Day 13 – Highlights and a Look at Effective Hatakikomi

Andy Haru Basho 2018 (Osaka)

Apologies for the Day 13 update coming so late. As Leonid mentioned the yusho race is pretty well locked up now heading into the final weekend. Kaisei’s big day against the yokozuna was a bit of a dud as Kakuryu won by backing up. If anyone has a hope of challenging at this point, it’s probably Takayasu if the stars align on Sunday, though he’s probably gunning for a jun-yusho. Today, he went head-to-head with fellow Ozeki Goeido in a lesson on how to pull effectively. When Goeido landed on his belly, accelerated into the ground by Takayasu shoving his head, Takayasu was headed out but clearly still had his left foot in. In fact, he had his hand on Goeido’s head while Goeido was still standing on his side of the dohyo. He wasn’t going to leave this to chance.

Now, let’s go into a bit of a time warp and back up to the bottom of the banzuke. Myogiryu is fighting to stay in Makuuchi and today took out his frustrations on poor Meisei, visiting from Juryo. I think this was the best sumo I’ve seen from Myogiryu this week. Nishikigi, on the other hand, offered token resistance, doing his best blocking sled impression as Kotoyuki walked him out of the ring. Ishiura took a knee, handing Daiamami his kachi-koshi.

Yutakayama surprised Aoiyama and the rest of the stadium with a valiant win. He had Aoiyama on the ropes but the man-mountain came charging back…a wee bit over-zealous? Yutakayama by yorikiri. Ikioi will earn a special prize this tournament and I will not be surprised if he wins 12. He’s got Ishiura tomorrow and hopefully will know well enough to do his best Shodai impression at the tachiai. Today, he took out Chiyonokuni in a brief slugfest. It seemed like at the end Chiyonokuni tried to pull but ran out of room. The fact is, this match was all about hatakikomi. There were about 4 or 5 attempts at different points. However, why try when your feet are ON THE TAWARA? You’ve got nowhere to go! Takayasu’s was still close and he started a full 6-7 feet forward. Pull when you’re on the other guy’s realestate.

If you want to see a beautiful uwatenage, Chiyoshoma’s today versus Daishomaru was a great example. Chiyoshoma got hold of Daishomaru’s belt, spun him like the Tazmanian Devil, and dropped him on his butt. Beautiful. Asanoyama picked up his kachi-koshi in another hard fought bout versus Okinoumi. Great example of shitatenage, the lower arm throw, a cousin of the upper arm throw. The difference is in the position of the arm over or under the opponent’s arm. In this case, Asanoyama’s arm was in tight against Okinoumi, with Okinoumi’s arm outside. Chiyonouma had his arm on the outside of Daishomaru’s arm.

Backing up, Ryuden did his best Kotoshogiku impression, beating Hidenoumi by hug-n-chug. Giku, meanwhile, beat Daieisho by…yorikiri. Tochiozan needs to sit on a couch. Straight back, eased off the dohyo, grimacing, by Takarafuji. Kagayaki staved off make-koshi by drawing injured Arawashi. Yoshikaze got in low against Tamawashi in a show bout where Tamawashi didn’t show.

Endo got his kachi-koshi today against Chiyomaru. He tried to go in for the belt but Maru was having none of it. His tsuppari attack was relentless until Endo dodged and let Chiyomaru fall. Again, Endo did this with tons of space behind him. It was Chiyomaru against the tawara. Obviously, he’d need to get momentum going the other way, so Endo just let him. Belly-flop-otoshi.

To finish things off, Abi picked up the Ishiura bug and henka’d Chiyotairyu. Shohozan used the Ichi-No-Show brand blocking sled for a quick yorikiri. Mitakeumi saved his best sumo for Hokutofuji? OK… He’ll need more of that in the closing weekend to save his sanyaku slot. Tochinoshin will also be under the gun this weekend if he wants promotion to Ozeki. He tried the kachiage against Shodai but stayed way too high and off balance after it failed. Shodai didn’t exactly “go low” more like he kept Tochi “high” and walked him off the dohyo.

I’m looking forward to the final weekend. As Leonid’s post mentioned, there’s a lot of movement and a lot still up in the air, even though the yusho is almost set. Also, I’m eager to see where yo-yo Iki-yoi will finish.

Haru State of Play Day 13 Update

lksumo Haru Basho 2018 (Osaka)

The Yusho Race

The torikumi committee’s Kaisei gambit didn’t pay off, as Kakuryu had the big Brazilian down on the dirt in a fraction of a second in a highly anticlimactic bout. In retrospect, Mitakeumi might have given the Yokozuna a bigger challenge. As it is, Kakuryu (12-1) now leads Takayasu, Kaisei, and Ikioi by 2 wins with two days to go.

Tomorrow, the Yokozuna can clinch the yusho with a victory against Goeido. Their career record (27-12) favors Kakuryu by slightly more than 2:1, and he has the big prize on the line, while Goeido is fighting for (ahem) pride, so I’d give the Yokozuna even better odds. Should he lose, and if any of the chasers win, then Kakuryu would need to beat Takayasu, against whom he’s 12-6, on senshuraku to avoid a playoff. [We at Tachiai.org are not betting against the Yokozuna. –PinkMawashi]

On Day 14, Takayasu faces Mitakeumi, who took advantage of the schedulers’ gift to break a 5-match losing streak and get an all-important 6th win, and who will be highly motivated to try to hang on to his rank, or at least a place in sanyaku. Kaisei drops back into the maegashira ranks to face Daishomaru, while Ikioi goes up against Ishiura.

The Sanyaku

Tochinoshin picked up his 5th and arguably his worst loss of the tournament today, as he was simply beaten by Shodai in a belt battle – a huge letdown after yesterday’s huge win, perhaps? He faces Chiyomaru tomorrow and likely Ichinojo on senshuraku, and needs to win both to carry a credible Ozeki run into Natsu. Ichinojo went meekly today against Shohozan, and seems satisfied with his 8 wins, which should see him at Sekiwake if Mitakeumi loses another bout.

With his win today, and losses by Kaisei and Tamawashi, Endo takes a clear lead in the race for the first open sanyaku slot. This is Endo’s first kachi-koshi in ten tries from a rank of M4 or higher, and we may finally see him break through into the named ranks. He faces Hokutofuji tomorrow, and probably Shohozan, Shodai, or Abi on senshuraku.

Remaining intra-sanyaku bouts (my predictions for Day 15):

Day 14: Takayasu vs. Mitakeumi; Kakuryu vs. Goeido

Day 15: Tochinoshin vs. Ichinojo; Goeido vs. Mitakeumi; Kakuryu vs. Takayasu

The Demotion Zone

With his win today, Daiamami earned his kachi-koshi and a place in the top division for Natsu. Tochiozan still needs a win, Nishikigi lost today and needs one or two, while Myogiryu staved off demotion with a win but still needs to win out.

Wakaichiro Loses Day 13

Bruce H Haru Basho 2018 (Osaka), Make Kochi, Wakaichiro (若一郎) , ,

Texas rikishi Wakaichiro lost his final match of the Haru basho on day 13 to Fujitaisei. His final performance was 3 wins, 4 losses for a make-koshi. Chances are quite high that he will return to Jonidan for Natsu in May in Tokyo. I have noticed an interesting pattern to Wakaichiro’s performance: his Tokyo tournament performance is typically a step above what he turns in when he is on the road, so I am going to guess he will have a strong showing in May.

It’s also worth noting the rather sturdy bandage securing his right elbow, and the tape on his right knee, which may indicate an injury that limits his sumo. So we will wish him well, and eagerly wait his return to the dohyo in 6 weeks, hopefully renewed, healed up and ready to win.

Haru Day 13 Preview

Bruce H Abi (阿炎), Aoiyama, Asanoyama (朝乃山), Chiyomaru, Chiyonokuni (千代の国), Daiamami (大奄美), Daieisho (大栄翔), Endo (遠藤), Gōeidō (豪栄道), Haru Basho 2018 (Osaka), Hokutōfuji (北勝富士), Ichinojo (逸ノ城), Ikioi (勢), Ishiura (石浦), Kaisei (魁聖), Kakuryu (鶴竜), Kotoshogiku (琴奨菊), Mitakeumi(御嶽海), Okinoumi (隠岐の海), Shohozan, Shōdai (正代直也), Takayasu (高安), Tamawashi (玉鷲), Tochinoshin (栃ノ心), Yoshikaze (嘉風), Yutakayama , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Takayasu-Shrugs

You can’t count on good fortune, but today sumo fans got a gift. In defeating Yokozuna Kakuryu, Tochinoshin opened up the yusho race once more. But who could imagine that all of the other leaders would lose as well? With just 3 matches left, a loss tomorrow against Kaisei puts the yusho up for grabs. While that would be very exciting, there is almost no chance that this will come to pass. Kakuryu made a huge mistake in going chest to chest with Tochinoshin, and the Hatsu yusho winner made him pay. I am going to guess the Yokozuna will not be so cavalier on Friday.

One item of note for sumo conspiracy theorists, Chiyotairyu has won 2 of his last 3 matches, after a disastrous start to Haru. Look closely at his image on the NHK video, and we can all see why he is returning to genki status.  That’s right! He is regrowing his sideburns.  We heartily welcome the return of Sumo Elvis, and hope that he will never remove his sideburns again.

Haru Leaderboard

Leader: Kakuryu
Chaser: Kaisei
Hunt Group: Takayasu, Goeido, Daishomaru, Ikioi

3 Matches Remain

What We Are Watching Day 13

Ishiura vs Daiamami – Apologies to the purists, but I am very frustrated with Ishura and his continuous henka deployment. The winner of this match gets kachi-koshi, and I think I am rooting for anyone but Ishiura at this point. He won their only prior match.

Aoiyama vs Yutakayama – Battle of the Yama’s, this one is big against bigger. Both are already kachi-koshi, so this is mostly for rank velocity. I would guess Aoiyama wants to repair his pride following his day 12 match with Ishiura.

Ikioi vs Chiyonokuni – Do you think Ikioi is going to slow down now that he is kachi-koshi? Hell no! Chiyonokuni needs 2 more wins, and I am going to guess he will need to look elsewhere. I wish this version of Ikioi came to every basho, he’s pretty nifty.

Okinoumi vs Asanoyama – Asanoyama has been fighting well against his own cohort lower down the banzuke, but today he’s going a bit higher against Okinoumi. Jason’s favorite rikishi (from Shimane-ken) has been lukewarm this tournament, but he can still get his 8 wins if he presses ahead.

Kotoshogiku vs Daieisho – Daieisho looking to get his kachi-koshi against an already make-koshi remnant of Ozeki Kotoshogiku. Daieisho is doing surprisingly well at Maegashira 8 this time, but Kotoshogiku is ranked Maegashira 3, and despite age and injuries is quite dangerous if you let him go chest to chest.

Yoshikaze vs Tamawashi – As a true-green Yoshikaze fan, I can only watch with increasing sadness as the Berserker struggles daily with his torikumi. Tamawashi is likely to pick up his kachi-koshi today, and move to return to a san’yaku rank for May.

Endo vs Chiyomaru – Chiyomaru shocked Ozeki Takayasu on day 12, and now he is going to try his sumo against Endo. Endo dearly wants to make a bid for san’yaku himself, and needs to keep winning. Time will tell if Chiyomaru is having one good basho, of if this is a step change in the power of his sumo.

Abi vs Chiyotairyu – Sure, let’s put a Maegashira 7 up against a Komusubi. Slender Abi goes against the massive dreadnought-class Chiyotairyu. Both of them are going to unleash oshi-war on each other, but Abi is out-massed, and likely out-gunned. Nevertheless, this is going to be an interesting match! Oh, and Abi still needs 1 more win to secure promotion.

Ichinojo vs Shohozan – Big mass vs big guns, here we go! Their career record is 3-3, so I am expecting a battle here. It’s unlikely that Shohozan is going to be able to shove Ichinojo around easily, so his one hope is to grab a handful of fabric and maybe a roll of flesh, and push.

Shodai vs Tochinoshin – Somehow, it seems that Shodai was able to find his sumo, and make friends with it once more. But the chances of Shodai being able to take down the Hatsu yusho winner is, at least in my guess, very slim. I predict a quick belt grab by Tochinoshin off the tachiai, and a few steps to the tawara.

Mitakeumi vs Hokutofuji – If the Yoshikaze situation were not enough for me to swear off having favorites, it’s these two guys. Both of them have huge potential. Both of them seem to be completely out of sorts, run amok, possibly hurt and in no condition to strive for higher rank.

Takayasu vs Goeido – Ozeki fight! I think Takayasu has this one by a wide margin unless we get a Goeido henka, which is actually not very far fetched. I did like that Chiyomaru leveraged Takayasu’s cannonball tachiai on day 12. Serves him right. Serves him right again if he deploys it against Goeido and he makes him eat it.

Kakuryu vs Kaisei – The big match of the day. If Kakuryu loses this, the last two days will be a barnyard brawl for the hardware. But I am going to suggest that Kaisei won’t represent an impossible challenge for the Yokozuna: he has never managed to beat Kakuryu in any prior match.