No new kyujo to report among the sekitori, coming into the day’s action. Enho suffered his first loss of the tournament. He dropped this bout to Tohakuryu. Daiseizan and Toshinofuji also dropped their bouts, leaving Kazekeno as sole leader at 6-0. Down in sandanme, Enho and Toshinofuji’s stablemate Asahifuji had no problems dispatching Okinohama. Asahifuji just pressed forward and forced Okinohama back and out.
I’m pretty confident I saw one of the US Embassy 250 kensho banners during the Oshoma/Fujiseiun pre-bout. I’ll try to find pictures. It was dark blue with the US seal and “250” emblazoned beneath.
Makuuchi Action
Tobizaru (5-1) defeated Wakanosho (4-2). Henka! Tobizaru defeats the shin-nyumaku wrestler by leaping to the side and letting the kid fall on his face. Tsukiotoshi.
Mitakeumi (3-3) defeated Oshoumi (1-5). Mitakeumi grabbed Oshoumi in a bear hug, twisted and dropped Oshoumi in the middle of the ring. While going down, he rolled his right ankle. Sukuinage.
Ryuden (1-5) defeated Roga (3-3). Ryuden got both hands on Roga’s belt early, his left-hand uwate. He got low, driving his head into Roga’s chin, and slowly worked Roga to the edge and over. It’s not clear to me what Roga’s defense or counter attack was. Yorikiri.
Fujiryoga (5-1) defeated Tamawashi (0-6). After trading nodowa and tsuppari, Tamawashi sprung forward in attack, Fujiryoga pulled and slapped Tamawashi down. Hatakikomi.
Ura (4-2) defeated Kotoeiho (5-1). Ura did a good job of keeping Kotoeiho’s left hand from getting on his belt. Meanwhile, Ura grabbed Kotoeiho’s belt with his right hand uwate and immediately rotated while driving Kotoeiho’s head down with his left hand. Both men tumbled into the crowd. Gunbai Ura. No mono-ii. Kotoeiho suffers his first defeat of the tournament. Uwatenage.
Asanoyama (4-2) defeated Shishi (2-4). Asanoyama got his right arm under Shishi’s left and rotated, throwing Shishi off balance and forcing him to stumble toward the bales. Asanoyama followed up with a shove to send him over. Oshidashi.
Hakunofuji (4-2) defeated Tokihayate (1-5). Both men got their left hand inside but Hakunofuji established his right hand uwate hold of Tokihayate’s belt quickly and began to drive forward. Hakunofuji patiently worked Tokihayate to the side and over the bales. Hakunofuji snaps the East-side streak. Yorikiri.
Kinbozan (3-3) defeated Nishikifuji (1-5). Kinbozan rotated and used his left handed uwate grip to throw Nishikifuji over the edge. Uwatenage.
Chiyoshoma (3-3) defeated Abi (3-3). Chiyoshoma seemed to be operating at 2x speed. He pulled on Abi’s arms, drawing him forward and off-balance. Chiyoshoma then slapped Abi down to finish him off. Hatakikomi.
Churanoumi (4-2) defeated Asahakuryu (2-4). Churanoumi planted his head into Asahakuryu’s shoulder and pressed forward so Asahakuryu resisted with forward pressure. Churanoumi suddenly snapped and pulled, then used his left hand inside grip to pull Asahakuryu forward. The sudden shift caused Asahakuryu to stumble all the way across the ring and out. Yorikiri? OK. I imagine that’s one of three or four reasonable calls on the kimarite.
Halftime
Oshoma (4-2) defeated Fujiseiun (4-2). Oshoma grabbed Fujiseiun’s left arm and pulled him forward. This allowed him to get behind as Fujiseiun resisted. Oshoma then shoved Fujiseiun toward the bales from behind. There was a healthy stack of kensho on this bout. Okuridashi.
Shodai (2-4) defeated Asakoryu (3-3). Shodai went high and wrapped up Asakoryu with both hands overarm in a kimedashi grip. He couldn’t quite get leverage to move forward. So, Shodai pulled and slapped Asakoryu down. Asakoryu seems to have rolled his right ankle as he had difficulty getting up and limped up the hanamichi with the support of his tsukebito. Slap some more tape on there and I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow. Tsukiotoshi.
Wakamotoharu (2-4) defeated Ichiyamamoto (2-4). Wakamotoharu shifted right and deflected Ichiyamamoto’s attack to the right. As Ichiyamamoto struggled to re-orient himself, Wakamotoharu attacked again and shoved him out. Oshidashi.
Yoshinofuji (3-3) defeated Takanosho (3-3). Takanosho charged forward while Yoshinofuji rotated and pulled Takanosho down with his left hand uwate. Gunbai Takanosho. Mono-ii. After a rather lengthy review the judges decided that we needed a rematch. I thought it was rather obvious on the replay that Takanosho touched down first but here we are. On the replay, Yoshinofuji left no doubt as he wrapped his arm around Takanosho’s neck, rotated, and threw Takanosho over the edge while staying standing. Kubinage.
Sanyaku
Wakatakakage (5-1) defeated Fujinokawa (3-3). Wakatakakage used his left hand overarm grip (uwate) to bull his way forward and eject Fujinokawa from the dohyo. Despite all of the kyujo, we’re seeing great action. Yorikiri.
Gonoyama (5-1) defeated Atamifuji (2-4). Gonoyama pressed forward and plain overpowered Atamifuji. Oshidashi.
Kotoshoho (3-3) defeated Daieisho (2-4). Kotoshoho did his best Daieisho impression while Daieisho’s big guns went quiet. Kotoshoho battered Daieisho and shoved him over the edge. I don’t think Daieisho threw a single volley of his usual tsuppari. Oshidashi.
Hiradoumi (3-3) defeated Kotozakura (2-4). On about his third try, Hiradoumi finally overpowered the Ozeki and forced him over the edge. Not a lot of offense from Kotozakura. Yorikiri.
Kirishima (6-0) defeated Oho (2-4). Oho forced Kirishima to the very edge but couldn’t quite get him over. Kirishima struggled with Oho’s loose belt but finally snapped Oho forward with a quick lunge and then ran Oho out of the ring. Yorikiri.
Wrap-Up
From the bottom of the banzuke moving up, Ryuden (1-5), Oshoumi (1-5), Tamawashi (0-6) and Tokihayate (1-5) are all looking for seats on the barge to Juryo.
With Kotoeiho’s loss, Kirishima is the sole leader with a clean, unblemished record. Tomorrow, he will fight Daieisho. Kotozakura will try to turn things around against Oho. Atamifuji will fight Wakamotoharu, Kotoshoho will face Hiradoumi, and Wakatakakage will fight Ichiyamamoto. We’ll see you tomorrow!
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You forgot to mention how Tobizaru was heavily breathing as he took the kensho – after his hard work of doing a single jump. Or maybe the salt throw?
Lucky Kirishima, some calamity against him today! Tate-Gyoji collided with his left leg and then took guard of the tawara, so there was less space for counter moves. Then came the double sagari mess, and Kiri had to dispose it by himself. I was in relief when he chose a direction far away from Shonosuke to transport Oho finally out of the ring.
Shodai did a good job today, but I was really sad for Asakoryu, when I saw him getting up slowly and limping off. Another victim of this strange basho…
Euphemism of the day: „Not a lot of offense from Kotozakura.“
If Takanosho got a rematch against Yoshinofuji, then Kotoeiho would have earned about five (!) torinaoshi vs Ura… and I guess there would have been one against most other opponents.
Ura won but it was tight. Yoshinofuji won twice. Hopefully Kotozakura will win more than twice.
U‘re right about Ura and I got a bit carried away.
So no rematch, but a mono-ii would still have been appreciated.
Chiyoshoma vs. Abi….it is cruel of the fates to deny us a double henka. Could have been the greatest highlight of the basho.
Chiyoshoma has cut back. He’s definitely not doing it as much.
I saw the initial match of Yoshinofuji v Takanosho differently, thinking with Yosh’s back of heel drag before Takanosho went down and out, gunbai should have pointed to Takanosho…. So I was sorry to see T lose the re-do.
Ura scored extra points today for not only taking Kotoeiho out, but also for toppling over Hakunofuji ringside. :-)
Tamawashi in juryo? Ouch.
It definitely depends on a lot of things. He’s not the bottom rung. Ryuden is in much worse position. A big question is how many promotion cases will there be in Juryo?
Right now, there are only 5 rikishi with winning records going down to J6. Daiseizan currently seems like the only lock to go up, but Takerufuji is right behind him. Everyone else is J4 or lower so they’d have to really impress to get promoted in my opinion.
Mitakeumi wrangled his opponent with his right wrist today (using an approved katana hand, even!) and won. I hope his ankle isn’t really hurt from today too.
Apparently, Ryuden reads Tachiai and read our comments about going down to Juryo. Quality bout from him today.
I’ll give credit where it’s due – I had to slow down the end of the Kotoeiho/Ura match on replay three times to see that Kotoeiho’s arm hit the ground first and both the Gyoji and the judges all got it correct in real time.
Good win by Chiyoshoma today. I will admit that when he fights Abi I wait to see if one or both of them will henka.
Wakamotoharu with the deflection at the tachiai today! Interesting strategy. It must be tricky to do correctly otherwise we’d see it more often.
Yoshinofuji/Takanosho was definitely interesting from a “how do the judges figure this out” perspective. I think the reason for the torinaoshi is that the side of Yoshinofuji’s foot was touching the ground when Takanosho landed. If he had kept his foot flatter on the ground somehow, then the judges would have awarded Yoshinofuji the win.
Kotozakura’s done. The question now is how many basho it’ll take him to go intai. I don’t even know if he could win against the lowest rungs of Makuuchi right now.
Kirishima continues to get the blessings of the gods for luck to keep winning. My goodness. It really shows how much of a difference who is competing is during a basho and who is out injured.
It’s too early to call the tournament but man does Kirishima look good. Was there any reveal on what his issue was? Mental? Physical? Whatever it was, he’s finally moved past it in a big way.
not a lot of fighting spirit from Kotozakura; but he is lucky that with so many kyujo it should be relatively easy to avoid kadoban
figers crossed Wakatakakage can keep good scores and somehow maintain the challenge to Kirishima, otherwise it will be a boring yusho
Atamifuju looked like he was trying a KTZ imitation .. It is hard to characterize what his best sumo looks like .. But being a human backstop is not an impressive way to use whatever talent he has ..