A wild and tumultuous day of sumo in the Kokugikan. Stand out performance from Wakamotoharu, Kiribayama and of course Meisei. With that kinboshi win, we are back to a three way tie for the lead of the Natsu basho, and we have one day left in act 2. I do not expect Meisei to hold strong into act 3, as that’s when things get really very tough. I do hope that we get to see Asanoyama fight some higher ranked rikishi, and for the fun of it, see Hokuseiho take on some of the big names as well. I think the scheduling team has that in mind, when Hokuseiho fights Meisei tomorrow.

Highlight Matches

Oho defeats Myogiryu – Sumo fans, I do think maybe Oho finally remembered where he left his sumo. He has won 4 of the last 5, and does now look like he’s serious about competing. Myogiryu gets a healthy portion of fault for his loss today. He came in strong from the tachiai, seeking to get his hands inside. But in his rush he got too far ahead of his toes, counting on Oho to be there to support his forward pressure. Oho steps away and puts Myogiryu on the clay, improving to 5-4.

Kotoeko defeats Mitoryu – Mitoryu could not dominate the inside lane, and as the match progressed Kotoeko attacked increasingly at will. For a moment Mitoryu had some kind of brutal ear-hold on Kotoeko that looked pretty painful; mimiyotsu? This had the expected effect of pissing off Kotoeko, and the result was a oshitaoshi three steps later. Both end the day at 4-5.

Aoiyama defeats Kagayaki – Ok, all of my writings about Aoiyama and not being able to work with a lot of forward pressure may require revision. He goes chest to chest with Kagayaki, and gets a double inside morozashi grip, and proceeds to walk Kagayaki out. Both end the day 3-6.

Daishoho defeats Ichiyamamoto – Ichiyamamoto’s opening double arm thrusting volley gets deflected, and he ends up chest to chest with Daishoho. This was always going to favor Daishoho, and after a bit of a struggle Ichiyamamoto realizes he’s just going to have to wait and see what Daishoho is going to do with his hold. Daishoho seems to be in no rush, and the stalemate goes on.. and on. At long last Daishoho gets his left hand on Ichiyamamoto’s belt, and three steps later the match ends. Both exit the dohyo tired with 3-6 scores.

Tsurugisho defeats Takarafuji – Whatever fighting power Takarafuji had salted away for the 15 days of Natsu is long since spent, and it seems each day is an attempt to survive as best he can. Today he is little more than ballast for Tsurugisho, as Takarafuji can only put up token defense. Tsurugisho improves to 6-3.

Asanoyama defeats Ryuden – I give a lot of credit to Ryuden, who frequently suffers from hip problems. He took the fight to Asanoyama, and had a good yotsu-zumo stand off in the middle of this match. Once they transitioned to mutual lift and twist, he nearly had Asanoyama off balance, but not close enough. Asanoyama implodes Ryuden’s pivot attempt to win the match by yoritaoshi, improving to 8-1 and securing kachi-koshi for Natsu.

Hokuseiho defeats Onosho – How big is big to Hokuseiho? Very big indeed. Onosho gives him a full power frontal at the tachiai, and bounces off. He does stand Hokuseiho, but his follow up attack only yields a Hokuseiho right hand mawashi grip. That’s all this giant needs to swing Onosho around and then buck him out like he is shifting crates on a loading dock. Dayym! Hokuseiho now 7-2.

Chiyoshoma defeats Tamawashi – It’s tough to watch Tamawashi struggle like this. He does nearly induce a slippiotoshi in Chiyoshoma at the tachiai, but once Chiyoshoma recovered his balance, he dominates this match. Very smooth finish with a sotogake leg trip to take the win and advance to 5-4.

Hiradoumi defeats Hokutofuji – Hokutofuji seems to want to overpower Hiradoumi, and had ramped up the forward pressure nicely. But a Hiradoumi side step sent Hokutofuji to the dohyo for the win. Hiradoumi now 7-2, keeping pace with the cluster of Ozeki hopefuls.

Takanosho defeats Kotoshoho – Whatever is wrong with Kotoshoho, it caused him to be soft at the tachiai, and on his back across the bales two steps later. Takanosho will take the win and go home happy at 3-6. Kotoshoho make-koshi at 1-8.

Sadanoumi defeats Kinbozan – Kinbozan’s single minded drive to get a right hand frontal grip allowed Sadanoumi to switch to plan B, and left Kinbozan with any effective offense. Sadanoumi turned Kinbozan to the side and ran him out for something between an okiuridashi and a yorikiri. Sadanoumi now 5-4.

Mitakeumi defeats Ura – I think Ura is out of fuel for now. He comes straight at Mitakeumi, finds a wall of flesh, then cannot find a grip or an escape. Ura figures this out, and tries a pull and gets flattened out by oshitaoshi, Mitakeumi now 6-3.

Tobizaru defeats Nishikifuji – Tobizaru threw caution to the wind as he tried a risky pulling move against Nishikifuji. This came about after neither man could set up a dominant position in the match. But Tobizaru did manage to get Nishikifuji down before he himself stepped out. The win puts Tobizaru at 4-5 at the end of day 9.

Shodai defeats Midorifuji – We did get to see the “Wall of Daikon” today, but it was not nearly as much fun against a smaller opponent like Midorifuji as it is against someone quite large. Maybe Shodai can fight Hokuseiho this basho? Shodai gets a win by kimedashi and is now 4-5.

Kotonowaka defeats Abi – Points to Abi for getting his thrusting attack going, but like other matches this basho, he gets himself into a body position that cries out for his opponent to counter attack. The trick to Abi-zumo is to keep so much forward pressure on center mass that his opponent can only respond by moving back. Kotonowaka ducks out of a thrusting volley, slips behind and Abi gets an okuridashi. Both end the day 4-5.

Wakamotoharu defeats Hoshoryu – Nicely done. That right shoulder strike from Wakamotoharu took Hoshoryu’s right hand out of the equation at the tachiai. Hoshoryu likes to lead with his right, and it completely disrupted Hoshoryu’s opening move. There was a poorly formulated attempt at a leg trip from Hoshoryu to rescue himself, but Wakamotoharu shoved the off balance mess that was Hoshoryu out for the win, improving to 7-2.

Kiribayama defeats Daieisho – Excellent strategy from Kiribayama. He keeps the gap between himself and Daieisho small, never letting Daieisho extend his arms and employ his mega-thrust technique. There is a brief, about one second, grapple that sets up the tsukiotoshi that drops Daieisho to the clay. Kiribayama now 7-2.

Nishikigi defeats Takakeisho – As we mentioned in the preview from last night, if Nishikigi was able to get that iron grip on any part of Takakeisho, he would drive the Ozeki out of the ring. Takakeisho chose to do a full frontal charge at the tachiai, and was captured at once. The result was predicted, Nishikigi now 3-6.

Meisei defeats Terunofuji – Meisei did a fantastic job of disrupting Terunofuji’s attacks, always landing his move a split second before the Yokozuna, and forcing him to respond rather that attack. This allowed Meisei to get a odd but workable grip on Terunofuji’s right shoulder and work that into a yorikiri. Kinboshi for Meisei as he is now kachi-koshi at 8-1.