Aki 2018 Jungyo – Days 19 and 20

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There was relatively little information coming from these two events, so I made them into a single post.

dohyo-preparation
Local high schoolers prepare the dohyo

🌐 Location: Anan, Tokushima
🚫 Scandal level: 0

I often show you photos of this or that rikishi in a corner of the venue. This may give the impression that most rikishi are on the dohyo, and a few are lurking on the edges. The truth is – there simply isn’t enough room for everybody on or around a single dohyo. When the makushita-and-below rikishi train, the sekitori hang around the walls, and only later they get to the dohyo.

all-bases-are-loaded

Some sekitori, by the way, are “kamaboko”, which is the sumo term for someone who avoids practice though present in the keiko-ba.

kamaboko
Kamaboko

Kamaboko is this fish-paste, round at the top, flat at the bottom. The sumo term derives from rikishi whose back is pressed so hard against the keiko-ba’s walls to avoid the dohyo and the attention of the stablemaster, that it becomes flat.

The Yokozuna tsukebito wars continue. But what is this? Is there a new-found love between Gokushindo and Arikawa?gokushindo-arikawa

Err… not exactly.

gokushindo-picks-arikawas-nose

Ewwwww!!!

Don’t worry, Arikawa gets his revenge:

arikawa-revenge

Did I mention “Ewwwww!!!”?

Apropos Arikawa, here is a selfie he took with Awajiumi.

awajiumi-does-yumitori-again

And this selfie is significant because it tells us that Awajiumi did the bow twirling ceremony again today. Impressive oicho-mage there.

Some practice footage:

Some reverse butsukari between Kakuryu and Ryuden. “Reverse” meaning the higher ranking guy pushes and the lower-ranking guy lends his chest. It also means that none of the rolling around in the mud is to be expected:

Ichinojo vs. Daieisho:

Daieisho just too dynamic for mr. Glacier.

Goeido vs. Kaisei:

Asanoyama vs. Tochinoshin:

The huge brace is home again.

Here is a video summary of this day’s event, featuring the Tochinoshin-Goeido bout and the Kakuryu-Kisenosato bout:

And POOF! That brace has disappeared again, and Tochinoshin fights bare-legged, and despite that, lifts Goeido.

Kakuryu also fights seriously today. He lets Kisenosato do what he pleases with the left, and works on neutralizing his right – complementing it with a nice trip.

No Tobizaru, and the only Enho/Wakatakakage I could find is this photo with the local mascot:

enho-wakatakakage-mascot

I assure you that the mascot always has this expression. It’s not a result of being hugged by Enho.

🌐 Location: Kochi, Kochi
🚫 Scandal level: 0

Kochi prefecture boasts three sekitori. Well, two sekitori (Tochiozan and Chiyonoumi) and one on his way to gaining sekitori status again: Toyonoshima.

The two latter ones were the darlings of today’s event. In the previous Kochi event, two years ago, Chiyonoumi was in Sandanme. Now he is well-established in Juryo:

Two years ago
Today

Toyonoshima was not part of the Jungyo so far. He is not officially sekitori as the Jungyo follows the previous basho’s banzuke. And he is married and well respected, so they wouldn’t just assign him as some youngster’s tsukebito. However, there was a special request for him to be present in this event, and he did show up.

toyonoshima

Tochinoshin doesn’t give autographs easily out of the designated fansa time. But you might get lucky if you are young enough:

Some practice bouts:

Meisei vs. Aoiyama:

Tamawashi vs. local boy Tochiozan:

Tochinoshin vs. Onosho:

…aaand the brace is back again.

Chiyonokuni vs. Kisenosato, NSK version:

Chiyonokuni vs. Kisenosato, spectator video version:

Here is a series of butsukari sessions:

  • Yoshikaze-Chiyonoumi
  • Takayasu-Tobizaru
  • Kotoshogiku-Azumaryu
  • Takayasu-Tsurugisho

I’m impressed with Tobizaru. He may not be the strongest pusher ever to mount a dohyo, but he sure gets up fast whenever he is thrown.

Back in the shitaku-beya, Teraoumi takes a picture. Haruminato tries to strike a cool pose. He ends up looking like he is totally checking out Ichinojo’s hefty backside:

haruminato-checks-out-ichinojo

Of course, the sekiwake himself is totally oblivious to all this.

Time for dohyo-iri. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but when Shohozan went off the torikumi for a few days in the middle of the Jungyo, Yoshikaze took his place as Kisenosato’s tsuyuharai. And Yoshikaze is still doing that duty, despite Shohozan being back and active:

yoshikaze-tsuyuharai

By the way, do you see a difference between the Yokozuna’s kesho-mawashi and his two assistants’? The Yokozuna’s kesho mawashi is worn differently, with the top tucked into the mawashi. They design them with that in mind. Here is the designer‘s sketch of this set of kesho-mawashi:

kisenosato-kesho-mawashi-design

The design, by the way, is intended to express the spirit of the warrior (bu), as well as a dragon in the clouds (the meaning of the word “Unryu”, which is Kisenosato’s chosen style).

Personally, I think this set is one of the coolest I have seen.

Here is the Toyonoshima bout with Azumaryu. There is a monoii. And a kyogi. And then Furuwake oyakata tries to explain the kyogi. He is not exactly the best explainer in the world, but of course, the result is a torinaoshi:

And the result of the rematch is… wow, what did Toyonoshima just do?

toyonoshima-azumaryu

Certainly no questions about it this time around.

3 thoughts on “Aki 2018 Jungyo – Days 19 and 20”

  1. Takayasu does not seem impressed with Tsurugisho’s level of stamina there.

    And that is, indeed, an awesome set of kesho-mawashi.

    Reply

  2. Kamaboko. Hmm. I dunno, from what I’ve heard, it makes for a very tasty dip — once it’s reshaped, 😁

    Reply

  3. There won’t be a new weigh-in before the basho, right? Because it looks to me that Tochinoshin gained quite a few pounds (which if I remember correctly was his goal after he lost some weight due to his injury). He looks fierce and I think he will not only be aiming for double digits but for the yusho.

    Reply

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