We’ve reached nakabi, the middle Sunday. Eight days of action are in the books; seven days remain. Let’s start the day 8 coverage with our first look at Makushita. We’re down to the quarterfinals. Here’s the bracket:
Nabatame is a popular former sekitori from Futagoyama beya on the comeback trail from a knee injury. He’ll fight recent newcomer Ryuho, whose career record to date stands at 23-2. Former maegashira, big salt thrower, and bow twirler Akua takes on former mega-prospect Oshoryu. Last basho’s Ms60TD debutant Wakanofuji fights Sazanami, who is at his career-high rank and whose main claim to fame is tossing around Hiro Morita in Sumo Prime Time technique videos. MatsuiArashifuji debuted at Ms60TD two years ago and is also at his career-high rank, as is his opponent, Okaryu, who started at Sd90TD one basho later.
The promotion zone is quite crowded, though tomorrow’s matchups will go some way to sorting out the contenders and the pretenders. Go Enho!
Moving on to Juryo, Kayo managed to put dirt on Wakanosho, who did not look nearly as dominant as he did in winning his first seven bouts. He is joined at 7-1 by J11 Kazuma and J14 Kazekeno.
Finally, in the top division, S1e Kirishima, M4w Takanosho, M5w Kotoshoho, M10e Gonoyama all won to share the lead at 7-1. Kirishima won the Sekiwake duel against Takayasu, who fell to 6-2, where he was joined by Yokozuna Hoshoryu, who suffered a surprise upset loss to Daieisho. These six are your likely yusho contenders (bottom-ranked M17w Kotoeiho is also 6-2, but much as I like him, I don’t rate his chances). The headline bouts tomorrow are Hoshoryu vs. Takanosho (10-3 H2H), slumping Aonishiki (3-5) vs. Takayasu (3-1 H2H), and Kirishima vs. Daieisho (15-11 H2H).
Thanks for following along; I expect regular service to resume tomorrow.
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Thank you lksumo for your day8 nakabi summary. Nice to know who is leading the packs in divisions 2 and 3.
Thanks for stepping in! And yes, go Enho!
I am happy to see Kotoeiho doing well – let’s keep that pretty shiko up in a division where we get to see it more often! Also happy for Gonoyama to have a come-back basho.
Ura had a fantastic throw today.
I’d love to see Hoshoryu and Kirishima coming out on top.
Ura’s throw was spectacular. Really enjoyed that.
It was one of the few bouts without a replay/slomo in the NHK Highlights!
They must have gone mad.
Ura must have a thick skull + a rubber spine … He takes tremendous beatings about his head + gets his body contorted in unnatural ways w unique throws + attempts to save himself from perilous situations ..
RIP Wakashimazu 1984 Yokozuna contender had a few 15-0 tourneys, NBC Sportsworld broadcast his 2nd basho title win BUT never could get to yokozuna
Yoshinofuji was faster and more frenetic than fujinokawa today. That was impressive from the big man. I really can’t wait for him to put all these tools together, I still have high hopes for his future.
I can only imagine that Fujinokawa must be getting pretty tired by now. On the Japanese broadcast someone (forget who) was saying that rikishi are basically sleep-walking in the 2nd week because they are so tired. Fujinokawa’s strategy against the top guys seems to have been to crank it up to 11, so that must be doubly so for him..
I always wonder about that 2nd week tiredness. It must be due to the nerves and the tension of the basho, bad sleep and all, otherwise I just do not see how a single bout in a day – super intense for sure but rarely lasting longer than a minute – would wear down guys who are used to doing many times that in daily practice.
I think a lot of it is mental stress. It’s not just the short bout. It’s the fact that their entire day revolves around it. They’re up and walking to the basho in their clothing so everyone can see them. Then, they have to sit to get their hair done and get into their basho mawashi. Then, they have to do the ceremony before the start of the first match in the division. Then, they have to wait for their match. After the match, they go get cleaned up, take care of other responsibilities (media or anything else), and then they get to sleep and do it all over again. For 15 days straight.
And that they need razor-sharp focus for the match – they can’t afford to make ANY mental mistake, precisely because it all happens so quick. Training is completely different – they can try stuff out, make the odd mistake, whatever. Plus, I doubt they’re at 100% physical effort for any particular training bout – its more stamina than intensity. Also, there’s the mental side of daily ignoring painful fingers, toes, knees, backs, etc, etc.
Enho vs Nobehara; wasn’t there something quite recently?
Here’s hoping the small man will get his revenge.
Good memory, Enho is 0-2 against him, though I believe he was already injured when he lost January’s makushita final to him.
Down in Jonidan Asahifuji has won the eleventh in a row. He has yet to lose.
Tenshoyama would be without a loss too, if he hadn’t debuted together with Asahifuji, who beat him in both their bouts.
And it looks a lot like they will meet for the third time in the next round.
I’m not surprised that the shin-Ozeki is struggling. That tends to happen, especially with the added responsibilities of the rank. I am surprised that Hoshoryu is having as much trouble as he is, though. Quite an interesting lineup on the leaderboard to be sure. It’s definitely fascinating that the people who have the mental advantage are Kirishima and Kotoshoho. However, it would be quite a day if either Takanosho or Gonoyama wins the Cup. It’s entirely possible that someone with an 11-4 record will win the Cup.
Yeah, Hosh took a metal shortcut it looked like today, he was in great position, and he thought he had the win before he secured it, and Daiesho made a great recovery/counter.
Maybe this was just enough of an embarrassment to get him to lock in. This cup is his for the taking. His knee looks good. Kirishima will be a challenge but they know each other very well.
Only he isn’t a shin-ozeki anymore, as such he won the yusho!
It rather seems to be the rope run that derailed him or it’s that injury Iksumo mentioned yesterday.