Day Nine in Osaka. As usual, let’s swing by the infirmary for any updates and we’ve got a couple of injury items. Abi is back in the action today and will fight Churanoumi. Secondly, Onokatsu is kyujo, again. Shodai will pick up the default victory. Onokatsu’s participation over the past few days has been painful to watch. Unfortunately, his foot injury will likely mean he will drop into Juryo but better to heal and come back than continue to do more damage while losing.
Thank you, Leonid, for posting in my absence. The comments sections were busy, even without me and that was great to see. The Makushita yusho race is heating up and I bring great follow-on news about Enho! He picked up his fourth win today, cementing his kachi-koshi.
NHK has videos of today’s action here.
Makuuchi Action
Asahakuryu (6-3) defeated Kinbozan (4-5). Asahakuryu put an end to Kinbozan’s tsuppari by working his way inside and getting a right-hand inside, left-hand outside hold of Kinbozan’s mawashi. He stood Kinbozan up high and steadily worked him to the side of the ring and over the bales. Yorikiri.
Fujiseiun (6-3) defeated Chiyoshoma (5-4). Chiyoshoma shoved Fujiseiun to the edge but Fujiseiun used his excellent footwork to rotate and force Chiyoshoma’s back to the tawara. Fujiseiun then used his hazuoshi to shove Chiyoshoma up and out. Oshidashi.
Asakoryu (6-3) defeated Fujiryoga (5-4). From a perilous position at the edge, Asakoryu got a left-hand inside grip, pivoted to his left and pulled Fujiryoga forward to the floor. Shitatenage.
Mitakeumi (4-5) defeated Oshoumi (2-7). Oshoumi forced Mitakeumi to the edge where Mitakeumi shuffled right and forced Oshoumi out with a shove in the back. Oshoumi had the look of a kid who was just about to enjoy a nice, big, cold ice cream only to have a seagull come down swoop down from nowhere and poop on it. Tsukiotoshi.
Shishi (5-4) defeated Nishikifuji (4-5). Shishi got his right arm inside Nishikifuji’s shoulder and shoved him hard to the left. This staggered Nishikifuji and Shishi kept shoving until Nishikifuji was off the dohyo. Yorikiri.
Tobizaru (3-6) defeated Roga (3-6). Tobizaru slipped Roga’s grasp to the left and pulled him down. Hikiotoshi.
Gonoyama (8-1) defeated Kotoeiho (6-3). Gonoyama blitzed Kotoeiho and immediately put him on his heels by leading with his head. Kotoeiho tried to turn and pull but Gonoyama had him well within his grasp. Gonoyama quickly shoved him out. With his eighth win, Gonoyama is the first rikishi in the top division to earn his kachi-koshi this tournament. I did NOT have that on my bingo card. Oshidashi.
Asanoyama (5-4) defeated Tamawashi (2-7). Tamawashi gave it the old college try and forced Asanoyama to the edge but Asanoyama got his left hand inside Tamawashi’s right shoulder and heaved him over to the ground. Sukuinage.
Oshoma (4-5) defeated Tokihayate (4-5). Oshoma pulled Tokihayate’s hands forward, then seized the back of his belt to pull him down to the ground. Uwatenage.
Shodai (6-3) claimed the default win over Onokatsu (1-6-2).
Halftime
Hakunofuji (2-3-4) defeated Ichiyamamoto (4-5). After a long lean, Hakunofuji forced the issue with a trip attempt. Ichiyamamoto kept his balance and used the leverage to force Hakunofuji to the edge with his strong yotsu sumo. At the bales, Hakunofuji shoved Ichi with his left hand, giving him space to slide left and pull Ichiyamamoto down with his right. What an escape! Uwatehineri.
Kotoshoho (8-1) defeated Ura (4-5). Kotoshoho assaulted Ura from the word, “jump,” and did not relent until Ura was sent flying from the dohyo. Another rank-and-file kachi-koshi, and a lucrative one, to boot. Might be able to buy a new pair of sandals or a nice handbag. Oshidashi.
Abi (1-3-5) defeated Churanoumi (3-6). Abi-zumo was back in force today. A steady stream of tsuppari to Churanoumi’s face followed by a slap-down. Hatakikomi.
Wakatakakage defeated Yoshinofuji. Wakatakakage hit Yoshinofuji at the tachiai and shifted slightly left. However slight, it was enough for Yoshinofuji to slip forward to the clay. No one else saw Wakamotoharu slip the banana peel up there to help his brother out but I saw. I’ve got my eye on you, Onami-kun. I’ve got my eye on you. Hikiotoshi.
Sanyaku
Fujinokawa (4-5) defeated Atamifuji (5-4). Atamifuji had just shoved Fujinokawa to the edge when he decided to execute the slowest slapdown attempt in history. He did pivot, I’ll give him that, but then he just went backwards again and Fujinokawa shoved him out with a flurry of tsuppari. Oshidashi.
Wakamotoharu (2-7) defeated Hiradoumi (5-4). Hiradoumi drove Wakamotoharu to the edge but Wakamotoharu used his right arm in Hiradoumi’s left shoulder to pull him over the bales. Gunbai Wakamotoharu. No mono-ii. What a spectacular throw! This was the “counter-move” that Konishiki mentioned in his kimarite video. Sorry, I have watched these so many times that I have, “a counter mooove,” cued up in my head when I see utchari.
Kirishima (8-1) defeated Daieisho (4-5). Kirishima got separation from Daieisho. Then Daieisho charged forward like the bull in “Bully for Bugs.” Like that slippery rabbit, Kirishima shifted to the side and Daieisho went on by and Kiri shoved him down. Tsukiotoshi.
Kotozakura (5-4) defeated Oho (3-6). Oho chose a poor time to pull and Kotozakura shoved Oho over the bales. Oshidashi.
Aonishiki (4-5) defeated Takayasu (6-3). Aonishiki is back to his fundamentals. He’s shaken off the nightmare of the last few days and used steady tsuppari to drive Takayasu back and over the edge. Oshidashi.
Hoshoryu (7-2) defeated Takanosho (7-2). Takanosho shoved the Yokozuna’s head back as hard as he could but Hoshoryu took it in stride. When Takanosho relented, Hoshoryu drove forward and forced him out. Oshidashi.
Wrap-up
We’ve got a five-man yusho race at the moment. Sadly, Takayasu falls from the race, along with Kotoeiho.
一敗: Kirishima, Kotoshoho, Gonoyama
二敗: Hoshoryu, Takanosho
Kirishima is making a solid go of it. While Aonishiki’s Yokozuna run came to an end in a dreadful three-bout losing streak, Kirishima’s hopes of returning to Ozeki are looking brighter. Kirishima picked up his seventh win in a row and eighth overall by shoving Takayasu out of contention. He’ll need to dig deep because Takanosho owns him in their rivalry, 17-6.
Let’s turn to tomorrow’s pairings. Atamifuji will fight Churanoumi, Kirishima will fight Takanosho and Takayasu will fight Oho. Aonishiki will fight Hiradoumi and Kotozakura will step up to face Daieisho. Hoshoryu will close out Day Ten against Wakamotoharu.
It’s great to be back and I’ll see you here tomorrow.
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Seagull pooping on his ice cream! Brought back an ugly grade school memory — had a seagull drop a deuce on my shoulder in the schoolyard during recess one day.
Good to have you back in the saddle, along with Abi and Aonishiki. I COULD blame his 3 Loss streak on you being absent, but it was just karma after all.
Rooting for Enho to pull off at least one more win to cement his return to Sekitori ranks.
Thank you!
At school is the worst. That sounds like a supervillain origin story, or at least some traumatic nickname. A bird pooped in my cousin’s hair at our family reunion when we were kids. That’s just about the only thing I can remember about the reunion. Oshoumi looked devastated, though. I think he thought he had that one in the bag.
My sad childhood ice cream story is riding my bike with a cone in one hand and crashing. Tore up my knee pretty good too, adding injury to insult. Still have the scars.
Yikes. I’m not a fan of bikes. I saw a guy take a nasty fall when I was a kid. Road rash sucks.
Ironically, I’m an avid cyclist.
Enho! Wonderful news and congratulations to him.
Onokatsu is the official captain of the Juryo barge and I’m honestly glad to see it. Heal up and gambarize in the next basho, Sir. Oshoumi and Tamawashi(!!) might join him on the barge soon. Mitakeumi is doing enough to avoid punching his barge ticket, but we’ll see how the rest of this week goes.
Gonoyama is probably going to get pulled up the banzuke next week because everyone and their siblings know that he’s too skilled to be where he is currently. Kudos to Kotoshoho for the win today, but Kirishima is in the Cup driver seat in my opinion. I’m wondering if he wins the Cup, but doesn’t hit 33 if they’ll promote him anyway. We’ll see, I guess.
Best bout of the day, by far, was Hakunofuji/Ichiyamamoto. Neither one of them wanted to lose and they both threw everything including the kitchen sink into this one. Excellent stuff.
Play to the whistle, Atamifuji! You gotta ensure you’ve won instead of making assumptions, especially against Fujinokawa!
Wakamotoharu with another “heart attack” win at the edge of the dohyo. I’m really worried that he or someone else is going to get seriously injured by his decision to repeatedly attempting to win this way.
I said, “You’ll beat Oho if you move forward, Kotozakura” out loud and thankfully he realized the same thing I did.
Hoshoryu’s all business at this point, especially when he has the opportunity to knock someone off of the leader board. I still think that everyone in the lead has at least one more loss in their future this week.
Midorifuji is the only certain demotion to juryo yet. Onokatsu is the second, if he doesn’t come back from kyujo one more time (which I don’t hope). After them the following seem to be like in greatest danger: Kinbozan, Mitakeumi/Oshoumi, Tobizaru, Nishikifuji and only then Tamawashi, who with two more wins would be safe.
(And still from juryo only Wakanosho and Daizeizan would even be promotable at this day.)
Forgot Fujiryoga who has a positive result by now, but still is at the exact same level of danger as Tobizaru, needing probably two more wins (and three to be absolutely safe).
Kirishima needs 11 wins for 33 (assuming they count his basho at m2 as the 1st – they will, won’t they?) – for the cup, he will need at least that many, but likely more, so winning the cup but not getting re-promoted is not really a possibility.
That’s if you assume second promotion to Ozeki is the same as first. I think that in Miyabiyama’s case they declined a second Ozeki promotion with 34 wins in three tournaments AND even 33/3 all from Sekiwake. I can’t assume they will treat a new promotion like an initial promotion.
I guess the problem there was that his performances were declining: first 14 wins (and a D), then 10 and in the decisive basho only 9. As this wouldn’t be the case with Kirishima, I‘m optimistic that yusho would equal ozeki for him.
I agree. I think yusho cements it.
I have conflicting feelings after Aonishiki’s victory. On the one hand, seeing him grind out a win in what has been his most difficult tournament so far is encouraging, but on the other hand I continue to hope that Papa Bear can get a yusho before he retires. It’s tough when your favorites have to fight each other!
I really hope Wakamotohenka finds the testicular fortitude to man-up against Hoshoryu. If he henkas my boy again I’ll have to invoke the spirits of doom and gloom and ask them to put red Tiger Balm in Wakamotohenka’s mawashi.
Even Ura would be proud of Wakamotoharu’s utchari today.
Sad, but not surprised to see, once again, Papa bear tumbling on the 2nd week after a stellar 1st.
Is Enho now guaranteed to reach Juryo? if not, will another win seal the deal?
He might need 2. I don’t think anything is guaranteed now, looking at how many guys in front of him have 3 wins.
Hoshoryu’s strength in taking Takanosho’s tsupoari assault w/o moving backward is impressive .. he just reached under Taka’s arms + around him like he was putting on a coat .
Takayasu is fighting week 2 fatigue brought on by his seniority (i’m projecting) .. But it was good to see Aonishiki look focused + regain his sumo form ..
WMH may be hurt, but his class on the dohyo makes him a winner .. that was a cool move ..
It looked like Oho’s legs looked too slow .. (week two fatigue?) .. if Kotozakura’s feet are moving faster than his .. Oho has no chance ..
Kiri v Daiesho setup: Kiri wanted the belt .. Daiesho was not going to let him get close to it .. So Kiri played into Daiesho’s aggressiveness .. A great chess move by Kiri ..
Yoshinofuji is a talented rikishi .. but he just has to keep his feet underneath himself + not get over his toes ..
Abi looked good today .. one has to wonder how his broken spinal bones feel tomorrow ..
I miss vintage Flying-Monkey-sumo .. but good to see the spirit is still there ..
Asakoryu has developed a variety of arm throw moves that keep larger rikishi at risk of ending
up like Fujiroga .. floating in mid-air + face down over the dohyo + wondering WTF just happened ..