So… let’s start with a couple of Juryo bouts. First, if there are any Ishiura fans out there, take a look:
Finally, Ishiura gets a win, against the hapless Homarefuji. He plants his head and keeps his feet in order, and manages to take the Isegahama man out. Of course, this black star is probably the last worry on Isegahama Oyakata’s mind this day. But they keep piling on.
Now take a look at Yutakayama vs. Tokushoryu:
A couple of days ago I said that there’s a level of difference between Yutakayama and Asanoyama. But as it turns out, the larger man is already in possession of three wins, while Asanoyama is not doing as well.
Up into Makuuchi we go, and Daiamami gets his first win today! Admittedly, Kyokushuho is just a Juryo rival, but any white star is a gold star at this point for the newcomer. It starts with a matta, but in the second round, Daiamami just cannons into Kyokushuho and gaburi’s him out. The fans enjoy his interview face:
Kotoyuki also grabbed his first win today, in a bit of a confused battle. Myogiryu throws Kotoyuki down, but falls a split second before the huge meatball. Air resistance?
Up we go to take a look at everybody’s favorite uncle. Whatever is happening around him in his heya, and the fact that he is going to do his dohyo-iri in his own kesho-mawashi from now on, do not seem to affect him. Nishikigi tried to do the smart thing – to press the kneeless man against the tawara. But Aminishiki just tiptoed aside like a ballerina, and handed Nishikigi the first Katasukashi of the day.
Aminishiki’s comment on the Isegahama website: “The heya has met with a serious situation, but the remaining rikishi must do their best. As the eldest I will strive to lead everybody forward”.
Takekaze seems to be headed to Juryo (if he doesn’t decide to retire). Okinoumi exchanges some thrusts with him until he gets a nice hold of his neck and ends it with a hatakikomi (if anybody can explain to me why this is not a tokkurinage… sigh).
The Asanoyama vs. Kagayaki bout was different than I expected. I’m used to seeing Kagayaki flailing wildly with his arms and his… additional appendages… This time he basically got his hands on Asanoyama’s body and managed to beat the Yotsu man at his own game.
Daiesho gets a first win today as well, when, after some attempts to slap and defend on Ikioi‘s side, he finally sidesteps and lets the big man hit the clay.
Endo decides to use thrusts vs. Shodai, and doesn’t make any use of his tachiai advantage. Shodai withstands the tsuppari attack, and manages to get a grip on Endo’s upper body. That’s the end for the recovering man in the golden mawashi, as Shodai has more than enough power to get him out even without a mawashi grip.
Not much can be said about the battle of the Marus. Again, Chiyomaru seems to have come to the dohyo without his usual genki. Daishomaru easily pushes him out.
Arawashi takes Tochinoshin to the bales and executes a beautiful sukui-nage. As Tochinoshin tries to resist the fall, Arawashi uses his right leg against Tochinoshin’s left and “helps” him complete the roll. Very nice!
Takarafuji earns his first win today vs. Chiyoshoma. It was Chiyoshoma’s initial initiative, but Takarafuji rallied, didn’t let Chiyoshoma get any grip on him for a throw (come on, Chiyoshoma, don’t try neck grips with Takarafuji, those are futile!) – and then throws the thrower in a nice uwatenage.
The second Katasukashi of the day came from Ichinojo. But this one was rather weird. Hokutofuji came at him low at the tachiai, and Ichinojo grabbed him under his arms, and then just let him drop. Not sure if slippiotoshi or sloppy tachiai on Hokutofuji’s part.
Chiyonokuni‘s match with Shohozan was less of a slapfest than I thought it would be, and ended pretty quickly with the Kokonoe man slapping his opponent down. All-important first win for Chiyonokuni.
Kotoshogiku nearly succeeds in his game plan today, and starts pumping his hips. However, Mitakeumi makes sure to be loose on one side, and concentrates his power on his grip on the pump-man’s arm for a well-executed sukuinage. Still bothered by his toe, but as long as he can execute throws like that, I’m sure the sekiwake is happy. Kotoshogiku is not getting the comeback he was hoping for, now 0-3.
Terunofuji‘s ghost continues to float over the dohyo without ever being able to latch its feet to it. Yet another loss for the former kaiju, this time against Yoshikaze who picks up his first win.
I wonder when Onosho is going to switch back to his fiery red mawashi. Rikishi are usually quick to blame their mawashi for their troubles, and the tadpole clearly suffers some bad lack, with his second slippiotoshi in a row against Takayasu. Unlike yesterday, when the Yokozuna really could take no credit for anything in the bout, Takayasu can be commended for managing to keep his footing first against a sidestep and then when pushed to the tawara. Excellent footwork from someone who tore a major leg muscle less than two months ago.
Goeido diversifies. In the two previous matches he hugged his opponent and swept him all the way to the other edge. Today he heard it was Katasukashi day, so he showed Tochiozan that he has waza as well as brute force.
If anybody hoped for another pedagogic bout between Hakuho and Takakeisho, this was not to be. Takakeisho exhibited welcome fearlessness in this bout, and even attempted to throw the dai-yokozuna. And if he had managed to do that I would really be worried that we’re seeing the decline of the One True King. But of course, Hakuho maintained his footing, got his other arm on Takakeisho and quickly swept him off the dohyo.
Finally, in the musubi of the day, Kisenosato manages to overwhelm Chiyotairyu in a way that he can feel happier about than yesterday’s silly bout vs. Onosho. He almost dances back to his position on the east to take his prize money.
Some more lower-ranks action:
Osunaarashi – Takagenji:
#相撲
大相撲九州場所 三日目
大砂嵐 ⚪️ 掬い投げ ⚫️ 貴源治#九州場所 pic.twitter.com/qRtRVPqKJc— Kimihiro Suzuki (@KimihiroSuzuki) November 14, 2017
For followers of Shunba:
The Kisenosato bout was a big one for me today, it was still an open question on if he was actually up to doing real sumo, and today was as real as you could want.
Chiyotairyu actually seemed to come out on top on the tachiai for a moment there, but it didn’t last. It seemed he was trying to keep the yokozuna at arms length, but Kisenosato just walked through his tsuppari like they were nothing. Very impressive.
I think Chiyotairyu made a tactical error in moving backwards and trying to pull. All Kisenosato had to do was move forward, cut off space, and wait for Chiyotairyu to run out of room. Very smart sumo, but what would have happened had Chiyotairyu kept moving forward?
I think this is the type of bout we’ll see from Kisenosato from now on. He was using a similar style during the Jungyo. Hey, if it works, fine. But, it won’t beat Hakuho.
Makes sense. The Japanese “naturally healing” system is not about miraculous healing, but about adjusting one’s performance to work with what’s left. It seems that is what Kisenosato is doing. The reporters, however, will keep looking for that lost left ottsuke, and call every motion he makes with his left arm an “ottsuke”.
Guess I wasn’t the only one to notice that they didn’t talk about the missing Yokozuna at all. Not sure if I prefer that versus the US tendency to discuss every controversial sports event endlessly.
Going to take Uncle’s advice and try to focus on the positives and keep moving forward. Was nice seeing some hard fought tussles in makushita yesterday, including a win for my favorite comedy team Akua.
I think a lot of that is because Haramafuji just admitted what he did and the penalty for his behavior hasn’t been handed out yet. This definitely look grim for him, though.
Akua is only half a comedy team. What about Baraki? :-)
I <3 Baraki as well. I'm hoping he wins again on day 4!
Apparently, Uncle Sumo is having an effect on sumo’s top division. A variety of kimarite today!
I feel bad for Onosho. He’s doing well against his opponents, he just can’t maintain his footing. How frustrating that must be for him.
Mitakeumi is definitely in pain. I hope he makes it through all 15 days and performs well while dealing with his injured foot.
I have a feeling this is going to be another “weird” basho, but it won’t feel that way because Hakuho, Goeido, and Kisenosato are at the top of the leaderboard.
I hope Ichinojo continues to perform his sumo as well as he has recently. It’s a nice change.
Gambarize, Osunaarashi! If he was really injured like he has been previously, he would have lost that bout. Well done!
Thank you for posting the lower level bouts! It’s great to see them here.
It’s time for Terunofuji to start taking pointers from Aminishiki on how to do sumo with great arms and no legs. That’d be quite a sight!
He’ll need to lose at least 30kg before he can hope to do any of that. A lot of Uncle Sumo’s technique relies on his mobility.
That’s the part I want to see!
He needs to take a vacation to Los Angeles over the holidays. He’ll come back to Tokyo with beautiful skin, bionic knees, and 40 kg lighter – once the doctors get through with him. And there’s plenty of McDonalds to tide him over.
I have absolutely no idea why the Okinoumi-Takekaze bout was called as hatakikomi and not tokkurinage. There aren’t really enough videos of tokkurinage for me to spot patterns.