Harubasho 2017 (Osaka)

The Osaka basho that takes place in March

Haru Basho Day 4 Summary (*Updated)

Bruce H Gōeidō (豪栄道), Hakuho (白鵬), Harubasho 2017 (Osaka), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Ikioi (勢), Ishiura (石浦), Kakuryu (鶴竜), Kisenosato (稀勢の里), Kotoshogiku (琴奨菊), Mitakeumi(御嶽海), Takanoiwa (貴ノ岩), Takarafuji (宝富士), Takayasu (高安), Terunofuji (照ノ富士), Tochinoshin (栃ノ心), Ura (宇良) , , ,

Ikioi

Yokozuna Bloodbath Continues

Firstly, apologies for not posting any previews on Tuesday. Hopefully no more cross country marathon road trips for a while.

Overnight in Osaka, the Haru basho continued pulverizing the Yokozuna and Ozeki ranks. The concerns we raised prior to the basho seem to be panning out, as today Hakuho, Kakuryu and Goeido all lost their bouts. At the end of day four, only Kisenosato remains undefeated in the upper two ranks. Kisenosato easily won over Sokokurai today. I would once again call attention to how wide Kisenosato’s stance is throughout almost the entire match. In finishing he once again presents his mie pose.

Ikioi was winless going into today’s match with Hakuho, but he came off the line hard and just pushed with everything he had. A monoii ensued, but Ikioi’s victory was upheld. A fantastic kinboshi win for a popular rikishi. Hakuho looked stunned (as was I).

Likewise, the Kotoshogiku revival train gained a bit more steam today when the demoted Ozeki was able to overpower Kakuryu. Kotoshogiku attempted his preferred hug-n-chug, but did not have the leg strength to take the Yokozuna out, but executed a rather clumsy throw (sukuinage) to finish him. It was ugly and all over the map, but Kotoshogiku got it done.

In other news of top rikishi back from the grave, Terunofuji easily dispatched Yoshikaze. Going into day 5, Terunofuji is undefeated! However in the walking dead camp, Goeido was defeated by Takanoiwa. It almost seemed that Goeido was unaware he was already over the tawara, and kept trying to thrust Takanoiwa down after the match was over.

In a battle of the giants, there was some excellent strength sumo between Takayasu and Mitakeumi (this was my favorite match of the day). Takayasu prevailed but Mitakeumi is clearly demonstrating skill and strength to maintain a high rank. Takarafuji has been showing us some fantastic sumo this basho, and in his match against Hokutofuji, he was able to get Hokutofuji turned around and pushed out. Given that Hokutofuji has yet to finish a tournament with a losing record, his current 1-3 record should worry him.

Lower down the torikumi, the hapless Tochinoshin fell to the undefeated Chiyoshoma in a battle that ranged back and forth for a good amount of time. Chiyoshoma was in control the whole time, but Tochinoshin repulsed attempts at throws, slap downs and trips to remain upright and in the fight. In the end Chiyoshoma was able to force him out.

Ichinojo as also been excelling this basho, looking greatly renewed and invigorated. Today he faced Kagayaki, and marched him directly off the dohyo with little fuss or resistance.

Ishiura executed a really nice throw in his win over Sadanoumi, and I am beginning to hope that he is getting his poise and confidence back after his drubbing during Hatsubasho. Ishiura has a lot of promise and potential, so it’s great to see him back into his sumo.

Lastly, Ura is at it again, and was able to keep upright during yet another super-low tachiai. His opponent, Daieisho, seemed perplexed and was unsure what to do. This is typical of Ura matches and he usually will win in the moments his adversary is trying to reorganize their thoughts, and come to grip with what just happened.

All in all a great day of sumo, and I will gamberize and be back on my regular posting schedule.

Updated – Video from Jason’s all sumo channel (from the full NHK feed) of the Hakuho vs Ikioi match, showing the cause of the monii, and the controversy about the call. From the angle shown, it would seem to indicate that Hakuho probably deserved a rematch. By the way, this same ruling in similar conditions was used to remove a victory from Goeido in Kyushu.

Haru Basho Day 3 Summary

Bruce H Endo (遠藤), Gōeidō (豪栄道), Hakuho (白鵬), Harubasho 2017 (Osaka), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Hokutōfuji (北勝富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Ishiura (石浦), Kakuryu (鶴竜), Kisenosato (稀勢の里), San'yaku (三役), Shōdai (正代直也), Takanoiwa (貴ノ岩), Takarafuji (宝富士), Takayasu (高安), Takekaze (豪風), Tamawashi (玉鷲), Terunofuji (照ノ富士), Tochinoshin (栃ノ心), Tochiozan (栃煌山), Ura (宇良)

Sokokurai

Harumafuji Gifts a Kinboshi to Sokokurai

A few brief notes before I return to nursing what is a terrible cold. Day 3 action offered some really nice action, do make a point of checking them out on Kintamayama’s  youtube channel or Jason’s All Sumo Channel. Both are friends of the Tachiai team, and without them, overseas (from Japan) sumo fans would have to get by on the NHK summaries alone.

Ishiura looked strong and in control today in his win over Daieisho, you can definitely see some of the moves he has learned from Hakuho in today’s bout.

Ura lost his match against Tochiozan. Ura came in low, and Tochiozan kept him low and off balance. Isaac Newton took care of the rest. Tochinoshin (his first of the year) finally won one against the new winless Sadanoumi.

Okinoumi put in a great effort to overcome Kagayaki, who is yet to score a victory this basho. Chiyoshoma defeated Kotoyuki to remain at 3-0. So maybe Chiyoshoma is on a bit of a hot streak. Likewise Takarafuji is at 3-0 after he found no challenge from Endo.

Ichinojo? He’s doing real sumo these days. He looks like he could turn into a serious guy too. With his size and strength he could do a lot. He dominated Hokotofuji today.

Among the San’yaku battle fleet, Mitakeumi won convincingly over Tamawashi. Mitakeumi established a strong mawashi grip about 10 seconds in, and then had total control over Tamawashi. This is much to be learned here – Mitakeumi use to be a straight pusher/thruster. This worked great for him until he found there were limits to that technique, so he added mawashi sumo into the mix, and deploys it with skill. The result is that he is now a much better rikishi.

As expected, Takayasu contained Kotoshogiku and put him on the clay. The former Ozeki cold not get any power going against the Sekiwake, and appeared out of options when Takayasu took him down.

Terunofuji had no trouble with Shohozan, and is fighting much better than expected. I do hope that he has his body healed up, and we can see a lot of his sumo this tournament.

Goeido fell far too easily to Shodai today. It was clear that Goeido 1.0 was on the clay, and Shodai rolled him down and out. I have real concerns about that right ankle, as he was keeping pressure off of it today.

Takekaze gave Hakuho a honest, vigorous fight today. It was a beautiful thing to watch. But as is Hakuho’s style he took his time andwaited for his opportunity. That extra shove at the end is classic “old school” Hakuho. Surprised it showed up today. Maybe the Boss is getting frustrated.

Takanoiwa has yet to win a match this basho, but he is fighting well. Today against Kisenosato, he gave the shin-Yokozuna a decent challenge. At least twice Kiseonsato was off balanced, but recovered with remarkable speed for a man of his size, once again striking his Mae pose right at the end.

The Harumafuji match – The horse really looks out of his element now. His balance seems to be off, and he seems sluggish. I don’t know if he is taking pain meds to overcome his injuries or what, but I think that Sokokurai winning by a hatakikomi comes as a surprise to many fans.

Wakaichiro Loses Second Bout

Bruce H Harubasho 2017 (Osaka) ,

Falls To Day 3 Competitor

Early in the morning of Tuesday March 14th, American sumotori faced Ougiryu in his second bout of the Haru tournament. Tachiai pointed out earlier that Ougiryu had quite a bit of experince over the last 7 years floating around the lower two divisions, and it showed. First and foremost, he was able to draw Wakaichiro into an premature tachiai. Such irregularities always rattle a competitor’s concetration, as now they are focused on that event rather than their plan for the match.

The match featured some decent grappling to start, but after an attempted throw, Ougiryu was able to get behind Wakaichiro and force him out (okuridashi).

A reminder to fans, Wakaichiro has five more bouts spread over the rest of the March tournament. Tachiai will continue to cover his efforts to win his way up to the next division.

Haru Day 3 Preview

Bruce H Endo (遠藤), Gōeidō (豪栄道), Harubasho 2017 (Osaka), Ikioi (勢), Kakuryu (鶴竜), Kisenosato (稀勢の里), Shōdai (正代直也), Takanoiwa (貴ノ岩), Takarafuji (宝富士), Takayasu (高安), Tochiozan (栃煌山), Ura (宇良) , , ,

kisenosato Haru 2

This Hits Keep Rolling

Apologies on the late posting this week. Your humble author is humbling nursing a terrible cold, and executing a mandatory cross-country drive. This should improve on Saturday, possibly with the introduction of the Tachiai daily morning update podcast. 5 minutes of all the action of the day from Japan. Provided my voice comes back….

We are only two days into the basho, so it’s far too early to talk about who is hot and who is not. But there are some interesting trends already.

Daishomaru, Chiyoshoma, Tochiozan and Takarafuji are all 2-0. That’s right, there are only 5 Maegashira who are still undefeated. Clearly, this basho things are a bit more balanced, meaning that the banzuke was a better fit for the rikishi available. Of course once we hit day 6 on Friday, we should be able to know who has a chance to lead the pack.

Five of the eleven San’yaku are still undefeated. Which further underscores our worry that the upper ranks have quite a bit of “walking wounded”. The only two San’yaku who thus far look healthy and fit are Kisenosato and Takayasu.

Matches We Like

Daishomaru vs Kyokushuho – These two have only met twice before, with one win each. I expect a lot of pushing and shoving from these two, with a throw to finish.

Ura vs Tochiozan – Ura has been working hard to apply his technique to Makuuchi, which is turning out to be a challenge. Tochiozan is a storied veteran who has seen better days, but can still reach for greatness. This is the first time these two have matched, and I am eager to see what happens.

Chiyoshoma vs Kotoyuki – Chiyoshoma has a small hot streak going at 2-0, but he faces Kotoyuki, who is a fierce pusher / thruster. Kotoyuki is still young, and we hope that he develops a better mawashi technique. This transition form pure pusher-thruster to hybrid seems to have been the key element that really ignited Mitkaeumi, and I belive that Kotoyuki has great potential if he can expand his sumo.

Endo vs Takarafuji – Takarafuji is closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Endo can learn much from Takarafuji’s sumu. Takarafuji leads their career matches 4-2. I epxect that Takarafuji will prevail.

Kotoshogiku vs Takayasu – It’s time to see what happens when Kotoshogiku matches with a man looking to beat everyone between him and his Ozeki title. Kotoshogiku has been holding up well the first two days, and is looking much better than I thought he would. But Takayasu is hungry. He is also one of the few rikishi who has the strength, stance and ring awareness to survive a “hug-n-chug” attack from the master. This may be the big match of the day.

Goeido vs Shodai – Goeido is always hit-or-miss, except for Goeido 2.0. Shodai is looking nicely upgraded since Hatsu. This will be a great test to see if Goeido is going to be able to put power-to-ground through that damaged ankle. Slight edge to Goeido.

Ikioi vs Kakuryu – Readers, try to carefully examine what Kakuryu does the moment of the tachiai. His normal approach will be to absorb Ikioi’s initial thrusts and fall back and circle. Ikioi will chase him, and Kakuryu will wait for the correct moment when Ikioi is off balance, and he will close the deal. This is the essence of Kakuryu, look to see if he does it today.

Takanoiwa vs Kisenosato – Takanoiwa can surprise anyone on any given day. That being said, I think that we are going to see Kisenosato hit that Mae pose of sumo doom, and Takanoiwa will be done.