Day 14 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
On most days when I write my comments, I feel like I'm saying the same things over and over and you could take the rikishi names and just copy and paste them into these pre-written paragraphs, and nobody would be the wiser. I say that now because the most applicable introduction to Day 14 was already written and posted in my Day 9 intro. In short, the biggest takeaway or the biggest frustration for the Sumo Association is the inability for the Ozeki to carry the basho. In January, it looked as if Daieisho had a good shot to go wire to wire jumping out to an 8-0 start with everyone else two or more losses behind. Three days later, Daieisho found himself tied with Shodai at 9-2, so how did the basho end? Daieisho won out and Shodai dropped his bouts on the final two days to give Daieisho the easy victory.

This basho the Ozeki have barely been in the picture. Asanoyama sputtered his way onto the leaderboard for most of week 2, but he kept dropping bouts in untimely situations leaving Takayasu as the sole leader most of the way. Now that Takayasu has started to wobble, the Ozeki aren't there to pick up the pieces. It's been Terunofuji whose tried his best to stay out of the way. He made that more than clear by losing to two weaklings in Onosho and Shimanoumi, and then in the biggest bout to start the second week, he took a dive against Takayasu, the sole leader. Terunofuji made his intentions known early, but now the Sumo Association finds itself on the brink of allowing the yusho line to fall to four losses with no one to save the day but the Mongolian.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's review the leaderboard to start the day:

10-3: Terunofuji, Takayasu
9-4: Asanoyama, Takakeisho, Wakatakakage, Aoiyama, Hidenoumi

In the interest of time, let's just focus on the leaders starting with M15 Hidenoumi who faced a tall challenge today in M7 Tochinoshin, and Shin actually went for a pull early on causing Hidenoumi to move laterally to his right, and as the two hooked back up, the bout went to migi-yotsu where Hidenoumi had the left outer grip. The problem with the grip was that it was just one fold of the mawashi, and said mawashi was slipping up too high for Hide's own good. The M15 still tested the force-out waters, but Tochinoshin stopped him a step away from the edge lifting Hidenoumi up high and then turning the tables with a powerful inside belt throw that slung Hidenoumi over to the edge requiring a simple two-handed shove to his chest to mop things up. Hidenoumi gave a nice effort, but he ain't no Tochinoshin. The Georgian moves to 7-7 with the win and knocks Hidenoumi off the leaderboard at 9-5.

Next up among the contenders were two four-loss rikishi M2 Wakatakakage vs. M12 Aoiyama, and Aoiyama met the youngster with two hands to the neck before quickly attempting a slapdown. Wakatakakage survived the hataki-komi attempt, but as he stood back up, Aoiyama was right there to greet him with more shoves keeping Wakatakakage largely upright. Credit WTK for getting a right arm inside, but as soon as he did, Aoiyama went for a mammoth kote-nage with the left that sent Wakatakakage packing for good. This was really an uncontested bout as Aoiyama wielded the bully stick in moving to 10-4 while Wakatakakage is knocked off of the board falling to 9-5.

That brings us to Komusubi Takayasu who is just trying to survive at this point, and he had to solve M8 Tobizaru. The tachi-ai was extremely light and contained little to no contact as Tobizaru shaded to his right looking to catch the Komusubi with a tsuki or tug at that left arm, and as Takayasu tried to square up and get that left inside, Tobizaru continued to move right until they did a full turn in the dohyo. From this point both combatants offered defensive stiff arms with Tobizaru testing the quick ke-kaeshi waters, but he wasn't in position to succeed, and so the defensive posturing continued. Finally, Takayasu was able to force his way into the left inside position he wanted from the tachi-ai and he followed that up with a right outer grip. With Tobizaru electing to position his right arm up high around the neck, it was game over right? Uh no. Takayasu was unable to mount a force-out charge, and so Tobizaru continued to force the two to circle in the center of the ring before going for a very ill-advised ke-kaeshi, and that was the momentum shift Takayasu needed. He immediately forced Tobizaru to the edge and seemingly across, but Tobizaru leaned back to his left twisting Takayasu's neck as he went with the right arm, and he had just enough mustard on the move to cause Takayasu's left knee and elbow to touch down before Tobizaru fell off the dohyo altogether.

Watching live, it looked extremely close, and so they called a mono-ii, but watching the replay, Takayasu clearly touched down before Tobizaru came close to touching out, and so gunbai-doori in favor of Tobizaru. Oh Snap!!

There was quite a murmur of disbelief running through the crowd as if to say, "What happened to Takayasu?" What happened was he reached this point of the basho completely artificially, and so it shouldn't be a surprise to see him beaten when his opponents try and win. Speaking of Takayasu, if you have the inside position and outer grip against Tobizaru while he's got his right arm high around the neck, there is no way you should lose that bout. No way. It's just unbelievable how inept Takayasu's sumo has been all basho, and today was Exhibit A. Hooboy. With the loss, Takayasu falls now to 10-4 while Tobizaru prolly kept himself in the running for a special prize in advancing to 9-5.

Moving along in chronological order brings us to Takakeisho vs. Shodai. Shodai hinted at getting a left arm to the inside at the tachi-ai, but he was stiff and slow allowing Takakeisho to knock him upright with some nice thrusts to the chest. The tsuppari didn't drive Shodai back, however, and so he moved to his right slapping at the back of Takakeisho's right shoulder causing him to duck forward just a bit. The shoulder slap had little behind it, and so Takakeisho was able to easily square back up, and as he did Shodai just stood there with arms out wide absorbing the final volley of thrusts that sent him across. Shodai looked pretty lethargic in this one, and my opinion is that he didn't want to knock his fellow faux-zeki off the leaderboard, but who knows? Shodai hasn't exactly established a baseline of measurable sumo the entire basho, but I think he went easy on Takakeisho today. Regardless of that, Takakeisho keeps pace at 10-4 while Shodai falls to 7-7.

And that brings us to the final bout on the day, Sekiwake Terunofuji vs. Asanoyama. Asanoyama came with what looked like a defensive moro-te-zuki at the tachi-ai, and that's a dumb move against Terunofuji because 1) a defensive thrust isn't going to knock Terunofuji off of his perch, and 2) it paved the way for Terunofuji to get to the inside, and that he did with the right arm. Asanoyama countered in kind getting his own right arm inside, and then the two twirled about around the dohyo with Terunofuji preying on the left outer while Asanoyama tried to spin his hips away from it. They made two circles or so before Terunofuji did latch onto the left outer, and from there Terunofuji seemed to be in full control. Asanoyama did unleash a very nice counter inside throw with the right that knocked Terunofuji off course a half step, but he righted the ship quickly and took advantage of that momentum shift to drive Asanoyama across to the other side of the dohyo wrenching with the outer grip before knocking Asanoyama across for good with a right inside arm across the chest.

A couple of comments here. First, why didn't Asanoyama give this kind of effort against Takakeisho yesterday? I think the answer to that is because he let Takakeisho win for whatever political reason. Secondly, why doesn't Asanoyama give this type of effort every day? The reason for that is he knows that most of bouts are pre-determined and so it's just lightweight sumo. And third, I think Terunofuji would have been completely fine dropping this bout in favor of Asanoyama, but to do so would have sent the yusho line down to four-losses.

In my 25 years or so of watching sumo, I've seen the yusho line fall to four losses once, and it was a terrible basho. It was the 1996 Kyushu basho, and five rikishi ended the tournament at 11-4: Akebono, Wakanohana, Musashimaru, Takanonami, and Kaio. Normally one might think a five-man playoff would be exciting, and yeah, if the five guys finished the tournament at 13-2 or higher it might be, but it was a miserable close to a terrible basho. I don't even remember how a five-man playoff works. I think they draw straws and one guy gets a bye. The other four pair up and then the two winners from the pairs enter into a tomoe-sen (winner stays on) with the dude who got the bye, and in a tomoe-sen, the first guy to win twice in a row takes the yusho. In my opinion, it's not something worth repeating, and so I think Terunofuji went straight up today to preserve the yusho line at three losses.

Officially, Terunofuji moves to 11-3 with the win while Asanoyama is eliminated from the race altogether at 9-5. In fact, Terunofuji at three losses means that all five-loss rikishi are done, and so the leaderboard heading into senshuraku is as follows:

11-3: Terunofuji
10-4: Takakeisho, Takayasu, Aoiyama

One might think that Terunofuji losing tomorrow to Takakeisho would provide an exciting finish as it would guarantee a tomoe-sen, but I don't think it's going to happen. As I've been stating the last few days, I think keeping the yusho line at three losses is more important than faking a yusho for Takakeisho. I could be wrong on that point, but the bottom line is it will be obvious tomorrow if Terunofuji lets up for Takakeisho.

Besides the Terunofuji - Takakeisho finale, Asanoyama should let up for Shodai giving Shodai kachi-koshi and then that leaves us with two four-loss rikishi going at it in Takayasu and Aoiyama.

As was the case today, the foreigners are more than just heavy favorites. They will 100% win in a straight up bout, and so the only drama left for tomorrow is will the foreigners go straight up or will they go soft in the interest of politics?

Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Back in the day, I used to call Day 13 moving day implying that the pretenders were sifted out from among the real contenders in the yusho race, but it's been quite awhile since we've had a credible yusho race where all parties on the board deserved to be there. Having said that, the results of Day 13 here in March were quite unexpected, and it feels as if a sizeable shakeup occurred. Since there are only three days left to cover in the tournament, let's start with the yusho race and then touch on bouts of interest from the lower regions.

The leaderboard at the start of the day was not the most exciting we've seen. I mean, the three names on the board are all recognizable, and all three are either Ozeki or former Ozeki...not that that means anything anymore, but there was still the name recognition for the fans. The problem was that Takayasu was alone on top with nothing but rank and filers to fight the rest of the way while the three faux-zeki and Terunofuji would all be paired against each other down the stretch. It felt like we were on the brink of a runaway yusho with a guy whose sumo has frankly looked really bad the entire way. Well, the yusho race got the shakeup it needed today so let's get right to it first reviewing the leaderboard:

10-2: Takayasu
9-3: Asanoyama, Terunofuji

Komusubi Takayasu was first up, and he was paired against M2 Wakatakakage. The M2 struck at the tachi-ai and shaded a bit right as neither Takayasu nor Wakatakakage were really looking for a forward-moving charge. The two traded defensive tsuppari before Takayasu shaded right going for a pull, but it was less than average allowing WTK to survive. From there, Takayasu looked to get the left arm inside, but Wakatakakage backed out of it and stayed on the move forcing the Komusubi to give chase and to this point, neither guy had scored a single blow that caused their opponent to move back a step...or even half a step. Midway through the bout, Wakatakakage yanked Takayasu's arm pulling him dangerously close to the edge, but the Komusubi survived, and so the busy yet unproductive bout continued until Wakatakakage finally got the right arm inside and used it to force Takayasu quickly back to the edge. Takayasu countered with a left kote grip and the feeble nage-no-uchi-ai was on. It looked to me as if WTK was going with the flow of Takayasu's kote-nage and willing to put his left elbow down first, but during the kote-nage, Takayasu's right knee buckled and hit the dohyo floor before the M2's elbow touched down. I mean, Wakatakakage applied zero pressure with his right scoop throw; he was in the better position to knock his foe across the straw first yet refrained; and he also went down far too easily as a result of Takayasu's weak kote-nage. However, the Komusubi's knee clearly touched down first giving the gunbai to Wakatakakage.

Ota Announcer desperately asked to no one in particular, "No mono-ii?!" because it was a close bout, and when it was clear that Takayasu was the loser, there was complete silence in the booth as if no one knew how to handle things off script. Ota Announcer did break the silence declaring Wakatakakage the winner and the kimari-te, and then Kitanofuji did his best Joe Biden impression at a press conference muttering in a silent, awkward tone, "Ket...tei...sen...no...[incoherent word]" It was a surreal moment, but the decision stood: Takayasu fell to 10-3 in defeat.

The takeaways from this bout are numerous. First, I thought Wakatakakage could have won this bout much easier. There was nothing in his sumo today that indicated he was trying to win this thing. Second, a guy in sole possession of the lead on Day 13 has got to do better than that, especially against an M2 rikishi. Third, the yusho line has now dropped to three losses with a hobbled Takayasu and then Terunofuji and the faux-zeki all facing each other the final two days.

As Takayasu walked back down the hana-michi, he was noticeably favoring his right knee, so let's see how he fares tomorrow. He draws Tobizaru as his opponent, which is a complete joke, but Wakatakakage has now given Tobizaru the blueprint to defeat Takayasu: run him the hell around the ring and tire him out. I mean, that's assuming that Tobizaru will try and win the bout. We'll just have to wait and see how that plays out, but for the time being Takayasu has gone from the shoe-in to yusho all the way to in danger of going kyujo. I think he'll fight on Day 14, but he does not look good...and hasn't looked good the entire tournament. As for Wakatakakage, he improves to 9-4, so if the yusho line does drop again, he could find himself tied for the lead.

Up next was M4 Myogiryu facing Suckiwake Takanosho, and while this bout had no yusho implications, let's just stay with the flow of the broadcast and cover it now. Takanosho was late at the tachi-ai enabling Myogiryu to catch him with a right nodowa from the tachi-ai that knocked the Suckiwake upright and seemed to neutralize his ability to attack. Takanosho showed interest in a right outer grip, but he couldn't get past that initial choke hold, and so after holding this position for a second or two in the center of the ring, Myogiryu just backed up going for a standard pull felling Takanosho easy as you please. Like the bout previous and Takayasu, is that all that a Sekiwake can come up with against a guy on a seven-bout losing streak? This current banzuke is just embarrassing, but we've been dealing with this for years now as both rikishi end the day at 6-7.

And that brings us to our first faux-zeki duel of the basho, Takakeisho vs. Asanoyama, and what a dandy of non-action it was!! I mean, both guys were moving and flailing but there was minimal contact in this one as Asanoyama didn't seem interested in getting to the belt, and Takakeisho didn't dare initiate a forward-moving tsuppari attack, so the two just kinda stood there defensively shoving into each other but not doing anything that can be concretely described. After about 10 seconds of this nonsense, Takakeisho finally scored with a left nodowa to Asanoyama's throat, but the latter easily moved right shaking that choke hold off and throwing Takakeisho off balance. With the move, Asanoyama set himself up in prime position to just knock a compromised Takakeisho over and down, but instead of taking advantage, Asanoyama sort of slumped over as if he slipped while firing that counter tsuki, and so Takakeisho quickly turned around and fired a haphazard pull causing Asanoyama to hit the dirt just like that.

Where does one even start with a bout like this? First of all, it was a terrible bout of sumo with so much movement but very little substance. Asanoyama did connect on a nice tsuki early, but he didn't follow up on it, and to borrow Kitanofuji's words as he watched the replay, "Takakeisho doesn't have any bariki," or horsepower. Ota Announcer quickly covered for him saying, "This basho anyway." No. He doesn't have any horsepower whatsoever to his sumo, and today was another good example.

I think Asanoyama was mukiryoku in this one, but how does one really know? Asanoyama has no baseline of standard, straight-up sumo that we can compare to, and like the Takayasu - Wakatakakage bout previously, it's just another strange bout with a ton of bark and little bite. The result is Asanoyama's falling one off the pace and Takakeisho's now joining him at 9-4.

At this point I was convinced that Sekiwake Terunofuji was going to roll over for Shodai, but there's a reason why I always say it's so hard to predict when yaocho will occur. It didn't happen here as Terunofuji reached for and grabbed a left frontal grip from the tachi-ai, and he moved forward so fast pinching in on Shodai's left inside attempt that Shodai's only response was to shade to his right and go for a counter pull, but he couldn't even get it started before Terunofuji lifted him completely upright and threw him off the dohyo in about two seconds.

Ota Announcer instinctively declared, "Asshou!!" or sheer dominance after the performance, and then as they analyzed Terunofuji's sumo, they repeated words like "speed," "strength," and "concentration." When it came time to analyze Shodai's sumo, Kitanofuji correctly stated, "There hasn't been any substance to his sumo the entire basho." It's just night and day the way they break the sumo down after a real bout compared to a fake bout. When a bout is compromised, they use words like gaman, or genki, or fired up, or persevere. How about just going out and kicking your opponent's ass as Terunofuji did today?

Occasionally the Mongolians will do this at this stage of a basho. I think they get so fed up with the skewed banzuke and bullcrap sumo we witness day after day after day that they sometimes get the urge to make a statement, and Terunofuji did so today. I mean, has any of the current faux-zeki or Takanosho ever defeated someone in the manner that Terunofuji did today? Ever? The answer is clearly no, and everybody knows that Terunofuji or Hakuho or Tamawashi can display this kind of sumo whenever they wanna.

With Terunofuji's win, he moves into a tie with Takayasu at 10-3, but there is still a lot of sumo to go and a lot of bout fixing to come. At least I think there is. Regardless of that, the leaderboard suddenly dipped down to the four-loss rikishi, so let's move to those bouts next.

M3 Meisei has been one of the livelier rikishi this basho, and he was paired today against last basho's champion, Komusubi Daieisho. Meisei got the better push from the tachi-ai knocking Daieisho back a half step, but Daieisho stood in well and countered with his own tsuppari attack that had the bigger body behind it. This was a very good bout of oshi-zumo as Daieisho simply located his tsuppari in more effective locations...namely Meisei's neck. It was over in five or six seconds, but it was a good comeback win for Daieisho as he moves to 7-6 while knocking Meisei off of the leaderboard at 8-5.

Two four-loss rikishi hooked up in M12 Aoiyama and M8 Tobizaru, and for some strange reason Tobizaru thought it'd be a good idea to go chest to chest. I think this did surprise Aoiyama a bit, but even after giving up moro-zashi to his foe, Aoiyama was able to pinch in from the outside against both arms and then force Tobizaru back to the edge where he finished him off with two hands to the chest. Easy does it as Aoiyama finds himself on the leaderboard at the end of the day improving to 9-4 while Tobizaru falls to 8-5.

M9 Chiyonokuni who has been fading like invisible ink the last few days withdrew from the tournament after clinching kachi-koshi yesterday. His withdrawal gave M14 Tsurugisho kachi-koshi at 8-5 while Chiyonokuni will end the tournament at 8-7. Chiyonokuni reportedly dislocated the thumb on his right hand yesterday and was also fighting with cracked ribs.

And finally, M15 Hidenoumi looked to defend his four-loss record against M11 Kotoshoho, and with Kotoshoho coming into the day at 1-11, I'm sure the Hidenoumi camp felt they wouldn't have to buy this one. Both rikishi clashed well at the tachi-ai coming away in migi-yotsu where Hidenoumi grabbed a left outer grip, but as he tried to wrench Kotoshoho over to the edge with the uwate, Kotoshoho stood his ground and grabbed his own left outer sending the bout to gappuri-yotsu. Both rikishi rested a bit before Hidenoumi lifted Kotoshoho upright and then executed a dashi-nage that turned into an outer belt throw. I'm not sure if Kotoshoho's ankle injury played a factor, but there was no counter inside throw to form a nage-no-uchi-ai, and so the result was Kotoshoho's being spun over and down in spectacular fashion. Hidenoumi moves to 9-4 and becomes the bottom wrung on the leaderboard while Kotoshoho falls to 1-12.

With the four-loss rikishi now sorted, the leaderboard got a lot more interesting for everyone heading into the weekend as follows:

10-3: Terunofuji, Takayasu
9-4: Asanoyama, Takakeisho, Wakatakakage, Aoiyama, Hidenoumi

I don't really see the point in covering any other bouts, so let's look ahead to the matchups tomorrow.

As previously stated, Takayasu draws Tobizaru. In a straight-up bout, Takayasu is the superior rikishi, but we'll have to see how that right knee holds up. Don't be surprised to see Tobizaru win even in a legit bout.

Terunofuji faces Asanoyama, and it's the same circumstance as his bout against Shodai today. If the Mongolian wanna, he will, and it's as simple as that.

Takakeisho faces Shodai, and assuming a straight-up bout, I think Shodai comes away victorious.

Aoiyama and Wakatakakage face each other guaranteeing one of them to stay on the leaderboard. It goes without saying that Aoiyama will dominate if the bout is straight up.

And finally, Hidenoumi faces Tochinoshin, and the same thing goes there...Tochinoshin is the clear favorite in a straight-up affair.

I think Terunofuji now has the best odds to win the tournament. Assuming everything was straight up, you wouldn't even have odds for Terunofuji because his yusho would be a given. I still think he's the favorite now though because I don't see Takayasu holding up the final two days. If Takayasu loses once more and Terunofuji loses once more, the yusho line falls to four losses, and that is a disastrous scenario.

Anything can still happen with compromised sumo the norm these days, so the actual drama is unfortunately: will they or won't they.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
With Kakuryu's retirement taken care of, let's focus our attention next on Terunofuji's run to Ozeki. The standard number of wins over three basho in order to receive Ozeki promotion is 33. That number is definitely negotiable, and we've seen a host of Japanese Ozeki promoted the last half decade with just 32 wins. Take Shodai and Asanoyama, for example, the two most recently-promoted rikishi. Both had to be dragged across the finish line with just 32 wins apiece, and the Sumo Association still said, "Yeah, we'll give 'em promotion anyway." With Terunofuji, we've hardly even thought about his pending promotion this basho because nine wins was a given if that's what Terunofuji wanted. I mean, Terunofuji clinches promotion on Day 12 even after giving up losses to three nobodies...on purpose. Shodai and Asanoyama are awarded promotion after buying 80% of their bouts or more, and they still can't get to 33.

There's just no drama with these Mongolians and never has been because it's a given; you can see it in the sumo. It's the case with Terunofuji...both times. It was the case with Kakuryu and Harumafuji and Hakuho and Asashoryu. You just knew it based on their sumo content. With the Japanese rikishi, there is high drama because you know the bouts are fake, and the drama is will they be able to buy enough bouts to receive promotion?

It was actually Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato who established the precedent of Ozeki promotion with less than 33 wins. They were both dragged across the finish line as well with 32 wins apiece and received promotion simply because Japan really needed some Ozeki on the banzuke. To be fair, Takakeisho and Takayasu both reached the rank with 34 wins, but those two weren't kicking ass and taking names with their sumo either. The NHK Announcers weren't speaking about them in reverent tones, and nobody was afraid to fight them. The wins were light and obviously fixed, and look how well they're doing protecting the rank. Takayasu lasted a little under three years, and Takakeisho has been hapless.

I know many people think I'm biased towards foreign rikishi. I'm not biased towards foreigners; I'm biased towards good rikishi with actual game. The bias is this:

How many foreign rikishi have been promoted to Ozeki with 32 or fewer wins? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Enough of that; let's get to the action starting with M16 Kaisei who kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai enabling M14 Kotoeko to nuzzle into moro-zashi. Kaisei briefly grabbed a left outer grip, but as Kotoeko looked to move forward, Kaisei let the grip go and just remained upright allowing Kotoeko to force him straight back and across. A rikishi with the intent to win would at least dig in with that outer grip or squeeze in from the outside or move laterally or show some effort at the tachi-ai or whatever. Both rikishi end the day at 6-6 after the mukiryoku start from Kaisei.

M14 Tsurugisho and J3 Chiyono-oh immediately hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and both dudes had left outers as well to start, but Chiyono-oh broke off his opponent's outer looking to take charge. Feeling good about himself, Chiyono-oh attempted the force-out waters, but he didn't get far as Tsurugisho broke off Oh's own left outer before using his sheer bulk to force him back and across the straw. Tsurugisho moves to 7-5 with the win while Chiyono-oh falls to 6-6.

M16 Daiamami was proactive in attacking M12 Aoiyama from the tachi-ai, but the Happy Bulgar easily fended off the charge pulling Daiamami's extended right arm to throw him off balance before returning fire with his superior tsuppari attack, and that knocked Daiamami upright to where Aoiyama felled him over and down with a nice right tsuki to the side. Aoiyama picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Daiamami falls to 6-6. I didn't know this until they said it on the broadcast, but this was Aoiyama's first kachi-koshi in a year. Dude has been banking serious cash the past year in selling bouts while scoring enough wins to keep him well in the division. I say more power to ya, Happy Bulgar.

M11 Chiyotairyu and M15 Hidenoumi struck bellies well at the tachi-ai, but Chiyotairyu's shoves just slipped up and over the top of Hidenoumi's shoulders, so with Chiyotairyu exposing himself like this, Hidenoumi easily turned him to the side with a tsuki to Tairyu's left side, and from there Chiyotairyu made no effort to square back up as Hidenoumi pushed him fully around and out okuri-dashi style. Hidenoumi buys his kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Chiyotairyu falls to 5-7. Chiyotairyu needs just one more win to stay in the division, and he'll get that easily.

M11 Kotoshoho returned from his withdrawal at the end of Day 2 to face M13 Terutsuyoshi today in a bout that saw Teru move left at the tachi-ai yet focus on the right inside. For Kotoshoho's part, he was completely lost, and so Terutsuyoshi went for a right inside belt throw and used that as an excuse to simply turn his back towards his foe as he hopped near the edge, and so the two-handed shove from behind by Kotoshoho was just a spot on a match. Anyone who thinks sumo bouts aren't compromised these days obviously didn't watch this one as hey, Kotoshoho moves to 1-11!! Terutsuyoshi pocketed some cash for sure here in falling to 6-6.

M15 Yutakayama used an okay tsuppari attack against M10 Ryuden from the tachi-ai, but he certainly wasn't bullying the M10 around. Ryuden easily fended off the attack going for counter tsuki, threatening pulls, and using enough defensive tsuppari to not only keep himself in the bout but to eventually tire Yutakayama out and work his way to the inside right. With Yutakayama gassed, Ryuden mounted a force-out attack to which Yutakayama responded with a pull that only resulted in both dudes taking a ride off of the dohyo altogether. Ryuden wins here after a nice effort in moving to 6-6 while Yutakayama falls to 4-8.

M12 Akiseyama and M9 Hoshoryu hooked up in migi-yotsu where Hoshoryu enjoyed the early left outer grip, but instead of pulling Akiseyama in close and standing him upright, he allowed the M12 to maki-kae with the left arm. It was one of the slower maki-kae I've ever seen, and the usual protocol when your opponent goes for the maki-kae is to force him back at that point. Here, Hoshoryu actually backed up a half step and let Akiseyama get it. Once obtained, Hoshoryu played along with two outer grips, but he quickly just let go with the right arm and put it high around Akiseyama's neck as if to go for a kubi-nage. As if. All that did was signal to Akiseyama "do me now" and Akiseyama did. This was the final win that Akiseyama needed to buy in order to keep himself in the division for next tournament (just great). He moves to 6-6 while Hoshoryu had plenty of room to sell in falling to 7-5. Before we move on, it seems that NHK gets a big stiffie showing Akiseyama walking down the hana-michi and into the back halls where his tsuke-bito hands him a water bottle and he drains it in one swallow.

M13 Chiyoshoma's tachi-ai was light as he kept his arms wide and outstretched against M8 Kotonowaka. As for Baby Waka, he was hapless as well only his ineptness wasn't intentional, and so the two slapped at each other with straight arms and flailed around a bit before Chiyoshoma got the right arm inside forcing the bout to migi-yotsu. Kotonowaka settled in with the left outer grip but wasn't pressing, and so Chiyoshoma went for a maki-kae with the left only to just stand there and let Kotonowaka rush him back and across throwing the Mongolian down with some oomph. As I point out all the time, this was another bout that should have gone to a nage-no-uchi-ai, but Chiyoshoma just let go of his left belt grip altogether enabling the easy throw for his opponent. If Kotonowaka were really capable of this type of throw against an opponent who was trying, we'd see it more often. Hell, most of Kotonowaka's opponents aren't trying and he still can't throw them around like this. Regardless, Chiyoshoma was completely mukiryoku here and dictated the pace the entire way in falling to 5-7. As for Kotonowaka, he limps forward to 4-8 which is good enough to keep him in the division for May's dance.

I was a bit surprised to see M10 Midorifuji fight today, especially when his opponent was M6 Ichinojo. Midorifuji went for a wild hari-te with the right at the tachi-ai, but before it could really connect, Ichinojo's sheer bulk blocked it as the Mongolith forced his way into the inside right and left outer grip. From there Midorifuji had no chance, and he knew it, and so the force out was swift and decisive. You gotta hand it to Midorifuji for trying here as he falls to 4-8. From the M10 rank, he'd really love one more win to insure he stays around, but I'm afraid he'll have to buy it. As for Ichinojo, he moves to a cool 7-5.

M4 Myogiryu shoved M9 Chiyonokuni upright from the tachi-ai that enabled him to get the right arm inside, and he had the clear path to the left inside as well, but he refrained. Having blown Chiyonokuni back a step, it was time for Myogiryu to just stand there and allow his opponent to counter, and so Chiyonokuni skirted wildly to his left going for a pull at the back of Myogiryu's head with the right while clinching in around Myogiryu's arm with the left, and with Chiyonokuni extremely vulnerable at the ring's edge mid-pull, Myogiryu failed to apply any pressure, and so Kuni was able to move back right and finally fell a willing Myogiryu with a tsuki-otoshi to the side of the head. Myogiryu was so mukiryoku in this one after winning the tachi-ai, but that's what cash will do behind the scenes. Chiyonokuni moves to 8-4 with the ill-gotten win while Myogiryu has lost/sold seven in a row landing on 5-7.

M8 Tobizaru put his arms outstretched at the tachi-ai in a manner to halt the charge of M3 Meisei, but Meisei easily brushed that aside and moved in for the kill. Tobizaru evaded back and to his left, but he wasn't quick enough nor had he done anything to impede Meisei's momentum, and so Meisei easily caught up with him and was in so tight his head was practically in Tobizaru's armpit as he shoved him off the dohyo and up the hana-michi. This is why Tobizaru is such a joke and why it's pointless to acknowledge him on the leaderboard. A true leader doesn't get his ass kicked like this without scoring a single blow against his opponent. The end result is Tobizaru's (thankfully) getting knocked off the leaderboard as both rikishi rest at 8-4.

Speaking of the pending leaderboard, NHK flashed it at this point as follows:

9-2: Takayasu
8-3: Asanoyama, Terunofuji

M7 Kagayaki got the right arm inside against M3 Shimanoumi at the tachi-ai so easily it was laughable to think that this Shimanoumi was some sort of Terunofuji killer. As Kagayaki pressed forward, Shimanoumi was too hapless to deny Kagayaki the left inside on the other side, and so Kagayaki secured that as well giving him moro-zashi and leading to the easy force-out win. Kagayaki moves to 5-7 while Shimanoumi falls to 3-9.

M1 Takarafuji and M7 Tochinoshin clashed well at the tachi-ai ultimately coming away in migi-yotsu where Takarafuji had the left outer grip. After resting for a stretch, Tochinoshin tested the inside belt throw waters looking to knock his foe off balance at worst and grab an equalizer left outer at best, but Takarafuji stood firm causing the two to settle back into a stalemate in the center of the ring. Standing over the starting lines, Tochinoshin gathered his wits for maybe 10 more seconds before pulling the trigger on another inside belt throw that Takarafuji simply couldn't defend and the result was Tochinoshin's sending him across the straw after a nice bout of yotsu-zumo. It's strange how bouts like this stand out so much because they're surrounded by crap sumo most of the time. Tochinoshin moves to 5-7 while Takarafuji falls to 2-10.

M4 Kiribayama and M1 Onosho also struck each other well and came away in the migi-yotsu position with Onosho's maintaining a left outer grip. In almost a mirror image of the previous bout, the two gathered their wits a bit before Kiribayama looked for the left inside as well. Onosho not only cut him off but pinched in tight going for a half yori-kiri half kime-dashi that almost worked, but Kiribayama withstood the charge at the edge before forcing the action back to the center of the ring. From there, Onosho didn't wait long to try another force-out attempt, but Kiribayama sprung the counter trap at the edge spilling Onosho over and down with a nice scoop throw. Kinda reminded me of Kyokutenho back in the day as Kiribayama moves to 5-7 while Onosho falls to a frustrated 2-10.

And that brought us to Komusubi Takayasu who was paired against M2 Hokutofuji. The latter came with his usual tachi-ai where he extends the right arm and shades left, but it didn't have its usual mustard, and so the two grappled a bit with neither firing shoves. About three seconds in, Takayasu went for a right-handed tsuki to Hokutofuji's left side, and the M2 reacted in exaggerated fashion turning to the side and stepping close to the straw. Hokutofuji really didn't make an effort to turn around and square back up, and so he just waited for Takayasu to charge forward and sill the dill with an easy peasy Japanesey push-out. Afterwards, Fujii Announcer went to Tatsutagawa-oyakata for comment, and he started out with, "Ano, ma, ano yahari, (long grunt)," and then finally, "Oh, he attacked well from the right side," after watching the mediocre tsuki from the Komusubi. Just like the sumo when it's fake, the commentary is indecisive as well, but this is just business as usual.

You come away from the two previous bouts, which were excellent contests, and then the sole leader of the basho steps into the ring, and we get this puff bout of sumo where Hokutofuji was obviously mukiryoku. You could just see it from the tachi-ai as Takayasu is gifted his 10-2 record while Hokutofuji graciously falls to 7-4. The one positive aspect of this bout was that it officially knocked Chiyonokuni and Tobizaru off of the leader board. For now anyway.

Takayasu's opponent tomorrow is M2 Wakatakakage who has looked quite well this basho. Today he was paired against Komusubi Daieisho, and the two traded tit for tat tsuppari from the tachi-ai before Wakatakakage shaded a bit right. Daieisho decided to just bull his way forward and take advantage of his retreating opponent, but as Daieisho pressed forward, Wakatakakage sped up his lateral movement pulling Daieisho off guard and then rushing in for the hataki-komi kill. It wasn't pretty, but Wakatakakage moves to 8-4 with the win while Daieisho falls to 6-6. Regarding their matchup tomorrow, Wakatakakage is the favorite against Takayasu, but we'll see if any politics is in play.

Sekiwake Terunofuji was next up stepping into the ring with M6 Tamawashi, and for the record, Tamawashi is the better rikishi. It showed today as Terunofuji wasn't able to get inside of Tamawashi's tsuppari attack, and The Mawashi wasn't even using his legs. After a few shoves, Tamawashi began moving to his right, and he had a solid grip on Terunofuji's left arm. He coulda easily scored on a kote-nage from there, but he relented letting Terunofuji back into the bout. As Fuji looked to charge forward, Tamawashi caught him with a left tsuki that also turned the Ozeki-hopeful a bit, but Tamawashi waited for Terunofuji to square back up before shoving him methodically back to the other side of the dohyo, and Terunofuji finally went for a meager tsuki with the left, which was Tamawashi's cue to just hit the dirt.

Fake fall, and fake sumo here as Tamawashi gifts Terunofuji the cheap win. Fuji moves to 9-3 with the gift and for all intents and purposes clinches the Ozeki rank. The dude is a legitimate Ozeki for sure, but he's not as good as Tamawashi, so what does that say about Tamawashi who is always willing to monkey around among the rank and file? One thing it says is the dude is hoarding cash like crazy, and I think he turns 37 this year if I'm not mistaken. Dude has as many miles on him as grandma's Buick. Tamawashi falls to 5-7 without a care in the world, and I'm sure the Terunofuji camp sent him over more than the standard fee for a fixed bout.

Moving right along, Komusubi Mitakeumi and Asanoyama hooked up in the gappuri-migi-yotsu position from the tachi-ai, but it's hard to use the word gappuri because that implies they were chest to chest leaning in on each other. Actually, Mitakeumi was moving backwards and left from the start, and so Asanoyama just gave him chase around the ring and out. I mean, no struggle whatsoever at the edge in this affair that lasted maybe three seconds. There's really nothing more to say. Usually when a dude gets the left outer and moves that way, he'll go for a quick and dirty dashi-nage, but Mitakeumi just stayed square and backed himself up to the edge and across for all intents and purposes. The ending certainly didn't draw the sharp, "Tsuyoi!" from Fujii Announcer directed at Asanoyama because there was very little strength involved here. Asanoyama keeps pace at 9-3 with the gift while Mitakeumi falls to 5-7.

Up next was Shodai stepping into the ring against Sekiwake Takanosho, and Takanosho connected on a few nice shoves from the tachi-ai knocking Shodai back a step, but he not only refused to charge further, he backed himself up to the center of the ring and just ducked his head waiting for Shodai do deliver the hataki-komi blow. When Shodai went for the slap-down, Takanosho just ran forward allowing Shodai to grope the entire backside of his body before sending him down for good. Both Fujii Announcer and Sakaigawa-oyakata in the booth were saying, "This is just Shodai's brand of sumo. It'd be nice to see him compete a little harder." Uh, yeah, if that was possible. Shodai buys his way to 7-5 while Takanosho graciously falls to 6-6.

In the day's final affair, Takakeisho stepped into the ring against M5 Okinoumi, and Okinoumi executed that rare tachi-ai where you align your feet and then raise your right knee into the air. It's quite an effective move...if your intent is to throw the bout, and that was obviously the case from the start here. Takakeisho pushed into Okinoumi who just slid back across the sand as if conducting a session of butsukari-geiko, and while Takakeisho pushed him to the edge, he couldn't muscle him across. Okinoumi of course never went for a counter move and instead turned to his left and lent his chest again to Takakeisho who did more butsukari-geiko pushing the flat-footed Okinoumi back across to the other side, and after this second round, Okinoumi just went with it in pull mode and backed himself across the straw as Takakeisho belly-flopped to the dirt. I think it's really telling if you watch the replay of this bout and focus on Takakeisho's feet. He's hopping and stutter stepping and awkward and everything but digging those feet into the dohyo and using them as leverage in his oshi attack. Quite the contrary, this guy is as fragile atop the dohyo as it gets, and a heartfelt counter move from Okinoumi would have knocked him over with ease. It never came, and the result is Takakeisho's moving to 8-4 and officially shaking off his kadoban status. This is also the second day in a row that all three Ozeki managed to get their shat together and buy their bouts. As for Okinoumi, he falls to 3-9 and should get a nice delivery of kensho envelopes behind the scenes.

At the close of the broadcast, NHK showed the leaderboard that looks as follows:

10-2: Takayasu
9-3: Asanoyama, Terunofuji

In reviewing tomorrow's matchups, Takayasu draws Wakatakakage who is the favorite. I'm not going to predict the outcome of the bout. I'm just saying that in a straight up affair, Wakatakakage will win handily.

Asanoyama draws Takakeisho, and boy won't that be a fabulous bout. That one will be fought straight up and Asanoyama will win.

Finally, Terunofuji gets Shodai, and it goes without saying what will happen there in a straight up affair.

It's hard to predict yaocho, but I will say I highly doubt that both Asanoyama and Terunofuji will lose tomorrow if Takayasu wins. As previously stated, I think they want a semblance of a yusho race heading into the weekend, and so they can't afford to lose both three-loss rikishi with Takayasu standing two ahead at two-losses.

If Wakatakakage defeats Takayasu, look for Terunofuji to bow to Shodai. That would leave Takayasu and Asanoyama tied at three losses heading into the weekend. Regardless of how Day 13 shakes out, Takayasu is still the heavy favorite to hoist the cup come Sunday afternoon.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The bombshell news heading into Day 11 was the announcement from Yokozuna Kakuryu that he was retiring from sumo as an active rikishi and will remain with the Association as an oyakata under the name "Kakuryu." That Kakuryu retired is no surprise. Ever since the embarrassing decline and ultimate retirement of Kisenosato, one or both of the Mongolian Yokozuna were obligated to follow suit with their own retirement(s) in an effort to show the Japanese public that Kisenosato and the two Mongolians were/are on equal ground. What was a bit surprising with Kakuryu was the timing of the announcement.

It's not uncommon at all for a Yokozuna to announce his retirement mid-basho IF he was actually fighting in the tournament. Kisenosato is an example of this as he started out 0-3 in his final basho and announced his withdrawal and retirement the next day. If a Yokozuna has been inactive, however, he's obligated to announce his retirement so as to not upstage the current basho in progress.

In the case of Kakuryu's announcement, I think they had him go early afternoon of Day 11 in an effort to grab some much needed headlines for the sport in the midst of a basho that was losing steam fast. You had Takayasu two bouts ahead with five to go and a very uninteresting leaderboard heading down the stretch, and so I think they did this whole Kakuryu thing now as a PR move to make sumo the lead-in story on all the news shows. Right now you've got the high school spring tournament going on; you've got pro baseball spring camps going on; and you have the constant Olympic updates (and token Paralympics stories), and so an uninteresting basho was getting lost in the mix. Sumo needed a day where it could retake the spotlight and produce some positive results atop the dohyo, and they got it with Day 11. How long it will last is anybody's guess, but they're in a better position PR-wise at the end of Day 11.

The day began with M15 Hidenoumi facing M13 Chiyoshoma, and the latter opened up with a light tsuppari attack where he was just drifting back of his own volition instead of pushing forward. After a few seconds of this, Chiyoshoma finally ducked down a bit and assumed the migi-yotsu position with a solid left outer grip, but instead of pulling his gal in snug and wrenching Hidenoumi upright, he just maintained a loose position inviting Hidenoumi to go for a maki-kae with the left. Hidenoumi did just that as the two traded places in the dohyo, and now with moro-zashi, Hidenoumi was able to easily force a mukiryoku Chiyoshoma back and across. Hidenoumi moves to 7-4 with the win and will surely buy his way to kachi-koshi. Chiyoshoma falls to 5-6.

M13 Terutsuyoshi ducked low at the tachi-ai looking for a frontal grip against M16 Kaisei, but the Brasilian managed to get his right arm to the inside, and that was all it took for him to shore up his position for a few seconds and then force Terutsuyoshi back and across with little argument. Kaisei moves to 6-5, and the dude is crafty for sure. He'll keep himself in the division and then turn right around next tournament and sell six or seven bouts. Terutsuyoshi falls to the same 6-5 mark in defeat.

M12 Aoiyama is doing the same thing as Kaisei keeping himself in the division and selling bouts along the way. Today against M15 Yutakayama, the bout was straight up and began with Aoiyama knocking Yutakayama off his perch a bit from the tachi-ai, but as Aoiyama looked to test the pull waters, he let his foe back into the bout. From there it took in interesting turn in that you had two oshi guys settling into a migi-yotsu bout. Neither dude had a right outer grip, but Aoiyama proactively yanked Yutakayama over to the edge with a nice kote-nage throw, and when Yutakayama refused to go quietly, Aoiyama just pushed him across and down with two hands to the face. Yikes!! Aoiyama moves on to 7-4 while Yutakayama falls to 4-7.

M14 Tsurugisho moved left at the tachi-ai against M12 Akiseyama grabbing the cheap left outer grip from the start, and he used that to spin his gal around a full rotation in the center of the ring. If Akiseyama had any game, he coulda secured moro-zashi after Tsurugisho's shenanigan tachi-ai, but he doesn't, and so the two settled into migi-yotsu where Tsurugisho still maintained the outer grip, and Akiseyama could do nothing as he was forced back and across. Wow, things must really be desperate for Tsurugisho (6-5) if he had to henka Akiseyama (5-6).

M9 Chiyonokuni struck M16 Daiamami with his usual tsuppari from the tachi-ai before shading to his left and focusing on a kote-nage throw wrapped around his foe's right arm. The only difference with this throw is that Chiyonokuni was dragging his foe into his own body. I took a snapshot of the replay as an example, and if you look it, Chiyonokuni should be further to the side of his opponent, and his grip should be near the armpit, not close to the elbow of his opponent's arm. With Daiamami unable to take advantage, Chiyonokuni just continued that fake kote-nage motion stepping about a half meter beyond the straw before executing the throw. I mean, how more obvious does it have to be?? I would think if you had three dudes in the booth breaking down the sumo, someone would have pointed out the improper position of Chiyonokuni's kote grip and sloppy footwork, but that's not their purpose. Chiyonokuni intentionally throws this one falling to 7-4 while Daiamami is gifted 6-5.

Speaking of the leaderboard, NHK posted it as follows prior to the Chiyonokuni bout:



I think it's actually a lot more credible with him off of it, so it was a helpful loss for everyone. Before we move on, I can't be totally sure about this, but I think I spot an actual fan in this picture. Every other red velvet seat is on sale for the tournament, and you can see how many people are clamoring to fill them. To be fair, it looks as if there are about 50 people in the rafters on both the shoumen and mukou-joumen sides, but still...

Speaking of the leaderboard, I guess M8 Tobizaru has managed to wander onto it as well. Today against M14 Kotoeko, the two traded cautious tsuppari at the tachi-ai where neither dude looked as if they wanted to move forward. Kotoeko finally caught Tobizaru with a paw to the neck knocking him back a bit, and this forced the bout to migi-yotsu. Kotoeko had the clear path to the left outer grip, but he wouldn't take it, and so the two jockeyed for a bit, and then it was just inevitable based on the position of these two for Eko to grab the left outer. If he was hesitant in grabbing that outside grip, he was even more hesitant at the edge where he forced Tobizaru back but then just stood there waiting for Tobizaru to counter. When Tobizaru couldn't, Kotoeko just dipped his shoulder and fell over as if the victim of a tsuki-otoshi from Tobizaru's left arm, but Tobizaru wasn't even pushing into Kotoeko's side. They had no choice but to rule it tsuki-otoshi, but I took this snapshot from the reply at the edge. Tobizaru's left fingertips might be touching Kotoeko, but he's not executing a tsuki...that's for sure. The devil's in the details as Tobizaru fakes his way to 8-3 while Kotoeko dominates start to finish in falling to 5-6.

And that's one of the problems in sumo right now. You have a guy in Tobizaru who's supposedly one of the leaders, but he just finishes a bout against a weakling in Kotoeko and he doesn't do a single thing to either dictate the pace of the bout or to execute the winning technique. It was all Kotoeko faking it the entire way, but there Tobizaru was in the interview room afterwards celebrating his kachi-koshi.

M10 Ryuden has sold a lot of bouts this basho, so against M8 Kotonowaka, it was time to bolster the win column. Ryuden got the right arm inside from the tachi-ai and toyed with the idea of moro-zashi before simply grabbing the left outer grip and forcing Kotonowaka back and across without argument. Kotonowaka is so hapless it's not even funny as he falls to 3-8. As for Ryuden, he moves to 5-6 and from the M10 rank, and that gives him some breathing room to work his craft in the division for next basho.

M7 Kagayaki kept his hands low at the tachi-ai and lifted them up into M10 Midorifuji's body eventually bringing them up around Midorifuji's neck as he easily pushed the smaller rikishi back. Midorifuji put his right leg against the tawara to brace himself, and with Kagayaki still applying pressure, Midorifuji's leg just buckled as he collapsed to the dirt. He was limping heavily walking out of the arena and into the back halls, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was forced to withdraw. As for Kagayaki, he picks up the easy win leaving both rikishi at 4-7. After the bout, they called up to the booth and said it was Midorifuji's right ankle that's injured.

M7 Tochinoshin and M11 Chiyotairyu struck well at the tachi-ai trading barbs for two or three seconds in what looked to be a nice bout, but then Tochinoshin went for a half-assed pull with the right hand that felled Chiyotairyu far too easily. Great start from both and then a very awkward finish as Tochinoshin moves to 4-7 while Chiyotairyu falls to 5-6.

M9 Hoshoryu gave M5 Okinoumi a quick thrust at the tachi-ai before looking to get his left arm inside and a right outer grip. Problem was that Okinoumi is so tall and long, there was no way Hoshoryu was getting the right outer. With the Mongolian cuffed and stuffed for all purposes at this point, Okinoumi failed to use his size advantage to really pull Hoshoryu in tight and upright, and so he executed a slow force-out charge to the edge leading with the left inside and right outer grip, but because he was applying little pressure, it allowed Hoshoryu to go for a mediocre left scoop throw. The Mongolian really wasn't in a position to pull it off, but Okinoumi just let go of his right outer and dipped that left shoulder taking a dive across the straw and giving Hoshoryu the cheap win. I say it all the time (because it's true), but this was the classic nage-no-uchi-ai set up at the edge. That Okinoumi didn't follow through on his part of it tells you that he was completely mukiryoku. And it wasn't just at the edge. You could see Okinoumi letting up and going easy from the tachi-ai as he falls to 3-8. As for Hoshoryu, he buys the cheap win here in moving to 7-4.

At the midpoint of the broadcast, they focused on Kakuryu and a few highlight from his career. It's always nostalgic to relive these moments, and Kakuryu was fortunate enough to be part of the best sumo the sport has ever produced starting from about 2004 to 2010. I'll just include two pictures...one of the dude riding an ox and another one taken from his stint in a juvenile detention center. Either that or it was the picture he included with the form letter he sent to all of the stables asking them to recruit him.



With a sweet teenager mustache like that one, his rise to the Yokozuna rank was inevitable.

M3 Meisei looked as if he tripped a bit at the tachi-ai against M6 Ichinojo, and it enabled the Mongolith to get the right arm inside early, but he quickly pulled back on it and instead faked a pull that allowed Meisei to knock him upright a bit and assume moro-zashi. After giving up dual insides, the correct reaction from Ichinojo would be to wrap around both arms tightly, but here Ichinojo just kept his arms high and allowed Meisei to force him over and across with nary a counter move in sight. This was a farce from the beginning as Ichinojo was clearly mukiryoku in falling to 6-5 while Meisei is gifted 7-4.

M6 Tamawashi came with a tsuppari attack way too high for his own good against M2 Wakatakakage, but it was an intentional ploy to give WTK access to the inside. Even with no legs behind his thrusts, Tamawashi was scoring jabs left and right against the M2, but Wakatakakage eventually figured things out moving right and going for a light pull, and Tamawashi fully complied allowing Wakatakakage to get deep to the inside and then position himself up high for a pull attempt that would never come. This allowed Wakatakakage to score the uncontested yori-kiri win in moving to 7-4. As for Tamawashi, he falls to 5-6 with a fatter billfold.

It's too bad M1 Takarafuji is from the same stable as Terunofuji because the latter seems to be picking all the dudes with the worst records to lose to this basho. Today, Takara Boom De Ay faced fellow stalwart, M3 Shimanoumi, in a yotsu bout that contained plenty of social distancing. The two held wrists at the tachi-ai on Takarafuji's right side while the M1 looked to hook Shimanoumi's right arm on the other side, but the grappling was light and the two changed positions in the dohyo ending up pushing at each other's shoulders and elbows. Eventually, Takarafuji got the shallow left inside position, and that was enough to allow him to work inside a bit deeper and push Shimanoumi back as Umi looked to evade. This bout moved at a turtle's pace the entire way, and watching it in slow motion was even more painful as Takarafuji moves to 2-9 with Shimanoumi settling for 3-8.

Komusubi Daieisho knocked M1 Onosho upright from the tachi-ai with a nice thrust attack that focused on Onosho's neck, and as Onosho looked to lean forward to ward off the blows, Daieisho moved right a bit and yanked at Onosho's outstretched left arm sending Onosho into an exaggerated fall across the straw. This was a good start followed by a weak finish as Daieisho moves to 6-5 while Onosho falls to 2-9... with one of those scalps coming at the hands of Terunofuji of course.

M2 Hokutofuji used his typical tachi-ai against Komusubi Mitakeumi where he strikes with a right thrust and moves left. The initial thrust didn't connect, but Mitakeumi couldn't solve his foe's shading left, and so Hokutofuji was finally able to shove Mitakeumi upright, over, and then across the straw with little argument. This was a one-sided bout the entire way as Hokutofuji moves to 7-4 with Mitakeumi falling to 5-6.

Sekiwake Terunofuji stepped into the ring to face Suckiwake Takanosho, and Fuji the Terrible was not in a giving mood today. Fuji hooked his own right arm across his body latching onto Takanosho's extended right arm at the tachi-ai, and he used that to yank Takanosho forward and completely expose his right side. From there, Terunofuji combined his momentum from the tachi-ai with a left outer grip to send Takanosho over and across before the dude knew what hit him. You watch sumo like this and then the light way in which the faux-zeki "win," and it's just laughable to think that Terunofuji is ranked beneath them on the banzuke. And then what does it say about Takanosho? It's more than obvious when Terunofuji intends to win and when he intends to lose, and there was no doubt he meant business today in moving to 8-3. As for Takanosho, he got his ass kicked in falling to 6-5.

And that brings us to the marquee matchup on paper for Day 11. I say on paper because I know the sumo isn't going to be epic, but a Shodai "upset" against Komusubi Takayasu would make the yusho race interesting again. Shodai looked to get moro-zashi from the tachi-ai getting the left arm inside and search for the right arm as well, but Takayasu easily pinched the arm away rebuffing his foe's initial charge. From there, Takayasu made the smart move by completely extending his left arm outwardly telling Shodai to come and get it, and even then, Shodai couldn't assume moro-zashi to where he was chest to chest with his foe. Takayasu backed up completely erasing Shodai's moro-zashi before getting his left arm inside, but he just stood there and allowed Shodai to move right and go for the lightest of love taps at the back of Takayasu's right shoulder, and that of course sent the Komusubi into a voluntary stop, drop, and roll out of the dohyo altogether. Wow, that was a fake fall if I've ever seen one that was preceded by lightweight sumo from both parties. I know I haven't been singing Takayasu's praises this basho, but he coulda laid the wood to Shodai here. The reason he didn't was to make the yusho race more exciting. In falling to 9-2, it brings Terunofuji and more importantly Asanoyama back to just one off the pace. As for Shodai, he moves to 6-5 with the gift and may be able scratch out a kachi-koshi in the end.

Moving right along, I was the only one saying it out loud that the Ozeki were never able to all win on the same day, and yesterday at the end of Day 10, I finally saw a single headline where a newspaper dared to point out that same fact. Everyone within the Association knew damn well that the Ozeki were an embarrassment this basho, and it didn't take my saying it or a Japanese news outlet to report it for them to know that the Ozeki couldn't all win in the same day, so today was as good'a chance as any. You had Kakuryu's retirement announcement to draw attention, and now we just witnessed Takayasu taking a dive to breathe some life back into the yusho race. Could Takakeisho and Asanoyama make it a trifecta of good news on the day?

M4 Kiribayama wasn't going to stand in the way throwing wild if not light tsuppari Takakeisho's way and then going for a useless pull that acted as an excuse for Kiribayama to send the momentum in Takakeisho's favor. For Takakeisho's part, he did nothing from the tachi-ai but flail away ineffectively, and it was all Kiribayama dictating the pace here. With Kiribayama backing towards the straw, he instinctively shaded left faking a shoulder pull of Takakeisho's right shoulder, and in the process, Kiribayama just stepped beyond the straw before Takakeisho could deliver a decisive blow. I mean, you had Takakeisho putting on the brakes in front of the tawara in reaction to Kiribayama's having moved left, but then the next thing you knew, Kiribayama was outta the dohyo just like that. It was a very unnatural ending and watching in slow motion, it was obvious that Takakeisho didn't deliver the blow that sent Kiribayama across. In fact, he barely scored on anything the entire way in being gifted a 7-4 record. As for Kiribayama, he knows his place in falling to 4-7.

And that brings us to Asanoyama. Could he solve M4 Myogiryu in order to make it three for three? I guess solve isn't the right word. It's more like just don't eff anything up against your mukiryoku foe, and Asanoyama almost did coming with terrible C3P0 arms at the tachi-ai giving Myogiryu the right inside and pathway to a left outer grip, but Myogiryu just hopped backwards instead of establishing the proper yotsu position giving Asanoyama the force-out win in mere seconds that coincidentally contained no force. I'm just incredulous as I watch all of this take place, but the important result is Asanoyama's moving to 8-3 while Myogiryu has now dropped six in a row in falling to 5-6.

The sumo on the day was largely crap, but the Sumo Association was able to come away from it all with their desired headlines, not the least of which is a more interesting leaderboard:

9-2: Takayasu
8-3: Asanoyama, Terunofuji, Tobizaru

You hate to see the yusho line dip as low as three losses, but I think that's going to be the case this tournament. I'm positive Terunofuji is not going to hoist the cup on Sunday, but I also don't see Takayasu winning out. The dude is not a story teller, and I think the reputation of the Ozeki needs to be propped up just a bit more. I know that Takayasu has faced all of the Ozeki, but if he keeps winning and Asanoyama drops another one, the Ozeki are erased from the board yet again.

We'll see how it all plays out, but I think there's an 80% chance the yusho line drops to three losses.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The lead story for the Day 10 broadcast was the withdrawal of M5 Endoh citing a torn muscle in his left calf. The news doesn't move the needle whatsoever regarding fan interest in the tournament, and beyond Endoh's withdrawal, they barely talked about the yusho race. Satoh Announcer did mention that Takayasu is the sole leader, but then they got right down to business. Attendance-wise, it feels as if there are more gaps now in the lower masu-seki seating, and as I've been stating the last few days, there is very little on the current leaderboard to spark a ton of fan interest.

Aside from the yusho race, the only other major storyline is the possible promotion of Terunofuji to Ozeki. The "meyasu" number of bouts stated that he needs to win prior to the basho was nine, and he should easily obtain that mark, but I don't think Ozeki promotion for Terunofuji is at the forefront of the average sumo fan's mind. I guess my point in this intro is that there hasn't been much for the media to hype since Hakuho withdrew at the end of Day 2.

Turning our attention to the theater in the ring, M15 Yutakayama kept his hands way too high for his own good against M2 Ishiura. The M15 alternated light shoves and then pull threats, but he was really just standing there leaving himself vulnerable to an Ishiura attack. Eventually, Yutakayama turned a bit to the side allowing Ishiura to execute a mediocre slap to the side, and Yutakayama dutifully hit the dirt before Ishiura stepped out. Light way to start the day as Yutakayama sells a bout in falling to 4-6

M13 Terutsuyoshi lamely hopped forward towards M16 Daiamami coming away with the right inside and pathway to the left outer grip, but he didn't take the left outer and instead pretended to push upwards into Daiamami's right side. As for Daiamami, he had both arms wrapped tightly around Teru's right arm, and he supposedly used that to move Terutsuyoshi back and across in what they said was kime-dashi. Terutsuyoshi purposefully kept himself upright the entire way and never bothered to move or attack as he gifted this one to Daiamami who moves to 5-5. Terutsuyoshi definitely had room to sell falling to 6-4.

M14 Kotoeko was not buying from M12 Aoiyama today, and so Aoiyama just crushed Eko back from the tachi-ai and knocked him across the straw in about three seconds with his beefy shove attack. Kotoeko didn't even bother to counter he was beaten that badly in falling to 5-5. Aoiyama moves to a nice and easy 6-4 with the win.

M10 Midorifuji was completely exposed today at the hands of M15 Hidenoumi. Midorifuji did get the right arm inside from the tachi-ai, and against a mukiryoku opponent he could have executed the kata-sukashi from there, but Hidenoumi was anything but soft. He wrapped tightly around the outside of Midorifuji's right arm, and after gathering his wits, he executed a strong kote-nage with the left that sent Midorifuji over to the edge with his feet perfectly aligned, and before the M10 could do anything, Hidenoumi shoved him down oshi-taoshi style with two hands to the chest. This was an ass-kicking as Hidenoumi moves to 6-4 while Midorifuji (4-6) could do nothing--absolutely nothing--against an opponent fighting for real.

M14 Tsurugisho and M10 Ryuden hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Ryuden had the easy left outer grip about three seconds in, but he let that go and just stood there with his head down allowing Tsurugisho to execute a light kote-nage with the left. Instead of countering with his right inside belt grip to create a nage-no-uchi-ai, Ryuden just kept his head down and walked away from the throw hitting the dirt in tow. This was obvious mukiryoku sumo from Ryuden who drops to 4-6 while Tsurugisho buys another win in moving to 5-5.

M9 Hoshoryu struck M16 Kaisei with two hands to the chest at the tachi-ai, but it didn't budge the larger Kaisei a centimeter. From there, Kaisei kept himself open allowing Hoshoryu to get the right inside and ultimately the left inside as well giving Hoshoryu moro-zashi. Kaisei responded with two outer grips, but he just stood there and waited for Hoshoryu to initiate a right inside belt throw. Once again, the natural reaction from Kaisei should have been a counter throw with the left outside grip, but instead of putting up a fight, he just ducked forward and down folding himself like a card table on the dohyo floor below. Another fixed bout here as Hoshoryu moves to 6-4 while Kaisei falls to 5-5 a wealthier man.

M13 Chiyoshoma and M8 Tobizaru traded barbs from the tachi-ai where Chiyoshoma slowly allowed himself to be nudged back as he kept his hands up high and in defensive mode more than he was trying to damage Tobizaru. After five or six seconds with Chiyoshoma completely exposed near the edge, Tobizaru rushed in getting the right arm deep to the inside, and with Chiyoshoma still standing there not holding onto anything attached to his opponent, Tobizaru picked up Chiyoshoma's left thigh lifting him over and down komata-sukui style. The execution was fine indeed, but if your opponent is just going to stand there at your bidding, you can do sumo like that all day every day. Tobizaru buys his way to 7-3 while Chiyoshoma's billfold is fatter at 5-5.

The bout fixing would continue as M7 Tochinoshin came with his usual right kachi-age against M12 Akiseyama, but Shin kept his arms out wide after that gifting Akiseyama moro-zashi. Still, Akiseyama didn't know what to do with it and switched places in the dohyo losing his left inside position. With Akiseyama completely exposed at the edge, Tochinoshin grabbed a left outer grip and the right inside, but instead of going for the force-out kill that would have required him to move Akiseyama back one step, he stood there allowing Akiseyama to tug upright at the front of Shin's belt. Said belt was coming loose, and Akiseyama had no momentum to speak of on just one fold, and yet he was magically able to force Shin back across the dohyo to the other side and fell him with a feeble inside belt throw. This was yet another bout that should have seen a nage-no-uchi-ai with Tochinoshin firing on that outside left, but he just dove out and down without applying any pressure against his foe. Both announcers said they expected Tochinoshin to win that bout after getting the outer grip, but of course they're commenting as if everything is straight up. It obviously wasn't here as Akiseyama buys his 5-5 record while Tochinoshin falls to 3-7.

After the bout, they panned into the rafters for whatever reason to use them as a background for the graphic showing the three-most streamed bouts yesterday. I think if I look really hard, I can maybe pick out five total fans in this shot:



In case anyone's wondering, the top three bouts streamed from Day 9 were:

1. Takakeisho - Mitakeumi
2. Shodai - Daieisho
3. Terunofuji - Myogiryu

Moving right along, M11 Chiyotairyu struck M7 Kagayaki at the tachi-ai before immediately going into pull mode. He made two quick swipes shading back and to his right, and Kagayaki just flopped forward and down all the way to the edge of the dohyo. This one was over in under two seconds as Chiyotairyu buys his way to 5-5 while Kagayaki laughs all the way to the bank at 3-7.

M6 Ichinojo came with a quick hari-zashi tachi-ai against M8 Kotonowaka slapping with the left and getting the right arm inside, but before the Mongolith could grab a left outer grip, Kotonowaka backed away and to his right trying to dance around the edge of the ring. Ichinojo stayed square firing a few shots at his opponent, and when Kotonowaka made it to the other side of the dohyo, Ichinojo pulled him off balance and then slapped him down for good picking up the easy win in moving to 6-4. Kotonowaka falls to 3-7 in defeat

If you're scoring at home, seven of the first 10 bouts on the day were fixed.

Moving into the second half, M9 Chiyonokuni attempted his tsuppari attack against M5 Okinoumi, but they had no effect presumably because he hadn't paid off his opponent. As Okinoumi looked to turn the bout to yotsu-zumo, he used a few tsuppari to set up the left arm inside, but before he could get that established, Chiyonokuni backed up going into pull mode. Problem for Kuni was he hadn't set it up properly and so Okinoumi was able to give chase and catch Chiyonokuni with a left tsuki to the chest that caused Chiyonokuni to arch his back across the straw and eventually lose his balance from there. Not a pretty bout, and there's no way that Chiyonokuni is/was a legitimate leader in this basho with that kind of sumo. Ugly stuff as he falls to 7-3 while Okinoumi moves to just 3-7. That's how you know when so much sumo is fixed. Guys like Tochinoshin and Okinoumi are 3-7 while jokers like Tobizaru and Chiyonokuni are 7-3.

M6 Tamawashi's legs weren't into his tsuppari attack against M4 Kiribayama, and with The Mawashi applying little pressure and keeping his arms open, Kiribayama was able to eventually get the right arm inside and begin a force-out move before tripping the mukiryoku Tamawashi up with his right leg to the back of Tamawashi's left in soto-gake style. When Tamawashi backs his feet up when he shoves, you know he's mukiryoku, and that was the case today in falling to 5-5. As for Kiribayama, he picks up a bitta charity in moving to 4-6.

At this point in the broadcast, M3 Meisei picked up the freebie due to Endoh's absence moving to 6-4 in the process. Besides Terunofuji, I think Meisei has provided the most excitement this basho of anyone.

M1 Takarafuji was lazy at the tachi-ai coming forward without a plan and so M2 Wakatakakage took full advantage pushing Fuji a bit sideways with a nice right tsuki to the left side, and with Takarafuji still just standing there like a bump on a log, WTK got deep to the inside with the right and forced his listless opponent across from there. Wakatakakage moves to 6-4 with the win as Takarafuji falls to 1-9, and before we move on, what does it say about Takayasu's actual sumo in that he wasn't able to dispatch the one-loss Takarafuji straightway? Takarafuji dictated that entire bout before finally relenting to Takayasu after about 30 seconds. A guy who is really in the lead of a basho does not struggle against a 1-9 Takarafuji let alone buy the guy off because you can't beat him straight up.

M2 Hokutofuji went for a quick pull as he shaded left from the tachi-ai against Komusubi Daieisho briefly throwing Daieisho off balance, but Daieisho knew what was coming and adjusted his balance on a dime before knocking the compromised Hokutofuji back and across in one fell swoop. Solid oshi-dashi win from Daieisho today as he moves to 5-5 while Hokutofuji falls to 6-4.

M1 Onosho spun his wheels a bit at the tachi-ai against Komusubi Mitakeumi allowing Mitakeumi to get the easy right inside position and force Onosho back and across with little argument. In watching the replay, Onosho wasn't trying to do any damage to his opponent and was mukiryoku when Mitakeumi's force-out charge came. Onosho falls to 2-8 while Mitakeumi moves to 5-5 with the easy win.

Sekiwake Terunofuji refused to grab M3 Shimanoumi from the tachi-ai, and three seconds in I knew the result of this one. Terunofuji did all the work for sure lightly shoving Shimanoumi near the straw and keeping pace with him as Shimanoumi looked to evade, and Terunofuji had chance after chance to either grab his defenseless opponent and pull him in snug or just shove him outta the ring with a push to the torso. He did neither, however, and chased Shimanoumi this way and that waiting for the M3 to do something so he could take a dive. It took nearly 20 seconds, but Shimanoumi finally offered a weak left tsuki, and Terunofuji's reaction was to just dive sideways and down as if someone had taken a wrecking ball to his gut. This ending literally made me laugh out loud, and I counted 11 times during the bout where Shimanoumi's heels touched the tawara with the Mongolian right there in position to push him out, and yet the final blow never came. This was a laugher for sure as Shimanoumi moves to 3-7 while Terunofuji is doing his best not to completely steal the show in falling to 7-3.

And this brought is to the marquee matchup on paper for the day, Takakeisho vs. Komusubi Takayasu. The tachi-ai was actually good with both rikishi striking well, but neither dude was looking to execute forward-moving sumo, and so they traded wild slaps as they danced around the ring making sure to social distance...the good lads. With neither rikishi taking charge, Takakeisho began throwing a few wild, roundhouse lefts trying to connect with Takayasu's face, and I guess a few of the blows sorta glanced across the Komusubi's body, but none did any harm. About 12 seconds in when Takakeisho went for a third left roundhouse, you could actually hear him gasp for breath, and the dude was gassed at this point. Takayasu isn't exactly a Simeon Panda, so both dudes took the opportunity to put hands on shoulders and elbows and lean into each other for nearly two minutes with the only movement being Takakeisho's boobs bouncing up and down as he gasped for breath. Finally, Takakeisho made the first move going for a ke-kaeshi leg trip with the right, but it failed miserably and allowed Takayasu to get the right arm inside and left outer grip, and he wasted no time in bowling his defenseless opponent over and down uwate-nage style from there.

I think the most meaningful analysis following this one is to examine the three other bouts where Takakeisho was defeated, and count how long it took Wakatakakage, Hokutofuji, and Meisei to beat him. Then compare that to how Takayasu struggled with him, and it just doesn't make sense that Takayasu is the sole leader of this basho--by two losses already--judging on the content of his sumo. The answer is that Takayasu is buying the majority of his bouts, and that's why we see these anomalies all over the place. Takayasu moves to 9-1 with the rare legit win while Takakeisho falls to 6-4. This also makes it 10 days in a row that at least one of the Ozeki has been defeated on the day.

Speaking of the other two faux-zeki, Asanoyama stepped into the ring next taking on Suckiwake Takanosho in a bout where Asanoyama looked for the early right arm inside, but Takanosho rebuffed him strongly with a right hand to the head. That opened up the clear path the left outer grip had Takanosho wanted it, but he never bothered grabbing it just standing there and waiting for a weak scoop throw to come from his opponent. When it came, Takanosho just bent over putting both palms to the dirt with no other part of his body coming close to touching down. Wow, that's Ozeki power!! Executing a throw that's so weak your opponent has his full wits about him. What a joke of a bout as Asanoyama moves to 7-3 while Takanosho takes one for the team in falling to 6-4.

In the day's final bout, M4 Myogiryu was just as mukiryoku as Takanosho in the bout before refusing to apply any pressure from the tachi-ai against Shodai just ducking low and waiting for a left inashi from his foe. It didn't do much damage, and as the two looked to square back up, Shodai was turned just a bit exposing his left side to Myogiryu who could have grabbed an easy outer grip, but he refrained of course keeping his hands up high and waiting for Shodai's next move. Said move was a pitiful pull attempt, but Myogiryu just dutifully ran forward into the pull hitting the dirt as Shodai skirted to the side. As they watched the replay, Asahiyutaka in the mukou-joumen chair correctly stated of Shodai's sumo, "Well, it wasn't very good." Well said my man. And yet, Shodai comes away with the magical win moving to 5-5 in the process. Myogiryu falls to the same mark and will likely receive the bulk of the cash contained in the kensho envelopes.

With Terunofuji and Chiyonokuni's losing today, it means the leaderboard now shapes up like this:

9-1: Takayasu
7-3: Asanoyama, Terunofuji, Tobizaru, Chiyonokuni

The last thing the Sumo Association wants is a dokuso (runaway) yusho, especially with Takayasu the one in the lead. Last basho, Daieisho had a two-bout lead on day eight, and then you may remember it was quickly erased with two losses over the next three days leaving him tied with Shodai at 9-2 heading into Day 12.

I'm not saying the same thing is going to happen here, but I do know that the Sumo Association would like the yusho race to persist into the final day. About once every two years, a rikishi will clinch the yusho on the final Saturday, and the last time someone clinched on Friday was Hakuho in 2015 I believe. He's actually clinched the yusho on Day 13 six times in his career, and back when he was doing it regularly, the stands were about as full as they are today without a pandemic.

So, it's a scenario that the Sumo Associations wants to avoid, especially when they are limited to how many tickets they can sell per day and the fact that no new fans are really showing up to attend.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The biggest theme of the basho thus far is the inability of the Ozeki to shoulder the weight of the tournament. The media can manufacture their pre-basho headlines, and the oyakata can spin their analysis on the daily broadcasts, but the bottom line is that the three Ozeki are entirely fragile. Do you think there's anybody who wakes up in the morning afraid to fight one of these guys? Are they capable of hurting anyone with their sumo? Absolutely not. The ineptness of the Ozeki has left us with the following leaderboard as we head into Day 9:

8-1: Takayasu
7-2: Terunofuji, Chiyonokuni

Foreigners may look at that leaderboard and ask what's wrong with it? But you have to examine it through the eyes of the Japanese fans...the people who actually buy tickets to the event and the ones who watch it on television and not the pirated videos on YouTube. Is there anything attractive about that leaderboard?

At the start of the Day 9 broadcast, Funaoka Announcer emphasized the point that there were 12 rikishi lurking with just three losses--led by Asanoyama and Takakeisho of course (those were his words), but when was the last time we got excited by someone who was 5-3 after eight days?

Since I took both days off over the weekend, let's briefly review how we got to this point. Chiyonokuni had a walk-over on Saturday against Akiseyama in one of his few legitimate wins, but he didn't pony up against Ichinojo on Sunday and was manhandled.

Myogiryu, the only rikishi without a blemish at the end of day 5, continued his slide over the weekend getting beat by probably the best up-and-comer in Wakatakakage (who's already 26) on Saturday before agreeing to lose to Takakeisho on Sunday. Even at the end of Day 5, I could see in Myogiryu's sumo that there wasn't anything special this basho, and so he probably won't be mentioned again all tournament.

Speaking of slides, Asanoyama was easily dispatched by a Kiribayama henka on Saturday, and then Daieisho sent Asanoyama into the judge's lap on the west side of the dohyo on Sunday in an uncontested bout of sumo. The faux-zeki wasn't able to execute a single offensive maneuver the entire weekend in falling to 5-3.

Terunofuji destroyed Mitakeumi on Saturday while Takayasu required Takarafuji to let up for him in a long drawn-out bout where Takarafuji dictated the pace the entire way, and so that led to the biggest bout of the tournament so far--on paper--featuring Terunofuji vs. Takayasu for sole possession of first place coming out of the weekend. That bout can be summed up with a single still shot taken early on just after the tachi-ai.



You can see from the start that Terunofuji had his right hand cutting off Takayasu's inside left attempt, and the path was there for an easy outer grip at the front of Takayasu's belt. Instead of grabbing it, Fuji just kept his fist in a ball at the top of Takayasu's belt never once attempting to latch on.

On the other side...the side you were able to see from the live video shot, Terunofuji has his arm completely upright and away from his opponent when in reality, Terunofuji likes to use that hand to wrap around the outside of his opponent's arm and keep him upright. A second or two later, Fuji next puts that left arm on top of Takayasu's right shoulder, but once again, you can see that from the tachi-ai he is not seeking any sort of advantageous position.



On the contrary, he was letting Takayasu set up for what he wanna, and still the Komusubi needed Terunofuji to go for a useless kubi-nage pose in the end before he could force him across. Terunofuji's letting up for Takayasu was no real surprise, but whether Takayasu is alone at the top or it's Terunofuji, it still doesn't make for a very interesting leaderboard heading into Day 9.

That was manifest by the sudden drop in attendance today. The weekends are always going to be well-attended because those duckets are purchased prior to the basho. The real measurement in my opinion is the higher tier of masu-seki seats and then the red velvet seats in the second level...the seats that are usually occupied on weekdays by fans purchasing on the day of their attendance. The arena was as empty today as it was on Friday, and so that's why I think it's important to point out the fragility of the Ozeki.

Terunofuji is not going to sell tickets or interest to a basho and neither is Hakuho, a rikishi whose brand has been damaged the last few years for political reasons. As a result, the Japanese fans need someone they can glom onto and get excited over during a basho, but it's just not happening here in March.

With that, let's cover all of the bouts on Day 9 starting from the beginning.

J2 Daishomaru and M15 Hidenoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, a stance from which Daishomaru is as useless as tits on a board, and Hidenoumi pressured him over to the edge leading with a left outer grip. Course, Daishomaru just stepped out oblivious to his position on the dohyo well before the force-out came leading to an awkward ending to a generally uncontested bout of sumo. Hidenoumi moves to 5-4 after the win.

M14 Kotoeko stood completely upright from the tachi-ai with his feet aligned giving M14 Tsurugisho free reign to do what he wanna. Tsurugisho went for a light pull with the left hand, and Kotoeko just put his palms to the dirt and then stood straight back up quick as you please. I mean, if this wasn't a premeditated fall, I don't know what is. Kotoeko had room to sell here falling to 5-4 while Tsurugisho buys his way to 4-5.

I think I can just copy and paste the last paragraph for the M13 Terutsuyoshi - M13 Chiyoshoma matchup. Good night, what is going on here to start the day? Chiyoshoma stood straight up at the tachi-ai with arms out wide gifting Terutsuyoshi the easy right arm inside, and with the Mongolian literally just standing there not having made an adjustment to his opponent, Terutsuyoshi backed up a bit going for a shoulder slap with the left leading to the kata-sukashi victory. Midorifuji has to be way jealous of Terutsuyoshi and his 6-3 record while Chiyoshoma sold this one for sure dropping to 5-4.

M12 Aoiyama took his time against M12 Akiseyama focusing on well-placed slaps and shoves as he drove his fellow M12 this way and that. With Akiseyama able to do nothing, Aoiyama followed his thrust attack with a light pull, and then he finally took the bout to yotsu getting the right arm inside and left outer grip. Throughout all of this, Akiseyama had nothing to say leading to the easy force-out win for the Happy Bulgar. Aoiyama breezes to 5-4 with the win while Akiseyama needs to buy two more to stay in the division at 4-5.

M11 Chiyotairyu struck M15 Yutakayama at the tachi-ai and then completely aligned his feet with his hands up high and wide, so when he wasn't looking to set up a pull either, you knew he was mukiryoku at that point. That approach allowed Yutakayama to execute a methodic tsuppari attack that sent Chiyotairyu back and across easy as you please. Both rikishi end the day at 4-5, and speaking of 4 of 5, that's how many bouts were arranged to start the day.

M16 Daiamami got the left inside and right outer grip easily against M10 Midorifuji who was making matters worse by looking to set up a pull, but Daiamami refused to pull his gal in snug or go for the immediate force-out win. Instead, he lightly followed Midorifuji back across the entire length of the dohyo still maintaining his left inside position and right belt grip not to mention a dominant position while Midorifuji didn't have a pot to piss in. And yet, with Midorifuji's foot nearing the tawara, he seemingly went for some light twist, and that was Daiamami's cue to just lamely put his right knee down. They ruled it kaina-hineri, but this one was tsuki-hiza all the way as Daiamami obviously threw this bout in Midorifuji's favor leaving both rikishi at 4-5.

Sheesh, maybe I shouldn't have agreed to cover all of the bouts today.

M7 Kagayaki came with a half-assed tsuppari attack against M16 Kaisei who made a half-assed effort to get his right arm to the inside, so with both two dudes standing in the center of the ring but really not fighting, Kagayaki just went down. Watching the slow motion replay, Kaisei tried to mimic a pull move as a reaction to his opponent's dive, but Kagayaki was clearly already on his way down. Mainoumi chalked it up to Kagayaki's feet slipping intentionally leaving out the word "intentionally." When the announcers are slobbering all over themselves trying to figure out the winning technique or the critical points of the bout where the action shifts, you know it's fake. At this point, I'm just embarrassed for the NSK as Kaisei moves to 5-4 with Kagayaki slipping to 3-6.

M10 Ryuden got the right arm inside straightway from the tachi-ai against M7 Tochinoshin who opted to pinch in tightly with both arms against Ryuden's right instead of going for the right inside position of his own. The two jockeyed around the ring a bit before Tochinoshin allowed Ryuden a frontal belt grip, and from there the Georgian just brought the right arm to the outside gifting Ryuden moro-zashi. As Ryuden went for the force-out, Tochinoshin didn't even bother trying to set up a counter move. Instead, he just went with the flow and walked back and across largely of his own volition. This one wasn't as ugly as the previous few bouts, but it was still fixed as Tochinoshin did nothing to attempt to win this in falling to 3-6 while Ryuden buys one at 4-5.

M6 Ichinojo looked to grab the early left outer grip against M9 Hoshoryu from the tachi-ai, but he pulled the hand back and set up a nice pull attempt that he really didn't follow through on either. From this point, Hoshoryu looked to recover and get inside, but once again Ichinojo ruled the day getting the right arm inside and left outer grip without really trying. Hoshoryu had a right inside belt grip, but he didn't have Ichinojo forced upright and out of position, and so Ichinojo just abandoned his right inside position giving Hoshoryu moro-zashi, and a few seconds later the 21 year-old went for a light inside belt throw that was Ichinojo's cue to put his knee to the dirt as part of a fake fall. I mean, Ichinojo dominated this one start to finish and you couldn't point to a single move from Hoshoryu that threw his foe off a single bit. Furthermore, if Ichinojo had been applying pressure with his left outer, this would have gone to a nage-no-uchi-ai, but instead, it was a light fall from the Mongolith. The Hoshoryu camp buys this one as both dudes settle for 5-4 records.

M9 Chiyonokuni sorta moved left against M6 Tamawashi going for a light inashi henka, but The Mawashi just intentionally bought it hook, line, and sinker stumbling forward to the edge. Chiyonokuni had no momentum, however, to finish his willing foe off, and so as Tamawashi squared back up, he didn't bother going for any kind of shove or counter move. Rather, he just stood there and waited for a phantom swipe from Kuni that barely connected, and sure enough, Tamawashi just reacted by putting both palms to the dirt and no other part of his body. Hey, at least he added a useless leg kick to make it look more dramatic. If you're scoring hat home, that's one real bout out of the first 10 as Chiyonokuni buys his way to 7-2 while Tamawashi falls to a harmless 5-4.

M5 Okinoumi came with a light kachi-age with the right and even lighter tsuppari against M8 Tobizaru, and you could see from the start that Okinoumi was intentionally avoiding yotsu-zumo, his strongpoint. Problem was that Tobizaru couldn't dictate anything, and so Okinoumi guided them around the ring continuing to lightly throw tsuppari Tobizaru's way but refraining from grabbing Tobizaru and pulling him in tight at all costs. Okinoumi had the pathway to the left inside several times but conveniently pulled out (cool) just waiting for Tobizaru to do something. After enough fake shoves and pull attempts from Okinoumi, Tobizaru finally made a pull motion that really didn't connect, but Okinoumi just dove forward and down. Tobizaru had to fake another pull to try and catch up, but whatever. The embarrassing day of sumo continued as Tobizaru buys his way to 6-3 (as if) while Okinoumi dives to 2-7.

M5 Endoh looked to grab the right frontal belt against M8 Kotonowaka who had other thoughts striking and moving left going for a pull attempt. Endoh jumped out of the move doing a quick 360, and normally doing a twirl like that sounds the death knell, but not against a hapless dude like Kotonowaka. As the two squared back up, Endoh got the left arm inside and right frontal grip that was also an outer, and from there, Endoh nicely cut off Kotonowaka's own right outside grip before forcing Baby Waka this way and that and finally across for the nicely executed force-out win. Don't look now but there was no acting in this bout I'm sorry to say as Endoh moved to 5-4 with Kotonowaka falling to 3-6.

Two guys I've rather enjoyed watching of late hooked up today in M3 Meisei vs. M2 Wakatakakage, and neither guy threw shoves from the tachi-ai as much as they pushed into each other's torsos with extended arms. Wakatakakage used his size advantage to force Meisei near the straw where he then turned the tables with a quick pull that sent Meisei off balance towards the other side of the ring. WTK was there to clean up the mess scoring the nice oshi-dashi in the end leaving both dudes at 5-4.

M2 Hokutofuji's tachi-ai wasn't great against M1 Takarafuji, but it was clear from the start that Takarafuji wasn't trying to get anything established to the inside. Instead of getting the firm left inside position that was there for the taking, Takarafuji turned his palm inward and left it there in no man's land. With Takarafuji completely mukiryoku, Hokutofuji pushed him to the edge and then up high with a right arm underneath Takarafuji's left pit, and to show just how weak Hokutofuji's attack really was, Takarafuji spun around 180 degrees on one foot and put both palms to the dirt across the straw. Wow, another horribly fake ending to another compromised bout as Hokutofuji moves to 6-3 with Takarafuji falling to make-koshi at 1-8.

Komusubi Takayasu and M1 Onosho lightly struck at the tachi-ai before Onosho just turned the left side of his body inward totally exposing himself to a Takayasu attack. The Komusubi's response was a light forearm with the right that had no force behind it, but Onosho agreed to back up near the edge anyway. As Onosho looked to stand his ground and resist, Takayasu went for the lightest of pulls, and Onosho just stumbled forward putting his palms to the dirt and then a knee in a sort of forward-motion crab walk into the corner of the clay mound. Mainoumi described Takayasu's slapdown effort as "sekkyokuteki," or positive. Huh? A positive effort? I applaud him for at least coming up with that because there was absolutely nothing Takayasu did to set up a win here. The Komusubi moves to 8-1 with the gift, and if all of his remaining opponents let up for him like this, he's sure to yusho. We'll just have to wait and see as Onosho falls to 2-7.

M4 Kiribayama put two arms forward at the tachi-ai against Suckiwake Takanosho but just started moving back as he did so. With Takanosho advancing, Kiribayama just aided him by putting his hands up high as if to pull, but no pull ever came and it only enabled Takanosho's forward attack. This one maybe lasted two seconds as Takanosho was gifted the ridiculously easy oshi-dashi win in moving to 6-3 while Kiribayama falls to 3-6 a richer dude.

Sekiwake Terunofuji gave up moro-zashi against M4 Myogiryu, but the Sekiwake has shown he's completely comfortable with that because he can just wrap his python arms around the outside of his opponent's arms and pinch in. And he did just that squeezing in tight before wrenching Myogiryu over to the edge kime-dashi style and sending him across without argument. Today's effort from Terunofuji was a good contrast to how he purposefully didn't react against Takayasu yesterday. The moro-zashi position against Terunofuji is largely useless, and today was a great example why. When Fuji the Terrible doesn't try and close in from the outside, he's mukiryoku end of story. Terunofuji chooses to win today in advancing to 7-2 while Myogiryu's slide continues at 5-4.

M3 Shimanoumi left himself completely exposed at the tachi-ai allowing Asanoyama to advance and get the right arm to the inside. Shimanoumi responded I guess in kind with his own right inside position, but the limb coulda used a bit more Viagra. With Shimanoumi offering no resistance and already of a mindset to go backwards, Asanoyama moved forward scoring the cream puff yori-kiri with no resistance shown from his foe at the edge. There's just nothing more to say about the bout. Shimanoumi was mukiryoku start to finish in giving Asanoyama the free win. Asanoyama moves to 6-3 with the gift, and they'll likely drop the leaderboard to three losses at the end of the broadcast to include the faux-zeki. As for Shimanoumi, he knows his place among the hierarchy in falling to 2-7.

Komusubi Daieisho had decided to kick some ass and take names against the faux-zeki the last two days. Today's victim was Shodai who could do nothing at the tachi-ai to halt Daieisho's tsuppari attack, and the Komusubi used a series of shoves and choke holds to force Shodai back and to his left, but Shodai couldn't counter whatsoever as Daieisho knocked him outta the ring in wham, bam, thank you ma'am fashion. Both rikishi end the day at 4-5, and we'll see if Shodai's camp can buy him a kachi-koshi from here because the competition is only going to get harder in terms of his opponents' ranks.

For the record, of the first 19 bouts only five of them have been real. Itai stated back in the day that roughly 80% of the bouts during his time in the division were compromised, and while I've never seen a day reach 80%, we were on track for such a day today.

As Takakeisho and Komusubi Mitakeumi stepped into the ring, they had the chance to post a 75% day should Mitakeumi let up for the faux-zeki. And he did just that coming with the C3P0 arms from the tachi-ai never once going for a shove, a pull, or the inside position. Instead, he just stayed there with arms out wide slowly backing up as Takakeisho tried to move forward. At the edge, Mitakeumi (4-5) hopped backwards across the straw while finally reaching for a pull attempt with the left hand, but it was just a stupid ploy after he was safely out of the ring. Takakeisho moves to 6-3 with the fake win, and there we have it...a 75% day of fixed bouts in the Makuuchi division. Even if you can't reconcile such a number in your head, I don't see how anyone could have come away from Day 9 today and been impressed with the sumo.

Regarding the leaderboard, NHK stuck to their guns and only posted it down to two losses, so here's what we have to look forward to heading into tomorrow:

8-1: Takayasu
7-2: Terunofuji, Chiyonokuni

Takayasu is paired against Takakeisho on Day 10, so that should be interesting. Takayasu is the better rikishi but not by much. As for the three-loss rikishi, that number was cut in half today to six with the notable foreigners Ichinojo and Tamawashi both conveniently losing.

Part of me says that the NSK still wants a few Ozeki involved in the yusho race down the stretch, but we've yet to see a day this tournament where all three have won on the same day. There's just no stability from the rank, and so it's going to be tough to manufacture an interesting yusho race with the current three leaders.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The first bout of the day featuring M15 Yutakayama vs. M15 Hidenoumi was a complete dud. With Yutakayama doing nothing from the tachi-ai, Hidenoumi struck and then swung a very light slap to the side of Yutakayama's head, and that was Yutakayama's cue to stumble wildly forward and wait with his back turned for Hidenoumi to catch up and force him out from the side. Trust me, these guys can take more than that light slap that came from Hidenoumi today that caused Yutakayama's tailspin. After the bout, the Announcers were speculating as to what's wrong with Yutakayama. When they can't actually break down the content of the bout, it means they're skirting around a yaocho. Hidenoumi moves to 4-2 with the cheap win while Yutakayama falls to 1-5.

J1 Tokushoryu had the path against M14 Kotoeko to force the bout to hidari-yotsu, but he wasn't committed to the charge and allowed Kotoeko to skirt left with a weak slap that supposedly threw Tokushoryu off his game. The Juryo rikishi retooled his attack this time applying pressure with nice tsuppari until once again Kotoeko went for a weak slap to the right side that caused Tokushoryu to just stumble forward and wait to be forced out from there. This was a classic bout of the loser doing all the work until the very end as Kotoeko moves to 4-2.

M14 Tsurugisho henka'd lamely to his left at the tachi-ai causing M13 Terutsuyoshi to just run forward near the edge and wait for that final shove. Said shove was so poorly executed by Tsurugisho that he hit the dirt about the time that Terutsuyoshi stepped out. The ruled it a tie and ordered a do-over. Just great, we get to see Terutsuyoshi mukiryoku in two consecutive bouts.

In round two, Terutsuyoshi was all C3P0 leaving his arms wide open and allowing Tsurugisho to get what he wanna from the tachi-ai, and the latter chose the inside left and right arm wrapped around the outside of Terutsuyoshi's left. T-Yoshi was limp again allowing Tsurugisho to just carry him over to the edge nigh unto a tsuri-dashi before nudging him back that last step. Two yaocho for the price of one here as Tsurugisho limps forward to 2-4 while Terutsuyoshi settles for 3-3.

M13 Chiyoshoma met M16 Daiamami with two hands to the neck before backing up to set up a pull. As Daiamami charged forward into the pull attempt, Chiyoshoma shimmied right and then moved left scoring the easy tsuki-otoshi win using Daiamami's own momentum against him. Pretty lame stuff here as Chiyoshoma moves to 4-2 while Daiamami falls to 2-4.

M16 Kaisei came with the C3P0 arms against M12 Akiseyama waiting for the old dude to pick his poison. It took a bit, but Akiseyama finally came away with moro-zashi whereupon Kaisei lamely positioned himself for a right kubi-nage, which was really an excuse to turn sideways and let Akiseyama force him across with no fight whatsoever from the Brasilian. Hooboy, is it too much to ask for an actual contested bout already?? Kaisei had plenty of room to sell here falling to 4-2 while Akiseyama buys his way to the same 4-2 mark.

M12 Aoiyama largely dictated the pace in his bout against M10 Ryuden shoving Ryuden this way and that, but Aoiyama's legs weren't into it. Midway, Ryuden was able to yank at Aoiyama's extended left arm throwing him off a bit, but Aoiyama recovered easily. After a few more routine shoves, Aoiyama just rested his forearms up high waiting against Ryuden waiting for him to make a move, and this time Ryuden moved left tugging at Aoiyama's right arm, and that was enough to send the Happy Bulgar over to the edge for the easy force-out in Ryuden's favor. This one was actually a pretty well-fought bout, but Aoiyama did give it to Ryuden in the end. Ryuden moves to 2-4 with the charity while Aoiyama had plenty of room to give falling to just 4-2.

M11 Chiyotairyu's sumo this basho reminds me of a tire that's about 1/3 flat. It's still serviceable, but it is still flat. Today against M9 Hoshoryu, he offered two hands to the neck of the Mongolian, but he was only looking to pull with the move, and Hoshoryu knew it, and as soon as Chiyotairyu began to back pedal, Hoshoryu was in his craw pushing the compromised Chiyotairyu back and across easy as you please. Hoshoryu is even steven now at 3-3 while Chiyotairyu plummets to 2-4.

M8 Kotonowaka looked to get the right arm inside against M10 Midorifuji while also pinching in from the outside left, and with Midorifuji just standing there right in his larger foe's path, Kotonowaka threw Midorifuji sideways and down just like that. Not sure what Midorifuji's MO was here as both rikishi stand at 2-4.

M8 Tobizaru henka'd to his left against M7 Tochinoshin, but Shin was hardly fooled and had the right arm inside from the tachi-ai with the clear path to the outer left, but instead of pulling his gal in snug, he just pulled both arms out of harm's way and upright. That was the signal there, so from this point it was simply a matter of letting Tobizaru move right and twist the willing Tochinoshin sideways and then 180 degrees setting up the uncontested okuri-dashi gift in favor of Tobizaru who moves to 4-2. It was a very subtle move from Tochinoshin to pull out of the yotsu stance like that, but I caught it straightway as the Private falls to 3-3.

M7 Kagayaki put two hands to M9 Chiyonokuni's throat at the tachi-ai, but he wasn't driving his legs, and so he quickly let up on the attack and stood there waiting for Kuni to do something. Chiyonokuni's move was a mediocre move to the left and weak swipe, but Kagayaki knows how to fall, and fall he did stumbling forward all the way to the edge and down. After that weak swipe attempt? The fix was in here as Chiyonokuni buys his way to 5-1 while Kagayaki falls to 2-4 a richer man.

M6 Tamawashi came with a tsuppari attack against M6 Ichinojo that had little effect for whatever reason. As a result, Ichinojo just stood there guarding the center of the ring pivoting with Tamawashi as he stuck and jab. Ichinojo was able to swipe at Tamawashi's extended arm causing The Mawashi to regroup, and when he came back forward for round two, Ichinojo caught him with a simple pull that saw Tamawashi go down way too easily. Another mediocre fight between two furreners as Ichinojo moves to 4-2 while Tamawashi falls to 3-3.

M5 Endoh moved left at the tachi-ai letting M5 Okinoumi slide by, but the latter recovered quickly and so the two traded tsuppari looking to get inside. After five or so seconds of this, the taller Okinoumi's swipes were just more effective, and he was able to pull Endoh in close getting the left arm inside and the right arm wrapped around Endoh's left, and from there, the better, taller Okinoumi scored the methodic yori-kiri win leaving both dudes at 4-4.

M2 Hokutofuji's tachi-ai was effective enough to keep M4 Myogiryu from getting to the inside, but I'm not sure that's what Myogiryu was looking for in the first place. With the bout turning to shove affair where both guys were looking for pulls, there were a couple of time that I thought Myogiryu could have taken advantage of a Hokutofuji pull, but he just wasn't looking for the kill, and so Hokutofuji eventually got Myogiryu pulled off balance to where he pushed him out in the end. Just looked to me like Myogiryu wasn't in this one as he falls to 5-1 while Hokutofuji improves to 4-2. Myogiryu was the last undefeated rikishi in the division, but coming into the day, the only reason you knew he was doing well was because of his record on paper, not the content of his sumo.

The sanyaku bouts began with our final Komusubi matchup featuring Takayasu and Mitakeumi. The two hooked up in hidari-yotsu with both placing their right hands at the side of their opponent in tsuki fashion. The bout really never went chest to chest as both dudes traded places in the ring, and during the melee, Takayasu came away with a left outer grip that he used to dashi-nage Mitakeumi over and down. Mitakeumi went down rather easily for whatever reason as Takayasu moves to 5-1 while Mitakeumi falls to 3-3. Just judging by the feel of the first six days, I think Takayasu will be one of the three in the yusho hunt at the end of the basho (along with Terunofuji and Asanoyama).

Komusubi Daieisho seemed to be pushing M1 Takarafuji around quite a bit, but the attack was not linear. That was partly due to Daieisho's not applying enough pressure, and so it allowed Takarafuji to constantly move laterally. Both dudes traded pull/swipe attempts, but it was generally Daieisho going for the throat but not knocking Takarafuji back. After a couple of nice pushes to the throat, Takarafuji moved left firing a counter tsuki that sent Daieisho off balance, but as Takarafuji moved forward, Daieisho got the right arm in so deep Takarafuji was forced to position himself for a useless kubi-nage. From there, it seemed that Daieisho just kept moving laterally pulling Takarafuji in his direction causing both dudes the hit the dohyo about the same time. They gave this one to Takarafuji, and Daieisho's sumo was awfully strange in this one. He had multiple chances to dispatch Takarafuji but he let him hang around until that unorthodox ending. Who knows the politics behind these bouts as Takarafuji picks up his first win at 1-5 while Daieisho falls to the same mark.

Sekiwake Terunofuji and M4 Kiribayama hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai with both dudes trading places in the dohyo before going chest to chest. This same resolve from Terunofuji to reel his foe in close as we saw in this bout was obviously missing yesterday against Myogiryu, but I digress. As the dust settled from the tachi-ai, Kiribayama had a right outer grip, a hold that is useless against Terunofuji, and the Ozeki showed why using his left inside grip on Kiribayama's belt and his right arm wrapped around Kiribayama's left with a grip on that side as well in and ending that saw lift Kiribayama clear off the dohyo and deflate him via tsuri-dashi. This sumo from Fuji the Terrible reminded me a lot of Asanoyama and Shodai's sumo. Or not. This bout is why everyone is afraid of Terunofuji has he moves to 5-1 with some oomph. As for Kiribayama, he falls to 2-4 in defeat and will likely hear it from his fellow Mongolians.

M1 Onosho won the tachi-ai against Suckiwake Takanosho knocking him back a few steps before stupidly (and intentionally) bring his left arm up high as if to pull. That allowed Takanosho to get the right arm inside deep and just turn the tables on his compromised opponent from there scoring the ill-gotten yori-kiri. Takanosho is also 5-1, and like Myogiryu, you wouldn't know it from the content of his sumo. As for Onosho, he falls to 2-4 a bit richer.

Speaking of money changing hands, why doesn't the Sumo Association get with the 21st century and just direct deposit the kensho money? You know the sponsors are sending it the NSK electronically, so why bother withdrawing all that cash and giving it to the winning rikishi in envelopes? Easy answer. There's no paper trail.

Moving right along, M2 Wakatakakage purposefully spun his wheels against Asanoyama from the tachi-ai gifting the latter the right inside and left outer grip. Asanoyama wasn't really forcing WTK back as much as the M2 was backing up of his own volition, and instead of that final yori-kiri struggle at the edge, Wakatakakage just let his feet slide over the straw and out providing for a very soft ending. This was a great example of mukiryoku sumo on the part of the M2 who falls to 2-4 while Asanoyama is gifted his 5-1 record.

I say you gotta wonder if Shodai losing his stable master is affecting his ability to negotiate bouts this basho. Tokitsuumi was obviously well-schooled in the under world, but I'm not so sure about Tosanoumi. Anyway, M3 Meisei struck Shodai hard at the tachi-ai getting the right inside at the belt briefly before being knocked back upright by Shodai. Meisei retreated a bit using his tsuppari defensively, and when Shodai couldn't capitalize and make Meisei pay for the reverse momentum, the M3 came away with the solid right inside position and left outer grip to Shodai's nothing. As bad as Shodai is, he's still a load for a small guy like Meisei to force around, and so Meisei went for a lateral maki-kae coming away with the left inside position and right outer belt, and he finally bullied Shodai back and across with little resistance. Hooboy. An Ozeki can be done in like that to smaller guys like Meisei. The result is Shodai's falling to 2-4 while Meisei is even steven at 3-3.

In the day's final bout, M3 Shimanoumi just stood upright at the tachi-ai allowing Takakeisho to charge forward with his awkward tsuppari attack, and instead of trying to move laterally or counter, Shimanoumi just hopped his way back and across the straw as Takakeisho finally connected on a final shove. Looks good when his opponent is completely mukiryoku was Shimanoumi was today in falling to 1-5 while Takakeisho can breathe easier at 4-2.

No promises for the weekend comments, but I'll at least chime in at some point.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
There was a hot debate going on in the Japanese parliament this afternoon regarding when it will be safe to lift the state of emergency in place across many of the larger cities, and it bled into the entire first half of the Makuuchi bouts. NHK had to make the decision whether to stay with the debate or whether to go with the sumos, and they chose the former. They did quickly show all of the first half bouts once they joined Day 5 in progress, but as a result of the delay, I have no idea what was discussed prior to the day or if any new spin was introduced. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss much, so let's just get to the action on the final day of the jobansen.

M16 Kaisei and M16 Daiamami hooked up in migi-yotsu straightway from the tachi-ai, and it took Kaisei five or six seconds to grab the left outer grip. Once obtained, the two dug in for about 15 seconds before Kaisei mounted his yori charged that was unanswered by Daiamami. Kaisei used his left leg nicely during the charge to keep his foe at bay and offer that extra nudge to send him across for good. Kaisei's 4-1 if you need him while Daiamami falls to 2-3.

There was no foolin' around from J3 Chiyomaru who met M14 Tsurugisho with two hands to the neck and then drove with his legs perfectly sending the M14 across in wham bam thank you ma'am fashion. What I would love to see is Takakeisho or Shodai dispatch someone in this manner. Okay, "love to see" probably isn't the correct term. "Why don't we see?" is closer to what I'm getting at as Tsurugisho falls to 1-4.

M14 Kotoeko was proactive at the tachi-ai against M15 Hidenoumi striking hard and getting the right arm inside, but Hidenoumi proved to be a brick wall standing firm until he could get his own right arm established to the inside. Once he sufficiently halted Kotoeko's gaburi attempts, Hidenoumi quickly moved left executing a nice counter kote-nage with the left arm, and while that didn't dispatch Kotoeko straightway, Hidenoumi was able to reload with a left outer grip and use that to dashi-nage Kotoeko across for good leaving both fellas 3-2.

M13 Terutsuyoshi henka'd to his left against M15 Yutakayama grabbing the cheap outer grip, and he used this to spin Yutakayama a half turn to where the two traded places in the dohyo, but Terutsuyoshi didn't go for the kill straightway. Yutakayama's reaction to the henka was very nonchalant. Instead of forcing his left arm to the inside or latching on tight from the outside of Terutsuyoshi's left arm, he just stood there seemingly resigned to his fate. With Yutakayama not fighting, Terutsuyoshi easily forced him back and across from there never facing a counter move from his foe. Why ruin a string of three real bouts to start the day and call this one fake? Good job Terutsuyoshi as he moves to 3-2 wile Yutakayama falls to 1-4.

M12 Akiseyama and M13 Chiyoshoma hooked up in the immediate hidari-yotsu position where Chiyoshoma easily grabbed a right outer grip, but with the bulkier Akiseyama pressing in tight with his chest, Chiyoshoma wasn't low enough to execute the immediate force-out kill. After gathering their wits a bit, Akiseyama looked as if he wanted to attempt a maki-kae with the right, but Chiyoshoma used the momentum shift to go for a soto-gake with the right leg against Akiseyama's left. It didn't fell Akiseyama straightway, but it did send a message...and allow Chiyoshoma a lower stance. From there, Chiyoshoma attempted a quick ke-kaeshi against Akiseyama's right stump, and with the M12 fidgeting from that, the Mongolian finally pulled his foe forward and down dashi-nage style. Pretty methodic bout here as Chiyoshoma worked his magic leaving both dudes at 3-2, and before we move on, it's pretty apparent how Akiseyama can do nothing in this division when his opponent isn't mukiryoku.

M11 Chiyotairyu and M12 Aoiyama struck each other well at the tachi-ai in a bout that saw both rikishi test their push attack. Chiyotairyu gets intimated when he fights the larger foreigners, however, and so you could visibly see him willing to go back in order to fish for a pull attempt. It would never come as Aoiyama just had the de-ashi working, and he pushed the timid Tairyu back and across with little resistance. I think we were all hoping to see more fireworks in this one, but it wasn't meant to be as Aoiyama moves to 4-1 while Chiyotairyu falls to 2-3.

M10 Ryuden moved forward weakly with arms outstretched from the tachi-ai against M9 Chiyonokuni, but he wasn't looking to do anything other than play the role of Kuni's punching bag. That enabled Chiyonokuni to just plow forward with his oshi attack and knock the defenseless Ryuden back and across with zero argument. Chiyonokuni bought this one in moving to 4-1 while Ryuden and his C3P0 arms falls to 1-4.

Both M10 Midorifuji and M8 Tobizaru stood upright at the tachi-ai not wanting to commit to that initial charge, but the bout eventually settled into migi-yotsu where Midorifuji had the left outer grip. A chest to chest yotsu contest is the last thing these guys are used to, and it showed because neither dude really knew what to do. You could tell by the flow of the bout that this one was real, which is why coincidentally Midorifuji was NOT able to execute his kata-sukashi move. To do so would have required a back pedal, and that would have been the momentum shift that Tobizaru needed. And so the two stayed put in the center of the ring before Tobizaru looked to grab a frontal grip with the left hand. Midorifuji freshly held his wrist to keep him at bay, and the stalemate continued for quite awhile until Midorifuji attempted a quick dashi-nage with the left outer belt grip while pulling at the back of Tobizaru's head with the right, but the move didn't work fully, and it gave Tobizaru the path to a left outer grip of his own leaving the two in the gappuri-yotsu position at the two-minute mark. After gathering his wits, Tobizaru attempted a force-out charge that Midorifuji looked to counter with an inside throw, and so Tobizaru quickly reversed gears going for a dashi-nage with the left and using his right to choke Midorifuji back beyond the straw.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed this bout, and this is what sumo should be...every bout...every day. I'm not saying they all have to approach 3 minutes in length; they just have to be real and exhibit legitimate moves and logical counter moves. You could just see the difference here where both guys wanted to win. This bout was also proof that the whole Midorifuji kata-sukashi thing is nothing but a big farce. Why not use it today? He had three minutes to do so. There was plenty to learn from this bout as Tobizaru easily picks up the best win of his Makuuchi career moving to 3-2 while Midorifuji falls to 2-3. Sheesh, if these guys gave 100% effort like this everyday, I'd really like these two rikishi. I always project such a negative tone in my reports because I know this kind of sumo is possible; we just rarely get to see it due to politics.

M8 Kotonowaka and M9 Hoshoryu both used shoves from the tachi-ai to try and establish a position, and it was Hoshoryu proving to be the proactive guy pushing Baby Waka back a step and assuming the right inside position. Kotonowaka threw a curveball into the mix, however, by using his long arms to grab a left outer grip while Hoshoryu had none. Still, Hoshoryu is the better rikishi here and he wasted no time going for a right inside belt throw to send the action towards the center of the ring where the Mongolian grabbed a left frontal grip in the process. After gathering his wits for a bit, Hoshoryu tested the force-out waters, but when Kotonowaka proved to be too big of a lug to push back, Hoshoryu backed up going for an outer belt throw that ended up being a tsuki-otoshi into Kotonowaka's left side in the end. Wow, another well-fought bout of sumo from both parties as Hoshoryu moves to 2-3 while Kotonowaka falls to 1-4.

M7 Kagayaki proactively shoved M6 Tamawashi back from the tachi-ai with a nice attack, but the Mongolian easily stood his ground at the edge with some nice choke holds before turning the tables and coming back with his own tsuppari attack to quickly drive Kagayaki clear across the dohyo to the other side. With Kagayaki on the brink he must have anticipated a final swipe from Tamawashi because the dude just moved to his left and plopped to the dohyo floor with no contact whatsoever from The Mawashi. They ruled it oshi-taoshi, but there was no "oshi" from Tamawashi that caused Kagayaki to collapse laterally like that, so once again, a string of good sumo bouts is ruined by more shenanigans where someone takes a dive for who knows what reason? Tamawashi improves to 3-2 with the win while Kagayaki falls to 2-3.

M7 Tochinoshin grabbed the early left outer grip against M5 Okinoumi from the tachi-ai, but he didn't quite have the right inside established, and so Okinoumi spent the first part of the bout trying to fight that off. He would eventually fail, and once Tochinoshin secured the right inside to go along with his left outer, he showed he had the upper hand by lifting Okinoumi clear off his feet as if to go for the tsuri-dashi. Tochinoshin smartly didn't follow through on the move against such a large foe, and so the gappuri-yotsu contest was on. Okinoumi briefly tested the outer belt throw waters, but he couldn't budge the Georgian much, and when it was finally Tochinoshin's turn to charge, Okinoumi didn't have the strength to halt the force-out in the end. The bout wasn't long, but it was entertaining as Tochinoshin moves to 3-2 while Okinoumi falls to 1-4.

M6 Ichinojo is the last person you want to see staring at you across the starting lines if you're 4-0 and looking to keep the win streak going. Course, anyone can be bought these days, and that's what M4 Myogiryu did here as Ichinojo went for a lazy left hari-te before standing upright and shading left as if to pull. Myogiryu made no positive impact from the tachi-ai on his part, and so Ichinojo faked a pull that just gave him an excuse to back up and throw the momentum completely in Myogiryu's favor. Myogiryu rushed forward but could never get established because Ichinojo was faking a pull this way and then faking a tsuki the other way. The end result was that Ichinojo never put pressure on his foe even though the Mongolith dictated the pace the majority of the bout. At one point, Myogiryu went for a lame pull attempt that left him so vulnerable, but Ichinojo didn't take advantage and finally just walked upright into moro-zashi for Myogiryu, and from there the force-out came straightway with Ichinojo offering no resistance. You watch the slo-mo reply of this, and there isn't a single thing you can point to from Myogiryu that caused him to set up his opponent for defeat. It's all Ichinojo leading the way and practically guiding his opponent to victory. Myogiryu's 5-0 start doesn't look so great after this light affair while Ichinojo knows his place at 3-2.

M3 Shimanoumi was completely defenseless at the tachi-ai against M5 Endoh allowing Elvis to rush forward leading with his left arm to the inside, and Shimanoumi offered no resistance as Endoh forced him back and out in about three seconds. There's nothing more to say really. Either this was thrown or Shimanoumi is really bad at this level of the banzuke. Endoh has won his last two moving to 2-3 while Shimanoumi falls to 1-4.

M4 Kiribayama was himself completely defenseless at the tachi-ai putting both hands forward and high against Komusubi Takayasu but doing nothing with them. Problem was that Takayasu didn't blow Kiribayama back from the start. Far from it in fact, and so Kiribayama had to whiff on a few pulls and slaps until Takayasu finally got the diesel engine started near the edge, and by then Kiribayama had backed himself all the way to straw. Watch the slow motion replay and identify a single move from Takayasu that forced Kiribayama to retreat like that. No tachi-ai and no impact from Takayasu, and yet the end result was what looked like a dominating victory awarded the tsuki-dashi winning technique. As if. Talk about an easy day's work as Takayasu waltzes to 4-1 while Kiribayama knows his place at 2-3.

Two more Komusubi squared off today in Daieisho vs. Mitakeumi, and I think Daieisho was tired of getting his ass kicked for political reasons because he came out today with guns blazing knocking Mitakeumi upright from the tachi-ai and then shoving him back and across once, twice, three times a lady. All Mitakeumi could do here was sorta go for a pull, but he just didn't have the room to execute it as Daieisho was onto him that quickly. Contrast Daieisho's sumo content here with that of Takayasu's in the previous bout. Each contest lasted about three seconds, and each contest appeared lopsided, but when you break the actual technique down, you can see what is real and what is fake. Daieisho was legit today in picking up that first win at 1-4 while Mitakeumi falls to 3-2.

M1 Takarafuji was listless for the second day in a row, this time against Suckiwake Takanosho, and with Takarafuji just keeping his arms up high and uncommitted, he allowed Takanosho to push him from up and under knocking Takarafuji upright and back. At the edge when it's usually time for a rikishi to counter, Takarafuji just stood there waiting for that final shove that sent him across. Nobody can tell me that Takarafuji wasn't mukiryoku these last few days as he falls to 0-5 while Takanosho is gifted his 4-1 mark. 4-1 for Takanosho? When you think of guys who have looked good this basho so far, does he come to mind? Didn't think so.

Sekiwake Terunofuji had the right arm inside from the tachi-ai against M1 Onosho but quickly brought that arm up and to the outside gifting Onosho moro-zashi, and from there Terunofuji began his mari-komu to the left, but he never did bother to clamp in tight on Onosho or use a counter kote-nage. I knew what was going to happen at this point, and sure enough, Teru kept moving left around the ring's edge at a pace where Onosho could keep up. Problem was, Onosho couldn't sill the deal and so Terunofuji had to position his left arm in kubi-nage fashion, and once he did that, Onosho was able to hoist him across the straw that last step. Fuji dictated this one start to finish, and you could just feel a loss on the horizon with the poor start from the Japanese faux-zeki. He voluntarily falls to 4-1 while Onosho is gifted this one at 2-3.

Shodai was very proactive at the tachi-ai against M2 Wakatakakage at least moving forward, but you gotta thrust or get the inside or something. Just running forward is useless and Wakatakakage showed why easily getting the right arm inside and rebuffing Shodai just like that. Shodai actually responded with a left outer grip, but he wasn't established firmly to the inside with the right, and so the instant he attempted to set up a pull leading with that right hand, it was all the momentum shift Wakatakakage needed to pounce and score the immediate force-out win from there. All I can say is that Shodai is not good, and there's never any substance to his sumo to praise. He falls now to 2-3 in defeat while Wakatakakage shows him who's boss at the same 2-3 mark. It will be interesting to see what happens to Shodai in the next few basho following his change in stable masters.

In a similar bout, Takakeisho rushed forward towards M2 Hokutofuji, but there was no real meat to the attack, and so Hokutofuji was able to back up in tow and then easily move to his right mawari-komu'ing around the ring and throwing a wrench into Takakeisho's plans. As the two squared back up, both were looking to pull first and shove next, but no pressure whatsoever came from Takakeisho's direction because the Ozeki's feet were completely aligned taking away his momentum. Hokutofuji sensed this moving in for the kill, and Takakeisho's reaction was a panicked kubi-nage that never developed, and the end result was Hokutofuji's sending Takakeisho down and sliding off the mound altogether head first. Regardless of who did what in this bout, a real Ozeki should NEVER slide off the dohyo head first. Never. Losing is one thing, but losing with pride is quiet another, but I digress since there wasn't a real Ozeki involved in this bout.

I mean, Takakeisho hasn't shown us a bit of substance the entire tournament, so we should never be surprised when one of his opponent decides to beat him and well, send him sliding head first down off the dohyo. In most of his bouts that aren't just linear walk-overs, the faux-zeki will usually jump forward awkwardly completely aligning his feet in the process. It happened today and was the impetus for Hokutofuji to make his final charge. Takakeisho falls to 3-2 making that Terunofuji loss all the more timely while Hokutofuji improves to the same 3-2 mark.

Would Asanoyama make it a trifecta for the Faux-zeki? That was entirely up to his opponent M3 Meisei, and sadly Meisei showed that he can be bought. The bout looked to go to hidari-yotsu from the start, but after a bit of jockeying from the tachi-ai, it ended up in migi-yotsu where both rikishi enjoyed an outer grip. Knowing his place in the sumo world, Meisei promptly let go of his outer and just moved to his right doing most of the force-out work for Asanoyama. Near the edge, before Asanoyama could really body his foe across, Meisei just stepped back of his own volition providing for a very light ending to a very light bout to begin with. Technically, this bout was gappuri-yotsu-zumo, but "gappuri" implies that they were chest to chest and exerting full power from both sides. That was definitely not the case here as the two were on the move the entire way. Asanoyama moves to 4-1 with the gift while Meisei falls to 2-3.

Five days in usually gives us a nice pulse of the tournament, and my impression so far is that nobody is standing out besides Terunofuji. I guess Myogiryu is the sole leader at this point, but his act has not been as strong as Daieisho's start was last basho. Today's yaocho against Ichinojo also did not strengthen Myogiryu's cause, and he needed both Ichinojo and Terunofuji to let up today in order to reach 5-0 alone. As for the faux-zeki, the feeling in the air going in every day is nothing but relief when they win. As a result, there is no buzz surrounding the tournament, which likely explains the slow decline in attendance each day this week. Here's a shot of the crowd just prior to the Takakeisho - Hokutofuji bout:

Things usually pick up on the weekends, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I'm still seeing Hakuho hater headlines frequently pop up in the media, and one news outlet actually made a point of calculating Hakuho's salary the last four months and posting the headline, "What has he done the last four months to earn 10.2 million yen (roughly $120K USD)?" Oh I don't know...the same thing that Kisenosato did the first eight months of 2018 when he pulled in twice as much money for just one win over that span compared to Hakuho's two wins. I'm just curious how people reconcile the obvious double-standard in the way a foreign Yokozuna is treated compared to a Japanese Yokozuna. The bias is clearly there, and so I don't think it's too far-fetched that the same bias seeps into the politics that influences winners and losers in the ring.

Speaking of reconciling past events in the sumo world, there's always Itai's claims that were published at the turn of the century, and then a few years before that, Onaruto-oyakata and a fan club member of his stable both died mysteriously in the same hospital on the same day after the two alleged bout fixing, drug usage, sex parties, and mafia ties to the sport among other things. I remember when that story first hit because I was living in Japan at the time and completely immersed in sumo. I wanted the story to go away because I didn't want to consider the part about bout fixing, so I know what's it like to convince yourself that something is not happening even though your subconscious knows that it is.

Then there was the whole affair surrounding Harumafuji's retirement. Reports and pictures surfaced of a bruised and badly-beaten Takanoiwa allegedly at the hands of Harumafuji; however, NHK dug up jungyo footage of Takanoiwa fighting the very next morning after the alleged attack occurred, and he didn't have a mark on his body. The entire truth of that story never did come out, but something was amiss to the extent that Takanohana was booted out of the Association altogether not to mention Harumafuji's dismissal.

I'm just curious how people reconcile these events. Do they just bury their heads in the sand like a flock of ostriches and wait for them to eventually go away? The way that Hakuho and Kakuryu have been treated in the media is a complete contrast to the way Kisenosato was treated when he went through the same issues. That point is indisputable, and so I think if one is to correctly analyze the sport of sumo wrestling, all facets of the sport need to be considered to help explain what we see in the ring on a daily basis.

Getting to the action on the day, M15 Yutakayama had the clear path the right inside as J2 Daishomaru skirted left at the tachi-ai, but you could just see that Yutakayama was going with the flow and not trying to pull his gal in close. When Daishomaru stopped his retreat, he was there for the taking, but Yutakayama just kept his hands up high doing absolutely nothing...no pull attempt...no thrusts, and he just stood there waiting for Daishomaru to make a move. Daishomaru was still clueless and so Yutakayama put his left arm up high in kubi-nage fashion, and finally Daishomaru attempted a weak scoop "throw" with the right arm, which was Yutakayama's cue to just hit the dirt. Yutakayama was clearly mukiryoku throughout this bout in falling to 1-3 while Daishomaru buys..er..picks up his first win of the tournament.

M14 Kotoeko and M16 Daiamami looked to go to migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but they didn't align their chests straightway opting focus on each other's arms. Eventually they did go chest to chest where Kotoeko used his right arm to raise Daiamami upright while Daiamami did nothing with his right. I mean, it's one thing to get an arm inside, but then you gotta do something with it like grab the belt or wrench your opponent upright. Daiamami did neither and seemed to just wait for Kotoeko to make a move, and that he did with a decent scoop throw that sent the listless Daiamami over and out. Kotoeko moves to 3-1 with the win while Daiamami looked awful today falling to 2-2.

M15 Hidenoumi and M14 Tsurugisho hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Tsurugisho grabbed the early frontal belt grip with the left. As the two retooled their position, Tsurugisho moved more towards the side of the belt with the left hand, and for Hidenoumi's part, he lifted up on Tsurugisho's belt and then just walked the both of them straight back and across giving Tsurugisho the easy, uncontested win. This bout was so inane Kitanofuji couldn't even remember the guys' names, and so the NHK Announcer had to remind him mid-sentence. Classic mukiryoku bout here where Tsurugisho buys his first win moving to 1-3 while Hidenoumi had room to sell falling to 2-2.

M13 Chiyoshoma was busy at the tachi-ai firing a few thrusts M16 Kaisei's way before moving a bit to the side and pushing Kaisei off balance. I though two seconds in that Chiyoshoma had the pathway to win by either grabbing a belt for a dashi-nage win or simply pushing his opponent out, but he instead opted to apply no pressure and keep his arms out wide gifting Kaisei moro-zashi. Chiyoshoma continued to stay busy not doing anything effective but moving nonetheless, and so Kaisei grabbed a right outer grip, but before he could force Chiyoshoma back that last step, the Mongolian just stepped out of his own volition. Chiyoshoma was not trying to win this one whatsoever in falling to 2-2 while Kaisei moves to 3-1.

M11 Chiyotairyu was timid in his tsuppari attack against M13 Terutsuyoshi barely pushing the smaller rikishi back, and that will happen when you forget your de-ashi. Terutsuyoshi easily survived, and the instant Chiyotairyu put his hands in pull mode, Terutsuyoshi rushed forward and pushed him back and across without any resistance. Kitanofuji called him Chiyotaikai after the bout, but whoever it was in there, he didn't exert much energy as Terutsuyoshi picks up the easy win leaving both dudes at 2-2.

M12 Aoiyama met M10 Midorifuji with two stiff paws to the neck at the tachi-ai, and just a few seconds in you could tell this bout was real. As Midorifuji tried to move this way and that to set anything up, Aoiyama just stayed snug continuing to bully the smaller Fuji around with a nice thrust attack. About 8 seconds in, Aoiyama had his foe wobbling enough to where he was able to execute the easy pull down move for the win. I kept screaming at Midorifuji through the TV, "Kata-sukashi! Go for the kata-sukashi!!" but it just wasn't meant to be darn it. Aoiyama moves to 3-1 with the win while Midorifuji falls to 2-2.

M10 Ryuden kept his arms open at the tachi-ai against M12 Akiseyama leading to Akiseyama getting the right arm in early. As for Ryuden, he coulda maki-kae'd easily with his left, grabbed an outer grip, or even gotten his right arm inside too, but he just stood there giving Akiseyama moro-zashi, and once the 36 year-old felt comfortable enough to attempt a force-out charge, Ryuden was the last person who was gonna stand in his way. This was such an implausible lopsided, linear bout of sumo between Japan's worst and one of Japan's best, but whatever. Akiseyama buys win number three at 3-1 while Ryuden's billfold just got fatter at 1-3.

M9 Hoshoryu moved back and right at the tachi-ai against M9 Chiyonokuni, but he didn't have a purpose for the move like a greasy henka. Instead, he just set himself up for a quick oshi-dashi at the hands of Kuni. When Chiyonokuni wasn't barreling forward himself, Hoshoryu timidly fired a few thrusts as he moved back towards the center of the ring, but he wasn't looking to do any damage. Rather, he was waiting for a pull or a swipe from Kuni, and when it came, he just bent over and waited for his foe to push him down and out by the arse. Chiyonokuni buys this one in moving to 3-1 while the only thing Hoshoryu didn't do in this one was grab his ankles in falling to 1-3.

M8 Kotonowaka kept the pesky M8 Tobizaru at bay with a decent shove attack from the tachi-ai, but you could see how Baby Waka was looking to just set up a pull. Without using any de-ashi, he wasn't going to do much to break down the smaller Tobizaru, and so after 12 seconds or so, Tobizaru gambled by getting the right arm to the inside. Now, Tobizaru isn't a belt guy, and it showed as he wasn't able to do much, and so Kotonowaka attempted a kote-nage with the left that almost felled Tobizaru, but not quite. That was Tobizaru's cue to go on the run again as Kotonowaka gave chase, and after a shove or two, the two rikishi were entirely gassed, and so they stood in the center of the ring holding each other's wrists (fresh!!).

As tiring as this bout was to this point, at least it was real, so I'm not complaining. I know you're all on pins and needles waiting for the ending, so here goes. After standing around for nearly 20 seconds, Tobizaru decided to try the right arm inside again. Kotonowaka wanted another kote-nage, but he was too tired to unleash it, and so that momentum shift allowed Tobizaru to secure moro-zashi. After nudging Kotonowaka upright enough, Tobizaru executed a nice inside belt throw with the right arm felling his tired opponent to the dirt. Shame on Kotonowaka (1-3) for losing a belt match against a guy so much smaller than him. As for Tobizaru, I appreciated the effort as he moves to 2-2.

M7 Tochinoshin came with his usual kachi-age against M7 Kagayaki as the two traded a few shoves before quickly hooking up in migi-yotsu, but there was too much movement for them to really go chest to chest. Kagayaki had a left outer belt grip, but he wasn't in any position to bully Tochinoshin around with it because they weren't grounded to the dohyo, and so Tochinoshin continued to move backwards going for a right scoop throw that slung Kagayaki around and down with little fanfare. Both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

M5 Endoh moved to his left at the tachi-ai against M6 Ichinojo but couldn't budge the Mongolith. No problem, however, as Ichinojo didn't make him pay. Instead of rushing forward to take advantage of his compromised opponent, Ichinojo just kept his hand high as if to push, but the shoves would never come. What did come was the eventual moro-zashi position from Endoh, and Ichinojo made no effort to counter allowing Endoh to "force" him back and across for the uncontested win. A coupla times Ichinojo set up for what would have been a counter kote-nage, but he never did attempt the move giving Endoh the easy win. Endoh buys that first one standing at 1-3 now while Ichinojo falls from the ranks of the unbeaten at 3-1.

M4 Kiribayama moved to his left against M5 Okinoumi not really going for a henka but throwing a wrench into the tachi-ai nonetheless. The two ultimately squared back up in the center of the ring after a brief chase settling in the hidari-yotsu position. Now chest to chest, Okinoumi pressed forward reaching for a right outer grip, but he came up just short, and so Kiribayama responded well by pivoting to his right and unleashing a kote-nage throw that sent Okinoumi over and down. Normally this would have gone to a nage-no-uchi-ai, but Okinoumi didn't have his feet planted and so he stumbled over without a counter throw. Kiribayama picks up the nice win moving to 2-2 while Okinoumi falls to 1-3.

M6 Tamawashi and M4 Myogiryu engaged in a tsuppari affair from the start, but Tamawashi was clearly not looking to move forward. In fact, he shaded back a bit and was completely upright, so when the first lame slap down attempt came from Myogiryu, Tamawashi just did his best stop, drop, and roll across the dohyo. Watching the replay, Myogiryu barely made contact with Tamawashi's left wrist on the swipe-down, but that's not the point, right? Myogiryu is the first rikishi to stand at 4-0 while Tamawashi proved he can be bought at 2-2.

M2 Wakatakakage and Komusubi Mitakeumi struck well at the tachi-ai with neither dude getting a definitive position to the inside. After a second or two, Wakatakakage just backed up while staying hunkered down, and this allowed Mitakeumi to get the right arm inside and advance. With Wakatakakage not showing the least bit of resistance, Mitakeumi forced him back and out in about three lame seconds. They don't make 'em more mukiryoku than Wakatakakage was today as he gifts Mitakeumi a 3-1 start. As for WTK, he falls now to 1-3. These two both come from the same university, and it was a classic case of the kohai deferring to his senpai.

Our two Komusubi squared off today in Takayasu vs. Daieisho, and Daieisho took the early lead landing a left paw into Takayasu's neck, and after a few more seconds of grappling, Daieisho had Takayasu turned 90 degrees and bent forward. He could have easily finished off his foe at this point, but he let Takayasu back into the bout persisting with another left paw to the neck but not pushing at the center of Takayasu's gravity. So with Daieisho's left arm extended and up high, Takayasu easily slipped to his right and pushed at the back of Daieisho's shoulder. It wasn't a strong move, but Daieisho just stepped out of the ring and then right back in. They ruled it tsuki-otoshi, but Daieisho never hit the dirt. It prolly shoulda been isami-ashi, but whatever. Daieisho's likely got some favors being called in this basho as he falls to 0-4 while Takayasu moves to 3-1.

Up next was Sekiwake Terunofuji entertaining M3 Meisei, and the Sekiwake wrapped his right arm around Meisei's left early looking to latch on. As for Meisei, he took a gamble on his opponent's open arms to secure moro-zashi, and the battle was on. Terunofuji looked to wrench Meisei over with a left kote-nage, but Meisei wisely hooked his right leg around Terunofuji's left causing the Mongolian to backpedal near the edge to shake himself from the trip hold. Meisei looked to be in business at this point forcing Terunofuji to the straw, but Terunofuji just bodied Meisei back lower breaking his will, and that allowed Fuji to skirt back to the center of the dohyo in full control. Meisei still put up a good fight, but Terunofuji went for another right kote-nage, and this one was a charm as it felled Meisei to the ground with ease. Meisei simply exerted too much energy the first part of the bout to withstand Fuji's final throw, but it was a good contest nonetheless. Terunofuji moves to 4-0 with the win while Meisei should be applauded for his effort as he falls to 2-2.

Suckiwake Takanosho's arms were a bit high at the tachi-ai against M3 Shimanoumi allowing the M3 to withstand that initial charge and then plow forward pushing the Suckiwake near the edge. For no reason whatsoever other than the bout was fixed, Shimanoumi stopped short of pushing his foe back, and then he went completely limp just standing there and letting Takanosho push him back clear across the dohyo and out. Takanosho moves to 3-1 with the ill-gotten win while Shimanoumi knows his place at 1-3.

Takakeisho met M1 Takarafuji, and the M1 offered zero resistance putting his hands forward but never thrusting. Instead, he allowed Takakeisho to lightly push him to the edge before mawari-komu'ing to his right back to the other side, but instead of setting up a counter move, he just let Takakeisho push him back and out. Takakeisho's feet were never grounded to the dohyo, and this was just a puff bout of sumo where Takarafuji made no effort to win. If you look at the pic at right, Takarafuji is still well within the ring but voluntarily standing upright just waiting for the final blow.  Takakeisho is gifted 3-1 while Takarafuji falls to 0-4.

Fresh off of his default win over Hakuho yesterday, M1 Onosho crushed Asanoyama back straightway from the tachi-ai taking advantage of Asanoyama's aligning his feet, but Onosho curiously halted his charge at the edge and waited for Asanoyama to move right and sorta set up a counter tsuki-otoshi. Asanoyama's feet never were in control, but Onosho was just leaning over the edge waiting for the final shove to come. And it did eventually come, but this was clearly a fixed bout from the start. Asanoyama moves to a lame 3-1 while Onosho falls to 1-3.

In the day's final affair, Shodai was late at the tachi-ai allowing M2 Hokutofuji to charge forward well and stand Shodai upright, but Hokutofuji then retreated allowing Shodai to advance forward with Hokutofuji's back against the straw. Shodai's reaction? To try a pull back across to the other side of the dohyo, and as he did, Hokutofuji just took advantage and fired a few shoves knocking Shodai upright at the tawara before delivering that final blow into his chest sending Shodai to his second loss. This bout had a few ebbs and turns, but it lacked any substantive sumo from either party. The bottom line is that Shodai can't come close to performing traditional Ozeki sumo, and it showed here as he falls to 2-2. As for Hokutofuji, he'll take that wad of kensho as he moves to the same 2-2 mark.

I'm seeing media reports that have noticed that we've yet to have a day this tournament where all three Ozeki have won. It hasn't really turned into a major storyline yet, but if all three fall two losses back from Terunofuji, there's going to be some major pressure put on the Isegahama camp. In the meantime, attendance continues to dwindle, and when you examine the product that the Association is putting atop the dohyo these days, it should be no surprise.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The big news of the day was of course the announcement that Hakuho has withdrawn from the tournament, and the reaction from the media has been very negative surrounding the kyujo. Hakuho's camp announced that he'll have surgery on his right knee sometime this month and that he'll miss the entire May basho and possibly the July basho as well. Kitanofuji wrote a column in one of the rags calling for his retirement, and apparently the YDC is talking tough as well. "Yeah, we're really going to let the two Yokozuna have it after the basho." Just like with Kisenosato right? Oh wait. For Kisenosato it was, "Just take your time and come back when you're ready."

Osaka Announcer and Mainoumi were in the booth today, and of course all the foreplay talk prior to the bouts surrounded Hakuho. Mainoumi said, "I know I wasn't a Yokozuna, but I'm going to pile on here. I think if you give someone a year off to recover they should give you more than this when they come back." Osaka Announcer replied, "I think there is some pain in his knee, but he certainly didn't look injured those first two days." And they're right too. Hakuho is not injured to the extent that he needed to withdraw and neither was Kakuryu prior to the basho.

I find it ironic that NOBODY in the Sumo Association or the Japanese media wants two healthy Mongolians competing on that dohyo 15 days each tournament, and yet the talk is all tough when they step back and withdraw. The bottom line is you cannot have Hakuho and Kakuryu establishing a baseline of what elite sumo should look like in the division because none of the Japanese rikishi can match it, and over time even the sheep will notice the stark contrast. But whatever. These two are gettin' rich and doin' what they wanna, so more power to them. Regarding all the criticism they're getting in the media, trust me from personal experience:  criticism from dumbasses is something you just chortle over.

M15 Hidenoumi welcomed Ishiura from Juryo to start the day, and Ishiura skirted left at the tachi-ai avoiding a chest to chest bout. Hidenoumi easily gave chase in a bout that wanted to go to migi-yotsu, but Ishiura was too low and his hips too far back for Hidenoumi to get a grip. Eventually, Ishiura grabbed a left frontal grip and using his head pushing into the top of Hidenoumi's torso, he twisted up on the belt and spun Hidenoumi around and down uwate-hineri style. The fact that Ishiura used his head as part of the move made it look pretty cool, but the end result is a nice win for the Juryo dude as Hidenoumi falls to 2-1. Before we move on, isn't it obvious when both parties are trying to win a bout?

M15 Yutakayama came out thrusting against M16 Daiamami knocking the M16 back quickly, but Yutakayama's feet were unstable throughout and he was not committed to the charge, so when Daiamami offered a light counter tsuki-otoshi move with the right arm near the edge, Yutakayama just plopped forward and down. I would suggest watching a replay of this bout and focus on Yutakayama's feet. He's waiting for the pull or counter move to come, and as soon as it did, he went down easy as you please. Daiamami buys one here moving to 2-1 while Yutakayama is still in full control of his destiny at 1-2.

M16 Kaisei and M14 Tsurugisho hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Tsurugisho grabbed the instant left outer grip. The problem was that Tsurugisho hadn't established an inside right, and you really need that first to make the outer grip work. I guess the other problem was that Kaisei wasn't mukiryoku, and so the Brasilian worked his way into his own left outer after having already gained a strong inside position, and so he easily withstood Tsurugisho's initial force-out attempt before turning the tables and escorting his gal across the dohyo and out yori-kiri style. Pretty basic bout here as Kaisei moves to 2-1 while Tsurugisho is winless at 0-3.

M13 Terutsuyoshi looked to grab the early left frontal belt against M14 Kotoeko, but the latter pushed him away, and so the bout quickly turned to a cat and mouse affair where each was looking to pull the other down. Terutsuyoshi was vulnerable a few times to a pull and then a push out, but Kotoeko wasn't moving forward, and so he didn't have the momentum to finish his foe off. In the end, Terutsuyoshi caught Kotoeko backing up for a pull, and he was finally able to work his way in tight and use Kotoeko's momentum against him to push him out. This was a terrible bout of sumo content-wise as Terutsuyoshi picks up his first win at 1-2 while Kotoeko suffers his first loss at 2-1.

M13 Chiyoshoma looked to get to the front of M12 Aoiyama's belt early, but the Happy Bulgar used his beefy paws to thrust him back, and you could just see the resolve from both parties here as they switched places in the dohyo and set up for round 2. Aoiyama continued to keep Shoma at bay with his thrusts, but they were weren't offensive shoves, and so Chiyoshoma was eventually able to force the bout to the grapplin' position where he quickly attacked Aoiyama's left arm grabbing it and twisting his foe sideways. From there, Chiyoshoma grabbed the lethal right inside position causing Aoiyama to scurry across the dohyo looking to set up a counter left kote-nage throw, but Chiyoshoma was just too fast and too good with a hand at the belt, and he was able to dispatch Aoiyama over and down after a brief nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge. I love it when two foreigners go all out as these two did today with both dudes landing on 2-1.

M11 Chiyotairyu bludgeoned M12 Akiseyama back from the tachi-ai with his sometime-seen effective tsuppari attack, and there was nothing the 36 year-old could do. As Akiseyama attempted to use his heels against the straw as an advantage, Tairyu turned the tables and slapped him down towards the center of the ring. Pretty methodic stuff here as both rikishi end the day at 2-1.

At this point of the broadcast, they announced the withdrawal of M11 Kotoshoho which gave M10 Ryuden the day off...and his first winna the tournament at 1-2.

M9 Chiyonokuni's hands were too high at the tachi-ai as he cupped the sides of M10 Midorifuji's melon as if to try and squish it inwards. Midorifuji couldn't take advantage to get inside, and so Kuni put his left arm at the belt of Midorifuji before retooling at into a kote-nage throw. Chiyonokuni wasn't positioned to complete the throw, and so Midorifuji was able to escape and retreat looking to set up a pull, but it was too slow allowing Chiyonokuni to rush forward and plow the compromised Midorifuji back and down in the reckless affair. Both rikishi end the day at 2-1 and where was Midorifuji's magical kata-sukashi when he needed it? Oh yeah, we only see that when his opponent is mukiryoku and standing still in the ring.

M9 Hoshoryu pushed M8 Tobizaru upright quickly from the tachi-ai, and that's a very basic move used to get to the inside. Despite having set his foe up perfectly, Hoshoryu refused to get inside and instead stood toe to toe with Tobizaru in a ho-hum grappling affair with a few shoves delivered for good measure. I knew the ending as soon as Hoshoryu refused to get to the inside despite multiple openings, and with Tobizaru really not pressing--because he couldn't, Hoshoryu went for a few weak pulls whose purpose was to just back him up to the edge, and finally Tobizaru connected on that final shove sending the mukiryoku Hoshoryu out for good. Nice subtle yaocho here on the part of the Mongolian as both rikishi find themselves at 1-2.

M7 Tochinoshin delivered his usual right kachi-age into M8 Kotonowaka's upper body before trying to just pull Baby Waka down in the center of the ring, but a pull works best when your opponent is moving in a direction so you can use his momentum against him. Kotonowaka, however, was just listless and so Shin pushed him by the side of the neck in sokubi-otoshi fashion over to the edge where he finally forced him across as Kotonowaka tried to dart left with a desperate tsuki-otoshi. It was too little too late as Tochinoshin survived picking up his first win while Kotonowaka falls to the same 1-2 mark.

M6 Ichinojo whiffed on a left hari-te against M7 Kagayaki at the tachi-ai, but he quickly moved right going for an early pull and Kagayaki just walked right into it...intentionally I think. With Kagayaki having done nothing at the tachi-ai and making non effort to survive, Ichinojo made it official with a hurried right scoop throw, but Kagayaki was already on his way down in this uncontested affair. The Mongolith moves to 3-0 while Kagayaki suffers his first loss at 2-1.

M6 Tamawashi executed his long arm of the tsuppari law against M5 Endoh refusing Endoh a sniff of his belt, and when you saw Tamawashi actually driving his legs forward, the outcome was apparent as the Mongolian had Endoh pushed back in four or five methodical seconds. Tamawashi moves to 2-1 with the win while Endoh is still stuck on that bagel in the win column.

M5 Okinoumi and M4 Myogiryu clashed well at the tachi-ai coming away in hidari-yotsu where Okinoumi tested the waters for that right outer grip. As he made his move to grab the right outer, Myogiryu executed a maki-kae with the right giving him moro-zashi. The only problem was that Okinoumi was bearing in so tight, Myogiryu was lifted too upright to really take advantage of the dual insides straightway. With Okinoumi unable to bully Myogiryu around with out an inside position, Myogiryu was able to lower himself enough to the point where he finally made a nice force-out charge backing Okinoumi up across the ring to the other side and out. Good bout of yotsu-zumo here as Myogiryu moves to 3-0 while Okinoumi falls to 1-2.

M4 Kiribayama put his right hand high at the back of M3 Meisei's head at the tachi-ai as if to pull, but it never came. On the other side, with Kiribayama's left hand out wide, it gave Meisei the clear path the inside and a quick yori charge. Meisei led with the left arm inside, and near the edge, Kiribayama could have easily moved left going for a counter tsuki-otoshi or he could have elected for a nage-no-uchi-ai with his left arm, but he chose neither just going with the flow and putting his right elbow down early across the straw as Meisei sorta went for a throw. This bout was fixed from the beginning and didn't even take three seconds as Meisei moves to 2-1 while Kiribayama is richer at 1-2.

Komusubi Takayasu got a right hand against M3 Shimanoumi's teet at the tachi-ai and just stood the defenseless Shimanoumi upright before pushing him back with no resistance whatsoever. I'm not sure if Shimanoumi was mukiryoku here or simply over-ranked, but he did nothing this bout but allow Takayasu to push him back and across as if the two were engaged in butsukari-geiko (minus any butsukari from Shimanoumi of course). Boring bout here that was terribly one-sided as Takayasu moves to 2-1 while Shimanoumi falls to 1-2.

Sekiwake Takanosho delivered a paw into Komusubi Mitakeumi's neck from the tachi-ai standing the Komusubi upright, but Mitakeumi easily moved left and looked to set up a counter pull or slapdown. He never followed through with the move, however, even though Takanosho was vulnerable, and from there Takanosho squared back up, pushed Mitakeumi upright, and then shoved the defenseless Komusubi back and across. Once Takanosho got going, it was a nice attack and sound sumo basics, but Mitakeumi made no effort throughout the bout to try and win, neutralize his opponent, or fight back. Both rikishi land at 2-1 after the uncontested victory for Takanosho.

Komusubi Daieisho moved forward against Sekiwake Terunofuji as if to start his tsuppari attack, but he was smothered before he could get anything going by Fuji the Terrible who was lunging for a left belt grip. Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with a shove attack, the Komusubi darted to his right literally running for his life, but the problem is that the dohyo is a lot smaller than it looks on TV, and Fuji was easily able to keep up pushing into Daieisho's left side with the right hand while using his left arm draped across Daieisho's torso providing the "yori," or force, in the Ozeki hopeful's attack. Daieisho simply ran out of room as Terunofuji forced him down hard beyond the straw while Daieisho was still on the run. Terunofuji moves to 3-0 with the win, and I go back to my comments on Day 1 in the Hakuho - Daieisho bout: Did Daieisho look like last tournament's champion in this one? Against the Mongolians who are trying to win, Japan's so-called best can do nothing. Literally nothing as Daieisho falls to a hard-luck 0-3.

Japan's not so best, Asanoyama was next stepping into the ring against M3 Hokutofuji, and Hokutofuji came with his usual charge where he sticks with the right and shades left. With little pressure coming from Asanoyama, Hokutofuji was able to push him back near the edge still with that right arm fully extended into Asanoyama's throat. Instead of using the left arm to finish the faux-zeki off with a shove to the torso, Hokutofuji kept it completely out of harm's way, and so Asanoyama was finally able to grab that right arm of Hokutofuji's and use it turn his foe a bit sideways before shoving him down and out. Hokutofuji of course aided in the fall somersaulting himself off the mound altogether, and it was a very awkward ending...something we've come to expect in a bout of "sumo" that results in a Japanese Ozeki win. I mean, after a legitimate oshi-taoshi win, I would not expect the victor to fall to his hands and knees across the dohyo, but that's what happens when there's no force or resistance coming back at you. The end result is another gift for Asanoyama who moves to 2-1 while Hokutofuji falls to 1-2.

At this point of the broadcast they announced the withdrawal of Yokozuna Hakuho resulting in M1 Onosho picking up his first win of the tournament at 1-2.

Moving right along, M1 Takarafuji came with lowered C3P0 arms against Shodai just waiting for the latter to grab moro-zashi. It took a bit for Shodai to clue in, but once he did he forced the listless and upright Takarafuji straight back and across. What's funny is that you can't point to a single thing Shodai did to set this up. He actually lost the tachi-ai, and he did nothing to knock Takarafuji upright. It was all the veteran M1's doing including the zero resistance as he was forced back and out giving Shodai the cheap, obvious win. Shodai moves to 2-1 with the gift while Takarafuji falls to 0-3.

In the day's final affair, Takakeisho was proactive from the tachi-ai against M2 Wakatakakage, but his oshi form was not good, and so he applied little pressure to the M2. When I say form, think about the sumo basics of the teppo pole and the suri-ashi. Without those being applied in tandem, a small dude like Takakeisho will have little to no effect on his opponent. After the first few volleys from Takakeisho, Wakatakakage jumped to his right throwing a wrench in the faux-zeki's attack, and at this point you knew the bout was on. Takakeisho panicked a bit and swung that wild left tsuki that barely glanced off of Wakatakakage's right shoulder harmlessly. When an opponent is ready to go down like Daieisho yesterday, they'll go down at that point, but Wakatakakage barely felt the move and with Takakeisho now in retreat mode, Wakatakakage burrowed in close with a few shoves and then kept Takakeisho in tight with the right inside as the latter looked to escape, and the result was a rather easy win for Wakatakakage.

At the end of the day, each of the Japanese faux-zeki have one loss with Terunofuji standing alone on top at 3-0. There is no way that they're going to let Terunofuji run away with this thing, but it's not a good start for team Japan regardless. You have Fuji already kicking ass and taking names and then the other three yayhoos needing serious yaocho to stay alive. The fans can see it. The Announcers know it. You can just tell in the way they talk about Terunofuji and then the others.

Fuji's been the StoryTeller before and Isegahama-oyakata has been here before as well. Everything will be done to make sure there is interest to the final weekend of the tournament. Yes, Fuji's the favorite, but it will not be a dokuso yusho.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I was surprised at the number of fans in attendance for Day 1, and judging by an eyeball test, I think it was the largest crowd since this whole pandemic mess began. As a result, I was curious to see how many fannies were in the seats for Day 2, and on Monday the arena was as bare as I think I've seen it the last few basho. The content of the sumo should influence how attendance goes the rest of the way, and judging by the Day 1 bouts, it's not going to be good.

The Day 2 broadest began with reviews of Hakuho and Terunofuji, and why wouldn't it? Those two are the easy yusho favorites. After showing their bouts from yesterday and breaking down Terunofuji's path to the Ozeki rank, they threw in Takakeisho's bout from yesterday in an attempt to balance things out, but the contrast in sumo content was so stark. It's a major reason why Hakuho has been lying low for so long. What's the point of having this guy just dominate in the ring and creating a baseline with his sumo that the Japanese rikishi have no hope of achieving? We'll see how it all goes in the end, but it's obvious that everything revolves around the two Mongolians.

Kisenosato was in the booth today vomiting his color commentary, and I almost changed it over to the English broadcast. Almost. Maybe I woulda if Ross was in the booth.

The day began with J1 Akua shading a bit right at the tachi-ai against M16 Kaisei, but Kaisei adjusted well forcing the bout to hidari-yotsu. Akua's MO from the start was to avoid a full on chest to chest bout against the Brasilian, and so he kept his can hunkered back away from a Kaisei right outer grip, but Kaisei wasn't going anywhere, and Akua had no means to improve his position. With Kaisei standing stout, Akua eventually positioned himself for a useless kubi-nage with the right, and once he did that, Kaisei just pounced and dispatched him off of the dohyo altogether easy as you please. It took one whole bout for Kisenosato to use his favorite word, "gaman," in describing Kaisei's sumo, but the short and skinny was that Akua could not defeat this opponent in a straight up bout. Kaisei is a cool 1-1 with the easy win.

M16 Daiamami and M15 Hidenoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where the two switched places in the center of the ring as Hidenoumi secured a left outer grip. The two dug in at this point as expected with Hidenoumi trying to wrench his foe upright while Daiamami tried in desperation for a left outer grip of his own. He'd never get it and about 20 seconds in, Hidenoumi made his move leading with the right inside and using that left outer as insurance forcing Daiamami (1-1) back and across in dare I say one of the better fought bouts of the tournament so far? Real sumo vs. fake sumo is so obvious, and we started the day with two real bouts as Hidenoumi improves to 2-0 with the nice win.

M15 Yutakayama was nonchalant at the tachi-ai against M14 Kotoeko failing to attempt his bread and butter thrusts while just waiting for Eko to establish a position. Kotoeko did score on a nice right push up into Yutakayama's left armpit as the latter pulled that arm away from the inside, and this left the two in migi-yotsu. Yutakayama instinctively made a motion for a right outer grip, but he pulled back and into passive mode allowing Kotoeko to drive. This enabled the Sadogatake rikishi to "force" a willing Yutakayama back to the straw where Yutakayama once again instinctively grabbed a left outer at the back of Eko's belt, but he quickly let it go as the two resumed their yotsu fight. With Yutakayama not pressing whatsoever despite is size advantage, he just stood there and waited for Kotoeko to dart left and go for a quick tsuki-otoshi, and Yutakayama's reaction was to just flop to the dirt in defeat. Easy yaocho call here as Kotoeko moves to 2-0 while Yutakayama falls--literally--to 1-1.

M13 Chiyoshoma grabbed an early left grip against M14 Tsurugisho that was so effective it didn't matter if it was inside or outside. Before Tsurugisho could counter using his size, Chiyoshoma had him pulled upright and in close, so with Tsurugisho defenseless, Shoma wrenched him over dashi-nage style with that left frontal belt grip setting up moro-zashi at the edge, and Tsurugisho didn't even bother to counter. It's hard to get beat more decisively than this as Tsurugisho falls to 0-2 while Chiyoshoma is masterful in moving to 1-1. Before we move on, name a single Japanese rikishi that can exhibit the type of sumo we saw from Chiyoshoma today.

As much as Takakeisho, Asanoyama, and Shodai sitting in the Ozeki rank insults my intelligence, the biggest offender in the division right now is M12 Akiseyama. M13 Terutsuyoshi got an identical frontal left grip as Chiyoshoma's against Akiseyama today from the tachi-ai coupled with the good right inside position, but he just spun around for no reason completely giving away his advantage. Despite the intentional letting up from Terutsuyoshi, Akiseyama was still clueless and unable to do anything, and so Terutsuyoshi next got the right arm inside again and actually twisted his body 90 degrees as if Akiseyama was wrenching in tight on the limb. He wasn't and so Teru backed out again this time getting the left inside, but you could just see Terutsuyoshi letting up the entire way. With Akiseyama still able to do nothing, Terutsuyoshi got the right arm inside again, turned 90 degrees as if being wrenched that way, and then he finally just turned 180 gifting Akiseyama the okuri-dashi (similarly to how Onosho turned his back against Takakeisho yesterday). Akiseyama never really did connect on a shove as Terutsuyoshi just hopped off the dohyo while Akiseyama fell to his left spread eagle across the straw. That was the worst okuri-dashi I think I've ever seen, and that's saying quite a bit considering how long I've been doing this. The end result is a stupid 2-0 record for Akiseyama while Terutsuyoshi is building bank at 0-2.

The last time Kisenosato was in the booth, he told us all to watch out for the Takanohana-like Kotoshoho. Today the wunderkind was paired up against M12 Aoiyama...whose intent was to win today. And that he did catching Kotoshoho with a right kachi-age to the jaw that had the youngster seeing stars. Kotoshoho instinctively tried to recover and hang in there, but Aoiyama bullied him back catching him again with a right shot to the head, and that caused the M11 to step out of the dohyo before crumbling down on one knee back inside the dohyo. Kotoshoho was slow to get up, and the dude might be slightly concussed after that beating. The youngster limped noticeably back up the hana-michi and was met by an oyakata to check on his condition. Aoiyama moved to 2-0 with the drubbing while Kotoshoho fell to 0-2. And speaking of Kotoshoho, he's 2-14 since Kisenosato boldly proclaimed last basho on Day 2 that this guy was the next hope. As they showed the replay of Kotoshoho getting his ass kicked, Kisenosato offered, "He just needs a bit more gaman." Wait, what? He'll get his chance to be patient for sure as the dude announced his withdrawal from the tournament early Tuesday morning.

M11 Chiyotairyu went way light on M10 Midorifuji at the tachi-ai failing to push him back with his bread and butter tsuppari opting instead to go for a few fake pull attempts. With zero pressure coming from Midorifuji, Chiyotairyu simply backed himself up and outta the dohyo altogether with Midorifuji failing to score a single blow as he tried to give chase. Because Midorifuji was so out of control, the ref actually ruled in favor of Chiyotairyu, but replays showed that the Kokonoe fella stepped out before Midorifuji touched down. What an obvious fixed bout here as Midorifuji is gifted a 2-0 start with Chiyotairyu landing on 1-1.

M9 Hoshoryu blew the tachi-ai against M10 Ryuden giving the taller Ryuden moro-zashi, but instead of pulling his gal in tight and pressing forward, Ryuden just lightly stood upright allowing Hoshoryu to go for an uncontested maki-kae with the right arm. Now in migi-yotsu with Ryuden maintaining a stifling left outer grip, the M10 failed to press in on the youngster instead allowing Hoshoryu to dictate the pace. Ryuden let go of his outer and then got it again...a sign that Hoshoryu couldn't defend him, but Ryuden was just in reactive mode today waiting for Hoshoryu to make his move. About half a minute into the bout, it looked as if would go to a nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge with Ryuden's right inner and Hoshoryu's left outer, but Ryuden actually let up on his throw and just backed up falling over with Hoshoryu landing on top of him. When Ryuden initially began that right inside throw, you could see that Hoshoryu was done. Ryuden's belt was loose from the start rendering Hoshoryu's outside grip ineffective, and he was on his way out. Until Ryuden did him the favor of just toppling backwards and over. This was a great example of a fixed bout that should have ended with a nage-no-uchi-ai but resulted in abise-taoshi instead. That is not humanly possible when two guys are practicing sumo basics, but that was not the case here as Hoshoryu buys his first win while Ryuden is saving up for oyakata stock at 0-2.

I think the goal of the M8 Kotonowaka - M9 Chiyonokuni but was to see how long they could let the thing go with neither dude making serious contact. Chiyonokuni--an oshi guy--never attempted a single thrust into his marshmallow opponent, and for Kotonowaka's part, he's too hapless to do much of anything. The result was Kuni's backing up and going for a pull that sent Kotonowaka stumbling to the edge with Chiyonokuni moving out left, and from here, the Kokonoe-beya prodigy coulda easily escorted Baby Waka out from behind, but he let up and allowed his opponent to recover. Kotonowaka next went for a series of pulls that left him more than vulnerable, but the veteran Chiyonokuni couldn't seemed to clue in allowing Kotonowaka to survive until he all but ducked into a final pull attempt and then just flopped to the dirt. What a joke of a bout as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

Speaking of a joke, M8 Tobizaru stepped into the ring to face M7 Kagayaki in what turned out to be a horrible bout of sumo. Tobizaru actually had a pathway to the inside from the tachi-ai as Kagayaki was standing there like a bump on a log, but with Tobizaru unable to budge his foe, the action turned in favor of Kagayaki as he lightly forced Tobizaru back with some shoves. Like the previous bout, there really wasn't any decisive contact here, and in the end, Tobizaru just twisted himself sideways and flopped down with a little help from the taller Kagayaki. I have no idea what the politics behind this bout was but it was not fought straight up by both parties. I mean, if Kagayaki wanted to kick Tobizaru's ass he could have, but this was just a puff bout with Tobizaru taking the obvious dive in the end. Kagayaki moves to 2-0 with the win while Tobizaru is 0-2.

It's a shame that we don't get straight-up, hard-fought bouts between the foreigner heavyweights. We didn't get it yesterday with M7 Tochinoshin and Ichinojo, and we didn't get it again today with Shin fighting M6 Tamawashi. The bout started out well with Tochinoshin coming with a right kachi-age, but he kept his feet aligned and went for an early pull. That pull shouldn't have thrown Tamawashi off balance the way it did, but Tamawashi was going through the half motions as well. As the two squared back up, Tamawashi fired a few light thrusts keeping Tochinoshin upright before springing to his right and swiping at the side of Tochinoshin's head. The move wasn't that effective, but Shin just plopped forward off balance and down landing on all fours in awkward fashion. Tamawashi moves to 1-1 with the win while Tochinoshin falls to 0-2.

M5 Okinoumi looked to have the shallow moro-zashi position against M6 Ichinojo from the tachi-ai, but the Mongolith just pressed in tightly with the right arm wrapped around the inside, and you could see that Okinoumi was not comfortable. It sorta reminded me of Kaio when he'd get a dude in the kote-nage position although Ichinojo kept his gal square as he executed the straight-forward kime-dashi win. Had Okinoumi's moro-zashi been elbow deep from the tachi-ai and not wrist deep, this might have been a better bout, but the end result was Ichinojo's bullying Okinoumi back and across with that right arm locked tightly around Okinoumi's left. Ichinojo is 2-0 if you need him while Okinoumi is 1-1.

M4 Kiribayama came with both hands high at the tachi-ai completely exposing himself to M5 Endoh, and Elvis complied establishing the left inside position and right outer grip near the front of Kiribayama's belt. Kiribayama quickly countered with a left inside belt throw that wasn't good enough to defeat Endoh, but knocked him off balance and more upright. From that point, Kiribayama seemed to take charge despite the inferior belt position, and then at one point he actually withdrew his inside left, but Endoh wasn't able to capitalize on the move, and so Kiribayama reloaded with the inside left and the threat of a right outer, and as Endoh looked to fend that outer grip off, Kiribayama dumped him with a left scoop throw. Kiribayama's tachi-ai was not good and he wasn't going 100% here, but he still easily defeated Endoh moving to 1-1 in the process. As for Endoh, every time I'm like yeah, this guy is coming around now, he gets off to a bad start like his 0-2 record now in March. At 30 years-old now, I don't think he'll ever live up to the potential that was manufactured for him 7 years ago.

M4 Myogiryu is probably in the range of being of the top 5 Japanese rikishi along with guys like Ryuden, Okinoumi, Kagayaki, and Daieisho. Now, due to the political scene that dominates sumo, this isn't manifest by the banzuke, but we do see it judging the sumo content in the ring. Today against M3 Shimanoumi, Myogiryu stood his foe upright with some nice thrusts from the tachi-ai, and that set up a quick grip of Shimanoumi's belt and the nice right inside position allowing Myogiryu to force Shimanoumi back and across before he could seriously counter. Myogiryu moves to 2-0 with the nice win, and at least Shimanoumi's mom doesn't think he's over-ranked right now as he falls to 1-1.

M3 Meisei seemed to catch Komusubi Mitakeumi upright with some nice thrusts from the tachi-ai, but as quick as he came out like that, Meisei next just backed up faking a pull move that never came, and he literally just backed himself up and out of the dohyo with Mitakeumi looking to connect on anything. Near the edge, Meisei actually had Mitakeumi slumped over a bit after a swipe at his left shoulder, but Meisei just hopped back and across giving Mitakeumi the oshi-dashi win without the need for Mitakeumi to actually score on a single push attempt. Remember last basho how we talked about the inflated number of oshi-dashi wins the last few years? This was a perfect example of why that number is so high. Crap bouts that sorta looked like oshi-dashi. Mitakeumi is gifted this win as he moves to 2-0 while Meisei falls to 1-1.

Sekiwake Terunofuji looked to get the right arm inside against M2 Wakatakakage, but what was more important was Fuji's stifling left wrap-around grip to the outside of Wakatakakage's right. Like the Ichinojo bout before, all Terunofuji needed was that outside grip up high, and he used it to wrench Wakatakakage over to the edge where dual thrusts sent him off of the dohyo oshi-dashi style just like that. In the watching the replay, Wakatakakage actually had the path to moro-zashi...also just like Okinoumi against Ichinojo, but this was yet another display of just how powerful these Mongolians are against inferior competition. Terunofuji breezes his way to 2-0 while Wakatakakage is just happy to get outta there in one piece at 0-2.

It's almost a disgrace that Sekiwake Takanosho enjoys the same rank as Terunofuji, but that's politics in sumo for ya. Today against M2 Hokutofuji, the Suckiwake was not able to solve Hokutofuji's usual tachi-ai where he thrusts with the right and shades left. Hokutofuji's choke hold was so good today he maintained that long enough to where Takanosho finally abandoned his hunt for the inside position and decided to back up instead. From this point, the bout turned into a pull first mindset from both parties, and each guy scored on some good counter moves, and each guy got a turn at the pull, but Hokutofuji was simply better from the start and was able to keep his balance at the edge as he pulled Takanosho forward and down. Great start for Hokutofuji and an average finish as he improves to 1-1 while Takanosho falls to the same mark. This was a pretty typical bout of real Japanese sumo these days. The fighting was okay, but it was pull first with very little linear sumo.

Moving right along, M1 Onosho was in a giving mood again today, this time against Shodai. Onosho dominated the tachi-ai shoving Shodai upright and back once, twice, three times a lady. Er, almost. Somewhere between twice and thrice, Onosho thought it'd be a good idea to just abandon ship by faking a pull and launching himself into the second or third row of the suna-kaburi despite nothing coming from Shodai. I mean, I don't know how anybody who thinks they know anything about sumo can watch this bout and think that it was straight-up. Good night, Shodai is just terrible and Onosho had him dead to rights about two seconds in. Here we go on another oshi-dashi win that was anything but, and why does it always seem that 75% of Shodai's "wins" occur in this fashion where he does absolutely nothing to set anything up, but somehow his foe finds his way beyond the straw?  Just stupid as Shodai moves to 1-1 while Onosho was very gracious today in falling to 0-2.

Up next was Takakeisho vs. Komusubi Daieisho in a light bout that saw Daieisho firing thrusts with no forward movement and Takakeisho alternating a thrust attempt followed by a swipe. Daieisho's pushes made better contact, but he was shading backwards the whole time sorta in reverse de-ashi mode. With both guys trading simultaneous volleys whether thrust or swipe, you knew that Takakeisho was eventually going to go for what we can call his only signature move:  the quick swipe with the left hand. I mean, there's little beef behind the move, and it's practically worthless against a guy whose not mukiryoku, but in an arranged bout like this, it was Daieisho's cue to just flop down to the dirt landing on both palms with no other part of his body touching down. Easy yaocho call here as Takakeisho is gifted 2-0 while Daieisho quietly falls to 0-2.

Asanoyama and Komusubi Takayasu looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but instead of sticking chest to chest there was some brief grappling before the two came away in migi-yotsu where Takayasu enjoyed the left outer grip. Asanoyama looked to test the scoop throw waters before feeling his way towards a right inside belt position, but his footwork was backwards, and he could get neither. Asanoyama eventually rearranged his footing, but it was too late as Takayasu used the left outer position to bully Asanoyama over near the edge, and when Asanoyama attempted a left counter tsuki-otoshi, Takayasu simply exerted too much force knocking Asanoyama over and onto his arse at the edge of the clay mound. The fact that Asanoyama couldn't at least apply a counter move here shows you how weak he was in this bout. I know that Asanoyama used to be a decent rikishi, but all of this coddling the last few years as turned him into a complete softie. I mean, take nothing away from Takayasu. This was a great bout of sumo on his part and perfectly executed. I just wish the sumo was like this every day. It's obviously not, but we'll take it when we can get it as both rikishi stand at 1-1.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Hakuho welcomed M1 Takarafuji by offering an outstretched left arm for no apparent reason before finally forcing the bout to migi-yotsu. Takarafuji backed up a bit and then to his right looking for some kind of opening to counter, but the two eventually settled in with neither maintaining a left outer grip. I thought Hakuho could have exerted more effort to grab one or go for a maki-kae, but he's keeping himself closer to the field with more passive sumo. The two dug in for 15 seconds or so before Hakuho finally moved left going for a kote-nage with the same arm, and he easily felled Takarafuji to the dirt. Hakuho's footwork as he executed the throw was purposefully poor, so once again...he's leaving himself vulnerable in areas if anyone is able to take advantage. Takarafuji couldn't in falling to 0-2 and so Hakuho joins Terunofuji at 2-0 two days in.

Prior to the final bout, the entire discussion between Kobayashi Announcer and Kisenosato was the condition of Hakuho's lower body, particularly his right knee. Kisenosato said, "I can tell that his upper body is strong and well, but there's something not right about his lower body."

Kobayashi challenged him, "You can tell that just by looking?"

"Well, yes I can," was Kisenosato's reply and then the camera dutifully focused on Hakuho's right knee which had a band around the base of it (he wore the same band on day 1 and regularly wears it).

The two continued to focus on that knee prior to the bout, but afterwards, nobody said anything. Nobody was concerned about Hakuho's knee, and the Yokozuna was not favoring it as he stepped off the dohyo and walked back up the hana-michi.

But sure enough, Hakuho has announced his withdrawal the morning of Day 3 citing what else but an injury to his right knee.

That's unfortunately how sumo works these days and how it's been the last little while. The foreigners continue to lower the bar to cover for the Japanese rikishi and to maintain the sense of parity. Nobody seems upset by Hakuho's withdrawal in the media. With Shodai and Asanoyama already saddled with one loss apiece, it's just better without the two Yokozuna around. I'm the only one who will say that, but it's true.

With that, Terunofuji becomes the lone StoryTeller, and the yusho race opens up significantly.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Rather than cover all of the bouts from Day 1, let's start with some quick-hit news stories from the past few days leading into the basho, the most notable of which was the announcement of yet another Kakuryu withdrawal.  The last few basho it's reportedly been his lower back, and now he's claiming a left thigh injury that will force him to miss the March basho.  The dude is not injured to the extent that he couldn't compete in the current basho, and the real reason for his withdrawal is twofold:  1) Take an elite foreigner out of the mix to give more of the spotlight to the Japanese supposed "elites," and 2) Continue to mirror the embarrassing ending to Kisenosato's career as an active rikishi.  Regarding number two, I've been saying for a few years now how the elite foreign rikishi are lowering the bar to the extent that the utter mediocrity and ineptness displayed by the Japanese rikishi seems to be normal.

Kisenosato completed just two of the 12 basho during his fake career at the Yokozuna rank, and in half of those basho, he failed to either show up or post a single win.  Kakuryu's taking this much time off is simply an act of mirroring Kisenosato's ugly finish and nothing more.  Besides Kakuryu, Hakuho didn't show up for the previous three tournaments and he's been taking every other tournament off for a few years as well.  The Sumo Association has adopted the eye for an eye piece of the Mosaic law when it comes to having foreign rikishi perform as bad and their Japanese counterparts in an effort to save face.

The next notable story was the closure of the Azumazeki-beya, which had been run by SumoTalk favorite, Takamisakari.  The stable is most famous for producing Akebono, and the only way a no-name stable like that could produce a Yokozuna is if the said Yokozuna was a foreigner.  The Miyagino-beya and Hakuho is another great example, but I digress.  The reason stated for the closure was that Takamisakari wanted to provide a better practice environment for his rikishi, and so they merged the stable into the Hakkaku-beya.  The real reason for the closure was due to lack of funds.  Even during a pandemic where there is hardly any travel involved, Takamisakari wasn't able to afford the operation of a stable as small as it was.  It's a great example of how these stables need funding outside of the allowance from the Sumo Association to stay operational.  They call them "fan clubs," but they're really just a front for donors to feed money into a stable in exchange for closer access to the sport and sweet tickets ringside.

The same people sitting ringside in the same seats basho after basho did not camp out at the cha-ya (tea houses) waiting to buy the best duckets for the tournament.  They are the donors, friends of the donors, or even the mistresses of donors to these various fan clubs.  In the case of the Kise-beya 10-15 years ago, they were caught feeding the sweet ringside seats to members of the yakuza.  Heya like the Sadogatake-beya who have a huge fan club are able to afford and maintain a stable with so many worthless sekitori thanks to all of the outside money that flows in.  I'm not suggesting that a stable can't legitimately produce a Makuuchi rikishi without the extra money as that's clearly not the case, but circling back to the Azumazeki-beya, you have to be really good or really lucky to produce good rikishi without the influence of outside money.  It sucks to see Takamisakari lose his stable, but that's just the way it works.

As a side note, Tokitsukaze-oyakata was pressured to retire in between basho because he couldn't keep himself out of the Mahjong Parlors and the tittie bars despite the state of emergency in place due to Covid.  He claimed he wasn't actually playing Mahjong, and I believe him.  You don't make a guy like Shodai an Ozeki and keep him at that rank without serious negotiations with outside money, and where do such talks take place?

The final news story to address was the announcement from the Association that the sport was in the red for 2020 to the tune of around $50 million USD.  That's no surprise whatsoever considering the effects of the pandemic, but the crucial part of the story to me that helps explain the current state of sumo was the statement that the Sumo Association had been profitable for the previous five years from 2015-2019.

Reading between the lines, the Sumo Association was NOT profitable up to that point for quite a few years, and so what changed during that span to make the sport profitable?  What made sumo popular again in order to bring the fans back?

When Terunofuji first achieved the Ozeki rank at the May basho in 2015, I made the statement that the Sumo Association was in serious trouble with the four-headed Mongolian monster of Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kakuryu, and now Terunofuji and nothing but inept Japanese rikishi near the top of the banzuke.  Sumo's popularity could not be sustained with that lineup and those four consistently taking up 50-55 wins per basho collectively, and so six months later you had the first Japanese rikishi yusho in 10 years; you had the eventual promotion of Kisenosato to Yokozuna; you had the forced retirement of Harumafuji; Terunofuji disappeared from the banzuke; and you had a host of worthless Japanese rikishi pushed up the banzuke all the while with the four Mongolians going into a forced decline.  That's what has made sumo profitable the lasts few years, but it has also come at a serious cost to quality, watchable sumo.

Exhibit A for low-quality, unwatchable sumo was Day 1 of the March tournament.  I don't have time to recap the bouts, but the day got off to a bad start with Makuuchi returnees M16 Daiamami and M15 Hidenoumi buying their respective bouts.  M14 Tsurugisho didn't, and so he as pasted by M15 Yutakayama, but we got right back on the yaocho track with M13 Chiyoshoma selling his bout to M14 Kotoeko.  M12 Akiseyama's "win" over M11 Kotoshoho was fixed, and the most telling bout of the first half to me was M9 Chiyonokuni's just destroying M8 Tobizaru.  That bout was obviously not fixed, and it showed just how useless Tobizaru is in real, Makuuchi sumo.

The second half bouts included a telling isami-ashi from M6 Tamawashi and another obvious thrown bout from M4 Kiribayama giving M3 Shimanoumi win, but that was at least followed by the best bout on the day, M3 Meisei defeating Komusubi Takayasu in a rare straight-up bout.

M2 Wakatakakage is the best up and comer in the division, but he went limp against Sekiwake Takanosho, and then we got to Terunofuji.  The Day 1 broadcast began with a focus on Terunofuji because this dude seriously scares everybody. Kitanofuji and Mainoumi talk about him in reverent tones, and it's obvious that no Japanese rikishi can stop this guy.  It really is up to what he and his oyakata decide to do.  He easily defeated M2 Hokutofuji bringing him one win closer to the Ozeki rank, and all indications point to his regaining that former rank.

Takakeisho's win over M1 Onosho looked good to the sumo groupies, but you watch the slow motion replay and there wasn't a single blow delivered by Takakeisho that caused Onosho to move backwards and then into a full 180 at the edge.

M1 Takarafuji bowed to Asanoyama in a more obvious fixed bout, and then Shodai was unable to defeat Komusubi Mitakeumi primarily because Mitakeumi was trying to win the bout.  The sumo content in this bout was quite poor from both rikishi, and nobody can identify a positive aspect to Shodai's sumo.  I mean, is he an oshi guy?  Is he a belt guy?  What's his strong point and provide an example bout where he displayed his strength?

The day ended with Yokozuna Hakuho destroying Komusubi Daieisho, but Hakuho also made it needlessly close at the end as he is wont to do.  I mean, he crushed Daieisho off of the starting lines and forced him over and down yori-taoshi style in less than two seconds, but on his way down Hakuho dipped to his right recklessly leading to a close finish. Hakuho often does this to leave himself vulnerable should his opponent execute a nice counter move, but that didn't happen here.

The main take-away from that bout was:  you have the yusho winner from January facing Hakuho, and January's champion could do nothing.  Couldn't stand his ground even a second, and he didn't even have time to attempt a shove it was that quick and decisive. And yet, this was supposedly the best rikishi from last tournament?

None of it makes sense in an organic world, but sumo is not organic.  As I was watching the best of 16 round of the UEFA Champions League last week and a couple of other notable club matchups, I couldn't help but contrast the quality of the play on the pitch to that exhibited atop the dohyo.

In sumo, who would you say are the best up and comers?  In terms of age for Japanese rikishi, it goes like this:

21 Kotoshoho
23 Kotonowaka
24 Midorifuji
24 Onosho
24 Takakeisho

Do any of those rikishi strike the fear of God into anyone?  Do any of those rikishi perform sumo atop the dohyo leaving you in awe?

Contrast that with the youth in Euro club soccer.  I think easily the two best youngsters are Mbappé fro PSG and Dortumund's Haalan.  I mean, you have to watch those guys, and their strength and speed is just awe-inspiring.  You don't only see their greatness as they play, but you feel it also.  Now compare that to Japanese rikishi in sumo.  Do any of the rikishi on that list above generate the same emotion or feeling?

Then you contrast that with the veterans of both sports starting with a dude like Messi.  Who in sumo can do atop the dohyo what Messi can still do on the pitch?  Who can inspire you and leave you speechless the same way Messi can when he strikes from 30 yards out?  Shodai?  Mitakeumi?  Asanoyama?  Do the Japanese elites defeat their opponents with the same power with which Messi puts the ball into the back of the net?

I know it's probably not the optimal comparison, but watching Euro club soccer last week you could just sit back and enjoy the greatness.  Watching Day 1 of the March basho gave us nothing of the sort.  It just feels forced and entirely manufactured.  I don't expect anything to change the rest of the tournament, but this is the price of keeping sumo profitable.

Today's comments were kinda all over the place, but I'll resume full reports starting with Day 2.