Day Eleven in Osaka. The only item from the sekitori infirmary has to do with Shimazuumi in Juryo as he will go kyujo after 8 straight losses. He had fought so hard over the last year to get back to sekitori status. He will drop back into the unsalaried ranks. *Update: The injury is revealed to be the meniscus in the right knee, suffered in his Day 3 bout against Kazuma. Of course he gambarized until he locked in the make-koshi.
In the Juryo yusho race, Toshinofuji defeated Kazuma, meaning Kazuma is now tied with Dewanoryu on two losses. The two leaders will kick off Juryo action tomorrow in an interesting matchup. Meanwhile, Toshinofuji is joined by Wakanosho and Kazekeno with three losses, one off the pace. Kazekeno will fight Hatsuyama, Toshinofuji will fight Kitanowaka and Wakanosho is set to battle Shirokuma.
In other Juryo news, Enho defeated Kotokuzan, handing Kotokuzan his eighth loss. He wore an oicho mage for the first time in a while and it made him feel “a bit happy, nostalgic, and uncomfortable.” That makes Kotokuzan’s position demotable, even if he wins out. It’s still early to sus out the full promotion story but Enho’s case is certainly promising. Okaryu is already ahead of him in line but Himukamaru, Hakuyozan and Takakento could suddenly jump the queue if Enho loses and those guys win.
The NHK videos are here. The Enho/Kotokuzan bout is there, as well as Kazuma versus Toshinofuji but you might not want to scroll all the way down before you watch the other bouts. That last video might be a bit of a spoiler. I don’t think there were any torinaoshi today to be concerned with the coverage.
Makuuchi Action
Kinbozan (6-5) defeated Nishikifuji (5-6). Quick, powerful tsuppari followed with a sudden pulldown finished Nishikifuji off. Hikiotoshi.
Chiyoshoma (6-5) defeated Nishinoryu (4-7). Another quick one. Chiyoshoma welcomed Nishinoryu to the top division with a slap and a sidestep. He reached around to grab Nishinoryu’s belt and then shoved him out from behind. Okuridashi.
Tobizaru (4-7) defeated Kotoeiho (7-4). Kotoeiho nearly shoved Tobizaru clear from the dohyo but Tobizaru danced along the tawara to get back to center and drove into Kotoeiho, crushing him out by blitzing him at the edge. Yoritaoshi.
Asanoyama (7-4) defeated Mitakeumi (5-6). Henka! Mitakeumi jumped left and tried to slap Asanoyama down. Asanoyama, however, fought back by shoving Mitakeumi back and off the dohyo. Gunbai Mitakeumi. Mono-ii. The judges determined Mitakeumi died first and reversed Yonosuke’s call. Oshidashi.
Fujiseiun (8-3) defeated Oshoumi (2-9). Fujiseiun immediately went for the bear hug, overpowered Oshoumi and drove him out of the ring. Yorikiri.
Fujiryoga (6-5) defeated Shishi (5-6). Fujiryoga used his left hand uwate (overarm belt grip) to heave Shishi high and force him back over the bales. Yorikiri.
Asakoryu (7-4) defeated Shodai (7-4). That Shodai showed up today. He did not seem interested in Asakoryu’s nodowa, headbutt or rough shoving. Asakoryu shoved Shodai out despite the latter’s half-hearted slapdown attempt. Oshidashi.
Ura (5-6) defeated Asahakuryu (7-4). Ura dug real deep and powered Asahakuryu out with his migi-yotsu hold. The crowd erupted with cheers for the hometown hero. Yorikiri.
Tokihayate (5-6) defeated Hakunofuji (3-4-4). Hakunofuji used his right hand uwate to force Tokihayate to the edge but Tokihayate used his own right-hand over arm grip to spin Hakunofuji down over the bales. Uwatenage.
Roga (4-7) defeated Oshoma (4-7). Roga used his migi-yotsu hold and gaburi hip-thrusts to drive a disinterested Oshoma back and over the bales. Yorikiri.
Halftime
Ichiyamamoto (6-5) defeated Tamawashi (3-8). Ichiyamamoto pounded Tamawashi with tsuppari and shoved him out. Oshidashi.
Fujinokawa (5-6) defeated Abi (2-4-5). Henka! Abi was intimidated by the speedy tachiai of Fujinokawa and seemed hesitant to start. Finally resolved to start, Abi charged out…into the abyss as Fujinokawa leapt to the side and pulled Abi forward by his arms. Hikiotoshi.
Yoshinofuji (5-6) defeated Churanoumi (3-8). Churanoumi drove the pair to the edge but Yoshinofuji found a last second sashi, throwing Churanoumi with his left-hand overarm grip. Both men crash landed. Gunbai Yoshinofuji. No mono-ii. Uwatenage.
Wakatakakage (6-5) defeated Hiradoumi (5-6). Wakatakakage grabbed Hiradoumi’s belt with his left hand uwate, pivoted and spun Hiradoumi down to the ground. Uwatenage.
Sanyaku
Atamifuji (7-4) defeated Daieisho (4-7). Atamifuji shrugged off Daieisho’s tsuppari and charged forward. Daieisho shifted to a pull but had nowhere to go. Atamifuji easily thrust him out. Tsukidashi.
Oho (5-6) defeated Wakamotoharu (2-9). Oho wrapped up Wakamotoharu and drove him right back where he came from. Yorikiri.
Kirishima (10-1) defeated Gonoyama (9-2). Gonoyama launched into the Ozeki, forcing him to the edge and…Kirishima slipped to the side and thrust Gonoyama forward over the bales. Tsukiotoshi.
Kotozakura (7-4) defeated Takanosho (7-4). Kotozakura let Takanosho charge forward because the Ozeki rotated around, turning the tables and shoving Takanosho to the edge. He then finished him off. Oshidashi.
Kotoshoho (9-2) defeated Aonishiki (5-6). Aonishiki shoved Kotoshoho to the edge but Kotoshoho shifted left along the bales and slapped Aonishiki down. Hatakikomi.
Hoshoryu (9-2) defeated Takayasu (6-5). These two definitely played up the drama with a couple of prolonged stare-downs. Takayasu charged forward but Hoshoryu cycled back. He tried the slapdown but Takayasu kept pressing forward with his left arm. Hoshoryu knocked Takayasu’s left arm away as he shuffled left and Takayasu flopped onto his belly. Hikiotoshi.
Wrap-up
Kirishima is making his claim for a return to Ozeki with his yusho run. He’s now the sole leader.
Leaderboard
- 1-Loss: Kirishima
- 2-Losses: Hoshoryu, Kotoshoho, Gonoyama
The schedule is full of fire-crackers tomorrow. Right before the sanyaku bouts, Kotoshoho will fight Yoshinofuji. Wakamotoharu fights Abi, Atamifuji takes on Oho, and Takayasu fights Hiradoumi. Aonishiki will regroup, again, against Daieisho. Kotozakura will fight Gonoyama and Hoshoryu will end the day against Kirishima.
There’s still some time to pit Kirishima versus the Yokozuna but the Sumo Association may have picked this bout in particular since a Kirishima win would be his 33rd win over the last three tournaments. We know that’s not a hard-and-fast rule but it has proven to be a meaningful baseline for Sekiwake looking at Ozeki promotion.
Sometimes that 33 wins is judged not to be sufficient but scheduling Hoshoryu here looks auspicious. How better to earn promotion than by defeating the Yokozuna? Well, we shall see. It’s likely they were just like, “he faced Takayasu today, the other Sekiwake gets his turn tomorrow.” Maybe I’m reading too much into the tea leaves.
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I’ve not been able to watch the matches much this tournament, too much travelling for work, so thanks for the great summations Andy, and insightful and amusing comments from everyone! I’m going with the “he’s faced one sekiwake, time for the other one”. Otherwise, if it all continues as is, I would have seen Hosh and Kirishima on Day 15?!
It’s like Old Home week with Hosh and Kirishima once again though. I really hope that Hosh beats Kirishima tomorrow, but that Kirishima wins the rest of his matches. I would LOVE to see Kirishima regain Ozeki status.
I know Takayasu has many supporters, I am not one of them, so was well pleased to see Hosh beat him. We can’t help who we support and who we don’t, I just can’t warm to him. Great to see Atamifuji getting it together, though dismal to see Aonishiki struggling. Oh well, he’s got time to develop further skill and strategic thinking. I hope he doesn’t go kadoban. There really is never a dull moment in sumo is there?
Kirishima didn’t look steady and still won. That’s when you know things are falling into place. He could easily end up with 13 or 14 wins and not even make it much of a decision, regardless of what happens vs. Hoshoryu.
its not the first time i express my discomfort watching rikishi’s putting on prosthetics on their knees to their benefit, i sometimes times get blocked from expressing myself on that issue.
so this guy ura has 4 metalic supports on his knees, its not fair or decent , this is a full tranditional sport , no artificial supports should be allowed , its not a robocop expo, the rituals and the traditions dont comply with prosthetics or other type of enhancements like lets say mouthpieces ( the only reason they get away with it is by hiding it under all these white bandages, but we all know whats under that
its been ruining my sumo experience by far , for too long.
i hope they ban it as soon as possible
I once wrote something similar here but the community didn’t like it at all, which hasn’t changed my opinion though: just like U I still find it unfair.
That said it would have been a great pity to be bereft of Terunofuji‘s comeback run (which btw was even faster than Aonishiki’s ascent) and, of course, the Ura circus show.
I guess my position is that the braces are not anything that gives him a bionic advantage and he doesn’t wield them as weapons. It’s like a compression sleeve, but bulkier, so probably a disadvantage if all things were considered. I mean, guys with broken bones will have screws and pins and metal in their arms or legs. They can’t exactly take them out but they also don’t offer a weapon or an advantage.
Would Ura have been able to push out Asahakuryu without the braces or did he profit of a „bionic advantage“? I can‘t tell for certain. Can U?
If the braces provide an advantage, why is not everyone using them?
As far as I know everyone is allowed to use them but only those, who have had bad injuries to their knees, use them. The braces prevent knees twisting to wrong directions accidentally i.e. help prevent re-injuries.
I get where coming from and honestly I’ve had similar thoughts, but after looking into it a bit more I think the picture is a little different than it seems.
The braces aren’t giving these guys an edge over a healthy knee, they’re just getting them closer to one. Terunofuji had multiple surgeries, Ura’s knees are basically held together with hope at this point. Without the supports they wouldn’t be on the dohyo at all. So it’s less “robocop enhancement” and more “this guy can walk.”
That said I do understand the aesthetic frustration, but if the JSA had drawn that line earlier we’d have missed Terunofuji’s entire comeback run (like Herbern mentions below), which would’ve been a genuine loss for the sport if you ask me.
So yeah, not really a performance enhancer so much as a “still able to perform at all” enabler, doesn’t make it feel less weird to watch, but it changes the fairness argument a bit I think.
It would have been a lot faster to just type, “I like injuries.”
Or „I don’t like badly injured rikishi on the dohyo“?
Does this mean that you believe that putting a heavily restricting knee brace on a healthy rikishi will somehow enhance his performance? Exactly how?
Of course one can question whether the braces are fitting and in line with the spirit of sumo, but they certainly do not confer any unfair advantage because if they did, the others could just wear them too.
The Kyokai allowed Terunofuji to use braces on both knees, even when performing the dohyo iri. I appreciate it ruins your view, but it doesn’t give any advantage and it’s not a problem.
*Ioannis : re sy ellinas eisai ? xaxaxa kai me lene kai ioanni kai mena.
*excuse me was just greeting a compatriot i didnt expect to meet on this forum
i have a solution :
next time the ritual starts at dohyo where rikishi point their arm pits showing they hide no weapon then i suggest rikishi points his own knees declaring he has no braces on : )))
Ouch, another tough loss for Aonishiki, although tournaments like this was initially what was expected when he reached the upper ranks. His run to two titles was shocking and amazing. Alas, he’s still got work to do to not be kadoban next basho and some very tough matches remaining.
A little coincidental that Kirishima is making his Ozeki run now. Wasn’t there a time when he was on a rope run at Ozeki, only to go kadoban instead? I’m sure hoping Aonishiki pulls out the 3 wins he needs to avoid that, but with Hoshoryu, Kotozakura and quite possibly Kirishima still on the cards, it’s going to be tough.
You must be thinking of Kotozakura’s disastrous 5-10 tsunatori basho following a 14-1 yusho. Kirishima was one win away from promotion before being flung into the third row by Terunofuji and wasn’t the same for quite some time after. Putting all the supposed injuries aside having your dreams destroyed in such violent manner can’t possibly leave you unaffected mentally.
Ah, the yeet heard round the world. It was crazy how that seemed to get at him.
His strong comeback is even more crazy, given all the gloating for his narrowly failed rope attempt and the hard times following. Kakuryu was the right man to build him up again.
Kirishima did have a loss to Kotozakura (then Kotonowaka) before meeting Terunofuji that more or less knocked him out of contention, so if Kirishima had beaten Terunofuji, Kotozakura would’ve won the basho outright, likely killing Kirishima’s chances.
Kirishima was definitely two wins away from yokozuna though, that’s for sure.
Why do I feel guilty about not feeling guilty about Abi losing to another henka? 😂
I don’t feel guilty at all. It was hilarious.
just watched the highlight show, I laughed my socks off!
Fair enough to beat Abi by henka! But Fujinokawa gave an extra-pat on the broken vertebra zone then. That wasn‘t nice at all.
oooo I didn’t see that. Ouch!
It seems like you can always count on a good staredown between Hoshoryu and Takayasu. They don’t all need to be Hoshoryu v. Gonoyama long but I do appreciate everyone that plays into the drama and gives a good staredown.
Is there a “best stare down” award ? .. Some classic stare downs would be great to reprise … especially if their match lived up to the eye action ..
The shini-tai rule is sometimes mysterious but one of the most reliable applications is to invalidate the tactic of jumping out of the ring backward and touching down later than the opponent. Too bad for Mitakeumi.
💯
So the attacker is the winner though he touches the ground first, then?
That would be okay with me if it was a general rule and not only applied in the „dead body in the air“ situation. As this isn’t the case I don’t like shini-tai at all.
When I started watching sumo a few years ago, there were two promising young Mongolians who were just starting to make their mark in the upper half of division one, and I soon became a fan of their technical style. Needless to say I’m very pleased with how this basho is going so far, but conflicted over their bout tomorrow. My no 1 priority is Kiri getting back to ozeki, but he doesn’t necessarily have to win tomorrow to get there and I think Hoshoryu needs this cup more – it would be easier to decide who to root for if their fight was on the final day!
COME ON KIRISHIMA!
I’m worried that Kirishima keeps winning by tiptoeing along the tawara. He’s putting to much faith in his abilities there. Ask Kotozakura how that’s worked out for him recently.
What’s going on down in makushita tournament? Obviously Wakanofuji is one finalist going 6-0. And sandanme Nabatame(??) is unbeaten playing last two matches in makushita?
Who’s gonna be the other finalist against Wakanofuji?
That is a very good question… Wakanofuji is the only unbeaten left in Makushita, but there are 5 at 5-1: Ōkaryū, Enhō, Akua, Ōshōryū and Kakueizan. My best guess would be the 5-1 guy nearest to his rank that he hasn’t already faced, which would be Akua at Ms-39E.
Akua seems a good guess. Or it might be our Enho! Certainly not Nabatame?
I am already very curious who it will be and hoping for a playoff.
I forgot to account for today’s results… Wakanofuji will be facing Arashifuji tomorrow… if he wins, the yushō is his. If not, there will be a rather large playoff.
Henka prince Abi got henka’ed !!
our king Chiyoshoma might have found a new disciple in Fujinokawa
The King has gotten so good he doesn’t even deploy the full on henka anymore. He’s getting that belt from the side with a half henka.
Is there a standard for how much water is put onto the dohyo? ..
imho .. There have been a lot of matches lost in this basho by rikishi loosing due to their slipping/slidding feet … it feels like football games played on a muddy field .. i.e. bad traction giving an advantage to plodders ..
Altering playing field conditions to advantage one side (home team) has a long history in field sports .. Some sports (golf) have metrics to describe the the playing surface .,
Given its long history, i would expect sumo has a lot of rules on this subject .. and/or metrics ..
I really liked Yoshinofuji’s winning throw .. the stop action pic of it will be what exciting sumo looks like ..
Shodai checked his horoscope and checked out ..
WTK has one healthy arm & two healthy legs + devised a win today by focussing on using them .. i.e move fast + throw w the good arm ..
Yes, Kiri does not seem as aggressive as Hosh .. But he also always looks to be under control + fast with counter moves .. I wondered how he would handle Gonoyama .. Gono is healthy .. So i did not expect Kiri to try to stand him up at the tachiai + over power him .. Net, luring Gono into a bad posture + slap down/throw seemed most likely .. which is what he did ..
Hosh is altogether another matter .. I love both their sumo ..