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Senshuraku Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
Osaka is traditionally the crazy tournament where odd things happen and exciting narratives play out. It is the kind of tournament for a ridiculous Kaisei yusho, and we were primed for that after Tochinoshin's shocker win in January. It would have been a great basho for Takayasu to rise up and thrill the crowd by taking his first yusho. Or for Goeido to net his second, sending the local faithful into a tizzy. Or for someone like Mitakeumi or Takakeisho to emerge in a flash of young brilliance and take home the trophy.

None of that, of course, happened, and we had about as routine a tournament as is possible. There is one Yokozuna, and he took the yusho. Duh. Sumo has been so up and down and all around over the last few years that this very outcome seems strange to us, but of course it shouldn't. Did it feel boring? Yes, it did. But we should be happy for Kaisei's fun run, and I can't begrudge Kakuryu a fourth yusho. He's been good enough to get that.

As we go through, in addition to covering the matches, we'll touch briefly on how each wrestler's tournament went overall.

J2 Aminishiki (7-7) vs. M15 Myogiryu (6-8)
That Aminishiki. You have to hand it to him. He tried a henka on a false-start, so I thought he'd have to go straight up in the do-over. So did Myogiryu. And for a moment it looked like he was going to, grabbing all onto Myogiryu's face and pushing on him. So I thought he was about to get linear force-out slaughtered. But no! Whang! He hataki-komi'ed Myogiryu by that head straight into the ground at his feet. That's something. Really. And so, amazingly, Aminishiki gets another try at Makuuchi next time. We can sigh at that--what good does it do him?--but many people will be happy. Fight on, old warrior. Fine. As for Myogiryu, he's seemed to be on his last legs for some time, and drops back to Juryo , where the current content of his sumo belongs. But hey, as Aminishiki proves, hell, we may yet see Myogiryu come back up for dips in the warm waters of Makuuchi for years.

M16 Daiamami (9-5) vs. M11 Yutakayama (10-4)
This was all about arm grappling. It's not really tsuppari. It's trying to find a place to push, and/or trying to bat the other guy's arms away. But Daiamami did three things I liked. First, he did more of the pushing and Yutakayama did more of the "get off me" defending. Advantage Daiamami. Second, Daiamami held Yutakayama up nice and long on a choke hold. More advantage. Finally, he went onto the body with one arm inside when the chance presented itself, and drove Yutakayama out, yori-kiri. There is something consequential and solid about Daiamami's sumo to me, and I expect we'll see him hang around the middle of Makuuchi for awhile. As for Yutakayama, he also had a good tournament numbers wise, but I didn't believe in it. We've seem him wax and wane before; he's waxing now. Expect a wane in May.

M16 Hidenoumi (3-11) vs. M10 Chiyonokuni (6-8)
Speaking of waxing and waning, Hidenoumi is almost all wane. We've seen him in Makuuchi plenty before, he has never amounted to anything, and he looked worse this time around. If there ever was a Juryo rikishi moonlighting painfully in Makuuchi, this was it. Chiyonokuni knew it, and worked him hard. It probably took longer than it should have, showing Chiyonokuni's weaknesses--he is too small--but he dominated throughout, alternating purposeful face battering and forceful pulls, and after a few rounds of this he just knocked the thoroughly biesterbeblabbered Hidenoumi over, hataki-komi. I thought Chiyonokuni would do better than this at M10, but with honest sumo content and not too much trickery, I suppose under those circumstances this is just right where he belongs.

M10 Chiyoshoma (8-6) vs. M14 Nishikigi (5-9)
Wow. I usually don't' like the henka. But it can be beautiful. It was wholly unnecessary here--Chiyoshoma can school Nishikigi from the Delaware to the Hudson--but Chiyoshoma sure made it look cool. He leapt nimbly in the air and came down right on the side with one hand on Nishikigi's head and the other on the belt. From there he spun him wickedly into the clay, uwate-nage, as deftly and forcibly executed a henka as you'll ever see. Looked like he just wanted to be done with this tournament. My take on him is he is a guy who will be happy to hang around the middle of the banzuke for years and years and soak up the cash. He won't rise too high--not ambitious enough--and he won't fall too low--too much skill. He could probably pick up 11 or 12 wins from M10, but doesn't need to, and so won't. Too bad. As for Nishikigi, M14 is about his limit. He keeps hanging around, but there is nothing special to him--he is your classic "quadruple A" guy: too good for AAA ball (Juryo), but not good enough for the majors (Makuuchi).

M13 Asanoyama (8-6) vs. M9 Ryuden (7-7)
This was quite a battle. My eyes were on Asanoyama the whole time, as he has looked pretty good to me in general and was more dynamic. He had one arm on the belt most of the time, usually an outside left, and tried to use it to make a throw and dictate the match. However, instead they careened wildly all over the place. Why? Ryuden also had belt grips. Two of them. And his position was lower and better. He wasn't doing anything particularly dynamic: he was just trying to win. And that, eventually, he did, yori-kiri. This was good stuff from Ryuden, who had a second straight good tournament with a strong finish after a weak start. Watch him. His body is interesting to me: he has the supple strength and body control that reminds me of the Mongolians. We'll see what he does with it. As for Asanoyama, he's also creeping up the banzuke, and looks for the most part to have earned it. There is some power there.

M9 Okinoumi (6-8) vs. M17 Aoiyama (8-6)
I get mad at Aoiyama plenty. He has the chops to be Mr. Dominant if he would just insist on hitting hard and moving forward. But for whatever reason he loves to pull. He did both those things here, typical of him: pushed hard a few moments, then pulled to try to get the win. Didn't work. Okinoumi ain't great, but he's no dummy, and when the pull came he just went forward and oshi-dashi'ed the Blue Bulgarian out. This tournament was a typical nothing for Okinoumi: he can pull .500 records in the mid ranks for as long as he wants. For Aoiyama, he did just enough. All he wants to do at this point is hang around. He did enough to make that happen, and no more. He's a "what could have been" kind of guy, but if you're waiting for him to put it all together, that will never happen. This is all we've gotten for years, really, and so is all we'll ever get.

M8 Kagayaki (6-8) vs. M12 Ishiura (7-7)
Kagayaki stood up too high, I thought, but Ishiura played it straight up and is just too little for that against most guys. So Kagayaki wrapped him up from above, kept his feet moving nicely, and drove the little man out, oshi-dashi. I wish, wish, wish that lanky Kagayaki were better than this. However, 7-8 at M8 seems just about right for him. As for Ishiura, the more tricks he employs, the higher he'll rise. The less, the lower. An even-steven record this low on the banzuke means he didn't have enough Ura in his Ishiura this time around.

M7 Abi (9-5) vs. M13 Daishomaru (9-5)
I suppose I should be getting excited about Abi. Certainly there is something there. But you know what? He reminds me some of Yoshikaze. Frenetic activity, but not a lot of gravity. Now, that can give you a long and effective career--I like Yoshikaze. But I don't' read "Ozeki" in Abi's sumo at the moment. I read "pretty good." He was pushing away at Daishomaru's face here, and all he had to fear was the pull. That came, as you knew it must in any straight-up bout between these two. Daishomaru darted well to the side and Abi flew way, way, past. However, he turned fast, and kept turning, and while doing it he swiped down hard on the advancing Daishomaru, who tumbled out of the ring. Abi twirled along the tawara and did it beautifully: there were all sorts of moments there to enjoy in the slo-mo, from one foot airily skimming along just above the deadly sand to a foot coming down just on the lump of tawara. Abi is good right now partially because of his loose, young body. We'll see what he makes of it. Meanwhile, as expected Daishomaru had a good tournament down at M13. He also went straight ahead a lot. He'll be up higher next time and will have to go back to pull, pull, pull.

M6 Kaisei (11-3) vs. M14 Ikioi (11-3)
This was a very good match for Kaisei to end the most satisfying basho he's ever had. Ikioi had him by the underarm and was driving him solidly back. Ikioi's a strong dude, and we've all seen Kaisei slide around the pan like skillet-butter plenty over the years, so I figured he'd go out very easily. Instead, he turned it on a dime and quickly, mercilessly dumped Ikioi, uwate-nage. Excellent. Netted him a well-earned Fighting Spirit prize. As for Ikioi, he certainly proved me wrong: last tournament I predicted he was about to wilt and have a mediocre record in the bottom of the banzuke in addition to all the bad records he always has at the top. Nothing doing. He killed it down here. That's fine--I'm happy for him, I suppose--but he's been a yo-yo for years, and the only thing that really matters with him will continue to be that he can't beat anybody in the top 15. We'll get to see that happen again soon.

M8 Daieisho (8-6) vs. M4 Shodai (7-7)
Spoiler: Shodai lost this match. That handed him his second straight 7-8. So you'd expect it was a frustrating, disappointing tournament for him, yes? Actually, I thought he fought better than usual this tournament. There was little charity, and he used his height advantage to stay solid from time to time. He'll never amount to much of anything, but he didn't look as bad as usual this time: maybe he can earn his place in the top 15 if he does like this. In the match, though, Daieisho looked like he was thoroughly working him, bending his head back plenty. Shodai survived all that and I thought he'd use his size to win: despite all the neck-breaking, he was the guy with the forward momentum. But he just couldn't put it away; Daieisho pulled the trigger on a surprise tsuki-otoshi dump of Shodai in the end. Daieisho is too small to get real far, but the guy is fun to watch and I'm very happy for a 9-6 out of M8 for him.

M3 Kotoshogiku (5-9) vs. M6 Hokutofuji (6-8)
This was a "by rights" match. By rights, the young and powerful Hokutofuji should have dominated Kotoshogiku. And he almost did, bodying him and stiff-arming him to the tawara. However, there, for all the effort he put into it, he couldn't lift the man over the tawara. So, Kotoshogiku survived it, drove Hokutofuji across the ring, and yori-kiri'ed him out. Hokutofuji them gave one of his classic bows: deep and long. Very deep. He even did a little extra bob in there. I like these very much. I can't stand the arrogant "me me me" guys who can barely stand to nod at the guy who just beat them. Own it, fella. And you can choose to see Hokutofuji's bow one of two ways. One is to say it meant, "I give you this, sempai, and without any pride." The other way is to say he actually got beat here, and he was like "damn, oldster! Respect." Your pick. Either one has sumo honor. Both guys end the tournament 6-9. However, it was a very good tournament for Kotoshogiku, who fought hard and looked unexpectedly fresh. And it was a very bad tournament for Hokutofuji, who needs to be establishing himself with solid records at this level at this point in his career.

M12 Kotoyuki (1-13) vs. M2 Takarafuji (4-10)
These guys dinked around at each other with weak little hand jabs here and there all over the dohyo, dancing for money. Standing up straight. I thought this meant Takarafuji was going to lose on purpose--he can do better than this, surely, against Kotoyuki?--but it must just have meant he was being careful, because eventually Kotoyuki got turned around (sigh), and Takarafuji easily pushed him out from there, yori-kiri. They both had really terrible tournaments; Kotoyuki was shockingly bad and needs to go away to Juryo and not come back. Takarafuji, however, had some years with he was pretty good as an M2, and should do better than this. Is he entering the yo-yo phase of his career? I think he is.

M2 Arawashi (2-12) vs. M7 Yoshikaze (6-8)
I read that Arawashi is injured. And what injury is that? In this one, Yoshikaze bumped into him and Arawashi held onto Yoshikaze's arm while Yoshikaze gently pushed him past the bales, yori-kiri. Arawashi looked like a senior citizen who got jostled on the sidewalk and the young dude who did it had to grab him and say, "oh, I'm sorry sir, please don't fall in the gutter!" Arawashi will be back, but I guess he didn't need this tournament. As for Yoshikaze, I think he has yet another Sekiwake appearance in him somewhere, so 7-8 from M7 ain't good at all.

M5 Chiyomaru (6-8) vs. M1 Tamawashi (8-6)
I continue to like what I see from Chiyomaru, and look forward to him doing something similar from M8 or so next time. Tamawashi pushed him in the chest and trundled him pretty quickly out, oshi-dashi, but Chiyomaru had the presence of mind to pull Tamawashi down, too, and almost got a win out of it. It wouldn't have been pretty, but I think I see a smart wrestler in Chiyomaru. He looks like a clown, with his shelf-belly and his tiny-face encircled by a wide ring of fat. But he is grounded in the ring and takes advantage of everything he can get. As for Tamawashi, he's well set up for a Tochinoshin now: "just give me one chance." The guy will be back in the sanyaku, and there are only two guys in the upper division clearly better than him: Hakuho and Kakuryu. It probably won't happen, but I pray that one of these tournaments they'll unleash the furies and let Tamawashi out of his cage. He is an absolutely wicked, hard-handed hitter.

M1 Endo (9-5) vs. M4 Shohozan (7-7)
Endo will also be in the sanyaku. I have mixed feeling about that: I actually like the guy's sumo, and he has charisma to spare, if we're honest. Any legitimate success from him would be good for the sport. But he looked uncharacteristically unstable in a lot of his victories to me this tournament, and by rights as a debutante he should get absolutely slaughtered next time around. Let's hope that happens: it will be good for him, and fun for us. As for Shohozan, he's in the solid golden era of his career: anybody this small who can fetch together a winning record at M4 has something going on. He's a feisty dude and his matches always perk me up. As for the match, it was probably a gift to Darth Hozan: Endo had nothing to gain by another win, whereas kachi-koshi was on the line for Endo. Hence Shohozan did some light pushing and very, very easily oshi-dashi'ed Endo out. Once upon a time I used to hold the tackling dummies at American Football practice; I know how this works.

M11 Tochiohzan (5-9) vs. K Chiyotairyu (3-11)
The match was real simple. Chiyotairyu pushed hard and Tochiohzan pulled him down by the head. The gyoji pointed to Tochiohzan, but the judges reversed it, which was correct: though he was full length like a diver going for a belly flop, the only thing touching the ground when Tochiohzan's toes hit the sand in the death zone was Chiyotairyu's sagari. Oshi-dashi. This tournament was a disaster for Chiyotairyu though. Yeah, Komusubi often get slaughtered. But after years lost in the wasteland, including dropping all the way down to Juryo, Chiyotairyu of late looked to have really put it together. Instead, he topped off his achievement with a hapless collapse. Like Hokutofuji, there is enough potential in him that he shouldn't be doing this anymore. As for Tochiohzan, whelp, he looks done. It's too bad. However, all positive and forward content to his sumo has disappeared, so the sooner he disappears, the better. Unfortunately, he's got enough veteran savvy to potentially hang around like this for years. That is probably what will happen.

K Ichinojo (9-5) vs. S Tochinoshin (9-5)
Excellent match-up between two guys who had very good tournaments. Ichinojo very much looks ready to take up long-term residence in the sanyaku. He often looked wicked and deadly this tournament, and when he's on he's as dangerous as anyone on the banzuke save Hakuho. The problem is he's often off. As for Tochinoshin, the weak "excuse me" post-championship tournament I expected from him didn't happen; he brought out the Growling Bear persona plenty and looked excellent. It's a good feeling to see his coming out party continue a bit. They fought as you'd expect. Belts. Strength. Ichinojo had an inside right, and I liked him for the winner, but Tochinoshin was slightly lower. There was a great moment: right now, Tochinoshin is the best in the division at tsuri-dashi: picking guys up with their legs dangling. But here, Ichinojo did it to him: picked him up and let him waggle those feet a bit. However, Ichinojo also lost the match on that move; when he put Tochinoshin down he was spent, and Tochinoshin exploded on him, turning the line of attack, getting Ichinojo's back to the tawara, and yori-kiri'ing him out. Man would he make a great Ozeki. But only for a year or two. It's risky.

S Mitakeumi (6-8) vs. O Goeido (9-5)
Goeido was scooping up, but Mitakeumi had a right inside. Then pretty soon Mitakeumi had both arms inside. That meant trouble for Goeido, and Mitakeumi ran him backwards and knocked him flat on his back, abise-taoshi, whanging Goeido's head off the clay on the rebound. This ended a deeply disappointing tournament from Mitakeumi. He needs to regroup and get more gritty. As for Goeido, 9-6 in Osaka is kind of sad for him. Yeah, yeah, he often looked okay this time, and he's had plenty of losing records, so just staying out of kadoban can be seen as a victory. But it's a hometown tournament featuring just one Yokozuna, you're the senior Ozeki, and you can't seriously threaten for the yusho? That's Goeido.

Y Kakuryu (13-1) vs. O Takayasu (11-3)
And here we are. So Kakuryu now has four career yusho. That's really pretty good during a career crowded up against Hakuho and Harumafuji on the one hand, and the necessity of Kisenosato, Goeido, and Kotoshogiku yushos on the other. With this one, Kakuryu has fit enough yusho in there to be respectable. He remains unutterable boring, but sumo needed him this time: needed a Yokozuna to be a Yokozuna. And he did it. He rarely looked great, but he did look like the best wrestler out there. Because he was. It was mostly as it should be. Now, let's hope Hakuho comes back next time and tosses Kakuryu to the rafters. Dunno. We'll see. As for Takayasu, talk about boring: on paper 11-3 is pretty good, of course, except it looked a lot like 9-6. Make us fear you Takayasu. We don't. Instead, we feel... kind of hopeful. Secretly disappointed. He makes you want to sigh and fish another Participation Trophy out of the box. You're the Youth Soccer Coach on a losing team. For both of these guys, what we most wanted to see was a solid effort. Better yet, a dominant win. By either of them. Instead, they cemented their boringness with a round-about: Kakuryu went backwards under pressure, tripped merrily along the tawara, and pulled Takayasu down. I thought Kakuryu's heel clearly touched down before Takayasu's body flopped, but the gyoji had called it for Kakuryu, so instead of making a minor stinkbomb by reversing it and giving it to Takayasu like a major thumb to the nose against Kakuryu's whole tournament, the men in black probably did the right thing in calling for do over.

Pretty much the same thing happened, except this time Takayasu did not flop to the dirt. Kakuryu stood up and backpedaled, and Takayasu stayed low and put his arms in there and grabbed Kakuryu's belt and drove him out, yori-kiri. I think this match was a load of shullbit parity-creating nonsense. Hoo boy.

But if there were a chanko-nabe restaurant near me I'd still eat it.

Day 14 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Apologies on the late report, but there are things in life more important than sumo, and really, when you look back on this basho, what have been the main storylines? Unfortunately, week 1 was dominated by news surrounding Takanohana, and week two was on life support from the start needing a Kakuryu intentional loss to give the appearance that there was still a yusho race heading into the weekend.  At two bouts ahead of the next closest opponent, the Yokozuna had the room to lose today and still be alone at the top, so let's get right to the leaderboard and examine the yusho race.

At the start of the day, four dudes technically had a shot to yusho as follows:

12-1: Kakuryu
10-3: Takayasu, Kaisei, Ikioi

Starting with the leaders in chronological order, M12 Ishiura ducked lamely at the tachi-ai allowing M14 Ikioi to come with a kachi-age with the right while getting the left to the inside, and with Ishiura staying square, Ikioi just forced him back and out in one fell swoop. No reason to ruin Ikioi's party at this stage of the game as Ishiura takes one for the team falling to 7-7. As for Ikioi, he improved to 11-3, but the fact that they're feeding him Ishiura at this stage of the game indicates how serious they are about his yusho chances.

Up next was M6 Kaisei, and you could say the same thing for him as he was paired against M13 Daishomaru. Kaisei just waited for Daishomaru to advance at he tachi-ai, and as Daishomaru moved forward, Kaisei got the right arm to the inside and immediately forced Daishomaru back to the point where Daishomaru couldn't even evade left as Kaisei caught him with a nice paw to the back of the shoulder to send him across and down just as fast as Ikioi destroyed Ishiura. This was a good example of how farcical Daishomaru's presence on the leaderboard early in the week was as Kaisei improved to 11-3 while Daishomaru has run out of money at 9-5.

With two of the three-loss leaders keeping pace, Ozeki Takayasu was the final candidate with dreams of sugar plums and the yusho dancing around in his head. The Ozeki struck Sekiwake Mitakeumi with dual kachi-age at the tachi-ai, but the impact was light enabling Mitakeumi to briefly shade right and catch the Ozeki with a nice tsuki to the right side and an even nicer left paw pushing up and under the Ozeki's jaw. I thought Takayasu was doomed as doomed can be at this point--and he should have been, but Mitakeumi just couldn't finish on an oshi charge set up perfectly. With Takayasu still alive, he was able to dance to his right as the Sekiwake tried to catch up on a tsuki, but he was too late as Takayasu spun back left doing a 360 and squaring back up. Mitakeumi still had the momentum and rushed in getting his right arm inside deep, and once again, the Ozeki was served up on a platter, but Mitakeumi couldn't finish him off. After Takayasu survived the second volley by pushing upright into Mitakeumi's left arm, Mitakeumi seemed frustrated going for a brief pull before marching back forward in hopes of a round three, but he was out of gas at this point allowing the Ozeki to score with an easy pull-down by the back of Mitakeumi's shoulder.

There are a couple of takeaways from this bout. First, on Day 14 when an Ozeki is fighting a Sekiwake with yusho hopes on the line, we need a more stable bout. Second, this was yet another example of how far from being a yusho candidate Takayasu is. He was dominated today by Mitakeumi and was lucky to win. Third, Mitakeumi showed some nice flashes, but he couldn't finish today after multiple chances. The reason he can't finish is because he's never forced to do it in a hon-basho. When his opponents let up for him, the kind of shoves and force-out attempts he used today work magic. When his opponents are trying to win, Mitakeumi doesn't understand what it takes to defeat them. It's a tragic symptom of rampant yaocho when the purpose is to propel a Japanese rikishi into a rank where he doesn't belong. This bout had so many telling aspects to it, but the bottom line is that Takayasu was still technically alive for the yusho moving to 11-3. As for Mitakeumi, he's finally knocked off of his Sekiwake perch falling to 6-8.

Yokozuna Kakuryu had the opportunity to put a fork in things with a win over Ozeki Goeido, but his sumo was anything but emphatic. He kept both arms out wide at the tachi-ai allowing Goeido to rush forward, and as he did, Kakuryu stepped out wide right going for an average pull that sent Goeido down to the dirt without further argument. Kakuryu had to balance along the tawara for a bit as he waited for Goeido (9-5) to make it official, but it was an easy dance as the Yokozuna picked up the yusho in that moment improving to 13-1.

The venue was as quiet as I've ever heard it when a rikishi captures the yusho, but it was just a microcosm of the entire basho. The sumo was average, the bar was lowered, and there never was much excitement. With Kakuryu's moving two bouts ahead with just one day to go, no other rikishi can catch him on senshuraku, and so the party comes to an abrupt end with a lame hataki-komi.

There's really nothing more to say about the yusho race that what's been said, so let's wrap things up with other bouts of interest.

I agree with Harvye that M5 Chiyomaru has been the surprise of the basho. Today against Sekiwake Tochinoshin, he was able to keep the Private away from the belt momentarily, but Shin's just too big and too good...when he intends on winning, and he did just that today fighting off Maru's initial thrusts, rushing in and grabbing the right inside and left outer grip, and then forcing Chiyomaru back and across with some force. Chiyomaru was down for the struggle here, but he was simply overmatched. After the bout, Fujii Announcer correctly declared, "There's an obvious difference in power here."  Yep, and you can see it when the foreign rikishi exert their power. Tochinoshin will take over the top Sekiwake slot finishing the day 9-5 while Chiyomaru suffers a tough-luck make-koshi at 6-8.

M4 Shodai had the path to moro-zashi against Komusubi Ichinojo, but he seemed lost not knowing what to do, and so Ichinojo shaded left grabbing the right outer, and then he just slung Shodai over and down as if he was unloading a sack'a potatoes on the docks. In the process of the mammoth throw, Ichinojo actually grabbed Shodai's mage with the right hand and gave it a significant tug, but everyone was so impressed by the throw, nobody noticed. The Mongolith will join Tochinoshin at Sekiwake next basho as he finishes the day at 9-5 wile Shodai will have his tin cup extended tomorrow looking for some charity at 7-7.

M6 Hokutofuji grabbed the early right frontal grip of M1 Endoh's mawashi, and he instinctively began a dashi-nage tugging the belt and pushing down at the back of Endoh's head with his left, but he let Endoh out of the move and waited for Elvis to square back up. When he did, Endoh's feet were perfectly aligned at the edge of the ring, and he was a sitting duck for an easy pushout as seen at left, but Hokutofuji moved forward lamely applying no pressure as he allowed Endoh to escape to his right and fish for a weak pull that of course sent Hokutofuji sprawling off the dohyo altogether. Endoh has this magical super hero strength where just the smallest of tugs or pulls will send guys into orbit. He moves to 9-5 and is guaranteed his first sanyaku berth in May. Can you just picture this banzuke?

Sekiwake: Tochinoshin, Ichinojo
Komusubi: Endoh, Kaisei

Yeah, Mitakeumi could hold onto Komusubi with a gift on senshuraku, but I look at the possible sanyaku for May and recall that Sesame Street song, "Which one of these...is not like the other?"  As for Hokutofuji, he graciously falls to 4-10.

Finally, let's end with M7 Abi who henka'd to his right grabbing the outer grip of M3 Kotoshogiku as the former Ozeki rushed ahead into the abyss. Before Kotoshogiku could square back up, Abi rushed him out in a flash, and Kotoshogiku was so upset with the move that he shoved Abi back towards the center of the ring as he stepped back into the ring himself. This was quite the dame-oshi, but it was well deserved. Kotoshogiku has been on the frustrating end of quite a few henka the last two years, but this one was entirely uncalled for.

Prior to his retirement, Harumafuji was showing the henka more and more, and when he hasn't been covering for Kisenosato and withdrawing, even Hakuho will resort to the henka well a few times a basho. I've never liked the henka, and I used to rant on it all the time until there were bigger yaocho fish to fry, but there are times when the henka is okay and times when it isn't. If you're a Yokozuna, and you're fighting an inferior opponent who has no chance of beating you anyway, go ahead and henka.  It's your right.  It's when a rikishi isn't in a dominant position over his opponent that the henka is unacceptable. In the case of this bout today, Kotoshogiku was a bad matchup for Abi, who likes to come in high with his thrust attack.  The former Ozeki could have easily gotten under that attack and secured moro-zashi, and I think the Geeku knew it, and that's why he was so pissed when he didn't get the chance.  On top of all that, Abi is this seemingly young hotshot fighting a former Ozeki, who frankly deserved more respect from the youngster.

There was a time when I used to stalk the rikishi and hang out at the stables as much as possible, and one of the first lessons about sumo I ever learned was that you have to show the senpai deference. Nothing irritates a senpai rikishi more when he is defeated by a young hotshot who has yet to earn jack in the division. Then, if said hotshot does it with a henka, it really rubs salt in the wound. Kotoshogiku was entirely dissed in this one, and that dame-oshi was deserved and completely called for. I just can't get on the Abi bandwagon because there's way too much henka there for my liking. His act against Kotoshogiku today was as dirty as it gets. This would be a good time for Shokoroyama-oyakata to break out the bamboo sword in early-morning keiko. Abi moves to 9-5 with the "win" while Kotoshogiku ends the day at 5-9.

In the interest of time, I'll go no further. I've also emptied all of my ammo in previous reports, so tomorrow's senshuraku will be about as useless as they come. Gook luck Harvye!!

Day 13 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
It was all about the potential withering today. Would Kakuryu wither? Would he fade sadly away and miss the yusho again? Or would he ramrod stiffen, last, and win? We don't really know. We never really know. I just can't imagine that Kaisei will get the yusho. He is too sloppy, too slow in his sumo, to have earned it. At M6, he's high enough, I suppose, for it not to be a complete joke, but he has never had the kind of stunning strength and strong runs against Ozeki and the like that Tochinoshin always flashed before eventually taking a yusho in January. Would I be excited about a Kaisei yusho? No. Not at all. He's not bad, but really, he's mostly just big, and nothing special.

So going into today I decided it was either Kakuryu or one of those two crazy Ozeki, Takayasu or Goeido. I've been waiting for Takayasu to take his yusho; it wouldn't be a surprise. It would be boring, though: as Mike has repeatedly pointed out, Takayasu has done nothing to make you think, "wow, what great sumo!" Instead, you think, "9-3? Really? I never noticed." I'd actually be more comfortable with a Goeido win this tournament, believe it or not. I was getting all ready to slag him, the Epileptic Mayfly, but when I thought about it, unlike Takayasu, there have been bouts this tournament where Goeido has showed dominant, powerful sumo. Where he's moved faster and taken names. Granted, against weaker opponents. And maybe you think even some of those were given to him. But he's shown flashes. I don't want him to win, but I'd take him over the blah-fest of Takayasu's this time around.

And as it so happens, those four were fighting each other today: Takayasu vs. Goeido, Kakuryu vs. Kaisei. For those of you who haven't peeked, let's keep it that way: we'll go in chronological order, and save the drama for last.

J3 Meisei (7-5) vs. M15 Myogiryu (4-8)
The gyoji had a beautiful yellow kimono, like a very ripe banana. There was a whole lot of messy grappling going on here, but eventually Myogiryu kind of knocked Meisei bodily off the dohyo, yori-taoshi, with a wicked up-rip from the right arm and elbow. It was awesome, actually. The announcers said, "there's Myogiryu showing Meisei what Makuuchi sumo is all about." Yes.

M14 Nishikigi (5-7) vs. M12 Kotoyuki (0-12)
Before the match I was thinking, "somebody buy poor Kotoyuki a win, please!" Then Kotoyuki pulled up some standard roundhouse windmill slaps and shoves and drove Nishikigi out in an unbroken line, tsuki-dashi. Well, what do you think of that?

M12 Ishiura (7-5) vs. M16 Daiamami (7-5)
Oh, tiresome: these guys have the same record. Really? Big Sweety (Daiamami) has good potential. Ishiura does not. Well, the real stuff came out: Daiamami beat Ishiura up and smothered him. Actually Ishiura also fell down in there in just a few seconds, tsuki-hiza, which means "knee touch down," but I'm satisfied to say that happened because Daiamami was big and was just killing him.

M17 Aoiyama (8-4) vs. M11 Yutakayama (8-4)
Aoiyama got off to a massively faster start at the tachi-ai, but after a moment's aggression let up and got driven to the bales. He then went for it again and drove the match all the way back across with big hands. But Yutakayama did a clever little pirouette just at the edge, and viola, now he had the position and finished off a turn-about yori-kiri win. Looked pretty good for him. Let's move on.

M14 Ikioi (9-3) vs. M10 Chiyonokuni (6-6)
The height difference was really something here: advantage Ikioi. Chiyonokuni did all he could, sticking his arms up in there, retreating and pulling, but Ikioi was hot and focused, and drove Chiyonokuni out by the knees, oshi-dashi, while crashing to the dirt. You do what you have to do, I suppose. Another interesting thing in this one: Ikioi tried two big pull downs, and survived the momentum loss. Why? Because Chiyonokuni himself is a puller, and small. Hence Ikioi was able to dare much, and lived.

M10 Chiyoshoma (6-6) vs. M13 Daishomaru (9-3)
Wiry vs. Wily. Pounce vs. Pull. I'll root for Wiry Pounce every time. And pounce he did. Chiyoshoma slapped Daishomaru in the face, grabbed his belt on the right, spun him around 450 degrees, and flung him to the cursed clay, uwate-nage. I luuuuv it when guys who are better show how much they are better. This barrels-over-Niagara toss may have been the best throw of the tournament.

M16 Hidenoumi (3-9) vs. M9 Ryuden (5-7)
Beautiful fast, low, torpedo-head tachi-ai by Ryuden gave him the advantage right away: he was all up and under on Hidenoumi before the man with the rotting-corpse-lily putrescent pink belt knew what had hit him. Ryuden took advantage of that with quick moro-zashi, hands both on the back of the belt, and after a few moments of burrowing and grunting, had his man out, yori-kiri.

M9 Okinoumi (6-6) vs. M13 Asanoyama (7-5)
Asanoyama dominated this one from end to end. Kept the aggression and the pace up, kept turning in order to make sure Okinoumi didn't turn on him, kept launching on the throws with a vise-like inside left--until one of them broke Okinoumi's vase on the dirt, shitate-nage. Yar.

M3 Kotoshogiku (4-8) vs. M8 Daieisho (7-5)
What a delight to see Kotoshogiku fight this early in the day. I've been waiting for this for years. Seriously. Kotoshogiku has been a lot of fun since demotion: he's crept up on me. Fighting harder than he has in years, and having to earn it sometimes. Mike is absolutely right about how being given matches poisons a guy's style. Now Kotoshogiku is freed from that odd albatross, and we get to watch him as he should have been. I want him to sink down to, say, M14, and fight on there for a year or two. Get all Aminishiki on us. We'll see. Well, he had his work cut out for him today against a very genki young thing. However, instead of trusting to his typical little-engine-that-could attack, Daieisho twice tried to evade to the side and pull down. He also seemed to run past Kotoshogiku and put himself in perfect position for a resultant oshi-dashi force out by Kotoshogiku. Hmmmm. Well!

M11 Tochiohzan (4-8) vs. M2 Takarafuji (2-10)
I'm wrapped up in a scratchy burlap blanket schlepped from Mali that sheds like a dog. My wife says, "it's like owning a pet." But it's cold in my house, and I like it. Why am I telling you this? Because Takarafuji grabbed Tochiohzan by the arms and did him good in a linear yori-kiri force out, and I don't have enough to say about that. And because I like my blanket.

M2 Arawashi (2-10) vs. M8 Kagayaki (5-7)
At 9.6% alcohol, sip by sip, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine is a very fine beer for watching sumo with. Especially after gulping down a 10.2% Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout in three glugs during dinner. Why am I telling you this? Yeah, it was another one of those: Arawashi kind of fuddled about with his hands and pulled and stuff and flung his arms in the air, so Kagayaki put his self in there, moro-zashi, and drove him out, oshi-dashi. And because I like my beer. Yay, beer!

M7 Yoshikaze (4-8) vs. M1 Tamawashi (7-5)
This should have been Tamawashi's basho. Not Kaisei's. Who's the best wrestler outside the Yokozuna? It's either Tamawashi or Tochinoshin. Tamawashi did nothing here, though. A few good torques on Yoshikaze's head with both hands, but then he backed up. Yoshikaze knew what to do: oshi-dashi, that's what! More beer, please.

M1 Endo (7-5) vs. M5 Chiyomaru (6-6)
Surprise of the tournament, Chiyomaru. Wouldn't it be great if he kept on rising and rising, and gave us an Insurmountable Obstacle challenge inside the sanyaku, tournament after tournament? Remember what it was like when Akebono and Musashimaru were so huge you just wondered how anyone could ever get round them? What if Ichinojo and Chiyomaru fought like that? Sigh. That would be awesome. I'm not predicting anything like that, mind. But it would be great. Chiyomaru isn't bad, but he looks kind of silly. And Ichinojo can be comical too. Akebono and Musashimaru were not comical. I do miss those days. Anyway, I sure wanted Chiyomaru to lean on Endo and smother him to death like The Judge did to The Kid in that outhouse Blood Meridian. Instead he leaned dangerously forward and pushed at Endo at arm's length. This favored Endo, who eventually had the sense to just get out of the way and let Chiyomaru fall to the dirt, hiki-otoshi.

M7 Abi (7-5) vs. K Chiyotairyu (3-9)
"Henka!" as the announcers love to yell. Abi just got out of there, evading, backing, jumping, and pulling on Chiyotairyu's belt. And pyyyyyuuuuut! Chiyotairyu surged into the ground like a defective bottle rocket squib, hataki-komi. Oh well.

K Ichinojo (8-4) vs. M4 Shohozan (6-6)
We may be witnessing something good here, folks: what if isn't going to be Mitakeumi and Shodai and Onosho and Endo who rise up to the Ozeki ranks? What if Ichinojo and Tochinoshin and Tamawashi are going to have their day? It could be. That would be great. They've put in their time; they've earned it. Ichinojo is in no hurry, though. There is no hurry in him. He stood up. Shohozan stood under. And Shohozan, like a woodtick getting fat and happy in someone's groin, sucked up a big, big heaping bodyful of moro-zashi. And, zhhoooop! he trundled Fat City out of the ring, easy as lard coddle pie, yori-kiri. Okay.

M4 Shodai (6-6) vs. S Tochinoshin (8-4)
You know what the bad thing about predictions is? You start wanting them to come true, even though their coming true would be... a bad thing. So here I sit, secretly hoping Tochinoshin will lose his last three matches and I'll be right that he will follow up his yusho with an 8-7 outing. when it would be much, much better for him to go on that Ozeki run I just mentioned. Well, I'll pretend it is win-win: either outcome, I have a happy spot. Unfortunately, Tochinoshin played to my baser instincts: he slapped and shoved up high, granting Shodai about the ten thousandth moro-zashi of the day. And out Shodai drove him, oshi-dashi. I'm almost self-conscious to say it, but: hoo, boy.

Match of the Day: S Mitakeumi (5-7) vs. M6 Hokutofuji (6-6)
Despite a good measure of cynicism, I am fascinated by these younger guys. I would love for Mitakeumi to put it together and finally really show us something. Anything. Who are you, Mitakeumi? Instead he seems to be falling apart. On the one hand, that's a shame for the sport: it needs for someone like Mitakeumi to legitimately do well. On the other hand, good! Until Mitakeumi can walk the walk, we're all just talking talk. And then there is Sumotalk fave Hokutofuji, with whom I have grown impatient: he has the power and push. But he does not yet have the gravitas, presence, or consistency. So I wait. But this was one of those bouts where I rooted hard for him upset the Hype King and show us where the checkers really are on the board. It was a good one too, with solid effort and some good back and forth. Hard hitting head bashing tachi-ai. Both guys on the verge at various points. Hokutofuji survived a wicked pull. Mitakeumi survived a wicked neck-breaker choke hold at the tawara. The denouement was a jump-aside hataki-komi finisher by Mitakeumi, but he'd earned it by that point. Just let these guys fight like this. They can do the job. Don't let anybody tell you Mitakeumi didn't win this one by fighting better in it. Sometimes that happens too.

AND THE BRASS TACKS

O Takayasu (9-3) vs. O Goeido (9-3)
I have as little faith in a straight up match between two guys like this as I do in a match between two Mongolian drinking buddies. It's not about nationality--it's about sumo. That's how it is. But we can always hope. In the end, it was a one-move match: yeah, there was a little bit of post-tachi-ai mutual force applied, but then it was a big pull by Takayasu, and a big push by Goeido: it all happened very fast, with Takayasu sailing back over the tawara and Goeido surging forward and plummeting towards the soil. In real time, I had no idea who had won, and guessed Goeido--bias of the naked eye always goes towards the guy moving forward--but on the instant replay it was clear Goeido crashed well before Takayasu stepped out, giving Takayasu what was in all honesty a pretty well-executed hataki-komi crap win. And that, ladies and gentlemans, is your one and only Ozeki battle of the Osaka tournament. Yes it is. C'est la vie.

Y Kakuryu (11-1) vs. M6 Kaisei (10-2)
Take a step back: this is a great Day 13 opponent for Kakuryu. There is no imperative to lose to Kaisei, no reason to give him a freebie. Nothing is owed. And Kaisei is blubbery and slow, a sitting duck for Kakuryu's powerful Yokozuna sumo. Even if Kakuryu indulges his "pull habit," Kaisei is not the kind to capitalize on it with swift oshi-dashi. Kakuryu could hardly have hoped for a more fortuitous Day 13 match up. I expected him to roundly slaughter Kaisei. And he did--in a matter of speaking. In the worst match of the day aesthetically, Kakuryu hit Kaisei at the tachi-ai, then backed up a half step and slapped Kaisei lightly down at his feet, hataki-komi, like carp in a barrel, felled by a malfunctioning blunderbuss. Except that sounds a lot more dramatic then this lame bit of malaprops looked. I am going to be optimistic and say this is just what happens when one wrestler is that much better than the other: Kakuryu had about a dozen techniques at is disposal with which to dispose Kaisei swiftly and unceremoniously, and this was the one the match caused him to use. And in fact, he didn't have to do much: Kaisei just looked... weak and stupid and pathetic? Really, he psyched himself out and lost it more than Kakuryu won it. I mean, I like Kaisei, but this wasn't much of an effort. To understate. Ach. A very deflating end to the day. Oh, sumo 2018! What are you? What are you!

And there you have it: two days left, and Kakuryu has a two-match advantage over Takayasu. I predict he wraps it up tomorrow. Mike will be here to tell you all about it.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
If we ignore the scandals that have been raised during the basho and turn only to the sumo through day 11, the positive focus has largely been on Kakuryu, Kaisei, Ichinojo, and Tochinoshin in that order. Early on in week 2, we had a number of Japanese rikishi "hanging around" the leaderboard plus Aoiyama, but everyone has silently dropped off day by day. I guess there's also Takayasu, but at no point this basho has there ever been the feel of "Dayum, that guy's on fire." An 0-2 start outta the gate will do that to you, and then there's simply been too much fishy sumo as we witnessed yesterday against Tochinoshin.

The point I'm making is that if we look at the rikishi consistently doing well in their sumo and making appearances on the leaderboard, we have the first four foreigners I mentioned: Kakuryu, Kaisei, Ichinojo, and Tochinoshin. If we consider the active rikishi fighting this basho, those are probably your four best right now on the banzuke. The problem is that those four names don't get the Japanese fans excited, and so what's to be done? Can anyone remember the last time that a handful of foreign rikishi ran away with the yusho race leaving the Japanese rikishi completely behind?

This basho, even though it's clear who the best fighters are, the leaderboard heading into the weekend will show anything but, and that's a sure sign that sumo is being compromised all over the place. If we consider just the Japanese rikishi, who's been the most exciting guy to watch this basho? It's probably been Abi, but in terms of someone who actually has the ability to impact the yusho race, it's been no one.

The main problem we've had here at the Haru basho--from the Sumo Association's perspective--is the leaderboard has been rapidly shrinking the further we get into week 2, and the Japanese rikishi really don't have a say about it. At the start of Day 12, the leaderboard shaped up like this:

11-0: Kakuryu
10-1: Kaisei
9-2: Takayasu

That Takayasu is still there with just two losses is a complete joke, but I'll humor the powers that be and start with those three.

M6 Kaisei was up first, and his opponent on the day was none other than M1 Endoh. From the tachi-ai, Kaisei had the clear path to the left inside and a right outer grip on the other side, but he wasn't looking for the yotsu bout, and so he allowed Endoh to back up easily and move right going for a hurried pull. The move barely fazed Kaisei, and he had Endoh compromised at that point but chose not to act. As the two squared back up, Kaisei fired a couple of dual tsuppari Endoh's way driving Elvis back to the edge, but Endoh skirted right again going for another pull that barely connected with Kaisei's left wrist. No problem though as Kaisei just stumbled out of the ring of his own volition.  That pic at right is the first real contact Endoh made with his foe...after he stepped out already.  And then of course, Kaisei is selling it with that pained look on his face.

This was an easy yaocho call from Endoh's horrible tachi-ai to Kaisei's giving up the sure yotsu position from the start to Kaisei's not making Endoh pay for his first pull and from the sheer lack of contact on the pull from Endoh that sent Kaisei packing. But...what's going to generate more fan interest next basho? A fine run by Kaisei at the Haru basho or Endoh making his first appearance in the sanyaku? Endoh was 4-5 just three days ago but has magically put together three wins in a row to improve to 7-5. As for Kaisei, he knows where his bread is buttered falling to 10-2 without a care in the world.

With Kaisei having fallen one more loss behind the leader, it was now up to Ozeki Takayasu against M5 Chiyomaru to keep pace. Easy peasy Japanesey, right? Not so fast. At the tachi-ai, Takayasu meant well moving forward, but he literally bounced off of Chiyomaru's gut as the M5 fired a few nice shoves leaving the Ozeki with feet aligned. Chiyomaru moved forward knocking Takayasu back a few steps with a nice tsuppari attack, but Maru simply wasn't fast enough to make the faux-zeki pay and his thrusts were a bit too high. As a result, Takayasu was able to force the bout to migi-yotsu, which you'd think would favor Takayasu, especially since he worked his way into the left outer grip, but Takayasu carelessly went for an outer belt throw without being grounded to the dohyo, and without sufficient pressure being applied to Chiyomaru, the M5 was able to dig in, halt Takayasu's momentum, and then swing him over and out using a nice tsuki to the Ozeki's side in one fell swoop. Oops. The announcers as well as the crowd were all shocked at the result, but the content of Takayasu's sumo has been poor all basho, and this was the result of one of his opponents actually trying to beat him. With the loss, Takayasu fell three back of Kakuryu while Chiyomaru picked up a great win moving to 6-6 in the process.

At this point the leaderboard was as follows:

11-0:  Kakuryu
10-2:  Kaisei

That's obviously not going to work, and so Yokozuna Kakuryu had a decision to make today against Sekiwake Tochinoshin. The two actually treated us to a decent bout of sumo hooking up in the gappuri migi-yotsu position from the start. After the two dug in for a few seconds, Tochinoshin was the first to attempt a yori charge, but the Yokozuna halted it a step from the dohyo and actually countered with a nice inside belt throw with the right that would have worked if he had finished the throw. When he didn't finish the counter move, I knew the ending of the bout, and so Kakuryu just stood there applying no pressure as Tochinoshin retooled his grips and then made his second yori charge with little resistance from the Yokozuna. All told, this was a decent display of sumo, but Kakuryu is the superior belt fighter and could have easily defeated the Sekiwake. If he had done so, that would have moved him three wins ahead of the next Japanese rikishi with three days to go, and that's just not how they do things in sumo these days. Sorry, but they don't. The positive from this bout is that Tochinoshin secured kachi-koshi at 8-4, but the negative is that sumo still relies on constant yaocho to keep people's interest. After taking his first loss, the leaderboard now shapes up like this:

11-1: Kakuryu
10-2: Kasei
9-3: A host of Japanese rikishi whom we'll get to now.

First up was Ozeki Goeido against Komusubi Ichinojo, who redefined what it means to be mukiryoku in a key bout. The Mongolith got the right arm to the inside at the tachi-ai, but instead of using the limb to force Goeido upright, he just took the arm to the outside gifting Goeido whatever he wanted. Goeido's dumb, but he ain't that dumb, so the faux-zeki grabbed the front of Ichinojo's belt with both hands and just walked the Mongolian back and out in about two seconds. As if. Ichinojo showed no resistance here and happily assisted by walking back in tandem as Goeido pushed. I'm just gonna be frank here and say: if you actually believed this bout was legit, you're a dumbass. I don't think many did. You could tell the announcers didn't the way they explained things as if they were in a library, and the reaction from the crowd seemed more like relief that Goeido came away with a win. The result is Ichinojo's falling to 8-4 and off the new leaderboard while Goeido will be firmly planted there come tomorrow at 9-3. Go team Osaka!!

M4 Shodai moved forward well at the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Mitakeumi forcing the bout to hidari-yotsu from the gun, but his charge had no real rhyme or reason, and so two seconds in he just carelessly gave the right outer grip to Mitakeumi. Normally that would spell doom for Shodai, but the Sekiwake proved just as hapless testing the early uwate-nage waters without the proper positioning like Takayasu above, and that shift in momentum allowed Shodai to counter with a left scoop throw and set up his right arm to the inside giving him moro-zashi. From this point Mitakeumi went for a right outer belt throw using his right leg as leverage to the inside of Shodai's left, but he just didn't have the strength to sill the dill. After the failed nage attempt, Shodai used his height advantage to press the Sekiwake completely upright, and then he retooled his right hand at the front of Mitakeumi's belt, and at this point, the Sekiwake no longer had a pot to piss in. With Mitakeumi completely helpless, Shodai just gathered his wits and then easily dumped the Suckiwake over and down with an average scoop throw with the left. Shodai improves to 6-6 with the win while Mitakeumi now falls to a dangerous 5-7.

I know that I've put Sekiwake Mitakeumi through the ringer this basho, but I think the dude is a perfect case study for the way sumo is run these days. A year or so ago, I took the six Japanese darlings at the time and came up with my own little banzuke, and while I don't remember it exactly, I know I had Mitakeumi on top and Kisenosato on the bottom. It looked something like this:

Mitakeumi
Goeido
Endoh
Kotoshogiku
Shodai
Kisenosato

Now after watching the action this basho, I guess you'd have to retool it because Endoh, Kotoshogiku, and Shodai have all now defeated Mitakeumi soundly. So what's changed over the last year?  It's all about the struggle. You take Mitakeumi, and he's finished every basho since that mini-banzuke of mine with eight or nine wins maintaining the Sekiwake rank continually thanks to rampant yaocho. This basho, you'd be hard-pressed to call any of Mitakeumi's wins legitimate (who can forget Arawashi's fake somersault on day one?). Giving the dude credit, let's say that two or three of his wins from the Sekiwake rank are legitimate in any given basho. Well, that puts him fighting at a 2-13 or 3-12 level every basho. And yet, he holds onto his rank and continues to be coddled.

On the other hand, Endoh, Kotoshogiku, and Shodai have all been bumped down to the mid-ranks, they frequently have to taste a make-koshi, and they've had to work a lot harder to stay in the game. Yes, all three of those guys still get favors thrown their way but not to the extent of Mitakeumi. I mean, look at Mitakeumi's schedule the last three days. He has Hokutofuji tomorrow, but he's yet to fight either Ozeki or Kakuryu. That means he's not even going to fight all of the jo'i rikishi, which is unheard of for a Sekiwake.

All of this coddling makes him a worse rikishi, and it shows. The dude can't do anything because he has everything handed to him, and he doesn't know how to fight anymore. The same can be said of Takayasu as well. You can't just sit there and coddle a guy at an elite rank and expect him to become a better fighter. Takayasu used to be better than this, and the guy's still in his prime age-wise. Mitakeumi used to be better than this, but he's deteriorated now to number five on the mini-banzuke.

Prior to the basho, if you would have sat (or set as we say in Utah) 100 of us sumo fans down in a room and asked us to write down who we thought would be the sport's next Ozeki, 99 of us would have written down Mitakeumi myself included. Now, the reasons why we would have chosen Mitakeumi would differ greatly, but if you look only at the content of his sumo, he's as far away from the Ozeki rank as Hidenoumi ability-wise, and that's a sad circumstance.

Okay, nuff said there. Let's continue.

M4 Shohozan was flat-footed against Komusubi Chiyotairyu at the tachi-ai, and so Tairyu just barreled forward with a nice oshi attack while Shohozan looked to back up and evade right. With Darth Hozan clearly committed to the pull while tight-roping the tawara, Chiyotairyu went for a last-gasp push that sent Shohozan aross before the Komusubi crashed down. Had Chiyotairyu been a foreigner, they would have called a mono-ii, but they just let this one stand, and I was fine with it. Give it to the guy moving forward, not to the dude looking pull the entire way. Before we move on, as I watched the slow motion replay, I thought the initial call was correct as Chiyotairyu improves to just 3-9 while Shohozan falls to 6-6.

We talked about Endoh earlier and this push to get him to the sanyaku, but what about M1 Tamawashi? Remember when they were trying to get Takayasu to Ozeki, and Tamawashi was posting numbers just as good? The difference was that many of Takayasu's wins were gifts while Tamawashi was holding back, and if you go to the tape back then, the sumo content between the two can't even be compared. Now we see that similar scenario again where everyone's got this stiffie to see Endoh in the sanyaku while Tamawashi is just doin' his thang in the background. Today against M2 Takarafuji, Tamawashi took out a bit of his frustration catching Takarafuji by the neck at the tachi-ai and then clobbering him with a relentless thrust attack that disallowed Takarafuji from doing anything but try and escape. He couldn't even do that has Tamawashi had him cuffed and stuffed in about five seconds with the nice oshi win they should have ruled tsuki-dashi. Tamawashi is now 7-5 while Takarafuji falls to 2-10.

M2 Arawashi continued to play nice today against M3 Kotoshogiku in a bout that quickly went to hidari-yotsu where Arawashi was the one with the right outer grip, but instead of positioning himself properly for a throw or a dashi-nage, he attempted both of those moves while keeping himself square with the former Ozeki. It's a trick the Mongolians have developed in the last few years where they feign these throws (whether it be kote-nage or uwate-nage, etc.) but they keep themselves square with their opponent, and so the effect is an easy force-out win for the Japanese rikishi. In Kotoshogiku's case, he only improves to 4-8 with the gift while Arawashi won't fall too far down the banzuke from the jo'i even at his current 2-10.

M16 Daiamami had been one of those token guys hanging around on the leaderboard until a three-bout losing streak derailed his momentum. Things wouldn't get any easier today against M6 Hokutofuji, an opponent extremely formidable especially against a dude like Daiamami. Daiamami knew it was a tall task, and so he immediately went for a quick pull from the tachi-ai, but Hokutofuji used solid footwork to rush in close to his compromised opponent and push him back and across with zero argument. Hokutofuji moves to 6-6 with the solid display of sumo while Daiamami can't get off the 7-win Schneid.

M11 Tochiohzan has declined to the point where he can no longer win with yotsu-zumo. He favors the pull far more than attempting to get moro-zashi, and today he proactively drove M7 Yoshikaze back to the edge with nice shoves, but instead of attempting to finish off what he started, he settled for the hidari-yotsu position where upon Yoshikaze just drove him clear across to the other side of the ring and back before Oh could set up a pull or a maki-kae. Both veterans end the day at 4-8, and in regards to Tochiohzan, I think it's a matter of the mind being willing but the body weak.

Since I mentioned M7 Abi in my intro today, I guess it's only fair that I cover his bout against M11 Yutakayama. The two traded tsuppari from the start, but you could just see that Abi wanted to evade and set up a pull. He ended up moving right and testing the pull waters while Yutakayama tried to make him pay for it. He couldn't, however, and so Abi continued to move right and then really commit on a pull, and as he did, Yutakayama tried to counter with an off-balance tsuki-otoshi, but he just couldn't keep his footing as Abi's pull was enough to cause him to stumble beyond the straw. Abi moves to 7-5 with the win, and it's bouts like these that keep me from really getting into heat over the dude. You could just see from the start that he wanted to pull, and I like it when dudes are confident in their forward-moving sumo. Yutakayama falls to 8-4 with the loss, and I appreciated his intentions of fighting straight up today.

M13 Asanoyama and M8 Daieisho engaged in a tsuppari affair where the smaller Daieisho's shoves seemed defensive as he looked to evade and setup a pull. The two went around the ring a time or two as Asanoyama never was able to connect on some potent shoves, and about five seconds in, Daieisho saw an opening that allowed him to rush in, catch his foe in a wicked right choke hold, and then send him back and down across the straw with that same choke hold. Oshi-taoshi is one thing, but oshi-taoshi into your opponent's neck is quite spectacular, so props to Daieisho here as both rikishi end the day at 7-5. Before we move on, I think these two are some of the better Japanese rikishi worth watching these days. I love it when rikishi's rises are organic, and we don't get to see it much these days.

M9 Okinoumi kept his arms out wide at the tachi-ai and then backed up a step against M14 Ikioi for no apparent reason. Why, there was a reason. As the two looked to hunker down in what was shaping up to be a bad bout, Okinoumi just started spinning his wheels as Ikioi lamely slapped him to the dirt. The only thing here missing was that sound effect from the Scooby Doo cartoons when Scooby and Shaggy are trying to outrun the bad guy, but they just stand in place there spinning their legs in a big blur. Ikioi moves to 9-3 with the gift and is back on the leader board...wouldn't ya know!! As for Okinoumi, he graciously falls to 6-6.

I suppose I need to cover M13 Daishomaru now that Kakuryu has let him back into the yusho race, and his opponent today was M10 Chiyonokuni. Kuni struck first with a moro-te-zuki at the tachi-ai lifting Daishomaru upright and enabling Chiyonokuni to assume right arm to the inside coupled with the left outer grip, but he didn't pull Daishomaru in chest to chest as one would normally do in a yotsu-fight, especially when you're the bigger dude and you have the coveted yotsu position. With Chiyonokuni just standing there loosely, Daishomaru was able to evade to the right side and pull Kuni down with a downward shove to his right shoulder. This one was close and required a mono-ii, but Chiyonokuni did touch down first. I'd like to praise Daishomaru here (who am I kidding...no I wouldn't), but the dude did nothing to set up the win as he moves to 9-3. As for Chiyonokuni, who falls to 6-6, I think his poor choices in this bout were intentional.

After an intentional horrific start, M10 Chiyoshoma has been quietly putting together a string of wins in week 2. Today against M15 Myogiryu, he came with a right kachi-age that was too high for it's own good, but he had the left arm positioned to the inside, so he used that for leverage as he shaded laterally pulling Myogiryu down with the right arm. It all happened so fast as Myogiryu moves now to 6-6 while Myogiryu suffers make-koshi at 4-8. He'll likely need some charity to stay in the division since he's currently ranked at M15.

And finally, M12 Ishiura henka'd to his left against M17 Aoiyama tugging at the Bulgarian's right arm and throwing him off balance to the point where Ishiura was able to sidestep him left again as Aoiyama looked to square back up. Aoiyama could never get his feet settled resulting in an easy push-out from Ishiura in the end. I think it can be argued whether or not Aoiyama could have recovered if he had wanted to because he had to have known the henka was coming, but what's the point? Ishiura moves to 7-5 the only way he knows how while Aoiyama is a graceful 8-4. The loss keeps Aoiyama off of the leaderboard as we head into tomorrow, and let's just hope the yusho line doesn't fall to four losses.

With the day settled, the leaderboard heading into Friday is reshuffled as follows:

11-1: Kakuryu
10-2: Kaisei
9-3: Goeido, Takayasu, Ikioi, Daishomaru

Key matchups tomorrow include Kakuryu vs. Kaisei and Goeido vs. Takayasu. Regardless of those results, it guarantees at least three rikishi on the leaderboard heading into Saturday.

Back to Harvye tomorrow.

Day 11 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
Back from the woods I am, and haven't written for seven full days, probably the longest I've gone in three years. And what is my impression after such a break? That they didn't save seven days worth of storylines for me. They do have one:  a two man race for the yusho, Kakuryu vs. Kakuryu.  Oh, if he loses there are guys there ready to vulture it. Takayasu looks most likely. But this one, like last tournament, is silver-plattered for Kakuryu, the Temporary Storyteller.  Will he?  Won't he?  I think even the Sumo Association would like to see him win.  Does too much damage to the hierarchical notions of sumo if he can't:  Yokozuna jus' gotta.  We got a marquee match-up for him today, Ichinojo.  It would have been a good one to lose, helping out a countryman and all.  But I foresee a cruise ‘n' snooze last five days, with Kakuryu putting it away.  He just has to--everyone is counting on him.

CONTENDERS

M6 Kaisei (9-1) vs. M3 Takakeisho (3-7)
Takakeisho withdrew with an injury, so Kaisei got a free tenth win. Too bad, because not much drama in that. Well, we'll check in on him tomorrow. Under no circumstances does he win the yusho, however.

O Takayasu (8-2) vs. S Tochinoshin (7-3)
Note the career record here: Takayasu 8 wins, Tochinoshin 7. Meaning: Tochinoshin should pretty much be an Ozeki. It has been a very good tournament for him and a worthy follow up to his yusho last time out, though I still think he may finish 8-7. Nevertheless, here's hoping he'll continue to be a factor every time out. It wasn't a pretty bout. Good body-slapping tachi-ai won by Takayasu. Then Takayasu went with a few hard, effective face shoves and had Tochinoshin very much on the ropes. A quick circling to the side was all Tochinoshin could do, and it worked: he was able to pull Takayasu to the dirt at the edge. However, his own body was "dead": he was flying through the air when it happened. Takayasu's thigh clearly touched down well before Tochinoshin did, but Tochinoshin was already a flying nun just then. They gave it to Takayasu, oshi-dashi. Not sure I liked that, but Takayasu did look more like a "winner" here. Well, that's sumo, people.

Y Kakuryu (10-0) vs. K Ichinojo (8-2)
Thank goodness, Ichinojo looked feisty, getting on the belt as quick as he could and mixing some heavy pushing in with his leaning and leveraging. He did some twisting and lurching, and clearly wanted to win. The level of effort for both guys was good--something that is far from a guarantee when the top ranked Mongolian karaoke buddies get together. Anyway, smartly, Kakuryu didn't let the match go Ichinojo's way. He's not a Yokozuna for nothing, and is one of the few guys who can lift and push the massive Mongolith around if necessary. Ichinojo knew it--that's why he tried to put Kakuryu away quickly. But that robbed Ichinojo of the stability of his attack, and it was just a matter of time before Kakuryu responded. Kakuryu lifted Ichinojo up pretty much just with one mighty, mighty outside left belt grip, elbow cocked, body pressing, and drove Ichinojo out, yori-kiri. Impressive stuff. You try that. It is just a matter of time before Kakuryu wraps up the yusho; there was zero wilt in him today, and he has only four Yokozuna-free days to go.

PRETENDERS

M16 Daiamami (7-3) vs. J1 Kyokutaisei (5-5)
Poor Kyokutaisei. He does look nice, like a ripe mango, in his mello orange mawashi. Last tournament he should have been promoted to Makuuchi, though, having gone 8-7 at J1, and wasn't. They're going to make him earn it. And here he is on the brink again. As for Daiamami, I think we're going to see him in Makuuchi for a while. He won't amount to much--unlimber and round--but he's looked pretty good around these parts. In this one the two did fine, pushing hard on each other's chests repeatedly, thrusting and separating, and watching carefully so as not to get pulled. Eventually Big Sweety (Daiamami) got the upper hand with a good right to the face, opening him up for a swift left onto the belt inside, zzzwwwoop! It looked to be curtains for Kyokutaisei. But hey, he wants that Makuuchi as much as you do. So he stuck a foot in there and knocked Daiamami's ankle out, and down the big fella tumbled, like a candy jar knocked off the shelf by a groping child, suso-harai. This one was big for Kyokutaisei; Makuuchi, here he probably comes. Cup of coffee?

M15 Myogiryu (4-6) vs. M13 Asanoyama (6-4)
These guys are going in different directions. Like Daiamami, Asanoyama has looked pretty good. With a more supple body and some power, I think we'll see more from him than from Daiamami. As for Myogiryu, it has been painful to watch and to wonder "what was it about him I so liked a year or so ago?" He looks weak and lacks all fire. In the match they pushed at each other a bit, and Myogiryu had the momentum, so Asanoyama stepped lightly to the side and Myogiryu promptly fell down, like a grandma on a cane abandoned mid-street by her boy scout, hiki-otoshi. Sigh.

M15 Daishomaru (7-3) vs. M16 Hidenoumi (2-8)
As you know, I really don't like Daishomaru, who normally can't do much more than pull. However, he is okay at that, and down at this rank, he can do even more. Especially against a weak skunk like Hidenoumi. This tournament Daishomaru has looked like a whole different wrestler, with nary a pull on offer. He went for Hidenoumi ramrod straight, keeping himself low and battering-ramming himself forward. Hidenoumi stumbled about a bit trying to get out of there, but Daishomaru easily squared back up and soon had this one in the bag, oshi-dashi. Look for him to resume the pulling next tournament, but for now he can safely dominate and sweep up the dregs.

M12 Kotoyuki (0-10) vs. M11 Yutakayama (7-3)
Talk about a quiet 7-3: unlike with Daishomaru and Daiamami, whose solid tournaments I did note, I have no idea how Yutakayama got here. Well, maybe by bowling over clots of lard like the useless Kotoyuki. They pawed away at each other's faces here, but Kotoyuki looked a bit drunken in his efforts: not really connecting, not really focused. Yutakayama was not moved. His face-blasts were more purposeful, and in a few moments he had Kotoyuki back at the tawara. Perhaps afraid to fall out backwards, Kotoyuki went for a dramatic spin move on the way to stepping out forwards, okuri-dashi. I'm not sure he was trying real hard here; at 0-10, what more does he have to lose? Go away, Snow Princess.

M11 Tochiohzan (4-6) vs. M12 Ishiura (5-5)
It has been kind of painful to watch the once quite-good Tochiohzan in decline, but I hoped he could at least take care of Ishiura. All that was required was a bit of caution. Nope. He decided not to muster even that. He stood up slow out of his crouch and fell into a henka, accompanied by a bap on the nose, from Ishiura. Tochiohzan then went all Kotoyuki on us, dramatically staggering all the way to the tawara. Couldn't really sell it any more than that, though, and so stopped and turned and waited for Ishiura, who was on him like a wiry little ballistic missile: blam! He knocked Tochiohzan well off the dohyo, oshi-dashi, a Volkswagen Bug colliding with a movie fruit cart. Whatever.

M17 Aoiyama (7-3) vs. M 10 Chiyonokuni (6-4)
Here's a pair of guys having very good tournaments because ranked too low. How would they handle each other, then? As Mike astutely pointed out, Aoiyama has a lot of pull in him to go with his hamhock punches. That's two tools in the drawer, then. Today he kind of used them both. It was safer for him to go backwards and see what Chiyonokuni was up to, so that's what he did. Can't get pulled himself that way. And he was deploying the hamhocks: one knotty fist knocked Chiyonokuni on the head pretty good and had him tilting sideways, so Aoiyama just got out of the way in the other direction then and let Chiyonokuni fall down, hiki-otoshi. This looked bad from Aoiyama, but was a pretty good example of his sumo content, and well executed. He can be good fun with the big swings when he does move in the right direction, so I'll look forward to another basho of him in the upper division.

M9 Okinoumi (6-4) vs. M15 Sokokurai (4-6)
Some kinds of useless. My impression of these guys is they give so many bouts away they're basically charity factories and hence hard to take any real interest in. Whatever winning they do is always lost in a sea of senseless losing. Winning is secondary to their primary pillowing function. The match was a dreary affair; Okinoumi pushed, It's Dark There (Sokokurai) went backwards, and at the last moment Sokokurai escaped to the side while Okinoumi fell down over the straw. Instant replay showed that Okinoumi's body touched the ground just before Sokokurai stepped down on the same forbidden dirt, and Sokokurai was who they gave it to after a short conference, sukui-nage. (Later, they would not do that for Tochinoshin, we note. Why?) Sokokurai had to hit the wheelchair once he had slowly limped up the hana-michi, but he's not a particular loss. I didn't really need him back in the division a few years ago when they un-scandaled him anyway. You?

M14 Nishikigi (4-6) vs. M8 Daieisho (5-5)
Two little guys who do their best with what they have, are correctly ranked this tournament, and hence have records right around the .500 line. Daieisho showed why he is higher ranked, doing just what he wanted here. He stood Nishikigi up and forced him back with hard shoves to the uppers, then slammed him down with a very purposeful hataki-komi. Like throwing a salami down hard in a bucket.

M8 Kagayaki (5-5) vs. M14 Ikioi (7-3)
Battle of the mono-kanjis. Each of these guys has one demonstrative, prideful character. It is Brilliance on your left, Force on your right. I know Ikioi is a fan fave around here, but I always secretly root for Kagayaki and have no interest in the inconsistent and hence tiresome Ikioi. What I want is for Kagayaki to inch, inch, inch his way up the banzuke and then, Takayasu style, make a sudden surprise burst into the Ozeki ranks. That will probably never happen--he is not dynamic enough, and seems to be a slow learner--but I can have my dream. They bashed each other's heads pretty good at the tachi-ai, then smacked away at each other with them arms. Kagayaki wasn't getting anywhere with this, so he grabbed one of said arms and pulled. Bad idea. Ikioi said, "okay, fine, you hold onto that and I'll yori-kiri you out with it." Which he did. Aside: when two guys are slinging their hands around in a wild push battle, look for the guy who is scooping from underneath (Ikioi) rather than the guy who is deaking for the jaw up above (Kagayaki) to win.

M9 Ryuden (3-7) vs. M7 Yoshikaze (3-7)
This was like a strange forward-leaning limbo contest: how low can you go? Who can go lower?? Just don't fall on the ground!!! They traded pulls a few times, going down, down, down the ladder, and Yoshikaze ended up with his hands literally wrapped around Ryuden's knees. Being a veteran, I thought he might still do something with that, but as he drove forward he was just too low, and Ryuden was able to smush him into the ground, kote-nage.

M7 Abi (6-4) vs. M 10 Chiyoshoma (4-6)
No matter how bad sumo gets up top, there is an endless parade of intriguing younger guys to keep me peeking towards the future. Daiamami, Asanoyama, Ryuden, Abi--all of these guys are pretty fresh to the division, and all of them have looked pretty okay at times. Pretty okay! Hoo-boy, we're getting' some excitement now! But seriously, unless you're a lame front-runner type, you have to enjoy these lower level matches and get interested in the guys down here, don't you? I do. So let's see how Abi would handle the sneaky snake, Chiyoshoma. Zoing! Abi was punching at him like an overexcited alley brawler defending his lady's honor, but Chiyoshoma grabbed his arm, pivoted to the side, slung him to the tawara, put his own head down, and banged him out, oshi-dashi. Next time you're in an alley brawl, try that: it will bash your opponent's face into the brick wall. Cause alleys, like the dohyo, are narrow. But have walls.

M4 Shohozan (6-4) vs. M6 Hokutofuji (4-6)
I'm so out of love with Hokutofuji, who has been a stumbling bum this whole tournament. He needs to get solid again or he can head on down to around M10 and stay there for all I care. Shohozan, sensing this, teased him at the tachi-ai by feinting putting his fist down a few times. Ol' lumber-blunder, Hokotofuji, then seemed taken aback indeed by Shohozan's attack, and mostly played defense, slapping up high while The Little Darth tried to muster enough strength underneath to force him out. ‘t Hozan (somehow he always reminds me of a Dutch cheese shop) couldn't do it, though, and eventually Hokutofuji showed why there is still hope for him: he just hunkered in on Shohozan and drove him back and out, oshi-dashi. Still, he needs to get belty. This wasn't an impressive win for him. He's just kind of hanging on right now.

M3 Kotoshogiku (3-7) vs. M1 Tamawashi (5-5)
This is what I think of as a "by rights" match. By rights, Tamawashi should just destroy Kotoshogiku. But by precedent, tradition, deference, and all sorts of other sumo stuff, you figure Kotoshogiku is actually the likely winner. So you foresee one of two outcomes: a Tamawashi win, which you'll feel happy about but bored by, still slightly miffed by the idea that he might have to lose, or a Kotoshogiku win, which you'll have trouble trusting because how could that be. "By rights" matches are a bummer. If there wasn't politics, you could root for or enjoy an upset, an underdog, the unexpected. But because of all the politics you just kind of want to move on, and don't trust your eyes. Well, it was a lame one, sure enough. Tamawashi backed up, but he also pulled Kotoshogiku down on one ineffective-looking hiki-otoshi pull which nevertheless left Kotoshogiku sprawling to the clay. Good thing I have a nice big bottle of beer and hunk of string cheese here to enjoy.

M1 Endo (5-5) vs. M2 Takarafuji (2-8)
Endo went low and tried to get his arms inside, and Takarafuji evaded, circled, and, as he is wont to do, waited for an opening. He did get it. Endo had snuck near the belt, but didn't have it quite yet, and is small and underpowered, whereas Takarafuji now did have the belt, so Takarafuji tried to smother him back and out. However, Takarafuji seemed to stop near the edge, which we will excuse by explaining that Endo now had moro-zashi, both arms inside, and used that superior position to drive the momentum back the other way and twist and tip Takarafuji bodily down, yori-taoshi.

M2 Arawashi (1-9) vs. K Chiyotairyu (2-8)
Has Arawashi been useless this tourney or what? The answer ain't what. I was rooting for Chiyotairyu to punish him with explosive destruction. And that is just what happen… wait a minute, no, Chiyotairyu fell down. Following Chiyotairyu's big tachi-ai and freight train push, he stumbled as Arawashi shaded away from his line, and a hiki-otoshi victory for Arawashi it was. Oh, sadness. Another swig of beer? Or another bite of string cheese? I'll manage to stay happy here, don't worry.

Match of the Day: S Mitakeumi (5-5) vs. M5 Chiyomaru (4-6)
I was kind of interested in this one, seeing it as the over-hyped against the under-appreciated. If things were to go as the mainstream expectation wants, Mitakeumi would manhandle the blubbery rank-and-file Chiyomaru. But if things were to go as I have been perceiving them of late, Chiyomaru would stand up and say, "I'm something too, bud." So, we watch. Chiyomaru pranced around with that big shelf-like gut, refusing to get into his crouch, annoying Mitakeumi on purpose. When the bell rang Mitakeumi tried to go all Chiyotairyu on Chiyomaru: a big explosive push at the tachi-ai and try to force his opponent out quickly and aggressively, taking advantage of his opponent's relative immobility and lack of speed. However, Chiyomaru deftly evaded to the side and maintained, bringing the match back to the center, where they both settled into right inside grips. There, they leaned on each other a good, long while. Advantage: Chiyomaru. Like Ichinojo, he is very big, and these long, suffocating, heavy pauses favor him. Indeed, when he was ready he lifted up manfully on his inside/outside belt grips, brought Mitakeumi with impressive swiftness to the tawara, and lifted him nearly instantly over and out, yori-kiri, looking very much like the better wrestler. Ah, sumo. I love you still.

M4 Shodai (5-5) vs. O Goeido (7-3)
This would have been a good one for Shodai to show us something: "here, I will beat an Ozeki with solid, obvious technique." But why would we expect such a thing, when he has never offered it before? Indeed, after one solid tachi-ai bump, Shodai did nothing of interest, so Goeido lurched onto Shodai's belt and had so much of his body he could have carried him under his arm like a doll. Instead he went for one of many open options, grabbing the belt-knot behind and ushering the hopping, helpless, hapless Shodai out, okuri-dashi. Shodai remains Vanilla Softcream.

Mike has done yeoman work the last seven days, and he returns for more labor tomorrow. Do you know what hard work's true reward is? More hard work.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
We're now 10 days into the basho, and for the first time the entire tournament, when I checked the wires in the morning the focus was not primarily on Takanohana and the strife surrounding his stable. I mean, how many times do we need to see Takanohana-oyakata in the morning bundled up at his stable wearing three winter coats and a gray muffler to boot?  Yesterday I saw headlines that they're going to meet at the end of the month on the 29th to determine disciplinary action against Takanohana, and some have even suggested that his special oyakata name of "Takanohana" could be revoked. There's only a set number of shares of oyakata stock, but the Association will make exceptions for exceptional Yokozuna and allow them to create and use their fighting name until they retire. Takanohana is a good example of that as was Kitanoumi before he passed away a few years ago.

The threatened disciplinary action has shaped Takanohana up, and he's spent the last two days at the venue most of the day. Things were getting to the point where the focus on the basho was everything outside of the ring, and so with Takanohana now minding his P's and Q's, we can finally focus on the sumo. And the day 10 bouts did not disappoint for the most point, so let's get right to 'em.

I'll start with the leaderboard again today in the interest of time, and then touch on other bouts of interest later. The leaderboard at the start of the day going two losses deep was as follows:

9-0: Kakuryu, Kaisei
7-2: Takayasu, Tochinoshin, Ichinojo
       Daishomaru, Ikioi, Daiamami, Aoiyama

First up was M17 Aoiyama who looked to have a freebie against J1 Takekaze, but Aoiyama was too hesitant at the tachi-ai thinking that Takekaze would henka. The J1 didn't, however, and came straight forward firing a few tsuppari Aoiyama's way as the Bulgarian backed out of his initial moro-te-zuki challenge, but Takekaze knows that Aoiyama has a pretty good pull technique in his arsenal as well, so it was Takekaze's turn to back pedal creating some separation. Now it was Aoiyama's turn to advance, and as he did, Takekaze did what he does best, which was to skirt quickly to the left and swipe at the back of his opponent's shoulder, and the move was good enough to send Aoiyama toppling forward and down. Upsets in sumo do happen, and this was a good example as Aoiyama simply over-thought his plan today. Sure, you expect Takekaze to henka, especially when he's overmatched (i.e. every bout in Makuuchi), but Aoiyama walked into the veteran's trap today hook, line, and sinker, so scratch Aoiyama from the leaderboard at 7-3. As for Takekaze, he's 8-2 now from the J1 rank, so I guess we get to put up with his nonsense next basho in Makuuchi!

Next up on the leaderboard was M16 Daiamami who needed to solve the gimpy M11 Tochiohzan, a task one wouldn't think too difficult for a leader in a basho, but Daiamami is a leader in name only, and he's paid for a lot of his wins, so no wonder the kid had no confidence today and went for a henka to his left. These days, Tochiohzan's not going to come barreling out of the gate, and so he easily survived the move and squared back up with Daiamami easily fighting off the youngsters timid thrusts before threatening to get the left arm to the inside, and with Daiamami flustered, Tochiohzan did what he now does best, and that's execute an offensive hataki-komi, and the move easily worked against Daiamami today. I never root for a guy when he henka's so I was glad to see Daiamami fall to 7-3 today and off the leaderboard...at least for now. As for Tochiohzan, he earns back some of that street cred moving to 4-6 with the win.

Next up was hometown hero M14 Ikioi who was paired against M11 Yutakayama, and Ikioi came with a kachi-age at the tachi-ai, but Yutakayama fought it aside well with some decent tsuppari, but his shoves really weren't bullying Ikioi around, and so he gave up early and scooted left going for a mild pull that barely phased Ikioi, and as the two looked to square back up from that, it was Ikioi's turn to quickly move left and display a pull of his own, but as he did so, he grabbed Yutakayama's top-knot with his left hand and gave it a nice tug as he pulled the kid down. The win looked straight-forward live, but they called a mono-ii sending a ripple of murmurs through the crowd, and sure enough, watching the video, it looked as if Ikioi was guilty of pulling Yutakayama's knot. The judges ruled that way and disqualified the Osaka native to the disappointment of the crowd, but fair is fair as Ikioi falls to an unfortunate 7-3 record. As for Yutakayama, he improves to the same 7-3 record.

We're 3 for 3 in terms of pretenders being axed from the leaderboard so could we make it 4 for 4 with M13 Daishomaru?? That would depend on whether or not he threw a bunch of cash M8 Kagayaki's way, and apparently he didn't because Kagayaki caught him with a nice moro-te-zuki at the tachi-ai that knocked Daishomaru upright, and Kagayaki dominated the initial charge to the extent that he felt comfortable forcing the bout to yotsu, so he got the right arm to the inside and followed that up with the left outer grip as Daishomaru tried to flee, but Kagayaki had him in a vice grip scoring the yori-kiri win in about three seconds. Daishomaru falls to 7-3 with the beating, and just like Daiamami, these guys who buy bouts up front get exposed the second week of the tournament when the cash has run out. Kagayaki moves to 5-5 with the easy win.

The most anticipated matchup on the day was Komusubi Ichinojo vs. M6 Kaisei. In these two you have strong yotsu guys and about 420 kilos of flesh going chest to chest. My only hope was that Ichinojo would fight straight up (as much as I like Kaisei). Thankfully he did as the two clashed in the gappuri migi-yotsu position from the start where Kaisei looked to force Ichinojo across the ring and out early, but the Mongolith dug in, forced the action back to the center of the ring, and then leaned in as he is wont to do. Like a boa constrictor slowly sucking the air out of his prey, Ichinojo waited over a full minute before finally lifting Kaisei upright with the right outer and forcing him back and across. Just as they draw it up, and this was definitely a bout of o-zumo. The end result is Kaisei's falling to 9-1 while Ichinojo keeps himself on the leaderboard at 8-2. Unfortunately, an Ichinojo yusho isn't in the cards, so expect a head-scratching loss or two the final five days similarly to the way he just let Mitakeumi back him out in five seconds.  Yeah, that Mitakeumi.

Moving up to the Ozeki ranks, Takayasu demonstrated his best sumo of the basho. Course, when you're trying to win and your opponent is M4 Shodai, it's not that difficult as Takayasu came with a right kachi-age at the tachi-ai followed up by two stiff arms to the neck with the left arm, and that's all she wrote as the Ozeki had Shodai dispatched in seconds. Takayasu moves to 8-2 with the win and is still in striking distance. He doesn't control his own destiny since he'll need help from at least Tochinoshin tomorrow and Kakuryu later on, so we shall see. As for Shodai, he ends the day at 5-5, and he's lucky to have that record.

Sekiwake Tochinoshin looked to keep his yusho hopes alive as he faced Ozeki Goeido today, but Goeido probably started dribbling in his mawashi as he stared at his opponent across the lines because he just jumped left at the start with a fraidy cat henka tapping Tochinoshin on the right shoulder as he flew past. Because the henka was so poorly executed, Tochinoshin was able to catch himself and turn back around, and as the two looked to square back up, Goeido moved right this time firing a shove into Shin's left side, and the move wasn't that great, but Tochinoshin just flew across to the other side of the ring in exaggerated fashion and stepped out. While Goeido's henka was a joke and something a respectable Ozeki wouldn't do, I think Shin gave this one to him. I mean, they were all square at the edge with Goeido's having no momentum after the henka, and yet a weak tsuki to the side sent Tochinoshin all the way across and out?  Highly unlikely.  The end result is both dudes sitting at 7-3, off of the leaderboard unless Yokozuna Kakuryu finally decides to give one back.

Against M5 Chiyomaru, there was little chance of that happening. I mean, these Mongolians do pick their spots when giving out freebies, but against Chiyomaru with five whole days left to yaocho?  I mean go?  Kakuryu got the easy right arm to the inside from the tachi-ai, and he kept Maru in tight as he shored up an outer grip with the right hand on the other side. After gathering his wits, Kakuryu mounted a yori charge about five seconds in, and Chiyomaru was unable to respond. It was a pretty boring end to a pretty good day of sumo. Yes, there were exceptions like the Goeido bout, but a lot of the deadwood was whittled from the leaderboard. Let's take a look at it now before we get to other bouts of interest:

10-0: Kakuryu
9-1: Kaisei
8-2: Takayasu, Ichinojo

Takayasu is obviously the token leader there, but as is always the case, the basho never truly begins until the Storyteller loses.

We're back in familiar territory with Mitakeumi: a fast start thanks to yaocho, a terrible chuubansen (middle five days), and likely charity down the stretch as they try and inch him towards another 8-9 win basho. BOR-ring. Today against M4 Shohozan, the Suckiwake's tsuppari attack had little effect on Darth Hozan, and with Mitakeumi's feet largely aligned, it was Shohozan who dictated the pace from about three seconds on. Knowing he was in control, Shohozan timed a back-pedal as Mitakeumi attempted to thrust, and then the Dark One moved right spinning around Mitakeumi and coming away with the right outer grip. Mitakeumi can't play defense, and so Shohozan pushed him upright with a left paw to the neck before getting that left arm to the inside, and the Sekiwake was had at this point. Shohozan took a few seconds to gather his wits as Mitakeumi's only hope was a right kubi-nage, but I honestly don't think he realized that he could actually attempt to counter with it. So with Shohozan in tight and Mitakeumi perfectly upright, Shohozan pressed his foe back a final half step and then dumped him across the straw with a left belt throw. Mitakeumi just rolled off the corner of the dohyo after yet another beatdown at the hands of a rank-and-file rikishi.  Hoo-boy.  He falls to 5-5 now as Shohozan outclasses him moving to 6-4.

We had a legitimate upset earlier with Takekaze's win over Aoiyama, and we'd get one more with Komusubi Chiyotairyu trusting his freight train charge and catching M1 Tamawashi from the tachi-ai with a nice kachi-age start, superb de-ashi, and then a thorough thrashing as Tairyu plowed forward with multiple hams into Tamawashi's chest. This was a wham, bam, thank you ma'am contest if I've every seen one, and I loved it. Chiyotairyu is capable of this sumo, and I wish he'd just trust himself. I should add that he's thrown a lot of bouts in favor of his opponents, which is seen in his 2-8 record, but good night this was the best display of sumo from a Japanese rikishi that we've seen in a long, long time. As for Tamawashi, he takes his lumps and ends the day at 5-5.

M1 Endoh and M2 Arawashi looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but before they could really get settled, Arawashi moved out right grabbing Endoh's left arm in kote fashion, but instead of properly positioning himself for a throw, he just dragged Endoh square into his body as he danced over to the edge resulting in the easy force-out win for Endoh. Endoh moves to 5-5 with the gift while Arawashi graciously falls to 1-9. Just looking at these two and their records, it's easy to see how we're dealing with a false banzuke. Endoh's receiving every favor in the world in an effort to boost him to the sanyaku. As for Arawashi, he only needs to pick up three more wins down the stretch to safely keep himself in the middle of the pack for May.

M3 Kotoshogiku and M2 Takarafuji hooked up in hidari-yotsu as the former Ozeki looked to use his belly to nudge Takarafuji upright, and after the two circled the dohyo once with left arms inside, Takarafuji seemed to dig in and say enough is enough. As he tried to work his right arm to an outer grip, Kotoshogiku attempted a counter scoop throw with his left, but he was largely out of gas, and so Takarafuji took advantage of the momentum shift and finally grabbed that right outer grip, and once obtained, he forced Kotoshogiku over to the edge before slinging him back into the center of the ring as he showed resistance.

This was a mirror bout of the Kotoshogiku - Mitakeumi clash yesterday with the difference being of course that Takarafuji knows how to fight at the belt. I'm sure people were thinking early on in the basho when reading my comments, "C'mon, give Mitakeumi some credit" after his 4-1 start that included "wins" over Ichinojo and Tamawashi, but watching Takarafuji dismantle Kotoshogiku piece by piece today and then comparing that to how miserably Mitakeumi fared against the former Ozeki yesterday, it's clear to see that I'm correct in my assessment of Mitakeumi and my yaocho calls that benefit him. Judge it by the sumo content in the ring, not by hype, emotion, and the feeling of wanting something to be true. Takarafuji only moves to 2-8 with the win while Kotoshogiku falls to 3-7.

M6 Hokutofuji and M3 Takakeisho bumped heads at the tachi-ai as Takakeisho shaded right going for his usual pull, but Hokutofuji was onto his every move catching the Takanohana-beya prodigy with a few stiff-arms and pushing him up, back, and out in a matter of seconds. At the edge, Takakeisho seemed to give up, and I wonder if his bell was rung again today when he and Hokutofuji bumped heads. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some residual cobwebs from yesterday's clash with Ichinojo, but the bottom line is that Hokutofuji picked up another nice win with forward-moving sumo improving to 4-6 while Takakeisho has had a rough few days falling to 3-7.

M9 Okinoumi and M7 Yoshikaze hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Monster Drink didn't look comfortable going chest to chest, so he circled around and attempted to break off Okinoumi's left inside position. As they twirled a bit, Okinoumi got his right and on the outside of Yoshikaze's belt, and as soon as he did, Cafe just crumpled to the dirt for no reason. It took 'em a bit to rule on a winning technique, and they finally determined it was kaina-hineri, which is where you twist your opponent down by the arms. It prolly shoulda been koshi-kudake, but who cares? Okinoumi is a cool 6-4 while Yoshikaze falls to 3-7.

M7 Abi continued his hot streak today catching M9 Ryuden with a nice moro-te-zuki and using sweet de-ashi to fire thrust after thrust into Ryuden who attempted to evade left. It wouldn't work as Abi took advantage from the tachi-ai scoring another nice win in under three seconds. They actually awarded Abi the tsuki-dashi technique as he moves to 6-4. Ryuden falls to 3-7 for his troubles.

And finally, M10 Chiyoshoma fought off M8 Daieisho's tsuppari charge beautifully by moving to his right after initial contact and getting his left arm to the inside coupled with a right outer grip. Daieisho tried to dig in and counter with his own left arm to the inside, but his dashi-nage attempt failed, and at that point, he was at Chiyoshoma's bidding. The Mongolian shored up both grips on Daieisho's belt before swinging him over to the edge and showing him the door in perfect yori-kiri fashion. Chiyoshoma improves to 4-6 while Daieisho falls to 5-5.

I think this is the first time I've ever  bowled two turkeys in a basho, so it's time to turn the reins back to Harvye tomorrow...and not a day too soon.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Coming out of the weekend, I'm always interested in the Monday morning news because that's when all the media outlets are running full steam again, and it's a good indication of not only what everyone's talking about but also the spin being put on a particular story. The biggest news from the weekend of course was the pounding Takayoshitoshi gave his tsuke-bito after his day 8 bout in Juryo, and early indications are that the media outlets are piling on Takanohana and implying he's a hypocrite after the way he handled the whole Takanoiwa incident and decried bullying in sumo.

There are certain ways to spin a story, and I should know that as well as anyone, and when I watched NHK's News 9 coverage of the incident, I was quite surprised at how direct they were in putting Takanohana in a negative light. The picture they used to introduce the story was a still-shot taken during a press conference where Takanohana's eyes were closed and he was making a strange face, and then when they went to the streets of Osaka to get comments from the fans, they were all negative towards Takanohana when I'm sure they also found people sympathetic to the oyakata but didn't show those clips.

The news outlet did break down exactly what happened, and they also provided accompanying tape to illustrate the story. It turns out that Takayoshitoshi was late for his Day 8 bout against Daishoho. His opponent entered the arena on schedule and took a seat on his zabuton, but Takayoshitoshi was noticeably absent. A yobi-dashi realized what was happening, and so he rushed back into the back halls to grab Takayoshitoshi, and the Takanohana-beya prodigy could be seen hurrying out and taking his seat about a minute late. As he did so, Sakaigawa-oyakata, the chief judge during the Juryo bouts, could be seen pointing towards Takayoshitoshi and verbally chastising him.

Well, Takayoshitoshi went on to lose his bout even after having moro-zashi, so when he got back to the dressing room, he beat up his tsuke-bito for his mismanagement of the day's affairs. Now that you have the background, here is the video of what transpired in the arena:



My take on the incident is that it's not such a big deal on the surface. We are dealing with a full contact combat sport here, and to think that corporal punishment does not exist in most facets of Japanese society (sumo included) is foolish. Takayoshitoshi has been on the wrong end of corporal punishment, and his tsuke-bito likely deserved to be reprimanded. What does make this a big deal is that it comes on the heels of the whole Takanoiwa incident, and the way in which Takanohana circumvented normal Association protocol and went behind everyone's back in an effort to malign Harumafuji. Takanohana lied to the Association, he submitted a false medical evaluation to the Association, and he's covering up the way in which Takanoiwa really did sustain those serious injuries because it didn't happen the night of October 25th.

It's for these reasons why Takanohana can't bear to sit more than two minutes in the yakuin-shitsu. He's knifed the Association in the back, and he's still covering something up, so to see this incident occur in his own stable now is a sure sign of hypocrisy, and everyone infuriated over the whole Takanoiwa incident is now piling on. And rightly so. Takanohana is a snake in the grass, and the powers that be are letting him have it.

If only we could stop there, but there is that 800 pound gorilla in the room known as the Day 9 bouts. Rather than cover everything, I'm going to take the leaderboard approach and then cover other bouts of interest.

As I signed off on Day 8, I listed the leaderboard one-loss deep, but NHK understandably went two losses deep today, so this is how the yusho race shaped up as we begin the second week:

8-0: Kakuryu, Kaisei
7-1: Daiamami
6-2: Goeido, Takayasu, Tochinoshin, Ichinojo, Daishomaru, Ikioi, Aoiyama

Up first was M17 Aoiyama who faced M15 Sokokurai across the starting lines, and in these two rikishi you have opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of an oshi guy in Aoiyama and a yotsu guy in Sokokurai. That meant the bout would simply come down to the rikishi who could dictate the pace, and it was all Aoiyama who greeted his gal with a moro-te-zuki and then used excellent de-ashi to feul an oshi charge that dispatched Sokokurai (3-6) in seconds. They prolly coulda awarded the tsuki-dashi here, but it was downgraded to just oshi-dashi. Regardless, Aoiyama dominated today and moves to 7-2 in the process. For what it's worth, the only Japanese rikishi on the banzuke capable of beating Sokokurai in this fashion is Chiyotairyu.

Next up was M16 Daiamami, who has purchased a few wins along the way of his 7-1 start. I mean, can anyone remember a single bout of his the first week where you came away thinking, "That was impressive."  Didn't think so. Today against M13 Asanoyama, Daiamami was manhandled as Asanoyama opened with a left paw high into Daiamami's torso forcing him to evade and shade left, but Asanoyama was there getting his right arm to the inside, and he was able to force Daiamami back to the edge and upright with the position to where the final shove sending him across the straw was academic. Asanoyama dominated here on his way to 5-4 while Daiamami is knocked down to 7-2. Before we move on, if you're on the leaderboard, it's acceptable to lose, but you shouldn't get dominated without landing a single blow. Who does Daiamami think he is? Mitakeumi? It's just an example of what can be openly bought and paid for these days.

A good example of that is M13 Daishomaru who faced M15 Myogiryu, and Myogiryu actually got his left arm to the inside at the tachi-ai, which would normally spell trouble for Daishomaru, but not if Myogiryu pulls that arm to the outside for no reason and then puts both hands up high as if to pull. And that's exactly what happened here as Daishomaru picked up the ridiculously easy oshi-dashi win after a lousy tachi-ai. Daishomaru moves to 7-2 with the gift, and I suppose we'll have to cover him for at least one more day. As for Myogiryu, he falls to 4-5 and will eat well tonight.

M14 Ikioi had trouble fending off M12 Kotoyuki's thrust attack, and Yuki chased Ikioi around the ring catching him with nice tsuppari to the chest, but after about five seconds of action, Ikioi was able to go for a desperate pull at the edge moving to his right, but Kotoyuki caught him with a final shove sending him across the rope as Yuki collapsed to the dirt. Kotoyuki's right forearm did indeed touch first, but Ikioi's body was beyond the straw at the time, so they made them redo it all.

In the do-over, Kotoyuki looked gassed and wasn't able to fire any effective thrusts, and so Ikioi rushed in and scored on an easy pulldown about two seconds in. Ikioi moves to 7-2 and stays on the pretend leaderboard while Kotoyuki is still winless at 0-9.

M6 Kaisei has a walk in the park to the yusho IF he intends to win every day, and IF they keep feeding him stiffs like M9 Ryuden. Today the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu, and Kaisei just waltzed his way to the right outer grip, and once obtained, it was a textbook yori charge where he used his right leg nicely to keep Ryuden pinned in place, and then he strong-armed Ryuden out with such force, the two ended up off the dohyo on the other side. Ryuden's actually gotta learn when to let go of the belt, but how often has he seen sound sumo like this in the division? Kaisei breezes his way to 9-0 with the stifling win while Ryuden falls to 3-6. Kaisei must face Ichinojo tomorrow, so we'll see what Ichinojo decides to do. The Mongolith did let up for Tochinoshin last basho.

Speaking of the Mongolith, have you ever charged forward into a brick wall leading with your face? That's exactly what M3 Takakeisho did today leading with his face into Ichinojo's left shoulder area, and the dude was immediately seeing stars. He did instinctively evade back and left going for a downward swipe, but he looked as if he just blew a .20 on the breathalyzer because Ichinojo had to reach over with the right arm and grab the dude by the belt to keep him up on the dohyo after forcing him back with ease. Takakeisho bent over at the waist trying to shake off the cobwebs before slowly walking back to his corner. Osaka Announcer was wondering if he hurt his leg or lower back, but Kitanofuji--who was sporting an AWESOME peacock shirt beneath his blazer today--quickly said, "No, no, he just briefly lost consciousness." I was thinking along the lines of Osaka Announcer at first, but it was good to have Kitanofuji there saying exactly what happened. Dude likely experienced something similar in his career. With that said, Ichinojo stays on the leaderboard at 7-2 while Takakeisho is struggling a bit at 3-6. Before we move on, I just had to laugh when I saw that Takakeisho led their head-to-head competition 3-1 coming in. Yeah, right.

Sekiwake Tochinoshin used a wicked left kachi-age against M4 Shohozan knocking Darth Hozan upright before getting the right arm inside, and before Shohozan knew what hit him, Tochiohzan grabbed the left outer grip and swung Shohozan over before smothering him out in as fast of a yori-kiri bout as you'd care to see. When these foreigners go all out, the huge gap in ability is on display, which is why they don't always go full out. Regardless of that, Tochinoshin storms his way to 7-2 while Shohozan is tamed at 5-4.

Let's move up to the faux-zeki ranks where we still somehow have two dudes coming into the day with only two-losses. Up first was Goeido who was fed M5 Chiyomaru, and talk about an ugly bout of sumo. It was so bad, I don't know if I can even describe it, but let's try. Chiyomaru held up at the tachi-ai letting Goeido run forward and right into a pull trap. The funny thing was that this wasn't a henka; Chiyomaru just stood there. And yet, Goeido couldn't make him pay, so it was Chiyomaru dancing back and two his left at the edge of the ring trying to score on a quick pull. Goeido recovered and was able to square up with his back to the edge, and now it was his turn to quickly dodge left and spring a pull, and the move actually worked causing Chiyomaru to just run himself out of the ring, but not before Goeido carelessly slid his right foot along the outside edge of the ring. D'oh!.

They called a mono-ii, but you could tell from the look on Goeido's face that he knew he lost, and they upheld the original call from the ref:  gunbai to Chiyomaru. It used to be, long ago, that if you had an M5 fighting in his first bout against a seemingly seasoned Ozeki that he would get his ass kicked, especially after a tachi-ai like that. But these are different times, and Goeido is about as hapless as they come.  No tears here as the dude is knocked off the leaderboard (for now) as he falls to 6-3.  As for Chiyomaru, he picked up a sweet stack of prize money on his way to a 4-5 mark.

That brings us to Ozeki Takayasu, and I suppose after watching the previous bout unfold, he was thinking to himself, "Anything can happen," and so he just skirted Komusubi Chiyotairyu with a henka to his right putting his hand on the back of Chiyotairyu's belt, but the Komusubi never made an effort to recover and just bowled himself forward to the edge of the dohyo. Wow, what spectacular sumo from our two Ozeki!  Bravo, boys!  Bravo!!  With the win, Takayasu bravely moves to 7-2 and thankfully stays on the leaderboard.  As for Chiyotairyu, he falls to make-koshi at 1-8.

The final act on the day was Yokozuna Kakuryu welcoming M4 Shodai, and after witnessing the previous two bouts, nothing was going to surprise me here.  The two actually looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but it was the Yokozuna who actually backed up a full two steps in an attempt to maki-kae with the right arm.

Let's just stop the tape right there and analyze the first second and a half of this bout.  If you're a Yokozuna whose fighting Shodai, all you can ask for from the tachi-ai is the solid inside position. Kakuryu is an expert at the belt (I know, we don't get to see it often in his bouts) while Shodai is still trying to find himself in the division.  He has a few more describable moves than Mitakeumi, but does anyone consider Shodai a bitch at the belt and a guy who can beat the top competition in linear fashion?  Absolutely not, so for Kakuryu to gain the inside position only to back out of it a second in and then go for a stupid maki-kae already shows his intent of creating an opening for his opponent.

Back to the tape, Shodai was unable to capitalize on the Yokozuna's dumb move, and how could he have?  He wasn't moving forward looking for the kill; he was just along for the ride, and so with no pressure coming his way, Kakuryu began a mild tsuppari attack pushing Shodai back across the ring. Shodai's feet were quickly braced against the edge of the dohyo, so what's Kakuryu's reaction?  Go for another stupid pull instead of finish his foe off with a few more shoves to the chest. This time Kakuryu retreated back to the other side of the dohyo offering a weak push into the back of Shodai's head as he moved left, and the befuddled Shodai just couldn't keep his balance in the ring stumbling off the dohyo altogether.

As I watched the slow motion replays of this one, I was looking for anything that Shodai could have done to warrant the Yokozuna's actions in the ring, but there was nothing. This was simply a matter of Kakuryu leaving himself vulnerable and lowering the bar of his sumo. The Yokozuna is not that obtuse, and the reason that Mainoumi declared over the weekend, "Kakuryu is ripe for a defeat," is because Kakuryu's just dicking around in the ring. A solid rikishi could have defeated Kakuryu today who moves to 9-0 after that performance.  As for Shodai, I'm still trying to figure out how the dude is 5-4.

With the Yokozuna safely through, the leaderboard at the end of Day 9 looked as follows:

9-0: Kakuryu, Kaisei
7-2: Takayasu, Tochinoshin, Ichinojo
       Daishomaru, Ikioi, Daiamami, Aoiyama

You look at the Japanese rikishi on the board (I'm including Takayasu), and there simply isn't anyone whose on a roll. The only way to keep this basho interesting is to have Kakuryu and Kaisei lose, so the yusho line can be lowered thus including more rikishi as we try and get to the final weekend with some semblance of a yusho race. The sumo content already isn't there, so distracting everyone with sheer numbers of possible yusho candidates seems like the best solution.

On to other bouts of interest, I know Harvye's been absent for a week now, but we could sure use a "Hoo-Boy!!" with this first bout. Sekiwake Mitakeumi and M3 Kotoshogiku locked chests at the tachi-ai in the hidari-yotsu position, and the Geeku wasted no time in knocking MiFakeUmi upright.  Knowing he was in a pinch, Mitakeumi looked to attempt a maki-kae with the right arm, but the former Ozeki had him pinned in too close.  Kotoshogiku had the clear advantage at this point, and he knew it, so he pressed Mitakeumi closer and closer to the edge as Mitakeumi looked to move outta the hold, but he was in a pickle as Kotoshogiku guburi'ed him over to the edge and fully upright, and as Mitakeumi looked to force his way back into the bout towards the center of the ring, the Geeku shifted gears and slung him over and back to the center with a beautiful left scoop throw.

It was funny as they showed the slow motion replays from the different angles because you could see all the female Mitakeumi fans in the first few rows sitting upright with their eyes as big as saucers and their hands covering their mouths in horror as to what was about to transpire.  I mean, they believe all the hype and shullbit surrounding these guys, so when something like this happens, it's hard for them to process.  But process they must because Mitakeumi just got his ass handed to him by Kotoshogiku.  Hoo-boy.  Mitakeumi falls to 5-4 after the loss while Kotoshogiku only inches forward to 3-6. Before we move on, we talk a lot about Mitakeumi having indefinable sumo because there's seemingly all this action in his bouts, but yet we can never describe what he did to just win.  His lack of any arsenal was on display here because you at least attempt a tsuki-otoshi don't you?  Normally a rikishi would, but Mitakeumi couldn't even muster a counter move today.

M1 Tamawashi just stormed through M1 Endoh catching him with nice tsuppari at the tachi-ai and moving his feet forward hard, and there was nothing that Endoh could do in this wham, bam, thank you ma'am affair.  This bout was a great example of Kane's Skill Level Graph from day 7 because when these foreigners want to storm through their opponents, they storm through their opponents. Tamawashi moves to 5-4 with the win while Endoh falls to 4-5.  One of the minor storylines at the start of the basho was whether or not Endoh could finally break into the sanyaku. Tamawashi showed him no favors today.

M2 Arawashi picked up his first win by striking M2 Takarafuji hard at the tachi-ai before moving right and falling in love with Takarafuji's left arm. Before Takarafuji could shake off the dog in heat, Arawashi executed a nice tottari yanking Takarafuji down to the clay by that left arm right in front of the chief judge.  Both guys end the day at 1-8.

M6 Hokutofuji took advantage of an early pull attempt by M10 Chiyoshoma to work his left arm to the inside, and he used that well to force Chiyoshoma upright, and that eventually set up Fuji's grabbing the right outer grip. From this point, before the two could really dig in, Hokutofuji went for a nice dashi-nage with the right outer grip twisting Chiyoshoma over and sending him out from behind in a pretty good bout. Do I think Chiyoshoma was mukiryoku here? Probably. But I point out this bout because it was great execution on Hokutofuji's part. Fuji wasn't trying to skirt anything at the tachi-ai, and he followed the book by getting an arm to the inside and then setting up an outer grip. Very few Japanese rikishi can do that these days. Chiyoshoma prolly coulda shown more resistance here, but it's no harm no foul as both rikishi end the day at 3-6.

M7 Abi scored an impressive win today using a nice moro-te-zuki into M9 Okinoumi's neck, and as he is wont to do, Abi energetically moved forward keeping his eyes on the prize and following Okinoumi as he tried to move left. There would be no counter sumo today from Okinoumi as Abi just dominated him shoving him clear off the dohyo in about three seconds. Good stuff from the youngster here as both dudes end the day 5-4.

In a festive affair, M7 Yoshikaze was able to fend off M10 Chiyonokuni's tsuppari attack and get to the inside, and from that point, it was Kuni trying to escape the grip with Cafe staying in tow throughout. After a wild seven seconds or so, Yoshikaze dragged his foe over and down with a nice dashi-nage with the right hand set up from a belt grip he obtained early on, and as he threw Kuni over, the latter's belt came unraveled in Yoshikaze's hand. We were fortunately not given a room with a view here, but it was close. This was an entertaining bout for sure as Yoshikaze picks up a much-needed win at 3-6 while Chiyonokuni falls to 5-4.

And finally, M8 Kagayaki had a tough time pushing M11 Tochiohzan around from the tachi-ai, and after a few seconds of grappling with neither dude taking charge, Tochiohzan actually worked his way into moro-zashi, but instead of moving in close and knocking his foe upright, he turned it into moro-zashi light enabling Kagayaki to easily knock him over with a mediocre left kote-nage. The talk is that Tochiohzan is injured, so why not just kick his ass from the start if the dude can't move. This was a just a strange bout all around, and the only reason I comment on it is because I like both of these guys. Kagayaki moves to 4-5 but doesn't improve while Tochiohzan lightly falls to 3-6.

I'm back at it again at it tomorrow.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
My ritual during the basho is to check the news wires each morning and evening just to get a feel for the buzz surrounding a basho beyond just the daily NHK broadcast. The return of Takanoiwa had been leading the way mixed in with daily reports of just how long Takanohana's visits to the venue lasted, but day 8 took a dramatic turn for the worse when it was learned that Juryo rikishi, Takayoshitoshi (yes, he hails from that stable, the Takanohana-beya) assaulted his tsuke-bito in the dressing room after his loss a few moments earlier. Few details have emerged regarding the assault, but it's being reported that Takayoshitoshi punched the tsuke-bito multiple times in the head.

Then, to make matters worse, the Association also revealed that a non-sekitori rikishi from the Minezaki-beya left sumo last year after continually being assaulted by one of his older stable mates. The Sponichi Annex summed it up best with their headline, "Sumo can't seem to go a month without a new scandal." My intent here is not to revisit the older scandals or really comment on the new revelations today; rather, the point I want to make is the sumo in the ring just can't dominate the headlines these days. When the majority of the headlines on any given day the first week actually listed the time down to the second that Takanohana was in the venue, it means that there's nothing compelling enough on the dohyo to keep anyone's interest. And that's a problem

The day began with J1 Kyokutaisei moving left at the tachi-ai fishing for the left frontal grip, but he couldn't latch on and so the rikishi were separated by a few steps. Kyokutaisei charged forward pushing Ikioi back towards the edge in somewhat timid fashion, and that allowed Ikioi to time a quick pull as he darted right. While not spectacular, the pull lowered Kyokutaisei just enough to where his finger scraped the dirt before Ikioi just sloppily walked back and out on his own. They needed a mono-ii to sort it all out, but gunbai to Ikioi who moves to 6-2.

Daiamami and Nishikigi displayed about as soft of a tachi-ai as you'd care to see where Daiamami fished for the right frontal belt but came away with the left inside. Nishikigi hunkered down in tight forcing Daiamami to really reach for that inside position, and Daiamami was vulnerable here. With Nishikigi not of a mind to attack, Daiamami attempted a weak dashi-nage that did nothing, and he was in horrible position, but Nishikigi just grabbed him in right kote-nage fashion and went for the throw keeping himself square with his opponent, and so the result was an undeserved linear force-out win for Daiamami. Nishikigi was mukiryoku here from the start gifting Daiamami a 7-1 record while Nishikigi falls to 3-5.

M17 Aoiyama greeted M13 Daishomaru with a moro-te-zuki from the tachi-ai (two hands to the throat), and then the Bulgarian moved to his right pulling Daishomaru a bit off balance before pummeling him with two or three jabs to the face and neck, and with Daishomaru completely flustered, Aoiyama pulled him down hard about three seconds in. You'd expect a guy coming in at 6-1 to put up more of a fight, but Daishomaru has paid for most of those wins. Both dudes end the day at 6-2.

M13 Asanoyama began with a tsuppari attack against M15 Sokokurai, but it was timid allowing Sokokurai to eventually get the right arm inside and left outer grip with his feet against the edge. Enjoying the better position now, Asanoyama was unable to dispatch him, and the better belt fighter in Sokokurai was able to fell Asanoyama on his first uwate-nage attempt. Sokokurai improves to 3-5 while Asanoyama falls to 4-4.

M13 Ishiura shaded left at the tachi-ai grabbing the frontal belt grip against M16 Hidenoumi, which happened to be an outer, and he had Hidenoumi's right arm pinched in so tight, Hidenoumi could do nothing. After gathering his wits, Ishiura continued to move left dashi-nage'ing Hidenoumi down and out by that left belt grip and a right arm at the back of Hidenoumi's shoulder. Pretty good stuff from Ishiura who moves to 4-4 while Hidenoumi couldn't recover after being henka'd falling to 2-6.

M13 Kotoyuki's tsuppari attempts were way too high against M15 Myogiryu allowing the smaller rikishi to work his arms up and under Kotoyuki's outstretched limbs, and Myogiryu had no problem lifting Kotoyuki upright and forcing him back with a few nice shoves. Couldn't get any easier as Myogiryu moves to 4-4 while Kotoyuki falls to 0-8.

M8 Kagayaki and M11 Yutakayama traded shoves across the starting lines, but neither guy was using his legs. A few seconds in, Yutakayama got his left arm inside and looked to turn the bout to yotsu-zumo. Kagayaki complied getting his left arm towards the inside, but before he could get established, Yutakayama rushed him back and out for the swift win. Yutakayama finishes week 1 at 5-3 while Kagayaki falls to 3-5.

M11 Tochiohzan and M8 Daieisho struck head on where it was Daieisho who went for the first pull moving to his left and timing it perfectly as Tochiohzan just collapsed forward and down a second and a half in. Daieisho improves to 5-3 with the easy win while Tochiohzan falls to 3-5.

M7 Abi was a hair faster out of the gate shoving two paws into M10 Chiyonokuni and knocking him upright a bit, and then the youngster went for a quick pull that set up his ability to grab the right outer grip, and before Chiyonokuni could dig in and counter, Abi slung him over and down with that right outer grip. This was fine sumo from Abi who moves to 4-4 while Chiyonokuni was out-hustled falling to 5-3.

Not sure what got into M10 Chiyoshoma today, but the dude went all out against M7 Yoshikaze using as beautiful of a hari-zashi tachi-ai as you'd care to see slapping Yoshikaze's face with the right hand before grapping the right outer grip and shoring things up with the left to the inside. Yoshikaze tried to dig in with his own arm to the left, but Chiyoshoma was a on a mission today and just planted his left foot, pushed off with the right, and felled Yoshikaze to the dohyo with a nice uwate-nage. Chiyoshoma simply ran circles around his opponent today, something I submit he could do against any of the Japanese hira-maku rikishi any time he wanna. He moves to just 3-5 after the display while Yoshikaze falls to 2-6.

M9 Okinoumi kept his arms in tight as M6 Kaisei fished for the left frontal belt grip at the tachi-ai, and while Okinoumi was able to keep Kaisei away from the inside, Kaisei was just barreling forward using that brief left frontal grip to keep Okinoumi square in front of him, and the Brasilian just plowed Okinoumi back and upright to where he was able to finish him off with a few shoves to the shoulders and torso. This was frankly an ass kicking and splendid sumo from Kaisei who moves to 8-0 with the win as Okinoumi falls to 5-3 with the loss. Yesterday when Kaisei just collapsed to the dirt against Kagayaki, I thought it showed a willingness to give up a loss, but he was fully determined today. It's hard to speculate what goes on in the yakuin-shitsu (officials room) and the back halls of the venue, but it's easy to call the bouts as I see them, and Kaisei we hellbent on wining today.  He reaches kachi-koshi first out of all the rikishi.

M9 Ryuden and M6 Hokutofuji treated us to one of the best bouts of the basho so far, and as I watched it unfold, I was trying to recall ever seeing the likes of a bout featuring Goeido, Mitakeumi, Shodai, or Kisenosato playing out like this the last five years. You just don't see it, and even the bouts featuring Takayasu, Takakeisho, and Onosho are never this solid and grounded to the dohyo. Anyway, the two struck well with Ryuden getting the left arm inside while Hokutofuji opted to use his left arm to push Ryuden upright at the shoulder not wanting to go chest to chest. I suppose I can see that since Ryuden's length would be tough to deal with, and the dude would surely be able to reach for and grab an outer grip, and Ryuden showed why a few seconds later fighting his way into the right outer grip. From here, Hokutofuji was in trouble and he knew it, so he attempted a quick maki-kae that failed, and from there his only hope was to somehow wrench Ryuden into an awkward position. It would never happen despite this bout playing out over a minute because Ryuden's advantage at the tachi-ai and overall length won out in the end of this fine yori-kiri win. Ryuden moves to just 3-5 while Hokutofuji falls to 2-6.

The M5 Chiyomaru - M2 Takarafuji affair was simply a matter of who could dictate the style of the bout. Chiyomaru began with a right kachi-age and his usual shoves, but Takarafuji used his happy hands to get up and under Maru's extended hams, and Takarafuji eventually came away with the left inside position. Now chest to chest, the better belt fighter easily worked his way into a right outer grip, and from there it was easy peasy Japanesey as Takarafuji scored the nice yori-kiri win moving to just 1-7 for the tournament. As for Chiyomaru, he falls to 3-5 in defeat.

I thought Kane's skill level graph was so funny yesterday, but it was also appropriate, and so when two guys on the opposite spectrum lined up in M1 Tamawashi and M4 Shodai, it was a matter of choice for Tamawashi. Shodai was actually late out of his crouch, and Tamawashi was onto him in a flash, but Tamawashi's arms were both to the outside just gifting Shodai moro-zashi. The problem was Shodai wasn't really lunging forward, and so Tamawashi backed up to the ring's edge for no reason, and when Shodai finally went for a move in the form of a left shoulder slap, Tamawashi just fell forward putting both palms to the dohyo and keeping the rest of his body unsoiled, a sure sign of yaocho. The announcers explained it away as Tamawashi's "kangae sugita," or thinking too hard."  Uh, okay. Regardless, Shodai moves to 5-3 with the gift while Tamawashi rests at 4-4. Whatever.

In the sanyaku, Komusubi Ichinojo and M2 Arawashi hooked up in migi-yotsu where Arawashi actually had the left outer grip, but Ichinojo was in deep and had his left shoulder placed well beneath Arawashi's jaw, and after a few seconds, Ichinojo just pressed forward grabbing his own left outer, and when he did, Arawashi just gave up and walked the final step back and across on his own. Ichinojo quietly moves to 6-2 with the win while Arawashi falls to 0-8.

Komusubi Chiyotairyu came with dual kachi-age slamming hard into M1 Endoh but not going for shoves that would actually push him back. To his credit, Endoh latched on early with a right frontal belt grip, but he was there for the taking had Chiyotairyu wanted. Even though Endoh did nothing to halt his foe's momentum, Chiyotairyu just put both hands up around Endoh's head but let go before backing up purposefully whiffing on a dumb swipe as he retreated. With the action in the ring having shifted in favor of Endoh, Endoh now moved forward towards his foe while Chiyotairyu whiffed once more for good measure on a pull and just backed out of the ring as Endoh offered a mild push. Chiyotairyu falls to 1-7 after his act of charity while Endoh improves to 4-4.

Our two Sekiwake met up today in a bout that saw Mitakeumi henka to his left as Tochinoshin came with a kachi-age. The move caused Tochinoshin to stumble forward, but Mitakeumi really doesn't have the game to take advantage, and so the two squared back up with Shin establishing his right arm to the inside, and as Mitakeumi just blindly moved in closer, it was the Shining's turn to move laterally as he stepped out right and executed a decent kata-sukashi (shoulder pull down) that felled Mitakeumi to the clay with ease. Once again, Mitakeumi is hapless when his opponent isn't mukiryoku as he falls to 5-3 while Tochinoshin improves to 6-2.

In the faux-zeki ranks, Takayasu's right hari-te brushed off of M3 Takakeisho's face as the M3 looked to get the left arm to the inside, and just when you thought the bout was going chest to chest, Takakeisho wildly moved to his right going for a dumb pull before Takayasu could even latch onto a right outer grip. With Takakeisho just setting himself up by backing over to the edge with his hands up high as if to pull, Takayasu squared back up and easily pushed Takayasu across for the quick win. I spent some time earlier on the Ryuden - Takarafuji matchup, and the point I was trying to make was that the earlier bout was so soundly fought while this bout was reckless and sloppy. My take is that Takakeisho gave Takayasu the win. None of his moves were in reaction to anything Takayasu had done or any threats coming from the Ozeki, but regardless of that, it was such a crappy bout of sumo, the type of sumo we see far too often this late in the day. The result is Takayasu's moving to 6-2 while Takakeisho graciously falls to 3-5.

In an awkward tachi-ai, M3 Kotoshogiku and Ozeki Goeido ended up in hidari-yotsu after Kotoshogiku kept his right arm ridiculously wide at the start. Regardless of that, the two never could get settled into a full-blown chest to chest contest kind of circling slowly looking for an opening. Goeido struck first going for a left inside belt dashi-nage, and while it didn't spell certain death for the Geeku, it did open him up on the right side that enabled Goeido to get moro-zashi, and from there, it was curtains as Goeido picked up the easy win moving to 6-2. As for Kotoshogiku, he quietly falls to 2-6.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Kakuryu welcomed M4 Shohozan in a bout that got off to a bad start and would never improve. Shohozan offered a lame right hari-te as he hopped forward flat-footed while the Yokozuna's footwork wasn't any better as a he executed a few shoves way too high. With the Kak upright, Shohozan was able to connect on a shove or two into Kakuryu's chest knocking him back, and that's when Kakuryu--still upright--went into pull mode shading right and going for pulls and slaps. When Shohozan adjusted to that move, Kakuryu quickly darted left going for another pull, and then as the Dark One looked to square up again, Kakuryu moved right going for a light slap that felled Shohozan over and down. There was very little continuity to this fight, and it was an ugly bout of sumo that is typical of the last 30 minutes of the broadcast.

I read in the headlines afterwards Mainoumii's commenting that "Kakuryu looks ripe for a loss."  He better because as we open the final week of action, this is what your leaderboard looks like:

8-0:  Kakuryu, Kaisei
7-1:  Daiamami

Day 7 Comments (Kane Roberts reporting)
Let me start by saying...

Did you know that the 7/11's in Japan kick butt? They love their convenience stores (called CONBINI). Super clean, friendly polite upbeat staff, awesomely fresh delicious food and beverages...well I could go on for while here but yeah...way cool.

Lawson's, Family Mart are part of the same mentality and I GPS my way to every CONBINI no matter where I'm traveling to in the land of NATTO and girls that lick door knobs that ENDO has touched.

Back here stateside the 7/11s suck. Food is gross, owners look pissed off and paranoid, customers look p...ed off and paranoid, and the beverage coolers look like a corpse or two may be cooling off somewhere behind the Monster Drinks.  By the time you leave you look p...ed off and paranoid which works well in certain neighborhoods in Los Angeles where I hail from....the CA government tackled the homeless problem and cleaned up the streets as well as their environmental programs save the planet.

Point is, once the Japanese people let the western influence flood into their country, they applied their ozone layer high standard to it all in an effort to make it their own. The list of off the chain killer stuff that comes out of Japan is well known, and buy a bowl of spaghetti in Tokyo or even a French pastry...(I guarantee it will knock you for a loop! So good!) How and why can they do that!? Their standard demands they put their stamp on everything that becomes a part of their culture and their nuclear level pride that insists that their indigenous culture is bar none - the best. So yeah, bring your music, your fashion, your food here and A. we will make it better and B. just lay off the stuff we invented...like SUMO for example.

I often watch the NHK broadcasts and think the entire sumo universe would be better served if they moved all the foreigners out. I REALLY believe that the Japanese thought they would dominate because only Japanese athletes will truly master the sport. Well didn't quite pan out did it? Reality can be a biotch.

Tochinoshin's knee looks banged up pretty good by the way he's favoring it...the tuck and roll at the end of the bout by Arawashi seemed a tad "conbini" BUT The Shining exhibited classic technique at the tachi-ai! Came in low, kept is feet akimbo, grabbed belt and rolled out an easy uwate-nage win. Arawashi is a hapless 0-7 and Tochinoshin is a happy 5-2.

One thing that you can always count on from the debonair Takakeisho is an utter display of lame sumo technique. Dude makes Yoshikaze look like Jascha Heifetz. He runs around slapping and spinning and pulling and side stepping as he dosey does atop the dohyo.



When he loses a match his back is usually facing his opponent as he trips the light fantastic into the expensive seats. Well on night 7 he decided to employ this same approach when challenging Yokozuna Kakuryu and truthfully he didn't do that bad. His frenetic tsuppari / pull pursuit was very energetic and was a handful for the effervescent Kak to juggle in the beginning but wouldn't you know it as Tak got spun around and was shoved off the clay oshi-dashi style. A mono ii was called but Kak had merely kicked some sand up causing a long discussion between the judges about how badly Takakeisho needed the win. Kak improves to 7-0 while Rico Suave (he always looks so nonchalant) plies his way down to 3-4.



Takayasu usually has a good Ozeki game face on, and he has put on weight over the last year or so but besides inheriting Robin Williams back hair there's nothing overtly distinctive about his Sumo technique or skills. His opponent on this night is none other than Grumpy Smurf himself, Shohozan! Grumpy throws down more consistent tsuppari than Chiyotairyu (which is too bad since Chia Pet is the better gunslinger). Well Shohozan always comes to fight and though this affair was dominated by Takayasu I liked Shohozan's attitude and effort much better. Takayasu grappled and held on to Shohozan who expended great energy repeatedly freeing himself from Takayasu's grip and pushing and shoving but eventually the Grumpster was outta gas. He finally shoved himself off the dohyo giving the Ozeki the hataki-komi win and leaving both men with a 5-2 record.



Another Ozeki (meaningless rank now wouldn't you say), Goeido, gave his signature 3.4 inch stare across the dohyo at Takarafuji and proceeded to dominate the bout!  He came in low at the tachi-ai and Takara Boom Dee Ay came in high. Princess Go grabbed meaningless parts of his opponents physique and even tried a headlock for a fleeting second and Takarafuji did the same. His hands reaching for belt but retreating and slapping the rib cage instead. He pushed Goeido to the rope but decided against finishing him off. An unfortunate decision because Goeido displayed a bevy of losing techniques that proved just enough for the win!  Holy Shitate-nage!  Goeido stumbles to 5-2 and Takara Boom Dee Ay falls to an intentional 0-7.  When Takarafuji is past his prime he'll have to try and win more.

Endo takes a beating quite well doesn't he? I remember a match with Hakuho where he was straight armed all the way to the concession stands and right into the Shu Cream batter.

Odd dynamic in this bout. Elvis really can't cut it in the Makuuchi show tanked the match for Kotoshogiku. Speaks volumes about the sad state but we all have big hearts and still love these big ole cream puffs. Koto (2-5) beats Endo (3-4) using the infamous Gimmiabreakiri technique.



Chiyotairyu did what Mike hates. He started using tsuppari at the onset of his bout against Mitakeumi and then backed up and tried a pull. Half hearted effort by Chiyotaikai's protégée so I don't think he was supposed to win but either way...Duuuuude figure it out!  Dayum!

Love the impeccably dapper Tamawashi and Ichinojo is a legit beast. He should never lose except against a Mongolian. Tamawashi never let Itchy Brutha get in tight and hammered him with one of the best piston armed tsuppari techs in the current banzuke. Once Itchy was upright it was all she wrote! NOW let me say...au not so sure about this one. When itchy kinda gets all sleepy bear it usually means he aint gonna do so good for whatever reason. He DID seem nonchalant here so Ill give to Tama because it maybe sorta coulda happened anyway? Oshi-dashi is the expected call and the Washi pops to 4-3 while the ever big Ichinooo sleepwalks his way to 5-2.

Well that's it for me...I'm gonna crack open a Hungry Man TV dinner, mix me up some cherry Kool Aid, reheat some Krispy Kreme donuts, kick back and wait for Asashoryu to return. Looks here like he's dying to!?!?



Oh and what would one of my reports be with out my absolutely appalling bikkuri statement of female power!  Be well my friends!

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
There was a tremor in the force during day 5 when an extremely rare kimari-te was seen in the Makuuchi division. In Tochiohzan's bout against Ryuden, Tochiohzan defeated his opponent by harima-nage, or a backward belt throw. Thieving directly from the Sumo Association's website, harima-nage is "a sacrifice technique usually done as a last ditch throw at the edge. The attacker will throw his opponent behind him by reaching over the opponent's shoulder to grab the mawashi from behind and then pull him past his own body while twisting into him. The name comes from the image of a weak wave hitting a rock and then drifting past it."

In the day 6 broadcast, they referenced the kimari-te and then took us down memory lane way back to 1977 where Ozeki Wakamisugi (he would later become Yokozuna Wakanohana II) defeated Sekiwake Washuyama using the move. They showed the live bout and then the replay, and then later on in the broadcast they showed the Tochiohzan bout again from yesterday. I couldn't help but notice the stark contrast in the overall sumo content, so I compiled the two bouts back to back for your reference:



Isn't the contrast between the two ages of sumo stunning?  Now, I realize that the Tochiohzan version from yesterday is a bit watered down, but I think it typifies so well the current state of sumo. There is such little fire atop the dohyo, and rikishi give up so easily.  I wasn't watching sumo way back in 1977, but by the time I became a fan in the late 80's and early 90's, the same kind of firebrand sumo was exhibited on a daily basis.  Sure, there were a few stinker bouts here and there, but once you climbed near the top of the banzuke, every day was an event.

That same fire existed until the decline of Tochiazuma, Chiyotaikai, and Kaio, and once Kaio was gone leaving no Japanese rikishi in the Ozeki or Yokozuna ranks, sumo took a huge turn for the worse, and while attendance has rocketed back up to mid-1990 levels, the content is as bland as we've ever seen, especially the higher up the banzuke you go. The stark contrast between the two harima-nage events then and now helps to illustrate the point of just how far the bar has been lowered.

Let's start from the bottom up with M15 Sokokurai who welcomed Juryo rikishi, Meisei in the latter's first Makuuchi appearance. The bout began in hidari-yotsu light because while both rikishi had lefts sorta to the inside, they weren't chest to chest. After grappling like this for a few moments, Meisei moved right going for a pull to which Sokokurai responded with a pull.  Neither guy was close to scoring on their pull attempt, so they hooked back up in the grapplin' position not wanting to get too close, but in the end, Sokokurai used his experience to work his way into moro-zashi, and from there the fat lady sang a fine tune as Sokokurai went for a tsuri-dashi attempt and then followed with a yori-taoshi.  Welcome to Makuuchi Meisei has Sokokurai limps to 2-4!

M15 Myogiryu charged with his shoves too high into M16 Daiamami's head area, and so Daiamami was able to shift to his left grabbing an outer grip in the process, and it took just another second to pull Myogiryu in tight to where he had the firm right inside, and once he had his foe stabilized, he executed the fine yori-kiri moving to 5-1.  As for Myogiryu, he falls to 2-4 and needs to produce an impact into his opponent's chest, not up high around the noggin.

M16 Hidenoumi came with a kachi-age with the right arm against M14 Nishikigi and parlayed that into the right inside position, and Nishikigi's only response was a mild pull that enabled Hidenoumi to assume moro-zashi, and once he had that, he forced Nishikigi back and across for good leading with the left arm. Both dudes end the day at 2-4.

M14 Ikioi advanced forward from the tachi-ai against M13 Daishomaru, but instead of firing tsuppari he went for a dumb pull.  I think if a guy means to pull, he'll step to either side, but Ikioi just stayed square, and so Daishomaru took that gift easily driving Ikioi back and out with an oshi-dashi attack.  Intentional or not, it was a dumb move by Ikioi who falls to 4-2 while Daishomaru moves to 5-1.

M17 Aoiyama greeted M13 Asanoyama with some shoves across the starting lines before shifting right and going for an offensive pull (note how Ikioi did not shift either way).  Since Asanoyama had applied no pressure from the tachi-ai, the pull worked wonders throwing the youngster off balance, and as he looked to recover and square back up, Aoiyama moved to his right again this time getting his right arm underneath Asanoyama's left side, and easily lifted his foe upright and twisted him out of the ring from there with a final shove. Aoiyama moves to 5-1 with the win, and I think yesterday against Myogiryu if he really did mean to win he would've fought like this and gone for the pull early, not at the edge. As for Asanoyama, he falls to 3-3, and this is a good example of how you're vulnerable to anything if you can't neutralize your opponent at the tachi-ai.

M10 Chiyoshoma fired tsuppari into the top of M12 Ishiura's shoulders as the latter ducked down, and a few seconds into their bout, they found themselves in the awkward grapplin' position still straddling the starting lines. From this point, Ishiura got the left arm to the inside, and Chiyoshoma's reaction was to just wrap both of his arms around that left, but he made sure not to pinch in too hard or go for a kote-nage or anything. From that point, I knew who was going to win the bout because Chiyoshoma just stood there completely exposing his right side. I mean, the number one position you want in sumo is the inside, so why would you bear hug a guy's arm and do nothing with it allowing him to get to the inside with the other arm? Ishiura ain't dumb, and he grabbed the front of Chiyoshoma's belt with the right and and just used it to twist the Mongolian upright, over, and out for the gifted win. In a real bout, Ishiura doesn't fight straight on, so this was an easy yaocho call on multiple fronts as Ishiura moves to 3-3 while Chiyoshoma waddles to 1-5.

M12 Kotoyuki made his return after sitting out a few days, and today's foe was M10 Chiyonokuni. Kotoyuki came with his usual tsuppari attack, but it had zero pop, and so Kuni was able to evade to his right, work his way up and under Kotoyuki, and eventually spin him around and out. Course, Kotoyuki likes to spin on his own to add some flare to his losses, and he did that today launching himself into the first two rows on his way to 0-6.  As for Chiyonokuni, he'll take this easy peasy win that moved him to 5-1.

M9 Okinoumi came with a mild right kachi-age against M11 Tochiohzan who managed to work his left arm to the inside, but with Okinoumi advancing, Oh's next move was a dumb pull, so Okinoumi just seized on that momentum shift pushing Tochiohzan straight back and out in mere seconds. Tochiohzan was limping on that left leg afterwards as he falls to 3-3 while Okinoumi is a quiet 4-2 after the win.

M11 Yutakayama and M9 Ryuden hooked up in hidari yotsu where Yutakayama looked to take charge forcing Ryuden back and around the ring as Ryuden looked to evade left. Yutakayama was able to keep pace, however, and after barely missing on a right outer grip, Ryuden looked to execute a counter tsuki otoshi with his right hand pushing into Yutakayama's left side. Before he could execute the move, however, Yutakayama wrapped his left leg around Ryuden's right and dropped him to the dohyo soto-gake style. Seems like it's been awhile since I've seen a good leg trip like that as Yutakayama moves to 4-2 while Ryuden falls to 1-5.

NHK was in the middle of showing results on the day when all of a sudden M6 Kaisei and M8 Daieisho charged at the start of their bout catching someone in the producer's truck off guard. As a result, they didn't have a copy of the bout from the shoumen angle, so they had to replay it from one of the reverse replay cameras. Not that it really mattered as Kaisei easily fought off Daieisho's initial tsuppari and evasion to his right pushing Daieisho across and off the dohyo altogether in two seconds flat making him pay for the dumb pull attempt. Kaisei is a sweet 6-0 now if you need him while Daieisho falls to 3-3.

M8 Kagayaki was outclassed by M6 Hokutofuji who lowered his head and burrowed into Kagayaki at the tachi-ai knocking him upright and then forcing him back once, twice, three times a lady.  I hate to say it, but it almost looked as if both dudes knew what the outcome needed to be. I could be wrong, but why doesn't Hokutofuji use this tachi-ai more often?  Regardless of that, Hokutofuji sneaks forward to 2-4 while Kagayaki falls to 3-3.

M5 Chiyomaru and M7 Yoshikaze traded tsuppari from the tachi-ai with Chiyomaru testing the pull waters first. He didn't really commit on the move, however, so he was able to survive Yoshikaze's attempt to get back to the inside and shove him away creating separation again.  The second time around, Chiyomaru's shoves finally found their mark against the smaller Yoshikaze keeping him upright and rendering him an easy oshi-dashi target in the end. This was pretty well fought as both guys end the day at 2-4.

M7 Abi took charge against M4 Shodai firing shoves into his head and neck area, and this allowed him to nudge Shodai back towards the edge little by little, but Abi never did find that kill shot, and so Shodai was able to counter at the edge with a left tsuki-otoshi that slipped off and was quite weak, but Abi crumpled forward and down anyway leaving both guys at 3-3. My druthers say that this bout was fixed. Shodai's tsuki attempt at the end didn't warrant a fall like that from Abi, and Shodai never really connected on anything the entire bout that would have befuddled Abi's tsuppari attack.

M2 Arawashi weakly moved to the right against M1 Tamawashi, but it really wasn't a henka as he stepped back a half step in the process. Offering no defense, he just stood there as Tamawashi shoved him back and across with no argument. What a waste of a bout as Tamawashi moves to 3-3 while Arawashi is still winless.

In a duel between our two Komusubi, credit Chiyotairyu for actually giving Ichinojo his best shot. Tairyu charged into Ichinojo from the start firing a few shoves into his chest, but it had the effect of pushing into a five-foot thick concrete wall. Fujii Announcer actually started laughing mid-bout incredulous at how Chiyotairyu's shoves had zero effect, and in this environment, Ichinojo just plowed forward working his arms beneath Chiyotairyu's extended shoves giving him moro-zashi near the edge, which enabled him to dispatch Chiyotairyu with ease. This bout was a good example of the wide gap between the foreign rikishi and the Japanese rikishi as Ichinojo waltzes to 5-1 while Chiyotairyu falls to the opposite 1-5 mark.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi drew M3 Takakeisho today in a compelling bout that featured two of Japan's darlings, and I was just hoping the fight would be straight up. Thankfully it was as Takakeisho caught Mitakeumi with a right paw to the neck before going for an offensive swipe down Mitakeumi's dickey do as the M3 shaded left, and that threw the Suckiwake off balance and stumbling forward to where Takakeisho only needed to land a left paw to the neck in order to send Mitakeumi packing. This one was over in about two seconds, and Mitakeumi frankly got his ass kicked.  If you're scoring at home, that's two bouts now where Mitakeumi's opponents have tried to win (Endoh and now Takakeisho), and he's been thoroughly dominated in each of them. This guy is as fake as a $3 bill as he falls to 4-2 while Takakeisho proves he's one of Japan's best (trust me, that ain't sayin' much) moving to 3-3.

Our genuine Sekiwake, Tochinoshin, took on M1 Endoh today in a pretty entertaining bout. Tochinoshin came with a mild kachi-age just leaving his arm up there and exposing his left side completely. Endoh grabbed the belt with the right as a result, but he didn't pinch in or apply pressure, and so Shin was able to counter with his left to the inside. Shin had the upper hand with the inside position, and Endoh knew it, so he immediately moved right attempting a dashi-nage along the way. Shin survived the move, however, and forced both dudes back to the center of the ring, and as they went chest to chest again, Endoh slipped his right arm back to the inside of Tochinoshin's left, but the momentum shift gave Shin the chance to execute a right kote-nage throw that felled Endoh to the dohyo as Tochinoshin rolled over the top of him. This was easily the most entertaining bout on the day as Tochinoshin moves to 4-2, but he gave Endoh (3-3) some openings on purpose and let him hang around. I hate to spoil everyone's fun, but if Shin had wanted to, he coulda wrapped Endoh up from the tachi-ai and executed a tsuri-dashi. Just sayin'.

In the faux-zeki ranks, Takayasu welcomed M2 Takarafuji, who won the tachi-ai and had Takayasu driven back a step or two as the bout headed towards hidari-yotsu. After a few seconds of wrangling and pushing, both guys ended up chest to chest near the edge, and Takarafuji enjoyed the right outer grip. Instead of doing anything with the superior position, he let the action flow back to the center of the ring, and then he just let go of his outer grip just like that. With both dudes still in the center of the ring, Takarafuji calmly waited for Takayasu to grab the right outer grip, and after he got it, he slung Takarafuji over and out dashi-nage style with zero resistance. Nice mukiryoku sumo from Fuji today who is still winless as Takayasu moves to 4-2.  I mean, if this was all real and Takayasu was a real Ozeki, he shouldn't struggle against a winless opponent coming in from the hira-maku. Takarafuji coulda beat him today if he wanted to.

M4 Shohozan purposefully whiffed on a right hari-te at the tachi-ai against Goeido before faking a few shoves as he waited for Goeido to make a move. Said move was a weak evasive maneuver to his left and a swipe that barely connected, but Shohozan complied fully just diving to the dirt on all fours. What a pathetic display of sumo from someone ranked Ozeki, and how embarrassing that Goeido needed an M4 to let up for him. From the intentional whiff on the hari-te to Shohozan's landing, this was a horrible display of sumo all around. Goeido is gifted his 4-2 rank while that was actually Shohozan's first loss'a the tournament.  At 5-1 now, talk about taking one for team Osaka.

The final bout of the day featured Yokozuna Kakuryu taking on M3 Kotoshogiku in a bout that looked to shape up in hidari-yotsu, but before either go could go chest to chest, Kakuryu just stepped to his right and fired a right-handed tsuki into Kotoshogiku's left side bowling the former Ozeki over nearly as fast as the bout had begun. Kind of a meaningless contest here as Kakuryu moves to 6-0 while Kotoshogiku falls to 1-5. After the bout, Kitanofuji, who was sporting his candy apple leather jacket today, was emphatic in pointing out that we'll really find out what kind of condition Kakuryu is in tomorrow when he faces Takakeisho. What? Takakeisho is someone to deal with for the Yokozuna? One of the newsies glommed onto the comment and actually published an article about it making it look as if Takakeisho is now some barometer in the upper division. What a joke, but the media and the announcers keep hammering home the same bullcrap takes and people believe it.

It's been a fun three days, but I'm just the opening act.  We get the legit headliner tomorrow.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The buzz prior to the Day 5 bouts was that Takanohana had entered the building. The oyakata briefly spoke with reporters at his stable in the morning and hinted that he was going to the venue today to watch over Takanoiwa a bit closer, and sure enough, the former Yokozuna made his debut at the Haru Basho visiting the officials room for two or three minutes and then lasting another seven minutes making the rounds in the back halls of the venue before leaving altogether...without even watching Takanoiwa fight. Ten whole minutes.

When reporters asked why he hadn't been showing up for work, he explained that he needed to stay in contact with Takanoiwa's doctor to ensure that his prodigy was doing well. And I can totally see how that would take eight hours a day each day of the week, so lay off of the guy. I mean, you wouldn't want to put Takanoiwa in any sort of danger and have him participate in a violent activity like fighting every day on a rock-hard mound in a full contact sport where few rules exist if he wasn't well, so I totally get it why he needs to be on the phone all day.

What's funny is the media is taking this whole thing at face value. If I was in the gaggle of reporters asking him questions, I would have shouted, "Ya ever heard of a cell phone?"  Why not stay in touch with the good doctor from the venue on your cell phone?  I mean, if I'm going to surf the internet all day, I may as well do it at work and get paid in the process.  Of course, if Takanohana is still using a FAX machine, he's probably glued to his rotary phone back at the stable.

This whole story mirrors the sumo in the ring in that nothing makes sense, and nobody ever asks the obvious questions. When they asked the head of the PR department, Kasugano-oyakata, if he talked to Takanohana, he said, "Yes, I warned him that he needed to start coming to work." Well, now that you put it THAT way, I'm sure the message has been sent and Takanohana will be back at work bright and early tomorrow morning. Crisis averted, so let's get to the Day 5 bouts.

M17 Aoiyama put his palms against M15 Myogiryu today and voluntarily retreated a half step from the tachi-ai. With the Bulgarian not looking to do any damage, Myogiryu rushed in and pushed Aoiyama back and out in fairly short order as Aoiyama continued to retreat. At the edge, Aoiyama went for a pretty powerful pull that sent Myogiryu down hard causing his palm to actually slap down a split second before Aoiyama touched across the lines, but the M17's body was already well across the straw by then, so the judges didn't even bother to call for a mono-ii.  My take here is that Aoiyama coulda executed that pull in the center of the ring or at any point during his retreat, so I think Myogiryu was meant to win this one from the start. It was just yesterday when I pointed out that if Aoiyama advances across the starting lines, watch out. Today, he chose not to advance even against a struggling Myogiryu, so it's really no harm no foul. Give Myogiryu the much-needed win as he limps to 2-3 as Aoiyama falls to 4-1 after the gracious loss.

M15 Sokokurai has been mukiryoku all basho, but he changed his ways today against M16 Hidenoumi charging with a nice paw to Hidenoumi's neck before Hidenoumi shook that off grabbing the left outer belt. In the process, both rikishi got the right arms inside, and Sokokurai had a left outer on the other side, so with Hidenoumi thinking he had the advantage pressing forward, Sokokurai just sprung the trap at the dohyo's edge moving out left and swinging Hidenoumi across with the outer grip using his own momentum against him. Pretty nifty trick, and Hidenoumi's gotta make sure he's wrapped his gal in snug before going for a reckless charge like that. The result is a 1-4 for both parties.

M16 Daiamami henka'd to his left against M14 Ikioi who charged with his noggin down just enough to where Daiamami was able to use his girth and drag Ikioi down for the cheap win in a second and a half. Replays showed that Ikioi really made no attempt to recover, and he just went down without much of a fight, but who knows? Both rikishi end the day at 4-1, and let's hope they're both around early next week when they start flashing the leaderboard. Or not.

M14 Nishikigi meant well from the tachi-ai firing a few shoves M13 Asanoyama's way, but the pushes were too high around the head allowing Asanoyama to force the bout to hidari-yotsu. As Asanoyama got the left arm inside, he shaded left as well forcing Nishikigi to give chase, but chest to chest sumo isn't Nishikigi's game, and Asanoyama showed why springing the trap door at the edge with a nice scoop throw using that left inside in a bout that was so hurried, neither guy had a firm outer grip. Asanoyama moves to 3-2 with the win while Nishikigi falls to 2-3.

In perhaps the lightest bout of the day, M13 Daishomaru and M11 Yutakayama traded shoves from the tachi-ai with neither dude having any impact. After a few seconds of softball sumo, Daishomaru managed to quickly dart left and catch Yutakayama by the back of the shoulder with a nice pull from behind. If you're looking for one of the quietest bouts in sumo history, this one's a good candidate as Daishomaru moves to 4-1 while Yutakayama could have been mukiryoku here falling to 3-2.

M12 Ishiura henka'd left against M10 Chiyonokuni, but Kuni must have known it was coming because he didn't look fooled maintaining his balance the entire way. As he squared back up, Ishiura knew he was in trouble, so this bout quickly became a cat and mouse affair with Chiyonokuni trying to connect on shoves while Ishiura dodged this way and that. A few seconds in, Ishiura was caught at a bad angle, and so Chiyonokuni was able to twist him around by the back of the belt and then shove him out from behind okuri-dashi style. This was an ugly bout but not the fault of Chiyonokuni who moves to 4-1 with the win. Ishiura falls to 2-3 with the loss.

M11 Tochiohzan kept both arms in tight at the tachi-ai against M9 Ryuden fishing for moro-zashi, but Ryuden pressed in well keeping Oh from the inside, and as he did so he advanced in an attempt to body Tochiohzan back. The problem was he didn't have a grip on his opponent, and so Tochiohzan slipped left going for a swipe that sent Ryuden off balance, and with Ryuden stumbling bent over, Oh grabbed the back of his belt by the knot and just hurled him behind his body and down for good harima-nage style. Tochiohzan maintains his street cred today moving to 3-2 while Ryuden was just too hurried here falling to 1-4.

M10 Chiyoshoma met M9 Okinoumi with his arms out wide looking for a gentle pull at the back of Okinoumi's shoulders that did nothing, and with Chiyoshoma already compromised, Okinoumi grabbed the right outer grip and just sent Chiyoshoma down with ease. When I say "sent," most of it was Chiyoshoma's doing.  He was so mukiryoku here he couldn't kachi-age the dohyo fast enough with his right arm as he fell. This was such a lightweight bout with such little content, but that what happens when it's compromised from the start. Chiyoshoma is the gift that keeps on giving falling to 1-4 while Okinoumi is a steady 3-2.

M8 Daieisho and M7 Yoshikaze traded light tsuppari from the tachi-ai with both dudes aiming too high for their own good, and after a moment or two of non-contact, Yoshikaze forced the bout to yotsu-zumo by getting the left arm to the inside. Upon doing so, he went for a quick force-out charge, but Daieisho mawari-komu'd to his right well going for a nifty tsuki-otoshi in the process, so at the edge you had Yoshikaze trying to watashi-komi Daieisho back in desperation while Daieisho attempted to keep his footing while executing the counter move. It was close but Daieisho's tsuki-otoshi won out in a pretty good bout at the end. Daieisho one ups his foe at 3-2 while Yoshikaze is now 2-3.

M7 Abi henka'd to his right against M8 Kagayaki, but he didn't do it very well, and so Kagayaki easily survived. Abi recovered fast for his own good and began a hurried tsuppari attack that didn't phase his opponent, and so as Kagayaki played along slowly retreating while waxing off his opponent's thrusts, he sprung the tsuki-otoshi trap quickly moving left and firing a left stiff arm into Abi's right side sending him to the dirt rather easily. I never like to see the henka, so I was glad to see Abi lose here as both guys finish the day at 3-2.  It also didn't take much contact to send Abi down, so let's hope he was repaying a favor and not revealing a glass jaw.

M5 Chiyomaru went for the left outer at the tachi-ai against M6 Kaisei and got it as both circled a bit trading places on the dohyo, and at the end of the fray, the two were hooked up in migi-yotsu with Maru maintaining the left outer grip. Kaisei didn't make it easy, however, going for a quick right scoop throw that sent Chiyomaru off balance and allowed Kaisei to burrow in chest to chest. While Kaisei still didn't have an outer grip, yotsu is his game, and he began to press Maru back, and so Chiyomaru decided to mawari-komu and go for a dashi-nage, but Kaisei was on the move finally grabbing that coveted left outer grip, and from there it was curtains as Kaisei drove Maru back and out right in front of the chief judge. This was a fun chess match to watch, and the better rikishi did win as Kaisei stays perfect at 5-0. Chiyomaru hasn't looked stellar all basho, which is probably why he went for the slight henka as he falls to 1-4.

M6 Hokutofuji kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, and that enabled M4 Shodai to get his left arm pushing up into Hokutofuji's right armpit, and in one fell swoop, Shodai just shoved Hokutofuji over and down in about two seconds flat. I'm pretty sure that Hokutoriki was mukiryoku here and added some extra oomph as he flew off the dohyo altogether. I mean, when's the last time Shodai ever threw anyone around like a badass?  Shodai ekes to 2-3 with the win while Hokutofuji takes his lumps at 1-4.

M2 Arawashi and M4 Shohozan hooked up in hidari-yotsu before Arawashi went for a flat-footed kote-nage with the right arm. The move sent Shohozan over to the edge, but instead of following in hot pursuit, Arawashi literally just stood there watching Shohozan compose himself and then jump right back into the bout. It actually looked like Arawashi was conducting a session of butsukari-geiko, and as Shohozan charged back into his foe, they hooked up in hidari-yotsu again with both dudes maintaining an outer grip. Arawashi let his go straightway as they spun to the other side of the dohyo, and then the Mongolian feigned an inside belt dashi-nage with the left just exiting the ring as he dragged Shohozan along behind him. For his efforts, Shohozan had an outer grip with the right hand, but this was Arawashi's throwing the bout in more ways than one. The result is Shohozan sitting pretty at 5-0 while Arawashi graciously bows to 0-5.

In the sanyaku ranks, Komusubi Ichinojo welcomed M1 Endoh, and like his bout yesterday against Mitakeumi, Ichinojo simply had a choice to make. Endoh kept his arms in tight fishing for moro-zashi as Ichinojo bodied him back towards the straw working his left arm to the inside in the process, which left the two in the gappuri hidari-yotsu position. They naturally drifted back to the center of the ring where Ichinojo went boa constrictor just leaning in on his opponent and tightening up the grips. They stood there for about a minute when finally Ichinojo decided to execute a force-out charge and there wasn't anything that Endoh could do about it. With the stifling win, Ichinojo moves to 4-1 while Endoh falls to 3-2.

Komusubi Chiyotairyu came at Sekiwake Tochinoshin with his palms open, but before he could even slap them against Shin's chest or shoulders with any meaning, Shin grabbed the side of Tairyu's belt with the left hand and yanked the Komusubi over to the edge in a flash and just pushed him out from behind for the quickest okuri-dashi you'll ever see that didn't involve a henka. While Shin's sumo was impressive here, Chiyotairyu was defeated from the start. What really bugs me about him is that he didn't even try to give Tochinoshin his best shot. At least charge hard and fire a few thrusts his way. Today, Tairyu just advanced with palms forward and open signaling that he was just giving up from the start. Too bad as Tochinoshin moves to 3-2 while Chiyotairyu falls to 1-4.

Sekiwake Mitakeumi henka'd to his right against M1 Tamawashi looking for a quick kote-nage, but the mukiryoku Tamawashi wasn't moving forward very hard, so he easily squared back up with the Sekiwake just standing there flat-footed having failed on his initial henka attempt. Fortunately for Mitakeumi, Tamawashi was pushing up and around Mitakeumi's head and not doing a great job of it, so Mitakeumi was able to recover nicely and fire back with shoves of his own that pushed Tamawashi back and across in about five seconds. I've used the sniper analysis before, but if you want to assassinate a guy, you put a bullet or two in his torso, not the head, and the same principle applies to tsuppari. Use the neck if you want, but focusing on the head is useless.  Tamawashi's looking busy fiddling around with Mitakeumi's melon made the Sekiwake's win look that much more legit...and yet it wasn't.  Mitakeumi moves to 4-1 now with the gift while Tamawashi graciously bows to 2-3.  Before we move on, I know some people are thinking "Give Mitakeumi a little bit of credit," and to that I'd respond, "Did you so quickly forget how fast Endoh disposed of Mitakeumi on Day 3?"  I give credit when credit is due, and the fact of the matter is that all four of Mitakeumi's wins came against mukiryoku opponents.

In the Ozeki ranks, M3 Takakeisho charged with hands wide and high, and that's a sure recipe for disaster. The tachi-ai was so bad it made Goeido actually look like an Ozeki, and he wasted no time driving hard into Takakeisho and staying square as the latter sorta went for a pull retreating to his right. Takakeisho just wasn't into the bout resulting in Goeido's destroying him oshi-dashi style in about three seconds. The question here is was Takakeisho mukiryoku?  Probably, but who knows?  If you want to get your ass kicked in a bout, stand straight up and keep your hands up high around your opponent's head.  I can't see how anyone would think that was a good idea coming into a bout.  Regardless, Goeido moves over the .500 mark at 3-2 while Takakeisho falls to 2-3.

Ozeki Takayasu and M3 Kotoshogiku squared up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, which lacked any pop from either party. Kotoshogiku did his usual unsettled gaburi charge where his feet are dancing on the dohyo instead of driving hard into his opponent, and after Takayasu moved back a few steps, he easily moved to the side firing a light scoop throw with the right that sent Kotoshogiku down in exaggerated fashion. There was a lot of movement here but very little action and very little force. It's just the nature of sumo these days, especially in these fake elite ranks. Takayasu finds himself at 3-2 at the end of the day while Kotoshogiku falls to 1-4.

The day's final affair featured Yokozuna Kakuryu welcoming M2 Takarafuji, and the Yokozuna jumped out fast initially wrapping his right arm around Takarafuji's left before switching to tsuppari that were effective enough to drive Takarafuji back to the edge. It looked as if Takarafuji was a gone, but he countered with a nice right tsuki to Kakuryu's left side upon which the Yokozuna went for a pull near the edge.  It wasn't cleanly executed, however, and before Kakuryu could swing Takarafuji down, Kakuryu's right heel was dangerously close to the outside of the straw. Watching the replay, it looked as if Kakuryu won, but we need drama this basho, so they called for a mono-ii and then declared a do-over.

After reloading, Kakuryu made sure this time exhibiting the same tachi-ai where he briefly wrapped his right arm around Takarafuji's left before executing a tsuppari attack that was so potent he sent Takarafuji back and across in two seconds. They ruled it oshi-dashi, but it was really tsuki-dashi it was that good, but regardless, Kakuryu picks up the win moving to 5-0. Takarafuji falls to 0-5, and before we wrap up, I have no idea why Kakuryu went for that dumb pull the first bout. He knows he can defeat Takarafuji with straight up tsuppari, so it's just interesting that he didn't do it the first time around. It's like Hakuho. Nobody has demonstrated that they can defend his hari-zashi tachi-ai where he gets the right arm to the inside and then the left outer grip, so why doesn't hedo it every time?  It's just all part of lowering the bar and making it appear that there's parity in sumo when nothing could be further from the truth.

Five days are in the books, and there are too many foreigners at the top for comfort, so don't be surprised to see some adjustments as we come out of the first weekend.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It's always unfortunate when the main story surrounding a basho is something that occurs outside of the ring, and it's only exacerbated when the sumo inside of the ring can't take away some of the sting. And so as we enter day 4 of the Haru basho, the biggest headline is "Takanohana refuses to come to work because it would be too difficult to sit in the official's room." I'm not sure I even know what that means. Takanohana has been an official with the Sumo Association for years now, and I'm sure he had no problem sitting in that stupid officials room up until now, so why all of a sudden can't he bear to face the other officials in the organization now?

As I indicated last basho when discussing the Takanoiwa assault, having Harumafuji agree to retire did not bring closure to the incident. If this was just a simple case of an elite rikishi having too much to drink and assaulting another rikishi, Harumafuji's retirement would have closed the matter, but it's obvious that the matter is not closed as indicated by Takanohana's bizarre behavior. I've already pointed out all of the inconsistencies in his story and the fake medical evaluation he submitted to the Sumo Association, but there is more he's hiding (namely who really did kick Takanoiwa's ass on November 5th), and so that's why he can't bring himself to come into work.

Reportedly, Takanohana has sent two faxes (he does know this isn't the 90's anymore doesn't he?) to the Association telling them that he can't come to work because it would be too difficult to sit in the officials room, and the Sumo Association has replied that that's not a sufficient reason. And so the game goes on where Takanohana will continue to dick with the situation while no one in the Association has the balls to stand up to him. It really is quite perplexing, but fake sumo in the ring isn't enough to divert the media's attention away from the Takanohana scandal, and so the drama everyday is whether or not Takanohana will finally don his three piece suit and show up at the venue. And if you think that's unexciting, wait till we get to the bouts.

At this level of the banzuke, if M17 Aoiyama crosses his starting line at the tachi-ai (i.e. moves forward), you know you're in trouble, and that was the case today against M16 Hidenoumi in a bout that saw Aoiyama methodically pummel his foe backwards with a controlled tsuppari attack from the gate. About three seconds in, Aoiyama quickly shifted gears pulling Hidenoumi forward and down with a nice change-of-pace pull. Aoiyama is 4-0 if you need him while Hidenoumi falls to 1-3.

M15 Sokokurai was nonchalant in his charge against M16 Daiamami as the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu, and the right outer belt was there for the taking by Sokokurai, but the foreigner refrained and just went limp allowing Daiamami to force him back and across with little argument. At the point of victory, Daiamami slumped forward and down near the edge of the dohyo in a sign that someone was letting up. Just another one of those unnatural falls when one party is mukiryoku and the other party applies pressure thinking it will be resisted. Daiamami moves to 3-1 with the gift while Sokokurai falls to 0-4.

Kyokushuho came a'visitin from Juryo today to take on M15 Myogiryu, and the Mongolian showed no mercy. Myogiryu struck forward at the tachi-ai and then shaded left as the two briefly exchanged tsuppari, but a few moments in Myogiryu got the right arm to the inside committed to a yotsu clash. Myogiryu had his foe upright and went for the force-out kill, but Shuho was able to pivot left and counter with a nifty left kote-nage that sent Myogiryu down to another painful loss. Both rikishi end the day at 1-3, and the big take-away for me after watching this bout is noting just how properly Kyokushuho executed the kote-nage throw...he pivoted to the side, planted a foot, and then scored on the move. How often do we see foreigners attempt a counter kote-nage against coddled Japanese rikishi, but they don't pivot to the side and plant opting to keep their feet aligned while staying square with their foe, which of course means certain death. It's easy to call mukiryoku bouts when such basic sumo protocol as demonstrated in this bout is violated.

M13 Daishomaru enjoyed a quick start against M14 Nishikigi shading left a bit while using nice thrusts to keep Nishikigi up high. Daishomaru continued to shade to his left using a sweet thrust attack to keep Nishikigi high and on the run, and with Nishikigi unable to defend himself, Daishomaru had him pushed back and out in just a few seconds. Daishomaru's sumo today was finely executed as he moves to 3-1 one-upping Nishikigi who falls to 2-2.

Two rikishi slowly but surely heading in opposite directions met up today in M14 Ikioi vs. M13 Asanoyama, but Ikioi looked to correct his recent slide by easily defending a few kachi-age from Asanoyama before getting his right arm firmly to the inside, and once positioned, Ikioi used his height nicely to just bulldoze Asanoyama back and down yori-taoshi style. Ikioi continues to shine at 4-0 while Asanoyama falls to 2-2, and I think Ikioi's fast start here is attributed to his not being asked to throw any bouts...yet.

I know that I've ruffled a few feathers by stating that Kisenosato and Hakuho are not injured, and if you have ample experience watching sumo then you'll know that it's the right of a Yokozuna to take a basho off any damn time he wants to. That also used to be the case for Ozeki before they abolished the kosho system where you could keep your rank on the banzuke if you were injured atop the dohyo during a hon-basho. Yokozuna now and Ozeki in the past have always taken basho off to save face, and that's what Kisenosato is doing here. As for Hakuho, he's just covering for Kisenosato as the Mongolian Yokozuna have done EVERY basho that Kisenosato has skipped or withdrawn from (and yeah I can use prepositions at the end of sentences if I wanna).

Anyway, the whole reason I even bring injuries up here is because I've really been fascinated the last few basho by that gunshot-lookin' wound on M11 Tochiohzan's right shoulder. That thing is sick, and it's un-bandaged now giving me a closer look each day. If Wakanosato was the don of the sumos, Tochiohzan is sumo's version of Fifty Cent. Fortunately for Fiddy today, he picked up a win without a fight as M12 Kotoyuki withdrew due to being lame. Fiddy moves to 2-2 while Kotoyuki will have to make his bed in Juryo next basho.

M12 Ishiura henka'd to his left looking to grab the belt of M11 Yutakayama, but Yutakayama seemed ready for the change-up, and so he easily stayed square denying Ishiura a belt grip, and so as Ishiura continued to run in a circle around the dohyo looking for anything in desperation (he came close to moro-zashi), Yutakayama just timed a perfect oshi charge that sent Ishiura beyond the straw. It was good to see Yutakayama not fooled today by Ishiura's antics as the former moves to 3-1. As for Ishiura, he'll have to regroup tomorrow at 2-2.

M9 Okinoumi easily fended off M10 Chiyonokuni's tsuppari attack, and as Kuni looked to evade, Okinoumi managed to force the bout to hidari-yotsu, which favors Okinoumi. Before Okinoumi could grab a right outer grip, Chiyonokuni tried to squirm back and away, but Okinoumi advanced well pressing with the left inside high into Chiyonokuni's right side. At the edge, Chiyonokuni desperately moved right going for a counter kote-nage that almost worked, but Okinoumi's skill and experience fighting chest to chest won out here as Okinoumi evens his steven at 2-2. As for Chiyonokuni, he suffers his first loss of the basho at 3-1.

M10 Chiyoshoma and M9 Ryuden traded tsuppari from the tachi-ai, and early on it looked as if Chiyoshoma had difficulty getting inside Ryuden's long limbs, and so as Ryuden looked to bear down, Chiyoshoma evaded and moved left showing Ryuden the dohyo trap door with a quick pull after Ryuden largely dictated the contest. Chiyoshoma picks up his first win at 1-3 while Ryuden falls to the same mark.

M7 Abi caught M8 Daieisho with some effective tsuppari at the tachi-ai standing Daieisho completely upright, but as Daieisho looked to fight his way back into the bout, Abi panicked and went into pull mode. As Daieisho gave his now-retreating opponent chase, Abi was able to move right and yank Daieisho out of the ring for good, but this was too close for comfort. Abi won today because he dominated the tachi-ai and took away any momentum from Daieisho, but I really would have liked to have seen the kid win in linear fashion. Going for the pull that early is a bad habit I don't like to see. Regardless, Abi is now 3-1 while Daieisho falls to 2-2.

M7 Yoshikaze proved too small of a target for M8 Kagayaki to connect with his tsuppari attack, and so Yoshikaze was just feisty and mobile enough to work his way to the inside with the deep right arm up and under Kagayaki's left, and before Kagayaki could really get established with his own right to the inside, Yoshikaze had him forced back to the straw. At that point, Kagayaki attempted a quick let kote-nage, but that's just not his game, and so Yoshikaze scored the solid yori-kiri win in the end pushing his record to 2-2 while Kagayaki falls to the same mark.

M5 Chiyomaru was flat-footed at the tachi-ai with feet briefly aligned allowing M6 Hokutofuji to blast him back from the starting lines with a nice tsuppari attack, but Hokutofuji just couldn't help himself as he looked to set up a reverse pull. Thankfully, he didn't stay committed to the pull and repented of his ways, and so he regrouped and propped Chiyomaru back up with a tsuppari attack and ultimately pushed him back and across. Despite the opening Hokutoriki gave him, Chiyomaru couldn't capitalize after that horrible tachi-ai. Both dudes really don't have much to write home about at 1-3.

M4 Shodai struck and moved to his left at the tachi-ai reaching for the cheap outer grip against M6 Kaisei, but he just bounced off of the Brasilian nearly losing his footing. As Kaisei looked to square back up with the left inside, Shodai was able to maki-kae with the right and obtain moro-zashi. I usually like to say "secure moro-zashi," but we're talking about Shodai here, so nothing is secure. Kaisei showed why by going for a quick right kote-nage that knocked Shodai off balance enabling Kaisei to get the right arm to the inside, but credit Shodai for escaping and trying to set up a left uwate-dashi-nage before quickly moving right, but he just wasn't applying pressure to Kaisei, and so Kaisei was able to finally knock Shodai upright and then push him out from behind as a gassed Shodai looked to evade a final time. Kaisei moves to 4-0 with the win, and I wonder if Tomozuna-oyakata looked at what the Kasugano-beya did with Tochinoshin last basho and said, "Okay son, do your thang." I doubt it, but Kaisei could make the same run if he wanted to. As for Shodai, he falls to 1-3, and this bout was an example of how he's not able to use his size to his advantage.

M3 Kotoshogiku moved right at the tachi-ai against M4 Shohozan looking for the quick outer grip, but Shohozan read the move delivering a nice right hari-te before circling right himself grabbing a right outer in the process and leaving the former Ozeki with none. In control, Shohozan just continued the circular motion swinging Kotoshogiku over and down near the edge by that outer grip as he needed a bit of fancy footwork to keep from stepping out. This bout was over in a few seconds, and the problem was that you had two guys trying to attack with outer grips but no inside position, and so the result was a merry-go round bout that ended nearly as fast as it began. Shohozan moves to 4-0 with the uwate-dashi-nage victory while Kotoshogiku falls to 1-3. To Kotoshogiku's credit, he's at least employing descriptive moves in the ring, which is more than anyone can say about Kisenosato.

Komusubi Chiyotairyu plowed into M2 Takarafuji from the tachi-ai with his usual oshi charge. Check that...his usual oshi charge when he intends to WIN. Anyway, the big fella had Takarafuji back-pedaling from the start, but credit Takarafuji for at least trying to finagle his way to the inside. He wouldn't make it, however, as Chiyotairyu stopped his forward momentum and instead went for a series of pulls and slapdowns that ultimately felled Takarafuji to the dirt. I wish Chiyotairyu would trust his freight-train charge as he picks up his first win of the tournament while Takarafuji is still an o'fer.

As I was scanning the headlines after Day 3, I happened to catch one that mentioned out of the blue that Ichinojo is finally ranked in the sanyaku again after 16 basho. 16 basho!!  That's how you know when the banzuke is rigged. When Ichinojo doesn't get a sniff of even the Komusubi rank for nearly three years while mediocre Japanese rikishi are cycling through it, you know something's up. Then of course you have Ichinojo's day 4 opponent, Mitakeumi. Can you even compare these two rikishi? Well, you can, but the problem is that Ichinojo blows Mitakeumi out of the water in terms of size, technique, ability, and even the intimidation factor. Mitakeumi makes zero opponents quake in their boots, and I can guarandamntee you that nobody is afraid to see Mitakeumi across the starting lines. The only thing they fear when fighting Mitakeumi is their oyakata coming in in the morning and giving them that short nod and saying, "Kyou wa yuzuru."

With that said, it was simply a matter today of would Ichinojo or wouldn't he, and unfortunately he would keeping his arms out wide at the tachi-ai and allowing Mitakeumi to push upwards into the flesh around his armpits. When Ichinojo means bidness, he'll at least wrap an arm around the outside of his opponent's arm on that same side and clamp down fishing for an inside grip, but all he did with the left today was wrap his wrist around Mitakeumi's upper arm while doing nothing on the other side. For Mitakeumi's part, he did what he was supposed to do, and that was apply pressure in an attempt to keep his opponent upright, and after a few seconds of non-action in the center of the ring, I think Mitakeumi sensed that he could have his way, and so he went for and scored on the easy linear force-out win with no resistance from his foe. I mean, you'd at least expect a kote grip with either arm although Ichinojo did briefly execute that tender move of putting his right palm against his opponent's cheek for a moment or two as seen above. Ichinojo was as casual here as the ending of the bout depicted in the pic at left, and that tells the story of this bout.  With the gift, Mitakeumi moves to 3-1, and all three of those wins have been gifted to him if you're scoring at home. As for Ichinojo, he falls to the same 3-1 record and played ball today.

Next up was a real Sekiwake in Tochinoshin looking to do battle with M3 Takakeisho, but it was the same circumstance as the previous bout:  would Tochinoshin or wouldn't he? Takakeisho struck Tochinoshin hard at the tachi-ai, but he failed to halt Shin's advance just bouncing away, and the Georgian moved a half step forward grabbing the left outer grip with his right hand in position to do whatever he wanted. Instead of latching on tight and pulling his opponent in chest to chest, he just stood there similarly to what Ichinojo did the bout before. After a brief stalemate, Takakeisho backed up going for a wild pull, but all that did was put him near the tawara with Tochinoshin bearing down on him like a T-Rex. Tochinoshin made it look as if he meant bidness putting his hands at Takakeisho's face, but if you want to push a guy out, you go for the torso, especially when he's standing there off balance at the edge of the ring. With Shin in supposedly hot pursuit, Takakeisho dashed to the other side of the dohyo going for a series of wild pulls while Tochinoshin continued to play with his hands around Takakeisho's face, and in the end, Takakeisho scooted right going for a dual pull at the back of Tochinoshin's head, and while Takakeisho wasn't positioned properly to score on the move--especially against such a big guy like Tochinoshin, the Private took care of that for him by just belly flopping himself out of the dohyo



It was quite comical to see Tochinoshin launch himself by pushing off with both feet as Takakeisho spun away on one leg never grounded to the dohyo. I know, I know...it looked exciting, but this was complete yaocho with the Japanese rikishi coming out on top.  Just look at the pic above and think about it in terms of physics.  If Tochinoshin lunged forward and Takakeisho darted out of the way, I can see it, but Takakeisho supposedly generated enough force to pull Tochinoshin flat on his chest all the while pirouetting in the process.  Where's Stephen Hawking when we need him?? Both dudes end the day at 2-2, and it's really the same shat, different day.

Next up was Ozeki Takayasu facing off with a much superior rikishi in M1 Tamawashi, and the Ozeki's feet were completely aligned at the tachi-ai meaning he was susceptible to a serious Tamawashi charge, but Tamawashi wasn't serious, and so he just stood there keeping his arms busy but not really firing tsuppari.  With Takayasu flat-footed like that, if Tamawashi would have charged forward with his usual thrust attack, the bout wouldn't have been close, but as it was, the two dilly-dallied for a bit with happy hands until Takayasu backed up going for a pull. The pull wasn't very good, but Tamawashi's reaction was to push into Takayasu's gut sideways with both hands as he just flopped to his left down to the dirt in the missionary position. Watching the slow motion replays, Takayasu's pull at the end was even worse than it looked live, but all that matters is that the fans believe it and keep buying tickets. Both rikishi end the day 2-2, and this is what makes the last 30 minutes each day so unwatchable. It's just yaocho after yaocho in favor of the Japanese rikishi.

Ozeki Goeido looked to do battle with M1 Endoh, and I think if these guys fight straight up 10 times it comes out to a 5-5 record apiece. Who knows because today's bout was anything but a battle. After the lightest tachi-ai from both parties you'd care to see, Endoh looked to get his left arm to the inside while reaching towards the belt with his right, and with Goeido applying zero pressure, Endoh just stayed right pulling the faux-zeki down less than two seconds in. I don't know the logistics behind this one, but I'm pretty sure the Endoh camp was calling in a favor. Goeido ain't good, but at least he's a spaz, but there was no life in him today as he falls to 2-2. For Endoh's part, he took what was given moving to 3-1 in the process, and the non-Takanohana headline giving everyone the biggest stiffie right now seems to be Endoh finally breaking through with a sanyaku berth.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Kakuryu welcomed M2 Arawashi in a bout that saw the Yokozuna get the right arm inside while pinching in with his left to keep Arawashi away from the similar position. Instead of grabbing a left outer grip, Kakuryu just pushed up into Arawashi's right shoulder, and that coupled with his right to the inside gave him essentially a moro-zashi type position. With Arawashi making no effort to stop the Yokozuna's charge, Kakuryu just forced him back and across with no argument and no fanfare to boot. I'm pretty sure Arawashi was mukiryoku here, and that's not to imply that he's the superior rikishi. He simply didn't even try and win today, but in the current landscape of sumo, these guys are just going through the motions as Kakuryu moves to 4-0 while Arawashi is still winless.

I'd normally turn it back over to Harvye here, but he seems to have gotten himself lost in the woods, so you're stuck with me for the time being.

Day 3 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
So, inspired by my story last time of how Tochinoshin walked into his oyakata's room and asked to be given a chance to play for the yusho, Tamawashi walked into his oyakata's room yesterday.

He was like, "hey man." And his oyakata was like "wasssup, brudda." After doing that silly handshake thing with the finger-twiddling and the first bump, Tamawashi said, "so, I'm thinking, like, you let me go for the yusho this time, just like 'Shin last time."

His oyakata looked at him incredulously for a moment, then laughed, showing the sliver fillings in the back of his teeth. "Get oudda here! That story's done for the year, kid."

And so Tamawashi skulked back to his quarters, shrugging his shoulders to tell himself "I don't care," tho' he did. "Well, I'll just have to make some money," he consoled himself.

M16 Daiamami (1-1) vs. J2 Aminishiki (0-2)
Sometimes when a guy goes straight back and out in a linear fashion it is because he isn't trying. Sometimes it is because he's like 58 years old and both kneecaps fell off last year and were replaced by wadded up masking tape. Aminishiki tiredly checked the dirt with his fist at the tachi-ai, then held on for dear life while Daiamami pushed on him. He didn't try any tricks until he was half out, and Daiamami held him firmly by the throat and slowly choked his life out before propping him up on his belly just a little like a roasting sausage for the final yori-kiri work. Never say die. Then one day you're dead.

M15 Sokokurai (0-2) vs. M15 Myogiryu (0-2)
Myogiryu didn't look ready at the tachi-ai, kinda squatting there like "wuh?" or "w w w wait." That was okay for him, though, because Sokokurai just kind of stood up, grabbed Myog's head, and walked out backwards, standing tall, giving Myogiryu the oshi-dashi "victory." And I do mean giving! Sometimes it just looks so bad. So, so bad.

M17 Aoiyama (2-0) vs. M14 Nishikigi (2-0)
Oh, I do wish I had slabber-slabs like Aoiyama. I would knock down tall buildings with a single blow. He didn't need them much here, though. Just used them to prop Nishikigi up for a moment, looked him in the eye to freeze him cold, then pulled him to the ground, hataki-komi, like a he'd dug up a hibernating animal.

M14 Ikioi (2-0) vs. M16 Hidenoumi (1-1)
Ikioi hit Hidenoumi hard and firm, then twisted out of there to the side on a dime and felled him with a tap on the shoulder, tsuki-otoshi, like the butcher at the Kansas slaughterhouse with a not very bright sheep.

M13 Daishomaru (1-1) vs. M12 Kotoyuki (0-2)
Kotoyuki tried to do the same thing the last two guys did, stepping out of there and letting his opponent face plant, but whoo, he didn't step far enough, and Daishomaru caught him by the boobs and whoa did he ever wheel Kotoyuki's fruit cart off the balcony, oshi-dashi. Yipesserz.

M12 Ishiura (2-0) vs. M13 Asanoyama (1-1)
Sproing! Boing! That's how Ishiura won his first two bouts this tournament: by bouncing around the ring and more or less cheating fate this way and that. I figured he'd do it a third day in a row, ‘cause hey, it been workin'. But instead he figured he couldn't do TOO much of that, I suppose, because he went head on with this one. For a while. Tried the hyperkinetic this. Reached in for the belt that. But face on. Round and round they spun, dipsy doodle, because while you have to give him credit for actually fighting kisser to kisser, too much of that just wasn't ever going to work. For him Unfortunately, Ishiura doesn't have the size to take on even a guy like Asanoyama and beat him grillz-a-purpling. In the end Asanoyama backed up a little and dragged Ishiura down flat in front of him, hataki-komi, like a hungry guy laying down wet bacon in the sizzler.

M11 Tochiohzan (1-1) vs. M11 Yutakayama (1-1)
Boy, Tochiohzan is looking pretty spent. He hit Treasure Mountain (Yutakayama) hard enough on a long, scooping tachi-ai, but then he kind of hung there in the wind like a bent street sign in a windstorm. Yutakayama gathered his wits, pushed firm and steady, and Tochiohzan crumbled around backwards and was run out, okuri-dashi. Into that good night we all must sometime go.

M10 Chiyonokuni (2-0) vs. M9 Ryuden (1-1)
It's far too easy for Chiyonokuni down here. He caught the charging Ryuden by the melon, shook it once, and flung it to the floor while stepping aside, like a guy dropping a two-week old Halloween pumpkin when he surprisingly finds it is full of live cockroaches, hiki-otoshi.

M9 Okinoumi (0-2) vs. M8 Daieisho (2-0)
Okinoumi isn't good for much anymore, but as Daieisho was driving him straight back and towards out with his frantic-little-man's-push strategy (which is, granted, endearing), I was thinking, oh come on, now, Okinoumi, you aren't really that helpless, are you? And he's not, because he just stepped to the side and tsuki-otoshi'ed Daieisho down next to him. Next time you see a guy losing on the linear force out and not trying to get away, think of this match and know there are plenty of possibilities.

M8 Kagayaki (1-1) vs. M10 Chiyoshoma (0-2)
Chiyoshoma is busy giving away matches. He was moving fast, Kagayaki was moving real slow, yet who was the winner? It was Kagayaki. Because while Chiyoshoma was busy placing his hands here and there like a hyperactive, mentally ill mime with the yips, Kagayaki was slowly turning to keep facing him and placidly pushing him back and out, oshi-dashi. That's too bad.

M7 Abi (1-1) vs. M6 Hokutofuji (0-2)
Mike is absolutely right about Hokutofuji. He needs to get in there and COMMIT to his attack. The bloom has been off his rose a bit the last few basho, as I'm tired of seeing him dink around and bumble his way into campy, lateral and backwards moving losses and wrangle-fests. This was a classic illustration of that problem. Yeah, he moved forward from the tachi-ai and had Abi moving backwards. But did he surge in there and smash the pickle? No. Did he smother up onto the belt and melt the butter? Nope. He battered away at Abi with his hands from the sides, then played defense for a while, worried about evasion, while the line of their bout titled this way and that like a ginger compass needle confused at the North Pole. Eventually, Abi DID evade to the side and that DID cause Hokutofuji to flop into the fish pan, hataki-komi. Does that mean Hokutofuji was right and should have been even MORE cautious? No! It means he should have committed to that attack hard and quick and put Abi away before he ever got into this situation. So.

M6 Kaisei (2-0) vs. M7 Yoshikaze (1-1)
Oh, Yoshikaze with your pouting lip. You would have done better here to deak around and do some hit and run, but you tried getting in underneath and topple Kaisei with a right arm underneath on the body. That wasn't going to work because Kaisei is just way too big, and Yoshikaze was yanking and lurching to beat the band, but he was already bent over half way backwards, in too close and vulnerable, and Kaisei ushered him out by a meaty handful of the back of the belt, yori-kiri, like a patient but powerful schoolteacher carrying a naughty first-grader.

M4 Shohozan (2-0) vs. M4 Shodai (1-1)
Darth Hozan at his finest. Shodai's two-fists-down approach and general dumbness screamed "henka him Shohozan!!" to me. But Shohozan sho' didn't. Instead he hit him solidly, arms inside, and stayed right square. He did that arms-tight body-blow thing three times during the match, repeatedly knocking Shodai backwards with all the momentum his own frame could muster, interspersing it with tsuppari to the noggin'. He eventually got both arms inside against the flustered and deteriorating Shodai, then brushed off Shodai's weak throw attempt like flies on your picnic pork chop, flinging Shodai to the ground, sukui-nage. This was delicious tough guy sumo from our dark little man.

M5 Chiyomaru (0-2) vs. M3 Takakeisho (1-1)
Chiyomaru looks like you should be able to bounce him around like a big rubber ball in your driveway, but you can't. He's solid, and keeps all that gravity well centered. Takakeisho foolishly tried for the yotsu belt battle here, which is not his game. He should have pecked and pounded as he usually does. Once Chiyomaru had him close and quiet, with a long right inside on the belt to hold him with, it was just a matter of time. You knew it was bad when thick-legged, girthy Takakeisho tried a kick. Ol' Chiyomaru responded by bodying boy up and bellying him out, knocking him flat, yori-taoshi, in the end, like a karate guy breaking concrete blocks in a cheap demo at your local gymnasium.

K Ichinojo (2-0) vs. M2 Takarafuji (0-2)
One of these days it is going to be time for an Ichinojo loss. One of these days. But how is Takarafuji going to beat him? This one was classic Mongolith sumo. They went chest to chest, and Ichinojo had first belt, a right inside. Then he leaned on his foe a while. A long while. As he is wont to do. Eventually this moved to dual right inside, left outside grips, but again, how is Takarafuji going to expect to win such a thing when he's had a good long minute of Ichinojo hunkering heavily down on all that is dear to him? So, like a glacier grinding down a little turf hummock, Ichinojo slowly moved Takarafuji to the moraine and knocked him through and over it. Takarafuji squirted cutely out to the side, a bit of ejecta. My, my. Yori-kiri.

M3 Kotoshogiku (1-1) vs. S Tochinoshin (1-1)
One day. That's how long the Tochinoshin March-victory-lap lasted. And now we're back to normal, and he'll forever be "that guy who won that one yusho once." And thank god he did, and he'll take it. This one looked like a good one to win and get back to reals with. He grabbed the jumpity tuna by his bright blue belt on the inside left. Lively Tuna Kotoshogiku gave it his all, juddering and shaking, but Grizzly Bear Tochinoshin wasn't letting his lunch get away, and slid him across the filleting table and sliced him neatly in two at the drain board, yori-kiri. Great looking stuff from our favorite strongman.

S Mitakeumi (2-0) vs. M1 Endo (1-1)
Oh!  A new flame against an old. Attracted plenty of wistful kensho. But Endo was masterful with the pull here. Let Mitakeumi get in low, then kept him there while swiftly circling backwards and pressing down on his head. Whoops! And there fell Mitakeumi to the dirt, hataki-komi. Nah, I don't really like to see this kind of thing, but sometimes you have to give good wrestlers credit for doing a bad thing well, and that is what Endo did here. If you are going to pull and retreat, you might as well show ‘em how it is done. So these guys are both 2-1. How 'bout that?

K Chiyotairyu (0-2) vs. O Goeido (1-1)
Boy, did we have a lot of step-aside sumo today. Goeido knows he isn't as powerful as putrescent-pink belted Chiyotairyu, so after a moment's engagement he just got out of the way and Chiyotairyu fell down, tsuki-otoshi. Why did I not mind Endo's bout but hate this one? Is it maybe that I'm biased against Goeido, and like Endo some? Maybe. Perhaps it just galls me that an Ozeki has to resort to this. And Goeido wasn't so much taking advantage of his opponent's position, as Endo was; rather, Goeido was doing something cheap that would work against anyone committed to a good attack. Never mind; it doesn't matter. But watching Goeido strut around after this one like he'd just schooled a guy with dominance was too many shades of eye-roller for me, like the Li'l Yokozuna of old, Hokutoriki.

O Takayasu (0-2) vs. M2 Arawashi (0-2)
Whither Takayasu? Just wither, perhaps. So far, his Ozeki-hood is something that makes you want to sigh with slight boredom on a good day, and avert your eyes and wish it weren't happening on a bad day. Well, he got a win here. He hit hard on the tachi-ai, then followed the retreating Arawashi around until Arawashi hopped lightly out of the ring on his own accord, oshi-dashi. Really. I'm not kidding. You think we make this stuff up, but watch the damn replay! Takayasu starts coming towards him and Arawashi just decides, "nah, I wouldn't want to win by mistake or anything. Let's not take any chances!" and neatly hops backwards over the straw in forfeit. Oh, god! Really? Takayasu needs charity from Arawashi?

Y Kakuryu (2-0) vs. M1 Tamawashi (2-0)
Okay, after that last bout I want Kakuryu, Ichinojo, and Tamawashi all to just buzz saw to 15-0 and show everybody what's what and give us some damn redemption. Of course that's impossible because a couple of them will have to lose to each other. Starting right here. It was kind of a crappy match, too. Tamawashi was feinting at tsuppari'ing, but without much extension of force, and Kakuryu had a lot more going on with his hands. Kakuryu then put an end to it with a little pull-down-in-front-of-me action, hataki-komi. Oy! This was a very bad day of sumo, with tremendous amounts of evasive and backward moving victories: nine out of twenty matches. And at least four of the others showed zilch from the guy getting tossed (Aminishiki, Sokokurai, Tochiohzan, Arawashi)

Tomorrow Mike gives birth to a ferocious little wild boar piglet.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The biggest news heading into the basho was the return of Takanoiwa, who was given a special exemption that kept him in the Juryo ranks despite his missing a few basho in a row. And while the media coverage of his return was excessive, actual substance of the coverage was next to nothing. The whole scandal surrounding Takanoiwa's assault is not settled, and the way you can tell is that Takanohana is still avoiding the media and shirking his duties during the hon-basho (did I actually use the word "shirk" in a report?).  In fact, Takanohana went way high-tech and informed the Association that he wouldn't be able to fulfill his duties this basho...by FAX.

Takanoiwa is off to a nice 2-0 start, and why wouldn't he? He's better than any Japanese rikishi on the banzuke, and with Takanohana receiving flak from all sides, the easiest way to deflect that is to have his rikishi perform well. It wouldn't surprise me to see Takanoiwa take the yusho in Juryo, but even if that does happen, Takanohana is still going to have to come clean on who really did beat the crap out of Iwa because it wasn't Harumafuji. Until he does, he's going to be sumo's #1 pariah.  What's happening with Takanohana is not normal, and it's because the dude has something to hide.

A close second to Takanoiwa's return and Takanohana's mess in terms of basho storylines is the withdrawal of two Yokozuna. For a time it looked as if all three Yokozuna would abstain from the Haru basho, but Kakuryu announced on Thursday that he would compete. As for Kisenosato, his withdrawal is due to complete ineptness, and the only end game is for him to retire. The Sumo Association is so desperate to get Japanese rikishi into elite ranks, but it's as if they give no thought to how they're going to sustain the dudes when they put them there. Kisenosato is a huge embarrassment, but less damage is done if he doesn't have to get on the dohyo, and so kyujo is definitely a better option that having him fight.

With Kisenosato's withdrawal, we of course needed the obligatory elite Mongolian to withdraw as well, and so Hakuho is sitting this one out in an effort to deflect some of the scrutiny away from Kisenosato. Neither Kisenosato nor Hakuho are injured, and from the Takanoiwa scandal we now have proof that fake medical forms are submitted to the Sumo Association, so any talk of injury surrounding Kisenosato or Hakuho is just fake news.

With sumo largely still in turmoil, there really isn't much momentum to sustain the Haru basho, so it was no surprise to me when I saw rows of empty seats unoccupied in certain nosebleed sections during the Day 2 broadcast. I noticed it last basho as well, and I made the comment that sumo's popularity is being to wane at the fringes. Hype can only carry the sport so far. Without proper sumo to back things up in the ring, even the sheepest of sheep are going to start grazing elsewhere.

On that note, let's get to the day 2 action starting with M16 Daiamami who was hesitant out of the gate with his feet aligned at the tachi-ai. Unfortunately for him, his opponent, M17 Aoiyama had no hesitation in his attack, and so the Bulgarian just steamrolled Daiamami back and out in mere seconds. They rightly awarded Aoiyama the tsuki-dashi win here as he moves to 2-0 while Daiamami falls to 1-1.  Instead of throwing some kensho Aoiyama's way, a company like Wacoal should donate a double-H bra as reward for Aoiyama's next victory.

Takekaze visiting from Juryo charged with his feet aligned before shading left against M16 Hidenoumi, but the younger Hidenoumi was into the veteran's craw in a flash staying snug and taking advantage of a Takekaze pull attempt at the edge to send the old-timer out with ease. Hidenoumi picks up his first win of the basho with the win.

M15 Myogiryu shaded left against M14 Ikioi at the tachi-ai looking for an early ottsuke with the left, but Ikioi survived easily as the two looked to square up in migi-yotsu. They weren't quite chest to chest due to Myogiryu's not wanting to put himself at a disadvantage, but the aging veteran was in no position to attack, and so after a bit of wrangling in the center of the ring, Ikioi scored on a quick pull that threw Myogiryu off balance enough to where Ikioi seized the coveted right kote grip and used it to drive Myogiryu outta the ring with some oomph. Pretty entertaining affair here as Ikioi moves to 2-0 while Myogiryu is still winless.

M15 Sokokurai met M14 Nishikigi with a stiff-arm at the tachi-ai before easily getting his right arm inside coupled with a left outer grip, and if Sokokurai wanted to win his bout today, he would have easily forced his gal back and out from here, but he wasn't out to win, and so he just went limp and at the first sign of a right scoop throw from Nishikigi, he just walked himself sideways out of the ring maintaining that outer grip in the process. When you've seen as many sumo bouts as I have, you know when the ending is incorrect, and that was the case here as Nishikigi is gifted a 2-0 start while Sokokurai is nonchalant at 0-2.

M12 Ishiura henka'd to his left against M13 Daishomaru hooking his left arm up and under Daishomaru's right, and from there he easily just swung Daishomaru over and down. They ruled it a scoop throw, but it was more like a cheap hiki-otoshi. Ishiura (2-0) telegraphed his henka at the start, but Daishomaru just walked right into it as he falls to 1-1.

M13 Asanoyama fought off M12 Kotoyuki's harmless tsuppari from the tachi-ai continuing to press forward using his bigger body to pin Kotoyuki near the edge. With his thrusts having zero effect, you could see Kotoyuki thinking about a pull, but before he could execute it, Asanoyama used his forward momentum to push Kotoyuki back and across with little argument. Asanoyama picks up his first win at 1-1 while Kotoyuki falls to 0-2.

M10 Chiyoshoma deferred to M11 Yutakayama today keeping his arms out wide as Yutakayama established the left inside position. Chiyoshoma responded with his own left to the inside and even had a right outer grip, but instead of positioning himself for a throw to the side, he just stayed square and allowed Yutakayama to walk him back with little resistance. This was one of those bouts where the Mongolians will just stay square instead of positioning themselves properly to execute a throw, dashi-nage, counter pull, etc. Easy yaocho call here as Yutakayama picks up his first win while Chiyoshoma falls to 0-2.

M11 Tochiohzan and M10 Chiyonokuni crashed hard at the tachi-ai, but they didn't stick together, and so Kuni shaded to his left looking for a pull while Tochiohzan responded with some upper-body shoves. As the two traded shoves in the center of the ring, Chiyonokuni connected on a nice left uppercut that knocked Tochiohzan back a step and completely upright, and from there, Kuni pounced pushing the wobbly Tochiohzan back and out for good. Chiyonokuni has a nice start going at 2-0 while Tochiohzan falls to 1-1.

M9 Okinoumi lazily kept his arms high and wide sorta going for a few tsuppari against M8 Kagayaki, and instead of responding with tsuppari in kind, Kagayaki just burrowed inside gaining moro-zashi a second in, and he used that to easily drive Okinoumi back and across without argument. I mean, this bout looked straight up, but it was almost as if Kagayaki knew what was coming. The dude is a tsuppari guy, so to see him just assume moro-zashi like that against a yotsu-guy in Okinoumi--executing oshi-zumo--was unorthodox to me. Regardless, Kagayaki picks up his first win at 1-1 while Okinoumi falls to 0-2.

M8 Daieisho pressed the action against M9 Ryuden with a nice tsuppari attack, and while the thrusts weren't connecting and forcing Ryuden back, it bugged the youngster enough to where he tried to use his long arms to deflect the blows away, but Daieisho was just too good, too fast, and too experienced here, and so he ran a few circles around Ryuden and then pushed him out for good moving to 2-0 in the process. Live and learn for Ryuden who falls to 1-1.

M6 Kaisei agreed to a bout of oshi-zumo against M7 Abi instead of forcing things to the belt, and the Brasilian still outclassed the sophomore swiping up beautifully at Abi's thrusts and frustrating the kid to the point where he began to evade and pull at Kaisei's arms. The problem was that Abi hadn't set anything up offensively, and so Kaisei maintained perfect balance with solid positioning in the center of the ring, and so he just followed Abi around while applying tsuppari pressure before finally catching the kid escaping with a nice shove that knocked Abi over onto his bum just beyond the straw. This was a good example of a foreigner agreeing to fight his opponent's style and still coming away with the easy win as Kaisei moves to 2-0. Abi's hype is quelled at least for a day as he falls to 1-1.

M7 Yoshikaze and M6 Hokutofuji enjoyed a solid tachi-ai, and I was pleased to see Hokutofuji actually attempt to press the action with a nice oshi charge. The problem was that he didn't blow Yoshikaze away at the tachi-ai, and Monster Drink held his ground well scoring enough effective shoves into Hokutofuji that he was forced to retreat in an upright fashion, and from there, the former Sekiwake pounced getting his left arm to the inside and scooping Hokutofuji up high at the edge before finally bodying him back. This was a solid bout of sumo as Yoshikaze moves to 1-1 while Hokutofuji falls to 0-2.

M5 Chiyomaru was up too high in his contest against M4 Shohozan as both rikishi looked to score on a shove attack from the start. With Shohozan nudging his foe back, he connected on a wicked right hari-te, and that signaled the beginning of the end because while Chiyomaru was still shoving away in an attempt to find his bearings, Shohozan had the momentum and the lower positioning to boot, and so he finally mounted a swift charge stiff-arming Chiyomaru back and across earning the tsuki-dashi win in the process. Shohozan moves to 2-0 while Chiyomaru falls to 0-2.

If you had to ask me who I thought was the best Japanese rikishi on the banzuke these days, I might go with M3 Takakeisho. The dude was hard to read early on because he was having so many bouts thrown in his favor, and while there is still plenty of give-and-take going on with him (he just stood there for Shohozan yesterday...likely repaying a debt), he's turning out to be a solid rikishi. Chiyotairyu and Takayasu might be better, but Takakeisho is starting to win me over.  At least I can see substance there.

Today against M4 Shodai, Takakeisho pressed the action with a nice tsuppari attack from the tachi-ai, and while he did think about a few pulls and retreat in kind, he beat Shodai soundly enough at the tachi-ai that ShoDie was completely at Takakeisho's bidding the entire way in this linear affair. I didn't like it that Takakeisho backed up once or twice of his own volition, but in the end, he pummeled Shodai back and out with a consistent tsuppari attack. Both rikishi end the day at 1-1, and Takakeisho is clearly the better rikishi of the two.

Komusubi Chiyotairyu played nice today against M3 Kotoshogiku slapping his palms against the Geeku's shoulders before letting the former Ozeki assume the left inside position. Chiyotairyu complied with his own left to the inside, but he just stood there allowing Kotoshogiku to topple him over with ease using a scoop throw. As if. Anybody ever heard of the phrase "digging in?"  Not Chiyotairyu, who bites the bullet here falling to 0-2 while Kotoshogiku is gifted a 1-1 record. We'll see if Chiyotairyu can make a run in the second half after the obligatory yaocho in week 1.

Speaking of obligatory yaocho, Sekiwake Mitakeumi was on the receiving end yet again today. Before we get to his bout against M2 Takarafuji, let me state that I thought Mitakeumi's tachi-ai against Arawashi yesterday was stellar. Everything after that was a complete joke, and nobody on Day 1 or Day 2 was able to outdo Arawashi's somersault yesterday, but I'll give credit where credit is due, and Mitakeumi had a great tachi-ai.

The problem is that you need more than a good tachi-ai in sumo, and while the Sekiwake's tachi-ai yesterday was good, he's not consistent with it. I kind of liken it to your average hack out on the public golf course. There are plenty of dudes out there who can drive the ball 300 yards from the tee, but you need good iron play and good putting as well to score well in golf. I love to play golf, and I've used this analogy before, but I usually have two really good swings on any given hole. Sometimes I have three, and if I get lucky, I can actually birdie a hole, but I'm around an 18 handicapper, which is nothing to write home about.

I think sumo fans often make a mistake because they see a rikishi do something good and hit a good shot, and then they automatically equate that with all-around legitimacy. For example, what good does it do a golfer to hit the green on a 220 yard par-three hole if he's going to three putt? Likewise, what good is a 300 yard tee shot if you finally make it to the green of a par-four hole laying four?

The Mongolian rikishi are like professional golfers on the PGA tour in that they have the complete package. Yeah, some of them might have a weakness in their game just like a pro may struggle with his long irons or the short game, but they are well-rounded enough that they can earn their tour card every year. The Japanese rikishi are like good golfers who play the satellite tours. They've got some game, and they can hit a good shot here and there, but they frankly don't belong on the same tour as the big boys. In my case, I analyze a rikishi's complete game all the time. I don't get a stiffie if he sinks a 40-foot putt, especially if the putt was for bogey.

With that in mind, let's get to the Sekiwake Mitakeumi - M2 Takarafuji matchup today. Mitakeumi's tachi-ai today was an 80-yard worm burner from the fairway, but fortunately for him, Takarafuji wasn't trying to win. The two awkwardly stood there trying to go to hidari-yotsu, but Mitakeumi was content to keep a little separation not wanting to go chest to chest, and so he used his right arm to keep Takarafuji's left away from the inside, and that's how the two stood for a few seconds. Eventually, Takarafuji worked his way left going for a pull that caused Mitakeumi to stumble forward, and then Takarafuji grabbed him by the right arm in hikkake fashion, but the hikkake would never come as Takarafuji refrained to easily yank his foe across the straw. Talk about having a dude by the short hairs.  Having let up on that move, he just aligned his feet and stood there allowing Mitakeumi to square back up and assume moro-zashi, and from there Takarafuji took a knee just falling onto his widdle bum across the straw instead of going for a left counter kote-nage throw that was there if he wanted it.

As I mentioned previously, I've seen a lot of sumo bouts in my day (to the tune of somewhere in the 47,000 range), and I know an unnatural fall when I see it. Arawashi's fall was ridiculous yesterday, and Takarafuji's was just as bad today minus the somersault. Mitakeumi moves to 2-0 with the gift, and hell, he'll score a zensho yusho if his opponents keep this up everyday. As for Takarafuji, he falls to 0-2, and before we move on, sumo like this that favors Mitakeumi may prop him up in the Sekiwake rank and allow the media to consider him as a candidate for Ozeki, but it doesn't make him a better rikishi.  We still don't even know what this guy's style is.

While it was nice to see Sekiwake Tochinoshin yusho last basho, he still had guys who let up for him. Ichinojo and Tamawashi were two who come to mind, and so it was no surprise to see M1 Tamawashi easily handle Shin today when his intention was to win. After standing Tochinoshin upright from the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, Tamawashi thought about getting the right inside, but why take your chances in a yotsu clash against Tochinoshin when your thrusts are working wonders to begin with?  Tamawashi repented of his ways and backed away from his yotsu quest continuing to fire tsuppari that kept Tochinoshin upright and grasping, and when the timing was right a few seconds later, Tamawashi easily sprung the pull trap sending Tochinoshin down for a Day 2 loss. As much as I like Shin (1-1), it was pretty nifty to watch Tamawashi work his craft today as the Mongolian moves to 2-0.

In the Ozeki ranks, Takayasu was flat-footed against Komusubi Ichinojo at the tachi-ai doing nothing but attempting to fend off the Mongolith from getting to the inside. With Takayasu's packing zero punch and feet aligned, Ichinojo adjusted well and just slapped Takayasu down to the dohyo a few seconds in. Ozeki should never lose in this fashion to rikishi ranked below them, but that's how you can tell that Takayasu is not an Ozeki. I suppose guys will start letting up for him so he can get his kachi-koshi, but he's off to a horrible 0-2 start. Life's a bitch when you don't get yaocho thrown your way as Ichinojo moves to 2-0.

M2 Arawashi continued to play nice today against Ozeki Goeido keeping both arms outside at the tachi-ai and gifting the Ozeki the path to the inside. Goeido doesn't quite have the game to assume proper moro-zashi, but Arawashi was already back-pedaling feigning a a weak kote-nage with the left arm while keeping himself square in front of the charging Ozeki. This one was over in two seconds as Goeido is gifted his first win at 1-1. As for Arawashi, he knows his place in sumo as he falls to 0-2.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Kakuryu played along with M1 Endoh keeping his arms out wide at the tachi-ai while Endoh attempted to tsuppari the Yokozuna back. Shoves aren't Endoh's game, however, and so Kakuryu was able to wax on and wax off the shoves staying out of arms way. With Endoh unable to apply pressure, Kakuryu backed up and to his right setting up a pull, and with Endoh's feet aligned most of the way, Kakuryu was finally able to drag him down with a half-assed pull attempt. Look, if the Mongolians want to beat these guys with a frontal belt grip secured from the tachi-ai and linear sumo, nobody can stop them. Today's bout was an example of an elite foreigner lowering the bar and going with the flow eventually scoring the win in the end. The naysayers will say, "Ah, Kakuryu's back to his old pulling ways again," but it's just all part of the act. Kakuryu is 2-0 for now while Endoh falls to 1-1.

Harvye illustrates the silver linings tomorrow.

Day 1 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
The Osaka tournament is the best. The rough and tumble, often rude, guy-who-feels-slighted-and-has-an-insecurity-complex personality of the Kansai region, its mercantile gumption and reputation as Japan's underworld's stronghold, all of this, for good or ill, lends itself to sumo. The venue, shoved aging and beloved into a neighborhood smack in entertainment land, is the right place for the right thing. The tournament always seems to go haywire, in the correct kind of fermented/demented direction, and here we are again during a long, slow turning of the sumo tide.

Your perfunctory storyline for March is Tochinoshin, Sekiwake and defending champ, dreaming on what can be done. I predict 8-7 or so at best. When Kyokutenho rose up from the Maegashira ranks to take a tournament a few years ago, he was straight annihilated the following basho. That may happen to Tochinoshin too. The injury storyline is probably an indicator: don't want to embarrass him, but can't really have him do all THAT well this time, so a reported injury, real or not, gives an excuse for quick mediocrity or a withdrawal. Oh, we can dream. And many will entertain romantic notions of a late career Ozekihood or some such. It is not happening. We'll see how many days it takes.

The weightier, more realistic storyline is the Yokozuna Armageddon. With Harumafuji gone (feels like forever already) and Hakuho and Kisenosato withdrawn, that leaves us with a decidedly lame-feeling lone Yokozuna entry from Kakuryu, he of the big late-tournament dramatic losing streak in January. This is suitably compelling: for the real sumo fan, watching to see if Kakuryu can make good on his talent and chances or wilt even further into his Invisible Yokozuna persona is an interesting question. Right now, his career is fairly easy to dismiss, and I don't see that changing.

So I'd say the real story continues to be one that has been burbling along for a year or two: who's next? Mitakeumi is your standard-bearer here. When he opened strong in January I declared him to be on an Ozeki run, but he went on a "Best Losing Streak" competition with Kakuryu. It's only a matter of time, folks. Onosho is his more plausible competition here, but is out with an injury. So, keep your eye on Takakeisho, Hokutofuji, and Vanilla Softcream (Shodai), in that order, as well as back-from-the-dead up-and-coming stars of yesteryear Endo and Chiyotairyu. Meanwhile, this crew will need a villain for counterpoint, and Ichinojo is plenty big to fill that role all by himself.

I just named seven active wrestlers in that up-and-comer paragraph, and didn't even bother with old-news is new-news Takayasu. Or plausible but stale Tamawashi. So, I don't buy it that the Hakuho-free, Yokozuna-lite tournaments we are seeing aren't compelling. Weird, but compelling. I've always been a prospects and second-tier guy. Yeah, it is fun to watch the best of the best. But even if they're not there, the tournament is not going to be declared a forfeit: somebody is going to win. That gave us Tochinoshin's awesome dream journey in January, and will unlikely give us similar thrilling surprises as 2018 and 2019 continue to wash out the old and reel in the new. I'm eager to see where this all leads. Let's get started.

M17 Aoiyama vs. J1 Kyokutaisei
Aoiyama spent the whole time here looking for and sizing up for the pull, patting Kyokutaisei around the ears like a judge at a pumpkin content. He did it so slowly I figured he was dead meat. However, I guess when you're the far superior guy you can still win. Eventually Kyotutaisei's melon was in a position Aoiyama liked, and he yanked his relatively inactive foe to the dirt, hataki-komi.

M16 Daiamami vs. M16 Hidenoumi
An up-close and smothering bout, chest to chest with pressure being exerted. However, while Hidenoumi seemed to be concentrating on pinching, Daiamami was slowly, slowly getting his left hand to where it needed to be, an overhand grip on that belt. That was the key to a satisfying slow and steady yori-kiri win for him.

M15 Myogiryu vs. M14 Nishikigi
Poor, weak-looking Myogiryu. They were holding on to each other in the middle of the ring, but it was all Myogiryu, as Nishikigi was draped on from above, and that's no way to lift a box. So Myogiryu smartly flipped those arms of Nishikigi's up and out of the way a bit and charged. But he left his feet behind, and had little power, and so he couldn't keep Nishikigi on a straight line to get him out, and couldn't throw him, though he wobbled him from side to side like a weeble. Myogiryu looked kind of pathetic in this moment, and Nishikigi must have thought so too, because he disdainfully thrumped Myogiryu off to the side, spinning him around, and whacked him, completely spent, out, oshi-taoshi.

M14 Ikioi vs. M15 Sokokurai
Ikioi should be in line for a monster tournament from M14 if past patterns hold, though he looked so bad last time out I wonder. No problem today: he forearm-barred Sokokurai upright and into position, then wrapped him up and removed him on the linear force-out, yori-kiri, looking very much under-ranked here.

M13 Daishomaru vs. M13 Asanoyama
Though I loathe his sumo, Daishomaru is another guy who has performed well when ranked this low, and a quiet slip to back down here likely indicates a big tournament coming up for him. Asanoyama looked tentative in this one, as one maybe has to be against Daishomaru to defend against the pull, but the pull never really strongly came, and Asanoyama looked kind of sad and powerless in that he pulled too and let Daishomaru push him across the ring and out, oshi-dashi. Here comes Daishomaru.

M12 Ishiura vs. M12 Kotoyuki
Whisht!  While Kotoyuki was slapping Ishiura's face, Ishiura's body wasn't there, having vanished cleverly off the side in one of the smoothest sorts of tachi-ai evasions you'll ever see. I have a feeling Ishiura could beat the sloppy, one-trick pony Kotoyuki straight up, and I would like to see him try, but realistically this was the smart and easy way. One more evasion after a Kotoyuki attempt at reset and Ishiura was behind Kotoyuki for good and let him run out, hikkake. This is why Stone Ass (Ishiura) will never amount to much.

M11 Yutakayama vs. M10 Chiyonokuni
Our third guy in four matches who isn't very good but is definitely good to do some damage at his current rank: Chiyonokuni. He looks tiny and terrible against the better guys, so it was interesting to see him look solid and strong here, standing Yutakayama up with a sharp tachi-ai and purposeful shoves to the face, then committing hard to a long and powerful pull that spread Yutakayama across the dirt like lard to toast, hataki-komi.

M10 Chiyoshoma vs. M11 Tochiohzan
Chiyoshoma is a bit of a cipher. Like Ikioi, Daishomaru, and Chiyonokuni, he is under-ranked here. But you never know when he is going to use his considerable strength (good) or dink around with tricks (bad), so I'm not sure if we'll see much from him this tournament. He's the kind of guy who can go 8-7 or 7-8 anywhere on the banzuke, but is also just as likely to pull out an unexpected 10-5 or 5-10. He also kind of seems to be perpetually biding his time. We'll see. As for Tochiohzan, you want to say he is under-ranked, but he's getting long in the tooth and if M11 isn't where he belongs it certainly will be soon. The match was rampant dumbness. They where holding on to each other, Tochiohzan pushing and Chiyoshoma retreating a little, when they popped apart off of a Chiyoshoma pull like dual jack in the boxes, and Tochiohzan fell down in one direction and Chiyoshoma put his hand on the clay to steady himself in the other. They were separated by a couple of meters when it ended. They ruled that Chiyoshoma accomplished his touch-down before Tochiohzan tumbled, calling it oshi-taoshi (what???) in Tochiohzan's favor, but if it were me I'd give them both a loss.

M9 Okinoumi vs. M9 Ryuden
It's fun to see a guy working hard and busily to establish low and inside position (Ryuden) and the other guy calmly absorbing it to set up for a win (Okinoumi). Usually what happens is the busy guy falls apart as the calm guy executes on his plan. That isn't what happened here, though. Okinoumi had let Ryuden get too much: moro-zashi, or both arms inside. Placidly try as Okinoumi might to convert superior strength and experience into a pinching throw of Ryuden, the truth was Ryuden had him too dead to rights, both hands wrapped back all the way to the butt button. Ryuden forced him out, yori-kiri.

M8 Kagayaki vs. M8 Daieisho
Bad lethargic tachi-ai by Kagayaki followed by desultory and sloppy advancement. Daieisho, more keyed in, just pulled him down, hataki-komi.

M7 Abi vs. M7 Yoshikaze
Abi, lithe and supple, looks a lot like he could be a future Yoshikaze. He stayed long and strong here, one foot back, both hands forward, pile-driving Yoshikaze backwards. Yoshikaze is too veteran to get done just like that, so he evaded this way and that a bit and pulled some, but that was after he'd already given the bout away by not evading when Abi was so clearly overextended at the beginning. In the end Abi pushed him over for the oshi-taoshi win. Do we have a new hype candidate?

M6 Kaisei vs. M6 Hokutofuji
Hokutofuji spent the entire bout moving slowly in tiny incremental moves to his left: off the tachi-ai, and at each push and break. This was designed to avoid having Kaisei lean all over him, and to let him find position for a pull or toss. However, Kaisei was methodical, and Hokutofuji really committed sufficiently to the evasion, making him easy oshi-dashi pickins for Kaisei.

M5 Chiyomaru vs. M4 Shodai
Absent my beloved Special Sauce (Tokushoryu), my substitute Most Amusing Wrestler, Chiyomaru, has bellied his way up to M5. Well, lookee lookee! I sure hoped he would continue his under-the-radar "Power of Rotundity" advance and destroy Vanilla Softcream (the hapless Shodai). However, instead he looked kind of slow, stood too tall, and couldn't get any leverage on the face slaps and shoves he was delivering. He had to then resort to pulling, but Shodai was totally in control here and Chiyomaru's round blob of a body was an easy target for the easy oshi-dashi force-out. Is this what it takes to finally turn Vanilla Softcream into Japan's Next Yokozuna? (I'm linking that to Shodai and trademarking it.)

M4 Shohozan vs. M3 Takakeisho
Shohozan looked really good with the quick misdirection face slap and ignoring a determined head-mangling by Takakeisho while surging in under for a nice fistful of belt. That locked up Takakeisho, who likes separation and pushing, good and immobilized him, and in a few moments Shohozan dumped him with that right overhand grip, uwate-nage.

K Ichinojo vs. M3 Kotoshogiku
Can you believe the career match-up record here is three wins for The Mongolith (Ichinojo) and five for Kotoshogiku? Hah! Kotoshogiku worked hard to make it six, evading at the tachi-ai so he could get his chest underneath and get a hold of the seemingly inert Mongolith's body and try to push him here and there and out. Looked fine for a moment, but he may have forgotten that the Mongolith has very long arms and had calmly taken hold of his belt on both sides, inside right, outside left. The Mongolith then leaned patiently on him until he stopped juddering this way and that and gave in and was removed from contention, yori-kiri. And the physical world continued to spin.

M2 Takarafuji vs. S Tochinoshin
Last tournament Tochinoshin showed us what he really is, and against that manifestation Takarafuji is a patsy, just as the random Komusubi are patsies served up for Day 1 destruction for Yokozuna. So I liked this day one match-up and was looking forward to Tochinoshin saying, "yeah, I'm still here" and respecting his own January win by reminding everyone how it happened. He needed to do that for at least one match, maybe a few days more, that's what he did here. A few moments after a scooping tachi-ai, he whipped his left arm out onto the belt just as the overwhelming force of his right hand reached the belt. Then he drew the curtains: drove Takarafuji up, picking him up at one point, and pressured hard and strong until the straw bales were between their feet, just as god wills it. Yori-kiri. Grizzly bear. Excellent.

S Mitakeumi vs. M2 Arawashi
I like Mitakeumi fine, but I like Arawashi too. Look at their ranks: not that far apart. Is this odd, because Mitakeumi gets a lot of attention and Arawashi is ignored? Or is it about right? I say it is about right: these guys present a pretty fair match up, and that is important to remember while watching Mitakeumi try to take the next step. When they actually fought, though, I'm not sure what Arawashi was doing besides acrobatics. He tried to bring an arm bar, but it was knocked aside like a damp spring twig by Mitakeumi. Arawashi then hopped out to the side on what looked like an attempted nage-no-uchi-ai throw, but in fact what he was doing was letting go and leaping upside down in the air. Like, really. That made it very easy for Mitakeumi to finish tumbling him head over heels like sneakers in the washing machine, sukui-nage.

M1 Tamawashi vs. O Goeido
It definitely feels weird to get only three matches with Ozeki or Yokozuna in them on day one, especially when the first name on that list is Goeido: is that all there is? Yep. But no matter: Tamawashi was here. Like Hakuho fighting a Maegashira, Tamawashi was never in danger. Goeido was working away at him with a slappity this and a pushity that, but Tamawashi was responding with quick, focused, powerful shoves of his own, and in just a very few moments Goeido was turned around and helpless. Boom! Tamawashi's iron-rod right arm pushed him in the chest and left him waltzing with the crowd, oshi-dashi. Ah, sweet truth.

O Takayasu vs. M1 Endo
Look out, people. The Endo ascendancy may have just been delayed a few years. Will they try to sneak him back to the top now? Maybe. But my guess for this match was that Takayasu, who is a top contender this tournament, would destroy Endo in the way so common to him of old: Endo gets a good start, looking solid and technique-full, but then the other guy confirms for himself that Endo has no finishing power, and makes him look silly with a quick and absolute destruction. But I was wrong. In truth, it was going even worse than that for Endo: he never got anything going, and Takayasu was driving him matter of factly back with slaps and strikes. But all it takes is one successful evasion; near the edge Endo moved out of the fray at the right moment, and whoops!, that was Takayasu's hairy body you saw stumbling the extra step and a half forward that was all Endo needed to finish him with a few barely-needed butt-pats, okuri-dashi. Sigh. Top ranked sumo.

Y Kakuryu vs. K Chiyotairyu
Chiyotairyu looked to me like he wanted to win: false-started in a way that said he was live-wire fresh. But much as I enjoy his explosive power, he can't hold a candle to the Yokozuna, who stopped him dead in his tracks when they went for reals like a cantaloupe flung at a cement-brick wall. Kakuryu grabbed a frontal grip on Chiyotairyu's rutting-pink belt and beat him soundly, yori-kiri.

So here we are. The most interesting thing about today is this number: 1. That is the total number of wins by Ozeki and Yokozuna today.

Here's hoping for lots of Osaka craziness; we're well set up for it.

Mike farrows the spring earth tomorrow.