As has become customary before a basho, NHK will assemble their group of commentators and experts to discuss the tournament. Prior installations of this show have featured some really interesting and useful segments covering topics such as “how to wear a mawashi”, and “How to go about getting day-of tickets”.
NHK GRAND SUMO Preview (US Times)
Nov. 9, Thu. 11:30 PM Eastern / 08:30 PM Pacific
Nov. 10, Fri. 03:30 AM Eastern / 12:30 AM Pacific
Nov. 10, Fri. 11:30 AM Eastern / 08:30 AM Pacific
Nov. 10, Fri. 05:30 PM Eastern / 02:30 PM Pacific
More information here
11:29pm tonight (Thursday) here on Comcast Channel 268. Good stuff!
What is the name of that channel?
Wow, thanks for the comment – it seems they have changed its time slot and it will roll late tonight and tomorrow during the day.
I hope this time Kakuryu’s announcement came early enough to prevent the blunder they had last time, spending half the show on Hakuho, in a basho in which he didn’t participate.
And the other half of the show talking up Mitakeumi’s yusho chances, which was a bit of a swing and a miss.
This time slot worked out well for those of us on the west coast! Great to get in the first viewing. My three comments:
1) Amazing to see John Gunning double down on his article on the training and jungyo over-work and also for both Hiro and Murray back him up on that. Especially given what we know of the media, it was surprising to me to see that on NHK (even though it was the English language version)
2) i really enjoyed this episode though I do think they came up short on analysis. The sumo school bits were cool and it’s great to see some rikishi we’ve been talking up early with a couple appearances! I won’t spoil who but I’ll tell you two of them were in the last “ones to watch!”
3) Also great to see Aminishiki featured and see how he’s using his brain and that less is more training strategy to defeat his opponents. I wouldn’t be surprised at a sneaky 8-7!!
I’d also add the Onosho/Takakeisho friendship is very touching and cool
Uncle Sumo is Awesome!
I enjoyed the show last night. The correspondent they sent to the school looked so exhausted after being done with the training.
I like how Aminishiki casts a positive light on all his years of dealing with injuries. Without them he wouldn’t get the oldest return record and get on tv as much. :)
They always seem to send out Raja Pradhan on such tasks: how to wear a mawashi, how to stand in line two hours to get a ticket to the kokugikan, etc. But this time it was particularly sweaty.
And now we know where Harumafuji pulled the hiragumo (“spider”) stand part of his shikiri routine from.
I was surprised that everybody kept their face straight when Aminishiki said that. I mean, “I’m thankful for my injuries. Without them I wouldn’t be able to break the record for the oldest to return to Makuuchi. I hope to break more records to get more TV interviews”. I burst out laughing. Sure, get the same knee busted 5 times and your tendon snapped in order to get TV interviews. That’s the lesson of the day.
One thing I didn’t know was that Aminishiki still has a snapped ligament in his right knee that was never reconstructed. The fact that he can do suri-ashi even for three seconds without that brace is a mystery to me.
And I guess that’s where Ura got the brilliant idea to try to go back to doing sumo without having surgery. Good thing it didn’t work out.
That Aminishiki-Hakuho bout should also have been accompanied by Yaketi Sax.
I rather thought that John gunning toned down his criticism regarding rikishi injuries.
I actually feel sorry for Baruto for having to end up in a career in low-budget theatricals. It’s like Wakanohan’s “tarento” and chanko restaurant careers. It’s… something that puts food on the table, I suppose, and better than washing cars or restrooms. But… they tried to glorify the sumo experience as something that serves as a platform to your next career, and they failed miserably. If you don’t have a kabu or a university degree, it’s hard to get a decent second career at the age of thirty-something, especially in the current world economy.