In what has become a tradition, the Nishinoseki Ichimon gathered on the 6th and 7th of November for a joint practice, held at Tagonoura’s practice hall in Fukuoka.
In addition to the Ichimon rikishi, other rikishi visited for degeiko, including, most notably, Goeido.
The first day was undoubtably Kisenosato’s day. He practiced with Yoshikaze, and beat him 8:2.
On the other hand, Takayasu faced Goeido. He managed to scrape one win, but the Aki yusho finalist overwhelmed him.
The second day looked less bright for Kisenosato, who took up the very very genki Goeido this time.
Out of 7 bouts, Goeido won 4 and Kisenosato merely 3. Furthermore, after adding two more bouts with Takayasu, the Yokozuna then left the dohyo and did not participate even in lighter practices. His stablemaster admitted that he was “exhausted”.
Goeido continued to practice with Takayasu, and again, had the clear upper hand with 9 wins and 3 losses.
I believe Takayasu would be the perfect candidate for Kosho-seido if it was reinstated. You can see that he can do his Tachiai well enough, meaning that his muscle is on the mend. But he hasn’t been practicing enough and doesn’t have the stamina. He would clearly benefit from a rest and some gradual practice.
If Goeido boots up in the correct mode, he’s definitely in the yusho-arasoi for this basho. I’ve seldom seen a genkier rikishi. He also repeated his intention to redeem his honor in the basho.
I strongly recommend setting up a Japanese proxy (or using a VPN service like TunnelBear) and watching the following Sports Navi videos (unless you’re in Japan, in which case I still recommend watching them, but you’re off the hook regarding the VPN). They contain much longer practice sessions than the above Youtube shorts.
- First day, Kisenosato vs. Yoshikaze
- First day, Takayasu vs. Goeido
- First day, various sekitori practice. Good day for Ryuden!
- Second day, Kisenosato-Goeido, Takayasu-Goeido
Goeido is out for redemption. Good to hear. I want to see him attacking and not backing up.
I wish Rikaigu worked on video subtitles as well, I’ve been watching these since I renewed my account in preparation for this weekend. I’m curious if any of the Sponavi interview videos have anything interesting besides Terunofuji singing along as he ignores the camera.
Those noises in the Goeido vs Takayasu practice though… sounds like he’s vomiting on the tachiai. 🤭
That Terunofuji interview was rather ridiculous. After singing “I have to do what I have to do” to the reporter, the reporter tells him “ganbatte kudasai”, as the Japanese do. Terunofuji replies “No, I won’t gambarize”. The shocked reporter responds “But everybody will be watching!”. Terunofuji replies “I don’t care, they may as well not watch”. I couldn’t quite get what he said after that as he was already with his back to the camera and getting away.
What the subtitles say at this point is “This interview turned out to be a glimpse into Terunofuji’s playful character”.
Of course, he has been over-gambarizing, and we might see him a Maegashira in Hatsu, as yesterday he was no longer able to do a Tachiai with his bad knee. :-(
Kisenosato seems to be able to make use of that left arm, which is both surprising and nice to see. And – although I’ll admit I’m not the best judge of this – Takayasu looks out of practice rather than injured. Maybe I’m just being overly optimistic though?