No calls to the infirmary to report from the top divisions.
Tohakuryu got dirt on Takerufuji with a quick hatakikomi slapdown. Meanwhile, Chiyoshoma defeated Shiden with a quick and easy uwatedashinage. So, Juryo is now a tight contest with Takerufuji tied with Chiyoshoma. Takerufuji will fight Shimazuumi and Chiyoshoma will take on Hidenoumi.
The NHK videos for today are here: Juryo Part I and Part II; Makuuchi Part I and Part II. If the videos do not work, try a different browser. Chrome seems to be working well for folks. I have it working in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge but they all have their quirks.
Today, I’ll experiment with direct links to the sanyaku bouts in the descriptions below. They do not work for me (it gives an error that it can’t be linked from an external site) but I am curious if they will work for you. I doubt it, but let’s give it a go. They only work for me if I take the URL itself and paste it in my browser.
Ideally, I’d be able to get a link to the direct vids. Well, the ideal would be to embed the videos but that wasn’t working. So, next would be to allow you to click and go right to each one…but for now those four links seem to work.
Makuuchi Action
Takayasu (8-2) defeated Nishikifuji (4-6). Nishikifuji was unwise and tried to pull Takayasu back by his left arm. Takayasu lowered his head and used the momentum to run Nishikifuji out of the ring. The former Ozeki remains in the yusho race, two Oshidashi.
Shirokuma (3-7) defeated Bushozan(4-6). The Shadow of Bushozan was easily driven backward and forced out by Shirokuma. Yorikiri.
Onokatsu (4-6) defeated Kinbozan (4-6). Migi-yotsu. Kinbozan was just along for the ride as Onokatsu drove him backwards. Yorikiri.
Kitanowaka (4-6) defeated Sadanoumi (5-5). Kitanowaka kept Sadanoumi away with effective tsuppari and drove him to the edge. Sadanoumi tried to pull Kitanowaka out but Kitanowaka thrust Sadanoumi to the clay in retaliation. Tsukiotoshi.
Nishikigi (8-2) defeated Kagayaki (1-9). Nishikigi just bulled forward through Kagayaki. Kagayaki will be on the short list for demotion. Oshidashi.
Takarafuji (6-4) defeated Roga (5-5). Takarafuji established his hidari-yotsu and drove Roga back and out Yorikiri.
Ichiyamamoto (4-6) defeated Hokutofuji (6-4). Migi-yotsu bout here. The pair started with the oshi-style bout you’d expect for a few seconds but it soon settled into a grapple. Ichiyamamoto tried an uwatenage, followed up with a headbutt. This combo made Hokutofuji start moving toward the edge. Ichiyamamoto kept driving and forced Hokutofuji out. Yorikiri.
Oshoma (7-3) defeated Ryuden (6-4). Oshoma kept Ryuden at arm’s length, off his belt. Ryuden used his best oshi-zumo to press Oshoma toward the edge. At the edge, Oshoma slipped to the side and slapped Ryuden down. Hatakikomi.
Wakatakakage (8-2) defeated Endo (7-3). Wakatakakage hit Endo with a headbutt at the tachiai but quickly shifted right and threw Endo to the ground. Tsukiotoshi.
Tamawashi (4-6) defeated Churanoumi (6-4). Tamawashi established his style of sumo by assaulting Churanoumi with forceful tsuppari about the head. He then grabbed Churanoumi under the right shoulder and dragged Churanoumi around toward the bales and drove him over. Oshidashi.
Halftime
Shonannoumi (2-8) defeated Midorifuji (4-6). Shonannoumi pulled while keeping Midoruji at arm’s length with solid oshi zumo. Oshidashi.
Shodai (6-4) defeated Meisei (2-8). Meisei hit Shodai hard at the tachiai but Shodai just absorbed it. Shodai then pressed forward. Meisei tried to pull and throw with an uwatenage but Shodai used the momentum to shove Meisei back and out. Meisei makekoshi. Oshidashi.
Wakamotoharu (6-4) defeated Atamifuji (4-6). Atamifuji could not force Wakamotoharu over the edge so he tried to pull. Wakamotoharu rushed forward and maintained his balance, resisting Atamifuji’s slapdown attempts. Yorikiri.
Takanosho (3-7) defeated Mitakeumi (3-7). Mitakeumi seemed happy to slide back to the tawara but he could not escape Takanosho’s forward thrusts. Takanosho forced Mitakeumi onto his butt under the white tassel.
Sanyaku
Oho (6-4) defeated Daieisho (5-5). Oho withstood Daieisho’s thrusting attacks but kept pressing forward. Daieisho thrust forward with a brutal nodowa, with his left hand in Oho’s throat. Oho knocked Daieisho’s arm away and Daieisho fell forward. Hikiotoshi.
Hiradoumi (6-4) defeated Tobizaru (3-7). Migi-yotsu. Tobizaru tried to keep Hiradoumi’s right hand away but once established, Hiradoumi drove forward and forced Tobizaru into the first row of punters for some fansa. Yorikiri.
Onosato (10-0) defeated Kirishima (8-2). Henka! Onosato avoided the slapdown and drove into Kirishima before Kirishima could get in behind for an Okuridashi. Instead, Onosato pressed Kirishima at the bales. Onosato leads by two. Yorikiri.
Ura (6-4) defeated Abi (2-8). Abi-zumo. Abi roughly assaulted Ura about the head multiple times, driving him closer to the edge. Angry Ura grabbed Abi’s right arm and swung him forward to the ground. Tottari.
Kotozakura (7-3) defeated Gonoyama (3-7). Kotozakura was in danger as Gonoyama forced him back to the tawara. Kotozakura wisely realized that pulling for a throw was high-risk so he drove forward with his right-hand inside and forced Gonoyama out. Yorikiri.
Hoshoryu (6-4) defeated Kotoshoho (5-5). Kotoshoho did well. Hoshoryu barely avoided Kotoshoho’s slapdown attempt. He did recover and re-engaged with hazuoshi, shoving Kotoshoho back with his right arm in Kotoshoho’s left armput. Yoritaoshi.
Wrap-up
Abi is makekoshi and will be demoted from Sekiwake. Takakeisho will be falling with him and with Onosato’s possible promotion to Ozeki, we will likely have a vacant slot in the Sekiwake ranks. At the moment, that would go to Hiradoumi but Daieisho will fight for it, too. Looks like Oho might be first in line for the Komusubi slot left vacant? He has really turned it on and fought well.
Onosato will fight Kotoshoho tomorrow. Kirishima will fight Abi. Nishikigi will fight Wakatakakage and Takayasu will fight Endo. The Kyokai are probably thinking that the best-case scenario is only one rank-and-filer will remain in the yusho race with two losses after tomorrow but worst case they will have two. If one, I bet they will immediately have the winner of Wakatakakage/Nishikigi fight Kirishima. If two, they will probably pit them against each other with the winner fighting Kirishima on Day 13?
Onosato still needs to fight Abi and the two Ozeki. That leaves one bout available for another rank-and-filer. Ura would be next in line and that would be an interesting fight. But if Wakatakakage, or even Nishikigi or Takayasu are still in the yusho race, that could be a possibility. Obviously, Takayasu is former Ozeki, Wakatakakage has lifted the cup and been Sekiwake before his injury, and Nishikigi has been sanyaku recently, as well.
Either way, the path to Ozeki (and yusho) for Onosato will be a tough one in an effort to make him earn it. We should have a very entertaining, and consequential, final third of this tournament. Rather than Wacky-Aki, this is turning into…something else.
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Ura dealing Abi his make-koshi showed some real grit. Absorbing all the slaps and keeping him in front, then swinging him down via Tottari was a highlight.
Onosato’s quick recovery from Kirishima’s henka provided him the opportunity for his win. Impressive poise for a kid in only his ninth tournament. Ozeki Onosato sure seems like a good possibility.
Agree on all points. I wonder if Abi-zumo has met its match at this level.
Tried the direct links with my iPhone and Safari, worked well!
If I remember correctly, Kirishima is not among those notorious henka cowards like Abi, Endo and Chiyoshoma. And he is in good form. But still he sees no other way to beat Onosato in a crucial fight than a jump to the side without any contact! One more sign to indicate how strong the youngster really is?
Hatakikomi and Okuridashi are some of the more reliable techniques available to a smaller opponent. It looked like he wanted the slap down but Onosato resisted and cut off the Okuridashi. After that, Kirishima was toast because he had no Plan C. He should have had a Plan C for the edge but he looked stumped.
This is mainly what I thought myself. But I think in direct confrontation with Onosato power it would have been a threatening to Kirishimas longtime troubled neck/back health. Besides, he surely wants to keep himself together for maximal win numbers this tournament.
Perhaps. But just yesterday I was thinking someone should try to henka Onosato because he always seemed to go all-out at the tachiai. Well, now we know it didn’t work, but to try it could have been calculation, not necessariy cowardice. Doesn’t look too good of course, especially since it failed. I’m just bummed we didn’t get to find out what a proper Kirishima vs Onosato would look like…
The NHK videos are working fine for me, in Safari on a new MacBook and in Firefox on an ancient iMac. No problems at all. The direct links in the text just put me in MoviePlayer but gave me a line of Japanese text that went nowhere.
I was actually thinking yesterday that Onosato was going to be encountering henkas. But I expected better from Kirishima. The sad thing is that he really doesn’t know how to henka -that was totally lame. It’s sad also that the new, improved Kirishima wouldn’t back himself to go head to head with the rising star. Even a hard-fought loss would have helped re-establish him as a serious player.
Same at my place. The japanese line translated as ‚this video can not be replayed outside the NHK website‘
The direct links for today seem to all have an extra block of text added in Chrome that goes “=&autoplay=false&mute=false”. I was getting the same Japanese text, but if I delete the extra stuff at the back I’m then able to watch the videos.
It’s always the most gleeful thing when you see someone trying to put a clearcut henka and he’s getting totally punished for it. ^_^
(And by clearcut, i mean really jumping to the side and not touching or making any movement to stop the charge of the opponent. Unlike the famous “HNH –> Harumafuji non-henka” which i always found fine in my book.)
It’s also always a super great day when ours beloved bubbly cheery pink acrobat Ura is pulling a Tottari !!! \o/ (my favorite kimarite !!!!!)
And this one was especially really well done !! Ura was really getting wacked by those thrust and then….BAM ! You can see at one point he was like “That’s enough of those arm to my face”. Picked one of those juicy long defenseless arm and yanked it outside the dohyo !!! Hi hi hi hi ! \o/
P.S: About the match hyper link. Just you Andy, they work fine, but i need to copy/paste them in another browser window. If i just click on them or right-click to open them in another tab, i get the japanese line saying that redirecting to this video is not allowed and that video need to be watched on NHK website. I assume it is a web security they have coded to prevent embedding/hosting on other web page.
Oho the makuuchi debutante was hapless, Oho the rank-and-filer was boring and inconsistent, but I gotta say Oho at his highest rank hanging tough in the joi is pretty intriguing. Today Daieisho twice used a standard pusher-thruster tactic — go hard and then pull when you think your opponent is about to over-commit to resistance — but Oho was too careful to fall for it which shows impressive sumo sense.
Oho has definitely leveled up. Beating Daieisho? My goodness!
Incredibly disappointing behavior from Kirishima. If he was hurt, doing poorly, or both I could maybe see him doing a henka. But, this? Ugh. Especially when it’s obvious he rarely practices them. It’s better to “go out on your shield” instead with something you know well in my opinion.
It’s interesting that staying calm and keeping their heads on straight is what won for both Ozeki today. That’s definitely learned experience because both Ozeki have panicked in the past and lost in those situations. Good to see.
As for Abi-zumo, we’ll have to see how he does farther down the banzuke. There’s been less henkas, which is good, but this match has a similar reason for Abi losing: he’s over extending on his thrusts. Instead of doing the “wave action” of Takakeisho or something similar, he lunges a lot and leaves himself open to attacks. If he works on that part, even if he takes small steps forward instead of lunging, that should improve his results.
Did anyone else see Kirishima wince and hold his left shoulder/pec on day 9 after his shonannoumi fight? It was brief but might explain the henka attempt on day 10
I’ll have to go back and check.
Sigh, another tournament goes by with no Daiki Nakamura vs. Daiki Nakamura match-up. Maybe next time.
Hardly next time. And maybe never. Hokutofuji seems very far from a fight with the Ozeki.
But who knows, maybe next year a kinboshi?
Another day, another baffling match by Atamifuji. I don’t know what his style of sumo is and I don’t think he knows, either. The real shame is he has talent; he’s the only one who (so far) has given Onosato any real contest in this basho.
When he gets it sorted, like Oho is starting to, watch out!