.

With Ichiyamamoto's loss, it gives the Association a really good leaderboard heading into the Shubansen, or final five days:

8-2: Kirishima, Kotonowaka, Atamifuji, Ichiyamamoto
7-3: Hoshoryu, Takakeisho, Midorifuji, Ryuden, Hiradoumi, Churanoumi

They'll start pairing these dudes up against each other, so we could be down to three in a coupla days, but let's just see how it plays out.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I thought bringing M1 Asanoyama back from kyujo and pairing him against Takakeisho on Day 8 was a huge win for the Sumo Association. Regardless of who won the bout, you have the two dudes with the biggest name recognition this basho duking it out in prime time, and it was a very good bout. Takakeisho tried his best to control Asanoyama with his tsuppari attack, and Asanoyama defended him well and countered at the edge with that inside belt throw. The bout ended in a nage-no-uchi-ai as straight up bouts at the edge do, and it was so close they had to call a mono-ii.

Now, judging by the actual skill level of these two rikishi, this bout should have occurred in the upper Juryo ranks or the bottom of the Makuuchi ranks, but it was a legitimate bout of sumo that everyone got excited about, and the two rikishi delivered. It's unfortunate that it can't be like this with every bout every day, but if all bouts were fought straight up every day, we'd have a vastly different basho, and we'd still be waiting for the first Japanese rikishi to yusho since Tochiazuma's gifted yusho in 2006.

Along with the aforementioned matchup, the Association also invited recently retired baseball player, Nobuhiro Matsuda, to sit in the booth on Day 8, and Matsuda was a star for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks for years, and he recently played in Tokyo for the Yomiuri Giants, so he's a familiar face to much of the viewing audience.

It felt like the first half of the basho was just slogging along, and I really had no idea how the yusho race would formulate in week 2. The sell-out banners were also not lowered each weekday that first week, and so the Association has been doing what it can to get people excited bout this basho that has lacked great sumo from the start.

Along with the spectacles we saw on Day 8, the Association also had the Kyushu locals starting winning more often and beating prominent rikishi in order to get people to come out. Sadanoumi scored big wins on paper over Ichiyamamoto and Atamifuji heading into the weekend; Shodai beat all three Sekiwake; and even Hiradoumi has miraculously awakened from an 0-3 start to reel off six straight.

All of this has resulted in the Association's being able to lower the banners in the arena today, and judging by the looks of things, about 70% of the seats were filled.

Of course, as much positive PR they've been generating over the last few days, I still can't get that Hoshoryu - Nishikigi Day 8 matchup out of my head. And that's the problem. Just when it feels like everything is picking up steam, you have a fixed bout that's so obvious, it just makes everyone feel uncomfortable.

But that's the atmosphere we have to work with, so let's examine the list of rikishi down to two losses at the start of Day 9 noting that a leaderboard was not posted at the end of Day 8 or during the Day 9 bouts themselves:

7-1: Ichiyamamoto
6-2: Kirishima, Hoshoryu, Kotonowaka, Nishikigi, Midorifuji, Atamifuji, Ryuden, Tamawashi, Churanoumi

The reason NHK hasn't been posting the leaderboard yet is because it's a hot mess. Nobody knows who Ichiyamamoto is, and then you have the two Mongolian's there leading off the two-loss tier with Takakeisho being noticeably absent. Kotonowaka and Atamifuji have a bit of name recognition from the media, but it's just not a stable looking leaderboard.

If they were to tell the Ichiyamamoto camp to lose so they could add Takakeisho to the leaderboard, you'd double the size of the "leaders" if you add the three-loss rikishi, so the yusho has not and cannot be an emphasis yet until that board is whittled down.

They opened up the Day 9 broadcast showing a row of about a dozen geisha sitting with their mama who had a big drum of sake open and a ladle, and they were passing out drinks to the fans around them. Come to think of it, maybe a little sake would help me believe all this too! It was a great visual for the start of the day, and I actually know one of those chicks from my days living in Fukuoka!!

Let's start with M14 Ichiyamamoto who was paired against M12 Tamawashi, and The Mawashi didn't even compete in this one standing straight up at the tachi-ai keeping his hands high and out of harm's way. As Ichiyamamoto moved forward with his tsuppari attack, Tamawashi just played along and backed out as fast as Ichiyamamoto was moving forward. It looked good for the ones of Ichiyamamoto fans out there, but this was fixed through and through. The result is Ichiyamamoto's moving to 8-1 while Tamawashi falls out of contention at 6-3.

Before we move on, I had forgotten that Ichiyamamoto was the first alternate to the Beavis and Butthead show all those years ago. Every time he's on camera, he's trying not to laugh as he gives his interviews, but sometimes he just can't help himself. His kachi-koshi interview sounded something like this:

Uh-huh-huh-huh-uh-huh-huh-huh. I'm fighting well, uh-huh-hu, heh hhn

When asked about being the sole leader f the basho, "Whoa. Cool. Huh-huh."

Though neither M16 Roga or M11 Hiradoumi are in the yusho race, it's worth noting that Roga let up in this one. From the tachi-ai, the two hooked up in gappuri-migi-yotsu, a position that favors Roga, but Roga let go of his inside right and just rested his hand on Hiradoumi's belt instead of grabbing it. That allowed Hiradoumi to move right and go for a dashi-nage, and Roga just played along never once going for a counter move or trying to use his size advantage to force Hiradoumi back and across...a move that was there for the taking. With Roga completely mukiryoku, Hiradoumi finally got his back to the straw, and Roga didn't bother moving laterally; rather, he almost sat down on his butt as Hiradoumi put some weight into him causing a harder fall than was necessary. Whaddayaknow! The Kyushu native, Hiradoumi, makes is six in a row today in moving to 6-3 while Roga knows his plays in this sport at 2-7.

The following bout featured M8 Endoh vs. M15 Churanoumi, and Endoh's quest for a frontal belt grip was curiously missing at the tachi-ai. Instead, Endoh kept his arms wide and went for sloppy pulls in an effort to set himself up, but Churanoumi was just hapless. Maintaining proper social distancing throughout, Churanoumi managed to get a left arm inside of Endoh's armpit, and Endoh just flopped to the dirt drawing the kata-sukashi kimari-te, but it was really an obvious dive. Churanoumi buys his way to 7-2 with a horrible display of sumo while Endoh falls to 2-7.

M7 Kinbohzan used a stiff moro-te-zuki tachi-ai to bully M11 Sadanoumi upright, and before the Sadamight could recover, Kinbohzan forced the bout to migi-yotsu where he grabbed a left outer grip. Sadanoumi managed to work his way into moro-zashi, but Kinbohzan's yori charge and great start proved too much as he was able to swing Sadanoumi around and out across the straw. This was one of those rare utchari where the winner is so strong he didn't hit the dirt along with his opponent. Kinbohzan simply threw the Sadamight off the clay mound Greco-Roman style. It was quite a stellar display of strength worth noting as both rikishi end the day at 5-4.

M10 Ryuden and M6 Takanosho hooked up in hidari-yotsu where neither dude had an outer grip. Ryuden could have used his length to vie for one, but he didn't even try. With Ryuden just standing there mukiryoku, Takanosho backed up as if to set up a pull, but before he could even execute it, Ryuden just put both palms to the dirt in anticipation of something that obviously didn't come. Ryuden takes himself out of contention in falling to 6-3 while Takanosho is gifted 4-5.

M9 Mitakeumi gave up moro-zashi to M5 Midorifuji from the tachi-ai, but the insides were shallow and so the two grappled in the ring for nearly 30 seconds with Mitakeumi able to turn the tables once he grabbed a right inside grip. I only note this bout as Midorifuji came into the day with just two losses, but he falls back out of contention here at 6-3. Mitakeumi moves to 5-4 with the rare, legit win.

Instead of going for the neck or chest with both hands, M5 Onosho kept his arms wide against M8 Atamifuji signaling his intentions from the start, but Atamifuji couldn't clue in using a useless right kachi-age that left his insides completely exposed. Onosho didn't take advantage of course, and so with Onosho just standing there, Atamifuji started to back up as if to pull, and Onosho just played along putting both palms to the dirt.

At least Isegahama-oyakata was honest in his analysis after the bout. When Koi announcer asked Isegahama about Atamifuji's sumo, his quick answer was, "Zen-zen dame desu," or it was completely worthless. Now, a stablemaster will always self deprecate the rikishi in his own stable, but at least it was true analysis instead of having them makeup lies in order to explain how Atamifuji won the bout. Onosho (2-7) threw this one clear as day sending Atamifuji to an ill-gotten 7-2 record.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is why you have the hometown rikishi shine in the basho away from Tokyo:



And true to form, the hometown hero, M2 Shodai, somehow got his ass kicked at the tachi-ai by Komusubi Hokutofuji and still came back to win the bout. What were the odds?! After knocking Shodai upright and sending him back a step from the tachi-ai, Hokutofuji promptly went into pull mode without really pulling, but Shodai wasn't exactly exerting any pressure, and so Hokutofuji went for a final pull where he slipped out of the move and stumbled back across the straw. Darn the luck as Hokutofuji falls to 2-7 while Shodai improves to 5-4.

Hooboy, I know neither of these dudes are in yusho contention, but in a basho where they're pulling out all the PR stops, Komusubi Abi conveniently forgot his firehose tsuppari attack against M1 Ura and kept his hands high. Ura wasn't blazing forward, and so the two ended up in the grappling position pushing into each other's shoulders and elbows. After striking that pose for a few seconds, Ura slapped both hands down but didn't connect with Abi in the least, and then to make matters worse, Abi hesitated for a second and then just flopped over and down. Uh...some of these guys need some training on how to take dives because this was awful. How they didn't rule it koshi-kudake or tsuki-hiza I don't know, but this was so obviously fixed. Let's see if it makes the top three streamed bouts on the day as both rikishi end at 3-6.

I think it's time to demote Daieisho down to Suckiwake status. Today against fellow Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, somebody owed someone something because after coming out of his stance with fierce tsuppari and forcing Wakamotoharu to look to the rafters, Daieisho just held the pose and waited for WMH to lightly shift left and go for a shoulder slap whereupon Daieisho just ran himself outta the dohyo. Daieisho falls to 5-4 with the result and is in danger of giving up his lead for the Nenkan Saitasho award. As for Wakamotoharu, he moves to 4-5 with the gift.

Ozeki Kirishima could tie Daieisho for the Nenkan Saitasho at 56 wins if he decided to beat M1 Asanoyama, and the Ozeki surely dictated this one start to finish. Kirishima opted not to force the bout to the belt from the tachi-ai and instead got the left arm inside wrist deep before retreating around the edge of the dohyo. Asanoyama couldn't keep up and force the Ozeki across, and so they ultimately social distanced where Kirishima offered a light hari-te before setting up a left kote-nage throw...that was never executed. With Asanoyama still doing nothing, Kirishima went into full pull position setting himself up at the edge, but Asanoyama couldn't push him across before he collapsed to the dohyo.

This one was as close as it gets, but replays showed that Asanoyama did touch down first with that right fist. My opinion here is that Kirishima was not paid off. Rather, he did what the Mongolians often do, which is to leave themselves vulnerable to a good attack, but if the Japanese rikishi is clueless, they're not going to let him win. Kirishima made enough mistakes indicating that he was willing to lose this one, but Asanoyama simply couldn't keep up. The end result is an A for effort in regards to Asanoyama whose make-koshi becomes official at 1-8, but as far as the fans were concerned, he put up a good fight. As for Kirishima, he moves to 7-2 and is now the heavy favorite to yusho and win the Nenkan Saitasho award.

In the penultimate bout, Takakeisho was paired against M4 Nishikigi, who played the part of a brick wall nicely from the tachi-ai, and try as he might, Takakeisho could not budge NG back. The good news for Takakeisho was that the bout was fixed in his favor and he knew it was fixed because he kept persisting with his tsuppari attack, which is running on fumes these days. Around the ring they went with Nishikigi pretending to care, but it was obvious when he never tried a single offensive move, and after about 10 seconds of frustration, I think there was a pull move from Takakeisho, but I'm not sure. Nishikigi certainly thought it was a pull because he stepped forward, planted one foot to the dohyo, and then swan dove across the straw in spectacular fashion.

I mean, Nishikigi checks in at 184 kilograms. What kind of force is required to get 184 kg into the air like that against his own will?? Certainly nothing that came from Takakeisho, and a sound analytical mind notices such things. The sheep, however, were relieved that Takakeisho..um won the bout. At 6-3, I think the Association has given up supporting his run for Yokozuna. I say that because this was lead in graphic to the NHK News 9 sports segment and notice who is missing:



In the day's final affair, Ozeki Hoshoryu came with a nice right paw to Suckiwake Kotonowaka's neck, but as he pushed in Baby Waka, Hoshoryu ducked his left shoulder and left his right side vulnerable. I knew the bout was fixed at that point because it was such an unnatural move, but Kotonowaka was in no position to counter, and so Hoshoryu squared back up with another quick tsuki and then forced the bout to migi-yotsu where he kept his right hip in position for Kotonowaka to grab a left outer while keeping his own body far away from a left grip of his own. Once Kotonowaka grabbed the uncontested left outer, he began a force-out charge, but it was extremely awkward and lacked any real force, and so at the edge, instead of instigating a nage-no-uchi-ai or countering with his right hand/arm, Hoshoryu just wilted over, turned his back to Baby Waka, took a knee outside of the straw, and caught himself easily with a hand on the venue floor for a perfect dismount.

I mean, you look at that pic and ask yourself...what was Hoshoryu trying to do at the edge in that position. Kotonowaka certainly didn't make him assume that leaning squat; it was all the Ozeki's doing. Instead of using his heels against the straw to his advantage, Hoshoryu was just trying to throw the bout. Unfortunately, Kotonowaka wasn't doing a great job of applying any force thus the awkward ending that left Kotonowaka at 7-2 while Hoshoryu takes himself out of the yusho race at 6-3.

At this point...after 9 full days of action, NHK finally flashed their first leaderboard as follows:

8-1: Ichiyamamoto
7-2: Kirishima, Kotonowaka, Atamifuji, Churanoumi

Even with Kirishima on that board, general fans are going to look at that and say, "I don't recognize any of those rikishi."

I really don't see how Kirishima doesn't take the yusho at this point. He's at least an 80% favorite now to hoist the cup if not higher, and the only other dude on that board they'd let entertain thoughts of the yusho is Kotonowaka because dude has a lot of money behind him and his grand pappy was a former Yokozuna.

Nobody else on that board has 1) good name recognition, or 2) good sumo. If it was Gonoyama, you could make an argument that his sumo has been aggressive and good, but the others (including Kotonowaka) have been just awful.

Day 7 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Even before the first Makuuchi bout was fought on Day 7, the biggest news by far was the announcement that M2 Asanoyama would make his return starting on Day 8. Some media outlets are even going as far as to suggest a kachi-koshi isn't out of the question because Asanoyama could theoretically go 8-0 upon his return. There's no way that could happen legitimately, but I don't expect him to come back and be a huge dud.

It just feels like this basho needs a bit more life breathed into it. Takakeisho's sumo has been awful, and then the Ozeki are starting to throw a few bouts, which projects weakness. Kotonowaka and Ichiyamamoto, who entered the day at 6-0, haven't impressed at all with their sumo content, and so if you didn't look at anyone's records and just judged things by the sumo content of each rikishi, who looks impressive this basho?

Here's my list:


So yeah, sumo could use a pick-me-up, and Asanoyama's return could give them that if they orchestrate a bunch of wins for him.

Turning our attention to the day's bouts, it really felt as if it was a day of reckoning...as if the Sumo Association mandated that all bouts be fought straight up. Now, there were a few compromised bouts here and there, but reality was on display for all of the bouts that mattered, and I think that's a good thing. The man'in-on-rei banners were lowered again today, and you had a lot more people tuning into the broadcast, so why not give them legitimate sumo?

The first bout of interest was M15 Churanoumi, who has been on a hot streak on paper starting out 5-1. I can only remember one legit win outta the five, and today against M13 Tsurugisho, the Hutt slapped the rookie right where he's got that big bandage over his eye, but Churanoumi shook it off getting moro-zashi, but he couldn't do anything with it, and so Tsurugisho grabbed a left outer grip and clutched Churanoumi's melon with the right arm and dragged him across the straw easy as you please. I mean, this wasn't even competitive, and they're saying that Tsurugisho is also injured, so this was a great example of a dude getting a reality check after buying a hot start. Churanoumi finishes at 5-2 while Tsurugisho moves to 3-4.

Let's skip ahead to our first undefeated rikishi on the day, M14 Ichiyamamoto. He was paired against M11 Sadanoumi, and IYM caught the Sadamight with two hands to the throat, but the savvy Sadanoumi was able to yank IYM forward with an inashi / sideswipe of the left arm, and he kept going back to that inashi whenever Ichiyamamoto would attempt tsuppari. Frustrated, IYM began going for pulls, and Sadanoumi took advantage getting inside and pushing Ichiyamamoto back and across for his first loss. Ichiyamamoto falls to 6-1, and when the pressure is really on, these guys lose confidence fast and resort to pull sumo. Sadanoumi picks up a big win here in moving to 4-3.

M11 Hiradoumi went chest to chest from the tachi-ai against M8 Atamifuji in a migi-yotsu contest, and it was Hiradoumi who pressed the action despite his smaller frame. Hiradoumi grabbed a left outer grip early and he used that to force Atamifuji across to the other side of the dohyo. Atamifuji put the brakes on there and managed a left outer over the top, but he was too extended with that grip, and so Hiradoumi was able to lead with his right arm inside and force Atamifuji back and across the entire diameter of the dohyo again and this time across the tawara for good. Atamifuji could do little here, and those "heavy hips" mysteriously played no role today. In a straight up bout, Atamifuji was given the runaround by a much smaller dude in falling to 5-2. Hiradoumi moves to 4-3 with the nice win, and notice how he wasn't afraid of his larger opponent because he knew the bout wasn't fixed.

The M7 Hokuseiho - M5 Midorifuji bout lasted six minutes and 41 seconds, and it was the first time we've seen a mizu-iri (water break) in eight years. I think the reason for the lack of mizu-iri these days is because so many of the bouts are fixed going in, that we just don't get these extended fights like we used to. Personally, I've never seen a bout go as long as this one today, which was won by Hokuseiho via uwate-nage using the left outer grip he gained from the tachi-ai.

Let's skip ahead to our other unbeaten entering the day, Suckiwake Kotonowaka, who was paired against M1 Ura. Kotonowaka was passive at the tachi-ai wanting to see what Ura would do, and Ura shaded a bit right managing to push Kotonowaka upright just a bit keeping him in a defensive posture. The two ultimately settled into the middle of the ring with Ura hunkered low, and instead of seizing the action, Kotonowaka just waited, and so Ura hooked his left arm up and under Kotonowaka's right and executed the perfect tottari throw. Even though Kotonowaka has been buying his wins all basho, he's looked terrible in doing so, and he wasn't prepared to take on Ura (2-5) today in falling to 6-1.

The M2 Shodai - Suckiwake Wakamotoharu bout pictured at right was straight up, which tells you all you need to know about Wakamotoharu. Both dudes ended the day at 3-4 after Shodai won with a nifty scoop throw

At this point of the broadcast, they flashed the live standings for the Nenkan Saitasho as follows:

That reads:

1. Daieisho (55 wins)
2. Hoshoryu (54 wins)
3. Kirishima (53 wins)
4. Wakamotoharu tied with Kotonowaka (51 wins)

Following this graphic was the Sekiwake Daieisho - Komusubi Hokutofuji matchup, and Hokutofuji was mukiryoku throughout allowing Daieisho to execute a tsuppari attack with no counters whatsoever coming from Hokutofuji. Hokutofuji took a hard spill at the end, which happens when someone is letting up, and that's why you have that old adage in sumo, "Let up in the ring, and someone's going to get hurt." Hokutofuji (2-5) bounced back up after a few seconds, but the venue was completely silent as he lay there on his back in the corner of the dohyo. Daieisho is gifted 5-2.

In the Ozeki ranks, Hoshoryu was patient against Komusubi Abi, who came with his fire hose tsuppari, but they weren't impactful enough to force Hoshoryu to move laterally. While Hoshoryu did give up a bit of ground, he was able to grab Abi's extended right arm, shade left, and drag Abi (2-5) over to the edge where he pushed him out from behind in the end. Hoshoryu moves to 6-1 and now leads the basho although NHK never posted a leaderboard today.

Ozeki Kirishima used some nice thrusts into M3 Tobizaru's upper torso to drive the M3 back, and as Tobizaru looked to escape right, Kirishima caught him underneath the left armpit and dumped him over with a sukui-nage. This bout was uncontested as Kirishima breezes to 5-2 while Tobizaru is the opposite 2-5.

In the day's final bout, M4 Gonoyama could not be bought off against Takakeisho. Takakeisho gave it his best effort attempting a tsuppari tachi-ai, but he just bounced off of Gonoyama. Gonoyama advanced from there with a kachi-age, and Takakeisho tried one more round of defensive tsuppari before moving left where he likes to go for that wild left swipe. Problem was that Gonoyama obviously watched tape on the dude and knew he would go that way, so before Takakeisho could unleash the move, Gonoyama got his right arm deep inside and used Takakeisho's momentum against him to force him back and across the straw with some oomph. Takakeisho was so overwhelmed, he landed on a cushion in the first row and somersaulted back into row two.

An Ozeki should never lose like that to a hiramaku rikishi let alone a Yokozuna candidate, and this is why they're not saying a meyasu or talking about sumo content in regards to Takakeisho's basho and his Yokozuna candidacy. Course, losing two bouts before the midway point is disastrous, but they've lowered the bar so much to this point for Takakeisho, nobody is declaring the Yokozuna run over. If you really break down the sumo, this guy is completely useless. He falls to 5-2 in defeat, and I don't see how he doesn't finish the basho with at least four losses. Too many people (oyakata) hate Takanohana after his mini rebellion all those years ago, and I think there's a certain faction that doesn't want to see his prodigy reach Yokozuna.

Let's see what tomorrow brings before we go into leaderboard mode.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Today was the fifth straight day where the Association did not lower the man'in-on-rei banners indicating a sellout. The definition of a sell-out used to be around 80% attendance, but they'll lower them now at around 65%. It was close today, but not quite. Fukuoka is the least populated area to draw from for a hon-basho, but if I remember correctly, every day last year was a sellout.

I'm not sure what was spun at the first of the broadcast because they showed NHK news for about 15 into the broadcast, and by the time they caught back up with sumo, the first bout of the day was already done.

It still feels way too early to start speculating on the yusho race, so we'll save that for next week. Instead, let's get to the Day 6 action starting with M14 Tomokaze vs. M17 Kitanowaka. The two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai with Kitanowaka maintaining a left outer grip and Tomokaze flirting with moro-zashi. As Kitanowaka seemed to press the action first applying pressure with the left outer while thinking about a soto-gake with the left leg, Tomokaze responded with a counter scoop throw as he swept the rookie's leg away, and the two crashed down in the center of the ring after the nage-no-uchi-ai. It looked like a tie to me, but they pointed towards Tomokaze and didn't call a mono-ii. Tomokaze moves to 4-2 with the win while Kitanowaka's hard luck continues in straight up bouts at 3-3.

M16 Nishikifuji was half-assed at the tachi-ai allowing M14 Ichiyamamoto to shove him upright, but IYM wasn't looking to do straight forward sumo here. Instead, after a few harmless thrusts Nishikifuji's way, Ichiyamamoto went into full pull mode, and Nishikifuji played along hitting the dirt and kicking his heels up to the level of Ichiyamamoto's shoulders. Hold on Cowboy; the pull wasn't that good, but whatever, Ichiyamamoto buys his way to 6-0 while Nishikifuji falls to 1-5.

M16 Roga reached for a left frontal grip at the tachi-ai, but M13 Takarafuji rebuffed it easily causing the two to sorta push but also sort look to go chest to chest. It was obvious the bout was not straight up, and so the two dodged this way and that before Takarafuji executed a shoulder slap that had Roga close to going down, but Takarafuji let up on it. Finally, Roga got a shallow right outer, but with the dudes never chest to chest and constantly social distancing, the action flowed this way and that and then all of a sudden Takarafuji just hit the dirt. They ruled it shitate-hineri, but they had to make something up. This was just a premature fall from Takarafuji as he anticipated a move from the rookie that never came.

They called a mono-ii speculating as to whether or not Roga's heel touched out as Takarafuji chased him around, and it was close, but there was no mark in the dirt. The interesting thing about this photo is that Roga was backpedaling here, and even though his heel didn't touch down, why didn't Takarafuji just offer a left forearm to the chest to really send him out? The fix was in and this was just nonsense sumo as Roga buys win number two at 2-4 while Takarafuji is a harmless 1-5.

The next bout between M15 Tohakuryu and M13 Tsurugisho was a microcosm of this entire tournament. Neither dude wanted to go chest to chest, so they both stood straight up at the tachi-ai and began stiff arming each other with little effect.  They danced this way and that taking social distancing in the ring to a new level, and eventually, Tsurugisho had enough bulk that he was able to corner Tohakuryu at the West side of the dohyo, and the forearm missing from the previous bout suddenly manifest itself here as TS used that forearm to shove Tohakuryu back that final step.

I mean, if I was a paying customer and I watched a bout such as this where both dudes cared so little, I'd feel as if I wasn't getting my money's worth as both rikishi end the day at 2-4.

M12 Tamawashi kept his hands high and wide at the tachi-ai barely touching M15 Churanoumi's shoulder, and with The Mawashi in full C3P0 mode, Churanoumi got the inside and tried to force Tamawashi back and across, but the Mongolian was already doing a great job just backing up and stepping out on his own. Regardless, the bout was over in about three seconds, and Tamawashi exemplified what it means to be mukiryoku in this one. Churanoumi's 5-1 is way inflated while Tamawashi had room to sell in falling to 4-2.

M12 Ohho put two hands to M10 Ryuden's chest at the tachi-ai and then backed up trying to swipe his foe down. It almost worked, but Ryuden kept his balance and chased Ohho to the other side of the ring and around. As Ryuden looked to get into a clinch, Ohho was looking pull, and Ryuden eventually took advantage of his ill-advised pull attempt to get the left arm inside and finally go chest to chest with Ohho near the edge. The bout stalled at this point as both dudes gathered their wits, and when Ryuden felt recharged, he demanded a right outer grip over the top on one fold of Ohho's belt, but once he got it, he was able to force Ohho back that final step. Ryuden moves to 4-2 with the nice win while Ohho's gotta figure out how to use his size better in falling to 2-4.

The tachi-ai between M9 Myogiryu and M10 Kotoeko was horrible with Myogiryu aligning his feet and Kotoeko standing upright with arms out wide. Myogiryu recovered from his bad tachi-ai to finally move forward and get the left arm inside and gift right outer that Kotoeko was waiting for him to grab, and at that point, Myogiryu forced Kotoeko back and across with no opposition from his foe whatsoever. The fix was in here as Myogiryu works his way to 3-3 with Kotoeko falling to 2-4.

M11 Hiradoumi got the right arm inside and left outer grip against a defenseless M9 Mitakeumi at the tachi-ai, and while Mitakeumi redefines the term "slow" these days, he's still a load to move around for a small dude like Hiradoumi. Against almost anyone else, Hiradoumi was susceptible to a counter tsuki because he was too extended and upright, but against Mitakeumi, he eventually forced the big lug back and across. Hiradoumi moves to 3-3 with the nice win while Mitakeumi is not genki at 2-4.

M11 Sadanoumi and M8 Takarafuji hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Sadanoumi grabbed the early left outer grip. Atamifuji tried to counter with a left outer of his own, but every time he extended himself to get it, Sadanoumi would belly him back upright. This happened three straight times before Sadanoumi used his left outer to dashi-nage Atamifuji over to the other side of the dohyo and ultimately out after a two or three second struggle at the edge. It goes without saying that this bout was straight up, and we can see that it was Sadanoumi who had the tools and skill to beat a larger opponent. Atamifuji has no prowess in a straight up bout, and this was Exhibit A. Atamifuji falls to 5-1 with the loss leaving Ichiyamamoto as the only hiramaku dude undefeated at 6-0. As for Sadanoumi, he moves to 3-3 with the technically orchestrated win.

M7 Kinbohzan used a series of kachi-age and thrusts to knock M6 Shonannoumi upright at the tachi-ai, but he couldn't quite a left belt grip. With Shonannoumi playing good defense, the action swung around the ring a turn with Shonannoumi managing to latch onto a right inside grip that sent the bout to yotsu-zumo. Kinbohzan finally got a left outer, and as he did, Shonannoumi knew he was in trouble if he just stood there, so he went for a dashi-nage with the inside belt grip that threw Kinbohzan off a step or two, but he quickly recovered and had Shonannoumi trapped forcing him out from there.

I expect effort from both parties every bout to the extent that we got it here. It goes without saying that a far majority of the bouts are not fought with the determination of these two rikishi today. Kudos to both of them as Kinbohzan moves to 3-3 while Shonannoumi falls to 4-2.

M5 Onosho fired a few stiff arms M6 Takanosho's way from the tachi-ai and then began driving his legs even though he didn't have Takanosho knocked off balance. The result was Takanosho's playing along to the ring's edge before he easily moved right firing a counter kote-nage that sent Onosho down and out with ease. Takanosho one ups his gal at 3-3 while Onosho falls to 2-4.

M5 Midorifuji got moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against M8 Endoh rather easily, and once he solidified the position, Endoh tried to counter with a right outer grip and then a left, but Midorifuji showed why moro-zashi is such a lethal position using his leg inside of Endoh's to trip him over near the edge before Midorifuji worked him across in fine fashion. Good stuff from Midorifuji has he moves to 5-1 while Endoh has nothing left at 0-6.

M4 Nishikigi got moro-zashi against the defenseless M7 Hokuseiho from the tachi-ai, and he immediately drove Hokuseiho back to the edge...but not quite back. As Hokuseiho looked to counter with an outer grip, Nishikigi used his size and strength to lift Hokuseiho clear off his feet and tsuri-dashi him across for the nice win. That was pretty cool as Nishikigi moves to 4-2 while Hokuseiho falls to 2-4.

M2 Meisei and M1 Ura pushed into each other from the tachi-ai, but it was obvious that Meisei wasn't trying to latch onto his opponent and reel in him close. Meisei did force Ura back to where his heel was against the tawara, but he was not trying to defeat him, and so Ura finally pushed back against a willing Meisei and the two went to the edge in front of the chief judge where Ura went for a do or die push causing him to hit the ground about the time that Meisei fell out of the ring. They called a mono-ii but gave it to Ura since the bout was fixed in his favor anyway. The result is both rikishi standing at 1-5.

Komusubi Abi took charge against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu with his firehose tsuppari attack, and he had WMH looking at the stars for a few seconds. Wakamotoharu was finally able to get a left arm inside, but before he could get established, Abi stepped out wide and threw WMH over and down with a very nice counter kote-nage with his right arm. Abi dominated this one in moving to 2-4 while Wakamotoharu is very unimpressive these days at 3-3.

Sekiwake Daieisho struck M2 Shodai nicely from the the tachi-ai before Shodai shaded right going for the lightest of pulls, and Daieisho dutifully hit the deck from there. It didn't even last two seconds, and politics were definitely involved in this one. Daieisho falls to 4-2 and his lead in the race for the Nenkan Saitasho becomes very precarious with this loss. As for Shodai, he moves to 2-4 with the cheap win.

Speaking of cheap wins, Suckiwake Kotonowaka has purchased plenty of those this basho, and he did it again today against Komusubi Hokutofuji. Kotonowaka was extremely exposed at the tachi-ai, but Hokutofuji refused to get to the inside, and he had opportunities to get either the left or the right arm inside. The two stood like this for eight seconds or so, and Kotonowaka did not have a pot to piss in. He still went for a bad pull backing up near the edge, and Hokutofuji could have easily used Kotonowaka's backwards momentum against him and forced him across, but Hokutofuji put on the brakes and eventually just backed up to the other side and let Kotonowaka push him out. This was anything but an "oshi-dashi" as Kotonowaka moves to an ugly 6-0, and this is just like Takakeisho's performance in Kyushu. The record is there but the sumo is awful. As for Hokutofuji, he gets paid to fall to 2-4.

In the Ozeki ranks, M4 Gonoyama and Ozeki Kirishima traded a flurry of shoves from the tachi-ai, and then Kirishima just hit the dirt in the missionary position about two seconds in. It was an obvious flop, and Gonoyama tried to catch up and push into the Ozeki's shoulder, but he was already down of his own volition. Kirishima falls to 4-2 and is likely covering for future Takakeisho losses. He's also distancing himself from the Nenkan Saitasho award with the loss, so it's no surprise to see him refuse the spotlight.

Up next was Takakeisho who faced M3 Tobizaru, a rikishi who's chosen to win his last four against Takakeisho. The streak would end here as Tobizaru henka'd mildly to his right at the tachi-ai without actually trying to pull Takakeisho down, and as the two squared up, they traded girl slaps for a few seconds with Takakeisho slowly retreating. Then for no reason...other than to throw the bout, Tobizaru backed up to the other side of the dohyo and turned his back to his foe allowing Takakeisho to push him out that last step from behind. Once again, we have a Takakeisho "win" where he did nothing to set it up, and it's just this frivolous bout of sumo that is obviously fixed. Takakeisho moves to 5-1 with the gift while Tobizaru falls to 2-4.

In the day's final bout, Ozeki Hoshoryu used a series of tsuppari to drive M3 Takayasu around the ring, but like Hokutofuji before, he refused to get inside of his defenseless opponent. After five seconds or so of this nonsense, Hoshoryu got the left arm inside and then he put his right arm completely over the top of Takayasu's right shoulder for no reason other than to allow Takayasu to defeat him. Takayasu wasn't prepared to dismantle Hoshoryu, however, and so the Ozeki put his right leg in between Takayasu's legs and just held that position for about three seconds. Takayasu finally clued in and grabbed Hoshoryu by the thigh and flipped him over komata-sukui style. Ha, ha. As if. The komata-sukui move is one that you have to execute in a flash...similar to kata-sukashi, so to see Hoshoryu just hold that position and wait for it was comical. Anyway, it's no surprise to see the other Mongolian Ozeki take a step back and leave the Japanese rikishi in the spotlight. I'm sure these guys will continue to lose every few days to stay out of the way. Hoshoryu falls to 5-1 after taking the loss while Takayasu moves to 3-3.

NHK News 9 showed the three Ozeki again in their lead-in, and it looked good to have Takakeisho win and the two Ozeki lose heading into the weekend. I mean, if you were actually to scrutinize the sumo content from the three Ozeki bouts, you would have seen three obviously fixed bouts, but that's just what sumo is these days unfortunately.

We'll see how active I am over the weekend.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 5 broadcast led off with highlights from the 1996 Kyushu basho, and I remember that basho well as I was living and working in Fukuoka at the time, and so I was in full groupie mode visiting stables each morning to watch keiko before going to work. I remember that basho because five dudes were tied at the end of senshuraku with 11-4 records. They did a semi-finals with four of the guys (Akebono drew the lucky straw and had a bye), so after the semi-finals knocked two guys out, they did a tomoe-sen with Akebono, Musashimaru, and Takanonami. Musashimaru ended up winning the playoff, but I remember it being a terrible basho overall.

When they talked about it today (Koi Announcer and former Akinoshima who was ranked M2 at the time), the focus was not on the mediocrity of the 11-4 finish; rather, it was the number of strong rikishi at the top of the banzuke (pictured at right) involved in the playoff. It was obvious that they were trying to cover for Takakeisho's 11-4 "win" last basho by focusing on the strength of the rikishi on the banzuke involved rather than the point that a dude with four losses is not worthy of the yusho.

The messaging by the media in an effort to cover for what's going on is just glaring. For the third day in a row, NHK News 9 began its sports segment by showing a picture of the three Ozeki side by side with the arena in the background, and the past two days they've shown all three bouts by the Ozeki. Today, however, they announced that they'd just review Takakeisho's bout and Hoshoryu's bout, and so they left Kirishima out of the mix. Why? Because Kirishima soundly defeated Meisei today...the same rikishi who soundly defeated Takakeisho yesterday.

All of this messaging doesn't mean that Takakeisho is a shoe-in for the Yokozuna rank with another 11-4 yusho, but it's a huge effort to try and cover for the fact that compromised sumo is heavily needed right now in order to explain our current circumstances and to keep the Japanese rikishi relevant.

The one amusing part of the intro today was when they went to Asahiyutaka in the mukou-joumen chair...which happens to be this tiny little box in the upper corner of the arena, and they asked Asahiyutaka if he remembered the 1996 Kyushu basho, and he said, "Of course I remember. I'm still pissed that I suffered make-koshi." Asahiyutaka finished 5-10 as a Komusubi, and Koi Announcer immediately gave him a "shitsurei itashimashita" for bringing up the bad memories.

As for the action in the ring today, let's get right to it starting with two rookies, M15 Tohakuryu vs. M16 Roga. Roga reached for and got the left frontal grip from the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, but instead of reeling his gal in close, he let go of the grip as Tohakuryu skirted left going for a wild pull, and Roga just hit the dirt instead of attempting to make a last gasp effort to push his foe out. Another fixed bout here as Tohakuryu moves to 2-3 while Roga falls to 1-4.

M14 Ichiyamamoto came with a kachi-age tachi-ai against M17 Kitanowaka before quickly switching to tsuppari, and he had the rookie pushed upright, back, and across without argument. Ichiyamamoto is feasting on these rookies as he moves to 5-0 while Kitanowaka (3-2) once again looks lost and hapless in a straight up affair. I think Kitanowaka has sticking power in the division, but buying his wins isn't helping him get better.

M16 Nishikifuji henka'd mildly to his left against M13 Tsurugisho pushing the lame Hutt over to the side, and before Tsurugisho could really recover, Nishikigi connected on a few tsuppari that sent TS around and down. It looked like Tsurugisho was trying to cover for his bum knee as he hit the deck, but regardless of that, he falls to 1-4. As for Nishikigi (2-3) I'd say it's dirty pool to henka a guy with a bad knee.

M13 Takarafuji was completely mukiryoku today against M15 Churanoumi, who looked to get a left arm inside from the tachi-ai, but this one never went to yotsu-zumo because Takarafuji was already leaning right, and so a light tap to the side from the rookie sent a willing Takarafuji over and across the straw in mere seconds. Asahiyutaka correctly pointed out that Takarafuji's losses this basho all look "assari," or quick and easy, and even he notices the yaocho even though he can't say it. Churanoumi picks up another cheapie at 4-1 while Takarafuji lines his pockets further at 1-4.

M12 Tamawashi celebrated his 39th birthday today by letting M14 Tomokaze beat him. I mean, I'd take the birthday money too, so I can't complain. Tamawashi actually came hard from the tachi-ai lifting Tomokaze straight up with shoves to the neck and armpit, and despite driving Tomokaze back near the straw, Tamawashi stopped his forward momentum and left his arms extended just waiting for Tomokaze's counter move. It came in the form of a light swipe to the arms, and Tamawashi's reaction was to literally stop, drop, and roll right off of the clay mound. Such pressure in no way came from Tomokaze (3-2), but whatever. Tamawashi can do what he wanna as he moves to 4-1.

M11 Hiradoumi lurched into the moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against M10 Ryuden, whose arms were completely extended outward. I mean, I didn't know it was possible to spread one's arms so widely, but Ryuden managed it. Hiradoumi began a quick yori charge against his self-compromised opponent, and near the straw, Ryuden managed to get a left arm inside, but he kept it wrist deep and didn't even bother going for a counter move. There's a small contingent of fans who are coming from nearby Nagasaki to root Hiradoumi on, so why not let him keep winning? This was pure yaocho today as Ryuden has room to sell in falling to 3-2 while Hiradoumi buys his second win in as many days at 2-3.

M11 Sadanoumi had the path to moro-zashi against M9 Mitakeumi at the tachi-ai, but the Sadamight kept his charge light letting Mitakeumi knock him back a step or too, but Mitakeumi had no power whatsoever behind his charge, and so Sadanoumi pushed him back the other way a few steps. Sadanoumi halted his momentum as the bout was obviously fixed, and so he relented again for Mitakeumi who ultimately went for a very light and very dangerous pull. Without even trying, Sadanoumi had Mitakeumi on his way to another loss, but before Mitakeumi was pushed out, Sadanoumi tried to take a knee at the edge and touch down before Mitakeumi stepped out.

They had to call a mono-ii because it was so close, and they ordered a redo whereupon Sadanoumi kept his arms wide trying to gift Mitakeumi moro-zashi, but Mitakeumi was too hapless to take it, and so Sadanoumi forced the bout to migi-yotsu and even had the left outer grip, but he faked one of the worst falls in sumo I've ever seen by just diving arse first back to the center of the ring causing Mitakeumi to stumble on top of him.

Here's  your homework for the day:  Watch replays of this bout and determine what contact came from Mitakeumi to cause that fall pictured at right.

They went to Asahiyutaka to have him explain it, and I know Asahiyutaka well, and while they didn't show his face, I could just see him smirking as he lied his way through the explanation. And he did a fine job as well as both rikishi end the day at 2-3.

M9 Myogiryu looked to take charge against M12 Ohho with a few tsuppari in the center of the ring, but after a few thrusts Myogiryu sorta paused keeping his arms extended as if to say, "Are you going to do something?" Ohho finally managed a weak swipe to the side and Myogiryu dutifully just collapsed to the dirt in a heap gifting Ohho the cheap win. These two dudes also end the day at 2-3 after another obvious yaocho.

Speaking of yaocho, M8 Atamifuji has benefited from plenty of those in his short Makuuchi career, and today he faced M10 Kotoeko who came with a quick hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the right hand while getting that arm inside, and he had the path to a left outer grip, but he purposefully didn't take it. I mean, if you just focus on Kotoeko's lower body, you can see that he's purposefully upright and flinging his legs around everywhere. At one point he lifted his left leg off the dohyo and pointed it outwards (pictured there at left) allowing Atamifuji to bear down on him. Still, Atamifuji didn't create the momentum, and so he wasn't able to capitalize on it, and so back to the center of the ring they went as Kotoeko pretended to try and cut off Atamifuji's outer grip and then test the maki-kae waters, but the movement was all just fluff, and Atamifuji was eventually able to clue in and score the yori-kiri gift as Kotoeko hopped across the straw on his own.  They aren't even chest to chest there at right with Kotoeko still in the ring.

Kotoeko dictated everything here, and the explanation I saw in the funny papers afterwards was that Atamifuji's hips were heavy, or "koshi ga omoi." I see. Atamifuji is full of shull bit more than anything at 5-0 while Kotoeko pockets some cash in falling to 2-3.

M8 Endoh came with a light kachi-age against M6 Shonannoumi who was looking more to shade right and pull Endoh forward by his left shoulder. Endoh was thrown off balance by the move for sure and resorted to a dash along the edge as he looked back and tried to score on a pull attempt of his opponent, but Shonannoumi was in hot pursuit and tracked him down grabbing a right outer grip that he used to force Endoh back and across for good. In a perfect world, this would have been a solid tachi-ai and a textbook yori-kiri, but this is not a perfect world as Shonannoumi moves to 4-1 with the overwhelming win while retirement has to be close for Endoh (0-5).

M5 Midorifuji henka'd to his left rather weakly against M7 Kinbohzan, but this was scripted and so Kinbohzan didn't even bother to square up opting to just run forward and out in under two seconds. Midorifuji moves to 4-1 with the gift while Kinbohzan dawdles to 2-3.

M5 Onosho caught M7 Hokuseiho with two solid thrusts to the upper chest, and Hokuseiho was completely upright before he knew what hit him.  From there, Onosho just drove his legs into his opponent and had him pushed back and out in about two seconds. Great stuff here as both rikishi end the day at 2-3, and here's a question: if Atamifuji is hard to move because his hips are heavy, what about Hokuseiho? What's the difference?

Never mind.

M6 Takanosho lurched out of his stance catching M4 Nishikigi with a right paw to the throat, and Takanosho wildly plowed forward without keeping Nishikigi pinned in place, and so NG was able to move left at the edge and score on a very light kote-nage. The bout was compromised, unfortunately, and the way you can tell is observing Takanosho's strong hand...the right and how limp it is at the edge. Nishikigi's weak kote-nage should have been countered with a right scoop throw or inside belt throw from Takanosho, but you can see he kept his fist balled and the arm limp as he slithered down and out instead of really being thrown. Nishikigi picks up the win for whatever political reasons at 3-2 while Takanosho falls to 2-3.

M2 Shodai and M3 Tobizaru bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai, and as Shodai looked to rebound and plow forward, Tobizaru went into complete pull/escape mode. As Shodai chased him across the ring, he attempted to force Tobizaru across with the left inside, but it wasn't firm, and so Tobizaru countered with a scoop throw as both dudes crashed out of the ring at the same time.

The ordered a do-over and after striking at the tachi-ai again, Tobizaru slipped right going for a shoulder slap, and Shodai couldn't put on the brakes. Both bouts were ugly as Tobizaru picks up the win by oshi-dashi at 2-3 while Shodai falls to 1-4.

Komusubi Abi's tsuppari from the tachi-ai had little effect on fellow Komusubi Hokutofuji who waxed the thrusts aside, stood Abi up, and then used his bulk to force Abi back and across in a matter of seconds. Abi falls to 1-4 and may be dinged up while Hokutofuji moves to 2-3.

Two undefeated Sekiwake entered the dohyo next in Daieisho and Kotonowaka, and this was a complete dud as Daieisho sorta came with tsuppari, but he was really just leaving himself extended as he waited for a slapdown. The pull wasn't definitive, but no matter; Daieisho just plopped to the dirt putting both palms down in the center of the ring. They ruled it kata-sukashi, but Kotonowaka's left hand didn't make contact with the back of Daieisho's right shoulder until he was already down. This bout was obviously fixed going in as Kotonowaka buys his way to 5-0 while Daieisho settles for 4-1.

Suckiwake Wakamotoharu was very nonchalant at the tachi-ai as he moved forward but left his right side completely exposed. M1 Ura got up and under WMH with the left and started to force him over to the edge, but he purposefully didn't grab a right frontal belt grip that would have silled the dill and instead took his foot off the gas. With Ura having let up for no reason other than to let Wakamotoharu win, the two chased each other around the ring a bit with Ura always backpedaling, and then at the end, Ura faked an ushiro-motare move before just sinking to the dirt. My man Asahiyutaka correctly said afterwards, "Ura should have grabbed the early right outer grip," but he of course didn't because the bout was arranged beforehand in favor of Wakamotoharu, and it was obvious. Ura falls to 0-5 while Wakamotoharu's 3-2 record is already soiled.

Takakeisho drew M3 Takayasu today, and Takakeisho henka'd to his right going for a rather weak inashi into Takayasu's left side, and instead of trying to square back up, Takayasu just went into soft pull mode giving him an excuse to back up to the edge so Takakeisho could push him across for good. Takayasu added some flare to his fall by knocking over the salt bucket and rolling up the hana-michi, but that was just for show.

After the bout, Akinoshima explained that this wasn't a henka; rather, it was yoko-zeme, or attacking from the side. I see. And how does one get to the side of his opponent from the tachi-ai?

The messaging this entire basho surrounding Takakeisho has been complete spin and softening up the analysis in order to make him appear as legitimate as possible. All you have to do is watch his sumo in the ring to see that he's a complete farce. I've yet to see the term "sumo content (sumou naiyou)" in the same sentence as Takakeisho because a guy whose a Yokozuna candidate does not need to henka a hiramaku rikishi. Just sayin'.

The result is Takakeisho's being gifted to 4-1 while Takayasu knows his place in falling to 2-3.

They made a bit of a hullabaloo about Ozeki Hoshoryu's staring down M4 Gonoyama at the starting lines instead of putting his fists down in short order, and it was deserved. I guess though when you're an Ozeki you have to right to stare down a youngster, but whatever. When they finally did go, Hoshoryu was looking to get inside, but Gonoyama caught him with a nice paw to the neck sending Hoshoryu back near the straw, but the Mongolian used the tawara for leverage as he brushed Gonoyama's extended arms aside, and once Gonoyama lost that momentum, he went into complete pull mode, which was just a gift for Hoshoryu to push his compromised foe back and across in short order. Hoshoryu moves to 5-0 with the win, and Gonoyama gave him his best shot in falling to 1-4.

If you ask me, it's kinda nice to see a badass among the Ozeki ranks instead of someone so out of shape he gets a bloody nose after every bout regardless of the contact.

Ozeki Kirishima closed out the day against M2 Meisei, and after the two struck lightly at the tachi-ai, Kirishima backed up a step in order to set up a pull, but before he could execute it, Meisei just flopped down the dohyo and rolled over before Kirishima could catch up. I have no idea what the politics were behind this one, but it was not a straight up bout. Kirishima moves to 4-1 with the win while Meisei falls to 1-4.

It just feels like it's too early to start speculating on the yusho race, and so the main storyline is whether or not they're going to orchestrate a run to Yokozuna for Takakeisho.  He can technically lose three more and still get it.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Having the three Ozeki all start out 3-0 is a good thing for sumo, and I'm glad that's been the focus of the lead-in to the sport on the nightly news shows the last two days. The only problem is that if the Ozeki start losing and that no longer becomes a story, what's waiting in the wings to keep people watching? We have four rookies this basho, but Atamifuji has been getting more run than those four put together. There are still the three Japanese Sekiwake who were all supposedly Ozeki candidates last basho, but they aren't getting a lot of attention either.

I think ultimately, the secondary story this basho behind the yusho race will be Daieisho and his quest for the Nenkan Saitasho, but people aren't going to tune in or buy tickets just for that. We'll see if they can "make drama" with something as we look towards the middle weekend.

With nothing much to talk about but the bouts themselves, let's get to it starting with M15 Tohakuryu vs. M17 Kitanowaka. Tohakuryu came with his hands high looking to pull straightway as he moved left, and Kitanowaka read his foe like a dirty manga on the subway pushing Tohakuryu out in a second and a half. Kitanowaka moves to 3-1 with the easy win while Tohakuryu took himself out of contention here from the tachi-ai in falling to 1-3.

With two rookies already out of the way, M15 Churanoumi was up next taking on M16 Nishikifuji. Nishikifuji was proactive from the tachi-ai knocking the rookie back with ease, but he didn't follow through on the tsuppari attack. With Churanoumi facing little pressure, he moved to his right going for a sideways slap, but it didn't do much, so Nishikifuji was still in control. However, Nishikifuji went from a forward thrust attack to slapping down into thin air without moving forward to ultimately backing up and faking a pull, which was just an excuse to set Churanoumi up for the fake oshi-dashi win.

Remember last year when I riffed on how oshi-dashi was the dominant kimari-te these days by far? Nearly 60% of all bouts the last few years have been by won oshi-dashi on paper, and yet, very few of them are set up with an attack that you'd see from Tamawashi for example when he exhibits straight up sumo. The first two bouts today were wins by oshi-dashi yet neither of them contained a solid tachi-ai from the victor where he used de-ashi and scored a solid push-out attack. The end result here is Churanoumi's moving cheaply to 3-1 while Nishikifuji falls to 1-3.

M14 Tomokaze won the tachi-ai against M14 Ichiyamamoto sneaking his hands in first and catching IYM with a nice thrust attack that moved Ichiyamamoto back a step or two. Tomokaze was noticeably not driving with the lower body, however, and so he just stopped his attack and started going for a dumb pull, which was just an excuse to give Ichiyamamoto the cheap win by...you guessed it...oshi-dashi. Ichiyamamoto moves to 4-0 with the gimme while Tomokaze falls to 2-2 after dominating up front.

M16 Roga got the right arm inside against a lethargic M13 Tsurugisho from the tachi-ai and then followed that with a left outer at the front of Tsurugisho's belt, and Tsurugisho just went with the flow allowing Roga to force him back and across in three uneventful seconds. They tried to make it appear as if Tsurugisho is injured, but injured or not, you never grab and hold onto just the sagari of your opponent with your strong hand as TS did today (pictured at right). This bout was fixed up front as both dudes end the day at 1-3, and I'm still waiting for a straight up contest that involves Roga.

M11 Sadanoumi was lethargic at the tachi-ai not even bothering to get his right arm to the inside of M12 Tamawashi, and so The Mawashi pushed into Sadanoumi's right side with his left hand and Sadanoumi's neck with the right hand, and he had the Sadamight pushed to the side and out in under two seconds. The fix was in here for whatever reason as Tamawashi breezes to 4-0 while Sadanoumi falls to 2-2.

Speaking of lethargic, M13 Takarafuji was back to his nonchalant ways against M11 Hiradoumi doing nothing at the tachi-ai and letting Hiradoumi get the easy left arm inside. From there, Takarafuji pulled his own left arm to the outside and just began retreating allowing Hiradoumi to move forward and score the uncontested oshi-dashi (there it is again!) in a matter of seconds leaving both rikishi at 1-3. There was decent applause afterwards for Hiradoumi as he hails from nearby Nagasaki Prefecture.

The top three streamed bouts from Day 3 were announced at this point, and they were:

#1 Takakeisho - Ura
#2 Atamifuji - Kinbohzan
#3 Shodai - Kirishima

Looks like they are still running on the Aki basho fumes of Takakeisho and Atamifuji.

Up next was M12 Ohho vs. M10 Kotoeko and Eko looked to get inside while Ohho defended his ground with tsuppari, and so the two circled in the center of the ring trading largely defensive blows. After about seven seconds of movement, Ohho anticipated a tsuki that didn't really come, and the dude literally just did a 360 down to the ground as Kotoeko tried to catch up with a final thrust. The optics were not good here as Ohho falls to 1-3 while Kotoeko moves to 2-2.

M9 Myogiryu grabbed the left frontal belt grip from the tachi-ai against M9 Mitakeumi and coupled that with the right inside as well. Mitakeumi really had nothing at this point, but Myogiryu let him hang around for who knows what reason? After a stalemate for 20 seconds or so, Myogiryu did what he could have done one second in by forcing Mitakeumi across and back easy as you please. Perhaps Myogiryu (2-2) was showing a bit of respect here to the veteran Mitakeumi (1-3).

M10 Ryuden was passive at the tachi-ai allowing M8 Atamifuji to come forward and do what he wanna, but Atamifuji did very little, and so Ryuden sheepishly got the left arm inside. He didn't force the bout chest to chest, but with Atamifuji just standing there, Ryuden grabbed the easy right outer on the other side. From this point, Ryuden could have scored the textbook yori-kiri, but he purposefully held back waiting for the youngster to make a move. The hapless Atamifuji couldn't do anything, and so Ryuden nudged him back to the straw but wouldn't pushed him across. The problem was that Atamifuji had no positioning whatsoever, so he went for a few bad pulls that left him vulnerable, but Ryuden refused to beat him. From here it was just a matter of time, and after nearly a minute of this nonsense, Atamifuji went for another one of his less than stellar pulls and Ryuden just hit the dirt.

I mean, I've seen some doozies in my day, and we had a doozy from Ohho a few minutes ago, but how can anybody watch this and think it's real?! Atamifuji was so gassed, his final pull attempt was hilariously weak, but Ryuden (3-1) graciously hit the deck giving Atamifuji a false 4-0 start. Listening to the commentary afterwards, they were really struggling with how to describe this bout, and the best they could do with Atamifuji is to say, "koraerareta," or he had good endurance. Good thing they had Lucifer..er..I mean Mainoumi providing color today because they needed to bear heavy false witness to try and explain this one away, and Mainoumi lies with the best of them.

Koraerareta. As if!

We got back to a bit of normalcy as M7 Kinbohzan tsuppari'ed M7 Hokuseiho completely upright at the tachi-ai, and then he rushed into moro-zashi, and he has the lazy Hokuseiho forced back and across before he knew what hit him. Both rikishi finish the day at 2-2, and Kinbohzan showed how easy it is to defeat Hokuseiho when you try.

M8 Endoh and M6 Takanosho pushed into each other's shoulders at the tachi-ai trying to set up something to the inside, and Takanosho got there first establishing the left inside that ultimately set up the right outer grip, and once he got that, Endoh (0-4) just gave up giving Takanosho (2-2) the solid yori-kiri win.

M5 Onosho beat M5 Midorifuji back to the straw with a nice tsuppari attack, but Onosho failed to finish him off allowing Midorifuji to dart right and go for a weak tsuki into Onosho's left side, and Onosho just put both palms to the dirt and caught himself from falling down to the venue floor. The fix was likely in here as Onosho (1-3) did not look surprised whatsoever when his opponent moved laterally. Midorifuji moves to a cheap 3-1 with the win where he didn't have to do anything.

Two heavyweights squared off in M6 Shonannoumi vs. M4 Nishikigi, and the two hooked up straightway into hidari-yotsu. I mean, there's nothing better in sumo then a good chest thump from the tachi-ai and that was the case here. Neither dude had an early outer grip, but as they jockeyed for position, Shonannoumi managed to grab a right outer on a single fold of NG's belt, but all that did was extend Shonannoumi too much without and leverage, and so Nishikigi quickly moved left and fired on a very nice inside belt throw that threw the youngster down with some oomph. This was easily the best bout to this point as Shonannoumi suffers his first defeat at 3-1 while Nishikigi moves to 2-2.

M4 Gonoyama slammed into M2 Shodai hard from the tachi-ai but didn't really grab Shodai's belt nor was he really thrusting. What he was doing is keeping his hands high and his body vulnerable, and at the edge, Shodai was able to move left and scored on a quick tsuki to the side of a very willing Gonoyama. The fix was in here no doubt as both dudes settle for 1-3.

Komusubi Abi came out of the gate fast looking to catch Suckiwake Kotonowaka with tsuppari up high, but Abi was actually shading back with his feet and he thrust forward with his hands. That allowed Kotonowaka to nudge his way forward without doing anything, and at that point with Abi backed up near the straw, Abi darted to the left slapping down into nothing and tripping himself off balance, and wouldn't ya know it? By the time Abi regained his composure, he was on the other side of the dohyo against the ropes standing completely upright, so the final oshi-dashi from Kotonowaka was a spot on a match. The fix was in here as Kotonowaka moves to 4-0 (by oshi-dashi of course) while Abi falls to 1-3.

Komusubi Hokutofuji was out to get his against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu today, and he crushed WMH at the tachi-ai giving the Suckiwake no option but to shade back and fish for a pull, but Hokutofuji meant bidness here as he brushed off any pull attempt and legitimately shoved Wakamotoharu back and off the mound with some oomph. Great stuff here from Hokutofuji who picks up his first win at 1-3 while Wakamotoharu shows his vulnerability in falling to 2-2.

Sekiwake Daieisho paused for a half second at the tachi-ai against M1 Ura getting a look at what Ura would do, and when Ura didn't move laterally, Daieisho scored on some quick tsuppari that had Ura looking at Daieisho's yusho board in the rafters. From there, Daieisho used his lower body nicely shoving Ura back and off the dohyo altogether. Sheesh, a couple really good bouts back to back as Daieisho moves to 4-0 with Ura falling to 0-4.

In the Ozeki ranks, Hoshoryu and M3 Tobizaru hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and instead of settling for a chest to chest bout, Tobizaru looked to push Hoshoryu's right hand away from the belt, but the Mongolian persisted and eventually positioned Tobizaru high enough to where he grabbed the left outer grip, and once Hoshoryu had that, the force out was swift and decisive. It was a joy to watch Hoshoryu in his thought progression here as he stays perfect at 4-0 while Tobizaru falls to 1-3.

Ozeki Kirishima put his hands forward against M3 Takayasu, but he wasn't moving forward with his legs. Instead, he had his right foot drifting back, and so as Takayasu lumbered forward, Kirishima moved to his right lightly and waited for the first swipe to come, and when it did, the Ozeki put both palms to the dirt quick as a cat. No showers needed after this one as Kirishima chooses to throw his first bout of the basho in falling to 3-1 while Takayasu picks up the freebie at 2-2.

In the day's final affair, M2 Meisei and Takakeisho bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai, and it was Takakeisho who connected first on a left swipe, and while that did move Meisei to his left, he was able to easily square up before Takakeisho could move in and do further damage. With the bout obviously straight up, Takakeisho quickly resorted to pulls and downward swipes, and as he fumbled around, Meisei scored on a swipe of his own that sent Takakeisho over to the edge off balance. Before he could fully recover, Meisei was there to finish him off yori-kiri style handing the Faux-ko-zuna candidate a costly first loss.

Course, if Takakeisho still ends up taking the yusho, they'll give him the Yokozuna rank even with an 11-4 finish, so there's a long way to go, but what reverberated in the press afterwards was how the loss didn't look good coming against a winless hiramaku rikishi. Takakeisho falls to 3-1 in his first straight up bout while Meisei finally gets his in moving to 1-3.

The loss here does little in changing the outlook of the basho simply because Takakeisho needs 100% of his opponents to let up for him in order to win, so it's just a matter of waiting to see who lets up and who decides to beat him.

We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 3 NHK broadcast was pre-empted through the first five bouts on the day due to a press conference being held by officials with the Takarazuka all-female performing company due to a suspicious death of one of the girls in September. I suppose I can't blame NHK going with that story over sumo because the top actresses in Japan often come from that company. The result for me was that I didn't get the usual spin from the first few minutes of the broadcast, but I think NHK News 9 finally got it right when they led their sports segment with a pic of all three Ozeki standing side by side.

What Sumo and NHK have been promoting up to this point is sheer mediocrity. Takakeisho's "yusho" in September was completely mediocre, and then the rikishi they've been highlighting the first few days have shown nothing but mediocre sumo, so why not bring the two Mongolian Ozeki into the mix because there's noticeable power there?

It's a lot better look trying to cast Takakeisho in the same light and class as Kirishima and Hoshoryu rather than put him on his own pedestal with nothing but crap sumo to back it up.

There's still a bit more work to do in order to get those man-in-on-rei (sell out) banners lowered again, so let's examine the quality of the Day 3 action.

We begin with M16 Nishikifuji who struck M16 Roga at the tachi-ai and then grabbed his extended left arm and used it to drag the rookie forward and down about one second into the bout. I'm not sure what was going on here, but Nishikigi picked up his first win at 1-2 while Roga is now 0-3.

We finally got a straight up bout that involved M17 Kitanowaka and gone was the solid, methodic yotsu-zumo in favor of panic and pulls against fellow rookie, M15 Churanoumi. I mean, it's so obvious when bouts are compromised compared to panic sumo like this, but I guess that's why I do what I do.

As for the bout itself, Churanoumi managed to get inside at the tachi-ai with a left frontal belt grip forcing the action to hidari-yotsu, and Kitanowaka's response was to panic and look for an immediate pull. Because Kitanowaka didn't set up his initial pull, the move was largely defensive, and the pesky Churanoumi stayed snug at the front of the belt and began undressing Kitanowaka in the middle of the ring...literally! The action flopped this way and that for two or three rounds of Kitanowaka looking to shake his foe with a desperate pull and Churanoumi standing pat with a frontal grip, and after about six seconds, Churanoumi caught Kitanowaka off balance and forced him down.

In Kitanowaka's first two bouts, it was methodic, yotsu-zumo where he coolly had the inside position and a left outer grip, and the force-outs were almost too easy. When reality struck today, the dude was all over the place and lost to a lesser rikishi in my opinion. Kudos to Churanoumi for sticking to sound sumo as both rikishi end the day at 2-1.

M15 Tohakuryu deserves some credit for committing to tsuppari sumo against M14 Tomokaze. He was having trouble moving Tomokaze around and he went for a quick, lateral pull at one point, but he largely stuck to his guns and stood in there well. In the end, it didn't work as Tomokaze proved to be Tomo the Hutt eventually turning the tables and sending a tiring Tohakuryu out tsuki-dashi style with some thrusts of his own. Tohakuryu did lose in the ring, but in a tender moment afterwards, word has it that Ichiyamamoto accepted Tohakuryu's proposal for marriage ringside after the bout, so all was not lost. Tomokaze moves to 2-1 with the nice win while Tohakuryu falls to 1-2.

M14 Ichiyamamoto took charge against M13 Tsurugisho (speaking of Hutts) knocking him back to the edge but not quite across. Tsurugisho stood his ground well and frustrated IYM enough to where the bout turned to yotsu-zumo. This style would normally favor Tsurugisho, but IYM had him pressed against the straw and up high, so after a brief tussle he was able to force Tsurugisho over and down after TS whiffed on what looked like a counter inside throw. Ichiyamamoto moves to 3-0 with the proactive sumo while Tsurugi the Hutt falls to 1-2.

M12 Ohho and M13 Takarafuji bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai, and you could see Takarafuji pressing the action as he looked to get inside. Ohho used defensive tsuppari at first, but when Takarafuji went for a side swipe, Ohho just dipped his shoulder and twirled over into a ball...just like they do in morning keiko. The last time these two met, Ohho was gifted the win, so I'm sure they were just trading tit for tat here. In all honesty, I prefer the tit, but that's just me as both dudes end the day at 1-2.

My broadcast started with the M12 Tamawashi - M11 Hiradoumi matchup (they showed quick replays of the first few bouts afterwards to catch us up), and this contest was very similar to the previous matchup. Tamawashi used his normal tsuppari keeping Hiradoumi up high and on defense for five seconds or so, and as soon as Tamawashi went for the first pull, Hiradoumi dipped his shoulder and somersaulted over as well...just as they do every morning in keiko. Hiradoumi beat Tamawashi on senshuraku last basho in order to finish 6-9 and keep himself in the division, and they just traded wins here today with Tamawashi moving to 3-0 while Hiradoumi falls to 0-3.

M10 Ryuden and M11 Sadanoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai and Ryuden easily grabbed a right outer grip. As he pressed forward, Sadanoumi was able to get a right outer of his own, but Ryuden had all the momentum by then and easily dumped the Sadamight over and down with a textbook outer belt throw. Ryuden is a cool 3-0 if you need him while Sadanoumi was saddled with his first loss at 2-1.

M10 Kotoeko came with the C3P0 arms while standing straight up and aligning his feet at the tachi-ai, and that allowed M9 Mitakeumi to just plow into Eko and drive him straight back and across without argument. This was a perfect example of a mukiryoku rikishi in Kotoeko as Mitakeumi is gifted his first win at 1-2. Kotoeko falls to the same mark a bit richer.

At this point, they showed the top three streamed bouts from the previous day, and this was the list:

#1 Takakeisho - Shodai
#2 Mitakeumi - Atamifuji
#3 Ura - Hoshoryu

The popularity of all three of those rikishi (Takakeisho, Atamifuji, Ura) is media manufactured.

Moving right along, both M8 Endoh and M9 Myogiryu used short tsuppari in an attempt to get to the inside, and after circling the starting lines, they ended up in migi-yotsu. Endoh was further away from the outer, and so he attempted a maki-kae in order to get moro-zashi, but Myogiryu pounced on the move and forced Endoh over to the edge with the inside left causing Endoh to step out with his left foot before he could wrassle Myogiryu to the dirt with an outer belt throw. This was a rare instance where the winner in a legitimate bout is the one covered in dirt as Myogiryu picks up his first win at 1-2 while Endoh falls to 0-3.

M7 Kinbohzan put both hands high lightly towards M8 Atamifuji's neck from the tachi-ai, and with Kinbohzan willingly upright, Atamifuji grabbed a left frontal belt grip. Atamifuji didn't demand the position, however, and Kinbohzan actually had moro-zashi, but he brought that right arm to the outside and quickly backed up stepping out with the right foot before flopping over to the dirt. They ruled it force-out, but there was no force coming from Atamifuji in this one and there was noticeable daylight in between the two rikishi's chests throughout. In the pic at right, you can see that Atamifuji's feet are aligned; his posture is terrible, and his eyes are not on his opponent...hardly the stance to beat Kinbohzan.  Anyway, this was simply a matter of Kinbohzan throwing the bout in the Japanese youngster's favor as Atamifuji is gifted two wins as part of his 3-0 start while Kinbohzan has purposefully dropped his last two in falling to 1-2.

M6 Shonannoumi and M7 Hokuseiho both charged forward at the tachi-ai, but they didn't really slap chests, and after the light charge, Shonannoumi had the right inside while Hokuseiho pinched in tight with both arms keeping Shonannoumi's left arm neutralized. And they stood that way for nearly a minute before Shonannoumi got the left arm firmly inside giving him moro-zashi, and he dispatched his foe back and across from there. Shonannoumi moves to 3-0 with the nice win while the lazy Hokuseiho falls to 2-1.

M6 Takanosho put both hands towards M5 Midorifuji's neck and shoulder area from the tachi-ai, but he wasn't driving with his legs. Instead, he left those limbs up high and limp waiting for Midorifuji's move. It came in the form of the lamest tug at Takanosho's arm you'd care to see, but that was Takanosho's cue to flop forward and down making sure his left palm hit first before Midorifuji fell backwards onto his arse. What a farce of a bout this was as Midorifuji buys his way to 2-1 while Takanosho takes the cash at 1-2.

Before we move on, you could watch a thousand bouts of morning keiko and not once see a bout that closely resembled the Takanosho - Midorifuji contest.

M5 Onosho came with high tsuppari against M4 Gonoyama, but Gonoyama was a man on mission just plowing his body into Onosho and knocking him back towards the edge so fast that Onosho didn't have time to counter. There was even a gaburi shove in there as Gonoyama picks up his first win leaving both dudes at 1-2.

Komusubi Abi came with the firehose tsuppari where he's too high and too extended, and while he was a bit of a nuisance firing light thrusts towards M4 Nishikigi's face, Nishikigi was patient for a few seconds before lurching into moro-zashi, and once he had that, it was curtains. Nice force-out win here from NG as both rikishi finish at 1-2.

M3 Tobizaru came with a useless kachi-age against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu and then backed away before WMH could catch him with meaningful thrusts. With Tobizaru moving right, it became a game of cat and mouse where Wakamotoharu gave chase and Tobizaru pretended to go for a few pulls. In the end, Tobizaru begged Wakamotoharu to assume the hidari-yotsu position, and when the Suckiwake did, Tobizaru stayed completely upright not even requiring Wakamotoharu to reach for the right outer. Once he got that right outer, he half forced Tobizaru over to the edge and Tobizaru half backed up outta the ring on his own. The fix was in here as Wakamotoharu is gifted 2-1 with Tobizaru falling to 1-2.

M3 Takayasu beat Sekiwake Daieisho to the tsuppari punch from the tachi-ai, but Takayasu (1-2) wasn't driving with the legs, and so Daieisho stammered for a bit and then finally got his own shove attack going. Because it started late, he didn't have any mustard behind it, and he was susceptible to Takayasu's pull attempts, but Takayasu's entire shtick today was half-assed, and you just knew Daieisho (3-0) was going to score the push out win in the end. Yawn.

Speaking of yawn, Hakuho and Kakizoe providing color and analysis today wasn't what I'd exactly call a dynamic duo.

M2 Meisei had the right inside and left frontal belt grip against Suckiwake Kotonowaka, but he wasn't persistent and let Kotonowaka back into the bout, which turned to migi-yotsu. Meisei had the left outer grip, but you could tell he wasn't pressing, and so Kotonowaka was able to shake it off only to see Meisei come away in moro-zashi. I mean, Meisei had prime position throughout this one, but he was not pressing the action instead waiting for Kotonowaka to come up with a move so he could plop over. Finally at the edge with Kotonowaka's back to the wall and Meisei still in moro-zashi having given up on a soto-gake that would have worked, Meisei aligned his feet on purpose leaving him susceptible to really anything.  If you examine that pic at right, the correct positioning for Meisei's feet is the left foot in the same spot and the right foot back...similarly to how you see Kotonowaka's left foot back.  In true sumo, the feet of the opponents should mirror each other.

Anyway, after a long pause with Kotonowaka in a complete pickle, the two tussled a bit before Kotonowaka pulled Meisei forward towards the straw with a right outer grip, and Meisei spun around touching his right foot out before Kotonowaka plopped down. They ruled it Oh-saka-te, a kimari-te not seen in the division since Baruto executed it 13 years ago. It was really yaocho has Kotonowaka never had an advantage the entire way, but oh well. That's sumo for you this day and age as Kotonowaka's camp pays for his 3-0 start while Meisei falls to 0-3.

Both Ozeki Kirishima and M2 Shodai reached for frontal belt grips from the tachi-ai, but the Ozeki quickly switched gears pushing Shodai upright with his right hand while bodying Shodai back and grabbing a right outer grip near the edge. Kirishima had the momentum throughout and forced Shodai (0-3) across in a few seconds and without argument moving to 3-0 in the process.

Up next was Takakeisho taking on M1 Ura, and Takakeisho came with his hands high near Ura's shoulder giving Ura the opening to the inside, but Ura didn't take it intentionally and instead began backing up and moving to his right stepping across the straw before Takakeisho could really catch up and shove him out for real. It looked good to the sheep, and though the bout was fixed, the imagery here was good for Takakeisho because it was a win that didn't involve a pull. Takakeisho moves to 3-0 with another gift while Ura falls to 0-3.

In the day's final bout Ozeki Hoshoryu welcomed Komusubi Hokutofuji in a bout that looked to go to hidari-yotsu from the start, but instead of going chest to chest, Hoshoryu pulled that left arm out and fired a few shoves into Hokutofuji keeping him upright before springing the pull trap about four seconds in. Hokutofuji was simply outclassed here in falling to 0-3 while Hoshoryu joins his Ozeki counterparts at 3-0.

All the right rikishi have started out 3-0, and so we'll see who breaks first.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It's been interesting to watch the media coverage of the basho so far on the evening sports shows. There's really nothing besides sumo going on right now except for some off season baseball trades, and so you have this big buildup with fancy graphics and grand music, and by the time they get to the actual bouts, there's very little substance. NHK News 9 showed three bouts from Day 2: Takakeisho vs. Shodai, Daieisho vs. Gonoyama, and Tomokaze vs. Takarafuji. Yes, they featured the Tomokaze bout.

It goes without saying why they showed the Takakeisho bout, and the reason they showed the Daieisho bout is because he's the leader coming into the basho for the Nenkan Saitasho, or award for the most wins in the calendar year. Daieisho sat at 51 wins heading into the basho, and the two Ozeki, Kirishima and Hoshoryu, were on his tail at 49 wins apiece.

Japan has done all they can to make sure the Nenkan Saitasho has gone to a Japanese rikishi three of the last four years, and what's glaring about this award the last little while is the number has remained in the 50's going back all the way to 2017 with the one exception being two years ago when Terunofuji won the award with 77 wins.

I don't know of a better gauge of quality sumo than the Nenkan Saitasho Award. When Asashoryu and Hakuho ruled the roost, this number was consistently in the 80's or high 70's. Over time, the number has gotten lower and lower in tandem with the extreme rise of yaocho in sumo, and it's not a coincidence. If Daieisho can buy enough wins, we may get back into the 60's this year with a dude who didn't even take the yusho.

I am seeing talk that if Daieisho does win the Saitasho this year, he'll be up for Ozeki promotion again in January. Whatever.

As for Tomokaze and the NHK News 9 sports segment, they showed his bout because he won his first bout in the division today in four years. I think this was the guy that got his toe caught on the tawara and completely twisted his leg around all those years ago messing up his knee, so it's nice to see him back and competing.

The storylines are thin in Kyushu, and if Takakeisho falters early, there's going to be little to get anyone excited about throughout the fortnight.

Judging by all the empty seats in attendance today, the lack of interest from the fans is already being manifest, and I remember that the entire Kyushu basho last year was quite well-attended. At some point, you have to have meat on the bone to get the fans to come out, and we haven't seen a lot of it since the Ozeki runs by the two Mongolians.

They didn't say how long it's been since the man-in-on-rei banners weren't lowered, but they just couldn't lower them today. Here was the arena at the start of the Makuuchi bouts:



Now, seats did fill in here and there the further we got into the bouts, but the optics of an empty arena like this when the broadcast starts is not good. NHK also purposefully never panned out and showed the full arena above the yagura (the roof over the dohyo) in full view because the banners were not lowered.

Focusing now on the Day 2 action, we start with M17 Kitanowaka who was paired against M16 Roga in an all-rookie matchup. The two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and you could see Roga instinctively reach for the right outer before pulling that arm back out of harm's way. He let Kitanowaka grab his own right outer and then dictate the pace, but because Kitanowaka didn't set it all up, he wasn't able to exert a lot of force. As the action followed the edge of the dohyo, Roga once again instinctively looked to set up a right tsuki-otoshi, but he relented in kind and then kept that arm out wide letting Kitanowaka finally dump him lightly across and down with a left scoop throw.

Kitanowaka's throw had little zip to it, and that's because he didn't set it up, and so there was this pause at the edge where Roga sorta leaned over and just fell down. I mean, the Russian could have fired off another counter tsuki at the edge or he could have countered with a right kote-nage, but he did neither...keeping that attacking arm completely out of harm's way, which signaled that he threw the bout. I mean, look at the pic at right. What exactly was Roga doing with that right arm? That's right. Nothing as Kitanowaka is gifted 2-0 while Roga graciously falls to 0-2.

M15 Tohakuryu put two hands into the neck of a purposefully listless M16 Nishikifuji and then went for a quick pull, and Nishikifuji played along by traipsing forward and out of the dohyo. Nishikifuji's arms were limp and hanging low from the tachi-ai, and the dude tried nothing to compete in this bout. The result is Tohakuryu's picking up a cheap win in moving to 1-1 while Nishikifuji has sold both of his bouts to rookies in falling to 0-2.

Of the four rookies, Roga--the foreigner--is the only one to have yet scored a win. What were the odds?!

Up next was our final rookie on the day, M15 Churanoumi who was paired against M14 Ichiyamamoto. The rookie could do little as IYM used his length at the tachi-ai to push into Churanoumi's neck, and as the rookie looked to skirt right, Ichiyamamoto followed him well and pushed him down hard about three seconds in. Ichiyamamoto is a cool 2-0 while Churanoumi (1-1) shows us little in his first straight up bout.

Like Nishikifuji before, M13 Takarafuji also kept his arms low and uncommitted at the tachi-ai against M14 Tomokaze, who moved forward decently getting a left paw into Takarafuji's neck, but he wasn't coming with much force, and Takarafuji (0-2) could have easily pivoted laterally or simply worked his way inside. He did neither and just played along backing up step by step and letting Tomokaze score on a final shove. Yes, Tomokaze (1-1) picks up his first win for the first time in four years, but was this a newsworthy highlight?? I should say not, and so you get the sports shows hyping sumo at the lead-in and then showing fixed bouts like this that contain zero substance.

M12 Tamawashi shaded left at the tachi-ai getting his right paw placed firmly at M13 Tsurugisho's neck and his left arm placed underneath his opponent's right armpit, and Tamawashi showed no mercy shoving Tsurugisho over and down in about two seconds. Easy peasy as Tamawashi moves to 2-0 while Tsurugisho took a hard spill in falling to 1-1.

M11 Sadanoumi looked to get the right inside at the front of M12 Ohho's belt, but Ohho pushed him away and upright foiling Sadanoumi's attack. Ohho isn't a finisher, however, and so Sadanoumi was able to pivot left and score on a nice counter tsuki into Ohho's side that turned him 90 degrees and allowed the Sadamight to get the left arm inside deep. Sadanoumi hurried his first force-out charge allowing Ohho to survive, but Ohho didn't have the skills to counter in order to win the bout, and so Sadanoumi was able to force him back and down for good on the second attempt. The veteran Sadanoumi moves to 2-0 with the nice win, and credit Ohho for his stiffneckedness in this one, but he needs a bit more offense to pull bouts like this out in falling to 1-1.

M11 Hiradoumi charged wildly from the tachi-ai into M10 Kotoeko and knocked him back a full step, but he couldn't keep Eko at bay, and so Kotoeko was able to shade a bit left inviting a haphazard pull from Hiradoumi, and that allowed Kotoeko to force the bout to migi-yotsu. From there, he had Hiradoumi pressed upright near the edge, and even though Hiradoumi tried to evade to his right, Kotoeko stayed snug and pushed his retreating foe across for the win. It wasn't a stable, well-grounded bout, but Kotoeko will take the win at 1-1 while Hiradoumi falls to 0-2.

At this point of the broadcast, they showed the top three bouts streamed from yesterday, and they were:

#1 Takakeisho - Hokutofuji
#2 Takayasu - Wakamotoharu
#3 Ura - Kirishima

M9 Myogiryu kept both arms pressed in tight to keep M10 Ryuden away from the inside, but Ryuden was just too big leaning in tight causing Myogiryu to relent and retreat a step. As he did, Ryuden rushed in getting the left arm inside coupled with a right outer grip, and Myogiryu was no match for him at that point. The yori-kiri was swift and decisive as Ryuden moves to 2-0 with Myogiryu falling to 0-2.

M8 Atamifuji smothered M9 Mitakeumi at the tachi-ai getting a bulky right arm inside coupled with a deafening left frontal grip, and Mitakeumi could do nothing as Atamifuji lifted him completely upright and forced him back easy as you please. By the time Mitakeumi attempted a counter move at the edge, he was already across and down on one knee. Atamifuji dominated this on in moving to 2-0 while Mitakeumi falls to 0-2.

M7 Hokuseiho reached over the top of M8 Endoh with the right grabbing an outer over the top while Endoh countered with the left inside position. Hokuseiho wasn't in a position to bully his foe around despite his size advantage, and so he was largely at Endoh's mercy. After a stalemate for a few seconds Endoh easily got the right frontal grip giving him moro-zashi, but as soon as he got it he let it go completely allowing Hokuseiho to drag him down by the back of the belt. This was clearly thrown in Hokuseiho's favor as the youngster buys his way to 2-0 while Endoh falls to 0-2 with a million more yen added to his retirement fund.

At this point of the broadcast, they showed the yusho winners for this year as follows:

Hatsu - Takakeisho
Haru - Kiribayama (now Kirishima)
Natsu - Terunofuji
Nagoya - Hoshoryu
Aki - Takakeisho

As Sakai Announcer and Onokuni talked about ending the year on a good note, Onokuni quipped, "We want someone to yusho with high marks this time," drawing laughter form Sakai Announcer. Both dudes know what a joke that 11-4 yusho was in September, and it was a Freudian Slip type moment to have these guys laughing about last basho's yusho.

M6 Takanosho offered a right paw towards M7 Kinbohzan's neck from the tachi-ai, but Kinbohzan easily brushed it aside and moved to his left. At this point, he coulda done what he wanna, but he chose to put both hands high and just back out of the ring with Takanosho in tow trying to keep up with a right inside. Kinbohzan was completely listless and mukiryoku here in gifting Takanosho the win as both dudes finish at 1-1.

In a nearly identical bout, M5 Onosho came in low as if to get inside against M6 Shonannoumi, but on a dime, Onosho pivoted left and just backed out of the ring keeping his hands high as if to pull, but such a move never came and so Shonannoumi easily scored the yori-kiri win leading with the right inside. Two similar bouts; two mukiryoku rikishi as Shonannoumi moves to 2-0 while Onosho settles for 1-1.

M4 Nishikigi had the path to the left inside and right outer grip from the tachi-ai against M5 Midorifuji, who aligned his feet at the tachi-ai, but instead of using his size advantage and taking charge, Nishikigi brought his left arm to the outside and backed up over in front of the chief judge allowing Midorifuji to "force" him across in mere seconds. As if. Nishikigi falls to a quiet 0-2 while Midorifuji buys his first win at 1-1.

Komusubi Hokutofuji struck M3 Tobizaru nicely and actually knocked him back a step or two, but he wasn't trying to latch on, and so Tobizaru went for a meager pull moving to his right, and that was Hokutofuji's cue to just run across the dohyo and out. Usually when a guy goes for a pull, it has some kind of effect on his opponent, but Hokutofuji didn't break stride as he skipped to his Lou across the dohyo and landed on the venue floor below with a perfect dismount. This was planned start to finish as Tobizaru buys his first win at 1-1 while Hokutofuji falls to 0-2 a bit richer.

In a wild affair, Sekiwake Daieisho looked to take charge against M4 Gonoyama in a tsuppari contest, but Daieisho wasn't bullying his opponent back in linear fashion, and so he fished for a pull and some wild tsuki, and as Gonoyama looked to give chase, Daieisho went Takakeisho on a left swipe that was so out of control, both dudes lost their balance and hit the dirt at the same time.

If we're talking milliseconds here, Daieisho touched down first, but it was close enough that they decided to give Daieisho one more chance at padding his Nenkan Saitasho lead.

In the do-over, Daieisho exhibited another strong tachi-ai knocking Gonoyama upright and back half a step, but he couldn't push him straight back and across, and so once again, he backed up going for a pull, and Gonoyama (0-2) walked right into this one. Daieisho moves to 2-0 with the paltry performance, but the real issue here is that dudes making headlines can only win with pulls. Takakeisho is winning with pulls, and so is Daieisho. Whatever happened to powerful, straightforward sumo? Oh right, we got our fill of that in March, May, and July.

M3 Takayasu was gifted an easy win yesterday over Wakamotoharu, but Sekiwake Kotonowaka is a lot more stingy. Kotonowaka kept his arms low and in tight perhaps fishing for moro-zashi while Takayasu did give a good effort in charging forward, but Takayasu didn't do anything to affect his opponent's sumo, and so Kotonowaka was able to threaten a few pulls before shoving Takayasu sideways 90 degrees. With Takayasu's right side now fully exposed, Kotonowaka pushed him out with ease from there. Once again, this wasn't beautiful sumo from Kotonowaka nor was it a linear win, but it was okay stuff as Kotonowaka moves to 2-0 while Takayasu still looks gimpy to me at 1-1.

Suckiwake Wakamotoharu was so lethargic and upright at the tachi-ai allowing Meisei a smorgasbord of options. Meisei initially got the left arm inside, but then as he fumbled in getting a right frontal grip or straight up moro-zashi, I knew where this bout was going. And sure enough, with WMH struggling, Meisei just brought his right arm to the outside forcing Wakamotoharu into the left inside position, and from there, Meisei worked his way over to the edge and across as the clueless Wakamotoharu tried to keep up.

After the bout, there was no mention about how bad Wakamotoharu's tachi-ai was and how exposed he left himself. It was a bunch of gibberish like, "His concentration today was good." Anyone can concentrate and still get their ass kicked, but whatever. Wakamotoharu is gifted 1-1 while Meisei clearly threw this bout in falling to 0-2.

Takakeisho aligned his feet at the tachi-ai, and so he had little force as he tried to bully M2 Shodai. As for Shodai, he just stood straight up at the tachi-ai and began a retreat with hands up high despite little pressure coming from his opponent. A second in, Shodai's heel was already touching the straw, but Takakeisho didn't cause that movement, and so he wasn't able to capitalize on it. From there, both dudes were in perfect sync as they crashed their guts together, and as they did this, Takakeisho would retreat a step, hit with the gut, retreat a step, hit with the gut. On the third or fourth time, Takakeisho moved right and offered a wild tsuki and Shodai just stiffened up like a board locking his knees as he fell forward and down into the abyss.

Once again, we have Takakeisho handed a win, but there wasn't anything positive to say about his sumo. The tachi-ai was awful; he couldn't defeat his opponent when his heel was against the straw; and the winning technique was once again a pull maneuver. I mentioned yesterday that they didn't give Takakeisho a specific number of wins he'd need to attain in order to be considered for promotion. Another phrase the sumo officials haven't uttered is "promotion will be based on sumo content" It was awful again, but don't look now. Takakeisho is 2-0 for the first time in six basho. As for Shodai, he was gracious here in falling to 0-2. He easily defeated Takakeisho in September and coulda done it again here.

In the Ozeki ranks, it's nice to see the Mongolians not feeling obligated to lose to M1 Ura. Today it was Ozeki Hoshoryu's turn, and he looked to squash Ura's melon from the tachi-ai with both hands as he took a defensive posture. Ura certainly wasn't setting up an offensive attack, and so Hoshoryu smartly locked his foe in place with the right arm first and then threatened a few pulls as he waited for Ura to make a move. The Ozeki knew that the only offensive Ura could mount was a pull move, and once it came, Hoshoryu pounced and sent Ura down off the dohyo altogether with a nice two-handed shove. Hoshoryu is a cool 2-0 while Ura falls to 0-2.

In the day's final bout, Ozeki Kirishima welcomed Komusubi Abi, and they tried to hype this bout by saying Kirishima had dropped his last three contests against Abi. What they forgot to say is that it was on purpose, and today was simply another round of would he or wouldn't he? Kirishima wouldn't as he anticipated Abi's high tsuppari attack and snuck his own potent thrusts in underneath Abi's outstretched arms knocking the Komusubi back and across in under two seconds. Kirishima can do this 100% of the time against Abi if he so chooses, and he chose to do so today in moving to 2-0 while Abi drops to 1-1.

The basho doesn't really start until the Mongolians start losing, so we'll see what's in store tomorrow.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Kyushu Basho and Hatsu Basho are really Sumo's chance to shine without being overshadowed by other major sports. They know they will get the lead-in on all the sports shows (until Otani signs with his next MLB team), and so they have to make every headline and every day of sumo count. The problem is that the rikishi who are garnering the most attention are also the rikishi that need bouts fixed in their favor in order to maintain a narrative.

NHK's Sunday Sports show started off with sumo and quite a bit of hype regarding Takakeisho's quest for Yokozuna, but his bout against Hokutofuji was so phony it felt like a library in the studio after they played it. The other bout they showed was Atamifuji's matchup against Myogiryu, and once again, it was another fake bout that lacked any excitement and plenty of intentional mistakes made by Myogiryu if you cared to scrutinize it.

They then quickly switched gears and showed three bouts from past Kyushu basho that were extremely memorable (they called them mei-shoubu, or epic bouts). They included Onokuni beating Chiyonofuji in 1988 to halt Chiyonofuji's 53 bout win streak; they showed the yusho taikestsu between the Hanada brothers from 1995; and then they showed Hakuho's losing to Kisenosato to stop Hakuho's then 63 bout winning streak.

What NHK was really telling the viewers was: "We can't show you anything exciting from today's bouts, but hey, we can show you big bouts from the past!!"

In watching the Sunday night show, it just really felt like this was all being forced down the fans' throats, and the panel of guests and announcers were clearly not into it. They finally went to Tamanoi-oyakata for his analysis on the day, and when they asked him for the most dominating performance from Day 1, at least he was honest in picking the Hoshoryu - Shodai bout.

I thought Day 1 contained a lot of straight up bouts. The problem was they were mostly lopsided in one dude's favor, and then any bout that featured a rikishi they're trying to hype was fixed, and so it felt like the day never had momentum to it. I don't think it was a coincidence that twice during the broadcast I saw fans who had dozed off during the day, and that guy with his elbow on the pipe of his masu-seki was in that position for several bouts.

I suppose the real pulse of any excitement surrounding the basho is measured by how many fans show up and spend their hard-earned money for tickets, so here was Day 1 just prior to the final bout of the day:



The arena was probably 60% full, but they lowered the man-in-on-rei banners to avoid the headline of "Sumo's sell-out streak halted."  Instead of covering the majority of the Day 1 bouts, let's review the major headlines garnering ink as we headed into the tournament.

The number one story the week preceding the basho was of course Takakeisho's...um...what should we call it?..."run" to Yokozuna. His tournament in September was so poor that they had to drop the yusho line down to 11-4 just to drag him across, and it's still resonating that he won that playoff bout with a tachi-ai henka. This guy has zero Yokozuna traits to his sumo, so to be force-fed this story is really insulting. But force-feeding it they are, so we'll see if he can get enough of his opponents to play along.

When a rikishi is usually up for promotion to Ozeki or Yokozuna, they establish a "me-yasu," or number of wins that the dude needs to at least hit in order to be considered for promotion. In Takakeisho's case this basho, they aren't even giving us a me-yasu. The agreed phrase in the media is, "Let's focus on the yusho."  Not even, "The yusho is a must."  Just focus on the yusho.

It's really hard to build off of an 11-4 record when you're considering a guy for Yokozuna. What, does another 11-4 record get the job done here? If it's another yusho, unfortunately yes. The Sumo Association wants another Japanese Yokozuna for sure, and so they are stretching the criteria immensely to accommodate Takakeisho.

A sister storyline to Takakeisho's Yokozuna hopes was the withdrawal of the real Yokozuna, Terunofuji. The reason cited in the media for his withdrawal was continued lower back issues, but the real issue is that the Terunofuji camp is not going to stand in anyone's way. If he fights the full 15, he's the huge favorite to yusho. It also doesn't look good to have Terunofuji dominate the upper banzuke in the ring and then have Takakeisho come out and win all these soft, fake bouts as he did today. The contrast is too glaring, and so Terunofuji has taken himself out of the mix from Day 1. On purpose. The dude is NOT injured, and if you think he is injured, I think you need to do a better job of questioning authority...in this case the media and the Sumo Association.

Speaking of injuries, Asanoyama announced his kyujo citing a left calf injury, but it sounds as if he's gonna try and make a comeback during the basho. Remember back in July when Hoshoryu kicked his ass causing Asanoyama to withdraw the next day? He sat out four days and then miraculously came back on Day 12 winning his final four bouts to kachi-koshi. I can still taste the throw-up in my mouth after that one, so don't be surprised if we see something similar happen in Kyushu. I mean, the dude is still predominately the #1 guy whose bouts are re-streamed, so to have him missing completely is quite a blow. It Takakeisho loses early and often, they may need to bring this guy back to increase interest.

One other tepid headline I noticed within the last week was the return of former Sekiwake and yusho winner, Wakatakakage. The only problem is he's making his return from the Makushita 6 rank, so it's going to be hard to get any mileage out of that storyline.

We do have four newcomers to the division starting off with M17 Kitanowaka. He was paired against M16 Nishikifuji in the day's first bout, and Nishikifuji caught the rookie with a perfect headbutt from the tachi-ai standing Kitanowaka upright and putting him onto his heels. Nishikifuji's reaction from there was to stand straight up and keep his right arm up high in this useless kachi-age position until Kitanowaka could grab a stifling left outer grip, and once the migi-yotsu position was established, Nishikifuji kept his own left arm as far from an outer grip as possible. As he let the rookie force him over to the edge, Nishikifuji went down to one knee across the straw as he let Kitanowaka beat him yori-taoshi style.

Kitanowaka has a nice sumo body, and he may have potential, but this bout was obviously fixed. As they watched the slow motion replays, Mainoumi honestly pointed out that Nishikifuji's hips were too high after the tachi-ai. What he failed to point out is that Nishikifuji stayed up high on purpose. I mean, the dude clearly won the tachi-ai, and there wasn't a single blow that came from Kitanowaka that would have put his opponent up high. Nishikifuji put himself in that position giving the rookie the outer grip and letting him win a bout with a very soft ending.

Next up were two more rookies in M16 Roga (a dude from Russia) and M15 Churanoumi. Roga grabbed the early right frontal belt grip but then just hunkered down and let Churanoumi dictate the pace. Churanoumi grabbed a left outer grip, but he wasn't in a good position to attack, and so Roga faked a maki-kae with the left that was just an excuse to back up and purposefully step out right next to the toku-dawara on the West side. I mean, this bout had the potential to be a good bout of sumo, but you had Roga doing nothing with his early prime position and then stepping out on purpose giving the Japanese guy the win. Figures.

The final rookie fought next in M15 Tohakuryu and was paired against M14 Ichiyamamoto, who made his return to the division after a brief stint in Juryo. This bout was actually fought straight up...which means we got nothing but two guys desperately looking for pulls from the tachi-ai. IYM has more experience at this level with this kind of cheap sumo, and he was able to luckily cause Tohakuryu to step out with a desperate push as Tohakuryu was going for a do-or-die pull near the edge.

I mean, these first three bouts of the day really illustrate a lot. The bouts that looked like sound sumo were fixed, and the only real bout contained bad tachi-ai, no sumo basics, and two dudes looking to desperately pull each other down and nothing else

If you're wondering at this point why I don't look for anything positive, here's something that I found really positive on the day: Tamawashi, Kinbohzan, Hoshoryu, and Kirishima all won real bouts in convincing fashion.

I hope that's a sign that the foreigners are not going to lie down this basho as they did last basho, but we'll see.

It's still way too early to predict anything, but it's worth noting that the two rikishi they focused on in the news shows after the bouts were Takakeisho and Atamifuji. Atamifuji "felled" Myogiryu with a weak left kote-nage, and despite Myogiryu's enjoying a stiff right inside belt grip, there was no nage-no-uchi-ai and a simple fall form Myogiryu instead where he put his palm and knee down at the first sign of pressure from Atamifuji.

As for Takakeisho and his win over Hokutofuji, just watch Hokutofuji and try and identify a single move he attempted in order to win the bout or defend himself. He backed up from the tachi-ai hoping that Takakeisho would just beat him in linear fashion, but when that didn't happen, he moved to his left and put his left leg forward and raised off of the dohyo...you know, that stellar position used to maintain your balance when a dude who weighs 150 kg is coming out you? Anyway, Hokutofuji softly walked across the straw as he anticipated a final shove from Takakeisho, and Takakeisho was given his first, harmless win. It was soft and silly, and nobody considers Takakeisho Yokozuna material by watching his sumo; they only consider him a Yokozuna candidate because that's what the media tells them to think.

But...that's about all the Sumo Association has got going for them at this point, so they'll ride the Takakeisho / Atamifuji wave again for as long as they can. Hopefully, it's a very short-lived ride.

I will start covering every bout from Day 2.

arial narrow" size="4">Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Let's start today off talking about the significance of Daieisho's victory over Atamifuji yesterday. Heading into the day, the leaderboard was just anemic with Atamifuji, Takayasu, Tsurugisho, and Takakeisho. Nobody had heard of Atamifuji prior to the basho, and you could probably say the same thing about Tsurugisho. Takayasu is injured and just taking up space, and then Takakeisho has the name recognition, but the dude's sumo has been awful, and he's really been a non-entity the previous three basho.

An Atamifuji yusho brings the Association nothing. It's not going to bring more fans to the venue in Kyushu, and the biggest story in the media surrounding Atamifuji is that he's got a great smile (egao). I've seen a few placards in the arena the last few days citing Atamifuji's smile, and even on the NHK News 9 sports segment tonight, they didn't introduce Atamifuji and comment on his good sumo or his tachi-ai. They commented on what a great smile he's got.

Personally, I think the biggest upside with Atamifuji is that he's got conflicting nipples where one is an outtie and the other one an innie, but that's just me.



In all seriousness, Atamifuji's upside is his size, and he's not slow. He's shown a decent tachi-ai the last few days, but it's been defensive in nature. He's basically saying, "I'm huge, so just try and move me." I still have no idea if this guy is a pusher or a belt guy, and the only tactics I've seen him use in real bouts are defensive tsuppari and pulls.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that gimmicks in sumo--like a dude's smile--have a relatively short shelf life, and it's showing in attendance. Throughout the day I noticed fairly large chunks of empty seats in the lower bowl, and as Atamifuji and Takakeisho warmed up today prior to their bout, I snapped this pic that showed some significant gaps right behind Takakeisho.  And this is Day 13.



The top half of the upper tier (the cheap seats) has been filled with grade school students every day, and it was a blanket of white yet again today for most of the broadcast.  I did notice near the end of the day that there were big red gaps in the seats that were occupied by the students, but they had a train to catch or somewhere else more important to go, so they left early. Essentially, they were there just there to fill the seats and not to really watch the sumos.

The Association is trying to keep things together, and the only way to do that is to manipulate the flow and ultimately the results of a basho, and that's what's happening here. Atamifuji's orchestrated loss yesterday not only kept Takakeisho in the tournament, but it allowed the Sumo Association to flash the following leaderboard heading into the weekend:



10-2: Atamifuji
9-3: Takakeisho, Takayasu
8-4: Daieisho, Abi, Onosho, Kinbohzan, Mitakeumi, Hokuseiho, Tsurugisho

Let's follow that leaderboard in chronological order today as we analyze the bouts of interest.

Up first was M10 Kinbohzan who was paired against M5 Shonannoumi, and Kinbohzan came with a left slap and a right kachi-age that connected well into his opponent, and Shonannoumi's first reaction was to back up right and look for a pull. It was a poor move, and there's no way that's going to succeed if you lose the tachi-ai, and so Kinbohzan's charge was swift and decisive as he scored the oshi-dashi win in mere seconds. He moves to 9-4 with the nice win, and if by some chance the yusho line falls to four losses, he'll promptly lose and stay out of the way. As for Shonannoumi, he's gotta bitta work to do still at 6-7.

The next bout featured M11 Hokuseiho who somehow wandered on the leaderboard with a very quiet 8-4 start. He was matched up against M4 Takanosho, who fully extended himself at the tachi-ai committing every cardinal sin in the book. Despite Takanosho keeping himself wide open from the charge, Hokuseiho was so lazy that he didn't even bother going for moro-zashi. Rather, he went for a bad pull and Takanosho played along hitting the dirt instead of driving a compromised Hokuseiho back and across the straw. The fix was obviously in here as Hokuseiho pollutes the leaderboard at 9-4 while Takanosho's make-koshi is official now at 5-8.

Let's skip forward to M11 Mitakeumi who was paired against M2 Asanoyama, and you just have to ask yourself: "What's more important to the Sumo Association? Mitakeumi assuming a token slot on the leaderboard or Asanoyama winning?" The answer is easy, and that was manifest in today's bout where Mitakeumi actually won the tachi-ai using some nice thrusts to Asanoyama's face to stand him upright, but Mitakeumi kept those hands extended high until Asanoyama grabbed a left outer grip, and once he got it, Mitakeumi began a voluntary retreat to the other side of the dohyo. Mitakeumi got the right inside position as he backpedaled, and he could have easily pivoted going for a counter scoop throw, but he fantasized about a pull instead that never came as he just backed across and out with Asanoyama in tow. Both rikishi end the day at 8-5, and they trade Mitakeumi's place on the leaderboard for Asanoyama's continued popularity.

After this bout, it was interesting to note that NHK flashed the real leaderboard in the lower right corner that just contained the top three rikishi. That leaderboard at the start of the broadcast was just for show and a way to tell the fans, "Stay in your seats. This could get interesting!"

The next leader was M7 Takayasu who was paired against M1 Hokutofuji, and Hokutofuji got greedy here with kachi-koshi on the line and a chunk of change with eight kensho banners, but I'm glad he decided to fight straight up. Both rikishi came with decent tsuppari at the tachi-ai, but all you have to do against an ailing Takayasu is put him in a position where he has to pivot right or left. Hokutofuji did that two seconds in by moving right and going for a left inashi, and Takayasu couldn't recover turning his back fully to Hokutofuji and requesting him to "push me out easy." And Hokutofuji (8-5) did scoring the easy okuri-dashi and knocking Takayasu down to the four-loss tier at 9-4.

Speaking of token dudes taking up space on the leaderboard, M6 Onosho was up next to take on Komusubi Tobizaru, and Onosho's tachi-ai was weak with his feet aligned and hands up higher than they should have been, and this allowed Tobizaru to shade a bit left and try to time some pulls as Onosho looked to jab and move forward. Onosho gave the Komusubi a decent chase to the other side of the dohyo, but Tobizaru (6-7) was completely in his element here, and he was able to show the trapdoor to Onosho at the edge of the dohyo with a nice right tsuki to the shoulder. This one was close but, but Onosho played right into Tobizaru's hands in falling to 8-5 and off the leaderboard for good.

The next four-loss rikishi up was M2 Abi who took on Suckiwake Kotonowaka, and Abi came with a very light moro-te-zuki but just stood there waiting for Kotonowaka to make a move. Problem was that Baby Waka's tachi-ai was non-existent, and the Suckiwake was literally standing there doing nothing, and so Abi quickly shifted gears and pretended to go for a pull, but he was really just backing himself outta the ring in about three seconds. Abi falls to 8-5 and is removed from the leaderboard while Kotonowaka bought one here in moving to 7-6.

Up next was M16 Tsurugisho who was paired against another Suckiwake, Wakamotoharu, and the two hooked up nicely in the gappuri migi-yotsu position after a good hari-zashi tachi-ai from TS, but that lasted maybe two seconds before Tsurugisho just let go of his left outer grip. I mean, Wakamotoharu was doing nothing, and so Tsurugisho let go of the strong side signaling his intentions early. From there, WMH rushed a force-out charge, but because he hadn't set it up, Tsurugisho showed just how vulnerable the Suckiwake was by starting a counter tsuki-otoshi and then a counter inside belt throw. He never followed through on either, but you could see that Wakamotoharu was at his bidding. As the dust settled from that, Wakamotoharu whiffed on a dashi-nage attempt, and he was completely exposed, but Tsurugisho nicely just backed up to the straw and let Wakamotoharu recover and "force" him back that last half step.

Both rikishi were covered in blood after this one, so that was kinda cool. The blood came from Wakamotoharu's nose of course because he was manhandled today, but when sumo bouts are fixed, none of that matters. Both rikishi end the day at 8-5 and Tsurugisho is finally knocked off the leaderboard.

Sekiwake Daieisho looked to stay on the leaderboard against M5 Gonoyama, and this was easily the best bout of the day. I mean, if sumo was real, every bout of sumo would be fought with the determination that these two showed today, but I digress (sigh). Daieisho took charge from the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, but lately the dude doesn't trust that attack start to finish, and so he's always looking for the cheap pull. As he did, Gonoyama fought his way back into the bout and connected on a nice face slap that really fired things up. Daieisho resumed his thrust attack, but he wanted to get a face slap in himself. He managed to do it drawing a heated response from Gonoyama, but Gonoyama's next face slap attempt glanced off of Daieisho's shoulder, and with Gonoyama pushing too hard, Daieisho was finally able to pull him off balance and down hataki-komi style. This one made my day as Daieisho improved to 9-4 while Gonoyama fell to 7-6.

The penultimate bout of the day was also the featured bout with M15 Guy Smiley moving all the way up the banzuke to take on Takakeisho. Atamifuji won the tachi-ai crashing into Takakeisho and sending the faux-zeki back a step, but Atamifuji refused to advance further, and so Takakeisho moved left going for a rather weak swipe, but that was Atamifuji's cue to move left near the edge, and as Takakeisho looked to square up, Atamifuji went into full pull mode and backed outta the dohyo as Takakeisho got the right arm inside and scored the yori-kiri.  I think that pic at left says so much...Atamifuji's eyes are on a soft landing; he's self compromised up high with arms wide; and he's not even thinking about a counter move.

This one was fixed for purely political reasons, and after 13 long days, Japan can finally boast an Ozeki in the first slot on the leaderboard:

10-3: Takakeisho, Atamifuji
9-4: Daieisho, Takayasu, Kinbohzan, Hokuseiho

The only other bout of interest on the day worth covering was our first Ozeki duel of the basho between Kirishima and Hoshoryu. Kirishima moved left at the tachi-ai swiping Hoshoryu over near the edge, and as Hoshoryu squared up with his back against the wall, the two found themselves in the migi-yotsu position with Kirishima maintaining the left outer grip. Hoshoryu tried to move Kirishima back towards the center of the ring leading with the right inside belt grip, but Kirishima stood pat letting Hoshoryu exert just enough strength to tire him out enough to where the senior Ozeki was able to wrench his foe completely upright and across the straw for good. It was an entertaining bout as Kirishima officially sheds his kadoban status at 8-5 while Hoshoryu is well on his way to kadoban status at 6-7.

I say that because Hoshoryu is paired against Takakeisho tomorrow, and it goes without saying that that bout is purely will Hoshoryu or won't he? I'd love to see Hoshoryu come out and kick Takakeisho's ass, but something tells me that's not in the cards.

As for Atamifuji, he is paired against Abi, and Atamifuji just doesn't have the tools to survive Abi's tachi-ai and then keep up with him as he bounds around the ring.

We'll see how it all plays out tomorrow, but the first thing out of the NHK Announcer's mouth following Takakeisho's victory today was, "The yusho won't be decided until senshuraku!" You can tell the key points that were discussed in the morning meeting between NHK and the Association's PR department.

Takakeisho is obviously the favorite now, and I think the Association will put the pressure where it needs to go to ensure that the yusho line doesn't fall down to four losses. It's not a given that Takakeisho will yusho at 12-3 because he's at the complete mercy of his next two opponents, but it's sure looking that way as we head into the weekend.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
When my feed started today, all of the focus was on Takakeisho. They focused on one of his yusho boards in the Kokugikan; they showed his opponents for today and tomorrow; and then they speculated on his probable opponents on Saturday and Sunday. They showed his record for this year, and then they showed some of his bouts from this basho that looked the most real. I don't know if they gave the same attention to Atamifuji prior to this, but my feed started with the NHK General feed, and so the message was all about Takakeisho. And for good reason. Can anyone remember the last time a relative no-name Makuuchi rikishi took the yusho from the nether regions of the banzuke?

When Takatoriki took his from the bottom rung of the division in 2000, he was a well-known rikishi, and then Tokushoryu more recently took the yusho from the bottom rung of the division in early 2020. It has happened where guys in the dregs of Makuuchi take the yusho, but they were always well-established and well-known rikishi when it happened. If Atamifuji were to take the yusho here, it would really be unprecedented. And that's why he has never been the favorite to yusho this basho.

With such a weak and uninteresting leaderboard, let's focus on all of the bouts today moving in chronological order.

I believe a year ago M11 Mitakeumi was ranked as an Ozeki, and now there he was fighting in the first bout of the day taking on M12 Sadanoumi. Sadanoumi was very gracious here keeping his hands wide at the tachi-ai, and as Mitakeumi put his hands on Sadanoumi's torso, the latter just backed up and outta the ring in a flash with Mitakeumi in tow.

The NHK Announcer's analysis of the bout was, "Mitakeumi didn't let him do anything." But that was it. No details about a Mitakeumi oshi attack that was so good Sadanoumi couldn't do anything. No info on a belt grip or inside position that cuffed and stuffed the Sadamight. No details whatsoever. Because there weren't any details. This was all Sadanoumi keeping himself open at the tachi-ai and backing out of the dohyo in no time. Mitakeumi is gifted kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Sadanoumi takes the cash at 5-7.

M17 Daishoho and M11 Hokuseiho hooked up in the gappuri migi-yotsu position from the tachi-ai. As the two rikishi looked to dig in, Jabba Shoho let go of his right belt grip for no reason and slapped at his opponent's torso to say make your move, but Hokuseiho was slow reacting. He eventually wrenched his hips and Daishoho easily let go of his left outer grip, and you knew what was coming next. It took the youngster about 30 seconds before he made is move, but he eventually went for the unorthodox yori-kiri, and Daishoho backed straight out and didn't even bother countering laterally at the edge. Two bouts two yaocho to start things off as Hokuseiho is also gifted kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Daishoho falls to 3-9.

M10 Kinbohzan came with a weak kachi-age against M16 Kagayaki leaving the Kazakhstani vulnerable to an oshi attack from his foe, but the veteran Kagayaki just offered the lightest of shoves with no power behind them. Kinbohzan easily sensed it and just stepped to his left going for a very weak tsuki, and that was Kagayaki's cue to flop to the dirt and roll over for added emphasis. Three for three on the yaocho here as Kinbohzan also moves to 8-4 while Kagayaki falls to 4-8.

In a silly affair that never really did go to the belt, M9 Midorifuji and M13 Myogiryu barely struck at the tachi-ai, and then Myogiryu just stood there up high with his elbows pointing outwards. Midorifuji had a weak right arm inside, but with Myogiryu just standing there, Midori-chan had what he needed to make the kata-sukashi motions, and Myogiryu complied by putting both palms to the dirt with no other part of the body touching down.

As soon as they posted the "kata-sukashi" kimari-te on the digital board in the Kokugikan, the NHK cameras were right there to pan in on the board and let us all savor those words "kata-sukashi" for a few seconds. It's almost as if the whole thing was scripted dare I say. I'm starting to regret my decision to cover all the bouts as Midorifuji moves to 7-5 with the cheap win while Myogiryu falls to same mark.

I've thought more than once that I should just cover the real bouts and nothing else, but if I did that, we'd miss 2/3 of the action, and we'd barely comment on any bouts that related to the yusho race.

The fakery would continue as M8 Kotoeko and M13 Nishikifuji "hooked up" in the weakest hidari-yotsu you've ever seen, and less than two seconds in, NFJ feigned a pull that was really an excuse to back up out of the dohyo as Kotoeko tried to keep up for good measure. Yet another uncontested bout as Kotoeko moves to 5-7 with Nishikifuji falling to 4-8.

M14 Kotoshoho and M8 Hiradoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu, but you could see neither wanted to settle in chest to chest, so after one or two seconds of grappling, Hiradoumi went for this improbable tsuki with the left into Kotoshoho's side, and KSH cart wheeled over and down as if he'd been thrown. They ruled it maki-otoshi, but replays showed that Hiradoumi's right hand contributed nothing to Kotoshoho's "fall." Hooboy as Hiradoumi moves to 4-8 while Kotoshoho falls to 5-7.

M14 Aoiyama came with a right kachi-age tachi-ai and then moved forward lightly offering a few tsuppari M7 Ohho's way, but he was really waiting for Ohho to make a pull move. It came a few seconds in as Ohho moved left and literally had nothing but Aoiyama's right wrist to hold onto, but sure enough, it was good enough to cause Aoiyama to stop, drop, and roll over to the edge. Ohho also fell in the opposite direction after executing his NIFTY move, and it was just another improbable ending to a bout of sumo between two behemoth guys. Ohho moves to 4-8 with the cheap win while Aoiyama hasn't got a care in the world at 3-9.

Still fishing for the first real bout on the day, M12 Takarafuji and M6 Ryuden hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and then Takarafuji seemed all too willing to let Ryuden grab a right outer grip. Once he got it, Takarafuji did nothing to counter it, and it was as soft of an uwate-nage as you'd care to see for Ryuden who handled his foe as if he was made of tissue paper. I mean, the better guy did win here as both rikishi stand at 5-7, but it was not a fully contested bout from either party.

At least the Association is saving money on their water bill today as none of these guys really need to hit the o-furo after all this inaction.

I guess our first leaderboard member entered the dohyo next in M16 Tsurugisho, and he was paired against M4 Ura. TS came with a nice hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the left and getting that same arm inside, but you could see that Tsurugisho was refusing to latch onto his opponent. I mean, that's the way you beat Ura: pull him in close and then bear down on him with your weight, but Tsurugisho refused to grab Ura even with the dude right there monkeying around with a right grip at the front of the Hutt's belt. After five or six seconds of anything but o-zumo, the two finally came together in a clinch with Ura burrowing into moro-zashi and Tsurugisho grabbing a right outer grip over the top. At the edge, a semi nage-no-uchi-ai occurred with Ura throwing with the inside right as Tsurugisho applied pressure with the left outer, and then Ura hooked his leg up and under Tsurugisho's right leg, but Ura's stump wasn't long enough to finish the kake-nage throw, and so Tsurugisho just leaned over and fell onto his left elbow.

The sheep loved it, and that's all that counts. Tsurugisho takes himself out of yusho contention in falling to 8-4 while Ura is even steven at 6-6. And we still haven't seen a real bout of sumo where both parties were trying to win.

We'd finally get it as M3 Shodai and M5 Shonannoumi looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu, but Shodai blocked Shonannoumi nicely from getting his left arm firmly established. As a result, Shonannoumi went on the move circling the dohyo to his left trying to get that same arm inside while he maintained a right outer grip, and after a full turn around the dohyo, the two hooked back up in the center of the ring with Shodai maintaining the left inner while continuing to deny Shodai the same position. After resting for a few seconds, Shonannoumi went for a quick dashi-nage with the right outer grip, and Shodai was too slow to respond resulting in the come from behind win in favor of Shonannoumi. It wasn't a great bout of sumo, but I enjoyed the chess match as Shonannoumi moves to 6-6 with Shodai falling to 5-7.

I'm not sure what M3 Tamawashi's MO has been this basho, but according to Itai's explanation of how yaocho works in sumo, Tamawashi's 0-10 start made him somewhere in the ballpark of $100K US. The dude needs to win a couple here to stay in the division, and today against M15 Chiyoshoma, he brought the long tsuppari arm of the law thrusting Chiyoshoma's way and putting the latter on defense throughout. Chiyoshoma can't stand toe to toe with Tamawashi in a tsuppari fest (nobody can), and so he focused on grabbing at Tamawashi's arms and moving laterally. At one point he went for a pull that sent Tamawashi near the edge, but the wily veteran put on the brakes, did a 360, and then got the left arm inside that he used to scoop throw Chiyoshoma over and down. The two Mongolians were just doing exhibition sumo here as Tamawashi picks up win number one at 1-11 while Chiyoshoma ain't much better record-wise at 2-10. To see these guys with just three wins apiece the entire basho is just silly and as indicative as ever that sumo is mostly theater with a few real bouts mingled in here and there.

M2 Abi henka'd to his left against M10 Endoh grabbing Endoh's belt and going for the instant dashi-nage, and it was over in less than two seconds. Abi oils his way to 8-4 while Endoh falls to 7-5.

M1 Hokutofuji and M6 Onosho weren't in sync at the tachi-ai, and it was Onosho who failed to touch down with his right fist but charged anyway. As both dudes paused knowing it was a false start, the ref started to babble whatever they babble and Onosho cheaply pushed Hokutofuji over and out from behind. It was just kind of typical of the entire day of sumo as Onosho moves to 8-4 with Hokutofuji falling to 7-5.

M1 Meisei kinda whiffed at the tachi-ai against M4 Takanosho striking and then finding himself a bit to Takanosho's right side, but Takanosho didn't bother squaring up to take advantage of his compromised opponent; rather, he moved left towards the edge of the ring for no reason. It was pretty clear at this point that Takanosho wasn't trying and after catching Meisei with a decent pull attempt, Takanosho didn't follow through even though he had his foe on the ropes a bit. Instead, he stood there and allowed Meisei to grab a very weak kote grip with the left arm, and without even being throw, Takanosho just bent down and put both palms to the dirt. A kote-nage that wasn't as Meisei buys his way to 6-6 while Takanosho falls to 5-7.

And that brings us to M7 Takayasu who still refuses to withdraw from the tournament with a bad lower back. And why withdraw if you have someone willing to buy you a win or two? Today against Komusubi Nishikigi, Takayasu came with a moro-te-zuki from the tachi-ai while Nishikigi did...well, absolutely nothing. Takayasu had no power behind his thrusts, but instead of fighting back, Nishikigi just move forward and left a bit. The two traded tsuppari and Nishikigi had Takayasu upright and way high, but instead of getting to the inside, he let Takayasu come back down to earth and offer the weakest swipe down you'd care to see (into thin air I might add), and that was Nishikigi's cue to just fall forward and out of the ring. It was all Takayasu could do to keep himself in the ring after that fake pull, but he kept his balance long enough for NG to touch down first. This was as fake as it gets as Takayasu technically keeps himself on the leaderboard at 9-3 while Nishikigi falls to 5-7.

I think what's going on here is that they don't want the yusho race to be whittled down to two people before Thursday was finished, but who knows why this bout was arranged?

M2 Asanoyama and Komusubi Tobizaru hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Tobizaru had Asanoyama's right arm completely cuffed and stuffed to the point where Tobizaru could have grabbed a nice left outer pinching Asanoyama's right arm in tight. He didn't grab it and just stood there, however, letting Asanoyama attempt a few weak belt throws that did little, and with Asanoyama tiring out, Tobizaru's left hand was right there again at the front of Asanoyama's belt, but he refrained from grabbing it once more letting Asanoyama force him over to the edge. At the edge, Tobizaru was really trying hard to dig in by kicking that right leg forward stiff as a board since you know how easy it is to defend yourself on one leg with a 172 KG guy barreling towards you, but darn the luck...Tobizaru just came up short in the end.

The best way to watch sumo is to kind of squint at it and believe all the analysis because if you actually look at the details, the signs of fixed sumo are everywhere. Asanoyama is still the most popular rikishi as he is gifted 7-5 while Tobizaru knows his place in falling to 5-7.

Next up was the most anticipated bout between Sekiwake Daieisho and M15 Atamifuji, and Atamifuji actually came with a nice tachi-ai leading with the right shoulder and using a thrust or two to make Daieisho rethink his life a bit, but the M15 didn't follow up on that tachi-ai allowing Daieisho to ultimately dictate the pace with his own tsuppari attack. As the two danced around the ring with Daieisho throwing his jabs, Atamifuji sorta looked for a pull opportunity or an inashi side swipe, but nothing ever came. Throughout the bout, Daieisho could never push Atamifuji over to the edge, and you sensed that Daieisho was also looking for the pull, and after six or seven seconds of grappling, Daieisho looked to set up a pull, but Atamifuji had already anticipated it and started to fall forward and down. I mean, go watch the replays and try and determine what force came from Daieisho to cause Atamifuji's fall? There simply wasn't any, and sumo really needed Atamifuji (10-2) to lose today to keep the yusho race in tact. In fact, it was one of the first things that the NHK Announcer shouted after the bout: "It's no longer possible for the yusho to be determined tomorrow!"

As for Daieisho, he picks up kachi-koshi with the cheap win as he moves to 8-4 while Atamifuji brought himself one loss closer to Takakeisho. The youngster did his part today in taking a dive, so it was up to Suckiwake Kotonowaka to let up for Takakeisho, and was there any question what would happen next?

Kotonowaka's plan today was to keep his arms wide at all times and go for a bad pull to allow Takakeisho to sill the dill early, and that's exactly what happened. C3P0 was a sitting duck at the tachi-ai allowing Takakeisho to go through the tsuppari motions, and then Kotonowaka shaded to his left moving slow enough for Takakeisho to keep pace while positioning himself for a pull that would never come, and Takakeisho just followed along and scored the uneventful push out win in three seconds or so. Takakeisho gets the expected gift here in..um..improving to 9-3 while Kotonowaka falls to 6-6.

Ozeki Kirishima was rather passive at the tachi-ai leaving himself exposed against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, but with WMH doing nothing, the Ozeki fired a few tsuppari and then moved right getting the left arm inside. Wakamotoharu countered with his own left inside and then reached for a right outer grip, but before he could grab it, Kirishima went into scoop throw mode purposefully pivoting his right foot behind the straw and sliding down before he could execute the throw. Of course he did. The Ozeki dictated start to finish here and there was nothing to describe from Wakamotoharu's sumo as the Suckiwake magically picks up the win leaving both dudes at 7-5.

In the final bout of the day, Ozeki Hoshoryu welcomed M5 Gonoyama and the two treated us to a very good tachi-ai with Gonoyama using tsuppari a bit high while Hoshoryu looked to establish the right arm inside. Neither rikishi made much headway until Gonoyama abandoned his tsuppari attack looking to set up a quick pull, but Hoshoryu read the move and was able to push Gonoyama back and across before the Ozeki was fully pulled to the dirt himself. This one was really close, but Gonoyama's right foot twisted a bit and touched down early or they would have called a mono-ii here for sure. Hoshoryu moves to 6-6 with the close win while Gonoyama falls to 7-5. Hoshoryu still has a path to kachi-koshi while dropping one against Takakeisho if that's what his camp decides to do.

Officially, the leaderboard at the end of the day read as follows:

10-2: Atamifuji
9-3: Takakeisho, Takayasu

Takayasu draws Hokutofuji, and it goes without saying that Takayasu cannot beat anyone straight up in his current condition.

Atamifuji and Takakeisho square off against each other, and Atamifuji has the clear advantage if the bout is straight up. I don't see how they're going to allow Atamifuji to win, however, and show the faux-zeki up, so expect a puff bout with Takakeisho coming out on top.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
With Atamifuji's defeat of Takayasu yesterday, it essentially opened up a two-bout lead for the youngster. Although Takayasu was technically knocked down to the two-loss tier, watching him move (or try and move) in the dohyo today indicates that he is out of the yusho race. So with the veteran Takayasu out of the picture, the focus at the start of the Day 11 broadcast was on the youth in the division, and NHK showed a chart of the youngest rikishi in Makuuchi where they actually referred to them as "shounen," or young men:



That list reads as follows:

20 years old: Hakuohho
21 years old: Hokuseiho, Atamifuji
23 years old: Ohho, Hiradoumi

I think they were digging a bit deep by adding that 23 year-old line, but one thing NHK and the media in general has tried to stress lately is all the up and coming youth in the division.

Sumo is certainly more appealing the younger the rikishi are, but if these youngsters rise up the banzuke and pad their records with fake sumo, it's all meaningless to me.

Enough of that. Let's turn our focus to the yusho race and examine the bouts that contained the following leaders:

9-1: Atamifuji
8-2: Takayasu
7-3: Takakeisho, Hokutofuji, Onosho, Endoh, Tsurugisho

Up first from that list was M6 Onosho who was paired against M13 Myogiryu, and the two traded decent tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but it was Myogiryu that made the first move retreating a step and to his right and pulling Onosho forward and off balance. Before Onosho was completely down and out, Myogiryu grabbed the outer belt to help escort Onosho down thus the kimari-te of uwate-nage. This bout never went to the belt, and Onosho had little momentum from the tachi-ai with his feet aligned. Still, nobody even realized this dude was on the leaderboard as both rikishi end the day at 7-4.

Our next three-loss rikishi, M10 Endoh, stepped into the dohyo to face M5 Gonoyama. Endoh ducked in low from the tachi-ai looking for a frontal grip as he is wont to do, but Gonoyama struck hard knocking him upright, and half a second in, Endoh moved right and just put his palms to the dirt. They ruled it oshi-taoshi, but Gonoyama did not push Endoh down. It's possible that Endoh was seeing stars after the two butt heads at the tachi-ai, but whatever. It was a non-eventful bout and Endoh is eliminated from the yusho race at 7-4. Gonoyama improves to the same mark, and his tachi-ai was very good today.

The next bout featured two three-loss rikishi meaning one would be knocked out of the yusho race for good. M1 Hokutofuji shaded right at the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, but M16 Tsurugisho stayed square and threatened the right arm inside before going for a quick pull. He was able to pull Hokutofuji off balance and put the M1 on defense from that point. As Hokutofuji tried to square back up, Tsurugisho caught him with a quick face slap and then threatened the right arm inside only to go for another pull, and the second time was a charm as Tsurugisho bullied Hokutofuji around and down. Tsurugisho stays on the leaderboard for now at 8-3 while Hokutofuji falls to 7-4.

Of the three-loss rikishi we've covered so far, only Tsurugisho made it through unscathed.

Up next was the most anticipated bout of the day, M15 Atamifuji vs. Komusubi Tobizaru, and from the tachi-ai, you knew Tobizaru was going to throw the bout when he immediately got into the migi-yotsu clinch with his opponent and pulled his left arm back away from an outer grip. As the two settled in, Tobizaru just stood there waiting for action form Atamifuji, and said action came in the form of an outer belt throw with the left hand, and with Tobizaru applying zero pressure (hence no semblance of a nage-no-uchi-ai), he felt the throw come and then just put his left elbow to the dirt flipping over in spectacular fashion.

As they showed the slow motion replays, Kakuryu who was providing color actually gave an honest assessment of the bout saying, "This kind of sumo doesn't work for Tobizaru. He needs to strike and strike and then move and move. That's his brand of sumo."

They next went to Kaisei who was sitting in the mukou-joumen chair (and looking dapper in a suit), and Kaisei was also honest of Tobizaru saying, "This was a failed plan of attack."

The word neither dude uttered throughout all of the replays was "Atamifuji." You'd think if you had a dude who was leading the basho and he just won a bout by uwate-nage they'd be praising him to the hilt and describing how he set up the win, but it was just crickets. These two (Kakuryu and Kaisei) know the game full well, and it's actually a Freudian slip with all of these guys that they focus on the loser in a fixed bout and explain what he didn't do well instead of commenting on the winner and breaking down his sumo.

As for Atamifuji's sumo, his tachi-ai was bad. He just stood there with his hands low and uncommitted, and it was Tobizaru who burrowed in tight and made of course no effort to move laterally or get his opponent off balance. Atamifuji also didn't pivot and plant that left leg before the throw to get momentum. He was completely flat footed and that throw was not set up well. It was more Tobizaru (5-6) dictating it than anything, and that's why nobody broke down Atamifuji's sumo in this bout. There was simply nothing to break down.

The win pushes Atamifuji to an ill-gotten 10-1, but I still don't think he's the favorite to yusho. All of these wins are being purchased, and it would be unprecedented to let a young kid like this take the yusho over a Japanese Ozeki. The problem is that the leaderboard is dwindling fast and the only dude left that can threaten for the yusho is Takakeisho.

Before we go there, let's visit M7 Takayasu who was paired against Sekiwake Daieisho, and it was Daieisho shading left at the tachi-ai placing a palm at the back of Takayasu's right shoulder sending the M7 over to the edge. Takayasu squared back up and attempted to fend his foe off with a few tsuppari, but Daieisho brushed those attempts aside and got underneath Takayasu's tits lifting him up and shoving him across in short order. You could see Takayasu relent at the end looking for a safe landing over a desperate counter move, and it was smart on his part. He cannot win another bout in his current condition as he drops to 8-3. At least he's got that kachi-koshi in hand while Daieisho moves a step closer at 7-4 with the easy win.

Let's move to the final bout of the day featuring Takakeisho vs. Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, and it was WMH coming with a very light kachi-age at the tachi-ai that purposefully had zero effect, and then Wakamotoharu moved to his left as Takakeisho was applying no pressure from the initial charge himself. For no reason, Wakamotoharu next moved back to his right close to the edge seemingly waiting for Takakeisho to finish him off, but the faux-zeki was floundering, and so WMH moved back left faking a few pulls and setting himself up on the other side of the dohyo, and Takakeisho finally caught up offering this very weak left hand into Wakamotoharu's side. WMH reacted by flopping over across the straw, and they ruled it oshi-taoshi, but no such definitive push came from Takakeisho. The finish was so awkward that Takakeisho actually hurt his left elbow as part of the push, and he was flexing it quite a bit as he walked back to the dressing room.

Takakeisho stays in the yusho race at 8-3 with the gift while Wakamotoharu is a harmless 6-5, and at the end of this one, the yusho race was down to two rikishi for all intents and purposes:

10-1: Atamifuji
8-3: Takakeisho, Takayasu, Tsurugisho

Takayasu is spent and should just withdraw to save himself the trouble.

Tsurugisho is paired against Ura tomorrow, which is a clear sign that nobody is taking TS seriously.

Atamifuji draws Daieisho, and there's no way that Atamifuji can win in a straight up bout, so it's simply a matter of will Daieisho or won't he?

As for Takakeisho, he gets Kotonowaka, and in a straight up bout, Takakeisho has maybe a 10% chance of winning against Koto the Hutt.

Once again, I don't see the point in having Atamifuji take the yusho over Takakeisho, but we'll just see how it plays out. Neither of these dudes have shown a hint of good sumo the entire fortnight, so it's all going to come down to bout fixing. Unfortunately.

In other bouts of interest, Suckiwake Kotonowaka used a decent stiff arm to keep Ozeki Kirishima away from the belt for a few seconds, but the Ozeki eventually worked his way up and under those arms to force the bout to migi-yotsu. Now chest to chest, the Mongolian easily nudged Kotonowaka over near the edge before latching onto the front of Kotonowaka's belt with the left, and once he had Baby Waka's right arm pinned inside, Kirishima lifted him completely upright and forced him across for the textbook win. Kirishima won't take the yusho here, but at 7-4 his kachi-koshi is all but guaranteed.

Ozeki Hoshoryu looked to get moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against M4 Takanosho, but the latter backed up quickly looking for a counter pull. Takanosho hadn't done enough to set up the pull, and so Hoshoryu rushed in forcing the bout to migi-yotsu. Takanosho was positioned lower than the smaller Hoshoryu, and so neither dude grabbed a left outer, and after a 12 second pause or so, Hoshoryu got into the left kote-nage position and attempted to trip at the back of Takanosho's right leg, but Takanosho still had good positioning, so it was a right yori-charge from Takanosho against Hoshoryu's shaky kote-nage with the left, and the skill and dexterity from Hoshoryu proved the difference here. It was very close and a good bout of sumo, but Hoshoryu just pulled it out in moving to 5-6...the same record as Takanosho.

With four days to go, both Atamifuji and Takakeisho are completely at the mercy of their remaining opponents. What the Association doesn't want to see is the yusho decided before senshuraku. The storylines are bare bones as it is right now, so any possible excitement down the stretch would be welcome.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As expected, NHK took the leaderboard three losses deep at the start of the Day 10 broadcast, and they had to do that to get more name recognition out in front of fans. I think it's important noting these changes because for the last two days, the leaderboard only went down two-losses deep. Why all of a sudden change it to three-losses deep when you still have the same two rikishi occupying the one-loss tier? Throughout the two weeks of the tournament, it's a constant PR game by the Association to make the sport as appealing to the fans as possible. Now, I get why the Association is always making these adjustments, but in a real sport where the competition is straight up and completely organic, the results on the field (or in the dohyo) create the storylines, not the other way around.

The big news of course heading into Day 10 focused on Takayasu and Atamifuji. At the end of Day 9, most of the hype surrounded Takayasu, and the last couple of days I've seen the phrase: "Takayasu, show us THAT!" (are in Japanese). I've seen it in the headlines, and then I've seen fans displaying signs in the venue calling out for Takayasu to show us THAT. I'm not exactly sure what are refers to because Takayasu doesn't have any particularly good sumo moves; I'm just glad we're not talking about his OnlyFans account.

It makes sense why the hype would be on Takayasu. He's been around awhile, he's a former faux-zeki, and he's got the most name recognition of the three dudes at the top of the leaderboard, but the Day 10 broadcast highlighted Atamifuji. They chronicled his unsuccessful debut in the Makuuchi division last year, and then they charted his course back up through the Juryo ranks that included a Juryo yusho along the way.

I never followed the dude in Juryo, but his Makuuchi career has been awful. He's shown no definable sumo skills, and you don't even know whether or not he's an oshi guy or a belt guy. His sumo contains a passive tachi-ai where he is reacting to the movements of his opponents instead of dictating the flow of the bout himself but for whatever reason, he finds himself in the spotlight here at the Aki basho.

Let's start with the Takayasu - Atamifuji matchup since it was the story of the day reminding everyone that this was the leaderboard we will work through on Day 10:

8-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
7-2: Tsurugisho
6-3: Kirishima, Takakeisho, Wakamotoharu, Hokutofuji, Gonoyama, Onosho, Endoh, Myogiryu

The tachi-ai from both dudes was soft, and neither wanted to go chest to chest nor was either rikishi firing off any tsuppari. So after this slow start, Takayasu shaded left sorta fishing for a pull but with Atamifuji not moving forward, there was really nothing to pull. From that point, Takayasu used a few thrusts without the lower body that stood Atamifuji upright, and so the youngster shaded left going for a half-assed tsuki at the back of Takayasu's shoulder, and to this point, the bout lacked any firepower whatsoever.

As the two looked to square back up, Takayasu put his left arm at the back of Atamifuji's head as if to pull, and then the next thing you knew, Takayasu was flat on his back. A shove definitely did not come from Atamifuji, and watching live it looked as if Takayasu just fell backwards. After watching all angles of the slow motion replay NHK provided, it looked like Takayasu wrenched something in his lower back as he attempted to set up the pull, and then he just crumbled to the dirt.

They ruled oshi-taoshi, but it should have been koshi-kudake.  The majority of media outlets showed that pic at right from the reverse angle because it looked more like Atamifuji was the cause of Takayasu's fall, but the dude was already falling backwards and that paw near the face was reactionary as Atamifuji tried to catch up with Takayasu's movements.

As they showed Takayasu leaving the dohyo area, he limped down the hana-michi favoring what looked to be something on his right side. It did not look like a planned fall by Takayasu, and my opinion is that he was in an unorthodox position to go for a pull, and he tweaked something in his lower back that caused the fall.

If we focus on the actual sumo in this bout, we got nothing from either party at the tachi-ai, and then both dudes attempted pulls (two from Takayasu and a light tsuki from Atamifuji). And that's it. You have two guys coming in leading the pack squaring off against each other, and you get that useless bout of sumo.

A minute after the bout, the man on the hana-michi called up to the booth and reported that Takayasu was holding onto his tsuke-bito's shoulders as he walked back to the dressing room. He told the reporter "daijoubu desu" but he looked to be anything but okay. The headlines afterwards seem largely in agreement that Takayasu wrenched the right side of his lower back during the bout.

The dude may not go kyujo, but the way he was moving after this bout, he's done. Curiously, NHK showed a mini leaderboard in the lower right hand corner of the screen after the bout that simply read:

9-1: Atamifuji
8-2: Takayasu

For all intents and purposes, that two tier slot is vacant now. Takayasu is not going to win out, and he may have to withdraw altogether, so what you really have is Atamifuji standing at one loss and a handful of dudes at three losses.

As stated yesterday, I'm quite sure Atamifuji is not destined to take the yusho here. He's young, yes, but he doesn't come from a stable with any money or any clout, and that matters in sumo if you rely on bout fixing to go places.

The second bout of the day featured our lone two-loss rikishi coming into the day, M16 Tsurugisho. He was paired against M10 Kinbohzan, who henka'd to his left, grabbed the back of Tsurugisho's belt, and then drove the two-loss rikishi out with a cheap dashi-nage from behind in two seconds flat. Kinbohzan "improved" to 6-4 with the ill-gotten win while Tsurugisho falls to 7-3.

A tachi-ai henka is the last thing you want to see in a bout with yusho implications, but as long as the Association continues to allow it, it's fair game I suppose. The loss was costly because it eliminated the two-loss rikishi with the guarantee that a one-loss rikishi would remain. Sumo hasn't allowed a non-Yokozuna to run away with the yusho in a very long time, and it can't happen this basho if the dude's name isn't Asanoyama or Ura.

Up next were two three-loss guys in M13 Myogiryu and M10 Endoh, and Myogiryu put his hands up high as if to pull from the tachi-ai, but such a move didn't come. As for Endoh, he read his opponent's tactic well and used methodic tsuppari to knock Myogiryu upright and send him back pedaling.  Myogiryu positioned himself for another pull for good measure near the edge allowing Endoh to push him back and across in mere seconds. Myogiryu's knocked off the leaderboard for now at 6-4 while Endoh survives at 7-3.

To this point, I've covered three bouts with yusho implications, and all three of them were duds.

M6 Onosho was paired against M12 Sadanoumi, and the latter kept his arms limp at the tachi-ai daring Onosho to attack. Problem for Onosho was that his feet were aligned, so he couldn't get any force going from the initial charge. After the bad tachi-ai, Sadanoumi moved left offering a weak inashi move, and Onosho recovered easily and did the same putting the rikishi back to square one. From this point, Sadanoumi said, "Ah, to hell with it" and stood straight up with both arms wrapped around the back of Onosho's melon. Even Onosho couldn't screw that up, and he had the Sadamight forced back and across in a silly, fixed affair.  Fist pump as Onosho stays on the leaderboard at 7-3 while Sadanoumi falls to 5-5.

A few bouts later, M5 Gonoyama stepped into the ring to face M11 Mitakeumi, and Gonoyama moved forward well from the tachi-ai raising Mitakeumi upright with some thrusts, but he couldn't help himself and went for a downward swipe of Mitakeumi's torso. That let the former faux-zeki back into the bout, and the two grappled a bit before hooking up in the solid migi-yotsu position back in the center of the ring where Gonoyama had the left outer grip. Normally, when the better rikishi gets the outer grip first, he has the upper hand, but you could see that Gonoyama was lost, and so Mitakeumi was able to nudge him back and grab a left outer of his own.

From this point the gappuri contest was on, and you knew it was a real bout. You can just tell when both dudes are trying to win, and the two danced and sashayed across the dance floor each testing the yori waters with their outer grips, but in the midst of this, Mitakeumi cut off Gonoyama's outer, and he applied enough pressure to where he finally sent a gassed Gonoyama across and down with his inside grip with the right. Wow, this was a pretty good bout of sumo. It wasn't o-zumo, but it gives you a clear indication that these two are equals on the banzuke who probably deserve to be ranked in the lower third of the division. Regardless of that, both dudes end the day at 6-4, and Gonoyama is knocked off of the leaderboard.

A few bouts and an Abi henka later, M1 Hokutofuji offered a few stiff arms Komusubi Tobizaru's way as the latter backed up slowly from the tachi-ai. Hokutofuji wasn't blazing off of the starting lines, and so he couldn't make Tobizaru pay, but it didn't matter. Tobizaru kept his hands up high signaling that he was going to pull, and he actually managed two or three pulls before Hokutofuji finally got enough momentum to push his compromised foe back and across. Tobizaru (5-5) was just dinking around in this fixed bout that saw Hokutofuji cheaply stay on the leaderboard at 7-3.

Moving to the Ozeki ranks, Hoshoryu needed to make a decision whether or not he'd defeat Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, yet another member of the three-loss gang. Wakamotoharu was soft at the tachi-ai as usual leaving his arms open, and Hoshoryu pounced getting moro-zashi, knocking Wakamotoharu upright, and driving him back and across without argument. It maybe took two seconds, but this was an ass kicking. I think at times these Mongolians get so frustrated with the politics that they have to make periodic statements like this one today. Hoshoryu is just 4-6 after the win, but can anybody besides Kirishima on the leaderboard defeat someone in this manner? Anyone? No. Wakamotoharu is not only knocked off of the leaderboard at 6-4, but he's knocked out of Ozeki contention as well.

Speaking of Ozeki contention, all three faux candidates found themselves at 6-4 at the end of the day. Kotonowaka needed Meisei to go mukiryoku on him; Daieisho bullied Asanoyama around and down (see the pic at right); and Wakamotoharu was beaten badly here by Hoshoryu.

Sheesh, it feels like I'm commenting on every bout today and we still have two leaderboard dudes still to go.

The next bout featured Takakeisho who was paired against M4 Ura, and Ura signaled his pull intentions from the beginning putting his hands high at the back of Takakeisho's head. Problem was that Takakeisho didn't beat his compromised foe back, and so in one fell swoop, Ura committed on a massive pull and retreat outta the dohyo while Takakeisho stumbled forward and down across the straw with Ura hovering above him. Takakeisho clearly touched down first, and the ref had no choice but to point the gunbai in his direction, but they called a mono-ii to review the tape.

Replays showed that at the point where Takakeisho touched down, the lower half of Ura's body was well beyond the straw still airborne, and so it was a completely subjective decision on how to rule on this one. They ended up declaring the bout a tie, which I was okay with, but it was no surprise. They're not going to let Takakeisho suffer a loss if they can help it.

In the do-over, Takakeisho put his hands high getting set to pull, and Ura (5-5) ducked right into it and then just flopped to the dirt kicking his heels up higher than his head as he belly flopped to the dirt. The end result through all of this is that Takakeisho was gifted a win without doing anything, so he survives as a leader at 7-3.

The final bout of the day featured Ozeki Kirishima taking on the pesky Komusubi Nishikigi, and just as the two approached the starting lines, my feed cut off since the broadcast went over time. Never fear; I went to the Sumo Association's official YouTube channel and streamed the final bout of the day, so you could say I just cast my vote for Kirishima - Nishikigi as the most streamed bout of the day!

Kirishima offered light tsuppari Nishikigi's way from the tachi-ai before skirting to his left slow enough that Nishikigi could keep pace. As Kirishima circled left, he got the left arm inside and had Nishikigi raised up rather high, but then the Ozeki just circled his way over and out of the dohyo altogether. At no point during the bout did Nishikigi (5-5) ever have good positioning or footwork; this was just a matter of Kirishima circling around the dohyo and out voluntarily falling to 6-4.

Not that the previous bout kicked any up, the with the dust settled on the day, the leaderboard was as follows:

9-1: Atamifuji
8-2: Takayasu
7-3: Takakeisho, Hokutofuji, Onosho, Endoh, Tsurugisho

As of 9 AM Japan time, Takayasu had yet to announce his withdrawal, so we'll keep an eye on him. Judging by the way he walked back to the locker room, the dude is in poor shape. Takayasu draws Daieisho tomorrow, and there's no way that Daieisho doesn't win in a straight up bout. We'll see.

As for Atamifuji, they're going to start pairing him with members at the top of the banzuke starting tomorrow. He draws Tobizaru, and the Komusubi will run circles around him in a straight up bout. Once again, we'll see if anything is negotiated.

The three loss tier was only added to the leaderboard today so they could get Takakeisho's name on there, so we'll withhold predictions on those dudes until the yusho line drops.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
When we left at the end of Day 8, the future of Week 2 seemed a bit precarious in terms of what storylines they could hype. NHK did not post a leaderboard at the end of the day presumably because Takakeisho wouldn't have been on it at two-losses back from the two 7-1 rikishi, and so the biggest bout in terms of Day 9 PR-wise was the Suckiwake matchup between Wakamotoharu and Daieisho. Seemingly overnight, the six bout power win streak by Wakamotoharu was all the rage, and when my Day 9 feed started, this was the bout they were talking up.

I took this graphic from the NHK News 9 sports segment, and you can see that they have highlighted in red (vertically) the six bout winning streak:

We may as well start with this bout since it was all the talk heading into the day.

From the tachi-ai, Daieisho took charge causing Wakamotoharu to look straight up at the rafters due to his fierce tsuppari attack, and Wakamotoharu's only hope was to move laterally. As he did, Daieisho thought about a pull as the two changed sides in the ring, but he thankfully abandoned that and stuck to his tsuppari guns sending Wakamotoharu across the other side of the dohyo and out with some oomph.

And just like that...yet another storyline built upon yaocho is burned up and discarded.

The result sends Daieisho to 5-4 while Wakamotoharu falls to 6-3, but more importantly (and unfortunately?), the loss knocked WMH off of the leaderboard.

Though NHK did not show the leaderboard at the end of Day 8, they did display it at the start of Day 9 as follows:

7-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
6-2: Wakamotoharu, Gonoyama, Tsurugisho, Myogiryu

With Wakamotoharu's loss, it removes a dude with probably the most name recognition currently from the leaderboard.

As long as we're talking about the leaderboard, let's touch on all the dudes occupying it moving next to the two-loss M13 Myogiryu who was paired against M14 Kotoshoho. Myogiryu stayed flat-footed at the tachi-ai looking for a pull with feet aligned, but the problem with setting himself up like that was Kotoshoho wasn't moving forward, and so Myogiryu moved to his right and traded places in the dohyo with his foe as the two locked up in migi-yotsu. They stood chest to chest for another two or three seconds before Myogiryu went for a useless maki-kae with the left, and he got it, but it was just a signal to his foe to make a move, and so Kotoshoho felled him willingly with a mediocre right belt throw. Myogiryu didn't bother to counter with his left inside position, and he simply put his palm down beyond the dirt before crumbling outta the ring just like that.

Myogiryu actually had the clear path to moro-zashi from the tachi-ai...something the announcers acknowledged afterward, but he wasn't looking to win from the start, and it was evident, so he stayed high and wide at the tachi-ai and went for that useless maki-kae a few seconds later. Myogiryu dictated things start to finish in this one, and there wasn't anything Kotoshoho (3-6) did to set his foe up, but for whatever reason, the Myogiryu camp doesn't think he should be on the leaderboard, and so he ain't in falling to 6-3.

Up next was M16 Tsurugisho who fought M11 Mitakeumi, and maybe fought isn't the best word here as this was a very soft bout. Both dudes kept their arms in tight at the tachi-ai not wanting to go chest to chest (I think TS would have welcomed the true yotsu bout), and it was Mitakeumi who sorta looked to take charge moving forward with his elbows still touching his own torso, and with such little pressure coming, Tsurugisho easily moved right executing a pull that turned Mitakeumi (5-4) around 180 degrees, and the okuri-dashi from there was academic.

I mean, Tsurugisho does improve to 7-2 with the win keeping himself on the leaderboard, but it's like that old adage, "Does anybody care whether or not a tree that falls in the forest makes a sound if nobody's around?" No. Nobody cares.

Next up was M15 Atamifuji paired against M10 Kinbohzan, and it was obvious which direction this bout would turn as Kinbohzan has purposefully lost three of his last four bouts to remove himself from the spotlight. From the tachi-ai, Kinbohzan reached for the right arm inside, and he could have easily seized the position, but he withdrew that arm quickly and just began backing up. As for Atamifuji, facing no forward-moving pressure from his foe, he latched onto a left outer grip and just tried to keep up with Kinbohzan's swift retreat back and out of the ring.

People who actually analyze sumo without bias readily notice that Atamifuji has not had a bout like this the entire tournament. His posture from the tachi-ai has always been defensive, so it doesn't make sense that he's suddenly turned into this machine that bulldozes his opponents back and across with amazing swiftness and power. He knew the bout was arranged coming, and all he had to do was keep up with Kinbohzan's speedy retreat. Atamifuji moves to 8-1 with the gift while Kinbohzan retreats to 5-4.

Atamifuji will not beat Takayasu tomorrow in a straight up bout, and I'm wondering if his camp agreed to buy him a kachi-koshi or whether or not they think they're in this for the long haul. At some point, the Association is going to step in and tell the Isegahama camp that this guy is not taking the yusho. I wouldn't be surprised if he fails to win 11 bouts by the tourney's end.

Two bouts later, M7 Takayasu stepped into the dohyo to face M8 Kotoeko, and the bout looked to go to migi-yotsu, but instead of burrowing in chest to chest, Kotoeko focused on a retreat where he kept lifting his leg off the dohyo leaving him only one leg with which to keep balance. That Takayasu scored the easy, uncontested win was a given here. Is this kind of sumo exciting to anyone? You have two bouts that feature the one-loss rikishi, and their opponents do absolutely nothing to win the bout. On the contrary, Kinbohzan voluntarily withdrew his initial right inside position, and Kotoeko did his best Hop Along Cassidy impression moving backwards.

The result is Takayasu's breezing his way to 8-1 while Kotoeko is paid off in falling to 2-7.

The final bout that featured a leader was M5 Gonoyama who was paired against his high school senpai, Takakeisho, so you knew this one would be ripe with politics. From the tachi-ai, Takakeisho pressed forward with his usual tsuppari attack...the one he employs when he knows the fix is in, and all Gonoyama did was retreat in kind while sorta waxing on and waxing off to make it look as if he was defending himself. He wasn't of course, and he was more worried about a soft landing down below than he was in even thinking about counter sumo.  This was a linear "win" for Takakeisho against a completely willing opponent that left both rikishi at 6-3.

I get it why they needed to let Takakeisho win this one, but the end result was Gonoyama's being knocked off the leaderboard and leaving us with the following heading into Day 10:

8-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
7-2: Tsurugisho

Because Takayasu and Atamifuji fight each other tomorrow, they're going to have to take the leaderboard down to three losses. You just can't sustain any excitement with this leaderboard that should form tomorrow:

9-1: Takayasu
8-2: Atamifuji, Tsurugisho

In other bouts of interest, Ozeki Kirishima put two hands into the tops of M4 Ura's shoulders keeping him at bay, and after a a second or two, Kirishima backed up looking for a pull or a right outer grip, but Ura responded well knocking Kirishima onto his heels a bit. Ura wasn't looking to move forward offensively, however, and so as Ura backed up himself looking for a pull, Kirishima was able to stay square enough and elbow Ura across the edge. Ura (5-4) fell across in exaggerated fashion as he is wont to do while Kirishima moves to a cool 6-3 with the win.

In the day's final bout, Ozeki Hoshoryu moved right at the tachi-ai grabbing the cheap outer grip against Suckiwake as the two traded places in the dohyo, and then for no reason...well, no logical reason...Hoshoryu just let go of his nice outer and stood there unguarded as Kotonowaka fired a few tsuppari and then went for a quick kote-nage with the left. Hoshoryu didn't bother to counter with his right arm inside and made sure his legs hit down before Kotonowaka stepped out.

Replays showed that they could have called this one either way, but they upheld the ref's original gunbai in favor of Kotonowaka. Kotonowaka came close to stepping out because he wasn't in full control of the bout. That kote-nage was dangerous, and any force from Hoshoryu would have sent Kotonowaka packing, but whatever. Hoshoryu's intention was to lose and that he did in falling to 3-6 while Kotonowaka ekes above .500 to 5-4.

The broadcast was nearly closed by the time this bout and the mono-ii finished, and so they didn't have a chance to show the updated leaderboard. I don't think they would have showed it anyway, and NHK will meet with the PR crew from the Association tomorrow, and then they'll decide how many losses deep they want to go.

Since this basho has literally had a new storyline every day, tomorrow's headline will be the matchup between Atamifuji and Takayasu. That guarantees a one-loss rikishi, so they're gonna have to go down to the three loss rikishi at this point just to keep fan interest.

There's no way that the yusho line doesn't go to 12-3 in the end, so it's a race to see who can stay at three losses the rest of the way. Here's the likely leaderboard at the start of Day 10:

8-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
7-2: Tsurugisho
6-3: Kirishima, Takakeisho, Wakamotoharu, Hokutofuji, Gonoyama, Onosho, Endoh, Myogiryu

What a mess, but they have no choice. They've got to get more name recognition back on the leaderboard.

Before we end the day, the top three bouts streamed yesterday were as follows:

#1 Ura - Hoshoryu
#2 Asanoyama - Meisei
#3 Tobizaru - Takakeisho

On one hand, I think it's notable when Asanoyama doesn't come in at #1, but let's wait for the day when the top slot doesn't include Asanoyama or Ura.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
In my comments on Friday, I mentioned the excitement from NHK on having eight rikishi coming into Day 6 with just one loss, and of course that group was led by none other than Takakeisho. With the two Mongolian Ozeki "struggling," it was a chance to present Takakeisho in a light of strength, but unfortunately, the dude would have to fight in what turned out to be two straight up bouts over the weekend.

That list from Friday was whittled down to five rikishi heading into Saturday, and sure enough, NHK continued to ride the one-loss card at the start of the day with the following rikishi:



Takakeisho, Takayasu, Kinbohzan, Atamifuji, Tsurugisho

M15 Atamifuji led off Saturday paired against M16 Kagayaki, and Atamifuji did nothing from the tachi-ai to set his opponent up, nor did he employ a single offensive maneuver. Kagayaki dictated the pace start to finish and then backed himself outta the ring while Atamifuji literally stood there and watched at the end. Normally when a guy wins by oshi-dashi in a fixed bout, he's at least moving forward as his opponent backs up, but Atamifuji had his feet aligned at the edge and was a complete spectator as Kagayaki did all the work.

Next up was M16 Tsurugisho who was paired against M13 Myogiryu, and the bout lasted about three seconds with Tsurugisho purposefully ducking low letting Myogiryu grab the easy outer belt grip, and then Tsurugisho went with the uwate-nage flow offering no resistance or a counter inside throw. It was clear that Tsurugisho owed Myogiryu something, and just like that, the one-loss list was down to four.

A few bouts later, M10 Kinbohzan and M11 Hokuseiho went chest to chest where Kinbohzan gave Hokuseiho the outer grip and then did nothing to win the bout. Normally in a Hokuseiho bout, the dude stands straight up at the tachi-ai and reaches for an outer grip, but the look and feel of this bout was different because it was arranged. It looked like a good struggle to the sheep, but Kinbohzan did nothing to take charge and ultimately let Hokuseiho win taking himself out of contention and paring the one-loss list down to just three.

M7 Takayasu legitimately beat M9 Midorifuji to keep himself at 6-1. This was Takayasu's first legit win of the tournament, but it was a good fight and he deserves props for winning in a straight up bout.

The final dude was Takakeisho who was paired against M3 Shodai, and you could tell this one was real from the get-go. For starters, Takakeisho did not trust in an oshi attack where he's moving forward from the tachi-ai; that only happens when he knows the fix is in. Instead, the two brawled in the center of the ring not going fully oshi and not fighting from the belt. Takakeisho had no lower body to speak of, and so he relied on a couple of fierce face slaps to try and make Shodai flinch, but these dudes have taken a lot more punishment than that over the years, and Shodai finally found an opening and easily forced Takakeisho back and across for the legit yori-kiri win.

Just like that, the one-loss win chart on Saturday went from the aforementioned five rikishi down to this:

6-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji

There is not a lot of meat on that bone and certainly not enough to sustain a yusho race. I mean, Takayasu does have the name recognition, but if you took a moment to think about his sumo the first seven days, what stands out?

Right, nothing.

As a result, NHK had to change things up heading into Sunday, and when I say NHK, I mean NHK upon consulting with members from the Sumo Association PR department to do this or that.

On Sunday, my broadcast feed was pre-empted by a Junior Golf Championship tournament that was running over time. Sumo pre-empted by Junior Golf?

When my feed started, they showed the usual graphics indicating the NHK General broadcast had started, and so nobody saw any features at the start of Day 8. And maybe that was a good thing.

To make up for it, they sent Takekuma-oyakata (Goeido) to do the rounds on the news shows, and the highlight heading into Day 8 was the struggling Mongolian Ozeki. Hoshoryu's sumo over the weekend can best be described as keeping his arms open at the tachi-ai, start backing up after initial contact is made, and then go down if your opponent attempts a slapdown or back out of the ring if your opponent is moving forward. His bouts last a matter of seconds, and he's obviously pulling back to try and give credence to the supposed struggle these Ozeki go through.

He was pushed out by Nishikigi on Saturday, and then he let Ura slap him down on Sunday, and during both of those bouts, Hoshoryu never attempted a single move to win or to gain the upper hand. I think it's pretty obvious to everyone what's going on, and with Takakeisho kadoban, it's only fair that Hoshoryu experiences the kadoban life for himself.

As for Kirishima, he was gifted a win against M3 Tamawashi on Saturday, but on Sunday, he just backed up from the tachi-ai and let M4 Takanosho push him straight back and across in under three seconds. You see? The struggle is real.

What was really interesting to me on the Sunday news shows is that they highlighted the struggling Mongolian Ozeki and then they showed both of their bouts, but no mention was made of Takakeisho nor did they replay his bout against Komusubi Tobizaru. And for good reason because this is how it ended:



That's Takakeisho there mounting a fan in the first row. And he held that position for 8 - 10 seconds at least. He was there so long that you can see that an NHK camera man had to time to run up to the scene of the crime and film a close up of the fallen faux-zeki. I mean, the optics here were not good, which is why the news shows didn't replay it. Takakeisho was so out of sorts in his bout against Tobizaru that when he was pushed down to the venue floor, his left leg hit sooner than he expected, and it sent a jolt through him.

Have you ever gone down the stairs in a haze thinking there was one more stair left when you were really at the bottom? The touch down at the bottom of the stairs sends this jolt through your body, and that's what it looked like when Takakeisho fell. It took him a long time and a lot of careful balancing to step back up onto the dohyo, and then it took him a long time to exit the dohyo on the other side (he was pushed out to the East but fought from the West).  Beyond that, anytime that Tobizaru stands over you as if he's King Kong, you know something went terribly wrong.

As of 1 PM Japan time on Monday, Takakeisho had not announced his kyujo. I mean, he can't sit out or he'll be demoted from the Ozeki rank, but as ugly and as slow as he looked in Week 1, it's now multiplied by a factor of three. What a mess this guy is and why would NHK News replay the losses by the Mongolian Ozeki and not show the replay of Takakeisho's loss??

What's the logical explanation?

One thing that NHK did show was a graphic with Kisenosato, Goeido, and Hakuho, and then their star prodigies grouped beneath them.

In the case of Goeido and Hakuho, they already have Gonoyama and Hakuohho respectively in the Makuuchi division although Hakuohho will make his return from Juryo in January.

As for Kisenosato, they showed his star prodigy, Onosato, who has stormed out to an 8-0 start in Juryo. They did replay his bout today and it was a legit win, but I'd have to see his entire body of work this basho to determine whether or not he's been buying wins or whether or not he's a true beast. I mean, you couldn't ask for a better sumo body. The dude checks in at 192 cm and 176 kg, and he also moved very well in the bout today, but Hokuseiho also has a great sumo body, and he's largely useless.

My point here is not to speculate on whether or not this guy is legit; rather, it's to point out how much NHK was telling the fans, "Hold out just a bit longer. We've got these great, young, up-and-comers, and they're being coached by two former Yokozuna and an Ozeki!"

This whole Takakeisho-at-Ozeki project is failing miserably, and they really need some new blood fast.

So, to sum up the weekend, we went from this very optimistic, "Hey, look at all these guys with just one loss!" down to this:

Takayasu, Atamifuj

Both of those two yayhoos were gifted silly wins on Day 8.  Atamifuji supposedly beat Aoiyama by oshi-dashi, but I'm not sure how that happened as Atamifuji didn't fire a single shove.  It was Aoiyama throwing defensive shoves as he just backed out of the ring.

As for Takayasu, this was his predicament mid-bout against Mitakeumi:

Mitakeumi (hunkered low at right) was in such great position he could have grabbed Takayasu's left leg and tripped him over ashi-tori style or he could have grabbed a right frontal belt grip and pinned Takayasu's left arm useless inside of the uwate.  Takayasu was had at this point, so it was up to Mitakeumi to make a move, and when he did, he lightly touched Takayasu's left ankle as if to grab the leg, and then he stumbled over and down and Takayasu went for a weak pull.  So fake but so necessary I suppose.

They did not show a leaderboard at the end of Day 8, but if they had, it would have looked like this:

7-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
6-2: Wakamotoharu, Gonoyama, Tsurugisho, Myogiryu

That's an ugly leaderboard for sure, but the wires early Monday morning sure were hyping Wakamotoharu. I saw one headline that ready, "Wakamotoharu and his power 6 bout win streak." Wait, there's been power as part of this win streak? We are talking about the 2023 Aki basho aren't we?

But once again...it's the media creating this narrative in the mind of the fans that WMH is somehow on this powerful win streak when all of his wins have been obviously orchestrated. I would give Wakamotoharu the upper hand against Atamifuji, but that's about it.

And that poses another problem sumo has: most of the "leaders" haven't fought each other yet, and so more losses are coming. More losses are coming among the leaders, and more losses are coming among the Ozeki, so we are in for a real hot mess in Week 2.

I think the yusho has to drop down to 12-3 at this point, so we'll see how it plays out.

The M2 Asanoyama bouts continue to be the most streamed each day, and he was given two puff wins against Abi and Meisei over the weekend. At 4-4, Asanoyama will not play a factor in the yusho race, but who else is going to supplant him as the most popular rikishi?

They were trying to hype Suckiwake Kotonowaka over the weekend, but Daieisho beat him on Saturday, and he did not look good on Sunday against Hokutofuji whatsoever. Both Daieisho and Kotonowaka stand at 4-4, so of the three Suckiwake who they were hoping would vie for Ozeki, it's down to Wakamotoharu and his 6-2 record.

It was really interesting to watch the basho go into the weekend on a relative high and then come out of things on Sunday with such a low. We'll see what gets manufactured in Week 2, but that's the whole problem; it's going to manufactured.

Finally, on Day 7 they showed a group of fans crammed into a few masu-seki with bright right tee shirts that read "Team Suck" on them in Japanese.  There's been plenty of suck the first eight days of the tournament, so at least someone is getting their money's worth.

It's going to take a lot to salvage this basho down the stretch, but that's why we watch.

Back with a full report on Day 9.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I turned on NHK News 9 this morning expecting to see more Ozeki talk, and the new narrative of the basho is that eight rikishi are heading into the long weekend with just 1 loss. Oh, and it's Takakeisho leading the way!! I suppose it's as good a narrative as they have, and it should hold through the weekend. Once they start pairing all of the one-loss rikishi against each other, the list will dwindle quickly, and I think the default storyline from there will be the race between the Ozeki for the yusho.

Let's get right to the Day 6 action where M14 Aoiyama stood straight up at the tachi-ai offering largely defensive tsuppari in M15 Chiyoshoma's direction, but instead of getting to the inside, Chiyoshoma just pretended to fend off those tsuppari while methodically backing up to the edge, and it was an easy thrust out from there by Aoiyama (2-4) to send Chiyoshoma (1-5) across for good.

The tachi-ai between M16 Tsurugisho and M14 Kotoshoho was light with neither dude looking to go chest to chest or bring an oshi attck. From the get-go, Kotoshoho just struck and then moved left all the way over to the edge not really even going for a pull, so it was a simple push from Tsurugisho (5-1) that sent Kotoshoho (2-4) back beyond the straw. Something was definitely arranged here as Tsurugisho keeps himself on the one-loss list.

The light sumo would continue as neither M13 Myogiryu nor M16 Kagayaki looked to mount an offensive from the tachi-ai; rather, both dudes stood straight up and traded defensive tsuppari before Myogiryu moved to his right and touched Kagayaki at the back of the shoulder, and Kagayaki (3-3) was vying for an Oscar here diving forward and flipping over after the lightest tap from Myogiryu. Still waiting for the first real bout as Myogiryu moves to 4-2 here.

And yet another bad tachi-ai from M17 Daishoho who stood completely upright waiting for M13 Nishikifuji to come forward. Problem was that NFJ didn't want to come close, so he'd offer a few light tsuppari and then back up as if to pull, but Daishoho had no forward momentum to fall for a pull. Finally, Nishikifuji whiffed on a pull as he moved left, and he was completely off balance and vulnerable, but instead of swooping in for the kill, DSH let him square back up and secure moro-zashi. Nishikifuji was still too weak to force Daisho the Hutt back and across, and so the latter went for a weak maki-kae with the left and that gave Daishoho (2-4) an excuse to back up and across the bales with Nishikifuji (3-3) in tow. It feels like I'm watching sumo today at 1/2 the normal speed, and that's saying something.

We got our first real bout of the day with M15 Atamifuji charging forward nicely against M11 Mitakeumi, but Mitakeumi kept his arms in tight not wanting to go chest to chest. Mitakeumi did have the path to the right inside, but he didn't want it because that would have given Atamifuji the easy path to the left outer, and so the former faux-zeki went for an early pull. Atamifuji survived and then answered with a pull of his own, but there was too much real estate to cover, so the two hooked back up in the center of the ring with Mitakeumi still ducking his head and keeping his arms in tight so the bout wouldn't go to the belt. The two stood this way for a while until Atamifuji moved left going for a quick tsuki-otoshi, and he dumped Mitakeumi forward and down. Or so we thought. Atamifuji's left heel was dangerously close to touching down, so they called a mono-ii to review.

Atamifuji clearly won the bout here, but they ruled a do-over...the last thing Mitakeumi wanted because he came up visibly shaken from the fall. In round two, they hooked up in migi-yotsu again, and Atamifuji went for the same movement left and offensive tsuki-otoshi from the gun, and it was a carbon copy finish with Atamifuji balancing his left foot on the straw as Mitakeumi hit the deck. It was close, but Atamifuji won again, and this was his first legit winna the basho as he moves to 5-1. Mitakeumi was knocked off of the one-loss list here in falling to 4-2.

M10 Kinbohzan charged hard into M12 Takarafuji knocking him upright and catching with with a paw to the face, and from there, Takarafuji did not want to go chest to chest, so he moved left trying to finagle a pull while Kinbohzan chased him around looking for the yotsu-contest, and the instant Kinbohzan got his right arm inside, it was curtains as he dispatched Takarafuji easy as you please. It's an understatement to say that Kinbohzan dominated here, and you could see it on Takarafuji's face he was that defeated. Kinbohzan moves to 5-1 with the textbook win while Takarafuji falls to 3-3.

M12 Sadanoumi reached for and got an outer grip with the right on M10 Endoh's belt, but the Sadamight wasn't established well with the left inside, and so Endoh stood his ground well and wrenched his way into a right outer of his own about eight seconds in, and once Endoh had the outer grip, he was able to force Sadanoumi over and out. This was easily the best contested bout so far from both parties as Endoh picks up the solid win leaving both dudes at 3-3.

M9 Midorifuji easily got to the inside against M11 Hokuseiho who stood straight up at the tachi-ai as usual, and Midorifuji went for broke assuming the moro-zashi position while Hokuseiho latched on with a left outer over the top. About 15 seconds into the bout, Midorifuji tested the inside belt throw waters with the right, but Hokuseiho stood his ground well, and so they continued to stand for another minute or so with Midorifuji clinging to the right inside and Hokuseiho holding on with a stifling left outer grip. In the end, Midorifuji beautifully set Hokuseiho up for a soto-gake leg trip, and while Jack and his beanstock couldn't topple the giant over all the way, it threw Hokuseiho off balance enough to where Midorifuji forced him quickly back and across. It's not often that we can call a legit win for Midorifuji, but this was completely real as well as entertaining with both rikishi ending the day at 2-4.

M8 Kotoeko henka'd to his left and almost got caught red-handed by M6 Onosho, but the latter came up just short leaving both guys moving left and looking for pulls. This continued for a few seconds until Onosho latched onto a right outer grip as Kotoeko countered with the inside left, and with Onosho hurrying a force-out charge, Kotoeko was somehow able to slip right and then dart to the left side of Onosho's body and hook his left elbow to the back of Onosho's left elbow and pull him down to the dirt from there. Sadly, for all you kimari-te geeks out there, they didn't have anything named for this move, and so they had to go with hiki-otoshi. It was cooler than that, but whatever. We had yet another entertaining and real bout after a very slow start to the day that saw Kotoeko move to 2-4 and Onosho fall to 4-2.

M6 Ryuden kept his arms out wide like C3P0 gifting M8 Hiradoumi moro-zashi, but the latter was having a difficult time forcing his opponent back and across. As a result, Ryuden skirted the edge moving to his left presumably to set himself up to be pushed out, but Hiradoumi couldn't do it. Finally, with Ryuden having started the day from the West shikiri-sen, he ended up with his back against East straw. Hiradoumi couldn't force him out, however, and so Hiradoumi went for a quick pull that left him completely vulnerable, but instead of charging forward, Ryuden retreated right back to the East edge where he tugged at Hiradoumi's left arm hard enough to send Hiradoumi down, but Ryuden just sat down quickly beyond the straw before he had Hiradoumi dragged all the way out. I'm sure Ryuden was thinking after this one, "Gee willakers, do I have to do everything here?" The answer was a resounding yes as both dudes finish the day at 2-4.

After the bout, the booth called down to the reporter in the hana-michi to confirm that Ryuden did indeed use the phrase, "Gee willakers."

Leading off the second half of the Makuuchi bouts were two dudes from the one-loss list in M5 Gonoyama vs. M7 Takayasu. Gonoyama kept himself completely exposed at the tachi-ai resulting in a very unorthodox start, and with Gonoyama keeping his hands high and wide, Takayasu connected on a tsuki into Gonoyama's left armpit, and Gonoyama's reaction was to turn and do a 720 roll outta the dohyo and down to the venue floor. Uh, Takayasu's tsuki wasn't that strong, but okay as Takayasu buys his way to 5-1 while Gonoyama overreacts on his way down to 4-2.

At this point of the broadcast, we got our first glimpse of my new favorite sumo fan sitting in the expensive suna-kaburi again.  I'm dying to know who her sugar daddy is:

M7 Ohho and M5 Shonannoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and it was Shonannoumi grabbing the left outer grip and moving forward well. Ohho tried to skirt his foe at the edge, but Shonannoumi kept him in close using his left leg to pin inwards on Ohho's right thigh, and the fat lady sung from there as Shonannoumi moves to 3-3 with the very nice win while Ohho falls to 2-4 in defeat.

M1 Hokutofuji shaded to his left at the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, and M4 Takanosho just looked to move forward oblivious to his opponent's movement. With Takanosho sleep walking on purpose, Hokutofuji toyed with the idea of getting the left arm inside, but then he quickly darted right offering a light tsuki into the back of Takanosho's shoulder, and the latter dutifully fell forward stiff as a board in about three seconds. Hokutofuji oils his way to 4-2 while Takanosho falls to 2-4 a richer man.

M2 Abi and M1 Meisei traded shoves from the tachi-ai, and with Abi looking to bail, Meisei tried to hook him to the side with his left. Abi survived the move but went into full pull mode from there backing up to the edge and pulling and then darting to the other side of the ring committing on a dangerous pull. In desperation, Meisei went for the do-or-die shove pushing Abi beyond the straw, but Meisei crashed down dangerously early before Abi was clearly out. They pointed in favor of Meisei and they were too lazy to review it, and so the gunbai stands: Meisei picked up the win as both dudes finished at 3-3. If there was ever a bout that warranted a mono-ii and do-over, it was this one, but I'm glad they rewarded the guy who was moving forward and not backwards.

Komusubi Tobizaru did his best Ura impression ducking way too low and to his left at the tachi-ai, and it was almost too low for Suckiwake Wakamotoharu to do anything constructive. WMH reached out and attempted to get the left arm inside, but Tobizaru went for a phantom pull and then just pirouetted his way right outta the ring. That was uneventful as Wakamotoharu is gifted 4-2 while Tobizaru falls to 3-3.

M4 Ura exhibited an awkward tachi-ai with sloppy footwork, and that enabled Sekiwake Daieisho to begin a thrust attack that sent Ura back near the straw, but Daieisho panicked at the edge and shifted gears going for a pull, and Ura read the move pushing hard into Daieisho's chest sending him back and across the straw to an ignominious death. Hooboy. Anybody who is in the conversation for promotion to Ozeki can't lose to Ura like that, but sure enough, Daieisho did in falling to 2-4 and he never really had great momentum from the start after aligning his feet at the tachi-ai. As for Ura, he moves to 3-3 with the surprising win.

Komusubi Nishikigi kept his arms wide open at the tachi-ai gifting Suckiwake Kotonowaka moro-zashi, but before Kotonowaka could really mount an attack, Nishikigi just retreated sideways and outta the ring with Kotonowaka in tow. This was uneventful as Kotonowaka bought his way to 4-2 while Nishikigi quietly falls to 3-3.

M3 Tamawashi stood straight up and kept his hands high and wide waiting for Takakeisho to thrust him back, but the faux-zeki didn't exactly come out of the gate blazing and so Tamawashi slowly retreated, lifted a leg forward, and then wrapped his left arm around Takakeisho's neck completely exposing himself, and it took three or four seconds, but they finally figured it out orchestrating the easy, uneventful win for Takakeisho who moves to 5-1 while Tamawashi falls to 0-6.  I think the pic at left illustrates well Tamawashi's attitude in this bout start to finish.

Ozeki Kirishima caught M3 Shodai with a left paw to the face at the tachi-ai standing him straight up, but Shodai did well to swipe that arm away causing some social distancing. As the two hooked back up, it was hidari-yotsu, and instead of digging in chest to chest, Kirishima moved to his right around a quarter of the ring and then hurled Shodai over and down hard with a nice scoop throw. Kirishima waltzes his way to 4-2 with the nice win while Shodai falls to 2-4.

In the day's final affair, Ozeki Hoshoryu grabbed a quick left frontal belt grip out of the gate against M2 Asanoyama, and that led to a migi-yotsu contest where both dudes went chest to chest. Against a smaller opponent, Asanoyama can actually stand his ground like this, but he wasn't able to attack moving forward, and so he went for a quick maki-kae with the left that failed, but he followed that up with a right inside belt throw that cut off Hoshoryu's outer grip. You could see the Ozeki adjust quickly as he was now in danger against this bigger opponent bearing down on him, and near the edge, Hoshoryu was able to fire off an inside belt grip of his own to throw Asanoyama over and down across the straw. The ending here was close, but the Ozeki stayed calm throughout and picked up the nice win in moving to 3-3. You have to credit Asanoyama here for the very good fight, but he came up just short at 2-4.

The one-loss list was whittled down from eight rikishi to five, and I'm sure they'll play this card throughout the weekend until a real leaderboard forms early in Week 2.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
On Day 1, I talked about the pre-basho storylines to watch for as the tournament unfolds, and everything the media touched on heading into the basho has all but vanished. The three Sekiwake, who all came into the tournament with 19 wins over the last basho, have started slowly, and so all the Day 1 speculation about one of them toying with the Ozeki rank has vanished. Nishikigi is a non-story, and we don't have any rookies, and so the talk the rest of the way has to focus on the Ozeki ranks, particularly the struggles that Ozeki always seem to face.

Sumo had to take a backseat today after the Hanshin Tigers clinched the Central League championship in Japanese baseball, but when they did get around to the sumos on NHK News 9, they only showed the Hoshoryu bout and then brought in Chiyotaikai--a former Ozeki himself who had his share of struggles--to talk about the perceived difficulties of the rank. I don't see how the yusho doesn't come from that rank, and I'm positive Hoshoryu's not gonna take it, so that leaves Kirishima and Takakeisho. Heading into the day, Takakeisho had a one bout lead over Kirishima, and I'm sure the two will shadow each other the rest of the way in regards to wins and losses.

But...the Ozeki don't fight until the end of the day, so let's start at the beginning with M16 Kagayaki taking on M15 Chiyoshoma where Chiyoshoma put his hands high at the tachi-ai before just standing upright like a bump on a log letting Kagayaki push him back and across in three uneventful seconds. That was a sleeper as Kagayaki moves to 3-2 while Chiyoshoma falls to 1-4.

M15 Atamifuji and M16 Tsurugisho hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Tsurugisho grabbed the easy left outer grip, and he used that to yank Atamifuji over to the edge where the two tussled briefly with their guts before TS nudged Atamifuji across. It's night and day in a real bout for Atamifuji who suffers his first loss at 4-1. Tsurugisho moves to the same mark.

M17 Daishoho proved to be a formidable mass against M14 Kotoshoho pushing KSH back without even trying, but you could see that Daishoho was holding up just a bit, and so when Kotoshoho went for that first lateral swipe, Daishoho just crumbled to the dirt of his own volition. Another ho hum bout as both rikishi end the day at 2-3.

M13 Nishikifuji tried to trade tit for tat with M14 Aoiyama from the tachi-ai, and so Aoiyama agreed to backpedal just a bit, and then near the edge, the Happy Bulgar moved to his right and timed a pull perfectly showing Nishikifuji the trapdoor as they say. If you watch the reply, you can see that Aoiyama's tsuppari connected well despite his moving back, and Nishikifuji just rushed this one in falling to 2-3. Aoiyama picks up his first win at 1-4.

M12 Takarafuji and M12 Sadanoumi gave us the best bout to this point as the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai without going fully chest to chest at first. Sadanoumi attempted to latch onto the front of Takarafuji's belt with the right, but when he was pushed away, he went for a maki-kae with the same right arm looking for moro-zashi. The problem was that Takarafuji was bigger and bearing down on his foe regardless of who had what grip, and Takarafuji was finally able to secure the left back inside and right outer grip, and the force-out from there was academic. Good stuff from both parties as they both finish at 3-2.

M13 Myogiryu showed just how easy it is for these veterans to beat M11 Hokuseiho if the bout isn't arranged. Hokuseiho was his usual lazy self from the tachi-ai standing straight up, and so Myogiryu rushed in getting moro-zashi and brushing off a kubi-nage hold from HSH before forcing the youngster straight back and across. This wasn't even a contest, and we really got a good look at Hokuseiho's weakness here as he falls to 2-3. Myogiryu one ups him at 3-2.

I guess it wouldn't do to have M10 Kinbohzan take the yusho, and so he let up for M10 Endoh today. Kinbohzan won the tachi-ai and had Endoh bodied back near the edge in a flash, but you could see that Kinbohzan was refusing to get inside or latch onto his opponent's belt. Still, Endoh was hapless and couldn't budge his foe, and so Kinbohzan finally faked a pull, which was really an excuse to back up to the edge, and he waited there for Endoh to get the left arm inside and "force" Kinbohzan back that last step. As if. Endoh (2-3) did zero to set any of that up and Kinbohzan dictated start to finish here in graciously falling to 4-1.

M9 Midorifuji forced M11 Mitakeumi back a step or two from the tachi-ai, but like the bout before, he refused to grab Mitakeumi or get to the inside, and so after a brief pause with Mitakeumi's back still against the wall, Midorifuji faked a pull himself that was also an excuse to back up across the dohyo and over to the edge, and he waited there for Mitakeumi to connect on a single push to send him across for good. Mitakeumi is gifted 4-1 while Midorifuji falls to 1-4 a richer dude.

M8 Hiradoumi latched onto the front of M7 Ohho's belt with the left hand, and Ohho's response was a quick shove and then a stupid pull, and from that point, Hiradoumi had moro-zashi if he wanted it. He didn't; nor did he even attempt to force his vulnerable opponent back, and so he instead backed up himself and allowed Ohho to push him across in a few seconds. This one was ill-gotten as Ohho moves to 2-3 with Hiradoumi falling to 1-4.

M8 Kotoeko came with a right forearm that he held in place keeping M6 Ryuden from going chest to chest, and the move worked a bit as Ryuden forced Kotoeko this way and that, but he could never latch onto him. Kotoeko was fishing for a surprise pull or tsuki, and he had Ryuden off balance a time or two, but in the end, Ryuden got the right arm inside and hooked up and under Kotoeko's left, so when the next pull attempt came from Eko, Ryuden pushed him back and across. I liked the chess match here, but the better rikishi won as Ryuden moves to 2-3 with Kotoeko falling to 1-4.

M7 Takayasu and M5 Shonannoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai before trading places in the dohyo, and after the two leaned into each other for a few seconds, Shonannoumi sorta positioned himself for a pull but it never came, and then he went back forward and took the bait for a pull from Takayasu, and Shonannoumi just plopped forward and down to the dirt. This one was likely arranged as Shonannoumi's antics were too unorthodox. Takayasu moves to 4-1 with the win while Shonannoumi falls to 2-3.

M5 Gonoyama and M6 Onosho struck well at the tachi-ai, and the bout looked to go to migi-yotsu, but Onosho just backed up and to his left a bit as if to set up a pull, but Gonoyama pounced too quickly and had Onosho forced back and across in mere seconds. Gonoyama moves to 4-1 with the nice win while Onosho falls to the same 4-1 mark.

M4 Ura got up and under Shodai nicely from the tachi-ai, and that enabled him to force Shodai back near the edge, but Ura paused just a bit in his yori charge enabling the former faux-zeki to fell a willing Ura over and down with a right tsuki to the side. I mean, that's what you're supposed to do at the edge from Shodai, but Ura did stop and wait for it to come as both dudes end the day at 2-3.

The Ozeki Killer, M1 Hokutofuji, came with his usual tachi-ai of a right stiff arm and move left, but the move made little impact against M1 Meisei who used some defensive tsuppari to get Hokutofuji upright before he darted right going for a pull that Hokutofuji took hook, line, and sinker. Nice win for Meisei who moves to 2-3 with the win while Hokutofuji cools to 3-2.

Sekiwake Daieisho meant well from the tachi-ai coming with his tsuppari attack, but M4 Takanosho was able to easily neutralize his foe with tsuppari of his own, so with a stalemate happening in the ring, Daieisho panicked and went for a pull, and that was all Takanosho needed to score the final push out blow. Daieisho has definitely lost a step in his tsuppari attack in falling to 2-3 while Takanosho improves to the same mark with the good win.

Suckiwake Kotonowaka was late at the tachi-ai reaching for a left outer grip over the top, but he failed to latch on or make an impact against Komusubi Tobizaru, who kept his arms inside and ducked down a bit. With Kotonowaka floundering, he went for a light pull that had no effect, and that enabled Tobizaru to swipe down at Kotonowaka's extended arms, and the dude just ran out of the dohyo from there. It looked like these two were trading wins here today as they both end the day at 3-2.

Rounding out the sanyaku, Komusubi Nishikigi entered the dohyo against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, and the two hooked up nicely in hidari-yotsu with Nishikigi positioned a bit lower. Nishikigi was in the perfect position to grab a right outer grip that was there or the taking, but he purposefully kept his right mitt high and out of harm's way. Problem for Wakamotoharu was that he can't move a lug like Nishikigi around, and so he was stuck until Nishikigi led the dance, and so the Komusubi finally faked a right kote-nage, which was just an excuse to back up to the straw, and Wakamotoharu somehow managed the force-out from there. This was fixed sumo all the way as Nishikigi deferred to the struggling Suckiwake in a bout that left both dudes at 3-2.

Ozeki Kirishima came with light tsuppari M2 Asanoyama's way keeping the M2 away from the chest and belt, and after a few seconds of this grappling, Kirishima got the right arm inside and left outer grip, and he started to dashi-nage Asanoyama a bit, but then let up. Asanoyama countered with a nice scoop throw with the left, but it didn't have enough beef behind it, and so Kirishima survived and forced the action back to the center of the ring. At this point, Asanoyama kept his left arm dangling around instead of grabbing the outer grip that was there for the taking, and he likely doesn't want to use the arm/shoulder that was injured last basho after being thrown by Hoshoryu. We'll have to watch that left arm moving forward because in a normal bout, he would have grabbed the left outer.

From this point, Kirishima was in full control, and he neutralized a maki-kae attempt by Asanoyama with a soto-gake leg trip threat, but once again, Kirishima kept the bout alive giving the fans their money's worth here. Near the one minute mark, Asanoyama went for another maki-kae, and Kirishima let him have it simply retooling his grips with the left hand now at the outside, and with Asanoyama's right leg next to Kirishima's left, the Ozeki executed a soto-gake for real and threw Asanoyama down hard in the center of the ring. When a guy falls that hard, you know there's a difference in power and ability between the two, and while the fans got excited for a minute or so, Kirishima sent a statement with that finish. He moves to 3-2 while Asanoyama will lick his wounds at 2-3.

Ozeki Hoshoryu drew M3 Tamawashi, the best rikishi on the banzuke, so today would be a matter of would Tamawashi or wouldn't he? As expected, he let up today failing to even move forward and fire any tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but Hoshoryu didn't latch on early himself as The Mawashi faded left, and so after brief social distancing it was Tamawashi who scored on a few thrusts, but he stopped short and went for a dumb pull that allowed Hoshoryu to move Tamawashi over to the edge. Near the brink, Tamawashi's muscle memory kicked in and he started on a counter tsuki-otoshi with his left hand that would have worked (as seen at right), but he stopped short and let the Ozeki push him across that last step. Hoshoryu received charity here for sure in moving to 2-3 while Tamawashi falls to 0-5.

In a comical moment to end the day, M2 Abi put his hands high above Takakeisho's head at the tachi-ai and then just started backing up as if to pull. He wasn't actually pulling of course but merely backing himself right outta the dohyo as Takakeisho tried to keep up. If you watch how both of these dudes land, Abi dismounts perfectly on the venue floor below while Takakeisho belly flops across the straw taking the harder hit. You could tell by the ending/landing who dictated things today, and it wasn't Takakeisho. This was a good example of how you can win a bout of sumo without even delivering one blow that touches your opponent as Takakeisho suddenly finds himself at 4-1 while Abi graciously bows to 3-2.

Once again, Takakeisho is unable to do anything in the ring, and I don't think this can be sustained all the way to a yusho. We'll see. Nothing surprises me these days, but I still think Kirishima will take charge down the stretch.

It was a very lackluster day of sumo, and it was the least attended day of the basho so far. I've been impressed with the crowd size each day, and the man-in-on-rei banners have been lowered every day (they'll lower them at about 75% capacity), but today there were noticeable gaps in the lower bowl. We'll see if they can keep the fans engaged the rest of the way.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
A story that I missed pre-basho was the announcement of Hakuohho's withdrawal due to left shoulder surgery that will sideline him until January. The reason I even looked this up is that I was trying to think of the biggest headlines the last few months in sumo. Undoubtedly, the promotion to Ozeki by Kirishima first and then Hoshoryu next have been the biggest stories, and secondarily was the promotions of Hakuohho, Gonoyama, and Shonannoumi to the Makuuchi division last basho.

With Hakuohho out, those other rookies aren't getting any run this basho, and so the Ozeki rank is the biggest story going on in sumo right now, and heading into the basho these were the three major Ozeki storylines:

1. Kirishima took the yusho in May and was promoted to Ozeki
2. Hoshoryu took the yusho in July and was promoted to Ozeki
3. Takakeisho was nowhere to be found

The inability for Takakeisho to make an impact on a basho is really the 800 lb gorilla in the room, and so it feels like the first four days this basho they are trying to flip the perception from "the Mongolians have been dominating" to "this Ozeki thing ain't so easy."

The problem as noted yesterday is that Takakeisho looks as if he can barely move out there, so we'll see how it shapes up moving forward, but we can at least see that the Mongolians are doing their part.

Regarding Takakeisho and his being ranked at Ozeki, it really reminds me of the transgender movement that has gained a lot of steam the last few years where if a man identifies as a woman, then he's a woman. Uh, it doesn't quite work like that, but I'm amazed at the lengths society has gone through to declare it so. Common sense is ignored in the name of political correctness, and so we're forced to play these games and pretend something is reality when nothing could be further from the truth.

In the case of Takakeisho, the dude is not an Ozeki. He doesn't fight like an Ozeki and never has, and yet, Japan needs an Ozeki on the banzuke in order to save face, and so we declare him an Ozeki and get him the necessary wins, etc, and we're all expected to play this game of pretending that Takakeisho is an Ozeki.

It's mind boggling to me...sorta like dating a gal with a schlong, but date we must, and so let's get to the Day 4 action.

M15 Chiyoshoma came with a hari-zashi tachi-ai against M15 Atamifuji that earned him moro-zashi, but instead of scoring the quick force-out win, Chiyoshoma pulled the left arm away and faked a kata-sukashi that was an excuse to bring Atamifuji back to the center of the ring. From there, the two were locked in hidari-yotsu, and Chiyoshoma refrained from grabbing a right outer grip at first, but Atamifuji could do nothing and so Shoma finally grabbed the right outer and pretended a force out attempt before next pretending to go for a soto-gake, but you knew from the start he was doing everything but trying win.

Atamifuji was still unable to do anything...his posture from the get-go, and so Chiyoshoma finally drove his foe to the edge but stopped short of winning, and when he felt the slightest pressure coming from Atamifuji's left arm inside, Chiyoshoma ran across the edge of the dohyo and put his hand down as if he'd been scoop thrown. As if. This was another classic bout where the loser did everything including winning the tachi-ai only to be foiled at the end by those meddling kids! Atamifuji's 4-0 start is a complete farce while Chiyoshoma graciously falls to 1-3.

M14 Aoiyama backed up a bit at the tachi-ai while still pretending to fire thrusts M17 Daishoho's way. As for Daishoho, he attempted tsuppari of his own, but they were weak and Aoiyama was able to stiff arm DSH back to the straw, but instead of going for the kill shot with his opponent's foot touching the straw, Aoiyama just backed up to the other side of the ring and waited for Daishoho to lightly offer a forearm to the chest, and Aoiyama stepped back from there. Another fake bout as Daishoho moves to 2-2 while Aoiyama falls to 0-4.

M16 Kagayaki and M14 Kotoshoho traded lame tsuppari from the tachi-ai, and it didn't look like anyone wanted to take charge for 10 seconds or so, and then just like that, Kotoshoho faked a pull and then hit the dirt although he wasn't really pulled down by his opponent. What this wasn't was good sumo as Kagayaki was owed one here in moving to 2-2 while Kotoshoho falls to 1-3.

The tachi-ai between M16 Tsurugisho and M13 Nishikifuji wasn't great, but the two did come away in hidari-yotsu where TS quickly grabbed a right outer grip, and from that point it was all Tsurugisho as he forced NFJ back and across with little argument. This was our first contested bout on the day as Tsurugisho moves to 3-1 while Nishikifuji falls to 2-2.

M13 Myogiryu completely aligned his feet at the tachi-ai against M12 Takarafuji and was extremely vulnerable, but Takarafuji didn't attempt to make him pay, and so the two lamely grappled with Myogiryu sorta looking to get both arms inside. After a few more seconds of inaction, Myogiryu went for a bad pull and then a very light kote-nage throw that was so weak, Takarafuji actually turned and look backwards to see when his opponent was coming, and Myogiryu complied by pushing him out from behind. This was such a ridiculous bout of sumo, and if you watch the slow motion reply, you can really see that neither dude was trying in this fixed affair that left both dudes at 2-2.

M11 Hokuseiho actually showed a bit of resolve at the tachi-ai today against M12 Sadanoumi moving forward and getting the left arm inside while grabbing a right outer grip over the top. As for Sadanoumi, he complied with his own left inside, and he too was able to grab an easy right outer against his opponent who was too upright, and so the gappuri sumo contest was on. The two grappled well this way and that, and it was Hokuseiho who was able to hoist Sadanoumi over and down with an outer belt throw. Honestly, a veteran like Sadanoumi coulda taken advantage of an opponent whose hips were up so high, but whatever. It was a good effort from Hokuseiho and an entertaining bout overall for Hokuseiho who moves to 2-2 while Sadanoumi suffers his first loss at 3-1.

M11 Mitakeumi was no match for M10 Kinbohzan, and knowing the bout wasn't fixed coming in, Mitakeumi barely struck at the tachi-ai before immediately backing up and going for a pull, but Kinbohzan was moving forward too fast and easily sent Mitakeumi across the straw in under two seconds. The main thing here is that Mitakeumi (3-1) didn't get hurt as he suffers his first loss while Kinbohzan is an easy peasy 4-0.

M9 Midorifuji aligned his feet at the tachi-ai against M10 Endoh but was lucky that Endoh wasn't moving forward himself, and so Midorifuji was able to recover and attempt a few tsuppari, but he had zero momentum enabling Endoh to turn the tables and get a tsuppari attack of his own going that sent Midorifuji back quickly and then down beyond the straw. Both dudes end the day at 1-3 after this uneventful affair.

M7 Takayasu attempted another moro-te-zuki tachi-ai against M8 Hiradoumi, but there wasn't a ton of power behind it. As for Hiradoumi, he flirted with an early left frontal belt grip but didn't take it and then he just played along with Takayasu's tsuppari attack. The problem was that Takayasu really wasn't connecting with potent thrusts, and so Hiradoumi was able to counter with a nice sideways tsuki that sent Takayasu off balance near the edge.  Hiradoumi didn't bother an attempt to finish off his foe, however, and instead stood there until Takayasu sorta grabbed an outer grip, and from that point Hiradoumi went through the motions of being dashi-nage'd when he was really just running out of the ring of his own volition. This bout was clearly thrown as Takayasu buys his way to 3-1 while I'll give Hiradoumi an A for acting effort as he falls to 1-3.

M8 Kotoeko bounced off of M7 Ohho willingly from the tachi-ai instead of establishing the firm position to the inside, and then when Ohho went for a dumb pull two seconds in, Kotoeko was positioned perfectly to drive him back and across, but he lightly got the right arm inside and left outer grip. Ohho's footing and hip positioning wasn't good the entire way, and he was extremely vulnerable, but Kotoeko just played along until Ohho finally went for a left tsuki-otoshi and Kotoeko's response was to exaggeratedly fly over and out as if Ohho was bringing this power sumo. A big as if. This reminded me of the Sadanoumi - Hokuseiho bout earlier in that Kotoeko could have taken charge at any time during the bout, but he just waited and reacted to his slower, younger opponent. Both rikishi end the day at 1-3 after this fixed bout.

M6 Ryuden easily latched onto the front of M5 Gonoyama's belt from the tachi-ai, but he didn't use it to lift his gal up high or reel her in close. Despite this advantageous position from Ryuden, Gonoyama's response was to go for a pull!!  Ryuden could have eaten his opponent alive this way till Tuesday from that point, but he just lightly played along never fully establishing and arm to the inside nor grabbing a stifling outer grip, so around and around the ring they went until Gonoyama managed to finally force a very willing Ryuden back and across. This was a complete farce as Gonoyama continues to buy bouts in moving to 3-1 while Ryuden makes a little cash here in falling to 1-3.

The next bout was a great example of what happens when someone tries to win against dudes like Gonoyama or M5 Shonannoumi. Today against M6 Onosho, Shonannoumi just stood straight up and was lethargic at the tachi-ai while Onosho caught him nicely with a fist to the jaw and then a few shoves to the chest, and before a back-pedaling Shonannoumi (2-2) could set up a pull, Onosho had him pushed back and across in two seconds. This was Shonannoumi's tachi-ai every day. The difference here is that Onosho wasn't paid off, and so he kicked the youngster's ass in moving to 4-0.

Speaking of lame tachi-ai, M3 Tamawashi purposefully stood straight up and put his hands high and forward against M4 Ura and literally stood there as Ura tried to attempt a left scoop throw. It didn't work fully, and so he had to push a willing Tamawashi over and down by the side, but this was as fake a bout as you'd care to see. I mean, sometimes I'm speechless by what I see take place on the dohyo and then the analysis afterwards as to what just occurred, but this is modern day sumo as Ura moves to 2-2 while Tamawashi falls to 0-4.

Komusubi Nishikigi's footwork was terrible at the tachi-ai, but fortunately for him he was facing Komusubi Tobizaru, and it looked as if Tobizaru owed his opponent a bout. With Nishikigi flailing, Tobizaru sorta went for some pushes before next faking a pull, and then he got his arm inside briefly before deciding to go for another pull and backing himself to the edge where Nishikigi finally scored the final blow. I mean, Nishikigi is clearly the superior rikishi of these two, but his sumo was awful today which tells me he knew the fix was in. Tobizaru's unwillingness to apply any pressure was also an indicator that somebody owed someone something here as Nishikigi moves to 3-1 while Tobizaru is a quiet 2-2.

M4 Takanosho came with the textbook C3P0 arms today against Sekiwake Kotonowaka giving the youngster moro-zashi from the start, and Takanosho made no effort to dig in from there as Baby Waka had him "forced" back and out in about two seconds. If your intention is to lose a bout of sumo, just do what Takanosho did today at the tachi-ai...a point that of course was not mentioned in the analysis afterwards. Kotonowaka was gifted 3-1 here as Takanosho falls to 1-3.

M1 Meisei exhibited a strong tachi-ai knocking Suckiwake Wakamotoharu upright while demanding the left inside position, and Meisei also had the clear path to the right outer grip, but he refrained from taking it and instead stood there waiting for Wakamotoharu to grab a right outer of his own. Once obtained, Meisei did all the work from there backing over to the straw and putting his foot sloppily across despite no pressure or force coming from his opponent. Wakamotoharu was just along for the ride here in this fixed bout that saw Meisei drop to 1-3 while Wakamotoharu is gifted an ill-gotten 2-2 record.

M1 Hokutofuji was getting a bit of pub due to his 3-0 start against the Ozeki, but it goes without saying his last two wins were gifts, and he didn't look that great in his Day 1 win against Takakeisho. Today he was paired against Sekiwake Daieisho, and the Sekiwake connected on some nice thrusts out of the gate against a passive Hokutofuji. I say passive because Hokutofuji's tachi-ai is to put a right hand forward and shade left, and so he leaves himself vulnerable from the start. Daieisho made him pay today by firing perfect shoves into Hokutofuji's body and neck, and it was wham bam thank you ma'am here as Daieisho moves to 2-2 while Hokutofuji suffers his first loss at 3-1.

Ozeki Hoshoryu knocked M3 Shodai back from the tachi-ai hard and had him pushed to the brink in a second flat, but the Ozeki subtly turned his body away form his opponent thinking that a counter tsuki might come. It didn't, and so Hoshoryu squared back up and literally stood there waiting for Shodai to get a left arm inside, and I guess you could call that move a scoop throw form Shodai, but he completely whiffed on it whatever it was. No matter though as Hoshoryu just fell forward and down to the dirt of his own accord. There was no contact from Shodai whatsoever or any attempt at a move. It was simply the Ozeki doing his duty and falling forward and down keeping up this ruse of the Ozeki-byo.

I am so glad I don't have to pretend that this is all real as Hoshoryu willingly falls to 1-3 further justifying Takakeisho's struggles the last few basho or his entire Ozeki career for that matter. As for Shodai, I don't think he ever figured out what hit him, but he came away with his first winna the basho at 1-3!

Just when I thought a bout of sumo couldn't get any more fake or any worse, M2 Asanoyama stepped into the room to face Takakeisho. Now, Asanoyama's rise back up to this point of the division has been farcical, but he's still got a big body and can get into a nice yotsu clinch from the tachi-ai. Today against an ailing opponent, however, he just kept his hands pointing down signaling to Takakeisho that he was at the faux-zeki's bidding. Takakeisho barely made contact from the tachi-ai, and so Asanoyama kept his hands low as he moved slowly to his right waiting for a kill shot, but it never came, and so Asanoyama got the right arm lightly inside and still shaded right hoping for a pull down attempt. It never came, but it doesn't matter in sumo; you feel your opponent touch the back of your neck and then you just dive down to the dirt, and that's exactly what Asanoyama did here. I really believe that everyone in the arena knew this bout was fixed it was that obvious, but everyone continues to just play along with the ruse and pretend it's all real. That it isn't as Takakeisho is gifted 3-1 while Asanoyama graciously assumes 2-2.

In the day's final affair, Ozeki Kirishima was paired against M2 Abi, and Abi came with a nice moro-te-zuki tachi-ai, but there was not enough force behind it to knock Kirishima backwards. Didn't matter though as Kirishima just leaned forward waiting to be pulled, and when Abi went for the first slapdown motion, the Ozeki put his palms lamely to the dohyo floor without coming close to touching anything else down. This was as controlled of a fall as it gets and apparently Kirishima is also suffering from the Ozeki sickness.

To watch these three bouts in succession was really insulting to my intelligence, and if you weren't equally insulted, you've got some issues. Abi moves to 3-1 with the gift while Kirishima now falls to 2-2, and just like that, King Takakeisho has the best record among the Ozeki.

In a best case scenario, Takakeisho would end up taking the yusho, but you can't keep faking bouts like this. It's one thing to have his opponents back up from the tachi-ai while Takakeisho pretends to execute a tsuppari attack, but these fake falls are obvious and dangerous. For that reason, I don't see Takakeisho taking the yusho, but if he doesn't, who else is there??

At this point--and I know it's way early, I'd say that Kirishima is the favorite to yusho. Somebody needs to settle down and carry this basho, and there's really nobody else but Kirishima. I can see Kotonowaka continuing a run and flirting with promotion to Ozeki, but it's really too early to call anything.

With that, we'll wait for tomorrow to see if we can get a fairly solid day of sumo.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Just three days into the festivities, and it looks as if we're headed for another 12-3 yusho. All of the rikishi featured in media reports pre-basho and the Day 1 broadcast have already suffered at least one loss, and then you watch the last 15 to 20 minutes of the broadcast each day and there's no substance there. You'd think things would get better and stronger the further you got into the day (and higher up the banzuke), but yaocho is just ruining the experience for anyone who cares to notice.

At the start of the Day 3 broadcast today, they featured a new Juryo rikishi, Takahashi, and so NHK has already run out of Makuuchi ammo after the second day. Perhaps by Friday we'll get a better feel for who is going to occupy the leaderboard in week 2, but right now you have no one stepping up legitimately and no legitimate rikishi allowed to set a standard for others to follow.

With that as our backdrop, we head to the Day 3 bouts starting with M17 Daishoho vs. M15 Chiyoshoma and both rikishi struck well with Chiyoshoma taking advantage of a high kachi-age attempt from DSH to grab an early left outer grip. The problem was that Chiyoshoma didn't try to do anything with that grip and his opponent up high, and so he let Daishoho work into his own left outer grip, cut off Chiyoshoma's outer grip rather easily, and then score the force-out win with no counter attempt coming from Chiyoshoma. Daishoho picks up his first win leaving both of these dudes at 1-2, and it's worth noting that Chiyoshoma made no effort to win this bout.

Speaking of not trying to win, M14 Aoiyama abandoned his bread and butter--the tsuppari attack-- in favor of standing straight up against M16 Tsurugisho and keeping his arms loose so TS could get to the inside. As Tsurugisho pressed forward, Aoiyama attempted the ever so effective move of lifting one knee into the air and opting to fight one-legged. Ever effective if your intention is to lose, and that was the case here as Tsurugisho easily assumed the right inside position and forced (yawn) Aoiyama (0-3) back and across with no resistance. Tsurugisho buys one here in moving to 2-1.

M16 Kagayaki was of the same attitude as Aoiyama from the tachi-ai standing up straight and not bothering to move forward against M13 Nishikifuji. With Kagayaki's arms completely high and out of play, it enabled NFJ to get the right arm inside, but he only got it forearm deep and supposedly looked to set up a kata-sukashi, but before he could actually make contact with Kagayaki's shoulder, Kagayaki just dove down to the dirt. Watch the instant replay and you'll see that Nishikifuji doesn't even make contact with Kagayaki's shoulder. It's the latter who just anticipated the move and hit the dirt before his foe could touch him. Shullbit all the way here as Kagayaki soils himself at 1-2 while Nishikifuji moves to 2-1.

M15 Atamifuji kept his left side open from the tachi-ai enabling M13 Myogiryu to get the right inside, but it was clear that Myogiryu wasn't trying to press in tight...or seize the left inside which was there for the taking. I mean, he was trying to do everything not to get moro-zashi, but Atamifuji couldn't defend himself, and so when Myogiryu was on the cusp of moro-zashi, he just backed up to the center of the ring and let Atamifuji recover.

Atamifuji was still in zero position to attack, but you knew the bout was arranged in his favor. The dude attempted a very weak kime-dashi but slipped out of the move, and as he did, Myogiryu had the right inside belt grip and clear path to a dashi-nage victory or even yori-kiri, but he just stopped in his tracks and waited for Atamifuji to set up a left kote-nage, and the grip was as weak as ever, but Myogiryu just played along and ran forward and down as if his opponent had thrown him down with the over arm grip. As if. This bout was so fake I'm not sure I can go on as Atamifuji is the weakest 3-0 you'd care to see while Myogiryu is a bit richer now at 1-2.

We finally got our first straight up bout with M14 Kotoshoho and M12 Sadanoumi, but the bout was not technically sound. Kotoshoho meant well coming out of his stance with a few tsuppari, but Sadanoumi brushed it aside as he shaded left, and just that little change up from the Sadamight sent Kotoshoho into pull mode, and as he looked to set that up, Sadanoumi pounced catching KSH with a paw to the face before pushing him back and down. Kotoshoho (1-2) managed a quick counter tsuki-otoshi that made this one close, but he definitely hit his knee down first before Sadanoumi (3-0) touched down.

At this point of the broadcast, they announced the retirement of Tokushoryu, a rikishi whose claim to fame was buying the yusho at the 2020 Hatsu basho. He did win at least one legit bout that basho against Takakeisho on senshuraku (they showed the replay), so I guess there was that.

Moving right along, M11 Mitakeumi stepped into the ring against M11 Hokuseiho, and Hokuseiho was his usual slow self at the tachi-ai standing straight up and leaving his insides wide open, and Mitakeumi took advantage nicely pushing the youngster back and across by the tits, and that was that. Mitakeumi moves to 3-0 with the nice effort while Hokuseiho falls to 1-2.

Neither M12 Takarafuji nor M10 Endoh could figure out what they wanted to do from the tachi-ai, so you had a bout that wasn't oshi-zumo or yotsu-zumo. Instead, you had two dudes mildly socially distanced who danced this way and that a bit, but in the end, Endoh sensed a slapdown was coming and just hit the dirt before Takarafuji actually made contact. Who knows what was arranged here, but this was a terrible bout of sumo as Takarafuji moves to 2-1 with Endoh falling to 0-3.

M8 Hiradoumi was quick outta the gate against M10 Kinbohzan getting his left hand to the front of Kinbohzan's belt, and as he looked to force his opponent back, Kinbohzan abandoned his own left inside position and went for a mammoth kubi-nage throw with the right that sent a startled Hiradoumi wildly down about two seconds into the bout. The sheer difference in size and strength provided the result here as Kinbohzan moves to 3-0 while Hiradoumi will be licking his wounds after this one at 1-2.

In another laugher of a bout, neither M8 Kotoeko nor M9 Midorifuji wanted to go chest to chest with each other, so you had this light oshi contest where Kotoeko gave ground little by little just waiting for Midorifuji's kata-sukashi to come. Problem was they weren't chest to chest, which is when you normally see that move, and Midorifuji executed it from a distance, and that was Kotoeko's cue to turn and just step out of the ring leaving both dudes at 1-2. This was the second kata-sukashi bout on the day where little to no contact was made.

M7 Ohho was proactive from the tachi-ai using a few shoves to try and keep M6 Ryuden at bay, but the latter eventually forced the bout to hidari-yotsu where the two dug in nicely. Ryuden had the clear path to the right outer grip, but he decided to grab Ohho's sagging tit instead. He let it go after a second or two but then he grabbed it again copping another feel, and at this point I thought Ohho was going to start lactating. Ryuden must have sensed this too because he traded the left tit for a right outer belt grip, and once he had that secured, the yori-taoshi was academic. Can't say I've seen a tit grab like that before, but I'll take it as Ryuden moves to 1-2 with Ohho falling to 0-3.

M7 Takayasu came with a moro-te-zuki from the tachi-ai against M6 Onosho, but it didn't move Onosho back at all, and so Onosho was able to shade a bit right and set up the firm left inside position against a higher opponent. For some reason, Onosho refused to grab a right outer grip there for the taking, and at one point he was actually resting the right hand on Takayasu's belt, but he never actually grabbed it. Takayasu was largely had at this point, and so he went for a weak pull that did nothing as he looked to duck back into the bout, but Onosho caught his foe with a pull of his own that turned Takayasu around 180 degrees, and from there it was as easy of an okuri-dashi as you please by Onosho who moves to 3-0 with the win while Takayasu suffers his first defeat at 2-1.

In one of the worst tachi-ai you'll ever see, M4 Ura ducked down and moved left sorta reaching for M5 Shonannoumi's left leg as part of an ashi-tori attempt, but it was half assed at best enabling Shonannoumi to square up quickly with the right arm underneath his foe, and there was nowhere for Ura to go but back across the straw. It lasted maybe two seconds and I'm trying to figure out why people would actually applaud this sumo, but applaud they did as Shonannoumi moves to 2-1 with Ura falling to 1-2.

M4 Takanosho came with the perfect C3P0 arms and even shaded a bit left for good measure against M5 Gonoyama, and that enabled Gonoyama to easily drive into his opponent and send him back in about two seconds. If you want to let your opponent win--which is what Takanosho was trying to do here, just leave your arms wide open and stand straight up at the tachi-ai as Takanosho (1-2) did today. Gonoyama moves to 2-1 with the gift.

At this point, we got our usual disturbance in the Force as M2 Asanoyama stepped onto the dohyo to face Komusubi Nishikigi. The two went chest to chest from the tachi-ai hooking up in migi-yotsu, and it felt like at least 10 bouts since we had seen a good tachi-ai like this. As both dudes dug in, Asanoyama grabbed a handful of sagari with the left, and he held onto them for a bit because he was so far away from a left outer. As for Nishikigi, I thought he coulda grabbed a left outer of his own at any point, but he refrained and continued to lean in chest to chest. The two dug in for about 12 seconds at this point before Nishikigi went for a maki-kae with the left. Asanoyama was too slow to take advantage of the momentum shift, and so he panicked going for a maki-kae with his own left, but before he could get anything going, Nishikigi just dumped him to the dirt which was now an outer belt grip.

This was a pretty good bout of sumo between two big dudes who decided to fight chest to chest. Asanoyama was completely reactionary after they got into the clinch, but it was still a decent bout of sumo. It was an easy peasy win for Nishikigi who moves to 2-1 while Asanoyama suffers his first defeat falling to 2-1 as well.

Speaking of Asanoyama, they waited to show the top three streamed bouts from yesterday until about 5:35 PM...well after this bout here. Not sure why they waited so long instead of showing it early as they usually do, but here they are from Day 2:

#1 Kotonowaka - Asanoyama
#2 Hokutofuji - Hoshoryu
#3 Nishikigi - Takakeisho

Moving right along, Sekiwake Wakamotoharu had to have been glad to see M3 Shodai across the starting lines because he had an opponent he didn't have to pay to beat. The two made a nice slapping sound at the tachi-ai as Wakamotoharu came with a nice right nodowa into Shodai's neck before they hooked up in hidari-yotsu, and with Shodai up too high, WMH easily grabbed a right outer grip and used it to bully Shodai around and ultimately across the straw for the nice yori-kiri win. Wakamotoharu picks up his first win at 1-2 while Shodai is a paltry 0-3.

M2 Abi caught Sekiwake Daieisho with two hands to the throat standing the Sekiwake upright, and Abi used his lower body perfectly to drive Daieisho back across the straw and down into Kotonishiki's lap sitting ringside in the West judge's seat. This was an ass kicking through and through, and prior to the bout they were trying to keep Ozeki talk alive for Daieisho, but how can you even consider it after this bout and this bad start?? Great stuff from Abi today who moves to 2-1 while Daieisho falls to 1-2.

M3 Tamawashi caught Suckiwake Kotonowaka nicely from the tachi-ai with a paw to the throat, and that lifted Baby Waka upright from the get-go, but The Mawashi purposefully whiffed with a right thrust and completely exposed his right side to his foe in the process, and Kotonowaka easily took advantage from there getting the left arm inside while pushing the willing Tamawashi with the right hand, and that enabled him to dispatch Tamawashi in about three seconds. Tamawashi (0-3) obviously threw this one in gifting Kotonowaka a 2-1 start.

Takakeisho was flat-footed from the tachi-ai and looked too arsed to do anything but stand straight up against M1 Meisei, but Meisei just weakly came forward with these light, baby tsuppari, and so you knew a pull was coming or that Takakeisho was going to move left and swipe wildly. We got kinda half and half where Takakeisho lazily shaded left a half step putting his arm towards Meisei's neck, and that was Meisei's cue to just lightly drop himself down to the dirt. I mean really? This bout was so fake it was insulting, and Takakeisho looks as if he can barely move this basho. Still, he magically finds himself at 2-1 while Meisei falls to 1-2.

Not even Mainoumi could spin his way out of this one, and he honestly said that Takakeisho failed to move forward from the tachi-ai before speculating that Takakeisho is suffering from neck issues. I would believe that because the dude looked paralyzed today. I don't think Takakeisho's hanging around the yusho race is even a possibility in this condition. We'll see if they can hoist him to eight wins, but I don't see how he can do anymore than that.

M1 Hokutofuji's tachi-ai was terrible as he failed to connect on a tsuppari against Ozeki Kirishima as Hokutofuji shaded left, and Kirishima had the wide open path the left inside. He instinctively moved in that direction but then pulled his arms away instead looking to set up a pull that would of course never come. With Kirishima fishing for a pull, Hokutofuji went for a bad pull himself and tripped himself near the edge, but the Ozeki purposefully didn't pounce and instead just let the M1 recover. As if. With Kirishima standing upright, Hokutofuji managed a weak right outer grip, and instead of digging in with the left inside, Kirishima just backed his way across the straw and out.

Kirishima was clearly covering for Takakeisho in this one has he falls to 2-1, and it just ruins sumo every day to see the shenanigans going on among the Ozeki ranks. As for Hokutofuji, he moves to a gifted 3-0 but has looked terrible all three days. Even in his wins over Takakeisho on Day 1, the dude's tachi-ai was bad and he was never grounded to the dohyo. What a complete farce.

And speaking of a complete farce, in the day's final affair, Ozeki Hoshoryu aligned his feet and stood upright against Komusubi Tobizaru, but the problem was that Tobizaru wasn't moving forward, and so Hoshoryu did his best Frogger imitation and hopped forward once, and then twice all while ducking as low as you can get, and Tobizaru finally managed to push him out of the ring at the last moment. I mean, Hoshoryu was going to hop his way out of the ring anyway, but this was just silly. I honestly don't know how the fans put up with this, but put up with it they do as Hoshoryu falls to 1-2 with Tobizaru moving to 2-1.

As I was searching the wires at the end of the day for pictures, I saw this headline from Sports Hochi: "Hoshoryu, I'll let you in a little secret. This is what they call Ozeki disease."

And there you have it...a headline that emphasizes to the fans that this is just what happens to the Ozeki, so accept it.

In reality, this is what happens when the Mongolian rikishi are forced to cover for fake Japanese Ozeki, and so they're chalking it up to a non-existent "Ozeki-byou," or Ozeki Disease. We'll see if they continue to glom onto that term moving forward.

I've definitely seen better starts to a basho in my three decades of watching sumo, and I'm really struggling to find anything positive three days in.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The theme of the Day 2 broadcast focused on newly-promoted Komusubi, Nishikigi. NHK usually devotes a day to anyone who has assumed a new tier on the banzuke (new Juryo rikishi, Makuuchi rookie, new sanyaku rikishi, etc.) and today was Nishikigi's day in the sun. They used the first few minutes before the day's action to highlight Nishikigi, and then they spent some more time on him during the break in between Makuuchi bouts.

What really stood out about the dude is that nothing really stands out about him. I think he's one of the better Japanese rikishi on the banzuke, but he doesn't come from an elite stable, and so there's not a ton of financial backing behind him. It appears to me that Nishikigi is one of those guys who is really good, but he's stuck in the game of winning enough bouts to keep himself on the banzuke while selling other bouts to make enough money to either purchase a share of oyakata stock or retire comfortably when he hangs it up.

In regards to this basho and his appeal to sumo fans in general, there isn't a whole lot there to market, so while he did get his day in the sun today, I think it's going to be one of those 15 minutes of fame moments. Regarding the dude, I believe I stated yesterday that he required 108 basho reach Komusubi. They showed that number again today, and it was actually 103 basho, which equates to just over 17 years in sumo. It's really tough to market someone whose been around that long, which is why he won't be a focus moving forward.

For what it's worth, this is a graph they showed that tracked Nishikigi's movements up and down the banzuke over the last five years:



Red=Sanyaku
Blue=Makuuchi
Green=Juryo

Day 2 began with M16 Kagayaki taking on M16 Tsurugisho, and the tachi-ai was light from both parties as Kagayaki got his left arm inside and high, and but instead of pulling TS in snug and reaching for the right outer, Kagayaki literally turned himself around and put his back to the edge of the dohyo allowing Tsurugisho to catch up and sorta score the force out. The word that stood out to me most in the analysis afterwards was "chutohanpa," or half-assed. They used that multiple times because this bout contained no phyisical exertion from either party as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

M15 Atamifuji has made his return after languishing in Juryo the entire year, and today he was paired against M17 Daishoho. The tachi-ai was much better here as both dudes assumed the hidari-yotsu position before crouching low, and normally this would be a contest of who can grab the right outer first. Atamifuji was too far away from it, and Daishoho simply refused to grab it even though his fingers grazed the belt at one point, but you could see he wasn't trying to grab it. As a result, he allowed Atamifuji to break off his left inside belt grip, and from there, Daishoho (0-2) just stood straight up and let Atamifuji (2-0) win in unspectacular fashion.

M15 Chiyoshoma had the path to the inside from the tachi-ai after M14 Kotoshoho came in way too high, but the Mongolian backed up instead inviting KSH to come forward and so something. As I always say, Kotoshoho wasn't the cause of Chiyoshoma's backwards momentum, and so he wasn't in a position to take advantage, so it was Chiyoshoma getting the left inside position and right outer grip. KSH was had at this point, but Chiyoshoma faked an outer belt throw/dashi-nage allowing KSH to move the action back to the center of the ring, but Kotoshoho still wasn't in position to attack.

After a lengthy stalemate, Chiyoshoma went for another half-assed charge that was really an excuse to leave himself vulnerable, but Kotoshoho was too gassed, so he couldn't finish on a kata-sukashi, and he finally needed Chiyoshoma to just dive to the dirt as if a nage-no-uchi-ai had occurred. Kotoshoho certainly didn't throw, but his left arm was to the inside so they ruled it sukui-nage. In watching the replays, you can't find a single thing that Kotoshoho did to win this bout. It was all Chiyoshoma who threw it in fine fashion as both rikishi end up at 1-1.

M13 Myogiryu was half-assed at the tachi-ai letting M13 Nishikifuji do what he wanna, and NFJ got the left arm inside up high, and Myogiryu actually put his right arm in kubi-nage fashion as if to say "do me now," but Nishikifuji didn't have the momentum to score the win. Though vulnerable throughout, Myogiryu never made a move to defeat his opponent, and this was a listless yori-kiri in the end as both rikishi move to 1-1.

That's four bouts and four yaocho right out of the gate for ya.

At this point of the broadcast, they listed the three most streamed bouts from yesterday as follows:

#1 Asanoyama - Wakamotoharu
#2 Hokutofuji - Takakeisho
#3 Abi - Hoshoryu

With very little to get excited about so far in the tournament, I can see how Asanoyama will maintain that position at the top.

Up next was M14 Aoiyama vs. M12 Sadanoumi, and Aoiyama offered his hands forward from the tachi-ai, but his feet stood still, so he was a sitting duck from the start. As for Sadanoumi, he certainly didn't take charge from the get-go, but after two seconds he went for a reckless inashi swipe with the left, and that was Aoiyama's cue to just plod over to the side and straight outta the ring. Nobody cared here as Aoiyama sells his way to 0-2 while Sadanoumi buys one in moving to 2-0.

In another boring bout, M11 Mitakeumi and M12 Takarafuji moved forward looking to hook up elbow deep, and you really couldn't call this one yotsu-zumo as they just sorta locked up in shallow fashion. What was obvious is that the veteran Takarafuji was not trying ti get inside or establish any kind of solid position, and so he finally moved to his right faking a pull, and that allowed Mitakeumi to score the easy push-out win that wasn't set up by anything Mitakeumi did. Wow, every bout has been fixed to this point as Mitakeumi oils his way to 2-0 while Takarafuji falls to 1-1.

M11 Hokuseiho left himself wide open at the tachi-ai giving M10 Endoh moro-zashi two seconds in, and with Hokuseiho upright and Endoh a bit to the side, the soto-gake for Endoh was wide open with the left leg, but he merely flinched at the move until Hokuseiho went for a weak right kote-nage, but the youngster was up so high, he was completely vulnerable to another leg trip. Endoh hooked his left leg around Hokuseiho's right, but he didn't try and trip him over, and so the two settled into a stalemate in the center of the ring. They stood that way for about a minute until Hokuseiho finally went for a kime-dashi, and Endoh did nothing to defend it. Another arranged bout as Hokuseiho buys his way to 1-1 while Endoh is a quiet 0-2.

M8 Kotoeko thought about a henka to his right against M10 Kinbohzan, but he didn't commit, and so Kinbohzan was onto him like white to rice from the start. Eko's only response (and chance) was to escape around the ring to his left fishing for a pull, but Kinbohzan stayed snug getting his arms sufficiently inside, and just as Kotoeko made it around a quarter of the ring, Kinbohzan pounced and sent Kotoeko into the lap of the referee waiting ringside. That was pretty cool, and the difference in power between these two was on full display here as he we finally got our first straight up bout on the day. Kinbohzan has been kicking ass and taking names so far at 2-0 while Kotoeko looked feeble here in falling to 1-1.

M9 Midorifuji and M8 Hiradoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Hiradoumi pressed in tight looking for the left outer grip. His crocodile arms didn't let him get it, but he had his chest pressed in so tight that Midorifuji couldn't execute anything let alone think about a kata-sukashi. As Midorifuji tried to maneuver laterally, Hiradoumi continued to stay snug, and Hiradoumi was eventually able to knock Midorifuji upright at the edge to where he forced him safely across for the nice win. The straight up sumo is obvious as Hiradoumi moves to 1-1 while Midorifuji is hapless at 0-2.

M6 Onosho struck well from the tachi-ai against M7 Ohho jabbing with the left before moving that way and going for a pull. It didn't throw Ohho off balance all the way, but it sent the fruit of Taiho's loins moving to his own left, and he just stumbled over his own two feet as he went for a pull allowing Onosho to attack from a nice, low stance and send Ohho back and across with little argument. Onosho moves to 2-0 with the nice win while Ohho is his usual hapless self at 0-2.

M7 Takayasu's win over this same Ohho yesterday was legit, but he faced as tall of an order as it gets today in M6 Ryuden. Well, that's if Ryuden was trying to win this one, but he unfortunately wasn't. He stood straight up at the tachi-ai and actually could have gotten underneath Takayasu's outstretched arms due to Takayasu's weak charge, but instead Ryuden moved to his left and anticipated a swipe from Takayasu. It really didn't come, but no matter as Ryuden just put both hands to the deck about two seconds in and then rolled all the way to the other side of the dohyo. I'd love for someone to point out the force that came from Takayasu that caused Ryuden to stop, drop, and roll like that, but alas...it just wasn't there. These guys cannot help themselves as Takayasu buys win number two while Ryuden haplessly and purposefully falls to 0-2. I mean, when you have a harem like Ryuden does, you need a lot of cash to please all those gals.

Speaking of gals, after the bout we got a close-up of a new fan in attendance who I've never seen at the sumos before. This...um...person was sitting in the second row on the West side, and I'm dying to know who gave her the ticket. I'll watch for her here on out, and when I first saw her, I thought one of those doll characters had escaped from a horror film. I do think the dog collar is a nice touch, however, and if wearing a dog collar improves one's enjoyment of watching these sumo bouts, I'll start searching on Amazon.

Getting back to the fake bouts, M4 Takanosho destroyed M5 Shonannoumi from the tachi-ai getting moro-zashi easy as you please against the defenseless rikishi before moving him back two full steps, but instead of finishing off the yori-kiri job, Takanosho just stopped and waited for Shonannoumi to go for a left maki-kae.  The move itself was extremely poor, but Takanosho did not make him pay, and not only did he not make him pay, but he didn't even try, and so with Takanosho standing there as if he had been tied up by the dog collar girl, Shonannoumi attempted something that they called a scoop throw, but it was really Takanosho just stepping his foot across in obvious fashion. Both rikishi end the day at 1-1, and sometimes I can only shake my head in disbelief at what they allow to go on here.

M4 Ura was a half second late at the tachi-ai, but no matter as M5 Gonoyama charged hard putting his hands in pull fashion before just standing upright and backing up sideways to the edge of the ring. Gonoyama clearly anticipated a quick shove from Ura to finish him off, but Ura didn't cause that retreat, so he certainly wasn't ready to capitalize on it, and so you had Gonoyama just standing there for an awkward second or two before Ura finally made some contact that "pushed" Gonoyama across. I guess with the lack of intriguing storylines this basho, they're decided to dust Ura off as both rikishi move to 1-1.

Komusubi Tobizaru executed an awful tachi-ai against M3 Tamawashi standing upright and moving to his right, and despite Tamawashi's catching him with a nice left stiff arm, The Mawashi didn't bother to square up to his foe instead opting to obliviously move forward into thin air as Tobizaru grabbed him by the left arm and tugged him across. Tamawashi played it up by stumbling into the front row, but this was as staged of a match as you'd care to see. Tobizaru buys one here in moving to 1-1 while Tamawashi needs acting lessons at 0-2.

Shodai's strategy against Sekiwake Daieisho was to just lean his big body forward at the tachi-ai in an attempt to apply pressure, and it caused Daieisho to rethink his life for a second or two, but after spinning his wheels for a bit, Daieisho finally dusted off his tsuppari attack and pushed Shodai across the ring and out with little fanfare. You'd really like to see Daieisho crush Shodai back from the tachi-ai, but only a legit Ozeki candidate could do that. Daieisho will take the win in moving to 1-1 while Shodai falls to a quiet 0-2.

The tremor in the force signaled that fan favorite M2 Asanoyama had stepped into the dohyo to take on another fraud Ozeki candidate in Sekiwake Kotonowaka. Kotonowaka left himself vulnerable at the tachi-ai keeping his arms in kachi-age fashion but never delivering the blows. As for Asanoyama, he charged forward well I suppose, but it was without a purpose, and so the Sekiwake was easily able to move right and go for a quick pull that had Asanoyama with his back against the straw two seconds in. Kotonowaka scored on a nice push into Asanoyama's jaw, but he didn't follow up with the right hand intentionally allowing Asanoyama to escape to his right and search for a scoop throw grip, but it never came to fruition, and so once again Asanoyama had his back to the wall with nary a pot to piss in with Kotonowaka bearing in tight. Instead of nudging Asanoyama back that final step or firing a stiff arm into Asanoyama's chest--something he could have done multiple times during the bout, Kotonowaka backed up to the other side of the dohyo. As Asanoyama advanced, Kotonowaka got the right arm in perfect scoop throw fashion, and the momentum of the bout would have called for him to counter with that scoop throw at the edge, but he quietly refrained and literally stood there at the edge waiting for Asanoyama to come up with a left kote-nage, and it wasn't really a throw with any power behind it, but no matter as Kotonowaka just flopped forward and down to the dirt. As if.

Yet again we see Asanoyama come away with the win after doing nothing whatsoever to set it up, but it's obvious he's the best sumo's got going or them right now as he is gifted a 2-0 start. As for Kotonowaka, a Sekiwake he isn't, but he dominated this one start to finish in falling to 1-1.

Rounding out the Sekiwake, Wakamotoharu welcomed M2 Abi, and this was a silly bout that saw Abi catch WMH and stand him up high with a nice moro-te-zuki charge, and as Abi moved to his right to set up some sort of shenanigans, Wakamotoharu just flopped down to the dirt before a legit pull ever came. I mean, Abi did win the tachi-ai here, but it sure looked like someone paid somebody else to do something. Whatever as Abi moves to 1-1 while Wakamotoharu falls to 0-2. So much for Ozeki talk.

Ozeki Kirishima reached forward at the tachi-ai against M1 Meisei looking for a quick pull with the right as he shaded left, and this is exactly how you'd try and set up a kata-sukashi, but the Ozeki never went for the move despite Meisei's being hamstrung from the tachi-ai. With Meisei neutralized, Kirishima stayed on the move threatening a kata-sukashi or a pull for five seconds or so, but he never did go for broke on a move. As Meisei looked to hop out of the position, he hit the straw awkwardly and flopped over and down with very little contact coming from the Ozeki. Not sure what this was, but it wasn't good sumo as Kirishima waltzes his way to 2-0 while Meisei falls to 1-1.

In my intro yesterday, I talked about how the Mongolian rikishi are obligated to lower the bar and make it seem as if they experience the same pain that Takakeisho goes through. Takakeisho starts off Nagoya as kyujo; Kirishima goes kyujo in Nagoya. Takakeisho is kadoban this basho; Kirishima is kadoban this basho.

And that's not even mentioning Terunofuji. The Yokozuna is not injured whatsoever. He's refraining from competing this basho for several reasons:

1. Going kyujo brings him closer to Takakeisho's poor performance this year that has included multiple kyujo.
2. Going kyujo frees up the yusho race. The odds of a Japanese rikishi taking the yusho change dramatically with Terunofuji out of the fray.
3. Going kyujo frees up 13-14 wins that would have been tallied by the Yokozuna and gives them back to the field.
4. Japanese rikishi ranked in the sanyaku and above fight one extra lower-ranked rikishi instead of the Yokozuna thus significantly increasing the probability of a higher win count.
5. Going kyujo frequently mirrors exactly the haplessness of the most recent Japanese Yokozuna, Kisenosato.

Like it or not, the Mongolian rikishi are lowering the bar dramatically to create a sense of parity, especially among the elite ranks of the sport. It's something that Ozeki Hoshoryu is going to experience from here on out, and today was yet another example.

M1 Hokutofuji was completely exposed at the tachi-ai today with arms high and wide, and while Ozeki Hoshoryu came forward, he didn't attempt to get an arm inside and bring his gal in snug. Hokutofuji's charge was so bad he found himself near the edge in two seconds flat, but instead of getting moro-zashi or executing a methodical oshi-dashi, Hoshoryu moved right faking a grab at the back of Hokutofuji's belt. That motion enabled Hokutofuji to move back towards the center of the ring and beyond, and as Hoshoryu approached after the failed belt grab, he purposefully ducked right into a Hokutofuji shoulder slap easy as you please flopping to the dirt for added emphasis. This is one of those dives where Hoshoryu actually aligned his feet before diving down as seen in the pic at right, but whatever.

Takakeisho loses to Hokutofuji; Hoshoryu loses to Hokutofuji.

With the loss, Hoshoryu falls to 1-1 and more importantly signals to the fans that Hokutofuji (2-0) is a rikishi capable of beating these Ozeki.

In the day's final affair, Takakeisho was paired against the overly-hyped Komusubi Nishikigi, and Nishikigi promptly did nothing from the tachi-ai leaving his hands open wide, which allowed Takakeisho to attempt a tsuppari attack. Said attack wasn't moving Nishikigi anywhere, but with the Komusubi clearly just standing there, Takakeisho moved left going for a mediocre swipe, and that was NG's cue to just flop forward and put both palms down without putting up a fight.

Coupla yaocho to end the day never hurt anybody as both rikishi finish at 1-1.

It's way too early to call anything at this point, but it's clear that they're going to ride Asanoyama as long as they can in the absence of anything else.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I began checking the news wires a week before the basho, but that can't miss storyline heading into the Aki basho never really surfaced. There was speculation as to what Terunofuji would do (he unsurprisingly decided to withdraw citing lower back issues), and Takayasu roughed Takakeisho up in a keiko session, but there really wasn't and isn't a lead storyline heading into the tournament.

One main reason for the lack of an angle the media could glom onto is that Asanoyama has started to plateau. He was roughed up last basho, ultimately withdrew, and then came back the last few days to be gifted kachi-koshi, but rising from M4 to M2 in two months hardly generates the headlines.

We also don't have any rookies this time around, and the only two dudes assuming a new rank worth noting are Hoshoryu (Ozeki) and Nishikigi (Komusubi). In Hoshoryu's case, the Ozeki announcement happens three days after the previous basho, so there was no real news there, and in the case of Nishikigi, well, he's Nishikigi, and that dude is never going to generate headlines.

I think I saw a graphic somewhere that said it took Nishikigi something like 108 basho to reach the sanyaku, and so that's like 17 years and change worth of sumo to stumble onto that milestone, so that's not really a story to get stiff about either.

In short, the media has very little material to work with in terms of generating basho hype, so that does not bode well for the tournament.

As for the Day 1 broadcast, they began with a comparison of two Ozeki in Kirishima and Takakeisho. They showed both of their yusho boards side by side in the Kokugikan, and then they reviewed their recent records for the year as follows (those are Takakeisho's stats on the left):



What really intrigues me is the little Jedi mind tricks they try and play with these numbers. They had to go back to January so they could list 12 wins from Takakeisho and show that he took the yusho, but with Kirishima, they only went back three basho. I mean, why not show his results over the same time period? The reason is because Kirishima posted 40 wins the first four basho of the year that includes his purposefully bad performance in July while Takakeisho has only 23 wins the entire year. And when I say "wins," maybe two of them were legit.

If you take the graphics that NHK posted, you see 29 wins for Kirishima and 23 wins for Takakeisho.  If you treat both dudes equally by going back just three basho, Takakeisho only has 11 wins (and no yusho) the last three basho while Kirishima has 29 win plus a yusho.

After showing these numbers, they showed clips from a general keiko session that occurred on September 2nd. All of the Makuuchi rikishi show up for this general keiko session, and then everyone has to pretend to want to be the next opponent during moshi-ai-geiko.

NHK showed two bouts between Kirishima and Takakeisho featuring a win by each rikishi. In Kirishima's case, he destroyed Takakeisho easily, and then for the Takakeisho "win," Kirishima kept his body up high and his right arm in no man's land (pictured at right) as he waited for Takakeisho to push him out. Kirishima was so mukiryoku that Takakeisho actually came up limping because his toe got caught in the dohyo as he stumbled forward during the oshi-dashi and then ultimately down to the venue floor in a hapless-looking moment.

The point of this entire introduction was twofold. 1) They wanted to attempt to create parity between the two Ozeki, and 2) with the lack of any other storylines, they have to present these two dudes as the most likely to carry the basho.

We'll see how long that lasts because on Day 1, Hokutofuji beat Takakeisho twice in nearly identical bouts. Takakeisho's attack was as limp as ever, and so Hokutofuji was able to pull him down twice. They called a mono-ii the first time because Hokutofuji's heel was dangerously close to touching out, but they ordered a redo where Hokutofuji made it more definitive on the second go-around.

As Takakeisho walked back to the dressing rooms, it looked as if he was sporting a dirt bra. I can't say I've ever seen a dude wearing a dirt bra before like this, but it did give me a new idea for a request I can make to that gal who I subscribe to on Only Fans.

Beyond these two Ozeki, NHK tried to play up the three Sekiwake in Daieisho, Wakamotoharu, and Kotonowaka. They showed all three of these dudes in a row with their records the last two basho as follows:



As you can see, each has 19 wins over the last two basho, and so they spun this in the context of...the Ozeki rank is not out of reach for any of these guys. Except it is, but I'll play along.

NHK has gotta do what its gotta do, but none of these three Sekiwake are legit nor can they carry a basho. It doesn't mean that they can't buy wins hand over fist, but it's a weak storyline at best.

I thought the best moment of the Day 1 broadcast was the clip where the current commissioner, Hakkaku-oyakata, did his Kanreiki Yokozuna Dohyo-iri. Kanreiki is a term used for people who reach 60 years of age, and it's symbolic because it means a person has gone through the zodiac cycle five times. In sumo, former Yokozuna are given the opportunity to perform a kanreiki dohyo-iri while wearing a red belt (red is the symbolic color of a kanreiki), and I must say, the former Hokutoumi looked pretty good there sporting that red belt.



I don't have time to comment on the specific action from Day 1, but I wanted to point out the initial narratives NHK is floating out there starting from Day 1 in an attempt to hype up the current basho.

I'll start touching on all of the bouts with Day 2.