Some recaps from day 8 action for some of the lower ranked rikishi I follow. The big update with Herouth’s picks will be up soon!

Wakaichiro lost a heartbreaker against Mitsumune. Wakaichiro had the upper hand, and was in command of the match from the start. But a well timed move to the side, and over-commitment from Wakaichiro landed him teetering against the tawara, which Mitsumune skillfully capitalized on to win. Wakaichiro is now on the edge of make-koshi at 1-3.

Ura continues to dominate each match. This time he plays a jaunty game of “Crack the whip” with Aoi, much to the latter’s dismay. Grabbing a firm hold of Aoi’s left arm, Ura rotates forcefully, propelling his opponent off the dohyo head first. Ura improves to 4-0, and has his kachi-koshi.

Musashikuni picked up his second win, improving to 2-1-1 (aka 2-2) over Fujita. The match ended in a close “who fell first” scenario, so the judges called a monoii. Video review concluded that Fujita did in fact touch down first, and the match went to Musahsikuni. Sadly, I have yet to find any video.

Day 9

Both Wakaichiro and Ura are back in action for day 9, and we will be following their matches here.

Wakaichiro faces Jonidan 4e Tainake who comes in with a matching 1-3 record. The loser gets make-koshi. Like Wakaichro, Tatsunori is fairly new to the sport, and is competing at the top end of Jonidan after a brief tour in Sandanme. Of course we are pulling for the Texas sumotori to prevail, and stake his claim to return to the Sandanme ranks for January.

Ura seeks to go 5-0 in his match against Sandanme 29e Kurahashi from Asakayama-beya. An interesting match as we are starting to see elimination brackets for the division yusho races. Kurahashi has been ranked as high as Sandanme 7w, and will have his hands full in his day 9 match.