For sumo fans who may not have seen it yet, this was the ceremony held in Tokyo on Wednesday, where press and sumo dignitaries packed a small ballroom at the Imperial Hotel. With NSK officials Kasugano and Takadagawa given the honor of sharing the announcement of promotion with Kisenosato.
Note that stable master Tagonoura struggles during this ceremony, due to painful injuries that prevented him from perform his shimpan duties at the recently concluded Hatsu basho.
I sure hope he’s up to the challenge of being a Yokozuna. My feeling is that the January basho wasn’t a true test, the competition was weak and he even got a free pass on the one bout. I think a true Yokozuna spirit would have said “I am grateful for the honor but let’s wait to see how I do in March first”.
Well, the entire thing was political. There has been a huge drum beat to get a Japanese Yokozuna for several years now, and frankly Kisenosato only had to give the YDC and NSK some kind of fig leave to promote him. It’s nationalistic and a means to attract Japanese fans to the sport.
Of course if Kisenosato fizzles, they risk alienating more fans than they ever could of attracted.
As much as I’m against the elevation, Kisenosato has been in the yusho contention on a fairly consistent basis. His ability to avoid injury has been great so I really hope he’s at least “in the hunt” well into week 2.
As Bruce mentioned, the injuries to other sanyaku wrestlers will be significant issues to watch in the lead up to the next tournament. Also significant will be Kotoshogiku’s performance as he tries to regain Ozeki status and Terunofuji’s attempt to avoid his own demotion. Both of those wrestlers will be desperate for any wins. At the same time, #69 is always a factor, #70 will be trying to stave off the pressure to retire, #71 will be trying to prove himself…
#72 will have his hands full to prove himself, to be sure.
So after Celina mentioned the Ozeki problems for the Osaka basho, I went rooting around to see if there was any news on Goeido. I ran across this
http://www.hira2.jp/topic/goeido-20170124.html
Which seems to say that Goeido has pulled out of a public appearance at the Kasuga Shrine on February 3rd due to continuing treatment of his right-ankle injury. The article mentions (I think) something about surgery and screws to hold his ankle together.
If true (and not mis-translated by me), it would seem that Goeido is very much in doubt for Osaka.
Jesus. So much for Goeido 2.0
Haru basho will be under heavy pressure, to say the least.
Haru could be a real mess. It’s typical not to hear about injuries to sumotori, but both Harumafuji and Goeido had fairly significant problems when they withdrew. I am hoping that they are recovering or healed.