Thanks to Miselet, we have some video to discuss about Wakaichiro’s day 7 match. As I noted previously, Wakaichiro lost this match, but his sumo was a step change higher than what we had seen before.

Some things of note (breaking it down frame by frame). Wakaichiro cedes his chest to Kotorikuzan at the tachiai for a moment, but quickly applies a fierce nodawa and gets inside with his left hand, applying force to center mass. He takes Kotorikuzan to the bales and gives it everything he has, but Kotorikuzan will not go out. At 01:35 in the video you can see that he has Kotorikuzan bending against his effort, but Wakaichiro’s right foot is up on his toes.  This might be partially why he was not transmitting enough power to the clay to finish him.

The video is an excellent example of how far Wakaichro has come. His mechanics still have room for improvement. At the start of the match his footwork and his hand placement is outstanding. But in the heat of battle he gets a little sloppy. That is a function of experience. His instincts though, seem to be very good. Execution will come. Clearly toward the end, he’s getting tired. Stamina too will come in time. Plus its Nagoya and it’s bloody hot.

*Note – I did break this down frame by frame with screen grabs, but I think it was a bit over the top for some fans. So enjoy this summary.