Yutakayama

Natsu 2018 Jungyo Newsreel – Day 21

Herouth Jungyo (巡業) , , , , , , , , ,

🌐 Location: Akita, Akita

Today’s report is going to be relatively short, as the usual information (such as bouts and rikishi videos) about this Jungyo event was scarce.

nobori

There are two main reasons for that. One is that the local high school, Kanaashi Agricultural High School, has reached the high-school baseball finals for the first time in 117 years, and this event sort of outshined any minor sporting events in the area. Both local fans and local papers produced less sumo news.

The second reason was that around 10AM, while he was working with his low-ranking deshi outside the venue, Takanohana oyakata collapsed, had spasms, and lost his consciousness. By the time the ambulance arrived, he has regained his consciousness, but he was admitted to hospital for checkups and will be kyujo from the rest of the Jungyo.

He was released from the Akita hospital fairly quickly, returned to Tokyo, and will undergo further examinations at a hospital in the capital.

This further filled my Twitter feed, at the expense of actual sumo. We wish Takanohana good health (despite the fact that many of us foreign sumo fans feel that the man is either delusional or megalomaniac, he is a very popular sumo personality, and seems to be a skilled coach. And anyway, none of the above is a reason to wish ill health on anybody).

But the Jungyo event did proceed more or less as planned. So let’s start with a short video showing the building and dedication of the Akita dohyo:

On the day itself, as usual, some wrestlers were doing keiko while others were shaking hands:

aminishiki

Kakuryu has increased the level of his practice. Up until today he did not do any sumo on the dohyo, only offered his chest for butsukari. Today he had practice bouts vs. Shodai and Yutakayama, and overwhelemed them easily:

Hakuho finally started practicing on-dohyo. His practice was not as intensive as Kakuryu’s. He practiced with Ishiura – mostly tachiai practices etc.:

He also had four bouts with his uchi-deshi, but really, for Hakuho, that’s like taking a candy from a baby. He won them all (yorikiri, tsuri-dashi… poor Ishiura).

Also for the first time he joined the Torikumi. Unfortunately, I do not have the slightest information about either the order of the bouts or the results, let alone videos.

And as we have already come to expect – there was a star of the day. In fact, there are many rikishi who hail from Akita prefecture. But only one sekitori – Takekaze. He also happens to be a graduate of the same high school that got the locals so excited – Kanaashi Agricultural. He made sure to wear his Kanaashi kesho-mawashi.

You can hear him wishing the high school team to do their best and to be “without regrets” after the final occurring on the same day. Unfortunately they did not win the title.

When he finished his torikumi he also unfurled a “Thank you for the Jungyo” sign he prepared in advanced and walked with it down the hanamichi:

takekaze-thanks-audience

He did win that bout – he was elevated from Juryo to Makuuchi and matched with Okinoumi. All the other Akita rikishi (in the low ranks, of course) also apparently won their torikumi.

Here is your portion of Enho of the day, and I hope my report tomorrow will be richer, as the Jungyo hits Tokyo again.

enho
Don’t worry, little one. You’ll soon be done with this stinky duty.

 

Natsu 2018 Jungyo Newsreel – Day 17

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

🌐 Location: Rikuzentakata, Iwate

venue
Dream Arena Takata – spiffy new building, shiny parking lot

The Jungyo headed East on August 15th (yes, I’m late again), and landed in the coastal town of Rikuzentakata, holding the event at the brand new Dream Arena Takata which was opened this spring.

There is good reason both the building and everything around it is brand new. Rikuzentakata was virtually wiped off the face of the Earth in the tsunami of 2011. It was one of the hardest hit towns, with death toll nearing 2000 people – around 10% of its population. This is the first time in 63 years a Jungyo event takes place at this small town, but Hakuho is actually returning to it 7 years and 5 months after his previous visit – doing Yokozuna-dohyo-iri to encourage the survivors after that devastating natural disaster. “I was the sole yokozuna then”, he recalls. “I did a dohyo-iri twice a day”.

The memory of the disaster was not the only reason for solemnity, though. August 15th is the day Japan announced its surrender in WWII, and it’s designated as a memorial day for those who lost their lives in war. The Jungyo officials held a moment of silence:

moment-of-silence

As such, there were fewer goofs and frolics documented today.

The Makushita-and-below rikishi had their practice first as usual. Tamawashi was there as the head torturer, er, generously offered chest owner:

low-rank-practice-with-tamawashi

Tochinoshin started with light practice:

So light that he did it without his brace.

Hakuho still confined himself to basic drills:

As usual, when he showed up and started to warm up, everybody stood in line to greet him. But what’s this, is Terutsuyoshi sneaking away without a bow?

No, he is not. Quite the opposite – he goes and gets the ladle to offer water to the Yokozuna.

Takayasu has taken a shine to Onosho, and Onosho is making good use of his quality time with the Ozeki:

Attaboy. But Takayasu is not going to stay a loser for long:

Ah… Onosho’s typical overcommitment. Takayasu seems amused – and makes sure the audience is as well.

We are still in Iwate prefecture, so Nishikigi is still very much the center of attention. As such, he is getting some more love from Kakuryu:

He is lucky it’s Kakuryu rather than Hakuho. Hakuho doesn’t settle for slaps on the tush. He likes to kick.

Goeido started doing serious san-ban and upping his pace heading for Aki. At Oshu, he had 9 bouts with Yutakayama and won all. Today he continued with the same rival:

Here are some bouts for you. First – rather rarely for this Jungyo – we have a video for non-sekitori action. Well, former sekitori – Chiyootori vs. Ohata:

Moving up, we have Enho vs. Churanoumi:

Aaaagh… too bad. But rather entertaining for the spectators.

Nishikigi, star of the day, vs. Yutakayama.

Yutakayama gets the upper had on the tachiai, but Nishikigi manages a makikae (change from overarm to underarm grip) and takes control of the bout.

As Kisenosato is back on the torikumi list, today we had the Ozeki facing each other (Tochinoshin not doing bouts as yet):

This one was all Goeido. Poor Mitakeumi who sits by the dohyo as kachi-nokori (winner staying around to give chikara-mizu if needed) is hit by an incoming bear, and it takes him a while to come around and get to the bucket.

Finally, the musubi-no-ichiban really looks like the battle of two Yokozuna.

Kakuryu’s foot seems to be much better.

Signing off with the not-too-happy Enho of the day:

enho
Totally photobombed by Emmet “Doc” Brown there

 

Natsu 2018 Jungyo Newsreel – Day 15

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

🌐 Location: Sendai, Miyagi

arena-inside

Today’s event… well, honestly, it’s not today’s event. It took place on the 12th. But anyway, day 15th event took place at Sendai, Miyagi prefecture. Sendai has been one of the places hit most severely in the 2011 Tohoku disaster, and sever years later, it’s still seeking revival. Accordingly, two Yokozuna with their entourages reported in to perform a ceremonial dohyo-iri for the revival of Sendai:

If you’re wondering about the absence of Hakuho, just remember that in 2011 he did the rounds as lone Yokozuna to perform dohyo-iri all over Tohoku, including Sendai. The other Yokozuna get to be in the spotlight this time.

The event also included some solemn sumo jinku:

jinku-for-restoration-of-sendai
Tochigidake, Mutsukaze, Motokiyama

Back in the venue, Hakuho continued his off-dohyo workout routine. Though who knows what he was exercising here:

hakuho

If you think that looks silly, that’s one Hakuho record easily broken by Kakuryu, who seems to be really creative when it comes to looking silly:

kakuryu-silly-exercise

Other than that, most practice was sane. Takakeisho was doing butsukari with Daieisho:

takakeisho-butsukari-daieisho

And Takayasu was doing san-ban with Yutakayama:

takayasu-sanban-yutakayama

Goeido also had gave butsukari, but was still off the torikumi. Apparently, he has an ear infection. Takekaze, by the way, is back in the bouts.

Just before the Juryo torikumi, a drum exhibition took place:

Here is another duty performed by gyoji: the announcer in the venue is always a gyoji. In this case, Kimura Ryosuke:

ryosuke-chiyootori

Here accompanied by Chiyootori, who seems never to let go of that portable mini-fan.

It’s the announcer’s duty to explain what is going on on the dohyo – who is coming up for sanban or butsukari, what performance is about to take place and what it means. He gives the audience the kimarite at the end of each bout, reads out the names of kensho sponsors, and also gives general guidelines such as what to do in case of earthquake.

Dohyo-iri time is goof time. Chiyomaru decided to make sure all the photos taken by the sumo ladies were decent:

chiyomaru-self-censored
I wonder how he got those removed (cringe)

Tamawashi and Chiyomaru bullied poor Shodai so badly he ran away:

Tamawashi didn’t settle just with that. He also pestered Ikioi:

tamawashi-annoys-ikioi

…and bothered Kagayaki:

tamawashi-annoys-kagayaki

I guess somebody forgot his Ritalin today?

Alas, I do not have any torikumi videos. I can inform you that Aminishiki, who is very popular in Sendai, won his bout vs. Takanoiwa:

aminishiki
That’s a pretty determined face for a mere Jungyo bout

Apparently, Chiyomaru lost to Arawashi, while Mitakeumi beat Takayasu. And honestly, I don’t know who won, but Endo seems to be really enjoying his bouts:

endo-enjoys-himself-too-much

Now, in our Enho corner, I wanted to give you yet another solo dreamy prince photo. Or maybe one of him doing his shiko. But I have been informed that there are still a few people not trained enough to recognize Yago on the spot. So I give you Enho – accompanied by Yago:

enho-with-yago

Easily recognizable by having his center of gravity in his jaw.

And so as not to diminish Enho, here is a little clip from Instagram, which shows you why people love the little prince to bits. He recognizes the lady fan who is filming this from a previous occasion, and turns to greet her. She: “Hey, you remember me?”, He: “Yes, I remember”. She “Oh… thank you!!!” 😍

That guy waiting for Enho there is Kyokusoten, who has also fallen under the spell of the little pixie prince. Just today I saw a tweet in which he refers to him as “Uchi no Enho” (“My Enho”). 💕

 

Natsu 2018 Jungyo Newsreel – Days 6 and 7

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

Today I’m wrapping two Jungyo days into one post, because frankly, materials about the visit to Yuzawa were scarce. Both events took place in Niigata prefecture, so they fit together anyway.

Edit:

  • Turns out Gagamaru and Takekaze have joined the Jungyo at Niigata
  • The full bout between Yutakayama and Endo turned up. See below.

🌐 Location: Yuzawa-machi, Uonuma-gun, Niigata

In a small, sleepy ski resort, Churanoumi, who is soon to lose his sekitori status, is nevertheless diligently working out. The surprising aspect of this is the guy he is using for weight lifting:

We have seen several sekitori lifting their tsukebito or their trainer. Or in the case of the Taka twins, their brother. But in this case, Churanoumi is lifting a man who outranks him a whole division. Yes, that’s Ishiura on his back.

And we have good news – a second Yokozuna mounts the dohyo for practice. This involves giving Yutakayama, the local boy, some TLC, Yokozuna-style:

Hakuho was practicing with a rubber band. And the Yokozuna can’t finish this rubber band practice without targeting his tsukebito’s sensitive parts:

He does it every single time. This time he was even a little merciful, letting it loosen a bit before letting go. I suspect his partner had a stiff insert inside his mawashi in anticipation of this. Here is Enho (who, you may recall, is also one of the Yokozuna’s tsukebito, so he has to do this thing from time to time) in the training camp before the Nagoya basho. His face tells of anticipated pain.

enho-waiting-for-the-inevitable
Enho knows what’s coming. And that towel won’t help a bit.

🌐 Location: Niigata city, Niigata prefecture

Now, this was a whole different thing as far as coverage is concerned. As I said, Yutakayama hails from this city, and he was the star of the day:

The second lady there wants Yutakayama to become Yokozuna. Well, time will tell. In the meantime, Kakuryu again gave him a butsukari session:

A slightly longer video of this is here:

Yutakayama at least fared better than Daiamami did two Jungyos ago – he finished up on his own two feet. You can also see that as usual, Kakuryu does away with much of the Alpha Male bravado part of the butsukari. The usual way to complete a butsukari session is with the receiver knocking on the giver’s chest, who in turn rolls him one last time in the dirt. Kakuryu here is all like – “OK, we’re done. I get it, I got a knock on my chest. But really, do you like rolling in the dirt? Just go…”

That bout between Yutakayama and Endo of which you saw a glimpse in the video, in fact included a wardrobe malfunction. Konosuke did not let it go this time, and had a mawashi-matta:

wardrobe-malfunction-1

Endo seems to have lost both front and back there. And something about this amuses him very much. Maybe the prolonged hug with Yutakayama:

wardrobe-malfunction-2

That’s not an expression you’re likely to see on anybody’s face during honbasho – even in the middle of a wardrobe malfunction.

And here is the full bout:

Anyway, Yutakayama may have been the main course in this meal, but there were many other activities going on around the venue. For example, Kotoeko joined a calisthenics class:

The sekitori were doing moshi-ai. Here we have Endo and Myogiryu:

endo-myogiryu

And Shohozan vs. Okinoumi:

shohozan-okinoumi

Tochiozan was trying to hide from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal:

tochiozan-bugblatter-beast-of-traal

You see, knowing where your towel is is very important!

Tamawashi shook off his murderous ways and instead taught Kyokushuho a resistance training drill:

tamawashi-kyokushuho-1
You wrap the rubber band around your arms like so…
tamawashi-kyokushuho-2
And then pull those arms together.

As the sekitori were getting ready for the dohyo-iri… OK, we interrupt our programming for the following message. This is Yago:

introduction-to-yago

Kintamayama claims that only 3 out of 10 fans would recognize this man. I’m here to rectify this. I have a soft spot for Yago, as my very first post on Tachiai was about Yago. He was amateur Yokozuna, got a Makushita tsuke-dashi position, and struggled a bit to find his place in Juryo at first. He is now one of the mainstays with a good chance of making it to Makuuchi soon. Yago is his real name – his stablemaster said he will not give him a shikona until he matures from a “yago” (different spelling, a dragonfly nymph) to a full-fledged dragonfly. Dragonflies, by the way, are symbolic in sumo – they can only fly forward, so they are a symbol for forward-moving, no-retreat attitude.

Oh, and Osunaarashi in his day nicknamed Yago “Ago”. Which is Japanese for “chin” or “jaw”. Yago is very highly recognizable by his substantial jawline. No, he is not a pretty boy like Enho or Tobizaru, but he is a friendly guy with great potential.

So now I hope you all know who Yago is and how to recognize him, and we shall now proceed with the our planned programming.

Speaking of Enho and Tobizaru, Enho was pulling the oldest prank in the book on Tobuzaru today:

This involve mixing a good amount of the dohyo salt in the ladle of chikara-mizu before handing it over to the awaiting wrestler. The yobidashi usually sees what’s happening but keeps his mouth shut. This is not something you ever do in honbasho, but there is not a single jungyo where this is not done – several times, if possible.

I won’t be surprised if revenge awaits Enho in tomorrow’s event. As Enho always fights first in the Juryo bouts, he will be receiving the water from the wrestler that follows him… which is very likely to be the same Tobizaru.

Goofing around in the Jungyo is not reserved just to Juryo. Take a look at Onosho in the Makuuchi dohyo-iri, as Mitakeumi ascends the dohyo:

So here is the musubi-no-ichiban. And finally, it seems that Kakuryu is able to produce some forward motion:

This is it for today. But I can’t finish without the obligatory Enho photo!

enho-shohozan

Ah yes, Shohozan is in it, too. 😀

And there is even a “the making of” version of this picture:

enho-shohozan-the-making-of