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Senshuraku and Post-basho Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Japan is a country where doing things by the book is expected, so regardless of sumo content or actual ability, the expectation is that the Yokozuna and Ozeki will anchor the yusho race every basho. With all four Ozeki out this tournament, it's only natural then that the Yokozuna lead the way down the stretch here in Nagoya.

Hakuho and Kakuryu are hands down the two best rikishi on the banzuke, and if everything was straight up--or mostly straight up, we'd be revisiting sumo from 15 years ago where either Asashoryu or Hakuho took the yusho for 7 1/2 straight years save four token yusho in between from Kaio, Tochiazuma, Kotooshu, and Harumafuji.

It was clear very early on this basho that yusho candidates were dwindling quickly, and so it's no harm no foul to have the two Yokozuna carry the yusho race this tournament. Tomokaze and Terutsuyoshi were allowed to stay around just to keep a few Japanese rikishi on the leaderboard into the final weekend, but there was no way the Yokozuna were just going to fall back to let one of those two hoist the cup.

So, heading into senshuraku, the leaderboard was as it should be with only Kakuryu and Hakuho as the remaining yusho candidates. The three losses between the Yokozuna coming in were all yaocho, and so with the possibility of Hakuho defeating Kakuryu to force a playoff was intriguing enough to keep the sumo fans watching.

Before we get to the all-Yokozuna matchup, let's work our way up the ranks and comment generally on all of the rikishi.

M13 Chiyomaru entered the day needing a win to stay in the division, but M11 Nishikigi wouldn't show him any sympathy charging hard and taking advantage of an early pull attempt from Chiyomaru to just push the Kokonoe guy back and out with little resistance. Both of these guys are pretty much pawns, and they're involved in too much funny bidness if you ask me, and so they're just "there" in the division. Well, Chiyomaru likely won't be "there" next basho falling to 5-10 from the M13 rank. As for Nishikigi, he improves to 6-9 which guarantees him a place on the Makuuchi roster for September.

M14 Enho picked up a Ginosho after securing Kachi-koshi yesterday after a gift from Myogiryu, and seriously, how do you award a guy like this the most prestigious of the special prizes? I mean, I'm okay with a guy earning the Ginosho from the sanyaku or jo'i with just an 8-6 record heading into senshuraku, but a dude ranked at M14?? This was purely a political award because he's one of the few guys that sumo can really market these days.

Prior to his bout against M9 Daishoho today, they flashed the QR code informing the fans that they could scan that code and then re-watch any of the Makuuchi bouts, and the top three bouts this tournament that got the most views were:

1. Enho vs. Yago on Day 6
2. Enho vs. Nishikigi on Day 10
3. Enho vs. Kotoeko on Day 13



I don't think Enho can withstand the punishment of the division to become the sport's next Endoh, but if these were the three most-watched bouts of the basho, it shows just how easily manipulated the Japanese fans are.

In today's bout, Daishoho brought the kid gloves keeping his arms high and letting Enho get to the inside with no resistance, and even the announcers in watching the reply were like, "He got to the inside shoulder deep." With Daishoho just standing there, Enho gave him a quick twist with the left hand at the belt, and Daishoho literally took a knee right there in the center of the dohyo. The contrast between Enho's wins and losses is greater than any other rikishi, and that 9-6 record not to mention the Ginosho is so farcical. But, if that's what the fans want, that's what the Sumo Association will deliver. Daishoho graciously bows two a 6-9 finish and didn't even need to shower after this one.

M9 Shohozan was passive today against M12 Tochiohzan moving left at the tachi-ai but doing nothing with it, and as Tochiohzan squared back up, Shohozan kept his forearms up high doing nothing and that allowed Tochiohzan to push him back in linear form. At M12, Tochiohzan needed this win to avoid falling down to Juryo, and he bought it simple as that. He'll survive now at 5-10 while Shohozan hasn't a care in the world at 6-9 from the M9 rank.

Two of my favorite guys in the division are M12 Kagayaki and M8 Okinoumi, and I don't like it that they're involved in so much yaocho, but they both have game and it showed today in a real bout with both coming in at 7-7. Kagayaki connected with a right paw to the neck lifting Okinoumi upright from the tachi-ai, and when it looked as if Okinoumi would duck back in to force the bout to hidari-yotsu, Kagayaki snuck his right arm to the inside giving him moro-zashi. The problem was that Kagayaki's not a yotsu guy whereas Okinoumi is, and so as Kagayaki attempted to force Okinoumi back, the latter moved left countering with a right belt throw that threw Kagayaki out of his rhythm enough to where Okinoumi got his left arm to the inside, and from that point, Okinoumi led the dance shoring up his outer grip and then using it to lift Kagayaki upright, back, and out. Beautiful sumo, and every bought should be fought like this every day. That it's not is a huge shame. Okinoumi earns his kachi-koshi at 8-7 while Kagayaki still has room to deal at 7-8 from the M12 rank.

The featured matchup of the first half was M16 Terutsuyoshi against M7 Tomokaze in a bout that saw Terutsuyoshi come in lower and faster at the tachi-ai striking Tomokaze squarely in the face with the crown of his head, and that had to have had Tomokaze seeing stars because his only reaction was to go for a defensive pull. Terutsuyoshi had the momentum, however, and drove Tomokaze back and out in less than two seconds. This isn't exactly the type of bout you'd like to see from two guys on the leaderboard late, but Tomokaze wasn't prepared for this bout, and it showed with his tachi-ai. Despite the 12-3 record for Terutsuyoshi and 11-4 record from Tomokaze, I didn't seen one thing from either of them that excites me.

M16 Kotoyuki bought himself a few more basho in the division, and the sumo today against M7 Myogiryu reflected that. Kotoyuki's tachi-ai was horrible a he put both hands high as if to squeeze Myogiryu's melon, and that gave Myogiryu the easy path to moro-zashi, but instead of securing it, he went for the feeblest of pulls you'd care to see backing himself up and letting Kotoyuki recover from that bad tachi-ai to score the tsuki-dashi win. The final thrust that connected didn't even send Myogiryu out. The M7 actually moved to his left a bit and just stepped out of his own volition after the thrust lightly connected, so it's an easy yaocho call here. Kotoyuki ends at 11-4 while Myogiryu (8-7) had room to sell already at eight wins coming in.

M6 Chiyotairyu paused ever so briefly against M14 Toyonoshima at the tachi-ai not wanting to fall for a henka, and when it didn't come, he began slapping into Toyonoshima's chest. Because Chiyotairyu refrained with the de-ashi from the start, his shoves pushed Toyonoshima back, but he didn't have the momentum to knock him out. With Toyonoshima not backing down and defending well, Chiyotairyu was frustrated and instinctively went for a pull, but once again, he didn't have the legs to set up the pull or have his opponent susceptible enough to it, and so Toyonoshima easily survived. What Toyonoshima couldn't survive was the younger, bigger, and better Chiyotairyu's retooling his oshi attack that finally knocked Toyonoshima back and down on his can. Cruel fight paired Toyonoshima against a guy like Chiyotairyu with both rikishi 7-7 coming in. No other Japanese rikishi can bully opponents around like Chiyotairyu, so it's a shame that he's caught up in the machine where selling bouts for cash is more important than trying to make a run to Ozeki.

M5 Takarafuji easily got the left arm inside against M15 Yago, and the veteran also parlayed that into a right outer grip while Yago had none of his own. Due to his size, Yago was able to dig in and throw his weight around, and Takarafuji also had a bit of work to do since his outer grip was only one fold of the mawashi, so after a stall in the center of the ring for 10 seconds or so, Takarafuji finally made his yori charge lifting Yago upright with that one fold of the belt while forcing him back and out with little argument. In a straight up bout like this, the more skilled Takarafuji (6-9) is going to win every time. Yago will have to rethink his life a bit in Juryo now falling to 4-11.

M4 Ichinojo and M10 Kotoeko didn't bump chests at the tachi-ai posing an awkward start, and when the dust settled from that, Kotoeko kinda had both arms positioned inside, but you could tell he didn't want to go chest to chest, and I can't blame him. With Kotoeko non-committal and nowhere to go, Ichinojo finally put his foot on the throttle and pushed Kotoeko back and out easy as you please. Both rikishi settle for 9-6 records, and can you imagine if Ichinojo was Japanese? He'd already have been a Yokozuna.

M3 Shodai easily got the left arm inside at the tachi-ai against M10 Takagenji who made the mistake of going for the right outer first before getting his own left inside. Shodai made him pay by getting his right arm inside as well forcing Takagenji back, to the side, and out with little resistance...not because Takagenji was mukiryoku but because he didn't have the tools to counter fully. Shodai moves to 7-8 with the easy win while Takagenji has fared horribly in straight-up bouts dropping his record to 4-11 after a 4-1 start. I know, I know. He's injured.

M2 Aoiyama put his right foot forward as he slammed into M3 Daieisho, but he kept his left foot back signaling that he was looking to set up a pull. Daieisho struck well himself at the tachi-ai, but he's just no match for the Happy Bulgar who moves to his right a tad and pulled Daieisho down by the back of the left shoulder. Both rikishi are happy with their 8-7's at the end of the day.

M1 Hokutofuji backed way up from the tachi-ai against M2 Endoh who wasn't charging hard or he could have easily knocked Fuji back and across in two seconds, and as Endoh came forward late, Hokutofuji slipped to the right of his opponent and began to fire a right tsuki that had Endoh dead to rights, but he held up on the move and just kept his right hand pressed there at Endoh's side as Endoh tried to run out of harm's way. When Hokutofuji failed to execute that tsuki-otoshi, I knew the bout was fixed in Endoh's favor, so it was just a matter of letting Endoh get back inside with the right arm and then going along for the ride. Endoh never did get solid footing here, and by the time he executed that final push-out, Hokutofuji had already taken two steps beyond the straw. Credit Hokutofuji for at least making this semi-real, but he totally let Endoh out of that tsuki-otoshi danger and gave the popular rikishi the win.

The more popular rikishi, Endoh, moved to 10-5 with the win, and he was also awarded a Ginosho before the bout even began. It's totally obvious that in the absence of any Japanese "elite" rikishi doing anything this basho, they're keeping everyone happy by awarding special prizes to guys like Enho and Endoh. As for Hokutofuji, he's content at 9-6 and both of these guys will be ranked in the sanyaku for September.

M1 Asanoyama and M13 Sadanoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Sadanoumi had a meat hooks on the left outer grip, but he quickly let that go, and I knew what was coming from that point. With Asanoyama not exactly applying pressure, Sadanoumi pretended to back away and go for a right tsuki but you could see that he wasn't positioning himself properly to the side rather staying more square so Asanoyama could drive him out. With Sadanoumi mukiryoku and inviting the force-out, Asanoyama sent him easily yori-taoshi style even though Sadanoumi dictated the flow of this one. Asayama saves face a bit I suppose finishing at 7-8 while Sadanoumi falls to 9-6.

Komusubi Ryuden kept his arms down low and non-committed allowing M4 Meisei to just rush in for moro-zashi, and once obtained, Ryuden was even more limp as Meisei forced him back and out in two seconds flat. As if. Both rikishi end the basho at a paltry 4-11.

Sekiwake Tamawashi was too high for his own good in his thrust attack against M8 Onosho, and I thought Onosho had the easy path to moro-zashi but he didn't take it, and so Tamawashi persisted in his thrust attack eventually slapping Onosho down by the shoulder. Something about this bout didn't look right the entire way, but I have no idea if there was anything behind. Just a strange ending as Tamawashi moves to 5-10 while Onosho falls to 6-9.

In the kore-yori-sanyaku bout, Komusubi Abi henka'd to his left easily pulling M5 Kotoshogiku down by the shoulder and back of the head. These two were 7-7 coming in, and so you could see a bit of disgust on Kotoshogiku's face after the move, but what does the Geeku have to complain about? He got that freebie against Hakuho, and the kin-boshi from that will pay out the rest of his career. Abi manages kachi-koshi in his sanyaku debut at 8-7 while Kotoshogiku falls to 7-8.

In the day's penultimate bout, Sekiwake Mitakeumi was the aggressor against M6 Shimanoumi striking hard at the tachi-ai and using his hands placed well into Shimanoumi's body pushing his upright and out in a flash. Mitakumi's footwork was also stellar, and this was a good win for the fella as he lands at 9-6. As for Shimanoumi, he falls to 8-7.

With all of that out of the way, it was time to finally determine the yusho with both Yokozuna stepping into the ring. A win by Hakuho would force a playoff, and a win by Kakuryu would give him the outright yusho.

Hakuho shaded left at the tachi-ai grabbing the early left outer grip as Kakuryu quickly established the right inside. As the two pressed chest to chest, Kakuryu went for an early inside belt throw that barely phased Hakuho, but it did allow the Kak to touch Hakuho's belt with a left outer, but Hakuho pushed him away and they dug back in. Kakuryu next went for a maki-kae with the left that Hakuho allowed, but a second or two later, the Kak pulled ou his right arm and sent the bout back to gappuri-yotsu-zumo.

I mean, at this point it was clear that this was nothing but hana-zumo, but the two were putting on a decent show. After this early flurry, the two dug in and rested for about 10 seconds before Kakuryu executed another maki-kae with the right giving him moro-zashi, and Hakuho didn't do anything from there to counter allowing Kakuryu to lift his fellow Yokozuna upright and just drive him back with a counter move nary to be seen. It looked good, but this was exhibition sumo through and through, and who really cares? Kakuryu sills the dill and his career 6th yusho at 14-1 while Hakuho falls to 12-3.

And just like that the curtain falls on the Nagoya basho. A yusho from a Yokozuna seemed inevitable this basho early on, but I think the Association did a good job of salvaging storylines and finding success for popular Japanese rikishi. I think that sumo's popularity will dwindle little by little in the absence of a true ass-kicker, but the caravan heads back to Tokyo for September, so we'll see you all then.

Day 14 Comments (Gary Jones reporting)
Hello to all, earlier this basho Harvye asked where's the beef. It's now got to the point where it's time to ask if there's anything to chew on at all. What are the best matches made today? I'll take a wild swing at Daieisho vs Ryuden but they are a combined 11-15, so the sumo world is hardly holding it's breath at the outcome. If it's a straight up fight, I'll have Kotoeko vs Tomokaze too and they are buried somewhere in the middle of the day. Sumo fans are beginning to starve and the Sumo Association has nothing in the cupboard for the little ones.

Here's the leaderboard at the break of day, no Yokozuna withdrew so we lose Tomokaze.
12-1 – Kakuryu, Hakuho
11-2 – Terutsuyoshi

Toyonoshima (M14) 6-7 vs Nishikigi (M11) 5-8
Nishikigi has been well below par all tournament, slow and unable to impose his usually decent strength on any opponent. From day one he's been fighting a rear guard action to avoid demotion. With so few Juryo guys doing well enough to get promoted and the charitable records of Yago and Kaisei, he's already safe. Toyonoshima on the other hand is actually still chasing kachi-koshi.

So guess who won. A horrible tachi-ai to start the show and Toyo managed a wrist deep moro-zashi. It was good enough for him to power Nishikigi back and out without having to deal with a single offensive move from the M11 man. Not a great start to the day but that oshi-dashi win means Toyonoshima is 7-7 for the final round.

Yago (M15) 3-10 vs Takagenji (M10) 4-9
The next big thing, Yago is Juryo bound. Whether it was for pride or to soften his fall, he swept aside the rookie with a simple grab-and-go yori-kiri. He should be favorite to yusho in September, Juryo yusho of course.

Shohozan (M9) 5-8 vs Chiyomaru (M13) 5-8
The big green blob Chiyomaru put his hands out to stop the oncoming steam train that is Shohozan, his arms crumpled like fat but soft udon noodles. His elbows were pushed wide and up for the easy moro-zashi and Sho chased him out, yori-kiri. A effortless waste of time for all except Shohozan, who probably enjoyed himself.

Sadanoumi (M13) 8-5 vs Daishoho (M9) 6-7
There's never been an excess of confidence to Daishoho's sumo but today he overestimated himself. He went straight to migi-yotsu with sad-man, perhaps hoping his extra bulk would be enough. But Sadanoumi has proved time and again that he is pound for pound as good as anyone on the belt. He heaved and twisted and even went up on his toes to get big Daishoho dislodged from the dohyo. Sadanoumi claims a well deserved yori-kiri and has the basho's quietest chance for double digits tomorrow.

Onosho (M8) 6-7 vs Kagayaki (M12) 6-7
The tall Kagayaki rounded to the left and mini-cannonball fell down. As he got up Onosho made a big play of looking at the sand as though that might have been responsible. I'm pretty sure the sand didn't move.

Tochiozan (M12) 4-9 vs Okinoumi (M8) 6-7
Still chasing kachi-koshi, Okinoumi just leaned into his guy and with no trickery or gamesmanship, began to push him over the bales, yori-kiri and 7-7 for the M8 and nothing from Tochiozan.

These two came into today tied in the head to head bouts with 13 wins apiece. Both of them have been the “coulda made it” guy. Both have now faded away and been almost forgotten. But we should remember Takatoriki. Mainly because the Sumo Association would like to forget the golden gambler. He won a yusho from nowhere, at 32 years old, forgotten at the bottom of the banzuke. Never say never.

Myogiryu (M7) 8-5 vs Enho (M14) 7-6
Ooh the tension on this one. Enho has kachi-koshi up for grabs and the support of a nation who loves it's children. A matta makes the tension worse, the thrill of it. And then another one, I can hardly breathe. Now, the climax. Endo gets in low and his opponent (doesn't matter who anymore) applies a weak guillotine hold. Which he does nothing with. Enho drives forward and overpowers his foe with yori-kiri, taking the white star and the kachi-koshi. All of sumo rejoices. Except here at Sumotalk, cos we're miserable old buzzards.

Kotoeko (M10) 9-4 vs Tomokaze (M7) 10-3
Oh well, that'll teach me to get my hopes up for a good solid bout of sumo between young, winning rikishi. Kotoeko gently stroked Tomo's face at the start, turned a bit to face him and then hit the dirt as fast as he could with his hands. An eleventh win via hataki-komi for Tomokaze. It was not good.

Meisei (M4) 3-10 vs Kotoyuki (M16) 9-4
Anyone notice how much taping Kotoyuki wraps around his hands? It's so much he could not grab a mawashi even if he wanted to, which he doesn't. When a boxer puts on the wraps his hands transform from vulnerable bodyparts to destructive weapons. Is this the reason some of the men he has faced have flinched and been rocked backwards this basho? Possibly, but it is the reason he can throw hands without any caution.

Today he didn't have so much on, and today he did something a bit different. He propped up his 3 win foe with a left throat hold and then removed the prop for the hiki-otoshi win. With big numbers on the scoreboard, Kotoyuki is sure to get a good boost up the banzuke next time. We'll see just how much more potent his thrusting attack really is then.

Aoiyama (M2) 7-6 vs Shimanoumi (M6) 7-6
Both men have 7 wins. Aoiyama is also one of three men next in line for the Sanyaku berths forfeited by Tamawashi and Ryuden. One of them will not make it.

Aoiyama went for the head pull immediately. That's not a good mind-set for the big guy. Shimanoumi has already shown himself to be one of the most stable men in the Maegashira ranks. It was a really strong pull and many would have fallen to it but Shimanoumi survived and burrowed his way inside, his head now on the numbers. He took an outer left fistful and went into reverse, dragging Aoiyama off his feet, uwate-dashi-nage.

Takarafuji (M5) 5-8 vs Endo (M2) 8-5
Endo changed gear for this bout and started behind a push at the throat. A wise strategy, what would he do with Takarafuji even if he got a mae-mitsu grip? The big lump of muscle never extends himself, so is never caught off balance. Endo got inside easily enough and bodied his boy out yori-kiri. Not a great effort from Takarafuji, who waited patiently with his arms lowered, looking for an opening that never came.

Asanoyama (M1) 5-8 vs Shodai (M3) 6-7
After a quick jostling for position they soon fell into hidari-yotsu. Asanoyama risked maki-kae with his right arm and got it without fuss. Even before the arm was fully in, he was powering to the straw for the yori-kiri win.

Back in the studio the guest who looks like Takanohana but isn't Takanohana (this one's the nice one) demonstrates how it happened by shoving a startled stooge into the wall. Ahh Japan, you crazy folks.

Terutsuyoshi (M16) 11-2 vs Hokutofuji (M1) 8-5
The pre-bout ritual was much better than the bout itself. The crowd was roaring, Terutsuyoshi was flexing and the salt was flying. Great stuff. If only they had stopped there. The little M16 came in low with his head down and Hokutofuji went over the top. In a move that hasn't occurred to anybody else all basho, Hokutofuji leaned down and pushed the little guys head to the dirt. That one second win has ruined our precious leaderboard.

Abi (K) 6-7 vs Ichinojo (M4) 8-5
Ichinojo has been fed. He has his kachi-koshi and is satisfied. He stood up to receive the customary nodowa from Abi and was moved back over the ropes, oshi-dashi. That's it, that's the bout. There was no fight in the big Mongolian. Would it be cruel to suggest that if a gun were held at the Mongolith's head, Abi couldn't do that to him within three hours of trying?

I don't know Ichinojo's troubles, I've heard he has a herniated disc in his back, but he wins when he needs to and no more. He doesn't need anymore today, thank you. Abi meanwhile is one win away from retaining his Komusubi rank and maybe getting one more step up the ladder.

Daieisho (M3) 7-6 vs Ryuden (K) 4-9
My last best hope for a hard fought, competitive bout. And it almost delivered, Ryuden looked tired, just worn out from the 13 bouts before. Usually he has fantastic stamina, today he was gasping for air like Chiyomaru. Good for Daieisho who just had to stick with the pushing and keep all hands away from the belt. It took some time but Daieisho got there, oshi-dashi and a kachi-koshi at his highest rank. He has faced two Ozeki and both Yokozuna so this must be his best basho yet.

Chiyotairyu (M6) 7-6 vs Tamawashi (S) 3-10
With only one more win needed for the kachi-koshi and the opponent struggling with only 3 wins you'd be forgiven for thinking this would be easy for Chiyotairyu. For some reason the pusher thruster deliberately brought the bout to hidari-yotsu and then looked heart broken that it happened. Tamawashi took what was right in front of him, yori-kiri. That's 4 wins in Tama's worst ever basho. Yet.

Kakuryu (Y) 12-1 vs Mitakeumi (S) 8-5
After the embarrassing stuntman roll yesterday, Kakuryu showcased a nice and easy yori-kiri sweep to victory to go 13-1. What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours.

Kotoshogiku (M5) 6-7 vs Hakuho (Y) 12-1
Dating back to 2006, Hakuho has easily defeated the ex-Ozeki an astonishing 56 times. This includes several murders and dismemberments. The plucky single yusho winner has only managed 6. Officially. Well here's number 7. And there is an outside chance it was legit. Shocking I know, but upsets do happen.

Kotoshogiku was legitimately good today, all revved up for the fight. A fast, stable tachi-ai and quickly into a powerful surge to the tawara behind moro-zashi. He even kept his feet when his head received a short pull at the edge. Well done Kotoshogiku. He tried hard, stayed in it and got his yori-kiri reward with a kinboshi cherry on top.

But that's only half the story. It all hinges on Hakuho's right arm. And what you think about the injury. Forget what his left was doing, let's follow the path of the right arm through the bout and then you decide for yourself.

The arm was put to the inside at the start. It's job was to prevent a belt grip and it failed. It failed because Koto didn't go deep, instead he went for the shallow grip at the front of the mawashi, and got it. All seems fair and true so far. Hakuho then brought the right arm from inside to outside, a move that should raise alarm bells. Perhaps he did it because that's the injured arm. But the next move was to try to put it right back inside. Which failed because Captain Chug was blasting forward, full of joyful optimism.

Our right arm then flapped briefly at the back of Koto's head before leaving to tickle the outer belt grip and then returned to the back of the head. No impact was made, it was just flapping about out there. It's next visit was to wrap Koto's arm as they were, by now, at the tawara with Hakuho mounting his last gasp defense. There was still time for it to pull at the back of the head for the first offensive move with any power behind it. Just as Hakuho stepped out. How many positions is that? I count 8, that's a whole chapter of the Karma Sutra.

Maybe, just maybe, Hakuho's arm was really bothering him today and he couldn't think what to to with it for the best or maybe the prospect of a playoff will keep some interest in an otherwise dull basho. Over to you, I neither know nor care that much. I'll take the rough with the smooth in sumo.

Buuuuut, as this is Sumotalk here, I'll throw one more spanner into the machinery. Yesterday I mentioned the gambling odds for Kakuryu vs Tomokaze and the naively high amount of Zloty you could win if you were an old cynic like Mike Wesemann. Well, if you were a good friend of Hakuho you could have cleaned up today. For every 1 Angolan Kwanza you could “invest” in Kotoshogiku's win you would profit to the cool tune of 5.77 Angolan Kwanza back. That's a lot of Kwanza. Far be it for me to suggest that sumo would lower itself to the murky underworld of gambling. I'll let the Sumo Association do that for me.

That's quite enough plain boiled soup from me, so the day 15 chanko will be made with love and sugary sweetness by Chef Mike.

Day 13 Comments (Gary Jones reporting)
Hello to all, say what you will about the current Ozeki rank inhabitants, a basho without them or anyone even close to joining them, is a less interesting basho. Nagoya 2019 is a less interesting basho. We have two rightful Yokozuna engaged in a two horse race. That's it. We can only hope that the race will be a legit hard fought “let the best man win” kind of contest on Senshuraku. So far, so good.

But what else is there? Even if you don't like an Ozeki, you can always root for the other guy. Or gripe about the undeserved rank. Without them there's a massive hole where the most interesting bouts of the day should be. Better to have a basho with no Yokozuna and let the Maegashira go nuts than to have no hope. Two damn fine Yokozuna on good form will kill off hope faster than a cold bucket of water dampens the sexy feelings of Mr alley cat.

The Juryo yusho race is even worse, long time Juryo also-ran Tsurugisho is running away with it at 11-2. Don't get your hopes up, he's not about to make an impact on the top division. He's padding, and he knows it.

As this report will be a day late and the basho will have moved on let's just treat ourselves to the most awesome dudes of the day.

Kotoeko (M10) 8-4 vs Enho (M14) 7-5
Where else could we possibly start than with wee Enho? The little people showed us something not seen on the professional dohyo before. They played a game of patty cake. It was going well and the crowd loved it because, well because Enho. Then the little guy, that's little Enho not little Kotoeko, ruined the game by trying to get in too close to his little friend. So Kotoeko threw him to the ground and took the lunch money Enho keeps in an envelope. They will be friends again tomorrow.

Onosho (M8) 6-6 vs Terutsuyoshi (M16) 10-2
Our first bout with massive sushi implications. Terutsuyoshi put his head right on the numbers again, this time Onosho just walked through it and took him back to the straw. But nothing will stop The Terror this basho, who put both arms inside and just rode his horse out of there. One oshi-dashi win for Terutsuyoshi, one giant leap for elderly Japanese yusho hopes.

Meisei (M4) 2-10 vs Chiyomaru (M13) 5-7
I must give a shout-out to Meisei, who ploughed (plowed) the living fugu out of the puffer fish, who stayed down and wondered if he was still alive, yori-taoshi served with extra wasabi.

Ichinojo (M4) 8-4 vs Hokutofuji (M1) 7-5
With his low opponents head pressing uncomfortably into his shoulder and the mawashi a stretch to reach over and grab, Ichinojo showed his weakness, a lack of energy. He could have bounced around and desperately tried to shake off his foe, like many others do when facing Enho for instance. But when does he ever try that? Hokutofuji applied the pressure and Ichi yielded, again. He is more concerned with not jolting his back as he steps carefully to the floor.

Asanoyama (M1) 5-7 vs Aoiyama (M2) 6-6
It's a make-koshi for the M1 man today as Aoiyama stuffed his right paw under the jaw and rocks Asanoyama's head back. Doing that has become a popular pastime this basho. Asanoyama stayed reasonably stable as big boy went to work with his heavy thrusts but Asanoyama couldn't work his way inside (and probably couldn't get his arms around Danny even if he did) and so inevitably fell to the superior oshi-zumo man. Aoiyama gets Shimanoumi for the first shot at kachi-koshi on day 14.

Shodai (M3) 6-6 vs Ryuden (K) 3-9
Like Hokutofuji two bouts earlier, Ryuden kept low and crammed his head in there. Unlike Ichinojo, supple Shodai put his arms under and inside and was able to drive forward. At the edge Ryuden turned his gal around and pushed her out, not very gentlemanly but it got him an overdue fourth win by oshi-dashi.

Abi (K) 5-7 vs Daieisho (M3) 7-5
Abi is Komusubi for July and so this is sort of a top bout. Abi did what Abi does and knocked Daieisho across the ring. Daieisho squeezed out to his left and readied himself for the second assault. Which knocked him to the floor. Abi needs one more to retain the Komusubi rank and two more for Sekiwake. It all depends how Ichinojo feels tomorrow.

Takarafuji (M5) 5-7 vs Tamawashi (S) 2-10
The Mongolian picks up his third win but it was an effort. He was firing well enough from his upper body but he wasn't even trying to get his legs involved. This meant he had no real power to dislodge Takarafuji and no means to take advantage of the openings his arms made. He looked a bit like Hakuho, wanting his opponent to come and get him. That doesn't work so well for a pusher thruster. Takarafuji just hung around, waiting.

When Taka walked into a belt grip he almost seemed apologetic. He didn't pull the two bodies in close and he kept his head pointed to where he was ultimately going to be thrown down. Hey sauce for the Japanese goose is sauce for the Mongolian gander my friend.

Mitakeumi (S) 7-5 vs Kotoshogiku (M5) 6-6
The Sekiwake did a Kotoshogiku trick and grabbed a quick moro-zashi and just blasted his adversary straight back for the one second yori-kiri white star. The ex-Ozeki had no reply. This pair will provide the Yokozuna their competition for tomorrow. Hakuho versus Kotoshogiku on day 14, just like old times.

Myogiryu (M7) 8-4 vs Hakuho (Y) 11-1
The times they are a-changin. Hakuho went for his trusty left mae-mitsu and he didn't get it. Myogiryu spun away from him like Hakuho had a taser in his mawashi. The M7 man jumped back into the fray by taking a nice inner right arm, which the Hak used to try to throw him down kote-nage style, and he didn't get that either.

Another guillotine choke hold for this basho (is this a new fashion or have I just not noticed it before?) which Hakuho used to throw Myogiryu to the sand. That's three attempts to rid himself of a M7. This is truly the end phase of a great career.

Kakuryu (Y) 12-0 vs Tomokaze (M7) 9-3
What could possibly inject a tiny bit of excitement into this slowly decaying corpse of a basho? How about the front running horse trips up, just a bit? Remember when Tochinoshin needed his second tenth win in May, and Kakuryu came out not looking what was going on and then did a nice and controlled tumble forward? Same thing. At one point Kakuryu's hands were so low I thought he was trying to put socks on Tomokaze's stinky feet. Oh yes, before I forget Tomokaze was there as well. He's now 10-3 with his win and gets a gold kin-boshi for his herculean effort of a half-hearted henka.

Here's a fun fact, just in case anyone was surprised. Since becoming Yokozuna, Kakuryu has a dreadful losing score for day 13. Not only is his losing a strong possibility, it's far more likely to happen than a win, nearly twice as likely. Roll on day 14, where he tends to do a bit better.

On a whim I just checked the odds at an online bookmaker for this match-up. They had Kakuryu down as a massive favorite. For every 1 zloty you put on Tomokaze, you would've made 5.70 Zlotych back. They need to read Sumotalk, that's all I'm saying.

And now meine damen und herren, the leaderboard.
12-1 – Kakuryu, Hakuho
11-2 – Terutsuyoshi
10-3 – Tomokaze

Tomokaze would need a Yokozuna to withdraw to stand a mathematical chance, so we'll let him dream just one more night.

More soup today, more soup tomorrow. See ya for day 14.

Day 12 Comments (Gary Jones reporting)
Hello to all. So Aminishiki announced his retirement yesterday, a cruel injury on the dohyo forcing the forty year old warhorse to the barber. He was struggling to find enough hair for the top knot anyway but he can always hold his head up high. He knew he was a spent force and it took all his remaining strength to avoid falling apart but he was trying to claim the record for most basho in the paid ranks. He had 20 in Juryo and an eye watering 97 basho in Makuuchi. In the end he tied the record. Does anyone have confidence in a single current Maegashira surviving for that long?

He survived and outlasted the giants who dwarfed him in stature by growing strong and the big name superstars who outshone him by absorbing their best power games and always knowing where the tawara was. He won an awful lot of bouts when it seemed like he was finished but this was a man who learned how to get along.

When he was announced to the sumo world as an afraid, petrified youngster back in 1997, the name Akebono was still number one on the banzuke and it seems a very long time since big Chad walked out the sumo door.

His final injury came as he was dispatching a rookie, someone new and unheard of. He had the bout won, the opponent all but gone, then Aminishiki crumbled and he just laid down and cried out. The sumo gods had spoken and they said “you've overstayed son, you're not welcome anymore. Go on now go”.

A little piece of sumo history has been severed with Aminishiki's retirement. He was the last remaining active rikishi who had fought and beaten Japan's last great Yokozuna, Takanohana. Perhaps more importantly, he was also the winner of the first bout in my first report for Sumotalk all those, err, months ago. I never got a chance to write another on him. I just know that brought a sad look upon his face upon hearing this.

Cue up I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor and lament the passing of the old guard. All now gone.

Kotoyuki (M16) 7-4 vs Kagayaki (M12) 6-5
Hey at least we have Kotoyuki now. All through the three hour rituals (felt like it), it seemed as though Kagayaki was zeroed in on his opponent, a stern look of determination on his face. Nope, just more of his disinterested inscrutability. Kotoyuki put a hand to the neck followed by two to the teats and that was it. Oshi-dashi over and done. Kagayaki performed like he wished he'd listened more in school.

Yago (M15) 3-8 vs Nishikigi (M11) 3-8
The big powerhouse monster of the Juryo clan, Yago is once again moved straight back by an average Makuuchi guy. Where is the hype on Yago now? Nishikigi doesn't come out of this bout exactly smelling of rose petals either. His oshi-dashi win was soooo sloooow Enho ran laps around them to stay warmed up.

Kotoeko (M10) 7-4 vs Sadanoumi (M13) 7-4
A major bout of the day, this one. The winner not only gets an early kachi-koshi, buts gets to stay on the Sumotalk leaderboard of glory. Kotoeko proved to be the one who wanted it most. And he was willing to trick his way to get it. He started with a weak moro-te-zuki and artfully leapt to the side. Sad-man crashed straight down. Yawn.

Shohozan (M9) 4-7 vs Enho (M14) 7-4
A sumo bout so uncontrolled, so random, that both men felt like losers and headed for the changing room. No, come back Shohozan, you really won something today. It was all Enho's doing of course. He went to the side at the start, pushed at the shoulder and smushed at the face. Shohozan stumbled around, completely fooled by the wonder-pixie. Enho stumbled around completely fooled by himself and fell over. Sumo is the richer for this guy. Can we keep him mommy?

Onosho (M8) 6-5 vs Toyonoshima (M14) 4-7
The old dude Toyonoshima presented a wide open chest to the kid and said push away, I don't mind. Onosho pushed and the old dude's wide ass became very heavy and refused to budge. Onosho chased him around the ring and tried to belly his foe out. The old man declined to go and stepped back to the center and took an inner left. Then he used it to bully young Onosho back and out, rather too easily. Perhaps Onosho found it hard to push against a man who's hips are lower than his own. He needs to improve or give up his ambitions because this was embarrassing.

Chiyomaru (M13) 5-6 vs Okinoumi (M8) 5-6
It might have been an hallucination, but I thought Okinoumi went forward and took the fight to his opponent. The excitement didn't last as they soon stalemated in the middle of the ring. Chiyomaru is often being brought to yotsu sumo, but despite the magnificent belly, it's not his thing. Okinoumi slowly won with a force out. Slowly.

Myogiryu (M7) 8-3 vs Terutsuyoshi (M16) 9-2
Tiny Terror Terutsuyoshi again put his head on the numbers and looked to push forward, it's a style that works well enough for him as he's able to push upwards at the same time. Cos he's tiny. Myogiryu had it scouted today and drove him all the way back. Plan B for Tiny Terror, get the hell out of the way. He soon jumped back in and reverted to plan A, this time Myogiryu was standing with his back to the straw and was blasted out, oshi-dashi style. Terutsuyoshi is aggressive this basho. And in the running for his first yusho. Wink.

Takagenji (M10) 4-7 vs Shimanoumi (M6) 6-5
The taller Takagenji was doing well enough keeping his hips low and his legs flexed but he couldn't stop moving them around. Even though there was nowhere to go. Eventually he moved straight in line with his opponent and was quickly driven back and dumped down, kote-nage. Shake and Shimmy was more stable. That wins you sumo bouts too.

Kotoshogiku (M5) 5-6 vs Tochiozan (M12) 4-7
This is the thirty-ninth bout between these two, and the one who wasn't an Ozeki is two ahead in the match-up. Tochiozan had his fabled moro-zashi for a brief moment, but he didn't, or couldn't power forwards against the bigger guy. Then the position was gone, as he flapped about trying to defend his way to a win. Not today sir. Kotoshogiku managed to push him out just before he fell down to go 6-6.

There's no forward drive left in his engine and this year has been a bad one for Tochiozan. Lateral movement and some Aminishiki like tricks are his friends now. I don't think he realizes it.

Daishoho (M9) 5-6 vs Takarafuji (M5) 4-7
Takarafuji took an immediate outer left and pulled his best boy in nice and close. Daishoho made a mess of trying to destabilize Taka with an inside arm. Does anyone ever manage that against the neck-less one? So now Takarafuji has two shiny new grips to Daishoho's none. That should have been the end of it, but this is Takarafuji we're talking about so we got a bonus hour of cautious inactivity before he dared push his boy out, yori-kiri.

Tomokaze (M7) 9-2 vs Ichinojo (M4) 7-4
Mongolith got the early outer left and a decent low angle (for him) with the torso and that spelled doom for the red hot 9-2 man. What, no-one thinks he's red hot? Tomokaze dutifully took the wide open moro-zashi and tried to move Mongolith. Silly boy.

Who can resist moro-zashi? It's the right thing to do, say all the text books. Now with double outer grips and his new best friend hugged in close, Ichi walked him over the rope, yori-kiri. Tomokaze wasn't destroyed or even embarrassed today, but he was put in his place.

To sumo's great shame, tomorrow the M7 will be the main attraction in the final bout of the day versus some guy called Kakuryu.

Asanoyama (M1) 5-6 vs Daieisho (M3) 6-5
The M1 man kept a nice low body at the tachi-ai, but so did Daieisho who followed it with some pushes to the face. Asanoyama's head was crammed skywards and he had to dig in to prevent being blown back. He did it too well, he lurched forward looking to push back just as Daieisho faded away. The winning move of brilliance came from Daieisho. As Asanoyama was about to push him with the left arm, Daieisho grabbed the wrist and diverted it aside. A nice move well timed. Down flops Asanoyama to a bellyful of sand. That's Daieisho's game you're playing there son.

Shodai (M3) 5-6 vs Hokutofuji (M1) 7-4
Somebody has Hokutofuji's number. Supple Shodai slid the left arm inside. Not deep, just under the shoulder. Hoku panicked and forgot what he was trying to do offensively and backed away, trying to get some separation. Shodai just followed him and gobbled up all that real estate until Hoku ran out of land to stand on. Hokutofuji has never beaten Shodai.

Abi (K) 5-6 vs Endo (M2) 6-5
The sumo fans do get a lively and unpredictable bout from Abi. Today he shot himself in the foot as he tried to overreach for an outer grip whilst spinning around to the side of Endo with no balance at all. Endo stayed upright and let Abi throw himself about until he crashed out of the game. The JSA had to scratch their head a bit for a winning technique that was even close. They settled on Tsuki-hiza (no, me neither). The crowd was the most animated all day though.

Aoiyama (M2) 5-6 vs Ryuden (K) 3-8
A strange start for Ryuden, what did he hope to achieve? He crashed his head into the padded shoulder of Aoiyama. Who easily absorbed it and came rumbling forward. A few meaty thrusts and it was all over for a welcome sixth win at M2. Aoiyama may be eyeing a Sanyaku berth for next time round. Can Ryuden please try plan B? He looked horrible out there.

Meisei (M4) 2-9 vs Tamawashi (S) 1-10
Big Tama finally claimed his second (two wins? only two? I haven't been able to watch many days of this basho but seriously, two?) white star with an impressive demolition of some poor schmuck who was standing in front of him. Oshied and dashied straight out.

On the surface it looked all good in the Mongolian hood. But if you watch his footwork he only imposed his strength from his left leg. He was using the right purely for balance only. And that right foot was wobbling all over the place when he was on his toes. There's something wrong there.

Kakuryu (Y) 11-0 vs Chiyotairyu (M6) 6-5
Oh joy! What delight sumo can still bring to the jaded and tired sumo fan. The Yoko-man came in low with his head in the center, forcing a game of chicken. Chiyo blinked and moved his head up. Kakuryu had the outer right in a heartbeat and pivoted towards it. As the big cannonball tried in vain to keep lined up, Kak got all the way to the side and kicked his leg out from under him. Timber! A new shikona was born, assi-crashi as Chiyotairyu went from menacing thruster to immobile lump sitting on his butt after just two seconds of top level sumo demonstration.

The crowd were chattering afterwards so at least they noticed something different had occurred. Kakuryu took a rather thin pile of envelopes for his exhibition. Imagine if Kisenosato had done this, a casual and athletic toying of a strong opponent? The deafening applause, the massive tower of money, the gushing news headlines. Perhaps Kakuryu is the quiet Yokozuna because that's what sumo wants him to be?

Mitakeumi (S) 7-4 vs Hakuho (Y) 10-1
The Yokozuna got the jump on the Sekiwake and took a shallow left belt hold to drive behind. It looked OK, we've all seen far worse starts that were allowed to go, but this one they dragged back to do again.

And Hakuho did indeed do it again. An exact copy of the first, as he took the same shallow, but crucially, now outside left. Mitakeumi had been warned by the matta and had reacted better on the second try. He stuffed his right shoulder in low and took the deep inside grip. Hakuho struggled with this new position a bit. He paused in the center for a while as, little by little, he worked Mitakeumi into an upright stance. It wasn't an exciting battle of titans, more a creeping death to the Sekiwake, who was very passive. He didn't make an offensive move, just tried to hang in there.

The tell here is what Hakuho didn't do. He didn't heave his opponent upright using his right arm. Nor did he half-step his feet in close to apply upwards and forwards pressure. The old king is fading. For now he's still the king, but the crows are beginning to circle overhead.

Leaderboard time. The Yokozuna are in first and second place, so this basho hasn't fallen apart just yet. The challenging pack consists of Terutsuyoshi. Oh and err, well, Tomokaze is 9-3. Does that count?

Soup today, soup tomorrow. See ya for day 13.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The big news heading into Day 11 was the inevitable withdrawal of Ozeki Takayasu meaning for the first time since such meaningless statistics were recorded (the start of the Showa Era), four Ozeki have withdrawn from a single basho. Two of those Ozeki were legitimately injured in Takakeisho and Takayasu, and I've already mentioned the reasons for the other two withdrawals.

As poorly as the Ozeki have performed, it's still meaningful to have them active in a basho because it creates marquee matchups throughout Week 2 on paper. As early as Day 2, I talked about a dilemma I could see forming where too many darling rikishi were suffering early losses, and so it could potentially weaken anyone's interest in the yusho race. Well, here's the leaderboard at the start of the day noting that Takayasu is going to drop off tomorrow:

10-0: Kakuryu
9-1: Hakuho
8-2: Takayasu, Tomokaze, Myogiryu, Terutsuyoshi

Of the two-loss rikishi still in it, Myogiryu is the only one with any kind of name recognition, but it's of no benefit to the Association to have any of those two-loss rikishi take a fake yusho. Then when you dip down into the three-loss rikishi coming into the day, you only have Enho and Kotoyuki, and they're not going to have the Yokozuna go on faux losing streaks just to accommodate them. So, I think the Association needs to milk everything it can get out of this basho and then hope that a marketable rikishi can get on an early roll in September.

Since this is the start of the shubansen, or final five days, let's go into leaderboard mode and start with the leaders first.

Ozeki Takayasu was scheduled to fight Yokozuna Hakuho, but as mentioned previously, Takayasu withdrew from the tournament due to that left elbow injury. And while we're on the subject of injuries, if a rikishi withdraws due to injury and you don't know where he's injured until you go read about it in the funny papers, it's highly likely that the injury is just a front for something else. Just sayin'.

Watching Meisei just roll over for Takayasu yesterday was nauseating enough, so good call on withdrawing before fighting Hakuho. When they announced that Takayasu had withdrawn in the arena, a frustrated sigh went through the crowd because marquee matchups are at a premium these days, so here we had a Yokozuna - Ozeki matchup that never happened. The result was Takayasu's falling to 8-3 and out of the tournament altogether while Hakuho picks up the freebie at 10-1.

Moving along to the other two-loss rikishi, let's start with M16 Terutsuyoshi, who has been receiving little hype due to his record thus far being completely inorganic. He did get some run for "winning" on the same day his stablemate Aminishiki announced his retirement, but notice how any headlines surrounding Terutsuyoshi have nothing to do with the content of his sumo.

Today against M11 Nishikigi, I knew we were in for a barn burner. Or not. After two false starts from Terutsuyoshi, they finally got it right on the third try and Nishikigi came with that stellar tachi-ai of, "Let's see how limp we can extend our arms." That gifted Terutsuyoshi the left inside, but he didn't have the right inside straightway, but Nishikigi was doing nothing to deny it just standing straight up, and so Terutsuyoshi just forced Nishikigi back and across in about three seconds leading with that left arm inside and pushing into Nishikigi's teet with the right hand. Ya gotta love it when bouts with yusho implications are fought as hard as this one!! Nishikigi was entirely mukiryoku here as Terutsuyoshi stays in the fake yusho race at 9-2 while Nishikigi suffers make-koshi at 3-8.

Up next was M7 Tomokaze who was paired against M16 Kotoyuki, and like Terutsuyoshi, Tomokaze is best known for his two-year streak of kachi-koshi, not for his promising sumo. Today against M16 Kotoyuki, Yuki henka'd to his right at the tachi-ai, but it was so upright and stupid, it was clear that he didn't use the tachi-ai to his advantage. After letting Tomokaze square back up, Yuki came with as light of tsuppari as you please, and that easily allowed Tomokaze to pivot right and slap at the back of Kotoyuki's head, and of course that light blow sent Yuki sprawling about three seconds in. Like the Terutsuyoshi bout before, there is just no substance here in these fake bouts, and it's really hard to get fans excited about rikishi who win in boring bouts like this. Tomokaze is gifted his 9-2 record while Kotoyuki falls to 7-4, and before we move on, Tomokaze is a shoe-in for a special prize, but when you analyze the content of his sumo, what has he done to earn it? Nothing. This run has been financed.

Our final two-loss rikishi was M7 Myogiryu who was paired against one of my favorite rikishi, M8 Okinoumi. From the tachi-ai, Myogiryu struck well getting his left arm inside while denying Okinoumi his own left inside position, and so the battle early on focused on Okinoumi's trying to finagle that left inside position and Myogiryu's trying to keep him out of it. After a few seconds of this tussle, Myogiryu tried unwisely to pull his way out of it, and as he moved his body back in position to pull, Okinoumi rushed in finally getting that left arm to the inside, and it was so deep, he had Myogiryu completely upright and in position to just body him back with ease. Myogiryu could not recover from that pull attempt as he falls off the leaderboard at 8-3 while Okinoumi moves to a manageable 5-6.

The biggest issue with all of the Ozeki withdrawing is that today, we only had one guy fight from the entire Yokozuna/Ozeki ranks. That feller was Yokozuna Kakuryu who was paired against M5 Kotoshogiku, and the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Kakuryu took his time gathering the right outer grip. As he did, the Geeku pressed forward with his gaburi-yoru move, but the Yokozuna was never in trouble. Near the edge, the Yokozuna went for a counter right outer throw to send Kotoshogiku off balance, and while the Geeku kept his feet, the Yokozuna had him completely upright. Kotoshogiku attempted a quick left scoop throw, but he was already gassed, and so the Yokozuna lifted Kotoshogiku back by the belt creating a bit of separation allowing Kakuryu to just fire a few tsuki into the Geeku's torso sending him down tsuki-taoshi style. With the win, Kakuryu moves to 11-0 while Kotoshogiku falls to 5-6.

As we reshuffle the leaerboard, it shapes up like this:

11-0: Kakuryu
10-1: Hakuho
9-2: Tomokaze, Terutsuyoshi

Hooboy. I would be shocked if both Yokozuna dropped the yusho line down to two losses, but then again, can the Sumo Association afford to have just the Mongolian Yokozuna in the yusho race the rest of the way? We'll have that answer tomorrow as Tomokaze faces Ichinojo

In other bouts of interest, Sekiwake Mitakeumi welcomed M4 Meisei by getting moro-zashi, but he seemed totally uncomfortable with the position hinting towards a downward swipe and then forming a left tsuki attempt...all with his left arm to the inside. Meisei was able to maki-kae with the left thanks to Mitakeumi's indecision, and so the two dug in chest to chest in the hidari gappuri yotsu position. It's amazing what can happen when two guys fight for real, and these two treated us to a great bout of sumo. Mitakeumi tried to attack with the left inside against the smaller Meisei, but Meisei wrapped his right leg around Mitakeumi's left neutralizing any momentum from the throw. Before they could get settled, Meisei looked to test the dashi-nage waters with his right outer, but Mitakeumi was proving a hard blob to move, and so before Meisei could really get settled again, Mitakeumi swung him over and forced him out leading with the right hand. It's so easy to point out real sumo, and this was it as Mitakeumi moves to 7-4, and I'd really get excited about this bout if Meisei wasn't a paltry 2-9.

I'm not sure what's going in Sekiwake Tamawashi's camp these days, but he's gotten a lot of dive keiko in this basho. Today against M4 Ichinojo he led with his palms similarly to what Chiyotairyu does, but he wasn't making any impact against the Mongolith. For his part, Ichinojo returned average tsuppari fire, and a few seconds in when Tamawashi got close, Ichinojo went for a pull with the right paw at the back of Tamawashi's melon, and the Sekiwake just put his palm down to the dirt ending the affair. Boring stuff here as Ichinojo moves to 7-4 while Tamawashi's 1-10 record is proof positive that there's plenty of funny bidness going on.

Komusubi Abi came with the firehose tsuppari against M2 Aoiyama who defended with a tsuppari attack of his own, but you could tell he was looking to set up a pull. Abi largely dictated the flow of the bout but not the pace because he wasn't bullying Aoiyama around. If a dude is looking for the pull, a coupla good thrusts can send him packing, but Abi never could connect until finally Aoiyama was able to time a pull of his outstretched arms and tug him off balance to where the Happy Bulgar finished him off oshi-dashi style. Not a great bout for either party as they both land on 5-6 for their troubles.

Komusubi Ryuden and M2 Endoh hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Ryuden allowed Endoh an easy maki-kae with the right only to have Ryuden maki-kae right back. The maki-kae is a do or die move, so when you see rikishi trading them in the middle of the ring as if they were pieces of candy (the Mongolians are famous for this), somebody's mukiryoku. In this case it was Ryuden who refused to press for a right outer but giving Endoh the same grip without a struggle, and so the two grappled a bit in the ring with Ryuden not applying any pressure, and ultimately Endoh was able to force him over and out. Ryuden offered a token right kote-nage near the edge and an even lamer tsuki attempt, but he just gave this one to Endoh who moves to 6-5 with the win. As for Ryuden, his make-koshi becomes official at 3-8, but he's easily a top three Japanese rikishi in my opinion.

In a battle between our M1's, Hokutofuji went for his usual tachi-ai where he shades left and uses a right tsuki, and while Asanoyama didn't do much from the tachi-ai, Hokutofuji quickly went into pull mode allowing Asanoyama to rush in for moro-zashi as Hokutofuji continued to keep his hands up high and pull Asanoyama squarely into his body. Hokutofuji was not trying to win this one and had plenty of room to give as he falls to 7-4 while Asanoyama limps forward to 5-6 with the gift.

I know people don't like my incessant yaocho calls, but I wouldn't call 'em if they weren't happening, so don't shoot the messenger. I think rookie M10 Takagenji is a good example of how some people could have been excited after his nice 4-1 start, but it was all paid for. I mean, what was working for him that first week that's not working for him now? The level of competition is the same.

Today against M13 Chiyomaru, Takagenji began with what looked like a moro-te-zuki, but Maru quickly shoved him outta that leaving him to only hang on with a shallow left grip of Chiyomaru's belt on the right side. That wasn't enough, however, as Chiyomaru methodically plodded forward with decent de-ashi and a persistent oshi attack, and Takagenji was knocked back and across in linear fashion just like that. Chiyomaru moves to 5-6 with the nice win while Takagenji is now reeling at 4-7.

And finally, the most exciting bout of the day featured M14 Enho vs. M13 Sadanoumi. Enho was in reactive mode at the tachi-ai as Sadanoumi looked to shove him back, but the lil' guy timed a dual shove attempt from Sadanoumi perfectly ducking under the shoves and coming a way with moro-zashi. Sadanoumi immediately responded by grabbing two grips of Enho's belt over the top, and the chess match was on.

I will note that one of the easiest ways to tell yaocho in favor of Enho is that those "wins" last three of four seconds, and the going is far too easy. At his stature, nothing in this division will ever be easy, and today's bout was a perfect example.

Anyway, I don't have enough time to describe this bout move by move, but the key here was Enho's deep inside position with the right arm and Sadanoumi's solid left outer grip. Sadanoumi wasn't quite sure what to do with his belt grips at the back of Enho's belt. Sometimes he grabbed the back of the belt and sometimes he let it go trying to pry Enho upright, but Enho dictated the flow of the bout finally lifting up at the front of Sadanoumi's belt with the right that cut off the Sadamight's outer, and at that point, Enho committed on a force-out charge leading with the right arm inside. At the edge, Sadanoumi countered with a left kote-nage, and the nage-no-uchi-ai was on. It looked as if Enho had the advantage, but the dude just couldn't help putting his left down first to break his fall, and while this was so close, they correctly ruled in favor of Sadanoumi.

This bout was so illustrative of Enho's prescience in this division. I think the dude is good for maybe three legitimate wins per tournament. He came oh so close today, but it's such an uphill battle for him that he's at a huge disadvantage every day regardless of his opponent. That's why those stupidly easy wins we see are so easy to call. I mean, the bout ended today in a nage-no-uchi-ai as it should have and Enho had to work hard for every advantage he got. I'd root for this guy if so much yaocho wasn't involved, but this guy cannot keep himself in the division without a helluva lotta yaocho. It's just reality folks.

With the loss, Enho is denied kachi-koshi at least for today as he falls to 7-4 while Sadanoumi moves to the same mark, but it's well worth the Association's keeping the little guy around. This basho they've been pimping a QR code on the screen that when clicked will allows fans to re-watch any of the Makuuchi bouts from the day. Then, the next day they show the top three bouts, and Enho's bout is always number one.

And that's a wrap on Day 11. Reporting here for the next few days could get sketchy. Well, let me rephrase that since the content of reports here every day are sketchy!! I am going off the grid until the middle of Day 14, and so Gary should be good for Day 12 if I can get it posted in a timely manner, but we'll see about Days 13 and 14. If there are long delays in getting reports posted through the end of Day 14, have at it in the comments section below.

Day 10 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
No beef, only bread. If the Ozeki are beef. And they mostly weren't. They were baloney.

If you look at the banzuke and the results, you see the two Yokozuna out there doing their jobs: combined 17-1. They are the top slice of bread. Then you see the great emptiness of the Ozeki rank; three of the four withdrawn, and the fourth, Takayasu, seriously hurt. This is rough on the tournament, because he was meant to be the meat: coming into yesterday he was just a loss off the pace, and we were all starting to wonder again if he was the guy who would end up finally taking one. But now he's injured badly enough that a yusho by him isn't really plausible. Yet he is still there.

No beef. Just baloney.

So what is the bottom bread? Ichinojo? At 6-3 I suppose he came into the day a darkhorse to take it--very dark. Casting around, who else? Well, along with Takayasu you had three other guys at 7-2: the two M7s and an M16: Tomokaze, Myogiryu, and Terutsuyoshi. Each has his strong point, but are any of them plausible yusho winners? No, they are not. And they're not very interesting either. If they were Mitakeumi, or Endo, or even Shodai, say, the narrative would pick right up, but it is tough to believe in these guys as plausible champs (with the caveat that the same was true of Asanoyama last time).

So, the bread on the bottom is kind of soggy, and we are left with Hakuho, Kakuryu, or a piece of injured baloney. Just take out the baloney, scrape the soggy bottom bread off the plate, and throw that all away. It is all Yokozuna this time. Enjoy the top bread. It's great bread, man. I don't mind.

Since we're talking leaderbread, let's do leaderboard first.

THE SANDWICH

M13 Chiyomaru (4-5) vs. M16 Terutsuyoshi (7-2)
Lo! The leaderboard starts the day at 4:15 p.m. See what I mean? Soggy, this is. But: magnificent, overstuffed, butter-filled-cordon-bleu Chiyomaru against a Buffalo Wing in Terutsuyoshi? I'll eat it. Anyhoo, if you didn't know how this was going to go, you haven't been paying attention. Big Chiyomaru pushed so high he was occasionally pushing air. Naturally unfazed by this tactic, little Terutsuyoshi stepped to his right and Butter Tub (Chiyomaru) rumbled by, stopping to stand on the straw. Terutsuyoshi was there and ready for an easy push-out finish, oshi-dashi, in this very weak effort by Chiyomaru.

M7 Myogiryu (7-2) vs. M9 Shohozan (4-5)
Could Myogiryu snatch a tournament win as a respected veteran? Sure, these days he could. But we're clutching at straws here. The match looked like another giveaway to the leaderboard guy. These two went for kind of a mutual arm-bar attack at the tachi-ai, but after that it was all Myogiryu. Darth Hozan, who is a tough little dark hairy yak pond, shouldn't go out quite so easy as he did, and he was standing up too straight for my liking and not evading much. Then again, this all happened very quickly, so who knows? We might as well do what I prefer and try to focus on the positive: Myogiryu did look good here, swift and powerful. Also, he pulled off a nice move: there was a moment when it looked like he was sweeping up with his right forearm for another bar, but at the same moment he stretched that arm out instead and slid it under Shohozan's arm to get a grip round him. The oshi-dashi victory was already in the bag, but I liked this. Nevertheless if Myogiryu wins the tournament I am quitting.

M10 Takagenji (4-5) vs. M7 Tomokaze (7-2)
Tomokaze is the guy in the leaderboard who most resembles Asanoyama last time: young and skilled. So yeah, okay, we could go with him as a winner. But like I said, the hype-machine seems mysteriously switched off for him: no frothy bubbles coming out. This was a good match up for him though: another up and comer, with a similar size and shape of body. Tomokaze won it very easily, our third 7-2 guy in a row to keep the pace. Hmmm. This was not the most dynamic of matches. Takagenji spent some time pushing on Tomokaze's face, but he then gave that up and let Tomokaze have his way. Tomokaze started with a little pushing up, a little try to pull down, and then a little jittery-armed "what should I do next" action. Fortunately for him that was the moment Takagenji stopped doing much of anything at all, and Tomokaze practically fell into a powerful, deep belt-and-body grip. Tomokaze isn't bad, and with position that dominant the result was immediate and forceful: he thrashed Takagenji to the ground, uwate-nage.

If the evidence of these low rankers tells the tale, it looks to me like the Sumo Association is going with it: the soggy-bread storyline. If this is what fate has given them--Terutsuyoshi, Myogiryu, and Tomokaze as the challengers--then that is what they will take. It is exactly what happened last time with Asanoyama.

M4 Meisei (2-7) vs. O Takayasu (7-2)
Remember how I said on Day 8 don't worry, Takayasu will either be all right or will be made to look all right? Well, here we are on Day 10, guy is obviously injured, but here he still is. The Sumo Association and I can still put him on the leaderboard. That's a form of making him look all right. Takayasu made it work today, using a smart strategy of using nearly only his right arm: moving to the right, attacking to the right, keeping the match in counter-clockwise circle to the right. Let's be honest: Meisei may be fun, but he doesn't really belong in these top matches, and Takayasu can take him on any good day. Turns out he can take him on a bad day too: he managed to keep Meisei out of the run of the match with his circling strategy, and when he finally had to use his bad arm for a little belt action right at the end, he already had it in the bag. Takayasu stays in the running, dubiously or not, with this planned and executed yori-kiri victory. Soggy bread, man. Soggy bread.

Y Kakuryu (9-0) vs. M4 Ichinojo (6-3)
I expected Ichinojo to win here. That's one of the reasons I included him in my intro as a possible tournament winner: if both Yokozuna were to lose to him, his three losses not only would close the gap, but look more legitimate. I just figure this tournament belongs to the Mongols, and that Hakuho and Kakuryu decided to include Ichinojo in their party--they have plenty of room for him. I was wrong. Kakuryu put himself firmly in the driver's seat and took Ichinojo out of contention by keeping low on him and working hard. Kakuryu got inside from the beginning and got Ichinojo to the straw. He then tried a maki-kae while backing up, and nearly lost it on that, going to the straw himself. However, a couple of deft and subtle spins around the perimeter of Ichinojo's bulk put Kakuryu back in control, while Ichinojo stood there looking inert, outsmarted, and befuddled. In this moment the bad Ichinojo of yesteryore returned: he gave up and walked out: "where are you? Oh, okay, I'm out of position, you got me. Darn." The kimari-te was yori-kiri, but I'd put make up my own: more-guts.

S Tamawashi (1-8) vs. Y Hakuho (8-1)
Some of the drama of this one drained out of it with Kakuryu's win. If Hakuho were to win, it would have signified that we're probably in for a multi-day chase, rather than a straight up dogfight. If Hakuho were to win, it would have signaled he's stepping back into the pack and letting the four we profiled just now--Terutsuyoshi, Myogiryu, Tomokaze, and Takayasu--carry the drama and the spotlight. So, did he want it or not? Unfortunately the simple answers seems to be that Tamawashi didn't want it Hakuho was frenetic in his thrusts and blows: open handed, almost karate-chops. Tamawashi wanted no part of it, and literally ran off the dohyo away from Hakuho while Hakuho remained standing dead center in the ring. The kimari-te was tsuki-otoshi, and we are supposed to believe this was caused by one sharp right hand to the shoulder by Hakuho. However, Hakuho is not magical and does not have the power of telekinesis: he cannot move Tamawashi's body through the air by the force of his mind. I think this one was decided by the side of Lake Kucherla, because Tamawashi's sprint was senseless and ridiculous.

All six of our leaders won, leaving the leaderboard just as it was:

10-0: Kakuryu
9-1: Hakuho
8-2: Terutsuyoshi, Myogiryu, Tomokaze, and Takayasu

There was some very good sumo in the undercard; read on for that.

THE SIDE SALAD

M12 Tochiohzan (2-7) vs. M15 Kaisei (1-8)
Perhaps I should rename Kaisei "The Drapes." While the tachi-ai sounded good--a nice, fleshy slapping--all it really amounted to was Kaisei draping his large hams and chest loosely on top of Tochiohzan. Tochiohzan knew what to do with that: it was like olden times, getting his long-time favored grip of moro-zashi, dual insides. There was a bit of sweating and lifting--them drapes is heavy!--but after a few moments Tochiohzan had lifted, pushed, and shambled the musty, damp drapes into the dumpster out back, okuri-dashi.

M14 Toyonoshima (3-6) vs. M12 Kagayaki (5-4)
One good way to give away a match is to stand up slowly. Still basically believing in the goodness of human nature, for a moment I always wonder, "what is he doing? Why is he doing that?" Then I realize he, whoever it may be, is giving the match away. Here it was Kagayaki: stood up slowly at the tachi-ai and, doing his best Kaisei impression, draped himself limply over roly poly meatball dumpling Toyonoshima, like cheese sauce on spaghetti. Toyonoshima, like Tochiozan, knew what to do with that. He pushed on the inside while the draping lay about on him. It had a bit of a different end--Toyonoshima mixed it up by pulling Kagayaki down by the head kata-sukashi, but this was otherwise an instant replay of the first match.

M14 Enho (6-3) vs. M11 Nishikigi (3-6)
For the third match in a row, the loser was cautious and slow at the tachi-ai. I might excuse Nishikigi to say he was being cautious to avoid trickery by Enho, but actually, Enho is not like Ura or other small predecessors--there are no tricks. He is going to go low and push you out from there. As I've been saying for days, an aggressive, low attack is the answer to this. Nishikigi did the opposite: stood tall and waited for Enho. Enho complied, getting in low. Nishikigi did his best to lift Enho by the face, which was kind of entertaining, but Enho had a firm hold on the front of Nishikigi's belt and proceeded to dictate the pace and direction. Enho's yori-kiri followed momentarily. Somebody please throw this guy!

M16 Kotoyuki (6-3) s. M9 Daishoho (4-5)
This was a slap-fest. I liked Daishoho's initial hard slap, but after that he was like a watering can slowly running out of water: it starts a firm gusher, then gets lighter and lighter and ends in drip, drip, drip. Kotoyuki never let up the pressure with his counter-shoves, and once Daishoho had subsided to almost no slapping at all--drip, drip--Kotoyuki thurst him out, oshi-dashi. This stuff is so puzzling--except that it isn't. It's what they do.

M8 Onosho (4-5) vs. M13 Sadanoumi (6-3)
I was thinking that Onosho owed it to himself and us to just blast the crap out of Sadanoumi, and say, that was what he did. Put one fleshy paw in Sadanoumi's face, bent him backwards like a paper fan in a typhoon, and swiftly drove him off the mound, oshi-dashi. Back to basics with you, Onosho, and maybe we'll have something. (Have I reverted to Waiting For Him To Be Good?)

M6 Chiyotairyu (6-3) vs. M10 Kotoeko (5-4)
Is that a birthmark on Chiyotairyu's shoulder? Or teppo-pole blood stains? Kotoeko faked a shove and then evacuated. He did it well, getting fully out of the way and fast, and Chiyotairyu fell forward to a tsuki-otoshi loss.

M15 Yago (3-6) vs. M6 Shimanoumi (5-4)
I often judge guys too quickly, but the verdict is in on Yago: looks good, but is bad. With that big smooth body and the bully-boy-sounding name, you feel he is going to develop into something. But in the ring he is sloppy and strangely punchless. This was a great example. Shimanoumi didn't do much except maintain, keep Yago in front of him, and apply pressure when able. These basics had Yago floundering all over the dohyo out of balance like a drunk trying to do a Russian mazurka. Eventually the contained, calm Shimanoumi picked up a tsuki-otoshi victory over the discombobulated Yago.

M8 Okinoumi (4-5) vs. M5 Takarafuji (2-7)
This was a nice, fairly lengthy chest-to-chest, belt-and-body battle. Takarafuji had the advantage and the momentum off the tachi-ai, but Okinoumi was able to mawari-komu--move along the edge--to get himself back in the middle. Takarafuji didn't let up, and so Okinoumi had to mawari-komu a second time. On his third charge, Takarafuji got Okinoumi in the classic on-the-bales-but-not-quite-out position. It is amazing to me how much of a defense that tiny barrier presents. So, also in classic sumo fashion, Takarafuji switched gears and slung Okinoumi down, uwate-nage. Nicely done.

M2 Aoiyama (3-6) vs. M3 Shodai (5-4)
Aoiyama's legfat always looks impressively unhealthy to me: pale and lardy, dimpled up like close-packed cottage cheese. I fervently hope that when Aoiyama retires he loses miraculous amounts of weight and becomes a broccoli spokesperson in Bulgaria. Anyhoo, it was an excellent match for him. He soundly won the tachi-ai, spanking Shodai back on that first shove halfway to the straw. Aoiyama then eschewed pulls for repeated blows to the face. When he did try one reversal knock-down, he did it smart, moving swiftly to the side while dealing a wicked blow. It didn't quite work, so he smartly went back to the meat hammers. From there to the end it was a sustained pummeling, ending with focused blows to the chest that dispatched Shodai, oshi-dashi. To me, this match was a good display of how we sometimes don't give enough credit to guys like Shodai, and give too much to guys like Aoiyama. Yeah, Aoiyama won, and looked great doing it. But it was hard: he had to really work for it. Aoiyama really wanted to win here, and he did, but it took time, effort, and focus. Yes, the banzuke is unnaturally unbalanced. But it is not that all the foreigners are good and all the Japanese guys are bad. I think we saw Aoiyama at his best here, and yet it was no cakewalk. More of this please.

M5 Kotoshogiku (5-4) vs. M2 Endo (4-5)
I'm going to say the same for this one: great stuff. Endo had nearly instant inside/outside belt grips, but then he had to hold on for dear life, as Kotoshogiku was very, very genki, gaburi-belly humping like he used to in his prime in a game attempt to overwhelm Endo. Three times Kotoshogiku got Endo right up against the straw but couldn't quite bounce him out; great resilience here from Endo. Endo switched his grip up once or twice, but didn't have the power to finish 'Giku off either, no matter how good his position was (that's Endo's perennial problem). It ended right in the middle of the ring: Endo looked to be doing another maki-kae--switching up his grips--but instead he turned swiftly out of there and pulled sharply on the belt, felling Kotoshogiku with a nifty uwate-dashi-nage. Both wrestlers went all out in this one, the crowd loved it, and so did I.

K Abi (4-5) vs. M1 Asanoyama (4-5)
This was anti-climactic. Abi stood Asanoyama up straight with not more than one or two firehose face blasts, then stood down, back, and out. Asanoyama tumbled and lost, hiki-otoshi. If you are going to win this way, that is how to do it: swift, hard, merciless. It looks boring, though.

M1 Hokutofuji (6-3) vs. K Ryuden (3-6)
Classic Hokutofuji start: hit once while moving ever so slightly to the left. They then went into extended arm-grappling. The turning point came when Ryuden tried to put his left arm in on Hokutofuji's belt. He got his fingers on the satin, but Hokutofuji shook his hips and got them off, then clamped down with his right arm, gluing Ryuden's arm in there, rendering it useless. From there the force out charge by Hokutofuji was inexorable; he roughed Ryuden bodily out oshi-dashi.

S Mitakeumi (6-3) vs. M3 Daieisho (4-5)
My favorite shochu (potato liquor) is Mitake, produced on the island of Yakushima, south of Kyushu. I recommend it straight over three rocks of ice. The first few sips, when it is still warm but mixing with still separate mini-streams of cold melting water, are the best. Serve it in a rough clay cup. Okay, now that I'm done daydreaming, back to the sumo: Daieisho was the aggressor in this one and earned a great win. Smaller but more concentrated, he never stopped bashing Mitakeumi in the face, keeping his feet apart and moving them forward when he could, bending Mitakeumi up and backwards, and being unrelentingly accurate in landing his blows on the neck and chin of Mitakeumi. Hey! He earned the "ass-kickin" kimari-te: tsuki-dashi (thrust out).

There were several great bouts today, reminding us of why we fell in love with sumo in the first place. Go get 'em, Daieisho, Aoiyama, and Endo. The next time I am drinking shochu, I will think of you.

Tomorrow Mike blinds the fireflies.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It's been five days since I've chimed in, and I suppose the biggest news in my absence has been the withdrawal of two more Ozeki after Takakeisho opted to skip Nagoya from the get-go due to a knee injury. Tochinoshin left after five days in what I think was cover for Takakeisho similarly to how the Mongolians used to cover for Kisenosato and withdraw whenever he did (i.e. pretty much every basho after his promotion to Yokozuna). As for Goeido, he was just getting his ass-handed to him by rank and filers, so his withdrawal was simply a matter of pride. I know, I know, it was reported that he's got a shoulder injury that will require a month to heal, but that comes from the same media outlets who can watch the Tamawashi - Takayasu bout yesterday not to mention the slow motion replays and conveniently not make a single comment on Tamawashi's silly dive.

The dive was so obvious I couldn't resist taking video of the slow motion replay, so here ya go in case you missed it:



Let's say you have an inanimate object that weighs 173 kilos and stands roughly 1.9 meters tall. How much force is required to topple that object over?  Then, how much force is required to topple it against its own will when it's fighting back?  You will find no such force coming from Takayasu, and all we have is a glancing blow upwards against Tamawashi's left biceps, and yet Tamawashi flies laterally rolling over to the edge of the ring.  What kind of alternate universe do people have to be living in to completely ignore such a blatant dive, especially people who report on the sport?

It's clear that the only objective analysis you get in sumo is right here, so let's get right to it.

M15 Kaisei came with a right kachi-age at the tachi-ai against M13 Sadanoumi that led to a migi-yotsu contest a second or two in. The Brasilian wasn't applying any pressure chest to chest allowing Sadanoumi to grab a left outer near the front of the belt, and so Kaisei relented a bit in an effort to grab a left outer grip of his own, but by the time he got it, Sadanoumi had him forced back close to the edge. Kaisei attempted a meager right scoop throw with his injured arm, but that had no effect as Sadanoumi scored the easy force-out win. I'm not sure of the extent surrounding Kaisei's injury, but if you're going to fight injured, why not fight to the strength of your good arm or use your size advantage to press forward chest to chest instead of putting all of your eggs into the basket of your injured limb? Regardless of what was going on here, it was a ho-hum way to start the day as Kaisei suffers make-koshi at 1-8 while Sadanoumi is a sprite 6-3.

M12 Tochiohzan charged with his hands up high in pull mode against M16 Terutsuyoshi who ducked in low at the tachi-ai as is usually the case. Because Terutsuyoshi wasn't exactly looking for moro-zashi, Tochiohzan had the chance to get to the inside of his opponent on either side even if it was just a hand 'neath the armpit, but he was hellbent on setting up the pull, and so Terutsuyoshi just used his head as a battering ram to drive Oh back and out in mere seconds. Another lightly contested bout here as Terutsuyoshi moves to 7-2 while Tochiohzan falls to the opposite 2-7.

M16 Kotoyuki and M11 Nishikigi were both flat-footed and upright at the tachi-ai as they traded tsuppari, and Nishikigi seemed content to just play into Kotoyuki's style, and so Kotoyuki methodically drove his opponent back and across without much resistance. Nishikigi went for a few lame swipes as if he kinda sorta thought about getting inside, but this was the third bout in a row of what I would call casual sumo. Kotoyuki was awarded the tsuki-dashi win just because that final thrust-out was a stiff arm and not a push as he moves to 6-3, but an ass-kicking this wasn't.  Intentional or not, Nishikigi was mukiryoku in this one falling to 3-6.

The most compelling bout in the first half coming in was the M14 Enho - M10 Takagenji matchup. Both dudes had nine wins combined coming in, and at least eight of those wins were arranged, so I was interested to see how this one would play out. Enho ducked left a bit at the tachi-ai while Takagenji seemed content to jab and miss on methodic thrusts around Enho's head.  In fact, for much of the first part in this bout, Takagenji looked like a praying mantis with both forearms sandwiched around Enho's head, but there was no power or no force in the move (not to mention any logic), and so the rookie knowing his place allowed Enho to slide laterally left, knock Genji a bit off balance with a swipe to his right side, and then grab the rookie's left leg completely unopposed to score the ashi-tori win. The crowd loved it so why not?

There's no way I can know whether or not money changed hands here or if this was just a matter of senpai-kohai deference, but I do know that Takagenji made zero effort to win this one. I mean, we can all see what happens when one of Enho's opponents really tries to win. Enho moves to 6-3 with the gift while Takagenji falls to 4-5, and before we move on, what I hate about the current culture of sumo these days is you have a newbie in Takagenji who has a good sumo body and what I think are decent skills, but already in his debut basho at least half of his bouts have been pre-arranged, and so 1) I can't get a good reading on the guy, and 2) Takagenji has no idea where he stands in the division skill-wise.

M10 Kotoeko and M15 Yago looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but Yago panicked when he couldn't get the early right outer grip straightway, and so he went for a decent pull that sent Kotoeko near the edge, but Yago tried to finish him off with a kill shot up high instead of into the chest, and so Kotoeko withstood the blow and came away with moro-zashi. From that point, Yago wasn't skilled enough to work his way out of the jam, and so Kotoeko easily forced him back across the ring and out. Hey, Kotoeko picks up a legitimate win to move to 5-4 while Yago falls to 3-6 and has turned out to be a hapless rikishi at this level.

M13 Chiyomaru and M9 Daishoho slapped bellies hard at the tachi-ai coming away in the migi-yotsu position where neither dude had an outer grip. Daishoho is more comfortable with this style, but he was having trouble working around Chiyomaru's shelf gut, and so with the Mongolian forced to react, the two stood in the ring for ten seconds or so. Daishoho smartly used his right inside position to keep Maru upright and far away from an outside grip, and so Chiyomaru decided to go ahead and try the force-out despite not having the coveted outer, and Daishoho let it happen for a step or two, but at the edge, he beautifully timed a right scoop throw that wrenched Chiyomaru off balance to where Daishoho could swoop in and grab the left outer, and grab he did using that grip to dashi-nage Maru over to the edge where a final shove into the shelf gut with the left toppled Chiyomaru back and down. I love tactical sumo like this as both fellas end the day at 4-5.

Occasionally I'll see a headline regarding M7 Tomokaze and how he's never suffered make-koshi in his two-year career.  I never watched the dude until he entered the Makuuchi division, but he's bought all of his kachi-koshi in the division so far. He's a stablemate of Yoshikaze's, and I've seen numerous headlines that read, "Tomokaze is piling up wins for both Yoshikaze and himself." Uh, no. All of the money pooled to buy Yoshikaze and Tomokaze wins can now be spent solely on Tomokaze. Today was a perfect example of that against M12 Kagayaki who came with a half-assed right kachi-age before leaning forward as Tomokaze lightly struck before stepping to his left and going for a pull at the back of Kagayaki's head, which of course sent the M12 sprawling a second or two in. You know, I do consider myself a free market capitalist, so if one guy's sellin' and the other's buyin', more power to 'em. Tomokaze is an ill-gotten 7-2 while Kagayaki still has plenty of room to maneuver at 5-4.

M7 Myogiryu also used a right kachi-age at the tachi-ai against M14 Toyonoshima, but the former meant bidness, and so he knocked Toyonoshima upright and then flirted with getting that right arm to the inside as he bellied Toyonoshima back, but he knew he had his opponent on the ropes, and so Myogiryu just finished the oldie off pushing into his body with the right arm. Easy peasy Japanesey has Myogiryu moves to 7-2 while Toyonoshima falls to 3-6.

M9 Shohozan used a quick hari-te with the right hand that connected with the top of M6 Shimanoumi's head at the tachi-ai, but Darth Hozan failed to get inside with the move. He still had what seemed like the upper hand as he pushed into Shimanoumi, but he was doing it without a purpose. As for Shimanoumi, he was in reaction mode the whole way using his hands to attempt to keep Shohozan at bay, but you could tell that Shohozan while busy was never looking to finish his opponent off. After about seven seconds of this nonsense, Shohozan finally went through the pull motions, but instead of actually going for a pull, he just backed his way up to the other side of the dohyo and left himself vulnerable. Shimanoumi was still a deer in the headlights, and so with Shohozan ducked down, he was waiting for sufficient contact from his opponent to take a dive. When the first weak pull attempt came from Umi, Shohozan nearly put his right knee down, but there wasn't sufficient contact, and then when Shimanoumi swiped again, there was still mild contact, but Shohozan just couldn't resist doinking his left palm to the dirt. It was almost as if he regretted the move because there wasn't sufficient contact to warrant an actual pull down, and so he pulled it back up quickly and they resumed their grappling until the chief judge raised his arm and signaled that Shohozan had indeed touched down first. Hooboy. This one was akin to the Takayasu - Tamawashi bout I highlighted in my intro, but Luke was right; there is still good in Shohozan after all as he takes the loss at 4-5 while Shimanoumi has bought a string of wins here to move to 5-4.

M6 Chiyotairyu henka'd to his left against M8 Okinoumi using a quick left tsuki into Okinoumi's right side to bully him over to the edge where a few final pushes did the job as Okinoumi looked to square back up. Simple tachi-ai henka here, and remember the days when that was my biggest pet peeve in sumo?  Chiyotairyu moves to 6-3 with the win while Okinoumi falls to 4-5.

M8 Onosho got the easy left arm inside at the tachi-ai against M5 Kotoshogiku and then also got the right inside as well. Instead of moro-zashi where an opponent positions both arms deep to the inside of his opponent's arms, Onosho opted for hazu-oshi where he pushed both hands upwards into the Geeku's pits from the inside. Regardless of what method he chose, Onosho had Kotoshogiku by the short hairs and drove him back to the edge only to pause for no reason and wait for contact to come from his opponent. Said contact was a weak slap down at Onosho's left shoulder, and just like that Onosho literally took a knee giving Kotoshogiku the cheap win. Obvious fixed bout here as Kotoshogiku moves to 5-4, and I highly question whether or not Kotoshogiku can win legitimately at all this high on the banzuke. Onosho falls to 4-5 with the simple gift.

M3 Daieisho came with a moro-te-zuki tachi-ai against M5 Takarafuji before moving completely left 180 degrees after executing a quick swipe. The move didn't necessarily throw Takarafuji completely off balance, but he was lethargic as he tried to square back up enabling the easy push out win for Daieisho in the end. Takarafuji looked mukiryoku to me here as Daieisho ekes to 4-5 while Takarafuji falls to 2-7.

M2 Aoiyama stood completely upright and fired off weak tsuppari as he backpedaled for no reason, and I knew the outcome of the bout against M2 Endoh at that point.  Despite Aoiyama's obvious intentions, Endoh couldn't take clear advantage, and as he ran forward with his head down, Aoiyama instinctively got his right arm around the back of Endoh's neck and then under his left side pinning Endoh in a sweet headlock. On the other side, Aoiyama had a left kote grip, and the Happy Bulgar was in complete control despite that obviously bad tachi-ai. With Endoh unable to do anything and stuck in an awkward position, Aoiyama did the smart thing by letting him out of the headlock for no reason and standing upright so Endo could push him out. I mean, I'm just incredulous watching this crap bout after bout as Aoiyama falls to 3-6 while Endoh moves to 4-5 with the gift.

Komusubi Ryuden and M1 Asanoyama hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Ryuden had his left hand right there at Asanoyama's belt if he had wanted an outer grip, but instead of simply latching onto it, Ryuden backed out from the chest to chest position and moved to his left for no reason whatsoever except to render his inside position as useless as possible. With Ryuden maintaining that right inside at forearm depth, he was easy pickins as Asanoyama just rushed forward in force-out fashion drawing a meager right counter scoop throw form Ryuden whose only purpose was to allow himself to just back out of the ring with the M1 in tow. Ryuden coulda filleted Asanoyama from the tachi-ai had he wanted to, but this bout was arranged beforehand for whatever reason (or price).  Asanoyama limps forward to 4-5, and I think we're all becoming big Ryuden fans after watching the content of his sumo despite today's gift that dropped him to 3-6.

M1 Hokutofuji's tachi-ai is very predictable as he always puts his right hand towards his opponent's throat and then shades left looking for a cheap tsuki to his opponent's right side. I knew this tachi-ai was coming and so did Sekiwake Tamawashi, and so a split second after the charge, Tamawashi just used the momentum of that light left tsuki to run himself from the center of the ring clear into the second row as if to say, "What just hit me?"  Simply ridiculous as Tamawashi is proving quite the actor these last few days falling to 1-8 while Hokutofuji marches to 6-3.

My favorite expert analysis of the basho so far was Harvye's describing Komusubi Abi's tsuppari attack as a hose on at full blast that just lies there unattended. Against Sekiwake Mitakeumi today, we unfortunately would not get the fire hose tsuppari because Abi had a different plan putting both hands to Mitakeumi's neck in moro-te-zuki fashion before quickly swiping downward out of the move while shifting to his right, and with Mitakeumi completely befuddled at this point, Abi draped his left arm around Mitakeumi's head while grabbing an outer grip with the right hand, and Abi just continued with that lateral motion swinging Mitakeumi over and throwing him across the bales with the right outer grip.  Mitakeumi had no say in the matter here, and he could have avoided the onslaught with a better tachi-ai that knocked Abi off balance. It didn't come, however, and Mitakeumi paid for it falling to 6-3 with the loss. As for Abi, he moves to 4-5 with the well-executed win.

I must admit, I spent most of last night clicking the refresh button on my browser as if I was watching a stock ticker waiting for news of Takayasu's pending withdrawal. Had the faux-zeki withdrawn, it would have been 4-4 for the Ozeki, but alas, something prompted Takayasu to give it another go today despite getting his right elbow wrecked after a Kaio-nage from Tamawashi yesterday. Today's foe was M3 Shodai, and Takayasu got no sympathies in this one as Takayasu came with a right kachi-age keeping his left elbow out of the mix as much as possible. Shodai easily neutralized the Ozeki's charge bumping chests with him before Takayasu backpedaled a bit looking for something while keeping that left arm to his side. When Shodai wasn't exactly bearing down on Takayasu, the Ozeki moved back forward receiving a love tap from Shodai on the right shoulder, and as Shodai went for the bad pull, it moved him back towards the edge of the ring. As Takayasu advanced, he didn't have the strength to body Shodai out, and so the M3 dug in getting the right arm to the inside.  Shodai next moved to his right around the edge of the ring and then quickly reversed on a dime as Takayasu gave chase. That little change-up enabled Shodai to fire a perfect left tsuki into Takayasu's right side and use the Ozeki's momentum against him to dispose Takayasu over and down like a sack'a garbage.  Takayasu was also out of control as he fell and he landed right on that troubled elbow.

I think we can all agree that Takayasu is legitimately injured, and this is what a guy looks like when truly injured. You could tell that he was fighting with just one arm, and so I question injury reports attributed to guys like Tochinoshin and Goeido and even Kaisei. I mean, what was Kaisei doing today making his "injured" arm the focal point of his attack against Sadanoumi? Then you have the list of Hakuho's phantom injuries that cause him to withdraw seemingly every other basho. Regardless of that nonsense, Shodai moves to 5-4 with the win while Takayasu falls to 7-2, and Takayasu is just as in danger of going kyujo today as he was after yesterday's bout. We'll see if he can get another charity bout before calling it quits and resting that wing of his.

At this point, we entered the Yokozuna ranks with both Mongolians breezing their way to 8-0 starts. Had NHK decided to flash a leaderboard at this point (they smartly didn't), it would have looked like this:

0 losses: Hakuho, Kakuryu
2 losses: Takayasu, Myogiryu, Tomokaze, Terutsuyoshi

That ain't gonna fly, and so unsurprisingly, we had our first Yokozuna bite the dust. Yokozuna Hakuho was ever so gracious against fellow countryman, M4 Ichinojo (yes, that same Ichinojo who was supposedly trounced yesterday by Mitakeumi). Hakuho kept both arms pointed downward and in tight at the tachi-ai, which is what a rikishi usually does to deny his opponent moro-zashi, and when have we ever seen Hakuho do this before? The answer is never, but it didn't stop Ichinojo from latching onto the front of the Yokozuna belt with the right hand as he marched him back towards the bales. As he was being forced back, Hakuho had the right arm to the inside of Ichinojo's left, but instead of looking to move laterally and counter, Hakuho just went along for the ride walking himself back as much as Ichinojo forced him to move in that direction. As Hakuho crossed the tawara, he was upright and nonchalant, a pose we see often from mukiryoku rikishi who have just thrown a bout in favor of their opponent, and today was no different.  I mean, Ichinojo's a helluva rikishi in my opinion, but there's no question that Hakuho just let him win today failing to make a single move to apply pressure into his opponent or counter. The intentions are obvious here as Hakuho lowers his bar to 8-1 now bringing himself back closer to the pack while Ichinojo enjoys his 6-3 record.

It would have been a bit much to have Yokozuna Kakuryu also lose, especially at the hands of M4 Meisei, and a huge problem the Association has on their hands right now is trying to find marquee matchups heading into week 2. This is usually the time when the Ozeki carousel gets cycled through the Yokozuna everyday, but with three of 'em out and one who may as well withdraw, we're going to see the Mongolians fighting guys down into the mid-Maegashira all the way to the end. I can't wait!!

Getting back to the final bout, Kakuryu latched on to the front of Meisei's belt with the right hand while shoving into his body with the left. It's an action that cancels itself out because on one hand you're pulling a guy in close with the belt grip and then pushing him away with the other arm? That led to the awkward start of this bout, but Kakuryu ultimately positioned his left arm to the inside making it a true yotsu-zumo bout. Kakuryu's antics from the start gave Meisei a right outer of his own, so technically the two were in the gappuri-migi-yotsu position, but it was Kakuryu who dictated everything here using his legs nicely to keep Meisei pinned in tight, and then once the Kak had his gal to the edge, he broke off Meisei's outer grip and then scored the easy force-out win from there. With the win Kakuryu becomes the sole leader at 9-0 while Meisei falls to 2-7.

If past precedent is any indication, Kakuryu is going to get really nervous as the sole leader, which will lead him to go for an unwise pull of an opponent at the tachi-ai that will ultimately lead to a costly loss. Kakuryu will then turn his head a bit sideways in bewilderment as he walks back down the hana-michi questioning his poor decision. Can't wait.

In the meantime, here's your leaderboard as we head into Day 10:

9-0: Kakuryu
8-1: Hakuho
7-2: Takayasu, Myogiryu, Tomokaze, Terutsuyoshi

I really don't see how the Association salvages this basho, but nothing surprises me these days  King's to Harvye tomorrow.

Day 8 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
Around fifteen years ago when I hadn't been watching sumo that long a friend with more experience told me he liked the super big guys. "Really?" I said, trying not to look too incredulous, because privately I thought, "why the heck is that? Because you're fat yourself?" Mostly I just thought it was kind of dumb. Asashoryu wasn't that big and was a whirling dervish out there, and I liked the kinetic bouts like his much better. The plodding big guys seemed like a blubbery joke.

I agreed more with one of the fellow teachers at my school in our little Japanese village of 4,000 people, who said, "we Japanese like to see the little guy beat the odds and defeat the big guy." And I thought there was some wisdom too in what my 80 year-old neighbor matter-of-factly told me when I complained about a henka: "did you not think he was clever?" They were into the little guys, and so was I. How could you not be? It is part of human nature.

These days I still am cheerfully scornful of the round, laughable-looking balloons like Chiyomaru or Tokushoryu. How many of these guys make Yokozuna or even Ozeki? None. They're built for, oh, 20th place. That's hard for me to really root for. But I don't root for the tiny guys either anymore--they're also built for about 20th place. If the giant beach balls don't have the dexterity to do it, the little guys don't have the power, and we've seen that time and again too. I just can't take Enho, Terutsuyoshi, Ura, or Takanoyama (The Czech Adonis--remember him?) seriously.

No, over time you learn the middle way. All things in moderation. You come to perk up when bodies like those of Hakuho, Ryuden, Takarafuji, Okinoumi, Tochinoshin, or Tamawashi crop up. These guys are tall; they get heavy, but not too heavy, and wear that weight well. Not too big, not too small. Big enough--and, importantly, supple. Not all of them get to the top, but these are the bodies that are built for a legitimate chance at #1.

M16 Kotoyuki (5-2) vs. J1 Azumaryu (3-4)
I didn't recall seeing this "Eastern Dragon," Azumaryu, before. Big, tall, oldish, country bumpkin lookin' dude, Mongol. A little research revealed that indeed he is 32 years old, and that I have in fact seen him before: spent three lonely one-off tournaments in Makuuchi in 2013 and 2014. Well, welcome back, fellow! Little Snow (Kotoyuki) put both fists down, and Azumaryu was about to go with it: "okay, sure." Then he repented, told himself, "don't go on HIS schedule. Go when I'm ready." So, he waited a few moments, collected his inner chi, then went. And did what probably came to him during that pause: henka'ed lightly out of the way. Little Snow shot past and was easy push-out fodder for his sleepy-looking Juryo foe. Oshi-dashi.

M13 Chiyomaru (3-4) vs. M14 Enho (5-2)
The bulbous vs. the spritely. Enho looks like he could fit inside Chiyomaru's belly, all curled up. Or like Chiyomaru could cradle this little cherub as a sleeping baby angel on his shelf gut--"look, no hands, ma!" Chiyomaru tried to henka, which had to be the last thing Enho was expecting, but Chiyomaru leaped nearly straight backwards, pulling down on Enho's head. This didn't work very well: Chiyomaru is not the most limber of rikishi, and backwards is not the right direction for a henka. However, Chiyomaru repented of his evil ways and attacked, very easily pushing Enho over backwards, crumpling him to the dirt at the edge like a pile of dirty laundry shucked at the end of a long, sweaty day, oshi-taoshi As I said in the intro, it seems that when guys go after Enho, he doesn't have the size to compete.

M15 Yago (3-4) vs. M13 Sadanoumi (4-3)
Slow, weak-looking tachi-ai from Yago, whereas Sadanoumi was coming hard straight at him, as he should. No wonder the smaller Sadanoumi dominated this one. Sadanoumi went for a few face shoves that he parlayed into a chest-to-chest contest, from whence he first got a left inside, then a right outside. On the one hand, from a casual glance the resultant mutual-belt-grips bouts looked bad for him: Yago looked scarily big. On the other hand, you could just feel Sadanoumi had more energy and drive here. He worked Yago across and dumped him on his back, yori-taoshi. I dunno; much as I'll admit that I find Sadanoumi boring, he rarely gives you crap sumo. This is an effortful, straight-ahead guy.

M16 Terutsuyoshi (6-1) vs. M12 Kagayaki (4-3)
As I mentioned with Enho, I think the real key against these little guys like Terutsuyoshi is just to attack. If you're big and strong enough, you're going to manage. If I were their opponent, I'd also stay very low, to cut off that torpedo-drive and leg-pull stuff they do. However, Kagayaki proved to us here that the "attack" part is the more important. This tall dude didn't bother to duck down or get low at the tachi-ai, and sure enough Shining Strong Boy (Terutsuyoshi) got right in there low and inside and tried to work up from below. Brilliance (Kagayaki) responded by pushing up on Terutsuyoshi's armpits to try to pry him out of there. This worked, and eventually when Terutsuyoshi tried to pull out a victory with a little yank on Kagayaki, turned out Kagayaki was too big for that to work, and instead as Kagayaki lost his balance a little, Terutsuyoshi lost his balance worse and tumbled to the clay, hiki-otoshi.

M15 Kaisei (1-6) vs. M11 Nishikigi (2-5)
These two guys were making mutual jo'i intrusions lately, but it isn't really a matter of "how far the mighty have fallen," because they seem to belong better down in these reaches--heck, look at their results so far; they aren't even handling it down here. Very slow, tired looking tachi-ai from Kaisei; Kaisei followed that up with an ineffectual attempt to pull Nishikigi down with a forearm to the back of the neck. Nishikigi bulled into him with his head and summarily drove him out with a push or two on the thighs, oshi-dashi. Are we seeing the last of Kaisei? Some guys fade only very slowly and refuse to disappear (Tochiozan, Toyonoshima, Aminishiki, etc., etc.). Other guys disappear one day and you forget they were ever there. Let's hope Kaisei is just too banged up. He's a likeable guy and I might miss him.

M10 Kotoeko (3-4) vs. M12 Tochiozan (2-5)
Tochiozan was low and tight and looked good at the tachi-ai, but then he stood up too straight. Justin is right--this guy is just all over the place these days. Kotoeko didn't have to do much here; just maintain his position, keep the pressure up, and wait for his opening. When Tochiozan tired of his ineffective pushing, he threw in a pull, and Kotoeko was instantly moving forward against it and drove him out, oshi-dashi. Kotoeko, much like Sadanoumi, has my respect as a run-of-the-mill but solid guy.

M14 Toyonoshima (2-5) vs. M10 Takagenji (4-3)
Speaking of solid guys, though he may be personally unpleasant (try Googling around on him a little), Takagenji has that look about him: nice mid-sized body, forward moving, purposeful sumo. There is no doubt there is potential here. His initial stats are great: 191 centimeters, 170 kilograms, and 22 years old--his size and age bode well for him, and, more important of course, so does how he looks in the ring so far. Glad to say that Toyonoshima got him. Takagenji had sucked Toyonoshima in at the tachi-ai and got an outside grip on the belt. He used it to drive Toyonoshima all the way back. However, at the straw Toyonoshima pivoted, threw, and lifted Takagenji over his leg, dropping him impressively to the dirt, sukui-nage. Looked a little too easy for Toyonoshima at the end, but I'll take it.

M7 Myogiryu (5-2) vs. M9 Daishoho (3-4)
Daishoho put both fists to the dirt and waited: "I'm ready!" But he wasn't: Myogiryu took advantage of it by surging quickly forward before Daishoho could get far out of his crouch. Myogiryu's head was already in his neck and he had his body all wrapped up. This was over in a fraction of a second, yori-kiri win for Myogiryu. Daishoho sometimes gives the impression that he is not very bright in the ring. Myogiryu has never had that problem.

M6 Chiyotairyu (4-3) vs. M9 Shohozan (4-3)
It takes guts to wear a pink mawashi. Especially when your opponent is dark and stormy and is nicknamed Darth Hozan. And has been compared to a pond of yak water. You'll get your mawashi all soiled. Yes, I was looking forward to this one. Exploding Pink Mawashi vs. Darth Yak Hair. Unfortunately for Pinky, 't Hozan jumped smartly to the side at the tachi-ai, neutralizing Chiyotairyu's massive upper-body-strength-driven initial push, and they went into a chest-to-chest lean-fest, arms wrapped lightly around each other's torsos. Follow-up has never been Chiyotairyu's strength. But lo! When they went back to trying to force each other out, signified by a lot of herking and jerking like two guys both trying to man the same rip cord on a lawnmower, Chiyotairyu was the guy who lit more on fire, and he drove Shohozan emphatically out. Chiyotairyu is never going to be a true top-flight guy--he is the wrong side of 30--but there is nobody more fun to watch.

M8 Okinoumi (4-3) vs. M6 Shimanoumi (3-4)
I have been surprised at how well Shimanoumi has performed in the division, but he showed why here: stayed low and tight, feet apart, and kept up the pressure. Okinoumi, meanwhile, fumbled around up top in fake-news-busyness. Okinoumi put the punctuation note on the fakeness of his effort by letting go of Shimanoumi's torso while being slid backwards, then put both palms on the ground, hiki-otoshi. This is the kind of shullbit they only show one replay of. Next!

M5 Kotoshogiku (4-3) vs. M7 Tomokaze (5-2)
Kotoshogiku is a side-show. He was driving the similar-sized Tomokaze back, to which I thought, "hah! No chance. There is no way this broken-down old slow-coach drives this tough young opponent out like that." And he didn't. Tomokaze wasn't putting up with it, as it turned out: he put both arms inside and drove Kotoshogiku back in turn. And out. Yori-kiri.

M8 Onosho (3-4) vs. M5 Takarafuji (2-5)
Onosho is reminding me of Chiyotairyu early in his career: charge hard, and if that doesn't work you're in trouble. Here the Bus Driver (Takarafuji) easily parried that hard initial charge by moving laterally and swiping Onosho off of him. However, Onosho did well to stay with Takarafuji, and eventually finished him with a nifty, quick tsuki-otoshi swipe to his side. Nevertheless, I still refuse to Wait For Onosho To Be Good.

M1 Asanoyama (2-5) vs. M2 Endo (3-4)
Nice pop at the tachi-ai. Asanoyama then wrenched Endo sufficiently upwards, used great footwork to stomp across the dohyo with Endo in front of him, and reached across to the back of the belt and threw Endo down by the ass, uwate-nage. Asanoyama may not have looked much like a champion when he actually was one in May, but he looked like one here. Endo will do that for you. I like him, but he is a minnow who gets eaten by carp.

M2 Aoiyama (3-4) vs. M1 Hokutofuji (4-3)
This was ridiculous. One tachi-ai bump, then Hokutofuji moved to his left. Aoiyama staggered forward in an exaggerated looking fashion, supposedly propelled by a wee tug on his pendulous elbow by Hokutofuji. Aoiyama threw in a slow-motion pirouette for his, his effort at turning around. He almost ran over the gyoji; this bout was such a mess the poor man had no idea where to go. The gyoji safely out of the way, Hokutofuji was on hand for the final push out of Aoiyama, okuri-dashi. Sometimes I like sumo, and sometimes I don't. But you know what? I like sumo.

K Abi (2-5) vs. K Ryuden (3-4)
Firehose (Abi) is the sexier of these two new-hope Komusubi, but Ryuden is the better. Ryuden's development hasn't been lightning quick and he is already 28, but here he is holding his own in the Komusubi rank. There is still a chance we see him stick around these ranks for a few years. That would be fun. This was another lame one, though. Looked like a false start to me, and consequently initial contact was light. They then deaked at each other weakly, skittish and without drive. When Abi jumped out of the line of fire near the straw, Ryuden hopped out suspiciously easily, hiki-otoshi. Meh.

S Mitakeumi (5-2) vs. M4 Ichinojo (5-2)
More gyoji high-jinx: there were two supposed false starts called back. The second one maybe should have been, but neither was much different than the actual bout. Then we had a match where Ichinojo stood around lazily and waited to get beat. This naturally resulted in his getting beat. If you would like to see it as Mitakeumi's effort, you could describe how he stayed close on Ichinojo's bulk, staying low and inside, pushed up, and eventually lifted Ichinojo over the straw, oshi-dashi. Mitakeumi did fine here: he handled what was on hand. But Ichinojo did not offer much on hand.

O Goeido (3-4) vs. M4 Meisei (1-6)
Goeido withdrew with a right shoulder injury that is estimated to take about a month to heal. Wouldn't it be great if he got forced out of the rank in September? It has happened to two of the four Ozeki this year (Tochinoshin and Takakeisho), so there is hope. Do not bet on this.

S Tamawashi (1-6) vs. O Takayasu (6-1)
Oooh, look at those records. Kind of silly. It boded ill for Tamawashi--Takayasu is needed to add undercard drama to this tournament. Tamawashi looked to be hitting pretty hard, and I was hopeful for a moment. However, in the middle of the fracas Takayasu hit Tamawashi in the side of the head (or something--watched several times and still not 100% sure what happened to make such a difference!) and Tamawashi fell over like a big oak tree in the logging heyday of Upper Michigan, oshi-taoshi. Takayasu held his elbow afterwards--Tamawashi hyper-extended it pretty good during the dust-up--but I'm sure Takayasu will either be fine or be made to seem fine. Don't worry!



Y Kakuryu (7-0) vs. M3 Daieisho (3-4)
And here we were:  the middle day and both Yokozuna undefeated and looking great. A sensible day for one of them to drop one. Or not--it is their story to tell. Daieisho was pushing upwards, hoping for a miracle, moving forward when he could. Takayasu stood and watched and absorbed this, then stepped barely to the side and barely pulled down on Daieisho, and down Daieisho went, hataki-komi. Not sure what the politics here were--Kakuryu certainly doesn't need any help--but this didn't look right. There was no reason for Daieisho to flop to the ground as easily as all that. My suspicion has been that we are going to have a simple Hak vs. Kak tournament, and this match continued to point the tournament strongly in that direction. All too easy for Kakuryu here.

M3 Shodai (4-3) vs. Y Hakuho (7-0)
Hakuho was sloppy but wicked in this one. Sometimes it seems that he doesn't want to win with sound sumo: he wants to win by having fun destroying his opponents in a messy way. He drove forward hard at the tachi-ai and had a good underhand grip of the front of the belt, which should have spelled curtains, but he let go of that, grabbed Shodai around the torso, and kept driving. Shodai evaded skillfully at the edge, and a moment later got in a pull that got Hakuho off balance just a bit. Couple of ephemeral moments of danger for Hakuho here. However, ol' Hak wasn't going to go out like that. He stood up and swiped down so hard that not only did Shodai chest-plant sweatily into the dirt, hiki-otoshi, but while he was on his way to doing it Hakuho was able to reach in all the way for the back of the belt and fell down on top of him, pancaking an opponent extra hard into the ground for the second time this tournament. This wild fighting of his will probably result in a loss, but I think for Hakuho he'll just say, "it sure was fun while it lasted." I would rather see him dominate with skill, presence, and concentration, but this is kind of interesting this way too.

Tomorrow Mike chops down the mountain with the flat of his hand.

Day 7 Comments (Justin Williams reporting)
Good evening (AEST) all. Everybody in Australia knows that Saturday night in Canberra, the nation’s party capital (sadly the political party variety, not the party, party, party, party), is wild and only boring bastards stay at home watching sumo and enjoying my wife’s nanban-zuke.  No, I’m not being rude. It’s an easy to prepare fish dish and highly tasty.  So, here we go and I’ll be keeping the comments brief.  With the two Yokozuna undefeated at this stage of the basho and Hakuho, while technically not at his most rampaging dominant, is displaying plenty of malice and brutality in reasserting himself as top dog in the yard after missing out in May. Kakuryu is just being himself, quietly dispatching opponents with as little fuss as possible, notching up his wins that strangely are largely forgettable from this most undemonstrative of rikishi.  Happy to see Ichinojo only just behind at 5-1 along with Takayasu, Tomokaze, Enho and Terutsuyoshi. Of these three, Ichi is most likely to be pressing at the finish; Takayasu has been unconvincing, his timing slightly off, but he is still in it and that is where the Japanese hopes will lie.

J1 Tokushoryu v M16 Terutsuyoshi
Joining the top ranks is Tokushoryu (surely there are brighter prospects than this puffer fish in human form?) taking on the tetchy tot, Terutsuyoshi who is basking in his 5-1 start to the basho. Whatever you think of these little tackers, whether they get wins gifted or not, it’s always interesting to watch them in action. Yoshi is feisty and brave. In his brutal flinging of fellow tidger, Enho on day 4he indicated he considers himself “King of the under 120kgs” brigade. 70 kilos is what he concedes to Tokushoryu who from the tachi-ai made the mistake of a blundering charge not considering that there was no way Yoshi was going to stand in his way. The henka had the desired effect of unbalancing Fugu, and Terutsuyoshi scuttled in and finished off his opponent, oshi-dashi sashimi style. 6 wins to the King and that’s all right, mama.

M14 Toyonoshima v M13 Sadanoumi
Toyonoshima did everything well against Sadanoumi. A strong tachiai had his arms underneath Sada’s armpits and he then tried to what looked loke was his attempt to “burp’ Sada. Unimpressed, Sad pried free and grabbed a right bely grip, but Toyo used that arm to execute a sweet arm throw that flipped Sada on his butt and win number 2 for Toyo.

M13 Chiyomaru v M16 Kotoyuki
Kotoyuki has looked bullish and assertive thus far and he didn’t give keg on legs, Chiyomaru any chance in another solid thrusting victory for win number 5.

M14 Enho v M12 Kagayaki
Enho tried on a cheeky little face slap to Kaga before ducking into his patented, attack the goolies method and Kaga was having none of it. He peeled Enho from his nethers and a couple of languid shoves was all it took for Enho to be spat out like a dodgy oyster. Enho’s time of grace has ended already this basho. He is going to have to reach deeper in his bag of tricks to stave off any guys whose half intention it is to win.

M12 Tochiozan v M15 Yago
Yago son of Yago shook off Tochi’s attempts at a double belt grip, gave out a cheeky slap and then did the evade left and pull thing with that worked for the hataki-komi win. Tochiozan used to be calm and assured and deliberate. Now he’s all over the shop.

M10 Kotoeko v M15 Kaisei
Kaisei looked to be in command as he grabbed a left belt whilst Kotoeko denied the right. Kaisei went for the yori-kiri maneuver but Kotoeko twisted and pulled Kaisei around and both guys displayed some lovely one leg raised in unison pose with admirable poise. Kotoeko held form longer, and was rewarded with a satisfying victory, sukui-nage. Kaisei is in trouble at 1-6, Kotoeko, 3-4

M9 Shohozan v M10 Takagenji
Nepalese yak water that is Shohozan, took on newbie, Takagenji who hails from Tochigi prefecture that is conversely home to the pristine waters of Lake Chuzenji. Genji is young and boasts impressive size so I’ll be watching keenly his progress. Genji tried for the belt a couple of goes but Yak water was up and under restricting his reach. They settled in this position with Genji wriggling like a fat brown trout on the end of a hook with yak water content to conserve his energy. This lasted for about half a minute until the trout tired and yak water landed his fish for the yori-kiri win. Both guys are at 4-3 with young Genji learning a little bit about patience.

M11 Nishikigi v M8 Okinoumi
Both guys came in looking the mawashi with Nishi seemingly in the stronger position before Oki gained a nice left grip and performed a lovely overarm throw with perfect use of his body, easy as you please, great technique. Oki now 4-3 and Nishi stalling at 2-5.

M8 Onosho v M9 Daishoho
Onosho’s initial success was due to keeping his game plan simple; charge low, hard and don’t let up. His faltering in the ranks, I feel is due to him deviating from his plan and trying to add a few moves his body ain't good for eg, yotsu-style sumo. Fair enough he tries to broaden his techniques, but as shown today in reverting to plan A, Daisho had no chance. Both guys now 3-4.

M6 Chiyotairyu v M7 Tomokaze
Chiyo slipped slightly in his charge which had the effect of shunting Tomokaze off balance, from which Chiyo quickly added some well-timed shoves for the oshi-dashi win. Tomokaze stays at 5 wins, Chiyo now 4-3.

M5 Kotoshogiku v M6 Shimanoumi
Uluru came from the blocks low and hard v Shimanoumi. Two years ago, that would have overwhelming for Shima, but Uluru has suffered from the hordes of tourists traipsing all over him, leaving rubbish and waste behind, desecrating all that he represents. Shima handled the great monolith with ease, working a left paw that wouldn’t be budged. He settled into position and heaved the once great rock with an overarm throw for his third win and Uluru at 4-3, badly damaged and looking forward to October this year when all tourists will be banned from desecrating him anymore.

M7 Myogiryu v M4 Ichinijo
Ichi false started which is something I’ve never seen before from him. Must be hot to trot. He also threw out a couple of neck thrusts which the game Myogiryu took unfazed. Ichi should have been paying attention further down as Giryu had snaffled Ichi’s belt and proceeded to march Ichi over the edge. 5-2 for both chaps.

M4 Meisei v M5 Takarafuji
Meisei looked very annoyed with himself in yesterday’s loss to Hokutofuji which is good to see. At 0 and 6 perhaps the genial bus driver, Takarafuji will provide a much-needed win and break his duck? Ultimately Meisei stuck with his plan to grab a left belt whilst Fuji was just trying to thwart the attempts without looking to be the aggressor as usual. He sort of went looking for a throw but his body position was too high and as soon as Fuji gave that up, Meisei drove hard and the bus driver stooped the bus right outside Meisei’s house. Meisei now 1 and 6, Fuji 2 and 5.

K Abi v M1 Hokutofuji
After a false-start from Abi, they re-set and Fuji leapt forward under Abi’s parries, had Abi duly retreating and chased him across the bales for the oshi-dashi win. Fuji 4-3, Abi 2-5.

K Ryuden v S Tamawashi
Strong clash from both at the tachi-ai, Tama going for his nasty neck attacks which had Ryuden backed up and it looked a cert a trademark blasting win for Tama. Ryuden took the blows, evaded left, Tama was left staring at the crowd and Ryuden finished him off with a polite push. Ryuden 3-4, Tama taking it easy again today and now 1-6.

S Mitakeumi v M1 Asanoyama
This is a match up I was looking forward to. I thought the size of Asanoyama would nullify the drive of Mitakeumi. Asa held his own for a couple of these surges but Mitake was insistent and the questions he asked of Asa had no answer. 5-2 now for Mitakeumi whilst Asa is 2-5.

M2 Aoiyama v O Takayasu
Daniel tried to follow the example of Mitakeumi, foregoing his usual tsuppari flurry for a lowish drive into Yasu’s chest. He was getting into position for some proper belt action then decided a throw might be in order, it wasn’t, so he then went back to his terrible, habitual, lazy ploy of retreat and pull which would have been a relief to Yasu as he simply followed Daniel and assisted the retreat across the edge. Daniel should have had his man here and if he looks at the replay, he’ll find that Yasu wasn’t comfortable in the initial stages of the bout. Yasu is now 6-1, Aoiyama 3-4.

O Goeido v M2 Endo
I like that Endo has settled into a structured plan of attack he is obviously comfortable with. I’m not sure what plan Goeido has but he is still an Ozeki, so something is working. Endo was low and quick onto Goeido’s belt whilst all Goeido could manage was a face slap. All it took from here was some strong leg driving by Endo and the Ozeki was totally schooled. 3-4 for both.

M3 Daieisho v Y Hakuho
Hak just cannot get that lethal grip of his going and it clearly is a source of frustration. This was a messy effort from the Yokozuna; messy, a little wild with Hak looking for the head pull cum slap down with some face mashing thrown in, but for all the agricultural nature of it all, Daieisho was left spinning and skidding and was soundly beaten. When Daieisho was finally finished off, Hak spent a second or two leaning triumphantly on him just to emphasize his dominance. 7-0 for the Hak who laps up these moments

Y Kakuryu v M3 Shodai
Whilst Hak is winning in a variety of means, Kak is sticking to his tried and true method of grabbing an underarm belt hold and following it up with great power and drive which is exactly how it went today. Tight and confident, Kak is looking good at 7-0. Shodai shouldn’t be discouraged, though he has never tasted Kak meat before, and have a feeling he will progress in good form the rest of the basho.

Tomorrow Harvye is welcomed again with the enthusiasm of a parched man downing a glass of water.

Day 6 Comments (Gary Jones reporting)
Hello to all. Being a traditionalist, I usually like to start at day one and then progress to day 2 and so on. But not this time, I haven't seen a single bout of sumo yet. This basho begins for me today, day 6. The live feed is on and I'm going in raw.

The first news of the day is Tochinoshin going kyujo. I may be the last to know this, but he's out with the knee injury. No great surprise, he injured it late in the Natsu basho and his preparation for this one looked questionable at best. He flew home to visit his new baby in the days before this tournament began, looks like he had given up there and then. His best days are behind him now, kadoban is a-comin'. Lucky boy Abi will get the freebie.

For my first bout of sumo I just made the mistake of watching Chiyoshoma henka a slow falling Gagamaru to the sand. Well that will teach me not to turn up too early for the party. I'm going to get a hot brew. Away From Keyboard. I'm sure the Makuuchi guys will be much better. After all, they're the best in the business right?

Kotoyuki (M16) vs. Kaisei (M15)
Kotoyuki stiff-armed big Brazil up and then released and got the heck out of the way. Down went the too-heavy-for-his-legs Kaisei, in a slow motion hiki-otoshi slump. Yes, much better.

Yago (M15) vs. Enho (M14)
Enho ducked inside and grabbed a single leg. Yago defended it with a guillotine choke. Wait, this is still sumo right? He tried to raise Enho up but the sticky little critter hung onto any part of the mawashi he wanted to because it was all exposed to him.

If Yago had only taken a few ju-jitsu classes, sumo would have the first win by choke out, with Enho's unconscious body dragged off the sand by a team of Falabella miniature horses. Instead Yago stood there unsure what to do, until the fans choice, Enho twisted him down with kaina-hineri.

Chiyomaru (M13) vs. Toyonoshima (M14)
It doesn't say much for Chiyomaru when he can't move forward on the old man. He resorted to a get-out-of-the-way-when-your-opponent-pushes trick. Which, as we saw two bouts ago, is polished up nice by being called hiki-otoshi.

Terutsuyoshi (M16) vs. Sadanoumi (M13)
Hold on 5 and what? To this little guy? Sheesh.

Good man Sadanoumi. A total pancaking for the young upstart, obesity-taoshi, one of my favorites. That'll larn 'im.

Kotoeko (M10) vs. Kagayaki (M12)
The M10 guy performed the slowest henka of the year and got caught up in migi-yotsu with no stance. A nice quick uwate-nage victory for the bored looking Kagayaki.

Shohozan (M9) vs. Nishikigi (M11)
The Shohozan kote-nage strikes again. Nishikigi couldn't get his opponent going backwards, not that it would have saved him from the dreaded Sho-nage.

Tochiohzan (M12) vs. Daishoho (M9)
Tochiohzan couldn't make his mind up. Did he want migi-yotsu? He got it. Did he want moro-zashi? He got that as well. But he didn't stuff his shoulder in deep with either. Daishoho says thanks.

Takagenji (M10) vs. Okinoumi (M8)
Okinoumi just made the rookie look like a rookie. He kept his belt far away from grasping hands and when the kid over reached to try and get it, Okinoumi spun him down, shitate-nage. Well done old man.

Chiyotairyu (M6) vs. Onosho (M8)
Onosho just threw himself at the mass of Chiyotairyu. Ballsy. Stupid, but still, very ballsy. He got slapped aside at the edge and a judge's trembling hand was raised. The mono-ii looked very professional and well organized. As usual. Onosho gets the win.

Kotoshogiku (M5) vs. Myogiryu (M7)
Tense moments between these two. Are they in the yusho race folks? Insta-moro-zashi was taken by Myogiryu as Koto spun like a ballerina that relaxed on her diet and was swept away to defeat in the customary two seconds. The bouts seem to be picking up a bit, effort-wise.

Tomokaze (M7) vs. Takarafuji (M5)
Who is this Tomokaze? He's far too young to be the Tomokaze I remember, maybe Son Of Tomokaze part II The Return. And how the heck did he get five straight wins? Did I miss something? Perhaps not. The sequel didn't keep his feet on the slippy sand and went down like a well filled sack of manure.

Shimanoumi (M6) vs. Ichinojo (M4)
Ichi claimed his lethal outer left and you just knew he meant business. Bye bye Shimanoumi. In between bouts I'm having adverts taking up my bandwidth and all the women sound like eight year olds huffing the helium from the party balloons.

Meisei (M4) vs. Hokutofuji (M1)
They bonked heads and Meisei was inside and driving hard. It was still not enough. He lackedsome power here. Hokutofuji just about managed to slide away round the rope and win it with a kote-nage that pulled his boy over in the direction he was going anyway. Good enough and no more.

Mitakeumi (S) vs. Ryuden (K)
What the hell? The live feed missed the bout. I saw a nice shot of the crowd as they suddenly got all excited. Apparently Mitakeumi shoved Ryuden out. Bah, live feed my left buttock. I miss the excitement of waiting weeks for a set of four VHS tapes to be delivered and then arguing over having to pay customs tax because they're imported products. The good old days.

Asanoyama (M1) vs. Tamawashi (S)
Tamawashi delivered the goods too. His patented right nodowa, left tsuki maneuver landed and Asanoyama was oshi-gone-dashi. Very nice. I'm puzzled how a guy who can do that came into today winless. Perhaps I shouldn't dwell on it.

I salute Asanoyama. Between basho he publicly stated that he lost “foot-gate” to Tochinoshin. He didn't have to do that, it literally poops on his own yusho. It's a classy move.

Daieisho (M3) vs. Takayasu (O)
The big Ozeki did just enough combat in the middle of the ring to convince Daieisho he was going against a mean old grizzly and needed to fight back hard. When he did, Takayasu turned into a cuddly wuddly pink teddy bear and went backwards behind a pull, as far back as the safety of a judge's lap. Not very impressive. You would think that getting your ass kicked repeatedly by an injured and retired old team-mate would help build your confidence up. But such is not the case with Takayasu. Daieisho fell for the hataki-komi. Takayasu ended the bout on his knees. Yep.

I've just seen his record, now 5-1. Go get 'em grizz-man!

Goeido (O) vs. Shodai (M3)
The stumbling Ozeki, Goeido, is up next, at least that means I'm almost done and haven't fallen behind the bouts. Is it possible to finish a sumo report before the sumo is actually over, I wonder?

<snark mode>
Magnificent backward moving sumo from Goeido as he sneakily pulled out of a moro-zashi position and weakened it to a gripless migi-yotsu without Shodai even noticing. Goeido then showed he is now a true veteran of the game by transitioning into a loose kote-nage as he dragged an almost helpless Shodai around the perimeter. Pausing only briefly to inadvertently step out and land gracefully on the concrete floor, Goeido showcased his mastery of the sumo game here today.
</snark mode>

The silly judges awarded an oshi-dashi win to Shodai. They just don't appreciate the last of the Three Amigos.

Kakuryu (Y) vs. Endo (M2)
The quietest Yokozuna in history tried to use Endo's best trick and grab the front of the mawashi. Endo stiff-armed him away and was met with some pretty meaty thrusts. But Endo didn't budge at all, his stance and balance remained intact. It looks like he has been putting some weight on over the years. Are you watching Enho?

When Endo threatened to get inside and was just about to claim the mae-mitsu grip himself, Kakuryu hit the emergency eject button and sprang backwards, pulling his foe down, hataki-komi. Looked like a good challenge from the man in the canary yellow. We've seen Kakuryu start well before only to collapse in the face of the massive Ozeki threat. But who's left for him to lose to before day 12?

Aoiyama (M2) vs. Hakuho (Y)
Oooh good the Hak is unbeaten too, that cheered me up. Yokozuna smashing everyone about is always fun. Hakuho is playing with his food here. You go when the Yokozuna says we go. This is a patient gyoji. Hak was ignoring his instructions to get down and bring the funk.

Aoiyama hit him pretty hard with his arms getting full extension, but he couldn't get any forward movement to make it pay off. Hakuho turned him with his left arm pawing at the shoulder and again big Daniel came at him hard. Hakuho wasn't trying to go forward, he was waiting to jump on the mistake. Which came as Aoiyama charged in to cover the gap between them and perform good, well trained forward sumo. Just like the text books say to do. Down went his head. Hakuho faked a play for the left outer grip but his right hand was slapping down. He did the same with his left and brought the M2 down, hataki-komi. Hakuho, you beautiful sneaky bastard.

The Mongolians are the best at this sort of trickery and always have been since they joined with Japan in wedded sumo bliss. I just don't think I realised that Hakuho could or would do it as well. It always seemed more of a Harumafuji kind of thing. Aoiyama looked the stronger bull out there, but it's not just about strength is it?

The live stream has cut me off but I've had my sumo fix. Day one next for me, what I miss? Day 7 falls to Justin if I'm not mistaken. But in this basho it could be any sumo fan.

Day 5 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
Asanoyama. Huh?

That was my reaction in May, and look where we are now--first third of the basho, and he is a half-forgotten afterthought. In 2018 and 2019 the following guys have won upset tournament championships: Tochinoshin, Mitakeumi, Tamawashi, Takakeisho, and most recently Asanoyama. In the abstract, I should be cheering this on: unpredictability and a good mix of a variety of winners certainly should be a good thing in sports. However, that isn't how it feels at all:  it feels like a random series of events, like picking winners by flicking a wet towel at a newspaper and giving it to the guys who got drops on them, with Asanoyama climbing up from the M8 position to grab a silly-feeling yusho as the exclamation point in this pattern.

Yes, the sport is going through a transition, and transitions are messy: in baseball, when a team rebuilds, most of the guys you see during the rebuild aren't going to still be on the team when they finally contend. They're placeholders. That is how this feels. Yes, I loved the Tochinoshin and Tamawashi wins, but where are they now? They were already on the tail end of their careers, and Tochinoshin has since bounced in and out of Ozeki--and watching him lose this tournament, we can't help but think he'll be bounced out again soon. He and Tamawashi are both 0-4. Mitakeumi seemed to be carrying Japan's torch for a while, and felt like a sure-fire Ozeki. Now he feels like a soggy also-ran. Takakeisho came on and eclipsed him--and is now under water, hurt and will be demoted from Ozeki himself. As for Asanoyama, there remains some promise here, but his yusho inspired a shrug and a grimace: "whatever." The sport desperately needs a fresh set of viable stars, and none of these five look strong enough to hold that chalice. Between them, they have a combined four wins in this tournament.

Save us again, Hakuho, save us. He and Kakuryu? They a combined 8-0.

M15 Yago (2-2) vs. M16 Terutsuyoshi (4-0)
I agree: Yago just feels like a Yago. It is the right name for him. He was thoroughly in control of this one--except that he didn't want to win. He leaned over the tiny Shining Strong Boy (Terutsuyoshi) lazily, and pushed and slapped at his head in a bored looking way. If he would have moved forward during this, he could have knocked Terutsuyoshi over like a bucket of water kicked by a horse. But he never went for it, and so the little bucket of water persisted, stayed low, thrust, and won: a hard-working-looking oshi-dashi for Terutsuyoshi.

M14 Toyonoshima (1-3) vs. M15 Kotoyuki (2-2)
Opponents have always loved to bend Toyonoshima's head back. Why is this? I used to think it was silly because it didn't work: Toyonoshima was adept at ignoring this and winning with his belly anyway, even though he couldn't see a thing. Maybe they do it because he leaves his head open? I think it probably has to do with Toyonoshima bearing down with his big gut; a way to keep it off you is to grab the head and push it back for leverage. So, Little Snow (Kotoyuki) tried this time honored but usually ineffective technique. Guess what: Toyonoshima is getting real old. It was an easy, linear force-back oshi-dashi win for Kotoyuki, using Toyonoshima's head as a fulcrum, Kotoyuki looking like a guy holding up the bulb of a sump pump to manually engage the motor.

M13 Chiyomaru (1-3) vs. M15 Kaisei (1-3)
Chiyomaru surged forward like slow, grotty flood waters turgid with debris and swept the bulbous Kaisei backwards: Chiyomaru double-arm-barred his foe first, then thrust purposefully into the chest. Kaisei drifted off downstream to an oshi-dashi loss.

M12 Tochiozan (2-2) vs. M14 Enho (3-1)
The spritzy little water sprite Enho danced and burbled and tinkled all over Tochiozan here. You could tell Tochiozan was going to lose from the first moment as he touched his hands down tentatively and late, then stepped only cautiously forward. Just grab this guy and thrown him over on his side, dude, like Terutsuyoshi did. But no; for all his skill Tochiozan couldn't do that. So, Water Sprite sprang about under Tochiozan's chest like a French bidet out of control, and eventually pushed Tochiozan out yori-kiri.

M13 Sadanoumi (2-2) vs. M11 Nishikigi (2-2)
Sadanoumi wetly glommed onto Nishikigi's upper body like that sweat that forms on you when you bike to work on a humid July day. After the head-butt Sadanoumi was just working his way slowly and easily in, low and focused, and found himself with a nice double-inside grip on the body. Nishikigi lost yori-kiri, and needed to change his shirt when he arrived at the office.

M12 Kagayaki (2-2) vs. M10 Takagenji (3-1)
These guys head-banged, then held each other by the shoulders for a split second. However, when they splashed together like the water from the two ends of the bathtub returning to the middle after you jump in too hard, it was Takagenji who did a little better at getting closer, tighter, tougher. He had more body farther inside and lower, and the yori-kiri win for him came quickly. Let us count our blessings and see how long this streak goes: that made six standard forward moving kimari-te (winning techniques) in a row--three oshi-dashi push-outs followed by three yori-kiri force-outs.

M9 Shohozan (2-2) vs. M9 Daishoho (1-3)
Shohozan looks like the water I once drank out of a half-dried-up yak-watering-pondlet in Nepal: dark and hairy. I filtered it twice but it still tasted bad. Anyhoo, Darth Hozan sprang forward out of the tachi-ai looking to double-arm-bar Daishoho, but Daishoho wasn't there: he hadn't moved forward. Consequently Hozan's hop into contact looked awkward and he was vulnerable: Daishoho reached easily over Hozan's right bicep and grabbed a long, mean fistful of belt that he proceeded to easily control the match with: after a few moments of sussing it out, Daishoho slung Darth Hozan around and out, yori-kiri. And our streak is at seven.

M10 Kotoeko (2-2) vs. M8 Okinoumi (1-3)
This seemed like a good candidate for another forward moving win, as both of these guys prefer going forward to going backwards. I've always called Okinoumi Lake Placid, because he is as calm as the southern seas, and he kept his cool in this one. He grabbed his foe, then moved forward. Problem was, Kotoeko is a genki little fellow, and slipped out of there and battled his way into some inside grips and momentum. A little storm whipped up on Lake Placid, and Okinoumi was driven back across the dohyo like surf breaking on the beach. Lo! Okinoumi is a veteran, and brought calm back to his own sea: rather than crashing amongst the driftwood like an out of control breaker, he pivoted gracefully to the side like a gentle undercurrent--wickedly twisting Kotoeko by his trapped arm, like a rip tide taking you out to death in the open ocean. Nifty turn-around, last-moment win for Okinoumi as he flung Kotoeko into the razor-clam-laden shallows at the edge, kote-nage. And I'm going to say that breaks our streak of forward-moving wins, but I don't care because it was very cool.

M7 Myogiryu (3-1) vs. M7 Tomokaze (4-0)
Let's check: is Tomokaze's streak of tournaments with a winning record still intact? Yes it is: he has not had a losing record in 13 go-rounds in sumo. And here he is undefeated. I've been living with the sumo hype machine for many years now, and it is puzzling to me that this guy doesn't get more press. I'm not saying he's that great, but it just surprises me that fans aren't chattering about him and that the Japanese media machine isn't obsessing over him. Is it the boring name ("Friendly Wind")? He's pretty good. In this one he pushed up on Myogiryu's armpits and at his face to keep him at bay, but they slipped into bodily contact eventually. Tomokaze was left with a body grip only while Myogiryu had a belt inside on the right. Looked good for Myogiryu, right? Not really: Tomokaze bulled him back like rising water slowly overwhelming a weak dike, then crumpled him impressively to the dirt by smashing him bodily down with his left arm, kote-nage. Myogiryu's sandbags broke up into flotsam and spilled all over the farm fields behind.

M8 Onosho (1-3) vs. M6 Shimanoumi (1-3)
You can play this foolish game with sumo wrestlers sometimes, called "Waiting To Be Good." I've been Waiting for Onosho To Be Good for about a year or so now. It is a loser's game. Like a frog in a pot of slowly heating water which doesn't realize it is being cooked until it is too late, because you are Waiting For Him To Be Good, you do not notice that the guy who initially impressed you and who people seemed to really like Is Actually Not Good At All. Every tournament I put my chips down on Waiting For Onosho To Be Good, and then He Is Bad And I Remember That I Am Dumb. Like here. Island Sea (Shimanoumi) pretty much just moved forward, pushed Onosho up into a discombobulated, out-of-balance position, then let him drop pathetically to the ground, hiki-otoshi. Note to self: Onohso is 1-3 at M8, and hasn't won in double-digits at any rank above M11 since the Fall of 2018. Do not Wait For Him To Be Good!

M5 Kotoshogiku (3-1) vs. M5 Takarafuji (1-3)
Sumo needs robot umps with the fists-down thing. Often it seems the gyojis totally ignore it when guys don't put them down, then uselessly call it back when the hands looked fine, like in this one. The gentlemen were off to a good start, chesting it up, but there came the gyoji, saying "mada mada" and making them start over. Koto and Taka's faces were like, "wha?" Anyhoo, Takarafuji was like a stagnant pool of oil-scummed water in the bus parking lot in this one: just kind of there, and not good for anything. Kotoshogiku grabbed him, hopped him along the edge a bit, and placed him on the other side of the straw, like a janitor getting after those puddles with a big broom, yori-kiri. I agree with Mike that Takarafuji can be quite good, but is bland to follow because he gives too many away.

M6 Chiyotairyu (3-1) vs. M4 Ichinojo (3-1)
What would happen if you threw a water balloon at a beached beluga whale? Why, something like this bout! The balloon busts, and the beluga is unfazed. Chiyotairyu, in the role of the water balloon, bumped into Ichinojo, in the role of the beluga, but Ichinojo did not go backwards. Instead, he reached out and grabbed Chiyotairyu's belt. Then he forced him out, yori-kiri. I think this tournament is a "take a deep breath and get us back to normal for a bit, even if it is kind of boring" outing, and that Hakuho (first choice) or Kakuryu (second choice) will take it, but Ichinojo is my dark horse. They're going to let him win one sooner or later.

M3 Shodai (2-2) vs. M4 Meisei (0-4)
You know what? Shodai has calmed down a little of late and is having a decent tournament. He sometimes shows some strength and stability, instead of seeming to win by accident and looking befuddled, which was his main mode for a year or so after first getting to the jo'i. The Shouting Gyoji, Konosuke, a show-off who I can't stand, called it back twice for no good reason so he could look cool (robot umps, please!). After that Meisei was spent. He was the guy who was being falsely blamed for not having his fists down, and when he finally was allowed to go on the third time he was thinking more about those fists than his opponent. Shodai easily absorbed the weakened attack, like a loaf of white bread resting in the path of spilled water, then grabbed Meisei and forced him back and out yori-kiri.

M3 Daieisho (2-2) vs. S Tamawashi (0-4)
These guys were slapping each other hard like storm squalls battering the tree in your yard, and that is Tamawashi's game all the way. So he should have won, right? Nope. He lost his balance, fell with his head against Daieisho's chest, and was knocked over by Daieisho, hataki-komi. Sigh. Hooboy.

S Mitakeumi (3-1) vs. M1 Hokutofuji (1-3)
I do not like Mitakeumi's new orange belt. It is too close in color to his skin tone, and as any fashion maven will tell you, contrast, contrast, contrast! Mitakeumi now looks like a bulbous ancient faded carrot left in the ground too long. Meanwhile, I continue to like Hokutofuji, the Upset King. I like WHO he upsets--not necessarily the Ozeki and Yokozuna. Nope. He's good at beating the golden boys, like Takakeisho and Mitakeumi. He seems to have this chip on his shoulder: "who did you say was the next big thing?" Not that I think he will be the next big thing, but he often gets himself up for these matches. Not this one--he got lucky. But give him credit for not giving up: Mitakeumi drove him back like a storm surge sweeping uprooted trees before it, but then stupidly pulled, putting Hokutofuji back in the match. Mitakeumi turned to him to force him out after all, but let him escape laterally and tumbled to the dirt. A very ugly hataki-komi win for Hokutofuji.

O Goeido (2-2) vs. K Ryuden (2-2)
Goeido got his left arm inside on the belt and kept his can back, and that allowed him to control the match. Ryuden eventually got his own left inside, but he was standing up kind of straight, and it came at the price of Goeido getting a right outside while giving up his left on the belt to go for a grip around the midriff on that side. Goeido looked pretty convincing here, low and focused, a tidal bore, keeping his momentum moving forward. Could Ryuden have leaned in more? Perhaps, sure. But he didn't. We rarely see Goeido look this good: calm, proactive rather than reactive, centered. Credit him with a nice yori-kiri win.

M1 Asanoyama (1-3) vs. O Tochinoshin (0-4)
This match was quicker, but otherwise a lot like the last one: the nominally superior rikishi, Tochinoshin, stood up too much in the belt fight, while the guy expected to be the lesser of the two, here Asanoyama, was low, tight, and powerful, like a mid-sized river powering through the plains after a heavy rain. Asanoyama arm-barred Tochinoshin at the tachi-ai, got a left outside belt grip, and walked him summarily out, yori-kiri. The problem for Asanoyama is no one is going to think he needed to do much here: some will say Tochinoshin didn't try, and the blue-sky crowd will say Tochinoshin is hurt. Either way it wasn't a test for Asanoyama. Let's see how he does a few tournaments from now, once the confusion and spectacle of his unlikely yusho is a bit further in the past.

K Abi (1-3) vs. O Takayasu (3-1)
Normally Abi's hands are like a firehose. Ever try to stand in front of a turned-on firehose? Yeah, don't. However, in this one Abi was move like a garden hose, drizzling a mild stream of water into the flowers. Takayasu should have grabbed him by the nozzle and throttled him, but he seemed not to want to get wet. What a terrible bout. Abi was in too close and his striking hands were hampered and ineffective, and Takayasu was bumbling around with his hands out playing defense and failing to grab anything. Strange, odd, and ugly. Maybe just no one wanted to get hurt. Maybe Takayasu told Abi, "hey, I want to win this one, and also, don't hit me hard in the head, please." Whatever was going on, Takayasu kind of zone-blocked Abi around the ring on the way to a lame oshi-dashi victory. Now he is 4-1. Sigh. I suppose he will be expected to provide some of the drama in week two?

M2 Endo (2-2) vs. Y Hakuho (4-0)
Hakuho just remains so much better than these guys. He is like a tall wave on the high seas, majestic and terrible. His pride in beating his opponents this tournament has shown through, and it must be good to be able to say: "see, everybody? I am still the best. It still isn't really even close. I still tell the story. You are mine, but I am not yours. I am 34 years old, and still peerless. I don't need you, but sometimes you need me. Let me show you something now." He stunned Endo with a hard body-blow at the tachi-ai, then backed up and pulled, twisting Endo's body and pulling by the head, neck, and shoulders as he circled backwards. He flipped Endo upside down and laid him to rest, standing calmly on the straw. The announcers could only chuckle with incredulity. "Tsuyoi, ne," said Kitanofuji (clad awesomely today in a gray and green yukata that looked like loud pajamas): "he's strong, isn't he?" Yes he is. I've always liked watching Endo get destroyed, and today was a banner day for that. Well, if you're going to get destroyed, might as well get destroyed by the best. Tsuyoi, ne?

Y Kakuryu (4-0) vs. M2 Aoiyama (3-1)
Kakuryu just maintained: stood there and took it. Aoiyama flabbered and flobbered at him with his big arms. Kakuryu said, "that doesn't bother me." Aoiyama couldn't pull effectively, because Kakuryu didn't move forward enough. Kakuryu offered a few defensive jabs, but he was basically weathering the storm, a lighthouse on Lake Superior on a loud, dark, winter's night. He did take a few steps forward bit by bit; what impressed me about him here is something one of my colleagues pointed out earlier in the tournament: sometimes he just looks invincible. How would YOU fare if Aoiyama was clobbering you about the upper body? There aren't even a lot of wrestlers who could calmly just put their face into that headwind, ignore it, and move forward bit by bit: "oh yeah, just a bit of weather. Nice day, really…" The end was bland--Aoiyama stumbled, got turned around, and was knocked down, uwate-dashi-nage--but it was brought on by Kakuryu's steadfastness. He may be boring, but one of the reasons is because he is so good.

Tomorrow Gary floats downstream and spends time on his inner tube in the delta.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I think sumo fans owe it to themselves to go back and read articles that focus on Itai and his claims made in the year 2000 that roughly 80% off all Makuuchi sumo bouts on a given day were fixed. On a good day, I might declare 60% of the bouts fake, but it doesn't mean that back when Itai was an active wrestler that the number wasn't 80%.

It must have been quite bad because when the official yaocho scandal was revealed in the Japanese media about eight years ago, I was watching a documentary on NHK regarding the subject, and they played portions of a cassette tape that the then commissioner, Futagoyama Rijicho (former Wakanohana), recorded in 1990 and then sent out to each stable chastising the rikishi for the rampant yaocho in the sport and saying that it was going to drive away the fans if it continued.

The commissioner never used the exact word, "yaocho" for obvious reasons and he didn't dare broach the subject at an all-hands meeting (called rikishi-kai) with media present, but it was clear the "behavior" he referred to was bout fixing in sumo, and that's why NHK used it as part of the documentary to show instances where bout fixing had occurred in the past. I think it's important to read Itai's claim so to see why the rikishi were so heavily engaged in bout fixing, but what is fascinating to me now is that back then, the sumo brass were opposed to bout fixing in sumo due to the obvious liability involved if ever exposed. These days, however, the sumo officials endorse bout fixing because they know it's the only way that they can keep the sport viable.

I'm not saying that they get together prior to each basho and draw up on a whiteboard whose going to yusho and whose going to defer to whom. Rather, discussions around the roundtable are cloaked similarly to Wakanohana's cassette tape where statements like this are discussed:

"It does not look good for us not to have any Japanese rikishi yusho boards hanging in the Kokugikan."

"It is detrimental to our sport not to have any Japanese rikishi ranked at Ozeki or Yokozuna."

"What we really need to bring the fans back en force is a Japanese Yokozuna."

"We just can't let this streak of 10 consecutive years without a Japanese yusho go on."

"We need Japanese rikishi to excite the fans and make them want to attend the basho and exhibitions."

Such conversations take place among the board of directors where two representatives from each Ichimon are conveniently seated, and then the information is passed on to the various stables. How they decided to tout Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato as the next two rikishi to fill the banzuke void left by Kaio is inconsequential. Why they picked Kotoshogiku as the first Japanese rikishi to yusho in 10 years doesn't matter. Why it was decided that Kisenosato was going to be the sport's first Yokozuna in two decades over several other possibilities is irrelevant. What matters is that all those events happened and what was required to make them happen.

Look, if there was no bias in favor of Japanese rikishi and against foreign rikishi, why instigate the policy initially of just two foreigner rikishi per stable? That was revised down to just one rikishi when Asashoryu and Hakuho were dominating, but what was the purpose of that rule?

Don't let me tell you what the purpose of that rule was. Deduct the reasons for yourself and then perhaps the fishy sumo we see on a daily basis will make more sense.

Speaking of fishy sumo, I would be remiss if I let the following slow motion replay of Kotoeko's tachi-ai go unnoticed from Day 3:



I mean, how do you watch that tachi-ai against rookie Takagenji and come away thinking that Kotoeko was trying to win that bout? He puts his hands up high and meagerly pull his opponent...in the exact same direction he hopes to escape. It just defies logic in every sense of the word, and so my task is simple. I call what transpires on the dohyo and let everyone else worry about what to think, so let's get right to the Day 4 festivities.

M15 Kaisei kept his arms wide open at the tachi-ai allowing M14 Toyonoshima to easily assume moro-zashi, and once obtained, the Brasilian made no effort to counter or bear down on the ole veteran. Toyonoshima wrenched his foe right and then left driving Kaisei back with ease as the furrener offered the weakest of kote-nage with the right arm as he was forced across. Easy yaocho call to start out day as Toyonoshima moves to 1-3 while Kaisei falls to the same mark.

We're only two basho in, and I'm already getting tired of the whole Enho charade. Today against M16 Terutsuyoshi, Enho was a victim of his own hype, and it happens quite a bit where a rikishi's camp will buy a string of wins early on and then come up against what they think is a beatable rikishi, so they don't pony up the cash opting for a straight up bout. The end result was Terutsuyoshi's coming out and just kicking Enho's ass. Gone was the confident tachi-ai from Enho where he knew the outcome going in, and back was a completely defensive tachi-ai where he aligned his feet and put both hands forward as if to say, "Don't hurt me." Terutsuyoshi replied with, "I'll show you hurt" as he burrowed his head into Enho's chest and just shoved him back into the corner where he come from with a left hand to the neck before the crowd completed their initial gasp. Enho is going to get hurt again if he continues to participate in real bouts like this, and he falls to 3-1 after the loss. As for Terutsuyoshi, he moves to 4-0, but trust me, there's a lot of chicanery involved in that record as well.

M13 Chiyomaru opened with a methodical shove attack against M15 Yago that drove that latter back a few steps, but then Maru went for a dumb pull that allowed Yago to force the bout to the belt. Yago was able to get his left arm inside firmly and doubled down with the right outer grip, so now it was just a matter of maneuvering around Chiyomaru's shelf gut. It would prove difficult as Chiyomaru moved along the tawara working his way into a right outer of his own forcing the bout to gappuri hidari-yotsu. From this point, the two dug in for over a minute where Chiyomaru tested the force-out waters a few times, but neither of these dudes defines the term "athletic shape," and so I think there was more catching your breath going on then there was actually wrangling. In the end, Chiyomaru attempted to back out of the yotsu stance and set up a pull, but he was so gassed that it never came to fruition, and adding insult to injury, it allowed Yago to rush in for moro-zashi. Once obtained, Yago finally forced Chiyomaru over and out as Maru just collapsed beyond the edge from sheer exhaustion. It wasn't the prettiest of bouts despite its length, but I'll take sumo like this any day over the crap we're mostly being spoon fed. Both dudes end the date at 2-2.

Repent now because the Apocalypse is indeed upon us. I say that because M16 Kotoyuki actually scored a tsuki-dashi win in a legitimate bout against M13 Sadanoumi. Kotoyuki caught his foe with nice tsuki from the tachi-ai keeping him upright, and by the time Sadanoumi gave up his quest to get inside and counter with shoves of his own, Kotoyuki had him driven straight back and off the dohyo altogether. It wasn't necessarily an ass kicking, but it was very good sumo from Kotoyuki who moves to 2-2 while Sadanoumi falls to the same mark.

It's two steps forward and one back as M12 Kagayaki made no effort whatsoever to shove today against M11 Nishikigi opting for as weak of a hidari-yotsu contest as you'd care to see. I mean, both guys knew what was going on here there was so little effort. With both of them upright with left arms to the inside in name only, Kagayaki sorta drove Nishikigi back near the edge, but Nishikigi was able to easily pivot and throw a weak right tsuki into Kagayaki's left side that of course sent him sprawling over the edge with footwork as sloppy as you please. Both rikishi end the day here at 2-2.

M12 Takagenji paid for his 3-0 start, and I'll bet his camp felt comfortable enough at this point to let him try his luck against M10 Tochiohzan. And before I get to the bout, I'm not saying that this rookie doesn't have tools and a decent game because he does. I'm just not going to say his first three wins were legitimate because they weren't.

Dude was optimistic though today against Tochiohzan dictating the flow with a nice tsuki attack, but you could see that he wasn't confident enough to try and bully Oh around, and so the veteran was able to keep the rookie on his toes with counter shoves of his own and by swiping at his extended arms. With both rikishi largely upright, Tochiohzan was comfortable being nudged towards the edge, and once he sensed the straw at his feet, he got his right arm to the inside as if to set up a yotsu contest, but as soon as Takagenji moved in seeking his own inside right, Tochiohzan moved left and fired a potent tsuki into Takagenji's left side sending him forward and down as Tochiohzan tip-toed the tawara. This one was close and even warranted a mono-ii, but Takagenji's left elbow clearly crashed down before Tochiohzan stepped out. Oh is basically running on fumes these days, which is why this one was even close, but it was nice to a see a wily veteran pull this trick at the edge against the rookie. Tochiohzan moves to 2-2 with the win while Takagenji is saddled with his first loss at 3-1, and once again, I think Takagenji has some nice tools, but let's just let this initial yaocho wave pass before we can truly analyze him.

M9 Shohozan lightly connected on a right face slap against M10 Kotoeko at the tachi-ai, but he wasn't looking to get to the inside, and so as Darth Hozan pushed, Kotoeko looked to set up a pull with both hands at Shohozan's neck before briefly getting the left arm to the inside. He pull that back quickly, however, and the bout had no real continuity to it as Shohozan continued to push while Kotoeko kept his hands high and wide for the most part. About five seconds in, Shohozan got moro-zashi, but before he could drive Kotoeko back, Eko moved to his right intentionally whiffing on a right tsuki before putting both palms to the dirt as Shohozan tried to make contact as an excuse for the hataki-komi win. I'm not sure of the politics behind this one, but I'm guessing Kotoeko owed Shohozan one here because the former dove to the dirt in no thanks to any contact that came from the dark one. Both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

M8 Okinoumi got the left inside at the tachi-ai against M9 Daishoho, and he also had the right inside as well giving him moro-zashi, but you could tell he wasn't committed to it, and he pulled his arms out quickly and then put them up high as if to position for a pull. Despite all this Daishoho still couldn't take advantage, and so Okinoumi found himself with the left arm inside again, but he repented of his ways again and pull that arm out finally giving Daishoho moro-zashi as if to say, "What took you so long ya dumb ass?" Once Daishoho had moro-zashi, he went for the force-out but it wasn't gained with solid sumo and footwork, and so it was a light ending at the edge as Okinoumi just sat down on his widdle bum across the edge leading to declaration of a yori-taoshi victory. Hardly. This was a matter of Okinoumi getting $10K closer to his next name in retirement. Both rikishi end the day at 1-3.

M8 Onosho was too high at the tachi-ai with his feet aligned allowing M7 Myogiryu to rush him back quickly from the start, but Myogiryu didn't have Onosho pinned in place, and so the latter was able to skirt left at the edge and go for a pull as Myogiryu attempted in desperation to push at Onosho's legs and cause him to step out first. It was quite an athletic feat to see Myogiryu keep from touching down, but in the end, they ruled in favor of Onosho, and I thought that was the correct call.

They went to the VAR with a mono-ii and ultimately determined that Onosho's heel and Myogiryu's body touched down at the same time, so do'er over!!

And they did. In round two, Onosho was high again at the tachi-ai giving Myogiryu the right inside position, and Myogiryu wasted no time going for a quick yori charge. Onosho tried to skirt left and go for another desperate pull, but Myogiryu's position was too good, and he was able to oshi-taoshi Onosho off the dohyo silling the dill. Myogiryu dominated both bouts here moving to 3-1 while Onosho falls to 1-3.

M6 Shimanoumi was lethargic at the tachi-ai allowing M7 Tomokaze to take charge with a push attack aimed up high into Shimanoumi's neck area. Shimanoumi had multiple options here, but he chose to just go with the flow and walk back offering a meager left tsuki at the edge, and it actually worked to a small degree because it knocked Kaze off balance a bit. Before he could recover from the change up, Shimanoumi just stepped back and out, and it led to an awkward ending where Tomokaze looked to square back up and go for the kill only to notice that Shimanoumi had already stepped out of his own volition. Tomokaze moves to 4-0 I guess while Shimanoumi looks to pay paying back some favors at 1-3.

M5 Kotoshogiku's 3-0 start has been entirely paid for, but the well musta run dry for his bout against M6 Chiyotairyu today. The Geeku made no impact whatsoever at the tachi-ai while Chiyotairyu struck hard with his body before quickly moving left and pulling Kotoshogiku down with a right paw slapping down at the back of the Geeku's head. It was over in one second if that as Chiyotairyu picks up the easy win moving to 3-1 in the process as Kotoshogiku is slapped silly to the same record.

M4 Ichinojo put a deft oshi attack on display today against M5 Takarafuji slipping in a few face slaps along the way that drew some oohs and ahs from the crowd. You really have to credit Takarafuji for standing in toe to toe and at least trying to counter Ichinojo's oshi attack, but the Mongolith was able to force the bout to migi-yotsu about six seconds in. Takarafuji wanted no part of that and backed out of the chest to chest contest offering a weak tsuki as he moved to his left, but Ichinojo easily chased him around the ring catching him with a few more hams to the face and body notching the nice oshi-dashi win. Ichinojo moves to 3-1 and could be scary in this division if they'd let him while Takarafuji showed me a lot here despite his loss that knocks him down to 1-3. Before we move on, I think Takarafuji is in that same phase as Okinoumi where they're just looking for a cushy retirement at this point. Like Okinoumi, Takarafuji's still got some game, but we only get to see it maybe five bouts per tournament.

M2 Aoiyama was looking pull all the way against M4 Meisei moving right after the tachi-ai and going for some slaps, but Meisei would not go easy and looked to take advantage of the upright Bulgarian seeking moro-zashi. Aoiyama knew he was in trouble as he was backed up to the edge, and you could just see the determination from Aoiyama as he worked his right arm to the inside and stood pat (think Terunofuji in his hey day), and the end result is that Meisei just didn't have enough bulk to force Aoiyama back, and so in the end, Aoiyama moved to the right and finally felled his foe with a friendly flapdown. Okay slapdown. Aoiyama moves to 3-1 with the risky win while Meisei is down on his luck at 0-4.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi showed another fine oshi display today, and while it did come against M3 Shodai, I'll always give credit to anyone for nice, forward-moving sumo. The Sekiwake alternated shoves to the chest and the neck keeping Shodai upright as he knocked him back one, twice, three times a lady. Mitakeumi moves to 3-1 with the nice win while Shodai is knocked back to 2-2.

Sekiwake Tamawashi greeted M2 Endoh with two hands to the neck, but he had one leg back rendering the move useless. With Endoh not applying any pressure, Tamawashi instinctively chased him with a few more careful shoves before going for a quick, ineffective pull and then a right kote-nage where he just dragged Endoh into his body as he walked across the straw. Tamawashi did all the work in this one as he willingly suffered his fourth consecutive defeat while Endoh is gifted a win that moves him to 2-2. I'm not sure of the politics behind Tamawashi's 0-4 start, but he's thrown four straight bouts this basho.

Speaking of throwing four straight bouts, Ozeki Tochinoshin stepped into the ring against M3 Daieisho and didn't even bother going for the belt letting Daieisho come unobstructed with his usual tsuppari attack. Take nothing away from Daieisho because you want to see him come hard and deliver his best shot, but notice how it never moved the Ozeki back a centimeter. A few seconds in, Daieisho went for a quick downward swipe at Tochinoshin's right arm that didn't really connect, but it didn't need to as Tochinoshin stumbled forward to the edge just walking his way out. The Ozeki did turn around at the edge just as Daieisho greeted him with two hands to the chest, but he was already gone. At the very end, Daieisho did this phantom swipe down with both hands even though Tochinoshin was already gone, and I wonder if he did that because he wanted to at least do something offensively minded. Shin did the work here has he drops to 0-4, and all four losses are conveniently at the hands of Japanese rikishi. As for Daieisho, he'll take this win any day as he moves to 2-2.

M1 Asanoyama moved forward at the tachi-ai but he wasn't committing to anything against Ozeki Takayasu keeping his hands low, and the bout ultimately ended up in migi-yotsu although neither dude seem to want to go chest to chest. I should note that Asanoyama was mukiryoku at this point allowing a weak Takayasu swipe to supposedly move him outta the inside position. The problem was that Takayasu was not coming with the beating stick, and so they hooked up in migi-yotsu yet again, and Asanoyama's left hand was right there at the side of Takayasu's belt, but he refused to grab the outer grip. From that point, it was just a matter of following the script, so Asanoyama responded with a very weak left kote-nage throwing himself off balance, and at that point, Takayasu went for a right inside belt throw that had no lower body behind it, but Asanoyama played along and just hopped over and down. It's funny that Takayasu is the dude at 3-1 while Asanoyama takes his lumps at 1-3 because like Ryuden a few days before, Asanoyama is clearly the better rikishi. Look, the senpai - kohai system was in play here causing Asanoyama to defer to his higher-ranked opponent.

Rounding out the Ozeki ranks, M1 Hokutofuji came with his usual tachi-ai of putting his right hand forward while shading a bit left, and I thought Fuji had the path to a left tsuki-otoshi then and there as Goeido was ducked down too low, but he didn't pull the trigger. At this point, Goeido was nowhere to be found with his sumo, and so Hokutofuji shoved him across the dohyo but not quite out. The M1 next did the Ozeki a favor by going for a weak pull that allowed Hokutofuji to just back himself across the dohyo, and Goeido's response was to just chase and then go for a bad pull attempt where he just whiffed, and so Hokutofuji moved forward again with a faux oshi attack. As he moved forward, Goeido went for another pull moving to his right, and Hokutofuji floundered that same direction catching Goeido with a slap with the right hand, and it sent Goeido down to the dirt. I'm not so sure that Hokutofuji meant to win this won because Goeido was at his bidding nearly the entire bout, but whatever...it was a poor display of sumo this late into the broadcast, especially from the Ozeki. Good night, did Goeido do anything positive here? The answer is no, and that's why he found himself on his fat gut in the end at the hands of a rikishi who wasn't looking to kick his ass. Hokutofuji picks up his first win of the tournament dominating Goeido even though he didn't min it, and Goeido falls to a hapless 2-2.

Komusubi Abi--Kakuryu's former tsuke-bito--used his length to strike first against his former Yokozuna boss at the tachi-ai, but Abi's tsuppari had no effect, and so Kakuryu was able to return his own tsuppari fire and drive Abi back and out in mere seconds. I mean, Abi was busy here firing his own thrusts, but that had zero effect as Kakuryu just schooled the Komusubi at his own game. Easy win for Kakuryu who moves to 4-0 while Abi falls to 1-3.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Hakuho executed a hari-zashi tachi-ai with a bit of a twist slapping the face of Ryuden with the right hand before getting the LEFT arm to the inside. Usually a guy gets the inside with the slapping hand, but in this case, Hakuho went oppo slapping with the right and getting the inside with the left. I suppose the move wasn't a huge surprise since Hakuho is constantly doing unorthodox sumo, but whatever. Ryuden responded with his own left arm to the inside as Hakuho easily grabbed a right outer grip while keeping Ryuden far away from an outer grip of his own on the other side. Hakuho kept his gal chest to chest maybe a second or two before using that right outer grip to just swing Ryuden around 180 degrees before forcing him back and across the other side of the dohyo without argument. Hakuho is spotless at 4-0 while Ryuden falls to 2-2.

I know it's way too early to start talking about the yusho race, but four days in, the only domestic rikishi undefeated are Tomokaze and Terutsuyoshi. Hooboy.

Speaking of hooboy, Harvye makes is debut tomorrow...hopefully.

Day 3 Comments (Justin Williams reporting)
Hello to all sumotalkers, and I'm sorry to let you know that due to various mishaps and circumstances alluded to yesterday by Mike, I'll be in the firing line more than usual with the daily wrap ups.  The behind the scenes machinations of sumo always intrigue me.  I watch the bouts closely and love to read Mike and co's views, all the while learning a little each time.  Whilst I'll always defer to their expertise, I'm often less convinced regarding whether or not the bouts were competed at 100% effort each time.

Sumo is a tough sport that requires complete devotion from the rikishi. Whilst each bout is brief, the physical demands are high, thus injuries are commonplace and I'm sure most rikishi will be carrying some sort of niggling pain or outright debilitating injury every basho. Witness recently Ikioi, Takakeisho and Yoshikaze who are either not competing or have suffered dramatic falls in ranking due to having to compete at less than full function. With only the Yokozuna able to withdraw from a basho and maintain rank (and pay), I regard it very harsh when someone like say Chiyonokuni, a veteran rikishi, is badly injured, and whilst recovering, loses his ranking each basho and may subsequently have to restart his career all over again.

The same for poor Terunofuji and Ura. I'm unaware of any income insurance the rikishi or stables have, if any, but to me this a major reason why so many rikishi keep competing whilst injured and don't take enough time to recuperate.  I'm positive this also leads to so many lackluster bouts and consequent calls of yaocho. Some guys you can tell they go through the motions, dropping a rank here and there, prolonging their stay in the top ranks, ensuring their Heya receives a decent income. Some guys consequently become so skilled at losing, they eventually become just crap. Witness Chiyoshoma as one example.

In any given basho, who wants or is expected to win? Obviously the Yokozuna and Ozeki should always be at the forefront, though it will be a while before I've any confidence in Takayasu. Guys like Takakeisho and Mitakeumi want to win, Ichinojo is fully capable but only puts an effort in 50% of the time. Do you really think Asanoyama had expectations of winning the last basho? Great effort from him and I think it's terrific he did so, and I hope that this inspires others to have more of a go in his wake. But he would have been just as surprised as the rest of us. So, most guys are just happy to be in Makuuchi and collecting a decent wage without aspirations of taking the title, hence the lack of desperation and grit in so many bouts.
Well that is my take on the matter for now and I've waffled on a bit so I'll breeze through today's action.

M16 Terutsuyoshi v M15 Kaisei
First up was Keisei at M15, M15! Five basho ago he was a Komusubi and it is surely injury that's brought him to this level. Today he's taking on an opponent 88 kgs lighter than him and it will get worse. The battles between giants and pixies always intrigue and it is clear that Kaisei does not relish taking advantage of the massive difference. Terutsuyoshi makes the most of his pre-tachi-ai routine. First, he channels Asashoryu in his scurry and butt-slap for last towel wipe, then heaves as much salt as possible as high as he can for maximum crowd support. For sumo theatre he is not found wanting. Kaisei has a soft spot for the wee ones, bless him and he showed a s much by benignly letting Terutsuyoshi easily force him out. It was like watching a dad play with an excitable toddler, being careful to let him win so there is no reason to cry. Nice one Kaisei.

M16 Kotoyuki v M14 Enho
Another pixie, the wee sprite that is Enho (oh how my wife thinks he's so cute…which he is), tested Kotoyuki's patience at tachi-ai causing a false start. Tricky little buggers these tiny tots but how else are they supposed to compete? Second time around Enho false started. Third time he used his evasion skills smartly, keeping Kotoyuki floundering, unable to get hold of Enho. Kudos to Enho for keeping him at arm's length, as soon as 'Yuki was off balance, Enho seized the opportunity for a nifty force out win. Tiny tots are now 6 and 0 and face off tomorrow.

M14 Toyonoshima v M15 Yago
Doesn't Yago look like someone so suited to the name, “Yago”? He is as much of a “Yago” as Andre was a Giant.
These two came together (ecstasy), leaning into one another conversationally chest to chest, with Yago gaining a double belt grip and thus a strong position to dictate the bout. This he did comfortably despite some ineffectual wiggling resistance from Toyonoshima. Yori-kiri and first win for Yago.

M13 Chiyomaru v M12 Kagayaki
Chiyomaru came out at Kagayaki with what he thought must be some savage tsuppari, But Kaga, unflappable today, stood firm as St Paul's in the blitz, then did his shuffle forward driving thing, straight out of the sumo text book and 'Maru retreated to a solid yori-kiri win for Kagayaki.

M12 Tochiohzan v M13 Sadanoumi
Tochiohzan came in high and upright (I'm sure that's not in the sumo manual) enabling Sadanoumi to tackle Tochi under the armpits and escort him forthwith over the ropes for another yori-kiri. It almost looked planned. Very un-Tochiohzan-like is all I'm saying.

M10 Kotoeko v M10 Takagenji
Kotoeko went high with both hands to the neck of Takagenji, who to his credit, easily rebuffed them and simply marched forward exacting a strong force out win. Kotoeko looked totally inept today and the rookie Takagenji notches up his third win.

M11 Nishikigi v M9 Daishoho
Daishoho was out of the blocks quickly but Nishi was ready and the two settled into a healthy yotsu battle. Daishoho tried a little gaburi action but in doing so let Nishi gain a double inside grip. From here Nishi was in total control. Daishoho had been outsmarted and offered no more resistance, now left with the resourcefulness and strength of will of a cucumber in a microwave oven. Good win for the Nishi.

M8 Onosho v M8 Okinoumi
Okinoumi didn't let Onosho have any momentum from the tachi-ai and easily kept his shorter opponent at arm's length. Onosho attempted a belt grab (that's a first) but overreached in the attempt, whereby Oki then helped Onosho to the floor. Win number one for Oki.

M9 Shohozan v M7 Tomokaze
Shohozan concedes over 40kgs in weight to Tomokaze, which is nothing new to this out and out scrapper who enjoys the rough stuff. Well the slaps and rapid thrusts to the head came from both sides; Tomo can scrap, too. Tomo backed his flurries with his superior weight and willingness to advance upon Shohozan who finally could resist no more. Oshi-dashi win for Tomo in a crowd pleasing, back alley-style bout.

M6 Chiyotairyu v M6 Shimanoumi
'Tairyu bullocked straight and hard with a slap and a forearm and plenty of torque against Shima who foolishly thought he could hold his own in fronting up. Just as I thought it would be a regulation bull dozing, Shima, in a move that reeked of self-preservation and instinctive panic, shimmied left and the gormless 'Tairyu fell forward for the tsuki-otoshi win for Shima, who looked mightily relieved.

M7 Myogiryu v M5 Takarafuji
Takarafuji did his usual impersonation of a large cushion in accepting 'Giryu's charge, ensuring as little discomfort from both sides as possible. Such a thoroughly pleasant fellow. 'Giryu re-gathered, charged again and this time Takarafuji took the blow and took his leave from from the dohyo. Takarafuji is a perfect example of someone just happy to make up the numbers and his bouts are the perfect opportunity to get up and make a cup of tea.

M4 Meisei v M4 Ichinojo
Ichi came out to play today. Today he would not be the image of a comatose hippopotamus. Today he looked for a belt hold, gained it, was happy to back treat a step or two and settle himself, then wrapped himself around Meisei whose resistance was now as sturdy and steadfast as a stop sign trying to halt an elephant stampede. Ichi is now in the race.

M5 Kotoshogiku v M3 Daieisho
These two engaged in a battle of power with little finesse or strategy other than, who could push the other out? Daieisho had little energy for any exertion longer than three seconds, so as soon as Giku moved forward, Daieisho had had enough, saving his breath to cool his ramen. It's clear he has no desire to move further up the banzuke. Next.

K Abi v M3 Shodai
Abi did as Abi does. With arms as long as a winter's night, he was on to Shodai, firing off an impressive flurry of technically proficient, nasty tsuppari into Shodai's throat, bending him backward like a limbo dancer. Abi never let up, keeping the accurate shunts a-shunting and Shodai had no chance. He took the beating with nary a reply and before he knew it, he was presenting himself to the judge in the front row with a face like a guppy at feeding time. Impressive win for Abi, who today was so sharp, he could shave the hairs from a spider's arse.

S Mitakeumi v S Tamawashi
In a straight up linear pushing affair, Mitakeumi was clearly stronger. Tama lead and connected with that hard skull of his, but Mitake gamely took the blows, ignored them even and shoved Tama back and out, a result as less anticipatable for me than a pterodactyl swooping from the stadium ceiling and stealing a salt bucket. Mitakeumi wins this battle of the Sekiwake with impressive power and dominance.

M2 Endo v O Takayasu
After being defeated twice yesterday, Takayasu should be looking forward to showing us his Ozeki superiority over Endo today. Endo has been an easy whipping boy for the big guys in the past, but he has developed trust in his method of an underarm mawashi hold which he is using to good effect. Takayasu is aware of this and did well to deny Endo this grip, but he didn't seem to have a plan of attack of his own, other than try the all or nothing technique of tackle and drive, ala as in “Clegane-bowl” which he did but since he wasn't aligned square with Endo he only half hit him and whilst that succeeded in knocking him out of the ring, “Yasu was following very closely in the suicide dive. I thought it was enough for a dodgy win but the judges called a rematch and two went at it again. Endo showed his keenness and jumped early. Third time Endo again went low for the belt, too low this time and the Ozeki countered easily this time with a smart push down win. Takayasu is really having to work hard for his wins and tomorrow he takes on another potentially hazardous foe in Asanoyama.

O Goeido v M2 Aoiyama
Aoiyama thought he could defeat the Ozeki with a thrust down from Goeido's low, hard charge. Lazy stuff from Big Daniel as Goeido kept his balance and drive for a simple oshi-dashi force out win.

K Ryuden v O Tochinoshin
My pick for the next Japanese yusho winner is Ryuden. He possesses size and technique and is one of the few Japanese who is trying to fight like a Mongol, or how Japanese champs of the '90s used to fight. The “Gorgeous Georgian” Tochinoshin is off to a slow start this basho and needs all of his “beast-mode” power to combat Ryuden. Ryuden went in low and gained a strong left arm belt grip and went into what I call the “power position” as deployed by the like of Hak and Kak and Harumafuji (still miss him). This means bum out, one leg in front of the other and a firm grip on the mawashi. From here one can attack or defend. Tochinoshin was clearly rattled as he had no real power position and was in no position for offence, he had a weak half right hand grip himself, was standing almost a t a right angle to Ryuden but he just seemed to wait and see what eventuates. Ryuden proceeded to add a right-hand belt hold and from here slung the Georgian around in an impressive uwate-nage throw heaving Tochinoshin onto his rear end. A move that Hakuho would have been proud of. Excellent sumo from Ryuden as he matched Tochi for strength and outsmarted him in technique.

M1 Hokutofuji v Y Hakuho
Whilst The Hak exudes steely menace as the cold killer he is, Hokutofuji has amped up his pre-tachi-ai ritual with energetic foot stomps, self-slaps and flexes with more vigor than ever. Hak was denied his left hand grip (this is becoming more common) and the two jostled with 'Fuji trying to keep Hak's arms away from his belt but after a couple of face slaps from Hak, 'Fuji found his head buried in Hak's chest with Hak now reaching over for a grip at the back of 'Fuji's mawashi. Although 'Fuji had a belt hold of his own, the positioning of his head tucked forward awkwardly, this meant that The Hak was now in complete control. From here Hak swung 'Fuji side to side a couple of times before performing a move I've never seen before, “uwate-hineri”. Basically pulled 'Fuji forward and crushed him forcefully to the floor leaving 'Fuji spread-eagled like a butterflied sardine.

Y Kakuryu v M1 Asanoyama
Asanoyama may be the reigning champ but he still only an M1. Any day of the week Ka would be favoured to win. Like Henry the 8th's attitude to wives, Kakuryu's intent was not to keep his partner long. Kak went looking for the inside mawashi hold but missed out, no matter as he quickly hooked under the left arm of Asanoyama for a very nifty twisting arm throw the kimari-te listed as “kata-sukashi.” Yet another term I hadn't seen.

I enjoyed the day's bouts which were mostly in good spirits and effort.  I'm not sure who is up tomorrow but looking forward to Ryuden v Hakuho. Cheers for now.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The reporting this basho at ST should be interesting since all of the contributors are knee deep in projects, vacations, etc. so we're literally going to take things day by day. Harvye had to pull out (cool) today, so I'll fill in again hopefully with some brevity this time around.

I've already noticed two days in a dilemma where all of the Japanese guys being hyped this tournament are being forced to fight the elite rikishi early on. Yokozuna always get the Komusubi on Day 1, and even Asanoyama ranked at M1 is going to be fodder for the elite ranks during week 1. It doesn't mean that bouts can't be thrown for someone on a given day, but it forces two issues early on in the basho:  1) darling Japanese rikishi will be saddled with early losses putting a damper on their hype, or 2) darling Japanese rikishi will be given cheap, obvious wins over elite foreign rikishi.

It's not a great position to be in, but sumo has made it's bed on the premise that parity exists across the banzuke, so we'll just take what's given us.

The day began M15 Yago battling M16 Kotoyuki, and you could just see both dudes using tsuppari to set up a pull. I actually think that Kotoyuki's tsuppari attack in his prime coulda easily dispatched Yago today, but Yuki didn't have confidence in it, so around the ring they went with Kotoyuki mostly dictating the pace and Yago looking to stay alive with his girth. In the end, Yago tired quickly and Kotoyuki was able to skirt left at the edge and catch Yago with a nice tsuki to the right shoulder sending him off balance and down. I'm not huge fans of either of these two, but it was a good fight as Kotoyuki picks up his first win at 1-1 while Yago is 0-2.

M16 Terutsuyoshi moved right at the tachi-ai against M14 Toyonoshima presumably to avoid the veteran's quest for moro-zashi, and once Terutsuyoshi had the cheap right outer, he dug in with his left arm also to the inside. Toyonoshima countered with his left arm to the inside, and he looked to test the scoop throw waters before finally just grabbing the belt. I think at this point both rikishi sensed that Toyonoshima didn't have the strength to overcome that outer grip, and the instant Toyonoshima went for a pull, Terutsuyoshi rushed him out oshi-dashi style. Don't look now but we're two bouts in with no yaocho as Terutsuyoshi moves to 2-0 while Toyonoshima falls to 0-2.

The gifts continue for M14 Enho, and it was M15 Kaisei providing the charity today. Enho looked as if he was going to resort to Mainoumi's old tachi-ai of "neko-damashi," but he never did clap his hands with arms extended instead opting to move right. Kaisei easily got his left arm to the inside, but he pulled it out for no reason (if he was trying to win) and just settled for a right arm over the top latched onto the back of Enho's belt. Anyone is vulnerable from that position, and Enho showed why skirting left and spinning the Brasilian around in the center of the ring until Enho had assumed the manlove position, and from there the okuri-dashi was easy peasy Japanesey with zero resistance from Kaisei. You'll notice how Enho wasn't required to exert an ounce of strength in this one as he pays for two wins in as many days at 2-0. As for Kaisei, he'll pocket some sweet cash as he falls to 1-1.

The M12 Tochiohzan - M13 Chiyomaru bout was fixed, and one way to tell is by the terrible tachi-ai. Oh was completely flat-footed and upright, but Chiyomaru didn't make him pay firing thrusts with his arms only and refusing to use any lower body behind it. Tochiohzan has been avoiding getting to the inside the last year or so, and so he circled his way around the dohyo trading tit for tat looking for a pull opportunity. Chiyomaru could have really blasted Tochiohzan back with his bigger tits...I mean stronger thrusts, but was just along for the ride until Tochiohzan finally got a left arm to the inside where he executed a lightweight scoop threw that easily felled Chiyomaru to the dirt and 1-1 records for both fellas.

Like the last bout, M13 Sadanoumi also knew he was going to win this one, and so his tachi-ai was half-assed where his feet were aligned as he offered a token shove into M12 Kagayaki's neck as he shaded a bit right. The natural flow of the bout and Sadanoumi's horrible tachi-ai dictated the easy inside position for Kagayaki with the right arm, but instead of forcing his compromised opponent back and out in mere seconds, he kept that right inside position shallow as he moved forward and then just leaned left (opposite his strong side) on his way out of the dohyo. Sadanoumi used a left tsuki to Kagayaki's right shoulder and a right arm hooked up and under Kagayaki's right arm to draw the ami-uchi winning technique as both dudes crashed across the bales, but this was a total fake bout from the start with both rikishi finishing the day at 1-1.

The fakery would continue when M10 Kotoeko exhibited yet another horrible tachi-ai standing straight up and aligning his feet as he offered two weak shoves towards M11 Nishikigi's girth. Nishikigi plodded forward doing nothing, and so Kotoeko just stepped to his right and offered the tiniest of love taps to Nishikigi from behind sending him outta the ring for the okuri-dashi win. A Makushita Jo'i bout this wasn't as Kotoeko buys another win at 2-0 while Nishikigi pads his billfold at 0-2.

Moving right along, M9 Daishoho kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai against M10 Takagenji, but as the two struck and the dust settled, they both came away in the gappuri migi-yotsu positioning meaning simultaneous right inners and left outers. This position easily favors 1) the more experienced rikishi, 2) the Mongolian, and 3) the bigger dude. Daishoho wins all of those categories, but instead of pressing the action and taking the rookie out quickly, he just stood there and waited for Genji to do something. The rookie shook his hips lightly, and Daishoho relinquished his outer grip, and from there he just went along as Takagenji executed the nice force out win. Even though it was fake, it was nice execution because guys like Goeido or Mitakeumi sure as hell can't do this, but Daishoho just graciously turned at the right moments and walked backwards out of the ring helping Takagenji at every turn refusing to counter whatsoever. Takagenji has purchased his first two bouts moving to 2-0, and remember, he comes from the same stable as Takakeisho, so get used to heavy yaocho. As for Daishoho, the dude's just hoarding cash at 0-2.

M8 Onosho and M9 Shohozan traded tsuppari from the tachi-ai, and I could tell right away that Shohozan wasn't going all out. A few seconds in when Onosho went for a dumb pull and Shohozan didn't make him pay, it was just a matter of time. Back and forth the two went in a hana-zumo affair while Onosho went for multiple pulls without Shohozan making him pay for it, and in the end, Onosho scored the light weight oshi-dashi win buying his first win at 1-1. As for Shohozan, he falls to the same mark.

The lethargy would continue as M8 Okinoumi kept his arms in shallow at the tachi-ai as M7 Tomokaze advanced in a hidari-yotsu stance that was so light and free of force the chick from the Princess and the Pea said, "Even I didn't sense any pressure." With Okinoumi upright and voluntarily backing up to the edge, he offered this lame right tsuki for show, and it actually knocked Tomokaze down. This one was close, and they called a mono-ii ruling that Okinoumi's heel stepped out before Tomokaze hit the dirt. This was such a non-combative bout it was ridiculous, and it was exactly this kind of sumo I had in mind when I was comparing lame Makuuchi bouts with fiery Makushita Jo'i bouts. Tomokaze moves to 2-0 with the gift while Okinoumi falls to 0-2.

While we're on the subject of paying for bouts, do you ever wonder how some of these rank and file rikishi can afford shares of oyakata stock when they retire?  I mean, let's say you make $15 gr USD per month from your salary, which equates to $180K per year. After taxes, a rikishi brings home probably a little bit over $100K per year, but then you have to consider the lifestyle these guys lead. I mean, they're not nerd IT workers who go home and play D&D after the day's work is done (yes, I'm talking about my co-workers), but they go out on the town for pricey meals and a lot of alcohol to boot every night, and we haven't even talked about the chicks yet. So, based on their take home pay alone, there is no way that they can save a million plus which is required to buy a share of stock.

A guy like Okinoumi used to be a good rikishi with proven skills, but over the last few years he's all of a sudden become as limp as an old dude whose prescription of blue diamonds was late in the mail. Why the sudden drop off? I think it has something to do with this guy looking to buy a share of oyakata stock before he retires. Guys like Okinoumi and Kagayaki are good enough to survive in this division on skills alone, and I think they're two of the best Japanese rikishi out there, but I think they are trading wins for cash like this to finance their guaranteed future in the Association after retirement.

I mean, look at M6 Chiyotairyu who just blasted M7 Myogiryu back from the tachi-ai today in wham bam thank you ma'am fashion that was correctly ruled tsuki-dashi. Chiyotairyu destroyed Myogiryu today in mere seconds, so why doesn't he fight like this every day? Could he be using his skills to stay in the division always hovering around kachi-koshi while selling five or six bouts every tournament?  Highly plausible. At 2-0 out of the gate, dude's got room to bargain already. Myogiryu falls to 1-1.

We went from the heavy weight sumo from Chiyotairyu to another light weight bout between M6 Shimanoumi and M5 Takarafuji. Neither rikishi could decide whether they wanted hidari-yotsu or migi-yotsu, and the two never did go chest to chest. Instead, the flow of the bout was all finesse with Takarafuji lightly moving to his right near the edge and dragging Shimanoumi down by the back of the belt with the right hand. The winning technique here was uwate-nage, but that definitely wasn't your conventional throw because it wasn't a conventional bout. I think Takarafuji was calling in a favor here as he moves to 1-1 while Shimanoumi starts out 0-2.

M4 Meisei and M5 Kotoshogiku hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Meisei gained a stifling right outer grip. Meisei was in the perfect position to score the easy yori-kiri, and the Geeku could not counter as Meisei's right outer was too effective in cutting off Kotoshogiku's inside position. Meisei looked good for a few seconds, but you could tell he was refraining from scoring the outright yori-kiri, and with Kotoshogiku's back to the edge, he went for this lame right tsuki-otoshi that Meisei anticipated, and so Meisei just took a dive as the former Ozeki tried to catch up. Easy yaocho call here as Meisei literally falls to 0-2 while Kotoshogiku is a laughable 2-0.

M4 Ichinojo easily stood toe to toe with M3 Daieisho trading shoves and threatening to get his hams to the inside. You could just see Daieisho wanting to move forward but withdraw every time Ichinojo threatened a yotsu contest, so you had a bout where Daieisho was sticking and jabbing while Ichinojo played defense, and after about five seconds of this back and forth, Daieisho tried to time a thrust attempt from the Mongolith and move left quickly to spring a pull trap, but Ichinojo caught him with a nice right shove that sent Daieisho packing for good. This was an entertaining bout as Ichinojo moves to 1-1 while Daieisho falls to the same mark.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi charged with a nice right kachi-age into M2 Endoh's torso and the move knocked Endoh back a full step causing him to also align his feet. Mitakeumi moved forward well after winning the tachi-ai and focused on straight up tsuppari that had Endoh driven back in short, linear order. I thought Endoh probably could have given more effort in this one, but you can't take anything away from Mitakeumi's sumo. Everything was executed perfectly, and it was a good first win for the fella. Endoh drops to the same 1-1 mark in defeat.

Sekiwake Tamawashi and M2 Aoiyama engaged briefly in a nice tsuppari affair that saw the Sekiwake methodically move Aoiyama back, but near the edge Aoiyama moved right going for a fair pull, but you could just see that Tamawashi was anticipating the move, and he just leaned to his right and crashed down as Aoiyama looked to make it real. I have no idea of the politics behind this one, but Tamawashi took an obvious dive at the end. I mean, Aoiyama can definitely spring the pull trap, but if Tamawashi was trying to win, he would have moved to his left (towards Aoiyama) to try something in desperation instead of just falling away and to his right. Regardless, Aoiyama is 2-0 while Tamawashi falls--literally--to 0-2.

In the Ozeki ranks, Goeido welcomed Komusubi Abi in a bout that lasted about half a second. Abi put both palms forward but wasn't looking to shove while Goeido shaded left and lamely slapped at Abi's right side, and that's all it took for Abi to just flop to the dirt. As Abi fell, Goeido managed to get his left arm to the side of Abi's belt drawing the uwate-dashi-nage technique, but there was no dragging involved here; this was a straight up dive. As they watched the slow motion replay, Mainoumi commented, "Abi does a great job with his right hand...(long pause) by missing Goeido's right shoulder." Uh yeah, sure. Goeido is gifted his first win at 1-1 while Abi takes one for team sumo here falling to 0-2.

Ozeki Tochinoshin kept his arms out wide at the tachi-ai giving M3 Shodai moro-zashi if he wanted it. I guess Shodai technically got moro-zashi, but he didn't know he had it as Tochinoshin had a firm left outer grip near the front of Shodai's belt if he had wanted to do any damage. He didn't, and so with zero pressure coming from Shodai, Tochinoshin went for a lame pull with the right hand that just gave him an excuse to back up and over to the straw. In the end, both rikishi had left arms to the inside making it hidari-yotsu, but Tochinoshin just walked himself out of the dohyo in this one as Shodai tried to keep up with the Ozeki. I always like it when I find pictures of the giver looking out into the crowd for hot chicks as he's being forced out of the ring. This was a laughable yaocho here as Tochinoshin falls to 0-2 while Shodai is a perfect 2-0...at hana-zumo.

Ozeki Takayasu and Komusubi Ryuden hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Ryuden used his length to grab the sweet, right outer grip. Give credit to Takayasu for his persistence, but he was in trouble from the get-go here as Ryuden wisely positioned himself at a 45 degree angle to his opponent weakening that left inside from the Ozeki. Takayasu would not going down easy, but Ryuden was in full control as he kept the two moving in the dohyo before attempting a dashi-nage with the right outer. It didn't fell the Ozeki straightway, and Ryuden actually lost his left inside position due to the move. Takayasu did well to fight off Ryuden's bid to get re-established with the inside left causing Ryuden to go for a dangerous force out charge near the edge that Takayasu countered with a nice right tsuki of his own causing both rikishi to hit the dirt at the same time. They ruled in favor of Ryuden, which they should have done since he dictated the entire pace of the bout, but they also correctly deferred to the VAR, and the final ruling was a do-over.

Before we get to the do-over, a couple of takeaways from this first bout were: 1) Why is it the Japanese Ozeki (or darlings) can never lead in a straight-up bout like this? And 2) Why did Takayasu try so hard at the edge to counter when most people just walk straight back and do nothing like Tochinoshin in the previous bout? I expect the desperation that Takayasu showed here from every rikishi in every bout, and when we don't see it, it means someone is mukiryoku.

In the do-over, the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu again where the Ozeki had an outer grip, but Ryuden wouldn't stay still as Takayasu hurried his attack to the point where Ryuden was able to scoop throw his way out of harm with the left. It should be noted at this point that if you compare the two bouts to this point, Ryuden was able to keep the Ozeki in place while Takayasu could not bully his lesser-ranked opponent around, and the simple reason is that Ryuden's the better rikishi and shows it in the content of his sumo.

Once the Ozeki was thrown off balance, Ryuden seized the deep left inside position from the side of Takayasu and then applied pressure to the point where he gained moro-zashi, and he wasted no time in driving Takayasu back. Takayasu went for a desperate right kote-nage at the edge, but he was too far gone as Ryuden scored the nice yori-taoshi win in the end. Both bouts were a perfect example of how farcical Takayasu's run to Ozeki was and how he needs constant yaocho in his favor to keep his rank. He was simply schooled by the Komusubi in all facets today as both rikishi find themselves at 1-1.

In the Yokozuna ranks, M1 Hokutofuji actually displayed a decent tachi-ai against Kakuryu, but then again, the Yokozuna wasn't charging balls to the wall. A few seconds in after a stalemate tachi-ai, Hokutofuji went for a quick pull that caused the Yokozuna to duck down a bit, but instead of taking advantage of his compromised opponent, Kakuryu went into dick-around mode and did a 360 away from his opponent to escape the effect of the pull. After that crazy move, Hokutofuji rushed forward with high hopes only to have Kakuryu dart left and pull Hokutofuji out of the ring. This was a great example of a Yokozuna going half-assed to keep things interesting, but Kakuryu easily won in the end moving to a quiet 2-0. Hokutofuji falls to 0-2, but I liked his tachi-ai today.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Hakuho drew last tournament's champion in M1 Asanoyama, and the Yokozuna came with his patented right inside left outer grip tachi-ai that Asanoyama couldn't defend. Once the hidari-yotsu contest was settled with Hakuho enjoying the left outer while Asanoyama had none, the Yokozuna chose to just hunker down and press in chest to chest. There was nothing that Asanoyama could do at this point to threaten the Yokozuna, but credit him for testing the waters with some left inside belt throw attempts. The Yokozuna let Asanoyama hang around for about 30 seconds making his yusho last basho look more legitimate, but in the end, Hakuho just spun Asanoyama around and down with the left outer grip adding insult to injury by landing squarely on top of the M1 as if to say, "I'm still the man." Hakuho is the man as he moves to an easy 2-0 wile Asanoyama falls to 1-1, and in the eyes of the sheep, Asanoyama put up a great fight even though he had no chance.

That's a wrap on the Day 2 bouts, and I hope Justin is rearing and ready tomorrow.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
While the Kyushu basho is likely the most insignificant of the hon-basho, Nagoya is the one that sorta sneaks up on you because it occurs in the heart of summer when everyone's mind is on everything but sumo. Still, the Association has a job to do and a sport to promote, so let's get right to it briefly examining the pre-basho headlines.

Ozeki Takakeisho was getting little ink until just a few days prior to the basho when he announced his withdrawal and then that became the biggest pre-basho story. Apparently that right knee injury suffered in his bout against Mitakeumi in May is still hampering him, and so he has opted to withdraw from this tournament meaning he'll be demoted from his Ozeki rank for the upcoming Aki basho. Takakeisho can regain that rank with 10 wins in September, so we'll just have to see what's on the agenda then.

Even before yaocho became so prominent in sumo, I would frequently repeat the moniker that I learned early on in sumo, which is "rikishi get hurt when someone lets up in the ring." Mitakeumi let up for Takakeisho in their Natsu bout, and furthermore, they were trying to set up a yori-kiri win for Takakeisho coming off of the pre-basho hype that he was going to be the next Kotonishiki. Oops.

We'll deal more with Takakeisho in two months, so let's now turn our attention to Asanoyama. I saw a pre-basho keiko report where Asanoyama did battle against Hakuho, and Hakuho let him win that first bout in ridiculous fashion. It didn't matter what happened after that because the media had their headline and video of Asanoyama defeating Hakuho in the keiko ring.

Asanoyama was so uncomfortable the final few days of the Natsu basho because not only was the yusho just gifted to him, but the dude doesn't have sumo skills that are even close to being yusho-worthy, so he was a complete deer in the headlights. It remains to be seen how he'll be treated here in Nagoya, but with Takakeisho gone, they're going to need to someone to hype.

That someone could be Abi who has made several appearances around Nagoya doing PR work for the basho. The dude is from the outskirts of Tokyo, so he's not a local kid, but he's got the personality that appeals to people who don't watch sumo necessarily for its content.  Abi "defeated" Hakuho at last year's Nagoya basho, and so that bout has gotten a bit of airplay pre-basho in an attempt to excite the fans regarding the Japanese up-and-comers.

Aside from Takakeisho and Asanoyama, the obligatory coverage of Tochinoshin's return to Ozeki and the presence of the two Yokozuna at the start of the tournament has received some press, but that's really the extent of the pre-basho hype...if you can call it that. I rarely make predictions in sumo these days just because I can't predict yaocho very well, but I'm quite certain that the storylines we'll see at the end of the tournament will not have developed organically.

It's a lame intro, I know, but what do you expect when we're coming off of an Asanoyama yusho??

Up first today was M16 Kotoyuki who looked to do battle with fellow M16 Terutsuyoshi. I guess battle wasn't the correct word because Kotoyuki just aligned his feet at the tachi-ai and stood there waiting for Terutsuyoshi. Terutsuyoshi actually ducked low as if he wanted to get to the inside, but Kotoyuki instinctively brushed him away and could have kicked his ass if he was trying to move forward. I mean, Kotoyuki's a useless rikishi but when he tries to win, he does give his all the first three or four seconds of his bouts. Not today as he just stood there and waited for Terutsuyoshi to recover from his equally bad tachi-ai and skirt right going for a meager pull, but when Kotoyuki is willing (or willin' as we say in Utah), the move was good enough for Kotoyuki to just run himself forward and out of the dohyo. Nice lite start to the basho leading off with a bout fixed in Terutsuyoshi's favor.

I can't believe I spent that much time on the previous bout, so I'll try and repent for the M15 matchup between Yago and Kaisei. Yago actually delivered a nice shove or two at the tachi-ai that denied Kaisei the belt straightway, but that was Yago's best punch, and so the Brasilian easily moved back forward getting the left inside and forcing the bout to yotsu-zumo. With Kaisei in complete control now, I thought it was interesting when Funaoka Announcer said, "Yago has the sufficient positioning he needs" as if it was Yago in command. Hardly as Kaisei used his body to force Yago completely upright and back a few steps before he was able to grab the right outer grip that silled the dill. Kaisei has his right elbow heavily bandaged, and he refrained from using it until the very end today, so we'll keep an eye on that.  Regardless, he dominated Yago here because he chose to.

There was a mild stir in the crowd as M14 Enho stepped into the ring against fellow M14 Toyonoshima, and this is an opponent that Enho actually has a chance against. Enho ducked in low at the tachi-ai getting the left arm firmly inside and the easy right outer grip while Toyonoshima seemed to counter with both arms draped around Enoho's left arm to the inside. Enho moved left in what looked like an inside belt attempt, but Toyonoshima applied some pressure using his body and Enho pinned in tight, and Toyonoshima caused Enho's knees to buckle just a few seconds in, but he held up and then just waited for Enho to regain his wits, duck out to his right, and send Toyonoshima packing with an easy peasy right dashi-nage. As I typed in the first sentence of this paragraph, I thought Enho could actually do something against Toyonoshima, but he needed the veteran to let up for him today. Sorry folks, this win wasn't earned as much as I know everyone wants to get behind Enho.

In the M13 rank, it was Chiyomaru taking on Sadanoumi, so in essence, you had an oshi guy taking on a belt guy. Chiyomaru was upright and flat-footed at the tachi-ai, and Sadanoumi could have easily gotten to the inside, but he opted to go for some weak thrusts with sloppy footwork, and so Chiyomaru moved to his right and pulled Sadanoumi down with little effort. This was a case of Sadanoumi's intentionally playing his way right into Maru's hands.

Moving up to M12, it was Tochiohzan vs. Kagayaki in a bout that featured a poor tachi-ai with Tochiohzan putting his right hand forward while aligning his feet. For Kagayaki's part, he skirted to his right grabbing an outer grip with nothing to the inside, and so that enabled Tochiohzan to fire on a left scoop throw that moved Kagayaki towards the edge. Kagayaki was able to thrust his way out of it and send the action back towards the center of the ring, but he whiffed on a shove attack completely exposing his left side, and Tochiohzan ducked in beneath Kagayaki's shoulder at a 90-degree angle in an attempt to send him outta the ring altogether. Tochiohzan's charge was insufficient, however, and Kagayaki was able to escape right at the last second and go for a quick swipe that sent Tochiohzan forward and upright at the tawara. Tochiohzan didn't even try and recover and just stood there as Kagayaki came in for the final love tap. I'm not sure what was going on with this bout, but I do know that it was terrible sumo from both parties.

M11 Nishikigi welcomed our lone rookie this tournament in M10 Takagenji. Takagenji offered a right paw up high at the tachi-ai, and that enabled Nishikigi to instinctively get the left arm deep to the inside, and with his rookie opponent upright, it should have been easy pickins. Nishikigi easily forced Takagenji back to the edge but never did grab a right outer grip that was there for the taking. Instead, Nishikigi went for a meaningless right kote-nage, and that gave him the perfect excuse to change the momentum in the rookie's favor, so as Nishikigi backed his way out of certain victory, he opened the door for the right inside and left outer grip from Genji. We really didn't get a force-out from the rookie since Nishikigi just walked himself back that last step, but this was obvious yaocho as the rookie buys a win in his Makuuchi debut. I'm unimpressed.

M10 Kotoeko henka'd out wide to his left grabbing the ill-gotten outer grip against M9 Daishoho, and all that did was allow Daishoho to gain an insurmountable inside position with the right. Daishoho instinctively squared up with his opponent and had Kotoeko completely upright, but his foot was intentionally off the gas, and so Kotoeko was able to using a mediocre scoop throw to the turn the tables and ultimately force Daishoho back and across leading with that same right arm. Daishoho was listless here on purpose gifting Kotoeko the easy win.

Over the years, I've often talked about my affinity for the Makushita Jo'i bouts. Back when I was a complete novice, I loved to buy a cheap seat and watch the non-sekitori bouts from the suna-kaburi (first few rows), and while I didn't know everything that was going on, I noticed quickly that the most competitive sumo action occurred among the Makushita Jo'i. The word I always use to describe the action is "cutthroat" because these dudes are on the brink from being total nobodies to gaining seki-tori status, which means instant money, manservants, and chicks.

If you take a sport like American football, you could easily break it down into four divisions as follows: the NFL, college football, high school football, and little league. I've seen games played on all four levels, and it's easy to see the progression in speed, talent, skill and overall effort as you move up the leagues.

If you compare sumo to American Football, the Makuuchi division would equal the NFL; Juryo would equal college football; and the Makushita would equate to high school football. While the divisions themselves are comparable in name, the hustle, the drive, the effort, the competition, and the tenacity seen in the three levels of sumo don't get progressively better. I'm not saying that Makushita guys are more talented than Makuuchi guys, but what I am saying is that in general, the competitive spirit and effort displayed in the Makushita Jo'i is much more fierce than the two upper divisions. Guys are simply trying harder and putting their bodies more on the line, and it's superb action that I noticed even when I had no idea what a fixed bout was.

You could take any professional sport, and the action and skill on display gets progressively faster, precise, and just better as you move up to the top level, but nobody can watch the first seven bouts of the Makuuchi division today and tell me that every dude was going all out and trying to rip his opponent's throat out. It's just inane, political bull crap, and it shows in the content of the sumo. Give me the Makushita Jo'i any day over this.

Now that I feel better, let's move onto the M9 Shohozan - M8 Okinoumi matchup. Okay maybe I don't feel better after watching this one. After Okinoumi kept both arms high and wide at the tachi-ai, the two ended up in hidari-yotsu after Shohozan just fumbled around at the tachi-ai. In fact, a few seconds in, Okinoumi had the right outer grip and the left arm in so deep that Shohozan's right arm was pointing to the rafters, but both dudes knew the outcome coming in, which explains Shohozan's lazy tachi-ai and Okinoumi's completely letting up for his opponent. With no position whatsoever for Shohozan, he pinched in with both arms around Okinoumi's left forearm, but that did little good. Still, with Okinoumi not trying to win, Shohozan was finally able to move out right offering a quick thrust into Okinoumi's chest, a tug of his extended right arm, and then a hand at the back of Okinoumi's belt to send him across dashi-nage style. This was poor sumo from Shohozan throughout, but Okinoumi clearly let him win here.

M8 Onosho offered an extended thrust at the tachi-ai against M7 Tomokaze, but Onosho completely aligned his feet allowing Tomokaze to go for a quick pull and get his right arm to the inside. Onosho was hesitant from there as Tomokaze used some nice thrusts to get Onosho upright before scoring the win on a nice hataki-komi.

M7 Myogiryu seemed to catch M6 Shimanoumi by surprise at the tachi-ai because before Shimanoumi had even come out of his stance, Myogiryu had the right arm easily to the inside and was driving Shimanoumi back without argument. In fact, by the time Shimanoumi attempted his first move in the form of a left outer throw, he was already back beyond the tawara. I don't think this was the case of bad timing at the tachi-ai where one guy just isn't in sync and thinks it's a false start, and so he never tries. I'm of the opinion that Shimanoumi was intentionally mukiryoku in this one. Regardless, it was yet another uncontested bout.

M6 Chiyotairyu methodically bullied M5 Takarafuji back and across in about three seconds using a forward moving attack that was fueled by constant left shoves into Takarafuji's neck area (I can't definitively say that Takarafuji HAS a neck). Still, this wasn't one of those blistering bouts where you can hear Chiyotairyu kicking his opponent's ass, and I just didn't see any effort from Takarafuji to counter when I thought he could have at least tried to move laterally.

The bout fixing would continue as M4 Ichinojo kept his arms high and wide at the tachi-ai gifting M5 Kotoshogiku moro-zashi. Once Kotoshogiku had both insides, Ichinojo grabbed a left outer grip and wrapped his right arm up high around Kotoshogiku's left. Still, the Mongolith made no effort to dig and and went for a stupid pull where he just wrapped his right tentacle around Kotoshogiku's melon and dragged Kotoshogiku square into his body as he walked back across the straw. I can't say I'm surprised.

M4 Meisei and M3 Daieisho traded nice tsuppari at the tachi-ai before Daieisho moved left throwing Meisei off balance just enough to where Daieisho was able to push Meisei down oshi-taoshi style with a right paw to the face as Meisei looked to square back up. The effort here was Makushita J'oi worthy for sure as Daieisho picks up the nice win.

Sekiwake Tamawashi put both hands into M3 Shodai's body standing him upright, but Tamawashi wasn't going for any thrusts whatsoever. He did, however, move his left foot back to the straw for no reason and then duck sideways to that same left side, and Shodai finally clued in going for a weak shoulder slap that sent Tamawashi rolling twice over to the edge of the dohyo. This was a laughable performance by Tamawashi, and what was even funnier was Kitanofuji's watching the slow motion replay and saying, "Shodai's tachi-ai was wonderful (subarashii)." I was like...are we watching the same sport??   Shodai's tachi-ai was terrible as was his overall sumo, and it was Tamawashi's doing all the work here by leaning over to the side and just rolling over twice when the first noticeable contact from Shodai came.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi created a bit of buzz as he stepped into the dohyo against M2 Aoiyama, but the Bulgarian had other plans putting both hands at the back of Mitakeumi's head from the tachi-ai and pulling him down in a second flat. Reiterating how hard it is to predict yaocho, I thought Aoiyama was going to totally roll over for Mitakeumi here, but Aoiyama was out to win this one while Mitakeumi didn't have the wherewithal to counter.

Ozeki Tochinoshin kept both arms in tight at the tachi-ai leading with a right kachi-age that sent Endoh upright with feet aligned, but the Ozeki was applying no pressure, and so Endoh was able to grab a right frontal belt grip and just move to the side dragging Tochinoshin down to the dirt dashi-nage style. I guess "dragging" isn't the correct terminology since this was just Tochinoshin flopping forward and down putting both palms across the straw in beautiful yaocho fashion. The bout drew a smattering of applause, especially because Endoh's the hometown favorite, but I think everyone knew that Tochinoshin just took a dive here into the missionary position.

M1 Hokutofuji came with his usual right palm to his opponent's chest as he shaded left at the tachi-ai against Ozeki Takayasu, but the move had little effect as Takayasu squared back up sending the bout to hidari-yotsu. From there, Hokutofuji had his right hand on an outer grip of the Ozeki's belt, but he refused to grab it and brought that arm up high around Takayasu's left biceps area, and you knew the M1 was trying to win at that point. I guess Takayasu did apply some nice pressure, but Hokutofuji just stood upright and offered no resistance as Takayasu pushed him over to the side and out in a lightly contested bout.

I suppose the most compelling matchup on paper coming in featured Ozeki Goeido against M1 Asanoyama, and the two treated us to a decent tachi-ai ending up in migi-yotsu, but it was the larger Asanoyama who pressed the action looking to grab a left outer grip as the Ozeki moved right in an attempt to set up a scoop throw. Normally this would lead to a nage-no-uchi-ai, but such a move wasn't even close to forming as Goeido just let go of his inside position and lifted his leg for no reason turning his body sideways 90 degrees, and so Asanoyama just bulldozed him to the side with the left shoulder and then forced him out as the Ozeki stood upright along the tawara reaching for a left outer.

My fat gut tells me that Goeido let up in this one, but the Ozeki's sumo is so haphazard and bad to begin with, it's hard to say with any confidence. What I can say with confidence is that twenty years ago a new yusho winner and an Ozeki would have fought a much more sound bout than these two were able to muster. I mean, I think overall that Asanoyama is the better rikishi, but the flow of this bout was so unorthodox and unstable.

In the Yokozuna ranks, the media was trying their best to hype the Hakuho - Komusubi Abi Day 1 matchup, but the outcome would be solely dictated by the Yokozuna. Hakuho held up at the tachi-ai keeping his arms high instead of going for his patented right inside left outer grip move, and so Abi was able to create a bit of excitement firing a few tsuppari the Yokozuna's way, but the shoves were all bark and no bite allowing Hakuho to pull Abi off balance by tugging at his extended right arm, and from there, the bout sorta turned into hidari-yotsu, but the footwork was so sloppy from both parties that a true yotsu contest never formed. Instead, Hakuho just pulled the hapless Abi down by the back of the neck. Hakuho let Abi stay in this one for a spell, but it was a bad bout of sumo all around as the Yokozuna denies Abi a second upset win.

Komusubi Ryuden is another Japanese guy that is receiving a bit of ink, which I think is deserved, but he's still not in the same class as the foreign rikishi. We all know that doesn't matter these days, and against Yokozuna Kakuryu, anything could happen, but Kakuryu decided to play this one straight up flirting with moro-zashi at the tachi-ai before bringing his right arm to the inside in order to grab an outer grip, and the Yokozuna was perfect from there using his right leg against Ryuden's left to keep him at bay while forcing him back and across the straw without argument. This was easily the cleanest bout of the entire day, and it really demonstrates the gap between the elite foreigners and everyone else.

This was definitely not the most encouraging day of sumo in terms of content, but I've noticed that the funny business tends to subside a bit a few days in.  Hopefully Harvye gets a livelier day tomorrow.