🌐 Location: Yukuhashi, Fukuoka
😛 Goofometer: ◾️◾️◽️◽️◽️
At this point in the Jungyo journey, all hell breaks loose as hitherto fairly unknown Sandanme rikishi Takataisho fails to arrive in the morning, and when his friends convince him to come, the chaperones notice, start questioning him, and… Takanoiwa exits the world of sumo, stage left.
Maybe that is the reason why social media coverage of this day is limited. Or maybe the fact that Yukuhashi is a fairly small town, but today’s event coverage will mostly be in photos rather than videos.
So, rikishi practice along the walls. Here is Ichinojo making a rubber strap wish it has never been born:
On day 3, we had ryuden princess-lifting Shobushi. Now the portable weight is utilized by Kagayaki – who prefers piggyback.
Well, riding piggyback on the back of one of the tallest rikishi seems to give Shobushi a serious fear of heights.
The previous day, we learned that Asakayama oyakata only accepts greetings from rikishi after they do some squatting with his favorite sack of salt. But apparently, some rikishi get a free pass:
“I’m going to regard that as a joke… oyakata”
Gee, I wonder why that is.
Another person who exchanged greetings with the brass was Gokushindo.
If you’re wondering why Gokushindo would be all chummy with Izutsu oyakata, it’s probably to do with the fact that he was a longtime tsukebito of Kakuryu’s.
By the way, Izutsu is the only oyakata who sits in a chair in Jungyo. My guess is that this has to do with that hip he fractured after Hakuho dame-oshied Yoshikaze on top of him in 2016.
Speaking of Gokushindo, he, Nishikigi and Wakatakakage were all checking the torikumi plan for the day in peace and harmony…
…when all of a sudden Abi burst onto the scene.
Abi merely laid his dainty bear paws hands on Nishikigi’s back, and Gokushindo suddenly found himself splat against the wall.
Meanwhile, in the shitakubeya:
Kyonosato: “There is no possible way you can make me look more ridiculous after that silly ‘Wiggle the Wattle’ routine yesterday”
Narutaki: “Hold my beer”
“No, I mean literally, hold my beer. Now, you were saying?”
Here are some moshi-ai bouts:
And two Ozeki engaging in san-ban:
Hakuho keeps practicing below the dohyo. A middle-aged man in the crowd calls out “Hakuho, Gambare!…”
The Yokozuna turns around and shoots a smile at him. And that’s how you become a fansa-kami-sama (“God of fan service”).
As the sekitori get ready for their bouts, Enho seems to be deeply cogitating:
“So, this proves that f is differentiable at every point in this domain, so to calculate ∇f, let’s first do the partial derivative w.r.t. x₁. Good, now…”
In the previous report, I received complaints about the dearth of Abi. So, here you go. One high shiko coming up:
This preceded Abi’s bout with Nishikigi, a bout from which I only have this tantalizing photo:
From which we can draw two conclusions
- Kimura Konosuke is diligent even in Jungyo events.
- Abi is trying up Yotsu again.
Another tantalizing glimpse of a bout:
Tochinoshin is doing the Tochinoshin. Man, this is the musubi-no-ichiban. That’s a full sized bear Ozeki you have there, not a five-year-old playing Upsy-daisy!
So, let’s say our goodbyes to Yukuhashi. Our pinup rikishi is, once again, Wakatakakage:
Because even when he covers his freezing nipples, he manages to look totally cool.
