🌐 Location: Nobeoka, Miyazaki
😛 Goofometer: ◾️◽️◽️◽️◽️
Nobeoka is a small town in Miyazaki. But it boasts a sekitori! Today was Kotoeko day. Most of the nobori you see in the photo bear the name “Kotoeko”, with a few “Yoshikaze” (he is from the neighboring Oita prefecture).
So naturally the crowds gathered around a rather overwhelmed Kotoeko:
Inside the venue, Hakuho was doing some teppo. And you know what happens when there is no teppo pole in site:
Somebody’s neck becomes very very red.
Hakuho also did shiko on the dohyo:
The other day some fan on Twitter asked Daishowaka what it takes to get a nice, tight rikishi butt. The answer was “Do shiko”. So now you know.
Hero of the day, Kotoeko, practiced with Hakuyozan:
Here’s Aoiyama vs. Yutakayama and then Myogiryu.
Hakuho keeps that shiko going in the background.
Meisei practices with Shodai:
He is very active, and seems to have the upper hand, until Shodai just pulls him down. Meisei seems pretty frustrated at all that hard work going nowhere.
Takayasu does reverse butsukari with Nishikigi.
Reverse butsukari means no rolls. Nishikigi is actually very daring in that he takes Takayasu on a quick monkey walk there.
Takayasu practices with Shodai:
The same Shodai who frustrated Meisei earlier now takes his turn to be frustrated. Shodai has this problem in bouts with high-rankers. He is just not quite up to that level, and I think that frustrates him because he feels he should have been there by now.
Today’s lucky target of kawaigari is Asanoyama. I do not have footage of the kawaigari itself – but here is how Asanoyama looks at the end of it:
He takes a sip of water and a couple of breaths – and back he goes to the dohyo. Rest after a kawaigari? Not unless you passed out.
Fast-forward, and everybody gets cleaned and put on their best clothing. The top echelon get their picture taken in front of the venue:
Hakuho’s guest – the elderly man in the kimono – is Kimura Shonosuke the 35th, who retired in 2011 (and at the time, Hakuho invited him to sit in the yusho parade car). He is also a resident of Nobeoka.
Back inside, and we have the Makuuchi dohyo-iri. And unsurprisingly, Shodai is being pushed around:
Looks like Takakeisho also got the Mitakeumi treatment. Mitakeumi is careful, though. Next basho they will be trading places. You don’t get on the bad side of someone who has a reasonable chance to be Ozeki in a couple of basho.
Bouts! Here is Daieisho vs. Aoiyama:
Aoiyama doesn’t waste time. BTW, take a look at that gyoji’s gunbai!
Yutakayama vs. Abi:
Boom! And Abi is not the sort of rikishi who hides his pain. 😝
Here is a summary of the day, including the special bout Kotoeko had with Endo. He also had an “official” bout with Daiamami a few moments later.
Endo is the king of Jungyo yaocho. He takes care to entertain the spectators, but never fails to lose to the local man.
Note Kotoeko’s tearful parents thanking everybody for coming to see their son. The Jungyo passed through this city 10 years ago, and at the time Kotoeko was just in Sandanme. So this time, returning as a sekitori was a big deal for both himself and his parents.
This is it. I’ll just pause to notice that Kotoeko’s heya mate, Kotoyuki, has been missing from the torikumi for the past couple of days. Yoshikaze is still not putting on his mawashi, and Hakuho still not doing torikumi.
So off we go to Kumamoto!
But didn’t I tell you that Hakuho chose to be in the back seat of the bus? What are they doing there, you may ask?
Well, there’s more than one bus. There are around 270 participants in an average Jungyo. And these Juryo guys are unlikely to be in the same bus as the boss.
So…. who shall we pick as our pin-up rikishi of the day? I couldn’t find a trace of Tobizaru. So how about his brother? Hidenoumi, your turn to shine!
OK, so maybe his little brother is a little prettier.
It looked like Takayasu signaled for the ape walk
After taking that blow to the chest, Abi may be thinking, “To heck with trying out new techniques! I’ll stick with what I know.”
Too bad, because he should be thinking: Why was I so high that my chest was there to receive that blow?
I wonder if, for a man with such long legs, it is difficult to come in low without having his weight shifted too far forward. I assume it would require one to attack with one’s legs more bent at the knees, which Abi may feel would mean sacrificing the leverage that his body type gives him. Can you recall a rikishi with Abi’s body type who has figured this out?
I can’t think of one. A bit of googling tells me that Aran had a near identical h & w but I think he had a more solid body, shorter arms and legs,and tended to go more for the belt.
Demon Kakka compared him to Akebono.
Very interesting comparison. It appears that Akebono was 6 1/2 inches taller and about 50% heavier than Abi. I only saw Akebono fight late in his career, when he struggled with achy-breaky knees, but I suspect he was never anywhere near as mobile as Abi is.
Maybe Yoshikaze’s mysterious rash is back and is worse……
Yesterday I thought it might be, but today (Dec 12) I saw a recent photo and he is as smooth as a baby’s bottom. If it was a rash it would not have cleared up so nicely all over the body at once.
I’m relieved to hear that. He’s had a concerning last year, what with looking and acting really sick, then the rash. Then he seemed fairly genki, so when I read he was fully clothed, I wondered.
Looks like he was also sitting (while Kotoeko was standing) in the enzraent picture above
sorry, should read “entrance”… (automatical Word correction)
Good eye. Wonder if we will ever know.
it rather looks like Shodai’s been a bit late for the dohyo iri? Poor Shodai! I hope he will get more appreciation now in Kumamoto :-)