Abbreviated coverage today. I overslept and missed the entire first half of action (gasp!). I will have to catch up later this evening.
Your NHK videos are here: Juryo Part I and Part II; Makuuchi Part I and Part II.
Makuuchi Action
Shonannoumi (7-3) defeated Shishi (3-7). Uwatenage.
Chiyoshoma (6-4) defeated Hokutofuji (3-7). Katasukashi.
Asakoryu (4-6) defeated Sadanoumi (3-7). Kotenage.
Takerufuji (8-2) defeated Meisei (6-4). Oshitaoshi.
Midorifuji (5-5) defeated Tokihayate (4-6). Yorikiri.
Takayasu (6-4) defeated Nishikifuji (3-7). Oshidashi.
Ichiyamamoto (6-4) defeated Roga (4-6). Hikiotoshi.
Gonoyama (7-3) defeated Ryuden (2-8). Tsukidashi.
Tamawashi (5-5) defeated Endo (5-5). Tsukiotoshi.
Mitakeumi (6-4) defeated Takarafuji (7-3). Oshidashi.
Halftime
Takanosho (9-1) defeated Onokatsu (7-3). Onokatsu fell for it! Takanosho came out and blasted Onokatsu, holding him high with his right forearm. Takanosho then yanked him forward to the ground with his left hand. Hatakikomi.
Nishikigi (3-7) defeated Atamifuji (4-6). Atamifuji apparently wanted to grapple with Nishikigi so he let Nishikigi inside with his right hand. That was a mistake and trying to back out only made it worse. Nishikigi took control and drove Atamifuji back and over the edge. Yorikiri.
Wakatakakage (7-3) defeated Oho (3-7). Oho pulled but stopped short of the bales. He then pivoted to the center of the ring and forced Wakatakakage to the edge. He got those hips pumping and forced Wakatakakage to fall out. Gunbai Oho, but it was very close so the shimpan called a mono-ii. Video review showed both men had their feet touch outside the ring at the same time. So, they were told to fight again! In the rematch, Oho drove forward, forcing WTK back to the bales. Suddenly, at the edge Wakatakakage disappeared. When he reappeared, he was behind Oho and simply pushed him out of the ring. Okuridashi.
Abi (8-2) defeated Hiradoumi (1-9). Hiradoumi took the initiative here and blasted Abi. He drove Abi back to the edge while trapping Abi’s right arm in close to his body, eliminating Abi’s tsuppari. Abi pulled and used that right arm to grip Hiradoumi’s shoulder and pull him down. That was interesting. Katasukashi.
Sanyaku
Wakamotoharu (6-4) defeated Oshoma (2-8). Oshoma held Wakamotoharu up and then tried for a pull. The entire world saw that coming, though. Most importantly, Wakamotoharu saw it coming. So, he released Oshoma and chased him out of the ring. Oshidashi.
Shodai (4-6) defeated Ura (2-8). Shodai baited Ura into pressing forward. Once Shodai’s back was to the bales he pivoted and levered Ura’s shoulder over with his right hand to force Ura to the edge. From there, Shodai shoved Ura repeatedly until Ura tumbled into the crowd. Oshitaoshi.
Kirishima (4-6) defeated Churanoumi (2-8). Kirishima shifted at the tachiai, seized Churanoumi’s belt and yanked him forward to the ground. Uwatenage.
Daieisho (6-4) defeated Onosato (7-3). Onosato drove Daieisho to the tawara where Daieisho was imbued with the power of rice. Daieisho abandoned his usual slaps acquired a morozashi, double-inside grip. Daieisho then heaved Onosato to get the Ozeki moving backwards and drove him over the edge. Yorikiri.
Hoshoryu (9-1) defeated Kotoshoho (2-8). Kotoshoho started with tsuppari but Hoshoryu forced his way inside, grabbed Kotoshoho’s belt with his right hand and forced the grapple. While Kotoshoho tried to pry Hoshoryu’s hand off and keep the left hand away, Hoshoryu tried a throw. The throw failed but Hoshoryu was able to use the belt to drive Kotoshoho through the ring and over the edge. Yorikiri.
Kotozakura (9-1) defeated Tobizaru (6-4). Kotozakura worked his way inside against Tobizaru. Once he got the left hand grip to accompany his right-hand, Kotozakura yanked Tobizaru forward to the ground. I do not know what Tobizaru had planned there. He just seemed along for the rather unpleasant ride. Hikiotoshi.
Wrap-up.
Kotozakura, Hoshoryu and Takanosho charged forward to 9-1. All three are fighting well. Takanosho has not quite been as dominant in his bouts as the Ozeki so, I fully expect Takanosho to have difficulty keeping pace when pitted against sanyaku competition. He will get a massive test tomorrow as the schedulers suddenly feed him to Onosato.
That chase group is suddenly only two deep: Abi and Takerufuji. Takerufuji will fight Gonoyama tomorrow and Abi will face Onokatsu. The schedulers answered my question from yesterday with this bout. I am a little surprised with the move here, pulling low-rankers into Abi’s schedule so soon. But they probably want to eliminate the low-ranker title hopes, quickly. In that vein, Takarafuji will face Wakatakakage.
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Day 10 and we have 5 contenders to win the tournament. I mean each are possible winner. Great tournament so far.
Four + Takanosho.
There’s still a way to go but a real possibility of a final day fight between two ozeki not only for the yusho but to begin a Yokozuna run. That would be exciting!
Very true. If any of the Ozeki wins, that will kick off a rope run.
What would they do if we get a Kotozakura play-off win against Hoshoryu this time and a Hoshoryu play-off win against Kotozakura, I find myself daring to wonder…
…a Hoshoryu play-off win against Kotozakura in January, that should be
Sumo Fandom wet dream. It would be a very interesting case for dual promotion. Basically each guy would have the same case and if it’s (yusho-equivalent) promotable for one, it would be for the other.
Thanks, Andy! What’s the closest to dual promotion they ever got? (My “history” only goes as far back as Terunofuji’s return to ozeki; nothing in there, obviously.)
https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query.aspx?show_form=0&group_by=basho&having=2&form1_rank=O&form2_rank=Y&group_expand=on
Four times, the last two under reasonably modern circumstances.
Oh, this is one to remember. Thank you!
Probably depends on the scores … would be hard not to promote them with a pair of 13-2’s or better, but less than 26 wins over two tournaments hasn’t been enough recently (presumably barring consecutive yusho, but we haven’t seen that tested under modern conditions, specifically since Taiho).
Onokuni after 9/1987 basho is the last one to become Yokozuna with less than 26 wins and it happened with just 2 Jun-Yushos.
Kotozakura has won precisely one tournament in his career, down at Jk.
Call me a grumpy old doubter, but I think he’s the least likely of the Ozeki to gain a rope.
That’s a very interesting point. I’m going to dig into it more but one early rebuttal would be Kisenosato. He only had one yusho (Makushita) and a storied career of being a bridesmaid for five years before finally winning twice, in Shakespearean tragic fashion. But beyond him, it is a very interesting question to look at lower division titles for Ozeki, those who earn the rope and those who don’t, and seeing the degree to which previous yusho act as a predictor.
I would personally consider that just about the most useless predictor imaginable, at least for the current times in which such a large amount of lower division yusho are being gobbled up by rikishi who have no competitive business being in those divisions to begin with (underranked amateur newcomers / rikishi returning from injury). The true talents are perennially fighting on the bleeding edge of their own abilities on the way up through the unsalaried ranks; that makes them underdogs to those guys who are temporarily squatting well below their abilities, and in Ms and under you only need to run into one of them for your yusho chances to go up in smoke. And these days there are many of them.
(For completeness: Kotozakura winning down in Jk and Hoshoryu in Jd were of course situations in which they were the underranked amateur newcomers beating up on opponents that actually belong in those divisions. So it’s a useless metric from that angle as well.)
I really hate what they do to Onokatsu. It’s his second tournament in Makuuchi. He is out of contention already and doesn’t have a kachikoshi yet, but they have to give him Abi tomorrow? And Takerufuji, who is still in contention gets Gonoyama?
I know Takerufuji is low down the ranks, but in my mind at least, he isn’t at all, as his time out and attendant demotion was injury related, not ability related. Gonoyama’s been quite punchy, oh I think I see, Takerufuji and Abi are both on 8-2 and Gonoyama and Onokatsu on 7-3. I guess those who make the decisions aren’t above a little push on one side of the metaphorical scale to encourage certain options to come to the forest?
Exactly my thoughts only with Takerufuji as starting point.
Though Gonoyama certainly isn’t a walk over, it would have been high time to take Takerufuji up to the big boys. Abi would have been a great choice, I agree. And Gonoyama would have fitted Onokatsu very well. The only obvious explanation is that they are planning the bouts one day ahead. That means Onokatsu wasn’t out of contention yet, when they did it.
Does anybody know why they don’t wait till after the bouts before they determine the next ones?
Presumably because the day 11 schedule was made before the day 10 results.
I think their decisions are made a day in advance, making these seem really off sometimes. I think they were planning as if Onokatsu won.
What a punch line: Onokatsu beat Abi and Takerufuji lost against Gonoyama!
Oh, I hope Hoshoryu finds his way through Daieisho’s errr…well I mentally call it ‘thuggery’, but that’s not really fair, Daieisho’s forceful sumo tomorrow. Someone mentioned joi-jin yesterday, and I didn’t know what that was, so I went to look it up, and one of the entries took me here https://tachiai.org/2019/06/30/nagoya-storyline-3-the-makushita-joi-jin/#comments
I found this a fascinating delve into Makushita division, and some names now in Makuuchi that we follow assiduously. l also learnt a little bit more about how the system works in the lower divisions, so thank you for that. I really enjoyed looking back into recent sumo history 🙂
Fore not forest, darned phone auto-correct. Sorry.
Exactly my thoughts only with Takerufuji as starting point. Though Gonoyama certainly isn’t a walk over, it would have been high time to take Takerufuji up to the big boys. Abi would have been a great choice, I agree. And Gonoyama would have fitted Onokatsu very well.
The only obvious explanation is that they are planning the bouts one day ahead. That means Onokatsu wasn’t out of contention yet, when they did it.
Does anybody know why they don’t wait till after the bouts before they determine the next ones?
This comment should have been an answer to Savaros and is misplaced here and a duplicate.
I apologize.
Not sure, they usually do wait for the day 14 results to schedule day 15 bouts (and occasionally a little earlier if the yusho race is complicated), but presumably there’s something about waiting till 6 pm to start drawing up the schedule…
They want it to be possible for the live broadcast to reference / build hype around the next day’s matches.
To add some more info: Making the next day’s matches early and telling the current day’s audience about them for promotional purposes has been a thing since pre-modern times; in those days of no ticket pre-sales it was simply the most efficient way to get the word out and encourage people to show up again.
A bit later in sumo’s history, it likely also connected to the reasons why the sumo day ends in the early evening already: The goal was to get in all the action ahead of the printing deadlines for the next day’s morning papers. The reporters won’t have wanted to stay around the arena after the final match just to wait for the next match schedule to be given out.
Very interesting historical excursion. Thanks a lot.
I think they want to get the torikumi out early but often the final weekend, we have to wait until well after the results.
Daiesho’s W was a beauty .. The Ono-dozer can be beaten head on by getting inside + under his chin .. Daiesho’s sumo is not my fav .. but love his heart .. never takes a match off .
We need to reward that. It was one of the reasons I loved Ikioi. The other is that it autocorrects to Bikini. I think Tachiai needs to have an award or ranking for the most “genki” wrestler who gives 110%.
For me the 110% guy was Kotoeko. I was very sad to see him go.
Oh, he was a great one! Great call. He was great to watch in his distinctive lavender 🪻 mawashi.
Totally. I loved my man in lavender. Chiyonokuni and Yoshikaze too. And Shohozan.
The bouts for the next day are mostly made prior to that days bouts. If you watch Abemas coverage you’ll see the tate-gyoji reading the following days bouts on the dohyo. Plus you always hear the announcers saying who they fight tomorrow.
Well, Daiesho defeating Onosato BY YORIKIRI was certainly not an outcome I was expecting. Takerufuji I assume will start to get higher rankers soon, Takanosho, Abi – but will they make him fight any of the ozeki? And if so, which one(s)? I feel it would be highly unfair to the ozeki vying for the title if only one of them had to go through that guy… Though if memory serves, it was Hoshoryu who handed him one of his losses when he took the yusho in March. I’m hoping Hoshoryu can bring it home this time, he finally seems to have his head screwed on straight. (Sorry, I don’t believe in jinxing as such – if he loses tomorrow, it will be squarely his fault :)) Also, I’m very much enjoying WTKs comeback, I kind of forgot how good he was. Despite my fav Kirishima’s woes, this is a super fun basho!
I think it depends on whether he stays within one win of the lead. The O-O bouts should be Koto-Hosh day 15, Koto-Onosato day 14, Onosato-Hosh day 13. They could do Takanosho or Abi on day 12, then Koto day 13, Hosh day 14, Onosato day 15 if needed. Of course, the complication is if Takanosho also stays firmly in the yusho race…which is why pairing them on day 12 could make sense, with Abi fighting Wakatakakage. Lots of possibilities depending on how the yusho race shapes up down the stretch!
Daieisho engaging in a yotsu bout and beating an Ozeki is awesome.
As for Takerufuji, yes, they could definitely pit him against an Ozeki. It would probably be Onosato.
Great sumo from Daieisho, and kudos to both Oho and Wakatakakage. That was brilliant. Even the torinaoshi was rather evenly matched. I feel better about Takakeisho’s retirement knowing sumo is in their hands now. Long live the Waka rule.
Team Kise is going down in flames, but looking forward to Hoshoryu v Daieisho tomorrow (I’m rooting for the Hoshoryu-yusho, but anything even vaguely similar to what Daieisho pulled today would be great fun), plus Takanosho v Onosato.
Mitakeumi’s win was almost as depressing as seeing Ura and Shodai fight–Mitakeumi’s was a good win, but he winces every time he moves. I’ve instructed my friend to tell me when to look away when he fights tomorrow.
Something’s obviously off with Nishikigi too but that’s rather old news, given his recent performances. Does anyone know what’s up with him?
Daieisho‘s obstacle on his possible way to Ozeki has always been his inclination to belly landings, as Andy pointed out many times. Now he seemes to have found a cure for that problem. Did it happen to him even a single time in this basho? Scratching the clay in the reverse gear right until the edge and power up from there was so funny to see!