No new kyujo news in the top divisions. In Juryo, Fujiryoga and Shirokuma won their bouts to remain undefeated. Daiseizan lost to fall one off loss off pace. Fujiryoga will fight Kitanowaka tomorrow while Shirokuma will fight Kazekeno. Asanoyama picked up his second win is his hunt to earn promotion back to Makuuchi.
Today’s NHK videos are at this link.
Makuuchi Action
Asahakuryu (2-2) defeated Oshoumi (1-3(. A migi-yotsu battle. Asahakuryu turned the tables on Oshoumi at the edge, pressed forward and forced Oshoumi out. Yoritaoshi.
Nishikifuji (3-1) defeated Chiyoshoma (2-2). Hidari yotsu. Chiyoshoma tried an uwatenage but Nishikifuji countered and picked up Chiyoshoma’s leg, throwing him backward. Apparently, it has been exactly two years since we saw this kimarite. Takayasu defeated Ozeki Hoshoryu with it in Kyushu 2023. Komatasukui.
Shonannoumi (2-2) defeated Asakoryu (3-1). Shonannoumi grabbed Asakoryu’s belt with his right hand, pulled, and dragged Asakoryu down. Uwatedashinage.
Tokihayate (3-1) defeated Sadanoumi (1-3). Tokihayate wrapped up Sadanoumi in a bear hug, twisted and slammed Sadanoumi to the ground. Sukuinage.
Gonoyama (2-2) defeated Mitakeumi (1-3). Gonoyama hit Mitakeumi with a solid tachiai and pressed forward. Gonoyama bulldozed Mitakeumi with solid hazuoshi, and shoved him over the bales. Oshidashi.
Ryuden (3-1) defeated Tomokaze (0-4). Hidari-yotsu. Ryuden slowly pressed forward, working Tomokaze back to the bales. At the tawara, Tomokaze resisted but Ryuden drove his weight through Tomokaze, forcing Tomokaze to fall backward. Yoritaoshi.
Fujinokawa (4-0) defeated Shishi (1-3). Fujinokawa hooked Shishi with his right hand inside, pivoted and drove Shishi over the edge. Yorikiri.
Kotoshoho (3-1) defeated Roga (2-2). Kotoshoho plowed through Roga and drove him over the edge. Yorikiri.
Daieisho (2-2) defeated Midorifuji (1-3). Daieisho thrust Midorifuji back toward the edge, then slapped him down. Hatakikomi.
Tobizaru (2-2) defeated Kinbozan (1-3). Tobizaru wrapped up Kinbozan and drove forward. On his way to the bales, Tobizaru tripped Kinbozan with his right foot and slammed Kinbozan to the ground. Sotogake.
Churanoumi (3-1) defeated Ichiyamamoto (2-2). Churanoumi shoved Ichiyamamoto hard with his right hand in Ichiyamamoto’s shoulder. This turned Ichiyamamoto into the gyoji and Churanoumi shoved Ichiyamamoto out from behind. Okuridashi.
Halftime
Atamifuji (3-1) defeated Abi (2-2). Atamifuji weathered Abi’s tsuppari storm and shoved Abi over the bales. Oshidashi.
Yoshinofuji (3-1) defeated Onokatsu (1-3). Yoshinofujid drove Onokatsu to the bales. Onokatsu tried to slap him down but Yoshinofuji drove Onokatsu out first. Yorikiri.
Oshoma (2-2) defeated Shodai (1-3). Oshoma slapped Shodai in the face, disrupting Shodai’s desire to win. Oshoma followed up with shoves to Shodai’s face and drove Shodai back and out. Oshidashi.
Tamawashi (3-1) defeated Hiradoumi (2-2). Tamawashi twisted Hiradoumi down by the head. Kubihineri.
Sanyaku
Takayasu (3-1) defeated Wakamotoharu (1-3). Wakamotoharu grabbed Takayasu’s belt with a right-hand over-arm grip. He attempted to spin Takayasu down with an uwatenage but Takayasu kept his balance. Takayasu broke Wakamotoharu’s grip. Oshidashi.
Aonishiki (4-0) defeated Takanosho (0-4). Aonishiki borrowed Takanosho’s nodowa strategy and beat him with it. Oshidashi.
Ura (2-2) defeated Oho (2-2). Ura disrupted Oho’s tsuppari assault with a side step. Oho stumbled by and Ura followed up with a shove to blast Oho out of the ring. Oshidashi.
Kotozakura (2-2) defeated Hakuoho (1-3). Kotozakura shifted to the right and grabbed Hakuoho’s belt and then pulled him forward over the bales. Kotozakura effectively used Hakuoho’s own forward momentum from the tachiai to his advantage, winning easily. Uwatedashinage.
Onosato (4-0) defeated Kirishima (1-3). Kirishima put his head down and drove forward. Onosato shifted right and slapped Kirishima down as he rushed by. Hatakikomi.
Hoshoryu (3-1) defeated Wakatakakage (0-4). Hoshoryu plain overpowered Wakatakakage. “Weight room.” Hoshoryu got a right hand inside grip and powered Wakatakakage backwards and over the bales. Yorikiri.
Wrap-up
It’s going to be hard to get dirt on Onosato. He hasn’t appeared to have any cracks in his armor this tournament, looking more and more dominant. Asakoryu picked up his first loss so Fujinokawa and Aonishiki are the only others at 4-0. Fujinokawa will fight Kotoshoho tomorrow.
In sanyaku, Takanosho will fight Hakuoho and try to pick up his first win. Takayasu will fight Oho. Aonishiki will take on Wakatakakage. Kotozakura will fight Ura. Then Hiradoumi will take on Hoshoryu and Onosato will fight Wakamotoharu.
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Ura is like a Slinky spring coil, gets so close to the ground, appears to be crushed, and then…springs back up. Tremendous leg strength.
With his history of injuries, it makes me say a silent prayer each time….and when he flies into the crowd. But he springs right back, bright and cheerful.
I wonder how much that knee sustaining construction is helping and whether it being allowed is totally fair.
Believe me, if you had to wear a knee support, may it be simple or premium, you won’t feel any advantage towards anyone. Be sure you couldn’t wait to toss it into some corner one fine day.
Pretty cool to see Miyabiyama with his new hairdo, and mad respect for him apparently doing it at the spur of the moment.
More like a hair-isn’t than a hairdo. He was on an earlier shimpan panel, and I needed to see the mon on his haori to be certain who he was. I hope everyone in the heya laughing at his expense makes Mita feel a little better about his upcoming recovery time.
I don’t think I’ve seen kubihineri before, but Tamawashi’s win didn’t look like what I would have expected for the technique.
To me, if the arm is moving from its own side across the body, then it’s executing a nage; if it’s going the other way, that’s a hineri.
While this wasn’t really a kubinage, Tamawashi’s right arm on Hiradoumi’s neck was going in what I would call the nage direction.
If anything, it was more like what would imagine for sokubiotoshi – another kimarite I’ve never seen.
Or, less exotically, a makiotoshi
I would have called it a nodowatoshi.
Awful move! ;)
Onosato is just overwhelming the other wrestlers right now. It’s always possible he could lose, but Hoshoryu is the only wrestler I’d give a decent chance of winning. Onosato has even got potential bugaboos Takayasu and Hakuoho out of the way already, so there aren’t many left that I feel match up. Aonishiki is wrestling well, but he’s been overwhelmed so far in their matchups. Maybe Tamawashi? Or another shock Oho win?
I totally agree and would only like to add Takanosho to the list of thinkable upsets. He beat Onosato two times last year and one of those occasions was the November basho…
I’d forgotten that. I think I was also discounting Takanosho in part because of the his rough start. He is one of the few that are powerful enough to get Onosato initially off balance, so he should be there. Not that I’m giving any of them a great shot because Onosato has seemed to have gotten a lot better at recovering from those situations.
One could interpret Andy‘s description as a henka by Onosato, which of course wasn’t the case. He took Kirishima full on at the tachiai and only sidestepped the second attack.
I have seldom seen a face slap as effective as that by Oshoma today. Shodai was totally disconcerted by it.
And I‘m almost always amazed by Fujinokawa‘s fighting style. Unfortunately he’s used a henka this basho but today against the much larger Shishi he was much fun again.
Originally I had thought that I was most of the times impressed by Fujinokawa. But then „almost always amazed“ came to my mind…
Usually you have to be Hiro Morita to get slammed by Tamawashi like that.
Future matchups I’d like to see eventually as he climbs the ladder:
Fujinokawa vs Hiradoumi
Fujinokawa vs Aonishiki
As Aonishiki could be out of his league the following matchup might be even more fun:
Fujinokawa vs Ura
It strikes me that Aonishiki’s sumo goes forward and sideways .. but he does not attempt retreating pull downs .. he’d rather hang on inside and wrestle .. ie keep the pressure on his opponents ..
and fittingly I can’t remember him doing a henka .. he‘s simply great .. but great enough to close the gap to Onosato?
I am not a fan of the full back retreat. The most effective seems to be a turn or pivot, not a full retreat. I go ape-sh** when I see a full retreat.