Yes, I know, I know. You expect two days’ worth of Jungyo goodness. But the Japanese media is not obliging. Most papers only have updates on Nishonoseki Oyakata. Unfortunately, the updates only say “No change, he is still unconscious”, with some, rather indelicately, I think, adding that “He will be absent from the entire Kyushu basho”. No s–t…
So first, for those readers who do not follow Tachiai on Twitter: if you’re interested in seeing bouts not just of the top echelon but of the entire Makuuchi from Asanoyama through the various Chiyos and Fujis, head back to the Osaka post, where I edited in a video of the complete and yummy set of Makuuchi bouts.
A few days ago, when he was interviewed about his san-ban with Asanoyama, Kakuryu said that Asanoyama was a good yotsu rival, but that next time he was going to look for an oshi-zumo specialist to continue honing his own skills.
And true to his word, his preferred san-ban opponent this day was Daieisho. This consisted of 10 bouts, all of which the Yokozuna won.
When asked about the condition of his ankle, he said “I felt no difficulty, neither when I braced myself against it, nor when I moved from side to side”.
Later on that evening, he also added a win against Goeido to those 10 practice wins.
Kisenosato beats Hakuho
Kisenosato exhibits his usual tenacity and finally manages to shrink the gap to 6:3.
News were even scarcer here. Apparently, Several sekitori from Hyogo prefecture (e.g. Takakeisho, Myogiryu – Terutsuyoshi doesn’t seem to be participating in the Jungyo) shared the adoration of the local crowd. Currently no toriukmi videos, only photos.
Hakuho wins, bringing the balance to 7:3.
As usual, keep your eyes peeled. If any video materializes, I’ll be sure to add it.
We interrupt today’s scheduled programming to inform you that the rikishi had a bit of a rest today at Okayama, where they will resume their activities tomorrow.
Unfortunately, tomorrow I won’t be able to cover the events, with both work and a Euroleague basketball game to attend.
So I’ll try to give you a double helping on Wednesday. And in the meantime, here is some interesting footage that turned up from yesterday at Osaka:
The difference between butsukari and reverse butsukari
So, those who followed this program in the past few days should already know what a butsukari geiko is: Up-ranker exposes his chest. Down-ranker needs to throw himself at that chest and push the up-ranker all the way to the edge. Done? Good. Squat at the edge, and give the up-ranker a nice bow. Not done? Up-ranker will usually throw you to the ground. Occasionally, he’ll take you for a monkey-walk around the dohyo.
So here is Hakuho giving Takakeisho TLC from yesterday:
The ceremony usually ends with an “itten” (一転), where the low ranker symbolically knocks on the chest of the up-ranker, and gets thrown one last time. Here Hakuho seems to go for a “san-ten” (三転) – three final throws? Hmm…
A reverse butsukari (not an official name) is when an up-ranker wants to practice pushing. So he asks a low-ranker to do the honors. The rules are supposed to be the same. In the previous Jungyo, Kisenosato did one of those – I think it was with Kagayaki. Kisenosato is a conservative… so he kind of insisted on the itten: knocked on his opponent’s chest, and immediately threw himself to the ground. :-)
(Those throws are not actually like the ones in an actual bout. The ukemi knows he is supposed to be thrown, and usually performs a korogari as soon as the up-ranker touches him. Kisenosato simply did one without his opponent laying more than one finger on him).
So usually a reverse butsukari looks quite different than the “normal” one, which is a show of authority. How different? Take a look at Harumafuji who was doing that yesterday, (and three days in a row, apparently):
So… no actual rolls. And the squats don’t end with much of a bow.
Chikara-mizu jokes
So, if you only ever watch the Kintamayama shorts or the NHK highlights, you probably haven’t seen many chikara-mizu (power-water) ceremonies. Before each bout, one rikishi who has not been tainted with a loss takes a ladle of water from the yobidashi and hands it to the next rikishi who goes up to wrestle. That rikishi accepts it, rinses his mouth with it, and then accepts a piece of paper which is usually used to cover the mouth while spitting the water down into a spittoon at the side of the dohyo. The rikishi who hands the water is the one who won the last bout, and on the other side of the dohyo, where the previous wrestler lost, the rikishi of the next bout, one who has not fought yet, will do the honors. On the musubi-no-ichiban, the last bout of the day, the role will be left to the last winner on that side, who has to stay there for this purpose.
So, during honbasho, this is all done quite seriously (though I find the constant spitting kind of yucky, especially for the yobidashi who has to clean up the spittoon from time to time). But during the Jungyo, rikishi like to play around. One of the common jokes is to add some of the dohyo salt to the ladle. The yobidashi usually keep silent, though this is done right in front of their eyes.
But this is not the only possible prank.
Here are the bouts of the Juryo division from yesterday (yes! Aminishiki can win by yori-kiri!) for your enjoyment. And pay attention to Osunaarashi handing the chikara-mizu to Amakaze. Ahem.
It’s good to be the king!
When a Yokozuna makes an appearance, the other sekitori greet him with a bow. When it’s Hakuho, that includes Harumafuji as well. Hakuho returns a nod.
I watched a similar video the other day, in which Harumafuji arrived at the dohyo, and everybody was bowing to him, but he and Kakuryu just exchanged nods and a friendly pat. Hakuho has a special status. In fact, apparently Kakuryu, Harumafuji and Kisenosato, when they mention each other, use their respective shikona. But when they refer to Hakuho, it’s “Yokozuna”, whether he’s present or not. As in Kakuryu saying to Harumafuji “We need to wait for Kisenosato and the Yokozuna”. That kind of thing.
You’ll notice that the Yokozuna himself bows. That is directed at Tamanoi oyakata. When Takanohana is present, a bow will be directed at him as well.
Note another interesting form of expressing respect: mizu-tsuke. This is similar to the chikara-mizu explained above, only without the paper to hide the spits and without a yobidashi on hand. And look how many of those there are.
He came early to the morning practice, and found himself the only member of the joi present. So he got right up on the dohyo and did 14 bouts (opponents unspecified), of which he won 11 and lost 3. You could see him establish a left-hand upper grip right off the tachiai, and powerfully pushing his opponent all in one go. “Not good enough yet. I want to increase the number of bouts.” he said. When asked if he has any concerns regarding his body he replied with a smile “Yes, I have many of those”.
The Isenoumi wrestler, who was absent from the jungyo due to back pains, revealed that he was diagnosed following the Aki basho with a bulging disc, causing him pains whenever he leaned forward. He was advised not to have surgery, but instead to strengthen the muscles in the affected area, and lose some weight to take some of the load off it. He is on a diet following that advice.
Today he was not doing any on-dohyo exercise, except kiddie sumo, accompanied by cheers from the local crowd, as he is himself from the Osaka Prefecture.
He practiced yesterday in Kishiwada, but did not participate in the torikumi, instead heading back to Tokyo. “It’s a hernia, but it’s a preexisting condition. The affected area has probably been overloaded”, said Tamanoi Oyakata, deputy head of the Jungyo department. “It’s not severe.”
The dai-yokozuna once again dedicated over five minutes to the youngster (shouldn’t he have deducted their Nagoya bout?), and sent him rolling on the ground time and time again.
The Takanohana wrestler was, of course, grateful for the privilege. “It’s not something he would have done for someone he thinks nothing of.”
Following his disastrous Nagoya basho, Takakeisho says he has learned his lesson: “I became depressed after the initial setbacks, and that made it hard for me to even out my score later on. I need to give 100%, grasp at the challenge, and stir things up without thinking too deeply”. Originating from the nearby Hyogo prefecture, Takakeisho vowed that by the next Osaka honbasho, he will be in sanyaku.
Note: to offset today’s bad news, I just found torikumi videos from the 19th, and added them to that day’s post. Do not miss the Terunofuji-Mitakeumi bout!
Today’s news are mostly brought to you from hospitals and ambulances, but there is a musubi as well.
Enho injured, leaves Jungyo
During today’s practice session, Enho fell off the dohyo and injured his ankle. He was carried on a stretcher to the Jungyo’s on-hand ambulance, which got him to a local hospital, where his ankle was bandaged. He was then hurried back to Tokyo for further care. “It hurts both on the inner and the outer side. And it makes crunching sounds.” said Enho “but there is still time until the Kyushu basho”.
Tachiai wishes Hakuho’s uchi-deshi a quick recovery and continued health.
Ikioi joins the Jungyo
On a happier note, Ikioi has joined the Jungyo today. I think he would have wanted to join it yesterday, as his home town of Katano is much closer to Hirakata than it is to Kishiwada. But the Jungyo is still in Osaka Prefecture and I’m sure his local fans were happy to travel the distance to welcome him back.
He was assigned to Ichinojo on the torikumi form, but I do not have any information about the content of that bout.
Update on Nishonoseki Oyakata
As it turns out, when the oyakata had his accident, he was on his way home from a visit to a sauna, where he had a fainting incident. Nevertheless he decided to bike home, and doing that he collapsed with his bicycle and received the head injury that brought about his current condition.
His anesthetic medication has been reduced to encourage him to regain autonomous breathing, and the doctors observed some positive response.
Shohozan, who is Nishonoseki’s only sekitori, expressed his concern and promised to do his best sumo “for the oyakata” while away on the Jungyo.
Harumafuji Gambarizes
This is a bit of late news from yesterday. After his first day, doing reverse butsukari, he followed that up by teaming with Chiyoshoma for a tachiai practice.
When asked if he is bothered by his elbow, he frowned: “I am not worried, but it hurts. There is almost no inflammation, though. I’ll gambarize”.
And a little bit of actual sumo
The musubi of the day. I think Hakuho decided that if Kisenosato is taking this seriously, then so does he. Hakuho 5 – Kisenosato 2.
