🌐 Location: Tottori
Limelight bathing Ishiura and Terunofuji
Today the Jungyo landed in the one prefecture in Japan where nobody is going to tell Terunofuji to “Go back to Mongolia”.
The true Tottori Shushin is, of course, Ishiura. And the official news sources (such as there were) gave him preference, as you can see in this video:
Ishiura: “The last time I was on a Jungyo in the Tottory prefecture, I was in the Juryo division. I’m happy to be here now as a Makuuchi wrestler. I felt invigorated here today, and I repaid by doing good sumo”.
As you can see in this video, there are some serious wanpaku wrestlers (child wrestlers – these were all primary or secondary school children, so no more than 15 years old!) in Tottori. I think it actually wasn’t fair to counter by tsuppari to the face, because that’s forbidden in wanpaku sumo (only allowed to professionals).
Ishiura wasn’t taking any risks wrestling with those kids himself, and left the hard work to a sekiwake, opting to play the gyoji:
Whoa.
But he did win his bout with Takekaze today by Okuridashi.
Edit: A video with some bouts materialized! Ishiura cleared of henka charges!
#相撲
迫力土俵 市民沸く 大相撲鳥取場所 | 日本海新聞 Net Nihonkai （2/2）https://t.co/jL9tt6FB1b pic.twitter.com/GO4CBWGVrI— Kimihiro Suzuki (@KimihiroSuzuki) October 27, 2017
This also allows us to keep up the tally: Hakuho 7 : Kisenosato 4!
Edit2: A full video of the Kisenosato/Hakuho bout, full version including chikara-mizu and full shikiri, plus yumitori at the end:
The chikara-mizu also tells us that Kakuryu has beaten Goeido (and that Terunofuji also won, but we knew that from the previous video).
Ishiura-Takekaze including tachiai (different angle):
So why did I open with Terunofuji? While the official channels celebrated Ishiura, most tweets I found were more around the theme of “Terunofuji is back! And he’s genki!”. “It was great to see Teru again!” and so on.
The Tottori crowd considers Terunofuji to be a local, as he started his career in the famous sumo program of the Tottori Johoku high school, headed by none other than Ishiura’s father. It was Ishiura senior who noticed the young kaiju’s unbelievable strength, and advised him “If your opponents get a grip on your mawashi, bear-hug them”.
Terunofuji was in a bright mood, and practiced with Shodai and Daieisho. Here you can see him in a reverse butsukari:
And here, in what seems to be a rather painful (for Daieisho) uwatenage. Notice the rapt attention on the faces of Takarafuji and Onosho:
His bout of the day is also included in the second video above, as is Takanoiwa’s, who was also in the same school (Ichinojo, too, but he is currently off the Jungyo).
Interviews
To compensate for the complete lack of bout information (in the first version of this post), here are some Jungyo interviews (these are from the beginning of the Jungyo, but surfaced on Twitter only today):
Kisenosato
Q: Do you feel pride for being the only Japanese-born Yokozuna?
A: Being a Yokozuna, one usually has both self-awareness and self-confidence to wrestle steadfastly and produce results.
Q: You won the All-Japan Rikishi Championship tournament on October 2nd. What is your response?
A: It was only hana-zumo, but I am happy I produced a good result. I want to steadily develop a winning habit.
Q: You had to go kyujo in the middle of the Nagoya basho, and did not participate in the Aki basho at all. What are your feeling as you head towards the Kyushu basho?
A: I want to take the challenge of the honbasho by working on tuning my condition and my rhythm, and increasing my power during the Jungyo.
Harumafuji
(I think he’s the only Yokozuna ever to have his interview accompanied by a picture with a towel on his head. To compare, Kisenosato’s picture was one with his oicho-mage)
Q: You were the only Yokozuna to ascend the dohyo in the Aki basho. Did you feel any pressure?
A: I concentrated on doing my bouts one at a time. During the playoff bout I felt nothing but fighting spirit.
Q: Tell us about about your readiness for the Kyushu basho
A: There is still some time before the basho, and my wish is to work slowly and diligently, listening to my body, towards the basho.
Q: Do you enjoy anything about the Jungyo?
A: It’s a good opportunity to raise the knowledge of sumo among the fans. I would like everybody to enjoy the atmosphere of the Jungyo where, unlike honbasho, you can take pictures and get in contact with the wrestlers.
Asanoyama
Q: The Aki basho was your 10th straight kachi-koshi. What were your feelings as you faced it?
A: As always, I faced is as a challenger. I think that may have brought me the special prize.
Q: Aren’t you under pressure to improve your kachi-koshi record in the kyushu basho?
A: I intend to face the challenge with all my heart, not giving up regardless of the results.
Endo
Q: After having undergone surgery in July in your left ankle, you ended up with a double-figure winning record in the Aki basho. How did you control your feelings?
A: I did not recover completely before the basho. I am glad that I could relax well enough to be able to wrestle without worsening my condition.
Q: Are you aware of the common opinion that you have a beautiful shiko?
A: I don’t try to perform it in an especially pretty way. My shiko now is the same as I was taught when I was a boy.
Chiyomaru
Q: Your little brother is also an active rikishi. What kind of an influence does that have on you?
A: I want to be better than my little brother, so I regard him as a rival.
Q: Do you feel the weight of the “Chiyo” in your shikona?
A: I was very happy when I was given my shikona. I finally felt that I was truly a member of the Kokonoe beya, and this motivated me.
Onosho
Q: How do you feel about having the Jungyo in Chiba, where your heya is located?
A: I feel stimulated by the support of the local people.
Q: Many people don’t know how to pronounce your shikona. What do you feel about that name?
A: I feel I was given a good name. I’ll gambarize to make more people remember my name.
Any word on Kaisei? I’ve not been able to find news anywhere about him this month. Last tournament was pretty good for him. Even though he was low on the banzuke, and healthy would likely expect more than 9 wins, his losses were to solid guys who were likewise lower than usually.
There is almost no coverage for any wrestlers below Ozeki(wake) level – except if they happen to be from the locality of any particular Jungyo event. Or on Twitter if they are obasan favorites (but those tweets tend to be more of the “Myogiryu! I’m dying of cute!” type). Since Kaisei is neither, there’s little word on him.
But he was in the torikumi video I added to the Osaka post. When torikumi forms are published, his name is in. So I’d say he’s alive and well.
That Ishiura bout is almost up there with his immortal one against Takarafuji! And more successful, to boot.
At least this time it was a decent mawashi grip, rather than an attempt to undo his knot. :-)