Absolute blockbuster day of sumo, as the cobwebs of the early days are almost all swept away, and we race towards the end of Haru’s first act. Today we saw some of the best sumo thus far from Ichinojo and Mitakeumi, with Takakeisho and Tochinoshin a close second. In fact, I would say that both of those matches are worthy of study in sumo school, as each show an opponent going against a larger, strong rikishi, and finding a way to win.
Apologies for the late highlights today, much insanity has broken loose in life. I will gamberize for Thursday.
Highlight Matches
Aoiyama defeats Hidenoumi – Aoiyama to gut and fillet everyone who stands against him. Hidenoumi had no chance as his tachiai hit a wall of flesh, and then the nodowa landed on his throat. Aoiyama finished with him and tossed him aside like a bag of rotten miso. With Aoiyama back to genki status, I predict he is going to inflict a lot of pain at the bottom of the banzuke.
Kyokushuho defeats Myogiryu – Visiting from Juryo, Kyokushuho takes a bite out of the struggling Myogiryu. Both men started with thrusts, and then went chest to chest. The closing kotenage looked on the painful side, but Myogiryu seemed ok afterward.
Ikioi defeats Asanoyama – The injured Ikioi remains unbeaten at Maegashira 14 and is managing to best his opponent each day, no matter what. He is already halfway to a kachi-koshi. Today it was Asanoyama. Ikioi absorbed a fury of blows, then drove forward. Asanoyama seemed ill-prepared to shift to defense, and Ikioi applied a yoritaoshi for a rapid win.
Tochiozan defeats Kotoyuki – Fusen-sho, Kotoyuki has withdrawn from Haru. Possibly too many air-express trips into the front row.
Yutakayama defeats Ishiura – Ishiura attempted a mini-henka, but Yutakayama was ready. Following that, Ishiura could never set his feet at all, and it was a bit of a dance/chase routine that had Ishiura out in a hurry.
Chiyoshoma defeats Ryuden – Chiyoshoma gets his first win, in a thrusting battle with Ryuden that left the Freshman unable to find his balance or set up for any kind of stable offense. Chiyoshoma uses this with great skill and keeps him unsteady. Ryuden was a bit slow to get up, hopefully, he is ok.
Abi defeats Daieisho – Once again Abi plays the part of the bull fighter. He uses his superior reach to goad Daieisho into a fierce forward charge, then steps out of the way as Daieisho launches out of the ring. We like to make fun of Abi and his long limbs, but watch this bout in slow motion, Daieisho can’t even really touch the man.
Yoshikaze defeats Kagayaki – Yoshikaze looked a bit better today, but nowhere near full berserker strength. Kakayaki was unable to cope with the raging chaos that is Yoshikaze, and he was overwhelmed. Both men are now 2-2.
Hokutofuji defeats Chiyomaru – Great to see that Hokutofuji finally picked up his first win. He has been turning in poor performances for a few months, and fans have to wonder what problem is plaguing him. Chiyomaru was soft at the tachiai, while Hokutofuji launched with abandon. Strictly a thrusting battle, Hokutofuji focused on pushing Chiyomaru from center mass, and it worked.
Kaisei defeats Shodai – The worst part of this match? A moment before he steps out, you can see Shodai visibly give up. Can we please find some way to put Shodai through whatever self-help session fixed Ichinojo? Maybe some time with a couple of nice ponies, or maybe chasing down wolves in the streets of Sumida? Kaisei looking quite genki, and picks up his 4th straight win.
Shohozan defeats Kotoshogiku – Damn, Shohozan is looking quite fierce so far. Kotoshogiku is a fraction of his former self, and he tried to rush forward and go chest to chest. But Shohozan gave ground under his control, and Kotoshogiku could never plant his feet and bounce forward. Shohozan picked up a nice win, also 4-0 to start.
Chiyotairyu defeats Takarafuji – Chiyotairyu also picking up his first win of the tournament today against Takarafuji. It was clear from the start that Chiyotairyu was going to make this an oshi-battle, and Takarafuji planted his feet and dug in. But the more massive Chiyotairyu took control, got Takarafuji off balance, and slapped him down.
Mitakeumi defeats Ichinojo – Now we start the really GOOD stuff. Wow, very impressed with Mitakeumi this fight. Ichinojo was going to once again apply the “I’m incredibly large, deal with it” strategy, but I think he was unprepared that yes, Mitakeumi was ready to deal with it. From the start, Ichinojo is just physically much higher than Mitakeumi, and Mitakeumi works with that. He gets inside of Ichinojo, but rather than going for the belt, he puts his hands on the giant’s chest and starts pushing. Ichinojo thinks to himself “silly pony!”, and leans forward. The weight is clearly taxing Mitakeumi, but he dials up the pressure. 500 pounds of Mongolian is crushing down on Mitakeumi, but he’s not going to relent. Ichinojo moves to shift his grip, and Mitakeumi takes Ichinojo’s armpits. He lifts and pushes hard. There was no recovery, and Ichinojo could never again plant his feet. Fantastic win by Mitakeumi!
Takakeisho defeats Tochinoshin – Day 4 was not done giving us things to cheer about. A fantastic match between Hatsu Yusho winner Tochinoshin, and the grumpy tadpole Takakeisho. You know, of course, that Tochinoshin wants to get his left hand on the Bowling Ball’s mawashi. And he gets it. But rather than shock or defeat, a look of intensity and motivation sweeps across Takakeisho’s face, and he drives forward, lifting Tochinoshin’s left arm with everything he has… and breaks the grip! This leaves Takakeisho off balance and stumbling, but Tochinoshin pursues. They continue to stagger like drunken Tanuki across the dohyo, with Takakeisho doing a pirouette as Tochinoshin takes in a mouth full of clay. Nicely done to Takakeisho! The crowd cheers as both men bow, what an effort!
Takayasu defeats Tamawashi – Kind of boring oshi-fight, with Takayasu delivering his now obligatory shoulder blast. He does manage to out slap Tamawashi, which is quite an accomplishment. Bout ends with a hatakikomi. Kind of boring… but hey, Ozeki got his second win, now 2-2 for the basho.
Endo defeats Goeido – Endo has a sequence of moves he has used a few times now at Haru and Hatsu. He employed it again today against Goeido, and shame on the Ozeki for falling for it. He meets the tachiai low and strong, makes sure his opponent ramps up the pressure to full power, and then while keeping his hands on his opponent’s upper body, steps aside and releases. Worked again today. Everyone, keep an eye on Endo!
Kakuryu defeats Arawashi – Very straightforward match. Big K meets Arawashi at the tachiai and marches him straight backward. Very happy that the lone Yokozuna is doing well this basho. Perhaps his detractors will gain some respect for him?
I have no idea where this basho is going and that is a good thing. Kakuryu is the best wrestler in the tournament but it looks to be as though the right hand is bothering him more and more and I’m not sure that he can make it to the end. Take him out of the equation and this one is anybody’s. Even at this early stage I get the scent of a 12-3 play-off wafting through the air. In case you didn’t know, “12-3 play-off” smells of sandalwood and jasmine,with citrus top-notes.
Sadly, Tochinoshin picked up 2 losses far too early. And the loss today should show everyone else, KEEP HIM AWAY FROM THE BELT AND RUN AWAY! HE MAY FALL!
Very intriguing Basho so far – seems like anyone could end up walking away with the Yusho, even more than in January!
Having seen almost all of his matches since he reached Makuuchi, I really think today’s performance was a big statement for Mitakeumi. He’s developed well thus far, and shown some really impressive technique along the way, but so far I feel like he still has a couple of obstacles to overcome on the way to Ozeki.
The first is his weakness against bigger, stronger mawashi specialists. Mitakeumi’s well-rounded enough that he can keep most yotsu-specialists off of his belt, while simultaneously being able to out-muscle most pusher-thrusters. The guys he tends to struggle most with are the Ichinojos, Tochinoshins, Terunofujis and Kisenosatos (when healthy), who have big reach advantages and manage to lock him up consistently. That’s what made today’s win over a (supposedly) healthy Ichinojo so impressive.
Of course, Mitakeumi’s other major obstacle is his tendency to lose focus and fade once he’s made his kachi-koshi, so we’ll see if he’s made any progress in that area over the next 11 days. Here’s hoping he can finally break through to the double digits this time around!
That’s twice in a row the bigger rikishi tried to come in lower than Endo and get under him. That’s…insane. He’s incredibly low to the ground just by natural build. These guys are psyching themselves out and getting out of balance trying to remind themselves to stay low.
I am still in awe of Mitakeumi from that fight. When he locked up underneath the behemoth I was sure it was over. I think he found the genius solution–Ichinojo is heavy but he’s also very TALL. Worked him like a lever. Still, tremendous strength there. Awesome stuff.
Takakeisho v Tochinoshin delivered the goods!!!! What a bout!
The Blue Mountain looked positively graceful at the end of his Day 4. Went all out to avoid stepping on Hidenoumi’s head.
Yes! The bag of rotten miso returns!
A couple other notes
That was a Hakuho performance from Big K. Gets the grip and manages the situation.
Kotoshogiku looked like he had a rug pulled out from under him. I still think he’s reliable for 6-8 wins but mistake to try the belly bop without ever getting set, since it’s not a controlled manoeuvre. Also foolish to go for it when Shohozan had a firm grip on his mawashi!