Kotoeko

Haru Day 5 Recap

Herouth Haru Basho 2019 (Osaka) , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We had an interesting day today at the EDION arena in Osaka. Before I dive into the Makunouchi bouts, I’m sure the fans will be happy to see this:

Aminishiki finally lands a win

Aminishiki is in dire straits down at the bottom of Juryo, but he managed to get his first win today vs. Akiseyama – and do that moving forward!

So, fast forward through Juryo (Arawashi doing well this basho, Enho gets his second loss in a row), we begin with Yutakayama vs. Kotoeko. Kotoeko looking good this basho, and may just be able to get that Makunouchi kachi-koshi which has eluded him so far. He attacks Yutakayama with a harizashi, lifts his arm high, and sends him off to the arms of the time shimpan.

Due to Chiyonokuni’s injury, we have a visitor from Juryo every day, and today it was 0-4 Hakuyozan facing Ishihenka, I mean, Ishiura, who was 4-0. Ishiura tried to get under Hakuyozan’s attack, but as he pulls, his knee folds below him and he finds himself rolling. His first loss, Hakuyozan’s first win.

Toyonoshima slammed into Chiyoshoma and intended to railroad him with his bulk, as he is wont. But the nimble Mongolian freed himself, stepped sideways, and left the veteran to ponder the difficulties of age and sumo.

Kagayaki launches himself head-first into newbie Daishoho‘s chest, keeps himself low, keeps his opponent upright, and clears him from the dohyo. Basic and clean.

The Tomokaze–Terutsuyoshi bout ended almost as soon as it started, with a plain, almost dismissive, hatakikomi. I believe something is wrong with Terutsuyoshi’s legs. He keeps ending up with his center of gravity way ahead of his feet. There is an expression used for this state: “ashi ga nagaremashita” – “his feet have flowed away”. His legs don’t work as fast as he needs to support his lunge.

And the Isegahama pixie is not the only one in trouble. Yoshikaze also didn’t show up for today’s bout. He leads head-first into the tachiai, but Ryuden immediately lands a morozashi – two arms under the opponent’s arms – and Yoshikaze just goes limp. Ryuden is haveng a good basho with 4-1.

Meisei tries to take the initiative against Yago. Doesn’t quite land a grip. Short tsuppari ensues, and then the two engage in migi-yotsu. Meisei only has one layer of Yago’s mawashi, and the Oguruma man patiently maneuvers into a better grip and leads Meisei out.

An impressive Shohozan showed up today to face Sadanoumi. Starting his bout with a harizashi, he lands a grip, and then throws Sadanoumi in a beautiful uwatenage. I want more of this Shohozan.

Ikioi tries hard to keep Kotoshogiku‘s pelvis as far away from him as possible. But eventually the former Ozeki decides to use the pressure against him, moves, and shows him out. Ikioi limps back to his spot to give the bow.

Asanoyama has a good tactic against Aoiyama. Since he is a yotsu man and Aoiyama is known for his fierce tsuppari and soft knees, Asanoyama quickly drives in and gets a fistful of mawashi. But Aoiyama shows versatility, uses a kotenage to release himself from the Takasago man, complements that with a nodowa, and hands Asanoyama his second loss.

Abi starts his bout with Takarafuji, as usual, with that morotezuki and follows with tsuppari. Takarafuji is quite ready for that, patiently weathers it, moves slightly to the left and grabs Abi’s mawashi. Abi manages to release himself, tries a half-hearted hikiotoshi, and fails. Instead, the Isegahama man slaps hard, and Abi rolls all the way to the other side of the dohyo. Olé!

The next bout, Chiyotairyu vs. Okinoumi. Chiyotairyu does his locomotive tachiai. Okinoumi backs up and sidesteps. Chiyotairyu dives into the janome, hands first. And Kimura Konosuke calls it Chiyotairyu’s win! No monoii. I guess the shimpan trust Chiyotairyu’s heya-mate, Konosuke, too much. The replay clearly shows this was a mistake. Okinoumi’s feet are firmly on the tawara, so he is very much alive when Chiyotairyu hits the dirt.

Ichinojo starts off with a harite – it’s not a harizashi as there was no attempt to go for the belt – then follows with a kachiage, and finally paws Onosho down with both arms. Scary. Onosho finds himself in a heap as Ichinojo, as usual, worriedly checks if he hasn’t overdone things. I guess Ichinojo left his sleepy secret twin in Tokyo.

Endo gets a grip on Tochiozan‘s belt right off the tachiai, and rolls him like his favorite barrel of beer. Makiotoshi, Endo’s first win this basho.

Mitakeumi and Hokutofuji clash head-to-head. Mitakeumi leads at first, but Hokutofuji manages to stop the pressure, and it’s Mitakeumi who starts pulling back. Maybe it’s the knee, but whatever it is, the Mitakeumi magic is not working against his fellow komusubi, and after a short halt, again he pulls and finds himself below the dohyo.

After three losses, Tamawashi vindicates himself somewhat in this fierce battle with Takakeisho. Takakeisho leads at first and nearly bounces Tamawashi out the front side of the dohyo, but Tamawashi takes it in his stride, and returns with his own windmill. Tamawashi proves that even in oshi, Takakeisho is not invincible. With two losses in the first trimester, Takakeisho’s Ozeki run seems less certain than it looked before the basho started.

Nishikigi has run out of luck this basho. Takayasu slams into him with all his bear-power. Nishikigi tries an arm lock on the Ozeki’s left arm, but to no avail. Nishikigi is 0-5.

Kaisei and Tochinoshin lock into a “gappuri” stance – firm yotsu. Tochinoshin’s first attempt doesn’t work. There is a short impasse, and then Kaisei makes a mistake and tries to gaburi him, or at least, that’s how it looked. As a result, his center of gravity ends up just where the Ozeki wants it, and he actually lifts the heavy Brazilian – though he quickly abandons the idea. He then adds a couple of pelvis thrusts of his own, to bring his thick opponent across the tawara. 3-2, and his chances of clearing kadoban look slightly brighter.

Goeido treats Shodai like a ragdoll, and the Tokitsukaze man finds himself out of the dohyo almost straight out of the tachiai. What version of Goeido is this? Has his kernel been replaced?

Kakuryu butts heads with Daieisho (not a smart move in the long run, Yokozuna), then immediately pulls. Hatakikomi, and Kakuryu is visibly annoyed with himself. Trouble always begins when Kakuryu pulls. But the win is a win.

I’m not sure what’s going on with Hakuho. The bout itself looked fine. No dominance, but the Yokozuna leading with a kachiage, Myogiryu fending him off, and the Yokozuna coming in again and slapping his opponent to the ground. But like yesterday, he couldn’t quite stop his own movement after finishing his work. Yesterday he ended up in the crowd, and took quite a while to get up from there, and today he ended up doing the splits on top of myogiryu. Control of legs? Dizziness? We won’t know unless he goes kyujo and needs to publish yet another public proof of injury

So that’s the end of Act 1, and we have four men in the leader group – Hakuho, Goeido, Ichinojo and Kotoshogiku. Let’s see what the second trimester brings!

Fuyu Jungyo 2018 – Day 6 (Dec 7)

Herouth Jungyo (巡業) , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

🌐 Location: Nobeoka, Miyazaki
😛 Goofometer: ◾️◽️◽️◽️◽️

Nobeoka is a small town in Miyazaki. But it boasts a sekitori! Today was Kotoeko day. Most of the nobori you see in the photo bear the name “Kotoeko”, with a few “Yoshikaze” (he is from the neighboring Oita prefecture).

So naturally the crowds gathered around a rather overwhelmed Kotoeko:

Inside the venue, Hakuho was doing some teppo. And you know what happens when there is no teppo pole in site:

Somebody’s neck becomes very very red.

Hakuho also did shiko on the dohyo:

The other day some fan on Twitter asked Daishowaka what it takes to get a nice, tight rikishi butt. The answer was “Do shiko”. So now you know.

Hero of the day, Kotoeko, practiced with Hakuyozan:

Here’s Aoiyama vs. Yutakayama and then Myogiryu.

Hakuho keeps that shiko going in the background.

Meisei practices with Shodai:

He is very active, and seems to have the upper hand, until Shodai just pulls him down. Meisei seems pretty frustrated at all that hard work going nowhere.

Takayasu does reverse butsukari with Nishikigi.

Reverse butsukari means no rolls. Nishikigi is actually very daring in that he takes Takayasu on a quick monkey walk there.

Takayasu practices with Shodai:

The same Shodai who frustrated Meisei earlier now takes his turn to be frustrated. Shodai has this problem in bouts with high-rankers. He is just not quite up to that level, and I think that frustrates him because he feels he should have been there by now.

Today’s lucky target of kawaigari is Asanoyama. I do not have footage of the kawaigari itself – but here is how Asanoyama looks at the end of it:

He takes a sip of water and a couple of breaths – and back he goes to the dohyo. Rest after a kawaigari? Not unless you passed out.

Fast-forward, and everybody gets cleaned and put on their best clothing. The top echelon get their picture taken in front of the venue:

Hakuho’s guest – the elderly man in the kimono – is Kimura Shonosuke the 35th, who retired in 2011 (and at the time, Hakuho invited him to sit in the yusho parade car). He is also a resident of Nobeoka.

Back inside, and we have the Makuuchi dohyo-iri. And unsurprisingly, Shodai is being pushed around:

Looks like Takakeisho also got the Mitakeumi treatment. Mitakeumi is careful, though. Next basho they will be trading places. You don’t get on the bad side of someone who has a reasonable chance to be Ozeki in a couple of basho.

Bouts! Here is Daieisho vs. Aoiyama:

Aoiyama doesn’t waste time. BTW, take a look at that gyoji’s gunbai!

Yutakayama vs. Abi:

Boom! And Abi is not the sort of rikishi who hides his pain. 😝

Here is a summary of the day, including the special bout Kotoeko had with Endo. He also had an “official” bout with Daiamami a few moments later.

Endo is the king of Jungyo yaocho. He takes care to entertain the spectators, but never fails to lose to the local man.

Note Kotoeko’s tearful parents thanking everybody for coming to see their son. The Jungyo passed through this city 10 years ago, and at the time Kotoeko was just in Sandanme. So this time, returning as a sekitori was a big deal for both himself and his parents.

This is it. I’ll just pause to notice that Kotoeko’s heya mate, Kotoyuki, has been missing from the torikumi for the past couple of days. Yoshikaze is still not putting on his mawashi, and Hakuho still not doing torikumi.

So off we go to Kumamoto!

But didn’t I tell you that Hakuho chose to be in the back seat of the bus? What are they doing there, you may ask?

Well, there’s more than one bus. There are around 270 participants in an average Jungyo. And these Juryo guys are unlikely to be in the same bus as the boss.

So…. who shall we pick as our pin-up rikishi of the day? I couldn’t find a trace of Tobizaru. So how about his brother? Hidenoumi, your turn to shine!

OK, so maybe his little brother is a little prettier.

Fuyu Jungyo 2018 – Day 3 (Dec 4)

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We interrupt the scandal to bring you some relaxing Jungyo stories.

🌐 Location: Kurume, Fukuoka
😛 Goofometer: ◾️◾️◾️◾️◽️

The Jungyo continues its trail through Fukuoka. The rikishi start practicing around the venue. We have Ryuden pumping iron:

Or in this case, pumping Shobushi. The tweet, by the way, says “Oh, I want to be hugged by Ryuden princess-style!” – carrying a person in this position is called “Ohime-sama dakko” – “Princess-style hug”. Shobushi is the princess in this case.

On the first day, Terutsuyoshi was a good boy and didn’t touch Enho at all! But it seems that the phase of the moon changed, the monster is out and about:

Eventually, of course, Terutsuyoshi does end up with at least one hand on his favorite pixie:

Enho doesn’t seem to mind it too much, though. By the way, I was surprised to realize that Takarafuji is taller than Chiyoshoma. Proportions can be misleading. Of course, both look like giants next to the pixie pair.

Rikishi come to greet Asakayama oyakata (the oyakata formerly known as Kaio). He seems to have a little rule: You want to talk to me? Talk to that salt bag first!

Terutsuyoshi as all like “Are you kidding me? All I want is to say my greeting!”. Nevertheless…

Pump that salt! Mission accomplished, Terutsuyoshi can have a few words with the former Ozeki, and make his bow. All the while, Enho is waiting for his turn.

That is to say, he’s pumping that bag as well.

Many photos and videos we share with you actually come from the NSK’s social media. They get ther via the lovely NSK social media ladies:

Bearing in mind that these PR people are, indeed, ladies, there is no wonder we end up with the following Yokozuna practice video:

I’m sure videos like this increase the sales of hand fans at the concession stands at least threefold – even though it’s mid-winter.

Speaking of the Yokozuna, he and Takayasu were comparing their tegata print skills:

One set of paw prints, coming up!
You finished a stack? Hold my beer…

While the Yokozuna wins in the speed and quantity categories, Takayasu totally nails the cool category by getting retweeted by…

And Ms. Rowling wins by having Takayasu retweeting her, of course!

The participants in the Jungyo are the sekitori and their tsukebito. Now, the on-going scandals may make you think that being a tsukebito sucks rocks. The truth is, though, that it all depends on the master you serve. Some are abusive. Aminishiki was asked today (Dec. 7) about the Takanoiwa scandal, and said, among other things: “Your tsukebito is not your plaything. In exchange for helping you with the daily necessities of your career, you are supposed to guide and sort of ‘raise’ him”. Apparently, Aminishiki is not the only one in Isegahama who believes sekitori owe their tsukebito some coaching:

Takarafuji’s tsukebito is Sakurafuji. And Takarafuji gives him both some general tips:

…and actual hands-on practice:

Sakurafuji doesn’t look too miserable being Takarafuji’s tsukebito.

Meanwhile, on the dohyo, there’s some butsukari taking place between moshi-ai sessions:

Here is some Juryo moshi-ai:

Hakuyozan • Kotoeko • Daishoho • Shimanoumi • Wakatakakage

Interesting to note that they have a short shikiri between the bouts. They don’t just go down and tachiai. So here is some Makuuchi moshi-ai:

Takakeisho • Myogiryu • Yutakayama • Kagayaki

Practice time over, the Yokozuna leaves the building, but doesn’t forget his fansa:

Before we turn to the dohyo-iri, let’s take a look at one of the back rooms. Apparently, the rikishi have changed their favorite game this Jungyo.

Narutaki, Mutsukaze, Kyonosato

In the previous Jungyo, it was “Nip the Nipple”. This Jungyo they have switch to the less-painful “Wiggle the Wattle”.

And Kyonosato does have a considerable wattle.

And this leads us right to the dohyo-iri, where Onosho decides to play “Wiggle the Wattle” with Chiyomaru:

Last chance to see Takanoiwa signing autographs.

Dohyo-iri over, and the Yokozuna is also done with his.

I dunno. Takarafuji looks completely out of place in that scene.

It’s bout time. I don’t have many bouts, but I do have this:

Apparently, in Jungyo, Kotoshogiku still entertains the spectators with his back bend.

Shohozan, at this point sitting beside the dohyo as his turn is two bouts later, is apparently impressed, because…

…he totally steals the move.

The only bout of which I have footage is… guess… Enho! He is facing Chiyonoumi.

And Enho does his famous… tsuppari? Tsuppari? Enho?

Well, the Jungyo is the right place to try new stuff, I guess. But Chiyonoumi is all like “Thanks for the gift, man. You do know that tsuki-oshi is my specialty, right?” – and unceremoniously tosses the pixie off the dohyo.

Practice makes perfect, though, Enho.

Time for our pin-up rikishi of the day. And by special request…

Shucks. Golly. Am I on camera?

Um, nope. I’m not going to close a post with Akiseyama. Un-uh.

Now that’s more like it.

Short lower division report – Final Day

Herouth Kyushu Basho 2018 , , , , , , , , , ,
Tomokaze • Sokokurai • Ura • Mitsuuchi • Hatooka

Today I have little to post. For the sake of closure, though, here is a short senshuraku report.

I have a nice sandanme bout – Shohoryu vs. Kototebakari. Both 5-1 before stepping on the dohyo. We have followed Kototebakari through this basho, so no need to introduce this highly motivated wrestler to you. Shohoryu, some of you may recall, is known as Hoshoryu’s generic brand. That is, he is not Hoshoryu. He is also known for owning a sagari that looks like a hula skirt. But he is actually worth watching, because I have a hunch he will start making his way up soon, after wallowing in Sandanme for ages.

The reason I think so is that he joined Kakuryu’s team of tsukebito, replacing Gokushindo, who became a sekitori (yes, not for long). It seems that belonging to that team can have a good influence on one’s career – if you are coming to watch and learn, and not just to pull at ropes and wash Yokozuna hair.

Shohoryu manages to recover from that pirouette and get himself all over Kototebakari. You can see Kototebakari’s frustration.

Another bout that’s worth watching is the Jonidan yusho playoff. If you recall, Mitsuuchi is facing Kotourasaki. Mitsuuchi is somewhat more familiar with the large crowd, as he won the Jonidan yusho last basho and had to receive his certificate in front of the big time audience. Kotourasaki is a little greener:

Kotourasaki manages a good leg grab and leads surprised Mitsuuchi to the edge, but somehow, Mitsuuchi recovers and Kotourasaki finds himself dropping down. Very entertaining. Mitsuuchi gets his second yusho in a row, and it would be interesting to see if he can do the Sandanme yusho in Hatsu for a off-record “21 club” membership.

Now, at this point I would like to do the Juryo summary, but unfortunately, I do not have a digest for you today. If you want to watch the whole shebang, including dohyo iri and each individual shikiri, here is the video at Miselet’s channel (which means that it’s bound to disappear together with the channel at some point, my apologies in advance to readers happening upon this post in the future):

The only individual bout I have is not one of the key matches. But hey – we have been following Enho through the tournament, so let’s look at his final battle, against Kotoeko:

Our little pixie manages to finish the basho with a smile, after four consecutive losses. Still not back in his initial form, but a win is a win.

As for the key matches, if you recall, we had the possibility of a four-way tie for the Yusho. Toyonoshima had to beat Kyokutaisei to stay in it. Terutsuyoshi had to beat Chiyonoumi for his own bid. But Kotoyuki faced the challenge of actually going against the leader, Tomokaze, to create that chance of a playoff.

While Toyonoshima did win the required bout and finish the basho with a nice 11-4 score, Terutsuyoshi failed to deliver vs. Chiyonoumi. Too bad – Chiyonoumi picked the wrong time to start winning!

But both bouts became moot as Tomokaze eliminated Kotoyuki almost nonchalantly, eliminating the chance of a playoff at the same time. Tomokaze is the Juryo yusho.

There have been 41 cases in recorded history (read, recorded on SumoDB) in which a newly arrived man in Juryo has won the yusho. Many of these are Makushita tsukedashi, like Mitakeumi, Endo and Ichinojo. Those who made it coming all the way through Jonokuchi include Tochinoshin, Ikioi and Terunofuji. So Tomokaze finds himself in a very respectable circle, and we can expect him to end up in the upper part of Makushita sooner rather than later.

And just for fun, here is Tomokaze playing the piano. He used to be better than this, but he can’t really practice it too much these days.

And here ends my coverage of the lower divisions for this basho. It’s been a pleasure getting to know rikishi I have not met before and following those I have.

  • I’ll be keeping an eye on the guys who came in on mae-zumo this tournament. I’d like to see how much future Denpoya has at Isegahama, how fast Roga will go through the ranks, and whether Daitenma is going to join the elite Mongolians or level at Kyokusoten or Yoshoyama achievements.
  • I will continue to follow the two princes, the gap between whom is growing larger as future Yokozuna Hoshoryu pushes forward relentlesly. Will Hoshoryu be able to keep his clean record of kachi-koshi intact? Can he make Juryo by Natsu? Will Naya be able to catch up eventually?
  • I’ll keep an eye on Mitsuuchi and Hatooka, who are recovering from long injuries. How far can they make it?
  • I’ll hope to see little Chiyotaiyo eat more and break out of the Jonokuchi/Jonidan level where his size keeps him.
  • I’m really curious to see what Enho will come up with for the next basho. He hit a wall in the middle of this basho, but he seems to be growing between bashos and I’m sure he’ll come up with possible solutions. Please let these not contain a rain of henka. One miyagino man doing the Achey-Breaky-Heart on the tachiai is quite enough.
  • And I’ll be absolutely delighted to see my main man Terutsuyoshi appear on NHK G. Remember when Harumafuji prepared for that last yusho of his, and used Terutsuyoshi as practice target? When asked why, he told the press “I wanted to put Terutsuyoshi in the limelight”. Well, former Yokozuna, now he is just about to do it himself!

I hope you enjoyed this too!