First off, check out Herouth’s fantastic write up here: Day 2 – Slip Slidin’ Away
Day 2 Thoughts
The Makuuchi corps put a very sloppy day one behind them, and delivered some excellent sumo action on day two. There were several fine battles of strength and will, and fans will marvels at Aminishiki’s skill and minimalistic approach to victory. Also of note, Endo fans are going to love today’s match – it seems like he may be past whatever trouble he had with his earlier injuries.
Two top men from Isegahama have us worried. Terunofuji clearly has no strength in his legs, and is more or less done for until his knees can heal up. As much as we all adore a giant McDonald’s-fries-eating kaiju in our sumo, it’s clear there is little chance he can defend his Ozeki bid. Just as troubling is the sumo of Yokozuna Harumafuji, who is clearly not up to speed yet. Our concern is that the Aki basho, which he slogged through in spite of whatever injury plagued him, was too much. Now we worry he is paying the price for his endurance.
Highlight Matches
Nishikigi defeats Ishiura – It’s natural to ask, “What happened to Ishiura?” A year ago he burst onto the dohyo and took everyone by surprise. Today he lost to Nishikigi. Not to slam Nishikigi, but Ishiura is a shadow of himself a year ago. Nishikigi got him moving and chased him off the dohyo.
Myogiryu defeats Daiamami – These two went at it for a good while, locked on each other’s mawashi, with Myogiryu eventually getting Daiamami upright and pushing him out.
Aminishiki defeats Kagayaki – Uncle Sumo made quick work of Kagayaki, meeting him at the tachiai, then moving back and pulling him down. Aminishiki once again made it look smooth and easy. It’s really neat to watch this much experience on the dohyo, as Aminishiki has been doing this for so long, one marvels at just how efficient the guy is.
Okinoumi defeats Aoiyama – I cheered this one, as Okinoumi has been struggling for a few tournaments. He actually had control of this match early, and danced Aoiyama around before pushing him backwards across the bales. It seems that Aoiyama injured his ankle in the match, sadly.
Ikioi defeats Asanoyama – The real Ikioi showed up today and decided to do some sumo, and it was great to watch. He took control from the start. He attempted a throw, but could not get it done. It didn’t matter, though, as he kept moving forward and Asanoyama could not mount a defense.
Endo defeats Kaisei – May have been the highlight match of the day, these two engaged in a vigorous mawashi battle that raged back and forth. Endo took the match with a shitatehineri, for those of you collecting kimarite. I really like the more genki version of Kaisei.
Shodai defeats Chiyoshoma – Still high at the tachiai, but today Shodai looked strong, confident and swiftly drove Chiyoshoma back and out. Can this version of Shodai please stick around? He’s the one we all like.
Tochinoshin defeats Daishomaru – Relieved to see a solid, strong win from the big Georgian. He continues to struggle with his bad knee, but today he showed his remarkable strength. He wrapped up Daishomaru and marched him out quickly.
Ichinojo defeats Takarafuji – Another protracted mawashi battle, which Ichinojo was all too happy to take to closure. Ichinojo seems to have picked up where he left off at Aki, and is showing some pretty solid sumo. I am looking forward to some of his matches against the San’yaku.
Hokutofuji defeats Mitakeumi – Second day in a row Hokutofuji gets a half step ahead of his opponent and just drives him back and out. Whatever Mitakeumi did to his foot seems to really be bothering him, as he can’t seem to apply much power to his attacks.
Shohozan defeats Terunofuji – Its clear that Terunofuji has absolutely no traction now, his knee is not strong enough for him to really do much sumo, and this tournament is going to be a daily visit from Mr. Pain for him. Shohozan seems to have almost took pity on him. Unless something changes, I am worried he won’t be able to win any matches this basho.
Chiyotairyu defeats Yoshikaze – Yoshikaze continues to be very streaky, and like Aki, he is starting off cold. Chiyotairyu took control of the match early and kept up the pressure. Yoshikaze more or less collapsed under his punishing attacks.
Goeido defeats Kotoshogiku – Some readers were upset with the Tachiai team during Aki because early coverage of Goeido was negative. As we explained at the time, it’s because he is capable of what we have seen the past two days. Strong, fast, low, aggressive and basically unstoppable.
Takayasu defeats Tochiozan – My pre-basho worries about Takayasu have more or less been quieted now. He looked solid against Tochiozan, and seems to be healthy enough to secure his 8.
Takakeisho defeats Harumafuji – Dear Harumafuji does not look good right now. I know he had a cold start at Aki as well, but it’s a tough basho for him, losing to two tadpoles in the first two days. Takakeisho did seem to overpower the Yokozuna, putting Harumafuji on defense (and a shaky one at that) right away.
Kisenosato defeats Onosho – Kisenosato picks one up as Onosho loses traction at the tachiai and drops. I am sure the recovering Yokozuna will take the win.
Hakuho defeats Tamawashi – Hakuho lands his left hand belt grip on Tamawashi that spins him around, and then pushes him out from behind. While I was hoping for some sort of “Flying Lesson”, this outcome is less hazardous for Tamawashi. The Boss is looking strong once more, and everyone else will need to get past him for the yusho.
I hope we will see Ishiura bounce back. Ichinojo’s rise was a bit more extreme, meteoric…and then the issues…now the bounce?
Not sure what’s in Ichinojo’s chanko these days, but I am so very happy to see him charged up and working his sumo. He’s never going to have the lightning moves of Harumafuji or the street fighter tactics of Yoshikaze, but history shows us there is a comfortable path for “Giant Man Sumo”, which I think everyone hopes he walks.
Ichinojo is Ferdinand the Bull. When he realizes what he can do and decides to do it, BAM. Otherwise, sniffing flowers in the field.
I really liked Chiyotairyu-Yoshikaze. He out-Yoshikaze-d him!
How soon do Harumafuji and Terunofuji go kyujo? As early as tomorrow, or do they stick it out for another day? Which throws in the towel first?
My opinion is that Terunofuji bows out first, and it will happen by Friday. I think Harumafuji is going to try and tough it out. If he loses again on day 3, he may just pull the eject lever.
I sure wish NHK would go to 1hour shows, they missed a lot of the matches listed here? With all the reruns of other NHK shows they broadcast, it’s not like they don’t have the slots or anything. Plus, they waste 3 minutes at the beginning showing the same “history of Sumo” over and over again for a couple of years now.
This is part of why I went to the Japanese language stream option instead of watching the NHK English highlights like I used to. I want to see everyone fight, even if it’s just a quick push-out. Though it seems like people are putting the NHK Japan upper division matches up on Youtube wholesale these days. We’ll see how long that lasts, maybe the copyright lawyers are on holiday?
I saw two of my favorite foreign oyakata hanging out by the ring at the end last night, I wonder what they are thinking about the trends in sumo these days.
By hanging out at Tachiai, watching Jason or Kintamayama, you are part of that cutting edge crowd that is opening up the sumo world….
I always like to say that sumo is “Japanese sport made for Japanese people living in Japan”. And it’s been more or less like that for a time. But I think there is starting to be a bit of a change, if the fan base keeps interested and growing a bit, we may see increased media to feed it.
I’m actually a bit sad that it wasn’t like this before. I remember being super excited about sumo back when I was a kid and the Hawaiians were breaking into the top ranks. But there just wasn’t any easy way to watch it regularly as an American growing up on the east coast. And as life got busy I forgot about sumo until I stumbled across it again on Youtube, and then got to watch it in person. So I really appreciate what you guys, Jason and Kintamayama have done to bring it back to the general English speaking media. Better late than never I guess!
Ishiura would have made an excellent rugby player with his strength and athleticism – popular sport in Japan but probably too old to switch now!
in the meanwhile, it looks like harumafuji beat takanoiwa with beer bottle after jungyo event end of october, causing him kyujo.
i wonder how ydc will react to this incident along with recent drop in his form
Holy smokes! If that pans out to be true it will be horrific and disturbing. I hope it’s completely false, as I would hate to think that Harumafuji would ever have cause to do such a thing.