Amakaze

Ones To Watch – Nagoya Day 1

Bruce H Nagoya Basho 2019, Ones To Watch , , , , , , , , , , ,

Welcome back to our feature where we dig into some of the action further down the banzuke; in the divisions below Juryo. It’s a combination of hard-charging young up-and-comers battling against fading stars and mainstay rikishi returning from injury. The action here is frequently hit or miss, but as we love to say about the upper Makushita, these rikishi are almost to the salaried ranks, and the battles here are sometimes more action packed than most of the televised matches for that day.

Day 1 action is light for our roster that we are watching, with most of the heavy action apparently slated for day 2. But lets go over who is on the dohyo to start the tournament in the sweat box that is Nagoya.

Wakamotoharu vs Fujiazuma – After a single basho as a sekitori, Onami brother Wakamotoharu could do no better than a 3-4 make koshi in May, and finds himself at Makushita 5, well back in the pack and possibly out of range to bid for promotion in any real sense. He faces former Maegashira 4 Fujiazuma, who at 32 years is finding his body struggling to support his sumo.

Midorifuji vs Hokutokawa – Midorifuji is not on a meteoric rise up the banzuke, but it’s notable that he has racked up 4 consecutive kachi-koshi since Aki 2018. This approach has put him at Makushita 11, his highest ever rank. His opponent, Hokutokawa, sat out Osaka with injuries, but came roaring back, and is likewise fighting at his highest ever rank.

Wakatakamoto vs Inoue – Further down the torikumi, we find another Onami brother. Wakatakamoto is looking to bounce back after a 2-5 make koshi in May, and fight his way to the higher spots in the division. He faces 19 year old Inoue, who is at his highest ever rank, and has been kachi-koshi in the last 3 tournaments.

Shoji vs Genbumaru – Shoji is one good tournament away from breaking back into Makushita, and possibly bypassing Musashigawa’s flagging scion Musashikuni. Genbumaru, his opponent, is fighting near his highest ever rank.

Amakaze vs Kototora – Former Juryo mainstay Amakaze has produced 6-1 and 5-2 records since his return from a 8 month kyujo. He has also become a bit of an internet star for videos showing him enthusiastically eating all manner of goodies. I expect him to have little trouble with Kototora, as I think Amakaze is under-ranking right now.

Kitanowaka vs Ota – Kitanowaka was very impressive in his first basho, resulting in a 6-1 record and a solid move into Jonidan. He faces a long serving veteran in Ota, who has been ranked as high as Makushita. I expect Ota will faithfully undertake the tempering of young Kitanowaka, who is fresh from the wide open play-yard of Jonikuchi.

Lower divisions – Days 11 and 12

Herouth Natsu Basho 2019 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Hoshoryu avoided a make-koshi on his birthday

Today I’m trying to catch up on two days of lower division action. Let’s start with day 11, May 22.

Continue reading →

Day 9 – Bouts from the lower divisions

Herouth Natsu Basho 2019 , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Naya levitating Tsukahara

Another day of sumo in the books, and we are having our somewhat haphazard stroll through bouts in the lower divisions – ones to watch, and ones to take a surreptitious peek at.

Jonokuchi

We start with our gigantic friend, Toma, the road roller from Miyagino beya, who meets Ienoshima from Yamahibiki beya today:

Toma improves his way towards kachi-koshi.

Next up, famous Kitanowaka, here vs. Oba:

Kitanowaka’s legs look ridiculously longer than Oba’s. And he seems to have a bit of a koshi-daka issue (that is, he keeps his ass too high). But a win is a win.

Finally, we keep monitoring Toma’s steamrolled victim, Ito. Here against Sawanofuji from Isegahama:

Ito is in the Jonokuchi yusho race.

Jonidan

I asked for Toshonishiki footage, I got Toshonishiki footage. But alas, I didn’t get one of Toshonishiki winning. He suffers his first loss:

He loses not so much because of that ridiculous body size but because of a mistake that leaves him with his back to Tochikamiyama, who doesn’t miss the opportunity.

Sandanme

Shiraishi, the Sandanme tsuke-dashi from Tamanoi beya, continues his formidable performance:

No blinking. Fujisawa goes from tachiai to loss in one swoop.

Roga is facing Kototora. That is, a wolf faces a tiger.

The tiger nearly drives the wolf to the edge. After that Roga becomes a lot more careful, and manages to secure his third win.

I told you yesterday that Yoshoyama is doing well this basho, and managed to thoroughly jinx the poor Mongolian. Here he is, facing Hokutowaka:

Oops, sorry for the jinx, Tokitsukaze man.

Finally, if you want to see someone who is gaining self assurance from day to day and may well find himself back in the limelight come senshuraku, look no further than Amakaze, here against Tsugaruumi:

His tachiai is not something to write home about, though.

Makushita

Let’s start with Kyokusoten, who is having a really nice basho. Kyokusoten, if you recall, is Tamawashi’s brother-in-law, a tsukebito for hire (most recently Kakuryu’s), and a generally amiable fella.

At this rate he may find himself in the Makushita purgatory before long.

Take a look at Michael – the name in Japanese is “Maikeru”, which is rendered in kanji as “dance-kick”. He used to be Futagoyama’s pride until Roga showed up, but the competition within doesn’t seem to faze him:

He is now 5-0 and part of the Makushita yusho race.

We move on to the Makushita pixie, Midorifuji, who is facing the very popular Takakento (all Takas are popular):

Midorifuji, kind of like Enho’s bout today, is saved mostly by his speed and some luck avoiding the edge.

Next we move to some of our serious “Ones To Watch”, and first, a meeting between Ryuko and Kotokamatani. Both 3-1 coming into this bout.

Ryuko secures a tight morozashi, and manages to lift Kotokamatani out. Kotokamatani will have to wait for his kachi-koshi yet another day.

Hoshoryu faces Ichiyamamoto. Both 2-2 going into this match:

Ah… his hand touches the ground, and there is no recovery for the young Mongolian. Could he be on his way to his first Make-koshi? I’m sure he is going to get that angry phone call from his uncle soon.

Finally, we have Naya, the prince of Makushita. He faces Tsukahara, who is himself a “One To Watch”, with past championships in Jonokuchi and Jonidan:

Fierce tsuppari, followed by a wide pull, and Naya keeps himself in the yusho race.

Lower division bouts – Day 8

Herouth Natsu Basho 2019 , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Nicola captured the former Ozeki; even the loyal fans in the background couldn’t help

Hot on the heels of Bruce’s One’s To Watch post, here are some low-division bouts, including many of the Ones To Watch and their wreckage.

Let’s start at Jonokuchi. Although I thought Toma, Hakuho’s gigantic recruit, would do well in Jonokuchi, simply on the merit of his combined weight and experience, he came into Nakabi with a 1-2 record. Here he is facing one of Futagoyama’s newbies, Denuma:

The boy has a lot of improvement to do despite this win here, if he is going to meet the standard set by all the other uchi-deshi recruited by the dai-yokozuna, namely, to become sekitori and hold that position (barring injury – poor Yamaguchi).

By the way, remember Ito, the guy thoroughly pancaked by Toma on day 3? Well, it seems that getting a 206kg cannonball may be good for your career – he is currently 4-0 with a chance at the Jonokuchi yusho.

Next we move to Sandanme, only stopping at Jonidan long enough to inform you that Toshonishiki is on fire this tournament with 4-0, and I really wish I could find some footage because the man is almost as thin as Hattorizakura. Maybe he charms his opponent with his pretty face.

Well, at the very bottom of Sandanme we have Shiraishi, the tsuke-dashi. That is, a wrestler who entered sumo as Sandanme 100 instead of going through Maezumo and Jonokuchi. This is a privilege you attain by being top 8 in one of the applicable amateur championships. And so far, he has justified it, arriving at Nakabi with a 3-0 record. Here he faces Kaiyuma, from Asakayama beya (Kaio’s stable):

Our friend Yoshoyama is currently at Sandanme 9W, and has a straight win record. If he can keep it up and win the Yusho, he may land right very close to the Makushita “here be dragons” zone. He faces Fujita, who is rather bigger than he is:

This doesn’t stop the Mongolian from Tokitsukaze beya from keeping his straight record.

Next up in Sandanme – Amakaze, who can do the mean splits, and apparently, the mean sumo as well:

Don’t blink. Amakaze is on fire.

Finally, we arrive at the wreckage that is the Terunofuji vs. Daishosei bout. Both come into this bout lossless:

The former Ozeki makes an amateur mistake there, thinking that Daishosei’s foot went out and dropping his defenses as a result. Daishosei is not intimidated enough to miss the opportunity thus opened. Terunofuji goes down the hana-michi cussing (well, to the extent that you can cuss in Japanese – and Mongolian doesn’t even have cuss words).

We’re up to Makushita, and we have Musashikuni vs. Fukuyama. Musashikuni is not having a very good tournament and comes into this bout 1-2:

The American ends up sitting frustrated at the edge of the dohyo, needing to win all his bouts from this moment on.

Next we have Midorifuji vs. Asabenkei. They, too, are 1-2 each as they mount the dohyo. While Midorifuji is very talented, he is also very small. Asabenkei, on the other hand, has some Juryo experience, but seems rather worse for wear.

Midorifuji executes a rather nice katasukashi. You can’t see it in this footage, but Asabenkei has real trouble getting up and over to his position for the bow. Sigh.

So let’s take a look at Hoshoryu vs. Ryuko.

Hoshoryu can’t even cite his lack of weight in this bout. I guess lack of experience.

On a higher note, here is Naya vs. Kaito:

Typical Naya tsuppari, ending in a kachi-koshi and a chance at the Makushita yusho.

Finally, we are up to Juryo – where Kizakiumi is paying a visit, facing Arawashi. Kizakiumi is Churanoumi’s brother, and he is so fresh he can’t even get the oicho-mage that is usually granted to Makushita rikishi who have a Juryo bout.

I thought Arawashi was in a better state than this before the basho. But he may find himself saying goodbye to his kesho-mawashi for the first time since 2013.

My final bout for this report is Daishomaru vs. Aminishiki. Believe it or not, Aminishiki is in the picture for the Juryo yusho, trailing Takagenji by a mere 2 loss margin together with Toyonoshima.

Amazingly, he can still win a bout going forward.