🌐 Location: Kasugai, Aichi
🚫 Scandal level: 0
The tour reaches Aichi. Many active rikishi hail from Aichi, but most of them are in Makushita and below and are not present in the Jungyo. But there is one sekitori who gets all the glory when the Jungyo hits Aichi-ken. I give you… Akiseyama!
Aren’t you glad that I couldn’t find any other pictures or videos of the star of the day?
With sekitori dropping like flies, this day brings some replenishment, as several sekitori catch a train to Nagoya and join the jungyo. We have Tochiozan:
accompanied by his heya-mate, Aoiyama:
And we had this guy:
<秋巡業@春日井市>ぶつかり稽古。千代の海に胸を出す、高安。 #sumo #相撲 pic.twitter.com/tRDVigMZbr
— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) October 11, 2018
Yeah, we now have a complete set of Ozeki. Nominally, we also have a complete set of Yokozuna, but we already know one of them is not in the best condition:
Hakuho does not skip work, but he is in a bad way. You can see him limping:
よく見ると歩き方変なんだよね…(・ω・`) pic.twitter.com/obRRxAId9X
— ドス子 (@xdosu_koix) October 12, 2018
But he was very diligent about his fansa:
この時も痛かっただろうに…ゆっくり休んで下さい(゜´Д`゜)(゜´Д`゜) pic.twitter.com/3jGJTCHDwA
— ドス子 (@xdosu_koix) October 12, 2018
Good bye, Yokozuna. This is the last we will see of him in this Jungyo.
Going back inside the venue, Tamawashi was having a conversation with Mitakeumi, who still seems to be fascinated with the Eagle’s nipples:
玉鷲と御嶽海のイチャイチャぶりが可愛いかったのでどうぞ😊#春日井場所 pic.twitter.com/roD7E6xjrT
— ぽこたん (@pokopoko_kise) October 11, 2018
Eventually he tries to trip Tamawashi. And Tamawashi is all like “You want to trip a Mongolian wrestler? You’ll have to do better than that”.
Nishikigi was prowling the grounds, lurking, waiting for anything wearing a mawashi:
秋巡業(2018.10.11)#錦木 #春日井巡業 pic.twitter.com/MqHkmMjO9e
— Tammy (@Tammy92385758) October 11, 2018
Chiyonokuni was his usual enthusiastic self, in a moshiai session with Ryuden.
<秋巡業@春日井市>申し合い稽古、千代の国と竜電。 #sumo #相撲 pic.twitter.com/tdX0fSPp27
— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) October 11, 2018
But enthusiasm was not enough to win.
Since Nishikigi seemed bored, Kisenosato decided to have a sanban session with him:
#春日井巡業#稀勢の里関#錦木関
三番稽古① pic.twitter.com/jmtVHauhQg— ゆず茶 (@YNihontya) October 11, 2018
Nishikigi quite comfortably manages the makikae there, and the Yokozuna does not take advantage of that to push him out of the ring. Odd. Also, he can’t defend against the makikae itself by locking his armpit.
#春日井巡業#稀勢の里関#錦木関
三番稽古② pic.twitter.com/6X1Wgm7jI0— ゆず茶 (@YNihontya) October 11, 2018
OK, this looks more like Kisenosato.
#春日井巡業#稀勢の里関#錦木関
三番稽古③
お尻ペチッ‼️ pic.twitter.com/pciQ68I3jV— ゆず茶 (@YNihontya) October 11, 2018
Oops. Slippiotoshi. The yokozuna is not happy to win other than by his own power, and expresses his opinion to Nishikigi’s tush.
#春日井巡業#稀勢の里関#錦木関
三番稽古④ pic.twitter.com/zvql4HPqAB— ゆず茶 (@YNihontya) October 11, 2018
OK, now he’s a happy Yokozuna.
#春日井巡業#稀勢の里関#錦木関
三番稽古⑤
ふたたび、お尻ペチッ❣️
愛のムチ❣️腰の重い錦木関、
本場所では、要注意です‼️10番くらい取りましたが、
全部は、撮してません(^^) pic.twitter.com/ItMC6I8CYM— ゆず茶 (@YNihontya) October 11, 2018
Yet another loss of balance from Nishikigi, who seems to have his ass in the stratosphere. Kisenosato gives it yet another hearty slap. At this point Nishikigi must be wishing hard he did not do so well in the previous basho, because he might actually get to meet Kisenosato and all the rest of the sanyaku in the next one.
Keiko is over. Everybody is going to get cleaned, but Kotoshogiku goes for something special:
It’s an onsen. In fact, this onsen:
おはようございます❗️春日井温泉です。今日は、朝から暑いです。夏に戻った⁇🌞秋のイベントなど、開催されているかと思います。1日の締めくくりに皆さんで銭湯にお越し下さい😊 pic.twitter.com/rJPRTFTvIP
— 春日井温泉 (@kasugaionsen1) October 7, 2018
I think that’s quite a nice way to get yourself cleaned up for the torikumi.
In the mean time we have the low ranking torikumi, and surprisingly, the only torikumi I have for the day is Arikawa’s. Arikawa, whom the fans call “Arikawa dai-sensei”, is Kisenosato’s tsukebito:
Not half-bad! Nice tawara dance.
It’s time for the Juryo dohyo-iri. And apparently, Enho changed his kesho-mawashi back to the one he received from his alma mater.
My guess would be that this is in preparation for the jungyo event in Kanazawa, where that university is located (and where he comes from).
He is followed there by Wakatakakage. So where is Terutsuyoshi?
Apparently, he has to touch someone, so why not Gokushindo?
Gokushindo, by the way, travels the Jungyo as one of Kakuryu’s team of tsukebito. But he is about to graduate from it, like Abi did, as he turned sekitori. The Yokozuna informed him that he will not be allowed back once he “graduated” – so stick to Juryo, pal! His replacement is Shohoryu (not Hoshoryu – Shohoryu, the guy with the hula sagari). So watch out for Shohoryu from now on.
Well, here is your Tobizaru of the day:
Hooray for Akiseyama getting a moment in the spotlight.
It looks to me like Aoiyama could probably do with losing a little bit of weight, no?
When a man puts on 150 pounds of extra body mass there’s no telling where it will end up. In Aoiyama’s case an unsightly amount found it’s way into his man-boobs whereas for Akiseyama’s it all settled in his undergut. The best case scenario is that he’ll grow into a nice spherical pumpkin-shape like Kisenosato.
Akiseyama’s weight has a strange history. He joined sumo, at least according to the sumodb, weighing 198kg! He then lost some 27kg before hitting Juryo. But he has increased his weight since, and is now 188kg (official weight).
I think this whole thing caused him to have excessive skin. He has folds that nobody else has. And now they are refilling, but still baggy. The whole effect is that of a sad potato with folds. He certainly has mobility and posture problems, which Aoiyama doesn’t seem to have (leg issues aside).
How common is it for rikishi to deliberately lose significant amounts of weight to try to gain an advantage? Does the coach (oyakata?) ever tell some of them to go on a diet?
I vote for Ichinojo for a diet. I am fairly new to sumo (although obsessed) and my husband and I are watching old bashos and just finished Aki 2014 and he was unbelievable!!! He was so different, more energetic and just astounding. The weight he has added did not help him at all. I would love to see him be able to do his 2014 “brand of sumo” again.
Aoiyama astounds me with his agility sometimes. But those man boobs……
Yeah, I do believe he and I share the same cup size.
I suspect he outranks me there!
I think the most spherical has got to be Chiyomaru. Kotoshogiku somehow is square.
Everytime I see Akiseyama, I think he lacks darashi, if you catch my drift.
As in da Yoshikaze rash-i?