November Tournament 2014

November Tournament: Day 8

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Kakuryu (鶴竜), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , , ,

My Day 8 update is a bit late. Had a busy day with early morning furniture delivery and then running errands, playing with the kids, etc.

My lead story is Ichinojo’s use of the fake-matta tactic. He’s used it successfully a few times, my favorite example was against Kisenosato, who, at the time, had a really slow tachiai. The process:

  1. He starts too early and bulls his way directly into the opponent,
  2. Bow to head judge,
  3. Dodge,
  4. Push opponent’s head down and hopefully the body follows for an easy win.

I don’t know why Ichinojo (4-4) tried his fake-matta-then-dodge-head-push tactic against a much lighter, weaker, maegashira Tochiozan (3-5) but I’m happy it failed. Tochiozan showed great balance as he probably knew what was coming after the matta. He stayed on his feet, shrugged off the weak head push, and seemed to gain leverage and better position by being lower. Thus in better position, he then pushed Ichinojo across the ring and out. Hopefully that’s the end of this matta-dodge-head-push. Or Ichinojo might go for a belt grab and really finish off his opponent.

Kakuryu stays in the lead with a perfect 8-0 record, and still undefeated against Ikioi. Ikioi (1-7) will really need to step on it and garner some wins to avoid dropping back into the ranks of the maegashira. He really needed to pick up a few more in that first week but I’ve got my hopes that he’ll be able to sweep his lower ranked opponents this week.

Hakuho gets himself into a little unnecessary drama by giving Terunofuji an extra little shove in the back after the match…but with the win stays one back of Kakuryu. He leads the chase group that has been whittled down to Hak, Kisenosato, and Kyokutenho.

Harumafuji (6-2) downs Takekaze (1-7), getting some revenge from kinboshi he gave up back in July. Kisenosato (7-1) took out fellow ozeki Kotoshogiku, who at 3-5 is having a terrible tournament. Kisenosato was on the ropes as it were, but Kotoshogiku’s knee just couldn’t get the final drive over the straw bales. Giku’s knee is not up to it. Goeido’s record (4-4) has not been much better as he lost to Takayasu (5-3). Goeido quickly got a belt grip but seemingly didn’t know what to do with it as Takayasu, with leverage, just drove him back and out.

November Tournament: Day 6

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , , , ,

Suddenly, all eyes are on a Giant killer — Takayasu? Wait, what? Wow.

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Takayasu’s victory over the previously unbeaten Hakuho creates a brand new story line leading into Day 7 of the November Tournament. Takayasu benefited earlier this week from Harumafuji stepping out of bounds, so he picked up a gold star. It was actually the third he’d won off Harumafuji. But today he picked up potentially the biggest win of his career so far by knocking off Hakuho. Recently, Oosunaarashi was able to knock off two yokozuna in a row – particularly remarkable as it was the first two yokozuna he’d faced – but senior yokozuna Hakuho was able to put him in his place. Since both have had great matches together. It’s good to see Oosunaarashi’s aggression up against Hak.

Not only does Takayasu’s win put Hakuho’s 32nd yusho into doubt, it also raises the possibility that, should he pull off another stunning upset tomorrow against Kakuryu, Takayasu can claim gold stars from all three yokozuna in the same tournament. History is not with him. He’s faced Kakuryu 8 times and has only won twice, once when Kakuryu was sekiwake, and again as ozeki. Can he dethrone the yokozuna?

If Takayasu does pull it off tomorrow, the yusho would be a wide open contest as there are now seven wrestlers with one loss: from low-ranked maegashira like Sokokurai, Arawashi and Kyokutenho, middling maegashira Okinoumi, Toyonoshima, and Tochinoshin, ozeki Kisenosato, and now super-zuna Hakuho. The next few days should feature loads of great matchups.

Harumafuji and Kakuryu both won, Kakuryu having avenged himself against Ichinojo in a marathon bout that could leave him exhausted. Kisenosato’s one loss came after just such a grueling victory. For his part, Kisenosato was able to win a close one against Tochiozan, the outcome decided after a monoii.

Aoiyama (4-2) has been FIERCE. I like this Aoiyama. He was able to hand Ikioi his fifth loss. He’s not had much success against Goeido in the past, losing 9 of 10 meetings, but he’s been strong this tournament while Goeido has struggled a bit. I’m still hopeful for Ikioi to get kachi-koshi after he’s been through the sanyaku gauntlet. He’s got Ichinojo (3-3) tomorrow and surely a hungry Kakuryu after that but things should ease off a bit.

Goeido and Kotoshogiku have been struggling early in this tournament, and both stand at 3-3. Like Ikioi, they should benefit from weaker opposition in the second half of the tournament.

Kyokutenho will face a challenge in Endo who has struggled of late but is very talented and certainly capable of the win.

November Tournament: Day 5

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), November Tournament 2014 , , , , , , ,

Kakuryu contines to contest Hakuho for the tournament title. Both stand undefeated at 5-0. Harumafuji (3-2) continues his dominance over Ikioi (1-4) but his strength of schedule should ease off a bit in a few days since he’s already faced all the Ozeki and two of the three yokozuna. He’s got Aoiyama tomorrow and surely Kakuryu and Ichinojo after that. But from there he should start picking up wins and still has a good chance of getting kachi-koshi.

His fellow Komusubi, Takekaze, is also on a 1-4 record so at least they’ve gotten important wins in the first few days. Both sekiwake, Ichinojo and Aoiyama have been strong at 3-2. Their head-to-head went to Ichinojo but hopefully both will do well enough over the next 10 days to stay in their ranks. The top maegashira have also all picked up important wins in the first third of the tournament and will hopefully improve their records as they face lower-ranked opposition.

The Ozeki, however, have all racked up losses, especially Kotoshogiku (2-3). With those three losses, he faces Takekaze tomorrow and has yet to face a single ozeki or yokozuna. He will struggle to get kachi-koshi. Goeido didn’t start out strong but has picked up important wins over the past three days. He’ll have a tough one tomorrow against Aminishishiki. Meanwhile, Kisenosato has looked really strong this tournament, despite picking up his first tournament loss against Aoiyama. That’s not entirely unexpected, though, as Aoiyama has kind of owned the Ozeki this year, now having won 4 of their last 5 meetings. I should have put more weight behind their recent record rather than predicting Goeido as the ozeki upset.

Down in the Maegashira, Tochinoshin has been strong and faces Jokoryu though there’s still lingering concern over his knees. Okinoumi and Kyokutenho are both one loss off pace but are great to watch. Endo is still winless against Jokoryu and faces Toyonoshima tomorrow.

November Tournament: Day Four

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), November Tournament 2014

Harumafuji gave up another kinboshi! This time the lucky maegashira is Tochiozan at maegashira #1. Hopefully Harumafuji can bounce back strongly and finish with at least 12 wins for the tournament. I just always expect Yokozuna to get 12 wins fairly consistently. Goeido might still pull off a good 10 wins as he got some revenge against Ichinojo, as he lost to “the monster” at the Fall tournament. Both wrestlers stand at 2-2 with Harumafuji and Kotoshogiku, who lost to Ikioi. I’m very happy to see Ikioi collect his first sanyaku win. IHe seemed to have a good match with Goeido yesterday and I thought he could almost take it, so it was nice to see him win today. It shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise, though, as Ikioi had a good head-to-head record against Kotoshogiku, and now actually leads in their rivalry. And Endo won again today to also improve to 2-2.

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Again, Hakuho and Kakuryu knocked off their opponents to stay perfect. Kisenosato outlasted Terunofuji in an epic bout, Okinoumi benefited from Osunaarashi’s forfeit, and Kyokutenho is still impressive at 40 years old. The three join Hakuho and Kakuryu with perfect records after Day 4. Okinoumi and Kyokutenho have looked pretty strong in the last two tournaments and I’m hoping they can stay strong as their competition gets more fierce.

With only those five having perfect records, you can infer that Tochinoshin lost today to Tamawashi. It looked like his knee may not have made a full recovery. I hope he’s up for it tomorrow or gets the recovery time he needs. Speaking of knees, sadly, Osunaarashi sat out due to injury and he’s not on the schedule for tomorrow. I hope he gets well and gets some rest.