Never dismiss Daiamami, dude. When Chiyoshoma hit him, it was like he ran into a brink wall. Then the brick wall ran after him and bashed into him, repeatedly, until he backed out of the ring. What this means is, Takerufuji is our sole, undefeated leader in Juryo. For his part, Takerufuji stayed calm when Asakoryu pulled and pressed forward with a forceful nodowa. Takerufuji kachi-koshi and atop our Juryo leaderboard.
Tomorrow, Chiyoshoma will face Hakuoho, who defeated Shishi today with a beautiful, powerful throw. God, I want to see this kid back in the thick of makuuchi. Takerufuji, meanwhile, will take on Oshoumi.
JME preempted the start of makuuchi coverage with the end of a Senior Golf tournament. Obviously had to wait for the interview and award presentation….and replays of the final putt… You know, there’s a whole channel set aside on JME.tv for replays during the day. It is sitting, unused at the moment. I do not understand why they can’t show the live coverage over there…and extend it for the lower divisions, too!
Makuuchi Action
Hokutofuji (6-2) defeated Nishikifuji (3-5). Oshitaoshi.
Nishikigi (6-2) defeated Kitanowaka (2-6). Kotenage.
Onokatsu (3-5) defeated Bushozan (4-4). Andy’s hat is looking safe. Yorikiri.
Kinbozan (3-5) defeated Shirokuma (2-6). Yorikiri.
Sadanoumi (5-3) defeated Takarafuji (4-4). Andy’s hat is safe. Sorry, folks. None of that premium internet content, for now. I’m sure Andy will put his foot in his mouth at some point in the future. Sukuinage.
The preceding had been preempted by senior golf. I will be reaching out to JME about setting up an SLA to see if a contract will improve their service. We want the same thing, we want more people watching sumo. We’ll see what happens.
Takayasu (6-2) defeated Kagayaki (1-7). Kagayaki seems to have no understanding of the concept of lateral movement. I guess he is named for a passenger train so maybe he can only move forward along the rails laid out in front of him. Takayasu plowed into him for a good ten seconds and then slipped to the side and pulled Kagayaki down. Hikotoshi.
Roga (4-4) defeated Ryuden (5-3). Ryuden charged ahead and adjusted well when Roga moved left. He tried to establish his hidari-yotsu but Roga did a good job of keeping him off his belt. Roga’s trunk was extended so far forward, Ryuden tried a pull and slapdown but Roga maintained his balance. Roga twisted his body and pulled with his left hand. This threw Ryuden off balance and gave Roga the opening he needed to charge forward and drive Ryuden over the bales.
Wakatakakage (6-2) defeated Tamawashi (3-5). Bar fight. This bout was a wild brawl. Tamawashi pissed WTK off by going for the head so he threw a few haymakers of his own. Mainly, though, he blasted him over and over with his head and shoulders, eventually working him toward the bales where he wrapped him up and pushed him over. Yorikiri.
Oshoma (6-2) defeated Churanoumi (5-3). Simple hatakikomi here. Churanoumi drove forward and Oshoma met him square at the tachiai. Then he shifted left with his arms behind Churanoumi’s head. So he pressed Churanoumi into the dirt.
Midorifuji (4-4) defeated Meisei (1-7). A great clash of rutting rams for about 10 seconds. Then Midorifuji got a morozashi, double-inside grip and easily drove Meisei from the dohyo.
Halftime
Ichiyamamoto (3-5) defeated Gonoyama (3-5). Quick slapdown. Ichiyamamoto-zumo. Hikiotoshi.
Endo (6-2) defeated Shonannoumi (1-7). Henka! Endo’s been full of those lately but totally caught Shonannoumi (and myself) by surprise. Yorikiri.
Kotoshoho (5-3) defeated Atamifuji (3-5). Kotoshoho drove forward at the edge and Atamifuji twisted while forcing Kotoshoho down at the same time. Gunbai Kotoshoho. Mono-ii. This was a tight call but Atamifuji’s feet left the dohyo while Kotoshoho was still in bounds. Shinpan confirm the gyoji’s call. Oshidashi.
Oho (5-3) defeated Tobizaru (2-6). Oho is back today, swollen eye and all. Tobizaru did his thing, jumping and slapping around the ring. The Daffy Duck of sumo. The good thing is, Oho was in no mood. He moved forward and took care of business. As Tobizaru tried to slip to the side, and then back toward center, Oho shifted with him and slapped him down. Hatakikomi.
Sanyaku
Hiradoumi (5-3) defeated Takanosho (2-6). Takanosho’s mistake was going for the nodowa with his left hand. Hiradoumi shifted to his right at the same time, getting behind Takanosho and avoiding his attack. Oshidashi.
Daieisho (5-3) defeated Abi (2-6). Abi-zumo was firing on all cylinders. Daieisho tried to deflect him twice by driving into Abi’s armpit. On the third attempt, Daieisho got in behind and shoved Abi out. Okuridashi.
Kirishima (7-1) defeated Ura (4-4). Kirishima was playing old school King of the Hill today. Kirishima claimed the center of the ring and he was not going to chase. He wasn’t going to move for Ura to use his tricks, Ura was going to have to move him. Ura hopped around and tried slapping Kirishima down but Kirishima’s footwork steadily claimed more territory and Kirishima shoved him from the dohyo.
It looked like Ura landed flat on his back below the dohyo. He was slow to get up so a concerned Kirishima went down to check on him. Thankfully, Ura hopped up and seemed unhurt. Oshitaoshi.
Onosato (8-0) defeated Mitakeumi (2-6). Mitakeumi certainly gave Onosato a test. He resisted well and did not go easily. But Onosato was too powerful today. Onosato put everything into his shove and blasted Mitakeumi from the dohyo. Onosato left his feet and also came down but Mitakeumi was clearly out a beat before Onosato. Oshidashi.
Kotozakura (6-2) defeated Shodai (4-4). Shodai had some ambition here today. Like Mitakeumi, he was resolved not to be a mere speedbump. Kotozakura had to work it and assault Shodai over and over. His nodowa and thrusts to the face were very effective. “Not the face, dude. Not the face!” Oshidashi.
Hoshoryu (4-4) defeated Wakamotoharu (5-3). Hidari-yotsu. Hoshoryu took the initiative and pulled hard, twisting with his arm under Wakamotoharu’s shoulder. When Wakamotoharu balanced on one leg, Hoshoryu slipped his arm up around WMH’s neck and finished him off. Kubinage.
Wrap-up
In Makuuchi we have a two-man contest: Onosato leads and Kirishima is one-loss back. Same thing in Juryo. Takerufuji leads and Chiyoshoma is one-loss back. In Makuuchi, there’s a large peleton of seven guys on two losses who are there to keep the pressure on and make the yusho race interesting if Onosato falters: Kotozakura (good), Wakatakakage (good), Endo (gasp!), Oshoma, Hokutofuji (what?!?!), Nishikigi (double what?!?!), and Takayasu (oh, hell yeah!). In Juryo, Asakoryu and Kayo trail with 2-losses.
Kirishima will face Shonannoumi tomorrow with his kachi-koshi, and Shonannoumi’s make-koshi, on the line. I predict a fierce battle. Both men will be motivated to win. Onosato, meanwhile, will take on Wakamotoharu. We will see if Onosato’s dominance continues.
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Sadly Hoshoryu is not 5-3 but only 4-4 after day 8.
Ah, you are right. I will fix that.
Th most aggravating thing about having my program preempted is that someone has made a judgement that the thing I am interested in is less important. Short of a tsunami, typhoon or nuclear meltdown, there is nothing more important than sumo. And preempting for Senior Golf is the worst possible insult. A bunch of guys who were good at it in times past, but who should stick to playing with their pals. Boring!!!!
Sorry about the bad coverage. You deserve a refund if the service fails. Great writeups today. Did you also notice that Mitakeumi did not even do a token bow?
I didn’t notice Mitakeumi’s bow last night but on review, I see what you mean.
As far as the coverage goes, they provide a great service. But if they want more sumo fans as customers, and to pull people from the streams, cutting into the existing limited coverage will not do it.
NHK live coverage on nakabi did not really fire me up. I don‘t understand why they skip half of the opportunities to show our heroes preparing for their bouts and warming up in staring contests for just showing dull pictures of the opponents and endlessly keeping graphics/statistics on the screen while ant-sized rikishi claim a tiny spot in the sight of the spectator. Why? Do they think it‘s boring to watch them?
I think they’re still figuring it out. I really liked the demonstrations they did during Day 7 but they can’t do that every night. It may be why they don’t offer the earlier, lower division coverage. They might think, “we need to have an announcer, a commentator, and an English speaker for the whole day…” When we’d be happy if they set up a GoPro as a webcam and just streamed it.
That may be true for the new NHK channel they installed for US viewers. I remember it was a subject on Tachiai some time ago. Unfortunately I‘ve got no access, coz living in the EU. I was talking about the content of www-based ‚NHK World Japan‘. They offer live shows on shonichi, nakabi and senshuraku, but only for the last 50 minutes, that means sanyaku bouts. Yes, I would be so happy to just stare at the rikishi on the dohyo the whole time long :)
There are some “NHK World Premium” packages available in Europe. It depends on which country for the various different services. https://nhkworldpremium.com/en/apply
Thank you, I‘ll check it out!
I think (I could be wrong) NHK being a government channel with no advertising they pan back during the kensho flags parade as to not promote those companies. Abema is much better in that respect.
I’ve heard that but I feel like you see the ads better when they pan back than when they’re zoomed in on the wrestlers. It is an interesting theory. I wish I could sit down with one of their lawyers to learn their policies.
With the furore over Hoshoryu’s minimalist ‘bow’ yesterday, I note he gave an exemplary bow, from the waist, today 😆 however he’s far from alone in giving a perfunctory nod to his opponent. Time for them all to smarten up a bit in that regard !
He also made excellent use of his leg today in keeping Wakamotoharu off balance by moving WKMH’s leg further and further up into the air whilst getting that kubinage done.
I’m pretty new to sumo, (just over a year – so much time wasted 😞😞) so I wondered why Hoshoryu was criticised recently, albeit obliquely, for using throws, which are valid kimarite. The criticism came from (is this correct?) the Japan Sumo Assocation when they were watching the pre Basho Makuuchi training I think. I always think Hoshoryu brings a touch of the Mongolian Wrestling (Bökh) to his sumo…(his ‘brand’ of sumo 😆)
As ever thank you for the insights and commentary.
That’s an odd criticism. Maybe they’re worried about injury risk or something? I’ll check it out. Most of the time, like this “furore”, I think they’re tempests in teapots. There are many teapots in the sumo world. But there are guys like Homasho and Kiryuko who kind of get fans and supporters because of their deep bows.
Yes, the essence of that criticism was that routinely relying on throws carries too much of an injury risk. Not that there is anything wrong with them otherwise. It was more of an observation than an admonishment. As a viewer I think throws are among the most fun kimarite and the main reason why I like Hoshoryu.
I feel like Oho has gained some confidence from his recent wins. He didn’t panic against Tobizaru today when, previously, he might have pulled and lost.
Seems like Kirishima is keeping his head on straight too. If he focuses on winning his own matches, I think he’ll be fine.
The Juryo barge candidates are an interesting group: Shirokuma, Kitanowaka, and Kagayaki are in the most danger with Nishikifuji, Onokatsu, Kinbozan, and Takarafuji on shaky ground. We’re definitely going to have at least 3 viable promotion candidates, if not more, so it’s going to be an interesting week.
Oho has been a real surprise. I was terrified going into today because of his eye and possible concussion.
Kitanowaka and Kagayaki have not been solid Makuuchi wrestlers. Kagayaki fell off a while ago.