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Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Let's start today off talking about the significance of Daieisho's victory over Atamifuji yesterday. Heading into the day, the leaderboard was just anemic with Atamifuji, Takayasu, Tsurugisho, and Takakeisho. Nobody had heard of Atamifuji prior to the basho, and you could probably say the same thing about Tsurugisho. Takayasu is injured and just taking up space, and then Takakeisho has the name recognition, but the dude's sumo has been awful, and he's really been a non-entity the previous three basho.

An Atamifuji yusho brings the Association nothing. It's not going to bring more fans to the venue in Kyushu, and the biggest story in the media surrounding Atamifuji is that he's got a great smile (egao). I've seen a few placards in the arena the last few days citing Atamifuji's smile, and even on the NHK News 9 sports segment tonight, they didn't introduce Atamifuji and comment on his good sumo or his tachi-ai. They commented on what a great smile he's got.

Personally, I think the biggest upside with Atamifuji is that he's got conflicting nipples where one is an outtie and the other one an innie, but that's just me.



In all seriousness, Atamifuji's upside is his size, and he's not slow. He's shown a decent tachi-ai the last few days, but it's been defensive in nature. He's basically saying, "I'm huge, so just try and move me." I still have no idea if this guy is a pusher or a belt guy, and the only tactics I've seen him use in real bouts are defensive tsuppari and pulls.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that gimmicks in sumo--like a dude's smile--have a relatively short shelf life, and it's showing in attendance. Throughout the day I noticed fairly large chunks of empty seats in the lower bowl, and as Atamifuji and Takakeisho warmed up today prior to their bout, I snapped this pic that showed some significant gaps right behind Takakeisho.  And this is Day 13.



The top half of the upper tier (the cheap seats) has been filled with grade school students every day, and it was a blanket of white yet again today for most of the broadcast.  I did notice near the end of the day that there were big red gaps in the seats that were occupied by the students, but they had a train to catch or somewhere else more important to go, so they left early. Essentially, they were there just there to fill the seats and not to really watch the sumos.

The Association is trying to keep things together, and the only way to do that is to manipulate the flow and ultimately the results of a basho, and that's what's happening here. Atamifuji's orchestrated loss yesterday not only kept Takakeisho in the tournament, but it allowed the Sumo Association to flash the following leaderboard heading into the weekend:



10-2: Atamifuji
9-3: Takakeisho, Takayasu
8-4: Daieisho, Abi, Onosho, Kinbohzan, Mitakeumi, Hokuseiho, Tsurugisho

Let's follow that leaderboard in chronological order today as we analyze the bouts of interest.

Up first was M10 Kinbohzan who was paired against M5 Shonannoumi, and Kinbohzan came with a left slap and a right kachi-age that connected well into his opponent, and Shonannoumi's first reaction was to back up right and look for a pull. It was a poor move, and there's no way that's going to succeed if you lose the tachi-ai, and so Kinbohzan's charge was swift and decisive as he scored the oshi-dashi win in mere seconds. He moves to 9-4 with the nice win, and if by some chance the yusho line falls to four losses, he'll promptly lose and stay out of the way. As for Shonannoumi, he's gotta bitta work to do still at 6-7.

The next bout featured M11 Hokuseiho who somehow wandered on the leaderboard with a very quiet 8-4 start. He was matched up against M4 Takanosho, who fully extended himself at the tachi-ai committing every cardinal sin in the book. Despite Takanosho keeping himself wide open from the charge, Hokuseiho was so lazy that he didn't even bother going for moro-zashi. Rather, he went for a bad pull and Takanosho played along hitting the dirt instead of driving a compromised Hokuseiho back and across the straw. The fix was obviously in here as Hokuseiho pollutes the leaderboard at 9-4 while Takanosho's make-koshi is official now at 5-8.

Let's skip forward to M11 Mitakeumi who was paired against M2 Asanoyama, and you just have to ask yourself: "What's more important to the Sumo Association? Mitakeumi assuming a token slot on the leaderboard or Asanoyama winning?" The answer is easy, and that was manifest in today's bout where Mitakeumi actually won the tachi-ai using some nice thrusts to Asanoyama's face to stand him upright, but Mitakeumi kept those hands extended high until Asanoyama grabbed a left outer grip, and once he got it, Mitakeumi began a voluntary retreat to the other side of the dohyo. Mitakeumi got the right inside position as he backpedaled, and he could have easily pivoted going for a counter scoop throw, but he fantasized about a pull instead that never came as he just backed across and out with Asanoyama in tow. Both rikishi end the day at 8-5, and they trade Mitakeumi's place on the leaderboard for Asanoyama's continued popularity.

After this bout, it was interesting to note that NHK flashed the real leaderboard in the lower right corner that just contained the top three rikishi. That leaderboard at the start of the broadcast was just for show and a way to tell the fans, "Stay in your seats. This could get interesting!"

The next leader was M7 Takayasu who was paired against M1 Hokutofuji, and Hokutofuji got greedy here with kachi-koshi on the line and a chunk of change with eight kensho banners, but I'm glad he decided to fight straight up. Both rikishi came with decent tsuppari at the tachi-ai, but all you have to do against an ailing Takayasu is put him in a position where he has to pivot right or left. Hokutofuji did that two seconds in by moving right and going for a left inashi, and Takayasu couldn't recover turning his back fully to Hokutofuji and requesting him to "push me out easy." And Hokutofuji (8-5) did scoring the easy okuri-dashi and knocking Takayasu down to the four-loss tier at 9-4.

Speaking of token dudes taking up space on the leaderboard, M6 Onosho was up next to take on Komusubi Tobizaru, and Onosho's tachi-ai was weak with his feet aligned and hands up higher than they should have been, and this allowed Tobizaru to shade a bit left and try to time some pulls as Onosho looked to jab and move forward. Onosho gave the Komusubi a decent chase to the other side of the dohyo, but Tobizaru (6-7) was completely in his element here, and he was able to show the trapdoor to Onosho at the edge of the dohyo with a nice right tsuki to the shoulder. This one was close but, but Onosho played right into Tobizaru's hands in falling to 8-5 and off the leaderboard for good.

The next four-loss rikishi up was M2 Abi who took on Suckiwake Kotonowaka, and Abi came with a very light moro-te-zuki but just stood there waiting for Kotonowaka to make a move. Problem was that Baby Waka's tachi-ai was non-existent, and the Suckiwake was literally standing there doing nothing, and so Abi quickly shifted gears and pretended to go for a pull, but he was really just backing himself outta the ring in about three seconds. Abi falls to 8-5 and is removed from the leaderboard while Kotonowaka bought one here in moving to 7-6.

Up next was M16 Tsurugisho who was paired against another Suckiwake, Wakamotoharu, and the two hooked up nicely in the gappuri migi-yotsu position after a good hari-zashi tachi-ai from TS, but that lasted maybe two seconds before Tsurugisho just let go of his left outer grip. I mean, Wakamotoharu was doing nothing, and so Tsurugisho let go of the strong side signaling his intentions early. From there, WMH rushed a force-out charge, but because he hadn't set it up, Tsurugisho showed just how vulnerable the Suckiwake was by starting a counter tsuki-otoshi and then a counter inside belt throw. He never followed through on either, but you could see that Wakamotoharu was at his bidding. As the dust settled from that, Wakamotoharu whiffed on a dashi-nage attempt, and he was completely exposed, but Tsurugisho nicely just backed up to the straw and let Wakamotoharu recover and "force" him back that last half step.

Both rikishi were covered in blood after this one, so that was kinda cool. The blood came from Wakamotoharu's nose of course because he was manhandled today, but when sumo bouts are fixed, none of that matters. Both rikishi end the day at 8-5 and Tsurugisho is finally knocked off the leaderboard.

Sekiwake Daieisho looked to stay on the leaderboard against M5 Gonoyama, and this was easily the best bout of the day. I mean, if sumo was real, every bout of sumo would be fought with the determination that these two showed today, but I digress (sigh). Daieisho took charge from the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, but lately the dude doesn't trust that attack start to finish, and so he's always looking for the cheap pull. As he did, Gonoyama fought his way back into the bout and connected on a nice face slap that really fired things up. Daieisho resumed his thrust attack, but he wanted to get a face slap in himself. He managed to do it drawing a heated response from Gonoyama, but Gonoyama's next face slap attempt glanced off of Daieisho's shoulder, and with Gonoyama pushing too hard, Daieisho was finally able to pull him off balance and down hataki-komi style. This one made my day as Daieisho improved to 9-4 while Gonoyama fell to 7-6.

The penultimate bout of the day was also the featured bout with M15 Guy Smiley moving all the way up the banzuke to take on Takakeisho. Atamifuji won the tachi-ai crashing into Takakeisho and sending the faux-zeki back a step, but Atamifuji refused to advance further, and so Takakeisho moved left going for a rather weak swipe, but that was Atamifuji's cue to move left near the edge, and as Takakeisho looked to square up, Atamifuji went into full pull mode and backed outta the dohyo as Takakeisho got the right arm inside and scored the yori-kiri.  I think that pic at left says so much...Atamifuji's eyes are on a soft landing; he's self compromised up high with arms wide; and he's not even thinking about a counter move.

This one was fixed for purely political reasons, and after 13 long days, Japan can finally boast an Ozeki in the first slot on the leaderboard:

10-3: Takakeisho, Atamifuji
9-4: Daieisho, Takayasu, Kinbohzan, Hokuseiho

The only other bout of interest on the day worth covering was our first Ozeki duel of the basho between Kirishima and Hoshoryu. Kirishima moved left at the tachi-ai swiping Hoshoryu over near the edge, and as Hoshoryu squared up with his back against the wall, the two found themselves in the migi-yotsu position with Kirishima maintaining the left outer grip. Hoshoryu tried to move Kirishima back towards the center of the ring leading with the right inside belt grip, but Kirishima stood pat letting Hoshoryu exert just enough strength to tire him out enough to where the senior Ozeki was able to wrench his foe completely upright and across the straw for good. It was an entertaining bout as Kirishima officially sheds his kadoban status at 8-5 while Hoshoryu is well on his way to kadoban status at 6-7.

I say that because Hoshoryu is paired against Takakeisho tomorrow, and it goes without saying that that bout is purely will Hoshoryu or won't he? I'd love to see Hoshoryu come out and kick Takakeisho's ass, but something tells me that's not in the cards.

As for Atamifuji, he is paired against Abi, and Atamifuji just doesn't have the tools to survive Abi's tachi-ai and then keep up with him as he bounds around the ring.

We'll see how it all plays out tomorrow, but the first thing out of the NHK Announcer's mouth following Takakeisho's victory today was, "The yusho won't be decided until senshuraku!" You can tell the key points that were discussed in the morning meeting between NHK and the Association's PR department.

Takakeisho is obviously the favorite now, and I think the Association will put the pressure where it needs to go to ensure that the yusho line doesn't fall down to four losses. It's not a given that Takakeisho will yusho at 12-3 because he's at the complete mercy of his next two opponents, but it's sure looking that way as we head into the weekend.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
When my feed started today, all of the focus was on Takakeisho. They focused on one of his yusho boards in the Kokugikan; they showed his opponents for today and tomorrow; and then they speculated on his probable opponents on Saturday and Sunday. They showed his record for this year, and then they showed some of his bouts from this basho that looked the most real. I don't know if they gave the same attention to Atamifuji prior to this, but my feed started with the NHK General feed, and so the message was all about Takakeisho. And for good reason. Can anyone remember the last time a relative no-name Makuuchi rikishi took the yusho from the nether regions of the banzuke?

When Takatoriki took his from the bottom rung of the division in 2000, he was a well-known rikishi, and then Tokushoryu more recently took the yusho from the bottom rung of the division in early 2020. It has happened where guys in the dregs of Makuuchi take the yusho, but they were always well-established and well-known rikishi when it happened. If Atamifuji were to take the yusho here, it would really be unprecedented. And that's why he has never been the favorite to yusho this basho.

With such a weak and uninteresting leaderboard, let's focus on all of the bouts today moving in chronological order.

I believe a year ago M11 Mitakeumi was ranked as an Ozeki, and now there he was fighting in the first bout of the day taking on M12 Sadanoumi. Sadanoumi was very gracious here keeping his hands wide at the tachi-ai, and as Mitakeumi put his hands on Sadanoumi's torso, the latter just backed up and outta the ring in a flash with Mitakeumi in tow.

The NHK Announcer's analysis of the bout was, "Mitakeumi didn't let him do anything." But that was it. No details about a Mitakeumi oshi attack that was so good Sadanoumi couldn't do anything. No info on a belt grip or inside position that cuffed and stuffed the Sadamight. No details whatsoever. Because there weren't any details. This was all Sadanoumi keeping himself open at the tachi-ai and backing out of the dohyo in no time. Mitakeumi is gifted kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Sadanoumi takes the cash at 5-7.

M17 Daishoho and M11 Hokuseiho hooked up in the gappuri migi-yotsu position from the tachi-ai. As the two rikishi looked to dig in, Jabba Shoho let go of his right belt grip for no reason and slapped at his opponent's torso to say make your move, but Hokuseiho was slow reacting. He eventually wrenched his hips and Daishoho easily let go of his left outer grip, and you knew what was coming next. It took the youngster about 30 seconds before he made is move, but he eventually went for the unorthodox yori-kiri, and Daishoho backed straight out and didn't even bother countering laterally at the edge. Two bouts two yaocho to start things off as Hokuseiho is also gifted kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Daishoho falls to 3-9.

M10 Kinbohzan came with a weak kachi-age against M16 Kagayaki leaving the Kazakhstani vulnerable to an oshi attack from his foe, but the veteran Kagayaki just offered the lightest of shoves with no power behind them. Kinbohzan easily sensed it and just stepped to his left going for a very weak tsuki, and that was Kagayaki's cue to flop to the dirt and roll over for added emphasis. Three for three on the yaocho here as Kinbohzan also moves to 8-4 while Kagayaki falls to 4-8.

In a silly affair that never really did go to the belt, M9 Midorifuji and M13 Myogiryu barely struck at the tachi-ai, and then Myogiryu just stood there up high with his elbows pointing outwards. Midorifuji had a weak right arm inside, but with Myogiryu just standing there, Midori-chan had what he needed to make the kata-sukashi motions, and Myogiryu complied by putting both palms to the dirt with no other part of the body touching down.

As soon as they posted the "kata-sukashi" kimari-te on the digital board in the Kokugikan, the NHK cameras were right there to pan in on the board and let us all savor those words "kata-sukashi" for a few seconds. It's almost as if the whole thing was scripted dare I say. I'm starting to regret my decision to cover all the bouts as Midorifuji moves to 7-5 with the cheap win while Myogiryu falls to same mark.

I've thought more than once that I should just cover the real bouts and nothing else, but if I did that, we'd miss 2/3 of the action, and we'd barely comment on any bouts that related to the yusho race.

The fakery would continue as M8 Kotoeko and M13 Nishikifuji "hooked up" in the weakest hidari-yotsu you've ever seen, and less than two seconds in, NFJ feigned a pull that was really an excuse to back up out of the dohyo as Kotoeko tried to keep up for good measure. Yet another uncontested bout as Kotoeko moves to 5-7 with Nishikifuji falling to 4-8.

M14 Kotoshoho and M8 Hiradoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu, but you could see neither wanted to settle in chest to chest, so after one or two seconds of grappling, Hiradoumi went for this improbable tsuki with the left into Kotoshoho's side, and KSH cart wheeled over and down as if he'd been thrown. They ruled it maki-otoshi, but replays showed that Hiradoumi's right hand contributed nothing to Kotoshoho's "fall." Hooboy as Hiradoumi moves to 4-8 while Kotoshoho falls to 5-7.

M14 Aoiyama came with a right kachi-age tachi-ai and then moved forward lightly offering a few tsuppari M7 Ohho's way, but he was really waiting for Ohho to make a pull move. It came a few seconds in as Ohho moved left and literally had nothing but Aoiyama's right wrist to hold onto, but sure enough, it was good enough to cause Aoiyama to stop, drop, and roll over to the edge. Ohho also fell in the opposite direction after executing his NIFTY move, and it was just another improbable ending to a bout of sumo between two behemoth guys. Ohho moves to 4-8 with the cheap win while Aoiyama hasn't got a care in the world at 3-9.

Still fishing for the first real bout on the day, M12 Takarafuji and M6 Ryuden hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and then Takarafuji seemed all too willing to let Ryuden grab a right outer grip. Once he got it, Takarafuji did nothing to counter it, and it was as soft of an uwate-nage as you'd care to see for Ryuden who handled his foe as if he was made of tissue paper. I mean, the better guy did win here as both rikishi stand at 5-7, but it was not a fully contested bout from either party.

At least the Association is saving money on their water bill today as none of these guys really need to hit the o-furo after all this inaction.

I guess our first leaderboard member entered the dohyo next in M16 Tsurugisho, and he was paired against M4 Ura. TS came with a nice hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the left and getting that same arm inside, but you could see that Tsurugisho was refusing to latch onto his opponent. I mean, that's the way you beat Ura: pull him in close and then bear down on him with your weight, but Tsurugisho refused to grab Ura even with the dude right there monkeying around with a right grip at the front of the Hutt's belt. After five or six seconds of anything but o-zumo, the two finally came together in a clinch with Ura burrowing into moro-zashi and Tsurugisho grabbing a right outer grip over the top. At the edge, a semi nage-no-uchi-ai occurred with Ura throwing with the inside right as Tsurugisho applied pressure with the left outer, and then Ura hooked his leg up and under Tsurugisho's right leg, but Ura's stump wasn't long enough to finish the kake-nage throw, and so Tsurugisho just leaned over and fell onto his left elbow.

The sheep loved it, and that's all that counts. Tsurugisho takes himself out of yusho contention in falling to 8-4 while Ura is even steven at 6-6. And we still haven't seen a real bout of sumo where both parties were trying to win.

We'd finally get it as M3 Shodai and M5 Shonannoumi looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu, but Shodai blocked Shonannoumi nicely from getting his left arm firmly established. As a result, Shonannoumi went on the move circling the dohyo to his left trying to get that same arm inside while he maintained a right outer grip, and after a full turn around the dohyo, the two hooked back up in the center of the ring with Shodai maintaining the left inner while continuing to deny Shodai the same position. After resting for a few seconds, Shonannoumi went for a quick dashi-nage with the right outer grip, and Shodai was too slow to respond resulting in the come from behind win in favor of Shonannoumi. It wasn't a great bout of sumo, but I enjoyed the chess match as Shonannoumi moves to 6-6 with Shodai falling to 5-7.

I'm not sure what M3 Tamawashi's MO has been this basho, but according to Itai's explanation of how yaocho works in sumo, Tamawashi's 0-10 start made him somewhere in the ballpark of $100K US. The dude needs to win a couple here to stay in the division, and today against M15 Chiyoshoma, he brought the long tsuppari arm of the law thrusting Chiyoshoma's way and putting the latter on defense throughout. Chiyoshoma can't stand toe to toe with Tamawashi in a tsuppari fest (nobody can), and so he focused on grabbing at Tamawashi's arms and moving laterally. At one point he went for a pull that sent Tamawashi near the edge, but the wily veteran put on the brakes, did a 360, and then got the left arm inside that he used to scoop throw Chiyoshoma over and down. The two Mongolians were just doing exhibition sumo here as Tamawashi picks up win number one at 1-11 while Chiyoshoma ain't much better record-wise at 2-10. To see these guys with just three wins apiece the entire basho is just silly and as indicative as ever that sumo is mostly theater with a few real bouts mingled in here and there.

M2 Abi henka'd to his left against M10 Endoh grabbing Endoh's belt and going for the instant dashi-nage, and it was over in less than two seconds. Abi oils his way to 8-4 while Endoh falls to 7-5.

M1 Hokutofuji and M6 Onosho weren't in sync at the tachi-ai, and it was Onosho who failed to touch down with his right fist but charged anyway. As both dudes paused knowing it was a false start, the ref started to babble whatever they babble and Onosho cheaply pushed Hokutofuji over and out from behind. It was just kind of typical of the entire day of sumo as Onosho moves to 8-4 with Hokutofuji falling to 7-5.

M1 Meisei kinda whiffed at the tachi-ai against M4 Takanosho striking and then finding himself a bit to Takanosho's right side, but Takanosho didn't bother squaring up to take advantage of his compromised opponent; rather, he moved left towards the edge of the ring for no reason. It was pretty clear at this point that Takanosho wasn't trying and after catching Meisei with a decent pull attempt, Takanosho didn't follow through even though he had his foe on the ropes a bit. Instead, he stood there and allowed Meisei to grab a very weak kote grip with the left arm, and without even being throw, Takanosho just bent down and put both palms to the dirt. A kote-nage that wasn't as Meisei buys his way to 6-6 while Takanosho falls to 5-7.

And that brings us to M7 Takayasu who still refuses to withdraw from the tournament with a bad lower back. And why withdraw if you have someone willing to buy you a win or two? Today against Komusubi Nishikigi, Takayasu came with a moro-te-zuki from the tachi-ai while Nishikigi did...well, absolutely nothing. Takayasu had no power behind his thrusts, but instead of fighting back, Nishikigi just move forward and left a bit. The two traded tsuppari and Nishikigi had Takayasu upright and way high, but instead of getting to the inside, he let Takayasu come back down to earth and offer the weakest swipe down you'd care to see (into thin air I might add), and that was Nishikigi's cue to just fall forward and out of the ring. It was all Takayasu could do to keep himself in the ring after that fake pull, but he kept his balance long enough for NG to touch down first. This was as fake as it gets as Takayasu technically keeps himself on the leaderboard at 9-3 while Nishikigi falls to 5-7.

I think what's going on here is that they don't want the yusho race to be whittled down to two people before Thursday was finished, but who knows why this bout was arranged?

M2 Asanoyama and Komusubi Tobizaru hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Tobizaru had Asanoyama's right arm completely cuffed and stuffed to the point where Tobizaru could have grabbed a nice left outer pinching Asanoyama's right arm in tight. He didn't grab it and just stood there, however, letting Asanoyama attempt a few weak belt throws that did little, and with Asanoyama tiring out, Tobizaru's left hand was right there again at the front of Asanoyama's belt, but he refrained from grabbing it once more letting Asanoyama force him over to the edge. At the edge, Tobizaru was really trying hard to dig in by kicking that right leg forward stiff as a board since you know how easy it is to defend yourself on one leg with a 172 KG guy barreling towards you, but darn the luck...Tobizaru just came up short in the end.

The best way to watch sumo is to kind of squint at it and believe all the analysis because if you actually look at the details, the signs of fixed sumo are everywhere. Asanoyama is still the most popular rikishi as he is gifted 7-5 while Tobizaru knows his place in falling to 5-7.

Next up was the most anticipated bout between Sekiwake Daieisho and M15 Atamifuji, and Atamifuji actually came with a nice tachi-ai leading with the right shoulder and using a thrust or two to make Daieisho rethink his life a bit, but the M15 didn't follow up on that tachi-ai allowing Daieisho to ultimately dictate the pace with his own tsuppari attack. As the two danced around the ring with Daieisho throwing his jabs, Atamifuji sorta looked for a pull opportunity or an inashi side swipe, but nothing ever came. Throughout the bout, Daieisho could never push Atamifuji over to the edge, and you sensed that Daieisho was also looking for the pull, and after six or seven seconds of grappling, Daieisho looked to set up a pull, but Atamifuji had already anticipated it and started to fall forward and down. I mean, go watch the replays and try and determine what force came from Daieisho to cause Atamifuji's fall? There simply wasn't any, and sumo really needed Atamifuji (10-2) to lose today to keep the yusho race in tact. In fact, it was one of the first things that the NHK Announcer shouted after the bout: "It's no longer possible for the yusho to be determined tomorrow!"

As for Daieisho, he picks up kachi-koshi with the cheap win as he moves to 8-4 while Atamifuji brought himself one loss closer to Takakeisho. The youngster did his part today in taking a dive, so it was up to Suckiwake Kotonowaka to let up for Takakeisho, and was there any question what would happen next?

Kotonowaka's plan today was to keep his arms wide at all times and go for a bad pull to allow Takakeisho to sill the dill early, and that's exactly what happened. C3P0 was a sitting duck at the tachi-ai allowing Takakeisho to go through the tsuppari motions, and then Kotonowaka shaded to his left moving slow enough for Takakeisho to keep pace while positioning himself for a pull that would never come, and Takakeisho just followed along and scored the uneventful push out win in three seconds or so. Takakeisho gets the expected gift here in..um..improving to 9-3 while Kotonowaka falls to 6-6.

Ozeki Kirishima was rather passive at the tachi-ai leaving himself exposed against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, but with WMH doing nothing, the Ozeki fired a few tsuppari and then moved right getting the left arm inside. Wakamotoharu countered with his own left inside and then reached for a right outer grip, but before he could grab it, Kirishima went into scoop throw mode purposefully pivoting his right foot behind the straw and sliding down before he could execute the throw. Of course he did. The Ozeki dictated start to finish here and there was nothing to describe from Wakamotoharu's sumo as the Suckiwake magically picks up the win leaving both dudes at 7-5.

In the final bout of the day, Ozeki Hoshoryu welcomed M5 Gonoyama and the two treated us to a very good tachi-ai with Gonoyama using tsuppari a bit high while Hoshoryu looked to establish the right arm inside. Neither rikishi made much headway until Gonoyama abandoned his tsuppari attack looking to set up a quick pull, but Hoshoryu read the move and was able to push Gonoyama back and across before the Ozeki was fully pulled to the dirt himself. This one was really close, but Gonoyama's right foot twisted a bit and touched down early or they would have called a mono-ii here for sure. Hoshoryu moves to 6-6 with the close win while Gonoyama falls to 7-5. Hoshoryu still has a path to kachi-koshi while dropping one against Takakeisho if that's what his camp decides to do.

Officially, the leaderboard at the end of the day read as follows:

10-2: Atamifuji
9-3: Takakeisho, Takayasu

Takayasu draws Hokutofuji, and it goes without saying that Takayasu cannot beat anyone straight up in his current condition.

Atamifuji and Takakeisho square off against each other, and Atamifuji has the clear advantage if the bout is straight up. I don't see how they're going to allow Atamifuji to win, however, and show the faux-zeki up, so expect a puff bout with Takakeisho coming out on top.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
With Atamifuji's defeat of Takayasu yesterday, it essentially opened up a two-bout lead for the youngster. Although Takayasu was technically knocked down to the two-loss tier, watching him move (or try and move) in the dohyo today indicates that he is out of the yusho race. So with the veteran Takayasu out of the picture, the focus at the start of the Day 11 broadcast was on the youth in the division, and NHK showed a chart of the youngest rikishi in Makuuchi where they actually referred to them as "shounen," or young men:



That list reads as follows:

20 years old: Hakuohho
21 years old: Hokuseiho, Atamifuji
23 years old: Ohho, Hiradoumi

I think they were digging a bit deep by adding that 23 year-old line, but one thing NHK and the media in general has tried to stress lately is all the up and coming youth in the division.

Sumo is certainly more appealing the younger the rikishi are, but if these youngsters rise up the banzuke and pad their records with fake sumo, it's all meaningless to me.

Enough of that. Let's turn our focus to the yusho race and examine the bouts that contained the following leaders:

9-1: Atamifuji
8-2: Takayasu
7-3: Takakeisho, Hokutofuji, Onosho, Endoh, Tsurugisho

Up first from that list was M6 Onosho who was paired against M13 Myogiryu, and the two traded decent tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but it was Myogiryu that made the first move retreating a step and to his right and pulling Onosho forward and off balance. Before Onosho was completely down and out, Myogiryu grabbed the outer belt to help escort Onosho down thus the kimari-te of uwate-nage. This bout never went to the belt, and Onosho had little momentum from the tachi-ai with his feet aligned. Still, nobody even realized this dude was on the leaderboard as both rikishi end the day at 7-4.

Our next three-loss rikishi, M10 Endoh, stepped into the dohyo to face M5 Gonoyama. Endoh ducked in low from the tachi-ai looking for a frontal grip as he is wont to do, but Gonoyama struck hard knocking him upright, and half a second in, Endoh moved right and just put his palms to the dirt. They ruled it oshi-taoshi, but Gonoyama did not push Endoh down. It's possible that Endoh was seeing stars after the two butt heads at the tachi-ai, but whatever. It was a non-eventful bout and Endoh is eliminated from the yusho race at 7-4. Gonoyama improves to the same mark, and his tachi-ai was very good today.

The next bout featured two three-loss rikishi meaning one would be knocked out of the yusho race for good. M1 Hokutofuji shaded right at the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, but M16 Tsurugisho stayed square and threatened the right arm inside before going for a quick pull. He was able to pull Hokutofuji off balance and put the M1 on defense from that point. As Hokutofuji tried to square back up, Tsurugisho caught him with a quick face slap and then threatened the right arm inside only to go for another pull, and the second time was a charm as Tsurugisho bullied Hokutofuji around and down. Tsurugisho stays on the leaderboard for now at 8-3 while Hokutofuji falls to 7-4.

Of the three-loss rikishi we've covered so far, only Tsurugisho made it through unscathed.

Up next was the most anticipated bout of the day, M15 Atamifuji vs. Komusubi Tobizaru, and from the tachi-ai, you knew Tobizaru was going to throw the bout when he immediately got into the migi-yotsu clinch with his opponent and pulled his left arm back away from an outer grip. As the two settled in, Tobizaru just stood there waiting for action form Atamifuji, and said action came in the form of an outer belt throw with the left hand, and with Tobizaru applying zero pressure (hence no semblance of a nage-no-uchi-ai), he felt the throw come and then just put his left elbow to the dirt flipping over in spectacular fashion.

As they showed the slow motion replays, Kakuryu who was providing color actually gave an honest assessment of the bout saying, "This kind of sumo doesn't work for Tobizaru. He needs to strike and strike and then move and move. That's his brand of sumo."

They next went to Kaisei who was sitting in the mukou-joumen chair (and looking dapper in a suit), and Kaisei was also honest of Tobizaru saying, "This was a failed plan of attack."

The word neither dude uttered throughout all of the replays was "Atamifuji." You'd think if you had a dude who was leading the basho and he just won a bout by uwate-nage they'd be praising him to the hilt and describing how he set up the win, but it was just crickets. These two (Kakuryu and Kaisei) know the game full well, and it's actually a Freudian slip with all of these guys that they focus on the loser in a fixed bout and explain what he didn't do well instead of commenting on the winner and breaking down his sumo.

As for Atamifuji's sumo, his tachi-ai was bad. He just stood there with his hands low and uncommitted, and it was Tobizaru who burrowed in tight and made of course no effort to move laterally or get his opponent off balance. Atamifuji also didn't pivot and plant that left leg before the throw to get momentum. He was completely flat footed and that throw was not set up well. It was more Tobizaru (5-6) dictating it than anything, and that's why nobody broke down Atamifuji's sumo in this bout. There was simply nothing to break down.

The win pushes Atamifuji to an ill-gotten 10-1, but I still don't think he's the favorite to yusho. All of these wins are being purchased, and it would be unprecedented to let a young kid like this take the yusho over a Japanese Ozeki. The problem is that the leaderboard is dwindling fast and the only dude left that can threaten for the yusho is Takakeisho.

Before we go there, let's visit M7 Takayasu who was paired against Sekiwake Daieisho, and it was Daieisho shading left at the tachi-ai placing a palm at the back of Takayasu's right shoulder sending the M7 over to the edge. Takayasu squared back up and attempted to fend his foe off with a few tsuppari, but Daieisho brushed those attempts aside and got underneath Takayasu's tits lifting him up and shoving him across in short order. You could see Takayasu relent at the end looking for a safe landing over a desperate counter move, and it was smart on his part. He cannot win another bout in his current condition as he drops to 8-3. At least he's got that kachi-koshi in hand while Daieisho moves a step closer at 7-4 with the easy win.

Let's move to the final bout of the day featuring Takakeisho vs. Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, and it was WMH coming with a very light kachi-age at the tachi-ai that purposefully had zero effect, and then Wakamotoharu moved to his left as Takakeisho was applying no pressure from the initial charge himself. For no reason, Wakamotoharu next moved back to his right close to the edge seemingly waiting for Takakeisho to finish him off, but the faux-zeki was floundering, and so WMH moved back left faking a few pulls and setting himself up on the other side of the dohyo, and Takakeisho finally caught up offering this very weak left hand into Wakamotoharu's side. WMH reacted by flopping over across the straw, and they ruled it oshi-taoshi, but no such definitive push came from Takakeisho. The finish was so awkward that Takakeisho actually hurt his left elbow as part of the push, and he was flexing it quite a bit as he walked back to the dressing room.

Takakeisho stays in the yusho race at 8-3 with the gift while Wakamotoharu is a harmless 6-5, and at the end of this one, the yusho race was down to two rikishi for all intents and purposes:

10-1: Atamifuji
8-3: Takakeisho, Takayasu, Tsurugisho

Takayasu is spent and should just withdraw to save himself the trouble.

Tsurugisho is paired against Ura tomorrow, which is a clear sign that nobody is taking TS seriously.

Atamifuji draws Daieisho, and there's no way that Atamifuji can win in a straight up bout, so it's simply a matter of will Daieisho or won't he?

As for Takakeisho, he gets Kotonowaka, and in a straight up bout, Takakeisho has maybe a 10% chance of winning against Koto the Hutt.

Once again, I don't see the point in having Atamifuji take the yusho over Takakeisho, but we'll just see how it plays out. Neither of these dudes have shown a hint of good sumo the entire fortnight, so it's all going to come down to bout fixing. Unfortunately.

In other bouts of interest, Suckiwake Kotonowaka used a decent stiff arm to keep Ozeki Kirishima away from the belt for a few seconds, but the Ozeki eventually worked his way up and under those arms to force the bout to migi-yotsu. Now chest to chest, the Mongolian easily nudged Kotonowaka over near the edge before latching onto the front of Kotonowaka's belt with the left, and once he had Baby Waka's right arm pinned inside, Kirishima lifted him completely upright and forced him across for the textbook win. Kirishima won't take the yusho here, but at 7-4 his kachi-koshi is all but guaranteed.

Ozeki Hoshoryu looked to get moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against M4 Takanosho, but the latter backed up quickly looking for a counter pull. Takanosho hadn't done enough to set up the pull, and so Hoshoryu rushed in forcing the bout to migi-yotsu. Takanosho was positioned lower than the smaller Hoshoryu, and so neither dude grabbed a left outer, and after a 12 second pause or so, Hoshoryu got into the left kote-nage position and attempted to trip at the back of Takanosho's right leg, but Takanosho still had good positioning, so it was a right yori-charge from Takanosho against Hoshoryu's shaky kote-nage with the left, and the skill and dexterity from Hoshoryu proved the difference here. It was very close and a good bout of sumo, but Hoshoryu just pulled it out in moving to 5-6...the same record as Takanosho.

With four days to go, both Atamifuji and Takakeisho are completely at the mercy of their remaining opponents. What the Association doesn't want to see is the yusho decided before senshuraku. The storylines are bare bones as it is right now, so any possible excitement down the stretch would be welcome.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As expected, NHK took the leaderboard three losses deep at the start of the Day 10 broadcast, and they had to do that to get more name recognition out in front of fans. I think it's important noting these changes because for the last two days, the leaderboard only went down two-losses deep. Why all of a sudden change it to three-losses deep when you still have the same two rikishi occupying the one-loss tier? Throughout the two weeks of the tournament, it's a constant PR game by the Association to make the sport as appealing to the fans as possible. Now, I get why the Association is always making these adjustments, but in a real sport where the competition is straight up and completely organic, the results on the field (or in the dohyo) create the storylines, not the other way around.

The big news of course heading into Day 10 focused on Takayasu and Atamifuji. At the end of Day 9, most of the hype surrounded Takayasu, and the last couple of days I've seen the phrase: "Takayasu, show us THAT!" (are in Japanese). I've seen it in the headlines, and then I've seen fans displaying signs in the venue calling out for Takayasu to show us THAT. I'm not exactly sure what are refers to because Takayasu doesn't have any particularly good sumo moves; I'm just glad we're not talking about his OnlyFans account.

It makes sense why the hype would be on Takayasu. He's been around awhile, he's a former faux-zeki, and he's got the most name recognition of the three dudes at the top of the leaderboard, but the Day 10 broadcast highlighted Atamifuji. They chronicled his unsuccessful debut in the Makuuchi division last year, and then they charted his course back up through the Juryo ranks that included a Juryo yusho along the way.

I never followed the dude in Juryo, but his Makuuchi career has been awful. He's shown no definable sumo skills, and you don't even know whether or not he's an oshi guy or a belt guy. His sumo contains a passive tachi-ai where he is reacting to the movements of his opponents instead of dictating the flow of the bout himself but for whatever reason, he finds himself in the spotlight here at the Aki basho.

Let's start with the Takayasu - Atamifuji matchup since it was the story of the day reminding everyone that this was the leaderboard we will work through on Day 10:

8-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
7-2: Tsurugisho
6-3: Kirishima, Takakeisho, Wakamotoharu, Hokutofuji, Gonoyama, Onosho, Endoh, Myogiryu

The tachi-ai from both dudes was soft, and neither wanted to go chest to chest nor was either rikishi firing off any tsuppari. So after this slow start, Takayasu shaded left sorta fishing for a pull but with Atamifuji not moving forward, there was really nothing to pull. From that point, Takayasu used a few thrusts without the lower body that stood Atamifuji upright, and so the youngster shaded left going for a half-assed tsuki at the back of Takayasu's shoulder, and to this point, the bout lacked any firepower whatsoever.

As the two looked to square back up, Takayasu put his left arm at the back of Atamifuji's head as if to pull, and then the next thing you knew, Takayasu was flat on his back. A shove definitely did not come from Atamifuji, and watching live it looked as if Takayasu just fell backwards. After watching all angles of the slow motion replay NHK provided, it looked like Takayasu wrenched something in his lower back as he attempted to set up the pull, and then he just crumbled to the dirt.

They ruled oshi-taoshi, but it should have been koshi-kudake.  The majority of media outlets showed that pic at right from the reverse angle because it looked more like Atamifuji was the cause of Takayasu's fall, but the dude was already falling backwards and that paw near the face was reactionary as Atamifuji tried to catch up with Takayasu's movements.

As they showed Takayasu leaving the dohyo area, he limped down the hana-michi favoring what looked to be something on his right side. It did not look like a planned fall by Takayasu, and my opinion is that he was in an unorthodox position to go for a pull, and he tweaked something in his lower back that caused the fall.

If we focus on the actual sumo in this bout, we got nothing from either party at the tachi-ai, and then both dudes attempted pulls (two from Takayasu and a light tsuki from Atamifuji). And that's it. You have two guys coming in leading the pack squaring off against each other, and you get that useless bout of sumo.

A minute after the bout, the man on the hana-michi called up to the booth and reported that Takayasu was holding onto his tsuke-bito's shoulders as he walked back to the dressing room. He told the reporter "daijoubu desu" but he looked to be anything but okay. The headlines afterwards seem largely in agreement that Takayasu wrenched the right side of his lower back during the bout.

The dude may not go kyujo, but the way he was moving after this bout, he's done. Curiously, NHK showed a mini leaderboard in the lower right hand corner of the screen after the bout that simply read:

9-1: Atamifuji
8-2: Takayasu

For all intents and purposes, that two tier slot is vacant now. Takayasu is not going to win out, and he may have to withdraw altogether, so what you really have is Atamifuji standing at one loss and a handful of dudes at three losses.

As stated yesterday, I'm quite sure Atamifuji is not destined to take the yusho here. He's young, yes, but he doesn't come from a stable with any money or any clout, and that matters in sumo if you rely on bout fixing to go places.

The second bout of the day featured our lone two-loss rikishi coming into the day, M16 Tsurugisho. He was paired against M10 Kinbohzan, who henka'd to his left, grabbed the back of Tsurugisho's belt, and then drove the two-loss rikishi out with a cheap dashi-nage from behind in two seconds flat. Kinbohzan "improved" to 6-4 with the ill-gotten win while Tsurugisho falls to 7-3.

A tachi-ai henka is the last thing you want to see in a bout with yusho implications, but as long as the Association continues to allow it, it's fair game I suppose. The loss was costly because it eliminated the two-loss rikishi with the guarantee that a one-loss rikishi would remain. Sumo hasn't allowed a non-Yokozuna to run away with the yusho in a very long time, and it can't happen this basho if the dude's name isn't Asanoyama or Ura.

Up next were two three-loss guys in M13 Myogiryu and M10 Endoh, and Myogiryu put his hands up high as if to pull from the tachi-ai, but such a move didn't come. As for Endoh, he read his opponent's tactic well and used methodic tsuppari to knock Myogiryu upright and send him back pedaling.  Myogiryu positioned himself for another pull for good measure near the edge allowing Endoh to push him back and across in mere seconds. Myogiryu's knocked off the leaderboard for now at 6-4 while Endoh survives at 7-3.

To this point, I've covered three bouts with yusho implications, and all three of them were duds.

M6 Onosho was paired against M12 Sadanoumi, and the latter kept his arms limp at the tachi-ai daring Onosho to attack. Problem for Onosho was that his feet were aligned, so he couldn't get any force going from the initial charge. After the bad tachi-ai, Sadanoumi moved left offering a weak inashi move, and Onosho recovered easily and did the same putting the rikishi back to square one. From this point, Sadanoumi said, "Ah, to hell with it" and stood straight up with both arms wrapped around the back of Onosho's melon. Even Onosho couldn't screw that up, and he had the Sadamight forced back and across in a silly, fixed affair.  Fist pump as Onosho stays on the leaderboard at 7-3 while Sadanoumi falls to 5-5.

A few bouts later, M5 Gonoyama stepped into the ring to face M11 Mitakeumi, and Gonoyama moved forward well from the tachi-ai raising Mitakeumi upright with some thrusts, but he couldn't help himself and went for a downward swipe of Mitakeumi's torso. That let the former faux-zeki back into the bout, and the two grappled a bit before hooking up in the solid migi-yotsu position back in the center of the ring where Gonoyama had the left outer grip. Normally, when the better rikishi gets the outer grip first, he has the upper hand, but you could see that Gonoyama was lost, and so Mitakeumi was able to nudge him back and grab a left outer of his own.

From this point the gappuri contest was on, and you knew it was a real bout. You can just tell when both dudes are trying to win, and the two danced and sashayed across the dance floor each testing the yori waters with their outer grips, but in the midst of this, Mitakeumi cut off Gonoyama's outer, and he applied enough pressure to where he finally sent a gassed Gonoyama across and down with his inside grip with the right. Wow, this was a pretty good bout of sumo. It wasn't o-zumo, but it gives you a clear indication that these two are equals on the banzuke who probably deserve to be ranked in the lower third of the division. Regardless of that, both dudes end the day at 6-4, and Gonoyama is knocked off of the leaderboard.

A few bouts and an Abi henka later, M1 Hokutofuji offered a few stiff arms Komusubi Tobizaru's way as the latter backed up slowly from the tachi-ai. Hokutofuji wasn't blazing off of the starting lines, and so he couldn't make Tobizaru pay, but it didn't matter. Tobizaru kept his hands up high signaling that he was going to pull, and he actually managed two or three pulls before Hokutofuji finally got enough momentum to push his compromised foe back and across. Tobizaru (5-5) was just dinking around in this fixed bout that saw Hokutofuji cheaply stay on the leaderboard at 7-3.

Moving to the Ozeki ranks, Hoshoryu needed to make a decision whether or not he'd defeat Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, yet another member of the three-loss gang. Wakamotoharu was soft at the tachi-ai as usual leaving his arms open, and Hoshoryu pounced getting moro-zashi, knocking Wakamotoharu upright, and driving him back and across without argument. It maybe took two seconds, but this was an ass kicking. I think at times these Mongolians get so frustrated with the politics that they have to make periodic statements like this one today. Hoshoryu is just 4-6 after the win, but can anybody besides Kirishima on the leaderboard defeat someone in this manner? Anyone? No. Wakamotoharu is not only knocked off of the leaderboard at 6-4, but he's knocked out of Ozeki contention as well.

Speaking of Ozeki contention, all three faux candidates found themselves at 6-4 at the end of the day. Kotonowaka needed Meisei to go mukiryoku on him; Daieisho bullied Asanoyama around and down (see the pic at right); and Wakamotoharu was beaten badly here by Hoshoryu.

Sheesh, it feels like I'm commenting on every bout today and we still have two leaderboard dudes still to go.

The next bout featured Takakeisho who was paired against M4 Ura, and Ura signaled his pull intentions from the beginning putting his hands high at the back of Takakeisho's head. Problem was that Takakeisho didn't beat his compromised foe back, and so in one fell swoop, Ura committed on a massive pull and retreat outta the dohyo while Takakeisho stumbled forward and down across the straw with Ura hovering above him. Takakeisho clearly touched down first, and the ref had no choice but to point the gunbai in his direction, but they called a mono-ii to review the tape.

Replays showed that at the point where Takakeisho touched down, the lower half of Ura's body was well beyond the straw still airborne, and so it was a completely subjective decision on how to rule on this one. They ended up declaring the bout a tie, which I was okay with, but it was no surprise. They're not going to let Takakeisho suffer a loss if they can help it.

In the do-over, Takakeisho put his hands high getting set to pull, and Ura (5-5) ducked right into it and then just flopped to the dirt kicking his heels up higher than his head as he belly flopped to the dirt. The end result through all of this is that Takakeisho was gifted a win without doing anything, so he survives as a leader at 7-3.

The final bout of the day featured Ozeki Kirishima taking on the pesky Komusubi Nishikigi, and just as the two approached the starting lines, my feed cut off since the broadcast went over time. Never fear; I went to the Sumo Association's official YouTube channel and streamed the final bout of the day, so you could say I just cast my vote for Kirishima - Nishikigi as the most streamed bout of the day!

Kirishima offered light tsuppari Nishikigi's way from the tachi-ai before skirting to his left slow enough that Nishikigi could keep pace. As Kirishima circled left, he got the left arm inside and had Nishikigi raised up rather high, but then the Ozeki just circled his way over and out of the dohyo altogether. At no point during the bout did Nishikigi (5-5) ever have good positioning or footwork; this was just a matter of Kirishima circling around the dohyo and out voluntarily falling to 6-4.

Not that the previous bout kicked any up, the with the dust settled on the day, the leaderboard was as follows:

9-1: Atamifuji
8-2: Takayasu
7-3: Takakeisho, Hokutofuji, Onosho, Endoh, Tsurugisho

As of 9 AM Japan time, Takayasu had yet to announce his withdrawal, so we'll keep an eye on him. Judging by the way he walked back to the locker room, the dude is in poor shape. Takayasu draws Daieisho tomorrow, and there's no way that Daieisho doesn't win in a straight up bout. We'll see.

As for Atamifuji, they're going to start pairing him with members at the top of the banzuke starting tomorrow. He draws Tobizaru, and the Komusubi will run circles around him in a straight up bout. Once again, we'll see if anything is negotiated.

The three loss tier was only added to the leaderboard today so they could get Takakeisho's name on there, so we'll withhold predictions on those dudes until the yusho line drops.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
When we left at the end of Day 8, the future of Week 2 seemed a bit precarious in terms of what storylines they could hype. NHK did not post a leaderboard at the end of the day presumably because Takakeisho wouldn't have been on it at two-losses back from the two 7-1 rikishi, and so the biggest bout in terms of Day 9 PR-wise was the Suckiwake matchup between Wakamotoharu and Daieisho. Seemingly overnight, the six bout power win streak by Wakamotoharu was all the rage, and when my Day 9 feed started, this was the bout they were talking up.

I took this graphic from the NHK News 9 sports segment, and you can see that they have highlighted in red (vertically) the six bout winning streak:

We may as well start with this bout since it was all the talk heading into the day.

From the tachi-ai, Daieisho took charge causing Wakamotoharu to look straight up at the rafters due to his fierce tsuppari attack, and Wakamotoharu's only hope was to move laterally. As he did, Daieisho thought about a pull as the two changed sides in the ring, but he thankfully abandoned that and stuck to his tsuppari guns sending Wakamotoharu across the other side of the dohyo and out with some oomph.

And just like that...yet another storyline built upon yaocho is burned up and discarded.

The result sends Daieisho to 5-4 while Wakamotoharu falls to 6-3, but more importantly (and unfortunately?), the loss knocked WMH off of the leaderboard.

Though NHK did not show the leaderboard at the end of Day 8, they did display it at the start of Day 9 as follows:

7-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
6-2: Wakamotoharu, Gonoyama, Tsurugisho, Myogiryu

With Wakamotoharu's loss, it removes a dude with probably the most name recognition currently from the leaderboard.

As long as we're talking about the leaderboard, let's touch on all the dudes occupying it moving next to the two-loss M13 Myogiryu who was paired against M14 Kotoshoho. Myogiryu stayed flat-footed at the tachi-ai looking for a pull with feet aligned, but the problem with setting himself up like that was Kotoshoho wasn't moving forward, and so Myogiryu moved to his right and traded places in the dohyo with his foe as the two locked up in migi-yotsu. They stood chest to chest for another two or three seconds before Myogiryu went for a useless maki-kae with the left, and he got it, but it was just a signal to his foe to make a move, and so Kotoshoho felled him willingly with a mediocre right belt throw. Myogiryu didn't bother to counter with his left inside position, and he simply put his palm down beyond the dirt before crumbling outta the ring just like that.

Myogiryu actually had the clear path to moro-zashi from the tachi-ai...something the announcers acknowledged afterward, but he wasn't looking to win from the start, and it was evident, so he stayed high and wide at the tachi-ai and went for that useless maki-kae a few seconds later. Myogiryu dictated things start to finish in this one, and there wasn't anything Kotoshoho (3-6) did to set his foe up, but for whatever reason, the Myogiryu camp doesn't think he should be on the leaderboard, and so he ain't in falling to 6-3.

Up next was M16 Tsurugisho who fought M11 Mitakeumi, and maybe fought isn't the best word here as this was a very soft bout. Both dudes kept their arms in tight at the tachi-ai not wanting to go chest to chest (I think TS would have welcomed the true yotsu bout), and it was Mitakeumi who sorta looked to take charge moving forward with his elbows still touching his own torso, and with such little pressure coming, Tsurugisho easily moved right executing a pull that turned Mitakeumi (5-4) around 180 degrees, and the okuri-dashi from there was academic.

I mean, Tsurugisho does improve to 7-2 with the win keeping himself on the leaderboard, but it's like that old adage, "Does anybody care whether or not a tree that falls in the forest makes a sound if nobody's around?" No. Nobody cares.

Next up was M15 Atamifuji paired against M10 Kinbohzan, and it was obvious which direction this bout would turn as Kinbohzan has purposefully lost three of his last four bouts to remove himself from the spotlight. From the tachi-ai, Kinbohzan reached for the right arm inside, and he could have easily seized the position, but he withdrew that arm quickly and just began backing up. As for Atamifuji, facing no forward-moving pressure from his foe, he latched onto a left outer grip and just tried to keep up with Kinbohzan's swift retreat back and out of the ring.

People who actually analyze sumo without bias readily notice that Atamifuji has not had a bout like this the entire tournament. His posture from the tachi-ai has always been defensive, so it doesn't make sense that he's suddenly turned into this machine that bulldozes his opponents back and across with amazing swiftness and power. He knew the bout was arranged coming, and all he had to do was keep up with Kinbohzan's speedy retreat. Atamifuji moves to 8-1 with the gift while Kinbohzan retreats to 5-4.

Atamifuji will not beat Takayasu tomorrow in a straight up bout, and I'm wondering if his camp agreed to buy him a kachi-koshi or whether or not they think they're in this for the long haul. At some point, the Association is going to step in and tell the Isegahama camp that this guy is not taking the yusho. I wouldn't be surprised if he fails to win 11 bouts by the tourney's end.

Two bouts later, M7 Takayasu stepped into the dohyo to face M8 Kotoeko, and the bout looked to go to migi-yotsu, but instead of burrowing in chest to chest, Kotoeko focused on a retreat where he kept lifting his leg off the dohyo leaving him only one leg with which to keep balance. That Takayasu scored the easy, uncontested win was a given here. Is this kind of sumo exciting to anyone? You have two bouts that feature the one-loss rikishi, and their opponents do absolutely nothing to win the bout. On the contrary, Kinbohzan voluntarily withdrew his initial right inside position, and Kotoeko did his best Hop Along Cassidy impression moving backwards.

The result is Takayasu's breezing his way to 8-1 while Kotoeko is paid off in falling to 2-7.

The final bout that featured a leader was M5 Gonoyama who was paired against his high school senpai, Takakeisho, so you knew this one would be ripe with politics. From the tachi-ai, Takakeisho pressed forward with his usual tsuppari attack...the one he employs when he knows the fix is in, and all Gonoyama did was retreat in kind while sorta waxing on and waxing off to make it look as if he was defending himself. He wasn't of course, and he was more worried about a soft landing down below than he was in even thinking about counter sumo.  This was a linear "win" for Takakeisho against a completely willing opponent that left both rikishi at 6-3.

I get it why they needed to let Takakeisho win this one, but the end result was Gonoyama's being knocked off the leaderboard and leaving us with the following heading into Day 10:

8-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
7-2: Tsurugisho

Because Takayasu and Atamifuji fight each other tomorrow, they're going to have to take the leaderboard down to three losses. You just can't sustain any excitement with this leaderboard that should form tomorrow:

9-1: Takayasu
8-2: Atamifuji, Tsurugisho

In other bouts of interest, Ozeki Kirishima put two hands into the tops of M4 Ura's shoulders keeping him at bay, and after a a second or two, Kirishima backed up looking for a pull or a right outer grip, but Ura responded well knocking Kirishima onto his heels a bit. Ura wasn't looking to move forward offensively, however, and so as Ura backed up himself looking for a pull, Kirishima was able to stay square enough and elbow Ura across the edge. Ura (5-4) fell across in exaggerated fashion as he is wont to do while Kirishima moves to a cool 6-3 with the win.

In the day's final bout, Ozeki Hoshoryu moved right at the tachi-ai grabbing the cheap outer grip against Suckiwake as the two traded places in the dohyo, and then for no reason...well, no logical reason...Hoshoryu just let go of his nice outer and stood there unguarded as Kotonowaka fired a few tsuppari and then went for a quick kote-nage with the left. Hoshoryu didn't bother to counter with his right arm inside and made sure his legs hit down before Kotonowaka stepped out.

Replays showed that they could have called this one either way, but they upheld the ref's original gunbai in favor of Kotonowaka. Kotonowaka came close to stepping out because he wasn't in full control of the bout. That kote-nage was dangerous, and any force from Hoshoryu would have sent Kotonowaka packing, but whatever. Hoshoryu's intention was to lose and that he did in falling to 3-6 while Kotonowaka ekes above .500 to 5-4.

The broadcast was nearly closed by the time this bout and the mono-ii finished, and so they didn't have a chance to show the updated leaderboard. I don't think they would have showed it anyway, and NHK will meet with the PR crew from the Association tomorrow, and then they'll decide how many losses deep they want to go.

Since this basho has literally had a new storyline every day, tomorrow's headline will be the matchup between Atamifuji and Takayasu. That guarantees a one-loss rikishi, so they're gonna have to go down to the three loss rikishi at this point just to keep fan interest.

There's no way that the yusho line doesn't go to 12-3 in the end, so it's a race to see who can stay at three losses the rest of the way. Here's the likely leaderboard at the start of Day 10:

8-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
7-2: Tsurugisho
6-3: Kirishima, Takakeisho, Wakamotoharu, Hokutofuji, Gonoyama, Onosho, Endoh, Myogiryu

What a mess, but they have no choice. They've got to get more name recognition back on the leaderboard.

Before we end the day, the top three bouts streamed yesterday were as follows:

#1 Ura - Hoshoryu
#2 Asanoyama - Meisei
#3 Tobizaru - Takakeisho

On one hand, I think it's notable when Asanoyama doesn't come in at #1, but let's wait for the day when the top slot doesn't include Asanoyama or Ura.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
In my comments on Friday, I mentioned the excitement from NHK on having eight rikishi coming into Day 6 with just one loss, and of course that group was led by none other than Takakeisho. With the two Mongolian Ozeki "struggling," it was a chance to present Takakeisho in a light of strength, but unfortunately, the dude would have to fight in what turned out to be two straight up bouts over the weekend.

That list from Friday was whittled down to five rikishi heading into Saturday, and sure enough, NHK continued to ride the one-loss card at the start of the day with the following rikishi:



Takakeisho, Takayasu, Kinbohzan, Atamifuji, Tsurugisho

M15 Atamifuji led off Saturday paired against M16 Kagayaki, and Atamifuji did nothing from the tachi-ai to set his opponent up, nor did he employ a single offensive maneuver. Kagayaki dictated the pace start to finish and then backed himself outta the ring while Atamifuji literally stood there and watched at the end. Normally when a guy wins by oshi-dashi in a fixed bout, he's at least moving forward as his opponent backs up, but Atamifuji had his feet aligned at the edge and was a complete spectator as Kagayaki did all the work.

Next up was M16 Tsurugisho who was paired against M13 Myogiryu, and the bout lasted about three seconds with Tsurugisho purposefully ducking low letting Myogiryu grab the easy outer belt grip, and then Tsurugisho went with the uwate-nage flow offering no resistance or a counter inside throw. It was clear that Tsurugisho owed Myogiryu something, and just like that, the one-loss list was down to four.

A few bouts later, M10 Kinbohzan and M11 Hokuseiho went chest to chest where Kinbohzan gave Hokuseiho the outer grip and then did nothing to win the bout. Normally in a Hokuseiho bout, the dude stands straight up at the tachi-ai and reaches for an outer grip, but the look and feel of this bout was different because it was arranged. It looked like a good struggle to the sheep, but Kinbohzan did nothing to take charge and ultimately let Hokuseiho win taking himself out of contention and paring the one-loss list down to just three.

M7 Takayasu legitimately beat M9 Midorifuji to keep himself at 6-1. This was Takayasu's first legit win of the tournament, but it was a good fight and he deserves props for winning in a straight up bout.

The final dude was Takakeisho who was paired against M3 Shodai, and you could tell this one was real from the get-go. For starters, Takakeisho did not trust in an oshi attack where he's moving forward from the tachi-ai; that only happens when he knows the fix is in. Instead, the two brawled in the center of the ring not going fully oshi and not fighting from the belt. Takakeisho had no lower body to speak of, and so he relied on a couple of fierce face slaps to try and make Shodai flinch, but these dudes have taken a lot more punishment than that over the years, and Shodai finally found an opening and easily forced Takakeisho back and across for the legit yori-kiri win.

Just like that, the one-loss win chart on Saturday went from the aforementioned five rikishi down to this:

6-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji

There is not a lot of meat on that bone and certainly not enough to sustain a yusho race. I mean, Takayasu does have the name recognition, but if you took a moment to think about his sumo the first seven days, what stands out?

Right, nothing.

As a result, NHK had to change things up heading into Sunday, and when I say NHK, I mean NHK upon consulting with members from the Sumo Association PR department to do this or that.

On Sunday, my broadcast feed was pre-empted by a Junior Golf Championship tournament that was running over time. Sumo pre-empted by Junior Golf?

When my feed started, they showed the usual graphics indicating the NHK General broadcast had started, and so nobody saw any features at the start of Day 8. And maybe that was a good thing.

To make up for it, they sent Takekuma-oyakata (Goeido) to do the rounds on the news shows, and the highlight heading into Day 8 was the struggling Mongolian Ozeki. Hoshoryu's sumo over the weekend can best be described as keeping his arms open at the tachi-ai, start backing up after initial contact is made, and then go down if your opponent attempts a slapdown or back out of the ring if your opponent is moving forward. His bouts last a matter of seconds, and he's obviously pulling back to try and give credence to the supposed struggle these Ozeki go through.

He was pushed out by Nishikigi on Saturday, and then he let Ura slap him down on Sunday, and during both of those bouts, Hoshoryu never attempted a single move to win or to gain the upper hand. I think it's pretty obvious to everyone what's going on, and with Takakeisho kadoban, it's only fair that Hoshoryu experiences the kadoban life for himself.

As for Kirishima, he was gifted a win against M3 Tamawashi on Saturday, but on Sunday, he just backed up from the tachi-ai and let M4 Takanosho push him straight back and across in under three seconds. You see? The struggle is real.

What was really interesting to me on the Sunday news shows is that they highlighted the struggling Mongolian Ozeki and then they showed both of their bouts, but no mention was made of Takakeisho nor did they replay his bout against Komusubi Tobizaru. And for good reason because this is how it ended:



That's Takakeisho there mounting a fan in the first row. And he held that position for 8 - 10 seconds at least. He was there so long that you can see that an NHK camera man had to time to run up to the scene of the crime and film a close up of the fallen faux-zeki. I mean, the optics here were not good, which is why the news shows didn't replay it. Takakeisho was so out of sorts in his bout against Tobizaru that when he was pushed down to the venue floor, his left leg hit sooner than he expected, and it sent a jolt through him.

Have you ever gone down the stairs in a haze thinking there was one more stair left when you were really at the bottom? The touch down at the bottom of the stairs sends this jolt through your body, and that's what it looked like when Takakeisho fell. It took him a long time and a lot of careful balancing to step back up onto the dohyo, and then it took him a long time to exit the dohyo on the other side (he was pushed out to the East but fought from the West).  Beyond that, anytime that Tobizaru stands over you as if he's King Kong, you know something went terribly wrong.

As of 1 PM Japan time on Monday, Takakeisho had not announced his kyujo. I mean, he can't sit out or he'll be demoted from the Ozeki rank, but as ugly and as slow as he looked in Week 1, it's now multiplied by a factor of three. What a mess this guy is and why would NHK News replay the losses by the Mongolian Ozeki and not show the replay of Takakeisho's loss??

What's the logical explanation?

One thing that NHK did show was a graphic with Kisenosato, Goeido, and Hakuho, and then their star prodigies grouped beneath them.

In the case of Goeido and Hakuho, they already have Gonoyama and Hakuohho respectively in the Makuuchi division although Hakuohho will make his return from Juryo in January.

As for Kisenosato, they showed his star prodigy, Onosato, who has stormed out to an 8-0 start in Juryo. They did replay his bout today and it was a legit win, but I'd have to see his entire body of work this basho to determine whether or not he's been buying wins or whether or not he's a true beast. I mean, you couldn't ask for a better sumo body. The dude checks in at 192 cm and 176 kg, and he also moved very well in the bout today, but Hokuseiho also has a great sumo body, and he's largely useless.

My point here is not to speculate on whether or not this guy is legit; rather, it's to point out how much NHK was telling the fans, "Hold out just a bit longer. We've got these great, young, up-and-comers, and they're being coached by two former Yokozuna and an Ozeki!"

This whole Takakeisho-at-Ozeki project is failing miserably, and they really need some new blood fast.

So, to sum up the weekend, we went from this very optimistic, "Hey, look at all these guys with just one loss!" down to this:

Takayasu, Atamifuj

Both of those two yayhoos were gifted silly wins on Day 8.  Atamifuji supposedly beat Aoiyama by oshi-dashi, but I'm not sure how that happened as Atamifuji didn't fire a single shove.  It was Aoiyama throwing defensive shoves as he just backed out of the ring.

As for Takayasu, this was his predicament mid-bout against Mitakeumi:

Mitakeumi (hunkered low at right) was in such great position he could have grabbed Takayasu's left leg and tripped him over ashi-tori style or he could have grabbed a right frontal belt grip and pinned Takayasu's left arm useless inside of the uwate.  Takayasu was had at this point, so it was up to Mitakeumi to make a move, and when he did, he lightly touched Takayasu's left ankle as if to grab the leg, and then he stumbled over and down and Takayasu went for a weak pull.  So fake but so necessary I suppose.

They did not show a leaderboard at the end of Day 8, but if they had, it would have looked like this:

7-1: Takayasu, Atamifuji
6-2: Wakamotoharu, Gonoyama, Tsurugisho, Myogiryu

That's an ugly leaderboard for sure, but the wires early Monday morning sure were hyping Wakamotoharu. I saw one headline that ready, "Wakamotoharu and his power 6 bout win streak." Wait, there's been power as part of this win streak? We are talking about the 2023 Aki basho aren't we?

But once again...it's the media creating this narrative in the mind of the fans that WMH is somehow on this powerful win streak when all of his wins have been obviously orchestrated. I would give Wakamotoharu the upper hand against Atamifuji, but that's about it.

And that poses another problem sumo has: most of the "leaders" haven't fought each other yet, and so more losses are coming. More losses are coming among the leaders, and more losses are coming among the Ozeki, so we are in for a real hot mess in Week 2.

I think the yusho has to drop down to 12-3 at this point, so we'll see how it plays out.

The M2 Asanoyama bouts continue to be the most streamed each day, and he was given two puff wins against Abi and Meisei over the weekend. At 4-4, Asanoyama will not play a factor in the yusho race, but who else is going to supplant him as the most popular rikishi?

They were trying to hype Suckiwake Kotonowaka over the weekend, but Daieisho beat him on Saturday, and he did not look good on Sunday against Hokutofuji whatsoever. Both Daieisho and Kotonowaka stand at 4-4, so of the three Suckiwake who they were hoping would vie for Ozeki, it's down to Wakamotoharu and his 6-2 record.

It was really interesting to watch the basho go into the weekend on a relative high and then come out of things on Sunday with such a low. We'll see what gets manufactured in Week 2, but that's the whole problem; it's going to manufactured.

Finally, on Day 7 they showed a group of fans crammed into a few masu-seki with bright right tee shirts that read "Team Suck" on them in Japanese.  There's been plenty of suck the first eight days of the tournament, so at least someone is getting their money's worth.

It's going to take a lot to salvage this basho down the stretch, but that's why we watch.

Back with a full report on Day 9.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I turned on NHK News 9 this morning expecting to see more Ozeki talk, and the new narrative of the basho is that eight rikishi are heading into the long weekend with just 1 loss. Oh, and it's Takakeisho leading the way!! I suppose it's as good a narrative as they have, and it should hold through the weekend. Once they start pairing all of the one-loss rikishi against each other, the list will dwindle quickly, and I think the default storyline from there will be the race between the Ozeki for the yusho.

Let's get right to the Day 6 action where M14 Aoiyama stood straight up at the tachi-ai offering largely defensive tsuppari in M15 Chiyoshoma's direction, but instead of getting to the inside, Chiyoshoma just pretended to fend off those tsuppari while methodically backing up to the edge, and it was an easy thrust out from there by Aoiyama (2-4) to send Chiyoshoma (1-5) across for good.

The tachi-ai between M16 Tsurugisho and M14 Kotoshoho was light with neither dude looking to go chest to chest or bring an oshi attck. From the get-go, Kotoshoho just struck and then moved left all the way over to the edge not really even going for a pull, so it was a simple push from Tsurugisho (5-1) that sent Kotoshoho (2-4) back beyond the straw. Something was definitely arranged here as Tsurugisho keeps himself on the one-loss list.

The light sumo would continue as neither M13 Myogiryu nor M16 Kagayaki looked to mount an offensive from the tachi-ai; rather, both dudes stood straight up and traded defensive tsuppari before Myogiryu moved to his right and touched Kagayaki at the back of the shoulder, and Kagayaki (3-3) was vying for an Oscar here diving forward and flipping over after the lightest tap from Myogiryu. Still waiting for the first real bout as Myogiryu moves to 4-2 here.

And yet another bad tachi-ai from M17 Daishoho who stood completely upright waiting for M13 Nishikifuji to come forward. Problem was that NFJ didn't want to come close, so he'd offer a few light tsuppari and then back up as if to pull, but Daishoho had no forward momentum to fall for a pull. Finally, Nishikifuji whiffed on a pull as he moved left, and he was completely off balance and vulnerable, but instead of swooping in for the kill, DSH let him square back up and secure moro-zashi. Nishikifuji was still too weak to force Daisho the Hutt back and across, and so the latter went for a weak maki-kae with the left and that gave Daishoho (2-4) an excuse to back up and across the bales with Nishikifuji (3-3) in tow. It feels like I'm watching sumo today at 1/2 the normal speed, and that's saying something.

We got our first real bout of the day with M15 Atamifuji charging forward nicely against M11 Mitakeumi, but Mitakeumi kept his arms in tight not wanting to go chest to chest. Mitakeumi did have the path to the right inside, but he didn't want it because that would have given Atamifuji the easy path to the left outer, and so the former faux-zeki went for an early pull. Atamifuji survived and then answered with a pull of his own, but there was too much real estate to cover, so the two hooked back up in the center of the ring with Mitakeumi still ducking his head and keeping his arms in tight so the bout wouldn't go to the belt. The two stood this way for a while until Atamifuji moved left going for a quick tsuki-otoshi, and he dumped Mitakeumi forward and down. Or so we thought. Atamifuji's left heel was dangerously close to touching down, so they called a mono-ii to review.

Atamifuji clearly won the bout here, but they ruled a do-over...the last thing Mitakeumi wanted because he came up visibly shaken from the fall. In round two, they hooked up in migi-yotsu again, and Atamifuji went for the same movement left and offensive tsuki-otoshi from the gun, and it was a carbon copy finish with Atamifuji balancing his left foot on the straw as Mitakeumi hit the deck. It was close, but Atamifuji won again, and this was his first legit winna the basho as he moves to 5-1. Mitakeumi was knocked off of the one-loss list here in falling to 4-2.

M10 Kinbohzan charged hard into M12 Takarafuji knocking him upright and catching with with a paw to the face, and from there, Takarafuji did not want to go chest to chest, so he moved left trying to finagle a pull while Kinbohzan chased him around looking for the yotsu-contest, and the instant Kinbohzan got his right arm inside, it was curtains as he dispatched Takarafuji easy as you please. It's an understatement to say that Kinbohzan dominated here, and you could see it on Takarafuji's face he was that defeated. Kinbohzan moves to 5-1 with the textbook win while Takarafuji falls to 3-3.

M12 Sadanoumi reached for and got an outer grip with the right on M10 Endoh's belt, but the Sadamight wasn't established well with the left inside, and so Endoh stood his ground well and wrenched his way into a right outer of his own about eight seconds in, and once Endoh had the outer grip, he was able to force Sadanoumi over and out. This was easily the best contested bout so far from both parties as Endoh picks up the solid win leaving both dudes at 3-3.

M9 Midorifuji easily got to the inside against M11 Hokuseiho who stood straight up at the tachi-ai as usual, and Midorifuji went for broke assuming the moro-zashi position while Hokuseiho latched on with a left outer over the top. About 15 seconds into the bout, Midorifuji tested the inside belt throw waters with the right, but Hokuseiho stood his ground well, and so they continued to stand for another minute or so with Midorifuji clinging to the right inside and Hokuseiho holding on with a stifling left outer grip. In the end, Midorifuji beautifully set Hokuseiho up for a soto-gake leg trip, and while Jack and his beanstock couldn't topple the giant over all the way, it threw Hokuseiho off balance enough to where Midorifuji forced him quickly back and across. It's not often that we can call a legit win for Midorifuji, but this was completely real as well as entertaining with both rikishi ending the day at 2-4.

M8 Kotoeko henka'd to his left and almost got caught red-handed by M6 Onosho, but the latter came up just short leaving both guys moving left and looking for pulls. This continued for a few seconds until Onosho latched onto a right outer grip as Kotoeko countered with the inside left, and with Onosho hurrying a force-out charge, Kotoeko was somehow able to slip right and then dart to the left side of Onosho's body and hook his left elbow to the back of Onosho's left elbow and pull him down to the dirt from there. Sadly, for all you kimari-te geeks out there, they didn't have anything named for this move, and so they had to go with hiki-otoshi. It was cooler than that, but whatever. We had yet another entertaining and real bout after a very slow start to the day that saw Kotoeko move to 2-4 and Onosho fall to 4-2.

M6 Ryuden kept his arms out wide like C3P0 gifting M8 Hiradoumi moro-zashi, but the latter was having a difficult time forcing his opponent back and across. As a result, Ryuden skirted the edge moving to his left presumably to set himself up to be pushed out, but Hiradoumi couldn't do it. Finally, with Ryuden having started the day from the West shikiri-sen, he ended up with his back against East straw. Hiradoumi couldn't force him out, however, and so Hiradoumi went for a quick pull that left him completely vulnerable, but instead of charging forward, Ryuden retreated right back to the East edge where he tugged at Hiradoumi's left arm hard enough to send Hiradoumi down, but Ryuden just sat down quickly beyond the straw before he had Hiradoumi dragged all the way out. I'm sure Ryuden was thinking after this one, "Gee willakers, do I have to do everything here?" The answer was a resounding yes as both dudes finish the day at 2-4.

After the bout, the booth called down to the reporter in the hana-michi to confirm that Ryuden did indeed use the phrase, "Gee willakers."

Leading off the second half of the Makuuchi bouts were two dudes from the one-loss list in M5 Gonoyama vs. M7 Takayasu. Gonoyama kept himself completely exposed at the tachi-ai resulting in a very unorthodox start, and with Gonoyama keeping his hands high and wide, Takayasu connected on a tsuki into Gonoyama's left armpit, and Gonoyama's reaction was to turn and do a 720 roll outta the dohyo and down to the venue floor. Uh, Takayasu's tsuki wasn't that strong, but okay as Takayasu buys his way to 5-1 while Gonoyama overreacts on his way down to 4-2.

At this point of the broadcast, we got our first glimpse of my new favorite sumo fan sitting in the expensive suna-kaburi again.  I'm dying to know who her sugar daddy is:

M7 Ohho and M5 Shonannoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and it was Shonannoumi grabbing the left outer grip and moving forward well. Ohho tried to skirt his foe at the edge, but Shonannoumi kept him in close using his left leg to pin inwards on Ohho's right thigh, and the fat lady sung from there as Shonannoumi moves to 3-3 with the very nice win while Ohho falls to 2-4 in defeat.

M1 Hokutofuji shaded to his left at the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, and M4 Takanosho just looked to move forward oblivious to his opponent's movement. With Takanosho sleep walking on purpose, Hokutofuji toyed with the idea of getting the left arm inside, but then he quickly darted right offering a light tsuki into the back of Takanosho's shoulder, and the latter dutifully fell forward stiff as a board in about three seconds. Hokutofuji oils his way to 4-2 while Takanosho falls to 2-4 a richer man.

M2 Abi and M1 Meisei traded shoves from the tachi-ai, and with Abi looking to bail, Meisei tried to hook him to the side with his left. Abi survived the move but went into full pull mode from there backing up to the edge and pulling and then darting to the other side of the ring committing on a dangerous pull. In desperation, Meisei went for the do-or-die shove pushing Abi beyond the straw, but Meisei crashed down dangerously early before Abi was clearly out. They pointed in favor of Meisei and they were too lazy to review it, and so the gunbai stands: Meisei picked up the win as both dudes finished at 3-3. If there was ever a bout that warranted a mono-ii and do-over, it was this one, but I'm glad they rewarded the guy who was moving forward and not backwards.

Komusubi Tobizaru did his best Ura impression ducking way too low and to his left at the tachi-ai, and it was almost too low for Suckiwake Wakamotoharu to do anything constructive. WMH reached out and attempted to get the left arm inside, but Tobizaru went for a phantom pull and then just pirouetted his way right outta the ring. That was uneventful as Wakamotoharu is gifted 4-2 while Tobizaru falls to 3-3.

M4 Ura exhibited an awkward tachi-ai with sloppy footwork, and that enabled Sekiwake Daieisho to begin a thrust attack that sent Ura back near the straw, but Daieisho panicked at the edge and shifted gears going for a pull, and Ura read the move pushing hard into Daieisho's chest sending him back and across the straw to an ignominious death. Hooboy. Anybody who is in the conversation for promotion to Ozeki can't lose to Ura like that, but sure enough, Daieisho did in falling to 2-4 and he never really had great momentum from the start after aligning his feet at the tachi-ai. As for Ura, he moves to 3-3 with the surprising win.

Komusubi Nishikigi kept his arms wide open at the tachi-ai gifting Suckiwake Kotonowaka moro-zashi, but before Kotonowaka could really mount an attack, Nishikigi just retreated sideways and outta the ring with Kotonowaka in tow. This was uneventful as Kotonowaka bought his way to 4-2 while Nishikigi quietly falls to 3-3.

M3 Tamawashi stood straight up and kept his hands high and wide waiting for Takakeisho to thrust him back, but the faux-zeki didn't exactly come out of the gate blazing and so Tamawashi slowly retreated, lifted a leg forward, and then wrapped his left arm around Takakeisho's neck completely exposing himself, and it took three or four seconds, but they finally figured it out orchestrating the easy, uneventful win for Takakeisho who moves to 5-1 while Tamawashi falls to 0-6.  I think the pic at left illustrates well Tamawashi's attitude in this bout start to finish.

Ozeki Kirishima caught M3 Shodai with a left paw to the face at the tachi-ai standing him straight up, but Shodai did well to swipe that arm away causing some social distancing. As the two hooked back up, it was hidari-yotsu, and instead of digging in chest to chest, Kirishima moved to his right around a quarter of the ring and then hurled Shodai over and down hard with a nice scoop throw. Kirishima waltzes his way to 4-2 with the nice win while Shodai falls to 2-4.

In the day's final affair, Ozeki Hoshoryu grabbed a quick left frontal belt grip out of the gate against M2 Asanoyama, and that led to a migi-yotsu contest where both dudes went chest to chest. Against a smaller opponent, Asanoyama can actually stand his ground like this, but he wasn't able to attack moving forward, and so he went for a quick maki-kae with the left that failed, but he followed that up with a right inside belt throw that cut off Hoshoryu's outer grip. You could see the Ozeki adjust quickly as he was now in danger against this bigger opponent bearing down on him, and near the edge, Hoshoryu was able to fire off an inside belt grip of his own to throw Asanoyama over and down across the straw. The ending here was close, but the Ozeki stayed calm throughout and picked up the nice win in moving to 3-3. You have to credit Asanoyama here for the very good fight, but he came up just short at 2-4.

The one-loss list was whittled down from eight rikishi to five, and I'm sure they'll play this card throughout the weekend until a real leaderboard forms early in Week 2.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
On Day 1, I talked about the pre-basho storylines to watch for as the tournament unfolds, and everything the media touched on heading into the basho has all but vanished. The three Sekiwake, who all came into the tournament with 19 wins over the last basho, have started slowly, and so all the Day 1 speculation about one of them toying with the Ozeki rank has vanished. Nishikigi is a non-story, and we don't have any rookies, and so the talk the rest of the way has to focus on the Ozeki ranks, particularly the struggles that Ozeki always seem to face.

Sumo had to take a backseat today after the Hanshin Tigers clinched the Central League championship in Japanese baseball, but when they did get around to the sumos on NHK News 9, they only showed the Hoshoryu bout and then brought in Chiyotaikai--a former Ozeki himself who had his share of struggles--to talk about the perceived difficulties of the rank. I don't see how the yusho doesn't come from that rank, and I'm positive Hoshoryu's not gonna take it, so that leaves Kirishima and Takakeisho. Heading into the day, Takakeisho had a one bout lead over Kirishima, and I'm sure the two will shadow each other the rest of the way in regards to wins and losses.

But...the Ozeki don't fight until the end of the day, so let's start at the beginning with M16 Kagayaki taking on M15 Chiyoshoma where Chiyoshoma put his hands high at the tachi-ai before just standing upright like a bump on a log letting Kagayaki push him back and across in three uneventful seconds. That was a sleeper as Kagayaki moves to 3-2 while Chiyoshoma falls to 1-4.

M15 Atamifuji and M16 Tsurugisho hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Tsurugisho grabbed the easy left outer grip, and he used that to yank Atamifuji over to the edge where the two tussled briefly with their guts before TS nudged Atamifuji across. It's night and day in a real bout for Atamifuji who suffers his first loss at 4-1. Tsurugisho moves to the same mark.

M17 Daishoho proved to be a formidable mass against M14 Kotoshoho pushing KSH back without even trying, but you could see that Daishoho was holding up just a bit, and so when Kotoshoho went for that first lateral swipe, Daishoho just crumbled to the dirt of his own volition. Another ho hum bout as both rikishi end the day at 2-3.

M13 Nishikifuji tried to trade tit for tat with M14 Aoiyama from the tachi-ai, and so Aoiyama agreed to backpedal just a bit, and then near the edge, the Happy Bulgar moved to his right and timed a pull perfectly showing Nishikifuji the trapdoor as they say. If you watch the reply, you can see that Aoiyama's tsuppari connected well despite his moving back, and Nishikifuji just rushed this one in falling to 2-3. Aoiyama picks up his first win at 1-4.

M12 Takarafuji and M12 Sadanoumi gave us the best bout to this point as the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai without going fully chest to chest at first. Sadanoumi attempted to latch onto the front of Takarafuji's belt with the right, but when he was pushed away, he went for a maki-kae with the same right arm looking for moro-zashi. The problem was that Takarafuji was bigger and bearing down on his foe regardless of who had what grip, and Takarafuji was finally able to secure the left back inside and right outer grip, and the force-out from there was academic. Good stuff from both parties as they both finish at 3-2.

M13 Myogiryu showed just how easy it is for these veterans to beat M11 Hokuseiho if the bout isn't arranged. Hokuseiho was his usual lazy self from the tachi-ai standing straight up, and so Myogiryu rushed in getting moro-zashi and brushing off a kubi-nage hold from HSH before forcing the youngster straight back and across. This wasn't even a contest, and we really got a good look at Hokuseiho's weakness here as he falls to 2-3. Myogiryu one ups him at 3-2.

I guess it wouldn't do to have M10 Kinbohzan take the yusho, and so he let up for M10 Endoh today. Kinbohzan won the tachi-ai and had Endoh bodied back near the edge in a flash, but you could see that Kinbohzan was refusing to get inside or latch onto his opponent's belt. Still, Endoh was hapless and couldn't budge his foe, and so Kinbohzan finally faked a pull, which was really an excuse to back up to the edge, and he waited there for Endoh to get the left arm inside and "force" Kinbohzan back that last step. As if. Endoh (2-3) did zero to set any of that up and Kinbohzan dictated start to finish here in graciously falling to 4-1.

M9 Midorifuji forced M11 Mitakeumi back a step or two from the tachi-ai, but like the bout before, he refused to grab Mitakeumi or get to the inside, and so after a brief pause with Mitakeumi's back still against the wall, Midorifuji faked a pull himself that was also an excuse to back up across the dohyo and over to the edge, and he waited there for Mitakeumi to connect on a single push to send him across for good. Mitakeumi is gifted 4-1 while Midorifuji falls to 1-4 a richer dude.

M8 Hiradoumi latched onto the front of M7 Ohho's belt with the left hand, and Ohho's response was a quick shove and then a stupid pull, and from that point, Hiradoumi had moro-zashi if he wanted it. He didn't; nor did he even attempt to force his vulnerable opponent back, and so he instead backed up himself and allowed Ohho to push him across in a few seconds. This one was ill-gotten as Ohho moves to 2-3 with Hiradoumi falling to 1-4.

M8 Kotoeko came with a right forearm that he held in place keeping M6 Ryuden from going chest to chest, and the move worked a bit as Ryuden forced Kotoeko this way and that, but he could never latch onto him. Kotoeko was fishing for a surprise pull or tsuki, and he had Ryuden off balance a time or two, but in the end, Ryuden got the right arm inside and hooked up and under Kotoeko's left, so when the next pull attempt came from Eko, Ryuden pushed him back and across. I liked the chess match here, but the better rikishi won as Ryuden moves to 2-3 with Kotoeko falling to 1-4.

M7 Takayasu and M5 Shonannoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai before trading places in the dohyo, and after the two leaned into each other for a few seconds, Shonannoumi sorta positioned himself for a pull but it never came, and then he went back forward and took the bait for a pull from Takayasu, and Shonannoumi just plopped forward and down to the dirt. This one was likely arranged as Shonannoumi's antics were too unorthodox. Takayasu moves to 4-1 with the win while Shonannoumi falls to 2-3.

M5 Gonoyama and M6 Onosho struck well at the tachi-ai, and the bout looked to go to migi-yotsu, but Onosho just backed up and to his left a bit as if to set up a pull, but Gonoyama pounced too quickly and had Onosho forced back and across in mere seconds. Gonoyama moves to 4-1 with the nice win while Onosho falls to the same 4-1 mark.

M4 Ura got up and under Shodai nicely from the tachi-ai, and that enabled him to force Shodai back near the edge, but Ura paused just a bit in his yori charge enabling the former faux-zeki to fell a willing Ura over and down with a right tsuki to the side. I mean, that's what you're supposed to do at the edge from Shodai, but Ura did stop and wait for it to come as both dudes end the day at 2-3.

The Ozeki Killer, M1 Hokutofuji, came with his usual tachi-ai of a right stiff arm and move left, but the move made little impact against M1 Meisei who used some defensive tsuppari to get Hokutofuji upright before he darted right going for a pull that Hokutofuji took hook, line, and sinker. Nice win for Meisei who moves to 2-3 with the win while Hokutofuji cools to 3-2.

Sekiwake Daieisho meant well from the tachi-ai coming with his tsuppari attack, but M4 Takanosho was able to easily neutralize his foe with tsuppari of his own, so with a stalemate happening in the ring, Daieisho panicked and went for a pull, and that was all Takanosho needed to score the final push out blow. Daieisho has definitely lost a step in his tsuppari attack in falling to 2-3 while Takanosho improves to the same mark with the good win.

Suckiwake Kotonowaka was late at the tachi-ai reaching for a left outer grip over the top, but he failed to latch on or make an impact against Komusubi Tobizaru, who kept his arms inside and ducked down a bit. With Kotonowaka floundering, he went for a light pull that had no effect, and that enabled Tobizaru to swipe down at Kotonowaka's extended arms, and the dude just ran out of the dohyo from there. It looked like these two were trading wins here today as they both end the day at 3-2.

Rounding out the sanyaku, Komusubi Nishikigi entered the dohyo against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, and the two hooked up nicely in hidari-yotsu with Nishikigi positioned a bit lower. Nishikigi was in the perfect position to grab a right outer grip that was there or the taking, but he purposefully kept his right mitt high and out of harm's way. Problem for Wakamotoharu was that he can't move a lug like Nishikigi around, and so he was stuck until Nishikigi led the dance, and so the Komusubi finally faked a right kote-nage, which was just an excuse to back up to the straw, and Wakamotoharu somehow managed the force-out from there. This was fixed sumo all the way as Nishikigi deferred to the struggling Suckiwake in a bout that left both dudes at 3-2.

Ozeki Kirishima came with light tsuppari M2 Asanoyama's way keeping the M2 away from the chest and belt, and after a few seconds of this grappling, Kirishima got the right arm inside and left outer grip, and he started to dashi-nage Asanoyama a bit, but then let up. Asanoyama countered with a nice scoop throw with the left, but it didn't have enough beef behind it, and so Kirishima survived and forced the action back to the center of the ring. At this point, Asanoyama kept his left arm dangling around instead of grabbing the outer grip that was there for the taking, and he likely doesn't want to use the arm/shoulder that was injured last basho after being thrown by Hoshoryu. We'll have to watch that left arm moving forward because in a normal bout, he would have grabbed the left outer.

From this point, Kirishima was in full control, and he neutralized a maki-kae attempt by Asanoyama with a soto-gake leg trip threat, but once again, Kirishima kept the bout alive giving the fans their money's worth here. Near the one minute mark, Asanoyama went for another maki-kae, and Kirishima let him have it simply retooling his grips with the left hand now at the outside, and with Asanoyama's right leg next to Kirishima's left, the Ozeki executed a soto-gake for real and threw Asanoyama down hard in the center of the ring. When a guy falls that hard, you know there's a difference in power and ability between the two, and while the fans got excited for a minute or so, Kirishima sent a statement with that finish. He moves to 3-2 while Asanoyama will lick his wounds at 2-3.

Ozeki Hoshoryu drew M3 Tamawashi, the best rikishi on the banzuke, so today would be a matter of would Tamawashi or wouldn't he? As expected, he let up today failing to even move forward and fire any tsuppari from the tachi-ai, but Hoshoryu didn't latch on early himself as The Mawashi faded left, and so after brief social distancing it was Tamawashi who scored on a few thrusts, but he stopped short and went for a dumb pull that allowed Hoshoryu to move Tamawashi over to the edge. Near the brink, Tamawashi's muscle memory kicked in and he started on a counter tsuki-otoshi with his left hand that would have worked (as seen at right), but he stopped short and let the Ozeki push him across that last step. Hoshoryu received charity here for sure in moving to 2-3 while Tamawashi falls to 0-5.

In a comical moment to end the day, M2 Abi put his hands high above Takakeisho's head at the tachi-ai and then just started backing up as if to pull. He wasn't actually pulling of course but merely backing himself right outta the dohyo as Takakeisho tried to keep up. If you watch how both of these dudes land, Abi dismounts perfectly on the venue floor below while Takakeisho belly flops across the straw taking the harder hit. You could tell by the ending/landing who dictated things today, and it wasn't Takakeisho. This was a good example of how you can win a bout of sumo without even delivering one blow that touches your opponent as Takakeisho suddenly finds himself at 4-1 while Abi graciously bows to 3-2.

Once again, Takakeisho is unable to do anything in the ring, and I don't think this can be sustained all the way to a yusho. We'll see. Nothing surprises me these days, but I still think Kirishima will take charge down the stretch.

It was a very lackluster day of sumo, and it was the least attended day of the basho so far. I've been impressed with the crowd size each day, and the man-in-on-rei banners have been lowered every day (they'll lower them at about 75% capacity), but today there were noticeable gaps in the lower bowl. We'll see if they can keep the fans engaged the rest of the way.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
A story that I missed pre-basho was the announcement of Hakuohho's withdrawal due to left shoulder surgery that will sideline him until January. The reason I even looked this up is that I was trying to think of the biggest headlines the last few months in sumo. Undoubtedly, the promotion to Ozeki by Kirishima first and then Hoshoryu next have been the biggest stories, and secondarily was the promotions of Hakuohho, Gonoyama, and Shonannoumi to the Makuuchi division last basho.

With Hakuohho out, those other rookies aren't getting any run this basho, and so the Ozeki rank is the biggest story going on in sumo right now, and heading into the basho these were the three major Ozeki storylines:

1. Kirishima took the yusho in May and was promoted to Ozeki
2. Hoshoryu took the yusho in July and was promoted to Ozeki
3. Takakeisho was nowhere to be found

The inability for Takakeisho to make an impact on a basho is really the 800 lb gorilla in the room, and so it feels like the first four days this basho they are trying to flip the perception from "the Mongolians have been dominating" to "this Ozeki thing ain't so easy."

The problem as noted yesterday is that Takakeisho looks as if he can barely move out there, so we'll see how it shapes up moving forward, but we can at least see that the Mongolians are doing their part.

Regarding Takakeisho and his being ranked at Ozeki, it really reminds me of the transgender movement that has gained a lot of steam the last few years where if a man identifies as a woman, then he's a woman. Uh, it doesn't quite work like that, but I'm amazed at the lengths society has gone through to declare it so. Common sense is ignored in the name of political correctness, and so we're forced to play these games and pretend something is reality when nothing could be further from the truth.

In the case of Takakeisho, the dude is not an Ozeki. He doesn't fight like an Ozeki and never has, and yet, Japan needs an Ozeki on the banzuke in order to save face, and so we declare him an Ozeki and get him the necessary wins, etc, and we're all expected to play this game of pretending that Takakeisho is an Ozeki.

It's mind boggling to me...sorta like dating a gal with a schlong, but date we must, and so let's get to the Day 4 action.

M15 Chiyoshoma came with a hari-zashi tachi-ai against M15 Atamifuji that earned him moro-zashi, but instead of scoring the quick force-out win, Chiyoshoma pulled the left arm away and faked a kata-sukashi that was an excuse to bring Atamifuji back to the center of the ring. From there, the two were locked in hidari-yotsu, and Chiyoshoma refrained from grabbing a right outer grip at first, but Atamifuji could do nothing and so Shoma finally grabbed the right outer and pretended a force out attempt before next pretending to go for a soto-gake, but you knew from the start he was doing everything but trying win.

Atamifuji was still unable to do anything...his posture from the get-go, and so Chiyoshoma finally drove his foe to the edge but stopped short of winning, and when he felt the slightest pressure coming from Atamifuji's left arm inside, Chiyoshoma ran across the edge of the dohyo and put his hand down as if he'd been scoop thrown. As if. This was another classic bout where the loser did everything including winning the tachi-ai only to be foiled at the end by those meddling kids! Atamifuji's 4-0 start is a complete farce while Chiyoshoma graciously falls to 1-3.

M14 Aoiyama backed up a bit at the tachi-ai while still pretending to fire thrusts M17 Daishoho's way. As for Daishoho, he attempted tsuppari of his own, but they were weak and Aoiyama was able to stiff arm DSH back to the straw, but instead of going for the kill shot with his opponent's foot touching the straw, Aoiyama just backed up to the other side of the ring and waited for Daishoho to lightly offer a forearm to the chest, and Aoiyama stepped back from there. Another fake bout as Daishoho moves to 2-2 while Aoiyama falls to 0-4.

M16 Kagayaki and M14 Kotoshoho traded lame tsuppari from the tachi-ai, and it didn't look like anyone wanted to take charge for 10 seconds or so, and then just like that, Kotoshoho faked a pull and then hit the dirt although he wasn't really pulled down by his opponent. What this wasn't was good sumo as Kagayaki was owed one here in moving to 2-2 while Kotoshoho falls to 1-3.

The tachi-ai between M16 Tsurugisho and M13 Nishikifuji wasn't great, but the two did come away in hidari-yotsu where TS quickly grabbed a right outer grip, and from that point it was all Tsurugisho as he forced NFJ back and across with little argument. This was our first contested bout on the day as Tsurugisho moves to 3-1 while Nishikifuji falls to 2-2.

M13 Myogiryu completely aligned his feet at the tachi-ai against M12 Takarafuji and was extremely vulnerable, but Takarafuji didn't attempt to make him pay, and so the two lamely grappled with Myogiryu sorta looking to get both arms inside. After a few more seconds of inaction, Myogiryu went for a bad pull and then a very light kote-nage throw that was so weak, Takarafuji actually turned and look backwards to see when his opponent was coming, and Myogiryu complied by pushing him out from behind. This was such a ridiculous bout of sumo, and if you watch the slow motion reply, you can really see that neither dude was trying in this fixed affair that left both dudes at 2-2.

M11 Hokuseiho actually showed a bit of resolve at the tachi-ai today against M12 Sadanoumi moving forward and getting the left arm inside while grabbing a right outer grip over the top. As for Sadanoumi, he complied with his own left inside, and he too was able to grab an easy right outer against his opponent who was too upright, and so the gappuri sumo contest was on. The two grappled well this way and that, and it was Hokuseiho who was able to hoist Sadanoumi over and down with an outer belt throw. Honestly, a veteran like Sadanoumi coulda taken advantage of an opponent whose hips were up so high, but whatever. It was a good effort from Hokuseiho and an entertaining bout overall for Hokuseiho who moves to 2-2 while Sadanoumi suffers his first loss at 3-1.

M11 Mitakeumi was no match for M10 Kinbohzan, and knowing the bout wasn't fixed coming in, Mitakeumi barely struck at the tachi-ai before immediately backing up and going for a pull, but Kinbohzan was moving forward too fast and easily sent Mitakeumi across the straw in under two seconds. The main thing here is that Mitakeumi (3-1) didn't get hurt as he suffers his first loss while Kinbohzan is an easy peasy 4-0.

M9 Midorifuji aligned his feet at the tachi-ai against M10 Endoh but was lucky that Endoh wasn't moving forward himself, and so Midorifuji was able to recover and attempt a few tsuppari, but he had zero momentum enabling Endoh to turn the tables and get a tsuppari attack of his own going that sent Midorifuji back quickly and then down beyond the straw. Both dudes end the day at 1-3 after this uneventful affair.

M7 Takayasu attempted another moro-te-zuki tachi-ai against M8 Hiradoumi, but there wasn't a ton of power behind it. As for Hiradoumi, he flirted with an early left frontal belt grip but didn't take it and then he just played along with Takayasu's tsuppari attack. The problem was that Takayasu really wasn't connecting with potent thrusts, and so Hiradoumi was able to counter with a nice sideways tsuki that sent Takayasu off balance near the edge.  Hiradoumi didn't bother an attempt to finish off his foe, however, and instead stood there until Takayasu sorta grabbed an outer grip, and from that point Hiradoumi went through the motions of being dashi-nage'd when he was really just running out of the ring of his own volition. This bout was clearly thrown as Takayasu buys his way to 3-1 while I'll give Hiradoumi an A for acting effort as he falls to 1-3.

M8 Kotoeko bounced off of M7 Ohho willingly from the tachi-ai instead of establishing the firm position to the inside, and then when Ohho went for a dumb pull two seconds in, Kotoeko was positioned perfectly to drive him back and across, but he lightly got the right arm inside and left outer grip. Ohho's footing and hip positioning wasn't good the entire way, and he was extremely vulnerable, but Kotoeko just played along until Ohho finally went for a left tsuki-otoshi and Kotoeko's response was to exaggeratedly fly over and out as if Ohho was bringing this power sumo. A big as if. This reminded me of the Sadanoumi - Hokuseiho bout earlier in that Kotoeko could have taken charge at any time during the bout, but he just waited and reacted to his slower, younger opponent. Both rikishi end the day at 1-3 after this fixed bout.

M6 Ryuden easily latched onto the front of M5 Gonoyama's belt from the tachi-ai, but he didn't use it to lift his gal up high or reel her in close. Despite this advantageous position from Ryuden, Gonoyama's response was to go for a pull!!  Ryuden could have eaten his opponent alive this way till Tuesday from that point, but he just lightly played along never fully establishing and arm to the inside nor grabbing a stifling outer grip, so around and around the ring they went until Gonoyama managed to finally force a very willing Ryuden back and across. This was a complete farce as Gonoyama continues to buy bouts in moving to 3-1 while Ryuden makes a little cash here in falling to 1-3.

The next bout was a great example of what happens when someone tries to win against dudes like Gonoyama or M5 Shonannoumi. Today against M6 Onosho, Shonannoumi just stood straight up and was lethargic at the tachi-ai while Onosho caught him nicely with a fist to the jaw and then a few shoves to the chest, and before a back-pedaling Shonannoumi (2-2) could set up a pull, Onosho had him pushed back and across in two seconds. This was Shonannoumi's tachi-ai every day. The difference here is that Onosho wasn't paid off, and so he kicked the youngster's ass in moving to 4-0.

Speaking of lame tachi-ai, M3 Tamawashi purposefully stood straight up and put his hands high and forward against M4 Ura and literally stood there as Ura tried to attempt a left scoop throw. It didn't work fully, and so he had to push a willing Tamawashi over and down by the side, but this was as fake a bout as you'd care to see. I mean, sometimes I'm speechless by what I see take place on the dohyo and then the analysis afterwards as to what just occurred, but this is modern day sumo as Ura moves to 2-2 while Tamawashi falls to 0-4.

Komusubi Nishikigi's footwork was terrible at the tachi-ai, but fortunately for him he was facing Komusubi Tobizaru, and it looked as if Tobizaru owed his opponent a bout. With Nishikigi flailing, Tobizaru sorta went for some pushes before next faking a pull, and then he got his arm inside briefly before deciding to go for another pull and backing himself to the edge where Nishikigi finally scored the final blow. I mean, Nishikigi is clearly the superior rikishi of these two, but his sumo was awful today which tells me he knew the fix was in. Tobizaru's unwillingness to apply any pressure was also an indicator that somebody owed someone something here as Nishikigi moves to 3-1 while Tobizaru is a quiet 2-2.

M4 Takanosho came with the textbook C3P0 arms today against Sekiwake Kotonowaka giving the youngster moro-zashi from the start, and Takanosho made no effort to dig in from there as Baby Waka had him "forced" back and out in about two seconds. If your intention is to lose a bout of sumo, just do what Takanosho did today at the tachi-ai...a point that of course was not mentioned in the analysis afterwards. Kotonowaka was gifted 3-1 here as Takanosho falls to 1-3.

M1 Meisei exhibited a strong tachi-ai knocking Suckiwake Wakamotoharu upright while demanding the left inside position, and Meisei also had the clear path to the right outer grip, but he refrained from taking it and instead stood there waiting for Wakamotoharu to grab a right outer of his own. Once obtained, Meisei did all the work from there backing over to the straw and putting his foot sloppily across despite no pressure or force coming from his opponent. Wakamotoharu was just along for the ride here in this fixed bout that saw Meisei drop to 1-3 while Wakamotoharu is gifted an ill-gotten 2-2 record.

M1 Hokutofuji was getting a bit of pub due to his 3-0 start against the Ozeki, but it goes without saying his last two wins were gifts, and he didn't look that great in his Day 1 win against Takakeisho. Today he was paired against Sekiwake Daieisho, and the Sekiwake connected on some nice thrusts out of the gate against a passive Hokutofuji. I say passive because Hokutofuji's tachi-ai is to put a right hand forward and shade left, and so he leaves himself vulnerable from the start. Daieisho made him pay today by firing perfect shoves into Hokutofuji's body and neck, and it was wham bam thank you ma'am here as Daieisho moves to 2-2 while Hokutofuji suffers his first loss at 3-1.

Ozeki Hoshoryu knocked M3 Shodai back from the tachi-ai hard and had him pushed to the brink in a second flat, but the Ozeki subtly turned his body away form his opponent thinking that a counter tsuki might come. It didn't, and so Hoshoryu squared back up and literally stood there waiting for Shodai to get a left arm inside, and I guess you could call that move a scoop throw form Shodai, but he completely whiffed on it whatever it was. No matter though as Hoshoryu just fell forward and down to the dirt of his own accord. There was no contact from Shodai whatsoever or any attempt at a move. It was simply the Ozeki doing his duty and falling forward and down keeping up this ruse of the Ozeki-byo.

I am so glad I don't have to pretend that this is all real as Hoshoryu willingly falls to 1-3 further justifying Takakeisho's struggles the last few basho or his entire Ozeki career for that matter. As for Shodai, I don't think he ever figured out what hit him, but he came away with his first winna the basho at 1-3!

Just when I thought a bout of sumo couldn't get any more fake or any worse, M2 Asanoyama stepped into the room to face Takakeisho. Now, Asanoyama's rise back up to this point of the division has been farcical, but he's still got a big body and can get into a nice yotsu clinch from the tachi-ai. Today against an ailing opponent, however, he just kept his hands pointing down signaling to Takakeisho that he was at the faux-zeki's bidding. Takakeisho barely made contact from the tachi-ai, and so Asanoyama kept his hands low as he moved slowly to his right waiting for a kill shot, but it never came, and so Asanoyama got the right arm lightly inside and still shaded right hoping for a pull down attempt. It never came, but it doesn't matter in sumo; you feel your opponent touch the back of your neck and then you just dive down to the dirt, and that's exactly what Asanoyama did here. I really believe that everyone in the arena knew this bout was fixed it was that obvious, but everyone continues to just play along with the ruse and pretend it's all real. That it isn't as Takakeisho is gifted 3-1 while Asanoyama graciously assumes 2-2.

In the day's final affair, Ozeki Kirishima was paired against M2 Abi, and Abi came with a nice moro-te-zuki tachi-ai, but there was not enough force behind it to knock Kirishima backwards. Didn't matter though as Kirishima just leaned forward waiting to be pulled, and when Abi went for the first slapdown motion, the Ozeki put his palms lamely to the dohyo floor without coming close to touching anything else down. This was as controlled of a fall as it gets and apparently Kirishima is also suffering from the Ozeki sickness.

To watch these three bouts in succession was really insulting to my intelligence, and if you weren't equally insulted, you've got some issues. Abi moves to 3-1 with the gift while Kirishima now falls to 2-2, and just like that, King Takakeisho has the best record among the Ozeki.

In a best case scenario, Takakeisho would end up taking the yusho, but you can't keep faking bouts like this. It's one thing to have his opponents back up from the tachi-ai while Takakeisho pretends to execute a tsuppari attack, but these fake falls are obvious and dangerous. For that reason, I don't see Takakeisho taking the yusho, but if he doesn't, who else is there??

At this point--and I know it's way early, I'd say that Kirishima is the favorite to yusho. Somebody needs to settle down and carry this basho, and there's really nobody else but Kirishima. I can see Kotonowaka continuing a run and flirting with promotion to Ozeki, but it's really too early to call anything.

With that, we'll wait for tomorrow to see if we can get a fairly solid day of sumo.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Just three days into the festivities, and it looks as if we're headed for another 12-3 yusho. All of the rikishi featured in media reports pre-basho and the Day 1 broadcast have already suffered at least one loss, and then you watch the last 15 to 20 minutes of the broadcast each day and there's no substance there. You'd think things would get better and stronger the further you got into the day (and higher up the banzuke), but yaocho is just ruining the experience for anyone who cares to notice.

At the start of the Day 3 broadcast today, they featured a new Juryo rikishi, Takahashi, and so NHK has already run out of Makuuchi ammo after the second day. Perhaps by Friday we'll get a better feel for who is going to occupy the leaderboard in week 2, but right now you have no one stepping up legitimately and no legitimate rikishi allowed to set a standard for others to follow.

With that as our backdrop, we head to the Day 3 bouts starting with M17 Daishoho vs. M15 Chiyoshoma and both rikishi struck well with Chiyoshoma taking advantage of a high kachi-age attempt from DSH to grab an early left outer grip. The problem was that Chiyoshoma didn't try to do anything with that grip and his opponent up high, and so he let Daishoho work into his own left outer grip, cut off Chiyoshoma's outer grip rather easily, and then score the force-out win with no counter attempt coming from Chiyoshoma. Daishoho picks up his first win leaving both of these dudes at 1-2, and it's worth noting that Chiyoshoma made no effort to win this bout.

Speaking of not trying to win, M14 Aoiyama abandoned his bread and butter--the tsuppari attack-- in favor of standing straight up against M16 Tsurugisho and keeping his arms loose so TS could get to the inside. As Tsurugisho pressed forward, Aoiyama attempted the ever so effective move of lifting one knee into the air and opting to fight one-legged. Ever effective if your intention is to lose, and that was the case here as Tsurugisho easily assumed the right inside position and forced (yawn) Aoiyama (0-3) back and across with no resistance. Tsurugisho buys one here in moving to 2-1.

M16 Kagayaki was of the same attitude as Aoiyama from the tachi-ai standing up straight and not bothering to move forward against M13 Nishikifuji. With Kagayaki's arms completely high and out of play, it enabled NFJ to get the right arm inside, but he only got it forearm deep and supposedly looked to set up a kata-sukashi, but before he could actually make contact with Kagayaki's shoulder, Kagayaki just dove down to the dirt. Watch the instant replay and you'll see that Nishikifuji doesn't even make contact with Kagayaki's shoulder. It's the latter who just anticipated the move and hit the dirt before his foe could touch him. Shullbit all the way here as Kagayaki soils himself at 1-2 while Nishikifuji moves to 2-1.

M15 Atamifuji kept his left side open from the tachi-ai enabling M13 Myogiryu to get the right inside, but it was clear that Myogiryu wasn't trying to press in tight...or seize the left inside which was there for the taking. I mean, he was trying to do everything not to get moro-zashi, but Atamifuji couldn't defend himself, and so when Myogiryu was on the cusp of moro-zashi, he just backed up to the center of the ring and let Atamifuji recover.

Atamifuji was still in zero position to attack, but you knew the bout was arranged in his favor. The dude attempted a very weak kime-dashi but slipped out of the move, and as he did, Myogiryu had the right inside belt grip and clear path to a dashi-nage victory or even yori-kiri, but he just stopped in his tracks and waited for Atamifuji to set up a left kote-nage, and the grip was as weak as ever, but Myogiryu just played along and ran forward and down as if his opponent had thrown him down with the over arm grip. As if. This bout was so fake I'm not sure I can go on as Atamifuji is the weakest 3-0 you'd care to see while Myogiryu is a bit richer now at 1-2.

We finally got our first straight up bout with M14 Kotoshoho and M12 Sadanoumi, but the bout was not technically sound. Kotoshoho meant well coming out of his stance with a few tsuppari, but Sadanoumi brushed it aside as he shaded left, and just that little change up from the Sadamight sent Kotoshoho into pull mode, and as he looked to set that up, Sadanoumi pounced catching KSH with a paw to the face before pushing him back and down. Kotoshoho (1-2) managed a quick counter tsuki-otoshi that made this one close, but he definitely hit his knee down first before Sadanoumi (3-0) touched down.

At this point of the broadcast, they announced the retirement of Tokushoryu, a rikishi whose claim to fame was buying the yusho at the 2020 Hatsu basho. He did win at least one legit bout that basho against Takakeisho on senshuraku (they showed the replay), so I guess there was that.

Moving right along, M11 Mitakeumi stepped into the ring against M11 Hokuseiho, and Hokuseiho was his usual slow self at the tachi-ai standing straight up and leaving his insides wide open, and Mitakeumi took advantage nicely pushing the youngster back and across by the tits, and that was that. Mitakeumi moves to 3-0 with the nice effort while Hokuseiho falls to 1-2.

Neither M12 Takarafuji nor M10 Endoh could figure out what they wanted to do from the tachi-ai, so you had a bout that wasn't oshi-zumo or yotsu-zumo. Instead, you had two dudes mildly socially distanced who danced this way and that a bit, but in the end, Endoh sensed a slapdown was coming and just hit the dirt before Takarafuji actually made contact. Who knows what was arranged here, but this was a terrible bout of sumo as Takarafuji moves to 2-1 with Endoh falling to 0-3.

M8 Hiradoumi was quick outta the gate against M10 Kinbohzan getting his left hand to the front of Kinbohzan's belt, and as he looked to force his opponent back, Kinbohzan abandoned his own left inside position and went for a mammoth kubi-nage throw with the right that sent a startled Hiradoumi wildly down about two seconds into the bout. The sheer difference in size and strength provided the result here as Kinbohzan moves to 3-0 while Hiradoumi will be licking his wounds after this one at 1-2.

In another laugher of a bout, neither M8 Kotoeko nor M9 Midorifuji wanted to go chest to chest with each other, so you had this light oshi contest where Kotoeko gave ground little by little just waiting for Midorifuji's kata-sukashi to come. Problem was they weren't chest to chest, which is when you normally see that move, and Midorifuji executed it from a distance, and that was Kotoeko's cue to turn and just step out of the ring leaving both dudes at 1-2. This was the second kata-sukashi bout on the day where little to no contact was made.

M7 Ohho was proactive from the tachi-ai using a few shoves to try and keep M6 Ryuden at bay, but the latter eventually forced the bout to hidari-yotsu where the two dug in nicely. Ryuden had the clear path to the right outer grip, but he decided to grab Ohho's sagging tit instead. He let it go after a second or two but then he grabbed it again copping another feel, and at this point I thought Ohho was going to start lactating. Ryuden must have sensed this too because he traded the left tit for a right outer belt grip, and once he had that secured, the yori-taoshi was academic. Can't say I've seen a tit grab like that before, but I'll take it as Ryuden moves to 1-2 with Ohho falling to 0-3.

M7 Takayasu came with a moro-te-zuki from the tachi-ai against M6 Onosho, but it didn't move Onosho back at all, and so Onosho was able to shade a bit right and set up the firm left inside position against a higher opponent. For some reason, Onosho refused to grab a right outer grip there for the taking, and at one point he was actually resting the right hand on Takayasu's belt, but he never actually grabbed it. Takayasu was largely had at this point, and so he went for a weak pull that did nothing as he looked to duck back into the bout, but Onosho caught his foe with a pull of his own that turned Takayasu around 180 degrees, and from there it was as easy of an okuri-dashi as you please by Onosho who moves to 3-0 with the win while Takayasu suffers his first defeat at 2-1.

In one of the worst tachi-ai you'll ever see, M4 Ura ducked down and moved left sorta reaching for M5 Shonannoumi's left leg as part of an ashi-tori attempt, but it was half assed at best enabling Shonannoumi to square up quickly with the right arm underneath his foe, and there was nowhere for Ura to go but back across the straw. It lasted maybe two seconds and I'm trying to figure out why people would actually applaud this sumo, but applaud they did as Shonannoumi moves to 2-1 with Ura falling to 1-2.

M4 Takanosho came with the perfect C3P0 arms and even shaded a bit left for good measure against M5 Gonoyama, and that enabled Gonoyama to easily drive into his opponent and send him back in about two seconds. If you want to let your opponent win--which is what Takanosho was trying to do here, just leave your arms wide open and stand straight up at the tachi-ai as Takanosho (1-2) did today. Gonoyama moves to 2-1 with the gift.

At this point, we got our usual disturbance in the Force as M2 Asanoyama stepped onto the dohyo to face Komusubi Nishikigi. The two went chest to chest from the tachi-ai hooking up in migi-yotsu, and it felt like at least 10 bouts since we had seen a good tachi-ai like this. As both dudes dug in, Asanoyama grabbed a handful of sagari with the left, and he held onto them for a bit because he was so far away from a left outer. As for Nishikigi, I thought he coulda grabbed a left outer of his own at any point, but he refrained and continued to lean in chest to chest. The two dug in for about 12 seconds at this point before Nishikigi went for a maki-kae with the left. Asanoyama was too slow to take advantage of the momentum shift, and so he panicked going for a maki-kae with his own left, but before he could get anything going, Nishikigi just dumped him to the dirt which was now an outer belt grip.

This was a pretty good bout of sumo between two big dudes who decided to fight chest to chest. Asanoyama was completely reactionary after they got into the clinch, but it was still a decent bout of sumo. It was an easy peasy win for Nishikigi who moves to 2-1 while Asanoyama suffers his first defeat falling to 2-1 as well.

Speaking of Asanoyama, they waited to show the top three streamed bouts from yesterday until about 5:35 PM...well after this bout here. Not sure why they waited so long instead of showing it early as they usually do, but here they are from Day 2:

#1 Kotonowaka - Asanoyama
#2 Hokutofuji - Hoshoryu
#3 Nishikigi - Takakeisho

Moving right along, Sekiwake Wakamotoharu had to have been glad to see M3 Shodai across the starting lines because he had an opponent he didn't have to pay to beat. The two made a nice slapping sound at the tachi-ai as Wakamotoharu came with a nice right nodowa into Shodai's neck before they hooked up in hidari-yotsu, and with Shodai up too high, WMH easily grabbed a right outer grip and used it to bully Shodai around and ultimately across the straw for the nice yori-kiri win. Wakamotoharu picks up his first win at 1-2 while Shodai is a paltry 0-3.

M2 Abi caught Sekiwake Daieisho with two hands to the throat standing the Sekiwake upright, and Abi used his lower body perfectly to drive Daieisho back across the straw and down into Kotonishiki's lap sitting ringside in the West judge's seat. This was an ass kicking through and through, and prior to the bout they were trying to keep Ozeki talk alive for Daieisho, but how can you even consider it after this bout and this bad start?? Great stuff from Abi today who moves to 2-1 while Daieisho falls to 1-2.

M3 Tamawashi caught Suckiwake Kotonowaka nicely from the tachi-ai with a paw to the throat, and that lifted Baby Waka upright from the get-go, but The Mawashi purposefully whiffed with a right thrust and completely exposed his right side to his foe in the process, and Kotonowaka easily took advantage from there getting the left arm inside while pushing the willing Tamawashi with the right hand, and that enabled him to dispatch Tamawashi in about three seconds. Tamawashi (0-3) obviously threw this one in gifting Kotonowaka a 2-1 start.

Takakeisho was flat-footed from the tachi-ai and looked too arsed to do anything but stand straight up against M1 Meisei, but Meisei just weakly came forward with these light, baby tsuppari, and so you knew a pull was coming or that Takakeisho was going to move left and swipe wildly. We got kinda half and half where Takakeisho lazily shaded left a half step putting his arm towards Meisei's neck, and that was Meisei's cue to just lightly drop himself down to the dirt. I mean really? This bout was so fake it was insulting, and Takakeisho looks as if he can barely move this basho. Still, he magically finds himself at 2-1 while Meisei falls to 1-2.

Not even Mainoumi could spin his way out of this one, and he honestly said that Takakeisho failed to move forward from the tachi-ai before speculating that Takakeisho is suffering from neck issues. I would believe that because the dude looked paralyzed today. I don't think Takakeisho's hanging around the yusho race is even a possibility in this condition. We'll see if they can hoist him to eight wins, but I don't see how he can do anymore than that.

M1 Hokutofuji's tachi-ai was terrible as he failed to connect on a tsuppari against Ozeki Kirishima as Hokutofuji shaded left, and Kirishima had the wide open path the left inside. He instinctively moved in that direction but then pulled his arms away instead looking to set up a pull that would of course never come. With Kirishima fishing for a pull, Hokutofuji went for a bad pull himself and tripped himself near the edge, but the Ozeki purposefully didn't pounce and instead just let the M1 recover. As if. With Kirishima standing upright, Hokutofuji managed a weak right outer grip, and instead of digging in with the left inside, Kirishima just backed his way across the straw and out.

Kirishima was clearly covering for Takakeisho in this one has he falls to 2-1, and it just ruins sumo every day to see the shenanigans going on among the Ozeki ranks. As for Hokutofuji, he moves to a gifted 3-0 but has looked terrible all three days. Even in his wins over Takakeisho on Day 1, the dude's tachi-ai was bad and he was never grounded to the dohyo. What a complete farce.

And speaking of a complete farce, in the day's final affair, Ozeki Hoshoryu aligned his feet and stood upright against Komusubi Tobizaru, but the problem was that Tobizaru wasn't moving forward, and so Hoshoryu did his best Frogger imitation and hopped forward once, and then twice all while ducking as low as you can get, and Tobizaru finally managed to push him out of the ring at the last moment. I mean, Hoshoryu was going to hop his way out of the ring anyway, but this was just silly. I honestly don't know how the fans put up with this, but put up with it they do as Hoshoryu falls to 1-2 with Tobizaru moving to 2-1.

As I was searching the wires at the end of the day for pictures, I saw this headline from Sports Hochi: "Hoshoryu, I'll let you in a little secret. This is what they call Ozeki disease."

And there you have it...a headline that emphasizes to the fans that this is just what happens to the Ozeki, so accept it.

In reality, this is what happens when the Mongolian rikishi are forced to cover for fake Japanese Ozeki, and so they're chalking it up to a non-existent "Ozeki-byou," or Ozeki Disease. We'll see if they continue to glom onto that term moving forward.

I've definitely seen better starts to a basho in my three decades of watching sumo, and I'm really struggling to find anything positive three days in.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The theme of the Day 2 broadcast focused on newly-promoted Komusubi, Nishikigi. NHK usually devotes a day to anyone who has assumed a new tier on the banzuke (new Juryo rikishi, Makuuchi rookie, new sanyaku rikishi, etc.) and today was Nishikigi's day in the sun. They used the first few minutes before the day's action to highlight Nishikigi, and then they spent some more time on him during the break in between Makuuchi bouts.

What really stood out about the dude is that nothing really stands out about him. I think he's one of the better Japanese rikishi on the banzuke, but he doesn't come from an elite stable, and so there's not a ton of financial backing behind him. It appears to me that Nishikigi is one of those guys who is really good, but he's stuck in the game of winning enough bouts to keep himself on the banzuke while selling other bouts to make enough money to either purchase a share of oyakata stock or retire comfortably when he hangs it up.

In regards to this basho and his appeal to sumo fans in general, there isn't a whole lot there to market, so while he did get his day in the sun today, I think it's going to be one of those 15 minutes of fame moments. Regarding the dude, I believe I stated yesterday that he required 108 basho reach Komusubi. They showed that number again today, and it was actually 103 basho, which equates to just over 17 years in sumo. It's really tough to market someone whose been around that long, which is why he won't be a focus moving forward.

For what it's worth, this is a graph they showed that tracked Nishikigi's movements up and down the banzuke over the last five years:



Red=Sanyaku
Blue=Makuuchi
Green=Juryo

Day 2 began with M16 Kagayaki taking on M16 Tsurugisho, and the tachi-ai was light from both parties as Kagayaki got his left arm inside and high, and but instead of pulling TS in snug and reaching for the right outer, Kagayaki literally turned himself around and put his back to the edge of the dohyo allowing Tsurugisho to catch up and sorta score the force out. The word that stood out to me most in the analysis afterwards was "chutohanpa," or half-assed. They used that multiple times because this bout contained no phyisical exertion from either party as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

M15 Atamifuji has made his return after languishing in Juryo the entire year, and today he was paired against M17 Daishoho. The tachi-ai was much better here as both dudes assumed the hidari-yotsu position before crouching low, and normally this would be a contest of who can grab the right outer first. Atamifuji was too far away from it, and Daishoho simply refused to grab it even though his fingers grazed the belt at one point, but you could see he wasn't trying to grab it. As a result, he allowed Atamifuji to break off his left inside belt grip, and from there, Daishoho (0-2) just stood straight up and let Atamifuji (2-0) win in unspectacular fashion.

M15 Chiyoshoma had the path to the inside from the tachi-ai after M14 Kotoshoho came in way too high, but the Mongolian backed up instead inviting KSH to come forward and so something. As I always say, Kotoshoho wasn't the cause of Chiyoshoma's backwards momentum, and so he wasn't in a position to take advantage, so it was Chiyoshoma getting the left inside position and right outer grip. KSH was had at this point, but Chiyoshoma faked an outer belt throw/dashi-nage allowing KSH to move the action back to the center of the ring, but Kotoshoho still wasn't in position to attack.

After a lengthy stalemate, Chiyoshoma went for another half-assed charge that was really an excuse to leave himself vulnerable, but Kotoshoho was too gassed, so he couldn't finish on a kata-sukashi, and he finally needed Chiyoshoma to just dive to the dirt as if a nage-no-uchi-ai had occurred. Kotoshoho certainly didn't throw, but his left arm was to the inside so they ruled it sukui-nage. In watching the replays, you can't find a single thing that Kotoshoho did to win this bout. It was all Chiyoshoma who threw it in fine fashion as both rikishi end up at 1-1.

M13 Myogiryu was half-assed at the tachi-ai letting M13 Nishikifuji do what he wanna, and NFJ got the left arm inside up high, and Myogiryu actually put his right arm in kubi-nage fashion as if to say "do me now," but Nishikifuji didn't have the momentum to score the win. Though vulnerable throughout, Myogiryu never made a move to defeat his opponent, and this was a listless yori-kiri in the end as both rikishi move to 1-1.

That's four bouts and four yaocho right out of the gate for ya.

At this point of the broadcast, they listed the three most streamed bouts from yesterday as follows:

#1 Asanoyama - Wakamotoharu
#2 Hokutofuji - Takakeisho
#3 Abi - Hoshoryu

With very little to get excited about so far in the tournament, I can see how Asanoyama will maintain that position at the top.

Up next was M14 Aoiyama vs. M12 Sadanoumi, and Aoiyama offered his hands forward from the tachi-ai, but his feet stood still, so he was a sitting duck from the start. As for Sadanoumi, he certainly didn't take charge from the get-go, but after two seconds he went for a reckless inashi swipe with the left, and that was Aoiyama's cue to just plod over to the side and straight outta the ring. Nobody cared here as Aoiyama sells his way to 0-2 while Sadanoumi buys one in moving to 2-0.

In another boring bout, M11 Mitakeumi and M12 Takarafuji moved forward looking to hook up elbow deep, and you really couldn't call this one yotsu-zumo as they just sorta locked up in shallow fashion. What was obvious is that the veteran Takarafuji was not trying ti get inside or establish any kind of solid position, and so he finally moved to his right faking a pull, and that allowed Mitakeumi to score the easy push-out win that wasn't set up by anything Mitakeumi did. Wow, every bout has been fixed to this point as Mitakeumi oils his way to 2-0 while Takarafuji falls to 1-1.

M11 Hokuseiho left himself wide open at the tachi-ai giving M10 Endoh moro-zashi two seconds in, and with Hokuseiho upright and Endoh a bit to the side, the soto-gake for Endoh was wide open with the left leg, but he merely flinched at the move until Hokuseiho went for a weak right kote-nage, but the youngster was up so high, he was completely vulnerable to another leg trip. Endoh hooked his left leg around Hokuseiho's right, but he didn't try and trip him over, and so the two settled into a stalemate in the center of the ring. They stood that way for about a minute until Hokuseiho finally went for a kime-dashi, and Endoh did nothing to defend it. Another arranged bout as Hokuseiho buys his way to 1-1 while Endoh is a quiet 0-2.

M8 Kotoeko thought about a henka to his right against M10 Kinbohzan, but he didn't commit, and so Kinbohzan was onto him like white to rice from the start. Eko's only response (and chance) was to escape around the ring to his left fishing for a pull, but Kinbohzan stayed snug getting his arms sufficiently inside, and just as Kotoeko made it around a quarter of the ring, Kinbohzan pounced and sent Kotoeko into the lap of the referee waiting ringside. That was pretty cool, and the difference in power between these two was on full display here as he we finally got our first straight up bout on the day. Kinbohzan has been kicking ass and taking names so far at 2-0 while Kotoeko looked feeble here in falling to 1-1.

M9 Midorifuji and M8 Hiradoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Hiradoumi pressed in tight looking for the left outer grip. His crocodile arms didn't let him get it, but he had his chest pressed in so tight that Midorifuji couldn't execute anything let alone think about a kata-sukashi. As Midorifuji tried to maneuver laterally, Hiradoumi continued to stay snug, and Hiradoumi was eventually able to knock Midorifuji upright at the edge to where he forced him safely across for the nice win. The straight up sumo is obvious as Hiradoumi moves to 1-1 while Midorifuji is hapless at 0-2.

M6 Onosho struck well from the tachi-ai against M7 Ohho jabbing with the left before moving that way and going for a pull. It didn't throw Ohho off balance all the way, but it sent the fruit of Taiho's loins moving to his own left, and he just stumbled over his own two feet as he went for a pull allowing Onosho to attack from a nice, low stance and send Ohho back and across with little argument. Onosho moves to 2-0 with the nice win while Ohho is his usual hapless self at 0-2.

M7 Takayasu's win over this same Ohho yesterday was legit, but he faced as tall of an order as it gets today in M6 Ryuden. Well, that's if Ryuden was trying to win this one, but he unfortunately wasn't. He stood straight up at the tachi-ai and actually could have gotten underneath Takayasu's outstretched arms due to Takayasu's weak charge, but instead Ryuden moved to his left and anticipated a swipe from Takayasu. It really didn't come, but no matter as Ryuden just put both hands to the deck about two seconds in and then rolled all the way to the other side of the dohyo. I'd love for someone to point out the force that came from Takayasu that caused Ryuden to stop, drop, and roll like that, but alas...it just wasn't there. These guys cannot help themselves as Takayasu buys win number two while Ryuden haplessly and purposefully falls to 0-2. I mean, when you have a harem like Ryuden does, you need a lot of cash to please all those gals.

Speaking of gals, after the bout we got a close-up of a new fan in attendance who I've never seen at the sumos before. This...um...person was sitting in the second row on the West side, and I'm dying to know who gave her the ticket. I'll watch for her here on out, and when I first saw her, I thought one of those doll characters had escaped from a horror film. I do think the dog collar is a nice touch, however, and if wearing a dog collar improves one's enjoyment of watching these sumo bouts, I'll start searching on Amazon.

Getting back to the fake bouts, M4 Takanosho destroyed M5 Shonannoumi from the tachi-ai getting moro-zashi easy as you please against the defenseless rikishi before moving him back two full steps, but instead of finishing off the yori-kiri job, Takanosho just stopped and waited for Shonannoumi to go for a left maki-kae.  The move itself was extremely poor, but Takanosho did not make him pay, and not only did he not make him pay, but he didn't even try, and so with Takanosho standing there as if he had been tied up by the dog collar girl, Shonannoumi attempted something that they called a scoop throw, but it was really Takanosho just stepping his foot across in obvious fashion. Both rikishi end the day at 1-1, and sometimes I can only shake my head in disbelief at what they allow to go on here.

M4 Ura was a half second late at the tachi-ai, but no matter as M5 Gonoyama charged hard putting his hands in pull fashion before just standing upright and backing up sideways to the edge of the ring. Gonoyama clearly anticipated a quick shove from Ura to finish him off, but Ura didn't cause that retreat, so he certainly wasn't ready to capitalize on it, and so you had Gonoyama just standing there for an awkward second or two before Ura finally made some contact that "pushed" Gonoyama across. I guess with the lack of intriguing storylines this basho, they're decided to dust Ura off as both rikishi move to 1-1.

Komusubi Tobizaru executed an awful tachi-ai against M3 Tamawashi standing upright and moving to his right, and despite Tamawashi's catching him with a nice left stiff arm, The Mawashi didn't bother to square up to his foe instead opting to obliviously move forward into thin air as Tobizaru grabbed him by the left arm and tugged him across. Tamawashi played it up by stumbling into the front row, but this was as staged of a match as you'd care to see. Tobizaru buys one here in moving to 1-1 while Tamawashi needs acting lessons at 0-2.

Shodai's strategy against Sekiwake Daieisho was to just lean his big body forward at the tachi-ai in an attempt to apply pressure, and it caused Daieisho to rethink his life for a second or two, but after spinning his wheels for a bit, Daieisho finally dusted off his tsuppari attack and pushed Shodai across the ring and out with little fanfare. You'd really like to see Daieisho crush Shodai back from the tachi-ai, but only a legit Ozeki candidate could do that. Daieisho will take the win in moving to 1-1 while Shodai falls to a quiet 0-2.

The tremor in the force signaled that fan favorite M2 Asanoyama had stepped into the dohyo to take on another fraud Ozeki candidate in Sekiwake Kotonowaka. Kotonowaka left himself vulnerable at the tachi-ai keeping his arms in kachi-age fashion but never delivering the blows. As for Asanoyama, he charged forward well I suppose, but it was without a purpose, and so the Sekiwake was easily able to move right and go for a quick pull that had Asanoyama with his back against the straw two seconds in. Kotonowaka scored on a nice push into Asanoyama's jaw, but he didn't follow up with the right hand intentionally allowing Asanoyama to escape to his right and search for a scoop throw grip, but it never came to fruition, and so once again Asanoyama had his back to the wall with nary a pot to piss in with Kotonowaka bearing in tight. Instead of nudging Asanoyama back that final step or firing a stiff arm into Asanoyama's chest--something he could have done multiple times during the bout, Kotonowaka backed up to the other side of the dohyo. As Asanoyama advanced, Kotonowaka got the right arm in perfect scoop throw fashion, and the momentum of the bout would have called for him to counter with that scoop throw at the edge, but he quietly refrained and literally stood there at the edge waiting for Asanoyama to come up with a left kote-nage, and it wasn't really a throw with any power behind it, but no matter as Kotonowaka just flopped forward and down to the dirt. As if.

Yet again we see Asanoyama come away with the win after doing nothing whatsoever to set it up, but it's obvious he's the best sumo's got going or them right now as he is gifted a 2-0 start. As for Kotonowaka, a Sekiwake he isn't, but he dominated this one start to finish in falling to 1-1.

Rounding out the Sekiwake, Wakamotoharu welcomed M2 Abi, and this was a silly bout that saw Abi catch WMH and stand him up high with a nice moro-te-zuki charge, and as Abi moved to his right to set up some sort of shenanigans, Wakamotoharu just flopped down to the dirt before a legit pull ever came. I mean, Abi did win the tachi-ai here, but it sure looked like someone paid somebody else to do something. Whatever as Abi moves to 1-1 while Wakamotoharu falls to 0-2. So much for Ozeki talk.

Ozeki Kirishima reached forward at the tachi-ai against M1 Meisei looking for a quick pull with the right as he shaded left, and this is exactly how you'd try and set up a kata-sukashi, but the Ozeki never went for the move despite Meisei's being hamstrung from the tachi-ai. With Meisei neutralized, Kirishima stayed on the move threatening a kata-sukashi or a pull for five seconds or so, but he never did go for broke on a move. As Meisei looked to hop out of the position, he hit the straw awkwardly and flopped over and down with very little contact coming from the Ozeki. Not sure what this was, but it wasn't good sumo as Kirishima waltzes his way to 2-0 while Meisei falls to 1-1.

In my intro yesterday, I talked about how the Mongolian rikishi are obligated to lower the bar and make it seem as if they experience the same pain that Takakeisho goes through. Takakeisho starts off Nagoya as kyujo; Kirishima goes kyujo in Nagoya. Takakeisho is kadoban this basho; Kirishima is kadoban this basho.

And that's not even mentioning Terunofuji. The Yokozuna is not injured whatsoever. He's refraining from competing this basho for several reasons:

1. Going kyujo brings him closer to Takakeisho's poor performance this year that has included multiple kyujo.
2. Going kyujo frees up the yusho race. The odds of a Japanese rikishi taking the yusho change dramatically with Terunofuji out of the fray.
3. Going kyujo frees up 13-14 wins that would have been tallied by the Yokozuna and gives them back to the field.
4. Japanese rikishi ranked in the sanyaku and above fight one extra lower-ranked rikishi instead of the Yokozuna thus significantly increasing the probability of a higher win count.
5. Going kyujo frequently mirrors exactly the haplessness of the most recent Japanese Yokozuna, Kisenosato.

Like it or not, the Mongolian rikishi are lowering the bar dramatically to create a sense of parity, especially among the elite ranks of the sport. It's something that Ozeki Hoshoryu is going to experience from here on out, and today was yet another example.

M1 Hokutofuji was completely exposed at the tachi-ai today with arms high and wide, and while Ozeki Hoshoryu came forward, he didn't attempt to get an arm inside and bring his gal in snug. Hokutofuji's charge was so bad he found himself near the edge in two seconds flat, but instead of getting moro-zashi or executing a methodical oshi-dashi, Hoshoryu moved right faking a grab at the back of Hokutofuji's belt. That motion enabled Hokutofuji to move back towards the center of the ring and beyond, and as Hoshoryu approached after the failed belt grab, he purposefully ducked right into a Hokutofuji shoulder slap easy as you please flopping to the dirt for added emphasis. This is one of those dives where Hoshoryu actually aligned his feet before diving down as seen in the pic at right, but whatever.

Takakeisho loses to Hokutofuji; Hoshoryu loses to Hokutofuji.

With the loss, Hoshoryu falls to 1-1 and more importantly signals to the fans that Hokutofuji (2-0) is a rikishi capable of beating these Ozeki.

In the day's final affair, Takakeisho was paired against the overly-hyped Komusubi Nishikigi, and Nishikigi promptly did nothing from the tachi-ai leaving his hands open wide, which allowed Takakeisho to attempt a tsuppari attack. Said attack wasn't moving Nishikigi anywhere, but with the Komusubi clearly just standing there, Takakeisho moved left going for a mediocre swipe, and that was NG's cue to just flop forward and put both palms down without putting up a fight.

Coupla yaocho to end the day never hurt anybody as both rikishi finish at 1-1.

It's way too early to call anything at this point, but it's clear that they're going to ride Asanoyama as long as they can in the absence of anything else.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I began checking the news wires a week before the basho, but that can't miss storyline heading into the Aki basho never really surfaced. There was speculation as to what Terunofuji would do (he unsurprisingly decided to withdraw citing lower back issues), and Takayasu roughed Takakeisho up in a keiko session, but there really wasn't and isn't a lead storyline heading into the tournament.

One main reason for the lack of an angle the media could glom onto is that Asanoyama has started to plateau. He was roughed up last basho, ultimately withdrew, and then came back the last few days to be gifted kachi-koshi, but rising from M4 to M2 in two months hardly generates the headlines.

We also don't have any rookies this time around, and the only two dudes assuming a new rank worth noting are Hoshoryu (Ozeki) and Nishikigi (Komusubi). In Hoshoryu's case, the Ozeki announcement happens three days after the previous basho, so there was no real news there, and in the case of Nishikigi, well, he's Nishikigi, and that dude is never going to generate headlines.

I think I saw a graphic somewhere that said it took Nishikigi something like 108 basho to reach the sanyaku, and so that's like 17 years and change worth of sumo to stumble onto that milestone, so that's not really a story to get stiff about either.

In short, the media has very little material to work with in terms of generating basho hype, so that does not bode well for the tournament.

As for the Day 1 broadcast, they began with a comparison of two Ozeki in Kirishima and Takakeisho. They showed both of their yusho boards side by side in the Kokugikan, and then they reviewed their recent records for the year as follows (those are Takakeisho's stats on the left):



What really intrigues me is the little Jedi mind tricks they try and play with these numbers. They had to go back to January so they could list 12 wins from Takakeisho and show that he took the yusho, but with Kirishima, they only went back three basho. I mean, why not show his results over the same time period? The reason is because Kirishima posted 40 wins the first four basho of the year that includes his purposefully bad performance in July while Takakeisho has only 23 wins the entire year. And when I say "wins," maybe two of them were legit.

If you take the graphics that NHK posted, you see 29 wins for Kirishima and 23 wins for Takakeisho.  If you treat both dudes equally by going back just three basho, Takakeisho only has 11 wins (and no yusho) the last three basho while Kirishima has 29 win plus a yusho.

After showing these numbers, they showed clips from a general keiko session that occurred on September 2nd. All of the Makuuchi rikishi show up for this general keiko session, and then everyone has to pretend to want to be the next opponent during moshi-ai-geiko.

NHK showed two bouts between Kirishima and Takakeisho featuring a win by each rikishi. In Kirishima's case, he destroyed Takakeisho easily, and then for the Takakeisho "win," Kirishima kept his body up high and his right arm in no man's land (pictured at right) as he waited for Takakeisho to push him out. Kirishima was so mukiryoku that Takakeisho actually came up limping because his toe got caught in the dohyo as he stumbled forward during the oshi-dashi and then ultimately down to the venue floor in a hapless-looking moment.

The point of this entire introduction was twofold. 1) They wanted to attempt to create parity between the two Ozeki, and 2) with the lack of any other storylines, they have to present these two dudes as the most likely to carry the basho.

We'll see how long that lasts because on Day 1, Hokutofuji beat Takakeisho twice in nearly identical bouts. Takakeisho's attack was as limp as ever, and so Hokutofuji was able to pull him down twice. They called a mono-ii the first time because Hokutofuji's heel was dangerously close to touching out, but they ordered a redo where Hokutofuji made it more definitive on the second go-around.

As Takakeisho walked back to the dressing rooms, it looked as if he was sporting a dirt bra. I can't say I've ever seen a dude wearing a dirt bra before like this, but it did give me a new idea for a request I can make to that gal who I subscribe to on Only Fans.

Beyond these two Ozeki, NHK tried to play up the three Sekiwake in Daieisho, Wakamotoharu, and Kotonowaka. They showed all three of these dudes in a row with their records the last two basho as follows:



As you can see, each has 19 wins over the last two basho, and so they spun this in the context of...the Ozeki rank is not out of reach for any of these guys. Except it is, but I'll play along.

NHK has gotta do what its gotta do, but none of these three Sekiwake are legit nor can they carry a basho. It doesn't mean that they can't buy wins hand over fist, but it's a weak storyline at best.

I thought the best moment of the Day 1 broadcast was the clip where the current commissioner, Hakkaku-oyakata, did his Kanreiki Yokozuna Dohyo-iri. Kanreiki is a term used for people who reach 60 years of age, and it's symbolic because it means a person has gone through the zodiac cycle five times. In sumo, former Yokozuna are given the opportunity to perform a kanreiki dohyo-iri while wearing a red belt (red is the symbolic color of a kanreiki), and I must say, the former Hokutoumi looked pretty good there sporting that red belt.



I don't have time to comment on the specific action from Day 1, but I wanted to point out the initial narratives NHK is floating out there starting from Day 1 in an attempt to hype up the current basho.

I'll start touching on all of the bouts with Day 2.