The mischievous spirits of the fall tournament came to visit nakabi, the middle day of the tournament. Their children – chaos, surprise and disorder – were supposed to sit in the stands, but instead went to play on the dohyo. Today was a day of the odd and the unexpected. Many rikishi tasted a surprising defeat, and some long-struggling rikishi claimed a shocking win.

Hakuho racked up his 800th win as a Yokozuna. The man is running out of records to break. There is a committee somewhere in the bowels of the Sumo Association working on inventing new ones for him to strive for. Seriously, the man is the Michael Jordan of sumo.

Highlight Matches

Aminishiki defeats Kotoyuki – Kotoyuki buys Aminishiki’s somewhat relaxed henka, and Uncle Sumo grabs Kotoyuki by the neck and leads him around like a prized calf, finishing him with a tokkurinage, a two-handed head twist down. Note this is the first time tokkurinage has been used in Makuuchi [since 1953 –PinkMawashi].

Takanoiwa defeats Takanosho – Newcomer Takanosho surprised Takanoiwa with a strong attack out of the tachiai. But he failed to block Takanoiwa’s left hand outside grip, and Takanoiwa took control, winning the match. Takanoiwa’s return to Makuuchi looks secure for now. Good to see him in proper fighting form.

Ishiura defeats Okinoumi – Ishiura wins, without using a henka!

Yoshikaze defeats Sadanoumi – After a pair of matta, Yoshikaze engages in some fine denshamichi-sumo, advancing strongly out of the tachiai and never letting up. Yoshikaze up to 6 wins, but seems to be fading a bit. Hopefully he has enough genki left for 2 more wins.

Aoiyama defeats Nishikigi – Aoiyama stays on his feet today, and begins the match with his favored oshi-zumo. Nishikigi manages to break contact, recovers and takes the fight to Aoiyama, who quickly lands a double inside grip and throws Nishikigi. A much needed win for Aoiyama, who was limping after the match. It’s clear that heavily bandaged left knee is causing him problems.

Ryuden defeats Hokutofuji – Ryuden hands Hokutofuji his first loss of the basho. Hokutofuji’s “handshake tachiai” ended up too high, and Ryuden was able to work underneath Hokutofuji’s high hand placement, forcing Hokutofuji back. From there Hokutofuji was on defense, and Ryuden moved to a double inside grip and advanced to the bales. That was what it took, and Hokutofuji never recovered.

Kotoshogiku defeats Onosho – Onosho goes chest to chest with Kotoshigiku at the tachiai, which its written on the safety card you are never supposed to do. I will say that it’s quite likely Onosho has complicated the recovery from his knee injury, and will need to take some time after the basho to get his undercarriage back to working order. Onosho was clearly frustrated following this loss.

Myogiryu defeats Tochiozan – Myogiryu got inside early and focused on center mass. Finding himself without options, Tochiozan attempted a pull-down, and released forward pressure. This was all it took for Myogiryu to prevail. The basics of oshi-zumo are simple, yet oh so challenging. Get inside your opponent’s defense. Focus your blows center-mass, and no matter how hard you are getting hit, keep them centered against your body and keep your hips and feet moving forward.

Asanoyama defeats Takarafuji – Hapless Takarafuji has nothing this basho, and Asanoyama seems to enjoy the struggle he provides much the same way an angler enjoys the battle with his supper. Asanoyama advances to 6-2 in spite of Takarafuji’s double inside grip.

Kagayaki defeats Chiyonokuni – Looks like both rikishi thought it should have been a matta, but with none called, the fight was on. Furthermore it’s pretty clear that Kagayaki landed first. Not one of the better examples of officiating this basho. [Grumpy sumo fan noises. –PinkMawashi]

Shohozan defeats Abi – Abi gets high in the tachiai, and begins his double arm thrusts to Shohozan’s upper body. Shohozan was free to attack underneath, and he responded strongly, knocking Abi off balance, and moved him backward. Never one to ease up, Shohozan continued to advance and Abi collapsed under the attack.

Chiyotairyu defeats Endo – Seriously, Endo seems to be completely wrecked right now. It’s a shame to watch him fight each day with so little power and so little forward pressure. Clearly his support team needs to Shanghai him to the nearest sports medicine clinic and keep him there for a couple of weeks. At least Chiyotairyu got to rack up another win.

Takakeisho defeats Kaisei – I do love how Takakeisho is not even slightly intimidated by the giant Kaisei. He launches full bore into the tachiai, and bounces off. Completely unworried and un-phased, the attacks. This reminds me of my cat, who no matter how badly he falls off the top of the book case, carries on as if it was all going according to plan. Takakeisho keeps up the attack, but his “wave action” is working perfectly to keep Kaisei away form his mawashi. During one wave, Takakeisho catches Kaisei too far forward, and he thrusts him down. Outstanding tactics from Takakeisho.

Ikioi defeats Mitakeumi – Ikioi, who has no wins this basho, who has never won against Mitakeumi, probably shreds Mitakeumi’s attempt to reach Ozeki. It was a pure battle of oshi-power, and Ikioi was generating more forward pressure than I have seen him use all basho. Mitakeumi was completely disrupted and couldn’t formulate or execute any response. If a winless Ikioi can spank you in under 10 seconds, your Ozeki bid needs some rework.

Goeido defeats Tochinoshin – Goeido “The Executioner” puts the iron to Tochinoshin’s struggle to clear kadoban. Any time Goeido gets to dictate the terms of a match, everything happens in fast forward. Goeido blasts out of the tachiai, gets a left hand outside grip, and never slows down. In the blink of an eye, Tochinoshin realizes he’s doomed and tries for some kind of pull at the bales, but he’s already out.

Shodai defeats Takayasu – This is the challenge with Shodai, like some kind of cartoon character, he can be this big squishy marshmallow man who loses all the time. Then, without warning, he transforms back into megazord Shodai and can dismantle anyone on the dohyo. First off, Shodai’s tachiai actually was lower and maybe a bit stronger than Takayasu’s. Takayasu had him in a nodowa, but decided to pull – Shodai was clearly ready for this, and took advantage of the Ozeki shifting his weight to his back foot. Shodai advanced, and drove his arms inside. Takayasu now gets worried, focuses on blocking Shodai’s grip, and loses focus on his balance. Shodai does not let this go, and drives Takayasu to the clay.

Kakuryu defeats Ichinojo – Kakuryu took his time, Ichinojo gave up at the bales. Ichinojo’s fighting spirit needs a refill. Kachi-koshi for Kakuryu.

Tamawashi defeats Kisenosato – adding further fuel to my “Kisenosato’s out of genki” concept, Tamawashi gets his first win of the basho against a flagging Yokozuna. From the tachiai, Tamawashi landed both hands on Kisenosato’s shoulders, and his legs never stopped driving. Kisenosato did not have the energy to stop him, to set up a defense or even really slow down the loss. Tamawashi’s nodowa out of the tachiai was instrumental in raising Kisenosato high enough that the forward pressure was maximally effective. Outstanding sumo from Tamawashi today.

Hakuho defeats Yutakayama – 800th win for the dai-Yokozuna! In true Hakuho form, it was over in the blink of an eye. The returning Yutakayama only had a split second to imagine himself giving Hakuho a vigorous fight, and he was sliding face first across the clay. Kachi-koshi for Hakuho.