After the full roster and day 11, day 12 brings only a few of our “Ones to Watch” to the dohyo for their 6th match. Day 11 action saw wins by Terunofuji, Amakaze, Roga, Naya and Midorifuji. Sadly Wakaichiro lost his 6th match, and will face make or kachi koshi his final bout. Naya remains in the Makushita yusho hunt, picking up his 6th win. Terunofuji and Roga won their day 11 matches to advance to 6-0 and remain in the yusho hunt.
Day 12 Matches
Hoshoryu vs Sakigake – Loser of this match is make-koshi. Sakigake is a former Juryo rikishi who has been working in Makushita for the last 4 years. Typically in the top 15 ranks of Makushita, Sakigake is one tough competitor, and he will be a handful for Hoshoryu.
Akua vs Ryusei – As with the match above, this is a 2-3 bracket fight, and the loser will take home a make-koshi. After a strong open, Akua has struggled to make headway against a very competitive Makushita Joi-jin. Ryusei is a 32 year old veteran, and this match may come down to who gets the inside position at the tachiai.
Ichiyamamoto vs Kototebakari – Both rikishi are kachi-koshi, and have a single loss. So this match is simply to run up the score. For Ichiyamamoto, there is a slim, outside chance that he might be promotable if he wins the remainder of his matches. Kototebakari is yet another fast-risking young hard-charger. At 19 years of age and 144 kg, he is in a “sweet spot” for Makushita.
Shoji vs Tsuyukusa – Yet another 2-3 bracket match, with the loser being make-koshi for Osaka. Musashigawa heya’s Shoji faces another young, up and coming rikishi looking to press into Makushita.
Yokozuna Hakuho said before the basho that he felt like spoiling Takakeisho’s party. He did just that in avenging the third of his Hatsu losses, and did not let history repeat itself on Day 11, running his record to 11-0 to remain the sole leader. Tomorrow, he begins the Ozeki/Yokozuna portion of his fight card with struggling Tochinoshin.
And then there was one. Hakuho’s sole pursuer with a 10-1 record is the next great Mongolian hope, M4 Ichinojo, who toyed with M7 Aoiyama today before dropping him to the clay and into the 9-2 hunt group. Ichinojo has faced all three Ozeki, defeating two of them, and is unlikely to face the Yokozuna, but he could well be Takakeisho’s final day opponent in a potentially high-stakes bout for both rikishi. The hunt group is filled out by Yokozuna Kakuryu, Ozeki Takayasu and Goeido, and M8 Kotoshogiku.
Tomorrow, Ichinojo has what on paper is an easy match against Asanoyama (M8, 7-4), while Aoiyama also fights a lower-ranked opponent, M11 Ryuden (8-3). The heavyweight clashes at the top of the torikumi have Goeido battling Takakeisho (head-to-head 6-3) and Kakuryu taking on Takayasu in the musubi (head-to-head 12-7).
Kadoban Ozeki Tochinoshin
Tochinoshin’s loss to Takayasu dropped him to 6-5, and he needs 2 wins from 4 bouts to clear kadoban. It seems unlikely that one will come tomorrow against Hakuho (head-to-head: 1-26). The subsequent three bouts will offer better odds, but none are against easy opponents: Kakuryu, Takakeisho, and Tamawashi, each likely with something to fight for.
Takakeisho’s Ozeki Run
Takakeisho could not record a second defeat of a Yokozuna, and fell to 8-3. Like Tochinoshin, he also needs 2 wins from 4 bouts to be Ozeki in May. He will next take on the Ozeki corps, starting with Goeido, followed by a maegashira bout that may well be against a yusho-seeking Ichinojo.
The San’yaku Ranks
West Sekiwake Tamawashi (4-7) now needs to win out to maintain his rank, and can only afford one loss if he is to limit his demotion to Komusubi. East Komusubi Mitakeumi won today and needs 3 victories to defend his rank, while West Komusubi Hokutofuji lost and will relinquish his San’yaku slot after a single basho. Ichinojo is in pole position for promotion, with a number of other contenders behind him, led by Aoiyama and Kotoshogiku.
The Makuuchi <-> Juryo Exchange
Dropping out of the top division: Chiyonokuni. Taking his spot: Shimanoumi (J1e, 10-1).
Yutakayama (M16w, 3-8) is now make koshi, and his record warrants demotion, though he could conceivably survive through banzuke luck.
Toyonoshima (M14w, 3-8), Terutsuyoshi (M14e, 3-8), Daishoho (M16e, 4–7), and Ikioi (M9w, 1-9) are the next rikishi in the demotion queue, and could pass and save Yutakayama with sufficiently poor performances. Chiyoshoma still needs two wins to be safe, while everyone else has probably done enough to stay in the top division.
Chiyomaru (J1w, 8-3) likely locked up a return to Makuuchi today. Enho (J2w, 6-5) has hit a wall with two losses and needs to start winning fast if he wants to make a top-division debut. Tomorrow he makes his second visit to Makuuchi to take on Toyonoshima is what could be an “exchange bout.” And that’s it for plausible promotion contenders, although a few Juryo men could make a late case by winning out.
Today was slap down / pull down day it seems. Everyone was getting pounded into the dirt or found a hand grabbing for the back of their neck. This entire basho seems to have taken to pull down / slap down in a big way, and I am hoping this is not some kind of persistent trend. While its a perfectly valid move, it can make for less than exciting sumo.
But day 11 was not lacking in exciting sumo. Our intrepid “Man in Foreign Lands” Josh was on site, and has supplied our readers with his first hand impressions yet again. Go read it now, as it’s one of the better “day of sumo” write ups you can ever read. The man knows how to do it well. I do find it troubling how frequently he an Naruto Oyakata encounter each other near the Men’s room, but I will chalk it up to cosmic coincidence.
Highlight Matches
Daiamami defeats Kotoeko – After engaging at close range, these two execute a flailing grip-battle that ends with Kotoeko in better position. But he can’t convert that to actual offensive power, in spite of Daiamami being backed to the tawara. Instead Daiamami loads a throw and Kotoeko’s strength can’t stop it.
Terutsuyoshi vs Chiyoshoma – We finally see more of Terutsuyoshi’s sumo, which is what brought him to Makuuchi. Sadly its probably going back to Juryo for a rebuild unless he can “win” out or get a healthy dose of Shodai’s banzuke luck.
Kagayaki defeats Toyonoshima – Toyonoshima gets the inside position at the tachiai, but can’t convert that to any offense as Kagayaki side steps and slaps him down. Toyonoshima is now make-koshi, and joins the list of folks who might return to Juryo.
Yago defeats Yutakayama – Close range oshi-battle that ended with what some of the shimpan thought might be a hair pull, but was deemed acceptable after a monoii. Yutakayama now make-koshi, and he has joined the denotable group.
Kotoshogiku defeats Ishiura – Ishiura never really set up any kind of offensive position, and immediately backpedaled away from Kotoshogiku. Yes, getting chest to chest with the Kyushu Bulldozer is a bad idea, but I have to believe that a small, nimble rikishi with tons of strength could have some kind of offensive move closer to his opponent.
Ryuden defeats Asanoyama – Shin-Ikioi goes kachi-koshi, which is a welcome change given his two prior basho. A protracted yotsu battle revolved around Ryuden’s ability to maintain his left hand outside grip. Asanoyama took a chance to shift his grip, and gave up forward pressure for an instant, that was all Ryuden needed to seize the initiative and take the win.
Abi defeats Shohozan – Maybe Abi-zumo is not done for yet. Against a pugilist like Shohozan, there is room for someone who will double arm you off the dohyo.
Okinoumi defeats Ikioi – Ikioi serves no purpose now but to give white stars to people. One every day. While the sacrifice is noble, it’s becoming tedious.
Yoshikaze defeats Onosho – Yoshikaze picks up his 8th win, and will mark a dramatic transition from is very timid start to the basho. At 37 years, he is not as high-energy as he once was, but it seems he can still deliver winning sumo. Onosho continues to struggle with balance, and today had some very poor foot placement in this match. I am sure Onosho is going to continue to improve, if he can avoid further injury.
Ichinojo defeats Aoiyama – A big highlight of day 11, this match which saw the two rikishi who were one behind the undefeated Hakuho battle it out. Aoiyama’s blows could stun an bull elephant, but Ichinojo absorbed them with little outward sign of effect. As Aoiyama continued to flail, Ichinojo advanced, attacking center-mass and Aoiyama quickly found himself on the defensive, and off balance. Not only was Ichinojo quite boulder-like in shrugging off Aoiyama’s attack, his sumo was hideously efficient today. He held the center of the dohyo, and made Aoiyama move, until Aoiyama lost stamina and was easy to pick off.
Shodai defeats Myogiryu – Shodai found his sumo, and gets the better of the tachiai. Myogiryu has him locked up, but tries a pull down, and throws away his position. Shodai advances and Myogiryu takes another step towards a make-koshi.
Endo defeats Hokutofuji – I don’t know if Hokutofuji has run out of energy now 11 days into the tournament, but he was even more ragged than normal against Endo. At the risk of sounding like a broken MP3, watch this match again, but only look at their feet. Endo is calm, controlled and keeps his feet very low. By contrast Hokutofuji is all over the place. His force vector is not aligned to Endo’s center mass, and everything he applies gets deflected to the side. This is a recurring theme with Hokutofuji, who loses the plot when he is chest to chest.
Mitakeumi defeats Daieisho – Mitakeumi continues at about 80% power, but in most cases its sufficient to dispatch all but the best rikishi. His fans hope that the knee damage can be healed to the point where he can operate at full strength, but as we saw with Kisenosato, the “healing naturally” is not always effective. As we saw with Ura, the medical intervention is not a guaranteed fix either.
Takayasu defeats Tochinoshin – No shoulder blast today from Takayasu, but instead the “smooth” tachiai that takes him immediately into a mawahsi fight with Tochinoshin. Both rikishi are shifting their weight drastically, attempting to gain a balance advantage over the other. Neither of them can make it stick. Takayasu gets into trouble as he concedes the center of the dohyo to the Georgian, who sets his hips for a lift. But his hips are higher, and Takayasu advances strongly before Tochinoshin can lift. Tochinoshin makes a valiant stand at the tawara, but is forced to pivot for the second day on his injured knee, and drops, frustrated.
Goeido defeats Chiyotairyu – As expected, Chiyotairyu attempts his usual lift / slap down combo. But when Goeido’s ankle is working, his balance is excellent, and Chiyotairyu can’t bring Goeido forward enough to drop him. This failed gambit left Chiyotairyu wide open, and Goeido drives inside and applied maximum force at center-mass. Nearly perfect Goeido sumo.
Kakuryu defeats Tamawashi – There was so much force flying at both rikishi’s necks that neither of them could keep their footing, and both flopped to the clay moments after the tachiai. But it was clear that not only did Tamawashi touch first, but Kakuryu executed the last “in control” sumo move.
Hakuho defeats Takakeisho – A day will come, when we see a 70 year old Hakuho, still able to fold, spindle and mutilate strong healthy rikishi in their 20s. Takakeisho brought it all out today, and Hakuho was ready. The Yokozuna landed a couple of potent round-house slaps on Takakeisho’s face, but the youngster stayed focused, on plan and on attack. To be clear, there was no defense in this match, just two rikishi blasting each other into submission. Hakuho worked out Takakeisho’s timing, and drive inside for a mawashi grip. Of course this is Takakeisho’s kryptonite, and it was time for the always enjoyable Hakuho uwatenage.
Originally, knowing that I was to attend two days of the Haru basho, I had intended to write one post about the basho experience, enjoy this amazing city of Osaka, do a podcast with Bruce (like and subscribe), and then head back to the EDION Arena for Day 11 only with the intention of enjoying the action.
But then, magical moments intervened, and here I am again.
Day 11’s torikumi was pretty remarkable. And there are multiple reasons for that. First of all, the big performers have been delivering big performances. There are challengers down the banzuke. There is intrigue from the ozeki ranks going in both directions. And also, apart from Chiyonokuni’s pre-tournament withdrawal, there have been no kyujo announcements and no fusen-sho. The gang’s all here.
The Haru day 11 torikumi is insane. Terunofuji. Roga. @IchiroYoung_ (!). (lunch break) Maikeru. Naya. Kuni. Midorifuji. 3 Onamis. Churanoumi. Kamatani. Enho. Ishiura/Kotoshogiku. Shohozan/Abi. Aoiyama/Ichinojo. Takayasu/Tochinoshin. Hakuho/Takakeisho.
I didn’t get all of it. Partly because I arrived a little later than I had intended, and partly because I wanted to enjoy more of what the venue had to offer. So while I’m happy I missed Wakaichiro losing, because I never want to see him lose – I’m also sorry I missed a few Makushita and Juryo matches I would have liked to have seen.
I also missed almost every dohyo-iri. That’s because I decided to take part in one of Osaka’s great traditions, waiting by the shitakubeya entrance/exit for the rikishi to cross through the fans on their way to the dohyo. For every 10 pictures you’ll try and snap of this, you’ll get, well, one that might be passable:
Takayasu prepares for the dohyo-iri
The other thing that I saw during this period, that I think needs to be called out, was the warmness and generosity of one Kotoyuki-zeki. Rikishi are not really meant to interact too much with fans on their way through the open areas, because if they did then all hell would break loose. Usually, they do turn the blinders on, and stay deep in focus. But Kotoyuki, on his way back from winning his match was fist-bumping fans in the hallways, and then later, on his way back to (presumably) the heya, was warmly shaking hands with elderly fans and thanking them for their support. The proximity that punters can get to the rikishi, especially here in Osaka, is truly part of what makes the sumo experience special.
Cheers to Herouth for the Katsu sando recommendation, a vast improvement on the EDION Arena’s yakitori
Bruce has done an excellent job covering many of the Ones to Watch, and I’m going to dig back in to some of the lower division performances I’ve seen in a later post, likely after the basho. For now, I’ll close with a few comments on the top division:
Ikioi: his heavy metal sumo hasn’t been on display, and he probably isn’t fit to be on a dohyo. And probably, if he were anywhere else, I don’t think he would be, even though he is the consummate competitor. But his match was the first time the fans really sparked into life on Day 11, and I think he deserves immense credit for turning up in his hometown every day, even if he is – as Kintamayama accurately remarked in his subtitles today – a “walking hospital.”
The nondescript hallway to the mysterious and secretive Interview Room – where we won’t be seeing Ikioi this basho – and where rikishi must walk when they defeat a Yokozuna or get kachi-koshi
Ichinojo: Today’s match against Aoiyama felt like a step forward for him. He was up against a lesser-heralded opponent and in a high pressure situation. Usually, you’d bet on him folding in these scenarios, but he set a booby-trap for the Bulgarian by wearing him down, and using his own immense stamina to his advantage. He’ll avoid big names from here, and a 13 or 14 win tournament could certainly make things interesting come May and July, whatever happens.
Goeido: He has rebounded from his defeats and he continues to display the hell for leather attacking sumo that won him a yusho. If he continues to fight like this and can keep himself in this kind of shape, maybe it won’t be in Osaka, but he will challenge for more titles. The crowd support for him was greater than anything I’ve seen in Fukuoka or Nagoya for any other local rikishi – and if you scroll through the content that the NSK themselves have been interacting with and reposting on Instagram, it’s clear to see just how much people in this city absolutely love him. If he brings the noise against the Yokozuna, it may change the course of the basho.
Takayasu and Tochinoshin: Both men are in a period of some kind of transition. Tochinoshin is clearly trying to figure out how to scrape any kinds of wins when he can’t deploy his singular superior manoeuvre, in a desperate act to save his rank. Takayasu is training himself into a lesser reliance on his heretofore opening gambit and is looking to become and even more polished all around rikishi. Takayasu’s throw today felt like it simultaneously deflated and elated the arena. While Tochinoshin is by no means down or out from (or prohibited from returning to) the rank of ozeki, the loss today felt like it punctuated the inevitable. Tochinoshin’s fans were loud and proud but it is not an exaggeration to say his impact on the clay could be felt all the way back in the cheap seats.
Hakuho: I have watched the musubi-no-ichiban back several times, as I did before leaving the arena while NHK were showing the replays on their screen in the lobby. It is folly to say that today was in any way remarkable simply for the style of his result, or even that he cashed in a get out of jail card in his victory over Takakeisho: it wouldn’t be the first, second or third time he’s done that in this tournament alone.
While it may seem quiet on the video, the reality is usually somewhat different from what the NHK microphones catch, and each of these moments amplified the environment by an order of magnitude. First, the above moment: Hakuho, for a lengthy period of time, stares down Takakeisho. He had said before the basho he wanted to teach the sekiwake a lesson. Here, as everyone in the building watches, and everyone on TV watches, and everyone on the internet watches, Takakeisho is looking up at the big man. Hakuho is the boss, and we all know it.
Hakuho crouches down at the shikiri-sen for the tachiai, but again, there’s a longer than usual pause before the start of the match. He is making Takakeisho wait at every turn, and again, this was clear in the arena and it added to the sense of anticipation. This was also not the first time we saw a rikishi wait out an opponent: there were several matta on the day, and several non-starts. Tamawashi is known to regularly wait out the tachiai, but whenever Tamawashi tries to play mind games, he always loses (see: his match against Kakuryu).
In some of the matches in this tournament, we saw a cheeky grin from The Boss after he got out of jail. Not this time. He played a cat and mouse game with Takakeisho before grabbing the belt and throwing him to the clay with authority. Then he let out a huge grunt before grabbing the largest pile of kensho of the day. At this point, the top was about to come off the building. It’s a massive credit to Takakeisho (as with the other rikishi earlier in the tournament), that this match was close. But nothing with Hakuho is by accident. Whether or not you like the theatrics, I would argue that moments like this are what makes sport worth following, they give us heroes, they give us a relationship with the game.
I had been not feeling well earlier in the day and had considered heading back to the hotel to catch makuuchi on TV, but I’m glad I didn’t. Everything in the 8+ hours long day of sumo builds gradually to the musubi-no-ichiban. This was one of the best possible matchups we have seen in a long time, with titles and promotions on the line, and the greatest rikishi of all time was the conductor of an atmosphere which ratcheted up to fever pitch during a match that turned out to be yet another topsy-turvy emotional victory. With just four days remaining in one of the best tournaments in recent memory, I’ll be sad not to be returning to the EDION Arena again this year.
