Your NHK videos are here: Juryo, Makuuchi Part I and Part II.
Twelve. Twwwwelvvve. Still such a weird word.
In Juryo, Kotoeiho nearly slipped one past Kusano but Kusano reacted well to the sidestep and dragged Kotoeiho over the bales. Kusano will fight Oshoumi tomorrow. Mitakeumi will take his turn against Kotoeiho. If Mitakeumi wins, he will join Kusano with Makuuchi promotion. Wakaikari and Tohakuryu chase, one loss off pace. They will fight each other tomorrow.
Makuuchi Action
Kotoshoho (6-1-5) defeated Tamashoho (4-8). Kotoshoho’s tsuppari was stronger than Tamashoho’s and Kotoshoho shoved Tamashoho back to the bales and over. Oshidashi.
Nishikigi (6-6) defeated Tokihayate (6-6). Tokihayate spun and pulled on Nishikigi to try to throw him. However, Nishikigi used his size to drive forward and force Tokihayate over the bales and pick up his first white star since Day Five. Yorikiri.
Asakoryu (9-3) defeated Atamifuji (7-5). Atamifuji started to drive forward but Asakoryu pivoted and shoved Atamifuji’s right shoulder, driving Atamifuji down to the clay. Like the Jeffersons, Asakoryu will be “Movin’ On Up” in July. He might even work his way over to the East Side. Tsukiotoshi.
Kayo (6-6) defeated Takanosho (7-5). While Takanosho plowed forward, Kayo shifted to his left and slapped Takanosho down. Hatakikomi.
Endo (7-5) defeated Shonannoumi (3-9). Endo used his nodowa and tsuppari to drive Shonannoumi back to the bales. Shonannoumi resisted with the tawara as leverage so Endo wrapped him up with his strong right hand on Shonannoumi’s belt and pulled. Shonannoumi didn’t go down but Endo dragged him to the other side of the ring and pressed him back over the tawara and likely back to Juryo. Yorikiri.
Ryuden (5-7) defeated Shishi (2-10). Ryuden secured Shishi’s belt with the right hand but Shishi fought to keep Ryuden’s left hand away. After a long struggle, Ryuden finally got his left hand inside, overpowered Shishi and drove him over the bales. Shishi’s dreadful tournament continues and he is in serious danger of demotion. He will need a couple of wins in the final days to avoid the drop. Yorikiri.
Sadanoumi (8-4) defeated Meisei (7-5). Sadanoumi’s footwork was excellent and he reacted very well to Meisei’s inashi, shifting strategy. He grabbed Meisei, pulled him violently toward the tawara and drove him over the edge. Yorikiri.
Midorifuji (3-9) defeated Tochitaikai (3-9). Solid tachiai and Tochitaikai put his head down to press forward. In a flash, Midorifuji shifted left and pulled Tochitaikai down by the left arm. Tochitaikai is headed back to Juryo in July. Hikiotoshi.
Onokatsu (8-4) defeated Roga (7-5). Onokatsu grabbed Roga’s belt with the right. Roga didn’t like that and yanked him off but Onokatsu immediately locked on deeper with the left. As Roga struggled and shifted, Onokatsu kept his head down and pressed ahead, waltzing Roga toward the edge and finally over. Yorikiri.
Churanoumi (3-9) defeated Shodai (3-9). Churanoumi kept Shodai in front of him. As Shodai shifted right, Churanoumi shifted with him and shoved him over the edge. Even Shodai might be in danger of a drop to Juryo and will likely need a win or two in the closing days to avoid it. Oshidashi.
Kinbozan (8-4) defeated Tobizaru (6-6). Tobizaru tried to shift to the right at the tachiai but Kinbozan read it perfectly and shoved Tobizaru. The nudge was enough to catch Tobizaru off-balance and he staggered back, over the bales. Tsukidashi.
Halftime
Tamawashi (4-8) defeated Abi (7-5). Tamawashi blasted Abi, drove him back and out. He might have caught and Abi finger in the eye. That would irritate me, too. Oshidashi.
Chiyoshoma (4-8) defeated Gonoyama (3-9). Gonoyama kept his head down and drove into Chiyoshoma. However, Chiyoshoma pivoted along the bales, grabbed and pulled Gonoyama to the ground. Uwatenage.
Wakamotoharu (6-6) defeated Ura (3-9). Wakamotoharu shifted to his left and slapped Ura down. Hatakikomi.
Hiradoumi (5-7) defeated Oho (4-8). Hiradoumi got a jump on the tachiai and hit Oho hard, driving Oho back and over. Yorikiri.
Sanyaku
Takayasu (3-9) defeated Takerufuji (4-8). Takerufuji used his ottsuke to try to keep Takayasu of his belt but he could only hold out for so long. Takayasu got his left inside then his right hand latched on Takerufuji’s belt. Takayasu pulled hard, swinging Takerufuji down. Uwatenage.
Wakatakakage (9-3) defeated Oshoma (8-4). Wakatakakage grabbed Oshoma and drove him over the edge. Yorikiri.
Daieisho (9-3) defeated Aonishiki (8-4). Aonishiki got a few healthy doses of Daieisho’s tsuppari and was thrown from the dohyo. Tsukidashi.
Onosato (12-0) defeated Hakuoho (8-4). Onosato expected Hakuoho to come out hard. He met him forcefully at the tachiai but then grabbed behind his head and pulled him down while pivoting to the right. Hatakikomi.
Kotozakura (8-4) defeated Ichiyamamoto (4-8). After a brief oshi tussle, Kotozakura released and allowed Ichiyamamoto to step inside, grabbing his belt with the right hand inside. Ichiyamamoto tried to use his ottsuke to squeeze and keep Kotozakura’s left away. But Kotozakura worked his left hand inside. With a morozashi he plowed ahead and forced Ichiyamamoto from the ring. Yorikiri.
Kirishima (9-3) defeated Hoshoryu (9-3). “Purple rain, purple rain.” The Yokozuna let Kirishima get on his belt quickly. Maybe he thought he could overpower him? Kirishima wasn’t budging easy, though. Kirishima’s left hand was firm, inside. But Hoshoryu still squeezed there to try to get him to release. Meanwhile, with Hoshoryu’s focus apparently on that left hand, Kirishima quietly reached over and locked on with his right, outside Hoshoryu’s left. Firm grip acquired, Kirishima pulled up, briefly lifting the Yokozuna from the surface of the dohyo, and dragged him to the bales where Kirishima unceremoniously dumped Hoshoryu over the edge. Uwatenage.
Wrap-up
Enough Prince, Andy. It’s always Prince. Always Purple Rain. Can’t you switch it up for once? Okay. How about some Phil this time? I’ll try to think of something better for next time.
The yusho is not officially Onosato’s yet but barring a collapse of monumental proportions in the closing days of the tournament, the yusho AND the rope are his. The only question remaining is whether this will be a runaway or will anyone present a serious challenge to Onosato? Onosato will fight Kotozakura tomorrow.
If he wins, the yusho is his and they probably prefer him to go through the Ozeki to clinch the title rather than have him face Daieisho or Kirishima. They might delay the Day 14 pairing to see which Sekiwake has the better record but both Daieisho and Kirishima are fighting well. Both would be great matchups and one of them should have fought Onosato today, instead of Hakuoho. But I’ll shut up about that now. It’s in the past.
Hoshoryu will fight Daieisho tomorrow. This will likely set up a Kotozakura/Hoshoryu fight on Day 14 with the finale being Hoshoryu versus Onosato in the final bout on Senshuraku. Even if Onosato clinches the yusho early, Hoshoryu and Kirishima/Daieisho will bring their best sumo to face him down the stretch. Both Sekiwake have had great performances this tournament. Daieisho’s is likely not enough for promotion this time but solid steps forward, both of them. Wakamotoharu and Abi will be fighting for the Komusubi slot that Takayasu will vacate.
Further down the banzuke, they’ve surprisingly decided to bring Asakoryu up to fight Wakatakakage, as if Asakoryu were going to make a dark, dark, dark horse run for the yusho. It is still weird to think of Asakoryu as Heyagashira at Takasago, and still their lone sekitori. But this has been a fantastic tournament and he is setting himself up to earn a special prize. His little brother might even secure a sekitori rank and we know Asanoyama will lurch closer to reclaiming sekitori status, as well. Big things happening over there and this weekend could be a great one for Takasago and their supporters. Par-TAY, as they say. Lots to come in these final three days.
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All has been put to rights on day 12. Pretenders pushed down and the worthy in the chasing pack, dont often agree with the torikumi committee but they are doing a good job this basho. I was concerned when you suggested a zensho the other day but might be a real possibility, what a way to arrive as yokozuna
Oh, the Pretenders offer up some good choices for inclusion in future posts. I will need to keep that in mind.
Onosato will win the yusho and get his rope which he deserves, but wouldn’t it be nice if he won more going forward?
It seems as though more than half his wins are him moving backwards and either slapping or pulling his opponent down.
I think the key to Onosato’s sumo is he wants to dominate the dohyo. He can best do that by controlling the center. When he charged forward previously, he lost some bouts to slap downs or throws at the edge. He learned his lesson and just isn’t going to do it.
Yeah. And it’s not like he’s some Chiyotairyu-like hatakikomi specialist who wins by almost running backwards and goading the opponent into following him until they’re off-balance and can be slapped down with just a light touch. Onosato only moves backwards if the opponent makes him move backwards, and he outright whacks them down. He’ll happily whack them down if they just bounce off of him, too, the backwards moving isn’t required at all.
I definitely see him being similar in style as Yokozuna to Terunofuji. At this point he has the size and power to handle just about anything anyone can throw at him. Why get overly aggressive at the tachia and let someone use his momentum against him? At least right now seems he can afford to be more the immovable object early, and then counter and overpower whatever gets through at him.
And like Hakuho and Terunofuji he omits those terrible headbutts at the tachiai and increases his chances of getting old healthy.
Pairing Onosato with Kotozakura tomorrow is the right call, this is the last chance to stop him from getting the yusho in day 13, they better send the other ozeki to at least try it.
And I agree they really make a mistake when they picked Hakuoho, just to be easily defeated. Daieisho or Kirishima would had been better options.
Finally, are they having misgivings on giving the white ropes to Hoshoryu earlier on??
There is a world of différence between a competent Oseki and a functioning Yokozuna
I’m not even going there with Hoshoryu. I’m imposing a 6 basho moratorium on myself before reviewing his record. As for the bout selection, I was second guessing that until I wrote my column. While I was writing, I realized that I agree. It’s a good call.
About Hoshoryu: you wrote a good response to an earlier post of mine criticizing him, and you convinced me to take the same position!
Thank you. It definitely happens to me on this site, too. I’ve loved that it’s not an echo-chamber. One day someone is going to convince me that pulling is the superior sumo strategy.
I was among the people saying he shouldnt be promoted yet, while others thought that promotion would lift his sumo to another level. Well, the start was disastrous with the Kyujo. This tournament looks like solid Ozeki level performance. If he wins out, it will look even better on paper.
As you said, its too early to judge. Even losing today, he still looks like the 2nd best rikishi this tournament. That is actually okay. Two kinboshi shouldnt become the norm thought.
I think the problem was, by the books, Hoshoryu earned it in those two basho. He just didn’t do much before that to be truly worthy of it. Combine that with Terunofuji retiring and Onosato looking like maybe he wasn’t quite there yet (9-6 and 10-5 to start at ozeki), and I don’t know what they really could’ve done with Hoshoryu but promote him.
Generally there is no problem with not having a Yokozuna. I think what played in his favor was that on top of Teru retiring is that we didnt/dont have a strong Ozeki corps. Hoshoryu was the only stable one, but not even a particularly strong Ozeki, Kotozakura went in no time from being the prime candidate for next Yokozuna to a prime candidate to get demoted within the next few basho. Onosato looked promising, but had just arrived.
Combine that with the last 5 years, where we basically had an Ozeki curse. Any newly promoted Ozeki outside of Hoshoryu fairly quickly had some injury/illness that took him down again.
Not having a Yokozuna is no problem, but falling below a combined two Yokozuna/Ozeki is something they will try to avoid.
In any case, I still believe that Hoshoryu has the Yokozuna in him, just that it was a bit early. Not every Yokozuna is like Hakuho. Akebono had only 11 Yusho and that is still the 10th most.
I get your drift but by Hoshoryu‘s promotion they saved the Yokozuna problem as the combined number of Ys and Os remained three. I guess they really like to have a Yokozuna, especially off the dohyo.
Giving Hoshoryu a year to prove himself is probably the right idea. The problem is with the internet culture and sports there’s always that “That person/team lost? They’re terrible!” discourse going on as if everyone has to be an invincible superman at all times to be a good competitor. It’s a lot better in Sumo discourse online then it is in MMA or Boxing though I’ll tell you that much; where entire viewpoints on a fighter’s career changes after just one fight good or bad.
Personally, I don’t think it was a mistake to pair Onosato with Hakuoho. The organization is heading to the UK for shows soon, and they’re in urgent need of a Japanese Yokozuna. I know how that might sound, but [I think] the underlying attitude toward Mongolian Yokozunas still persists.
I could see that being relevant in Ryogoku but I don’t see why it would matter in Kensington. Pretty sure Prince William was a Harumafuji fan.
Absolutely nothing wrong with Prince, anytime!
Ian, onosato will be the first 20+ yusho winner feom japan we have seen since chiyonofuji, he has been in proffessional sumo for 13 basho, he is destroying every record there is. I too have a butt clench every serious match he comes across because he may fluff it, he is still learning and will be better, kisenosato will make sure of this, he will be the next kaiju, have faith
My bad, takanohana was also 20+
Chiyonofuji 30+. Either way onosato will be in this league of yokozuna
My bad, takanohana was also 20+
Chiyonofuji 30+. Either way onosato will be in this league of yokozuna
How’bout ‘Another one bites the dust’.
hmm it is always the one guy.. biting the dust.
Good point. I’ll put it on the list.
“A yokozuna’s kachi-koshi is 10 wins.” — Harumafuji
The NHK Hakuho Documentary has a nice bit about Hakuho/Miyagino’s relationship with the late great Taiho and he says Taiho summarized Yokozuna Sumo to him as “winning.” The Yokozuna must win, that’s his job. A Yokozuna is also an Ozkei (but, not vice versa), so Harumafuji’s “10 win” comment is informed by history because an Ozeki kachi-koshi is 10 wins.
I shouldn’t have said anything about bonus Sumo yesterday, I ruined it. Anyhow, the Blazing Dragon is going to be fine, it’s a long game he’s playing, it’s only his 26th birthday today. Happy Birthday Yokozuna Hoshoryu! Onosato is only a year and 14 days younger than him, so they’re posed for a good long rivalry health permitting. The Yokozuna has been close to himself this basho, but still a bit nervy, you can see it in his footing. His countryman got him today, they’ve been very even the past 4 years or so. Let’s remember it was barely over a year ago when Big Teru/the Kaiju himself was saying then Ozeki Kirishima was the closest thing to a Yokozuna. Sekiwake Kirishima isn’t a slouch regardless of how bad he was for most of 2024.
Great stuff folks, keep it going. Thanks again to team Tachiai!!!
Good to see Kotozakura get to 8 wins when he looked so shaky at the beginning of the basho. He’s going to be a bigger problem for both Onosato and Hoshoryu than people think.
Asakoryu has been a lovely revelation this basho. I think having him face Wakatakakage is a “litmus test” to see what his current ceiling is and I don’t mind that. If he has a good record, why not? They’ve done the same with Aonishiki, Takerufuji, and Hoshoryu already. I would much prefer having the rikishi with the best records taking each other on instead of having someone lower on the banzuke rack up wins against opponents who are M12-M17.
On one hand, I want Daiesho to get to Ozeki. On the other, I don’t want Hoshoryu to lose more matches. I’ll have to hope for the latter and wish for Daiesho to continue his Ozeki run into the next basho so he can clinch it there.
In other news, have you seen Takakeisho lately? He was the commentator on Abema today and I could scarcely believe my eyes. He looks like he lost about half his weight since he retired (which also makes him look about 15 years younger and downright handsome, actually). Good for him. (I just wonder what he’s going to look like in a mawashi during his retirement ceremony – after all, this kind of weight loss often ends up requiring surgery to remove the excess skin…)
Yes. I see him during the NHK coverage. Usually hanging out in the hanamichi doing crowd control and interacting with the wrestlers as the walk back. I’ve also seen pics on Twitter and promoting his intai ceremony in October.
Takakeisho looks amazing, so much happier and healthier (and cute). He just looked miserable all the time during his last year or so at Ozeki, so I hope his life is good now.
My 2ct on the yusho contender/match-up decision theme: during the last year there used to be only one lower maegashira candidate per basho who had to be tested in second week sanyaku encounters, so the schedule wasn‘t that tight filled up with it.
This time we got at least two of them, Hakuoho and Aonishiki, (growing to mid maegashira in the meantime) – combined with a) one quasi-shin yokozuna to give proof of his abilities to reign, b) one future yokozuna to find enough decent obstacles on his way to being crowned, and c) two ozeki contenders that need high quality opponents.
In other words: everyone has to meet everyone and they would wish the basho to last one or two days longer to get everything done. Maybe some people sigh in relief that Takerufuji is now occupied with his personal wall and doesn’t particularly need to interfere with all that sanyaku drama in the final days.
Nevertheless, to me it‘s a pretty nice idea to have an early test for Asakoryu, it seems to fit in and could keep strain from the following basho.
Let’s hope some Juryo guys win out so we have rikishi coming up to replace the ones going down.
Hoshoryu got straight up big brother’d by Kirishima today. Not the way a Yokozuna should look.
I think with Hoshoryu right now, we’re 100% tainted by the memories of Hakuho and Terunofuji being ultra dominant in the majority of their matches. Even when they lost, it never felt like they were out of control or having the opponents will put on them, injuries aside. Kakuryu and Harumafuji were not that kind of dominant. You can definitely argue they were unfortunate to be in the era they were in compared to today though. I’m admittedly a fan of Hoshoryu but I think he’s going to slot into that Kakuryu/Harumafuji role of the technician Yokozuna who might just be overshadowed by an even more impressive overall Yokozuna in Onosato if recent results are anything to go by.
But who knows? Sumo’s a very volatile sport with a lot of variables. Maybe Yokozuna goes to Onosato’s head, it’s happened before with young ones. Maybe Onosato getting promoted is what Hoshoryu needs to get the monkey off his back in terms of mental strength? Maybe someone suddenly stops smoking, hits the weights more and they start rocketing up the banzuke? Anything could conceivably happen.
There are good storylines all through the rankings .. Kotosho looks focussed + determined .. Kayo is a nimble round addition .. Asakoryu shows he can face up + throw the big riskishi .. Aonishki is a serious wrestler + will stay for a long time .. Nishikigi is hanging on .. WTK is back + healthy .. Kirishima is healthy + just shoke his nemesis .. Hakuoho is coming back + there is a cluster of young talented underachievers .. Oho, Takerufuji, Atamifuji .. wish we had 15 more matches ..