Wakaichiro’s (若一郎) Day 5 Match Preview

Bruce H Harubasho 2017 (Osaka) ,

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Faces Jonokuchi 6 Ichifuji

American sumotori Wakaichiro has his 3rd match on day 5 in Osaka. In his third match, he faces Isegahama heya’s veteran Ichifuji. Ichifuji has been in sumo for over a decade, and has been weaving his way through the bottom two ranks for 63 tournaments. While he has never come up with the wins to advance to higher divisions, he has a great deal of experience, and will likely present a challenge for Wakaichiro.

Going into this match, Wakaichiro is 1-1, with a goal of achieving a majority of wins over the 7 matches during the Osaka tournament.

Kisenosato’s Mie Pose

Bruce H Harubasho 2017 (Osaka), Kisenosato (稀勢の里)

Kisenosato-Mie-1

When You See It, He Wins

It’s probably no secret I have been a student of Japanese culture, and one of the things that I like in addition to sumo is Kabuki. Much like sumo, it can be really moving, and completely WTF crazy at times. Like sumo, the actors assume stage names, in the case of Kabuki, some of them many generations old.

One element from Kabuki that even westerners can recognizes has the name “Mie” (pronounced mee-ah). You can read a nice write up on Wikipedia, but I will except here:

The mie pose (見え　or 見得, mie, pronounced ‘mee-eh’), a powerful and emotional pose struck by an actor, who then freezes for a moment, is a distinctive element of aragoto Kabuki performance. Mie means ‘appearance’ or ‘visible’ in Japanese, and one of the primary purposes of this convention is to draw attention to a particularly important or powerful portion of the performance. It is meant to show a character’s emotions at their peak, and can often be a very powerful pose.

Kisenosato seems to have such a pose, and it’s becoming quite iconic. I first noticed him starting to do it a couple of years ago. When he pulls this thing out, his opponent is more or less finished. In that way I can relate it almost directly to when the great Michael Jordon would start sticking is tongue out as he drove for the goal. He was, at that moment, in his element. He was alone with his immense skill and no man and no force on the basketball court could stop him.

Kisenosato-Mie-2

It would seem that this pose is analogous with Kisenosato. He is in his element, and the size and power of his opponent no longer matter.  He is focused and connected to his goal. The rikishi he is defeating is simply an object the universe has given him to enhance his victory.  This, to me, ties into my observations last basho that during the first week of the basho, Kisenosato seemed lost in his own thoughts, and the moment of tachiai sometimes did not even rouse his interest. It may have been that he finally overcame his mental obstacles and achieved focus.

If you go back and watch his winning matches, more often than not you see him assume this stance as he applies his winning move.

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.