I was looking for Torakio’s match from today (that Naruto beya obsession I have), and stumbled upon a collection of interesting low-rank bouts I thought would be worth sharing. First, here’s the one I was looking for, Torakio (left) vs Kotosato:
Now, we all know Orora, right? The man who recently broke the NSK all-time record for body weight. So what is his sumo like?
Here he is today, wrestling with Furanshisu, who is a Philipino wrestler, and that’s the Japanese rendition of his real name (Francis). The weight difference between them is about a whole Kisenosato. I mean, Orora is 288kg, and Furanshisu is 103kg.
What do you know, a monoii!
Now, remember the princess of the Jungyo, Hikarugenji? He’s quite the opposite of Orora as far as size goes. Here we have him against Kasugakuni.
Apparently, mattas are not reserved to Makuuchi. And weight is an important thing in Sumo.
Looking for someone older than Aminishiki? Here is Hanakaze, who is almost my age… He’s 47 years old, and barely has any hair for a chon-mage. Of course, he’s only in Jonidan. Still better than Hattorizakura… Here vs. Wada:
This time, not just a monoii, but also a torinaoshi. And that man has some Aminishikiness in him.
Now, here is Tokuda, who was mentioned in Tachiai in the past, and he’s back in Sandanme at the age of 17. He’s 190cm, 123kg, and looks promising:
And now, for the followers of the Taka twins, here is Takayoshitoshi from yesterday:
And here is his little brother, yesterday and today:
Yago? Next basho he’s in Makushita for sure.
This also gives you a glimpse into Takanosho, the shin-Juryo, who is not half bad. It’s a different “Taka”, by the way.
I love that you are digging up and posting these matches. I have yet to find any footage of Wakaichro’s matchup from day 2 – I wonder if One and Only is sitting Kyushu out.
Has he been covering Kyushu bashos in the past? I get the feeling he’s a Tokyo man.
I haven’t been able to find any Wakaichiro footage, either.
I wonder if the setup in Kyushu is harder to film in situ as well. Even in these videos you can see the Japanese ring announcer sitting up in the corner behind the lower cushions. The stream announcers don’t even have a real booth, they are sort of jammed up next to the upper seats with 3 monitors and a camera actually behind them (which makes for really awkward chat sessions).
I was yelling at the ref in the Orora v Francis match, and I’m glad the judges stepped up and awarded him the win. I really feel bad for the smaller guys going up against the Wall o’ Meat, not sure even a henka would work since he just… doesn’t move…. fast…. at all.
(p.s. it’s easy to get versions of these with better audio if you need anything specific for an article)