Take Your Turn – Help Me Out
Dear readers, your humble associate editor is stranded at one of America’s scenic airports, praying that he will make hit home tonight. As a result, your preview for day 11 will be fairly short. If you are feeling genki, please feel free to put in your predictions in the comments section below.
Given some of the past forecasts, we have a pretty smart group of readers that are able to handicap a bout. So please feel free to have at it. Just to be clear: serious, accurate, silly or outrageous predictions are all welcome. Except the prediction that upon tying Kaio’s record, Hakuho’s false human skin melts away to reveal he is a terminator, who replaced the real Hakuho during surgery last September. (Yes, I did call that)
Matches I Hope I Get To Watch
Gagamaru vs Okinoumi – Loser takes maki-koshi. My bet is it’s Planet Gagamaru.
Aoiyama vs Nishikigi – Odds are not good that Nishikigi will break his 4 bout losing streak against the Man-mountain.
Takarafuji vs Onosho – First time meet up, both have kachi-koshi already, so sure, why not?
Ikioi vs Ichinojo – Both have maki-koshi, already, so lets hold a contest of rikishi we wish would get their sumo back in order. Ichinojo leads career total 6-3!
Tochinoshin vs Hokutofuji – First time match could be a real point of interest for day 11. Both have a good amount of strength. Will Hokutofuji grapple the big Georgain, or stay mobile?
Takakeisho vs Kotoshogiku – Kind of the WTF match of the day. Angry Tadpole Takakeisho has play time with Ojisan Kotoshogiku. Kotoshogiku seems to be tired of not being taken seriously, so maybe he’s going to really throw down some serious belly bumping goodness. First (and possibly only) meet up between these two.
Yoshikaze vs Shodai – One request for this match. Future oyakata Yoshikaze, could you please help Shodai fix his tachiai? Consider it a gift to the future of sumo.
Takayasu vs Tamawashi – Well, this could get brutal. Both of these guys are big, strong and like to rain blows down upon their opponents. So let’s keep the blood off the already shattered dohyo, guys.
Ura vs Goeido – Ura is like a delightful new toy for the upper ranks. Everyone wants to dance with him. He looked a bit hurt following his day 10 bout, so I hope he is back together and well. I anticipate a Goeido 2.0 stampede charge straight off the line. Worryingly, Goeido is edging closer to going Kadoban yet again!
Chiyoshoma vs Harumafuji – Harumafuji kachi-koshi coming up.
Hakuho vs Mitakeumi – Looking for The Boss to tie Kaio’s all time win record today.
I’m beginning to understand the techniques of Ura. He is indeed a very dangerous Rikishi. He is not a fluke, he is actually very good.
Can you elaborate? As much as Pinkie is exciting, it seems that his technique consists mainly of grabbing the closest limb and trying to hold on. His excellence seems to be in that he has actual muscle behind those haphazard grabs and so he is able to drag a mass like Takayasu to the edge of the Dohyo. But he doesn’t know how to cover his weak side or plan a proper angle to make it unreachable by his rival.
Ura is a more than just a horny pug, he actually brings a lot to the dohyo. His enters the ring with a clear plan in mind. He usually goes deep below his opponents center of gravity which gives him the angle to move even Takayasu and other big guys around the ring. He is not afraid to lead with the face just to get an inside position. He is fast.Look how fast He got inside Takayasu when Big T did miss with his tsupari. And Ura has absolut brilliant balance and agility. Coupled with a deep, deep bag of tricks he is (in my mind at least ) a succsessor of Khyokoshuzan in his early years. And Ura is a fast learner, so I predict that he will work on his weaknesses. I fear that he lacks height and reach to really become a dominant force in sumo over the next years.
I can’t argue with you about his fundamentals (low center of gravity = making the best of his small stature; speed; strength; fearlessness) but I disagree about the bag of tricks and the plans. I think he just improvises.
If you grab an arm or a knee or a mawashi, you can go far with it if you have the correct foot work and muscle, which we both agree he has. But I think that those things are not planned, and are not showing good technique. Compare Harumafuji’s tottari from today to the one Ura put him in two days ago. Harumafuji was applying a technique. Ura was applying the surprise factor and a lot of muscle.
I’m hoping that Ura’s limp yesterday was just a superficial reaction to the long bout and the big throw he received. In the slow-mo it didn’t look like he took a particularly awkward landing or anything. Loving his energy against the top-rankers, really admirable!
Holy crap! My Aussieness actually wants to use stronger expletives then that! This has been one amazing Basho and I cannot believe I got to see that final match! People went crazy! I actually had a cushion (I cannot spell the real word) land on me. My friend and I couldn’t speak as we left for the day, all we could do was look at each other and go “Mitakiumi”.
No one expected it, and I was being joked with by the guy 1 box over that I kept cheering for the losers, but I got it right this time!!
What a great time to be a sumo lover!
Next time please post a spoiler alert! I haven’t had a chance to wach the matches and now I cannot enjoy the highlights as I could otherwise.
First off, thank you for visiting the site and reading it, we make this site as a labor of love, and a firm belief that sumo can and should have a global following. Secondly, and for the duration that Tachiai is a going concern, we can and will post sumo news as it happens. So if you want to savor the anticipation of the outcomes of a day’s match, I encourage you to refrain from peeking at our site until you have had your chance with the NHK feed.
Many of our readers are in Oceana, Europe and pan-Asia, and much of this is old news to them by the time I write about it. I do try to put up some “trip wires” now, such as the Mitakeumi headline not referring directly to his victory.
There is a glimmer of hope the that I might return to Tokyo for some or all of Aki, and if that takes place, I will be blogging very close to real time. Consider this to be notice of that, please.
Thanks again for reading Tachiai.
No problem with the spoilers in the site – I know when to avoid reading the site to not diminish my viewing pleasure. But finding spoilers in the “Preview” section left me a bit salty. If they where marked as spoilers I would have avoided them, but I was caught by surprise since I didn´t expected them (just like the spanish inquisition :)) and this coloured my response.
I am sorry to have caused trouble, and I understand and respect your “as it happens” policy in regards to posting news.
Ack! Daniel, it’s no bother at all, and don’t feel like you caused trouble. In the past 6 months we have increased our readership 10x, as more fans find out they can actually follow sumo without being in Japan. I myself forget how many new people are on the site, and how terms like “as it happens”, “gamberize”, “The Boss” and the “tadpole squad” are lost on folks who don’t have a long term relationship with the site. I should make a FAQ page update – could help new readers follow along better.