We have a long list of interesting bouts today – famous former sekitori! Up-and-comers! Wakaichiro! It really was a fantastic day.
Continue readingAki Day 4 – Bouts from the lower divisions
Shiraishi
Aki Day 1 – Bouts from the lower divisions
Yay, Aki basho is finally here! Here are some of the bouts that took place in the lower divisions on day 1.
Jonokuchi
We can’t start a basho or start the day without the Knight of the Woeful Countenance, Hattorizakura, here attacking, ahem, from the right, while his tiny opponent, Chiyotsurugi, attacks from the left:
Wow, he actually resists for a long while for Hattorizakura. Chiyotsurugi must be thinking “I was told it would be easier!”.
If you noticed in the background, a tall young man coming in and not exactly knowing what to do with himself and where to sit, that’s Senho, Hakuho’s latest recruit. And boy, is he green. He didn’t know when to mount the dohyo, and Kaio, er, Asakayama oyakata, had to explain it to him.
His bout is up next. Here we see him on the left side, and his tiny opponent, Urutora from Shikihide beya, is not exactly the cream of Jonokuchi. But…
Urutora wins by ashitori. The first “Ho” of the day suffers the same fate as the last “Ho” of the day.
Jonidan
Hakkaku’s prince charming, Kitanowaka (left), faces Shimomura, from Sakaigawa beya.
Round and round and round he goes, where he lands, nobody knows. Uwatenage, Kitanowaka (“The youngster of the North”) wins.
Sandanme
We have several bouts from Sandanme. First and foremost, Wakaichiro, here on the left, facing Fujitaisei from Fujishima beya:
Wakaichiro barely stops to blink.
Next we have some former sekitori who are looking for their way back up. First, Homarefuji, who was one of the proud lineup at Isegahama back in the day, starting from the left, facing Kasugakuni from Nakagawa beya.
Kasugakuni is out of his league against the veteran.
Then we have Amakaze, from Oguruma beya. For once, he is facing a rival bigger than he is, Dewanojo, whom we met during Jungyo as Mitakeumi’s tsukebito. He is about the same weight as Ichinojo. Amakaze on the left, Dewanojo on the right.
He may be Ichinojo-sized, but he is not Ichinojo-skilled. Amakaze deals with the giant without problem.
Makushita
We start relatively low, with a face we haven’t seen on the dohyo in a long time: Chiyonokuni! On the left we have Ayanoumi from Yamahibiki beya.
Chiyonokuni’s mobility may not be Makuuchi-level, but it certainly suffices for Ayanoumi, who gets hatakikomied.
Shiraishi from Tamanoi beya, a strong man whom I didn’t quite like last basho, because he was doing too many henkas and really had an annoying match with Terunofuji, faces Okinofuji from Hakkaku beya (right):
This is more what I expect from an up-and-comer. That was proper windmill tsuppari.
Further up the Makushita chart, blue-blooded Naya, on the left, faces experienced Toyohibiki:
…and once again fails to deliver on all the hype that has been heaped upon him. Toyohibiki wins by tsukiotoshi.
Midorifuji (left) and Kototebakari (right) are right at the doorstep to heaven.
Kototebakari is a man on a mission. Isegahama’s deputy pixie can’t really do much here.
Finally, the last bout of Makushita, and who is this in a black cotton mawashi and a modest chon-mage? Oh dear, it’s Arawashi. How many of you failed to notice that Arawashi fell out of the salaried ranks? Here on the right, he faces Akua/Aqua from Tatsunami beya.
Whoa. This bout had a monoii, but it went gunbai-dori. That is, the decision was held, and it’s Akua’s win.
Juryo
Makushita rikishi Wakamotoharu had a bout in Juryo today, and got to wear an oicho-mage again briefly. He is on the left, with fresh Juryo promotee Kaisho on the right:
Wakamotoharu is determined not to miss out on the opportunity to return to Juryo his rank gives him. He wins by yoritaoshi.
In a bout between two single-kanji, four-syllabled rikishi, Irodori, who is on his second stint in Juryo, on the left, faces Ikioi, who is trying to stay in Juryo:
This is the genkiest I have seen Ikioi in a while. He wins by tsukidashi.
Bouts From the Lower Divisions – Day 10
First, I’d like to apologize in advance that there will be no lower division coverage for days 11 and 12, at least not by me, due to offline demands on my time. I’ll do my best to renew the reports on day 13.
Jonokuchi
Remember I told you there was another rikishi from Tatsunami beya beside Roman who got his hair shortened? Well, I have one of his bouts for you today. We are talking about Yukiamami, who is 3-1 at this stage of the basho. He is the one with the, well, very short hair. His opponent is Hamanoumi from Tokitsukaze beya.
He gets his kachi-koshi. And even this tweet notes his hairstyle with surprise. This man is on the dohyo since 2013 – there is no way he can be mistaken for a newbie.
One of the leading Narutos faltered yesterday, but still left us with two 5-0 leaders from that heya. Today Motobayashi was aiming to join those two, having 4-0, and facing Garyu from Futagoyama beya. Garyu is on the left, Motobayashi on the right.
That’s more Makushita sumo than Jonokuchi… So Motobayashi joins Marusho and Sakurai from his heya at the top of the Jonokuchi chart. The only way the yusho winner will not be from Naruto beya is if all three drop a bout, and the yusho playoff involves somebody else with 6-1 (or if all of them drop two and there is a 6-1 ahead of them).
Jonidan
Continuing our focus on the short haired Tatsunamis, Roman (on the right) is facing Raiga from Futagoyama beya (left). Both are 3-1.
Raiga is trying as hard as he can not to lose his shikona again (Futagoyama oyakata revoked his shikona a while back because he was not working hard enough, and only bestowed it on him again before this basho). But the one ending with a kachi-koshi is the clearly stronger Crew-Cut Roman.
Our next Jonidan match is between Kitanowaka, AKA Prince Charming, and Kotosusumu from Sadogatake beya. Kitanowaka on the left, Kotosususmu on the right, both 3-1 and trying for a kachi-koshi.
Kitanowaka suffers his second loss. It’s harder to control long legs (ask Abi). Kotosusumu is kachi-koshi.
Makushita
I have no footage of interest from Sandanme, and only the sad news that another Isegahama has gone kyujo (Sawanofuji). So moving on to Makushita. We have Roga facing Chiyodaigo. The Kokonoe man on the left, and Roga with the long zanbara on the right:
Chiyodaigo tries a hatakikomi on Roga, who remains perfectly stable – no mean feat for the slippery Nagoya dohyo. Roga wins by Oshidashi, but by the look of it, he seems to have paid for that with a tooth or a piece of tongue.
Next, we have the Tamanoi wonder, Shiraishi, here on the right, facing Shohoryu, who is not Hoshoryu. Shohoryu is a proud member of Kakuryu’s tsukebito team, also known as the best sumo school in Tokitsukaze ichimon. The sumo education is starting to show. They are both 3-1.
Shiraishi is a strong fella, but this opening gambit of his is getting old already, and it’s merely his second professional basho. Learn a proper tachiai, young man. In any case, he wins by hatakikomi (what else), and Shohoryu will have to go do some more training with his 10-0 yokozuna mentor. By the way, it appears Gokushindo is also back in the Kakuryu school, though they declared him permanently graduated that time he advanced to Juryo.
Next up, one of the popular foreigners in sumo, though he was never even close to being sekitori, is Masutoo, Chiganoura’s Hungarian. The shikona basically means “East Europe” (plus the “masu” which is one of the heya’s traditional kanji). At age 33, he seems to be fighting better than he has for a long time. He is 3-1, here on the left vs. Tochimaru from Kasugano beya:
Masutoo is kachi-koshi. If this extra strength has anything to do with him being assigned tsukebito to Takanofuji (fmr. Takayoshitoshi), then it’s the first good thing I’ll have to say about that Twin in quite a long time.
Finally, our highlight bout of the day is Kototebakari, facing Chiyoarashi. Once again, it’s a match for the kachi-koshi, as both are 3-1. Kototebakari is on the left.
Most of Kototebakari’s bout end pretty quickly, but Chiyoarashi made him work for it today. Work he did, winning by a yorikiri, and securing his kachi-koshi.
Tomorrow is a star-studded day, with Hoshoryu, the two Onamis, and – get this – the much anticipated Roga vs. Terunofuji re-match. So I have to apologize again for not being able to cover this, and I hope Andy will retweet the match – because it’s certain to flow up either of our Twitter streams – and you’ll be able to catch it here on the bar on the right side.
Bouts From the Lower Divisions – Day 7
We start with a look at the Naruto beya guys down at Jonokuchi. I have three of them today for you, all at 3-0 at the start of the day.
We have seen Marusho yesterday,. Here he is again on the left, facing Shimakaze from Oguruma beya on the right.
Blink and you have missed it. 4-0. Kachi koshi.
We have also met Motobayashi. Here on the left, facing Tomiyutaka from Tokitsukaze beya on the right:
Moving forward like a road roller, Motobayashi is also 4-0 and kachi-koshi.
The third one is Sakurai, attacking from the right this time, vs. Garyu from Futagoyama beya:
I’m guessing the huge brace on the man’s leg at such an early stage in his career is something he brought from home (he is 22 years old), but it’s clear he also brought some sumo skills with him. Again, 4-0 and a kachi-koshi.
In fact, these three and one non-Naruto make up the leading pack of Jonokuchi, with Mishima, their heya mate, having his fourth bout in a few hours, hoping to join them there. Mishima is, in fact, going to wrestle with a 2-1 opponent, as the division ran out of potential 3-0. These guys can’t be matched against each other until the yusho playoffs, so if they keep winning, there is a distinct possibility of a big, fat, four-way playoff between members of the same heya at Jonokuchi. I bet that will draw some press to a normally forgotten division in senshuraku. I’m guessing the torikumi guys will start matching them against Jonidan wrestlers at some point to try to cull that down a bit.
Jonidan
Continuing our watch of Crew-Cut-Roman, here is the trimmed Tatsunami man on the right, facing Kiyota from Dewanoumi beya on the left. Both 3-0:
This time Roman’s skills fell a little short – see what I did there? – and Kiyota is the one stepping away with a kachi-koshi. Kiyota is 15 years old, it’s merely his second ranked tournament. He was a meh 4-3 in the previous tournament, but he actually looks like an interesting wrestler.
Another one we have been following through Jonidan is Kitanowaka, Prince Charming from Hakkaku beya. Here on the left, he faces Tokisakae on the right:
Tokisakae gets the kachi koshi. Kitanowaka suffers his first loss, and will not take the Jonidan yusho. Tokisakae had him in a morozashi he really didn’t know how to solve.
Sandanme
My only contribution from Sandanme today is Tachiai’s favorite Texan, other than Bruce, of course. Wakaichiro on the left is going against Narumi from Onomatsu beya on the right. Both 2-1 before this match.
Alas, though Wakaichiro was in control of most of the match, Narumi turns the tables on him at the end, and the boy from Texas is now 2-2.
Makushita
Shiraishi, the henka man from Tamanoi beya, seems to have suffered some sort of shoulder injury since his last match. He is here on the left, facing Hatooka from Kise beya on the left. If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because he won the Jonokuchi yusho last Kyushu, followed immediately with the Jonidan yusho this Hatsu.
Hatooka is kachi-koshi, and that injury seems to have been exacerbated in this bout. Ouch. Shiraishi will have to fight for his kachi-koshi through increasing pain.
Next up, Midorifuji, the Isegahama deputy pixie, who is tsukebito to the head pixie Terutsuyoshi. He attacks from the right, and Daishoryu from Oitekaze attacks from the left. This, too, is a 3-0 bout.
Midori does the push-me-pull-you dance, and gets his kachi-koshi. In fact, Terutsuyoshi has three tsukebito – Midorifuji, Hikarifuji and Isamufuji – and all of them won their bouts today, which is a rare event, as it turns out. He said that he felt pressure when he got up to his own match: “Imagine how it would feel if I were to be the only one in the car heading back home who had a loss today?”. He saved himself that humiliation with that, ahem, henka today, and there was much rejoicing in the “Team Terutsuyoshi” car.
Next up, we have two of our objects of attention facing each other today. On the left, we have Akua from Tatsunami beya. On the right, Kototebakari from Sadogatake.
Although Kototebakari opens aggressively, Akua twists around in a way that renders his attack ineffective, and then starts chasing him around. Akua is the one with the kachi-koshi and a leg in the yusho race, and Kototebakari is out.
Juryo
I would be remiss if I didn’t bring you footage of this rare event: Ikioi winning his first match of the basho.
Yes, Ikioi is now 1-6, somehow scraping that win off of Kizakiumi, who may have been still celebrating his win against Hoshoryu of yesterday.
Finally, my new Juryo favorite, who keeps evoking memories of Harumafuji – Kiribayama, Michinoku beya’s Mongolian sekitori. Here on the right, he faces our friend Akiseyama:
This is a nice match, but Kiribayama is in fact 4-3. His hoshitori (win/loss standing, depicted as white and black stars respectively) looks like this:
◦•◦•◦•◦
There is a term for this kind of win-lose-win-lose hoshitori: “Nukenuke”.