This is the second sumo news update between the Hatsu and Haru tournaments. Catch up on the earlier update here. There was a full slate of sumo activity this weekend, so let’s get to it.
NHK Charity Event
The 58th Interation of the NHK’s Annual charity sumo event (福祉大相撲) took place this Saturday at Kokugikan. It’s always an interesting event, half Variety Show, half sumo jungyo event. Past coverage of this event include informative posts from Herouth, Bruce, and myself. There’s shokkiri, and jinku, and bouts…but there is also a slate of celebrities joining the wrestlers on stage, including pop groups and enka singers.
This year’s talents included 18-year-old enka star, Umetani Kokoro. Interestingly, she is from the Hakata district of Fukuoka, which hosts the November sumo tournament each year — and is also home of the makers of the hakata-ori belts (obi) you often see worn with kimono “off-dohyo,” like those in the image below. She performed a duet with Hakunofuji. Atamifuji performed with pop group STU48 and Hiradoumi did his duet with Arai Maju.
On Sunday, Kokugikan again hosted the Annual FujiTV sumo tournament. This features two bracket-style tournaments — one for Juryo and one for Makuuchi. The Makuuchi bracket is below.
The winner of the Makuuchi division competition was Hoshoryu, who defeated Abi for the title and the 2500000-yen purse. Hiradoumi was awarded a fighting spirit prize.
I always like seeing the intermission bouts. The Sumo Association gets some of the retirees to dust off the old sagari and strap on the old shimekomi for some exhibition bouts. This year, Aoiyama took on Hokutofuji and Kotoyuki battled Kotoeko.
At the same time as the two Kokugikan events, the Toyota Arena in Odaiba hosted the Sixteenth Hakuho Cup. The Hakuho Cup is an amateur sumo tournament for boys and girls with the goal of fostering the sport of sumo among the next generation. 1,700 kids from 20 countries participated this year and former deshi Hakunofuji and Yoshinofuji came by to say, “Hi” to their former master.
Full results and videos of the action are available at the Hakuho Cup website. I’m eager to hear from any viewers or participants in the Hakuho Cup (or the other tournaments). They seem like a great way to spend a winter day in Tokyo.
Hatsu Basho is long over and Haru Basho is still a month away (March 10) but there is still plenty of sumo news to report this weekend. And nothing else beyond these few news items. There is absolutely nothing else in the World of Sports going on this weekend. I am sure you all will be at work tomorrow, well-rested and fresh as daisies.
On Saturday, Kokugikan hosted the NHK’s annual charity sumo event. Along with the usual Jungyo-style sumo bouts, rikishi interviews and question corner, Yokozuna belt-tying, as well as taiko drum, jinku and shokkiri performances, the NHK has celebrities sing with rikishi in a star-studded affair. The NHK sets up a stage behind the dohyo for the rikishi to join the celebrities in singing pop and enka songs, like having a giant karaoke box.
On Sunday, Kokugikan hosted the 48th edition of Fuji TV’s annual sumo tournament. There are really two tournaments: Juryo first, then Makuuchi. It is a one-day, single-elimination-style tournament. One of the special things about this tournament is that we can often see bouts between stablemates and brothers, which are only possible in yusho playoffs during hon-basho.
For instance, a few years ago we saw Hakuho take on Enho. At this year’s tournament, in Juryo we saw Isegahama stablemates, Nishikifuji and Takerufuji go head-to-head. In Makuuchi, Endo faced stabemate and last year’s champion, Daieisho, in the third round and Tobizaru in the fourth.
The run-of-show begins, as I mentioned, with Juryo. There’s the Juryo dohyo-iri, followed by their tournament. Next up, as a bit of an intermission, we get “OB” exhibition bouts. This was followed by the makuuchi dohyo-iri and Terunofuji’s Yokozuna dohyo-iri and then the top division tournament. Full brackets are available here.
Aside
Before getting to the tournament action, I wanted to bring up the OB bouts, in particular. This year we had two fights between recently retired sekitori: Ishiura defeated Chiyonokuni and Tokushoryu forced out Tochiozan. I was especially happy that Tokushoryu was able to take part — and that he won his bout. I hope he stays in it for the long haul.
Many of you likely saw “Sad Toku” during Hatsu Basho. This clip of Tokushoryu in the blue-jacket brigade is yet another one of those great endearing sumo moments. As the Makuuchi wrestlers silently file past for the dohyo-iri, you just get this powerful sense that he misses being one of them and wants to get back out there. The subtle acknowledgement from the rikishi as they pass, hit him hard. And that in turn hit me, the viewer, hard.
Obviously, he was the famous maku-jiri yusho but he could not really establish himself as a top-division regular and slowly sank into Juryo, and then Makushita, before hanging up his mawashi for good in 2023. So for two years, he was a world away from “Prime Time” sumo but still hungry. And he has probably been fighting off some of the talk that his yusho was an accident, or somehow unworthy. There might even be lingering desire to prove them wrong. Or maybe he just dropped his churro…I don’t know.
Tournament Brief
Juryo Playoff
In Juryo, Chiyoshoma prevailed in the three-way playoff with Oshoma and Daishoho. Keep this in mind: Chiyoshoma won the Juryo yusho. And he did it without a henka. So, let’s see what the action was like in Makuuchi.
Hoshoryu beat Hiradoumi for the top division yusho with a bit of a henka, which seemed to be his strategy this tournament. His quick sidestep at the tachiai gave him access to Hiradoumi’s belt and he yanked him forward for the win. He had henka’d Takayasu in the fourth round.
Abi had also henka’d Ura in the fourth round to set up a semifinal bout with Hoshoryu. Hoshoryu side-stepped Abi to make it to the final. Hiradoumi defeated Endo in the other semifinal via yorikiri but may not have been watching Hoshoryu’s bouts to see just how henka-happy Hoshoryu had been. Though he missed out on the yusho, Hiradoumi did get to claim a Fighting Spirit Prize, though.
Ichinojo Danpatsushiki
Ichinojo had his self-organized danpatsushiki last night. You may remember that due to his estrangement from Minato-oyakata and the testy relationship with the Kyokai, the former sekiwake and top division yusho winner was not going to have his retirement ceremony at Kokugikan. Instead, he organized his own ceremony at a local hotel.
Many Mongolian rikishi did show up to pay their respects and help take a snip of Ichiko’s topknot. Ishiura’s father, his high school sumo coach at the infamous Tottori Johoku HS, took the final snips instead of Minato-oyakata. I would say that this moment symbolically severed his ties to the sumo world but that would not be accurate. Clearly, his ties to the Kyokai and his stable had been severed long ago. But he will always have his fans and there are clearly still some friends among current and former rikishi. As we learn more about his second career, we will post it here.
A Pair of Hakuho-Championed, Kids’ Sumo Events
On Sunday, Hakuho hosted the Dream Girls sumo tournament. You are able to watch it on YouTube, Dohyo A and Dohyo B. The competition is broken down by age group and the senior divisions have weight classes. There are some great competitors here, and some wild throws. Mostly, it was great to see so many young girls out there with obvious sumo talent and passion for the sport. My favorite bouts inevitably involved a come-from-behind win and some tawara magic.
Hakuho’s daughter competed in the first grade division, coming in second place. Oh, man. What a way to start the day, with a controversial ending to her first bout there. Honestly, there were three or four bouts there in that first grade division which could have easily been called torinaoshi. No mistake in the final, there. Her opponent had a great mae-mitsu grip, there in the front, and pulled Mayuha down.
My favorite wrestler didn’t even make it to the quarter finals but it was so close each time. The scenario was generally the same each time, one competitor forces the other to the tawara, the dohyo giwa. The competitor with inside position tries to force the other out, while the one on the outside just hangs on for dear life. Several times, including at least twice with the young Hakuho Mayuha, they appear to step out first before the opponent steps back.
Tomorrow, junior sumo is back with the boys fighting at Kokugikan in the Hakuho Cup. I will have an update later in the week with results from Monday’s wanpaku action as well as any other sumo news.
While the tournament is over, there are still sumo-related events happening over at Kokugikan! If you’re lucky enough to be in Tokyo, on Feb 1, Takekaze…excuse me, Oshiogawa-oyakata, will be having his danpatsushiki (ceremonial haircut). On the 2nd, Hakuho will host the 10th Annual Hakuho Cup. This is a kid’s sumo tournament, from elementary to middle school levels. The video above is from the Official Hakuho Cup website.
Acclaimed photographer Catherine Hyland has released an astonishing look at Sumo in Mongolia. In a project commissioned by WeTransfer’s WePresent arm, Hyland has released a stunning series of photographs and a short film, titled SUMOS: Rise of the Mongolians, providing insight into the world of the sport in Mongolia. Groundbreaking Mongolian rikishi Kyokushuzan, who now trains young wrestlers in Mongolia, makes an appearance in the film, which also features an interview with a recent Hakuho Cup winner who aspires to be like the tournament’s namesake someday.
Many of us around the world are of course aware of the presence and dominance of many rikishi (and Yokozuna, and yusho winners, and now stablemasters) from Mongolia, but I felt this short film was exceptionally interesting by presenting us with moving images from a country which is extraordinarily infrequently covered in the western media. Indeed, any conversation about Ichinojo will go to serve how the origin stories of Mongolian rikishi can be the stuff of legend.
The short film – SUMOS: Rise of the Mongolians – is embedded above. Click here to read a brief interview with Hyland about the project on WePresent, which includes some wonderful photos from the project.
In other news, this is apparently our 2000th post on the site, so thank you all for joining us!
