WOOO! Hatsu is finally here! It always feels like it’s an eternity between tournaments, even with Herouth’s Jungyo coverage. As Josh noted, there are several highlight bouts on tap for Day 1. The best news of all is, we’ll be able to watch several of them live on NHK World. Coverage on the East Coast of the US begins at 3:10am Sunday Morning, squeezed between the 3am and 4am NHK Newsline Briefs. These bouts will be the last bouts of the day, so we’ll be able to watch sanyaku. And this may be a pivotal day for all six of the Yokozuna-Ozeki ranks.
Several people in the comments and on Twitter have been wondering if there would be an NHK preview video, and this may be it from Murray Johnson. It’s a brief preview, focusing on the return of the Yokozuna and their status. Tachiai will be live-blogging!
The Sekitori torikumi has been posted but I have not seen the Day 1 grid for the lower divisions. We are waiting with baited breath to see whether Day 1 will see action from Ura, Terunofuji, Wakaichiro or Musashikuni. So far no kyujo rikishi have been noted on the Kyokai website but we’ll be checking that, too. I miss Terunofuji. Kaiju’s coming back! I can feel it! Maybe with a little more oshi-action?
Any chance for a scorecard for this basho? Have really enjoyed the ones you guys have made for previous bashos. Love keeping track of all the rikishi in the tournament that way! :D
Liam has it in the draft queue as we speak.
No time problems here- 8 10 am to 9am in the UK. Sumo for breakfast as usual, accompanied by marmite on toast and a nice cup of tea.
With special guest Tochinoshin…..’s face.