Ura and Okinoumi Fight Twice, Nothing is Stopping Goeido & Okinoumi
Wild day of sumo at the Kokugikan while the US was asleep, and Tachiai brings you the highlights to start your day. As yesterday was “Throwing for Kensho”, today would be “Mawashi appreciation day”, everyone was on the belt and power sumo was on full display. It was a mighty show: shimpan parades, monoii galore, re-fights, it was a madhouse!
Daieisho defeats Ura – Good match, typical Ura with lots of action, but both rikishi hit the dohyo more or less the same time, even the Shimpan could not decide, so they made them go again. This time it was very straight-forward, with Daieisho quickly pushing Ura out.
Endo defeats Kotoyuki – Yes sumo fons, the good Endo is in the house. He takes down previously undefeated Kotoyuki. About half way through the bout, Endo latched his right hand on Kotoyuki’s mawashi, and he used his hand hold to win via Yokikiri.
Ikioi defeats Aoiyama – It was not a strong fight, Ikioi went for Aoiyama’s mawashi a few seconds in, and that somehow unbalanced Aoiyama, who collapsed.
Yoshikaze defeats Mitakeumi – Praise to the great and blessed sumo cat of the Kokugikan, Yoshikaze was starting to really worry me. This was a quick bout, with Yoshikaze simply overpowering Mitakeumi early and driving him backwards across the tarawa.
Okinoumi defeats Shohozan – Nothing is stopping Okinoumi, the man is driven by some Yōkai, or he really is a robot being operated by a hospitalized Hakuho. It was a close call, which saw another monoii, so – yet another rematch! Second time it was clearly Okinoumi’s win.
Takayasu defeats Kaisei – Good show of mawashi / strength sumo, with Takayasu having a clear advantage. Kaisei seems to be relying too much on being large and heavy to win. That works to a point until you meet a rikishi like Takayasu, who has strength and patience. Takayasu wore him down and disposed of him. Takayasu looking very good this basho.
Kotoshogiku defeats Tochiozan – When Kotoshogiku is healthy, he is the absolute master of the hug-n-chug style of sumo, and he quickly sent Tochiozan out. Now he only needs 4 more wins to clear his Kadoban status.
Goeido defeats Takarafuji – One of the better bouts today, with some great strength sumo on display once again. Takarafuji was strong, but Goeido will not be defeated any time soon. Three wins now for him to clear kadoban. My earlier prediction that at least one of the kadoban twins was probably going to be demoted is clearly in peril.
Kisenosato defeats Takanoiwa – The Great Pumpkin’s drive to remain in the hunt for a tournament win is all but impossible given Goeido’s dominance, but Kisenosato was in form and won against Takanoiwa easily today.
Kakuryu defeats Tochinoshin – Maybe not defeats, more like he wore Tochinoshin down and threw him to the clay. Great great great power sumo match here. So nice to see Tochinoshin in form today, as he had been trying to keep stress off that right knee. His bout with Kakuryu raged back and forth, with both sekitori backed to the bales multiple times, but somehow pushing back.
Harumafuji defeats Shodai – Shodai put up a very good fight against the Nagoya tournament champion, but there was no way he could take out Harumafujo.
In Juryo,
Osunaarashi defeats Sadanofuji – we get to see Osunaarashi fight in Makuuchi tomorrow! This will be wonderful.
Exit note / comment: Is the summer Jungyo so long and so involved that these sumotori come back rusty, distracted or at less than full power? Most of them seemed to have required a few days to get back into their good fighting habits. It would almost seem that there is a clear penalty for joining the tour rather than training.
The tours are very important to maintaining or increasing the popularity of sumo in Japan, but it has never been more clear that the frenzied pace of the sumo calendar can take it’s toll on the sport.
For Jungyo, I don’t think there is one in June so maybe the shock of the August jungyo in the heat of summer takes a toll?
I refuse to believe that so many high quality sumotori would spend the first two days fumbling through their matches because of a general miasma. So yeah, maybe the hot and sweaty Jungyo. There was some great YouTube video of Harumafuji doing demonstration training with everyone on tour, driving them to exhaustion while he himself kept pressing onward. Really fantastic show of what kind of an athlete the guy is.
Describing this to my wife, who suspects he “Is a meanie”, she was promoted to consider he gives no quarter during a basho, but works to better all of sumo the rest of the time.
With the bullying stuff that comes out, I wouldn’t classify any of these guys as creampuffs…but I’ve also heard worse coming from our fraternities. I’ve seen Harumafuji give the extra shove at the end of a match or something but it’s all been much more tame than what I’ve seen from others.
These guys are combat competitors in something close to a pure meritocracy. It’s win & advance or lose and fall. So I am sure they are highly ramped up on these bouts. Some guys are more consumed by their passion, is what I chalk it up to.
Also, looking forward to Kotoshogiku/Okinoumi and Goeido/Takayasu. Should be an eventful Day 6.
Yes indeed! I noticed that too. Do you think the Sumo Kyokai has decided to see how far these guys can take their unbeaten streak? I look at the Takayasu match as some sort of Ozeki audition.
I give a lot of guff on the subject of Kotoshogiku and Goeido, but they have been the backbone of this basho so far. Excellent sumo from both of them daily.
But Giku is so one-dimensional. Goeido’s just inconsistent. Unfortunately, since these guys always bounce around kadoban, always win on the last day with it all on the line, when they do well I grow suspicious of yaocho. I hope everything’s on the up-and-up but when Giku fights Tochinoshin, the Georgian just backs straight out?
Well now, yaocho. I was not going to bring that up, but the Tochinoshin fight was not quite right. There have been a couple of others. But I tend to reserve that angle for when nothing else makes sense.
Please also note, I am a total “Boy Scout” in real life.
I always hate having to bring it up and I do understand that an ozeki facing demotion would naturally be more motivated than a sekitori who’s already kachi-koshi (or even make-koshi), thus more likely to be willing to risk injury by giving 100%…but still, the specter remains.
In other sports, for example, it makes sense to sit your starters in the final game of the season if you’ve already made the playoffs. Unfortunately we’re at the start of the season and when wrestlers who usually struggle are in positions of leadership…I’m left to hope it’s on the up-and-up and today’s bouts certainly seemed to be.