Home  |  User Forum  |  News  |  Fantasy Sumo  |  Media Requests  |  Contributors  |  About Us |  Sumo 101  |  Links  |  Archives  |  Swedish

Senshuraku Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
It will fly in the face of some conventional wisdom, but this has been a good tournament for the Sumo Association. We've been waiting for years now for the transition to a younger generation of wrestlers, and we are finally getting it. However great Hakuho is, he is not going to be winning tournaments when he is 60--a transition was inevitable. That's just sports and the human body. Harumafuji had faded, Terunofuji unfortunately broke down, and it was time.

Yes, we had the Hokutoumi Revolution, which saw yusho from Kotoshogiku, Goeido, and Kisenosato, but they were all older figures already past their 30th birthday. This victory by Mitakeumi is the first time in more than sixteen years that a youngish Japanese rikishi rose up and took his first yusho (since Tochiazuma at 25 in 2002). In other words, the first time in a decade and a half that a Japanese guy with a possible future won. That is a long, long time. And it was kind of like birthing a baby: so much labor. But now that it has finally happened, I'm betting the Association is looking around and saying, "why did this seem so easy?" The answer of course is that it took two Yokozuna and one Ozeki withdrawal to get him here--but it happened. And whatever you think of the content of his sumo, it felt like his basho from very early on: as soon as Kakuryu withdrew on Day 6, Mitakeumi was the favorite. By Day 11 it felt like he had it wrapped up. The Association heaves a giant sigh of relief and say, "well, here we are. In the new era."

I don't see any sign of this slowing down. As with the run of four yusho in eight basho from the old Japanese guard (Kotoshogiku, Goeido, and Kisenosato) beginning in January 2016, we should witness over the next two years a small flood of yusho from guys like Mitakeumi, Takakeisho, and Onosho. Takayasu may get one in there too. Now that the barrier has been broken, it will happen more. I'm not saying the Mongolians are done, but I'd look for a yusho from time to time from Hakuho or Tochinoshin or Kakuryu or Ichinojo--one or so a year for each guy--with about a 50/50 overall split between foreign and Japanese rikishi.

The second really positive thing that happened for the Association this tournament was the great showings by Asanoyama and Yutakayama. Yes, you can ask why Ichinojo and Tamawashi didn't finish in the top three. But a top three of Mitakeumi, Asanoyama, and Yutakayama speaks of promise. Asanoyama and Yutakayama are both just 24 years old, and both had to earn their good records. More showings like this? Yes please.

Finally, the Association has to be pleased to look around and not see many young foreign wrestlers. The names we talk about dominating the sport, or those we think should dominate the sport, from Hakuho to Kakuryu, Tochinoshin to Tamawashi, Kaisei to Aoiyama, Chiyoshoma to Arawashi--none of those guys are young. The only guy in the group I just listed younger than 30 is Chiyoshoma, at 27. The only young foreign rikishi in Makuuchi right now is Ichinojo, at age 25, and the Association can put up with that for a few years. In fact, look for him not only to provide counterpoint, but to be someone fun to beat. Remember "stop the Terunofuji"? It may be "stop the Ichinojo" eventually.

Looking at it this way, even if Yutakayama, Asanoyama, Mitakeumi, Onosho, Takakeisho, Abi, Shodai, and all the rest never reach the level of the current Mongolian superstars (which they won't), at a certain point there will be no one around to compete with them--they'll be it. And that is a light at the end of this particular tunnel that shone bright and wide for the Association as this tournament rolled to a close.

M16 Meisei (5-9) vs. M10 Nishikigi (6-8)
Nishikigi stood so still at the tachi-ai I thought it was a false start by Meisei. But, no. Nishikigi absorbed the genki charge by Meisei well, getting a left arm inside, and promptly drove him back towards the tawara. However, Meisei was pivoting little by little, and had gotten his left inside as well, and once the line of the bout was in his favor Meisei kept the momentum going by slinging Nishikigi nicely to the dirt with that grip, shitate-nage.

M10 Chiyomaru (5-9) vs. M15 Ishiura (6-8)
If I were doing another Lord of the Rings comparison, Chiyomaru would definitely be Bombur. He also kind of looks like Tweedledee to me. Facing a tiny little man today, Tweedlebombur's thrusts had a downward angle, which was in theory fine. But he was standing straight up, which wasn't. Ishiura pivoted to the side, grabbed the back of Chiyomaru's belt, then switched to holding Chiyomaru's beefy 300 pound leg. Chiyomaru looked like he was too round to bend over and do anything about it, which of course he really isn't, but at any rate he was compromised and Ishiura removed him from the ring at this point, yori-kiri. Chiyomaru looked unlimber and bad to cap a weak tournament for him.

M9 Myogiryu (9-5) vs. M11 Onosho (9-5)
Both of these guys had good records, but I would say Myogiryu had a great tournament, and Onosho a disappointing one. Really, at this level Onosho, returning from injury, should have won 11 or 12. Whereas Myogiryu has been pretty useless in Makuuchi for a year or two and I expected him to get pasted this tournament. So nine wins at M9 for him represents a significant Indian Summer comeback. I was therefore really happy to see Myogiryu aggressively drive Onosho to the straw straight off. Unfortunately, when he tried to switch up his grips to the inside to finish Onosho off, Onosho reacted on a dime, shoved Myogiryu off him, grabbed him, and drove him all the way across and out as easy as you please, yori-kiri. I do expect Onosho to continue to have success in the upper division, and this was an indication of why: Myogiryu had him where he wanted him, but Onosho obliterated him anyway.

M14 Kotoeko (3-11) vs. M8 Kyokutaisei (5-9)
Kotoeko had just a terrible debut tournament, and even the not-much-better Kyokutaisei made mincemeat of him. Kyokutaisei knocked Kotoeko back at the tawara, then grabbed him by the arm and whipped him into a run across the dohyo that sent him scampering embarrassingly out, oshi-dashi. My hope would be that this tournament was Kotoeko's cup of coffee in the big leagues and that he doesn't return. As editors say when they're done with something and leave the last changes up to you, "I don't need to see it again."

M8 Chiyoshoma (4-10) vs. M14 Okinoumi (7-7)
Chiyoshoma clinched at least a tie in his "who can have a worse tournament" race with Arawashi by withdrawing with ye olde big toe injury (yes, really; it is popular these days)...

M12 Arawashi (4-10) vs. M7 Daieisho (6-8)
...leaving Arawashi needing to lose to Daieisho to preserve his pride in the "how low can you go" contest with Chiyoshoma. But Arawashi decided to win instead. What fun is a tie, anyway? Daieisho pushed him back with his palms some, but Arawashi directed the bout calmly in a backwards way round-about the ring in time to pull Daieisho down by the head as Arawashi balanced on the tawara, hiki-otoshi. Classic evasion sumo here; that's how you do this. Well, Chiyoshoma has bragging rights next time they chuck stones in Lake Kucherla, and will laugh at him, but Arawashi will probably say, "c'mon, man, I have to at least try to stay in Makuuchi!"

M7 Takarafuji (6-8) vs. M15 Ryuden (8-6)
Ryuden tried mightily to get on Takarafuji's belt, but Takarafuji didn't let him, and that's all you need to know about this bout. Takarafuji blocked him with a forearm at the tachi-ai, immobilized his arms a bit by gripping them, and kept his own butt back. It looked good for Ryuden on a superficial level--he had his arms around Takarafuji's puffy torso and was gripping him hard, both arms inside, but Takarafuji maki-kae'd out of that and got a frontal belt grip and then a more standard one on the side. From there he just worked Ryuden out, yori-kiri. This is the kind of patient and solid sumo Takarafuji wants to do all the time, but it usually doesn't work except against guys ranked like Ryuden at M15. He needs to put a little more speed and aggression in what he does.

M16 Hokutofuji (10-4) vs. M6 Chiyotairyu (9-5)
This was a good match-up on paper from guys who have shown promise. Chiyotairyu decided to finish the basho off with one more blast-em! tachi-ai, and it worked fine in giving him the momentum. However, we saw a ghost of his old problems: he's a one trick pony, and Hokutofuji knew it: Hoku stepped nimbly to the side and thrust him down, tsuki-otoshi, as easy as peach pie. Now Hokutofuji has to show us he can produce a record like this at a higher rank.

M5 Daishomaru (5-9) vs. M12 Sadanoumi (7-7)
Before the bout, back under the stands, Sad Man asked his tsuke-bito to help him keep the middle path: "When my fist clenches, crack it open / before I use it and lose my cool / when I smile, tell me some bad news / before I laugh and act like a fool." Properly motivated, he went out and grabbed the compliant Daishomaru by the outside left belt, moved him around this way and that on the dohyo, and dumped him over sideways, uwate-nage. Sigh: "but my dreams / they aren't as empty / as my conscience seems to be:" that's what he was thinking when he got Daishomaru's agreement to lose on purpose so he could get his kachi-koshi. As for me, "if I swallow anything evil / put your finger down my throat."

M13 Asanoyama (11-3) vs. M3 Takakeisho (9-5)
Asanoyama is still just an M13, so it is too early to get real excited, but he had a strong, smooth feel to him in winning his way through this tournament. You could feel it already last tournament, and it was evident here again early on: nice combination of skill, size, and power. He takes home a Kanto-Sho (Fighting Spirit) Special Prize, and it was well earned. Meanwhile Takakeisho, as a much higher ranked guy also having a winning tournament, was a good test for him. Takakeisho thoroughly beat him: hard-smacking tachi-ai, wrapped him up with his arms, didn't let him escape too far to the left while driving him, and pushed him quickly out, yori-kiri. I'll look forward to Asanoyama trying harder than this next basho, though. Most likely he and Yutakayama both get pasted in September, but if not, then we've got something.

M3 Abi (5-9) vs. M11 Aoiyama (8-6)
Abi pushed with his arms extended all the way, briefly pulled, then, noting Aoiyama standing up and not offering much offense, went back to pushing on Aoiyama's face, neck, and chest, resulting in an oshi-dashi win. Let's move right along.

M2 Ikioi (8-6) vs. M4 Kaisei (8-6)
Like I said on Day 13, Ikioi can feel good about his highest-ranked winning tournament. However, I felt he needed to make it nine wins to give it some weight. Unfortunately for him, Kaisei didn't play. As Ikioi advanced, working hard because of Kaisei's bulk, Kaisei took advantage of his Ikioi's over-commit by stepping to the side, grabbing Ikioi's arm around the elbow, and ushering him to the dirt, tsuki-otoshi. Well, it's not like we were waiting for Ikioi to break out. He is what he at this point--about an M6.

M1 Shodai (5-9) vs. M4 Kagayaki (6-8)
These guys have to be disappointed in their performance this basho; in a tournament emptied out of the top talent, they needed to be able to get over the hump. Why Mitakeumi, and not them? That is the question they should be asking themselves, and they need to believe it can be them. Kagayaki pushed up on Shodai's teats, working on a linear force-out try. However, Shodai didn't want to go out like that, and he pivoted away, grabbed Kagayaki by the outside belt, and slung him along in a sort of comical slip-‘n'-slide run-and-dump, uwate-nage. I'm afraid Kagayaki just isn't very good; it is too easy to make him look a little silly.

M5 Yoshikaze (1-13) vs. K Shohozan (3-11)
Yoshikaze detonated in this one, showing some of his old fire. He got arms up and inside, bulled his opponent to the straw, and let go of two weeks of frustration by knocking Shohozan bodily over and into the crowd, yori-taoshi. Shohozan could have used a win too, but he kept his arms high and let Yoshikaze get it all out; Yoshikaze definitely needed it more. Not sure if this win keeps Yoshikaze in the division, but it probably did, and it was kind of like screaming into a hole in the ground: sometimes you have to do that.

K Tamawashi (8-6) vs. M13 Tochiozan (9-5)
This was a good moment for Tamawashi, Captain of Gondor, to show his quality--of the very finest. Nothing to play for here otherwise, so might as well go for it. Right? He didn't though. Hoo boy. He kept his head low to the ground, didn't do any of his signature slaps, and half-dove, half allowed himself to be pushed to the ground, hataki-komi. A nice gesture towards the veteran Tochiozan and his solid tournament, I would say.

M9 Yutakayama (11-3) vs. S Mitakeumi (13-1)
My goodness. If this was hana-zumo, the stem of the flower is all bloody and the petals knocked off and trampled and strewn about. They fought each other hard, ping-ponged all over the dohyo, and went down in a dual-throws mutual heap at the end. I could play the tape ten times and describe it for you blow by blow, but this is the kind of match Mike points out has a lot going on but not much to describe: it was a messy brawl rather than solid sumo. I'll give you the highlights and the feel. Right away Mitakeumi got Yutakayama to the edge, but his hold was awkward and Yutakayama was able to escape. From there it was a lot of back and forth, but dominated by Mitakeumi retreating. There was also a moment where they tried to trip each other at the edge. They survived that, and waltzed across to the other edge, where there was more tripping and throwing, with Yutakayama lifting Mitakeumi with his leg at the last moment, punching him up into the air with his pin, and they crashed down at pretty much the same time. They gave it to Yutakayama kake-nage, but it took me a couple of minutes to even register that: I had this description half written before I paid attention to who won. It was great as an outcome: we saw guys going hard for the win and mutually tumbling for a change, rather than one guy limply stepping out with the other crouched in front of him in kind forbearance at the tawara. Yes, the match was a mess. But I liked it. For those who are interested, the remainder of the Special Prizes went to these two: Mitakeumi got the Gino (Technique) and Shukun (Outstanding Performance) Shos, while Yutakayama picked up a Kanto-Sho (Fighting Spirit) along with Asanoyama.

O Goeido (9-5) vs. O Takayasu (9-5)
I'm going to take this one out of order and save Ichinojo and Endo for last. After that bout, it was just too painfully anti-climactic to put this one at the end of the day. This one was a strange spectacle even before it got going: the musubi-no-ichiban on the last day being two underwhelming Ozeki with one career championship victory between them, both kadoban this tournament, neither ever looking like he was in the thick of the yusho race, two guys who played third fiddle to a Sekiwake and two youths from M9 and M13. That's a bad last match. And the fighting was as bad as you would fear it to be. Takayasu put his arm around Goeido's neck, turned as far to the side as he could, then eventually all the way backwards to Goeido, and ran out of the ring while Goeido chased and pushed him, okuri-dashi. It was a very deflating moment, and a bad epitaph for this tournament. Let's talk about something more fun instead...

S Ichinojo (7-7) vs. M6 Endo (8-6)
...ah, Endo. Endo the clown. I missed you. This basho he went back to what he used to do for me so often: lose spectacularly. Nobody gets thrashed more entertainingly than Endo. He was standing there tsuappari'ing purposefully at Ichinojo, and Ichinojo pushed him hard in the face once and knocked him bodily over, oshi-taoshi, like he was a gnat. Right in the middle of the ring. Apropos of nothing. "Get off me!" Boom! Endo falls flat on his back. There is this thing they do where they let little kids fight the real wrestlers, and the wrestlers kind of playfully tip them over and stuff, fling them gently aside. This kind of looked like that, minus the playful and the gentle. Smash! Crash. I love Endo for this. Thank you. I love him so much.

As for Ichinojo, now THAT is how to pick up a kachi-koshi.

Day 14 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As soon as Harvye sent me his Day 13, I went to the wires to find some pics to post along with his report, and all I could see was a long, vertical strip of thumbnail pictures that showed rikishi flapping near the edge of the dohyo like birds too heavy to really get off of the ground. It's kind of frustrating when you get to the end of a basho, and the yusho rikishi are involved for the most part in bouts that involve a lot of pulling and a lot of instability at the ring's edge. I just miss the days when you'd have a yusho rikishi, and you'd go down the list of his kimari-te and you'd have 8 yori-kiri, a few oshi-dashi, a couple of belt throws, and then a single hataki-komi thrown in for good measure.

We did have more stable sumo today, especially in the straight-up bouts that involved the yusho rikishi, so let's get right to the yusho race with a review of the leaderboard as we began the day:

12-1: Mitakeumi
10-3: Yutakayama, Asanoyama

Up first was M13 Asanoyama who was paired against M6 Endoh. I was really looking forward to this match because you have the coddled Endoh who still wants to prove himself against an up-and-comer this basho in Asanoyama. I think Endoh revealed his true colors here because he moved left at the tachi-ai not wanting to take Asanoyama on chest to chest, but his move was weak and Asanoyama caught him with a nice right kachi-age putting Endoh on his heels from the get-go. Before Endoh could recover, Asanoyama got busy firing shove after shove into his opponent, and he had Endoh sent off in about three seconds before Endoh could really even counter. This was definitely an ass-kicking, and the win propelled Asanoyama to 11-3 forcing Mitakeumi to win today in order to secure the yusho.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi's opponent on the day was M13 Tochiohzan, and I thought it was a little bit late pairing Mitakeumi against a guy whose yusho chances were done. I would have much rather seen him fight Asanoyama or Yutakayama, but I'm sure the powers that be wanted to see him fight Tochiohzan. Both rikishi hooked up in hidari-yotsu standing in the center of the ring for a few seconds as Tochiohzan grabbed the right outer and then let it go only to grab it again only to let it go again. With Mitakeumi doing nothing, Tochiohzan finally latched onto the right outer, but he wasn't looking to do anything, and so Mitakeumi mounted a yori charge executing a maki-kae with the right arm against a completely defenseless Tochiohzan, and he had his foe pushed back and across easy as you please. Tochiohzan was obviously mukiryoku here as Mitakeumi picks up yet another win without being tested, and that's not to say that Mitakeumi can't beat Tochiohzan straight up because he can. Tochiohzan (9-5) wasn't taking any chances whatsoever, and despite the superior position from the tachi-ai, mounting an offensive was the last thing on his mind. It seems with Mitakeumi, the fixed bouts are the linear force-outs, and the real bouts are always unorthodox with at least one guy flapping his arms in the end.  Just look at the pic there at left to see what a mukiryoku opponent looks like at the edge.

With the win, Mitakeumi clinched his first career yusho, and the response from the crowd was a bit tepid. I mean, everyone knew it was coming, and I didn't sense a whole lot of tension or drama in the arena. Had Tochiohzan actually tried and put Mitakeumi on his heels a bit, the fans would have been more worked up, but this was about as anti-climactic as a romantic comedy. With the two Ozeki, I was quite sure they were going to defend their rank and come after the Sekiwake, but everyone else is just letting Mitakeumi waltz down easy street, and so what was there really to cheer about? It actually reminded me of when Musoyama scored his only yusho. He was my favorite rikishi, and I waited a decade for it, but when he clinched it on senshuraku, I knew he didn't earn it. I just knew it, and I felt ill more than I felt elated.

Getting back to Mitakeumi, this is about as lame of a resume as I've ever seen from a yusho winner. The Sekiwake only beat one guy ranked above him in Goeido (big whoop), and he didn't even fight fellow Sekiwake Ichinojo...who would have surely let up for him anyway. It's a yusho with very little substance, and it showed in the reaction from the crowd.

Unfortunately, M9 Yutakayama had to fight after Mitakeumi because he came out and just blew the doors off of Ozeki Takayasu in the day's final bout. Takayasu came with a lame kachi-age at the start, but Yutakayama just shook that off firing a few shoves the Ozeki's way that connected well pushing him back off balance. I think that caught Takayasu by surprise because before he could even counter, Yutakayama had him pushed back and across in linear fashion. An Ozeki ain't posed to be done like that at the hands of an M9 rikishi, but it's a result of Takayasu's having been propelled to the rank due to politics, not because of ability or sound sumo. I loved this bout, and one of the best parts was when Yutakayama yanked his own sagari from his belt when it was over. If your opponent gives you the business, the sagari are long gone, but if you beat an Ozeki straight up and your sagari haven't moved, you've just kicked his ass. It's great to see Yutakayama join Asanoyama at 11-3 while Takayasu falls to 9-5.

Due to time constraints, I'm not going to cover any of the other bouts, but I will close with a few thoughts that I would normally save for a post-basho report.

A popular characteristic of the Nagoya basho is the heat and humidity inside the venue. At least half the crowd seems to be constantly fanning themselves off, and it's just part of the Nagoya experience. For me, one of the first characteristics that I clued into way back when were the 10 or so "mama" sitting in prime seats wearing kimono and with hot, young apprentices by their sides. The same mama that attend the Nagoya basho today are the same ones who attended back in the 90's when I first started actively watching sumo, and they are always sitting in the prime seats.

Besides the mama in Nagoya, easily the most prominent fan in the modern era of sumo is the Olympic Ojiisan. He's that patriotic fellow who wears a gold tophat with the Japanese flag on the front and who waves a big fan around after a Japanese rikishi scores a big upset. He's always there at the Tokyo basho, but he'll show up at the other venues as well...always in the same prominent seat in full view of the main camera angle.

Regardless of the venue, there are always those staple fans occupying the best seats, and since they don't have season tickets in sumo, how do those people get their seats basho after basho? The answer is that they're big donors either to the Association itself or to a particular stable and then the stable procures the seats for them. You may remember eight years or so ago when the Kise-beya got in trouble because they gave away their sweet seats to members of one of the yakuza groups in Osaka who were easily recognized on the broadcast.

Whether it's the Olympic Ojiisan, members of the yakuza, or the mama in Nagoya, there is a ton of money flowing around sumo that never gets officially accounted for. There are also the fan clubs for each stable, and then there are people who simply get a stiffie being close to a stable, and so they pay the big bucks for access.

And that's not to even mention the kensho money that gets passed around. I talked a bit on day 10 about how I think some rikishi are tempted to upset some of the darlings when there are a lot of kensho on the line, but who's to say that part of some agreements don't include the winning rikishi giving away the kensho as part of the deal. Basically, you have envelopes of cash floating around everywhere in sumo and nary a paper trail to be found.

When Itai came out and talked about how bout fixing works in sumo, he said that in order to buy a win a rikishi had to pay about $2,000 US. After Wakanoho was kicked out of sumo for drug possession, he decided to reveal all of his secrets, and he said that a bout of sumo in his day cost $10,000 US. Regardless of what the number is these days, I can totally see how members of a fan club and the rich donors to a stable could easily pony up and buy bouts for a guy in need.

I've been watching Asanoyama and Yutakayama fight this basho, and I think to myself, "Why don't they start hyping these two guys and propel them to the elite ranks?" Likewise, you've had guys like Tochiohzan and Okinoumi who are past their primes now, but five or six years ago, you could have propelled them to the elite ranks. Why Kisenosato, Goeido, Mitakeumi, or Takakeisho? Why not guys who have better game? Could it all depend on which rikishi have the most access to the outside money?

I'm positive that the top brass in the Sumo Association did not hold a meeting prior to Nagoya and say, "Okay, it's Mitakeumi's turn to yusho. Go make it happen."  I am positive that 75% of Mitakeumi's opponents have let up for him this basho, so I'm just curious about what goes on behind the scenes and what kind of money is changing hands in order to make that happen.

When Itai did his sit-down with TIME magazine, he was asked whether or not fans can tell by watching which matches are faked? To quote Itai, "Amateur fans, no. I can tell 100% of the time. For ex-sumo wrestlers, it's easy to tell."

I think in this day and age, it's easy for all of us to tell that bout-fixing is going on, and so I'm just throwing out plausible scenarios that could exist behind the scenes.

On that note, Harvye will wrap things up fer ya tomorrow.

Day 13 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
We got some good match-ups today, with all five leaderboard rikishi concentrated into the minimum three matches, and I agree with Mike: there was drama. I was up to see what happened, right from the first yusho-race match, early in the day, with skilled veteran Tochiozan against promising youngster Yutakayama. Whatever happens, you have to be able to appreciate stuff like this: those two have had compelling tournaments and were in a place to get rewarded for it.

I still believed Mitakeumi was going to take this thing. Even if Goeido were to beat him, Mitakeumi would still have a one match lead and just two days to go. So Mitakeumi gets his coronation somehow. But you know what this situation reminds me of? Kotomitsuki. Could Mitakeumi be on his way to a Kotomitsuki-like long but just okay career? Mitsuki won his first and only tournament as an M2 during a Yokozuna-less tournament much like this one back in 2001. He went on to be Ozeki, but it took him another full six years to get there, and he never fulfilled his promise. Mitakeumi has time and room to improve and do better than that, but looking like he looks now, he isn't ready.

Let's get right to it.

Leaderboard:

M13 Tochiozan (9-3) vs. M9 Yutakayama (9-3)
I was looking forward to this one because basically the loser was out of the yusho race, and the winner would maintain slim hope and be guaranteed to still be alive tomorrow, whatever Mitakeumi did. I've been a Tochiozan fan for a long time, but found myself rooting for Yutakayama: like Mike says, he seems to have learned from his thrashing last time out, and has put together a strong performance that has been fun to watch, whereas Tochiozan feels too compromised at this point. They fought it straight up, and Yutakayama took to destroying Tochiozan straight away: hard hands up high, heavy fast pressure, youthful confidence and strength: Tochiozan was at the bales in an instant. But he's not a respected veteran for nothing, and he evaded there, as you would expect, doing the tawara dance. It worked well: Yutakayama also went to the tawara with one toe, then the other, then one of his feet came all the way across while Tochiozan was still hanging in the balance. However, Tochiozan stepped down first. So Yutakayama stayed alive; Tochiozan's nice run was for all intents and purposes over.

M9 Myogiryu (8-4) vs. M13 Asanoyama (9-3)
Next up, the Mountain of Morning, Asanoyama, facing a feisty little guy who has been having a good tournament too. Once again I found myself rooting for the fresher rikishi: sure, Asanoyama is fighting at the bottom of the banzuke, but in a tournament like this he has earned his place in the yusho race. He and Yutakayama are similar: strong, solid guys with some promise. It has been fun to watch Asanoyama excel, and I was plenty ready for a few more days to focus on that. In the fight, like Yutakayama before him, Asanoyama was all business--but he faced a far more effective attack from his opponent. Myogiryu kept it tight, low, and inside throughout, and had Asanoyama defensive, pulling, and on the run right away. However, Asanoyama survived well, and is too big, young, and strong for Myogiryu: despite his excellent position and smart, thrusting effort, Myogiryu couldn't get Asanoyama out. Asanoyama knew how and when to stop and resist at the tawara. Along the way, he also grabbed an outside left grip. He has power, and getting the belt gave him confidence; he finally reversed the momentum of the bout and was able to do what Myogiryu couldn't: finish it. He worked Myogiryu out to end it, yori-kiri.

And so our two impressive youngsters, Yutakayama and Asanoyama, remained in it; that's a good thing.

O Goeido (9-3) vs. S Mitakeumi (11-1)
I have to say I thought Mitakeumi won yesterday: Takayasu's toe flung up a plume of dirt before Mitakeumi's foot came down. I was surprised they didn't at lesat call a do-over, which would have been fair. So a little bit of controversy could be said to have crept into the yusho race--except nobody cares. Makes it closer, so what's the harm? At any rate I found myself rooting for Mitakeumi in this one. Goeido? He's just too much, man. He was sweating like he'd just come out of the sauna. Mitakeumi looked good: his bulk smooth and well-contained (not to mention dry): this guy has some presence. He looked very much the favorite. The bout was a simple affair. They rammed each other hard at the tachi-ai, and I suppose Goeido thought he had something, fishing inside for a frontal belt grip. However, Mitakeumi moved smartly out of the line of the attack, and as usual Goeido was too uncollected to respond effectively. Mitakeumi put one hand on the Ozeki's head, reached over with the other to get the belt on the outside left, and used those contact points to make certain of Goeido's momentum past him. From there he pushed Goeido easily out from behind, okuri-dashi.

And so with two days to go your leaderboard looks like this:

Mitakeumi 12-1
Yutakayama and Asanoyama 10-3

I'm calling it for Mitakeumi.

Thank You For Coming:

J1 Akiseyama (5-7) vs. M16 Meisei (4-8)
Akiseyama is just awful looking. A great bulge of flesh hangs down below his mawashi, exposed in a quite intimate looking way. Even if you force yourself not to think of it as the groin bulge that it truly is, it then looks like some bulbous, swollen insect body. I was so fascinated by this horror that I originally forgot to watch the bout. When I tore my eyes away from Akiseyama's drooping bag, I noted that he went for a left inside grip, but only got literally one finger on the belt which soon fell off. Meanwhile, Meisei was going for an inside grip on the other side, and got it, getting a coupla folds. Meisei also got an outside grip. That done, Meisei controlled the bout despite the gigantic size of his flaborifus opponent. As Meisei was now snuggled up so close to him, Akiseyama also was able to get a belt grip, but it was too late: Meisei was driving him across the length of the dohyo for a yori-kiri win. This looked good for Meisei, and thank goodness Akiseyama got his make-koshi and so won't be bringing his pale sac of suet to Makuuchi next tournament.

M14 Kotoeko (3-9) vs. M11 Onosho (7-5)
This should have been an obliteration, and it pretty much was, but in an unsatisfying way. Kotoeko lurched upwards and tried to put his hands in Onosho's face, but he had his eyes closed--I think he was petrified. Onosho swiped at him a little bit, but barely needed to: Kotoeko was so keyed up and out of rhythm that he lost his feet and fell down, hiki-otoshi, while being battered by the windmill of Onosho's blows. It's bad when you're that scared of Onosho.

M11 Aoiyama (7-5) vs. M16 Hokutofuji (8-4)
Both guys have winning records but aren't going anywhere in terms of special prizes or such, so I figured there was nothing to lose and expected a good bout. Aoiyama did spend most of the match putting his hands forward into Hokutofuji's face, which is the right thing to do. But he should have hit harder: drawn those arms back and really pile-drove them into Hokutofuji's face. It sounds cruel, but it is allowed. Hokutofuji wasn't doing much here but surviving: head forced back, hands pecking away at Aoiyama's shoulders when he could see what he was doing. However, lucky for him, Aoiyama gave up on his forward strategy and pulled, as he so often does. It was a dual-handed pull down on Hokutofuji's head, and neither swift nor effective: Hokutofuji put that head into Aoiyama's midriff and drove him out, oshi-dashi. On purpose or not, Aoiyama's retreat-oriented sumo is a bummer, and M11 is right about where he belongs.

M12 Sadanoumi (7-5) vs. M19 Nishikigi (5-7)
Sad Man pushed forward a little, but he was trying to scoop up on a frontal grip and couldn't hold it, so within moments Nishikigi took over: pushed up high with his arms and trundled Sadanoumi summarily out on a line, oshi-dashi. I'm happy Sad Man is having a pretty good tournament, but this was a demonstration of how he just doesn't have much in his arsenal to work with. Afterwards he went back down the hallway and said to his tsuke-bito, "I have hours / only lonely."

M10 Chiyomaru (5-7) vs. M12 Arawashi (3-9)
After the match finished, Chiyomaru took the Who's Next LP he'd been kindly storing on his shelf belly to keep safe for Sadanoumi while he fought and handed it back to him. Later they went drinking and Sadanoumi brought a record player and put that on Chiyomaru's belly and they played the record and sang. So they had a great Friday night. Anyway, apparently Arawashi doesn't want to go to Juryo, because he woke up for this match and made short work of Shelf Gut. He feinted with a forearm bar but never made contact, instead cleverly grabbing the front of the mawashi with both hands and wrenching upwards. That's a lot of girth to move, but I think it actually made it easier for Arawashi: it was like Chiyomaru's own belly was now in his way of getting a grip on Arawashi. Arawashi removed him from the ring yori-kiri in short order.

M15 Ishiura (5-7) vs. M8 Kyokutaisei (5-7)
Ishiura rotated swiftly away after the head-butting tachi-ai, but of course Kyokutaisei was smart enough to be expecting this: he turned to him, reached over his shoulder, and grabbed Kyokutaisei's belt. However, as I've been saying, Kyokutaisei really doesn't have much. And he was still in bad position: Ishiura was underneath, and found himself still in control. Ishiura had an odd grip: one frontal, one kind of on the back on the same side. Finding Kyokutaisei quiescent, Ishiura did a nifty pivot down in there, changing up his grip, and pulled back on Kyokutaisei's leg while throwing him with the other hand, shita-te-nage.

M15 Ryuden (6-6) vs. M7 Daieisho (5-7)
Daieisho was pushing mightily up on Ryuden and it was working--a little. However, Ryuden is limber and has some potential, and didn't just give in: he was hard to move, and they found themselves going to belts. Bad for Daieisho; that's not his game. He tried for a force out at the tawara; didn't work. Daieisho was able to survive a little longer as the match wandered back to the middle of the ring, but once there, Daieisho was overextended--literally. Small, he had his body nearly parallel to the dirt in an effort to form some kind of torpedo to make it work for him: give him enough force to move Ryuden back. Instead, Ryuden smartly just lowered his arms while backing up a little, laying Daieisho out on the dohyo like a log, hiki-otoshi. Hiki-otoshi is normally a bunch of silly slippery ending in a clown-tumble, but not this one--this one was kind of fun: gives a different perspective on what a simple "pull down" can be.

M14 Okinoumi (6-6) vs. M4 Kagayaki (4-8)
These dudes put their hands on each other's chests and pushed. Kagayaki got inside and low and yori-kiri'ed Okinoumi out.

M7 Takarafuji (5-7) vs. M3 Takakeisho (8-4)
Ha! Takakeisho thought he would destroy Takarafuji in Chiyotairyu-style: a massive tachi-ai push-off, followed by more of the same: no pausing and twiddling about with little pulls in this one. No, he was going for it, and how. However, maybe I learned why he usually does those little pulls: under threat of all this exploding aggression, Takarafuji stepped to the side and pushed down on Takakeisho's head. And there was Takakeisho, lying on the dirt, having lost, uwate-dashi-nage.

M3 Abi (3-9) vs. M5 Yoshikaze (0-12)
Slappery. Sigh. I am tired of slappery, and as this has been a pretty good day of sumo, I didn't want to see all that slappery. But hey, it was two guys with a combined record of 3-21. Yoshikaze drove Abi right to the edge with this slappery, and I figured someone was finally giving Yoshikaze a win. However, Abi subtly turned, changing the line of the match, and at that moment Yoshikaze chose to try a little pull. Oops! Abi turned it on and came at him, grabbed him around the midriff, and gently removed him, yori-kiri. The end was very sad: Yoshikaze wasn't quite out yet, but had given up. Abi hadn't quite won yet, but also kind of stopped. It was an "oh, okay, 13 losses is okay" kind of reluctant moment for them both. Watch for Yoshikaze to pick up a courtesy win tomorrow. 0-15 almost never happens.

M2 Ikioi (7-5) vs. M2 Chiyonokuni (6-6)
Chiyonokuni, having had his elbow and arm flexed to all get out by Kaisei yesterday, withdrew as expected. Hey, Ikioi fans, this is a good result for Ikioi: M2 is about the rank he normally gets wrecked at, and here he is with kachi-koshi. His previous highest-ranked winning record was at M3, going 8-7 early last year. So, look for him to get utterly wrecked next time.

M1 Shodai (4-8) vs. M8 Chiyoshoma (3-9)
Here's two guys who can't win for losing. Guess that's how that goes. Like Arawashi earlier, his twin Chiyoshoma went for mae-mawashi: frontal grips. He got one of them, but Shodai, with less girth to work around than the previously victimized Chiyomaru, turned Chiyoshoma and dumped him, shitate-dashi-nage. I think Chiyoshoma gave this one away; he was just kind of standing there grimacing. So, in their traditional every-other-basho "who can lose more" contest, Chiyoshoma pulls ahead of Arawashi, going to 3-10 while Arawashi slips behind at 4-9.

M5 Daishomaru (3-9) vs. K Shohozan (3-9)
And here's that pesky Daishomaru near the end of the day again. Yeesh. I rooted for Darth Hozan of course. Show him the red lightsaber, Hozan!! He did nothing of the kind, though. Shohozan kind of hopped up, bonked Daishomaru lightly on the head, and slapped him soundly on the ass in trying to get a rear belt grip. During this Daishomaru calmly made his move: pivoted and turned and twirled and whirled, with Shohozan holding on for the ride and eventually getting slung, spinning like a hog on a spit, to the clay, kote-nage. At 4-9, at least we know Daishomaru won't be troubling us in the jo'i again next tournament.

K Tamawashi (7-5) vs. M4 Kaisei (8-4)
This match was a mess. I figure Tamawashi wanted it, because he needs 8 to say Komusubi or Sekiwake, but Kaisei either didn't or was really sloppy. He spent the entire bout with his side to Tamawashi, just like he spent the final second of his marquee bout two days ago against Mitakeumi. Tamawashi had trouble finishing him off; Kaisei had gotten one little arm pull in there that goofed Tamawashi's line up. So after that it was Tamawashi chasing and Kaisei trying to get far enough away to have time to catch his balance. Didn't work: Tamawashi caught up to him and bashed into him and knocked him over, oshi-taoshi. One of my favorite kimari-te, but best not to spend too much time on this bout.

S Ichinojo (6-6) vs. M6 Chiyotairyu (7-5)
If you lodged a ten-ton bomb in the gut of a humpback whale and set it off, what would happen? Let's find out! Boom! Went Chiyotairyu. Shudder! Went the massive bulk that is Ichinojo. It was a nice moment, but the fun ended there. The remainder of the bout was a whole lot of shullbit: Chiyotairyu went all Takakeisho on us, wiggling around his little hands in a pantomime of pulling. Ichinojo advanced on him, but not very much, and then turned to the side, letting Chiyotairyu get a grip on his belt. Even from there Ichinojo kind of had to stand around and wait for Chiyotairyu to push him out, oshi-dashi. I suggest you go watch internet video of the exploding whale from Oregon instead, which is real thing, and which you will almost certainly like.

M6 Endo (8-4) vs. O Takayasu (8-4)
It is fitting that this is the one that clocks in to put a quiet end to the "other bouts that happened today" section, because with both boys just off the yusho pace and a kachi-koshi already in hand, there was nothing of consequence happening around this match, much loved by the crowd though it was. Anyway, Takayasu face-slapped little Endo, grabbed Endo's belt on the outside, and used his superior size and strength to railroad Endo straight to the end of the line, where he shot him and laid him out covered with quick-lime in the quarry, yori-kiri.

Tomorrow Mike addresses this question regarding the yusho winner: "whoooooooooo are you, who who, who who?"

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
My usual routine during a basho is to read the headlines at the end of a given day just to see if there's any spin or talking points that seem to be a common thread in the media. One such topic appeared yesterday after day 11, and then Mainoumi repeated it again at the start of the day 12 broadcast, and the sentiment was that he'd like to see Mitakeumi clinch the yusho as soon as possible before any nerves start to set in.  Hakkaku Richijo said nearly the identical thing last night, and several of the media outlets picked it up, and my reaction to that is similar to earlier in the basho when Mainoumi mentioned that he'd like to see Endoh go all the way and vy for the yusho.

My comments at the time were that Mainoumi was treating the yusho as if it was some sort of popularity contest, and now multiple people involved with the day to day operations of sumo and the broadcast are saying they want Mitakeumi to win before he gets too nervous. Isn't the yusho something that should be hard? Shouldn't it be a reward for solid sumo and mental toughness? In theory, yes, but winning the Makuuchi yusho has become as diluted as a penny stock the last few years, and it means about the same now as a Japanese rikishi being promoted to Ozeki or Yokozuna.

While we've already discussed the topic of the foreign rikishi completely pulling back this basho, that fact was confirmed today when NHK posted their leaderboard down to three losses, and there was nary a foreigner to be found. I'll bet the last time on Day 12 that you could go three losses deep from the person in the lead on day 12 and NOT find a foreigner would put you back close to the Showa Era. The odds of that happening today in a straight-up world are literally zero. And yet, read it and weep:



Zensho:  Mitakeumi
Two losses:  Tochiohzan, Asanoyama
Three losses:  Goeido, Endoh, Yutakayama, Hokutofuji

Job well done, Sumo Association. Job well done.

While I would normally think it crazy for NHK to push their leaderboard to three losses deep at the start of day 12, in the case of this basho, there's still a lot of vulnerability and instability at the top, and so I can see them working. Today, let's start with the Sumotalk leaderboard first (which goes down to two losses) and then move down to the three-loss rikishi next.

In the two-loss rikishi category, M13 Tochiohzan was up first, and he needed to solve M9 Myogiryu. You could see from the start that Tochiohzan was looking for the pull because he failed to strike hard at the tachi-ai in order to get anything to the inside. On the flip side, Myogiryu did come forward well getting the right arm inside first, and with Tochiohzan already thinking pull, the left inside and a quick oshi-dashi was just a spot on a match. Instead of moro-zashi, Myogiryu chose to push into Oh's right teet at the end with the left hand, but he coulda done anything he wanted since Tochiohzan was looking pull and Myogiryu was looking to charge forward. Tochiohzan fell three off the pace at 9-3, and this is a perfect example of the nerves that are involved in a yusho race, so to see people say they hope Mitakeumi gets the yusho before he's tested just doesn't make sense to me. Test the dudes and let's see what they're made of. As for Myogiryu, he picks up a big win and kachi-koshi in the process setting now at 8-4.

That brings us to M13 Asanoyama who faced the tallest task of the day against M4 Kaisei. Would the Brasilian be as sympathetic to Asanoyama's cause as he was against Mitakeumi yesterday? Kaisei reached for and established the right arm inside at the tachi-ai sending the bout to migi-yotsu before Kaisei next attempted to position himself for the left outer grip. Asanoyama was in a pickle at this point because it was clear Kaisei was trying to win, but credit Asa for sensing it and lifting Kaisei upright on his right side denying him the outer grip. With Kaisei upright a bit, Asanoyama went for a quick force-out charge, and really, it was the right move at that time because he wasn't going to out deul Kaisei technically. The move forced Kaisei back a step, but he quickly and easily countered with a right scoop throw that now sent Asanoyama off balance with his back to the ring's edge. That throw by Kaisei actually gave him moro-zashi, and while Asanoyama was able to maki-kae with the right, he was already upright, at the ring's edge, and on his way out. This was a great tactical bout of sumo from both parties, but it was also telling in a few ways. First, Kaisei did not give this same effort yesterday against Mitakeumi...not even close. Second, Asanoyama gave Kaisei a pretty good shot, but it wasn't nearly enough demonstrating just how wide the gap is between the foreign rikishi and the Japanese rikishi. There was just no way Asanoyama was going to win this bout unless Kaisei let him. It doesn't mean that Asa can't get to that point, but he's not there yet. I wonder if he was thinking afterwards, "Why didn't Kaisei volunarily turn his body 90 degrees for me?!" The dude falls to 9-3, but he should keep his head high. He's had a great basho, and I've enjoyed watching him. As for Kaisei, he clinches kachi-koshi at 8-4 with the nice win.

And that brings us to the day's final bout featuring Ozeki Takayasu against our leader, Sekiwake Mitakeumi. Takayasu came with a dual kachi-age at the tachi-ai, but Mitakeumi absorbed it well getting his left arm firmly to the inside. As Takayasu tried to squirm away with his own shallow left inside position, Mitakeumi failed to keep him in place sacrificing the firm left inside position for a right outer grip. The dust settled a bit at this point with both guys still in the center of the ring with Mitakeumi maintaining a strong right outer grip but the weak left inside position. Furthermore, the Sekiwake's footing was not grounded to the dohyo well, and it disallowed him from taking command of the bout. The two hunkered down at this point, and essentially, Takayasu had to wait for Mitakeumi to make the first move and then react. The move came in the form of a dashi-nage attempt, but Mitakeumi couldn't force the Ozeki over and out. Instead, Takayasu was able to spin out of the move 360 degrees as he darted to the side going for a desperate pull of the charging Mitakeumi. The result was Takayasu attempting to tip-toe the tawara long enough for Mitakeumi to step out.



Watching live I thought that Takayasu won the bout because I could clearly see Mitakeumi step out before Takayasu made his first step out of the ring, but watching the instant replays, it looked to me as if Takayasu's left toe grazed the sand before Mitakeumi stepped out. One problem with the replay was that Kyokutenho's melon was in the way as he sat ringside to judge, so you couldn't quite see for sure the instant Mitakeumi stepped out. The ref ended up flinching towards Takayasu but then pointing to Mitakeumi, and they rightly called a mono-ii and went to the tape.

As I mentioned, I thought Takayasu lost watching the tape, but the judges determined that his toe was still on the straw when Mitakeumi stepped out, and so they reversed the call giving Takayasu the win. Perhaps they had more angles than we did, but whatever: gunbai to Takayasu instead. The result is Mitakeumi's being saddled with his first loss at 11-1 while Takayasu picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4. Even bigger than that is it now opens the door for the three-loss rikishi, and just ask the Japanese soccer team how comfortable their two goal lead over Belgium was in the second half.

A couple of notes from the bout...first, from the video replay I had access to, I thought Mitakeumi should have been awarded the win. He wasn't of course, and it's his own fault. He had the left inside position and right outer grip, but he wasn't able to finish with it. And we're not talking about his defeating Ichinojo or even Kaisei chest to chest. Takayasu shoulda been an easy kill from that position, but Mitakeumi wasn't able to put a stamp on it. The entire problem with earning the majority of wins against mukiryoku opponents is that when you have to pick up that big win against a guy gunning for you, you're not prepared. That was clearly the case today. A true 11-0 rikishi in that position dumps his foe down to the dirt with ease. Mitakeumi's dashi-nage was so soft he allowed his foe to time a 360 and still score on the pull down. I dunno, this bout was just a microcosm of the quality of sumo these days. When we're talking the yusho race, I hate for it to be decided based on the better tightrope walker.

With Mitakeumi's loss, that suddenly put the three-loss rikishi at the start of the day in play, so let's next turn to those four dudes who happened to be paired against each other in two separate bouts.

Goeido needed to solve M6 Endoh in order to keep his yusho hopes alive, and the Ozeki actually connected on a hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the left hand and getting the left arm to the inside. It wasn't the sweetest move you've ever seen, but it was detectable, so credit the dude. Before the two could really get settled into a yotsu contest, however, Endoh took a page out of Kaisei's book yesterday turning to the side for no reason and going for a dumb pull that allowed Goeido to just rush him out of the ring in mere seconds. While I think Goeido is actually capable of beating Endoh straight up, Endoh clearly did not want to hinder the Ozeki's slim yusho hopes, and so he didn't even try to win. Besides, Endoh's been gifted enough this basho as he falls to 8-4 while Goeido is now back in the yusho hunt at 9-3. If you watched the World Cup, Vertonghen's header against Japan completely changed the feel of that game, and Goeido has the chance to repeat the act as he faces Mitakeumi tomorrow potentially narrowing the gap to one loss with two days to go.

M9 Yutakayama has obviously watched film of his opponent, M16 Hokutofuji, because when Fuji did his usual shade left thing at the tachi-ai, Yutakayama was there to greet him with a fistfull of...well, open fists. Yutakayama put Hokutofuji on the run early with a nice flurry of shoves, and then as Fuji looked to evade left, Yutakayama caught him with a nice left side-swipe pushing Hokutofuji further off balance, and before he could recover, Yutakayama had him pushed back and out in one of my favorite bouts on the day. Yutakayama moves to 9-3 with the win and is now in the hunt at just two back. As for Hokutofuji, he'll lick his wounds for sure, but he's still kachi-koshi at 8-4.

With the results of the three-loss rikishi on up, here is how the true leaderboard now shapes up heading into day 13:

11-1: Mitakeumi
9-3: Goeido, Yutakayama, Asanoyama, Tochiohzan

I would be shocked if Goeido lets up for Mitakeumi tomorrow, so the Sekiwake needs to be prepared. Ask me at the start of the basho, and I say that Mitakeumi is the better rikishi of the two. Ask me now and I say it's fiddy-fiddy. Goeido thinks he's on a bit of a roll, and Mitakeumi knows how illegitimate his record is, and so I think the nerves that Hokutoumi and Mainoumi were talking about will be a factor tomorrow. While I'm not really anticipating great sumo, there is drama.

In other bouts of interest, Sekiwake Ichinojo got his right arm to the inside against M4 Kagayaki, but he didn't pull his gal in chest to chest, and so Kagayaki was able to actually bump the Mongolith back a step, but as he did so, he exposed his own right side to a left outer grip from Ichinojo, and from there it was curtains. Well, Ichinojo slowed things down as he is wont to do tiring his opponent out, and with Kagayaki desperate for anything, he attempted a maki-kae with the left, but that was the momentum shift Ichinojo needed as he pivoted to his own left and unleashed an outer belt throw as he pulled down at Kagayaki's head with the right hand. It wasn't a textbook throw, but it got the job done as Ichinojo whistles dixie to 6-6 while Kagayaki falls to make-koshi at 4-8.

M3 Abi came with his usual tsuppari where he stands straight upright and then actually moves backwards, but instead of taking advantage of it, Komusubi Shohozan rushed forward with little contact of his own, and at the first swipe attempt from Abi, Shohozan put both palms to the dirt and caught the rest of his body from going down. You know that obvious sign by now as Abi has been gifted all three of his wins this basho (the two other wins came from the Yokozuna). As for Shohozan, he falls to the same 3-9 mark and has learned just how much Komusubi are expected to let up for the darlings.

Komusubi Tamawashi and M2 Chiyonokuni traded shoves from the tachi-ai before Tamawashi timed a nice swipe at the side of Kuni's left shoulder sending him over and off balance. As Tamawashi rushed forward to finish off his work, Chiyonokuni squared up on a dime assuming moro-zashi, but before he could position himself and apply pressure against the Komusubi, Tamawashi went for a quick kote-nage with the right that sent Chiyonokuni down in some pain. Even before Kuni hit the dirt, he was clutching at his left elbow, and in watching the replays, Chiyonokuni's arm was at an odd angle to the inside, so when Tamawashi applied pressure, the joint took the brunt of the force instead of the upper arm. Remember the old Kaio-nage days? Tamawashi moves to 7-5 with the win while Chiyonokuni may have to withdraw at 6-6.

M1 Shodai came with a kachi-age against M5 Daishomaru keeping his opponent upright and allowing him to grab the front of Daishomaru's belt with the left, and as Daishomaru looked to evade and pull, Shodai just stayed square lifting him up by the belt and forcing him across without argument. Shodai moves to 4-8 with the easy win while Daishomaru falls to 3-9.

M7 Takarafuji got both arms to the inside against M2 Ikioi at the tachi-ai, but he pulled his left arm to the outside gifting Ikioi the right inside and turning the bout to migi-yotsu. And when I say gift, I'm not talking about blatant, mukiryoku sumo; I'm just pointing out how stupid a move it was. Anyway, with both rikishi in migi-yotsu now, they kept their cans back jockeying in the center of the ring for prolly 20 seconds or so before Ikioi mounted a charge leading with the right arm to the inside. Takarafuji really made no effort to counter laterally and took it standing up in the end. Ikioi moves to 7-5 with the win while Takarafuji falls to 5-7.

M6 Chiyotairyu and M3 Takakeisho were synchronized perfectly today striking each other from the tachi-ai with two hands apiece and then swiping their arms down low as if to pull. Both reloaded at the same time going for another simultaneous shove into each other followed by two more pull attempts down low. This repeated itself three or four times before Takakeisho finally moved left as Chiyotairyu came forward for yet another shove. Chiyotairyu went down rather easily, but I can't call this a definitive fixed bout. What I will say is that Chiyotairyu coulda kicked his opponent's ass if he would have consistently driven those stumps of his forward. Regardless, he falls to 7-5 while Takakeisho picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4.

The fans are starting bring more and more Yoshikaze banners indicating sympathy for the M5, but he'd get none of that from M10 Chiyomaru who greeted Monster Drink with a nice moro-te-zuki before swiping his hands down the body and moving left causing Yoshikaze to stumble forward to the edge. Just as he squared back up, Maru was there to greet him with a final shove that made it an even dozen nails now in Yoshikaze's o'fer coffin. Chiyomaru survives at 5-7 with the win.

M7 Daieisho caught M16 Meisei with two hands to the neck forcing the rookie back a step, and then as Meisei attempted to duck back into the fray, Daieisho slapped him down easy as you please. Meisei suffers make-koshi now at 4-8 while Daieisho's kachi-koshi hopes are hanging on at 5-7.

M12 Arawashi offered a feeble right arm M8 Kyokutaisei's way as the latter henka'd left grabbing the left outer grip in the process. Instead of squaring back up, Arawashi just went along for the right clutching Kyokutaisei's belt with the right hand but doing nothing to counter. Facing no resistance, Kyokutaisei was able to drag Arawashi around a bit before pushing his upright foe back and across making it official. Kyokutaisei moves to 5-7 with the gift while Arawashi falls to 3-9.

M8 Chiyoshoma reached for the right frontal grip at the tachi-ai against M11 Onosho, but he quickly pulled that arm back and faked a couple of one-handed pulls that started at the top of Onosho's head instead of the back or the neck. When I saw that, the red yaocho light blinked on, and it was a matter of Chiyoshoma staying upright and allowing Onosho to connect on a nice shove. Chiyoshoma unsurprisingly whiffed on his counter attempt to shove, and with the Mongolian now bent over, Onosho rushed forward and pushed him back and out as Chiyoshoma faked a final pull attempt. Chiyoshoma keeps pace with Arawashi falling to 3-9 with yet another mukiryoku performance while Onosho moves to 7-5.

M14 Okinoumi got the left arm inside against M10 Nishikigi, and he was flirting with the right hand as well. Nishikigi did well to choke off that right arm, but he attempted a careless, early force-out charge that allowed Okinoumi to get that right arm inside for reals thus giving him moro-zashi. Once in moro-zashi, Okinoumi was able to withstand Nishikigi's initial charge and then turn the tables by marching his foe all the way across and out of the ring on the other side. Okinoumi picks up a big win in terms of staying in the division at 6-6 while Nishikigi still has room to breath at 5-7.

Something you rarely see from M11 Aoiyama is a tachi-ai henka, but sure enough, he moved right today and slapped M15 Ryuden down in half a second. Ryuden put both palms to the dirt and easily caught himself, so it wouldn't surprise me if he knew it was coming. Since there are much bigger fish to fry in sumo these days, I'm surprised by how little the henka bothers me anymore. Aoiyama moves to 7-5 with the quick and dirty win while Ryuden falls to 6-6.

Don't look now, but the sad man is on the brink of kachi-koshi. Today against M15 Ishiura, M12 Sadanoumi got the right arm underneath Ishiura's left, and when Ishiura wasn't able to shake him, Sadanoumi just pressed forward well shoving Ishiura back and across in mere moments. Sadanoumi moves to 7-5 with the nice win while Ishiura falls to 5-7.

And finally, it was really nice to see Takanoiwa back in the division visiting from Juryo to take on M14 Kotoeko. Prior to the bout, not a single word was mentioned about the whole scandal surrounding this dude nor did they comment about his serious injuries and how well he's recovered. It was as if the whole incident never happened, and it amazes me how certain aspects of Japanese society are so blatant yet go unspoken. An example I've used in the past is that gambling is illegal in Japan and yet you see pachinko parlors on every corner. Course, they are slowly starting to introduce casinos now so they can fleece even more money from the citizens, but that's beside the point. Today Takanoiwa was his old self pounding Kotoeko back from the tachi-ai looking to get inside, and when Kotoeko tried to recover by ducking back into the fray, Takanoiwa slapped him silly and down for the nice, emphatic win. At 11-1, Takanoiwa will be back in Makuuchi for September, and that's all we need right? Another foreigner to muck things up? As for Kotoeko, he'll just trade places with Takanoiwa next basho as he falls to 3-9.

Harvye's back tomorrow to break it all down.

Day 11 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
On Day 9 I decided I didn't need to talk about the yusho race yet; still felt early. Plenty of time to focus on it on Day 11. Now Day 11 is here, and instead it feels the tournament is all wrapped up: Mitakeumi is running away with it. You could feel that coming: it has been somewhat of open season against the Ozeki, and the way Takayasu won by mistake on Day 9, then got thrashed by Kaisei on Day 10, combined with the deference wrestlers were showing Mitakeumi... it seems like it is over. Anything can happen, of course; Mitakeumi has a history of weak finishes. However, sumo also has a habit of writing off the last five days once storylines are set: even Terunofuji got this carpet-ride treatment when he won. Mitakeumi won't need to earn it from here if everyone is ready for him to win, and it looks like they are. You can feel it.

Who are his competitors? The Ozeki are both three losses behind him, and there is barely anyone to give him losses the last four days: he doesn't have to fight Tochinoshin, Hakuho, or Kakuryu. (As Mike laid out yesterday, his last four bouts should be Takayasu, Goeido, Ichinojo, and probably either Endo or Chiyotairyu. It's Kaisei today). There is an outside scenario of Mitakeumi wilting, both Ozeki beating him, and a big come-from-behind yusho from Takayasu or Goeido. But the content is not there; they haven't looked like winners: not on skill, and not on the politics you can see on display in the effort levels against them, which have often been surprisingly and gratifyingly high.

The two-loss chasers are Tochiohzan and Asanoyama, deep on the banzuke as your two M13s, and I don't think they will be allowed to take this basho from there. If Mitakeumi drops a few and Asanoyama or Tochiohzan suddenly find themselves more in the thick of it, they'll be asked to drop one or two as well. Mike raises the interesting possibility of a swan song, poetic yusho victory for Tochiohzan, six years after his painful failure to take it in the wide open, wild 2012 Nagoya basho. That would be kind of beautiful, and I must admit it occurred to me as well a few days ago, but I just don't think sumo wants to go that way. I think sumo wants a new Japanese star, and that they've been waiting for Mitakeumi for a while, and are now willing to speed that narrative up.

So, as this strange tournament wends its way, we get the spectacle of Daishomaru fighting in the last match of the day, and yusho candidate Asanoyama fighting in the third match of the day against a 5-5 M10. I'm putting pretty much all my money on Mitakeumi. The real question to me right now is next basho: what happens to him then? That's the problem with this kind of unnatural set-up.

But let's continue to focus on the here and now for a moment:

M15 Ryuden (6-4) vs. M11 Onosho (5-5)
Onosho moved forward with some wicked hands to the neck, and Ryuden fell down in front of him, hiki-otoshi. I watched this three times, looking for the "hiki," which means "pull," but only saw the "otoshi," or the "fall." Onosho was moving forward when Ryuden crashed; there was no hiki at all. Ryuden did slip with his back foot. And Onosho's attack was nice and aggressive. Moving right along...

M11 Aoiyama (5-5) vs. M12 Arawashi (3-7)
Aoiyama grabbed Arawashi by the face and neck and slid him back and out like a wheelbarrow loaded with Styrofoam in this oshi-dashi trouncing. It was so lopsided I thought Arawashi was waiting for a false start to be called and wasn't trying to do anything for that reason. Who knows? Aoiyama is big and powerful enough to accomplish something like this on his own from time to time.

M13 Asanoyama (8-2) vs. M10 Nishikigi (5-5)
I expected a loss for Asanoyama. I think sometimes the powers ask guys who don't belong in the yusho race to tone it down a bit and get out of the way, not complicate the pairing work and the narrative too much, not distract. But there are few enough guys in the race, and five days to go, so that wasn't necessary. They both got inside right belt grips, and the early going was all Asanoyama, doing some hard body heaves to ratchet himself deep enough in to get those grips. This brought them well into Nishikigi's half of the dohyo. They rested there, but only for a moment, then Nishikigi did a maki-kae: moved his left arm inside, giving him dual inside grips. He strained mightily to do something with this, but Asanoyama was not fazed by it; he continued his attack, and pulled a maki-kae of his own, getting his right arm inside again. Soon the dust settled with Nishikigi on the wrong side of the tawara, yori-kiri, and Asanoyama successfully defending second place. Good--his sumo this basho has been excellent.

M10 Chiyomaru (4-6) vs. M16 Meisei (3-7)
Chiyomaru looked like Takakeisho for a moment: push-pause-push. However, Meisei ignored that and, during one of the pauses, rushed in underneath, grabbed up on the belt, and bouldered the now-too-close and compromised Chiyomaru out, yori-kiri.  I do think Chiyomaru had a chance to break Meisei's head off backwards for a moment there when Meisei first got real close, but it was nice of him not to do it because then Meisei would be all dead and stuff.

M12 Sadanoumi (6-4) vs. M9 Yutakayama (7-3)
Yutakayama decided he would go ahead and snap Sadanoumi's head right off with some nice arm shoves, but the head didn't come off that way. So Yutakayama thought, "okay, well, maybe you have to twist this cap in the other direction." So he pulled down on that head instead and stepped to the side. And lo! That head still did not come off, but the body of the Sad Man tumbled dramatically to the dirt, floppy and spent, hataki-komi. Song of the Sad Man: "No one bites back as hard / on their anger / none of my pain and woe / can show through."

M9 Myogiryu (7-3) vs. M16 Hokutofuji (7-3)
Both of these guys have had nice tournaments, and I'm happy for them. Something had to give here. Hokutofuji went with a right throat grip, but he also went with his by now standard shade to the side at the tachi-ai. Neither thing worked very well, as the lively Myogiryu drove him promptly to the bales. However, Hokutofuji moved to the side once more, as neat as you please, and tumbled Myogiryu to the dirt tsuki-otoshi a split second before he himself passed to the wrong side of the straw. Not a great one for two guys with .700 winning percentages.

M8 Chiyoshoma (3-7) vs. M15 Ishiura (4-6)
As with his twin Arawashi before him, this one was just time for Chiyoshoma to continue his complete give-up by sealing his make-koshi. Ishiura's tachi-ai was terrible, as he almost sat down backwards on his butt in his awkwardness. Fortunately for him, Chiyoshoma stood up, offered weak arms, laid those arms on top of Ishiura's back, and made a mockery of a pull that was closer to pantomime. Chiyoshoma's effort was zero in this one until Ishiura got him right to the edge, where Chiyoshoma put some strain in it in time for Ishiura to duck down and lift him up and out, yori-kiri. Chiyoshoma made Ishiura look like a powerfully charging ram. Chiyoshoma a goat. Spitted for roasting.

M14 Okinoumi (4-6) vs. M7 Daieisho (4-6)
I've been singing Daieisho's praises, and he aggressed manfully here with hard hands to the face and neck as usual, but you know what? Against the better guys it doesn't do much. Okinoumi watched him for a while, a big brother annoyed by little brother but well in control, then, sure that he was safe of a pull, that he had the thing measured, that he understood the rhythm of the bout, Okinoumi pushed Daieisho on out of there, oshi-dashi. This is why we wonder why Okinoumi hasn't excelled, and does things like putting up a 5-6 record at M14: he has a great package of skills that should make him a perennial Sekiwake challenger, but shows zero fire to consistently leverage them.

M7 Takarafuji (4-6) vs. M14 Kotoeko (3-7)
As you know, I find Takarafuji's passive style frustrating. However, this match was a good example of why he does it: against a guy like Kotoeko it works fine. Takarafuji stood rather too tall, aggressed rather too little, and mostly stood there and waited for something to happen in his favor. And lo! Kotoeko offered both arms at the same time straight into Takarafuji's grip, and Takarafuji had him all wrapped up. He slid him around a little before felling him with a miniature uwate-nage.

M13 Tochiohzan (8-2) vs. M6 Chiyotairyu (7-3)
And here we are, still short of the break, with a major yusho-race bout. Whew! How about that for excitement! And to think we have guys like Kyokutaisei still to come! The crowd was about as prepared for this match as I was: they showed all the excitement that they would for, say, Chiyonokuni vs. Shohozan. Probably less. They were busy checking their cell phones, chatting, getting more tako-yaki, and waiting for the important matches to come (can Daishomaru upset Goeido in the musubi-no-ichiban?!?!). Oops, here we go: hmmm, maybe Mike is right and Tochiozan has the backstage Juice to pull this tournament out? Chiyotairyu totally gave it to him. Drove him right to the bales, then stopped there, started pulling, and pulled his way all the way to a loss, oshi-dashi. You could tell by the lack of urgency in Tochiozan's attack that he knew it was coming. Hmmm. The plot thickens.

Okay, back to the higher ranked guys...

M8 Kyokutaisei (3-7) vs. M5 Yoshikaze (0-10)
Kyokutaisei pulled and evaded, pushed a bit, then pulled and evaded again. On his second retreat he took a good grip on Yoshikaze's head, and gave it a good twist while moving out of the way. Down crashed Yoshikaze, sukui-nage. My, what a tournament for Yoshikaze.

M6 Endo (7-3) vs. M3 Takakeisho (7-3)
Like Hokutofuji and Myogiryu a few bouts ago, another match up of 7-3 guys who can be imagined to have a stake in the yusho race, but a little higher up and more popular. So this was another one to pay some mild attention to. The match was all Takakeisho in terms of style: very big pushes, very silly looking, too long pauses where he wiggled his hands up and down on little pull feints. Then Endo stepped to the side, but more important, Takakeisho put his head down and dove to the dirt, hiki-otoshi. So the outcome was all Endo: all hype, all plan, all happy, bah bah, bleat, bleat.

M3 Abi (2-8) vs. M4 Kagayaki (3-7)
I'll give Abi credit for being a little more focused today: instead of leaping about like a frog on fire, he mostly kept one hand right in Kagayaki's soft and tender throat. However, Kagayaki stepped to the side when he needed to and turned the line of the bout in his favor. He also got some face shoves of his own in at that point before grabbing Abi around the body and escorting him to the other side of the ring. There, Abi pushed him down, but the gyoji ruled Abi's foot went out first, oshi-dashi. I'm pretty sure that's wrong and that Kagayaki fell first, but this match was a big mess so if the decision was a mess too, that's fine.

M1 Shodai (2-8) vs. M41 Kotoshogiku (3-7)
Kotoshogiku withdrew, problem with his arm muscle.  Okay, fine. Is it time to retire yet? I wrote "M41" by mistake, I see, but I think I'll just leave it like that.

M2 Chiyonokuni (6-4) vs. K Shohozan (2-8)
Hoo, boy.  Chiyonokuni has assembled six wins out of a pile of total garbage, and Shohozan is getting done like Komusubi traditionally get done. Here they are to entertain us near the end of the day. "I almost don't dare to go on." But on we go. It was a pretty good looking one, too. Shohozan kept his feet apart, his focus strong, and belted Chiyonokuni soundly in the noggin with tight blows. Chiyonokuni tried blows of his own and pulls and evasion; his standard mix, but satisfyingly feisty and wickedly evil. In the end Darth Hozan caught Chiyonokuni by the side and shunted him to the dirt, uwate-dashi-nage. Pile losses on Chiyonokuni quickly please, and send him back down to lower Makuuchi with guys like Ishiura and Daishomaru where he belongs.

K Tamawashi (6-4) vs. M2 Ikioi (5-5)
Tamawashi maintained well here. Ikioi is known for his strength, and Tamawashi wasn't doing much but holding his ground: holding onto Ikioi's melon and peering at him. But hold his ground he did. That was set up for his charge, but he charged too low and too recklessly, and when Ikioi did the inevitable and evaded hard and fast at the tawara, he spun Tamawashi impressively through the air like a barrel down a ski ramp. Problem for Ikioi was, he was flying through the air himself at this point: his feet were way beyond the tawara when Tamawashi's rolling staves impacted the soil. The gyoji gave it to Ikioi, but the judges gave them a do over, and that was the right decision. The rematch was pretty much a copy of the first match, with less oomph and style: a little maintenance and little face shoving by Tamawashi, then a little charge by Tamawashi, then a little stepping to the side and a little head pulling by Ikioi, accompanied by a lot of falling down by Tamawashi, hataki-komi. Sigh. I dunno.

M4 Kaisei (7-3) vs. S Mitakeumi (10-0)
And suddenly, here we are at the big match of the day. Man, oh man, has it been hard to mount any enthusiasm for this day of sumo. Perhaps I'm just impatient for the big Goeido-Daishomaru face-off! Mitakeumi looked a lot like Hokutofuji here: a little scared. He did that move slightly to the left just off the tachi-ai, defensive. He needn't have worried; Kaisei was intent on giving it to him. Kaisei applied no pressure, and when Mitakeumi felt that, he knew enough to attack hard in response, his arms flapping all over the flobber of Kaisei's flabby body. Wildly undisciplined, totally and desperately effective. Kaisei helpfully turned towards the side at the end, assisting Mitakeumi in the final push out, oshi-dashi. The announcers were intent on talking about how Mitakeumi had "climbed a big mountain." Yes, this ties his high for upper division wins, his first time at 11 since January of 2017. This tournament is also the first time breaking double-digits above the Maegashira rank: since that January tournament, his win totals are: 9 / 8 / 9 / 8 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 9. A lackluster and frustrating year and a half for him, to be sure, but yes, he appears to have put that problem to bed. And Kaisei tucked him in. The tournament continues to congeal around him.

S Ichinojo (4-6) vs. O Takayasu (7-3)
As another sign of that congelation, Ichinojo went ahead and beat Takayasu, who has been knocked around this second week and never looked in it to win it. In this match there were a lot of little hand slaps, pulls, and shoves, then a moment where they tried to get to each other's belts. A couple of maki-kae's didn't work, and so it was back to slappery. Finally, Ichinojo landed a neck shove that had some swagger and sent Takayasu into a stagger, right across the straw, oshi-dashi. The field continues to clear for Mitakeumi.

O Goeido (7-3) vs. M5 Daishomaru (3-7)
And at last, the moment we'd all been waiting for! Daishomaru headlining Day 11! Against the mighty mighty Goeido! The mind reels. I almost don't dare to go on! Goeido put his right arm under Daishomaru's left armpit and tipped him onto one foot, and Daishomaru went hop, hop, hop while Goeido brought him to the edge. There, Goeido finished throwing him down by the head, yori-taoshi. Being the Ozeki he is, Goeido also found himself with both toes perilously lined up on the straw, moments from going out himself, despite Daishomaru having done nothing to harm him. Well, that's the glory of being Goeido. Snatching agony from the jaws of victory, or however that goes. I'm all done.

Tomorrow Mike sings ooh wa, ooh wa, ooh wah, ooh wa, ooh wa, ooh.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
This tournament reminds me a lot of the 2012 Natsu basho. That was the tournament where Kyokutenho scored his lone yusho, and it was also the last time I can remember that all elite foreign rikishi simply pulled back early on paving the way for a Japanese rikishi to yusho. It was quite a transitory time for Sumotalk. The year before I mentioned how I was reading between the lines in the press that Japan was desperate for new Ozeki due to to Kaio's pending retirement, and before the year was through, Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku were ram-rodded into the elite rank.

I mentioned the next disturbance in the force at the Hatsu 2012 basho when they had to take down the last yusho portrait of a Japanese rikishi hanging in the Kokugikan. You had to go all the way back to 2006 for the last time a Japanese rikishi was gifted..er..uh took the yusho in Tochiazuma, and I could just tell by the ripples in the media that people did not like it that a Japanese dude would no longer have his picture hanging in the ring of yusho winners going back the last six years, and so I warned everyone that they might be setting up for a Japanese yusho.

The Hatsu basho that year and the Haru basho that year were quite uneventful, but all of a sudden entering day 10 of the Natsu basho, this is how the elite foreigners responsible for all of the six previous years' worth of yusho (sans Asashoryu) stood on this same day six years and one basho ago:

Yokozuna Hakuho: 5-4
Ozeki Harumafuji: 5-4
Ozeki Baruto: 6-3
Ozeki Kotooshu: 6-3
Ozeki Kakuryu: 7-2

The majority of those guys finished the basho at 8-7 with Hakuho posting 10 wins and Baruto posting nine. Still, as we entered the shubansen, it was clear that all of the elite foreigners had chosen to pull out of the yusho race, and you could just feel what was coming.

Japan ultimately did not get that coveted Japanese rikishi yusho thanks to the spoiler, Kyokutenho, who technically was a Japanese citizen, but by the time that tournament was done, Sumotalk had drawn an emphatic line that yaocho was as prevalent as ever in sumo and that it was frequently being used to prop up the Japanese rikishi.

At the time, there were still a lot of ostriches burying their heads in the sand refusing to believe the notion that any bout-fixing existed, but six years later, I believe the debate has now become:  just how much yaocho is taking place in sumo? Everyone will see what they want to see--myself included, but I just find it interesting that we're seeing another repeat of the 2012 Natsu basho although we don't have nearly the uproar among the gaijin online community that we did six years ago.

When you have a tournament like this, I think it's too early to break down the yusho while we're still in the chubansen, so let's go in chronological order for one more day.

Up first was M13 Tochiohzan, the rikishi who coincidentally choked against Kyokutenho in the playoff for the 2012 Natsu yusho. His opponent was M15 Ishiura who moved left with his arm up high as if to pull, but Tochiohzan adjusted well trying to get the right arm inside before slapping Ishiura down by the shoulder on the other side as he ducked low. Put 'em on all fours...just the way we like 'em.  Don't look now, but Tochiohzan picks up kachi-koshi with the win at 8-2 and is actually now sitting on the leaderboard, Ishiura falls to 4-6.

M16 Hokutofuji bested M13 Asanoyama at the tachi-ai scoring on a nice choke hold with the left before swiping at Asa's left shoulder sending him off balance to his right. Asanoyama recovered well, but he just couldn't get settled as Hokutofuji choked and pulled just enough to keep command of the bout. The two finally hooked up in migi-yotsu, but Hokutofuji was dictating the pace, and he had a solid right grip on the front of Asanoyama's belt that he used to lift his foe upright in order to set up a yori charge, and Asa only enabled that by going for a desperate pull that spelled his doom. I think this was Hokutofuji's best win in a long time as he moves to 7-3 while Asanoyama falls to a costly 8-2...costly in terms of any yusho hopes.

What's so ironic about this loss is that Asanoyama has no room for error when compared to the dude he's chasing, Mitakeumi. Asanoyama has to win the tachi-ai; he has to make sure his footwork is good; and he has to make sure that everything is in tandem...his feet, his positioning, etc. Contrast that to Mitakeumi who can execute a bad tachi-ai, align his feet during his bout, stay upright the entire time...and still win with ease. If all of Mitakeumi's opponents came at him like Hokutofuji did today towards Asanoyama, he'd be lucky to have four wins. Yaocho's a bitch, but that's the game Asanoyama's gotta play this basho.

M14 Okinoumi was nonchalant at the tachi-ai keeping his arms wide and gifting M12 Sadanoumi the easy path to the right inside, and with Okinoumi not even trying, Sadanoumi just forced him back and across in near linear fashion. Likely some negotiating going on before this bouts as Sadanoumi moves to 6-4 while Okinoumi falls to 4-6.

In similar fashion, M12 Arawashi kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai letting M16 Meisei get all snug with the left arm in their hidari-yotsu bout. You could just see the mukiryoku attitude of Arawashi from there as he willingly let go of his right outer and then stepped into an uchi-gake position only to just flop to the dohyo tripping over Meisei's leg resulting in the soto-gake win for the rookie. Meisei and soto-gake?? Uh huh. Nice display of yaocho here from the Mongolian as both rikishi end the day at 3-7.

M10 Chiyomaru fired his usual thrusts towards M15 Ryuden, but that had little effect, and you could just see Ryuden looking to catch one of those arms over extended so he could pull Maru down to the dirt. Chiyomaru knew this as well, but he couldn't up any pressure on his foe, and so Ryuden was able to move laterally just enough to where he secured the left inside and then moro-zashi, and from there it was yori-kiri curtains as Ryuden picked up the nice win moving to 6-4. Chiyomaru continues his dull sumo as he falls to 4-6.

All anyone has had to do the last year or so is open their eyes to see that Arawashi and Chiyoshoma are obviously selling their services. Arawashi played nice for one rookie, so would M8 Chiyoshoma bow to the other rookie today in M14 Kotoeko? Yes he would as Chiyoshoma agreed to the hidari-yotsu bout from the tachi-ai and then senselessly let go of his right outer grip and faked a neck throw where he just slid outta the move and down as Kotoeko tried to keep up with it all. The end result was okuri-taoshi and Chiyoshoma's putting both palms to the soil so as to not dirty any other part of his body, but like Arawashi before, this was a blatant dive leaving both rikishi in this contest at 3-7.

M8 Kyokutaisei grabbed a left frontal grip from the tachi-ai against M11 Onosho who tried to skirt out of the hold and evade laterally, but Kyokutaisei executed a nice dashi-nage with the grip to throw Onosho off balance. As Onosho looked to square back up, Kyokutaisei was there in his craw firing a few shoves, and that drew a pull attempt from Onosho that Kyokutaisei read well and used to force his foe back with some oomph. Onosho was thoroughly dominated here as he falls to 5-5 while Kyokutaisei picks up a very nice win moving to 3-7 and getting his picture in the funny papers. After the bout, Kitanofuji commented that Onosho can't help not to pull in any of his bouts. True dat.

M7 Takarafuji grabbed a right frontal grip of M9 Yutakayama's belt from the tachi-ai, but instead of pulling his gal in snug, he allowed Yutakayama push him out of that grip. From there, the two traded a few tsuppari before hooking back up in migi-yotsu, but instead of burrowing his right arm in deep, Takarafuji kept it up high, an disadvantage for sure as Yutakayama easily forced him back and across from there. Who can say whether or not this bout was fixed, but Takarafuji really didn't give much effort as he falls to 4-6. As for Yutakayama, he continues his nice run moving to 7-3.

You never like to see M11 Aoiyama step across the starting lines firing tsuppari. Well, you don't like to see that if you're his opponent, but that was the task M7 Daieisho faced today. He last about a second and a half before Aoiyama quickly reversed gears and pulled Daieisho down in uneventful fashion. Aoiyama is even steven now at 5-5 while Daieisho falls to 4-6.

M6 Chiyotairyu pushed M10 Nishikigi up high before immediately switching gears and going for a mammoth pull, and Nishikigi bought into it hook, line, and sinker. Chiyotairyu's attack wasn't that potent today, but whatever as he moves to 7-3 while Nishikigi falls to 5-5.

M9 Myogiryu struck M5 Daishomaru before looking to set up a pull, and so Daishomaru played defense by hunkering in tight against Myogiryu, and at first, it looked as if Myogiryu would get the right arm inside, but with Daishomaru ducking low, Myogiryu just darted left and sprang the trap door wide open slapping Daishomaru down with ease. Myogiryu is a quiet 7-3 while Daishomaru falls to 3-7.

M3 Abi was proactive at the tachi-ai firing hurried tsuppari M3 Takakeisho's way, but Abi's foot were not grounded to the dohyo, and so Takakeisho played a long for a second or two and then immediately dashed left firing a shove into Abi's right side, and it sent Abi sprawling over and down rather easily. Abi suffers make-koshi with the loss at 2-8 and thank the gods for Yoshikaze this basho. As for Takakeisho, he improves to 7-3 with the easy win.

I suppose there's an obvious upside to being a celebrity rikishi like M6 Endoh, but one of the downsides is that more sponsors want to get in on the action before your bouts, and that results in more kensho money being marched around the ring. I think that brick of cash awarded to the winner is too tempting for these guys to pass up, especially when Endoh gets on a "roll" and the money starts piling up. Yutakayama handled Endoh with ease yesterday grabbing the cash, so would M2 Chiyonokuni perform in kind today? Yes he would firing an early left swipe into Endoh's right shoulder from the tachi-ai that sent the M6 dangerously off balance, and as Endoh looked to square back up, Chiyonokuni dominated him with his tsuppari attack. When Endoh realized he couldn't stand there and trade tit for tat, he tried moving left as well going for a swipe, but he misfired on the move and lost his balance, and from there it was an easy push-out from the side for Chiyonokuni to sill the dill. Endoh's a different rikishi when his opponents try and beat him, and for the second day in a row, he's failed to really produce a productive move in his bouts. He falls to 7-3 with the loss while Chiyonokuni picks up a nice wad of cash not to mention a 6-4 record.

M2 Ikioi grabbed the early right outer grip from the tachi-ai against M1 Shodai before trying to work his left arm inside, but Shodai already had moro-zashi, and so Ikioi wasted no time pivoting right and sending Shodai down far too easily with a right outer belt throw. For Shodai not to take advantage of his moro-zashi shows how--I'm trying to be nice here--how little ring sense he actually has. This was far too easy for Ikioi from a disadvantageous position as he moves to 5-5 while Shodai bites the make-koshi bullet at 2-8.

Komusubi Tamawashi agreed to a belt contest with M1 Kotoshogiku, and so the two sorta hooked up in hidari-yotsu. The Geeku was ready for the chest to chest match, but Tamawashi had other thoughts pivoting out right and swinging Kotoshogiku over and out with a mediocre kote-nage attempt. You couldn't really call it a throw, but Kotoshogiku couldn't put on the breaks and ended up running clear off the dohyo and onto the lap of some senior babe in the front row. You really worry about the elderly people getting hurt in a situation like this, but don't worry, Kotoshogiku got up just fine (bada boom). The former Ozeki was actually clutching his left elbow afterwards, so let's see if he can go on from there. At 3-7, there's not much point while Tamawashi improves to 6-4.

I thought chances were good that Sekiwake Ichinojo would give M5 Yoshikaze his first win of the bout, and credit him for at least trying. From the tachi-ai, Ichinojo made no attempt to do anything, especially grab Yoshikaze's belt, and so with the Mongolith completely exposed, Yoshikaze was able to work his way in from there. At this point of his career, Yoshikaze is not strong enough to budge Ichinojo back even if he tried, and so Ichinojo just did it for him walking back a step or two before letting go of his grip over the top and just stranding straight up. I'm not sure if Ichinojo thought he was out of the ring or if he expected Yoshikaze to do at least some of the heavy lifting, but even the announcers called it (chikara wo nuita!). Unfortunately, Yoshikaze wasn't able to recognize the situation, and Ichinojo had been standing there for a full second, so he finally re-engaged his foe and just twisted him down with a right arm hooked around Yoshikaze's left. They ruled it kote-nage, but Ichinojo didn't even move his feet. Regardless, it was an ugly bout where Ichinojo showed that he was more than willing to give up. He moves to 4-6 with the accidental win while Yoshikaze just looks awful at 0-10.

Up next was the darling of the basho, Sekiwake Mitakeumi who was paired against M4 Kagayaki, and after their initial clash, Kagayaki didn't bother firing a single thrust. Instead, he kept his arms high and wide gifting Mitakeumi moro-zashi, and as the Suckiwake began driving him back, Kagayaki faked a maki-kae with the right giving Mitakeumi the easy win in mere seconds. Mitakeumi's feet were aligned after the tachi-ai, and he never did get them in sync to where he was driving with them as he forced Kagayaki back, but when your opponent is mukiryoku, such details are merely trivial. Mitakeumi is gifted a 10-0 start while Kagayaki falls to 3-7.

Talk about calling your yaocho shot. Komusubi Shohozan jumped the gun early today against Goeido putting his arms up high in the air as if to say, "Just do me now," but an over-zealous Musoyama called it back. In the do-over, this time Shohozan came forward with tsuppari lite, and at the first sign of a Goeido swipe, Shohozan just bit the dust falling flat on both palms. Two yaocho for the price of one here as Goeido moves to 7-3 while Shohozan falls to his make-koshi fate at 2-8.

In the day's final affair, I think M4 Kaisei was just too tempted by all that cash that gets marched around the ring for the final bout because he came out and dominated striking Ozeki Takayasu hard and upright before forcing the hidari-yotsu contest. Takayasu burrowed in keeping his arse away from a Kaisei right outer grip, so the two stood in the center of the ring for close to 10 seconds jockeying for position. With Takayasu choosing to react to whatever Kaisei did, the Brasilian moved out right a bit and loaded on a right kote-nage that sent the Ozeki down harder than an Ozeki should ever fall, especially to the hands of an M4 rikishi, but dems da breaks both rikishi end the day at 7-3.

With 10 days in the books now, I think it's finally time for us to post a leaderboard. With five days to go, here's how the yusho race sets up:

10-0: Mitakeumi
8-2: Tochiohzan, Asanoyama

If everything was equal the rest of the way meaning no more yaocho, Tochiohzan is the favorite of that bunch. He's the one with the most storyteller power, and the Association knows it because instead of continuing to pair him with the bottom feeders, they're giving him Chiyotairyu tomorrow. As for Asanoyama, they're not as worried about him thus his pairing against Nishikigi on day 11.

As for Mitakeumi's shejewel, it gets a bit more inneresting. He draws Kaisei tomorrow, and he has yet to fight Ichinojo or either Ozeki. Three of those four are hands down better than the Sekiwake, and anything could happen in his bout against Goeido. Of those four not mentioned, the most likely "fifth" opponent is either Endoh or Chiyotairyu.

Regardless, Mitakeumi's opponents will be favored in the majority of his remaining bouts, so anything can happen the rest of the way. I think another factor that shouldn't be overlooked is the money that floats around the sport. In particular, let's focus on the kensho. Let's say that an average of 12 banners get marched around the ring for Mitakeumi's remaining bouts. That means about $3,500 US goes to the winner. To someone like Christiano Ronaldo or Lebron James, that amount of dough doesn't make them flinch, but what about foreign rikishi who come from poorer countries? Out of curiosity, I looked up the average yearly income from the following countries:

Brasil: $8,148
Mongolia: $1,467
Phillipines: $5,00
Bulgaria: $5,600

When you get towards the end of the basho and the kensho go up--especially for the prime time bouts, these rikishi could make as much by winning a single bout of sumo as they could working an entire year in their home country, and in most cases more. Now, that's not to say that the Mitakeumi camp couldn't come to them and offer $3K or $4K for throwing a bout, but to think that money has no influence on the action of the foreign rikishi is a miscalculation.

It's obvious that everyone is looking for Mitakeumi to take the yusho, and he seems to be the favorite at this point, but he has little to no control over his final five days. It's why Harvye coined the whole Storyteller title to begin with. The Storytellers control their own destiny and the direction of the yusho; the other rikishi don't, and Mitakeumi has little to no Storyteller power as far as I can see. That's why if everything is equal the rest of the way, Tochiohzan is the clear favorite to take the yusho, but five days means the potential for a lotta yaocho to come, and to me, that's the remaining drama surrounding the basho: who will and who won't?

One thing I do know is that Harvye will tomorrow.

Day 9 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
As we slog through the middle portion of this chaotic tournament, let's take a break from fretting about the mass extinction at the top of the banzuke and talk a little bit about bias. That will be fun, right?! Look, I root hard for certain wrestlers and hard against others, and you are privy to that narrative. What I don't talk about, but everyone understands without thinking about it, is that I almost certainly also favor the guys I like in my commentary. That's the way bias is: we carry it around with us, and it affects our judgment. Usually the best we can do is to try to recognize this and mitigate it. We'd be fools if we didn't admit that it seeps into our behavior and makes us say and do things that reflect our biases sometimes more than reality. Duh. So when I'm writing, I'm sure I am more likely to see cheating by guys I don't like, and see guys I like as victims of it, and so on. I'm aware of this bias, and try not to give in to it, but bias is sneaky. I'm sure I get it wrong sometimes and have bias to blame. On a slightly different level, less bias and more preference, I'm happy to go ahead and slag Daishomaru match after match because I don't like his sumo, and find good things to say about Tochinoshin because I do like his. And I don't try to hide that, I just do it. Professional sports journalists are taught to suppress this, but I ain't a professional sport journalist, thank god. And I figure you'd rather hear me be real.

Anyway, as I had been thinking about this, and have given in to my self-indulgence today, I decided to go ahead and make a "Harvye's Bias Banzuke," ranking guys from favorite to least favorite. This will of course change from moment to moment, mood to mood, day to day, situation to situation, but it gives you a pretty good idea of where my biases lie. Up to you to see patterns in it, fair or unfair. What's your bias banzuke? Here's mine:

1. Hakuho
2. Tochinoshin
3. Kagayaki
4. Tamawashi
5. Takakeisho
6. Shohozan
7. Chiyotairyu
8. Chiyomaru
9. Shodai
10. Hokutofuji
11. Arawashi
12. Ichinojo
13. Mitakeumi
14. Asanoyama
15. Onosho
16. Tochiozan
17. Daieisho
18. Kaisei
19. Aoiyama
20. Takarafuji
21. Yutakayama
22. Myogiryu
23. Kotoshogiku
24. Yoshikaze
25. Endo
26. Kakuryu
27. Okinoumi
28. Takayasu
29. Kisenosato
30. Ryuden
31. Chiyoshoma
32. Nishikigi
33. Ikioi
34. Abi
35. Meisei
36. Kyokutaisei
37. Ishiura
38. Sadanoumi
39. Kotoeko
40. Chiyonokuni
41. Goeido
42. Daishomaru

M15 Ishiura (4-4) vs. M13 Asanoyama (7-1)
I don't care for Ishiura because he doesn't have the strength to survive straight up in this division. I like Asanoyama because he has been bringing some thunder. Asanoyama blasted Ishiura hard at the tachi-ai. SMACK! Ishiura was already trying to get away to the side, but Asanoyama stayed with him. Ishiura tried to duck down, but Asanoyama was moving too fast and hard for him. Asanoyama kept the sweaty little man in front of him and oshi-dashi'ed him out, looking like a yusho contender. Why not?

M13 Tochiohzan (6-2) vs. M16 Meisei (2-6)
I've always liked Tochiohzan as a classic pretty-good rikishi with a measurable, easy to follow style that makes him a pleasure to analyze. Meisei may grow on me, but so far I see a little guy without much of a muchness. The match was a lightning affair, a play in two split-second acts. First was Meisei leaping hard into dual inside grips against a wide open Tochiohzan. That is supposed to be Tochiozan's forte, not Meisei's. So I figured Tochiohzan was toast. However, in response Tochiohzan slung Meisei out by the belt and body, sukui-nage, so fast it looked like he was insulted by the whole thing. Tochiohzan is a pretty faded character; if he can do this against Meisei, it is going to be a short summer for Meisei: he looked like a child against a man out there.

M15 Ryuden (4-4) vs. M12 Arawashi (3-5)
I like Ryuden because of his classic sumo physique, but he has done little with it and is a drab character thus far. As for Arawashi, I always have this sense he is twice as good as he lets us see, and could bust out with a really wicked power, speed, and smarts combo at any moment. Years along, and I'm still waiting. But unrequited love's like that. Today, as so many days in the past, he made a fool of my affection: he did nothing and looked like a limp rag. He kind of stuck one arm inside on the left, but the basic story here was that Ryuden drove hard and tight and bulled Arawashi straight out yori-kiri in storm-lashed split seconds.

M12 Sadanoumi (4-4) vs. M14 Kotoeko (2-6)
Sadanoumi is just boring. Smallish and with nothing going on. I don't dislike him; there is just nothing to latch onto. That's how you get nicknamed Sad Man. As for Kotoeko, as with Meisei, who knows, he could make me like him someday, but so far all I've gotten to know if him is eight bouts of badness, and what is there to like in that? The match was the third straight pasting of the day; "what a rush / reminisce / cold crush": Sadanoumi showed veteran strength and presence and made Kotoeko look like he belonged about two divisions down. Sad Man scooped him up by the belt, frontal and below, and freight-trained him out yori-kiri.

M16 Hokutofuji (5-3) vs. M11 Onosho (5-3)
Hokutofuji showed a lot of solid body-sumo gumption early on, and so won my favor as an under-hyped guy with game. That has been ebbing quickly, as he has been a sloppy mess for several tournaments. Onosho I like mostly because of you. Yes, you! You readers seemed to like him, and were very excited by him as a young dude who could possibly be something. So I pricked up my ears, and kind of agreed. I'm still waiting, but there is time. Anyway, Hokutofuji did his thing, moving slightly diagonal at the tachi-ai, but coupled it with a very aggressive and meaningful hand to the shoulder, then neck, and the push was on. Onosho tried to swipe up and get those hands off him, and swipe down and surprise Hokutofuji with a pull, but Hokutofuji had the momentum and never let go it, getting himself a good looking oshi-taoshi win, as he looked mean for a moment at the end, pushing the off balance Onosho over onto the dirt. Good; he could use a little more mean in him.

M10 Chiyomaru (3-5) vs. M14 Okinoumi (4-4)
I admit it; I mostly like Chiyomaru because he's funny lookin'. He's got some sneaky game as a thruster, too. As for Okinoumi, he does so little with all he has, and looks so placid in the ring, he's mostly tiresome. There's still talent to dream on, though. The match was a winner. Chiyomaru won the tachi-ai big time, with a popping sound that knocked the normally redoubtable Okinoumi back like a stripling. Chiyomaru almost bulled him out right there, but Okinoumi absorbed it and let Chiyomaru get close enough that he could grab his belt. That looked like curtains for Chiyomaru, as the belt is not where he wants to be, especially against Okinoumi. However, Chiyomaru survived the toss-move by Okinoumi, and countered with a rip-your-arm-off kote-nage throw of his own that took considerable sumo skill and gave him an emphatic win.

M8 Chiyoshoma (3-5) vs. M11 Aoiyama (3-5)
Chiyoshoma is a carbon copy of Arawashi: tantalizing blend of skills, reprehensible habit of wasting them. It's worse because more blatant, too. Aoiyama? When he is using his hands as jackhammers, he could make it into my top five. However, he spends most of his time with awful, silly looking, sad pulls. I thoroughly tired of that a year or two ago. In this one he did as he should: moved forward, pushed hard, extended those arm, focused them on his opponent's mug (including one hard, flat palm straight to the forehead--fun!). This resulted in a swift and decisive oshi-dashi victory. If he only did that every time...

M10 Nishikigi (4-4) vs. M7 Daieisho (4-4)
Nishikigi is a nothing. You could copyright that and market it. Nishikigi: Nothing! That said, he's like the opposite of Chiyoshoma and Arawashi: he has neither size nor speed nor power nor apparent smarts. Yet he puts together lots of decent efforts. So I've gotten used to him over the years, and he's won my respect, though he's hard to get excited about. He's just kind of, oh, acceptable. Daieisho is fun as an amped fire-plug, a miniature Chiyotairyu working with explosive forward power and little else. He's a pretty good time. Unfortunately, Daieisho didn't show his best here: his hard hands to the face were missing about a hundred kilos of heft in comparison to what Aoiyama had just done, and so they didn't move Nishikigi back much. Daieisho then went all-in with a massive, committed pull-and-retreat, and Nishikigi was right on it and drove him very easily out, oshi-dashi. Nishikigi will take it, but again, it's hard to get excited about Nishikigi: this bout was all about Daieisho. Daieisho tried to win it, then he lost it, and Nishikigi just did a good job of riding his little rollercoaster. So it goes with him.

M7 Takarafuji (4-4) vs. M9 Myogiryu (5-3)
Oh, Takarafuji. Dude looks like the Buddha and is boring, boring, boring with his slow, patient, largely ineffective sumo. His waiting game stuff doesn't work, and I've been waiting for him to cut it out. In fact, I've been waiting for him to do something--anything!--for years, but he's just waiting for nirvana out there. Might as well be meditating. Myogiryu is a good contrast: small but fiery, always good for a bit of underdog-type sentiment. He popped up out of the tachi-ai quickly, got underneath the languid Takarafuji, and ran Takarafuji around the perimeter of the ring until he knocked the surprised looking boddhisatva over backwards, oshi-taoshi. Yep. Like I said.

M8 Kyokutaisei (1-7) vs. M6 Chiyotairyu (6-2)
Kyokutaisei has earned my disdain by not belonging in the division. He looks weak and skillless. It ain't personal. This is a sport, and he looks like he can't play it. It's like, what is he doing here? Meanwhile, if you don't get a visceral thrill out of Chiyotairyu's tremendous, unrivaled attack, you don't like sumo. He's put it together pretty well over the last year or so, and like with Tochiohzan, he's fun to write about because his style is so crisply defined. You know what you're going to get, and it's fun stuff. Kyokutaisei probably needed to henka him here, and Chiyotairyu did what was probably a deliberate and certainly very obvious false start to test that out. However, that was followed by a second false start, which wasn't planned, and wasted the first one, as it put evasion back on the table--as a matter of spite. In the event, Kyokutaisei just backed up after luring Chiyotairyu in with initial contact. Kyokutaisei eased out of there pretty calmly, and the keyed-up Chiyotairyu fell down into the vacated area, hiki-otoshi.

M6 Endo (7-1) vs. M9 Yutakayama (5-3)
Endo? You could say I "like" him, but what I like is seeing him get destroyed. Nobody gets wrecked in more dramatic and thrilling ways when guys really want to beat him than little ol' Endo. So do I really "like" him? Certainly I look forward to his bouts. And he's handled the fame ride well, I think: there's no "little Yokozuna" in his bearing, although he could easily have gotten very stuck on himself. As for Yutakayama, it is early. He has been boring so far, but he reminds me a lot of Asanoyama: you sense the strength and power of an effective young bull, and look forward to him making some hay with it over the next few years. Yutakayama wanted to beat Endo, and so he did. It was push, shove, hit, for Yutakayama, and it was clear early on he had Endo's number. Endo countered well for a moment with roundhouse slaps of his own, designed to knock those arms away, but when he paused to push for a moment, it was back on the offensive from Yutakayama with flailing mace-blows, and the tsuki-otoshi decision tells you all you need to know: when Endo gets beat, he usually gets beat very hard. Turn on the heavy metal, rock out, and dream of the apocalyptic orgasm.

M5 Yoshikaze (0-8) vs. M3 Takakeisho (5-3)
Yoshikaze has had a great career, and was good fun at his peak with a hectic, active sumo that was too messy to really love but too genki not to enjoy. As for Takakeisho, I dunno, sometimes love is blind: I still hope he's going to be really great. He can hit pretty hard sometimes. And he has an understandable style that's fun to analyze: push-pause-push, like Sisyphus with a boulder. I know Takakeisho ain't all that, and probably won't be, but once you get an idea in your head, sometimes it sticks there. My idea is that Takakeisho is going to Be The Man! I live and hope. I don't know. Love is a beautiful mystery. Today, instead of push-pause-push, Takakeisho added in push-pause-PULL-pause, on nearly every thrust, and it looked... well, it looked ridiculous. Yoshikaze could not have failed to see the rhythm of it--it was as regular as a metronome--and he should have and could have either charged hard into one of the pulls and/or evaded and changed the line of the match in his favor. He didn't do either of those things, and so eventually the Metronome (Takakeisho) pushed him out, oshi-dashi. I think Yoshikaze gave this one; there was no reason to let Takakeisho dictate the run of the match in such a predictable way for so long.

M3 Abi (2-6) vs. M2 Chiyonokuni (4-4)
Sometimes I'm contrary. I said I like Onosho because you turned me on to him. However, I dislike Abi because you're all into him and he hasn't earned it. There's nothing there except a lot of wild prancing and flailing so far. He's not just genki, he is undisciplined and out of control. As for Chiyonokuni, his game is all pull and evasion, and I've never liked that. He also has a tendency to look pleased with himself after some of his ill-gotten wins, and I can't shake the sense he's a prideful little jerk who always thinks he deserves a bigger piece of the cake than you do. Hope I'm wrong. I dunno. Like love, dislike has its mysteries. In this one Chiyonokuni false started, wiggling around with some feinting hands, and struck the immobile Abi so hard he somersaulted backwards out of the ring. Not cool. On the real start, however, Abi gave it away nonetheless, leaving himself wide open and retreating unnecessarily; Chiynokuni swiftly got up in underneath and almost pushed Abi right out; he won it on a head pull and uwate-nage throw on a nifty momentum reversal in the end. But this looked unnatural--Abi ducked into that last move to avoid going to a nage-no-uchi-ai that could have gone in his favor.

M2 Ikioi (3-5) vs. M1 Kotoshogiku (3-5)
Ikioi is too frustrating. All that strength, good physique, but an absolute disaster any time he gets into the jo'i. I've been tired of that for years. I just want him to go away and stop this pointless yo-yo-ing up and down mid-Makuuchi. As for Kotoshogiku, his definable gaburi style made him fun when he was young, and now that he's old his odd, surprisingly lengthy underdog turn as an ex-Ozeki has been kind of endearing. It overcomes somewhat the bad stretch in the middle as he held onto a waning Ozeki career way too long, had prima donna written all over him, and started the Hokutoumi Revolution with his astounding and wretched yusho. So we're kind of like family: we've been through a lot together, and I'm kind happy to see him despite all the stupid stuff he's said at Thanksgiving over the years. Oh, Uncle Kotoshogiku! In the match Ikioi just grabbed him, pushed him back, and tipped him over with an uwate-nage outside right belt grip. That's what happens when you eat too much mash potatoes and drink straight from the gravy boat one too many times.

M1 Shodai (2-6) vs. K Shohozan (1-7)
Long ago, as you are tired of me reminding you, I predicted Shodai would be Japan's next Yokozuna. Stupidly, even though I have long since lost faith in that prediction, it has trapped me into liking him: I'm always hoping he'll prove me right against all odds (it is still mathematically possible!). He also looks kind of harmless: there is something lovable about his softness. I have no real good excuse: I just like him. As for Shohozan, yesterday when they did that silly yukata-modeling thing, he marched up to the camera and scowled at it in cartoonish crabbiness, and that's probably all you need to know about why he is likable as heck. A dark bundle of disdain and matter-of-factness. This is a contact sport, and he's a contact guy. Gomer Pyle (Shodai) was about to push him out, but Darth Hozan wheeled out of the way, grabbed Pyle by the arm, and whisked the hapless rube across the straw with a few shoves at his soft-looking, vanilla belly flesh, oshi-dashi. A study in contrasts, won by the right guy.

M5 Daishomaru (3-5) vs. S Mitakeumi (8-0)
Daishomaru is the biggest puller in the division. That's it. Mitakeumi? If you don't think he has charisma, you probably don't have good charisma-radar. He has the bearing of future champion, even if he hasn't fulfilled that yet, and his aggressive brand of sumo, while poorly defined, is sure better than what you see out of Daishomaru. Plus, I used to live in Nagano, and I'm not above rooting for the home-ken kid. Everyone should do it! Wholesome rooting interest makes sports more fun. Cool kanji in his name, nice color belt... do you see where I'm going with this? Mitakeumi really kind of has it all in terms of the peripherals. He's eminently likable as a rikishi. If he were better in the ring, I'd be all in. That may come, but I'm starting to worry he may end up like Goeido: once full of promise, but promoted despite still being just a bunch of random moves out there. Anyhoo, he destroyed Daishomaru pretty good in this one: grabbed him about the body and hopped and lurched forward until he had him out, yori-kiri, while Daishomaru held onto his head and waited to die. Now, Daishomaru is bad. And as a puller, with the speed of Mitakeumi's attack here, Daishomaru had nothing going for him: no chance to pull. But it also looked, way, way too easy. You can feel consensus gelling around the idea of a Mitakeumi yusho, and this kind of effort by Daishomaru is what that looks like.

S Ichinojo (3-5) vs. M4 Kaisei (5-3)
I wish I could love Ichinojo. But I think I feel like Hakuho feels about him: "put it together, you lazy ass--this could be yours!!" Ichinojo's bland demeanor while giving away bouts in ridiculous ways is infuriating. Maybe this is his fault, and maybe it isn't, but he looks so bad so often out there I've lost patience with him. But still, he is giant, and that is undeniably compelling. As for Kaisei, he is one of the smiliest, friendliest, happiest looking of riskishi, and when you pair this with his silly looking rotundity, it is nearly impossible not to give in to the idea of the nice jolly fat man. His sumo is lackluster, but it's hard not to feel cheerful about it anyway. Plus, that orange belt looks delicious. They went chest to chest, then belts, and then Ichinojo let Kaisei walk him out, yori-kiri. That's all there is to it, and there's really nothing to say but that. As so often with Ichinojo's losses, it looked either embarrassingly deliberate or embarrassingly lazy. Neither goes down well.

K Tamawashi (5-3) vs. O Takayasu (6-2)
Tamawashi? He just hits hard. It's a joy to watch. He's the guy in here who screams, "this is how sumo is supposed to be." I don't even really like the slapping style, but if there ever was a man to sell me on it, it is Tamawashi. It's great to watch someone excel at something, even if it is not your thing. As for Takayasu, his dreary Ozeki run, lack of focus, gloomy demeanor, occasional pratfall losses when he should be winning, and general lack of any kind of positive energy about him is... depressing. Goeido makes me angry. Takayasu makes me sad. Tamawashi stood him up and was in the process of killing him by twisting his arm and forcing him back, but Takayasu wiggled cleverly out of it with a spin right at the straw, and Tamawashi couldn't stop his momentum and went out, tsuki-otoshi. This one was another signal, though, that this may be Mitakeumi's tournament, and that Takayasu isn't really in it: content wise, there was nothing in this match that indicated Takayasu is in the running. He looked like crap and won half by luck.

O Goeido (5-3) vs. M4 Kagayaki (3-5)
Why does Goeido make me mad? Many reasons. The unformed content of his sumo, his exasperating inability to capitalize on anything, and his wild contortions that get him wins that look like mistakes are the main part of it. His habit of gloating and strutting about after those wins is another part of it. As for Kagayaki, I guess I like sad-sacks and underdogs. Like Shodai, he just kind of looks like he doesn't belong here and is hoping no one will notice. But still works dutifully, hardly daring to hope, trying to get better. But has a hard time actually improving at all. He looks like he'd rather be tending his garden, but, well, he has this excellent sumo body, so they keep throwing him out there. And he keeps trying. Someday, once this is all over, he'll get to enjoy that garden. So I root for him. The bout was a back and forth affair. Kagayaki stayed square to Goeido, who got underneath and drove him right to the bales. Kagayaki resisted there, and drove it back to the middle, where they held onto each other's belts. Kagayaki then mounted a surprise force-out charge, and put Goeido at the bales in turn, where he tried to rip Goeido down with a momentum-reversing throw. It didn't work, and necessitated moving back across the center again. Kagayaki really went for it at this point, desperately trying to bump Goeido out with his body. Goeido almost fell out, and was saved only by using the weight of his leg by sticking it back towards the center of the ring. Miraculously, he was also then able to execute a spin and cross right in front of Kagayaki, swiping him down face first down off the platform and into the crowd, uwate-nage. I have to say this looked pretty good, and this is a pretty evenly matched pair, so I'll take it: fun was had by all.

Tomorrow Mike spends eleven hours in the tin pan.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The broadcast began with a look back over the Heisei Era of sumo, or the last 30 years.  The brunt of the piece focused on the two Hanada brothers documenting their first yusho and then rise to the elite ranks.  As they showed various bouts involving the brothers, some of the big wins inevitably came over the foreign rikishi, which happened to be the Hawaiians, Konishiki and Akebono.  I'll just say that the Hawaiians knew their place in sumo, and the reason that it all worked so well back then is because you actually had a plethora of Japanese rikishi with game.  It didn't make them better than the foreigners, but they still had serious game, and so sumo just worked.

The problem we have now is that fewer and fewer Japanese rikishi exist who actually have game.  During the broadcast, NHK displayed a graphic that showed the rikishi who made their Makuuchi debut over the last year.  Here's the list:



For those of you who can't classify yourselves as kanji bandits, it reads like this:

Aki:  Asanoyama
Kyushu:  Daiamami
Hatsu:  Abi, Ryuden
Haru:  Nobody
Natsu:  Kyokutaisei
Nagoya:  Kotoeko, Meisei

If you analyze that list, really the only dude that stands out as having any "game" is Asanoyama. The problem with Asanoyama is that he really hasn't broken into that list of darlings in sumo right now.  I have know idea about the politics behind it all, but Abi is certainly coddled more than Asanoyama.  Asanoyama is such a better rikishi fundamentally, but for whatever reason, he's never risen higher than M11.  In fact, I think Asanoyama has more content to his sumo than Mitakeumi, Shodai, and Takakeisho as well.

Regardless of that debate, the point I'm making is that sumo worked 25 years ago because you had plenty of rikishi with game, and so it was easy to present to the masses (including myself) parity in sumo. These days, the overall level and ability of the Japanese rikishi has fallen so far that the difference between the foreign rikishi is stark to say the least.  And yet, we must make sure there is parity on the banzuke, and so the lengths that sumo goes to attempt to present this is much more noticeable today than it was a few decades ago.

Before I saw the opening to the day 8 broadcast, I wanted to start today's comments off with a discussion between Mainoumi and Yoshida Announcer yesterday proceeding Endoh's bout with Kyokutaisei.  Endoh won the bout rather easily, and during the post-bout commentary, Mainoumi suggested that Endoh could go all the way this basho.  He didn't use the word "yusho," but it was implied, and so Yoshida Announcer stopped him and explicitly asked, "Wait, are you talking about the yusho?" Mainoumi immediately responded yes, the yusho.

Now, this dialog in no way means that discussions have already taken place telling everyone to clear the path for an Endoh yusho.  What struck me was the casualness in which Mainoumi even suggested a possible yusho for Endoh.  He talked nothing about the content of Endoh's sumo, and he didn't mention that he felt any momentum with the dude.  He referred to the yusho with the attitude that it was some prize that could just be awarded to anyone, not as something that actually had to be earned. When I think about rikishi who have looked good this basho, Endoh is not one that comes to mind.

As for favorites to yusho, there's still so much to go, and with the storytellers all gone, the thing is wide open.  In the press, officials from the Sumo Association are all apologizing for the withdrawals (it's the good ole "moushi-wake-nai"), but you know everyone in Japan is just loving this.

Before we get to the bouts on the day, the theme of the broadcast focused on the summer yukata the rikishi are wearing.  As each sekitori exited the venue, NHK actually had a camera set up where they'd have the various rikishi model their yukata as if on the runway.  At first I thought I was watching the E! Channel, but when two straight men in Osaka Announcer and Terao awkwardly started to break down a piece of fabric used in Ryuden's summer kimono, I realized I was watching sumo.



Osaka Announcer:  "As you can see, there's a dragon character there that represents the 'Ryu.'  And then this dark blue patch is a tradition pattern called 'koushuu inden.' That's where they get the 'Den'!"

Terao:  "Ya don't say."

Osaka Announcer:  "And this white patch here.  Look close.  Those three lines that make up the pattern represent scratch marks made by the claw of the dragon!"

Terao:  "Can we just get on with things?"

My sentiments exactly.

Up first was M15 Ryuden who did battle with M14 Kotoeko. The bout favored migi-yotsu from the beginning, but Kotoeko backed out of it moving to his right and forcing Ryuden to give chase, but since Kotoeko wasn't pulling or even trying to set that up, the two naturally hooked back up chest to chest, and this time, the bout was hidari-yotsu where Ryuden had the dominating outer grip. Ryuden used that grip and his size difference well as he lifted Kotoeko completely upright and escorted him back and across without argument.  Ryuden moves to 4-4 while Kotoeko falls to 2-6.

M16 Hokutofuji used that same lame tachi-ai of his against M13 Tochiohzan where he shades left in pull mode, but it did nothing to affect Oh's charge, and so Tochiohzan was able to fight off Hokutofuji's advances and get the left arm to the inside. The Tochiohzan of old would have used this to win the bout in yotsu fashion, but he's a pull guy now, and so he didn't focus on that left inside opting to thrust again in an effort to set up the pull. Both rikishi went back and forth shoving for the sole intent of going for the pull, and Hokutofuji was gassed after about 12 seconds allowing Tochiohzan to twist Hokutofuji down in the end maki-otoshi style. Tochiohzan moves to 6-2 with the win while Hokutofuji falls to 5-3.

The M12 Sadanoumi - M16 Meisei bout looked to go to the belt early with Sadanoumi getting the left arm inside and right hand on the front of Meisei's belt, but he gave up shortly thereafter opting to use tsuppari to impose his will on Meisei. Meisei countered with shoves of his own, but the Sad Man has fought far more bouts in Makuuchi, and his experience showed has he bulled Meisei around and out with a nice oshi attack. Sadanoumi's love was vengeance today as he moves to 4-4 while Meisei is never free at 2-6.

M12 Arawashi came with a right kachi-age catching M15 Ishiura in the face before shifting gears on a dime and going for the immediate slapdown. Ishiura had no answer as he found himself on the dirt a second into the contest. At M12 Arawashi's gotta do enough to keep himself in the division, and so he moves to 3-5 now with the easy win. Ishiura is 4-4.

M11 Aoiyama connected on a few tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but M13 Asanoyama staved it off managing to fire a beautiful swipe into Aoiyama's side with the left that threw Aoiyama off balance to the point where Asanoyama was able to grab the left outer grip and quickly pair that with the right inside position. Asanoyama made his force-out charge straightway with Aoiyama attempting a few half-hearted scoop throws with the right arm as he was backed across and out. I like how Harvye breaks down bouts where one guy could have been a tad mukiryoku by emphasizing the strengths of the guy who won, and Asanoyama played it perfectly today. While I think that Aoiyama could have given the counter game more effort, I think he just gave up after Asanoyama burned him with that side swipe and secured the advantageous position. Good work from Asanoyama who moves to 7-1, and notice how nobody's going gaga over him in terms of the yusho race. It goes back to Mainoumi's attitude about the yusho...it has nothing to do with sumo content; it's more like a popularity contest. Aoiyama falls to 3-5.

M14 Okinoumi kept his arms wide open gifting M11 Onosho moro-zashi from the tachi-ai. Now, yotsu-zumo is not Onosho's game, but Okinoumi's intentions were clear from the start. As Onosho worked him back, Okinoumi did nothing to counter or move laterally getting forced back and across in about two seconds.  As if. Onosho is gifted his 5-3 record while Okinoumi falls to 4-4.

In similar fashion to the last bout, M7 Takarafuji kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai allowing M10 Nishikigi to secure a more shallow moro-zashi, but with Takarafuji playing no defense, Nishikigi marched him back and across in another two or three seconds. As Homer Simpson would say..."BOH-RING!" as both dudes end the day at 4-4.

M10 Chiyomaru and M7 Daieisho traded feisty tsuppari in the center of the ring before Chiyomaru grabbed Daieisho around the head with both hands and then pulled him forward and down with a bit of exaggeration from Daieisho as he tumbled.  Not much to write home about as Chiyomaru moves to 3-5 while Daieisho falls to 4-4.

M9 Myogiryu fired a few neck thrusts M6 Endoh's way before rushing in to grab the left inside position. Curiously, while the right outer grip was wide open, Myogiryu opted to forgo it and keep that right arm up high in no-man's land. This allowed Endoh to counter with a left scoop throw creating an unorthodox nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge where both rikishi tumbled off the dohyo together with Endoh facing the rafters. Had there been more real estate beyond the edge of the ring, Endoh's foot would have touched down first, and so the ref correctly pointed towards Myogiryu...who did win the bout, but they quickly called a mono-ii and declared a do-over.

The former Mitoizumi was the chief judge for the bout, and as they panned in close to him to hear the explanation, the dude was sweating profusely. I mean, I know it's hot and all, but if you sweat more than the rikishi by merely climbing up on the dohyo and then stepping down again, you probably need to reintroduce yourself to some calisthenics or something. Of course, the dude is wearing a heavy cloak so I'll cut him some slack.


Myogiryu was mukiryoku the first bout and even more so the second time around. In the do-over, Myogiryu kept his arms wide and high at the tachi-ai, but Endoh was completely hapless yet again, and so Myogiryu instinctively assumed moro-zashi before quickly backing back out with the left. With Endoh turned a bit, Myogiryu had the wide open path to the left inside right outer grip position, but he pulled his left out altogether focusing on the right outer. At this point, Myogiryu had done all the work in both bouts, but he finally just stood there upright allowing Endoh to finally get the left inside and right outer grip, and from there, he forced Myogiryu back that last step with no resistance from Myogiryu. We had two bouts here where you couldn't describe a single move from Endoh until his opponent finally just stood there at the end, and yet, the darling wins again!!  Sucks not be popular as Myogiryu falls to 5-3 while Endoh receives yet another gift moving to 7-1. The reason Mainoumi couldn't talk about Endoh's actual sumo yesterday is because the guy has done absolutely nothing the entire week.  It's all a political run for him.

M6 Chiyotairyu took two baby steps forward and then three big boy steps back against M9 Yutakayama firing a thrust or two before going into complete pull mode. The problem was that Chiyotairyu didn't set up his pulls with a crushing tachi-ai, and so Yutakayama was able to chase him around the ring and out. Yutakayama moves to 5-3 with the win while it didn't look as if Chiyotairyu was going all out here resting at 6-2.

In a boring bout, M5 Daishomaru and M8 Kyokutaisei stayed low putting a hand on each other's shoulder looking to duck and set up a pull, and Daishomaru simply did it better dragging Kyokutaisei off balance with a swipe to the back of the shoulder and then pushing him out from there. Daishomaru moves to 3-5 while Kyokutaisei falls to just 1-7.

M5 Yoshikaze showed up again today...thus he lost. His opponent was M8 Chiyoshoma who used a nice hari-zashi tachi-ai to set up the left inside and right outer grip, and he may as well have been hugging a blow-up doll the yori charge back and out was that easy. Chiyoshoma breezes to 3-5 while Yoshikaze needs to think retirement at 0-8.

Isn't it interesting how with Hakuho, Kakuryu, and Tochinoshin there was no indication that they were injured after the last bout they fought? Usually a guy is slow getting up or he is obviously limping after a fight, and the speculation begins. With these three guys, there was no visual indication that they were injured at all. In the case of Tochinoshin, I did read some speculation in between days that he injured his big toe, but he wasn't walking funny on it at all after his final bout against Tamawashi.  In the case of Hakuho, he was supposedly injured his last two fights, but you couldn't tell whatsoever. Everyone knows these guys aren't injured, so as to why they withdrew can be debated. The reason I bring it up is because M3 Abi is 2-6 after today with both of those wins coming over Yokozuna.

Today, Abi met M2 Ikioi who was simply more proactive in his tsuppari attack, and while Abi did throw a few arms forward as if to thrust, he was really backing up and looking for the pull. He'd never find it as Ikioi had him pushed back and across in about three seconds. Ikioi moves to 3-5 while Abi has looked horrible the entire week.

Komusubi Tamawashi and M1 Shodai competed for the worst tachi-ai of the day with both guys standing straight up, and it was the Komusubi who moved first grabbing Shodai in a right kote-nage grip. He never bothered to throw, however, holding on lightly, and with Shodai applying no pressure even though given the chance, Tamawashi used his left paw into Shodai's neck driving him close to the edge but not back. Once again, Tamawashi was allowing Shodai to hang around, and he did score on one nice move...a thrust into Tamawashi's left side that sent the Komusubi back a step, but Shodai was out of sorts and gassed at this point, so a slight push from Tamawashi sent him down. For good measure, Tamawashi kept moving forward tripping over Shodai leaving both guys sprawling there on the dohyo, but the bottom line is this was an ugly bout. Tamawashi improves to 5-3 with the win while Shodai is just 2-6. I at least credit Shodai for executing a measurable move in this one. Some rikishi can't even do that.

Komusubi Shohozan sorta hopped forward towards M1 Kotoshogiku, and the crazy things was, he still won the tachi-ai coming away with the left inside and right outer grip. Kotoshogiku had his left inside as well meaning the bout was hidari-yotsu, but Shohozan had the superior position with that right outer grip...which of course he did nothing with going all limp and allowing Kotoshogiku to just force him back and out in about two seconds. Now THAT was some mukiryoku sumo on the part of of Darth Hozan, who didn't live up to his dark ways today bowing to 1-7. As for Kotoshogiku he's gifted his third winna the basho at 3-5.

Osaka announcer prefaced the Sekiwake Ichinojo - M3 Takakeisho matchup by saying, "There are some who are saying that Ichinojo isn't moving well at all."  Uh, really?  The implication was of course that Ichinojo really is trying his hardest, but he just can't put it together. The truth is that Ichinojo is moving like a slug intentionally so his Japanese foes can win. Today was another case in point where Takakeisho extended both arms at the tachi-ai pretty weakly, but Ichinojo just stood there completely upright moving his arms like a cow lazily shooing away the flies. Takakeisho would hop in close, throw as weak of a thrust as you please, and then back out again all with Ichinojo just standing there doing nothing. After about 10 seconds and four volleys from Takakeisho, he danced left offering a weak swipe towards Ichinojo that of course sent him toppling to the dohyo.  What an awful bout of sumo this was as Ichinojo graciously falls to 3-5 while Takakeisho improves to 5-3 while the content of his sumo actually worsens thanks to yaocho.

Crowd favorite Sekiwake Mitakeumi was horrible at the tachi-ai aligning his feet and allowing M2 Chiyonokuni to rush in and knock him back a step. As Mitakeumi looked to duck back in, Chiyonokuni instinctively went for a pull that sent Mitakeumi off balance and headed to the other side of the ring, but Chiyonokuni didn't go for the kill even though MiFakeUmi was there for the taking. After allowing Mitakeumi to square back up, Chiyonokuni went for a light right roundhouse all the while backing up so Mitakeumi could finally rush forward and push him out. This was one of those bouts where Mitakeumi did nothing the entire way except execute that final push at the edge after his opponent set the table, but the result is Mitakeumi's moving to 8-0 with everyone pleased as punch. As for Chiyonokuni, he quietly falls to 4-4.

Isn't it swell each day lately to know that either Goeido or Takayasu is going to close out the bouts for us? Goeido was up first today against M4 Kaisei, and you just knew that Kaisei was going to come hard. Or not. Kaisei was soft at the tachi-ai, but it's really hard to fight Goeido and not come away with the stifling position, and Kaisei got it with the right arm inside and the left outer grip. I guess "grip" isn't the right term here because he was holding on so loosely that even a newborn wouldn't have felt threatened. With Kaisei not pressing, Goeido moved to his right and kinda went for a scoop throw with the right. It was so poorly executed, but Kaisei played along just diving to the dirt beyond the straw giving what the announcers declared, "A comeback win." I don't know how not to be derisive when watching all of this unfold because believe me, my intelligence is scarred for life by these bozos. Both Goeido and Kaisei end the day at 5-3, and this was Kaisei's making sure he stays as far away from the yusho race as possible.

Wow, who'da ever thought that the musubi-no-ichiban bout would ever feature Takayasu and Kagayaki??  The fireworks here amounted to someone who spent $3 at the grocery store for a box of sparklers. Kagayaki--the thruster--played right into Takayasu's hands agreeing to a hidari-yotsu affair from the start, but Kagayaki accidentally maki-kae'd with the right giving him moro-zashi. He quickly repented of that, however, and loosened that arm allowing the faux-zeki to get to the inside with the left, and I'm sure Kagayaki was thinking at this point, "Gosh, this is too easy," so he stopped doing anything and allowed Takayasu to swing him to the other side of the starting lines and then push him out in about three seconds total. What's so great about Tochinoshin is that the dude really sticks at the tachi-ai. He strikes hard and grabs the belt and the inside position and largely dictates the pace of his bouts. With guys like Takayasu and Mitakeumi, there's a whole lot of movement going on but nothing really happening, and then all of a sudden in the end, there they are pushing their upright opponents back while facing no resistance. You look at the last few photos at the guy who lost, and they're positioning is so unorthodox indicative of mukiryoku sumo.  The contrast is so evident for those who choose to see it, but fortunately for the Japanese fans, they're enjoying this far too much to really notice such details. Takayasu moves to 6-2 and is still well within yusho striking distance. As for Kagayaki, he quietly bows to 3-5.

Check out this leaderboard as we start week 2:

8-0: Mitakeumi
7-1: Endoh
6-2: Takayasu

Couldn't script it any better.

Day 7 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
I had to write this intro three times. The first time I wrote it to say the tournament is a mess with all three Yokozuna missing. That was before I knew that Tochinoshin had now also withdrawn with an injury. So I rewrote it, talking about Tochinoshin's knee, because I assumed that was his reason for withdrawal (it looked to me like it gave way yesterday, not that he took a knee on purpose). Then I looked the injury up online, and... it is his big toe.

His big toe.

His. Big. Toe.

Do you believe that? Do you believe he would give up the chance to win this tournament because of a big toe injury? I don't. Shoot it full of numbing-agent. Grit it out. Cut it off. If you are going to go kadoban, do it in the ring on an injury like this. In sumo, over the years, how many guys have we seen lamed out there, but gamely trying anyway? Lots.

You may believe in the toe. I wish I could. But it is almost like an insult, or a code: "big toe" = "gracious withdrawal for opaque reasons." My best guess is they needed him to withdraw because they are not ready for a Yokozuna run from him just now.

Or maybe it is all just coincidence.

Which makes more sense? The choice is yours.

Anyway, let's visit ye olde bright side. I've always like underdogs and find more interest in scrubs than heroes, minutia than mega. So I'm prepared to enjoy the idea that somebody unprecedented is going to win this basho (almost literally: unless there is a miraculous return from injury, it will be the second win for Goeido or Kotoshogiku, or the first win for somebody else). Like Mike, I was shocked yesterday by Takayasu's loss: with Kakuryu's withdrawal, the tournament had just been handed into his stewardship as the senior plausible guy. So seeing him get summarily knocked down was a "whoa!" moment. If not him, who will it be? Is this really Mitakeumi's tournament? Nobody is a good candidate. So everybody is a candidate.

Yes, the chaos might be fun. But the tournament is a mess. A mess, mess, mess. Mike said it best: "I almost don't dare go on."

But on we go.

J3 Kotoyuki (4-2) vs. M14 Okinoumi (4-2)
Welcome back, Pet Hate Kotoyuki! I pet-hated him so much, I came to like him. And was happy to see him today. Until the bout started: Okinoumi kind of pushed on Kotoyuki's face, turned to the side, stood on one foot a bit, and let himself be easily shoved out, oshi-dashi. I suppose we could give credit to Kotoyuki for turning Okinoumi to the side and leveraging him up with his right arm, but we shouldn't.

M14 Kotoeko (2-4) vs. M1 Hokutofuji (4-2)
Kotoeko has looked terrible to me, and Hokutofuji is recovering a little bit from a series of bad bashos, trying to get his bearings down here. So Kotoeko did the smart thing and tried to leap up, pull down, and get out of this thing. He did it badly, though, and Hokutofuji grabbed him by the mug and shoved him manfully out, oshi-dashi. Good.

M16 Meisei (2-4) vs. M13 Asanoyama (5-1)
Meisei has not looked quite as bad as Kotoeko, but Asanoyama has looked even better than Hokutofuji. So Meisei probably should have henka'ed or pulled too. Instead, he did the thing we'd encourage him to do: took his medicine. He surged in on a mutually-smacking tachi-ai, going for a right-inside grip that he kind of got but couldn't hold. Meanwhile, Asanoyama had a powerful outside left grip, and it was only a moment before Asanoyama wrenched hard on that fistful of satin while knocking Meisei silly with a body blow from his right hand on the other side, and down went Meisei in a heap, tsuki-otoshi. Asanoyama is looking very good. It is worth mentioning that with the top cleared out, this is the kind of tournament where it could happen that nobody can clear 10, 11 wins. That could open the door for a rank-and-filer to jump up and steal the tournament. Those kind of things are a travesty--look who Asanoyama is fighting to do it--but it does happen. This tournament is a live thing now.

M13 Tochiozan (4-2) vs. M15 Ryuden (3-3)
Tochiozan forklifted Ryuden: both fists low at the tachi-ai, scooping mightily up. Ryuden foolishly went high and wide, and Tochiozan instantly had his classic position: both arms inside. What was interesting to me was how long it took after that. Tochiozan used to be good enough we talked ozeki about him. Here, he had the grip he needed against an M15 but had trouble finishing it off. They hopped around the dohyo, Tochiozan working and straining, and Tochiozan just couldn't get it done for a while. Finally he yori-kiri'ed Ryuden out with his smothering holds. What this tells me is that Ryuden probably gave this one away; his strategy was dumb otherwise, and its hard to explain Tochiozan's ineptitude from this dominant position--so they probably made a show of it for us. Next!

M11 Aoiyama (3-3) vs. M15 Ishiura (3-3)
This was such a mismatch, all the giant Aoiyama has to do to win was move really slow. Ishiura doesn't have the power to push him out, knock him down, throw him--anything. So why not do that? Why not indeed. Aoiyama sprang gamely forward, moving too fast, rather than being cautious, and sprang right into the space vacated by the henka'ing Ishiura, for a hiki-otoshi loss.

M12 Arawashi (1-5) vs. M10 Nishikigi (3-3)
Arawashi showed us some good sumo for a change. He stayed low and well set, got dual outside belt grips quickly, dragged Nishikigi to the edge, then, when Nishikigi countered with a throw attempt, went with the momentum of the bout, dragged Nishikigi back towards the middle, and slung him down uwate-nage. He looked so good I was reminded of one of my top two bad predictions of all time: "Arawashi reminds me a lot of Kakuryu."

M10 Chiyomaru (2-4) vs. M12 Sadanoumi (2-4)
Chiyomaru put a lot of heavy weight into his tachi-ai, and with a downward face thrust, almost put The Sadanowhoumi on the ground straight off. However, as he retreated, Sad Man was rotating to the right, and Chiyomaru, while still shoving at him, didn't rotate as quickly as he needed to and found himself wrapped up by Sadanoumi from the side and headed the wrong direction. Whoumi capitalized for a quick, convincing looking yori-kiri win. "My love is vengeance / that's never free."

M11 Onosho (3-3) vs. M9 Yutakayama (4-2)
This was kind of fun to look forward to. Two largish, powerfulish youngsters presumably still with their best to come, and Onosho won the tachi-ai and made mincemeat of Yutakayama. When Yutakayama was still raising his fists from their stab to the dirt, Onosho already had a hard meat hook in his face and a hand on his belt. Onosho then pummeled Yutakayama around the ring on the way to a dominant oshi-dashi pasting. It did look like Yutakayama was enjoying the ride a bit, but I'm going to ignore that, as there was plenty of positive action from Onosho too.

M9 Myogiryu (5-1) vs. M6 Chiyotairyu (5-1)
Two guys having good tournaments, but at different levels of competition. A blow-out by Chiyotairyu was a reasonable expectation against the over-achieving Myogiryu, and that is what we got. The blast'em! tachi-ai was only partially effective; it did not blow Myogiryu to smithereens, but did get him discombobulated at the straw, and Chiyotairyu then got such deep inside/outside grips on the belt you'd think Myogiryu wanted him to. (Sigh. Yes, there was also lots of flurrying hands up high, not gripping on anything, from Myogiryu today.) Swift and destructive yori-kiri win for Cannonball Run (Chiyotairyu).

M6 Endo (5-1) vs. M8 Kyokutaisei (1-5)
This was one Endo didn't need any help winning, so that must have been a nice change for him. He stayed low and cautious, not over-committing, but keeping sufficient forward focus, while the hapless Kyokutaisei retreated and rotated. Eventually a weak throw-to-the-side swipe-off attempt by the dying Kyokutaisei was paired with a little sideways shove by Endo, and Kyokutaisei couldn't keep his balance on the tawara and went out, oshi-dashi. Don't look now, but you can just feel it prepping up: something big with Endo is going to happen in the next year or so.

M7 Daieisho (3-3) vs. M5 Yoshikaze (0-6)
One of two things could happen here: time to buy Yoshikaze a win, or a good spot for Daieisho to turn on the gas and torch a flagging opponent. I was happy to see that the answer was that Daieisho was unleashed. He banged Yoshikaze around a little bit, pushing, pulling, and slapping, until Yoshikaze fell down in there, oshi-taoshi, thoroughly worked.

M5 Daishomaru (2-4) vs. M8 Chiyoshoma (1-5)
Chiyoshoma was one of my favorites when he first showed up: so much sinewy power did, such tight strength when he chose to employ it. He has thoroughly worn out that optimistic welcome; he engages in so much charitable crap sumo that he has morphed into one of my least favorites. And since pull-meister Daishomaru is my literal, real least favorite, well, here was a match-up to make a quitter out of the best of us. But, inspired by the sideshow of the gyoji's beautiful pale pink kimono, I stuck with it. And lo!, these guys gave us a belt bout. Chiyoshoma, because he chose to, very easily won. He had a long left outer grip, and bodied Chiyoshoma out like a strapping farmboy in seventh grade gym class practically knocking the girls down in the Social Dance Unit with his earnest vigor.

M7 Takarafuji (4-2) vs. M4 Kagayaki (2-4)
Mr. Boring against Secret Hope. There is no one I root for with more secret fervor than Kagayaki. But there are no secrets on Sumotalk. Now you know! And I'm sure I've told you before. Why do I root for him? Not sure. He has kind of a hangdog look, like nothing ever works out for him. I'd just love to see him put it all together (he has the body, but it will require a psychological moxy and confidence which he clearly doesn't have) and surprise everyone, including himself. He is inching his way up the banzuke, a little higher all the time, half steps forward and quarter steps back, basho to basho. He has his moments. Unfortunately, I also think he is probably kind of dumb--he doesn't seem to anticipate anything--and it looked like Takarafuji, who was retreating patiently and looking for a chance to dump him, was going to take this one. Part way through, though, with Takarafuji being too patient as usual (what does he think is ever going to happen?), Kagayaki got two arms inside, and now Takarafuji's pace was against him: Kagayaki had established a dominant position. It took him a few moments, but Kagayaki parlayed it into a fine oshi-dashi win. Onward, run-of-the-mill soldier.

M4 Kaisei (4-2) vs. M2 Chiyonokuni (4-2)
Chiyonokuni is having a ridiculous tournament. Half of his wins are on Yokozuna withdrawals--yes, he was the beneficiary of both--and the other two were a ridiculous farce against Ichinojo and an upset of Takayasu. So here he sits at 4-2, having barely fought. Kaisei got pushed back by him, but then swerved out of there at the right moment and slung Chiyonokuni down with a push on the arm, tsuki-otoshi. You know what? Hell, Kaisei could win this tournament. That's where we're at. This could be good.

K Tamawashi (3-3) vs. K Shohozan (1-5)
I keep hearing voices hoping for a Tamawashi pop-up yusho. That will never happen. Not now, not in the future. He is too old, and good as he is, never gets more than about nine wins. This time too, with three losses already, it is not happening. Yes, he's one of the best wrestlers out there (now that Tochinoshin has withdrawn, along with Mike, I am willing to say Tamawashi is the best remaining in this tournament). But though we have noticed his great sumo over the last few years, there has never been any buzz or political capital around him. He's just really good, and it stops there. He used an arm pull to get Shohozan off balance, out of line, and off rhythm, then face slapped him around the ring a little bit, mixed with some head-pulls that were more like hard bashes on the top of the skull. Darth Hozan then stumbled out of there backwards like a drunk, and Tamawashi hit him a few more times before unleashing one more wicked watermelon-crusher head blow/pull that tossed the Sith into the ventilator shaft for good, hataki-komi. If we cannot have Yokozuna sumo this basho, well, at least we can have this.

M1 Kotoshogiku (2-4) vs. S Mitakeumi (6-0)
The buzz is all right here; against all odds, it is Mitakeumi's tournament to lose. The interesting thing is pretty much every tournament starts this way for him: he has great first weeks, and I pop up to announce an ozeki run. Then he withers the second week. So, don't hand him the yusho just yet. However, the difference of course is that he doesn't have to play any of the top guys next week: they're all gone. So the question will be whether his second week wilts thus far have been primarily psychological, or due to competition. It is in fact wide open for him, and I'm curious to see how everybody handles it. On the one hand, a yusho for him would feel premature. On the other hand, we've been waiting for the transition from the older crop of wrestlers for years. Maybe it is finally about to get going in earnest. In the bout, the result was a foregone conclusion: Kotoshogiku is neither as good as Mitakeumi at this point, nor had any political reason to get a win. Out of respect for his elder status, Mitakeumi let Kotoshogiku bounce him around a bit in this chest to chest battle. However, after a pause, Mitakeumi calmly put his right outside grip to use and yori-kiri'ed Kotoshogiku out. I think Mitakeumi is pretty good. How good, we're about to get some answer on.

S Ichinojo (2-4) vs. M2 Ikioi (2-4)
Too bad Ichinojo declined to be a factor in this tournament. I suppose he can still win out and take it at 11-4, but that is a fantasy. This was a lengthy one, with Ichinojo leaning on Ikioi to wear him out, and Ikioi testing his own strength and seeing if he could move the Iron Blob of Gravity Grease. Ikioi did okay, but he couldn't get The Mongolith out: eventually Ichinojo bulled him over the edge, yori-kiri.

M1 Shodai (1-5) vs. O Tochinoshin (5-1)
Meaningless freebie for Shodai, Japan's Next Yokozuna (I knew you were dying to know my other top two bad prediction. That's it).

M3 Abi (2-4) vs. O Takayasu (4-2)
Yesterday's surprise trouncing of Takayasu by Takakeisho remains kind of a shocker, but with Tochinoshin gone, there is still plenty of time for Takayasu to put it back together and take this tournament. I think that edges out the Mitakeumi-coronation-scenario as most likely yusho outcome. But guys haven't seemed to be holding back for Takayasu. That meant today would be telling: would Abi go for it, or not? Is Takayasu's camp ready to claim one, or for some reason not? In the end, Abi didn't try. He stood up awkwardly to the side, grasping at Takayasu's torso like an old woman falling off the curb, and moved swiftly backwards and sideways out of the ring lickety-split, hugging Takayasu to him like Takayasu was a hapless rescuer who ends up going down with the old woman himself. Yori-taoshi win for Takayasu. Boy, ain't these top matches sumpin'!

O Goeido (4-2) vs. M3 Takakeisho (3-3)
Look who is headlining. My goodness. But like Takayasu, before this match a yusho for Goeido looked like a fair-probability outcome. For his camp, it would have been a "hell, why not?" go-for-it opportunity. Like with Mitakeumi and Takayasu, you'd have to blend some purchasing and negotiation with some legitimate wins to shore it all up. Before this match, I might have ranked their yusho choices in this order: Takayasu, Mitakeumi, Goeido. But Goeido is hapless, hapless, hapless. The Epileptic Mayfly made an appearance today. Takakeisho was happy to give the match to him, spending most of the match staring at him: it was one of those where a little pushing resulted in separation, and they stood there eyeing each other in "my dad is bigger than your dad" animosity: "do you wanna fight me?" Two fourth graders who would rather not actually have to do any scary fighting. Then Goeido came at Takakeisho, and Takakeisho moved to the side, just a little. And swiped down at Goeido, just a little. And Goeido couldn't handle it and hit the dirt with his palms, tsuki-otoshi. Both men looked pained: I don't think this was supposed to be the outcome. It's just the the latest chapter in "Being Me: The Story of Goeido, Ozeki."

Tomorrow Mike staggers back to the underground and the breeze blows back his hair.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I was watching NHK news at noon when I first learned of Yokozuna Kakuryu's withdrawal.  I didn't quite get the reported injury, but I believe it had something to do with a hangnail.  The important aspect of the news report was the large graphic they displayed in the upper left corner of the screen that had three mug shots all lined up in this order:  Hakuho, Kisenosato, Kakuryu.  Regardless of what was reported in the story, the key was to present the three Yokozuna as peers and equals.  Kisenosato has kyujo issues; the Mongolian Yokozuna have kyujo issues.

I've coined the term previously, but what we are witnessing right now is socialist sumo. With socialism, nobody is made better.  Rather, the achievers are brought down to the level of the rank and file thus making everyone worse off, and can anyone dispute that statement based off of the qualify of sumo? Didn't think so.

I know the perception is that if they can only get a Japanese rikishi promoted to Ozeki or Yokozuna then they can have some semblance of balance and parity on the banzuke, but the problem is in order to sustain the undeserving rikishi at those elite ranks, you have to bring the real Yokozuna and Ozeki down to the level of the pretenders.  It just doesn't work in the opposite direction, and so the problem for the Association moving forward is that Kisenosato is not going to get better, and he's not going to heal from his "injuries" since you can only heal from injuries that are real.  Kisenosato is not capable of going up, and so they're going to have to continue to pull the Mongolians down.

The bottom line is that you can't have foreign Yokozuna succeeding while a Japanese Yokozuna is failing miserably, and so the attempt here is to mask the complete ineptness of Kyujonosato. If you can't beat 'em, kyujo 'em, so the trend continues.

The day began with M15 Ishiura and M16 Meisei locked up in hidari-yotsu where Meisei enjoyed a right outer grip, and when it was clear that Ishiura couldn't shake Meisei's yotsu positioning, he burrowed his head beneath Meisei's left armpit and tried to reverse fireman carry Meisei over and down near the edge.  It was a pretty cool move, but Meisei's positioning was just too good and he managed to force Ishiura to touch down first giving the rookie the yori-taoshi win.  Ishiura falls to 3-3 here while Meisei picks up his first legit win in his Makuuchi career landing on 2-4.

M14 Okinoumi and M15 Ryuden hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and immediately you had two dudes of similar stature jockeying for that right outer grip. About six seconds in, the more experienced Okinoumi managed to grab the grip, and then it was game on.  Okinoumi tested the force-out waters and then the uwate-nage waters, but credit Ryuden for countering with that left inside and staying in the game.  The problem was that he couldn't shake Okinoumi's outer grip, and he exhausted too much strength with his counter moves, so the third time was a charm as Okinoumi was able to body Ryuden across the dohyo and out leading with that stifling right outer grip.  This was textbook sumo as Okinoumi moves to 4-2 while Ishiura falls to 3-3.  Before we move on, has Mitakeumi ever been involved in a bout like this...win or lose?  This was a prototype bout of what proper yotsu-zumo looks like, and you see it the first hour of the broadcast, but by the time we get to the coddled rikishi, sound sumo just goes out the door.

We got another well-contested bout between M13 Tochiohzan and M13 Asanoyama, who used his youth and length to befuddle Tochiohzan at the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack. Oh couldn't get to the inside, and he was in no position to set up a pull, and so Asanoyama largely had his way ultimately getting the right arm to the inside.  As Asanoyama advanced, Tochiohzan retreated looking to counter near the edge, but Asanoyama used his long arm of the law to finagle a shallow left outer grip, and he reversed gears on a dime dragging Tochiohzan forward and down dashi-nage style with that outer grip. This bout was a good example of the changing of the guard.  Tochiohzan (4-2) has been a solid rikishi for years, but you can see age creeping up on him, and younger, feistier Asanoyama simply had his number today. Asanoyama is looking good at 5-1.

M16 Hokutofuji shaded left yet again at the tachi-ai throwing a stiff right paw M12 Sadanoumi's way, and the slight henka seemed to throw Sadanoumi off his game because he responded with a meager pull attempt of his own, and when it came, Hokutofuji rushed forward and shoved him and his blue eyes off the dohyo altogether on the Shoumen side of the ring. This was the sloppiest bout of the first four, but hey, it was real, so I'll take it. I hate to see Hokutofuji win after a tachi-ai like that, but he moves to 4-2. As for SadanoWhomi, he's still the sad man at 2-4.

Coming into the day 0-5, it was about time for M12 Arawashi to get his.  Against M14 Kotoeko, Arawashi demanded the left outer grip and right inside position from the tachi-ai, and he executed perfect de-ashi in driving Kotoeko back and across in two dominating seconds.  It's amusing when people assume Arawashi has lost a step or that he might be injured.  Uh no. He's got this in him every day; he just chooses not to do it for political reasons.  Arawashi channels is inner Hakuho moving to 1-5 with the textbook sumo while Kotoeko falls to 2-4.

If someone were to ask you, "Describe M10 Chiyomaru's sumo," you'd immediately reply that he's a thruster and a pusher. Of course he is, but he conveniently forgot that today against M11 Onosho as Maru just stood straight up at the tachi-ai with arms out wide.  If you were to ask the same question about Onosho, you'd get a similar answer.  "Well, he's technically an oshi guy, but he likes to pull."  So here you have two oshi guys with not a single shove the entire way.  Instead, Onosho just seized the inside with both arms from the tachi-ai gaining moro-zashi, and then all it took was a fake maki-kae attempt from Chiyomaru with the right arm to give Onosho the opening he needed to force Maru back and across without argument. The announcers will only focus on that failed maki-kae and simply ignore the rest, and that's how the sheep are largely fooled. Chiyomaru falls to 2-4 while Onosho "improves" to 3-3.

M11 Aoiyama just whiffed on his tsuppari attack against M9 Myogiryu coming in high and allowing Myogiryu to get the right arm in so deep he didn't even need moro-zashi on the other side. As Myogiryu quickly drove Aoiyama back, the Bulgarian sorta setup for a counter kote-nage with the left, but it never materialized...of course.  Myogiryu sails to 5-1 while Aoiyama falls to 3-3.

M10 Nishikigi pummeled M8 Kyokutaisei back a bit from the tachi-ai causing Kyokutaisei to look to evade.  He slipped in the process and was actually quite vulnerable, but Nishikigi didn't go in for the kill.  Rather, he let Kyokutaisei work his way into a right inside position, and while Nishikigi countered with a left outer grip, he made no effort to get his own right to the inside, and he just stood there limp allowing Kyokutaisei to throw him down wildly with a right scoop throw.  You rarely see a rikishi get thrown that hard with a scoop throw, especially from a guy whose only 0-5 coming into the day, but if an opponent goes mukiryoku and just stands there offering no resistance, this is the result we get.  Nishikigi played nice today falling to 3-3 while Kyokutaisei if gifted his first win at 1-5.

M7 Takarafuji and M8 Chiyoshoma hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and you could see the lack of energy from Shoma straightway.  He played the part as the two danced around the ring a bit chest to chest, but he did nothing to defend the pending right outer grip that Takarafuji got about eight seconds in. Once obtained, Takarafuji set up for a right outer belt throw, and normally the guys to the inside would counter creating a nage-no-uchi-ai, but Chiyoshoma was more concerned with padding his landing putting his right elbow down to the dirt and taking the loss in stride. You don't get rikishi much genki'er than Chiyoshoma, but he was clearly mukiryoku in that one, especially at the end.  And that's not to say that Takarafuji can't beat him straight up. I think he could a fourth of the time, but today's match was not fought straight up by both parties as Takarafuji enjoys his 4-2 record while Chiyoshoma falls yet again to 1-5.

M9 Yutakayama and M7 Daieisho treated us to a good tsuppari bout, but the larger Yutakayama began having his way causing Daieisho to evade left.  Daieisho didn't back down, however, and the two continued to trade thrusts, but Yutakayama caught Daieisho with a nice jab to the neck that knocked him upright, and he couldn't recover from that as Yutakayama rushed in for the kill picking up a very nice win on the day.  He moves to 4-2 and that experience getting his ass kicked among the jo'i last basho has made a man of him. As for Daieisho, he falls to 3-3.

M5 Daishomaru got the left arm inside at the tachi-ai against M5 Yoshikaze whose only response was to go for a dumb pull, and with that, Daishomaru assumed moro-zashi and easily forced Yoshikaze back and out from there.  Hooboy, it is not looking good for Yoshikaze who falls to 0-6 while Daishomaru just ekes forward to 2-4.

M6 Endoh sorted shaded left against M4 Kaisei as if to assume a kote grip, but it never really formed, and all it took was that weak contact to cause Kaisei to back pedal, trip over those pesky grains of sand on the dohyo, and just fall to the dirt on his arse.  Okay, after watching this, I take back anything I've ever said about fake sumo.  It is all real...thank the Gods!!  Endoh moves to 5-1 with the obvious gift while Kaisei kills two birds with one stone here.  First, he does the darling Endoh a favor, and second he removes himself further from contender status come week 2.

M6 Chiyotairyu and M4 Kagayaki struck chest to chest before resuming their respective tsuppari attacks, but it was Chiyotairyu throwing his weight around bullying Kagayaki upright before swiping down at his dickey do, and that threw Kagayaki off balance and stumbling forward enough to where Tairyu pivoted right and dragged Kagayaki down the rest of the way with a pull at the left shoulder. Pretty straightforward bout here as Chiyotairyu improves to 5-1 while Kagayaki falls to 2-4.

Komusubi Shohozan connected on a right hari-te at the tachi-ai, but M2 Ikioi was not fazed moving forward nicely elbowing Shohozan upright and connecting on enough pushed to send Shohozan back and out without much of a fight. I think Ikioi was calling in a favor on this one because Shohozan was quite lethargic. Ikioi limps forward to 2-4 while Shohozan falls to just 1-5.

M1 Kotoshogiku went for a weak left swipe at Sekiwake Ichinojo's shoulder at the tachi-ai, but the move had zero effect on the Mongolith, and so with the two just standing there in the center of the ring, they hooked up in migi-yotsu where Ichinojo instinctively grabbed the stifling left outer grip.  As Ichinojo shored up his position, Kotoshogiku wrenched his hip in an effort to break off Ichinojo's right outer, but the Mongolian probably didn't even know it happened it was so weak.  From this point, Ichinojo was in complete control, but Kotoshogiku backed up a bit and tried to shake off that outer one more time, but by this point, Kotoshogiku had exhausted all of his moves, so as Ichinojo continued to stand there and not press the action, Kotoshogiku pulled out from the inside right, and that was the momentum shift Ichinojo needed to just let go of everything and run out of the dohyo on his own.  I guess Kotoshogiku gave him a polite swipe to the upper arm as he left the ring drawing the okuri-dashi winning technique, but this was an outrageous move on the part of Ichinojo.  I thought the Kaisei fall against Endoh was as bad as it could get, but this one was worse, especially when you consider that Ichinojo had the firm right inside and left outer grip against the Geeku. Seriously, if you even entertained the thought that this one was a legit bout, you are a dumbass...and that's being nice.  The end result is both rikishi setting at 2-4 as we say in Utah.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi latched onto a frontal belt grip of M1 Shodai with the left arm, and with Shodai too upright for his own good, Mitakeumi snuggled in close grabbing a right outer grip coupled with that left frontal grip obtained from the tachi-ai.  As Shodai tried to work out of the pickle, the two switched places in the center of the ring before Mitakeumi quickly mounted his force-out charge. What was interesting is that at the edge, Mitakeumi completely abandoned his perfect yotsu stance and chose to finish Shodai off with a shove to the chest.  How does one go from a stifling left frontal grip and a solid right outer grip on your opponent and not win by yori-kiri, especially when Shodai did nothing whatsoever to counter?  This one was over in less than four seconds, and Shodai's posture throughout suggets that he was mukiryoku, but Mitakeumi's failure to win that bout by yori-kiri signals a lack of confidence in his ability and a lack of overall power.  I mean, watching what we've watched so far today, Mitakeumi's 6-0 start says nothing with all the fake sumo flying around, but I pick up on those little details in the ring because it's unnatural to the normal flow of sumo. As for Shodai, he's an inconsequential 1-5.

I was about to write that's it way too early to start talking about a Mitakeumi yusho because if you follow the proper order--or rank in the case of sumo, all of the foreigners withdrawing or pulling back favors Takayasu, not Mitakeumi. At least that was my thinking until Ozeki Takayasu stepped into the ring against M3 Takakeisho and got his ass kicked. The Ozeki brought nothing from the start, and that allowed Takakeisho to connect with some nice shoves to the chest knocking Takayasu upright, and instead of standing in there and trying to counter, Takayasu went for an immediate pull of his opponent, but Takakeisho simply had the momentum and shoved the Ozeki back and across in about two seconds.  I mean, Takayasu does have measurable game, but this was just embarrassing. The faux-zeki falls to 4-2 while Takakeisho rights the ship at 3-3.

I almost don't dare go on, but since we must, let's next move to the Goeido - M3 Abi matchup.  Abi lamely put an extended arm against Goeido's shoulder allowing the faux-zeki the easy path to the right arm inside, and as Abi complied in the yotsu bout, he let Goeido get the left outer on the outside.  From there, Goeido hurried his yori change a bit and was actually susceptible to a counter left scoop throw from the taller Abi, but Abi was more concerned about his soft landing than he was actually winning the bout, so with no counter attempt coming from Abi, Goeido soldiered on with his left outer belt throw sending Abi down with ease.  If you watch the flow of the ending to this bout, you can easily see that Abi moved in the direction of the throw instead of trying to counter with his left inside position.  Another fake bout that sees Goeido move to 4-2 while Abi falls to 2-4, but hey...those two wins are over Mongolian Yokozuna dontcha know!!

In the day's final affair, Ozeki Tochinoshin faced a formidable opponent in Komusubi Tamawashi...the best rikishi left on the banzuke.  The two began both firing tsuppari, but with The Mawashi's shoves more potent, Tochinoshin reached over the top with the left as if to search for the belt, but then he quickly relented and parlayed that into a pull attempt.  Tamawashi played along flowing to the side of the ring resulting in Tochinoshin's grabbing the left inside position while Tamawashi loaded up a kote-nage with the right.  Tamawashi wasn't properly positioned for the throw, however, and he actually had to pump twice on it, but it didn't matter as Tochinoshin just drifted in that direction and then put his knee down giving Tamawashi the win.  More importantly than giving The Mawashi a win (at 3-3) was Tochinoshin's saddling himself with his first loss at 5-1.  Does anyone see the pattern here?  Hakuho...gone.  Kakuryu...gone.  Kaisei...fake loss.  Ichinojo...fake loss.  Tochinoshin...taking the knee.  Now, Tamawashi is the better rikishi and could have won this straight up, but they weren't taking any chances today. Tochinoshin took a knee, and it was obvious.  The entire flow of this bout was off from the start, but we see that too often when the elite rikishi face off against each other.

Talk about a tragic day of sumo.  I got the sense early on last basho that neither Hakuho nor Kakuryu were going to withdraw, and then when you couple that with Tochinoshin's legitimate promotion to Ozeki, what do you have?  You have foreign rikishi kicking ass and taking names and Japanese rikishi performing like fools.  The last time such a gap was allowed to continue, the result was an empty venue basho after basho.  Now you see the place full everyday, and if the Japanese fans continue to take all of this at face value, nothing is going to change.

The events of today don't necessarily guarantee a Japanese yusho this tournament, but the foreigners clearly took a concerted step backwards.

King's to Harvye tomorrow.

Day 5 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
I started watching sumo in 2000. Asashoryu was just some guy to me, leaping around wildly. I had little idea what a Yokozuna was, and no idea that Asashoryu could become one. I rooted for him, basically, as an underdog, as something different, and because he was so damned interesting in the ring. When I left Japan for the time being in August 2002, Asashoryu was just a guy--albeit one who had climbed from Makushita to Sekiwake in just two wild years.

The internet was still in its infancy in those days (yes, really!), and I didn't have much chance to watch sumo for the year I spent away. By the time I moved back to Japan in June 2003, as if by magic, my fave, Asashoryu, was a Yokozuna. In Tokyo, I had drinks with a journalist friend. "Asashoryu Yokozuna;" he said, "it's a good feeling." Yes. We'd rooted for him back when that seemed like a dream, and here he was, on the top of the heap. My friend was exactly right: it was a good feeling. We felt kind of giddy. You only get that in sports once in a while, when the home town team wins the World Championship, say.

Ozeki Tochinoshin? It's a good feeling. His rise has been slower and less dramatic than Asashoryu's. And he hasn't gone as high. But I have that unmistakable feeling again this first week watching Tochinoshin fight: satisfaction, pleasure, and yes, something like quiet pride. It's a good feeling.

M15 Ishiura (2-2) vs. M15 Ryuden (3-1)
How low can you go? Ishiura ducked in there, looking like Ura, and placed the back of his head under Ryuden's armpit: "here, break my neck!" His neck was of course not broken. Instead, they jostled about a bit, then there were a couple of leg-lifting throw attempts, and down Ryuden went, barely before Ishiura, as they both thumped to the dirt for a nice shitate-nage win for Ishiura. This is about the best you'll see from Ishiura, so good on him.

M14 Kotoeko (1-3) vs. M16 Meisei (1-3)
The two newcomers to the division have both looked bad. Meisei has had no fire and Kotoeko no power, if you want my opinion in an oversimplified form. Well, here they grabbed onto each other and Kotoeko forced Meisei back. That looked pretty good for Kotoeko. Meisei was oddly draped over Kotoeko's arm. like a natural disaster victim being carried away from something willy nilly however it can get done. It ended weird though; Meisei kind of sloughed off Kotoeko and slumped to the dirt. They called it sukui-nage, but I call it the Mysterious Melting Rubber Rikishi. Yes, Meisei looks very bad.

M13 Tochiozan (3-1) vs. M14 Okinoumi (3-1)
As Mike said, Tochiozan is a pull guy these days. He had what he used to love--both arms inside--but he used that to pull, and pull and pull, escorting Okinoumi around the ring in a stumbling lope here and there until Okinoumi finally belly-flopped, hataki-komi.

M16 Hokutofuji (2-2) vs. M12 Arawashi (0-4)
Is it time for Arawashi to get some wins? I don't think he wants to end up in Juryo. Whelp, whatever, another bad loss: Arawashi set up nice for some inside belt work at first, crouching and reaching in, then opted for an ineffective pull and leaping retreat. Stood right up and back and out, whoop! Oshi-dashi victory for Hokutofuji. Interesting. Or not.

M12 Sadanoumi (2-2) vs. M13 Asanoyama (3-1)
"No one knows what its like
to be the bad man
to be the Sad Man
behind blue eyes."
Well, Sadanoumi doesn't have blue eyes, and he probably isn't a bad man, but he is a bad makuuchi guy, and this match was very sad for him: Asanoyama, who is looking pretty powerful, grabbed Sad Man, held him, bumped him back, and slung him emphatically to the clay at the tawara, uwate-nage. "No one knows what its like / to feel these feelings / like I do."

M11 Aoiyama (2-2) vs. M11 Onosho (2-2)
"Oshi-zumo doushi," said the announcer: "push-sumo match-up." And that was what they did. Until Onosho, who was losing said battle, grabbed Aoiyama's belt. And then you knew Onosho was finished, because that's not their game. Aoiyama dealt Onosho a forearm to the throat, and whoa!, tsuki-dashi. As Jeff Probst likes to say on Survivor, "that is how you DO IT!"

M9 Myogiryu (3-1) vs. M10 Nishikigi (3-1)
Two guys having sparkpluggy starts. I agree with Mike that Nishikigi has looked surprisingly together of late. His no-doubt-brief moment in the sun? Brief if this match is any indication. They spent a few moments setting up, holding on to each other, but only Myogiryu had the belt, right inside. Myog waited patiently, and when Nishikigi reached out to try to get a belt grip of his own, Myog instantly and impressively whipped him to the ground, shitate-dashi-nage. "That is how you DO IT!!"

M10 Chiyomaru (1-3) vs. M8 Kyokutaisei (0-4)
Chiyo "The Barrel" Maru dominated this one throughout, and boy was it fun. Whap whap whap went his tiny little hands as he started Kyokutaisei off with some tenderizing tsuppari. And squeezed his face. But then Kyokutaisei got Chiyomaru's belt right at the edge: trouble. Ah; no matter: Chiyomaru decided he would show he can play that game too. He humped, he bumped, and he blew Kyokutaisei's house down, driving him out yori-kiri.

M8 Chiyoshoma (1-3) vs. M9 Yutakayama (2-2)
Seems Chiyoshoma and Arawashi are having their "how bad can we be" contest again. I thought they were both up for good tournaments at these ranks. But. Not. Anyhoo, this match was a slappery. Fairly early in, Chiyoshoma whanged Yutakayama in the face pretty good, and the crowd ooohed appropriately. That made Yutakayama mad, and in a moment he tried the same. I thought then he would lose for sure: he'd been baited. But since Chiyoshoma did the opposite with his feet and body (moved backwards) than with his hands (lots of showy aggression) throughout, Yutakayama pretty soon slapped him out, tsuki-dashi. Yutakayama may have some promise, but I just don't know, people. I just don't know.

M7 Daieisho (3-1) vs. M6 Chiyotairyu (3-1)
Chiyotairyu tried to explode Daieisho like a stepped-on land mine, blasting him with full-body oomph at the tachi-ai, but it didn't move Daieisho much. Good work on that by Daieisho. However, Chiyotairyu didn't quit, and Daieisho never got out of the way, so it was only moments before Cannonball Run (Chiyotairyu) tsuki-dashi'ed Daieisho out in linear fashion anyway. Daieisho was either way too honorable here or gave it away, because he had to know he wasn't going to beat Chiyotairyu in a test of straight-ahead charging power. That is what he tried anyway.

M5 Daishomaru (1-3) vs. M7 Takarafuji (2-2)
As you know, I just don't like Daishomaru's sumo. So I expect him to lose pretty much every time. It's always, "ooh, X wrestler is pretty good! He should make mincemeat of Daishomaru." Then Daishomaru pulls or something and upsets my expectation. Well, I thought it here too: "ooh! Takarafuji is pretty good. He should make quince pie of Daishomaru." And thankfully, this time it happened. Daishomaru never really pulled too much, and Takarafuji just did his passive/maintain thing, staying square to his opponent and pushing not too hard, not too little, enough to stay safe (but often not enough to win). Against Daishomaru, though, it was enough: boringish oshi-dashi win for Takarafuji. Takarafuji is pretty much always boring.

M6 Endo (3-1) vs. M4 Kagayaki (2-2)
Endo is a something. Kagayaki is a nothing. That's all you really needed to know to predict where this one would go. Kagayaki didn't seem to be doing much, twirling his arms and "pushing," and consequently Endo pushed him around in turn. Endo stuck both arms inside, straight as pins on an electrical plug, and zapped Kagayaki out, oshi-dashi.

M4 Kaisei (3-1) vs. M5 Yoshikaze (0-4)
Yoshikaze went after his blubber-ball foe hard. Too hard: he slipped right past him, zhhooop!, like a rubber ball through a greased bottle-neck, when Kaisei stepped to the side and pulled his arm a little. Then Kaisei shoved him out from behind, okuri-dashi. Sproing!

K Tamawashi (1-3) vs. M3 Takakeisho (2-2)
Some wild fisticuffs in this one, and contrary to expectation, Takakeisho might have looked to the casual observer as if he was winning it. He almost got Tamawashi to the straw. However, Tamawashi easily stepped to the side and basically watched Takakeisho fall down. For the last few seconds of the match Tamawashi was like a 66 year old at a disco party: just kind of watching Takakeisho in a bored way as he boogied about and trying mildly to stay out of the way. And when Takakeisho fell down, tsuki-otoshi, Tamawashi undoubtedly thought, "kids these days!"

K Shohozan (1-3) vs. S Mitakeumi (4-0)
It looked as if it might be a tsuppari battle, but they were too close together. So Shohozan pulled--just a little--and Mitakeumi advanced all a-sudden-like on it, with a wicked swift will, and pushed Shohozan soundly out, oshi-dashi. Shohozan never had anything going on in this one at all. The old people are very happy.

S Ichinojo (1-3) vs. M1 Shodai (1-3)
They lurched here and there a bit, but Ichinojo was too much weight to handle, and in the end Ichinojo shoved Shodai out with one hand from a distance while standing up pretty straight, oshi-dashi. That shouldn't be that easy to do, but it shows the power differential here. These guys are both brokering for total nothing tournaments.

O Goeido (2-2) vs. M2 Chiyonokuni (3-1)
Chiyonokuni latched onto Goiedo pretty good in this one, wiggled a little, and rode him to defeat. Yori-kiri win for Goeido. Chiyonokuni left his left side open at the tachi-ai, and Goeido got in there good. Chiyonokuni left his hands open, declining to grab anything. Chiyonokuni kept his left arm high, declining to reach down and aggress. So Goeido got the easy win. Now, even Goeido can beat Chiyonokuni straight up most days, and to be fair Goeido played this well, driving hard and low and fast, but Chiyonokuni was not trying here. Because that's how this works.

M1 Kotoshogiku (1-3) vs. O Tochinoshin (4-0)
On Day 2 I talked about the choice between Hakuho and Kakuryu as tournament winners. There is another option, of course, and it's a great one: how about Tochinoshin? He is carrying a bushel of rough-hewn charisma around right now, and him winning would be fun. For everybody, east and west.

Meanwhile, how about Kotoshogiku yesterday? Looks like he's still better than Goeido, and that was a lot of fun. His storyline is rounding out into some sort of strange, attenuated underdog tale.

Anyway, as for the match, they called it back for no good reason on the first go. Perhaps Tochinoshin had hit too hard. It seems to me these days like they love to jump on false starts when it is foreign rikishi involved. Soften them up a little bit? Humiliate them? Unconscious bias? No matter: Tochinoshin hit Kotoshogiku just as hard on the second go-round. He snaked his right hand inside and got the belt. Then, three times, he tried to throw and pivot, to dump Kotoshogiku across his hip. To Kotoshogiku's credit, it never worked: Kotoshogiku looked good here, holding back all that ferocious power. However, each throw sapped Kotoshogiku a little bit, moved him a little closer to doom: the three wrenches set up an academic, quick yori-kiri force-out as the dust settled. Dayum, Tochinoshin is looking very much an ozeki, yes. It's a good feeling.

M2 Ikioi (1-3) vs. O Takayasu (3-1)
Ikioi was fired up. Too fired up. He struck hard and low off the tachi-ai, and remained aggressive, and all Takayasu really did was pull his arms in tight and resist. Takayasu is a big boy, though, and that was enough. As Ikioi bulled at him but couldn't knock him down, over, or out, on a big charge Ikioi glanced off Takayasu's body and Takayasu pulled him sprawling down by the head, hataki-komi.

Y Kakuryu (3-1) vs. M3 Abi (1-3)
When you hear the phrase "hiite shimaimashita!!!!" ("Kakuryu has totally pulled!!!!) being ejaculated by an overstimulated announcer, you know it means Kakuryu is probably about to get flounced with a shower of purple cushions. This one was a slap battle, and Kakuryu was looking very good. They were both doing the same thing--windmilling at each other--but I was just thinking how calm and collected Kakuryu looked, slowly advancing, totally under control, in contrast to how desperate and wild Abi looked, going slowly backwards and not in control at all. And then it happened: the announcer screeched "hiite shimaimashita!!!!" and indeed, it was true: Kakuryu had foolishly switched it up for a pull. And Abi sure did look great responding to it: he focused all his wild young energy forward and drove the Yokozuna out very hard and very fast for an explosive tsuki-dashi win. "That is how you DO IT!" Make no mistake: Abi looked absolutely great winning this one on that last charge. But if you've read this site for more than a basho or two, you are wondering: did Kakury do this on purpose? I will tell you the truth: I don't know. The match looked great, and it is totally plausible to think he just did something stupid and Abi capitalized on it brilliantly. Go ahead and think that. You will be happier. It is also plausible to think he gave Abi an opening, and that even he was surprised how well Abi was able to take advantage of it. Go ahead and think that. You will be sadder (but such is life). Your choice. In either case, this tournament got very interesting over the last two days. Who is your pick to take it now? Tochinoshin? Mitakeumi? Takayasu? Any of those outcomes would be a very big deal in sumo. And Kakuryu will be much more interesting to watch as a struggling comeback underdog than a boring and bored-looking, plodding top dog. Raise the curtain on the drama: we have an interesting yusho race.

Tomorrow Mike wakes up in a Soho doorway and a policeman knows his name.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The first big shake-up of the basho has occurred with the announcement that Yokozuna Hakuho withdrew from the basho.  The Yokozuna cited a sprained right knee suffered on day 2 when he...wait for it...slipped on the floor in the dressing room.  As part of the medical report submitted to the Association, the reported injury contains the same phrase added to the false medical report Takanohana initially submitted to the Association that kicked off the Takanoiwa fiasco:  utagai.  Utagau is a verb that means "to doubt" or "to suspect," and so if you use it at the end of a sentence in its noun form (thus utagai) it becomes a "suspected" injury to Hakuho.

We all know that Hakuho is of course not injured. He looked just fine in his day 2 bout, and he was moving well without the slightest limp on day 3 as well. This is actually a Mongolian Yokozuna running more interference for Kisenosato and making it look as if this Yokozuna thing is a tough job, and these guys need rest.  The Nagoya basho marks the eighth consecutive basho now where Kyujonosato will live up to his name, and of those eight basho, last basho was the only time that a fellow Mongolian didn't go kyujo along with Kisenosato. This is not just something I'm making up as I've been pointing it out for nearly a year now, and Hakuho's withdrawal not only makes people more sympathetic towards Kisenosato, but it also frees up the yusho race a bit.  We had three storytellers coming into day 4 in this order:  Hakuho, Kakuryu, and Tochinoshin.  Now with Hakuho gone we're down to two, and all it will take is a few intentional losses from the remaining foreigners to keep things interesting.

Before we get to the day 4 bouts, I just have to comment on some of the headlines in the press in between days 3 and 4. Seems like the go to man for comments regarding Hakuho's withdrawal is Kitanofuji, and he's had multiple one-liners posted in headlines that include, "It seems like he's been suffering a lot of small injuries lately."  And there's this one: "It appears as if he's just getting weaker and weaker."  Um, is Kitanofuji talking about Kisenosato or Hakuho?  Kyujonosato can go eight basho without competing the full fifteen days and no one says a peep, but Hakuho does the Japanese rikishi a favor by withdrawing and out come the catty comments in the media denigrating the Mongolian.  I already commented on the obvious double-standard at the end of my day 1 comments, and this is just a further example.

As we head to day 4, we opened with M16 Hokutofuji greeting M16 Meisei with open arms--literally--allowing Meisei to do what he wanted.  Meisei sorta flirted with getting to the inside, and then he went for a quick shoulder swipe as he moved laterally, and with Hokutofuji there along for the ride, the rookie ultimately got the left arm inside and a solid right outer grip. With no pressure coming from Hokutofuji, Meisei executed the easy peasy yori-kiri as Hokutofuji offered a very light tsuki-otoshi motion with the right as he crossed the straw. Meisei was totally lost the first three days, but he looked good here thanks to Hokutofuji's letting him win.  It's one thing for a rookie to try and win a bout when his opponent wants to win too, but against a practice dummy who doesn't make a single effort to win the bout, you can do whatever you like. Meisei buys his first as he moves to 1-3 while Hokutofuji quietly falls to 2-2.

M15 Ishiura henka'd left against J2 Takagenji grabbing the cheap left outer grip and using it to move the Juryo rikishi a step towards the straw, but Ishiura just halted his charge from there and allowed the 0-3 rikishi coming in to get set back up with the right arm firmly to the inside, and once he had it, Ishiura put his own right arm at the top of Takagenji's head completely exposing himself.  Not even a winless Juryo dude could screw this one up as Takagenji executed the force-out straight way picking up his first win of the basho.  As for Ishiura, he falls to 2-2 and hopefully got paid for this.

We got our first legit bout of the day with M14 Okinoumi vs. M14 Kotoeko, and that spells trouble for the rookie because Okinoumi is a great rikishi when he chooses to be.  With Kotoeko having executed another horrible tachi-ai where he was standing straight up with feet aligned, Okinoumi didn't even bother going for the belt.  Instead, he just shoved the rookie back once, twice, three times a lady.  Okinoumi breezes to 3-1 while Kotoeko (1-3) continues to look horrible in bouts straight up.

M15 Ryuden showed some nice sumo against M13 Asanoyama getting the right arm firmly to the inside coupled by a long arm of the law left outer grip, and before Asanoyama could even get settled, Ryuden pivoted to his left and dragged Asa dashi-nage style clear over to the edge, and just as Asanoyama attempted to square back up, Ryuden bodied him back for good. Took maybe three seconds as both rikishi finish the day at 3-1.

The M12 Arawashi nonsense continued as he was paired against M12 Sadanoumi.  The two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai meaning both had right arms to the inside, and Arawashi actually had the path to the left outer grip, but he let that go straightway and then looked to set up a scoop throw, but he did so by just running himself clear outta the dohyo with Sadanoumi in tow.  Trust me...the Mongolians aren't this clueless.  Arawashi falls to familiar territory at 0-4 while Sadanoumi is gifted the win moving to 2-2.

I commented yesterday that M13 Tochiohzan will always go for at least one pull when he intends to win, and today against M11 Onosho, Oh was lookin' to get his.  Onosho was proactive at the tachi-ai nudging Tochiohzan back a bit from the start, but Onosho was all bark and no bite, and it was really a matter of Tochiohzan getting ready to spring the trap door.  Near the edge, the veteran shaded to his left swiping Onosho off balance enough to where he only needed that one pull attempt to send Onosho packing in short order.  Tochiohzan is a cool 3-1 while Onosho is just a fair rikishi when fighting in straight-up bouts.  He's now 2-2.

One of the guys I enjoy watching of late is M10 Nishikigi, which tells you just how desperate these times have gotten. Today against M10 Chiyomaru, it was Maru who took charge with his early tsuppari that forced Nishikigi to shade back and to his left, but Chiyomaru's footwork was awful yet again, so with the rotund Chiyomaru just standing there upright and flat-footed, Nishikigi made a do-or-die charge managing to push Chiyomaru back and out just before he crumbled down himself.  It was ugly, but it was real, so I'll take it as Nishikigi moves to 3-1 while Chiyomaru is not well at 1-3.

M11 Aoiyama and M9 Yutakayama engaged in a decent tsuppari affair where it looked as if Yutakayama's youth (and healthy body) was giving him the upper hand, but Aoiyama evaded just enough making Yutakayama work hard, and about six seconds in Aoiyama sensed that his man was vulnerable, and so he went for and scored on a pull down.  It wasn't pretty sumo, and Yutakayama simply had too tough of a time pushing around Aoiyama and his weight. Both rikishi finish the day at 2-2.

M8 Chiyoshoma struck M8 Kyokutaisei at the tachi-ai before backing up a step, and as Kyokutaisei advanced, it was clear that Shoma was looking to set up a pull.  Kyokutaisei had the same thoughts as well so both rikishi took turns diving in for shoves and then looking for a pull.  Regardless of what style of sumo these guys do, Chiyoshoma is the superior rikishi, and his intent was to win today, and so he did timing a nice pull-down about five seconds into this lackluster match. Chiyoshoma is now 1-3 while Kyokutaisei is still winless at 0-4.

M7 Daieisho caught M9 Myogiryu with some nice tsuki from the tachi-ai driving Myo back step by step, and just when I thought Daieisho was gonna score the tsuki-dashi win, he reversed gears on a dime and shoved Myogiryu to the dirt as the latter looked to duck back into the bout in desperation. This was all Daieisho as he picks up a dominating win leaving both guys at 3-1.

The biggest enigma is sumo these days is M6 Chiyotairyu. Today he was paired against M6 Endoh, and while Tairyu didn't go for his balls to the wall slapfest, he easily struck at the tachi-ai before moving right and firing a few potent downward slaps into Endoh that sent Elvis hunched over and turned around leaving a simple push of Endoh's but cheek as Chiyotairyu's final task. Chiyotairyu won this one in about two seconds, and while powerful, it wasn't pretty sumo. Both fellas end the day at 3-1.

M5 Yoshikaze is a lame horse that probably needs to be put down soon. Today against M7 Takarafuji, it was sort of a hidari-yotsu bout, but Yoshikaze was ducked so low with his hips back that all they could do was awkwardly spin in the center of the ring for a few turns.  With Yoshikaze applying no pressure, Takarafuji finally found an opening to the back of his belt with the right hand, and as soon as he got it he dragged Monster Drink to the clay with ease.  Takarafuji rights the ship at 2-2 while Yoshikaze falls to 0-4.

M4 Kagayaki's length bothered M4 Kaisei from the tachi-ai as the younger Kagayaki began working the Brasilian backwards, but there was no pop to Kagayaki's charge, and so Kaisei was able to work his right arm to the inside near the edge and force the bout chest to chest, and once there, he bodied Kagayaki back towards the center of the ring, grabbed the left outer grip, and then flung Kagayaki over and out in textbook fashion.  This was a good effort from Kagayaki, but he fell short at 2-2 while Kaisei skates to 3-1.

M5 Daishomaru was no match for M3 Takakeisho who knocked his foe back in wham, bam, thank you ma'am fashion scoring the easy push-out win. Now that I think about it, Daishomaru is no match for anyone as he falls to 1-3.  As for Takakeisho, he picks up the easy win moving to 2-2.

After a nice streak of straight-up bouts, Sekiwake Ichinojo decided to throw in the towel against Komusubi Shohozan.  Darth Hozan was his usual feisty self from the tachi-ai as Ichinojo just stood up straight before backing up of his own volition. Shohozan was onto him like white to rice delivering a few hari-te in the process that actually connected. Ichinojo whiffed on a hari-te of his own leaving him completely vulnerable to the quick force-out by Shohozan. Ichinojo has been a good sport most of the basho, and he was mukiryoku again today gifting Shohozan his first win as both rikishi now stand at 1-3.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi is the obvious crowd favorite this basho, and while the dude isn't from Aichi-ken, Nagano is close enough.  Mitakeumi banners are everywhere in the arena giving all of the old people something to look forward to, and today Komusubi Tamawashi wasn't going to deny them their fun.  The Mawashi kept his arms high and wide from the start today as Mitakeumi immediately got his right arm to the inside causing Tamawashi to shade back and left gearing up for a pull...that would never come of course.  With Tamawashi so upright and open, Mitakeumi bodied him over to the straw and then pushed him back for good without argument.  It was over in about four seconds, and Tamawashi didn't make a single move to try and win the bout, so everyone wins today as Mitakeumi moves to 4-0.  It's way too early to signal Mitakeumi as a yusho favorite.  A lot of yaocho has to happen to get him close, and Hakuho's choosing to withdraw today was in order to do Kisenosato a favor, not Mitakeumi.  As for Tamawashi, he calmly falls to 1-3, but the dude does have charity.

In the Ozeki ranks, M3 Abi actually caught Ozeki Tochinoshin with a nice stiff arm keeping him upright and away from the belt, but there wasn't enough power there to move the Ozeki back. After taking Abi's best shot, Tochinoshin finally got a shallow grip of Abi's belt with the left, and he used that to dashi-nage Abi over to the edge where a final shove finished him off.  Hey, credit Abi in this one for at least delivering his best shot.  It came up far too short as he falls to 1-3, but it was a decent effort.  As for Tochinoshin, he moves to 4-0 and is a man among Japanese boys.

You'll notice in my true banzuke from yesterday that I at least listed Ozeki Takayasu as one of the few Japanese rikishi who deserved to be there.  M1 Shodai didn't, and the difference in power and ability was on display here as Takayasu used perfect de-ashi and a nice tsuppari attack to bully Shodai back and out so emphatically, they awarded him the tsuki-dashi win.  Now, just because Takayasu looked like an Ozeki today, it doesn't all of a sudden make him legit.  You do remember he lost to Chiyonokuni yesterday.  Anyway, he moves to 3-1 with the fine display of sumo while Shodai falls to 1-3.

Alright.  Brace yourself; it's time for Goeido.  Today against M1 Kotoshogiku, the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu where the Geeku wrapped his right arm around Goeido's left and began dry-humping the faux-zeki back to the straw.  In the process, Kotoshogiku lost his left inside position, but Goeido is incapable of playing defense, so he allowed the Geeku to maki-kae with the left to get it back inside.  That quick momentum shift did allow Goeido to grab the right outer grip, but Kotoshogiku's left was in so deep he was able to keep Goeido too upright for his own good.  Regardless of that, Goeido went for an ill-advised right outer belt throw anyway, and all he ended up doing was throwing himself so off balance that Kotoshogiku offered a final slapdown that sent Goeido packing. Good grief...Goeido's sumo is so riddled with flaws it's embarrassing that they're still trying to pass this dude off as an Ozeki. He's now 2-2 as a kadoban Ozeki, so that means there will be plenty more yaocho to come should they feel sorry for him.  As for Kotoshogiku, you can't help but root for the guy as he picks up his first winna the basho at 1-3.

In the Yokozuna ranks, M2 Chiyonokuni picked up the freebie thanks to Hakuho's withdrawal, so the M2 now finds himself at 3-1.  The media reported the surprised shock of the crowd when they announced Hakuho's withdrawal and rightly so. Everyone knew he wasn't injured, and so it was a surprise when he didn't show up.

That leaves Kakuryu as the lone Yokozuna once again, and it's so funny how they try and play that angle up. In hushed tones they say, "He must surely feel the weight and responsibility of being the only Yokozuna left this basho."  Huh??

Said pressure obviously got to the Yokozuna because he kept his arms high and wide at the tachi-ai against M2 Ikioi going for a fake pull as Ikioi drove him back, and the Yokozuna put himself in such awful position that Ikioi was able to dispatch him in two seconds flat.  Ikioi picks up the win not to mention the kin-boshi, and this guy has been so overlooked, I'm actually happy to see him get a little bit of run even if the Yokozuna let him win.  As for Kakuryu, it was a tactical loss to ensure that we have plenty to talk about in week two when we start looking for yaocho candidates.  At 3-1, Kakuryu is likely not finished throwing bouts while Ikioi picks up his first win of the basho at 1-3.

It's time for a little optimism, so let's bring back Harvye tomorrow.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Most of you are likely aware of the severe flooding Japan has experienced over the last few days that has resulted in the death of at least 130 people and likely more when they have the final tally, and so the daily broadcast is sandwiched in between news of the flooding with a news break at the five o'clock hour...that of course includes even more flood news. Because of the grave situation at hand, there really hasn't been any talk of storylines during the basho to date. I'm sure things will pick up in week two, but it's almost as if they're holding the basho out of obligation. There just isn't the same buzz, and they aren't really hyping any storylines, so the only thing to talk about is the action in the ring. With that, let's get right to it.

Up first was Daiamami visiting from Juryo and taking on M15 Ryuden. Daiamami looked close to moro-zashi from the tachi-ai, but Ryuden backed out of harm's way in a bout shaping up to be migi-yotsu that then turned to hidari-yotsu with Ryuden maintaining a right frontal grip that was inside and then outside after a maki-kae from Daiamami. Regardless of all the position changes and confusion, Ryuden had the better positioning and grip when it counted, and he was easily able to wrench Daiamami back to Juryo to lick his wounds. Both rikishi end the day at 2-1 after a decent fight.

M16 Hokutofuji just hasn't been genki the last few basho, and his tachi-ai has been even worse, and so there was no way he was going to impose his will on M15 Ishiura from the start. With Hokutofuji wide at the tachi-ai and Ishiura henka'ing to his left, Hokutofuji couldn't recover as Ishiura pulled him once or twice and then turned him sideways 90 degrees with a left swipe to the shoulder, and before Hokutofuji could fully square back up, Ishiura had him pushed back and across quick as a cat. While I didn't like the tachi-ai, it was a legit win for Ishiura as both fellas end the day at 2-1.

M14 Okinoumi and M16 Meisei hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and with the rookie immediately on defense, Okinoumi used his long arm of the law to grab a right outer grip, and from this point, Meisei was a 10 inch trout hooked on 20 pound test. Okinoumi took his sweet time smothering his foe back bit by bit before dumping him across the straw uwate-nage style in a fine display of sumo. Okinoumi moves to 2-1 and really shows his superiority when he tries to win. As for Meisei, he falls to 0-3, and it's going to be that same old story of late:  buy the rookie his first coupla wins. I'll tell'ya when it happens.

Speaking of a rookie buying wins, M13 Tochiohzan gave M14 Kotoeko his first victory after turning down numerous opportunities to gain advantageous positions. From the start, Kotoeko exhibited one of the worst tachi-ai you'd care to see starting a henka and then rethinking it. A veteran like Tochiohzan can easily take advantage of such a mistake, but Oh was content to flirt with this and that only to back out of it and let Kotoeko look as if he was in command. Oh had the path to moro-zashi (seen below), and at one point he had the solid left arm inside and right outer grip (seen at right), but he didn't latch onto it pulling out yet again like a dude on prom night who forgot his rubber, and in the end, Kotoeko was able to score the soft oshi-dashi win. I mean, recall Tochiohzan's sumo style in general. He used to be a moro-zashi or bust guy. Lately he's morphed into a pull first guy, but he can still gain moro-zashi when he sees the path. Today, he didn't try any of those tactics even though they were there for the taking as you can see by the pictures I snapped of the bout flanking this paragraph. Easy easy yaocho call on this one, and how exciting does Kotoeko really feel about buying his first Makuuchi win instead of earning it?  Tochiohzan finishes the day at 2-1 while Kotoeko is now 1-2.

Just when I thought M12 Arawashi's somersault yesterday was the worst dive of the tournament, Shohozan outdid him by putting his knee down against Takayasu. The good news is that Arawashi didn't try and do another flip today, but the bad news was that he was still mukiryoku. Against M13 Asanoyama, the two actually hooked up in a promising migi-yotsu position where both guys had a left outer grip, but instead of making a bout of it, Arawashi just went limp allowing Asanoyama to force him to the side and out in like two seconds. As if. Another easy yaocho call here as Asanoyama finds himself at 3-0 while Arawashi graciously falls to 0-3.

M11 Aoiyama came with his usual tsuppari attack against M12 Sadanoumi, but the Bulgarian just stayed flat-footed with feet aligned. With Aoiyama's failing to apply any pressure, Sadanoumi eventually worked his way into moro-zashi where Aoiyama wrapped both arms around the outside before feigning a pull that just set him in motion to be forced back with ease. No effort today from Aoiyama as Sadanoumi buys...er...picks up his first win of the tournament leaving both men at 1-2.

What a telling matchup between M11 Onosho and M10 Nishikigi. Onosho is one of those youngsters who's received considerable hype despite not really showing us anything atop the dohyo. Today against M10 Nishikigi, Onosho exhibited about the most unconfident tachi-ai you'd care to see making himself go forward but quickly repenting and skirting left as he looked to set up a dumb pull. As for Nishikigi, he couldn't even get to three times a lady as it took one dual shove with both hands to send Onosho over and out in this lopsided affair. The difference between Onosho's 2-0 start and his bout today is that today's contest wasn't paid for. Both rikishi end the day at 2-1.

M9 Myogiryu and M10 Chiyomaru didn't really crash into each other at the tachi-ai even though both had their arms extended. Chiyomaru looked uncomfortable from the beginning as Myogiryu carefully moved forward getting his right arm to the inside, and that's all the pressure it took for Chiyomaru to start evading to his left around the perimeter of the ring. Myogiryu looked to keep pace and score on the force-out win, but credit Maru for moving fast enough while applying a counter tsuki-otoshi near the edge that actually threw Myogiryu to the dirt beyond the edge. Watching live, it looked as if Myogiryu lost the bout, but his body as it was falling blocked the fact that Chiyomaru's right leg stepped beyond the straw before Myogiryu touched down. Chiyomaru doesn't look right this basho as he falls to 1-2. Myogiryu dodged a bullet in this one has he whisks to 3-0.

M9 Yutakayama may have gotten his ass kicked last basho among the jo'i, but it's paying off this basho now that he's back down among the rank and file. Today against M8 Kyokutaisei, the two treated us to a pretty good fight with the feistier Kyokutaisei jabbing and moving as the larger Yutakayama looked to connect on a shove of his own. The two moved and danced around the ring a bit trading shoves with Yutakayama trying to catch Kyokutaisei with a knock-out punch, but it wouldn't come, and as Yutakayama seemed to tire, Kyokutaisei burrowed in latching onto the front of the belt with the left. Problem was, he let Yutakayama get inside with his own left arm, and with no place for Kyokutaisei to move, Yutakayama scooped him up as if to throw, but Kyokutaisei grabbed onto the right outer grip, and the nage-no-uchi-ai was on at the edge. Since this wasn't a straight up yotsu contest from the start, the bout ended when Kyokutaisei accidentally hopped beyond the straw, but hey, I thought this was a good bout of sumo, and I'll always give credit when it's due. Good stuff here as Yutakayama moves to 2-1 while Kyokutaisei falls to 0-3.

M7 Daieisho was proactive at the tachi-ai using a left stiff arm into what would normally be M7 Takarafuji's neck, but Takara Boom De Aye swiped that stiff arm away, twisted Daieisho to the side, and then shoved him across and out in short order. Takarafuji picks up his first win at 1-2 while Daieisho suffers his first loss at 2-1.

In a ridiculous bout, M8 Chiyoshoma jumped to his right grabbing the right outer grip against M6 Endoh and then wrapping his left arm around Endoh's melon, but then Shoma just stood upright straight as an arrow allowing Endoh to trip him up from behind in kiri-kaeshi fashion. Such a move is something we're used to seeing from the Mongolian rikishi but not Endoh. This was yet another stupid bout involving either Chiyoshoma or Arawashi where they're just giving away the early wins. Endoh has had a cakewalk to 3-0 thanks to three mukiryoku opponents while Chiyoshoma is an unsurprising 0-3.

Speaking of yaocho, M6 Chiyotairyu just blew right past M5 Daishomaru oblivious to Daishomaru's henka, but the henka was so bad that Chiyotairyu had plenty of time to square back up. As Daishomaru moved towards him to set up a pull, Chiyotairyu anticipated it just a tad early and dove to the dohyo before Daishomaru actually made contact. This dive was along the lines of Shohozan's act yesterday, and it's an obvious example of how bout fixing is still alive and well in sumo. The NSK may want to add acting as one of the mandatory things the newcomers do when they receive their initial training in the Kokugikan classrooms. This was horrible as Daishomaru buys his first win at 1-2 while Chiyotairyu is a harmless 2-1.

M5 Yoshikaze has definitely lost his fizz. Today against M4 Kagayaki, he was dominated from the start by Kagayaki's nice thrust attack, and Yoshikaze couldn't even move laterally as Kagayaki did sing all three verses of once, twice, three times a lady. This one was close to tsuki-dashi but not quite as Kagayaki moves to 2-1 while Yoshikaze falls to 0-3.

M3 Abi henka'd badly to his right against M4 Kaisei, but instead of making the youngster pay, Kaisei just turned his back towards his opponent allowing Abi to quickly dispatch him with a few pushes from behind. Can't say I've ever seen anyone react to a henka like that before, but when you're throwing the bout, do what you please. Kaisei falls to 2-1 while Abi picks up his first win at 1-2.

I enjoy straight up bouts of sumo of course, but the problem when they occur between two Japanese darlings is the sumo tends to be awkward. M3 Takakeisho knocked Sekiwake Mitakeumi off the starting lines a step, but Mitakeumi held on with a left paw latched to the front of Takakeisho's belt, so when Takakeisho went into his usual pull mode, Mitakeumi was able to keep pace with a hold of the belt. With Takakeisho vulnerable and unable to pull, Mitakeumi secured the right arm to the inside, and once obtained, Takakeisho set up for a desperate kubi-nage turning to the side a bit, but it never came as Mitakeumi just dumped him down on his arse with a shove from behind. Mitakeumi performed well here, but the sumo wasn't crisp, and what I mean by that is the typical sumo we see from Tochinoshin these days. Regardless, Takakeisho falls to 1-2 while Mitakeumi is still clean at 3-0.

In case you're wondering, the third best rikishi in sumo right now is Komusubi Tamawashi. Neither Sekiwake Ichinojo nor Ozeki Tochinoshin can solve his tsuppari attack, and so the true banzuke in sumo right now goes:

Hakuho
Kakuryu
Tamawashi
Ichinojo
Tochinoshin
Arawashi
Chiyoshoma
Kaisei
Aoiyama
Okinoumi
Takarafuji
Ikioi
Shohozan
Takayasu
Pretty much any other Japanese guy you want to plug in from here

Getting back to the Ichinojo - Tamawashi matchup, The Mawashi used his potent tsuppari attack from the start to nudge Ichinojo back bit by bit, and the Mongolith never could counter as he was dispatched largely in linear fashion. Good stuff from Tamawashi as both rikishi now set at 1-2 as we say in Utah.

One of the biggest drawbacks to so much yaocho is that when a rikishi frequently on the receiving end finds himself in a tough fight, he doesn't know how to finish. Ozeki Takayasu found out the hard way today against M2 Chiyonokuni. The two traded tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but the Ozeki was obviously taking charge due to his bulk, but Kuni hung in there and managed to slip to the right and grab an outer grip on that side. He rushed his dashi-nage, however, and that created separation, so the two next looked for swipe and pull opportunities until Takayasu got the left arm firmly to the inside. After gathering his wits, Takayasu went for an inside belt throw that sent Kuni into the splits...but not all the way down. Problem was that Takayasu thought the bout was won and just stood back upright, but Chiyonokuni survived it like a roach and sprang back up still maintaining that right outer grip, and so he moved the Ozeki near the straw leading with that belt grip. Takayasu managed to counter with his left back to the inside, but it was too little too late. Gunbai to Chiyonokuni who never gave up when Takayasu did. The end result is both dudes landing on 2-1.



Ozeki Goeido and M2 Ikioi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but Ikioi was just going through the motions from the start. That allowed Goeido to grab a left outer that he used to dashi-nage Ikioi to the other side of the starting lines. The move had little effect, but Ikioi just went with it allowing Goeido to maintain that left belt grip and then get the right inside giving him moro-zashi. The Ozeki was still vulnerable to a right kote-nage from Ikioi, and we know that's the M2's bread and butter move, but he didn't even try the throw just standing upright and allowing Goeido to force him across for good. Ikioi was completely mukiryoku from the tachi-ai as he falls to 0-3. Goeido receives more charity moving him to 2-1.

Ozeki Tochinoshin was sloppy today at the tachi-ai against Komusubi Shohozan leaving his arms up high and wide giving Shohozan moro-zashi, but the Ozeki clamped in tight from the outside around both arms and lifted Shohozan clear off his feet once and then twice dispatching the Sith via tsuri-dashi. That Shohozan could do nothing despite moro-zashi is quite telling in terms of the difference in ability between the furreners and the Japanese rikishi as the Komusubi falls to 0-3 while Tochinoshin skates to 3-0.

Yokozuna Hakuho came with a weak kachi-age with the right against M1 Kotoshogiku while reaching around the for the left outer. He got the outer all right, but thanks to the limp right arm from the start, Kotoshogiku came away with moro-zashi for the briefest of moments. Hakuho twisted his arse 180 degrees to the other side of the starting lines, and that created separation, and from there the Yokozuna went for a pull that knocked the Geeku off balance setting up the final body slam from Hakuho with the right arm. This was unpolished sumo for sure, but we only see Hakuho tighten the screws about once every three contests (think the Shodai bout). The end result is Hakuho's moving to 3-0 while Kotoshogiku falls to 0-3.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Kakuryu got the left arm to the inside and the right outer grip against M1 Shodai, but he didn't exactly demand, and so as he went for a dashi-nage with the right grip, Shodai was able to spin around but not away, and so the Yokozuna rushed forward and finished off his opponent with a final shove. Easy does it as Shodai is no match for the elite rikishi falling to 1-2 while Kakuryu joins Hakuho and Tochinoshin as co-storytellers of the basho to this point.

There were some bright moments today, but there's still so much coddling of the Japanese rikishi (we don't need to name them) that nobody is taking the basho seriously.

Day 2 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
The sport is always going to lead with its Yokozuna, which is right and proper. But right now, they present a sorry show. Kisenosato's record-tying year plus without completing a tournament is a clear embarrassment and casts a pall over efforts to promote other Japanese guys. Almost as bad is the two straight tournament victories by... who? Can't remember... oh yeah, Kakuryu! The Invisible Yokozuna. Colorless, boring, and foreign, there could hardly be a less appealing standard bearer for the sport as it tries to transition from the Hakuho era to something else.

The sport is crying out for a yusho from Hakuho. If it can't be Kisenosato, and it has to be a Yokozuna--as it usually does--it has to be Hakuho. Before we fall asleep. We need to be allowed to sing Hakuho's sunset song lustily.

M16 Hokutofuji (1-0) vs. J1 Akiseyama (0-1)
Akiseyama is a limp and blubbery fellow, and I thought Hokutofuji would have him easily. Lo! Akiseyama got the mo' on his side, pushing Hokutofuji back and getting both arms under. That's 'cause Hokutodummy fondled Aki's face and retreated instead of attacking. No matter. As I said, Akiseyama is blubbery and sad, and at the edge Hokutofuji danced nimbly to the side and stepped out only after Akiseyama had splatted wetly to the clay, tsuki-otoshi.

M16 Meisei (0-1) vs. M15 Ryuden (0-1)
Meisei charged, but he's just a rookie, and Ryuden placidly stepped to the side and grabbed his belt. Ryuden was preparing to throw Meisei, but Meisei planted his feet hard, a moment of neither here nor there, neither this nor that, neither forward nor backward, and the slightest advance from Ryuden knocked him over backwards, abise-taoshi. Meisei looks as fresh as a spring gourd stolen from a wet pumpkin patch and mashed into pie. We'll see what time brings.

M14 Kotoeko (0-1) vs. M13 Ishiura (0-1)
I'd say this was the third match in a row where the younger guy got schooled. Kotoeko got Ishiura into a slap fest, and that was something Kotoeko could win against Ishiura. However, something Kotoeko could not win here was an evasion fest, and when things got hot in there and Kotoeko got a good hold of him Ishiura knew it was time to get out. His escape was swift and snakelike, his sling down of Kotoeko emphatic: uwate-dashi-nage. You will rarely see Ishiura look this good; going backwards and against a rookie, but he'll take it. He did what he needed to do.

M Okinoumi (1-0) vs. M Asanoyama (1-0)
It looked throughout like Okinoumi was underneath and was going to get a grip he could work with: he had a right inside at one point, and the announcers proclaimed in mustered excitement, "this is what he's good at!" But what no one was mentioning was that Asanoyama was slowly, slowly advancing nonetheless. At the end Asanoyama gave a burst of energy and slung Okinoumi this way and that. Okinoumi rather compliant-lookingly tumbled to the clay in a sideways somersault, tsuki-otoshi.

M12 Sadanoumi (0-1) vs. M13 Tochiohzan (1-0)
This one was all Tochiohzan, whom I keep declaring ready for the knacker man, but who keeps feasting on the cheap flesh of corpses like Sadanoumi. A little bit of pushing on the face, some nice footwork to advance, and some deathly shoves to the chest for the dominant oshi-dashi win by Tochiohzan. Who's the knacker man now?

M12 Arawashi (0-1) vs. M11 Onosho (1-0)
This should of course be a tournament of easy dominance for Onosho, who is only this low because he's coming back from injury (he won Juryo last time from the same position). He won very easily on day one, and did again today: coupla good face shoves, one to the north, one to the south, and Arawashi flipped like a threatened potato bug curling into a sidewalk crack, hiki-otoshi. Too exaggerated from Arawashi as usual, but Onosho can beat him anyway.

M10 Chiyomaru (1-0) vs. M11 Aoiyama (0-1)
I wanted big fun. Literally. Very big. It was kind of a lame match though: Aoiyama charged hard, pushed hard, and Chiyomaru slipped around like a lump of ghee in a cast iron pan. And that was that, oshi-dashi.

The crowd like a sea of bug wings, all those hand-held fans a-flapping. Ever broken upon a termite mound? That's what it looked like in there. Kotooshu and Random Announcer both wore crisp, white button down short sleeve shirts, open at the neck, no tie. Cool biz. If you have ever been to Nagoya in the summer, you know one thing about it: HOT. Hot outside, hot in the venue. Do they not air condition it sufficiently in there on purpose? Can the equipment not handle the intensity of what the July sun brings to Chubu? Nagoya is the venue I have probably been to the most, and it is sweaty in there, people. It sounds like a stupidity for it to be that way, but that is the tournament's character. There's something kind of good about that.

M10 Nishikigi (1-0) vs. M9 Yutakayama (0-1)
Textbook work here for Yutakayama. Yutakayama forced Nishikigi up from underneath, struck from underneath, moved his feet forward. Thrust, shove, thrust, shove, thrust, shove, win! Oshi-dashi. Very solid work by the heretofore colorless Yutakayama. We'll see what develops.

M8 Chiyoshoma (0-1) vs. M9 Myogiryu (1-0)
This was a good looking thing: they held each other by the hand on one side; on the other side Chiyoshoma had Myogiryu's head wrapped up and was trying a neck throw, and Myogiryu had his arm around Chiyoshoma's torso and was trying to throw him bodily. They both went down face first at the straw, legs flying up, but Chiyoshoma planted his masher into the dirt first, giving Myogiryu the fun shitate-nage win.

M8 Kyokutaisei (0-1) vs. M7 Daieisho (1-0)
I remain totally unimpressed with Kyokutaisei, who has a nice sumo body but seems to do nothing with it. In deference to foreign fans who like Kyokutaisei because of him having starred in a documentary, I am patiently waiting for him to do better. The wait continues. Daieisho diced him up with some good aggressive tsuppari up high, then sliced him down with an all-too-easy hataki-komi pull. Movie stars: meh.

M6 Endo (1-0) vs. M7 Takarafuji (0-1)
Once popular, always popular. I sure wish I were handsome. Can't believe Endo still racks up the kensho banners; and on a day two, against Takarafuji!  Endo didn't have to do much here. Takarafuji was his usual do-not-much self; Endo just held on for a little bit. Takarafuji wangled his arms around, wide open, then closed on Endo, then fell to the dirt unceremoniously when Endo jumped out of there, giving Endo the kata-sukashi win.

M6 Chiyotairyu (1-0) vs. M5 Yoshikaze (0-1)
Bang! Zoooooop! That's the match: Chiyotairyu hit Yoshikaze hard, drove him back, and was the winner, yori-kiri. It's not just us saying it: Kotooshu called Chiyotairyu's tachi-ai "baku-hatsu-teki," which just means "explosive." But "bakuhatsuteki" has a nice onomatopoeic sound to it of things getting messily destroyed.

M4 Kaisei (1-0) vs. M5 Daishomaru (0-1)
All Kaisei needed to do here was not get pulled. He accomplished that by turning, rotating along through the space, preventing Daishomaru from having a straight line for the pull, or an easy place to rotate to of his down. Kaisei then pushed him, grabbed him, and beat him, yori-kiri.

After this match they showed the outside view: puffy white clouds against a burgeoning blue sky. If you've been to this area in the summer, you can just see the heat in that sky. That is a hot sky. Did I mention it is hot in there? Nagoya is hot.

M4 Kagayaki (1-0) vs. M3 Takakeisho (0-1)
Push fest. I guess Takakeisho got the advantage by mixing in a good slap or two, momentarily disorienting Kagayaki. But the reality is Takakeisho is just better. Again, I'll let Kotooshu call it: "shita-kara-ue": from below, up. Yes. That's how Takakeisho pushed Kagayaki out, oshi-dashi.

S Ichinojo (0-1) vs. M3 Abi (0-1)
I remain only half sold on Ichinojo. Yeah, he can move quickly when he needs to. Yeah, he loses on purpose sometimes. Yeah, he could be much better. But "he could be much better" is true two ways: he can be much better if he tries to win (he is sometimes voluntarily bad). And he can be much better if he concentrates (he is sometimes involuntarily bad). I don't believe all of his troubles are due to mukiryoku. Some are just due to him being sloppy and lazy in the ring. He clearly wanted to win this one: turning quickly to face Abi when in trouble, grabbing Abi and driving him out when he had the chance. But he also let Abi get behind him at one point, and was vulnerable and off the line of the match in others. Oh, he won in the end, yori-kiri, having caught his trout and banged its head against the side of the boat. But I don't know if Ichinojo will ever have the focus he needs to be truly great. What he has can probably get him to Ozeki though. Someday.

M2 Ikioi (0-1) vs. S Mitakeumi (1-0)
The crowd was all into Mitakeumi as usual. Nagoya is an easy reach from Nagano, where Mitakeumi is from. You ride the "Shinano Wideview" down, a train with beautiful huge windows that rumbles along through mountains and gorges and along cerulean rivers. It's a good time. Anyway, as for Mitakeumi, the guy appears to be falling into a rut: good first weeks, bad second weeks. I'm not going to predict any Ozeki run from him anymore until I see him not wilt in the second half. We're still in the first half, and sure enough, Mitakeumi took care of Ikioi here: forearm barring him, grabbing him, then retreating quickly enough that Ikioi lost his feet inside and was sling-down fodder, uwate-dashi-nage. Both easy and unimpressive from Nagano-man.

O Goeido (0-1) vs. K Tamawashi (0-1)
Kadoban drama for Goeido! 0-1 start, and eight wins to keep his rank! It is a sad commentary on current Ozeki-dom that not even this is interesting; if he loses his rank it will be "it's about time" and "I can't believe they actual allowed it!" And if he keeps his rank it will be, "yep." Kadoban just feels kind of normal for him. It could be a rank in itself: Kadoban Goeido. Permanent kadoban. If there were an encyclopedia entry entry for kadoban, there could be a picture of Goeido there. Well, Tamawashi was happy to help with that. They struck each other. Goeido turned to one side, and Tamawashi turned to another, presenting his ass to Goeido. Goeido grabbed said rump and shoved it, and all the body parts attached to it. That's called okuri-dashi. Goeido wins. And that's called sumo, I guess.

M2 Chiyonokuni (1-0) vs. O Tochinoshin (1-0)
This was a big time mismatch, and Chiyonokuni's only chance was henka or evasion. He did try one hop to the side after the tachi-ai, but otherwise he stayed in there too much, and Tochinoshin quickly battered him to death, oshi-dashi. Strikes and blows are not Tochinoshin's style, but against a tater tot like Chiyonokuni, why not? Looked kind of fun: "look what I can do!" Blam blam blam blam.

K Shohozan (0-1) vs. O Takayasu (1-0)
For the second day in a row, kadoban Ozeki Takayasu had to win going backwards. Darth Hozan had him going, but then slipped and crumpled, tsuki-hiza ("knee down").  It happens. Meanwhile, Takayasu:  Major League Baseball, each team, no matter how bad, gets at least one All-Star for the All-Star game, while more deserving players from better teams have to stay home. That's what Takayasu feels like as an Ozeki: "well, we had to pick somebody."

Y Kakuryu (1-0) vs. M1 Kotoshogiku (0-1)
Kakuryu put his head down and dared a linear belt-match with Kotoshogiku. Dared? Yeah, I know. But it is Kotoshogiku's dominant style, so Kakuryu was playing to his opponent's strengths, no matter how fragrant of yesteryear the mustiness of those strengths may have become. The match spent most of the duration with Kakuryu closer to the straw than the excited Kotoshogiku. But no matter. Though invisible, Kakuryu is not a Yokozuna for nothing, and he ended it with a throw, one foot on the straw, the other planted in victory. Uwate-nage.

M1 Shodai (1-0) vs. Y Hakuho (1-0)
Some weirdness here; Hakuho grabbed Shodai and drove him all the way out, angling slightly to the left. But it was called a false start. On the re-do, it was like instant replay. Hakuho grabbed Shodai by the belt and quickly drove him all the way out, angling him slightly to the left, yori-kiri. Frankly, that's just how good he is. Yeah. Do it a third time. Do it for fifteen days. I'd watch that. I'd watch that all year. Go get 'em, Hakuho. It's your turn.

Tomorrow Mike smashes his way through floes like an ironclad barge eating oil.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I've been so caught up in the World Cup that the pending Nagoya Basho has been this huge elephant in the room just looming there in the corner waiting to distract me from the greatest sporting event in the world.  I suppose, though, since we have a few days in between the quarters and the semis that I can jot down a few day 1 comments. Before we get to the bouts, I just have to comment on all of the diving we see in professional soccer. I mean, how many times did Neymar take a dive in the box looking to draw a penalty kick?  I think they went to VAR system a time or two for him, but it was mostly the referee looking at him and saying, "Get your sorry arse off the turf and play."  Neymar never did earn a penalty kick, and he'll be remembered this World Cup for all of his dives more than he will for the substance of his soccer.

While Neymar's dives were the most prolific, we see it all over the game, and they will inevitably replay the dive in slow motion with the announcers trying to analyze whether or not it was a legitimate foul.  Before getting too deep into the subject, I can't help but watch the diving and flopping going on at the World Cup and compare it to the diving and flopping we see going on in sumo.  In both sports, the athletes have been in the situation so many times that they can anticipate the pending contact, and then they've learned how to dive in order to gain an advantage.

In one case, a player is trying to earn a free kick or a penalty kick for his team.  In the other case, an individual will suffer a loss for the betterment of the sport.  I mean, they lower those "Sold Out" banners every day of the basho, but has anyone stopped to look at the crap that goes on atop the dohyo?  Apparently not, so that's where I come in as I know crap when I see it, so let's get to the Day 1 bouts!

M16 Meisei charged into J1 Takekaze without a plan content to let the veteran dictate the pace of the bout, and so Takekaze said, "I'll show you pace" by shifting left and pulling he rookie down one second in.  Not exactly a legendary start for the rookie Meisei.

M16 Hokutofuji moved left at the tachi-ai starting with a left tsuki into M15 Ryuden's right side, and as Ryuden tried to square back up and grab a left outer grip, Hokutofuji kept moving throwing Ryuden off balance and pushing him out in just a few seconds picking up the cheap win.

M15 Ishiura henka'd to his left against M14 Okinoumi ducking low in an effort to get inside, but Okinoumi read the move well getting his left arm inside forcing Ishiura to continue to flee to his left and look for an opening. It would never come as Okinoumi used his long arms of he law to fire a few tsuki into the pint-sized Ishiura sending him across without argument.

The highlight on the day to this point was watching everyone in the sold-out arena fan themselves due to the heat and humidity. In particular was an underweight dude opening his tee shirt that said "Subliminally Bullet Proof" so he could fan his sweaty pits. Thankfully, M13 Asanoyama and rookie M14 Kotoeko snapped me out of my trance with a decent bout of sumo.

The two hooked up in migi-yotsu with Asanoyama focusing first on the left-outer grip, but because he wasn't established to the inside on the right, Kotoeko was able to fire a nifty right scoop throw that sent Asa to the edge. Asanoyama held on with that left outer and then quickly repented of his ways establishing the right to the inside as well forcing the action to the center of the ring. Not wanting to wait for a counter attack, Asanoyama fired on an outside belt throw, but Kotoeko countered with a right scoop throw forming a brief nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge, but when it was clear to Asanoyama that his outer belt throw wasn't going to work, he stepped back to his left and got his right arm inside of Kotoeko's left throwing the rookie off balance before pulling him out of the dohyo. Very nice chess match here to wake everyone up.

M12 Arawashi henka'd to his left against M13 Tochiohzan, but he wasn't looking to capitalize on the move, and so he just stood there and watched Oh put on the brakes, square back up, and then grab moro-zashi for good measure. Once Tochiohzan had moro-zashi, Arawashi kept his hands up high as if to counter and pull, but it never came as Tochiohzan just bulldozed his listless opponent back and out.

M12 Sadanoumi greeted M11 Onosho with two hands to the face at the tachi-ai, but that's not his style, and so Onosho was able to get his left arm to the side of Sadanoumi and force him upright, over, and out before you could say comeback.

M11 Aoiyama came with his usual beefy tsuppari attack against M10 Nishikigi forcing the younger Nishikigi to evade a bit to his left, and while Nishikigi is subliminally bullet proof, a speedster he ain't, and so Aoiyama was able to rush in and secure the right arm to the inside with Nishikigi completely upright against the tawara. Instead of just moving forward that last step and scoring the easy force-out win, Aoiyama feigned a scoop throw bringing Nishikigi back to the center of the ring where he just stood upright and listless allowing Nishikigi to execute the easy force-out win. While we've seen some mukiryoku sumo up to this point, this was the first clear-cut yaocho in favor of Nishikigi.

M10 Chiyomaru and M9 Yutakayama looked to hook up in migi-yotsu, but Yutakayama was just along for the ride standing listlessly upright, and so Chiyomaru simply moved left and pulled Yutakayama down without incident. My fat gut tells me that Yutakayama was repaying a debt in his one because he did nothing to try and win the bout.

M9 Myogiryu greeted M8 Kyokutaisei at the tachi-ai with a right paw to the neck as he looked to get to the inside while Kyokutaisei's feet were perfectly aligned on the other side. Before Myogiryu could get settled, Kyokutaisei moved left, but he was so upright and his feet were still aligned allowing Myogiryu the clear path the get to the inside and force Kyokutaisei back to the edge where he finished him off with a few shoves to the chest for good measure. If you have the means to watch the slow motion replay of this, focus on Kyokutaisei's awful footwork to see an example of how not to use your lower half in a bout of sumo.

M7 Daieisho met M8 Chiyoshoma with two hands to the neck, and the Mongolian was just playing along allowing himself to get shoved back to the edge where Daieisho then shifted gears going for a pull. Chiyoshoma was ready to go down at a moment's notice, so when the pull came he just put both palms to the dohyo and ran forward a bit. When a rikishi puts both palms to the dohyo and no other part of his body touches down, it's an easy yaocho call. They have a saying in sumo called "tsuchi," or dirt, and it refers to a rikishi that gets beaten because it's assumed that part of his body touched down to the dirt, and so he'll have a wet spot of dirt somewhere.  If a rikishi loses but doesn't get pushed/forced out of the ring, and the only dirt on his body is found on the palms of his hands, the bout was fixed. That was the case here as Chiyoshoma gifts his Japanese opponent a day 1 win.

M6 Chiyotairyu spun his wheels a bit at the tachi-ai against M7 Takarafuji going for his usual pushes, but Takarafuji didn't make him pay.  In fact, the entire bout, Takarafuji just stood there going through the motions without once trying to win the bout. The contest itself lasted 12 or so seconds, and there were plenty of opportunities for Takarafuji to get to the inside or to counter with a sideways swipe, but he just stood there allowing Chiyotairyu to push here and there with no force coming from his legs.  In the end, Takarafuji was worked over to the edge and pushed across without argument in a bout that lacked any netsu, or passion from either party.

Speaking of lacking any netsu, M5 Yoshikaze was a punching bag for M6 Endoh in the first bout of the second half voluntarily backing up at the tachi-ai in a defensive stance and offering a few token shoves.  Problem was, Endoh wasn't advancing or putting together an offensive charge, and so Yoshikaze moved back forward firing a few thrusts as he went, and that drove Endoh back near the edge where Yoshikaze just halted the attack that was working for him and grabbed Endoh by the extended left arm in kote fashion. Problem was he just dragged Endoh straight into his body as he stood upright and walked back near the straw.  Finally, Endoh grabbed a right outer grip of Yoshikaze's belt and spilled the Monster Drink back and across with as weak of a yori-kiri as you'd care to see. This was clearly a fixed bout where Endoh did absolutely nothing until the very end where he was gifted the perfect force-out position.

M4 Kagayaki got a left arm to the inside of M5 Daishomaru at the tachi-ai, but he could never force the bout chest to chest as Daishomaru skirted to his right going for a weak pull. Kagayaki survived that with ease next getting his right arm firmly to the inside, and as Daishomaru backed out of that, it became an outer grip, but this was one of those bouts where Daishomaru was evading the entire way and Kagayaki could never grab his foe in tight. In the end, Daishomaru just tripped himself up along the straw as Kagayaki looked to connect on a significant push or thrust. This day was filled with bouts like this where we just couldn't seem to get a solid bout of sumo.

That trend would continue as M3 Takakeisho charged a bit into M4 Kaisei at the tachi-ai testing out his thrust attack...if you can call it that because he abandoned it straightway before backing up in search of a pull. It would never come as Kaisei just methodically moved forward bodying Takakeisho back with his mere presence, and in a matter of a few uneventful seconds Takakeisho was pushed back and out just like that.

It was at this point of the broadcast that Tochinoshin was ready to enter the arena, and so NHK cut away from the live feed and showed a clip of Shin at a training session prior to the basho where he was being interviewed. I noticed right away that the dude had a sweet gunshot wound on his inner right shoulder, so the Ozeki's already got a bit of street cred going for him (not that he really needed it).

But before we get to the new Ozeki, M3 Abi was his usual genki self against Sekiwake Mitakeumi firing useless tsuppari into his opponent as he stood upright and slowly backed up. Mitakeumi took what was given and offered a few light thrusts of his own Abi's way, and the flow of the bout called for an Abi pull attempt near the edge, which was of course half-assed, and so Mitakeumi was finally able to connect on a final shove that sent Abi packing in about three seconds. Yet again, we saw a bout with very little substance or passion, and what's the point of Abi's arching his back, firing tsuppari, and backing up in the same motion?

We'd definitely get some substance in the form of Sekiwake Ichinojo's body as he stepped into the dohyo to face M2 Chiyonokuni, but any threat from the foreigner would end as soon as the bout began. Ichinojo was purposefully late coming out of his stance, and when he did stand up, he put his left arm at the back of Kuni's head and kept his right arm to the inside. Ichinojo never went for the pull, and for good measure he just pulled that right arm to the outside as he allowed Chiyonokuni push him back a step. From that point, Chiyonokuni went for a pull, but Ichinojo was too lazy to just put his palms to the dirt, so he ducked down and turned to his left offering his entire right side to Chiyonokuni, and the Japanese rikishi reacted by pushing the Mongolith out from behind in okuri-dashi style. Ichinojo practically redefined the term mukiryoku with this nonsense.

Still waiting for a bout that would equal the Kotoeko - Asanoyama bout an hour earlier, Ozeki Tochinoshin stepped into the ring to do battle with M2 Ikioi. Thankfully we finally got a foreign rikishi who wasn't mukiryoku as Shin demanded the right inside position and left outer grip from the tachi-ai, and Ikioi simply didn't have the tools to counter, and so Tochinoshin just forced him over to the edge in front of the chief judge and made it official in about four seconds. The thing about Tochinoshin and his Ozeki debut is that he HAD the choice to make it a good one. Thankfully he did as he dusted Ikioi off in fine fashion.

Ozeki Takayasu and M1 Kotoshogiku hooked up in migi-yotsu where the Geeku actually had a nice frontal grip with the left. The problem is he was too old to do anything with it, and to Takayasu was eventually able to grab a left outer of his own, but he whiffed on a hurried dashi-nage/throw attempt creating some separation. As the two hooked back up, this time it was in hidari-yotsu where Takayasu was able to grab the outer grip with the right against the defenseless Kotoshogiku, and once again, the Ozeki went for and whiffed on an outer belt throw. Luckily for him, Kotoshogiku didn't have enough gas to make him pay, and so Takayasu abandoned the outer belt throw opting to move to his left and just pull the Geeku down in the end.

This was the perfect display of sumo from a guy who didn't earn his Ozeki rank and who had trouble dispatching Kotoshogiku of all rikishi. I mean, you look at Shin the bout before, and he grabbed the inside position and outer grip, and he just forced his gal back and across uncontested. Takayasu had the preferred position twice and couldn't dispatch the Geeku with either a belt throw or a force-out either time. The contrast to me was quite stark, but I'm sure it's lost on most people.

And then there's Ozeki Goeido. Today against M1 Shodai, after a second of meaningless action from either party at the tachi-ai, the two ended up in hidari-yotsu. Once again, if you're an Ozeki, you find your way to the outer grip and smother your opponent from there. Goeido found that right outer grip all right, but he wasn't established to the inside with the left. Regardless, he set up for an outside belt throw but actually gave Shodai the path to moro-zashi in the process. Before Shodai could clue into that, Goeido went for an outer belt throw with the right, but he couldn't finish the throw leaving himself turned 90 degrees at the edge and completely off balance. Shodai came to his senses at that point and just shoved Goeido out from behind handing him a costly first loss. Costly in that Goeido is kadoban this basho meaning he needs eight guys to throw...er...uh...he needs eight wins to keep his rank.

Yokozuna Hakuho was nonchalant in his hari-zashi approach against Komusubi Tamawashi slapping with the left hand as he looked to get his favored right-inside-left-outer-grip position, but Tamawashi pushed him back nicely to which the Yokozuna responded with a counter shove of his own and a few more wild swipes before Tamawashi did a complete 360 to the edge of the ring. It was clear the bout of hana-zumo was on at this point as the two rikishi hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Hakuho had the right outer grip. Tamawashi was able to maki-kae as the Yokozuna just stood there, and as Tamawashi looked to mount a force-out charge, Hakuho maki-kae'd back with his right going for a scoop throw in the same motion that sent Tamawashi forward and down in the end of a wild exhibition-caliber bout.  Tamawashi was trying to keep himself from falling to the dohyou floor, but in order to do so he was hanging upside down to the tawara.  After a few seconds he gave up and just somersaulted to the arena floor in what would turn out to be the best move of the basho so far.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Kakuryu charged forward against Komusubi Shohozan at the tachi-ai smothering any hopes of a Shohozan tsuppari attack, and with Shohozan befuddled at this point, the Yokozuna moved left slapping Shohozan over to the edge by the back of the right shoulder, and although Shohozan was able to recover and square back up, he was upright at the edge providing the perfect oshi-dashi fodder in the end.

Noticeably absent from the day's proceedings was Kyujonosato who is sitting out his 7th basho in a row. When he made the announcement, the reaction in the media was "Nothing to see here...move along." Just think if a foreign-born Yokozuna was doing what Kisenosato is doing. You'd have that Johnny Depp wannabe manga illustrator, Yaku Mitsuru, calling for retirement; you'd have a bizarre spokesman from the Yokozuna Deliberation Council (remember Uchidate Makiko??) recommending retirement; and then you'd have the media constantly redefining the term "ijime" as they lambasted the foreigner in the press. The double standard is quite amusing, but the Association will tolerate anything to keep a local at the rank of Yokozuna.

I wish there was brighter news to discuss on the day, but frankly, I think the heat and humidity in Nagoya has depleted the drive the rikishi never really had to begin with. When that game for 3rd place in the World Cup suddenly sounds enticing, you know there's nothing to look forward to with the sumo.

Here's to Harvye finding a silver lining tomorrow.