🌐 Location: Goto, Nagasaki
Not much news from the Jungyo today. Most of the sports news is still focusing on the Harumafuji scandal rather than on sumo – but still, the guys took a ferry from the mainland to the Goto islands, where 2700 fans awaited them in Goto city.
Aminishiki confessed in his blog that he was embarrassed to find himself seasick in that ferry ride, coming from a family of fishermen. He blames it on the book he was reading. Again, too literate for his own good. :-)
Of the day itself, here is NHK’s report:
You get to see most of today’s musubi-no-ichiban, that is, Hakuho vs. Kakuryu. This time, Kakuryu wins. 1:1.
Then Hakuho makes his first public statement about the Harumafuji affair. He says: “I can’t find the words to say to the man. It’s better that I take my time, and then express myself to the man directly”.
That’s it for today, sorry for the brevity.
Tomorrow the Jungyo is on a day off. Hakuho, though, is not. He is going to be visiting the city of Asakura in Fukuoka Prefecture, which has been hit by torrential rain in July and suffered severe devastation. He will be there, together with Kotoshogiku (and at least one other maegashira, and of course his tsukebito team), accompanied by two oyakata, to comfort the survivors. He is expected to perform a dohyo-iri, to have pictures taken with the locals, and to participate in a memorial service.
For those readers who weren’t here in the previous Jungyo, here is today’s Sumo-Jinku. It’s a medley of sumo songs, performed in Jungyo and on similar occasions by low-ranked rikishi, wearing (borrowed) kesho-mawashi.
I’m wondering whose mawashi is worn by the singer with his back to us. It’s obviously way too wide for him. Chiyomaru? :-)
Sekitori participating in the torikumi:
Juryo
Takagenji, Yago, Osunaarashi, Takanosho, Gagamaru, Toyohibiki, Hidenoumi, Yamaguchi, Terutsuyoshi, Tsurugisho, Kotoeko, Sokokurai, Kyokutaisei, Amakaze, Sadanoumi, Abi, Homarefuji.
Makuuchi
Nishikigi, Kotoyuki, Daiamami, Takekaze, Aminishiki, Okinoumi, Kagayaki, Ikioi, Daieisho, Endo, Kaisei, Daishomaru, Chiyomaru, Shodai, Tochinoshin, Takarafuji, Arawashi, Ichinojo, Hokutofuji, Shohozan, Tochiozan, Chiyotairyu, Takakeisho, Tamawashi, Onosho, Terunofuji, Kotoshogiku, Mitakeumi, Yoshikaze, Kakuryu, Hakuho.
So, Takayasu is still just doing keiko. [Good. Rest well, huge bear. –PinkMawashi]
Thank you. Just so much thank you for this.
Yes Kakuryu!!! Please please come back healthy and strong for 2018, we all badly want to watch your fantastic sumo
With harumafuji no more competing, we might see 6 yusho from hakuho next year. kakuryu’s back seems hopeless and he might retire soon too. Kise, even when healthy, will not beat hakuho. And there are no healthy Ozekis around.
Does anyone know what the dohyo for the jungyo tours is made of? It looks like some sort of portable one with a thin layer of clay and sand but it’s hard to tell from these videos.
OK, I looked it up. It’s made of… beer boxes! Seriously! Of course, not cardboard boxes – good, sturdy wooden ones. The boxes are arranged as the foundation and fixed in place, then covered in tarpaulin and wooden boards. Sandbags are arranged at the edges to contain the clay, and then a layer of clay is laid.
I saw no mention of the side panels, but I suspect those are prefabricated.
Tochinoshin’s back for Jungyo? Did the poor fellow get to go home to see his newborn?!