Another excellent day has rolled out of the Ryogoku Kokugikan. I’ll refer to Ura’s revival bout and Enho’s survival bout in my separate lower division post (if I succeed in writing it – I have a family dinner this evening…). But for the time being, here is what the top division provided us with.

Kotoyuki starts with a morotezuki (thrust with both hands off the tachiai), but Chiyoshoma is already to his left, and gets him going, gone, gone. Kotoyuki says Chiyoshoma employed a henka. Chiyoshoma says he didn’t, and he is happy with his own sumo. It was a hit and shift, I would say.

Ishiura plants his head, securing his left hand on Yoshikaze‘s mawashi. But while doing so, he  loses ground, and Yoshikaze quickly disposes of him. It looked like Ishiura was trying to imitate Enho’s earlier bout vs. Hakuyozan.

It’s Takanosho and Ryuden‘s first meeting. Takanosho blocks Ryuden from getting his famous morozashi (grip with both hands inside), but that doesn’t disturb Ryuden’s thrusts. Takanosho says he concentrated too much on his ottsuke and failed to move forward.

Chiyomaru can hardly move this basho. Takanoiwa is unmoved by his morotezuki, quickly secures his favorite grip, then starts a low gaburi (hip pump).

Okinoumi doesn’t give Sadanoumi any opening. A couple of tsuppari, then secures a morozashi, and yorikiri.

Nishikigi seems to be posessed. He begins with a not more than decent tachiai and a bit of tsuppari, then suddenly shoves Kyokutaisei all the way to the third row. Where is Nishikigi-mama? Who is that murderous bully in the green mawashi?

There’s not much to say about Hokutofuji vs. Daieisho. Daieisho’s foot slipped on the layer of salt. 

Daishomaru does a half-henka, and Aoiyama finds himself biting dust.

Takarafuji determined to win, even though he doesn’t get his favorite grip. He does manage to keep Shohozan from executing his killer tsuppari with a right ottsuke, and pushes him away.

Kotoshogiku slams into Tochiozan, and gets him out without leaving him any breathing space. It’s the best Kotoshogiku has looked in a long time.

Kagayaki and Myogiryu are stalemated in the first few seconds of the match, when Myogiryu manages to pierce Kagayaki’s left side, pushes forward, adding a hazu attack on the other side, and disposes of the golden boy.

Asanoyama‘s bout with Onosho was hot. They clash mightily at the tachiai, with Onosho slapping at Asanoyama’s face, floating way above his head. Onosho tries to pull and thrust Asanoyama down. Asanoyama keeps his balance and momentarily gets Onosho into a grip. Onosho releases himself, at least partially, but Asanoyama stays close and keeps the pressure all the way to the rim. Exciting sumo.

Konosuke calls a matta that didn’t look like a matta in the Chiyonokuni vs. Shodai bout. Perhaps one of Shodai’s hands didn’t quite touch but…

I think what threw Konosuke off was the fact that Shodai changed his tachiai. Shodai used to always have his fists on the ground like a good boy, waiting for his rival to quickly imprint his – which is why he would take ages to get into a fighting stance. And here we have Shodai waiting, hands in the air, his weight on his feet rather than on all four of his limbs. I think in the second time his hands touched even less than in the first. But anyway, Konosuke let it continue.

Chiyonokuni throws some of his signature tsuppari, goes in, goes out, Shodai’s forward inertia makes him fall forward, and Chiyonokuni wins. Huge bandaging on his left arm, remnant of his encounter with Tamawashi in the previous basho.

Shodai must be frustrated – here he goes and fixes the one thing that was really wrong in his sumo, but he still can’t manage to win. I hope he sticks to it, though, because once he adjusts he could finally level up to his real potential.

Who said that everybody has figured out Abi‘s single weird trick? Endo apparently hasn’t. Abi with a morotezuki. Abi with fierce though slow tsuppari making use of his immense reach. Abi wins.

Chiyotairyu nearly gets Mitakeumi with a fierce kachiage followed by heavy tsuppari. Mitakeumi manages to slip a hand in and slide sideways, buying time. Chiyotairyu attacks again, but this time Mitakeumi is stronger and sends him outside. Mitakeumi said that he kept his cool on the dohyo, but his matta prior to the bout kind of belies that.

Goeido tries a harizashi, but he doesn’t have Hakuho’s speed. Tamawashi starts a fierce tsuppari attack, and Goeido defends, finally finding an opening for his left hand, whereupon it’s his game.

Yutakayama manages to deny Tochinoshin his grip for a few seconds, but he keeps going backwards all the time. Eventually Tochinoshin secures his grip, and from then it’s just a question of time – though he does let go of one of his hands to give Yutakayama the final push, as the latter has very strong toes holding on to the tawara.

Ichinojo is not moved by Takayasu‘s kachiage. Neither can land a grip and instead go for a pushing attack, which goes wilder and wilder until the Ozeki has his entire body driving the Sekiwake out. I’m sure the yobidashi will have to do something about the depression left in the floor next to the shimpan.

Kakuryu splashes into Kaisei‘s big body at the tachiai, easily grabbing his mawashi with his left hand, then shifts to the left, using the Brazilian’s own inertia as well as that mawashi grip to get behind him, and then carefully leads him out. Kaisei simply wasn’t in this bout, and really seems to always forget to take his talent out of his akeni when he is matched with Kakuryu.

Takakeisho is totally fearless. Starts with a murderous tsuppari attack, then tries to get the Yokozuna off balance. He grabs the Yokozuna’s left arm and tries to hurl him across the dohyo. Then when that fails goes for another attack. But this basho, Kisenosato is a lot more calm and collected than he was in previous basho. First, he defends against that hurl by a well positioned foot against the tawara. Then when Takakeisho tries his next attack, he spots the overcommitment – ever the bowling ball’s problem – and lets him fly outside with an expression on his face of “Boy, I’ve dealt with worse”.

Hakuho gets a grip quickly, but Ikioi actually has him moving backwards, being able to transfer power through the ground better than the Yokozuna. He even lifts him somewhat and shifts him sideways, when the dai-yokozuna employs plan B, wriggles away and throws his mimic to the ground. 900 bouts as a Yokozuna, 794 wins.