The devastation across the yusho race was amazing on day 10, as all but four men out of nine dropped from contention. Thus ends act 2, and the goal of the torikumi is revealed. The good have been separated from the great, and the yusho race is formed.
Act 3 is to find which of these four rikishi will take home the hardware, and barring any injuries, it’s looking very good for Yokozuna Kakuryu. The goal over the next 5 days is for someone to get dirt on Big K, and right now he is looking very genki given his known injuries.
Daiamami vs Kyokutaisei – Daiamami pushing for kachi-koshi in a very even match all around.
Daishomaru vs Hidenoumi – Another Oitekaze deshi going for kachi-koshi on day 11, they have done exceptionally well this basho, but the next two tournaments will tell if they just had a good basho, or if this is a step-change in their sumo.
Kotoyuki vs Yutakayama – Kotoyuki has yet to win one, so Yutakayama’s kachi-koshi looks pretty safe for today. If he continues to push he could be in range for a special prize.
Aoiyama vs Chiyonokuni – A rough and rowdy match today here, we are going to get speed and tenacity against reach and power. I am going to guess it will be a pretty good match, in spite of Chiyonokuni’s 8-3 career advantage.
Kagayaki vs Ikioi – Ikioi tries for his 8, after an unfortunate hair pulling incident on day 10. Like Kakuryu, Ikioi has persevered in the face of injuries and pain. The home town crowd loves him, and he is gamberizing.
Ryuden vs Yoshikaze – The loser of this match receives a make-koshi, and I fear it’ll be Yoshikaze. This is their first ever match, and it is a sad one to watch.
Shohozan vs Hokutofuji – both men have rallied in the last several days after difficult losing streaks. Shohozan is still a street brawler against the diligent and earnest Hokutofuji. I give the advantage to Shohozan.
Kaisei vs Takakeisho – Fans and readers may wonder what happened to Takakeisho, I can’t cite the news posting, but it seems he pulled his groin muscle on day 8 or 9. So he’s limping to the end of the basho for the most part. It’s his first ever match with Kaisei, who is likely going to keep jun-yusho in his sights.
Endo vs Takarafuji – Endo is still at .500, and needs to get that kachi-koshi for his first ever san’yaku posting. He has faded quite a bit since his opening week sprint. The flagging Takarafuji should be a solid match for him, and has beat Endo in 5 of their last 6 matches.
Mitakeumi vs Chiyomaru – Mitakeumi was fading into the second week, even before he managed to get himself hurt. Now he has to face to bulbous Chiyomaru in their first ever head-to-head meet up.
Shodai vs Goeido – Many people were very unhappy with Goeido’s mighty henka on day 10. I thought it was keeping in character for Goeido, who clearly encountered a bad driver and could not do real sumo today. Shodai has rallied, and is not as pathetic as he appeared in the first week.
Takayasu vs Tochinoshin – The schedule ends strong, with these two powerhouses up in the second-to-last match of the day. Tochinoshin is still smarting for swallowing Goeido’s henka with such vigor. Takayasu sometimes eases up once he gets his kachi-koshi, but I think he wants to keep chasing the Yokozuna.
Kakuryu vs Ichinojo – This is a dangerous match for the lone surviving Yokozuna. First and foremost is that Ichinojo could injure him if they are not both very careful. Secondly, Ichinojo could actually defeat Kakuryu. A loss on day 11 would open the yusho race to a mad scramble, with several worthy contenders suddenly within striking range. Nothing would please the lords of sumo more.
With two-thirds of the basho in the books, I am bringing back the posts that outline what is still at stake for various sekitori. Most will move up or down a few slots while maintaining their overall division and named rank, but more is on the line for some rikishi—primarily those near the top and the bottom of the banzuke.
The Yusho Race
Kakuryu’s easy win over Chiyomaru takes him to 10-0 and the sole lead. Why, oh why, dear schedulers, did we not get to see the much more interesting Kakuryu-Kaisei matchup? Instead, in a heavyweight bout of the day that lived up to expectations, Kaisei gave his all but lost to Ichinojo, dropping him to 9-1, and one off the lead. After Goeido yet again showed himself unworthy of the Ozeki rank with his blatant henka against lower-ranked Tochinoshin, Ichinojo joins Takayasu in a very small and elite 8-2 chase group.
Tomorrow, we get the match of the day, and possibly the tournament: Kakuryu vs. Ichinojo. Almost as interesting is the undercard bout of Takayasu vs. Tochinoshin. Kaisei will attempt to keep pace when he takes on the struggling Takakeisho. [Goeido gets Shodai, which at least means he won’t henka again. –PinkMawashi]
The Sanyaku
With his eighth win today, Ichinojo locked up his place in sanyaku for another basho, and has a chance to move up from Komusubi to Sekiwake, depending on how the last five days play out.
The other Komusubi, Chiyotairyu, is already make-koshi and will be vacating his slot. Where has the Chiyotairyu who absolutely blasted Tamawashi off the dohyo today been hiding this whole basho?
Despite his loss today, 7-3 Tochinoshin is likely to defend his Sekiwake rank—he needs one victory in the final five days. Less clear is the fate of struggling Mitakeumi, 5-5, who started his fade earlier this time around, and has lost 3 in a row.
If the basho were to end today, the open Komusubi slot would go to Kaisei. Also still in the running for promotion to sanyaku are the two M1’s, Endo and Tamawashi, who are both 5-5, followed closely by M4 Shohozan, 6-4.
The Demotion Zone
Most of the Makuuchi men are safe from demotion after ten days. Chiyoshoma, Ishiura, and Daiamami could use one more win each to be sure, while Ryuden, Tochiozan, and Aoiyama had better pick up one more win to stay in the top division. Nishikigi, Sokokurai and Myogiryu still need 3 additional wins. Onosho, who is kyujo, will be dropping to Juryo, where he will almost certainly be joined by Kotoyuki and Hidenoumi.
Who will take their places in the top division? Takekaze looks set for a return after a one-tournament absence. Sadanoumi is also making a strong case for promotion. Kyokutaisei, who just missed a promotion last time, is 5-5 and needs to secure his kachi-koshi to move up. There are also other contenders lower down in Juryo, who will get sorted out in the remaining days.
What a marvellous day we had today at the EDION arena in Osaka.
Ikioi grabbing Yutakayama’s oicho-mage
The first bout in Makuuchi featured a visitor from Juryo, Takekaze, who seems to be quite on the genki side and ready to come back to the top level. He was faced with Aoiyama, still part of the Yusho arasoi.
This time, no Henka, and Aoiyama pulled away from the tachiai to give himself space for his usual tsuppari attack, then pushed Takekaze forward – but one advantage the little bullfrog has over Aoiyama is that he is much lighter on his feet. Lateral movement, and the Bulgarian’s inertia did the rest. Aoiyama now out of the yusho race, but he will get his kachi-koshi, and probably double digits.
Asanoyama faced shocking pink Hidenoumi, but was not blinded by his mawashi. He got a safe hold on Hidenoumi’s mawashi, tried a yori in one direction, then a yori in the other direction, then just pulled the man down. Uwatedashinage, and Hidenoumi is make-koshi and heading back to Juryo.
Ishiura didn’t do the most flagrant henka on the dohyo today. It was only a half-henka. Myogiryu managed to turn around at the edge, but not quickly enough to avoid the push.
Kotoyuki must be spending a large fraction of his keiko time perfecting his rolling technique. Even when he doesn’t roll off the dohyo, he still manages to roll. And today the bowler was Sokokurai, with a very typical uwatenage. Kotoyuki still winless.
Daiamami, who has had a strong basho this far, surprises by doing a henka. Still not the most flagrant one of the day. And also rather ineffectual. Tochiozan easily recovers and returns the favor, and it’s Daiamami who is on the receiving end of the hatakikomi, and off the yusho race.
Ikioi seems as good as he has been this basho. Pushes here and there, and then slams Yutakayama to the ground. Yutakayama’s hand goes straight to his topknot before he even rises, and for a good reason. His hair got pulled. Was it a forbidden hair pull or a hand accidentally getting caught in the elaborate hairdo? A monoii is called. The shimpan confer and decide: he pulled.
It’s worth noting that the point here is not so much if the hand in the hair is what caused Yutakayama to fall, and it’s also not whether it was intentional or not. Japanese culture regards people’s intentions and feelings as something that can’t be judged easily from the outside, so it tends to concentrate on observable behavior. The point is, therefore, whether Ikioi was grabbing the hair or not. And the replays show him bending his fingers as they get caught in the hair. This makes it a grab. Hatakikomi experts like Aminishiki know to keep their fingers straight when this happens. If your fingers are straight, you’re pretty much safe.
Ikioi, therefore, loses by hansoku – a disqualification – for using a kinjite – a forbidden technique. This is very rare in the top divisions. Ikioi says he thought his hand was already free of the mage when he pulled down.
Chiyonokuni gives Nishikigi his standard treatment. Forward attack with fierce tsuppari, and then a sharp pull. Nishikigi, as he has been for quite a few basho, is struggling to string wins together.
Kagayaki beats Daishomaru by a straightforward yori-kiri. Kagayaki has really improved his sumo style, and I would have expected him to be more than 5-5 at this point. Daishomaru missed his kachi-koshi opportunity this time.
Daieisho tries to develop an oshi battle against Chiyoshoma, but Chiyoshoma catches his mawashi and it turns into a yotsu battle. Chiyoshoma goes back and forth trying to create one of his favorite throws. He is having a hard time of it this basho, though. Eventually he gives up and completes this by a simple, straightforward yori-kiri.
The two rikishi who won the kanto-sho together last basho, Ryuden and Abi, are now being sorted into two different levels. Ryuden, though he is a very nice rikishi, will stay at the low to middle ranks, while Abi is definitely going places. Abi did his standard routine. Long hands landing a barrage of tsuppari, long legs moving forward fast. Ryuden could not withstand that attack or try anything. Abi, if he improves his footwork, may get to sanyaku in a couple of basho.
Something very strange is happening to Yoshikaze. Are we seeing the initial signs of concussion-related issues? He looks pretty much alright in his match with Okinoumi, when suddenly his left foot develops a mind of its own and he crumbles to the ground. The kimarite is kainahineri, but it doesn’t really look like one, and the only reason he escaped being sent off with a tsukihiza (which is a hiwaza – a non-technique, a default) is that Okinoumi was, in fact, applying some force to his body.
Takakeisho continues his weak, supposedly injury-related, sumo vs. the struggling Hokutofuji. For a couple of basho, the tadpoles have been the great hope for the future, and now they are all crumbling together.
Takarafuji showed today what he is really worth, in a patient and strong match with Kotoshogiku. He even attempts to gaburi the gaburi-master at some point there, but eventually finishes with a cleanly executed throw. The Isegahama man is a clear demonstration of the hardship of the joi. In the first week he got pummeled by much superior rikishi, and then, with low confidence and accumulated bangs, lost a couple of matches he should have won if they were in the beginning of his schedule. Thus, a make-koshi for an otherwise excellent wrestler. All he can do is try to pad his slide down the banzuke with a few wins.
Arawashi, whose left knee bandage seems to grow larger every day, is no real match for Endo, who gets him quickly out of the circle. Off-dohyo issues may also be affecting the injured Eagle, as apparently his tsukebito, Hikarugenji, is involved in yet another violence scandal and is kyujo as of today.
And now we come to the highlight match of the day. 420kg on the dohyo, not counting the gyoji. On one side, the new kaiju, Ichinojo, flexing his muscles and looking for young horses to toss around. On the other side, Kaisei, with a perfect 9-0 record, eyeing the yusho. Tachiai. Boom! The meeting of bodies nearly causes the seismographs in the Kansai area to send the signal for all shinkansen to stop in their tracks. It’s lucky that the honbasho dohyo is not made of beer crates like the jungyo dohyo are.
Kaisei takes the initiative and manages to get Ichinojo to the bales, but the Kyomusubi rallies and step by step pushes back to the middle of the ring. Then he sets his alarm clock for the next day, finds a soft spot on Kaisei’s shoulder to rest his head and goes to sleep. Remember, there are no wolves in Japan. Ichinojo can allow himself to sleep deeply, while Kaisei’s eyes start to bulge. The next day, Ichinojo wakes up, pushes a bit, sees that Kaisei still has some stamina left, hits the snooze button, and sleeps some more. Then he wakes up, picks the spent Brazilian up, and heaves him across the tawara.
Kaisei is too heavy to stop dead, and drops down, but Ichinojo still has enough stamina to pull at the Tomozuna man, enough to make him land lightly on his feet with little impact. Well done, Kyomusubi. Ichinojo is kachi-koshi, and Kaisei receives his first loss.
(OK, OK, I’m sure my Japanese jokes are lost on the crowd here. I’m calling him Kyomusubi because Komusubi – 小結 – means “little knot”, but 巨結 – Kyomusubi – giant knot – seems somehow more appropriate).
Ichinojo, feeling refreshed after a long nap
But would you believe that this battle of titans, with immediate implications for the yusho run, was honored with not a single envelope of kensho? None. Zero. Ichinojo got to take home only his pride and the fans’ adoration.
Tamawashi has settled into a “one day sunshine, the next day rain” pattern. Where is the strong Tamawashi of yesterday? Chiyotairyu pushes him off the dohyo before the gyoji completes his first “hakkioi”.
The bout between Mitakeumi and Shohozan turns out to be a very nice piece of sumo. Shohozan goes for a harizashi but doesn’t quite gets the “zashi” part (slap-and-grab, but where’s the grab?). Then a slapfest ensues. Another harite! And another! And a body clash! Then Shohozan attempts to pull and sidestep. Mitakeumi keeps his balance and manages to re-engage. But Shohozan has now achieved the “grab” he was looking for, with a right-hand-outside. Mitakeumi’s left hand goes outside Shohozan’s grip, and he attempts to grab at Shohozan with his right, but this only ends with Shohozan having a tight morozashi with both hands firmly on Mitakeumi’s left back mawashi. Mitakeumi tries to do something with the arm he has on Shohozan’s neck, but Shohozan’s mighty pythons are doing their job, and Mitakeumi finds himself rolling below the dohyo.
Takayasu makes short work of Shodai. Kachiage. A couple of Nodowa, and good-bye. Takayasu is kachi-koshi, safe from kadoban, and looks pretty much like he did in the previous basho.
And now we come to the most flagrant henka of the day. By, you guessed it, Ozeki Go-Away-Do. And I don’t want to hear any complaints about me using that nickname when he does this. Are you under 170cm, Ozeki? Perhaps you weigh less than 100kg? Are you injured? Coming back from a long, rust inducing kyujo? In kadoban? Facing a man ranked 10 levels above you? Bah. Chicken. His home crowd at Osaka didn’t like it, either. There was a babble of disapproval where there should have been applause for their hero. The Osaka crowd are sumo aficionados. They know what’s right and what’s not. Tochinoshin managed to circle around in time, but couldn’t rally fast enough. He is now out of the yusho race. But I certainly hope he can continue the Ozeki run. Goeido, on the other hand, gets about 20 envelopes of kensho for this display.
Kakuryu, after his display of tawara-waltz yesterday, probably decided it’s time to show some Yokozuna-worthy sumo. He starts with a harizashi (which some argue is not yokozuna sumo. Well, at least not when the Yokozuna is Hakuho). Then gets his typical migi-yotsu, firmly holding to Chiyomaru‘s mawashi with his right hand.
This was, in fact, only the second time he used that grip in this basho. That’s the injured hand, and most of his bouts have been about working around it. He attempts to use it for the yori, but it’s actually Chiyomaru who advances. The yokozuna changes his overarm grip – the left hand – placing it closer to the front of Chiyomaru’s mawashi, and then uses it cleanly and efficiently and Chiyomaru finds himself outside in no time. This has been the first time for Chiyomaru to appear on the musubi-no-ichiban, or engage with a Yokozuna at all. He said “It was an atmosphere which I have never experienced before”.
Sniff, sniff. Love your aftershave, Maru.
Kakuryu achieves his “Yokozuna kachi-koshi”. It now remains to see if his faith is going to be different than in the previous basho, as he goes into the last third where he faces the strongest opponents. And the first challenge is Kyomusubi Ichinojo!
Yusho Arasoi
10-0 – Y1E Kakuryu
9-1 – M6E Kaisei
8-2 – OE Takayasu, KE Ichinojo
Juryo
As I said, I’m combining my coverages today, and here is the Juryo summary.
Takanoiwa can’t find his sea legs as yet
At the very bottom, Enho is edging closer to a make-koshi, and his chance of winning all of his next five bouts are vanishingly small, much like himself. He will need to spend some more time at Makushita and get those kilograms rolling.
Tobizaru pretty much sweeps the floor with him.
Terutsuyoshi is not fairing much better, and I believe he is heading back to Makushita yet again, despite being stronger than Enho. He complains of various injuries on the Isegahama website.
The rest of the Isegahama sekitori surprisingly all won today, while all of Takanohana’s lost. In fact, Takanoiwa lost to Homarefuji.
Homarefuji got him into an oshi battle, which is clearly not his specialty.
Terunofuji got to meet the much higher-ranked Kyokutaisei. And once again, showed a glimpse of the old Terunofuji:
Harizashi, yotsu, yori-kiri. The former Ozeki and Kyokutaisei both hit the even 5-5 mark.
For some reason, One And Only seems not to like Aminishiki, and never posts a video of his bouts. So here is a time-stamped (46m 18s) full Juryo video from Miselet:
I have a hunch Aminishiki is going to announce his retirement soon – after this basho, or maybe the next. He is having a real hard time, and I suppose he is getting tired of suffering pain day after day and seeing not much in return.
But for the time being, he manages to scrape another win and break his fall down Juryo somewhat. Tokushoryu tries a tottari, but Aminishiki uses the same elbow to push him away and out.
Mitoryu and Sadanoumi are the only two Juryo wrestlers to achieve kachi-koshi by day 10. Tsurugisho and Amakaze are, alas, make-koshi.
Finally, at Jonokuchi, here is the Hoshoryu of the day. Congratulations, first kachi koshi!
Day 10 of the Haru Basho 2018 opened with an intriguing matchup: AARP member Takekaze visiting from Juryo to battle the surging Bulgarian, Aoiyama. This low on the banzuke, Aoiyama’s been mopping up wins against youngsters; his only losses thus far have been to fellow sanyaku journeymen, Myogiryu and Ikioi. The prize for this bout is a winning record and a rise up the banzuke, with an added incentive for Takekaze of an assured return to Makuuchi in May.
With all of this riding the outcome of the bout, a decent staredown was expected. Aoiyama finally gave in and committed first. With a bit of “come at me, bro,” he absorbed Takekaze’s initial charge, allowing the visitor from Juryo to drive him back…but not all the way to the tawara. Perhaps sensing a hatakikomi attempt, Takekaze backed off. This allowed Aoiyama to begin a slapping charge of his own, which ended in a heap on the power water as Takekaze ducked to the side, as if to say, “this is how it’s done, son.” Takekaze picks up that crucial 8th win, secures his return to makuuchi, and Aoiyama falls out of yusho contention.
Our second bout saw rising Asanoyama taking on an overranked Hidenoumi, hoping to stave off a sixth losing record in the top division. A firm tachiai saw Hidenoumi let Asanoyama drive him to the edge, where he got purchase with one foot on the tawara and tried a throw. The throw failed but gave Hidenoumi better position in the center. From here, Hidenoumi seemed out of ideas while Asanoyama took the initiative and again began to drive his opponent across the dohyo. This time, Asanoyama pulled up short, letting gravity do his job, dropping Hidenoumi onto his belly – and back down to Juryo.
Ishiura has been hanging on, of late, and has hopefully been finding more confidence as he’s found some non-henka success in the lower quarter of the division. Today’s bout against Myogiryu brought us back to the Ishiura we’ve come to expect. Henka. Myogiryu was unable to recover and got spun out of the ring. Ishiura improved to 5-5, Myogiryu slipped to 4-6.
Sokokurai has not been having a great tournament so a bout against an injured Kotoyuki likely looked like a gift. With the first two rows of spectators on alert for the roly poly in pale purple, the two engaged at the center in some leaning. Just when I started thinking, “I could settle in for a bit, maybe grab a beer,” Sokokurai dropped Kotoyuki like a cheap yo-yo that won’t come back up. In this condition, it looks like it will be a while before Kotoyuki returns from Juryo.
Daiamami has impressed many this tournament, two wins short of the yusho leader into the second week, and fighting to remain “in the hunt” and pick up a kachi-koshi today. Tochiozan, however, has been struggling and needs to lead a serious charge to get a winning record, so I was expecting him to pull out some tricks. Instead, Daiamami pulled out the henka. But with the injured Tochiozan lumbering at him at a glacial pace, the youngster was quickly back to the drawing board. Thrust, nodowa, thrust…Daiamami continued steadily on the attack, but nothing was sustained long enough to drive Tochi back to Kochi. Instead, the door opened for Tochiozan to reach out for the youngster’s oicho-mage and drive him down for a hatakikomi win. Sorry to say it, but I don’t see Daiamami trying to pick up the 10 wins he’s capable of. Seven wins in hand, he’ll pick up one against Juryo visitor Kyokutaisei tomorrow and probably stay on cruise control – don’t get injured mode – through the weekend.
Ikioi faced Yutakayama, looking for an eighth win, and hopefully the ability to sit out and rest his leg. He sure was up for it, attacking vigorously from the outset. Wildly pushing, pulling, thrusting, grabbing at everything he could get a hold of. After sending Yutakayama to the dirt, however, it was clear that some of that grabbing involved the youngster’s topknot. Ikioi loses by forfeit (hansoku), both 7-3. Purple nurples are okay in this sport. Hair-pulling is not. Maaa… Kagayaki better watch out tomorrow.
Chiyonokuni came prepared. Strong tachiai, strong thrusts, Nishikigi’s face had nowhere to look but skyward until a quick pull drove Nishikigi’s face into the clay. Kagayaki followed up by ushering Daishomaru (on cruise control) quickly over the bales. He’ll face a real test tomorrow.
After some initial thrusts, Chiyoshoma and Daieisho locked in for a great belt battle. At one point Chiyoshoma tried to deadlift Daieisho, but realized he’s not Tochinoshin. Eventually he wore Daieisho out and guided him over the bales.
Ryuden’s been having a disappointing tournament and came in rather lethargic. Abi leaped out with a forceful, unrelenting oshi-attack, dropping Ryuden to 3-7 and in danger of make-koshi. In the next bout, Yoshikaze and Okinoumi engaged in a promising belt battle until The Berserker’s knee gave out from under him. Very disappointing end to the match but very telling as to why fortunate winds have not been filling Yoshikaze’s sails.
When Hokutofuji locked in with Takakeisho, I think he went for the balls but ended up with a handful of sagari…which he promptly sent express mail into the second deck of the arena. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. Takakeisho seemed to immediately shut down realizing his precious tama could have been in outer space and backed out. I don’t blame him. It was weird. Fierce and weird.
Kotoshogiku’s career is on life support. Chest to chest, he couldn’t get Takarafuji to back up to the tawara. Takarafuji stood him up a good three feet from the bales. I think he was able to beat Endo because he had managed to get Endo’s arm up at an awkward position. In this case, a panicking Giku then started to try to roll him into a throw. The first one almost worked but as each subsequent attempt got weaker and weaker, Takarafuji went for his own throw. How will the former Ozeki do against guys like Abi, Kagayaki, and Yutakayama? We’ll find out in May. I don’t think he’s headed to Juryo as quickly as Terunofuji and he could hang around in the mid-rank-and-file for a while…but will he want to?
Arawashi is hurt and Endo took advantage by patiently riding out Arawashi’s attack, then steadily walking him toward, and over, the tawara. Kaisei and Ichinojo, on the other hand, are prime. Two giant dudes, in a great belt-battle. This was not as epic as we’ve seen from Ichinojo/Tochinoshin in the past but Ichinojo proved too powerful and handed Kaisei his first loss of the tournament.
Tamawashi is a powerful guy but fell asleep today. Chiyotairyu blasted him quickly straight back and into the first row of spectators. Speaking of power, Shohozan is a brawler, make no mistake. This man wanted Mitakeumi’s lunch money. Powerful thrusts and slaps got Mitakeumi upset (read: pissed). The angry Mitakeumi charged at a suddenly clever Shohozan, who sidestepped but didn’t quite have enough strength to get him out. Both settled into a grapple but Shohozan had morozashi while Mitakeumi was clinging on to his opponent’s shoulders for dear life. Like Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack, he could only hold on for so long before sinking into the cold depths beneath the surface.
Takayasu had no time for Shodai’s weak tachiai. It wasn’t really a nodowa because it seemed he had Shodai by the jaw. Maybe an agowa? Regardless, it did the job and wrecked Shodai, picking up his kachi-koshi.
Goeido! Goeido! Home town hero! Henka? Wow… Gotta be prepared for that. Unfortunately, Tochinoshin wasn’t, got turned around and run out of town. Even the pro-eido crowd had a mixed reaction to Goeido’s deception. For Tochinoshin, that’s a certain end to any hopes of a repeat yusho. However, the case for Ozeki remains.
Lastly, in the musubi-no-ichiban, Kakuryu versus a bowling ball. Chiyomaru is way out of his depth. Goeido was his first ever sanyaku opponent. Today, a yokozuna in the showcase matchup? Kakuryu got both hands on Chiyomaru’s belt at the outset. He seemed to wait for a minute thinking it was too easy, then steadily walked Chiyomaru out. If I were Chiyomaru, I’d be like, “Well, I tried. And at least I didn’t henka. I’m not desperate.”
