🌐 Location: Soja, Okayama
🚫 Scandal level: -1

Here we are in the small town named Soja, where victims of the summer’s torrential rain live in temporary housing (some of which has been used previously to house Fukushima evacuees). Accordingly, well-loved veterans Kotoshogiku and Yoshikaze, together with the NSK’s mascot, Hiyonoyama, appear before the residents to encourage them, also presenting them with sumo memorabilia.

Back in the venue, Kakuryu does some rubber band work. Then follows that up with somewhat sleepy relaxation.

総社巡業 pic.twitter.com/RuusGYII2e

— てちてち。 (@rabbit825) October 20, 2018

Practice bouts: Kyokushuho vs. Jokoryu:

＜秋巡業＠総社市＞十両力士による稽古。旭秀鵬と常幸龍。#sumo #相撲 pic.twitter.com/yW410BQG7A

— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) October 20, 2018

Chiyonokuni vs. Shohozan:

＜秋巡業＠総社市＞幕内力士による稽古。千代の国と松鳳山。#sumo #相撲 pic.twitter.com/SbD5No38Tt

— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) October 20, 2018

Whack! Whack! I guess neither of them ever heard of Allen Iverson.

Today many of the quirky photos originate, somewhat surprisingly, with the NSK. For example, Daishoryu had a Juryo bout today. Here is Endo congratulating him for his appearance in an oicho-mage:

Yes, that’s from the NSK official Twitter account. And it’s not Endo’s last show of humor today, either.

Including Daishoryu above, there were no less than four Makushita wrestlers who did Juryo bouts today. As I already informed you yesterday, Terutsuyoshi has gone off the radar. But he is not the only one – Kotoeko was also erased from the torikumi. That leaves only 15 active Juryo members out of 28 – and one of them was needed to fill in a gap in Makuuchi, as Takayasu has also suffered some injury.

Jokoryu’s official photo:

OK, OK, it did come from the NSK account but not with that caption.

Juryo bouts start, and we have a monoii:

Well, what you see in the photo is not actually a monoii. Here is something I mentioned on Twitter in the past: a monoii is an appeal. When a shimpan (or one of the rikishi sitting around the dohyo) sees something he doesn’t like, he raises his hand. This is called a “monoii”. Then the shimpan all get on the dohyo for a discussion. That discussion is not the monoii. It’s called a “kyogi”. After they finish, the head shimpan takes the mike and starts with the words “tadaima no kyogi o setsumei itashimasu”: “I shall explain the discussion we just had.”

Anyway, as you can see, that discussion looks a bit different than honbasho. There are only two shimpan attending the bouts. In this case, Futagoyama oyakata (hello, Miyabiyama), and Furiwake oyakata (and hello to you too, Robocop!).

The result of the discussion of the Chiyonoumi-Nakazono bout, by the way, is a torinaoshi, and Chiyonoumi wins the rematch.

Here are the complete Juryo results:

[table id=4 /]

In the Makuuchi dohyo-iri, Onosho explains to Abi that in Jungyo, fan service is more important than pretending to be stoic.

＜秋巡業＠総社市＞幕内土俵入り。お客様に手を振る、阿武咲と阿炎。#sumo #相撲 pic.twitter.com/PKREnt94GE

— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) October 20, 2018

As they wait for the Makuuchi bouts, Nishikigi and Hokutofuji encircle Tochimutsuru in a double kabe-don (anybody who has ever watched a high-school-themed anime should know what a kabe-don is):

No idea what the poor Kasugano man did to deserve this. This photo, too, comes from the NSK.

In the Makuuchi bouts, Endo faced Abi today. Apparently, Endo has a sense of humor. Take a look at their shiko:

総社巡業
遠藤と阿炎の四股耐久対決！
面白かったww pic.twitter.com/Us9q2wdYYs

— やくしらだば (@Yakushiradaba) October 20, 2018

Abi makes a “Man, you’re totally stealing my thunder!” face there.

The rest of that bout for your pleasure:

総社巡業
遠藤と阿炎 四股耐久対決
その後。 pic.twitter.com/jsLOswu3E0

— やくしらだば (@Yakushiradaba) October 21, 2018

It’s been a while since we had an Abi bout footage. He seems to persist in his practice of yotsu-zumo. I really hope we’ll see that in honbasho as well, even if it costs him a few banzuke points at first.

Ichinojo got up today full of energy, and nearly got Mitakeumi thrown flying to the edge of the venue:

And as usual, he then stood worried at the edge of the dohyo with a “did I do that?” face:

Here is Goeido vs. Tochinoshin:

Tochinoshin’s knee remains uncovered.

So here is a summary of the day’s events, including Kotoshogiku and Yoshikaze distributing chanko and mixing with the elderly survivors of the torrential rains:

Full results of Makuuchi bouts:

[table id=5 /]

Tobizaru was not seen today – at least not in any sharp photographs. So instead, for a change, I’m not going to opt for Enho but for Wakatakakage: