The fears have become a reality: Mitakeumi has gone Kyujo as of Day 7 after suffering an injury to the quadriceps of his left knee during his Day 6 match with Myogiryu. Unable to walk, Mitakeumi required the giant wheelchair to get down the hanamichi before going directly to the hospital from the Kokugikan. This is a very unfortunate development, as Mitakeumi was looking extremely genki this January, and was undefeated going into his Friday match. In the initial statements concerning the injury, the Komusubi appeared hopeful that he was only dealing with muscle fatigue and would be able to compete on Day 7 (though it’s important to note that he was on crutches by this time). However, it seems Mitakeumi and his Oyakata will not follow in a certain former Yokozuna’s footsteps and try to gambarize though this injury. At least, for the time being that is. Considering the nature of quadriceps injuries, it is hard to speculate how long the healing process will take. Mitakeumi could be out for days or even weeks, but and we may see the Komusubi return in the coming days if the injury isn’t too severe.
His Day 7 opponent, Hokutofuji, will pick up a consecutive fusen win.
The team at Tachiai wish Mitakeumi well during his recovery, and look forward to the return of the tadpole king!
Ugh. Such the bummer. He was really in a zone.
Really sad. The showdown of Mitakeumi and Hakuho was what I have been looking for. After today yusho 42 seems so much more likely. There are of course some more contenders, but most of them won’t clash with Hakuho directly, the only exception being Aoiyama and with a slim chance Onosho.
Hope it isn’t that bad and he takes the time needed for recovery.
Terrible news all around. I hope he heals well and quickly and is back on the dohyo healthy and ready to get back to his current rank.
so sad to see this but so glad they’re doing the right thing to start healing/recovery
I know what means tradition , heritage, history, holy places, shirnes …etc but FOR THE F…. SAKE they should enlarge the dohyo’s base. Since 1999 (when I start watching sumo) I saw tones of bad injuries due this fact. You have 200 kg and you should land with 20-25 km/h in a place 1m depth full with “voyeurs”. Mind at at … Sumo should reconsider itself somehow otherwise people will mind twice-trice before practice it.
I was led to believe that the dohyo was raised for television filming purposes. Technology has changed a bit since 1952 and lot of injuries would be avoided it was re-lowered.
Interesting, Sakura — never heard that one before. Now you have pique my curiosity and I’m doing research on this. Maybe another contributor can shed a tidbit or two on this…
A few places claim the current rules say 34 to 60 cm for dohyo height. I’ve never seen the official rules in Japanese to confirm that.
34 cm would allow the dohyo to be lowered slightly without even changing the rules. I wonder what the rikishi union would say if voted anonymously.
Originally the dohyo was flat with the ground, because … it was the ground.
I thought the height was “for better viewing” not necessarily for TV. It does and drama and a sense of danger, though I doubt any official would say that.
No, it was always raised. The pillars were removed, though.
I think it depends on how far back in history we go. Modern Sumo, yes, seems to always be elevated. Working backwards to the wood block prints, some show elevated, others show competitors on the level. Even competitors on the level with audience elevated.
Some early prints show sumo on ground level, general audience on the ground, and the dignitaries elevated. The exhibition for Admiral Perry in the 1850s is a well documented example. Would be interesting to know how the highest level competitions were staged at that time.
Going way back to origins and Mongolian wrestling, then that is on the level also. That’s all I meant by ‘on the ground’ The early Edo period competitions and dispute resolution among samurai were probably not held on a special elevated dohyo.
Mongolian wrestling is not really connected to sumo. It is played on ground because it doesn’t actually have boundaries. You only lose if you touch ground. If there has been external influence on sumo it’s probably Korean.
I’m glad Mitakeumi AND the oyakata were not stubborn about this. When guys fight injured, I do wonder how much is pressure from the stablemaster and how much is just their own personal pride.
Major suckage! Mitakeumi is one of my favs. I pray the injury isn’t as bad as it was for Ura. But I guess we’ll find out really soon.
This is really so sad… Mitakeumi is the reason why I am a sumo fan now.
The first time I ever watched sumo live at the Kokugikan was last May 2018, day 3.
By that time, I did not know much about sumo, did not know about the ranks and who is who and so on…
After the bout Mitakeumi vs Abi that day – I was so deeply impressed watching how he helped up Abi after he fell off the dohyo (as he always does if he can, or how he also holds his opponents to keep them from falling. I love this fairness aspect, also many other rikishi do so.)
Without that experience, watching Sumo would have been just a “tourist event” to tick off my to-do list in Japan 😉
But since then there’s been no day without spending some time learning about sumo by reading blogs and forum entries and watching videos…
I have many favourite rikishi but Mitakeumi will always be my number 1.
Wish him all the best and full (!) recovery/healing to continue his Ozeki run!
The medical certificate was for damage in the tendon area of the quadriceps muscle of the thigh.
So, no torn ligaments.
His stablemaster said he doesn’t want to risk his deshi at the moment as he is in pain but if that goes away there is a chance that Mitakeumi will be back this basho.
Thank you Herouth, Standard treatment for a small partial tear of the quad tendon would be 3 to 6 weeks immobilized, then rehab. That translates to “go lightly until next Tuesday” in sumo.
I am sorry to see him injured. I hope it is not serious. I also hope that he will take the time to let it heal, not just wait until it stops hurting. Mitakeumi is one of the handful of wrestlers that we loudly root for because he is (or appears to be) a sportsman. I do not recall any late hits and as Mezzosoprano said, he will offer to help his opponent back up. That major points in our house.
I agree with Toodemizu that the dohyo needs to be widened. It could reduce injuries due to falls and make the outcome of some bouts easier to call. I saw at least two matches this tournament that would probably would have gone the other way if the dohyo had been flat, or even a foot wider.
I’m happy to see that the MRI showed no bone damage or tears to any ligaments. The longer recovery time associated with the more complicated injury would be disastrous for Mitakeumi’s ranking