It was matta day today at the Kokugikan, with Dr Takasu in attendance in a corner box. Maybe it was rikishi ring rust, or shimpan working to tighten up the flow of the matches. Nice early surprises, I would have to say: Takakeisho, Shodai, Takayasu and Tobizaru. All 4 of these guys look strong and focused in the first few days, and I would love to see them stay in the hunt into the middle weekend. It’s clear the lack of joint training has really degraded some of these athlete’s sumo, and there is some rumor that the degeiko ban may be at least partially lifted after Aki.
I am sure a number of our readers are watching Asanoyama’s first 2 days, and recalling the brilliant piece by Josh that was published a few days before the start of Aki, A Surplus of Almost. If you have not had a chance to read through it, please do.
Highlight Matches
Ichinojo defeats Kyokutaisei – After a weak start on day 1, Ichinojo focused on fundamentals and mechanics today, and it payed off. Although Kyokutaisei got inside, and an early grip, Ichinojo’s left hand outside at the back of Kyokutaisei’s mawashi was the control point of this match, which Ichinojo used to great effect.
Shimanoumi defeats Hoshoryu – Nod to Shimanoumi for turning this into a raw power match, which was greatly to his advantage. Hoshoryu struggled to react to Shimanoumi’s sumo. I am impressed by how low Shimanoumi was able to keep his hips today. There was also a monoii, with a good amount of mumbling.
Tobizaru defeats Shohozan – A pair of matta appetizers, and it was on! Once again Shohozan really seems to have lost his mojo, and can offer only moderate defensive pressure against Tobizaru’s attack. Shohozan tried a pull, and that set off a cascade that saw him on the receiving end of a hatakikomi.
Kotoshoho defeats Kaisei – Kaisei allowed Kotoshoho a right hand inside grip, and that was all that was needed for control of the match and a win. Kaisei looks rather rusty right now, starting 0-2.
Meisei defeats Kotoshogiku – I think that the Kotoshogiku no-tape revival is over. Meisei cleverly kept Kotoshogiku turning, and never able to square his hips and drive forward for more than a moment. The resulting torque on Kotoshogiku’s knees seem to have taken a toll, as he seemed a bit pained following his loss.
Chiyotairyu defeats Sadanoumi – Chiyotairyu has in fact lost a decent amount of weight, and it seems to have greatly helped his sumo. Chiyotairyu sacrificed hand placement at the tachiai for delivering a brutal body slam, and getting his arms inside. From there it was a quick move to stand Sadanoumi up, and immediately knock him down.
Onosho defeats Kotoeko – Kotoeko seemed slow off the shikiri-sen, and gave Onosho an open route to his chest. For a moment, Onosho was too far forward over his toes, and Kotoeko could have released forward power and brought him down, but instead absorbed it all with his face. A quick pull from Onosho took Kotoeko to the clay.
Tokushoryu defeats Enho – Like a strong, highly trained hedge hog against a locomotive, the sumo was brave and potent but completely pointless, and Enho is seen once again reeling backward, landing in a heap.
Aoiyama defeats Wakatakakage – Big Dan Aoiyama gets his sumo back, and we see the power of the V-Twin attack against Wakatakakage who seems to be completely disrupted. Rather than slap him down right away, Aoiyama plays with him a bit, batting him about the dohyo before Wakatakakage succumbs to repeated blows to the face.
Takayasu defeats Ryuden – As a Takayasu fan, it’s really good to see him in this genki mode for the first time more than a year. Ryuden works hard to get that left hand past Takayasu’s ottsuke (clearly this guy fights former Kisenosato before breakfast), and spends so much focus and energy on that, he fails to thwart Takayasu’s right hand frontal grip. That front grip is the deciding element in the match, as Takayasu lifts and advances for the win. Solid sumo from both men today.
Takarafuji defeats Kagayaki – I love how focused Takarafuji is in this match. Kagayaki gets the better of the tachiai, and gets inside and forward. For a tall guy like Kagayaki, it’s only 2 ½ strides to the edge of the ring, and Takarafuji times his response with exquisite precision. As Kagayaki presses ahead to finish, Takarafuji steps to the side, reverses and with one shove sends Kagayaki out.
Kiribayama defeats Yutakayama – Yutakayama, sadly, continues the slide started in July, and really looks to only be running at about 80% power. Kiribayama deploys a hit and shift which Yutakayama buys for cash up front, and finds himself spinning off balance and out.
Terutsuyoshi defeats Tochinoshin – Tochinoshin’s sumo is powerful, but seldom rapid. This leaves him open to a busy little fellow like Terutsuyoshi who serves up offensive move at nearly twice the rate of the former Ozeki. After turning Tochinoshin twice, Terutsuyoshi presses hard against Tochinoshin’s bandaged knee. Yeah, I would release pressure too at that point.
Myogiryu defeats Endo – After giving Asanoyama a trip to the clay on day one, fans might assume that Endo was going to be a force this basho. But sadly true to his form, he wiffs this bout with Myogiryu. A puzzling and patently ineffective quasi-pull, moments after the tachiai, releases attack pressure. That’s a mistake Myogiryu was never going to let pass.
Shodai defeats Tamawashi – To my eye this should have been a matta, as Shodai launched a half step late, and was stood up smartly by Tamawashi’s tachiai. But Shodai managed to get his arms inside, and pressed forward. To my surprise, Tamawashi was not able to turn him. Shodai ran him to the bales and shoved him out. Nice 2-0 start for Shodai. I wonder where this is going…
Daieisho defeats Hokutofuji – Hokutofuji continue to look quite rusty, and drops his match to Daieisho. After letting Daieisho run the first moments of the match, Hokutofuji backs him up to the tawara, and then inexplicably backs up, inviting Daieisho to slap him down, which he was happy to supply. Well, ok then…
Mitakeumi defeats Terunofuji – Mitakeumi did a great job of getting to the side of Terunofuji today, and pushing for all he was worth. Terunofuji’s knees would have been hard pressed to overcome that lateral force if they were healthy, but in their gristly state they had no resistance to offer.
Takanosho defeats Asanoyama – I know fans were hoping that Asanoyama was going to dominate this basho, and maybe he still can, somehow. But he’s looking vague and distracted. His yotsu style is executed with great strength and poise, but it’s quite predictable, and it seems his first two opponents of this Aki basho have read him precisely. The great Yokozuna hope drops to 0-2 to start September.
Takakeisho defeats Okinoumi – Takakeisho once again uses his short stature, short legs, and spheroid shape to bring a double hand thrust of tadpole doom to the dohyo. Today he lets Okinoumi appear to get the better of the tachiai, but Takakeisho has both hands on Okinoumi’s chest. It’s almost comical to see Okinoumi struggle to apply any force as his hands grasp for an attack route, as Takakeisho powers him out. Solid Takakeisho sumo again today.
I’m calling it…
#yushodai
#yushodai is a vast improvement over #shodon’t. As in, he sho don’t have what it takes
Kotoshogiku started to limp before the end of the match. It looks like he felt the suddden pain in the knee and relased pressure immediately and just walked out the dohyo. I suspect somerhing bad happens there. I wonder if we will see him tomorrow or any day during Aki…
I loved the hedgehog/locomotive tale!!! I wonder what Enho’s is thinking to use that poor strategy against Toku…
Kotoshogiku was hopping on one leg near the end of the match, unable to put any weight on the other. He was fortunate that Meisei noticed his distress and finished him off with the kid glove treatment.
I am starting to suspect that Asanoyama is cracking under the mental pressure of being The Next Big Hope. He might be “trying not to lose” instead of relaxing and just doing his sumo.
Shodai was brilliant and won because of what he did with his arms and hands in his match. He literally turned his entire body into a rigid snow plow and escorted Tamawashi out of the ring. I am happily astonished that Tamawashi was utterly flummoxed, but I suspect that he assumed that Shodai would mentally cave and not continue to move forward. Ganbarre, Shodai!
I think both Takayasu and Takakeisho have benefited from the Jungyo being cancelled and getting extra rest. They are both in fine form and I expect them to continue their winning ways this basho.
Today’s Enho match presents what I think is his problem well: he’s not doing anything tricky anymore. He moves forward, gets wrapped up, and then mauled. All of his sideways movement is nowhere to be found. I don’t know if he’s discarded it because he thinks it won’t work anymore or if someone else has told him to stop doing it. Either way, it’s making his sumo obvious and one-dimensional.
Enho stumbled over his own feet with his opening gambit, leaving him off balance and wide open to be blasted off the dohyo.
Yes, I noticed that too. He slipped while he was trying to grab Toku’s mawshi
Kagayaki looked like he thought he had the match won, and stopped fighting half a second too soon! Well done by Takarafuji at the edge there. And love seeing Takayasu looking good! Hope it lasts 13 more days.
That’s what I thought happened, but as a die-hard Kagayaki fan I have become accustomed to savouring every morsel of hope.
Even though Shodai’s “just stand up” tachiai doesn’t provide him with an advantage right off the bat, I’m always impressed by the sheer stopping ability that it has. You could run the largest wrestlers up against that and still hardly move him back. I don’t know if that was what he was going for today, or if it was indeed an uncalled matta, but Shodai has some real power! That being said, I do like his new and improved tachiai much better.
I agree. He absorbs his opponent…but lately he’s started pushing back. But it’s from the chest/shoulder, and not head-first. The tachiai of the future!
Here’s the complete list of rikishi who have won the top-division yusho after starting 0-2:
I thought Hoshoryu earned a torinaoshi. Given that the head shimpan couldn’t remember the wrestlers’ names, much less explain the monoii discussion, it’s hard to have much confidence in the decision.
The main reason why I agreed with the judges is that Hoshoryu was off of his feet in an unrecoverable position and below the edge of the dohyo when Shimanoumi’s foot hit the ground outside of the ring. I also was surprised at the head shimpan’s struggles to communicate the decision, though.
He’s never been the same since Terutsuyoshi stole his salt gimmick.
Also of note is Enho vs. Tokushoryu where their feet lifted off at about the same time and Tokushoryu landed first.
Calling it early….Mitakeumi Yusho!
The contrast between Takakeisho in July and Takakeisho now is astounding. He was unable to generate any power with his tachiai in July; now he is rocking rikishi back on their heels with lightning speed.
Down at the bottom of Juryo, the Angry Badger is off to a 2-0 start. Here’s hoping we see him back in the top division early in 2021.
A 13-14 win yusho could even see him there in November 🤞🏻
This is looking to be a great basho for me. Long time Kisenosato and Takayasu fan, i feel like its the first time in 2 years or so to see Takayasu in what looks like fighting genki.
It’s still very early, but for the first time in a long while Takakeisho actually looks like an Ozeki again.
Endo obviously did the Endo thing today and looked like he is fighting in the wronmg division, but I’m used to that by now.
Shodai used to be a similar nightmare to Endo, but he is so much more consistent lately. Not sure if he will be the next Ozeki, but I hope and think he will get there within the next year.
I’m really worried about Giku. He clearly stopped fighting way before the end. I hope it’s nothing big. I’m also quite worried about Enho. He is taking a lot hard falls lately.
Terunofuji clearly also isn’t riding the same wave as last tournament. WIll be interesting to see if he can stabilize and somehow get back to last tournaments form.
I hope we will see a strong Yusho this time with at least 14 victories. With all the yusho winners in this tournament and especially the “new generation”, the only ones who produced a dominant victory so far are Giku, Tokushoryu and Tochinoshin. I think it would do a great deal for the likes of Takakeisho, Mitakeumi or Shodai. Kinda hoping that Takayasu will be the one to pull it out thought. For Asanoyama I predict a performance reminiscent of Kisenosato for most of his Ozeki days … throwing away the tournament in week 1 and then having a strong week 2, but just falling short.
I just wish that Juryo had a little bit more appeal to me this tournament. But it seems just kinda blant lacking any interesting stories. There are no real promising newcomers with the exception of Kotonowaka (who isn’t really a newcomer, just someone I’m expecting to storm back to Makuuchi if healthy). Guess Midorifuji counts as well, but it feels a bit weird in this transition period to see it full of veterans only.
Seems like most of the exciting Juryo prospects (Kotoshoho, Hoshoryu…) have moved up, and not many new ones have arrived yet. Chiyonokuni’s comeback might be the most interesting second-division story to follow.
Onosho, for the second straight day, deployed a unique stance heading into his tachiai. He has his left hand forward, right on the line, with his right hand hanging back and his whole body mass angled off to his left side. I see this as him having solved what is/was causing his balance issues, with the added benefit of being in his opponent’s business from an unexpected direction right away. He’s almost using a pre-bout henka. Glad to see it working out for him. How long his genki will last, however, worries me.