Month: January 2015

Hatsubasho 2015: Day 7

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Hatsubasho 2015, Ichinojo (逸ノ城) , , , , , , , ,
Harumafuji slips up
Harumafuji slips up

Harumafuji’s slip-up gives up a surprising gold star to a visibly injured Jokoryu. There’s a lot of speculation about why the yokozuna fell so easily but my take on it is he was trying for a rare kimarite and underestimated Jokoryu’s ability to stand his ground. I’ve never seen anyone reach all the way round the opponent to grab the thong part of the mawashi. Until I know the real name, I’m going to call it an attempted nuclear-wedgie. I will not fault Harumafuji for trying because I enjoy his creative style of sumo. He seems to always find new ways to win that I haven’t seen, like the komatasukui from yesterday. The timing today is questionable, when tied for the lead with Hakuho to close out week one.
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Hatsubasho 2015: Day 6

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Hatsubasho 2015, Ichinojo (逸ノ城) , , , , , ,

#70
Hungry for Yusho
#69
Searching for #33

 
 
 
Harumafuji and Hakuho are the last two with perfect records.

Harumafuji had his longest bout of the tournament so far and one of the more interesting bouts in the way he won. He waited patiently with a solid belt grip. Toyonoshima tried to use his legs but that opened him to danger as the yokozuna got the better of him by reaching down with the left arm and grabbing for Toyonoshima’s left leg. Off balance, the maegashira was forced backwards and off the dohyo, into the crowd. I don’t think I’d ever seen an example of komatasukui kimarite before.
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Homasho, say it ain’t so! Homasho retires.

Andy Retirement , , ,
Homasho

Though it does not come as much surprise due to the nature of his latest injury, Homasho has announced his retirement at the age of 33. He has missed the last three tournaments due to an ACL tear suffered in July in a bout with Harumafuji. He had just bounced back into the upper ranks of maegashira after being demoted to the lower Juryo division in 2013 and again to start 2014 due to previous injuries.

Over the course of the last twelve basho, he had only completed 6, three of them in Juryo. While recovering from the ACL tear, he had dropped out of the salaried sumo ranks to Makushita #7 and would surely face further demotion if he were to try to compete in March.

Before these injury plagued two years, Homasho was a solid upper Maegashira wrestler and had acheived the rank of komusubi three times. Each time he reached komusubi, however, he was only able to garner four wins so he’d drop back into the maegashira rank-and-file. He has won the Fighting Spirit prize five times and the Technique prize twice during his career. He’d also come in second, garnering jun-yusho, three times.

I always enjoyed his style, always giving 100% effort and demonstrating utmost respect and sportsmanship. He will remain in sumo with the Shikorayama stable as a coach under the name Tatsutagawa.