The news from the infirmary today is that Aoiyama is not only kyujo, he may have suffered a career-ending ACL injury. Hokuseiho is also going to be out longer than originally anticipated. Hat-tip to Herouth for the news that Hokuseiho will go under the knife and have surgery on his meniscus. This will put him out of action for Osaka. We will most likely see him back in Tokyo in May, in Juryo. To be completely honest, I think he does need a bit of a sumo style adjustment, too. The knee may dictate it.
Makuuchi Action
Onosho (6-1) fusensho, Aoiyama (0-7-8) kyujo.
Shimazuumi (4-3) defeated Kotoshoho (5-2). Initial advantage to Kotoshoho with his tsuppari. Once Shimazuumi used his arms to effectively block the incoming blows, he began to counter. He moved inside and drove Kotoshoho to the edge. Kotoshoho tried to wriggle away but Shimazuumi shoved him down. Oshitaoshi.
Bushozan (4-3) defeated Churanoumi (4-3). A great tsuppari battle here as both men generated alternating forward motion. Eventually Churanoumi started driving Bushozan to the edge. But it was a bit of a ploy by Bushozan. At the edge, Bushozan grabbed Churanoumi’s arm and tried to slip to the side. Churanoumi followed but Bushozan re-engaged from the side, shoving Churanoumi over. Oshitaoshi.
Myogiryu (2-5) defeated Takarafuji (3-4). Hurricane Myogiryu may have been weakening but still provided tropical storm-force headwinds for the Takarabune today. This forced a new course, straight backwards. The Takarabune attempted to tack before running aground but it was too late, and dropped over the horizon. Yorikiri.
Onosato (6-1) defeated Oho (5-2). Onosato locked up with his right hand inside grip right at the tachiai. Oho tried to circle but Onosato kept pace and pressed him back. Quick yorikiri.
Tsurugisho (2-5) defeated Tomokaze (1-6). Neither men were very effective with their tsuppari early on. Tsurugisho moved inside and locked up Tomokaze with his right hand inside. From there it was over as Tsurugisho bulldozed Tomokaze over the edge. Yorikiri.
Sadanoumi (2-5) defeated Endo (1-6). Sadanoumi locked in quickly with a hold of Endo’s trunk. Endo circled back as he tried to counter. Sadanoumi gathered up his strength and charged forward, gently lowering Endo off the dohyo to do some more fansa (Japanese colloquial term for “fan service”). Yorikiri.
Tamawashi (4-3) defeated Takanosho (4-3). Good ole Tom O’Washi was back as he quickly and easily battered Takanosho. Oshidashi.
Asanoyama (7-0) defeated Meisei (4-3). Meisei blasted Asanoyama at the tachiai, rocking Asanoyama’s head back. No bother. Asanoyama wrapped him up and charged forward. Yorikiri.
Ichiyamamoto (3-4) defeated Hiradoumi (4-3). Ichiyamamoto-brand sumo here. Hit high with the arms, then pull down. It looks so easy. Hatakikomi.
Halftime
Mitakeumi (4-3) defeated Shonannoumi (1-6). Straight-forward bulldoze from Mitakeumi. Shonannoumi will need to retool his sumo to succeed at this level. He’s just letting his opponents walk him to the edge and they’re not falling for his pulldowns. Oshidashi.
Nishikigi (4-3) defeated Kinbozan (3-4). Nishikigi locked in close at the tachiai. After an initial tussle of arms, Nishikigi acquired a left-hand inside hold of Kinbozan’s trunk. From there, it was a cake walk as he steamed ahead. The way Kinbozan seemed to shut off there should be a point of interest for his future opponents. Oshidashi.
Midorifuji (2-5) defeated Gonoyama (2-5). Midorifuji sprung ahead early. Andy’s henka alert system kicked into high gear… No henka. Powerful tachiai from Gonoyama as he blasted Midorifuji to the edge before attempting a pulldown. Midorifuji maintained his balance and countered with his own tsuppari. Gonoyama charged forward in response. As they neared the edge, Midorifuji slipped quickly to the side and pushed Gonoyama out. Nearly an okuridashi, there. Yorikiri.
Atamifuji (3-4) defeated Abi (1-6). Abi-zumo did not faze Atamifuji. Atamifuji just walked forward and drove Abi over the bales. Oshidashi.
Sanyaku
Wakamotoharu (4-3) defeated Takayasu (2-3-2). A quick flurry of tsuppari at the tachiai but once Wakamotoharu latched on, Takayasu set the gearbox in “R” instead of “D” and backed out. There is a movie where the main character got in the car, thought he put it in drive but it was in reverse. There were instructions but apparently upside down, so he flipped it around? I can’t think of the name of it, though…that will bug me. Anyway, Takayasu’s back is still an issue. Yorikiri.
Daieisho (5-2) defeated Ura (1-6). Daieisho-zumo. Tsukidashi.
Kotonowaka (6-1) defeated Ryuden (3-4). Kotonowaka used a strong right hand grip to drag Ryuden around to the edge. From there it was just a matter of force as he shoved Ryuden out. Ryuden wouldn’t go out quietly, though, so Kotonowaka had to put a bit more force into it. Yorikiri.
Kirishima (6-1) defeated Hokutofuji (4-3). A nervous Hokutofuji charged forward early. In the most comical moment of the match day, Hokutofuji blasted into Kirishima and they took out the gyoji, Kimura Yodo. This may have unsettled Hokutofuji as both men shifted to a yotsu battle, righthand inside. Hokutofuji tried hard but once Kirishima got that left hand grip, it was over. Yorikiri.
Hoshoryu (5-2) defeated Tobizaru (3-4). Hoshoryu wrapped up Tobizaru with a kimedashi grip but Tobizaru freed his left arm. The two battled for a grip and Tobizaru made a critical error as it looked like he tried to wrap up Hoshoryu high, possibly for a kubinage attempt? This yielded a morozashi for Hoshoryu who ushered Tobizaru out. Yorikiri.
Shodai (4-3) defeated Terunofuji (5-2). Terunofuji tried the same thing Hoshoryu tried with both arms locking up the arms of his opponent. However, Terunofuji tried that against Shodai, who is a lot larger than Tobizaru. For once in his life, Shodai charged forward. Sensing trouble, the Yokozuna pivoted and tried to throw Shodai but Shodai kept his balance and pivoted with Terunofuji. He then drove the Yokozuna straight across the ring, and dropped him to the floor. Kinboshi! Yoritaoshi.
Wrap-up
Onosato outclassed Oho, who has been performing well, his only blemish suffered in the loss to the sanyaku veteran, Onosho. He will have a bit of a freebie tomorrow against Endo. As he and Asanoyama continue to chew through their competition, I anticipate a matchup between the two.
Asanoyama dominated Meisei and will face Tom O’Washi for his kachi-koshi tomorrow. If he and Onosato both win, the schedulers definitely will have a conundrum. Do they try to place a few high-ranking roadblocks in the path of Asanoyama, first, wagering Onosato’s run will end sometime?
If I were a master scheduler, I would pit the winner of Asanoyama/Onosato against Wakamotoharu before introducing any sanyaku opponents. At this point, we would be at Day 11, and the start of any real yusho talk. If Onosato is 10-1 at that point, has dispatched Asanoyama and Wakamotoharu, it makes sense to look at putting guys like Ura, Takayasu, Daieisho, Hoshoryu on his schedule.
Terunofuji slipped up again here, today. But the important thing is that he is still in the competition. I just think he used a technique against a big guy that he should not have used. I feel Kirishima escaped today with the help of the gyoji. Hokutofuji brought some fire into this bout and it was partially extinguished with the interference from the gyoji.
At this point, I am most impressed with Kotonowaka and Asanoyama. Asanoyama is head-and-shoulders above the rank-and-file. He will surely leap back into the joi in Osaka, perhaps even higher. Since his comeback, it is the joi-level and sanyaku-level competition that really challenges him. He is the only rikishi looking to pick up his kachi-koshi on nakabi.
Kirishima and Kotonowaka lead the group of four men with one loss. Kirishima will fight Tobizaru and Kotonowaka will fight Takayasu. Both bouts are really more than “must win”; they are “should win,” in that if either man falters, that will be a serious blow to any promotion or yusho hopes. They are joined by Onosato and Onosho. We already discussed Onosato; as for Onosho, he will face Shimazuumi.
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I strongly hope Asanoyama will not steal the basho as he fights in another tournament than the big boys the first ten days. I‘ll never come clear with that unfairness against the jo’i.
It’s just how the sport is set up. They’ll match him up with the big boys next week; if he can beat them, more power to him.
Also, we want a champion who beat the best competitors. Asanoyama will get moved up. It will be a surprise if he wins out.
The only upper-ranker he has a winning record against in Kotonowaka (2-0). He’s 0-6 vs Teru, 0-4 vs Hoshoryu, 3-4 vs Kirishima, and 7-12 vs Daieisho. If he keeps winning, he’ll probably have to face all of them, and won’t be able to afford a lot of losses.
It’s worth to note that the losses against Teru are from another era (and Teru looks vulnerable this time around), while the losses vs Hoshoryu are mostly from his comeback (where he also had some injuries). This basho is the first one since his return, where he actually looks like the Ozeki he once was. Will be interesting to see, if Hoshoryu is really a bad matchup.
That being said, Kirishima doesn’t look invincible (maybe nerves are part of that). Hoshoryu and Teru already have 2 losses and Kotonowaka still has all the Sanyaku to go through… I wouldn’t be surprised if none of the Sanyaku guys finishes better than 12-3 … which leaves some room for error for those lower ranked guys in contention.
So if “makikae” is a quick change from overarm to underarm grip (usually to secure double unders), what’s it called when you’ve got your double underhooks and you pull out an arm to avoid kimedashi?
After seeing Aoiyama getting up with so much difficulty and wincing after his day 6 match, i wasn’t that much surprise to see him announce his kyujo today. I am even a bit relieve for him. He seemed genuinely in real pain.
Unfortunatly, hearing today about the nature of his injury, i too feel like this may be the real end of ours beloved huge “Blue Mountain” of love. He doesn’t really have the years to make a comeback like Wakatakakage is currently doing. We’ll just have to wait and see. (I’m sure ours fantastic friend here on Tachiai will keep us updated in his status. ♥ )
But while also speaking on injuries, Hokuseiho kyujo and the gravity of his injury DID surprise me a lot. I really didn’t see that one coming. Neither how much time he will be out.
Wow !!! Why do i feel that there is some…..”strange curse” on poor Miyagino Oyakata (ex-Hakuho) and his stable…..
Must of us here know how Hakuho battled quite a few injuries at the end of his career. But man…. After that, it’s started with Ishiura who was the first of his deshi to come up to makushita, toiled there for a little while, then suffered a terrible career ending injury that even at his young age, he couldn’t recover.
Then Hakuho second deshi, Enho, who also came up to the top division not too long around the same time as Ishiura, also ended up with a crippling head injuries. And while he as not retired because of his very young age, he as yet still not come back from that now long kyujo.
His third rikishi to have made it to the top division, Hokuseiho, is now too so badly injured he will have to go to surgery and fall probably deep in juryo if not even more.
And just before that, we just had his fourth rikishi who made to makushita, Hakuoho who made a blazing dash to the top division to also be quickly extinguish by injuries that pushed him right back down in the third division. All of that seemed to me to be happening right one after the other. Sheesh !!!
With all that, Miyagino stable might end up having Tenshoho as their top ranking leading rishish. That say a lot. O.o”
FWIW, Daikiho was Hakuho’s very first personally recruited deshi, years before Ishiura et al. – another one not blessed with good health.
(There’s also Kiho on Miyagino’s current injured list.)
I am proud to have met Daikiho on Konishiki’s East Coast tour. He won’t remember me from Adam but it was a blast to stand on a dohyo with him and Tōōyama.
If the curse is true, it’s a wicked, double-edged curse. “You will be so successful that you will raise sekitori after sekitori…but they will have the combined durability of your reign in Makuuchi.”
I didn’t realized it before, but with the way you just said it, wow ! Indeed ! That would be one heck of an “agonizing” curse.
“You’ll always be teased by success, but you’ll never be able to taste it. Always be leaving your grasp when upon your reach”
Seriously, all bad omen of misfortune aside. I do hope that all of this was just pure unfortunate bad luck. And that Miyagino stable will be able to produce great strings of sekitoris just like Isegahama-beya is doing.
“For once in his life, Shodai charged forward.”
Lol
For a while I had been wandering about hokuseiho “style”. Up to his first juryo stint, he looked unstoppable. Chris sumo was the first to point out that injuries had a throng impact on his style. And now, all of a sudden he is due for surgery. I guess he never really healed from the injury he picked up in his very first juryo bout and just did his best to keep up hoping to figure out a way to fight on one knee. I hope he will recover, and once fully functional deliver to the level people expected two years ago.
Frankly, the average fan’s expectation for Hokuseiho when he came up was downright delusional. “Future yokozuna right there! Sure, he still needs to learn how to actually do sumo, but how hard can that be? Justlookatthesizeofthiskid!” just isn’t the winning argument many people thought it is.
And given his continuing lack of fundamentals, I sadly suspect he’s just about among the worst-equipped rikishi ever when it comes to dealing with the effects of injuries on his sumo. Much more technically adept rikishi like Aminishiki and Endo took years to adjust their sumo to the deteriorated condition of their knees. Hokuseiho’s best chance is arguably the hope that this injury might be minor enough that he won’t need to change anything at all post-surgery.
I’m loving following the journey of the Takarabune!
I’m going to need to crack the books so my nautical metaphors don’t get stale too soon.
Bloody Shodai….why does he do this to us??? 😃
When I saw the gyoji flattened in the Kirishima-Hokutofuji match, it made me wonder – has there been matches where the gyoji was knocked out and couldn’t announce the winner? (And I was amused that the gyoji was concerned with getting his hat on, rather than watching the rikishi closely. Is there a protocol, that they need their regalia to officiate a match?)
Lol
I do remember a match only a few years ago where it was another Gyoji who got up and stepped up on the dohyo to finish the match. But only because the original gyoji was knocked so hard that he was completly ejected from the dohyo, all the way in the crowd. And was taking just forever to get himself back together and up.
When he eventualy did, he just left the substitute gyoji finish the match. (Did not insisted on asking the other gyoji to leave the dohyo while the match was still ongoing.)
After that “event”, apparently the Sumo Elders praised the decision and reaction of the substitute to step in and do what he did. They also seemed to though it was the right and good thing to do. And seemed to even recommand gyoji to react even faster to step in when such a event like that is happening. (Back in that match, the substitute gyoji still took about 20-30 second to get up and step on the dohyo. Leaving the two riskishi battling it out alone with no gyoji to guide the match. Which seemed like an eternity !)
This is why i believe in this match today when we saw that gyoji lose his footing and nearly feel out of the dohyo, we quickly saw the stand-by gyoji behind get up just in case….than sit back down when he saw his comrade was ok to continue.
(If anyone remember what match it was, feel free to post a link. All i remember is that it was concerning involving the current tate-gyoji.)
Is it me or does Gonoyama seem to be persona non grata amongst his colleagues. Thiught I noted a couple of extra shoves and dirty looks.