It’s sumo time! Unfortunately, there’s a lot of drama leading into this tournament. The media is doing the boys of Miyagino-beya no favors by reporting on proposed plans, rather than waiting for details and implementation. Indeed, Takemaru, Otani, Onokura, Nishikiori, Ishii, and Kenyu picked up black stars on Day One. Only Kurokage and the protégée, Hakuoho, earned white stars today for Miyagino-beya.
Whatever Kaio and Isegahama-Ichimon have in store, they’re certainly not executing it in the best interest of these boys. As of today’s action, these boys are still being introduced as being a part of “Miyagino-beya.” If anything changes, officially, I will report on it when the details are known. Yesterday, here outside of Washington, DC, we had a dreary day yesterday, culminating in a wicked thunderstorm. Rather odd for this time of year but it sure seemed appropriate.
In Juryo, the Takarabune charted a new course in new seas to an inauspicious start. Everything looked great as they left the dock and navigated the narrow channel to reach the open waters of Tokihayate Bay. Right there at the edge the winds shifted and the waters got rough. The rudder snapped and the Takarabune got itself spun around and eventually ran aground. Tokihayate Bay 1 – Takarabune 0.
Makuuchi Highlights
Takerufuji defeated Daiamami. Takerufuji locked in at the tachiai with a strong righthand grip of Daiamami’s belt and his left hand inside Daiamami’s armpit. Even with that solid grip, he faced a tough task to move the girth of Daiamami. So, he suddenly shifted left and pulled Daiamami forward. Once he got behind Daiamami, he forced him out from behind. Plaudits from none other than Wakanohana for the Okuridashi.
Roga defeated Endo. Solid tachiai, both men reached in for a belt grip. Endo tried to drive forward but could not make progress. Instead Roga walked Endo backwards and out. Yorikiri.
Endo (0-1) will face Takerufuji (1-0) tomorrow.
Myogiryu defeated Kitanowaka. No belts needed here. Kitanowaka tried to reach in with his left but Myogiryu pulled back. The first attempt didn’t work but Kitanowaka pressed forward, Myogiryu tried a second slapdown which worked. Hatakikomi.
Myogiryu (1-0) will face Daiamami (0-1) tomorrow. Kitanowaka (0-1) will take on Roga (1-0).
Churanoumi defeated Nishikifuji in a wild brawl. Nishikifuji set the tone and laid into Churanoumi with fierce tsuppari. He tried a kotenage and slung Churanoumi around. Churanoumi finally gained the advantage by shoving Nishikifuji’s right shoulder and getting him off balance. A few more shoves and he was out. Oshidashi.
Ryuden defeated Shimazuumi. Shimazuumi secured a morozashi, double-inside belt grip but was unable to press forward or move Ryuden. Instead, Ryuden used his double-over arm grip to twist Shimazuumi down. Uwatenage.
Ryuden (1-0) will take on Nishikifuji (0-1) on Day 2.
Sadanoumi defeated Shonannoumi. Shonannoumi tried a kotenage but Sadanoumi pressed forward and forced Shonannoumi out. Yorikiri.
Shonannoumi (0-1) will face Churanoumi (1-0). Sadanoumi (1-0) will face Shimazuumi (0-1).
Mitakeumi dismissed Ichiyamamoto with immediate effect. Mitakeumi pressed forward into Ichiyamamoto’s left shoulder and drove forward. Oshidashi.
Shodai defeated Kotoshoho. Shodai spun Kotoshoho around after the tachiai and drove him forward and out.
Shodai (1-0) will face Ichiyamamoto (0-1) on Day 2. Kotoshoho (0-1) will take on Mitakeumi (1-0). The former Ozeki brought the funk today. Hopefully Ichiyamamoto and Kotoshoho will regroup for tomorrow.
Takayasu defeated Hokutofuji. This was a great oshi bout that demonstrated Takayasu’s strength. Hokutofuji was unable to press forward through Takayasu. He kept applying more forward pressure. Takayasu was patient and waited for that momentum to build. Then he struck, at the perfect time to slip to the side and slap Hokutofuji down. Hatakikomi.
Onosho defeated Tamawashi Matta. Tamawashi is eager to get this going. But Onosho brought the power today and shoved Tamawashi. Oshidashi.
Onosho (1-0) will face Hokutofuji (0-1) tomorrow; Tamawashi (0-1) will take on Takayasu (1-0) in a battle of grizzled vets.
Kinbozan defeated Gonoyama. Gonoyama was the aggressor and brought a great fight to Kinbozan. He had the advantage and forced Kinbozan to the edge but Kinbozan suddenly whipped Gonoyama to the ground with a lightning-quick uwatenage.
Halftime
Onosato defeated Tsurugisho. Tsurugisho was far too high. He was thinking “pull” from the start of this bout but Onosato was not falling for it. Instead, Onosato moved with Tsurugisho and simply pressed him out at the tawara. Yorikiri.
Onosato (1-0) will pair off with Gonoyama (0-1) on Day 2; Tsurugisho (0-1) will face Kinbozan (1-0).
Hiradoumi defeated Midorifuji. Hiradoumi hit Midorifuji so hard at the tachiai that Midorifuji was half way to Ohio. Wow. Tsukidashi.
Tobizaru defeated Takanosho. Takanosho nearly got Tobizaru with a slapdown. Tobizaru maintained his balance and continued to be the real aggressor here. Eventually, Tobizaru shoved Takanosho out. Oshidashi.
Tobizaru (1-0) will face Midorifuji (0-1). Hiradoumi (1-0) will face Takanosho (0-1).
Sanyaku
Wakamotoharu defeated Oho. Oho drove forward with such confidence…and then completely gave up the shop with a lousy pull. Wakamotoharu stayed alert and just pressed Oho over the bales. The first two seconds of this bout was forward moving sumo, worth a sanyaku bout. Then Oho just quit. A shame. Oshidashi.
Meisei defeated Daieisho. Balance is the bane of Daieisho’s existence. He got his attack going but Meisei shifted three times before finally forcing Daieisho to fall forward. Tsukiotoshi.
Meisei (1-0) will face Wakamotoharu (1-0); Daieisho (0-1) will regroup against Oho (0-1). Oho’s key strategy may play well against Daieisho, or he’ll get blown out of the water. We’ll see.
Kotonowaka defeated Atamifuji. Kotonowaka brought his big left hand up behind Atamifuji’s head and slapped him down. Quick win. Hatakikomi.
Takakeisho defeated Asanoyama. Another quick win but the worrying sign is that Takakeisho was in reverse this bout. His big guns and that vicious tsuppari were absent. Hatakikomi.
Asanoyama (0-1) will try to regroup against Kotonowaka (1-0).
Ura defeated Hoshoryu. The upset! Hoshoryu moved in for the kill but Ura circled away and pulled him down. Katasukashi.
Abi defeated Kirishima. Abi-zumo at its most effective, a simple one-two. One, drive forward. Two pull down. Hikiotoshi.
Abi (1-0) will try to keep the momentum going against Takakeisho (1-0); Kirishima (0-1) and Atamifuji (0-1) both need to knock that ring rust off before tomorrow’s bout.
Nishikigi defeated Terunofuji. Nishikigi drove into Terunofuji at the tachiai. Terunofuji corralled him, though, and pressed him to the bales. Nishikigi had a taste with that initial charge so he did not want to give in. He pressed back into the Yokozuna and both men changed grips. But Terunofuji was too high by this point. Nishikigi had position, and leverage and now – morozashi. Nishikigi drove forward and walked the Yokozuna out. Yorikiri.
Nishikigi (1-0) might see Hoshoryu (0-1) as vulnerable. And Ura (1-0) will hope to score another big win, the biggest, against Terunofuji.
Wrap-up
Well, we ended the day with some surprises here. The guys who had a rather strong start to the year fell out of the gate, with the exception of Kotonowaka. Yes, Takakeisho won but he holstered the big guns against his large opponent and opted for backwards moving sumo. I wonder if we get a glorious double-henka tomorrow when he faces Abi.
My twitter followers may remember this little poll that I ran during the past week.
Things didn’t turn out as expected, did they? You may have even wondered what in the heck was Mitakeumi doing here in this poll. He seemed not to fit among the others. I do have a chart that I want to share with you.
What you’re looking here is a graph by match day of wins minus losses (bouts in Makuuchi/Juryo only). More losses than wins results in a bar that dips below the axis. No bar means even wins and losses. I also put the number of bouts there (“n = x”). The conclusion? Mitakeumi isn’t just Mr. Shonichi. He seems to be Mr. First-Three-Days — before he falls off the rails a bit to come back on Senshuraku. Kinda funny, no?
I couldn’t have planned this better. Each of the other three guys lost. Terunofuji usually wins, with a differential of 12 out of 48 bouts. Shonichi is clearly not his strongest day, though. Daieisho seems to be strongest on senshuraku. For Asanoyama, though, Shonichi is usually his money day, with a whopping 24 wins to 6 losses. So I had expected Asanoyama to still put in a better showing than he did. He was facing an Ozeki, though. But with Mitakeumi so far down the banzuke, I just thought you all would have been interested in that little stat. Kotoshoho might want to do a little extra study if he hopes to win tomorrow.
At least sumo is back. If we get a Meisei yusho, I’m going to laugh.
Discover more from Tachiai (立合い)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The starts seem to be either really hot, or really cold. Onosho looks like a healthy, rotund wrecking ball in the middle of the banzuke. Ura is soaking up the home-crowd love. And Shodai, as predicted, seems to be in position to clean up from his low rank. Kotonowaka seems unfazed by his Ozeki promotion and the leading title contender based on day 1 results.
But many rikishi are struggling. Tsurugisho’s injury woes seem to be flaring up, Endo looked listless, and Kirishima offered rookie-level sumo from the sport’s second-highest rank. Many combatants found themselves nearly blown off the dohyo; could be ring rust, could be a sign of a bad basho incoming. But Osaka is already living up to its reputation as the topsy-turvy basho.
Man ! When i saw Terunofuji lost today, i was so surprise !
I was asking to myself “Should we just start now calling Josk.K the new Nostradamus ?!?!?” O.O
I swear to god, if almost all of his prediction end up right, i’m a going to start asking him about ticket’s number for the next Powerball Lottery. XD
It seems like Hokuseiho’s departure is being treated with other than normal circumstances. He is listed on the Banzuke, was initially on the Torikumi for Shonichi. the Torikumi was altered to bring a Makushita up to fill his spot. He is still on the Banzuke but shown to be credited with an absence, but he’s not on the absent rikishi list. Why isn’t he being designated as “retired”?
I understand the nature of his dismissal is putting the Kyokai in a bad position, but will there be a more normal resolution to this?
He did resign, he wasn’t dismissed. The resignation occurred after the banzuke was created after Hatsu, so he’s still there. That’s normal for retirement and resignation.
“You can’t fire me, because I QUIT!” I guess it’s semantics at its finest. So he’ll get a 0-0-15 record for Haru and a “best of luck in your future endeavors”.
Oh wow – that graph of winning vs days is cool! Is it possible to access somewhere? Would love to check out some others..
I’ll publish it sometime soon.
Fine shonichi for me, a great deal of my boys in makuuchi won their bouts. Nishikigi!
Exception: never seen a henka as fast as from Dark Matter Abi. I wonder, if he was on the dohyo at all, could as well have been a fusensho for Kirishima.
I cried a bit about the Futagoyama crew, don‘t know what the spell was. Maybe all that banzuke folding for the supporters wore them out. Luckily they still got Nabatame, who did a good job. Roga anyway.
Abi didn’t pull a henka by any conceivable definition of the term. He met Kirishima head-on with his trademark double-arm push, noticed that his opponent was off-balance, and went for the lightning-quick hikiotoshi. Sure, he pulled, and sure, it was over in the blink of an eye, but there was no attempt to sidestep the tachiai.
No offence to Abi, who is a very intelligent rikishi, but Kirishima often loses in soft ways early on. Even if he goes onto double digits, as he often does (and I dearly hope), he needs to address this aspect of his game. It’s probably already cost him a few yusho.
I will put more attention on that. :)
I didn’t consider Abi’s tachiai a henka. Not sure how others felt.
Down in Juryo, both Wakatakakage and Hakuoho got off to 1-0 starts. Hakuoho encountered minimal resistance from Kitaharima; WTK had to work a little harder against Oshoumi but never looked in any danger of losing. Tomorrow, it’s Hakuoho vs. Chiyosakae and WTK vs. Tamashoho (both are first-time meetings). And down in Makushita, we get the head-to-head clash between my leading candidates to make a sekitori debut in May: Ms2 Onokatsu vs. Ms3 Kayo. Plus Ms60TD Matsui will make his professional debut.
Saw a guy down at Mak 38 yesterday who takes the furry title away from Papayasu…Sorry…go watch Otani Masatada at Mak 38…One hairy dude…
Yeah, I think he’s one of Hakuho’s boys.