Day twelve in Tokyo.
Kotoshoho kyujo. This is not a surprise and is Fujiryoga will pick up the walk-over win. Kotoshoho certainly got his bell rung yesterday and should probably be out the rest of the tournament. This, being sumo, he’s got at least a day. I’ll report when I see anything about tomorrow.
The deciding bout for the Makushita yusho is set for tomorrow. Inami will fight Yumenofuji. Sandanme is similarly set to be decided between Kobayashi and Oho’s brother, Naya. Jonidan is down to three undefeated, which might work out nicely with Joshoyu the lone 6-0 wrestler in Jonokuchi.
At this time, the bout list has yet to be made but I presume Joshoyu will fight Kakuho from Jonidan and Amane will face Suigafuji. If Joshoyu wins, everything will work out nicely with no playoffs. If he loses, Kakuho will fight the winner of Amane/Suigafuji in a senshuraku playoff.
Now, turning to Juryo, Kagayaki defeated Daiseizan to improve to 11-1. Kaiyo beat Tanji to stay one loss back at 10-2. Enho beat Kazuto and is 6-6. Tamawashi is looking good and is certainly putting in a solid case for a return to the top division. We’ll be following the results closely over the next few days to see who will be likely to come up.
Makuuchi Action
Kyokukaiyu (6-6) defeated Tobizaru (4-8). Tobizaru pulled to try to throw Kyokukaiyu and Kyokukaiyu countered by charging forward and forcing Tobizaru out. Tobizaru makekoshi. Yorikiri.
Abi (7-5) defeated Chiyoshoma (4-8). Abi’s tsuppari shoved Chiyoshoma back and out. Chiyoshoma makekoshi. Oshidashi.
Asahakuryu (7-5) defeated Toshinofuji (7-5). Asahakuryu locked on with a powerful left-hand overarm grip. Note that instead of pulling, like Tobizaru, to execute the throw he was able to pivot and remain in the center of the ring as he threw Toshinofuji. Uwatenage.
Oho (4-8) defeated Shonannoumi (3-9). Oho showed a bit of a spark in this bout as he charged into Shonannoumi behind his forearm, forcing Shonannoumi out. Oshidashi.
Ura (8-4) defeated Tokihayate (7-5). Ura was stronger than Tokihayate and shoved him back and out. Ura kachi-koshi. Oshidashi.
Asasuiryu (5-7) defeated Takerufuji (7-5). Asasuiryu rotated Takerufuji to force him against the edge and then drove him over the tawara. Takerufuji did not get very low at all in this bout and Asasuiryu made him pay. Yorikiri.
Asakoryu (7-5) defeated Hiradoumi (7-5). Asakoryu shifted left at the tachiai, hooked his left arm under Hiradoumi’s right, and dragged him down. Kotenage.
Fujiseiun (8-4) defeated Shodai (2-10). Fujiseiun bellied up to Shodai and forced him out. If a fourth seat opens up on the barge, it will be occupied by either Chiyoshoma and Shodai, at this point. Yorikiri.
Nishikifuji (6-6) defeated Shishi (5-7). Was that a henka from Shishi? He got a hold of Nishikifuji’s belt but yielded terrible position with his back to the edge. Nishikifuji was also able to attack from a low position since Shishi was so high. Nishikifuji rotated and drove into Nishikifuji, forcing him out. Yorikiri.
Wakamotoharu (8-4) defeated Ichiyamamoto (2-10). Wakamotoharu’s tsuppari was very powerful as he whaled into Ichi and he did not fall for Ichiyamamoto’s pull attempt. Ichi-zumo needs retooling. Oshidashi.
Halftime
Asanoyama (9-3) defeated Churanoumi (8-4). Churanoumi had a left-hand belt grip early but Asanoyama ripped his grip away and planted his right arm underneath Churanoumi’s shoulder. With Churanoumi’s left arm now flailing in the wind like koi-nobori, Asanoyama was free to charge ahead and force Churanoumi out. Yorikiri.
Yoshinofuji (6-6) defeated Roga. Yoshinofuji locked on with his right hand and drove Roga back and out. Yorikiri.
Fujiryoga (6-6) default win over Kotoshoho (5-7).
Kotoeiho (3-9) defeated Takanosho (4-8). Kotoeiho henka. Takanosho needed to pivot on his left ankle and I do not think that was a good thing. Takanosho couldn’t put any weight on that left foot. Takanosho had to resort to attempting yotsu-zumo. Kotoeiho forced him back and over the bales. Unfortunately, I think Takanosho’s done and I think he knows it. He seemed to be near tears in the hanamichi, which is rather devastating for those used to Onigiri-kun’s smiling demeanor. Onigiri-kun makekoshi. Yorikiri.
Sanyaku
Gonoyama (4-8) defeated Hakunofuji (3-9). Gonoyama obliterated Hakunofuji at the tachiai and drove forward, shoving Hakunofuji out. Oshidashi.
Takayasu (5-7) defeated Daieisho (4-8). Takayasu’s bear thrusts quickly sent Daieisho into pull mode as he “noped” out of there. Takayasu pursued Daieisho to the edge and thrust him out. Daieisho makekoshi. Tsukidashi.
Kotozakura (8-4) defeated Oshoma (6-6). Kotozakura actually moved forward. Oshoma’s tsuppari was incapable of having any effect on Kotozakura as the Ozeki pressed into Oshoma and shoved him out. Oshidashi.
Fujinokawa (9-3) defeated Kirishima (6-6). For all of Fujinokawa’s power, he’s really a master of mis-direction. He hit Kirishima hard at the tachiai and followed up with tsuppari, then shifted laterally and pulled Kirishima forward. Kirishima stumbled toward the tawara and tried to reengage but Fujinokawa was all over him, blasting him again and again, driving him back through the ring and out the opposite side. Oshitaoshi.
Aonishiki (9-3) defeated Kinbozan (8-4). Aonishiki locked on to Kinbozan’s shimekomi with the left hand, pivoted, and dispatched Kinbozan quickly. Yorikiri.
Onosato (11-1) defeated Atamifuji (8-4). Atamifuji came in hot. Onosato grabbed his belt with the right hand and dragged him forward and down. Shitatedashinage.
Wrap-up
Onosato will turn his attention to the Ozeki for these final three days. First up, Kirishima who needs to pick up two wins in these final three days to avoid kadoban. Kotozakura and Aonishiki are both safe and will face each other tomorrow.
Atamifuji will fight Asanoyama, the Capt. Willard of this tournament. Fujinokawa will fight Churanoumi, Hakunofuji will take on Takanosho if the latter shows up, and Daieisho will fight Fujiryoga.
Title race:
- 1-Loss: Onosato
- 2-Losses: Nobody
- 3-Losses: Aonishiki, Fujinokawa, Asanoyama
There are a number of kyujo candidates for tomorrow. I’ll keep my eyes open for any announcements, or for news about whether Kotoshoho will return or not.
I think Atamifuji’s Ozeki run is toast, which is a little sad but he has been a much more credible Ozeki candidate than I had envisioned earlier this year. It’s far too early to start making any presumptions about Fujinokawa but he is definitely laying the ground work here. With one or two more wins, this might be the first leg of his own run.
I know there had also been some chatter about Yokozuna hopes for Kirishima but those were way overblown. Let’s let the guy get a string of kachi-koshi at Ozeki first. Sumo fandom claammoured for Hoshoryu and now it’s, “he was promoted too early.” There’s no need to rush for all of these promotion stories (he says right after bringing up Fujinokawa). Point taken. I’ll shut up now and see y’all tomorrow.
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And stop making fun of Kotonanahachi. Kotohachinana is more than capable to beat M5 to get his eight.
I’m eager for the day that Kotohachinana metamorphoses into Kotojūgo.
KotoHachinana is cementing a legacy of mediocrity as an Ozeki. If he escapes with a junroku he’d still be underperforming and earning every bit of the criticism he’s getting.
He said (tongue firmly planted in his cheek!)
YAY! of the day: Asasuiryu‘s absolutely clean victory over Takerufuji. Self-confident.
Enho‘s surprise hikiotoshi for Kazuma was looking fine, too.
And it‘s been a constant joy this basho to watch Asanoyama‘s calm and powerful forward-sumo.
A simple string of kachikoshi for Ozeki Kirishima would be relaxing for him, I think. This ever continued 12 win stuff can be exhausting…
I read that Sadogatake announced Kotoshoho will be out for the rest of the tournament, to recover properly from the concussion. They need him for a long sumo carreer, it was said. Reasonable folks, if you ask me.
Thank God they recognized it as a concussion and are doing the right thing by Kotoshoho.
Can someone tell me what Atamifuji’s “brand of sumo” is? I don’t think he knows…
Perhaps it is the heart shown by Aonishiki, Fujinokawa and Asanoyama this basho, but I have found I don’t miss Hoshoryu at all.
I read it over again, maybe I misunderstood. The word was that Kotoshoho ‚doesn‘t plan to return to the basho‘ and Sadogatake could not tell, when he would return.
Heard same on Kotoshoho, memory loss and concussion diagnosed at hospital. I hope he’s getting appropriate care.
Takayasu: I’m a Takayasu guy so happy to see the win…but he didn’t even pretend to put his hand down before blasting into accelerated tachiai-mode.
Fujinokawa: relentless. If he’d have let up, even for a moment, Kirishima might have had a chance to regroup. But he didn’t. A nice win.
Onosato vs Atamifuji: the clash of the titans and Onosato came out on top.
I’m a big fan of Kirishima and his ‘intelligent sumo’ but he seems to have these bouts of, oh, I don’t know, not being ready to take the next step.
The look on Kirishima’s face today after the Fujinokawa bout! He was saying, what the HELL was that!!!
Apparently juriyo saw today two oldest sekitori fighting each other. Is 81 years a record in ages combined?
…and the lightest versus the heaviest sekitori: weight difference 95 kilos (Enho won)!
For weight difference I believe Konishiki vs Mainoumi still unbeatable…
I‘ve looked it up. The difference was almost twice as much!
As Konishiki weighted unbelievable 285 kg, the theoretical gap between him and Onosato (!) would be about the same as between Kazuma and Enho…
I think Hoshoryu was seen as likely too soon at the time, but he got his promotion right as Terunofuji was retiring, so there was a sense of needing someone to fill the gap. That was particularly the case since we had just survived Terunofuji as yokozuna-ozeki since the ozeki ranks were iffy too. He put himself in the position of “close enough” that there wasn’t going to be much heat for promoting him in that current situation, and while we all saw Onosato coming, no one realistically thought he’d earn his rope that fast.
One thinkable solution would be a probation time for new yokozuna or even to make the rank demotable. Having said that I know that both ideas are unrealistic, of course.
I don’t need a solution except for me to shut up and not ponder possibilities until they’re probabilities.
U sound quite desillutioned imo, but maybe my English isn’t good enough and I got U wrong. Anyway, if mankind had only pondered probabilities and not possibilities, we would probably still live in caves…
Wow, just imagine how much rubbish had to be talked before the first brick house came in sight ;)
Maybe, but that first brick house might have begun as a possibility too, which only developed into a probability later.
Funny you expressed this Herbern. A few weeks ago before start of Aki Basho, when the hype train was running full blast on Kirishima’s rope run possibilities, and would or wouldn’t Hosh be participating and what a bad YokoZ he’s been, I had a random thought about ridding all this pressure for the rikishis under the microscope…. Why not abolish the formal rank of Yokozuna, and rather let whatever Ozekis there are share the ceremonial responsibilities? Ok you do it today, I’ll do it tomorrow…no you go to the shrine… no, YOU go to the shrine……It would go back to the way it was before the rank of Yokozuna was even conceived, Ozeki would be the top rank. I know I know you’re all thinking how ridiculous would that be? But I never dared expressing it until today as a mere passing thought, because I figured my thought would be labeled not just as rubbish, but utter rubbish. Well, can’t help a girl from thinking ways to elevate stress and misery for others, namely our beloved top rikishis….
Elevate should have written as alleviate, sorry for that grand mis-spelling!!
Not an Atamifuji fan by a long shot so no tears for the implosion of the Ozeki run. He’s another example proving that being big is not a skill, it’s a foundation to build skills upon.
However, I do believe that with more seasoning, skills development, and barring injury he will rise to Ozeki in the future. A lot will depend on his mental toughness going forward and him developing skills and the ability to handle pressure which he can’t right now.
If Atamifuji lost about 20Kg of fat and put another 5-6Kg of muscle, he could be so much better than he is, both movement wise and health wise.
Totally agree your comment, he was so nimble when he first made it to the top division. I bet he is at least 35 kg heavier now. Not good.
32 could be enough if he wins out, but even if he doesn’t, he’ll still be on an ozeki run next basho with 20+ wins. As you say, that mental toughness will show itself the rest of this basho and the next.
I’m pleased that Kotoshoho has been diagnosed with a concussion and he’s being looked after responsibly. I hope that he recovers well and quickly.
If Takayasu gets his KK it will be an impressive feat. He seems up for it, though.
A lot of people in Sanyaku have “bulldoze forward” as their main strategy. That’s one of the reasons that both Fujinokawa and Onosato are currently so successful. Fujinokawa is disruptive and moves laterally. Onosato has a solid base and the strength to counter his opponents. Until everyone else changes their strategy, these two will keep winning.
I’m at the point where unless a miracle or two happens, Onosato has won the Cup. 2 Ozeki need to put dirt on him in the next 3 days. Out of the 3 of them, Aonishiki has a bad wheel, Kirishima is in freefall mentally, and Kotozakura will move backward and step outside of the ring. It says a lot that I believe that the guy with the busted ankle has the best chance at winning.
The key is that moving laterally is successful and different from moving backwards.
I’m not so sure that Fujinokawa will keep winning. There ware many small and disruptive wrestlers before (Enho, Midorifuji, Ishiura, even Tobizaru) and combination of other wrestlers adapting to their style and injuries made all of them go down. It is too few bashos to predict.
“Kotozakura will move backward and step outside of the ring” : )
Sad to see Churanoumi pick up the loss, but good to see Asanoyama win. Both get tough bouts again tomorrow as the sumo schedulers try to thin the chase pack and figure out special prizes. Chura was scheduled to fight Fujinokawa at some point anyway, so that was coming anyway, but that’s going to be one interesting clash between Asa and Atamifuji. Let’s see if Asa has enough left in the tank. He’s looked better late in this basho than previous ones, but that’s a big guy he’s fighting.
Speaking of Fujinokawa, man he’s been a terror this basho. I’m not completely sold on him yet, because wrestlers have exploded like this before, and high intensity is something other wrestlers are very used to adjusting to. But he’s sure been fun to watch.
Atamifuji just hasn’t been solid enough on defense against the best opponents this basho. All of them have gotten to the belt too easily. That was something he didn’t allow in the victories he had against them last basho (the loss in the playoff coming when he did let Aonishiki get on the belt).
Speaking of not letting Aonishiki on the belt, it’s two days in a row Kinbozan has not offered nearly enough resistance to a belt grip to wrestlers who live on the belt. And two days in a row he picked up a quick loss because of it. As an Aonishiki fan, I sure appreciate easy wins that don’t look to hard on that ankle, but man, learn from Fujinokawa and at least try to up your game against the better wrestlers, Kinbozan.
Onosato moves one step closer to a title the sumo association would desperately love him to win. For his run in, I really only gave Atamifuji and Kirishima half decent shots at the victory (as much as I love Aonishiki, he’s just not been competitive against Onosato, even in his win, and Kotohachinana is Kotohachinana), and Onosato cleared one of them. And, given Kirishima’s current form, it’s reality hard to see him winning. Asking both Ao and Koto to put dirt on the Yokozuna? Sure, chances aren’t zero, but I just don’t see it.
Great comment. I agree with almost everything U said.
Fujinokawa is certainly the biggest surprise of the basho. His previous tournaments amongst the joi ended 8-7, 7-8 and 8-7. So is this one just a fluke or has he taken the next step? I do hope for the latter because he seems really something special.
Asanoyama is the other 9-3 I hadn’t expected. In the four previous basho he amassed only 5 wins on days 11 to 15. But this time he hasn’t crumbled though he is higher on the banzuke. That’s a good sign for sure. But Atamifuji will be too heavy a task, won’t he?
(The third 9-3 is astonishiking too, of course, but meanwhile we may expect the unexpected from the young Ukrainian, I guess.)
Something else that points out just how crazy this basho has been. Gonoyama fought Hakunofuji today. Combined, they had 6 wins coming in. Two of those wins were over Aonishiki, comprising 1/3 of their wins and 2/3 of Aonishiki’s losses. That just seems wild to me.
That is interesting because they’re both very similar style and build of wrestler.
These are fun maths!
Yes, Aonishiki has a problem with their (and Onosato’s) style. But maybe his losses had also to do with the fact, that he met them early, when he hadn’t fully adapted to bouts with peers yet. (He had never fought a sekitori in preparation.)
Remember that KotoZ used to be a favorite victim of Uchimuso by Aonishiki? I don’t think I saw any more Uchimuso by AO this year. Any reason for that?
It was a welcome surprise that Midorifuji used that kimarite when he beat Onokatzu today. OnoK’s whole sense was occupied with Midori’s favorite Kataskashi when his leg was tripped by Midori’s hand. Nice job!
Great question. We haven’t seen that from Aonishiki in a while.
I think, Aonishiki is aware of the probability being figured out in his preferred techniques. No more uchimuso, and I haven‘t seen kubinage by him for a long time. It was his ‚last resort kimarite’ when coming up to sanyaku ranks. Or maybe somebody told him, that it‘s quite dangerous when used at the edge and shouldn‘t become a routine. It‘s a quality sign of his sumo, that he cultivates versatility of techniques so intense, and always goes for surprise moves.
Asanoyama has shown some very fundamentally sound sumo technique in this basho .. he has not been moved off his strong base/stance + has pressed his opponents from this strength .. Churanoumi has had a solid basho, so they were a good match.. Looking forward to how well Asanoyama handles Atamifuji ..
Atamifuji is not strong enough in his core/legs to keep the added ~40lbs above his waist in balance .. Yesterday, Kiri showed that halting forward momentum + shifting that weight backwards led Atami backwards off the bales .. Onosato did the opposite .. get those 40lbs out over Atami’s toes & pull .. Before he stuffed himself of the added weight, Atami was very mobile + eratic + sometimes seemingly clueless .. Stay-puff-Atami has a simpler sumo strategy .. be linear + move forward .. but these last two matches exposed his weakness ..
KTZ’s absorptive (Shodai-like) patient + defensive sumo has the advantage that he is not gassed nor injured late in week two of the basho … which means he can now move forward on rikishi nursing some kind of injury..
Takayasu showed heart today .. he looked spent/injured after recent matches … i picked Daieisho to wear him down today w tsupari .. But Papa had a different plan ..