Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
This has probably been as quiet of a Day 13 as I can ever remember. The leaderboard at the start of the day is a big dud, and then we're also going to make it through 13 days of the tournament without two Ozeki fighting each other even though we had four active Ozeki on the board the first two thirds of the basho. I see where they've finally paired Takakeisho with Shodai tomorrow, but it's going to be too little too late. The year Reiwa 3 is fast becoming the year where everyone realizes that the Japanese Ozeki cannot carry a basho.

Because this is the last weekday of the tournament, let's start from the beginning and cover each bout in chronological order.

Up first was M15 Kaisei vs. M11 Chiyoshoma, and Chiyoshoma extended a right paw forward at the tachi-ai with no power whatsoever behind it, and so Kaisei was able to move forward and nudge Chiyoshoma back a step as the bout turned to hidari-yotsu with Kaisei maintaining a right outer grip. The two looked to dig in a bit, but this was all for show as Chiyoshoma was largely just standing there as Kaisei retooled his right outer on all folds of the belt before executing the final force-out charge where Chiyoshoma didn't even bother to counter. It is really tough to get a straight-up bout between foreign rikishi these days, and Chiyoshoma was soft here giving Kaisei the win as he moves to 7-6 while Chiyoshoma falls to 6-7. The result here guarantees that both of these guys stay in the division for July.

M11 Kotonowaka's feet were completely aligned at the tachi-ai against M16 Chiyomaru who strangely forgot to come with his usual tsuppari attack. The result was Kotonowaka's awkwardly moving forward as Maru settled for a hidari-yotsu contest where he had the right outer grip. After the two dug in for a bit, Chiyomaru made his force-out charge leading with the right outer, and at the edge, he wrenched Kotonowaka onto one foot perfectly before bodying him across from there. Good win here for Maru as he picks ups kachi-koshi at 8-5 while Kotonowaka falls to 7-6.

M17 Akua and M10 Terutsuyoshi butt the crowns of their heads at the tachi-ai, and from there Akua decided to go for a weak pull even though he hadn't set it up, and so the result was Terutsuyoshi's moving forward into his compromised opponent leading with the left arm and bodying Akua across the straw before Akua's right counter kote-nage could take full effect. This one was close, and Terutsuyoshi actually took the worst of it as the two flew off the dohyo, but this was a good bout of sumo and counter sumo after a bad tachi-ai from Akua. Terutsuyoshi moves to 6-7 with the win while Akua's demotion to Juryo is further solidified at 4-9.

Three bouts in and three of them solidly contested.

M10 Tamawashi led with some tsuppari against M14 Chiyotairyu but he was backing up while doing so rendering the shoves useless, and so Chiyotairyu was able to move forward offering his own shoves Tamawashi's way. As he did, the Mongolian completely and purposefully aligned his feet, and so when the next blow from Chiyotairyu came, it knocked Tamawashi back onto his weedle bum. I can't say this was a fake fall as much as it was Tamawashi's aligning his feet so that Chiyotairyu could topple him over with ease. Think about riding the subway and not holding on to anything overhead. How would you position your feet? You certainly wouldn't align them and stand perpendicular to the motion of the train. Chiyotairyu moves to 9-4 and may be vying for a special prize while Tamawashi falls to a harmless 6-7.

M16 Ishiura managed to get both arms to the inside of M9 Kagayaki from the tachi-ai, but it was hard to call it moro-zashi because he wasn't going chest to chest. Instead, Kagayaki just barreled forward like a poor man's Terunofuji with two outside positions, and that forced Ishiura to the straw but not quite out, and so Ishiura moved left forcing Kagayaki to turn his back to the straw and square up, and from there Ishiura attempted a few shoves before Kagayaki slapped him down into a heap with the right hand. Ishiura is on the brink now at 5-8 while Kagayaki moves to 6-7.

With kachi-koshi safely in hand, M12 Okinoumi has been selling bouts the last couple of days, and today's buyer was M9 Shimanoumi. The tachi-ai was weak from both parties, and the bout was trying to go to hidari-yotsu, but Okinoumi wouldn't commit early. After a few seconds of inaction, Okinoumi completely exposed himself by wrapping his right arm around Shimanoumi's head (without pulling of course) and his left arm harmlessly around the outside of Shimanoumi's right, and now that Shimanoumi had just been gifted moro-zashi, the force-out was swift from there. I hesitate to the use the word "force" because Okinoumi was not applying any counter pressure here, and it looked as if it was his pleasure to waltz back and across the straw with his opponent in tow. Course, at 10K per bout sold bout, it'd be my pleasure to do the same. Shimanoumi moves to 7-6 after the favor while Okinoumi is darn the luck stuck on 8 wins.

M4 Kiribayama used a nice tsuppari attack from the tachi-ai to knock M12 Kotoeko this way and that, but Eko dug in nicely forcing Kiribayama to force the bout to yotsu-zumo. Belt sumo is Kiribayama's strength anyway, and so he got the left inside and right outer grip and looked to set up a force-out charge. Kotoeko was able to maki-kae with the right arm, but Kiribayama was already in charge mode, and he was able to throw Kotoeko down at the edge with that right outer grip. Kiribayama moves to 4-9 with the win, and I was surprised to see so much fight from Kotoeko who falls to 7-6 and will likely have to buy that last win for kachi-koshi.

M3 Aoiyama used a nice tsuppari attack to bully M13 Daiamami this way and that, but it didn't appear as if Daiamami was really trying here. After five or six seconds, Aoiyama was able to push Daiamami near the edge where he then went for a pull that Daiamami fell prey to just stopping, dropping, and rolling across the clay. I don't think Aoiyama has the strength right now to really beat anybody with forward moving sumo, but he picks up win number three with a sloppy slapdown. At worst now, he'll only fall to about M12 come next tournament so no need to arrange any of his future bouts. As for Daiamami, he falls to 6-7 in defeat.

M2 Tobizaru awkwardly extended both arms forward at the tachi-ai against M7 Tochinoshin really exposing himself, but Shin's reaction was a kachi-age with the left that was too high for its own good and a right arm out wide in no man's land. With no pressure whatsoever coming from Shin, Tobizaru was able to slip right and grab onto an outer grip, and with Tochinoshin purposefully lazy, Tobizaru dashi-nage'd him around 180 degrees and then pushed him out from behind.  As Tochinoshin went out, he turned around attempting some cross body pull of Tobizaru that caused him to exaggeratedly run about 6 rows deep up into the masu-seki, but that was all for show. This was a fully-compromised bout as both rikishi end the day at 4-9.

One of the more enjoyable rikishi of late to watch has been M2 Meisei. He's picked his spots nicely demolishing Asanoyama on day 2 and then defeating both Komusubi the last few days. Today against M8 Tsurugisho, the M8 lamely henka'd to his left at the tachi-ai, but it was so slow and ineffective that Meisei was able to easily square back up and shove the compromised Tsurugisho back and across with little fanfare. Meisei moves to 7-6 with the nice win while Tsurugisho falls to 4-9.

Before we move on, the three most enjoyable guys to watch this basho outside of Terunofuji have been Meisei, Wakatakakage, and Hoshoryu.

Speaking of M1 Wakatakakage, I'm starting to see a few headlines about how the female fans are starting to notice his slender physique and ripped body. Believe me, I've certainly noticed his slender physique and ripped body, so count me in too. Just sayin'. Today against M1 Hokutofuji, WTK moved left at the tachi-ai more than he moved forward, and the result was a quick inashi with the left and slapdown with the right that sent Hokutofuji down less than a second in. Wakatakakage moves to 8-5 with the cheap win while Hokutofuji falls to 5-8.

Komusubi Daieisho forced M6 Hidenoumi back early from the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, but as Hidenoumi dug in stubbornly at the edge, he was able to catch Daieisho with a left sideswipe that threw Daieisho off just enough to where he switched gears from his shove attack and instead got the left arm inside with a right outer grip to boot near the front of the belt. Hidenoumi brought the left arm outside giving Daieisho moro-zashi, but this never was a chest to chest bout, and so Daieisho tried to shove Hidenoumi back and across. That was a tough task without any de-ashi or momentum, and so Hidenoumi stood his ground well causing Daieisho to back up quickly, do a 360 to move to the side of his opponent, and then finally shove a gassed Hidenoumi out in the end. I guess this was entertaining although it lacked a lot of sumo basics as Daieisho moves to 5-8 while Hidenoumi falls to that same mark.

Komusubi Mitakeumi and M5 Onosho hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai after Onosho's initial thrust attempts had zero effect, and with Onosho exposed a bit, Mitakeumi was able to grab a left outer grip and keep Onosho pinned in close to where he scored the yori-kiri in about four seconds. Mitakeumi finally picks up kachi-koshi at 8-5 while Onosho falls to 6-7.

Suckiwake Takanosho proved too big for M5 Hoshoryu to bully from the tachi-ai, and the Suckiwake actually scored first on a nice shove, but he couldn't do anything from there as Hoshoryu got the right arm inside, and then quickly focused on a left outer grip as Takanosho moved forward. Before Takanosho could adjust and establish something with the right arm, Hoshoryu yanked him over and down by the back of the belt. Hoshoryu won with pure speed here in moving to 6-7, and it didn't hurt that Takanosho was clueless after scoring on that lone shove early. He falls to 4-9 in defeat and may fall out of the sanyaku altogether.

Suckiwake Takayasu's footwork was terrible at the tachi-ai allowing M4 Myogiryu to completely stand him upright and get the left arm to the inside in the process. With Takayasu upright and exposed on his left side, Myogiryu...purposefully did NOT grab the right outer grip, and the result of the bout was known at this point. With Takayasu completely neutralized and so upright it was laughable, Myogiryu had no choice but to grab a right outer, and it came in the form in a frontal belt grip. But, Myogiryu refused to mount a charge or dashi-nage or whatever, and so the two just stood there in the center of the ring for about 20 seconds. Finally, Myogiryu just let go of his outer giving Takayasu the left inside position which was largely cut off to that point, and once Takayasu had that, he executed a slow dashi-nage, and that was Myogiryu's cue to just walk forward and out of the dohyo.

This bout was obviously fixed, and as the two stood there in a stalemate with Takayasu completely had at that point, the Announcer ironically said, "This is turning out to be like Takayasu's bout against Kiribayama." In that affair, Kiribayama completely dissected Takayasu and still threw the bout, and that's what happened here as well. Bad tachi-ai from Takayasu, no offensive attack, horrible posture throughout, and not even a pot to piss in. And yet...not only does he come away victor here but he moves to 9-4 in the process. What a crock'a shat if I've ever seen one. Come to think of it, I've never seen a crock'a shat, so I stand corrected as Myogiryu falls to 5-8.

Up next, Ozeki Terunofuji welcomed M6 Ichinojo, and the two struck well at the tachi-ai with Terunofuji getting the right arm inside and his left hand on an outer belt grip, but Ichinojo was able to break it off quickly leaving Fuji with a couple strands of the sagari. With both dudes leaning in chest to chest, Terunofuji thought about a maki-kae with the left before going for and grabbing the left outer grip instead. From this position, he used that outer grip to wrench Ichinojo upright causing his feet to be aligned, and the force-out from there was swift and decisive. I thought Ichinojo coulda gone a little harder in this one, but it was a textbook yori-kiri win from Terunofuji as he moved to 12-1. As for Ichinojo, he falls to a harmless 8-5 in defeat.

Before we move on, I'm curious what Takayasu fans see in the dude's sumo? Yeah, he's been posting wins of late, but his sumo has not been good. He could do nothing against Myogiryu today, and his signature win in my opinion this basho came against Mitakeumi, but if you remember that bout, it was Mitakeumi who dictated the pace the entire way, and his inability to finish enabled Takayasu to pull a close one out at the edge. Contrast that with Terunofuji. Everyday we can just pick apart his thorough technique and clearly see the steps he takes to dismantle his opponents. You can just see it even if you don't root for the guy. Speaking of my rooting interests, I don't have favorite rikishi. I root for straight up sumo and nothing more.

Straight up sumo is not something we would get in the Shodai - M7 Takarafuji affair. The bout was supposed to go to hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but Takarafuji completely refused to insert his left arm to the inside of Shodai's right. Furthermore, Takarafuji kept himself upright, and so Shodai mounted a force-out charge that he never set up from the beginning. Because there was such little pressure behind Shodai's charge, Takarafuji was able to move to his right a bit and fire a late tsuki-otoshi that sent Shodai down with ease, but Takarafuji had already stepped well beyond the straw by then. This was one of those strange endings that was ruled yori-kiri, but the guy who won ended up face planting himself to the dohyo while the guy who lost just stood there completely upright and watched the whole thing take place. Okay, I take back my statement a few paragraphs ago: I have no officially seen a crock'a shat. Shodai magically picks up kachi-koshi at 8-5 while Takarafuji plays along at 6-7.

And that brings us to the day's final bout that paired M8 Endoh against Takakeisho. With Terunofuji safely through, it was up to Takakeisho to defeat Endoh and knock him off of the leaderboard altogether. This bout started like most other Takakeisho bouts with the faux-zeki methodically pushing his foe back even though there was little contact or pressure involved. And so Endoh methodically backpedaled to the edge only to dart to his right at the last second and yank Takakeisho into a full on belly flop to the floor below. I mean, Takakeisho didn't even touch the clay he flew that far largely with his own forward momentum working against him.

The problem here...and the announcers broke it down correctly afterwards...was that Takakeisho wasn't watching his opponent correctly. Nor was he the one solely responsible for Endoh's backpedaling. If you think about Chiyotairyu when he used to obliterate guys off of the starting line, his opponents didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter because it was Chiyotairyu using sheer power to drive them back quickly. In this bout between Takakeisho and Endoh, there was no power whatsoever coming from Takakeisho, and it's obvious who was really dictating the pace. In Takakeisho's mind, I'm sure he was thinking, "Yup. This is just like my previous ten wins...easy peasy Japa--Oh Snap!!!"

The end result now is the following leaderboard as we head into Saturday:

12-1: Terunofuji
10-3: Endoh

Now that I think about it, we're a botched hair pulling call away from having the yusho decided on Day 13. While this certainly seems like an insurmountable lead now for Terunofuji, nothing has really changed from the last few days. It still comes down to this:  Terunofuji will yusho if that's what he decides to do. It wouldn't surprise me to see him bow to Endoh tomorrow just to put a bit more drama back into things, but I think he's gonna make it official on Day 14.

If he does choose to lose against Endoh tomorrow, the only other bout of consequence as it pertains to the fake yusho race we have going is the Shodai-Takakeisho matchup to end the day, and that one is sure to bring the house down. I'll be back tomorrow for comment.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I was expecting more of an uproar in the media over the Asanoyama revelations, but the story is only receiving the obligatory coverage before the focus quickly turns to other things. It seems that for now everyone is content with Asasekiryu's forcing Asanoyama to go kyujo, and then the Association will take care of the official punishment well after the basho has subsided. It's kind of like saving negative news to be released late Friday afternoon when everyone's mind is focused on the weekend at hand.

Even during the Day 12 broadcast, there was no mention of the Asanoyama incident until the last 20 minutes of the show when it was time for him to take on Takayasu. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though. If this was 12 years ago and that was Asashoryu, the coverage would have been identical proving that there is no subjectivity when it comes to reporting on sumo. Protect the guys in the ring; protect them out of the ring.

With the Asanoyama story dying down faster than it started, the only real headline is the yusho race, which was completely revived by that disqualification call against Terunofuji yesterday. Remember that Daily Sports article from Day 10 that said Terunofuji has a 100% chance to take the yusho? Interesting how quick things can change with a single judgment call. Actually, Terunofuji DOES have a 100% chance to the take the yusho if that's what his camp decides to do, but with four days left, anything can and probably will happen.

One of the problems with this "revived" yusho race is there isn't anyone involved really. Terunofuji is a given and then Takakeisho is the token representative from the Japanese group of darlings, but besides those two the list isn't exactly of "Whose Who?" caliber. This is the way NHK's leaderboard looked at the start of the day:

10-1: Terunofuji
9-2: Takakeisho, Endoh
8-3: Ichinojo, Okinoumi

Endoh, Ichinojo, and Okinoumi have been complete non-stories the entire basho, and this has come down to a two-horse race where one of the dudes is a Budweiser Clydesdale and the other is My Little Pony.

The second bout on the day featured M14 Chiyotairyu vs. M12 Okinoumi, and Chiyotairyu stopped Okinoumi in his tracks at the tachi-ai with his usual tsuppari start, and after a couple more shoves Okinoumi's way, Chiyotairyu went for a lame swipe that largely missed, but Okinoumi just put both palms to the dirt with no other part of his body touching. You know what that means, and while I have no idea of the politics behind the bout, Okinoumi was not even attempting to win here. Both rikishi end the day at 8-4, so they have their kachi-koshi, but more importantly, Okinoumi falls off of that section of the leaderboard that nobody cared about anyway.

M8 Endoh and M12 Kotoeko hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Endoh had a stifling outer grip with the left near the front of Kotoeko's belt. So what did he do with it? Just backed up and let Kotoeko force him across easy as you please. During the "force-out" attempt, Kotoeko was hopping forward in a poor man's gaburi fashion, and his feet were aligned the entire time, and I refuse to believe that Endoh couldn't have slipped out left and executed a counter dashi-nage with that belt grip. I mean, Kotoeko didn't even have Endoh pinned against the edge. This was all Elvis backing up of his own volition, so once again, I have no idea why they're doing this, but Endoh did not try and win that bout. The result is his falling to 9-3 while Kotoeko improves to 7-5.

Our other three-loss dude, M6 Ichinojo, was vaulted up to the penultimate bout of the day to face Takakeisho, and from the tachi-ai, Takakeisho was a bit hesitant giving up the early right inside position, and when you have an oshi guy vs. a belt guy and belt guy gets that quick inside position, it's usually curtains. But...thankfully Ichinojo pulled the arm away as Takakeisho backed up a step, and I knew at that point what the outcome would be here. With the two rikishi now socially distanced, both failed on a couple of swipe attempts with Ichinojo not wanting to move forward and destroy his opponent and Takakeisho not wanting to get close to that Mongolith only to be destroyed. After a few seconds, Takakeisho came close again and Ichinojo went for a half-assed pull, and Takakeisho flinched at the move likely expecting a lot more force than what actually came, and so he ducked low with his left knee buckling a bit, but Ichinojo didn't make him pay. From there, the two swiped a bit more before Ichinojo put his left arm around the back of Takakeisho's head as if to pull, but instead of pulling, he just backed up and out of the ring with Takakeisho pushing him in tow. Takakeisho was so frazzled in this one that he's the one who actually belly flopped to the dirt, but Ichinojo was safely across the straw by then, and so Takakeisho is gifted the easy win in moving to 10-2 while Ichinojo crosses himself off the leaderboard as expected falling to 8-4.

Asanoyama and Suckiwake Takayasu were slated to fight next, but Takayasu picks up the win of course by default giving him kachi-koshi at 8-4. There's no way the yusho line is going to fall to four losses, so his only hope--and my hope as well--is for him to accrue more wins so he can start another fake run to Ozeki. As for Asanoyama, he falls to 7-5 and will officially finish the tournament at 7-8. Yikes. Before we move on, I was scanning the headlines and saw a member of Asanoyama's fan club quoted as saying, "I'm just shocked. He's such a diligent person and not the kind of guy who would go out late at night." SMH as the saying goes, but this is the kind of gullibility necessary in order for sumo to succeed.

In the final bout of the day, Ozeki Terunofuji was relaxed at the tachi-ai reaching for a grip of his opponent really on any part of his body. As for M5 Onosho, he got the left arm inside early, so Terunofuji took the right outer on that side and then found the front of Onosho's belt with his own right hand, so with two solid belt grips, Terunofuji mounted his yori charge that Onosho could not answer. This was a straightforward, linear yori-kiri with no shenanigans, and so Terunofuji keeps sole possession of the lead at 11-1 while Myogiryu falls to 6-6. As long as were talking about news headlines, I saw one about Terunofuji that said it looks as if he's doing keiko with Makushita guys. I would call that a Freudian slip that illustrates just how wide the gap is between guys like Terunofuji, Hakuho, etc. and their Japanese counterparts.

With the leaderboard reshuffled, we now have this as we head into the final three days:

11-1: Terunofuji
10-2: Takakeisho
9-3: Endoh

Due to Asanoyama's withdrawal, the Association will pair Endoh with Takakeisho tomorrow in place of Asanoyama, so Endoh will likely be eliminated at the end of Day 13. I mean, Endoh can easily beat Takakeisho if he wants to, but I just don't think that scenario is in the cards.

As for Terunofuji, he draws Ichinojo, and that should be an easy, lopsided win for Fuji the Terrible, and I just wish both dudes would go all out. I think Ichinojo could actually upset Terunofuji if they both went 100%, but I unfortunately don't think we're going to get that from these two.

And that's that. We still have three full days to go, and with no other three-loss rikishi, they've got to try and salvage as much excitement as they can with Terunofuji and Takakeisho.

In other bouts of interest, Suckiwake Takanosho blasted Shodai back from the tachi-ai with a choke hold (nodowa) that was so effective Shodai's heels were touching the straw less than two seconds in. Takanosho let up, however, allowing Shodai to move right and go for a counter tsuki, and the Suckiwake's reaction was to turn his back briefly towards Shodai, but when Shodai didn't finish him off, he squared back up only to have Shodai finally charge forward again. As he did, Takanosho moved to his right going for a half tsuki that had Shodai off balance again, but Takanosho didn't follow through with it. Instead, he put both arms up way high not doing anything and so Shodai was finally able to get the left arm inside and execute a weak scoop throw that was Takanosho's cue to just fall and put his elbow to the dirt. In a normal bout, this would have been a nage-no-uchi-ai, but it wasn't hear because Takanosho was so mukiryoku with his right arm. Grab the outer...grab a kote grip or whatever. A guy whose intent is to win would have done something more than just flop forward and down. Shodai is gifted 7-5 with the win while Takanosho suffers make-koshi at 4-8.

Rounding out the sanyaku, M2 Meisei bested Komusubi Mitakeumi at the tachi-ai getting his left arm in early and then switching to his right arm inside with a left frontal grip, and that frontal was so lethal that Mitakeumi was forced to bring his arm to the outside just to get the blood flow back into it. That gave Meisei moro-zashi with two hands at the front of the belt enabling him to mount a force-out charge where he ultimately kept Mitakeumi in place with a left arm to the inside. Meisei completely schooled the Komusubi here moving to 6-6 while Mitakeumi's kachi-koshi is denied again as he falls to 7-5.

Komusubi Daieisho's make-koshi became official as M1 Hokutofuji slipped left in henka fashion slapping Daieisho down in less than a second. This was likely planned as Daieisho didn't even try and tsuppari from the initial charge. I mean, if you don't know you're opponent is going to henka, you'd come with your usual tsuppari charge, but Daieisho knew something and was ready to catch his fall with both palms touching the dirt easy as you please. Hokutofuji stays alive at 5-7 while Daieisho falls to 4-8.

And finally, M3 Aoiyama bought his second win of the tournament from M4 Myogiryu in a bout where Myogiryu lightly moved left at the tachi-ai but wasn't looking to do any damage. The two briefly traded light shoves and attempted pulls, but with Aoiyama not able to apply much force, Myogiryu drove him backwards with the clear path to moro-zashi, but he didn't take it and instead anticipated an Aoiyama pull just flopping sideways across the straw. With this "win," Aoiyama likely guarantees a spot in the division for next tournament. As for Myogiryu, he's in the twilight of his career and is selling bout like crazy to help finance retirement, which will include a huge lump sum of cash in exchange for his oyakata stock.

I'll end there for today and be right back to pick it up tomorrow.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
For a basho that has lacked any intriguing headlines the first 10 days, we certainly got our fill of bombshells by the end of Day 11. Unfortunately, none of the controversies had anything to do with sound sumo and competition in the ring. The most notable news item was the revelation that Ozeki Asanoyama lied to the Sumo Association prior to the basho when an inquiry was made as to whether or not he broke the NSK guidelines by visiting the tittie bars just before the start of the tournament.

The online tabloid, Bunshun Online, reported that Ozeki Asanoyama had repeatedly visited tittie bars (called Cabaret Clubs for the snow flakes) as recent as two days prior to the start of the Natsu basho despite the Association's order that all of it's members refrain from such establishments during the Corona Virus pandemic.

When the article first appeared, Oguruma-oyakata who is the head of the Compliance Department met with Asanoyama, and the Ozeki vehemently denied the claims in the article. Oguruma warned Asanoyama that the repercussions would be severe if he wasn't telling the truth, but Asanoyama stood by his story.

After his Day 11 bout against Takanosho, Asanoyama and his stablemaster (former Asasekiryu) were summoned again by the Association, and the Ozeki changed his story admitting that a portion of the allegations noted in the Bunshun Online story were true [Editor's note: that means ALL of them were true].

Asanoyama will be forced to go kyujo starting Day 12 meaning he will suffer make-koshi this tournament. Furthermore, members from within the Association are reporting that the punishment will be more severe than Abi's punishment last year due to Asanoyama's current rank and the fact that he lied to officials when first asked about the matter.

Last year Abi was forced to sit out three consecutive basho, which resulted in his falling to the Makushita division. He was also docked 50% of his pay for the next five months following the infraction. It has yet to be reported what Asanoyama's official punishment will be, and the Association purposefully waited to release the story until late last night when the general nightly news programs had ended.

Personally, I'm questioning everything I'm reading about this because in the article published by Nikkan Sports on the matter, they said that Asanoyama was a rikishi "with enough ability to obtain the rank of Yokozuna." Regardless, this story will likely persist beyond the end of the tournament, so I'll continue to comment on it as new details emerge.

Secondary to Asanoyama's story was the disqualification of Ozeki Terunofuji in his bout against M4 Myogiryu. The two looked to go to hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but a quick maki-kae with the right by Myogiryu gave him moro-zashi. Still, Terunofuji showed why that position is useless against him because as Myogiryu looked to escape laterally, Terunofuji grabbed a left outer grip and then changed it to a kote grip before planting his right foot and throwing Myogiryu over and down with ease. Or so we thought. During the throw, Terunofuji put his right hand at the back of Myogiryu head to help push him to the dohyo, and during the fray, Fuji's fingers were tangled enough into Myogiryu's mage that they called a mono-ii to review whether or not Terunofuji had pulled Myogiryu's hair illegally.

Watching live the first time, nobody noticed anything including Myogiryu. Normally, when a rikishi gets his hair pulled or thinks it might have been pulled, he'll immediately stand up and start adjusting his mage for everyone to see while he looks in the judges direction, but today Myogiryu never touched his hair at any time after the bout. Terunofuji also went to his side and squatted down, and then started looking around as if to say, "Hey, where are my envelopes full of dough?" With Fuji still looking around for his money, the judges stood up and began to conference in the center of the ring. I didn't see any of the judges call for the mono-ii, so it must have come from the officials in the replay booth.

As they showed the replays, you could definitely see that Fuji's fingers were entangled in Myogiryu's hair, but did that affect the flow of the bout? Of course not. Did Myogiryu's head move in an unnatural direction from the general flow of the bout as Fuji's hand touched the back of it? No. Was this going to be a purely subjective decision? Yes.

In the end, the judges decided that Terunofuji had indeed pulled Myogiryu's hair, and so they ruled that Terunofuji had disqualified himself, so gunbai to Myogiryu. The result saddles Terunofuji with his first loss at 10-1 while Myogiryu now stands at 5-6.

The whole problem with this bout is that in the current landscape of sumo, one can't help but think, "So...was any of this planned?" "Would they have disqualified Takakeisho in the same circumstance?" My opinions on the matter don't need to be voiced here. The real problem is that we don't have a yusho race created by smashmouth, in-your-face sumo. There are exactly zero bouts coming up the final four days that we're looking forward to, and the only drama that remains is still...will Terunofuji purposefully drop a bout or two before the finish?

Kitanofuji writes a daily column for the Chunichi Sports organization, and he said that this result is not "fun" (tanoshikunai), but it does make the yusho-arasoi more interesting. And there you go...anything but straight up sumo to put some energy into this tournament and create a yusho-arasoi down the stretch.

I guess there is no yusho race if the two-loss rikishi can't keep winning, so let's move there next. M8 Endoh was paired against M14 Chiyotairyu, and when the Association set up this bout prior to Day 10, I'm sure they were hoping they'd get a battle between two-loss rikishi. On the heels of Chiyotairyu's defeat yesterday, this bout didn't have quite the luster coming in, and once it played out, it really turned into a dud. Chiyotairyu ruled this one start to finish catching Endoh high with some nice tsuppari that forced Endoh back close to the straw. Tairyu followed that up with a quick pull that would have worked had he followed through on it, but he didn't. Still, Endoh had been slapped around silly to this point, and he had no momentum whatsoever, so when he advanced forward towards his foe, Chiyotairyu retreated and started to mawari-komu around the right to his right, and about halfway around the dohyo's edge, he just whiffed on a pull and used that as an excuse to step back across the straw.

I'm incredulous as to how they ruled this one oshi-dashi because Chiyotairyu backed out of his own volition; there certainly wasn't any thrust coming from his opponent. Oh well. Chiyotairyu (7-4) threw his bout yesterday and he threw his bout today. And that's the real problem here...Endoh moves to 9-2 and stays on the heels of Terunofuji all because of a fixed bout. Chiyotairyu dominated the tachi-ai and could have freight trained his foe back in two seconds. He also could have scored on the first pull after Endoh tried to duck back into things. Endoh did not do a single thing in this bout to defeat his opponent, and yet he's put up on a pedestal as one of the leaders.

With Endoh safely through, we next turn to Takakeisho who was paired against Suckiwake Takayasu. Takakeisho made little impact from the tachi-ai and didn't really come out pushing putting a right hand on Takayasu's left side in case he needed to move laterally. For Takayasu's part, it took him a second or two, but after that tachi-ai he fired a few shoves that really had Takakeisho on his heels, but he didn't follow up with the attack choosing instead to back up and turn himself around 180 degrees for no reason so Takakeisho could just push him out from behind. I was like..."What the?" when I saw that move, but it shouldn't surprise anyone. Takayasu was simply deferring to Takakeisho here, and so there you go...the other two-loss guy in Takakeisho who skates safely through due to yaocho.

It's just a shame that basho after basho the yusho races have to be manufactured like this. The result here is Takakeisho's moving to 9-2 while Takayasu takes himself outta the picture at 7-4.

With Terunofuji's loss, I suppose that now brings the three loss rikishi into play, so let's go there next visiting everyone who entered the day with three losses.

M12 Okinoumi was paired against M10 Tamawashi, and the Mongolian put two hands against his opponent's body from the tachi-ai but wasn't thrusting. As for Okinoumi, he was defensive from the start, and so Tamawashi was able to easily force Okinoumi back to the straw without really firing a single shot. Near the edge, the action stopped for a moment or two before Okinoumi darted left partially wrapping his right arm around Tamawashi's head as if to pull, and the move was dull for sure, but Tamawashi just flopped to the ground giving Okinoumi the cheap win. He picks up kachi-koshi at 8-3, and here we go again...another rikishi who required yaocho to keep himself on the leaderboard. As for Tamawashi, he falls to a harmless 6-5.

M6 Ichinojo has been doing his best to stay out of the yusho race, and not knowing what would happen in the Terunofuji bout later, his intention was to win against M12 Kotoeko. For Kotoeko's part, he executed an ugly henka to his left at the tachi-ai that had zero effect against Ichinojo, and before Kotoeko could think about Plan B, Ichinojo squared back up quick as a cat and knocked Kotoeko into the suna-kaburi with a single blow. Ichinojo moves to 8-3 in the process, but I'm sure he'll repent and mend his ways by tomorrow removing himself off of the leaderboard. As for Kotoeko, he was obliterated today in falling to 6-5.

Komusubi Mitakeumi looked to keep himself in the running against M1 Hokutofuji. The two butt heads from the tachi-ai as Hokutofuji looked to strike with the right and move left, but Mitakeumi was onto it quickly pushing Hokutofuji back to the straw as he shaded left. The M1 dug in well at the edge, however, and was able to escape to his right and turn the tables getting the right arm sufficiently to the inside while battling for the left outer grip on the other side. Mitakeumi was clearly uncomfortable in this position, and didn't know quite how to react, so after a few seconds of a stalemate, he stood straight up to do who knows what, and at that instant, Hokutofuji just bulldozed him back and across never needing that left outer grip. Mitakeumi falls to 7-4 in defeat, and this reminded me of the Takayasu bout a few days ago in that Mitakeumi had both dudes against the ropes, but he's a poor finisher. As for Hokutofuji, he moves to 4-7 with the nice win.

At this point, let's review the leaderboard as we head towards Day 12:

10-1: Terunofuji
9-2: Takakeisho, Endoh
8-3: Ichinojo, Okinoumi

In other bouts of interest, before he admitted to getting his jollies at the Cabaret Clubs, Asanoyama faced Suckiwake Takanosho and Takanosho came with a very effect right paw to Asanoyama's throat completely standing the faux-zeki upright and knocking him onto his heels. As Takanosho moved forward, he actually had moro-zashi, but he he pulled his left arm to the outside and just leaned to his right inviting Asanoyama to go for a counter move into the Suckiwake's left side. Asanoyama may be dull, but he figured it out here using a quick scoop throw with the right to fell the willing Takanosho to the dirt near the edge. Asanoyama had zero going for him from the tachi-ai, and he did nothing to counter his foe's attack and set up that final throw. It was all Takanosho (4-7) start to finish as Asanoyama is gifted a 7-4 mark.

Which was just fine and dandy until they made him confess to things afterwards. Assuming that Asanoyama's punishment will be worst than Abi's, he'll be make-koshi this basho, and he'll be forced to sit out next basho, which will knock him from the Ozeki rank. If they give him more than the three-basho punishment, he'll be lucky to come back as an active rikishi ranked in Juryo. We'll just have to see how it all plays out. The ironic things is look at all the cash Asanoyama used to buy his wins this basho, and now it's all for naught. I for one do see the humor in that.

My wet dream of having two possible Japanese Ozeki demoted from the rank was put on hold a bit as M5 Onosho executed one of the worst tachi-ai this basho against Shodai. From the start, Onosho kept his arms out wide as he rushed forward that half step and then immediately aligned his feet standing tall at Shodai's bidding. Not even Shodai could eff this up, and he just plowed forward kinda executing shoves and kinda doing it yori-style, but it was really Onosho agreeing to back pedal himself out of the ring and fake a pull or two in the process. When Shodai wins like this, he sorta waddles back to his corner looking down as if to say to himself, "Well, that sure was easy." Yeah, it's nice when your opponents let up for you. With the gift, Shodai moves to 6-5 and needs to just purchase two more bouts to ruin my day. As for Onosho, he falls to a harmless 6-5.

Finally, the day began with J1 Enho making another appearance in the division to face M16 Chiyomaru, and you could see from the tachi-ai just how soft Chiyomaru was. He did put both arms forward at the tachi-ai, but he didn't move his feet except to uselessly kick his right foot forward...you know, that move we see all the time at the tachi-ai. Or not. With Maru applying no pressure, Enho quickly moved left causing Chiyomaru to run all the way across the dohyo to the edge, and as he casually squared back up, he let Enho get the inside and rush Chiyomaru over to the other side and lightly off of the dohyo altogether. This was one of those rare bouts where the loser goes down by yori-taoshi and yet magically lands on both feet on the venue floor below due to the lack of real force coming from his opponent. The only reason I'm commenting on this bout is for those who have a question of whether or not this one was straight up. Uh...no. Enho manages to move to 4-7, and we'll see if he can buy kachi-koshi from here.

I think this should suffice today, so we'll see if Day 12 is the lucky day where I once again comment on all the bouts from the day.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As I was scanning the funny papers the morning of Day 10, I saw a headline from the Daily Sports News that said Terunofuji's chance of taking the yusho is 100%. Now, nothing is absolute, and the reason they worded it that way was to get more clicks, and I surely took the bait, but their basis for the headline was that 20 times in the past a rikishi has held a two-bout lead at the end of Day 9, and all 20 times that rikishi has taken the yusho. While the chances of a Terunofuji yusho aren't quite 100% (assuming he finishes all 15 days), it's going to be a lot harder for the other two-loss rikishi to win out than it would be for Terunofuji to drop a strategic bout here or there.

At the start of the Day 10 broadcast, they went down memory lane and showed highlights from the 1990 basho. At that tournament, Ozeki Asahifuji took the yusho at 14-1, and he would also repeat the next tournament earning him promotion to Yokozuna. NHK was obviously finding a pattern from the past where an Ozeki began his run to Yokozuna at the Natsu basho, and if Terunofuji does end up taking the yusho with 13 wins or more, I don't see how they can't consider him a candidate for Yokozuna in July.

My personal opinion is that the NSK does not want another foreigner Yokozuna on their hands, but we'll just have to wait and see. Compared to the rest of the field, Terunofuji is undoubtedly Yokozuna material, and he could be posting Hakuho-like numbers when that rikishi was in his prime if that's what he wanted to do, and if that's what his stablemaster would allow, so the drama always ends up: will he or won't he?

In the interest of time, let's focus on the leaderboard today, which looked like this to start the day:

9-0: Terunofuji
7-2: Takakeisho, Mitakeumi, Ichinojo, Endoh, Chiyotairyu

Starting with the two-loss rikishi, M14 Chiyotairyu was paired against M8 Tsurugisho, and I'm not sure why Chiyotairyu has completely abandoned his oshi attack this basho in favor of yotsu-zumo. He's still a decent belt guy and he easily secured moro-zashi from the tachi-ai today using a nice hari-zashi tachi-ai where he slapped with the right and got the both arms inside, but from there it was as if he just stopped trying. As for Tsurugisho, he slowly moved out left setting up a counter kote-nage, and the execution of the throw was as slow as his pivot, but Chiyotairyu failed to react to it just flopping over and rolling off the dohyo instead of at least trying a counter scoop throw or inside belt throw of his own.

I always harp on the lack of nage-no-uchi-ai in these days, and this is a classic example of where one should have occurred. I don't know the thinking or the politics behind it, but Chiyotairyu did not try and win this bout despite getting moro-zashi from the tachi-ai. He rolls himself right out of yusho contention falling to 7-3 while Tsurugisho moves to a harmless 3-7.

The next bout after Chiyotairyu's demise was M8 Endoh paired against M11 Kotonowaka, and talk about easy competition in the midst of a yusho hunt. Kotonowaka offered two hands up high at the tachi-ai into Endoh's neck, but instead of moving forward, the youngster moved back and to his right a bit. Endoh took full advantage rushing forward and firing a threw shoves into his foe before reading Kotonowaka's attempt to move back left perfectly, and Endoh was right there to finish him off with an easy oshi-dashi. Endoh is the second rikishi to secure kachi-koshi this basho (behind Terunofuji) at 8-2 while Kotonowaka falls to 5-5.

Several bouts later, M6 Ichinojo apparently forgot the rule that you're actually allowed to use your hands in a bout of sumo. Against M11 Chiyoshoma, the latter put his hands high into Ichinojo's neck before quickly moving right, and Ichinojo waltzed straight forward not bothering to square back up and take advantage of his compromised opponent. He did at least turn around just in time to absorb a few more Chiyoshoma thrusts before letting Shoma get behind him, grab the back of the belt with the left, and then nudge Ichinojo out okuri-dashi style. Both rikishi's legs were in sync as they ran out of the dohyo, and if someone was being pushed out from behind, normally you'd think they would try and put on the brakes but not here. The two looked like synchronized swimmers...without the gobs of makeup of course. I'm pretty sure Ichinojo's palms never touched Chiyoshoma, and for most of the bout, his hands were never higher than his navel. Nice mukiryoku performance to take himself out of the yusho race at 7-3 while Chiyoshoma will take the win moving to 6-4.

Moving up into the Ozeki ranks, Komusubi Mitakeumi charged hard into Asanoyama knocking him back a full step, and from there the Komusubi forced the bout to migi-yotsu. Mitakeumi didn't make an effort, however, to get the outer left, and he wasn't really pressing in tight, and so Asanoyama was able to execute a scoop throw with the right arm that threw the action in the opposite direction and more importantly brought Mitakeumi's belt close to a left outer grip for Asanoyama. He grabbed it straightway and had the advantage at this point, and Mitakeumi seemed okay with it as Asanoyama wrenched the Komusubi this way and that before forcing him across the straw in a nice performance. Not sure why there wasn't more resolve from Mitakeumi to get the left outer and keep Asanoyama away from it, but Asanoyama looked good here picking up the nice win while moving to 6-4. As for Mitakeumi, he falls off the leaderboard in defeat at 7-3.

The final two-loss rikishi on the day was Takakeisho who did battle against M5 Onosho, and Takakeisho moved well out of his stance firing his usual thrusts into Onosho's chest, and less than two seconds in, Onosho jumped left as if to set up a pull, but Takakeisho read the move perfectly and caught Onosho still in the air firing that last shove which sent Onosho back and across with some oomph. Takakeisho looked really good here in moving to 8-2 while Onosho is long gone from the yusho hunt at 6-4.

And that brings us to Ozeki Terunofuji who was paired against M4 Kiribayama. They executed a solid tachi-ai coming away in hidari-yotsu, and Fuji The Terrible immediately lifted Kiribayama up twisting him left right into an outer grip with the right hand from the Ozeki. That was such a slick move that I'm sure most people missed, but now with the right outer, Terunofuji was able to pin Kiribayama in close and force him over to the edge where instead of executing the textbook yori-kiri, Terunofuji brought his left hand from the inside and pushed Kiribayama back and across by the neck. Damnation this guys is a man among boys as he moves to 10-0 while Kiribayama falls to 2-8.

With the dust settled from the leaders, this is how the board shapes up now heading into the Shubansen:

10-0: Terunofuji
8-2: Takakeisho, Endoh

In other bouts of interest, Suckiwake Takayasu and Shodai struck well going to chest to chest in the migi-yotsu position, and Shodai's famous for giving up the easy uwate, and that was the case here as well with Takayasu grabbing a left outer grip. Besides that grip, Takayasu had Shodai propped up nice and high on the other side keeping him well away from a counter left outer of his own, and so the two spun around the ring a bit before Shodai went for a silly maki-kae, and that was the momentum shift Takayasu needed to force Shodai back and send him off the mound altogether. There's really not much more to it as Takayasu moves to 7-3 with the win while Shodai is now a dangerous 5-5. Shodai is clearly the worst of the three Japanese Ozeki, and so he's going to need some serious help or he'll lose his rank come July. I actually hope he gets demoted. There's no sense having a guy this inept ranked among the Ozeki. It does more harm than good in my opinion.

I'll stop here today since I'm outta time, but we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 9 broadcast began for me with a focus on the yusho placard for Takakeisho from last year's November tournament. Coming into the day, Takakeisho sat at one loss, and he was the lone remaining hope to take the yusho from among the Japanese Ozeki ranks. Mainoumi commented that though Shodai and Asanoyama are out of contention, he'd still like to see them fight hard at the end of the week when all of the Ozeki are paired against each other. And that's the issue...there are still a lot of forced losses coming among the Ozeki ranks when they fight each other. If you add Takayasu to that group, that gives us four more bouts against each of the Ozeki where someone has to inevitably lose, and so after all of that churn is finished, you can safely assume that the Ozeki and Takayasu will each experience at least two more losses.

Now, the standard-bearer in all of this is of course Terunofuji. He can choose to win or lose at will in Week 2, and it remains to be seen what he will do, but the runner-up in all of this is Mitakeumi. Ranked at Komusubi, he's already fought three of the Ozeki and both of the Suckiwake. He's paired against Asanoyama tomorrow, so if he can win that bout, he'll have an easier schedule the rest of the way than everybody else.

There's still a lot of sumo to go, however, and if Terunofuji chooses to keep tearing through the field like this, it's all a moot point anyway.

The marquee matchup on the day featured Ozeki Terunofuji vs. Suckiwake Takayasu, so let's start there. Since Terunofuji's return to the division, these two have faced each other four times, and Terunofuji let up for Takayasu in each of those previous bouts. Following precedent, he would let up for Takayasu again today, but that still doesn't mean that the Suckiwake could defeat him.

From the tachi-ai, Terunofuji advanced forward a half step giving up moro-zashi in the process, but Terunofuji is fine with that since he can simply wrap around the outside of both arms and execute a kime-dashi easy as you please. Today, however, instead grabbing Takayasu in the kime position and continuing to drive forward, the Ozeki purposefully let his guard down and backed out of the move keeping his head low as if to invite a pull from his foe. Takayasu managed a quick slap at the back of Terunofuji's head, but it had no effect, and so the two pivoted around the ring firing timid thrusts and looking for pulls with separation between them. At one point, Terunofuji caught Takayasu with a nice tsuki, but he failed to follow up on it and move forward, and about eight seconds into the bout with Terunofuji continuing to stay bent low with his head down, Takayasu finally got the right arm deep to the inside of Terunofuji's left side and tried to execute a scoop throw, but the Suckiwake had no momentum, and so as Terunofuji moved towards the edge, he slapped down at Takayasu managing to send him to the dirt before Takayasu could force the Ozeki across.

They called a mono-ii here, but it wasn't that close, and they rightly upheld the decision of gunbai to Terunofuji. This was a really sloppy bout, and the main takeaways were this: 1) Terunofuji had Takayasu a second into the bout but backed away for no reason, and 2) Takayasu never created any momentum for himself, and so he wasn't able to capitalize on his moro-zashi, especially when the Ozeki started backing up for him. He also wasn't able to score on a slap down or pull despite Terunofuji's staying low with his head down the entire way because Takayasu wasn't the one who caused Terunofuji to assume the vulnerable position.

We've seen this kind of sumo before primarily from Hakuho where he will leave himself vulnerable throughout the bout, but he's not going to just give it away when his opponent can't capitalize on the situation, and that's exactly what happened here. Watch the tachi-ai and Terunofuji wins it and is moving forward. Takayasu never sets up anything the entire bout until the end when he finally gets that arm to the inside. Still, he hadn't dictated anything to that point, and he had no momentum to finish his opponent off.

NHK News 9 also described it as Terunofuji's looking vulnerable for the first time this basho, and while that is true, it was intentional. Terunofuji moves to 9-0 with the win and sends Takayasu to a costly third loss. Takayasu is out of the yusho race for all intents and purposes, and so the focus moving forward should be on piling up wins if he hopes to regain the Ozeki rank. That will have to be purchased of course, but as I mentioned in my intro, Takayasu will face the remaining three Ozeki over the next few days, and so the losses have to be saddled upon someone.

With Terunofuji's victory today, all eyes were on the Takakeisho - Komusubi Daieisho matchup, so the question was simply this: would Daieisho follow suit with Takakeisho's last six opponents and let up for the faux-zeki? Takakeisho actually won the tachi-ai here coming out of the chute a bit quicker than the Komusubi and scoring with some nice shoves, but Daieisho regained his composure quickly and ducked his head a bit firing his way back into the bout, and that caused the faux-zeki to panic and jump to his left going for his signature swipe with the left arm. It's quite an ineffective move for sure, but the more important point is this: when Takakeisho knows his opponent is not letting up for him, he immediately transitions into pull/swipe sumo. His last six "wins" were all straightforward or by puff pulldowns, but today was a brawl and he panicked. When his usual left swipe failed to connect, he ducked his head and looked to plow back towards Daieisho, but the latter moved to his own left going for a similar swipe, and before Takakeisho could fully recover, Daieisho was right there to catch him with effective tsuppari to the neck that kept him upright and rendered him the easy push-out target in the end.

You could hear the panic in the Announcer's voice when Daieisho won this because it immediately changed the leaderboard as follows:

9-0 Terunofuji

Yes, just one dude on the leaderboard. In order for Terunofuji not to take the yusho, he's got to find a way to drop three bouts in the next six days. I mean, we've seen everything in sumo the last few years, and nothing surprises me at this point, but you could just see how deflated the media was at the end of the day. Even if he does drop three bouts, it's going to be hard for any of the two-loss yayhoos to win out.

On NHK News 9, Tadokoro-san, the sportscaster, tried to buoy everyone's spirits by saying, "By the time the Ozeki all fight each other later this week, they will all be fatigued, so anything can still happen." Yeah, that's what worries me. It's all just meaningless fluff. The reality is that nobody except Terunofuji will decide when he loses.

Takakeisho falls now to 7-2, and I actually think he's fighting the best of the Japanese Ozeki, so there's still a glimmer of hope, but it's going to take serious yaocho to get there. As for Daieisho, he moves to 4-5 with the nice comeback win, and a Komusubi being ranked at 4-5 by Day 9 usually means a kachi-koshi in the end since the schedule will lighten up considerably.

Sandwiched in between the last two bouts, M5 Hoshoryu continued to expose the crooked banzuke thoroughly schooling his second Ozeki in as many days. Against Shodai, the Mongolian stayed low using a nice tsuppari volley to send Shodai upright, and then Hoshoryu slipped into the right inside position with the left inside coming shortly after due to a lack of defense from Shodai. Now in moro-zashi, Hoshoryu immediately began forcing his foe back a step or two before using his right leg to trip at the back of Shodai's left, and Shodai toppled over and down like a house of cards across the edge of the dohyo. After the bout, they caught up with Shodai, and he said, "I wasn't able to convey any power at the tachi-ai." It's probably the best take anyone's made about the dude. There's just no power there or force behind his attack, and so when a greenie like Hoshoryu fights among the jo'i for the first time, he can literally show off with these leg tricks as he topples Japan's supposed elite.

With these two wins in as many days, Hoshoryu is still only 4-5, and that speaks more to the weak Ozeki than it does to a surging Hoshoryu. As for Shodai, he falls to 5-4, and remember...this dude is kadoban, so he's likely going to need serious help to pick up those remaining three wins. He draws Takayasu tomorrow and then he faces his three Ozeki counterparts. He'll be at the mercy of Terunofuji, and then it might be tough politically for Takakeisho to give up another win to help Shodai. I don't know what's sadder...the fact that Shodai needs help like this to stay at the rank, or the fact that most of the drama in sumo right now hinges on yaocho.

In the day's final affair, Asanoyama welcomed M5 Onosho, and with all of the focus on the likes of Terunofuji, the other Ozeki, and the sanyaku in general, Onosho quietly kept himself in yusho contention by hook or by crook coming into the day with just two losses. The two struck well from the tachi-ai coming away in the migi-yotsu position, but it was Onosho who forced Asanoyama backwards from the start. As Asanoyama retreated, he lost focus with his right arm brining it to the outside in a panic, and that gave Onosho moro-zashi near the edge. The momentum was still in Onosho's favor at this point, but instead of keeping that forward momentum going that last step with moro-zashi, he just completely let up and started slithering back to the center of the ring with his arms extended. That allowed Asanoyama to finally take advantage moving to his right and setting up what really was a pathetic kote-nage with the right arm, but Onosho just played along stumbling over and down with Asanoyama standing completely upright straight as an arrow with knees locked using only his arm for momentum. What a laugher this one was as Asanoyama is gifted 5-4 now while Onosho knows his place in the sport falling to 6-3.

Komusubi Mitakeumi henka'd upstart M1 Wakatakakage jumping to his left and getting that left hand at the side of WTK's belt, but it didn't matter as Wakatakakage was going down anyway, and so he just played along diving to the dirt with palms extended ending this bout in less than one second. Mitakeumi keeps himself among the two-loss rikishi you just LOVE to see this kind of sumo from a supposed contender. Wakatakakage harmlessly falls to 5-4 and will likely receive some sort of compensation for playing along today.

That leaves us with one other sanyaku rikishi, Suckiwake Takanosho who faced the suddenly-resurging M1 Hokutofuji. Maybe instead of suddenly resurging I should have said "suddenly fighting straight up" because Hokutofuji made it three wins in a row catching his opponent with a right paw to the throat and the nice left tsuki position that allowed him to bully Takanosho over to the edge straightway. Takanosho tried to hold on at the edge, but you could just see him let up hoping to move laterally away from Hokutofuji's attack but before he could get going, Hokutofuji sensed the momentum shift and shoved Takanosho well off the clay mound altogether. He moves now to 3-6 with the lopsided win while Takanosho is further exposed as a fraud falling to the same 3-6 mark. I'm really looking forward to the day when I don't have to refer to the Sekiwake as Suckiwake.

With the sanyaku taken care of, the leaderboard among the jo'i looks like this:

9-0: Terunofuji
7-2: Takakeisho, Mitakeumi

Once again, there is no way that anybody can run down the Ozeki. Terunofuji will have to purposefully start dropping bouts to make this thing interesting in the end, so it's all up to the StoryTeller.

Assuming Terunofuji does let the yusho line drop to around two losses, the following rikishi are also in contention from the rank and file:

M6 Ichinojo grabbed the left frontal grip from the tachi-ai against M12 Okinoumi, and so Okinoumi's right arm was immediately neutralized. On the other side, the Mongolith managed to get his own right arm inside, and that's all it took for Ichinojo to wrench Okinoumi over, back, and and across as easy as you please. Ichinojo moves to 7-2 with the win while Okinoumi falls to 6-3.

The tachi-ai between M8 Endoh and M15 Kaisei was as light as it gets as Endoh kept his arms in tight before stepping left and going for a light pull. Kaisei knew what was coming and just put both palms to the dirt and crab-walked forward a few steps. That crab walk was far more entertaining than the bout itself, and Endoh clearly bought his way to 7-2 in this one. As for Kaisei, he falls to 4-5, and the dude has gotten so lazy when he throws his bouts, but I guess it guarantees that nobody will get hurt.

The day led off with M14 Chiyotairyu battling J3 Hakuyozan, and I think the Apocalypse may be upon us because Chiyotairyu actually executed a hari-zashi tachi-ai that worked slapping with the right and getting the left arm inside. Hakuyozan immediately tried to cut off Chiyotairyu's left ultimately going for a maki-kae, but it was poorly executed and the momentum shift allowed Chiyotairyu to score the easy yori-kiri in the end. Chiyotairyu also stands now at 7-2 meaning the leaderboard sorta expands as follows:

9-0: Terunofuji
7-2: Takakeisho, Mitakeumi, Ichinojo, Endoh, Chiyotairyu

One other bout of interest on the day was the return of M3 Aoiyama. He was paired against M4 Kiribayama, a dude who's known for never passing up the opportunity to sell a bout. With Kiribayama totally mukiryoku from the tachi-ai, Aoiyama stood him up with two hands to the neck before going for an easy peasy pull that caused Kiribayama to flop forward kicking both of his feet up into the air for added measure. What a laugher as Aoiyama buys his first win back just looking to stay in the division for July. At 1-9 now from the M3 rank, you figger he's gotta buy one more just to be safe. As for Kiribayama, he falls to 2-7 and is laughing all the way to the bank this basho.

That's enough for today. Maybe I'll comment on all of the bouts tomorrow just so we can catch up on all of the scrubs.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 8 broadcast led off with an introduction of recently-retired Yokozuna Kakuryu in the booth, and besides talking about his recent retirement, they also showed various clips from his career. My favorite clip was of a sanban-geiko session between Kakuryu and Asashoryu shortly after Kakuryu's promotion to Yokozuna, and Asashoryu was really roughing Kakuryu up. The term they use for that is "kawaigari," or to show affection, and in normal everyday dialog, the word refers to they way you'd spoil a child or a grandchild. In sumo terms, it means that a rikishi of a higher rank or ability will rough up someone younger just to remind them who's really in charge.

As I watched that bout of keiko between the two Yokozuna, I realized that the kawaigari tradition is a scene we just don't see in sumo anymore. In order for a rikishi of an elite rank to show someone rough affection, that elite rikishi has to 1) be respected, and 2) actually have game. Can you imagine Takakeisho going into a different stable and roughing people up?  It just doesn't happen nor could it happen. How about Shodai?  Traditionally if an elite rikishi was upset during a basho, they'd make it a point prior to the next basho to do a bit of de-geiko and show some affection to the lesser-ranked rikishi who showed them up the previous tournament. It's a scene that's simply vanished from sumo because the elite ranks have been inflated by rikishi who get the reverse affection shown to them on a frequent basis. We'd see more of that today, so let's get to it starting from the sanyaku.

Suckiwake Takayasu was paired against M4 Kiribayama, and the Mongolian was purposefully soft in his charge. The problem was that Takayasu didn't bring anything from the tachi-ai, and so Kiribayama pushed into Takayasu's throat for two or three seconds before getting the left arm inside. Takayasu was already upright, and the reason you want a your opponent upright is two-fold 1) it's harder for a rikishi to maintain good balance up high, and 2) it's much easier to grab an outer grip of your opponent if he's upright. So, three seconds in Takayasu didn't have a pot to piss in while Kiribayama had his opponent set up perfectly. Except for one thing: Kiribayama refused to grab the outer grip. He touched it a few times and his hand was right there for fully 30 seconds or more but he never grabbed it. Some may say that Kiribayama was simply neutralizing Takayasu's left arm, but the Mongolian could have grabbed an outer towards the front of Takayasu's belt pinching that left arm useless in the process. 30 or 40 seconds into the bout, Takayasu attempted a lame maki-kae with the right, but Kiribayama failed to take advantage or make him pay. Still, Takayasu literally was had this entire bout, and I could have posted at least 10 different poses of Kiribayama refusing to grab the right uwate.  So how does Kiribayama throw the bout when his opponent is in no position to attack?  Well into the third minute of the contest, Kiribayama finally showed us how by pulling his left arm out from the inside, pulling out of the kote position with the right arm, and then moving to the edge and turning 180 degrees before landing softly on his butt.

Kiribayama was clearly anticipating a pull that never came, and this was an incredibly embarrassing ending. The was easily the fakest fall of the basho to this point, and that's saying something. There's obviously some money pushing for Takayasu's re-promotion to Ozeki, and the last thing we need is a hapless guy that has to pretend like this to be elite. I would be shocked if the Sumo Association offices didn't get calls about this ending because it was awful. Simply awful. Without question, this bout was compromised as Takayasu moves to 6-2 while Kiribayama falls to 2-6.

Next up was Suckiwake Takanosho facing M1 Wakatakakage, and Takanosho actually had Wakatakakage on his heels a bit after a decent tachi-ai, but more than the Suckiwake applying any pressure, this was a case of WTK retreating on his own in order to set up a trap. Said trap was ditching left, grabbing Takanosho's extended right arm, and then using that to just yank Takanosho out of the ring easy as you please. I'm not sure whose sumo has been worse this basho, Takayasu or Takanosho, but the Sekiwake rank is a complete joke right now. Wakatakakage easily moves to 5-3 while Takanosho falls to 3-5. Because Takanosho still needs to fight the three Japanese Ozeki, I just don't think there are enough wins for him to buy down the stretch so make-koshi looks inevitable.

Moving to the Ozeki ranks, it's been clear this basho that Komusubi Mitakeumi is not letting up for anyone. Today against Shodai, the two bounced chest to chest at the tachi-ai with neither dude taking clear advantage, and from there, Mitakeumi forced the bout to hidari-yotsu. Mitakeumi didn't have the right outer grip, but he didn't need it taking advantage of a Shodai shift to his left, reading the move perfectly, and then forcing the faux-zeki back and across on the mukou-joumen side of the ring. It was over in three seconds, and I thought the most telling point to this bout was after the 50-50 tachi-ai, Shodai opted to evade laterally instead of going toe to toe against Mitakeumi and use his size advantage. Shodai has zero game in falling to 5-3 while Mitakeumi moves to 6-2.

Takakeisho's opponents continue to let up for him and today's benefactor was M4 Myogiryu. From the tachi-ai, Myogiryu put two hands towards Takakeisho's throat, moved back and a bit and to his left, and then ducked down inviting a pull as Takakeisho looked to square back up. Takakeisho gave him a light love tap on the back of the right shoulder, and Myogiryu kicked both legs back off the dohyo as he put both palms to the dirt in perfect yaocho fashion. It's rather embarrassing the way that Takakeisho's foes are letting up for him and taking these dives, but I get it. Takakeisho is gifted 7-1 while Myogiryu takes another one for team sumo in falling to 2-6.

And now to the reverse kawaigari. M5 Hoshoryu struck Asanoyama with a right paw to the neck and a left hand to the side standing the faux-zeki upright and setting him up to the point where the youngster got the left inside and right outer grip easy as you please. This was actually a very similar start to the Takayasu - Kiribayama bout the difference being Hoshoryu's intention to win here. And not only did he win, but he humiliated Asanoyama brushing off the faux-zeki's yori attempt by forcing him backwards and in the process perfectly placing his right leg to the inside of Asanoyama's left tripping him backwards and down hard to the dohyo in the perfectly executed uchi-gake move. Hooboy. That last thing you want to see as an Ozeki is yourself lying on your back with your opponent on one knee praying for your well-being. Asanoyama is schooled once again at the hands of a Mongolian as he falls to 4-4 while Hoshoryu further exposes the abnormality of the banzuke in improving to 3-5.

In the day's final bout, the only drama was whether or not Ozeki Terunofuji would let up for Komusubi Daieisho. The answer was a firm "no" as Daieisho's blaster tsuppari just bounced off of Terunofuji's thick armor, and after a second or two, Terunofuji moved forward in order to wrap around Daieisho's left arm from the outside. Daieisho instinctively moved right in an effort to mawari-komu around the ring and make Terunofuji give chase, but he only managed two or three steps before Terunofuji caught up with him and shoved him out of the ring with ease. Fuji picks up kachi-koshi on the nakabi at 8-0 while Daieisho falls to 3-5.

Before we wrap things up for the day, I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on the first bout of the day featuring M15 Kaisei and J2 Ura. Kaisei was completely passive at the tachi-ai shuffling his feet as he moved forward waiting for Ura to make a move, and it came a few seconds in as Ura darted left going for an ineffective swipe. Kaisei easily squared up after the attempt, and the two hooked up in migi-yotsu. When fighting Ura or Enho, all the bigger rikishi have to do is grab them in close and bear their full weight down on them, but Kaisei just stood there bent over the waist and played along as Ura moved him over the edge and then "threw" him down with a right scoop throw. Kaisei was completely mukiryoku enabling the throw, and what should have been a nage-no-uchi-ai at worst turned into Kaisei's just flipping around and down in exaggerated fashion. If it really was this easy, Ura would have never had to leave the division the last few years to recuperate from the beating he took the first time around.

Sumo is starving for positive headlines, and so they're going to glom onto this Ura nonsense for the next little bit. He's gifted 7-1 from the J2 rank, so it's all but a given that he'll be in the Makuuchi division come July. Just great. More yaocho to give the Japanese fans a greater sense of security. Kaisei willingly falls to 4-4 and will have his reward.

As we start Week 2, your leaderboard still looks like this:

8-0: Terunofuji
7-1: Takakeisho

If that were anybody but Terunofuji, you could go two losses deep, but the basho doesn't really begin until the Story Teller loses. Once he does, there are seven rikishi lurking with two losses.

Day 7 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I always look forward to the weekend broadcasts to see what kind of "hook" NHK has prepared to raise fan interest, and today was a little vignette they do sometimes called, "Waza wo migaku," or translated literally, polishing technique. For this piece, they choose a rare waza, or technique, and then explain it more in depth. Today's technique was the gaburi move that Kotoshogiku often used where he'd ram his belly into his opponent in an effort to force them back. I think it was Mark Arbo who coined it best when he described it as a dry hump. They showed Kotoshogiku "defeating" Hakuho and Gagamaru using the gaburi-yori technique, and both bouts were obviously fixed. There's a reason that nobody uses the gaburi-yori:  it doesn't work.  I'm not sure why Kotoshogiku had a thang for it, but in order to gaburu someone, you have to keep your feet constantly aligned as you hop forward. It's just an inefficient technique, and I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that NHK could have picked something much more interesting with which to lead things off.

In the interest of time on the weekends, I'm just going to comment on bouts of interesting, and I think the most telling bout from the day was the Suckiwake Takayasu - M1 Hokutofuji matchup. Takayasu was in the funny papers prior to the basho quite a bit with talk of regaining his Ozeki rank, and so he's been in the spotlight the entire basho. His 5-1 record coming in didn't hurt things either, and today he was paired a guy who was 0-6.

Takayasu's footwork was horrible at the tachi-ai as usual enabling Hokutofuji to catch him with a right tsuki and keep him upright. When the Suckiwake wasn't able to shove his way out of it or get to the belt, Hokutofuji next shaded left going for a sideways push on that side. With Takayasu on defense, he attempted to push at Hokutofuji's throat, but the M1's counter shoves were equal or better, and so with Takayasu pressing to make something happen, Hokutofuji timed a nice pull moving back to his right and yanking Takayasu forward and out of the ring easy as you please. Takayasu's footwork was terrible throughout. His feet were often aligned, and he did this little hop mid-bout similar to what we see from Takakeisho at times. The Suckiwake was never in control of this one, and Hokutofuji showed that he is the superior rikishi. I know that records aren't going to reflect that, but the sumo sure bears that out. Hokutofuji picks up his first win moving to 1-6, and to be fair, this guy obviously let up for all three Japanese Ozeki, so he's fighting more at a 4-3 clip instead of 1-6. As for Takayasu, he falls to 5-2, and his only legitimate win this basho was over Mitakeumi. Still, Mitakeumi largely dictated that one, and Takayasu barely escaped that bout by the hairs on his back, and so to constantly read this shullbit about the Ozeki rank is just laughable in my opinion. Terunofuji is the standard by which all Ozeki should be measured.

Following the Takayasu bout was our other one-loss rikishi coming into the day, Takakeisho, who was paired against M5 Hoshoryu. This was a useless bout that saw Hoshoryu henka right and graze his fingers across Takakeisho's belt, but he purposefully didn't grab the cloth although he could have. When Takakeisho recovered from the slight at the tachi-ai, Hoshoryu just ducked forward inviting a pull from the faux-zeki. When the first one came in the form of a back slap with the left, there was no force behind the blot, but Hoshoryu just put his left palm to the dirt touching down about two seconds in. Takakeisho had already loaded up a shoulder slap with the right arm and executed that one as well and Hoshoryu dutifully put his right knee down as well as his palms standing back up as quick as he fell. Ya know, if all of Takakeisho's foes went this easy on him, dude would yusho at 14-1. Hoshoryu obviously deferred here falling to 2-5 while Takakeisho's record improves to 6-1.

I still can't get over how badly Asanoyama got his ass kicked yesterday at the hands of Kiribayama. Today during the broadcast they showed the rankings for the top 3 bouts that were re-watched yesterday from the Association website and Asanoyama - Kiribayama was number 1. Ouch. Today the faux-zeki drew M4 Myogiryu, and the two hooked up in migi-yotsu where Myogiryu had the clear path the left outer, but he wouldn't grab it. I mean, he was just inches away from it and had Asanoyama leaning down in perfect position for Myogiryu to grab the left, but instead of taking it he darted right for no reason as if to dashi-nage, but it never came as well. With Myogiryu passing on the outer grip and then the dashi-nage, you knew his intentions, so after the two stayed in the clinch for a few seconds, Asanoyama went for a right scoop throw and Myogiryu was completely defenseless. I mean, this should have been a nage-no-uchi-ai with Asanoyama's right inside position and Myogiryu's left, but instead of grabbing the left outer...which was still there for the taking, Myogiryu kept that left in no man's land, and so the throw from Asanoyama actually sent Myogiryu airborne and down. Yeah, it looked good to the sheep, but you couldn't get any more mukiryoku than Myogiryu was there at the edge. Asanoyama saves face after that humiliation yesterday in moving to 4-3 while Myogiryu took his lumps today falling to 2-5.

Up next was Ozeki Terunofuji facing Suckiwake Takanosho, and as has been the case the entire basho, Takanosho could do nothing from the tachi-ai. Of course Terunofuji is the superior rikishi, but you'd think someone ranked at Sekiwake could at least make things interesting. Not here as Takanosho's extended arms were purely defensive keeping Terunofuji away from an early left grip, but the Mongolian just bullied his way forward bodying Takanosho to the edge, and as the Suckiwake looked to escape left, Terunofuji just slapped him down with little fanfare. Terunofuji easily moves to 7-0 while Takanosho falls to 3-4.

In the day's final bout, M4 Kiribayama stood Shodai upright with a right paw to the throat and then pushed him back a step with a left push into the teet, and that allowed the Mongolian to rush into the hidari-yotsu position. Instead of grabbing the right outer grip and forcing the bout chest to chest, Kiribayama immediately backed up and just stepped his right foot well beyond the straw as if he was turning a bit to set up a throw. And that was that. Shodai picks up the victory for doing absolutely nothing besides going along for the ride. They gave Shodai a brick of kensho after the bout, and I'm sure most of that is going to be delivered to the Kiribayama camp as Shodai is gifted 5-2 for looking awful while Kiribayama falls to 2-5.

In other bouts of interest, the two Komusubi met up today in Mitakeumi vs. Daieisho, and Daieisho put his arms forward as if to go for his usual tsuppari attack, but then he just backed up and faked a pull, and so Mitakeumi simply plowed forward and scored the ridiculously easy force-out win. Mitakeumi moves to 5-2 with the gift, but he did nothing to set that up. It was all Daieisho from the tachi-ai dictating the pace and the flow of the bout while Mitakeumi just followed along. Mitakeumi is still in the running sort of at 5-2 while Daieisho falls to 3-4.

And finally, M1 Wakatakakage completely aligned his feet at the tachi-ai allowing M2 Meisei to just blast him off the starting lines with a right paw to the throat, but Meisei kept that limb extended too long allowing Wakatakakage to swipe it away and move left, and as the two looked to square back up, both rikishi were looking for the pull. WTK's feet were still aligned here, and it just left him vulnerable to a Meisei counter tsuki from the side as he moved left and slapped Wakatakakage forward by the back of the right shoulder before slapping him down for good. If you watch the replay in this one, focus on Wakatakakage's footwork, and you can see why he lost. He fades to 4-3 while Meisei improves to 3-4.

In the interest of time we'll stop here, and the two most important takeaways from the day were: 1) Terunofuji still hasn't decided to lose, and 2) the Japanese Ozeki all won. You can just tell by the increase of fans in the stands that the weekends get more scrutiny, and so it bode well today to have all of the faux-zeki win.

With Takayasu's losing today, your leaderboard for all intents and purposes is this:

7-0: Terunofuji
6-1: Takakeisho

You can't go any deeper than that until Terunofuji loses. He gets Daieisho tomorrow, and it wouldn't surprise me if he let Daieisho beat him. I'm not predicting it, I just think Daieisho's tsuppari attack is good enough that if Terunofuji let up, Daieisho is one of the few rikishi who could legitimately push him back and out.

I should be back tomorrow even if the comments are brief.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 6 broadcast began with an examination of the Makuuchi banzuke from the sanyaku on up. The general theme was that everyone was doing his job, and record-wise, there isn't anyone who is just laying an egg. Then Yoshida Announcer said the word "yappari" meaning we would now get to the meat and potatoes, which of course meant focusing on Terunofuji. Today he was paired against Hoshoryu, and so they invited Hoshoryu's stable master, Tatsunami-oyakata, to sit in the mukou-joumen chair for comment. There was not much to say other than, "Well, they [Terunofuji and Hoshoryu] have fought twice in Juryo, and for one of those bouts Hoshoryu was able to do some sumo." And that was that..."some sumo." In other words, Hoshoryu didn't beat Terunofuji in either of those bouts, but at least he didn't get his ass kicked in one of them.

The story the entire basho will continue to focus on Terunofuji until he falls two behind the next closest guy. You'll remember last basho that he deferred to Takayasu putting the Suckiwake in the driver's seat for the yusho, but Takayasu folded (i.e. his opponents didn't let up for him) down the stretch, and so the yusho went to Terunofuji by default at 12-3. The longer things go on like this, the more it appears that we will have a repeat of last basho.

As is usually the case in week 1, let's touch on all the bouts in chronological order meaning we start with M16 Chiyomaru who welcomed J2 Tokushoryu up from Juryo. Prior to the bout, Kitanofuji said of Tokushoryu, "This guys needs to get his ass in gear. Didn't he take the Makuuchi yusho last year?" Okay, maybe that was a loose translation, but yes, Tokushoryu showed last year how easy it has become to pay for a Makuuchi championship. Today Chiyomaru came with his usual moro-te-zuki tachi-ai, and Tokushoryu looked slow and disjointed as Chiyomaru drove him back a step, got the left inside, and then finished Tokushoryu off yori-kiri style without argument. At least it was legit as Chiyomaru moves to 4-2 while Tokushoryu falls to the same mark.

We got a bit more action in the M15 Kaisei - M17 Akua matchup in a bout that started out hidari-yotsu, but before it could go chest to chest, Akua began a retreat and then a lateral movement to his left. As he did, Kaisei scored on a nice shove that had Akua tripping over his own feet, so when the final shove come, it sent Akua bouncing a few rows deep. Kaisei was a gentlemen offering to help Akua back up to the dohyo afterwards, and there was nothing dirty here as Kaisei moves to 4-2 while Akua is a paltry 1-5.

M16 Ishiura henka'd again today this time to his left where M13 Daiamami used a right forearm to try and defend himself as Ishiura looked to cheaply get to the side. That forearm worked for a bit, but Ishiura grabbed that extended arm and pulled Daiamami closer and into a left belt grip, and from there Ishiura went all dashi-nage pulling Daiamami over and off balance before felling him in the end. Ishiura moves to 4-2 with the cheap win while Daiamami falls to 3-3.

M14 Chiyotairyu knocked M11 Kotonowaka back a full step from the tachi-ai, but we've yet to see the freight train tsuppari sumo from Chiyotairyu this basho. Despite winning the tachi-ai, he went for an immediate pull of Kotonowaka, and Baby Waka responded quite well threatening a few shoves and forcing Chiyotairyu to move right. As the two squared back up, it was Kotonowaka's turn to execute a few tsuppari, and while he did manage to push Chiyotairyu to the edge, there wasn't enough force behind the blows to disable Chiyotairyu from quickly moving left at the last second, getting his left arm inside, and then using that to turn the tables finally shoving Kotonowaka across for good. Dare I say we've had four bouts so far and all of them real? Chiyotairyu moves to 4-2 after some nice counter sumo while Kotonowaka is even steven at 3-3.

M11 Chiyoshoma henka'd left against M13 Akiseyama getting the left arm inside and looking to mount a force-out from there, but credit Akiseyama for shifting right and wriggling out of the hold. Now with proper social distancing between the two, Chiyoshoma connected on a wicked right hari-te before thinking about the belt again and considering a pull. In the end, Chiyoshoma went for a ke-kaeshi attempt, and when that didn't quite work, he just slapped Akiseyama down hard to the dohyo. It was as if Chiyoshoma was emptying the playbook here in an ugly bout that had its moments. As they watched the replay and that hari-te from Chiyoshoma, Kitanofuji went down memory lane saying, "In the old days if someone did a hari-te like that against you, you'd go find them in the shitaku-beya afterwards, and sometimes it'd lead to name calling and fights." Yeah, in the old days. The good ole days. Still, that's five for five in terms of real bouts to start the day, so I'll take it as Chiyoshoma evens things at 3-3 while Akiseyama is lying in his gore at 1-5.

I knew it was too good to last. M10 Tamawashi and M12 Kotoeko broke our streak of real goodness in a bout where Tamawashi kept his arms high and wide at the tachi-ai, but with Kotoeko not coming forward to take advantage, The Mawashi delivered a few light tsuppari Kotoeko's way moving him back a step, but Tamawashi kept his right arm up high and bent at the elbow doing nothing...except providing an opening for Kotoeko to move inside and score the quick force-out win. Tamawashi had plenty of room to counter during the retreat, but he just turned looking for a place to set his feet after the inevitable push out. The acting was at least decent here, and credit Kotoeko for taking advantage of his compromised opponent as both dudes finish the day at 4-2.

M10 Terutsuyoshi ducked low at the tachi-ai and M12 Okinoumi handled it perfectly demanding the left inside and bearing down on his smaller foe from above while grabbing the right outer, and as the two moved near the edge, Terutsuyoshi actually went for a sori counter move which can best be described like attempting to fireman carry your opponent while falling backwards in hopes that the opponent will touch down first. It wouldn't come to fruition since Okinoumi was trying to win here, and so the end result was a crushing abise-taoshi defeat that musta hurt a bit for Terutsuyoshi. Prior to the bout when Terutsuyoshi threw his usual huge handful of salt, Yoshida Announcer said, "He gets a rise out of the crowd throwing all the salt, but he still has only one win this basho." Amen bruthuh. Too much of what's popular in sumo these days has little to do with actual sumo content. Terutsuyoshi still sits on that one win against five losses now while Okinoumi improved to 4-2.

M7 Tochinoshin came with a solid kachi-age against M9 Kagayaki, but the M9 struck well in his own right creating the best tachi-ai of the day, and as the dust settled the two ended up in the gappuri migi-yotsu position. From there, Tochinoshin gathered his wits and then used his belly and strength advantage to lift Kagayaki up off the dohyo. It wasn't exactly tsuri-dashi as Kagayaki's too big for that, but Kagayaki was barely on the tips of his toes, and that enabled Tochinoshin to wrench him straight back and out in a very solid yotsu-zumo affair. These are two of the better guys in the division, so to see them both trying in a bout of yotsu-zumo like this was a real treat. Is it too much to ask for effort like this from all parties every day? Unfortunately yes as it would create a banzuke unfavorable to the Japanese rikishi. Both dudes finish the day at 2-4.

M9 Shimanoumi and M7 Takarafuji were poised to go to hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai -- Takarafuji's preferred position, but Takarafuji wouldn't take the left inside position even though it was wide open along with the path to the right outer grip. I took this still shot from the replay because it's so telling. Shimanoumi was lost at the tachi-ai, and Takarafuji was all set up to get the left inside and right outer grip, but he refused both. With Takarafuji now standing there, Shimanoumi was eventually able to move left and fire a light inashi, but with Takarafuji purposefully not defending himself, he just spun the obligatory 180 degrees and let Shimanoumi push him out from behind in okuri-dashi fashion. Shimanoumi buys this one moving to 3-3 while Takarafuji falls to 2-4.

As M6 Hidenoumi stepped into the ring to face M8 Tsurugisho, they were talking about the reason for Hidenoumi's recent surge, and Kitanofuji said in a perplexed voice, "Well, his sumo really hasn't changed..." Uh, no it hasn't. What has changed is cash flow from some source that's enabling Hidenoumi to buy all of these bouts. Said cash flow was not in play today as the two struck well at the tachi-ai coming away in migi-yotsu with Tsurugisho closer to the left outer grip. He wouldn't get it, but he had Hidenoumi pulled in so close and snug, he wrapped tightly around both of Hidenoumi's arms and just bullied him back and across with some oomph. Wow, this was impressive stuff from Tsurugisho today, and the real sumo vs. all the fake crap is obvious when you watch a bout like this. Hidenoumi was likely buying into his own hype and figgered he didn't need to pony up today. His loss as he falls to 4-2 while Tsurugisho was brilliant here in moving to 2-4.

As bad as the sumo was for Day 5, I must say the rikishi have done a lot of repenting and really brought their A games today. To this point anyway.

M8 Endoh moved left at the tachi-ai against M6 Ichinojo, and I can't really blame him because a chest to chest confrontation with Ichinojo is nigh unto suicide. Still, Ichinojo is a lot faster than he appears, and he easily squared back up with his opponent and shoved his way into the right inside where he lifted Endoh upright and shoved him back and across before Endoh could think about escaping again. This bout was extremely lopsided as both combatants finish at 4-2, and afterwards the three announcers were speculating as to why Ichinojo looked so good today, and Tatsunami-oyakata said, "Well, it's because of all the kensho money involved when you fight Endoh." They laughed about it a bit, and when Yoshida turned to Kitanofuji and asked if that really was the reason, Kitanofuji said in jest, "I can't say it's not the reason," as they all laughed. Look, everybody knows that the cash flying around the venue on a daily basis does influence the sumo, and it was nice to actually hear them acknowledge it. Before we move on, the chemistry between Yoshida Announcer, Kitanofuji, and Tatsunami-oyakata (former Asahiyutaka) was just brilliant today...the best combo of the basho by far to this point.

Up next was M1 Wakatakakage who has definitely become the darling of the basho in the media. He faced M5 Onosho today in what turned out to be a dud of a bout as Onosho charged forward in a hurry not really doing anything while Wakatakakage sorta backed up to his right going for a meager pull, but Onosho was already on his way down putting both palms to the dirt with no other part of his body touching. This was obviously premeditated as the powers that be decided it'd be better for Wakatakakage to pad his record at 4-2...the same mark as Onosho. For the last few basho, I've mentioned how much I like the potential of Wakatakakage, and I still do, but this bout was an embarrassment. After all the good stuff we've seen today, the fixed bouts like this really stand out.

The tachi-ai between M2 Meisei and M1 Hokutofuji was solid with both guys striking hard and bouncing back, but the quicker Meisei took advantage from there using some well placed tsuppari. A few seconds in, he scored on a nifty right jab that sent Hokutofuji back near the edge and completely upright, and as Hokutofuji looked to duck back into the fray, Meisei timed a nice lateral movement to his left throwing an inashi Hokutofuji's way that had him flailing from there. In the end, Meisei got the left arm to the inside and pinned his foe up against the straw pushing him across in the end. Meisei moves to 2-4 with the win while Hokutofuji falls to 0-6.

Despite the lukewarm hype surrounding the Terunofuji - Hoshoryu matchup today, the marquee matchup was really Suckiwake Takayasu vs. Komusubi Mitakeumi. In terms of sumo content, this bout was nothing to get excited about, but with both boys coming in with just one loss and hype for both of them in he media this tournament, the bout was important to see who could keep up with Terunofuji.

Mitakeumi won the tachi-ai using a nice moro-te-zuki that set up the right inside position, and he quickly drove Takayasu back with one foot against the straw, but just as Mitakeumi looked to get the left inside which would have given him moro-zashi, Takayasu took off to his right like a bat outta hell making Mitakeumi give chase. If we stop the tape right there, Mitakeumi clearly won the initial charge and the first few seconds of the bout, but he wasn't applying nearly enough pressure to keep Takayasu pinned into place. As Takayasu moved right, he was able to grab a right outer grip, and he used that to pull Mitakeumi along with him in an attempt to dashi-nage him out of the ring. He couldn't quite get there, however, and so the two squared up on the other side of the ring jockeying for position with neither dude really wanting to go chest to chest. With social distancing in place, it was Mitakeumi's turn to move right and go for a pull, but there was too much separation for the move to have effect, and so Mitakeumi finally got the right arm inside and went for the do-or-die force out charge, but again he wasn't applying enough pressure and so Takayasu grabbed a left outer and was able to counter throw Mitakeumi down and out a mere fraction before Mitakeumi's yori-taoshi effort forced Takayasu to touch down. They ruled in favor of Takayasu, and I'm surprised they didn't call a mono-ii here it was that close, but I think it was the right call.

While this bout was entertaining, I can't necessarily call it a good bout of sumo because all of the basics were nowhere to be seen. Was this an oshi bout? Was it a yotsu bout? The end result was uwate-nage but the victor never forced chest to chest sumo the entire way. The ending which turned out to be a nage-no-uchi-ai I guess was all wrong because the footing from both parties was so bad. There just wasn't a lot of continuity here, and nobody used their legs in the bout other than to escape. It was just typical of the sumo we've come to expect these days that lacks any real substance. I mean, pretty much the entire day to this point was rock solid in terms of sumo basics, and while this bout wasn't bad, it wasn't good either. Still, the outcome was huge for the victor because this puts Takayasu firmly in the yusho race now at 5-1. As for Mitakeumi, he was visibly pissed afterwards and it wasn't the fake emotions these guys sometimes display after they throw a bout. He knew the implications of this one, and he knew he blew it. He dictated the bout from the tachi-ai and had Takayasu on his heels most of the way, but he couldn't finish in falling to 4-2.

Komusubi Daieisho came straight up against Suckiwake Takanosho, and the result was a three-second affair where Daieisho had Takanosho shoved back and across in wham bam thank you ma'am style. Takanosho's only effort here was a weak attempt in swiping downward at Daieisho's hands, but this one wasn't even close. You watch this and ask yourself, "How has Takanosho maintained the Sekiwake rank for three basho coming into May?" We all know the answer as both parties end the day at 3-3.

In the Ozeki ranks, M4 Kiribayama won the tachi-ai against Asanoyama with some nice tsuppari, and after the two traded places in the dohyo, Kiribayama forced the bout to migi-yotsu where neither guy had an outer grip, and so the two dug in for about 10 seconds before Asanoyama latched onto a left outer grip. Before he could take advantage and fully execute a belt throw, however, Kiribayama countered with a right inside belt throw of his own that had Asanoyama pushed against the ropes. Asanoyama was able to use the tawara to his advantage and stave off the throw before escaping to his left, but Kiribayama now had the left outer grip, and he used Asanoyama's momentum against him to throw him down hard to the clay to where Asanoyama landed right on top of the tawara with a loud thump. Asanoyama was slow in getting up, and I think he just had the air knocked out of him, but that was quite the throw from the M4. Asanoyama is welcomed to the man's game today as he falls to 3-3 while Kiribayama moves forward to just 2-4. The Asanoyama camp should considering paying up against Kiribayama next basho or someone could get hurt.  An Ozeki should never be on his back lying up looking at his rank and file opponents like this.

And that brings us to Ozeki Terunofuji vs. M5 Hoshoryu. The match could not even live up to it's lukewarm hype as Terunofuji demanded the left outer grip and right inside position from the tachi-ai and by the time he had both positions secured, he had already bodied Hoshoryu back to the edge. Hoshoryu attempted in vain to wriggle away, but Terunofuji wrenched him this way and that way and most importantly across the straw...all in about three seconds. All Yoshida Announcer could say at the end was "Banzen," or absolute as Terunofuji wields the beating stick moving to 6-0. As for Hoshoryu, he falls to 2-4 and has quite a long ways to go before he's a real playuh in the division. I mean, the sumo speaks for itself here, so let's move on.

M4 Myogiryu beat Shodai at the tachi-ai lifting him up with two hands pushing into his teets, and before Shodai could answer, Myogiryu had him pushed back and across quicker than Terunofuji dismantled Hoshoryu. The announcers all feigned surprise at the end of how lopsided this one really was, but in a straight up affair, what has Shodai shown that would have created a different outcome? This was definitely a baseline bout because Myogiryu was not playing around here, and so you can see how badly someone like an M4 can beat Shodai if that's their intention. Usually they'll let Shodai survive a bit and make it look close, but not today. Not in this one. Shodai got his ass handed to him in falling to 4-2 while Myogiryu improves to 2-4. I'm sure the Shodai camp looked at Myogiryu's record coming in and thought we can handle this one. Let's save the cash and pick our spots further down the road. Bad choice.

In the day's final affair, would M2 Tobizaru make it three embarrassing losses for the Japanese Ozeki in a row? Maybe the better question is could Tobizaru embarrass these Japanese Ozeki if he wanted, and the answer is no. He could beat them some of the time in a cat and mouse affair but not embarrass them. Didn't matter today as Tobizaru was not looking to win. When Tobizaru does try and win against anybody, there's a lot of lateral movement involved, and he always makes his foe give chase, but today he stood right in front of Takakeisho and kept his hands meaninglessly busy as Takakeisho drove him straight back in linear fashion with a nice oshi attack. It took four or five seconds, and credit Takakeisho for his straightforward sumo, but he knew the bout was arranged coming in. When Takakeisho's bouts aren't fixed, you see his feet aligned, you see pull attempts and swipe attempts with the left, and it's really ugly sumo. When he knows his opponent isn't go to threaten him, we get this straight forward oshi attack, and it's as simple as that. Takakeisho moves to 5-1 in victory while Tobizaru is a quiet 1-5.

With a handful of one-loss rikishi falling today, the early leaderboard after six days is as follows:

6-0: Terunofuji
5-1: Takakeisho, Takayasu

This is eerily shaping up to be a repeat of last basho, but there still is a long way to go of course.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As we wrap up the first five days of the tournament, Terunofuji's "presence" has been the top storyline. The way they talk about him on the broadcast and in the news is just different, and that makes sense as his sumo to this point has been...just different. Secondary storylines include Shodai's quest to stave off kadoban status, the emergence of Wakatakakage among the jo'i, and the minor blip, or haran, on Day 2 when all of the Japanese Ozeki lost. With Terunofuji refusing to lose so far, I can just see in the media how they're trying to scramble for other points of interest to keep the fans' attention, and the hype for today was the matchup between Terunofuji and Wakatakakage.

To accompany said hype, they invited Kotomine-oyakata into the mukou-joumen chair today, and I had never heard of the dude before (he fought as Misugiiso), but they showed his bouts from the M3 rank in Aki 1979 when he beat two Yokozuna earning kin-boshi in the process. Now, with our lone Yokozuna absent this basho, Terunofuji is the next best thing, so they were throwing that little nugget out to the fans at the start of the broadcast since it sort of resembled Wakatakakage's position this basho after key wins over Takayasu and two Ozeki. Hey, it happened in 1979, so stay tuned!!

We'll get to that bout in time, but let's go in chronological order again starting with M17 Akua and J1 Enho. If you remember, the Enho - Ura matchup on Day 2 was the hook for the fans on that day, and Ura beat Enho quite handily. Enho injured his right elbow in that match and has struggled since starting out the festivities 0-4. But none of that matters when bouts can be fixed, and today was a perfect example.

Akua had the right arm inside briefly from the tachi-ai, and then as Enho evaded to his left, Akua next put both arms around the outside of Enho's limbs, but in every case, he pulled away as fast as the opening came. When fighting Enho and trying to beat him, you simply have to catch him and not let go and then bear your full weight down on top of him. To see Akua constantly let Enho go was the telling sign how this would play out. Enho eventually had a left arm inside, which is a useless move for him against a kiryoku opponent, but Akua was anything but that putting his left hand at the back of Enho's head without attempting a pull. Still, Enho could do nothing with that left inside, so he darted to the other side of the ring creating separation as Akua gave light chase. Throughout, Enho never got anything established and Akua repeatedly let his foe go, and in the end, Enho offered this light tsuki into Akua's left side, and that was the M17's cue to just put  a palm down and flop to the dirt. So let me get this straight...Enho's got a badly injured right elbow, and yet...he can use that limb to knock a 164 kilo dude over with the slightest of touches? Even Misugiiso commented on the irregularity of a guy being able to do that kind of sumo with an injured elbow. Enho must be trained in the ways of the Force as he is gifted his first win while Akua falls to the same mark a bit richer.

M16 Ishiura moved left at the tachi-ai against M14 Chiyotairyu and Tairyu adjusted well putting himself in perfect position to tsuppari his compromised foe back, but instead he just said, "Hey, swell fella," and put his right arm up high and lovingly at the back of Ishiura's shoulder. The pull would of course never come as Chiyotairyu continued to stand there allowing Ishiura to dashi-nage him over to the edge and then push him out from behind. Chiyotairyu was obviously mukiryoku in this one as both dudes finish the day 3-2.

M16 Chiyomaru came with his usual moro-te-zuki tachi-ai while M13 Daiamami reached for a left outer grip, but instead of moving forward in his attack, Chiyomaru thrust while retreating...an obvious irregularity. As Daiamami came close, Chiyomaru kept his hands up high in pull position and began mawari-komu'ing around the ring only to step beyond the straw as part of his escape. The ref didn't catch it, but the ringside judge did, and so they had to call a mono-ii to reverse the result of the bout which looked like a hataki-komi win in favor of Chiyomaru. These guys know exactly where they're at in the ring at all times, and Maru intentionally stepped out here giving the win to the hapless Daiamami as both dudes now sit at 3-2.

M15 Kaisei and M13 Akiseyama didn't necessarily push the boundaries of the sound barrier in their tachi-ai, but their collective guts made a nice thumping sound at the initial charge where Kaisei grabbed the left outer grip while Akiseyama had both hands low and to the inside. With Akiseyama standing completely upright, his two insides were worthless, and so Kaisei began his first force-out attempt, but in the process, Akiseyama finally gave his foe a gaburi shove with the belly breaking off Kaisei's right outer attempt and evening things out a bit. Kaisei went for a few maki-kae attempts with the right and never got it, but as Akiseyama looked to mount a force-out attempt of his own, Kaisei pivoted right and felled Akiseyama with a right tsuki to the side of his head. Akiseyama's fall was exaggerated, but this was simply an instance of Kaisei calling in the favor after he let up for Akiseyama last basho. Kaisei moves to 3-2 with the planned win while Akiseyama falls to 1-4.

M12 Okinoumi offered two straight arms towards M12 Kotoeko from the tachi-ai which was strange for a yotsu guy. Well, strange if his intentions were to win the bout, but that was not the case here. The first few seconds in the two rikishi traded light tsuppari before pushing into each other's shoulders, and with nothing happening, the bout next went to a light version of hidari-yotsu. Normally, this would be Okinoumi's cue to pull his gal in snug and lift Kotoeko upright, but instead he just waited for the lightest of shoves to come from Kotoeko in the form of a right tsuki, and that magically sent Okinoumi stepping out of the dohyo sideways. Where do Enho and Kotoeko get such powers?? Both rikishi finish the day at 3-2.

M11 Chiyoshoma attempted to force his bout against M10 Tamawashi to yotsu-zumo from the tachi-ai getting the left arm inside, but Tamawashi pushed him away with his effective tsuppari, and as Chiyoshoma tried to evade laterally, Tamawashi stayed square and pushed his countryman out with ease right in front of the chief judge. Tamawashi moves to 4-1 with the win while Chiyoshoma falls to 2-3, and this was the first bout on the day where both parties were trying to win.

M11 Kotonowaka and M9 Shimanoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu, but instead of going chest to chest, Shimanoumi just stayed bent at the waist 90 degrees for whatever reason. Well, the reason was that he wasn't trying to win the bout, so he just stayed bent over like that and waited for Kotonowaka to go for a pull. As soon as he did, Shimanoumi just hit the dirt as if it was scripted. There wasn't a thing Shimanoumi did her to try and win the bout as he falls to 2-3 while the Kotonowaka (3-2) camp has paid for three in a row.

M10 Terutsuyoshi moved right at the tachi-ai without a plan, and so M8 Endoh was right on top of him applying tsuppari pressure. Terutsuyoshi's response was to continue to circle the ring and wait for Endoh to catch up with him and push him out. What an ugly bout of sumo, and even if this wasn't fixed...what the hell was Terutsuyoshi trying to do there? It's one thing to mawari-komu or henka, but it's quite another thing to try and take advantage of such moves. He just played the part of a moving punching bag today in falling to 1-4 while Endoh moves to a quiet 4-1.

The M9 Kagayaki - M8 Tsurugisho tachi-ai was weak with neither dude really showing any life, and we'd know why after a few seconds. Kagayaki went for his methodic tsuppari with no legs behind it, and after a few flurries he went for a half-assed slap (and that description is being generous) which was Tsurugisho's cue to just hit the dirt. I can't speak to the politics behind this bout, but Tsurugisho gave no effort and just hit the dohyo on command in falling to 1-4. As for Kagayaki, I doubt he paid money for this since he could kick Tsurugisho's ass right and proper if he wanna. He's 2-3.

M6 Hidenoumi and M7 Takarafuji bounced into each other at the tachi-ai with Hidenoumi being knocked back a step, but the two really didn't go chest to chest opting to push/lean into each other. As the dust settled, it kind of looked like migi-yotsu, but it wasn't true yotsu-zumo...a sign that Takarafuji was not trying. After more grappling, Hidenoumi came away with moro-zashi, but he still wasn't chest to chest and so Takarafuji dangerously forced him close to the edge but not out. After more jockeying in the ring, Takarafuji began forcing Hidenoumi the other way and Hidenoumi went for the weakest pull of the belt you'd care to see which caused Takarafuji to just land on all fours well within the ring. Hidenoumi flew into the second row the ending was that weird, and it's just another unconventional bout of sumo where the outcome was arranged in Hidenoumi's favor. He moves to 4-1 and looks terrible in doing so while Takarafuji falls to 2-3.

M7 Tochinoshin and M5 Onosho struck at the tachi-ai where Shin lightly latched onto the front of Onosho's belt with the left hand, but instead of pulling his gal in snug, he just watched as Onosho moved left going for a sloppy pull. Didn't matter. Tochinoshin did his best cartwheel attempt as he threw himself down and rolled off the dohyo altogether. There's no physical way that Onosho's swipe coulda done that to Shin, and the Private was definitely not moving forward from the tachi-ai, so the acting needs to be polished up a bit fellas. Tochinoshin literally falls to 1-4 while Onosho buys his way to 4-1.

M5 Hoshoryu and M6 Ichinojo hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Ichinojo focused on a mammoth left outer grip as Hoshoryu ducked low in an effort to keep Ichinojo away from the right inside. Ichinojo's right fingers were tinkling the ivory of Hoshoryu's belt, and he could have grabbed a pretty stifling outer on the right side as well, but he refrained letting Hoshoryu do his bidding. Problem was Hoshoryu was in a terrible position to execute anything, and so Ichinojo went for a half-assed belt throw making sure to stop short and square up with his foe so Hoshoryu could push him out that last half step. Hoshoryu buys his way to 2-3 here while Ichinojo falls to 3-2.

If you're scoring at home, we're 11 bouts in with only one of those bouts being fully straight up (Tamawashi - Chiyoshoma).

M4 Myogiryu and M1 Hokutofuji weren't in sync at the tachi-ai, but the ref said, "Party on," and so after an awkward start, the two got in gear migi-yotsu style. Hokutofuji was too far away from a left belt grip, so he tested the tsuki-otoshi waters on that side, but Myogiryu used the momentum shift to counter with a nice kote-nage with the left, and as the action moved towards the center of the ring, Myogiryu waited with that left kote grip and sprung the trap door at the edge as Hokutofuji thought he had the sufficient force-out path. This one was close, but Myogiryu's experience won out as he was just able to throw Hokutofuji down before being pushed across himself. Before we go on, can you just see the difference in a real bout vs. all this bullcrap we've been fed to this point?? They called a mono-ii here, but it was upheld as Myogiryu knew exactly where his feet were.

Mitoizumi did a much better job of explaining the conference here, and as Hokutofuji picked himself back up off the floor, he had a fair amount of blood trickling down from his left eyebrow. These real bouts just stick out like sore thumbs I tell ya. Myogiryu picks up his first win at 1-4 while Hokutofuji falls to 0-5.

Komusubi Mitakeumi and Suckiwake Takanosho made little noise from the tachi-ai, and the next few seconds would bear that out as neither dude really tried to go chest to chest, and neither dude was executing tsuppari. Gradually, Mitakeumi began forcing the issue with a right arm in the hazu position up and under Takanosho's left armpit, but his left hand positioning was to weak to really bull his opponent back and out. He still nudged Takanosho back near the edge, and as he did, Takanosho went for a terrible pull move with the left, and that was the momentum shift Mitakeumi need to push him out for good. Yes, this bout was real, but what was on display here...from either party? Bad tachi-ai, bad yotsu-zumo, bad oshi-zumo, and a bad counter move. The sumo content was well below average as Mitakeumi moves to 4-1 while Takanosho falls to 3-2.

Suckiwake Takayasu's feet were all wrong at the tachi-ai, but fortunately for him Komusubi Daieisho wasn't looking to tsuppari his way forward. Daieisho did offer some half-assed thrusts, but it was all for show as Takayasu nudged him back still using sloppy footwork. With Daieisho back against the straw, instead of going for a counter move or zipping this way or that, he just reacted to a weak right tsuki from Takayasu by locking his knees and just flopping over and down. Such a fake fall here and with such few fans in the stands to make noise, you can really hear the echo when these guys hit the dirt. Takayasu buys another one here in moving to 4-1 while Daieisho flops his way to 2-3.

And that brings us to the marquee matchup on the day, Ozeki Terunofuji vs. M1 Wakatakakage. From the tachi-ai, Terunofuji was unable to latch onto Wakatakakage, but it was due more to WTK's being careful then his moving forward and giving the Mongolian trouble. Just a second or two in, there was proper social distancing between the two as Terunofuji cautiously looked for an opening, and he finally got it in the form of a left kote grip and he wasted no time in wrenching Wakatakakage over to the edge with a kote-nage before assuming the right inside position and using that to force the M1 back and across. Yet another lopsided bout in favor of the true Ozeki as Terunofuji skates to 5-0 while Wakatakakage falls to 3-2.

On the NHK News 9 sports program, they of course led off with this bout trying to build some anticipation, but Wakatakakage didn't even come close. After the bout they went to the mystery oyakata for comment, and this is the shot we got:



They held that shot for two or three seconds and then finally panned up to reveal none other than Aminishiki. As to why they insisted on giving us a shot of Aminishiki's package I'll never know, but Aminishiki speculated now that Wakatakakage is out of the way, his best pick to stop Terunofuji is Takayasu!!  Who'da thunk?!  It's just so funny how they create these narratives to give everyone hope. I mean, Terunofuji has let up for Takayasu the last coupla basho, but judging by the sumo content it's not even a discussion. But...my analysis is of course going to be honest...er...different from the Japanese media's analysis.

Moving right along, it was M2 Meisei's turn to let up for Shodai, and he did just thought. Course, the M2 won the tachi-ai driving Shodai back a step, getting the left arm inside and the right outer grip, and at this point I was like...who's the supposed Ozeki here? Meisei didn't do anything with the advantageous position of course, and so the two turned a few circles in the center of the ring with Meisei losing his outer grip briefly and regaining it. With Shodai unable to do anything, Meisei pulled his left arm out and just hung in with that right outer, and so Shodai was finally able to make a reckless force-out charge with Meisei helping him out by dragging him into his own body with the right outer. They ruled it yori-taoshi, but Shodai tripped over Meisei at the edge, which shows just how little resistance was coming from the M2. The faux-zeki ended up in a heap straddling the corner of the dohyo, and you never see the victor in a position like this after a real bout of sumo. Shodai's is just a mess, and the comment from Ota Announcer afterwards was, "Well, it wasn't perfect, but he won." Shodai is gifted a 4-1 start while Meisei falls to 1-4.

M4 Kiribayama kept both hands high at the tachi-ai as if to pull Takakeisho but it never came. With Takakeisho not unable to score any significant blows, Kiribayama circled left feigning light shoves as he ducked lower and lower, and finally after about five seconds Takakeisho was able to sorta slap at Kiribayama's shoulder, and the Mongolian just put his right knee and both palms to the dirt to nicely break his fall. I really am incredulous as I watch this puff sumo the final few minutes of the day from the Japanese faux-zeki. Takakeisho is gifted 4-1 while Kiribayama falls to 1-4.

The final bout of the day featured Asanoyama vs. M2 Tobizaru, and Tobizaru henka'd lightly to his right at the tachi-ai ducking low, and with Asanoyama late in squaring back up, Tobizaru rushed forward thinking about an ashi-tori--that would have worked--but he instead opted for the safer right inside position, which was deep enough to do some damage. That wasn't his intent of course and despite driving Asanoyama back to the edge, Tobizaru let up and let the action flow back to the center of the ring where he gave Asanoyama the left outer grip. From there, Asanoyama went for a horrible outer belt grip. His feet weren't positioned to do so, and there as no power behind the throw, and so Tobizaru swung around and just tackled Asanoyama back and down making sure to put his own right leg down before the faux-zeki fell backwards onto his arse.

Just when you think the ending to these bouts can't get any more bizarre this one happens. These three Ozeki are setting new records for amount of tsuchi (dirt) on their bodies even when they "win." I just can't believe people think these bouts are real. It's an embarrassing product they're putting on the dohyo, and Day 5 was by far the worst day of sumo in terms of content. One trend I've noticed the last few days is that NHK News 9 is NOT even showing the bouts from the faux-zeki, and why would they? With the gift, Asanoyama moves to 3-2 while Tobizaru falls to 1-4.

With the first five days in the books, the basho really starts as soon as Terunofuji chooses to lose.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The biggest news of the day heading into the bouts was the return of the fans to the arena. All of the major news outlets reported on the story, but nobody listed the actual attendance. Just by eyeballing things as the cameras would sometimes scan the arena, my estimation is about 500 fannies in the seats, which seems par for the course. Some outlets mentioned that the Association was allowed to let five thousand fans into the arena, but the NSK is not releasing attendance figures for obvious reasons. The only time I ever saw a news outlet report on actual attendance, they were comparing sumo to other sports like baseball and soccer. The two latter sports immediately hit their limits once they were allowed to let fans back into the stadiums, but sumo was lucky to hit 20% of their allowed capacity.

The Sumo Association knows that in order to really bring the fans back in droves, they have to produce some rock star rikishi. The forced promotion of Kisenosato to Yokozuna was great...for two basho, and then it fizzled out faster than the do-it-yourself fireworks they have in Japan. Packing the Ozeki ranks a few years before that with Kotoshogiku, Kisenosato, and Goeido also seemed to give the sport new life, but the problem isn't solved by merely forcing someone into a rank. You then have to sustain them at the rank, and over time the fans subconsciously figure it out.

It was like back in the 70's when you'd have these teen heart throbs like Leif Garrett. They'd put out an album and the chicks would show up screaming for one show, and then it was like, "This guys is terrible!  What are we doing wasting our money on this?" I mean, a sock stuffed down your jeans can only take you so far.

Secondary to letting fans back into the arena was the heartbreaking announcement that Chiyonokuni withdrew from the tournament, and I think I read where this was his third consecutive kyujo. Being ranked at M3 after just two kyujo is quite a feat for a rank and filer, but Kuni will be relegated to bottom-feeder status come July.

With that, let's get to the Day 4 action where we begin with M15 Kaisei vs. M14 Chiyotairyu. As he is wont to do, Chiyotairyu goes soft in his offensive attack against foreign rikishi, and he failed to make an impact at the tachi-ai against Kaisei although Chiyotairyu come away with moro-zashi. It wouldn't matter as Kaisei used his size advantage grabbing Tairyu's belt from the outside with the let and easily maki-kae'ing with the right to set up the largely uncontested force-out win. Kaisei moves to 2-2 in victory while Chiyotairyu suffers his first loss at 3-1.

M16 Ishiura henka'd left at the tachi-ai against M13 Akiseyama before firing off some machine gun tsuppari that set up his position to the left inside before Akiseyama realized what had hit him. The old guy finally came out of his daze to fight off a right frontal attempt from his opponent, and to his credit, Akiseyama applied enough pressure from the outside kote position to cut off Ishiura's left inside grip, but Ishiura dictated this one start to finish using a few more tsuppari and then a wild hari-te with the left to regain the left inside grip, and once obtained, he bowled his foe over with a nice belt throw. Ishiura moves to 2-2 with the nice win while Akiseyama falls to 1-3.

M17 Akua moved left at the tachi-ai against M13 Daiamami, but it really wasn't a henka, and so Daiamami was able to easily get the left arm inside and force Akua back straightway. It looked like a methodic yori-taoshi win for Daiamami, but at the edge, Akua used his right leg to trip the inside of Daiamami's left, and it actually caused Daiamami to step his right foot across the straw first. Because Akua was so far gone, they ordered a redo, and so here we go again.

For round two, Akua shaded left again, and this time Daiamami pressed forward looking for moro-zashi, but as Akua resisted, Daiamami switched gears using his left inside position to drag Akua forward while slapping down at his shoulder with the right. This was an organic kata-sukashi as Daiamami makes it official moving to 2-2. Akua falls to 1-3 in defeat, but that little leg trip at the end of round one was pretty nifty.

M16 Chiyomaru blew M12 Kotoeko back nicely from the starting lines with his beefy tsuppari attack, and all Eko could do was try and mawari-komu to his left and look for a counter pull. Kotoeko couldn't get anything set up, but Maru did tire out quickly leaving the two standing toe to toe. Chiyomaru signaled his intention to pull from this point, and Kotoeko tried to move forward and take advantage, but Chiyomaru was able to slip to the side and just slap Kotoeko down before Eko could connect on a do or die thrust. Chiyomaru won the tachi-ai and subsequently won the bout, and this was one of those where it was like...wait, this is real. They're both trying! Chiyomaru moves to 3-1 with the nice win while Kotoeko falls to 2-2.

M11 Chiyoshoma was lazy at the tachi-ai keeping his hands high and wide, and so M12 Okinoumi just rushed forward as Chiyoshoma faked a pull. It took two seconds and looked like a straightforward win for Okinoumi and mukiryoku bout on the part of Chiyoshoma, but they called a mono-ii and replays showed that Okinoumi's right hand did touch down before Chiyoshoma made contact across the straw. As Chiyoshoma was being sent back, he grabbed the back of Okinoumi's belt warranting the uwate-nage kimari-te, but this was anything but that. Just a good example of how mukiryoku sumo screws everything up with Okinoumi falling to 3-1 while Chiyoshoma mistakenly rises to 2-2. Look, if Chiyoshoma wanted to win this thing, he wouldn't have done THAT out there and played with such fire. Before we move on, Mitoizumi gave one of the worst mono-ii explanations I've ever heard in my decades of watching sumo.

M10 Tamawashi conveniently forgot his tsuppari against M11 Kotonowaka just standing there like a bump on a log and allowing Kotonowaka to get moro-zashi. Problem was that Kotonowaka wasn't sure what to do with it. He sorta drove Tamawashi back, but there was little force involved and so Tamawashi instinctively went for a light tsuki-otoshi with the right and subsequent tsuppari attack, and he had Kotonowaka on his heels at this point so much so that Tamawashi just stopped in his tracks, anticipated a counter swipe from Kotonowaka that didn't come, and then backed himself across the straw as Baby Waka looked to catch up for the oshi-dashi win. What a comical performance this one was as Tamawashi (3-1) clearly sold this one to Kotonowaka (2-2) today.

M10 Terutsuyoshi stayed low at the tachi-ai taking away M9 Kagayaki's tsuppari attack, and then Teru ducked left still staying low. Kagayaki just pressed down on him forcing him near the straw, and the two traded pulls before Terunofuji wrapped both arms around Kagayaki's leg and then twisted himself with no doing from Kagayaki. What an ugly bout this was and Terutsuyoshi clearly took a dive at the end leaving both rikishi at 1-3.

M9 Shimanoumi moved left at the tachi-ai offering a light tsuki into the right side of M8 Tsurugisho, and the latter just dipped his shoulder, put the left forearm to the dirt, and somersaulted over flipping his leg in the air for good measure. This was an arranged bout and planned fall if I've ever seen one as Shimanoumi sheepishly moves to 2-2 while Tsurugisho falls to 1-3.

M7 Takarafuji was lethargic at the tachi-ai allowing M8 Endoh to stand him up with a nice left paw to the throat, and with Takarafuji not defending himself, Endoh assumed moro-zashi and pushed Takarafuji around and out with little fanfare. It'd be hard to argue that Takarafuji did anything to try and compete in this bout because he didn't. Endoh moves to 3-1 with the gift while Takarafuji falls to 2-2.

M7 Tochinoshin had the C3P0 arms from the tachi-ai against M6 Hidenoumi waiting for the latter to grab moro-zashi, and then as Hidenoumi mounted his force-out charge, Tochinoshin uselessly grabbed a left outer grip as he walked back and across. He flinched on the edge at a right tsuki-otoshi that would have worked, but he let up of course giving Hidenoumi the cheap win. Seems like the Hidenoumi camp is addicted to buying bouts as the old guy moves to 3-1 while Tochinoshin gets paid to fall to 1-3.

M6 Ichinojo looked to work the right arm inside from the tachi-ai against M5 Onosho and wrap him up with the left, and as Onosho tried to push Ichinojo back, the Mongolith slipped to his left pulling Onosho forward in the process before slapping him down hataki-komi style for good. Pretty methodic stuff here as both rikishi end the day at 3-1.

M4 Kiribayama and M5 Hoshoryu grappled a bit at the tachi-ai before coming away in hidari-yotsu where Hoshoryu had the firm right outer grip but very little position to the inside left. Kiribayama did have the solid left inside grip, and he used it to yank Hoshoryu over and cut off that outer, and from there Kiribayama was in firm control getting moro-zashi and working the youngster over to the edge. Hoshoryu managed a maki-kae with the right, but it was too little too late as Kiribayama pulled him forward and down by the belt drawing the uwate-dashi-nage technique. Kiribayama picked up his first win of the tournament leaving both dudes at 1-3, and this was of course the same resolve and content that Kiribayama used against his first three Japanese opponents. Or not.

Komusubi Daieisho and M3 Chiyonokuni were scheduled next, but with Kuni's withdrawal, Daieisho picked up the freebie moving to 2-2.

Of the rank and filers, M1 Wakatakakage is garnering the most ink this basho, and he was paired against Suckiwake Takayasu. Takayasu's hands were high as part of his tsuppari attack, and so Wakatakakage was easily able to get his right arm up and under in the hazu position lifting Takayasu completely upright and off balance. With Takayasu's legs completely neutralized, WTK continued his attack from down low pushing Takayasu over a step and when the Suckwake's right tsuki attempt failed due to pressure from the M1, Takayasu was hopping backwards on one foot leaving him completely vulnerable to the oshi-dashi win by Wakatakakage. I mean, Takayasu was completely dismantled in this one, and I can't see how anyone considers him an Ozeki hopeful judging the content of his sumo. Both rikishi end the day at 3-1 and it's Wakatakakage with a ton of momentum moving forward.

M4 Myogiryu won the tachi-ai against Suckiwake Takanosho driving him back a bit and threatening a few pulls, but he never tried to win the bout finish the Suckiwake off, and so the two bounced around the ring trading pulls until the bout finally went to hidari-yotsu. From that point, Myogiryu just waited for Takanosho to force him back and there was not attempt at lateral movement or a counter move. Myogiryu falls to 0-4 and isn't this bad...trust me. As for Takanosho, he buys his way to 3-1.

M2 Tobizaru put his hands forward at the tachi-ai just waiting for Shodai to come to him, and not even Shodai could screw that up. As Shodai looked to get his left arm inside, Tobizaru just backed up with a hand up high as if to pull, and the end result was a ridiculously easy force-out win by Shodai that coincidentally contained no force. Tobizaru (1-3) was painfully mukiryoku here in gifting Shodai a 3-1 start.

M2 Meisei came with a lethargic kachi-age with the right looking to do no damage whatsoever to Takakeisho, and after that weak forearm, Meisei turned his right shoulder inward just a bit inviting Takakeisho to do his thang. It didn't take Takakeisho long to clue in and just execute a force-out charge, and at the edge, Takakeisho got his hands up and under in the hazu position and pushed Meisei across as the latter dove to his left. Meisei went down far too easily gifting yet another Japanese faux-zeki the laughably easy win. Takakeisho moves to 3-1 while Meisei takes one for the team at 1-3.

There was no way they were going to let Asanoyama fall to 1-3, and despite getting the easy left arm inside from the tachi-ai and driving Asanoyama back and around the ring as if he wasn't even there, M1 Hokutofuji suddenly stopped his charge at the edge and waited for Asanoyama to offer a weak scoop throw...which of course sent Hokutofuji across the straw without argument. Three wins for the Japanese Ozeki and three mukiryoku opponents providing for a soft stretch through the penultimate bout. Asanoyama is an undeserved 2-2 while Hokutofuji graciously falls to 0-4.

In the day's final affair, Ozeki Terunofuji welcomed Sekiwake Mitakeumi and Mitakeumi meant well attempting a tsuppari tachi-ai, but he just bounced off Fuji the Terrible as the Mongolian swooped in for the kill. Mitakeumi was unable to defend himself whatsoever as Terunofuji grabbed a firm left outer grip and a right grip near the front of Mitakeumi's belt, and from there, Terunofuji forced Mitakeumi back and across in the lopsided affair. Terunofuji definitely meant business again today in improving to 4-0, and I didn't realize it until the NHK Announcer said it, but Terunofuji is now the only undefeated rikishi in the division. We'll see how long he keeps this up because he's a man among boys out there. As for Mitakeumi, he's cooled off a bit falling to 3-1.

The basho doesn't really begin now until Terunofuji loses, and his camp is well aware of that fact.  Just a matter of time.

Back at it again tomorrow.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Day 3 broadcast began with NHK revisiting the 1974 Natsu basho where recently-promoted Ozeki, Kitanoumi, captured his second career yusho and first while ranked as an Ozeki. There's always a purpose when they take these trips down memory lane, which is to revisit historical events that mirror the current storylines of the basho at hand. I think they chose this particular event--which obviously mirrors Terunofuji--because they can't see any other yusho favorite at this point. I'm already on record this basho saying that I don't think Terunofuji will take the yusho, not because he can't but for political reasons.

It may be a repeat of last basho where Terunofuji lies low giving up bouts here and there in order to prop someone else up, but in the end, he could very well be the last man standing. There's still a ton of sumo to go, but the bottom line, which everyone knows already including NHK, is that Terunofuji is the StoryTeller, and there are no others.

The news in between Days 2 and 3 was rather quiet, so let's get right to the bouts at hand starting with M16 Ishiura taking on M17 Akua. Ishiura henka'd left grabbing a cheap left outer and as the Akua Man tried to swing out of harm's way, Ishiura's outer became an inner. After a brief stalemate, Ishiura attempted a inner belt drag of his opponent directly into his own body, but Akua didn't figure it out, and so the two resumed their clinch. Next, Ishiura went for a shitate-hineri move with the left that had plenty of shitate but no hineri. I mean, Ishiura coulda felled his foe right there just like he could have finished him off with that early henka and outer grip, but he stopped the move short signaling his intentions. Akua finally got a weak right outer after Ishiura pulled him into it, and so Ishiura kept faking that pull and backed out of the ring while Akua tried to keep pace hanging on with that grip. They ruled it oshi-dashi, but I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion because this was more of Ishiura's pulling Akua down after he stepped out, but whatever. The bout was fixed as both dudes end the day 1-2.

M16 Chiyomaru came with his usual moro-te-zuki tachi-ai putting two hands at M15 Kaisei's neck, but the tachi-ai had no legs behind it. Still, Kaisei's reaction was to lean to his left just inviting Chiyomaru to push into his side. And that he did as Kaisei mostly just flopped sideways and down about two seconds after the start. What a boring bout of sumo here that was obviously arranged as Chiyomaru moves to 2-1 while Kaisei falls to 1-2.

M13 Akiseyama absorbed M14 Chiyotairyu's tachi-ai rather well because the latter was able to gain no momentum from the initial charge. After trading a few upright and flat-footed slaps, Chiyotairyu got the left arm inside and just bodied Akiseyama back and across. You could tell Chiyotairyu wasn't a belt guy here because the force-out was very awkward that saw Tairyu belly flop to the dirt at the edge. As for Akiseyama, he was hapless in his counter pull attack because Chiyotairyu was vulnerable to the point where a better rikishi would have beaten Chiyotairyu by hataki-komi. Regardless of that, Chiyotairyu moves to 3-0 while Akiseyama falls to 1-2.

M13 Daiamami kept his arms low and inside from the tachi-ai against M12 Okinoumi, and it was a pretty good move as it denied Okinoumi the inside position on both sides. Daiamami was close to getting moro-zashi, but he didn't demand it, and so the two ultimately hooked up in hidari-yotsu. From there, Daiamami was not applying any pressure with the body, and so Okinoumi maki-kae'd with the right arm without even moving his feet. Now in moro-zashi, Okinoumi needed to knock his opponent up a bit, and he did that with the belly, and once he had Daiamami upright and back pedaling, the moro-zashi was academic. Koi Announcer correctly noted after the bout that Daiamami had the advantageous position early on, but he wasn't strong enough to take advantage. Easy comeback win for Okinoumi has he moves to 3-0 while Daiamami falls to 1-2.

M11 Kotonowaka's tachi-ai was weak as the youngster kept his insides exposed, and that allowed M11 Chiyoshoma to easily assume moro-zashi, but instead of scoring the easy force-out against his vulnerable opponent, Chiyoshoma rushed him back and then just dipped his left shoulder flopping to the dirt as Kotonowaka tried to keep up with as weak of a kote-nage as you'd care to see. It was actually Kotonowaka who was thrown off the dohyo altogether while Chiyoshoma stayed on top, and that makes no sense if the force that felled Chiyoshoma to the dirt came from a Kotonowaka throw. This was just a good example of a bizarre, unorthodox ending characteristic of bout fixing in sumo. Both rikishi end the day at 1-2 and the hapless Kotonowaka obviously paid for this one.

M10 Terutsuyoshi slammed into M12 Kotoeko from the tachi-ai but just halted his momentum doing no further damage. His next move was to bend over like a Japanese obaachan pushing her little cart through the market, and so Kotoeko fired a series of slaps that were Terutsuyoshi's cue to just flop over and out. There was such little contact in this one, Kotoeko actually spun in a little circle after his pull as if he were a figure skater ending his routine. Sumo needs better acting that's I'll I can say as Kotoeko buys his way to 2-1 while Terutsuyoshi falls to 1-2.

M9 Kagayaki pulverized M9 Shimanoumi upright and back from the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, but you could see Kagayaki just stop near the edge not wanting to do further damage with his choke hold. Problem was Shimanoumi's ass was kicked so handily from the charge, he couldn't really counter, and so Kagayaki let Shimanoumi go back to the center of the ring where Kagayaki next got the right arm inside. He had Shimanoumi upright, but he pulled the arm out and then kept his hands low waiting for Shimanoumi to figure out a pull attempt. He finally did, and before it was really set up, Kagayaki was already diving across the straw and down. I mean, you watch the replay here and there was such little contact from Shimanoumi it was almost as embarrassing as the way Shimanoumi aligned his feet at the tachi-ai. And yet, the dude still came out on top after doing absolutely zero the entire way. Gotta love sumo as Shimanoumi buys..er..picks up that first win at 1-2 while Kagayaki smiles all the way to the bank at 0-3.

I suppose if there's a sleeper in the yusho race to this point, it'd be M10 Tamawashi...the best active rikishi currently on the banzuke. Today The Mawashi was paired against M8 Endoh, and he easily backed Endoh up to the straw with his tsuppari attack. At the edge, Endoh arched his back and wouldn't go easy, and so Tamawashi allowed the bout to come back to the center of the ring where he set up a nice kote-nage throw with the right that felled Endoh (2-1) to the dirt with little argument. Tamawashi moves to 3-0 after the easy win, and prior to his bout, they showed a graphic indicating that Tamawashi and Hakuho are the two oldest dudes in the division at 36. They certainly don't show it and both have about as much mileage on their bodies as grandma's Buick. Checking in at 35 years old is Okinoumi and Akiseyama. Of those four, Akiseyama is the only one who truly shows his age.

M7 Tochinoshin's feet were not settled at the tachi-ai as he just leaned forward towards M7 Takarafuji, and for his part, Takarafuji's footwork wasn't any better. Ultimately, Fuji moved to his left going for a harmless pull and throughout, Tochinoshin never tried to get inside or to the belt. Before the two could square back up into yotsu, Tochinoshin brought both hands high as if to pull, but instead of actually going for the move, he ditched to his right allowing Takarafuji to give chase and "force" Tochinoshin back that last step. Tochinoshin walked across more of his own volition than he was forced back by his opponent, but whatever. The end result is Takarafuji's moving to 2-1 while Tochinoshin let up bigly here falling to 1-2.

Speaking of letting up, M6 Ichinojo notched his first loss against M8 Tsurugisho. Ichinojo easily got the right arm inside from the tachi-ai and began forcing Tsurugisho back, but for no reason whatsoever, as Tsurugisho shaded to his left, Ichinojo just kept moving straightforward instead of staying square until he had walked himself across the edge and out. They ruled it yori-kiri, but the only force that came from Tsurugisho occurred after Ichinojo had stepped out. After walking across the straw, Ichinojo finally decided to square back up with his opponent, and it just added to the obvious mukiryoku nature of the bout. Hooboy, this one was bad as Tsurugisho buys his first win at 1-2 while Ichinojo graciously falls to 2-1.

Credit M5 Onosho for coming with a nice tsuppari attack against M5 Hoshoryu from the tachi-ai, but the Mongolian did nothing to win this bout. He didn't shove and he didn't look to get to the inside keeping his hands high and going with the oshi flow as Onosho charged forward. With no resistance coming from Hoshoryu whatsoever, Onosho was able to knock Hoshoryu back and across in three seconds, and Hoshoryu's MO here was to just set up a sweet landing off of the dohyo. Said move turned out to be a cartwheel over the top of Miyabiyama who was judging ringside to the East. Onosho moves to the 3-0 with the gift while Hoshoryu falls to 1-2.

M4 Myogiryu reached for the front of M6 Hidenoumi's belt at the tachi-ai causing Hidenoumi to go into instant pull mode, and with Myogiryu right there in his craw, he could have scored the quick force out win, but Myogiryu let up near the edge enabling the fight to go back to the center of the ring in migi-yotsu. Both rikishi hunkered down with Hidenoumi looking extremely uncomfortable far away from a left outer grip, but Myogiryu was content to just stand there and not take advantage using his superior experience and sumo skills. After a few seconds of inaction, Myogiryu allowed Hidenoumi to maki-kae with the left giving him moro-zashi, but he didn't know what to do with it. Myogiryu had a right outer grip that he could have used to counter, but with Hidenoumi applying no pressure, Myogiryu backpedaled a step or two and then just hit the dirt to his left. Hidenoumi tried to catch up to him, but he almost stumbled over the top of his foe who was self-crumpled to the dirt. You can watch this one from any angle, and there wasn't anything Hidenoumi did to cause Myogiryu's fall. Yori-taoshi?? How about koshi-kudake as Myogiryu clearly took a dive here gifting Hidenoumi a 2-1 start. As for Myogiryu, he's getting fat selling all these bouts at 0-3 and who cares if the acting is terrible? I'm the only one who seems to be calling these guys on it.

In the sanyaku ranks, Komusubi Mitakeumi welcomed M3 Chiyonokuni, and the latter made no effort to do any damage to his foe from the tachi-ai. The lack of Chiyonokuni tsuppari--hell, the lack of anything from Chiyonokuni--enabled Mitakeumi to waltz forward and easily get the right arm to the inside, and once he did, Chiyonokuni promptly went into light pull mode enabling the quick and dirty force out win in favor of Mitakeumi. These bouts are so uncontested I'm actually embarrassed for these guys. Mitakeumi buys this one in moving to 3-0 while Chiyonokuni falls to 0-3.

M4 Kiribayama was quick outta the gate against Suckiwake Takanosho, but instead of charging forward with a nice tsuppari attack or grabbing the belt, he just backed up asking Takanosho to shove him out. Problem was, Takanosho was hapless, and so near the edge, Kiribayama could have gotten back to the inside with the clear path to a right inner, but he didn't take it and just stood there like a bump on a log waiting for Takanosho to do something. Takanosho wasn't doing much, and so finally Kiribayama pretended to grab Takanosho's extended right arm and go for an ushiro-motare or ippon-zeoi or some improbable move, but the Mongolian conveniently forgot to actually grab the arm and just turned of his own volition crashing down across the dirt. Just when you thought the acting and fake falls couldn't get worse... Takanosho was sheepish after this fake bout as he moved to 2-1 while Kiribayama literally fell to 0-3.

Suckiwake Takayasu reached for a right outer grip against M2 Meisei at the tachi-ai, but he was far from it, and normally that would enable Meisei to get the firm inside position, but he completely abandoned any sane line of thinking and began mawari-komu'ing to his right. He wasn't looking to do any damage with the move or set something up, and so the instant Takayasu caught up to him and touched him, Meisei just flopped over and down giving Takayasu the uncontested win that contained as little contact as possible in a bout of sumo. The acting here was a tiny bit better than the previous bout, but that ain't sayin' much. Takayasu moves to 3-0 with the ridiculously easy win while Meisei falls to 1-2 a richer dude.

I was almost afraid to watch the Ozeki bouts at the rate we're going, but if we must. M1 Hokutofuji faced Takakeisho and promptly did nothing from the tachi-ai keeping his arms out wide and not really thrusting, and so with Takakeisho doing all the work, Hokutofuji was worked back little by little until his heels touched the edge. From there, Hokutofuji leaned forward towards his foe requiring Takakeisho to exert a bit more effort, but the finish was undramatic as Hokutofuji finally just walked back that last step. I guess we have to credit Takakeisho for moving forward, but he knew he was gonna win going in, and so we didn't see any pulls or hesitant sumo. It still took him a bit to finish Hokutofuji off especially when Hokutofuji was just standing there, but dems da breaks. Takakeisho is safely through to 2-1 while Hokutofuji falls to 0-3.

Up next was M1 Wakatakakage vs. Asanoyama, and we finally got a good bout of sumo after a string of total crap. Wakatakakage henka'd wildly to his left at the tachi-ai, and it was so haphazard, he did as much damage to himself as he did to the faux-zeki. The two finally squared up in yotsu-zumo where WTK had moro-zashi, and he immediately forced Asanoyama back to the straw, but Asanoyama nicely used a right kote-nage to halt WTK and put him on his heels a bit. That move enabled Asanoyama to erase his opponent's moro-zashi and force the bout to hidari-yotsu, but Wakatakakage maintained a left outer grip. With the action back in the center of the ring, the two dug in for about 20 seconds before Asanoyama attempted a nice yori charge leading with the right inside, but it wasn't enough, and so once WTK halted it, he was able to force the action back to the center of the ring and then take advantage of a gassed Asanoyama using his left outer to dashi-nage Asanoyama over to the edge where the faux-zeki went for a desperate pull, but it wasn't enough as Wakatakakage pushed him across and down for the nice win.

The initial henka was weak, but the sumo from both parties was terrific from there, and this is the Asanoyama I remember from the rank and file...a decent yotsu guy and someone easy to cheer for. You watch this bout and can the real bouts and fake bouts be any more different? Can you also imagine if this was the type of sumo we got everyday this high in the banzuke regardless of who wins or loses? It's just too bad so much of it is compromised these days, but I've already gone over the reasons ad nauseam. Wakatakakage moves to 2-1 with a very good win while Asanoyama falls to 1-2.

The penultimate bout featured Ozeki Terunofuji vs. M2 Tobizaru, and you just know that Terunofuji is going to throw a few bouts here or there, so would he bow to Tobizaru today? Thankfully no. From the tachi-ai, Fuji grabbed Tobizaru's extended right arm up and under with his own right arm, and used it to pull Tobizaru into a left outer grip, and from there Terunofuji dumped Tobizaru over and down so fast the gyoji was lucky to get out of the way. Fuji the Terrible was an army with banners today against Tobizaru moving to 3-0 in the process, and you watch this and have to ask yourself...could any of the other Ozeki do this to Tobizaru?? The M2 falls to 1-2 in defeat and thankfully lives to fight another day.

The day concluded with Shodai taking on Komusubi Daieisho, and Daieisho dictated the pace start to finish here using his tsuppari attack to keep Shodai upright and on his heels. The difference was that Daieisho wasn't looking to drive Shodai back; rather, he was going through the motions waiting for Shodai to counter, but the faux-zeki simply couldn't...even against an intentional mediocre attack from the Komusubi. After about eight seconds, Daieisho finally moved forward with his thrust attack and knocked Shodai quickly back to the edge, but instead of firing the final blow, Daieisho voluntarily just ducked to his left and waited for Shodai to nudge him out of the dohyo. Shodai offered a light love tap causing both rikishi to balance along the edge and then jump out at roughly the same time. They pointed towards Shodai and called a mono-ii, which was upheld, but the bigger point we can draw from this bout is this: once again, Shodai could not dictate the pace of his bout and was roughed up by a lower-ranked rikishi who finally had to let up for him at the edge in order to let him win.

It's so contagious that even the announcers are piling on Shodai and his "sumo," and they've been doing so the last few basho. It's just not good optics to have this guy pretend to be an Ozeki. Day after day we get the same garbage where Shodai somehow miraculously comes out on top. I'm just glad that I don't have to pretend that this is all real. The end result here is Shodai's moving to 2-1 in unspectacular fashion while Daieisho takes one for team sumo in falling to 1-2.

Well, the fans are back in the stands starting tomorrow. According to Tokyo regulations, gatherings of up to 5K are allowed. That number has been in place the last few basho, and they've only been able to draw 1K the final weekend of the tournaments. With all of the distractions and Japanese baseball in full swing, attendance will likely be grim.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
After an innocuous Day 1, the two major storylines heading into Day 2 were: 1) The Ozeki making it through the first day unscathed, and 2) The Enho - Ura matchup in the Juryo ranks. We'll get to the Ozeki as part of the Day 2 events, but why so much hype for Enho and Ura? Neither dude is an up-and-comer; neither dude has the stature to succeed in the sport's top division; and I doubt they even have five legitimate wins between them in the Makuuchi division. And yet, this was the most anticipated matchup of the day even counting the Makuuchi bouts. As part of the Day 1 broadcast, Mainoumi and Kitanofuji were lamenting the fact that the Enho - Ura matchup was occurring so early in the basho. I really was incredulous as I listened to them go on.

Okay, I get why people who are too easily entertained like these guys, but I'm starting off with the anticipation of this bout today because it's a great example of how manufactured celebrity and novelty is what sells in sumo more so than actual sumo content. Even when I was green back in the day and considered sumo a legitimate professional sport, I wasn't a big fan of Kyokudozan or Mainoumi or Tomonohana. To me, those guys were only capable of gimmick sumo, and they only detracted from the purpose of real sport. It was kinda like the 1989 French Open in tennis that Michael Chang won over Ivan Lendl. I wasn't a big Lendl fan ever, but all of the gimmick serves and weird tactics from Chang completely turned me off.

As long as we're talking about Enho and Ura, we might as well start there. Enho was cautious at the tachi-ai suspecting some shenanigans from Ura, but with the latter largely standing upright from the charge, Enho was able to secure the left inside position. The two jockeyed for grips from this point, and it was Enho who was able to come away with the right inside as well giving him moro-zashi. Despite having moro-zashi, Enho was unable to take advantage...even against a small guy like Ura, and so Ura was able to pivot outside and execute a kote-nage with the left that wrenched Enho outta the ring and three rows deep. You could immediately see Enho grab that right elbow, and afterwards in the funny papers, Enho reported hearing a pop as Ura executed the throw.

My question is...why wasn't Enho able to do anything with the moro-zashi? I mean, we've seen him work his magic against Makuuchi guys far bigger and far stronger than Ura, right? Where was that magic today against Ura? Why wasn't he able to dart this way or that and pick up Ura by the leg and make him hop out of the ring? The easy answer is the correct answer: Ura didn't let up for him. We'll see what becomes of Enho and whether or not he can continue, but I only say that because it will continue to be a storyline this basho...not something I'm interested in but a story the media will continue to report.

With that out of the way, let's head to the Day 2 broadcast where they replayed the Ozeki bouts from yesterday at least three times. Hey, did you hear that all of the Ozeki won on Day 1?? Not to spoil anything, but it'd take less than 24 hours for that boring storyline to disappear, but first things first.

We began the day with M16 Ishiura facing M16 Chiyomaru, and Ishiura skirted left at the tachi-ai henka'ing Chiyomaru and coming away with a cheap outer grip on that side, and before Maru could turn around and square back up, Ishiura had him forced back and across okuri-dashi style. Nice cheap way to start the day as both rikishi stand at 1-1.

M17 Akua tried to henka to his right against M14 Chiyotairyu, but he was so slow going that Chiyotairyu easily recovered, bashed into his foe once with a left forearm, and then went into pull mode slapping Akua down as he looked to advance forward. It wasn't pretty, but Chiyotairyu will take this easy win as he moves to 2-0 while Akua is hapless at 0-2.

M13 Daiamami made it three tachi-ai henka in a row moving to his left--weakly I might add--against M15 Kaisei, and Kaisei just let him do it not bothering to recover and staying turned around 180 degrees as Daiamami advanced and pushed him out for another okuri-dashi win. Bravo fellas as both rikishi stand now at 1-1.

The number one rikishi I least look forward to watching these days is M13 Akiseyama, and he was paired against M12 Kotoeko today. Akiseyama's tachi-ai was mighty slow, but at least it wasn't a henka as the two hooked up in migi-yotsu where Kotoeko easily got the left outer grip as he pressed Akiseyama near the edge. Then, for no explicable reason other than he was paid to do it, Kotoeko let go of the outer grip and brought his right arm to the outside giving Akiseyama moro-zashi, and from there, Eko just let his opponent force him back and across where Kotoeko feigned a counter tsuki-otoshi and kote-nage in the process. Both rikishi end the day at 1-1 as the Akiseyama camp buys their dude yet another win much to my chagrin.

M12 Okinoumi overpowered M11 Kotonowaka forcing him back from the tachi-ai and getting the left arm inside. Once obtained, Okinoumi then latched onto a right outer grip, and before Baby Waka could even get settled, Okinoumi threw him over and down for the easy uwate-nage win. Coming into the bout, Kotonowaka led head-to-head 1-0 against Okinoumi, and I think the favor was called in here because Kotonowaka was limp throughout. I know the dude doesn't have any game, but he didn't even try in this one perfectly defining the term "mukiryoku."

The M11 Chiyoshoma - M10 Terutsuyoshi tachi-ai was bland with Chiyoshoma ultimately taking charge against his listless opponent using a left tsuki to force Terutsuyoshi back near the edge, and with Teru just ducking low and to the side, Chiyoshoma easily pushed him across that last step. Fujii Announcer correctly described this bout as "one-sided," and like the previous bout, Terutsuyoshi didn't even try in this one. Chiyoshoma picks up the easy win as both dudes stand at 1-1.

M10 Tamawashi needs to vault himself back up the ranks so he can create another cushion from which to sell bouts. Today against M9 Shimanoumi, Tamawashi easily brushed off Umi's charge knocking him upright and slapping him silly all the way back and across. It took maybe three seconds, and Shimanoumi was helpless here as Tamawashi moves to 2-0 while Shimanoumi falls to 0-2. For those who care, watching the replay of Tamawashi's oshi attack here is the perfect example of what sound, oshi-zumo should be.

It took all of two seconds for M9 Kagayaki to knock M8 Endoh back quickly from the tachi-ai with his tsuppari attack, and as Endoh looked to escape to his right along the straw, he was really out of sorts. It wouldn't matter, however, as Kagayaki was not looking to finish him off and instead just ducked his face forward against Endoh's teet waiting for him to fire a counter pull. Endoh's footwork was so unstable at the edge, they had to call a mono-ii to make sure he didn't step out, and he didn't giving him the cheap, paid-for win against a willing Kagayaki. I mean, Kagayaki dominated this one from the start to finish including that fake ending where he dared Endoh to nurse him. Endoh buys his 2-0 mark while Kagayaki falls to 0-2.

In the best tachi-ai of the day to this point, M7 Tochinoshin and M8 Tsurugisho struck chest to chest in the migi-yotsu position where Tsurugisho had the left outer grip. Shin used a quick right inside belt throw to shake Tsurugisho away from the outer, and this caused the two to trade places in the dohyo. Tsurugisho still maintained his left outer, but the two were no longer chest to chest and instead, Tsurugisho had his head awkwardly burrowing into Shin's right shoulder. Shin gathered his wits for a few seconds before storming in and knocking Tsurugisho upright while grabbing the left outer in the process, and from there Tochinoshin cut off Tsurugisho's outer and forced him back just how you draw it up. Nice bout of sumo here as Tochinoshin rests on 1-1 while Tsurugisho (0-2) gave a nice effort in defeat.

M6 Ichinojo and M7 Takarafuji quickly hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai before Ichinojo forced his gal back while reaching for the left outer grip. Takarafuji moved laterally in an attempt to deny it, and so the two traded places in the ring and dug in across the starting lines. Ichinojo looked to slow things down from here, but Takarafuji executed a quick maki-kae with the left leaving the two in the gappuri hidari-yotsu position, a position preferred by Takarafuji. Ichinojo had a right outer, but it was on one fold of the mawashi that was slipping higher and higher as the bout wore on, and so a long stalemate ensued where the two pressed into each other for two minutes or so. Finally, Takarafuji went for a yori charge leading with his right outer, but Ichinojo was able to slip to his right and fell his foe with a fabulous shitate-nage. Okay, maybe it wasn't fabulous, but it was total Ichinojo sumo where he just tires his opponent out and then wins in the end. Ichinojo moves to 2-0 with the win while Takarafuji falls to 1-1.

M5 Hoshoryu knocked M6 Hidenoumi upright from the tachi-ai and looked to be in firm control, but then he just stopped his charge and allowed Hidenoumi to recover. Hidenoumi didn't do much, but he did have the right arm halfway inside, and so Hoshoryu went for a stupid pull backing up and brining his own right arm over the top of Hidenoumi's head and onto the other side, and when the actual pull didn't come, all you had was Hoshoryu who had completely comprised himself and just backed himself out of the ring as Hidenoumi finally moved forward. There wasn't a single thing Hidenoumi did here other than to go with the flow of Hoshoryu's pull. Both rikishi end the day at 1-1 as Hidenoumi buys his first win.

M5 Onosho put both hands at M4 Myogiryu's neck from the tachi-ai but was spinning his wheels more than he was applying actual pressure into Myogiryu. About two seconds in, Onosho went for a very light slapdown, and that was Myogiryu's cue to hit the dirt with both palms and then pop right back up on his feet as if the whole thing was planned. Which it was of course as Onosho moves to 2-0 while Myogiryu sells one here in falling to 0-2.

Komusubi Daieisho's tsuppari tachi-ai was non-existent as M4 Kiribayama executed the perfect hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the right and getting the left inside, and the Mongolian quickly used a scoop throw with that left to throw his foe off balance. Fujii Announcer indicated that Daieisho allowed the bout to go to yotsu and ended the phrase with "shite shimatta" indicating a negative, and it would have been a negative had Kiribayama been trying to win the bout. As the two dug down in yotsu-zumo, Kiribayama instinctively reached his right hand to the front of Daieisho's mawashi, which would have spelled curtains, but he immediately withdrew that hand and balled it uselessly into a fist pointing it towards his own torso. From this point, Kiribayama's intentions were clear, but Daieisho's position was so awkward, he didn't know what to do. He finally led with the right outer that allowed Kiribayama to counter with a left scoop throw, but the Mongolian let up on the throw and eventually just collapsed backwards when Daieisho attempted a weak force-out leading with the left. They ruled it yori-taoshi, but it was really abise-taoshi where Kiribayama just flopped backwards to the dirt gifting Daieisho the win. What a fake bout here as Daieisho sheepishly buys his way to 1-1 while Kiribayama is richer at 0-2.

And that brings is to Suckiwake Takayasu who was paired against M3 Chiyonokuni, and I don't know what the Suckiwake was thinking at the tachi-ai, but he was completely rebuffed and knocked upright by a not-so strong Chiyonokuni charge. Problem was that Chiyonokuni didn't finish the tachi-ai allowing Takayasu back into the bout. From there, Takayasu was fighting on his heels--literally, and so despite Chiyonokuni's willingness to throw it, Takayasu couldn't come close to knocking him around because his positioning was so bad. The two traded ugly slaps and pulls and sashays around the ring with Kuni completely refusing to take charge against a vulnerable Takayasu, and finally near the edge, Chiyonokuni faked a left tsuki before taking his right leg and crossing it behind his left foot felling himself to the dirt as Takayasu tried to catch up with a quick slap. By the time Takayasu made contact, Chiyonokuni was already on his way down, and this was a horrible bout of sumo through and through. I mean, point out one positive aspect to Takayasu's sumo here. In a bout that lasted 10-12 seconds, there wasn't a single move he did to take charge, and yet, he's magically gifted the ugly win and a 2-0 record. Chiyonokuni falls to 0-2 and knows his place among the hierarchy.

Suckiwake Takanosho was unable to do anything against M2 Tobizaru from the tachi-ai, and yes, you read that right. He was unable to do anything against Tobizaru. The two ultimately ended up in a light migi-yotsu position, and Takanosho's only answer was to go for a stupid pull. Tobizaru ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's not going to miss an opportunity like that, and so he bulldozed Takanosho back and off the dohyo with a nice oshi-dashi. "Sekiwake Takanosho" is one of the most applicable oxymorons in the sport right now as both dudes settle for 1-1.

And that bring us to the Ozeki ranks where Asanoyama was paired against M2 Meisei. The tachi-ai was light with Meisei getting the right arm inside, and with Asanoyama not established anywhere to the inside, Meisei retreated in an attempt to maki-kae with the left and gain moro-zashi. Meisei would succeed in gaining moro-zashi, but as he moved back and right to get it, he sensed no pressure from Asanoyama, and so he just parlayed the move into a scoop throw with the right arm that threw Asanoyama completely off balance. It took a final light shove from there for Meisei to send Asanoyama across the straw and hand him his first loss just like that.

Fujii Announcer let go a Freudian slip signaling his disappointment as he said, "Ahhh, it's Meisei who won here." I mean, normally when a guy scores an upset against an elite rikishi, you call it that way with some excitement, but Fujii's tone of voice was shock and disappointment. So much for unbiased announcing. The thing is...Fujii knows how important it is for the elite Japanese rikishi to sorta live up to their ranks, and so when someone like Meisei completely outclasses Asanoyama, you can hear the shock and disappointment in his voice. Anyway, both rikishi end the day at 1-1 after the nice Meisei win.

Up next was Ozeki Terunofuji facing M1 Hokutofuji, and borrowing the words from Tadokoro Sports Caster on the News 9 show, it was a Hokutofuji who has a lot of bariki, or horsepower. Except in his bout against Shodai yesterday, but who's keeping track? Hokutofuji came with his usual tachi-ai where he offers a tsuki up high with the right and shades left, and it actually made it difficult for the Ozeki to latch onto his foe. Terunofuji still used his body to try and corner his opponent in the ring looking to get the left inside, but Hokutofuji backed away and proved slippery. While Hokutofuji was doing a good job of keeping Terunofuji away, he wasn't setting anything up offensively, and so the Ozeki finally caught him with a swipe to the head and the right inside position that was insurmountable. Terunofuji was burrowing in so deep that Hokutofuji uselessly went for a 360 pirouette to try and evade, but he was too far gone giving Terunofuji the okuri-dashi win. This one never did go chest to chest, but Terunofuji was in complete control throughout in moving to 2-0 while Hokutofuji falls to 0-2.

Shodai stepped into the ring to face M1 Wakatakakage, and I thought Shodai meant well at the tachi-ai moving forward, but he didn't apply any pressure against Wakatakakage, and so the latter was able to slip right and use a very effective right tsuki pushing into Shodai's left side to keep him upright and on his heels. Shodai tried to shove his way out of it, but Wakatakakage proved to be a moving target keeping that right inside as a threat and then briefly getting the left inside as well, and with Shodai upright the entire way, Wakatakakage went for the kill and scored it easily. In fact, Shodai put up such little resistance at the edge that they called a mono-ii as it looked like Wakatakakage's forward momentum might have caused him to step out before Shodai touched down, but replays showed that Shodai did step back first.

Michinoku-oyakata (former Kirishima) who was in the booth today providing color is one of the more bland dudes behind the mic, but he nailed his analysis of Shodai with one word: "ukeppanashi." The "uke" comes from the word "ukeru," or to receive and the "ppanashi" is a suffix tacked onto the end of a word that means "constant." In other words, Shodai is constantly on the receiving end of things. Sheesh, even in his wins Shodai is usually ukeppanashi, and today was just a good example of what happens when Shodai's opponents don't let up for him. Shodai falls to 1-1 while Wakatakakage improves to the same mark.

As Takakeisho stepped into the ring against Komusubi Mitakeumi, you could just sense that the Komusubi was not going to let up today. I mean, yesterday, I talked about an article that seemed to appear out of nowhere hyping Mitakeumi as one to watch this basho, and if there's a little bit of money behind him this tournament, you know he's not going to uselessly throw a bout against Takakeisho today. And he didn't. Takakeisho actually won the tachi-ai in this one managing to move forward more of a result of Mitakeumi's being passive than it was from any real pressure, and after two short steps forward, Takakeisho suddenly looked unsure of himself. You could see him thinking pull at that point, but Mitakeumi was applying such little pressure before he tested the pull waters. Takakeisho was never in danger, but he also wasn't able to capitalize on Mitakeumi's backwards movement, and so the Komusubi used a right hand inside to threaten a yotsu contest, and the two went back and forth in the ring with no one taking charge and no one willing to commit. After about eight seconds, Takakeisho couldn't help himself and went for a weak pull of his own, and when he did, Mitakeumi was right there inside forcing Takakeisho completely upright and shoving him hard into the corner of the dohyo and off a coupla rows deep.

Once again, Fujii Announcer signaled his bias letting out a long, audible "hmmmm" as he said in a disappointed tone, "he was attacking well part way through the bout, but then he went for the pull." I mean, the dude was deflated and that's before he realized that all three of the Japanese Ozeki took it on the chin today. Takakeisho was lucky he didn't get hurt here because he hit the edge of the dohyo hard right where they keep the bucket of salt. He also ended up on all fours in the second row with his opponent standing above him on the dohyo...something that should never happen to a supposed elite rikishi. The result is Mitakeumi's moving to 2-0 while Takakeisho falls to 1-1.

The obvious storyline as the dust settled here was all three Japanese Ozeki falling in defeat. NHK News 9 used the word "haran" to explain the phenomenon, which means upheaval or disturbance like a disturbance in the force. It's pretty interesting to watch the reaction of Japanese media when there are disturbances like this. You could hear the disappointment in Fujii Announcer's voice, and after they showed all three Ozeki defeats on the news, the casters all dropped their heads in shock as if to say, "What happened?"

What happened simply was none of the opponents facing the Japanese Ozeki let up for them today. It really is as simple as that, but forgive me for looking at things so objectively.

We'll see how the Association responds to the disastrous Day 2.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It's been a tough break in between basho for the sumos, and I sensed very little excitement as we entered Day 1 of the Natsu basho. The continued flare-ups of the Corona virus in Japan's major cities and subsequent state of emergency declarations put pressure on the Sumo Association to dutifully play their role, and so the decision was made to perform in an empty arena for the first three days of the basho. It's kind of pointless when you really think about it because what was going to happen during those three days that wouldn't happen the remaining 12 when you do let fans come through the gates? It's all just for show and a way for the Association to save face in the midst of an emergency, but it's really tough to gain momentum heading into a tournament when you have no fannies in the seats the first three days.

Then there is the constant overshadowing by the Olympic games and to what extent Japan will host them if they end up holding them at all. There are movements within the country to cancel the Olympics outright, and now some of the athletes are getting their fillings hurt (as we say in Utah) because people are posting on their social media sites pressuring the athletes to withdraw from the Olympic Games for the good of society during the pandemic.

And with all of this going on, the worst news in between basho was the death of Hibikiryu, a 28 year-old sandanme rikishi who landed on his head during the March tournament after being on the wrong end of a scoop throw. Hibikiryu lay motionless on the dohyo for five minutes or so before he was carted off and sent to a Tokyo hospital. He remained hospitalized up through the end of April when he suddenly died of acute respiratory issues. News of Hibikiryu's death lingered in the news for a week or so, and there really wasn't anything positive to overshadow it heading into the basho itself.

The Day 1 broadcast began with scenes of an empty arena and Shirataishi Announcer and Kitanofuji discussing how difficult and annoying it was to do the broadcast while forced to wear masks, and when they eventually got to the rikishi themselves, they started off with this image:



That's newly-crowned Ozeki Terunofuji and his record from the last five tournaments that included two yusho performances. What's not spelled out there is the fact that Terunofuji has been posting those numbers all the while strategically throwing bouts tournament after tournament in an effort to give other rikishi a chance. You see that 13-2 performance in November where he didn't take the yusho. That's where he was tied with Takakeisho on senshuraku and then just let up for the faux-zeki during the playoff bout giving the Japanese rikishi a much-needed boost to his fledgling career.

Last tournament he was content to let Takayasu take the yusho, but the Komusubi folded bigly down the stretch leaving Terunofuji as the last man standing. In short, Terunofuji isn't necessarily asserting himself as the most dominant rikishi in the sport right now, but he's ending up in that position by default because nobody else can pick up the slack. Terunofuji is carrying sumo right now on his back, and that's why they had to lead off with him at the start of the broadcast.

Next up was the announcement that Hakuho was kyujo for the sixth basho in a row now. This story barely got any coverage because the kyujo was already foreshadowed when the Yokozuna withdrew from the March tournament. Hakuho had his right knee scoped in mid-March and is sitting this basho out because he can. He's also continuing to mirror the demise of Kisenosato's career so as to give Kisenosato's entire promotion to Yokozuna more credibility.

Up next was M3 Aoiyama who reportedly tweaked his lower back during keiko just prior to the basho, and so he was missing on day 1. He may try and return to the fray later on to pick up a win or two in order to lessen his fall down the banzuke, but it's like that whole tree falling in the forest adage: if Aoiyama returns mid-basho, does it make a sound?

M15 Midorifuji is also kyujo due to a herniated disc in his lower back. This dude was hurt at the end of March, and I'm surprised he finished that tournament out. Like Ura and Enho, this dude is simply too small to absorb the constant pounding that rikishi take in the Makuuchi division. His withdrawal means he will fall to Juryo for the Nagoya basho.

M14 Ryuden will also fall to Juryo after his forced kyujo this tournament. Ryuden is not injured, but he was caught patronizing the tittie bars despite the declared state of emergency, and so his oyakata is making him sit out this tournament as punishment. Only in Japan.

Other newsworthy items that were addressed during the Day 1 bouts included the retirement announcement from Kotoyuki. His highest achieved rank was Sekiwake, but injuries to both knees shortened his career a bit. NHK promptly showed Kotoyuki donning his new oyakata garb and sitting on a cheap folding chair while pulling security duty in one of the hana-michi.

The other news item was the announced death of Kitajin-oyakata, or the former Kirinji. Kirinji was a feisty oshi-zumo guy who retired right around the time I started watching sumo full time. I really enjoyed his commentary as an oyakata, and the last time I actually attended the sumos live (Kyushu 2004), Kirinji was the oyakata who took my ticket. I really liked him, and keeping replaying that Billy Joel song in my head, "Only the good die young."

And so that was the backdrop as we entered Day 1 of the tournament. Due to time constraints, I'll only cover just a few of the Day 1 bouts starting with the four Ozeki. Unfortunately for sumo, one of the biggest storylines last basho was the inability of the Japanese Ozeki to all win on the same day until well into week 2. There was a concerted effort here to cancel that storyline from the start, and so the ending to Day 1 was completely unspectacular as the opponents for all three of the Japanese Ozeki let up in ridiculous fashion.

M1 Hokutofuji executed a nice yotsu tachi-ai looking to get the left arm inside and a right outer grip against Shodai, but he never pressed forward looking to get a hold of anything. Shodai made zero impact from the tachi-ai, and so Hokutofuji slowly backed up for him waiting for a pull. Said pull was a weak effort where Shodai backed up to his right lightly slapping down at the back of Hokutofuji's left shoulder, and the M1 dutifully just hit the dirt landing on all fours. You watch the slow motion reply here, and Hokutofuji did all the work until Shodai's feeble pull attempt at the end.

Up next, M1 Wakatakakage just stood upright from the tachi-ai with arms out wide allowing Takakeisho to move forward and execute a quick oshi charge. Wakatakakage offered no resistance whatsoever as Takakeisho worked him over and out in under three seconds. I guess if we're looking for positives here, Takakeisho did win moving forward, but when he knows the bout is fixed coming in, he shows confidence in his sumo. Just wait until his opponent is trying to beat him and you'll see the pull-first mentality and the flailing swipes with the left arm.

Unlike the last two bouts, Komusubi Daieisho actually blasted his opponent from the starting lines driving Asanoyama back in wham bam fashion. He would never get to thank you ma'am, however, as Daieisho suddenly stopped his charge for no reason and just stood there with his right arm pointing to his yusho board up in the rafters. That allowed Asanoyama to supposedly turn the tables by getting to the side of his exposed opponent before turning him a bit, and from there, Daieisho just ran himself outta the ring as Asanoyama looked to catch up okuri-dashi style.

At the end of the bout, Shirataishi Announcer excitedly proclaimed that all Ozeki started the day with shiro-boshi, or wins!! How about that?!

Ironically, the biggest struggle from the Ozeki ranks came from the Terunofuji - M2 Meisei matchup. Meisei actually got moro-zashi from the tachi-ai leading with a deep left inside, but Terunofuji latched on tight with an outside right and used his left arm as well to pinch Meisei in close assuming the kime position. Meisei couldn't do anything here as Fuji the Terrible yanked him around the ring before throwing him down and out like sack'a potatoes, but this was easily the most contested bout on the day from the Ozeki ranks as lopsided as it was.

I really do think the yusho is going to come from the Ozeki ranks this basho, and I don't think it's going to be Terunofuji.

If the yusho comes from outside the rank, it will either be Komusubi Mitakeumi or Suckiwake Takayasu. As I read the pre-basho headlines, one that really stood out to me was one that mentioned Mitakeumi's resolve to reach the Ozeki rank. The dude has been in the sanyaku now for six straight basho, so apparently his time has come to make another push for Ozeki. That headline seemed to come out of nowhere and so I made a mental note of it. The Komusubi's Day 1 opponent was nemesis M4 Kiribayama, who kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai allowing Mitakeumi to brush him back at first, but there was no real force to Mitakeumi's charge, and so Kiribayama got the deep left inside position with Mitakeumi wrench upright and vulnerable. Instead of pressing forward and working his way into a right outer grip that was there for the taking, Kiribayama thought for a few seconds, "How can I really eff this one up?" before going for a fake and completely unnecessary uchi-muso with the right arm...at Mitakeumi's ankle. Can't say I've ever seen that move before, and Mitakeumi gladly took the ridiculous momentum shift and used it to force Kiribayama back and across despite having zero momentum before that retarded uchi-muso move.

As for Takayasu, his tachi-ai against M2 Tobizaru was awful as the Suckiwake completely aligned his feet, but the Flying Monkey wasn't looking to win this one whatsoever, and so he stayed upright and waited for Takayasu to get an oshi attack going. In a normal bout of oshi-zumo, the leading rikishi strikes while driving his feet. This is needed because the opponent is presumably pushing back the other way, and so the extra force from the lower body is helpful. In this one, Takayasu's de-ashi were completely missing and even in the photo-finish at left, you can see Takayasu's right foot is off the ground.  It didn't matter as Tobizaru made just enough noise to make his opponent work for the win without putting himself in any danger of getting hurt.

I'll leave the Day 1 comments there with those six rikishi. We'll see which one of them can emerge to hoist the cup in the end because I don't expect Terunofuji to stand in anyone's way.