🌐 Location: Omura, Nagasaki
Ohisashiburi! Here we go again with the daily (if possible) Jungyo updates. Sekitori (excepting 13 kyujo), tsukebito, the jinku team, the shokkiri team, and home boys from the various Jungyo locations – 250 people in total – gathered in Fukuoka and went down the road to Omura last night.
The events of the sumo world cannot be forgotten, and Kasugano oyakata, who has taken charge in place of Takanohana in this Jungyo, laid down strict rules of conduct, from maintaining the dress code to not allowing private outings. He also opened the day with an apology to the spectators.
But the fans who filled the venue to the brim (4000 attending) really couldn’t care less. Or rather, they cared, but mostly about getting Harumafuji goods before they are sold out. Harumafuji’s memorabilia was the most popular, as the following video (which also includes the bout between Kakuryu and Hakuho) shows.
Hakuho, as you can see, was diligently working the crowd in his usual fansa-god fashion.
I couldn’t get much details on the practices, who engaged whom etc., but I do have a couple more torikumi for you:
- Kore yori san-yaku
- Terunofuji vs. Yoshikaze
- Mitakeumi vs. Goeido
So, as you can see, Takayasu does not participate in the torikumi at this stage, while Terunofuji tries to find new and interesting ways to wreck his knees.
Bonus: Yokozuna tsuna-shime. This is one of the events of the Jungyo (and other exhibitions) – a demonstration of how the Yokozuna’s rope is wrapped and tied around him. This time Hakuho demonstrates. Guest star: Enho, who is on this Jungyo, as in the previous one, as part of the “Hakuho team”.
Yes, it takes 7 rikishi to tie up one Yokozuna (though I have a hunch that Enho is not really essential there). Note the squat at the end. The rope is tested and tightened so that it doesn’t move when the Yokozuna performs the shiko parts of his ring-entrance ceremony.
The full ceremony, including the unfurling of the rope, from a different angle:
So Terunofuji is proudly following in the footsteps of Kenta Kobashi, IE, keep working through the pain until you literally have no knees left and have to hobble around for the rest of your life. Not a great idea when you weigh over 180KGs……
Can’t even watch him fight any more, it’s too painful to see.
Rewind to Haru and many were speaking about his prospects for the white rope. How quickly things change when you do not let your injuries mend
Time to hit the gym and go on a diet before you end up in Juryo, Big T. it’s sad when you try a power move and the other guy just goes right around you.
I hate 2017.
Fascinating video. And amazing to see the Harumafuji gear snapped up like that. People vote with their dollars (well, yen).
The more information that comes out about what happened the more that it shows that Haramafuji is being made an example of where others were dealt with less harshly. The YDC does not look good in this scenario regardless of what their actions are attempting to do.
Harumafuji, unlike the others, was a Yokozuna. Also, in other cases, such as Kasugano, the victims did not press charges. Here, Takanohana forced the issue.
Yet, he’s spoken to the press and says that Haramafuji shouldn’t have had to retire. Takanohana is trying to play every political angle he can in this scenario, but I don’t think it’ll help him from losing a lot of power, influence, and respect.
I’m not sure his purpose was to have Harumafuji retire. By “forced the issue” I mean that he insisted on continuing the police investigation. What his motive is is hard to decipher at this point. To hurt Isegahama? To get Mongolians out of sumo? To change the world of sumo into a transparent and open organization?
One way or another, since he didn’t withdraw his complaint, the yokozuna had to retire.
Keep in mind, though, that Takanohana is currently undergoing the same sort of character assassination that Harumafuji underwent before he retired. He is the villain du jour, and that makes me very suspicious. He made some colossal political mistakes, in my opinion, and his rivals in the board seem to have given him what we call in Israeli gangster slang a “Little Red Riding Hood”, which basically means an entrapment operation. He’s heading for demotion for sure. But how evil is he? I’m not sure.
Very nice news report. Good to see fans, many of them women, come to the Jungyo.
Those are the famous “sumo obasan”. Sumo seems to be very popular among middle-aged women. Recently it started to see some popularity among the younger ones, but they are still hard to spot in the seats.
Maybe they need to time-share the lower box seats. I don’t know many younger people who could afford to sit down there, but it’s sad that they are mostly empty until mid-makushita. You do hear the women cheering on the youngsters sometimes, so I assume it’s their sisters and friends showing support.
Also relying on broadcast tv to show the basho is so 20th century. :P The NSK seems like it’s still playing catchup with online presence and social media appeal compared to other sports.
I was referring to Jungyo seats, really. It seems they are also occupied by elderly people.
Isn’t Sports Navi broadcast mainly online?
Sportsnavi is no more for 2018 (at least for sumo). Which rather sucks, cause I enjoyed their guest commentators.
I’m hoping for something that would allow our favorite content creators an easier live and direct source of footage in HD.
Enho couldn’t help with the wrap up. No white glovesies. (Hakuho looks a little deconditioned.)
Thanks for the videos.
He weighs about 10kg more than he would like to, but he tries to fast to drop those extra kilograms quickly between basho, and anybody who has ever been on the diet path can tell him that that never works.