Dirty Henka

Kotoshogiku’s Ozeki Bid Ends

Bruce H Harubasho 2017 (Osaka), Kotoshogiku (琴奨菊), Terunofuji (照ノ富士), Ōzeki (大関) ,

Kotoshogiku-14

Terminated by Terunofuji’s Henka

In on of the most disappointing 5 minutes of sumo of my life, Sekiwake Kotoshogiku’s bid to reclaim his Ozeki rank, and likely retire on a high note, ended when Terunofuji chose to employ a henka rather than give the fading rikishi an honest fight. The match had trouble getting started, with Terunofuji coming off the line prematurely, and matta was called.

On the restart, Kotoshogiku launched into the tachiai, but found that Terunofuji had leapt to the side. Thus ends a valiant effort by a long serving rikishi to end things on a high note. The crowd in Osaka was shocked, and I might say insulted. Everyone assumed that Terunofuji was going to win this bout, but they wanted to see him win via strength and skill. The expression on the crowd’s faces on the image above speak volumes.

Haru Day 10 Recap

Bruce H Endo (遠藤), Harubasho 2017 (Osaka), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Ishiura (石浦), Kakuryu (鶴竜), Kisenosato (稀勢の里), Shōdai (正代直也), Takanoiwa (貴ノ岩), Takayasu (高安), Takekaze (豪風), Tamawashi (玉鷲), Terunofuji (照ノ富士), Tochiozan (栃煌山), Ura (宇良), Yoshikaze (嘉風) , , , , , ,

Yoshikaze-Kinboshi

Kinboshi #7 For Yoshikaze

A wild and wonderful day of Sumo at Osaka overnight saw no change to the leaderboard, as the top 4 rikishi all won their matches. But there was plenty of drama, and a healthy dose of the unexpected. Because both Kakuryu, Chiyoshoma lost on day 10, there is really no one outside of Terunofuji or Tochiozan who can hope to challenge the unbeaten leaders Kisenosato and Takayasu.

Ura continues to struggle, but has kept an even record and hopes of kachi-koshi alive.

Ishiura seems to be a step ahead of Ura in his adjustment to the world of Makuuchi. Today he showed some amazing strength and balance in overcoming Takakeisho. Every so often he pulls a move that betrays his uncommon power to size ratio, and fans are left wondering “did I just see that”?

Tochiozan’s win over Diashomaru was henka powered, and that’s rather sad given he is one of the leader group. But Diashomaru was off balance at the tachiai, and may have not survived long anyhow. Tochiozan is either having a great streak, or has revived is prior winning ways, we hope he can maintain this going forward into May.

There was a monii in the Aoiyama vs Okinoumi bout, where once again the “dead body” policy played a role. Aoiyama applied a powerful throw which sent Okinoumi flying head-first off the dohyo, but stepped out a fraction of a second before Okinoumi landed. The Shimpan awarded the bout to Okinoumi.

Kotoshogiku keeps hope alive by winning decisively over Takekaze. He needs 3 more wins to regain his Ozeki rank, and at this point I think he may actually be able to do it if the schedulers give him a chance.

Takanoiwa deployed a henka against Takayasu. As Takayasu charged ahead strongly at the tachiai, Takanoiwa leapt to the side. In one of the more impressive moves I have seen in sumo, many hundreds of pound of sumotori came to a screeching halt, maintained balance, pivoted and attacked. With a single blow to the side of Takanoiwa’s head put him on the clay.

Just when I think Shodai is all hype, he gave Terunofuji a big fight, and nearly won. He’s still too high on his tachiai, but yes, he has promise still. Terunofuji continues to impress, and you can scarcely believe it’s the same rikishi who has limped and hobbled throughout the last year of sumo.

Yoshikaze, in my favorite match of the day, completely and utterly overwhelmed Kakuryu. Yoshikaze had control of the bout front the tachiai, and kept pressing the attack. As is frequently the case, Kakuryu was waiting to exploit an off balance move or mistake by Yoshikaze. I just checked with the EDION arena, he’s still waiting. Kinboshi for the mobile combat platform, the berserker Yoshikaze.

It’s no surprise that Tamawashi failed to provide much of a challenge for the apparently unstoppable Kisenosato, who seems destined to close strong in Osaka. Fans are hoping for a pair of 15-0 combatants facing off on the final day for the gusto, but there are still many challenges to overcome before that is a real possiblity.

Endo was not too much work for Harumafuji, who seems to be back in his grove in spite of his ever increasing roster of physical injuries. Harumafuji shows up every day and gives it his all.

Kyushu Day 7 – News and Highlights

Bruce H Gōeidō (豪栄道), Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Kakuryu (鶴竜), Kisenosato (稀勢の里), Kyushu Basho 2016, Takayasu (高安), Yokozuna (横綱), Yoshikaze (嘉風) , , , , , ,

hakuho-henka

Hakuho’s Henka Leaves Fans Upset

Hakuho, you’re the winningest man in sumo today. There is, on any given day, no one who can defeat you. Why on earth would you side-step a 5-1 Maegashira 2? That was the question all sumo fans asked towards the end of today’s bouts in Fukuoka. According to Jason of the YouTube channel fame, the crowd watching the Hakuho – Yoshikaze match went angry, and rightly so. What Hakuho’s face as the match ends, he seemed unhappy, too.

However I think this may add evidence to my running assumption that Hakuho is less than fully recovered, and is severely mobility challenged. With Yoshikaze being one of the best mobile attack platforms in Sumo, Hakuho may have determined that if he let Yoshikaze get started, he was losing for sure. To be honest, when facing a sumotori like Yoshikaze, there is a recognizable risk that one or both men would be injured.

But one Yokozuna match did deliver – Harumafuji vs Mitakeumi! I am going to venture to say that Mitakeumi has a lot of natural balance, and thinks on his feet. Harumafuji pulled out several of his usual tricks, but did not deploy the spin cycle or the Darth Vader throat grip. Harumafuji managed a win, but Mitakeumi really made him work for it.

Ikioi, Chiyoshoma and Sokokurai all lost today, narrowing the group behind Kakuryu to 4.

In Juryo Osunaarashi finally lost a match today, so everyone in Juryo has at least one loss, with Ura and Yamaguchi in the group just behind Osunaarashi, Seiro and Satoyama in the lead. Unlike Aki, there may be some clear winners coming out of Juryo into Makuuchi this time.

Leaderboard

  • Undefeated: Kakuryu
  • Chasers: Harumafuji, Hakuho, Goeido, Ishiura
  • Hunt Group: Kisenosato, Terunofuji, Tamawashi, Shodai, Ikioi, Chiyoshoma, Arawashi, Sokokurai

8 matches remain

Notable Matches

Ishiura defeats Chiyoshoma – Ishiura wins again – convincingly! I hope in week 2 they put Ishiura against at least one Sanyaku ranked wrestler. I would like to see how he does against the big guns of sumo. If he can stay healthy, and stick to his brand of sumo, this guy probably has a bright future. He stayed very low, got a solid grip and just pushed. He made it look easy, and that is usually a hallmark of greatness.

Myogiryu defeats Hidenoumi – Excellent display of strength sumo. Both rikishi really put everything they had into this match, and it went on for quite a while in sumo terms.

Tochinoshin defeats Ikioi – Tochinoshin took control, wrapped up Ikioi and controlled the match. Ikioi has been on a hot streak thus far, but he was unable to establish his mobile engagement strategy that he prefers. Chest to chest, Tochinoshin dominated with his superior leg strength. Nicely done!

Shodai defeats Kisenosato – Oh wow, this one was fantastic. Another younger sumotori with acres of talent. He took one a master of strength sumo and prevailed. Kisenosato really have him a strong tachiai, and to my surprise Shodai absorbed the impact and immediately went to work on his grip. Kisenosato starting moving forward, got Shodai to the edge and attempted a throw, which failed, but left Kisenosato off balance. Shodai read this change, and pressed his advantage to win.

Goeido defeats Kaisei – Goeido once again was sloppy, unfocused and all over the map. As a result Kaisei nearly had him several times. Goeido needs to settle down and stay in his mode for the much tougher matches in the coming week.

Terunofuji defeats Aoiyama – Aoiyama come in healthier and with a much longer reach, but the resurgent Terunofuji bottled him up and won the match. I am really quite impressed with how well Terunofuji is doing in spite of his injuries.

Takayasu defeats Kotoshogiku – This is more like it, Takayasu. Kotoshogiku rushed to get his hug-n-chug technique deployed, Takayasu was patient, waited for things to unfold and seized his moment. When Takayasu can follow this recipe, he usually wins. His size and strength gives him the time to wait for the match to unfold, and his skill allows him to usually deploy a winning move, even when it’s at the last moment and his heels are on the tawara.  I remain convinced he will be an amazing Ozeki one day soon.

Kakuryu defeats Endo – Yes it was a win, but Kakuryu did not look good doing it. Endo was a bit too eager, and charged into Kakuryu’s collapsing defense. From there it was quick work to pivot and pull Endo to the clay.