Aki 2018 Jungyo – Day 13 (Oct 16)

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abi-and-tsurugisho-are-in-osaka
We’re in Osaka! Dotonbori! Food!

🌐 Location: Izumisano, Osaka
🚫 Scandal level: 0

The Jungyo reaches Osaka, where a one day hiatus allows the rikishi to roam the big city and try to imitate the Glico Man, which Abi does much better than Tsurugisho. They then head to the town of Izumisano.

But the theme of attempting to imitate local landmarks continues:

mitakeumi-tobizaru-hokutofuji-statue-1

Guys, that statue has his right arm stretched straight forward. Mitakeumi, are you trying to demonstrate self-defense techniques? That’s a tried-and-true way to defend against a taller guy attacking you from behind, though I can hardly think of anybody who would dare to do that. Well, maybe Hakuho. But I wouldn’t recommend trying to elbow him in the face if you want your innards to stay out of the sun.

mitakeumi-tobizaru-hokutofuji-statue-2

Yeah… well… Hokutofuji, good marks for being the closest. Mitakeumi, you are imitating that statue, not Muhammad Ali, and your left arm… oh, I give up. Where is Abi when we need someone who can (a) lift his leg properly, and (b) imitate a land mark closely enough?

Still outside the venue, a lucky spectator caught a sekitori playing catch with his tsukebito. Only… from that distance, it’s not clear who the rikishi is:

mystery-game-of-catch

I’d swear we’re seeing a Yokozuna here, and Kisenosato is known for having rather strange forms of exercise. But opinions on Twitter say that this may actually be Kotoshogiku. What do you think?

OK, let’s move inside the venue. What do we see there?

Ryuden is trying to make a fashion statement.

ryuden-fashion-statement

I think this is inspired by Greco-Roman art.

Takayasu, on the other hand, demonstrates a perfect seiza (did I mention “ouch”?):

bear-demonstrating-perfect-seiza

God, look at his paws. I mean, feet.

Now, I know I make fun of poor Akiseyama all the time. The man really has an unfortunate shape. But he is apparently a nice guy. Here he is fixing Chiyonoumi’s mawashi knot:

akiseyama-fixes-chiyonoumi-mawashi

Here Tsurugisho tells a young fan that Akiseyama is hot and needs to be fanned. The little lady complies:

Akiseyama: “Thank you”.

I personally started liking him when I saw him in the previous Jungyo, interrupting Takayoshitoshi, who was trying to strike a conversation with his tsukebito, with remarks about violence prevention. I call that Akisekarma.

So go Akiseyama! (Just try to go dressed if you can).

Practice bout between Meisei and Chiyonoumi:

Intense!

Myogiryu vs. Ichinojo:

Sigh.

Onosho vs. Shohozan:

Onosho still not as dominant as he would like to be.

Takayasu vs. Daieisho:

Takayasu needs to get that ass of his down.

Yutakayama vs. Mitakeumi:

Tons of upsets this day.

Kakuryu (who has began doing serious keiko rather than just butsukari) vs. Shodai:

No upsets here.

Practice time over, and the rikishi begin their bouts. And the torikumi schedule of the day is repurposed as a rack for spectacles:

torikumi-hyo-multiple-uses

There is even a pair in one of the portholes. Japan, and East Asia in general, has a very high percentage of myopia, and rikishi are no exception.

Just before Juryo is up, Enho turns up the Cute generator to near maximum level:

enho-overdoing-it-on-the-cute

I’m guessing it’s at this point that Tomokaze and Chiyonoumi start asking him if he has a sister. No, seriously, that guy is a walking cognitive dissonance. What’s a pretty pixie oozing with Cute like that doing in a combat sport, and practically at its top decile at that?

That doesn’t prevent people from pulling pranks on him, though. Here he is receiving his power water and power paper… form somebody who makes a point of handing them from high above:

enho-power-water
“Here is your water, short stuff”
enho-power-paper
“And your paper, half pint”.

I think that’s Tomokaze doing the deed.

And before the Makuuchi bouts, who else but Tamawashi is pestering Kaisei:

tamawashi-kaisei-cheektamawashi-kaisei-ouch-hehehe

Can’t you find a way to amuse yourself that doesn’t involve pain?

Here is the Abi-Onosho bout, courtesy of Teraoumi (who serves as Abi’s tsukebito):

Onosho looks a lot better here than in the keiko session earlier on.

And here is a Kisenosato digest for you, which includes the bout between him and Kakuryu:

Both Yokozuna have their hips up in the stratosphere. I don’t get this.

Here is a lonely Kasugaryu with his bow:

kasugaryu-with-bow

Kasugaryu is Hakuho’s tsukebito. But now Hakuho is not in the Jungyo, and basically, he’s a servant with no master. His only duty is the bow twirling – he doesn’t even participate in the torikumi!

That’s it. No additional Tobizaru other than the group photos has been located today. So instead, here is another Enho. With the inseparable Terutsuyoshi, of course:

terutsuyoshi-enho
Hey, there’s a spec of dust on your right wing. Let me get that for you.

Did you notice something strange? A whole day spent in Osaka, and there was absolutely nothing about Goeido. And it wasn’t as if I wasn’t looking. There were only some photos with fans.

 

8 thoughts on “Aki 2018 Jungyo – Day 13 (Oct 16)”

    • The moob profile certainly suggests Kotoshogiku. Kisenosato is flatter but wider “up top”. One of those “you know you’re a sumo fan when…” comments.

      Reply

  4. You can always rely on Chiyonokuni to give 100% even in practice bouts. As for Ichinojo, I think we need someone to bring the pokeflute.

    Kakuryu has a very loose mawashi there. I thought people generally didn’t like to use that particular trick on jungyo?

    Reply

    • I don’t think it’s a trick. It’s just how he always has his shimekomi. You want to be comfortable when you work. His rivals are all familiar with it so I don’t think it gives him much advantage – if they want to lift him, they better get more than an ichimai hold.

      About the keiko bouts – I think in Jungyo they are much more serious than the official bouts. In general, rikishi consider keiko to be very important. “Hard in training, easy in battle”, as we say in Israel. It’s true that intense keiko bouts in jungyo are more dangerous than in their keiko-ba at home (where the dohyo is not raised), so you will see rikishi slumping as they reach the edge. But they do give their all at training. Which leads me to think that Ichinojo’s back is acting up again.

      Reply

  5. Seiza cannot be a sensible posture for a 400lb man with leg problems to adopt in a sport plagued by knackered knees, or can it?

    Reply

    • I’m not sure the knees and shins are where Takayasu’s problems lie. But what you say is part of the reason I’m still angry with Harumafuji for what he did to Terunofuji – made him sit seiza and slapped him. Seiza can’t be good for Terunofuji, and he was already having knee problems at the time.

      Reply

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