Ura

September Day 4 Preview

Bruce H Aki Basho 2016, Kakuryu (鶴竜), Kisenosato (稀勢の里), Takayasu (高安), Yoshikaze (嘉風) , , , , ,

dohyori

Of Course You Know This Means War…

More chaos in the matches as we go skidding into day 4. It’s still early, and it’s really up for grabs. Even the research staff here at Tachiai are confused (and possibly drunk) given all of the twists and turns thus far. Day four now approaches, with calamitous intent!

Endo v Chiyoshoma – Really now, Chiyoshoma is still undefeated? Can we have the good Endo please, to bring maximum parity to the dohyo? Prediction / wish-casting: Endo

Sokokurai v Kotoyuki – The next undefeated Rikishi will go against Sokokurai. I predict that Sokokurai will not be kachi-nokori

Takekaze v Mitakeumi – That guy Mitakeumi is actually good enough to win this thing. I wonder if the veteran Takekaze can furnish a speed bump on his road to victory.

Ikioi v Chiyootori – Much as I love watching Ikioi win, he was hurt on day 3. I really don’t want to see Chiyootori go 0-4. Ikioi was limping bad enough on that bad ankle I worry about him going kuyjo. So far no word in the sumo press on that.

Takayasu v Tochiozan – I think the Takayasu sumo machine finally has his boiler up to temp, so this will be a good match. I hope to see Tochiozan make kachi-koshi when all is done in 11 days.

Goeido v Takanoiwa – Great sumo cat of the Kokugikan! If either of the Kadoban Twins win this basho, i am honor bound to eat both my own buttocks. Not an easy task. Takanoiwa has been on a hot streak, my backside prays he can slow down Goeido, it’s not like we can count on Kakuryu to do it

Okinoumi v Terunofuji – Wow, you know Terunofuji is worried, right? What happened to regular Okinoumi? I expect that he will one day peel his lifelike skin away to reveal Hakuho inside there operating him like a robot.

Kisenosato v Yoshikaze – The Great Pumpkin is off his game. He is at his best when he is straight ahead hug-and-chug mawashi sumo. I don’t even see him getting a grip on these bouts. Good luck trying to touch Yoshikaze’s belt. I predict (as i always do) the Berserker. He’s kind of the Mike Ditka of sumo. Yeah, that slipi-toshi loss to Kakuryu? We still love you Berserker!

Juryo

Ura v Sadanofuji – Sorry Sadanofuji, it’s time for more Ura goodness

Chiyomaru v Osunaarashi – I worry the Sandstorm is not healed up yet. Anyone’s guess on this one as Osunaarashi is hit or miss

 

Ura Weathers The Great Sandstorm

Andy Aki Basho 2016 , , , ,

screenshot-211Yes, there were some big moves in the makuuchi and some huge upsets in sanyaku…but I’m going to start with the match up I was most looking forward to, Ura vs Osunaarashi. My big questions coming into this were, 1) How well healed is the Egyptian? and 2) How would Ura handle his opponent’s aggressiveness? I consider this Ura’s first makuuchi bout.

Ura wisely avoided a strong, head-on tachiai. As we’ve seen before, Ura backed up a good 3 feet off the usual starting point, forcing the opponent to travel a greater distance. screenshot-212He ducked and deflected Osunaarashi, staying low and keeping him at arms length. Osunaarashi made a charge but Ura was able to counter, pivot, and drive Osunaarashi off the dohyo and into the crowd.

Kotoshogiku shook off his first challenge in Shodai while Goeido got a strong win against Tochinoshin. Both ozeki look to head off demotion. Inexplicably, Terunofuji showed up today and looked to be at maybe 70-80% healthy. Yoshikaze was not going to take it easy on him and tried a quick hatakikomi but the ozeki didn’t fall for it. However, Yoshikaze went on the attack and picked up a yorikiri win as Terunofuji had no strength to counter. TERUNOFUJI NEEDS TO GO KYUJO AND HEAL!! When he is this banged up, it damages the sport as everyone wonders how does he manage to get a winning record in the final days against strong opponents?

I don’t even know what happened with Kisenosato against Okinoumi. I keep watching the replays and the Maegashira somehow got him turned around and pushed out. He didn’t have a particularly strong grip or position but…come on. Anyway, I’d draw a great big BATSU over any chance he had to win this tournament now.

Well, maybe half-batsu as Kakuryu got shoved out by Tochiozan. Regardless, I have been quite disappointed with Kakuryu’s performances at yokozuna. If he’s still injured, he needs to sit out. He won’t face demotion but he faces humiliation if he loses like today, jut a straight forward oshidashi push out?  Tochi-from-Kochi didn’t even need to wrangle him to the edge. It just took one strong shove from the middle of the dohyo.

Harumafuji was having none of these upsets. From the outset, he went at Kaisei’s throat with a forceful nodowa and he did not let up. Kaisei tried what he could to pull Harumafuji’s hand from his neck but the stranglehold was too much. That’s got to be an unpleasant feeling.

ワイドナショー Segment on Ura

Andy Sumo Topics
Screenshot (200)
“Downtown” comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto

This variety show is one of my wife’s favorite shows. She’s a fan of Hitoshi Matsumoto, the blond comedian (you’ll probably recognize him from “Silent Library”). They get asked questions and this one had to do with whether they thought Ura would become yokozuna. They hedge, noting it’s very difficult to become yokozuna but it’s an interesting segment. They show clips from his bouts, including an infamous one from his Juryo debut in the May tournament when he beat Dewahayate by koshinage. The best clips come from his bouts when he was a scrawny little kid, like when he flips the much larger kid. They also talk about his wrestling and gymnastic background. One of the featured guests also brings up Satoyama & Ishiura as guys that break the mold like Mainoumi. Yes, this is in Japanese but I think you can still get the gist and enjoy the segment if you don’t understand Japanese.