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Senshuraku Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The hottest topic heading into senshuraku was whether or not we'd see the first tomoe-sen (three-way playoff) in the Makuuchi division since 1994. The scenario for that to happen was quite simple: Terunofuji needed to best Mitakeumi in the final bout of the day. That would leave both rikishi at 12-3 while the Abi - Kotonowaka matchup would also produce a 12-3 rikishi. I never like to see a senshuraku bout with yusho implications occur during the first 30 minutes, but that was the case with the M6 Abi - M14 Kotonowaka matchup, so let's start there.

Abi came with his usual moro-te-zuki attempt from the tachi-ai, but instead of moving Kotonowaka back even a centimeter, Abi just spun his wheels as is usually the case. After a few seconds of Abi flailing away, the dude darted left going for a quick pull that sent Kotonowaka to the edge of the dohyo, but as Abi looked to finish the youngster off, Kotonowaka darted left himself trying to turn the tables on Abi with a quick pull himself. Abi stumbled to the edge but easily recovered before Kotonowaka could pounce, and so across the ring they zigzagged with each dude going for pushes to set up pulls. In the end, Abi was able to pull Kotonowaka off balance near the edge picking up the victory. There wasn't much to that final pull from Abi, but whatever. This was a very ugly bout, and the only attempt to win with forward moving sumo was abandoned two seconds in. The win for Abi left him at 12-3 with the Shukunsho award to boot while Kotonowaka had to settle for an expected Kantosho at 11-4.

So with Abi qualifying for a pending playoff, let's fast forward to the final bout of the day featuring Yokozuna Terunofuji vs. Suckiwake Mitakeumi. From the tachi-ai, Terunofuji dipped his right shoulder inwards just a bit, and from that point, it was evident he was going to throw the bout. Mitakeumi responded to the gift with a left hand at the side of Terunofuji as he moved left, and Fuji was in no hurry to square back up. With Mitakeumi really applying no pressure, Terunofuji offered a mediocre forearm with the right before just completely opening up his arms allowing Mitakeumi to assume moro-zashi. Terunofuji feigned a left kote-nage, but it was just an effort to keep himself up high, and at the first sign of a Mitakeumi charge, Terunofuji just walked back and out of the dohyo completely upright.  You can see from the pic at left that he had given up a step inside of the straw, and everybody watching knew that Fuji was mukiryoku.

As I pointed out yesterday, the applause in the arena was warm, but there were no hoots or hollers and and certainly no electricity running through the arena. It was a ho hum bout and everyone knew that Terunofuji was mukiryoku from the start. Despite multiple opportunities, Terunofuji never once attempted to get an arm to the inside or wrap around Mitakeumi's arms from the outside. Mitakeumi's "victory" left him at 13-2 and resulted in his third career yusho on the spot. They also awarded him the Ginosho, and I'd ask anybody...point out one technique that the Suckiwake used this basho to set up his opponents and defeat them. What was his tactic from the tachi-ai that worked so well for him? There's just nothing there, and the dude's only legitimate win the entire basho was against Shodai. But...any integrity surrounding the Makuuchi yusho went away six years ago when they orchestrated Kotoshogiku's lone championship.

Mitakeumi's promotion to Ozeki will become official on Wednesday, and I saw where Wakanohana mentioned again that Mitakeumi is ready for the Ozeki rank now and the Yokozuna rank next. I mean, whatever they want to do is their choice, but I did quite a bit of searching for the senshuraku viewership number, and they're not posting it anywhere. Perhaps they think that another Japanese Yokozuna is the solution? Who knows, but time will surely tell. A final take on Mitakeumi's yusho...I've never seen anyone struggle so much in holding the Emperor's Cup as he posed for pictures. I know that thing is huge, but the truly strong rikishi handle the trophy like a sack of bread.

With the yusho rigged..er..uh...decided, let's touch on a few other bouts of interest from the day. Preceding the fireworks from the previous bout, M5 Chiyoshoma knocked Shodai back a step or two from the tachi-ai without really trying, and as Chiyoshoma let up so as to not defeat the faux-zeki in two seconds, he backed up and let Shodai come towards him. As he did, Shodai left his insides wide open (waki wo hiraku) giving Chiyoshoma moro-zashi, but Chiyoshoma didn't even apply any pressure with those arms. Instead, he just followed along as Shodai went for a weak kote-nage with the left tumbling down to the dohyo in spectacular fashion. In a real bout of course, Chiyoshoma would have countered with a right inside belt throw or a scoop throw, but there was no nage-no-uchi-ai here as Chiyoshoma clearly let Shodai win. The Faux-zeki didn't earn a single win from his 6-9 record while Chiyoshoma knows his place in ending up at 4-11.

Of the four sanyaku rikishi this basho (Mitakeumi, Takanosho, Meisei, Daieisho), the only one to kachi-koshi was Mitakeumi, but he'll move up to the Ozeki ranks creating a ton of movement in the sanyaku for the Haru basho. Takanosho will drop down to Komusubi after his 7-8 performance, so that leaves both Sekiwake slots open and one Komusubi slot.

M1 Wakatakakage will likely assume the East Sekiwake slot after his 9-6 performance, so who slips into the West slot? I think you really have to go with Hoshoryu who finished 11-4 from the M6 rank, and if that's the case, it leaves open one more Komusubi slot, so it was up to M2 Ura to defeat M13 Chiyomaru and fill that final slot.

Chiyomaru put both hands at the back of Ura's head at the tachi-ai and backed up as if to go for a pull, but he never did execute the technique. With Chiyomaru setting himself up for an easy oshi-dashi defeat, Ura was pushing too high, and he couldn't knock the willing Maru across. As a result Chiyomaru moved to his right and then just took a right knee falling backwards to the dohyo as Ura looked to catch up up. The Force is strong in Ura for sure. It was amazing how he felled Chiyomaru just like that without even touching him. I'm impressed. The gift pushes Ura to 8-7, and he has to fill one of those open sanyaku slots. They really should put Hoshoryu at Sekiwake just because he has more of a presence, but we'll see come the end of February.

Finally, M19 Ohho was looking to finally pick up kachi-koshi against M11 Sadanoumi, but keeping both arms wide at the tachi-ai as Ohho did is not going to do it. Sadanoumi threatened moro-zashi straightway until Ohho tried a lame pull by backing up, but the rookie hadn't set anything up from the tachi-ai, and so Sadanoumi moved forward for reals going for the quick force-out leading with the left arm inside. At the edge, Ohho thought about a right tsuki-otoshi to counter, but he was too far gone as Sadanoumi had him forced down and out in a matter of seconds. Ohho ends up at 7-8 (after a 7-3 start) while Sadanoumi picks up kachi-koshi at 8-7. It's so easy to see when these newbies are paying for bouts, and that was the case with Ohho early on this basho. When left to his own abilities, the result was a disastrous 0-5 finish.

With that, I think we've touched on all of the relevant points and bouts from senshuraku. As mentioned earlier, they haven't published the television numbers 36 hours after the fact, and I don't expect to see them either.

The Yokozuna Deliberation Council held their useless Monday morning meeting after the basho, and the biggest headline from that was the suggestion that Asanoyama's 6 basho punishment was too excessive. Hmm...that came out of left field, so we'll watch for further news there.

I think that's a wrap for the Hatsu basho. I can't think of anything else to add that hasn't been said in the daily reports, so we'll see you all in Osaka.

Day 14 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
A significant event at last year's Kyushu Basho was the lowering of the man'in-on-rei banners on the final day indicating a sell-out. Now, the venue was not sold out, but it at least meant that the sport would not go through an entire calendar year without an official sell out on the books. I suppose it wasn't good enough to just put an asterisk by the year 2021 and chalk the lower attendance up to Covid. In a country where it's important to save face, the Sumo Association wanted the sell out and when they didn't get it for real, they manufactured it, and so it was.

Speaking of the 2021 tournaments, the first half of the year the Sumo Association would publish how many seats they were allowed to sell due to Covid restrictions, and it started at 25% and then jumped up to 50%, but when the sumo caravan began going on the road again, there were no longer restrictions in place. And so it's been the last four hon-basho, and there have been no sell outs. Now, I understand that people still want to be cautious about going out in public, but the crowds--while growing--are not clamoring to watch sumo.

At the end of last year, I read a report and listed it here that the high point of the NHK senshuraku broadcast was something like 17.8%, and then the average number for the entire Makuuchi broadcast was down in the 15% range. That's a very low number compared to more traditional numbers that used to easily get into the 20's, and so if you're afraid to go out and see the sumos in person, you can at least watch the sumos in the safety of your own home. So while Covid can be partly to blame for the lack of sell outs, it has nothing to do with the television numbers. As I watched the Day 14 festivities today and digested everything, it was clear to me that sumo is focused heavily here on scoring the largest viewership number possible heading into senshuraku.

Let's start with the final four bouts of the day and then possibly touch on some other bouts of interest.

Up first was Suckiwake Mitakeumi vs. M7 Takarafuji, and at least I think that was Takarafuji. Honestly, we would have seen more effort from a cardboard cut out of the dude because that would have at least swayed in the drafts of air blowing through the Kokugikan because the real Takarafuji looked like a cadaver out there. Takarafuji kept his hands low and completely still from the tachi-ai allowing Mitakeumi to do what he wanna. As Mitakeumi pressed forward, Takarafuji had the path to at least get the left arm to the inside, and then when he neared the straw he instinctively moved right where a right tsuki-otoshi was wide open, but he made no effort whatsoever to employ either waza. As for Mitakeumi, it's difficult to describe what he was doing. He never really got his left arm inside, and he didn't grab the belt or wrap around Takarafuji's arm with his own right hand. He just moved forward as Takarafuji willingly moved backwards. When Fuji finally shaded to his right without going for that tsuki, Mitakeumi was finally able to push into Takarafuji's left side, and the M7 just turned 180 degrees and hopped outta the dohyo. I mean, they listed this as okuri-dashi, but there was no push from behind from Mitakeumi whatsoever.

What this bout reminded me of is someone who catches a fish and brings it onto shore only to have the line snap just as the fisherman is bringing the fish out of the water and onto the bank. Mitakeumi was like the fisherman trying to coral the slippery fish, and Takarafuji just flipped and flopped around until he landed right in the open creel. Mitakeumi didn't have to do anything here or employ any waza. Takarafuji did all the work and Mitakeumi just had to move forward. Once again, a significant bout on Day 14 fails to produce any o-zumo, and this was just a bunch of fluff with the Isegahama camp not wanting to hinder Mitakeumi's promotion to Ozeki. The end result is Mitakeumi's moving to 12-2 (a record that includes just 1 legitimate win) while Takarafuji calmly falls to 9-5.

Up next was M14 Kotonowaka vs. Suckiwake Takanosho, and once again the victor didn't have to do any of the work. The two actually engaged in a tsuppari contest instead of going for the inside or the belt, and the more experienced Takanosho easily drove Kotonowaka back to the edge. With Kotonowaka's feet touching the tawara, the kid instinctively moved to his left, and if you're Takanosho and trying to win, you square up and push into your compromised opponent. That is if you're actually trying to win. It was obvious from the tachi-ai to me that Takanosho wasn't trying to win, and instead of squaring back up, he just ran himself face first outta the dohyo as Kotonowaka finally grabbed a left outer grip to add oomph to Takanosho's fall. Just like the bout previous, there was nothing definitive from the victor that caused the movements of the defeated, and so unsurprisingly, the Sadogatake camp buys another win for Kotonowaka who moves to 11-3 while Takanosho takes his lumps in falling to 6-8.

The next bout was M6 Hoshoryu taking on Shodai, and while this bout did not have yusho implications, it is worth examining. The two hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Hoshoryu had the outer grip, but instead of moving forward or looking to set up a throw, Hoshoryu just back pedaled allowing Shodai to make some sort of move. When he didn't, the two found themselves at the edge with Hoshoryu maintaining that right outer grip and Shodai a weak left inside position. And so the nage-no-uchi-ai was on. Kinda. The problem was that neither dude planted and went for a throw, so while they were in the nage-no-uchi-ai position, they both just fell forward and outta the dohyo. Hoshoryu put his left hand down early to try and lessen the impact of his face smashing into the outside tawara that lines the square mound, and so the ref pointed in favor of Shodai, but they called a mono-ii because Shodai's left knee touched down prematurely right about the time that Hoshoryu put his own hand down.

A do-over was ordered, and once again, Hoshoryu gave Shodai several chances. From the tachi-ai, the kid put one leg forward and one leg way back making him susceptible to a forward charge from Shodai, but it never came. Next, Hoshoryu got his right arm on an outside grip of Shodai's belt, but he let it go indicating that he was still willing to throw the bout, and from there, the action moved around the ring a bit until Hoshoryu came away with the left inside position, and he used that to recklessly move Shodai back towards the edge, but he wasn't trying to keep Shodai in snug instead leaving himself very vulnerable to a counter tsuki-otoshi. Shodai was completely hapless here, however, and unable to counter or do anything, and so the flow of the bout saw Hoshoryu score the light yori-kiri win with the left inside. Reminiscent of the old dame-oshi frequently displayed by Uncle Asa, Hoshoryu pushed Shodai off of the dohyo altogether and down into the first row with a left forearm, but that fall was more a result of Shodai's being completely out of gas than it was malicious intent from Hoshoryu.

I guess the real result is that Shodai was completely hapless out there twice against an opponent who was more than willing to let him win. At some point, these guys have to earn it, and Shodai couldn't today. After the first bout, Hoshoryu stood up and was bleeding quite a bit from the forehead, and that's simply a sign of toughness. I'd say more like a badass as Shodai falls now to 5-9 in defeat while Hoshoryu moves to 10-4.

The first three bouts we've covered (and especially the two with yusho implications) didn't contain any chest to chest sumo with both parties going 100%, so it was no surprise to see the same shullbit in the final affair involving Yokozuna Terunofuji and M6 Abi. Abi came with his usual tsuppari attack with feet shuffling as if he had no traction on the dohyo, and the Yokozuna's response was to stay upright and not even attempt to get inside. Abi wasn't able to knock Terunofuji back, but no matter. After Abi's initial volley, the Yokozuna moved right a bit for no reason and then just lifted his left knee upwards so he was standing on one leg. When you're talking about a sport of balance and stability, there is not a single reason why a rikishi would ever lift a leg in the air and stand on the other leg. Unless your intention was to throw the bout, and it was obvious that's what Terunofuji was doing here.

With Fuji now on one stump and leaning right the entire way, Abi was able to knock him off balance with a shove, and Terunofuji's reaction was to turn his body 180 degrees and just run to the edge of the ring. In the pic at left, the contact Abi is supposedly making would turn Fuji to his left...not to the right.  That movement to the right was entirely of his own volition, and by the time Terunofuji reached the edge and turned around, Abi was there to shove him across that last step giving Abi the cheap win. The venue really didn't erupt, and I think it's because everyone knew Terunofuji was mukiryoku. If anything, the sheeple were relieved to see Mitakeumi take the lead in the yusho race because there was not this electric feel of an upset in the arena. The result of the fixed bout is Terunofuji and Abi's both landing at 11-3 (along with Kotonowaka) with Mitakeumi maintaining the sole lead at 12-2 as follows:

12-2: Mitakeumi
11-3: Terunofuji, Abi, Kotonowaka

Abi and Kotonowaka are paired together tomorrow, and I favor Kotonowaka in a straight up bout. Abi hasn't beaten anyone with a straight up tsuppari attack the entire basho, and he can't do it to a huge guy like Kotonowaka. Abi can finagle a win by moving laterally, but I like Kotonowaka's lower body stability over Abi's spastic tsuppari charge.

Since the winner of that bout is guaranteed a 12-3 record, if Terunofuji beats Mitakeumi tomorrow, it will leave three rikishi tied at 12-3, which will result in a three-way playoff called a tomoe-sen.

If it comes to that, the protocol is to have all three rikishi draw straws. One rikishi will draw a bye, and the other two will face off in the playoff. The winner will stay on and the next person to win two bouts in a row is awarded the yusho. The last tomoe-sen in the Makuuchi division occurred in 1994, and they are a lot of fun to watch. I read in the funny papers where Wakanohana favors the winner of the Abi - Kotonowaka bout as the favorite to take the tomoe-sen. His reasoning was that both of those two are young and have the stamina to survive a playoff. That's one of the stupidest takes I've ever read, but we are talking about Wakanohana here.

Now, a Mitakeumi win against Terunofuji would cancel the three-way playoff, but right now it's a win-win for the Sumo Association regardless of what happens. A tomoe-sen would draw a larger television number, and an outright yusho from Mitakeumi would give Japan it's first yusho in a year.

Yaocho is difficult to predict, so who knows what will transpire, but the sad part is that we'll be watching to see if Terunofuji decides to yusho or whether or not he gives it to Mitakeumi. Mitakeumi (nor Abi) have beaten anyone with straight up sumo all basho, so to think they can finally put it together against a dude whose won four of the last five yusho is ridiculous. Terunofuji is still your Storyteller.

Earlier in the day, M2 Ura ducked low beneath M3 Tamawashi's tsuppari attack, but The Mawashi easily recovered and blasted Ura in the head knocking him back and putting him on the run. Ura tried to duck this way and that while Tamawashi tried to connect squarely against his slippery target. After four or five seconds, Tamawashi finally had Ura off balance enough to where the Mongolian just charged forward without a hold of Ura, and the sheer force knocked Ura back across the straw. Tamawashi apparently didn't see Ura step out because he kote-nage'd him back across the ring and down for the second win in two seconds. The result gives Tamawashi kachi-koshi at 8-5 while Ura falls to a precarious 7-7. Ura draws a beast tomorrow in Chiyomaru, but the Kokonoe-beya is quite giving.

Finally, let's end with M18 Ohho who looked to pick up kachi-koshi today against M10 Akua, but the Otake coffers must be running dry because Akua showed no mercy ramming the top of his head into Ohho's jaw at the tachi-ai which stood him upright, and then Akua bullied him back with a decent tsuppari attack. As the rookie looked to dig in at the edge, Akua (4-10) reversed gears and pulled Ohho forward and down by the back of the right shoulder. Ohho lands at 7-7, and it's so obvious that his 7-3 start was purchased. There have been flashes from him that I've enjoyed, and I think the dude has potential, but it's so obvious what's going on here.

With that, we will defer until tomorrow where literally anything can happen.

Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Yesterday marked the end of an era in terms of lead NHK Announcers. Fujii Announcer called his final broadcast on Day 12 with Kitanofuji, and during the broadcast Kitanofuji knowingly asked, "This is your last broadcast isn't it?" And after Fujii said that it was, Kitanofuji thanked him and said that Fujii always made things sound interesting even when they weren't. I thought that was an interesting way to word it, but it's true. On so many days you watch the broadcast and see crap bout after crap bout, and sometimes it's very hard to get through. In Kitanofuji's day, there were of course compromised bouts, but it was a different sport back then. They really did have legitimate Yokozuna and Ozeki and Sekiwake, and the last 30 minutes of every day was the best.

Now it's quite different. You get to the last 30 minutes, and I can tell that Kitanofuji gets frustrated by what he sees. He'll let out these audible sighs or groans when he watches the terrible sumo taking place primarily among the Ozeki because he knew how it used to be. I was fortunate to catch the last few years about how it used to be although we did have the whole Wakanohana buying his way to Yokozuna debacle in the late 90's.

Anyway, it's sad to see these Announcers go. Naito Announcer was the first lead announcer I knew, and then it was Kariya Announcer after him. Fujii replaced Kariya, and there's just something soothing about the way these guys call the action. They do indeed become the voice of sumo for their generation, and so I think it's worth noting when there's a changing of the guard. We'll have to see whose next in line...I'm thinking Sanbe Announcer or maybe Yoshida Announcer, but we'll have to see.

Sheesh, when I'm waxing sentimental about the NHK Announcers, you know I must be avoiding the sumo. Day 13 was pretty status quo I thought, so let's touch on most of the bouts from the day going in chorological order.

Up first was M15 Tochinoshin who welcomed M13 Chiyomaru, and Maru gave it his best shot going for moro-te-zuki from the tachi-ai, and while that did deny Tochinoshin the belt from the get-go, the Private was able to work his way up and under Chiyomaru's outstretched arms to gain moro-zashi, and from there Shin latched onto the front of his foe's belt, lifted him completely upright, and then walked him back for the yori-kiri win. Tochinoshin moves to 6-7 and needs one win over the next two days to keep his Makuuchi paycheck. Chiyomaru falls to 7-6 in defeat.

Rookie M15 Wakamotoharu charged right into an M12 Chiyotairyu henka that saw the veteran go more vertical than he did lateral, and Chiyotairyu landed bringing both arms down across the top of Wakamotoharu's head sending him sprawling forward. Tairyu managed a right hand to the side of the rookie's belt as he sent him over and down drawing the uwate-nage winning technique, but this was just a dirty henka. Chiyotairyu moves to 5-8 with the win and likely keeps himself in the division for another basho as Wakamotoharu falls to 7-6.

M18 Ohho stuck a nice jab into M12 Ishiura from the tachi-ai knocking Ishiura back a step, but the rookie couldn't follow it up with more pressure and so Ishiura darted left getting the solid inside belt position that he used to turn his foe in circles right in the center of the ring. The two rikishi briefly paused with Ishiura in snug and Ohho on defense, but before Ohho could counter, Ishiura latched onto the front of the rookie's belt with the right hand and reversed gears felling the larger Ohho with a beautiful shitate-hineri move. I just love it when the veterans school the rookies like this, and you can see how easily done it is in straight up sumo. Ohho's kachi-koshi will have to wait another day as he lands at 7-6 while Ishiura skates his way to 9-4.

M11 Terutsuyoshi went for a swipe of M14 Ichiyamamoto's arms at the tachi-ai, and while it didn't cause the youngster to stumble, it did set the pace for what would turn out to be a bout with plenty of social distancing with Ichiyamamoto trying to tsuppari his way back inside against Terutsuyoshi who was hunkered down low. Eventually, Terutsuyoshi was able to get the right arm inside and burrow in deep, and as IYM went for last gasp counter pull, T-Yoshi went in for the kill scoring the easy force-out of his comprised opponent. Very similar bout to the previous one where the wily veteran although much smaller was able to oil his way to the win without using chikara-zumo. Terutsuyoshi moves to 6-7 with the win while Ichiyamamoto is on the brink at 4-9.

M13 Yutakayama easily halted M10 Akua's ineffective charge getting both arms to the inside against the defenseless Akua, and as Yutakayama looked to secure moro-zashi, Akua tried to spin away which only resulted in Yutakayama's grabbing him in the manlove position and sending Akua out from behind rather easily. Yutakayama moves to 5-8 with the win and needs one more to stay in the division. It's really his choice. As for Akua, he's in deeper trouble at 3-10.

M16 Aoiyama guaranteed himself a spot in the division for next basho by coming with dual kachi-age against M9 Chiyonokuni, and Aoiyama was taking no chances here in falling to a Chiyonokuni henka or pull, so with Aoiyama actually on the defensive, he staved off a few tsuppari attempts from Kuni and some lateral movements to ultimately get inside and score the nice push out win. Aoiyama picks up kachi-koshi at 8-5 while Chiyonokuni falls to 2-11.

While people not named Mike Wesemann are getting excited about the prospect of Ura in the sanyaku, the dude who really should be there is M6 Hoshoryu who moved a bit left against M17 Kotoeko grabbing the easy left outer grip, but he abandoned that when he realized it'd be more advantageous to establish himself with the right inside, and so sent the bout to migi-yotsu and went for a quick inside belt throw to test the waters. Eko held on nicely with his outer left, but Hoshoryu kept threatening inside throws which sent Kotoeko upright and ultimately allowed Hoshoryu to grab that left outer again, and once obtained he threw Kotoeko nicely with that left outer grip. Hoshoryu was just toying with his opponent here in moving to 9-4 while Kotoeko falls to 8-5.

M4 Okinoumi needs another win or two to keep himself in a safe spot on the banzuke, and so he fought off M16 Tsurugisho's initial tsuppari from the tachi-ai and hidari-yotsu threat forcing his opponent to the other side of the ring where Okinoumi latched onto a right outer grip to go along with his left inside. Tsurugisho used his bulk to grab his own right outer, and he even briefly cut off Okinoumi outside grip, but Okinoumi is simply the better rikishi and it showed here as he scored the yori-kiri win moving to 4-9. As for Tsurugisho, his make-koshi becomes official at 5-8.

The next bout sorta had yusho implications if you go down to the lone three-loss rikishi in M14 Kotonowaka who was paired against M3 Tamawashi (speaking of dudes who need to be in the sanyaku), and Tamawashi literally welcomed Baby Waka with arms wide open giving Waka what he wanna. Kotonowaka used a hesitant tsuppari attack against a willing Tamawashi nudging him to the edge, but Tamawashi instinctively moved right causing Kotonowaka to whiff on his final force out surge. The result was Kotonowaka's sailing across the straw and down out of control, and so Tamawashi quickly pivoted and touched his left foot out before Kotonowaka landed. It was a very sly move on Tamawashi's part but intentional none the less, and so despite defeating Kotonowaka while not even trying, he gave him the win by stepping out. They actually gave this the oshi-dashi kimari-te when it should have been isami-ashi. Kotonowaka's final push at the edge was over and that allowed Tamawashi to pivot to the side and step across in the process. Shame shame everyone knows your name as Kotonowaka is gifted a 10-3 record while Tamawashi coyly falls to 7-6.

M2 Ichinojo and M11 Sadanoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where the Mongolith secured the stifling left outer grip, and there was just too much lard in Sadanoumi's way to effectively grab a left outer of his own. He tried and got it, but in doing so he had to keep himself too upright, and Ichinojo just spun him around and down from there picking up the easy win, which left both dudes at 7-6.

M5 Chiyoshoma stood still at the tachi-ai against M2 Ura, and when Ura played defense as well, Chiyoshoma used a few tsuppari to force Ura back to where Shoma grabbed the left inside position and right outer grip with Ura dangerously at the edge (pictured at left). Chiyoshoma could have easily finished him off at that point, but that wasn't his MO, and so he let the action flow away from the tawara a bit where they still hunkered down in hidari-yotsu where Ura was far away from an outer grip. From that position, Chiyoshoma slyly stood upright and walked in close giving Ura the gifted right outer and from there when Ura went for the outer belt throw, Chiyoshoma failed to counter and just worked himself across the straw for good. Beautifully orchestrated here by Chiyoshoma, and that's as fake of a win as we've seen today. Even the announcers were commenting on how good Chiyoshoma's positioning and sumo was throughout the bout, but go figure. Ura moves to 7-6 and is likely one gift away from the sanyaku while Chiyoshoma gracefully falls to 4-9.

M1 Kiribayama kept his hands high and wide fro the tachi-ai until M8 Tobizaru could get moro-zashi. From there Tobizaru had a tough time doing anything, and Kiribayama was poised to fire a counter kote-nage with the left or even go for a soto-gake on that side, but he held up on any counter move and then eventually just allowed Tobizaru to force him back and across. As if. Tobizaru moves to 6-7 with the charitable gift while Kiribayama's make-koshi is official at 5-8.

M3 Endoh won the tachi-ai against M1 Wakatakakage and went for a series of about three pulls, and all three of them would have worked had Endoh followed through. With WTK completely clueless, Endoh next grabbed him by the right arm and could have dragged him down, but he let up on that to try and trip himself over. The problem was that Wakatakakage wasn't applying any pressure. Endoh next waited for his foe in the center of the ring and greeted him with the nice left arm deep to the inside and Endoh immediately drove WTK back to the brink, but he refused to force him across. Once again, Endoh let the action go back to the center of the ring where the two hunkered down for about 30 seconds before Wakatakakage went for an awkward force out attempt leading with a weak right outer grip, but Endoh just backed his way outta the dohyo with Wakatakakage in tow. What a fake bout here as Endoh takes the dagger in falling to 5-8 while Wakatakakage bought this one for sure at 7-6.

Komusubi Daieisho and M4 Hokutofuji both came with tsuppari from the tachi-ai and it was Daieisho who obtained the upper hand with a nice tsuki right into Hokutofuji's neck. The M4 just stood there and took without trying to counter and after a few seconds of this pose, Daieisho went for a weak pull and Hokutofuji just put both palms to the dirt. Someone owed someone something here as both rikishi end the day at 5-8.

M7 Takarafuji and Komusubi Meisei hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the start where Meisei had a frontal belt grip with the right, but he couldn't quite wrench Takarafuji outta the dohyo with it, and so the two settled back in the center of the ring where it was Takarafuji's turn to reach for a right outer grip. Before he secured it, Meisei just started backing up and going for a weak pull and Takarafuji lunged his way tripping Meisei with his hand in watashi-komi fashion. Takarafuji moves to 9-4 with the win while Meisei falls to make-koshi at 5-8, and this bout was a bit of a dud after the fast start.

Suckiwake Mitakeumi and M6 Abi stepped into the ring next, and Abi came with a moro-te-zuki but just backed up a full step giving Mitakeumi the opening. The Suckiwake couldn't capitalize, however, and so Abi shaded a bit left as if to pull, and Mitakeumi was certainly vulnerable, but instead of trying to win the bout, Abi just jumped up a bit as if to pull from above, and Mitakeumi met him in the air and easily pushed Abi back and across in the haphazard affair. What a spastic bout of sumo this was, but Abi ultimately deferred to Mitakeumi in the end. The result is Mitakeumi's moving to 11-2 while Abi falls one back joining Kotonowaka on the second tier of the leaderboard at 10-3.

M5 Onosho got the best of Shodai from the tachi-ai delivering some nice tsuppari into Shodai's jaw, and with Shodai upright, Onosho was able to get the left arm inside...or so we thought because he brought the arm back outside and let Shodai raise him up with his own left inside. From there Onosho brought his right arm up high and swiped into the side of Shodai's neck, and faux-zeki went down like a house of cards. I have no idea what was going on in this one, but the penultimate bout on Day 13 should never contain sumo this dreaded. They ruled it kubi-nage, and I suppose that was close enough but the two just ended up in heap by the side of the dohyo.  Shodai's make-koshi is official now at 5-8 while Onosho will surely pick up a sansho as he moves to 9-4, but dang this was an ugly bout of sumo.

The final bout of the day saw Yokozuna Terunofuji grab Suckiwake Takanosho's extended right arm from the tachi-ai and yank him sideways where he next secured a hand to the outside of Takanosho's belt on that same right side and used it to drive Takanosho across the straw before the bout really began. Terunofuji meant bidness today in moving to 11-2 while Takanosho falls to 6-7.

With the dust settled, the Day 14 leaderboard is as follows:

11-2: Terunofuji, Mitakeumi
10-3: Abi, Kotonowaka

That three-loss line is just there for show, but neither of those two yayhoos are taking the yusho. As for the bouts of interest tomorrow, Terunofuji draws Abi, and I don't see a scenario where Terunofuji lets Abi win. I could be wrong, but I just don't see it.

As for Mitakeumi, he's paired against Takarafuji, and that's a very bad matchup for the Suckiwake. Takarafuji's a yotsu guy through and through, and there's nothing Mitakeumi can do to keep him away from the belt. It doesn't mean the bout will flow that way if T-Fuji decides to throw it, but Takarafuji is heavily favored in a straight up bout.

Finally, Kotonowaka draws Takanosho, and it wouldn't surprise me to see the Sadogatake camp buy that one. Who knows? Takanosho is favored in a straight up affair, but Kotonowaka can also score the upset.

Terunofuji will likely get Mitakeumi on senshuraku, and really, the most important thing that comes out of this basho is Mitakeumi's getting his 12 wins so they can promote him to Ozeki. If Takarafuji lets up for MiFakeUmi tomorrow, look for Terunofuji to win out and take the yusho at 13-2.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
At the beginning of Day 11, the leaderboard had been whittled down to the following rikishi:

9-1: Terunofuji, Mitakeumi
8-2: Abi, Takarafuji

I guarantee you that Isegahama-oyakata feels guilty for having two rikishi from his stable on that yusho board, and it's obvious that the rise of Kotonowaka is more important than Takarafuji, and so Takarafuji just came with C3P0 arms from the tachi-ai and didn't even contest the bout giving Kotonowaka the easy win and knocking Takarafuji off of the leaderboard.

As for Abi, his feet were slipping and sliding all over the place against Ichinojo and that allowed Ichinojo to gain moro-zashi, but as Abi went for a wild pull, Ichinojo just belly-flopped to the dirt giving Abi the cheap win and keeping him on the leaderboard.

The most anticipated bout from Day 11 was the Mitakeumi - Shodai matchup, and the two hooked up in a very routine migi-yotsu contest where Mitakeumi failed to force Shodai back and across from the start and where Shodai countered with a left outer grip while Mitakeumi had none. The motions were all correct here and the bout was legitimate for sure, but when you have two Ozeki for all intents and purposes going chest to chest, you'd expect a bout of o-zumo. This was more like old-zumo as Shodai was unable to attack despite the advantageous position, and then when he sloppily gave up moro-zashi to Mitakeumi, the Suckiwake drove him back for the nice win.

Absent from that bout was any grunting or tugging or any momentum swings where the excitement ripples through the crowd. It was a slow bout of sumo between two washed up rikishi. With the win, Mitakeumi stayed at least tied for the lead while Shodai was handed a dangerous 7th loss.

In direct contrast to that bout, the final piece of the Day 11 puzzle was Terunofuji and Chiyoshoma who were also engaged in a bout of yotsu-zumo, but it was just night and day compared to the previous bout. There was a chess match going on, the rikishi both stayed low, Chiyoshoma's belt was coming loose, there were red faces, and the crowd was into it. Terunofuji used his sheer size advantage to finally force Chiyoshoma across the straw, but it was a very well fought bout of sumo that deserved the term o-zumo. The feel was just different and obvious.

I think the only other bout worth bringing up from Day 11 was the M11 Sadanoumi - M17 Kaisei contest. The two engaged in a migi-yotsu affair from the tachi-ai which obviously favors Kaisei, and the Brasilian even grabbed a left outer grip early on but then let it go for no reason. From that point, you knew Kaisei was mukiryoku and going to lose the bout, and that he did, but in the process of being "forced down" by Sadanoumi, Kaisei wrenched his ankle and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. And this on the heels of Myogiryu and Shimanoumi withdrawing before the day's festivities began.

When I first started absorbing everything sumo by watching the Japanese broadcasts, I learned early on the phrase, "Let up in the ring and someone's going to get hurt." I didn't understand what that really meant at first, but that Kaisei bout was a perfect example. Even the Ura - Shodai bout from early on the basho when Ura let up for Shodai, he ended up being carted away in a wheelchair. Kaisei's withdrawal marked the 11th sekitori to go kyujo this basho. The number of kyujo rikishi in a given basho is in direct relation to the number of fixed bouts going on in a basho.

With that ugliness behind us, let's now turn our attention to Day 12 where the leaderboard had been whittled down as follows:

10-1: Terunofuji, Mitakeumi
9-2: Abi

Let's start with the leaders going in ascending order up the leaderboard meaning we start with M6 Abi who was paired against Sekiwake Takanosho. Abi went for the usual moro-te-zuki tachi-ai against Takanosho who agreed to engage in a tsuppari affair, but Takanosho was obviously more on the defensive. As the action shifted in the ring with Takanosho's shading to his right, the Sekiwake connected with a right sideways tsuki, but in anticipation of a shove from Abi that didn't come, Takanosho committed to a dive that consisted of his putting both palms to the dirt and nothing else as Abi looked to catch up. If you watch the slow motion replay from the angle where Takanosho's back is the to the camera before he falls, you can just see him disappear from view after his tsuki attempt and then Abi pushing into thin air.

Both Fujii Announcer and Kitanofuji exaggerated their commentary afterwards with nice guttural voices as if to emphatically emphasize Abi's prowess and the way he maneuvered through the difficult bout, but if you actually watch the replay, you see Takanosho take an obvious dive after taking very little guff from Abi. What a laugher this was, but if Abi went down here, there was the potential for the following leaderboard at the end of the day:

11-1: Terunofuji

Prior to the Abi bout, Suckiwake Mitakeumi was involved in his third straight up bout in as many days as he was paired against M4 Onosho. From the tachi-ai, Onosho connected on a right paw into Mitakeumi's jaw standing him upright, and as Onosho kept up the tsuppari pressure, Mitakeumi leaned forward back towards his opponent, and that enabled Onosho to show his foe the trap door as they say by quickly moving left and scoring on the legitimate tsuki-otoshi that sent Mitakeumi to the dohyo floor in less than three seconds. Unlike the Abi bout, Kitanofuji's analysis here was correct with a single compound word, "atari-make," or Mitakeumi lost this one at the initial charge.

Mitakeumi has obviously been exposed these last three days, and the only bright spot is that he can legitimately state that he's better than Shodai. The loss put him one behind Yokozuna Terunofuji who was watching ringside, and so the drama in the final bout of the day featuring Terunofuji vs Komusubi Meisei was would Fuji or wouldn't he?

From the tachi-ai, Terunofuji latched onto his opponent's sagari with the left hand (which signaled his intentions at that point) as Meisei delivered a very nice tsuki with the right to Terunofuji's jaw that stood him upright. Still, Meisei held that tsuki there for so long he was very vulnerable to Fuji's getting inside with the left, but Terunofuji was just going with it today and not looking to win. When Meisei finally let that tsuki go, he backed up to his right as if to go for a quick pull, but he really wasn't making contact with the Yokozuna and certainly didn't have a grip of anything. Terunofuji read the tea leaves, however, and just walked straight forward and outta the dohyo as Meisei looked to catch up with his fleeing foe. They ruled it kata-sukashi because Meisei did make contact with Terunofuji's left shoulder as Terunofuji exited stage West, but it wasn't the everyday kata-sukashi we normally see. Close enough I guess. They needed to come up with something as Terunofuji just voluntarily ran himself outta the ring.

The end result is three rikishi tied at the end of the day as follows:

10-2: Terunofuji, Mitakeumi, Abi

Mitakeumi and Abi face each other tomorrow and then Terunofuji draws Takanosho. Assuming straight up bouts, Abi is favored against Mitakeumi because the latter can't keep up with Abi's quick movements, and the kimari-te will be a pull of some sort or tsuki-otoshi because Abi's not good enough to legitimately knock Mitakeumi back and across with a straight forward tsuppari attack.

As for Terunofuji, it goes without saying that there is no way that Takanosho can defeat him, so we'll just have to see what he decides to do. The Sumo Association never likes to see the yusho line dip beyond two-losses and with more head to head matchups coming up presumably, the only dude who can yusho assuming straight up bouts is Terunofuji. But...we'll just have to see what's in the cards.

In other bouts of interest, we'll see if Shodai can somehow scrape together enough cash to buy his remaining four bouts. Today against Hokutofuji, the M4 rocked Shodai upright with some nice tsuki from the tachi-ai, but Hokutofuji halted his offensive two seconds in and agreed to what looked to be a hidari-yotsu contest, but Shodai could never establish the firm position, and as he moved right, Hokutofuji didn't stay square giving Shodai the opening for an easy slapdown at the back of Hokutofuji's left shoulder. Hokutofuji obviously turned mukiryoku after winning the tachi-ai, and once again we see Shodai pull the rabbit out of the out for the comeback "win." It really is old news as Shodai ekes his way to 5-7 while Hokutofuji falls to 5-7.

Shodai is paired against Onosho tomorrow, and I have no idea of the politics surrounding that bout, but Onosho could claim a special prize with a win over Shodai not to mention the stash of kensho that would come with the victory. There's a lot of incentive to refuse an offer from the Shodai camp, but we'll see how it plays out.

With the chance that the yusho line could fall to three losses, I suppose we should mention M14 Kotonowaka who was paired against M11 Sadanoumi. The two engaged in a very good bout of yotsu-zumo where Kotonowaka enjoyed a left outer grip. Still, Sadanoumi was in deep and has been in a dogfight or two, but this one went to the edge with an uwate-nage attempt from Baby Waka and a kake-nage attempt from Sadanoumi. It was close, but Kotonowaka was the winner of the nage-no-uchi-ai, and a mono-ii confirmed it. Kotonowaka moves to 9-3 with the good win, and if the dude would just focus on this kind of sumo, he's got the ability to rise up the ranks on his own. I do think there's a pride thing going on though with Ohho (Taiho's grandson) now on the scene, so we'll see how this plays out moving forward.

Speaking of M18 Ohho, he was defeated in a yotsu bout by M13 Chiyomaru. If a guy really is all that, he should never lose in a yotsu bout to a thruster and pusher, which is what Chiyomaru is. The loss deprived Ohho of kachi-koshi leaving him at 7-5, but he will surely scrape some money together to buy at least one more one. He's already unfortunately fully ingrained into the system.

A skiing trip is the result of these brief comments, but I will likely comment on all of the rikishi tomorrow before refocusing on the leaderboard for the weekend.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Apologies for skipping Day 9, but it was a rather status quo day with little movement. They finally introduced a leaderboard at the very end of the Day 9 broadcast as follows:

9-0: Mitakeumi
8-1: Terunofuji
7-2: Abi, Takarafuji, Kotonowaka, Kotoeko

That's a pretty sorry two-loss line there, and heading into Day 10, it really doesn't feel as if there's a yusho race going on. Mitakeumi and his pending promotion to Ozeki is really the only storyline with a few minor subplots like Ura, and the crop of young rikishi in Kotonowaka, Ohho, Wakamotoharu, and Ichiyamamoto who will likely take prominent roles in sumo's future.

Early on in the Day 9 broadcast, they showed a graphic of Mitakeumi's first eight days and the accompanying kimari-te as follows:



That's six days' worth of oshi-dashi with two yori-kiri thrown in for good measure, but Mitakeumi's performance so far certainly doesn't have the feel of that kimari-te list. If someone were to ask, who are the prominent oshi guys in sumo today, you'd think of rikishi like Tamawashi, Daieisho, Chiyotairyu, Aoiyama, and Abi, and you would base that on the sumo in the ring, particularly the sumo displayed from the tachi-ai.

With Mitakeumi, however, there is no sense of this push attack that is supposedly leading to all of these oshi-dashi victories, and he's certainly not in anyone's throats driving them back from the tachi-ai. On the contrary, he's the one whose getting choked back a few steps from the initial charge only to supposedly make a comeback in the end.

And that's the great paradox of sumo these days. They say one thing in the media and with these graphics, but we see something entirely different in the ring.

Before we get to the Day 10 action, I should clarify one more thing in regards to Mitakeumi. Two days ago I mentioned a headline where Oguruma-oyakata referred to Mitakeumi's bad habit, but it wasn't clear in the article what he was referring to. I mentioned that Mitakeumi's sumo this basho was so empty there weren't any bad habits to point out, but after reading a few more days' worth of headlines, it's clear now what was meant by "bad habit." It's Mitakeumi's penchant for suffering losses on consecutive days when the stakes are high.

In sumo we see these themes that everyone agrees on. For example, the word "gaman" is used to describe fake rikishi like Mitakeumi or Shodai who do nothing in the ring until the very end when their opponents suddenly let up for them or just back out of the ring. Since there is no substantive sumo to describe from Mitakeumi or Shodai, they use the word "gaman," or endure, to suggest, "Well, they endured well throughout the bout until the end."

So...the pump is being primed for everyone to watch out for Mitakeumi's bad habit of losing consecutive bouts in a row (called renpai), when what really should be said is, "There's a cash flow issue coming up where Mitakeumi is going to find himself in bouts that aren't compromised." And that was certainly the case today.

Enough of that. Let's close out the chubansen by covering every bout on the day in chronological order since I'm sure this is the last day of the basho where I'll do that.

The day began with Shohozan visiting from Juryo to take on M15 Tochinoshin, and Shohozan got moro-zashi straightway from the tachi-ai, but Tochinoshin stood pat with both arms to the outside of Shohozan's limbs until he could grab two outers over the top. This behavior is of course in contrast to a bout Tochinoshin would throw against the likes of Ohho where instead of digging in he just backs up, but I digress...

With both dudes jockeying in the center of the ring for position, Shin tested the tsuri-dashi waters early but he was in the center of the ring and had too much real estate to cover, so he relented as the action moved back to the center of the ring with Shohozan still in moro-zashi and Tochinoshin maintaining two outer grips. The two stood there for another 15 seconds or so while Tochinoshin recharged his muscles, and then on the second attempt he was able to tsuri-dashi Shohozan over and out in front of the chief judge. That was quite an impressive display of power as Tochinoshin moves to 5-5, and my question is what's this guy doing at M15 on the banzuke? He's clearly not injured after watching that display of power.

Speaking of oshi-type rikishi, M13 Chiyomaru is another guy to add to the aforementioned list, and he went for the neck at the tachi-ai against M17 Kotoeko out of the gate. Kotoeko backed out of the choke hold initially, and then as he came back forward, Chiyomaru retreated a bit to his left going for the surprise pull that sent Kotoeko sprawling to the edge of the ring where he was shoved out from there in short order. A couple of things to glean from this bout, 1) Chiyomaru set that up with a visible oshi attack from the tachi-ai...something Mitakeumi has yet to do this basho, and 2) what in the hell is a dude on the leaderboard doing getting his ass kicked by Chiyomaru??  I suppose that's why it doesn't feel as if we have a real yusho race this basho. Maru moves to 6-4 with the illustrative win while Kotoeko falls to 7-3.

M16 Aoiyama put two hands towards M13 Yutakayama's face from the tachi-ai-, and then Aoiyama went for this silly little downward swipe with the right hand against Yutakayama's cheek, and that was YTY's cue to just belly flop to the dirt. Wow, I've seen some doozies in my time, but this one was right up there. As the analysts watched the replays afterwards, their collective deduction was, "He slipped."  I'll say he did. They just left off the second part of that phrase, "...on purpose." Aoiyama was probably owed something here as he goes to 5-5 while Yutakayama falls to 4-6.

M12 Ishiura put both hands towards M14 Kotonowaka at the tachi-ai in a defensive posture before moving left trying to bait Kotonowaka into a pull or grabbing at his extended arms. They made it a full circle around the dohyo like this before Ishiura got the left arm inside, which was countered by a Kotonowaka right outer grip. As Ishiura was thinking about Plan B, Kotonowaka went for an early uwate-nage with the right, but he hadn't set Ishiura up properly due to no position with the inside left, and so Ishiura was able to threaten a grab at Kotonowaka's right leg and then a kake-nage forcing Kotonowaka to call off the dogs. The two settled in for a bit with Ishiura maintaining the left inside position and Kotonowaka the right outer, and Ishiura must have learned something from defending against Kotonowaka's first offensive attack because the little guy planted his leg to the inside of Kotonowaka's right and half tripped him to the clay while pulling with an inside belt throw. Experience won out here in a pretty good fight as Ishiura (6-4) knocks yet another guy off of the fake leaderboard with Kotonowaka falling to 7-3 now.

M12 Chiyotairyu scored on a quick right hari-te against M18 Ohho, but instead of going for his bread and butter tsuppari, he decided to back his way to the straw. Because Ohho had no momentum from the start, he wasn't able to capitalize on Tairyu's retreat, and so the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu as the action moved back to the center of the ring. Chiyotairyu was not looking to do anything although he dictated the pace to this point, but Ohho was so far away from a right outer grip that a stalemate ensued in the center of the ring. With Chiyotairyu just standing there, Ohho finally backed up going for a risky pull, and instead of Chiyotairyu making him pay, he just belly-flopped to the dirt instead of attempting to push the compromised Ohho back and out. What a joke that finish was. I think that's the first time I've seen a guy get dragged across half the ring and not at least attempt a last-gasp push out of the puller. Whatever as Ohho moves to 7-3 with the gift while Chiyotairyu falls to 3-7.

M15 Wakamotoharu put both hands forward at the tachi-ai against M11 Sadanoumi, but it was more of a defensive posture, and so Sadanoumi moved right grabbing the outer grip on that side, and as the rookie looked to escape, Sadanoumi rushed forward leading with the outer grip and had Wakamotoharu forced down and out quickly before the rookie was able to utchari with a right outer grip of his own. This wasn't the soundest of sumo, but the veteran Sadanoumi's experience won out in the end as he moves to 6-4 while Wakamotoharu drops to 5-5.

M17 Kaisei stood completely still at the tachi-ai as M10 Akua tried to push into him. Kaisei had the clear path to the right inside grip had he wanted it, but he refrained signaling his intentions at that point. Still, Akua could do nothing and so Kaisei gifted him moro-zashi by positioning his right arm in kote fashion and he started a throw that would have worked, but he simply didn't following through on it. With nothing coming from Akua's direction, Kaisei maki-kae'd easily with the right but refused to take advantage of that inside position, and with Kaisei's just standing there like a bump on a log, Akua went for a laughable ke-kaeshi trip that was Kaisei's cue to just hit the dirt. Ha ha, what a fake finish that was!! Kaisei falls to 5-5 with the mukiryoku effort while Akua moves to just 2-8.

M16 Tsurugisho and M9 Chiyonokuni engaged in a tsuppari affair where both guys really wanted to pull. No one committed completely to the pull, but it led to a light affair where the larger Tsurugisho eventually just nudged Chiyonokuni back and across for the force-out lite win. Tsurugisho moves to 4-6 in the process while Kuni is still an o'fer at 0-10.

M11 Terutsuyoshi connected on a left face slap against M8 Tobizaru, who was completely and intentionally listless from the start. As a result, T-Yoshi went for a premeditated pull, and Tobizaru just hit the dirt easy as you please. What a waste of everyone's time here as Terutsuyoshi moves to 4-6 while Tobizaru falls to 5-5.

M14 Ichiyamamoto was proactive in his tsuppari attack against M7 Takarafuji, but he couldn't move the veteran around, and the latter was just daring IYM to get too close so he could tug him forward by the arm. With Ichiyamamoto frustrated, Takarafuji patiently waited for an opening and then pounced knocking Ichiyamamoto back to the straw before pushing him out to pick up the very nice win. Takarafuji picks up kachi-koshi at 8-2 (and remains on the leaderboard I suppose) while Ichiyamamoto falls to 4-6.

M6 Hoshoryu put two hands into M9 Shimanoumi's neck at the tachi-ai completely keeping Umi at bay, but Hoshoryu was noticeably not attacking or trying to move forward. After this brief stalemate in the center of the ring, Hoshoryu grabbed a left outer grip and then brought his right arm up wrapping it around Shimanoumi's melon as if to pull, but the pull never came. With Hoshoryu fully exposing himself like this, Shimanoumi went for what looked like a left inside belt throw, but his hand slipped off of the belt altogether. No matter. Hoshoryu spun down to the dirt anyway putting both palms down and catching the rest of his body. They ruled it a scoop throw based on who knows what? It was really yaocho start to finish with Hoshoryu (6-4) letting up and falling to give Shimanoumi the cheap win at 5-5.

Speaking of letting up, M5 Chiyoshoma came from the tachi-ai with light tsuppari waiting for M10 Myogiryu to take advantage, but he never could, and so those thrusts from Shoma slowly turned to pull attempts until he full on wrapped his arm around Myogiryu's head saying do me now! And Myogiryu did pushing out Chiyoshoma who was already retreating across the straw of his own volition. Hooboy as Myogiryu moves to 5-5 while Chiyoshoma sells one here in falling to 4-6.

M4 Okinoumi used the C3P0 arms against M6 Abi to allow the other free reign from the tachi-ai, but Abi was barely connecting on anything, and so Okinoumi just backed up to the edge. In the process, he grabbed Abi by the extended right arm and had Abi all but tottari'ed right out of the ring as seen there at left. Except he stopped mid tug and just let Abi back into the bout. Abi still wasn't doing anything and so Okinoumi ran forward giving Abi the cheap outer grip, but it was really Okinoumi's forward momentum that just took him out of the ring all the way on the other side. My goodness, can it get anymore obvious than this bout? Abi clearly buys his way to kachi-koshi at 8-2 while Okinoumi (2-8) has thrown enough bouts to buy three shares of oyakata stock. This really was laughable, and I hope it doesn't mean Abi will be an Ozeki candidate anytime soon.

M3 Tamawashi restored a bit of order by leading with a right nodowa from the tachi-ai against M2 Ichinojo, and the Mongolith barely put up a fight as Tamawashi forced him back and across leading with that initial nodowa. Yes, Ichinojo gave up at the end and didn't even bother to fight here, but that Tamawashi nodowa was a legit move...something we don't see from the esteemed Japanese rikishi. Tamawashi moves to 7-3 with the easy win while Ichinojo takes his lumps at 5-5.

M1 Kiribayama put both hands forward at the tachi-ai as if to shove while M1 Wakatakakage attempted an ottsuke with the right into Kiribayama's side, but there was little pressure involved, and so Kiribayama simply moved to his right going for a nice pull that easily felled WTK a few seconds in. This was a rather uncontested bout as both rikishi end the day at 4-6.

Komusubi Meisei attempted to push M3 Endoh off of the starting lines, but the tactic had no effect, and as Endoh stood pat threatening to get an arm to the inside and grab the belt, Meisei backed up looking for a pull and Endoh read it easily pushing the compromised Komusubi back and across with little argument. Endoh ekes his way to 3-7 while Meisei falls to 4-6.

With the leaderboard crumbling away as we speak, sumo needs other storylines to keep the fans engaged, and so they're turning to M2 Ura and his quest for the sanyaku!! Komusubi Daieisho fired a few thrusts from the tachi-ai, but instead of going for the neck or torso, the blows glanced off of the side of Ura's head harmlessly. Still, Ura is incapable of generating an attack of his own, and so after a failed pull attempt from Ura, instead of taking full advantage and finishing his foe off, Daieisho rushed in and put both hands at the back of Ura's head and just waited for his charge. Problem was that they needed to cross the entire length of the dohyo and so Ura ran Daieisho back with a full head of steam and knocked him over hard abise-taoshi style for the compromised win. This was a perfect example of how guys can get hurt in mukiryoku sumo, but luckily Daieisho looked okay afterwards in picking himself back up off of the venue floor. Ura buys one here obviously in moving to 5-5 while Daieisho took a hard fall by completely letting up at 3-7.

Up next was Suckiwake Mitakeumi against M4 Hokutofuji in a bout that was not fixed, so it shouldn't have been any surprise to see Hokutofuji catch Mitakeumi squarely with the right paw to the throat as he shaded a bit left, and for Mitakeumi's part, the Ozeki hopeful did nothing from the tachi-ai as usual. I mean, if they say you're an oshi/tsuki guy on the website profile and you win a majority of your bouts by oshi-dashi, wouldn't we see at least an attempted shove from the tachi-ai/  We got nothing as Hokutofuji stood Mitakeumi completely upright and then drove him back to the edge and across without argument. Mitakeumi was so overwhelmed he couldn't even attempt to counter with a pull or a tsuki-otoshi, and this is not the way an Ozeki loses for sure.

These two have a bit of a history where in college Mitakeumi actually defeated Hokutofuji in the collegiate level championships back when they were both in school, so you'd assume there is no love lost between them from that. I mean, I have no idea what went on behind the scenes prior to this one. Did Hokutofuji refuse an offer of a buyout? Is the Mitakeumi camp desperate for money? Who knows. What we do know is that this was a straight up bout, and Mitakeumi got his ass kicked by an M4 with just three wins coming in. At 9-1 Mitakeumi now finds himself tied with Terunofuji while Hokutofuji moves forward to 4-6.

Suckiwake Takanosho was paired against Shodai in the penultimate bout, and the former caught Shodai with a nice paw to the throat at the tachi-ai that forced Shodai to move a bit right, but as he did, Takanosho easily stayed square with his opponent and forced Shodai back and across with no argument. I mean, Shodai may as well start living on the streets he looks that desperate in these types of defeats. He hasn't been the same since his chief fundraiser..er..oyakata was booted out of sumo a year ago for violating Covid protocols and visiting the tittie bars. Takanosho moves to 6-4 while Shodai is just plain pathetic at 4-6.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Terunofuji reached for and latched onto a left frontal belt grip against M5 Onosho, and he refused to let go giving Oh-no!-Show nowhere to run. Fuji reeled his foe in snug and easily forced Onosho back and across in mere seconds leading to the uneventful conclusion to the day. Terunofuji regains the lead at 9-1 while Onosho falls to 6-4.

At the end of the day, they limited the leaderboard to just one loss off the pace as follows:

9-1: Terunofuji, Mitakeumi
8-2: Abi, Takarafuji

Mitakeumi draws Shodai tomorrow and won't we all be looking forward to that?! You have two hapless rikishi very desperate to pick up a win, so I don't expect it to be compromised. I have no idea who should be favored here because neither has scored a legit win the entire basho. I guess it will be who can pull who down first.

Other than that, you take a look at that leaderboard, and it's no wonder that Ura has won four of his last five.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Due to the volcano eruption in the Pacific yesterday and the resulting tsunami, my sumo feed didn't start until five or six bouts into the day, and so I don't think NHK had anything prepared for their general broadcast to present before the bouts started. Regardless of that, the big news of course heading into the day was focused on Mitakeumi and his one bout lead over Terunofuji. Beyond that, the media just can't help themselves in hyping Mitakeumi as an Ozeki candidate, and so let's review the numbers. The unwritten rule is that a rikishi needs to win 33 bouts in three consecutive basho from the sanyaku. Mitakeumi has been in the sanyaku the last year, and his total over the last two basho is 20. That means he needs 13 wins here in January to reach the 33 win mark although exceptions have been made most notably promoting Kisenosato with just 32 wins.

Back in the day when sumo wasn't so desperate, you actually had guys who posted 34 wins over three basho and didn't receive the promotion as happened with Kotomitsuki and Miyabiyama in the first decade this century. It really just depends on the ebb and flow of the sport, and sumo is so desperate for any positive headlines surrounding the Japanese rikishi these days that you'd think Mitakeumi would be a shoe-in with 12 wins. It's evident that he's not going to get 12 wins on his own, and at this rate, he'll be lucky to get one win on his own against Shodai, but he's been the underdog in everyone of his bouts so far...even against Ura.

We may as well start with the dude today as he was paired against Komusubi Daieisho. Daieisho blew the Suckiwake off of the starting lines with a perfect tsuppari attack against a defenseless Mitakeumi, and a couple of times the Suckiwake was staring at the rafters thanks to Daieisho's paws planted squarely into his neck. Daieisho drove Mitakeumi back near the edge with nice de-ashi, but instead of finishing him off, he suddenly switched gears, went for a phatom swipe downwards, and then just moved to his right and turned his back to the straw. That allowed Mitakeumi to pivot and score the easy push out from there, and it's just silly how bad Mitakeumi looks.

I read a headline after the day from the Sports Hochi newspaper that read, "Oguruma-oyakata breaks it down: It's highly likely Mitakeumi will make it to the end despite his bad habits." I thought it was strange to see that he had bad habits. I mean, the dude gets his ass kicked without doing anything right or wrong, and he only wins due to his opponents letting up in the end, so what are his bad habits? Bad sumo? Yes. Bad habits? He can never get far enough in his bouts to exhibit them.

Anyway, I clicked on the link and this is how they described the bout: "He was pushed in the throat by Daieisho at the tachi-ai, but he kept his jaw low. He was also never raised upright and was defending himself by pushing upwards into Daieisho."

The description made it sound as if Mitakeumi forced Daieisho into the swipe due to his defense. I mean, you could see Mitakeumi thinking about swiping at Daieisho's arms, but he was being beaten so badly, he didn't have room to even do that. And then the part about keeping his jaw down?? There's photographic evidence everywhere of Mitakeumi staring at the rafters completely upright with Daieisho's paw right in his throat. It's just incredible how the news outlets ignore what transpired for everyone to see and make up this phony narrative.

As has been the case the entire basho, Mitakeumi was hapless today in moving to 8-0 while Daieisho settles for 3-5. The last time Mitakeumi was 8-0, he took his first yusho in Nagoya in 2018 I think it was. We are on course for that, but don't forget that Terunofuji still controls his own destiny, and Mitakeumi is clearly buying every single win. It will take one dude who refuses to negotiate, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Up next chronologically was Suckiwake Takanosho who completely ignored a henka to the left by M2 Ura and just kept moving in the same general direction as Ura lifted him up by the right leg and escorted him out in less than two seconds for the ashi-tori. I mean seriously, if it were that easy guys would be doing this all the time, especially Ura. This was orchestrated from the start, and thanks to the compromise, Ura now finds himself at 4-4 (the same record as Takanosho) after a terrible start on paper. Ura keeps popping up in the top three bouts of the day, and the dude generates interest in the Makuuchi division, and so that's why we're seeing him handled with kid gloves like this. At this rate, dude's going to be in the sanyaku in March, and what a farce that would be. Almost as farcical as the phrase "Ozeki Mitakeumi." I guess they gotta do what they gotta do, but the Sumo Association is milking the Mitakeumi and Ura storylines this basho.

The following bout featured M3 Endoh vs. Shodai, and finally someone was willing to give Shodai a break. Endoh struck Shodai well getting the right arm inside before moving just a bit right and pulling Shodai off balance. From there, Endoh got the right arm inside forcing Shodai to evade to his own right...just what we like to see...Ozeki on the run against M3 rikishi. In the squabble, Endoh relinquished moro-zashi by letting Shodai maki-kae with the left, but that still gave Endoh the right outer grip with Shodai back pedaling. In a normal set of circumstances, Endoh would have maintained the momentum, kept moro-zashi, and scored the easy force-out. With Shodai about one step away from the tawara, however, Endoh suddenly put on the brakes and backed his way to the right and to the edge, and from there Shodai just went with the flow scoring the easy yori-kiri that was just handed to him on a silver platter. This was just like the Mitakeumi bout earlier in the day. Endoh won the tachi-ai and was in complete control until he suddenly turned his back to the straw and waited for his opponent to score the winning blow. It's just laughable as Shodai is allowed to advance to 4-4 while Endoh falls to 2-6.

In the final bout of the day, Yokozuna Terunofuji and M4 Okinoumi looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but the Yokozuna simply grabbed two frontal belt grips against Okinoumi, lifted him upright, and then marched him over to the side in front of the chief judge and dumped him out of the ring easy as you please. It still remains to be seen what Terunofuji's MO is this basho, but he moves to 7-1 with the win while Okinoumi is knocked down to 2-6.

The first six bouts on the day were all fake, and I think really the only other bout of interest that pertains to the yusho race was the M6 Abi - M6 Hoshoryu matchup. Abi didn't even bother trying his tsuppari tachi-ai knowing it was useless against Hoshoryu, and so Abi moved right going for the immediate pull, and Hoshoryu read the move like a dirty manga on the subway getting deep inside as Abi put his arms at the back of Hoshoryu's head, but the Mongolian just rushed Abi outta the ring in less than two seconds. That 6-0 start from Abi was so fake. I mean, if the dude really had game and momentum, he wouldn't have to run away from Hoshoryu from the tachi-ai. Hopefully this erases Abi from the headlines as he falls to 6-2 while Hoshoryu picks up the easy win in moving to 5-3.

My comments tomorrow will be abbreviated as well, and I think NHK will finally start to flash a leaderboard, so we'll plan to focus on that for Day 9.

Day 7 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The NHK broadcasts the entire basho have been so boring, but they brought out some guns today with former Ozeki Wakashimazu in the booth. Wakashimazu was a lean Ozeki back in the day (he retired as an active rikishi in 1987), but he was popular among the fans. He was gone before I ever saw my first bout of sumo, but I still remember hearing his name early and often. The dude turned 65 earlier this week, and oyakata are forced to retire from the Sumo Association (or more technically, relinquish the name of their oyakata stock), and so this will be Wakashimazu's final basho as an oyakata. Joining Wakashimazu in the booth was a contemporary, Oguruma-oyakata, who also retires later this year, and then calling the action for NHK was the maestro himself, Fujii Announcer.

It was great to revisit memory lane and watch some of Wakashimazu's bouts, and as I watched those bouts, I couldn't help but to contrast the sumo we see from the supposed Ozeki today. I can only shake my head to think about once was and what is now portrayed as Ozeki sumo. But it seems I talk about that every day, so let's briefly touch on a few bouts of interest on the day.

The most talked about bout on the day after the fact was the M14 Kotonowaka - M18 Ohho matchup because you had the grandsons of two former Yokozuna facing off for the first time ever. That sounds kinda cool, but the bout itself was a big dud. Kotonowaka came with a right kachi-age that had little impact, and Ohho got his left arm up and under that kachi-age and had the clear opportunity to get the deep right inside and create major problems for Kotonowaka. The migi-yotsu bout would never come to fruition, however, as Kotonowaka moved to his left going for a weak tsuki, and Ohho just put both palms to the dirt with no other part of his body touching down, a sure sign of yaocho. On one hand, I was surprised the bout got as much run as it did in the funny papers afterwards because it was so bad, but on the other hand, when was the last time awesome sumo ruled the day? Kotonowaka buys his way to 5-2 while Ohho falls to 4-3, and what this bout really indicates is that the Sadogatake-beya has more financial backing than the Otake-beya.

I suppose the next bout of interest was the M5 Onosho - M6 Abi contest, so let's go there next. Abi came with his usual moro-te-zuki from the tachi-ai, but it didn't budge Onosho back a centimeter...which should tell you something. After grappling a second or two in the center of the ring, Onosho gave way to Abi's attack and began slowly retreating, but all he was really doing was setting up a surprise tsuki-otoshi to his left that Abi took hook, line, and sinker. Hooboy. Abi's finally in a bout that isn't compromised and he looks awful...against Onosho no less. Abi is saddled with his first loss at 6-1 while Onosho improves to 5-2. Both of these dudes are still well in the running for a sansho.

M3 Tamawashi drew Suckiwake Mitakeumi today, and just like his bout yesterday against Terunofuji, Tamawashi dominated the tachi-ai and drove Mitakeumi two steps back with his tsuppari attack, but unlike yesterday, Tamawashi next just started back-pedaling while putting his left arm up high as if to pull, but said pull never came of course, and Mitakeumi just went with the flow and danced along until Tamawashi backed up out of the ring altogether. The optics from this one are obvious: Tamawashi exhibits the exact tachi-ai two days in a row against Terunofuji first and then Mitakeumi. Against Terunofuji, he goes onto defeat the Yokozuna soundly, but the next day, the Mighty Mitakeumi stops him in his tracks and scores the resounding comeback yori-kiri. What a bunch of shullbit, and judging by the reaction of the crowd, nobody was really fooled. I mean, the applause was warm, but there was no buzz that happens after a straight up bout. I guess Mitakeumi assumed the proper yori-kiri squat at the end, so there was that. The "win" leaves him as the only undefeated rikishi on paper at 7-0 while Tamawashi graciously falls to 5-2.

The Shodai story is getter sadder by the day, but if you buy your way to the Ozeki rank, you have to sustain yourself at said rank, and at some point the well is going to run dry. Today against M4 Okinoumi, the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Okinoumi used a quick right tsuki into Shodai's left side to set up the ultimate outer grip with the right. Once obtained, the bout was over if Okinoumi's intention was to win, and it was thankfully. As Shodai feebly reached for a right outer of his own, Okinoumi used the momentum shift to swing Shodai clear over to the other side of the dohyo before forcing him back and across leading with the outside right. Pretty standard stuff here as Okinoumi shows his true ability in moving to just 2-5. He'll scoop up that handful of kensho and get the win in the process. Smart dude. As for Shodai, his record is now underwater at 3-4, and it's just uncomfortable for everyone watching a supposed Ozeki perform like this.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Terunofuji welcomed M3 Endoh by latching onto Endoh's left with the right from the outside, but Endoh did well to shift right and tsuki the Yokozuna into the corner of the dohyo (yes, round rings do have corners!). Endoh grabbed a right outer grip in the process, but Terunofuji dug in rather easily getting his left arm well inside of his foe, and Endoh knew he couldn't compete in a chest to chest bout even with the outside grip. As a result, Endoh circled a bit near the edge, and when Endoh's back was to the wall, Fuji pounced scoring the inevitable yori-kiri in the end. Terunofuji moves to 6-1 with the win and still controls his own destiny while Endoh gave it a good effort in falling to 2-5.

I think it's too early to start talking leaderboard, and so let's give that at least one more day.

Before I sign off, it's worth mentioning that both Hidenoumi and Shiden have now admitted to gambling activities as reported prior to the basho. They will be dealt with at a special board meeting on the 27th, and so sumo has that dark cloud looming over it regardless of what transpires at the Hatsu basho.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It was a rather quiet news cycle in between Days 5 and 6 and start of the NHK broadcasts each day have been extremely dry, but Wakanohana did post his latest propaganda piece, the headline of which read, "Mitakeumi needs to raise his game now and shoot for Yokozuna." Wait, what?? The dude isn't even an Ozeki yet, and now we're throwing around the term Yokozuna? In my Day 1 comments I mentioned the pre-basho themes that were garnering the most attention, and Mitakeumi's Ozeki candidacy was definitely one of them, but do they really have this guy in their sites for Yokozuna?

If you've been following SumoTalk for a decade or so, 1) you need your head examined, and 2) you may remember about 10 years ago when it was Takanohana that made the statement out of the blue that he thought Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato were ready for promotion to Ozeki. At the time, the two of them couldn't even keep themselves consistently in the sanyaku, so I was like where did this come from?? But sure enough, within the next year or so they dragged both of those bozos across the Ozeki line and the rest was history.

I don't know that Wakanohana's statement means that Mitakeumi is the next Yokozuna, but it's got a similar feel to it. Whatever the Sumo Association needs to do to help it survive will happen, and as long as they have a complicit media, the general fan base will believe in anything.

Which is why of course SumoTalk exists in the first place...to tell the story that you won't get from the media, so let's get right to the Day 6 action.

The day began with M17 Kaisei welcoming a dude up from Juryo named Bushozan, and what a classic bout this turned out to be. Kaisei kept his arms wide open at the tachi-ai giving Bushozan what he wanna, and the Juryo rikishi got his left arm up and under Kaisei's right pit, and that was Kaisei's cue to just turn 180 degrees and expose himself in the complete Brokeback position. As Kaisei waited to be bum rushed out from behind, Bushozan lost his footing and stumbled forward into the back of Kaisei's legs causing the Brasilian to fall backwards with his butt landing right on top of Bushozan's head.

I thought they were going to rule this shiri-otoshi in favor of Kaisei, but they came up with the lame kimari-te, tsukite. Tsukite (like koshi-kudake) is reserved for obviously thrown bouts where you can't come up with another explanation, and that was the case here except that Bushozan arranged to win this bout but had his head up his ass and tripped over his own two feet at the prospect of getting some cheap manlove with Kaisei. Can't wait for this dude to get to Makuuchi and after watching his...uh...sumo today, I can't for the life of me figure out why he's 0-6. As for Kaisei, he accidentally moves to 4-2.

M16 Tsurugisho went for a quick hari-zashi tachi-ai against M15 Wakamotoharu slapping with the right and getting the left arm inside so deep he had the rookie upright and on the run back towards the straw. When Wakamotoharu dug in near the bales, Tsurugisho used a right tsuki-otoshi to twist him around and then a left scoop throw to dump Wakamotoharu across the hay and down for good. Wakamotoharu has shown flashes in his defeats (he's 2-4 after buying his first two bouts), but Tsurugisho just dominated him today in moving the the same 2-4 mark.

M15 Tochinoshin reached for and got a left frontal belt grip at the tachi-ai against M18 Ohho, but instead of lifting Ohho upright with it, he backed left and two the side as if to set up a pull. That was a senseless move, and it signaled that Tochinoshin was compromising the bout. Now with Shin voluntarily putting his heels on the straw, Ohho secured the left inside position and right outer grip and executed a force-out attempt while Tochinoshin kept monkeying with a fake pull. This one was over in a few seconds, and Tochinoshin clearly let up for the rookie here. It's too bad. These kids aren't going to learn how to get better by buying their wins as Ohho moves to 4-2 while Tochinoshin willingly falls to 2-4.

M14 Ichiyamamoto came with a tsuppari attack against M14 Kotonowaka, but it was arms only. Kotonowaka was befuddled, and if IYM had really driven forward hard, he could have secured an easy victory, but he kept letting up in his shove attack and then finally went for a baby downward swipe that was really an excuse to back pedal. As he retreated, Kotonowaka finally scored on a shove attempt, and Ichiyamamoto just tripped over his own feet back and down across the straw. This was an unfortunate bout of yaocho here as Kotonowaka moves to 4-2 while Ichiyamamoto falls to 3-3.

Before we move on, there have been flashes from Kotonowaka, Ichiyamamoto, Ohho, and Wakamotoharu that I've really enjoyed this basho. I like this core of youngsters, but it really disappoints me that they are involved more in yaocho than they are in straight up contests.

M13 Yutakayama pounded M17 Kotoeko back from the tachi-ai with a beautiful tsuppari attack and even had Eko tripping over his own feet, but for no reason, Yutakayama switched places in the dohyo with his foe so that now Yutakayama's back was against the straw, and from there he just painted a big target on his chest and waited for Kotoeko to shove him out of the ring. And that he did to pick up the cheap win that moves Kotoeko to 4-2 while Yutakayama settles for 3-3 a bit richer.

M12 Chiyotairyu just destroyed M12 Ishiura off of the starting lines knocking him clear back to the edge, and before Ishiura could even think to recover, Chiyotairyu was onto him like white on rice shoving him back that last fateful step. Nice to see Chiyotairyu awarded the tsuki-dashi in this one. He earned it for sure in moving to just 2-4 while Ishiura falls to 3-3.

M16 Aoiyama's tsuppari attack was fueled by molasses against M11 Sadanoumi, who was knocked back a step from the tachi-ai, but Sadanoumi employed a nifty taguru move (pull at the back of the elbow) that threw Aoiyama off briefly. As Sadanoumi countered with this taguri, he moved left, but Aoiyama was right there to offer another forearm shove that Sadanoumi couldn't handle knocking him back and across for good. Average bout here as both rikishi end the day at 3-3.

M11 Terutsuyoshi ducked down low against M13 Chiyomaru as if to grab an ashi-tori, and that threw enough of a change up in Maru's direction that Terutsuyoshi came away in moro-zashi. Chiyomaru tried to break his foe away, but T-Yoshi threatened an uchi-muso before sending Chiyomaru over and down leading with the left grip at the front of the belt. Terutsuyoshi improves to 3-3 with the crafty sumo while Chiyomaru falls to 4-2.

M10 Akua M9 and Chiyonokuni bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai throwing tsuppari and then bouncing away, and around the third time of this, Akua just raised both arms up high and Kuni walked right into as massive of a slapdown as you'd care to see. Akua picks up his first win at 1-5 while Chiyonokuni is still on the bagel at 0-6.

M8 Tobizaru stayed low at the tachi-ai against M10 Myogiryu causing the latter to start sniffing for a pull, and Tobizaru sensed this and gained a bit of confidence in his attack. Clearly the aggressor now, he had Myogiryu on his heels and as the two grappled near the edge, Tobizaru darted left firing a perfect counter tsuki into Myogiryu's right side felling him to the dirt tsuki-otoshi style. Pretty good stuff from Tobizaru who moves to 3-3 while Myogiryu continues to cool at 4-2.

M6 Abi continues to win in suspect fashion. Today his tsuppari from the tachi-ai were useless against M9 Shimanoumi, and it was Shimanoumi who showed the fraudster how to really tsuppari driving Abi all the way across the dohyo and to the edge. But then as is usually the case in Abi bouts, Shimanoumi just stopped his charge and leaned forward waiting for Abi to dart left and fire the final tsuki-otoshi in Shimanoumi's coffin giving Abi another "comeback" win. So fake as Abi moves to 6-0 while Shimanoumi will take the money and run at 3-3.

M5 Chiyoshoma got the left arm in so deep at the tachi-ai against M5 Onosho, that the latter began a slight retreat in an attempt to maki-kae with the right, but Chiyoshoma was pressed in too tight and he just drove his legs and Onosho outta the dohyo in a flash. This was a crushing defeat as Onosho falls to 4-2 while Shoma evens things up at 3-3.

M6 Hoshoryu looked to push M4 Okinoumi back from the starting lines with a nice tsuki to the throat, but just when you thought Okinoumi was going to give up again, he forced the bout to hidari-yotsu where Okinoumi also had the right outer grip. After denying Hoshoryu his own outer, Umi went for an outer belt throw that took the action to the edge, and while Hoshoryu did survive it, Okinoumi kept his gal in snug and then fired one more uwate-nage that got the job done. Okinoumi can be a bitch when he wants to be at 1-5 now while Hoshoryu falls to 3-3.

Instead of striking and backing to his left as he is wont to do, M4 Hokutofuji charged straight forward bulldozing M7 Takarafuji back and out in less than three seconds. Takarafuji reached for a right outer as he was forced back, but it was nothing doing as Hokutofuji picks up the quick win in moving to 3-3. Takarafuji quiets down a bit at 4-2.

M1 Kiribayama had multiple chances to get the left arm inside against M2 Ura, but he kept bringing his hand up high and letting Ura establish position. The two grappled like this with Kiribayama applying no pressure, and so Ura was able to move to his right and taguri Kiribayama sideways, and the Mongolian said "Ah, hell" and just turned 180 degrees allowing Ura to lift him up briefly and then rush him outta the dohyo. As if. Kiribayama (1-5) was mukiryoku from the tachi-ai in handing Ura his second win at 2-4 now.

Komusubi Meisei charged hard at the tachi-ai against M1 Wakatakakage knocking him back a step or two, and just when you thought Meisei had the momentum, WTK moved left and fired an inashi that knocked Meisei off balance. The two squared back up but never did come chest to chest as both rikishi looked for pulls rather than pushes, and Wakatakakage was just too quick to react to a Meisei pull attempt, and he seized the moment to oshi-dashi Meisei out for good. Decent stuff here as Wakatakakage moves to 2-4 while Meisei falls to 3-3.

M3 Endoh lazily reached for a left outer grip against Suckiwake Mitakeumi, but Mitakeumi moved forward well, and with Endoh willing to go backwards with no resistance, Mitakeumi scored the linear yori-kiri in about two seconds. Mitakeumi couldn't decide if he wanted the right inside or the right outside, which shows that he didn't even need the limb because Endoh was just complying and moving back anyway. An uncontested bout for Mitakeumi who skates to 6-0 while Endoh accepts the pay off at 2-4.

Komusubi Daieisho attempted to tsuppari his way forward from the tachi-ai, but Suckiwake Takanosho moved slightly to his right throwing Daieisho off kilt, and Takanosho did nicely to pull Daieisho forward with a right arm to the back of the shoulder as he traded places in the ring. From there, Daieisho fired one effective tsuppari, but then he went for a dumb pull and Takanosho was able to pounce and score the nice win in moving to 3-3. Daieisho falls to 2-4 in defeat.

Shodai briefly moved left at the tachi-ai against M2 Ichinojo denying the Mongolith the early position to the inside, and while Shodai tried to lift his foe upright with the right arm, Ichinojo eventually got his right paw to the inside, and once he had that position, he wrenched Shodai upright and over to the edge before forcing him back easy as you please. Another sound defeat of Shodai here as the faux-zeki falls to a bland 3-3 (and he's lucky to be at that record) while Ichinojo shows how easy it can be done in moving to the same 3-3 mark.

In the day's final affair, M3 Tamawashi meant business from the tachi-ai striking Yokozuna upright with powerful tsuppari, and as Tamawashi moved forward driving with the legs and pushing the Yokozuna to the brink with hands to the neck, you could see why I call Tamawashi the best rikishi on the banzuke. Terunofuji gave up at this point, and I'm not sure if he knew he was had or if he was just going to take a strategic loss, but as Tamawashi looked to swipe him sideways with the right arm, Terunofuji touched his hand down and then put both palms down for good catching his body before his knees even hit. Tamawashi dominated the first two seconds here, and then Terunofuji just went down without a fight at the end taking a bit of the bloom off the kin-boshi rose, but Tamawashi will take it as he moves to 5-1. Terunofuji falls to the same mark but is still in full control of his own destiny.

Now that Terunofuji has a loss, you would think things have gotten more interesting, but it's very difficult to buy 12 or 13 wins a basho let alone 15, so let's just see what happens with Abi and Mitakeumi once we get into week 2. Neither of those two has exhibited good sumo yet, and they are vulnerable every single bout if it's a straight up affair while Terunofuji is favored in every remaining bout if it's a straight up affair.

My comments over the weekend will be brief so let's see if the NSK takes advantage of the larger weekend audience and makes things even more interesting.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I read a headline overnight from the Abema Times that said, "The best bout of the year: Terunofuji defeats Ura in an epic battle!", and one of the sub headlines read, "This is Ozumo!" Huh? What role did Ura play in the epic battle? What did he do to put pressure on the Yokozuna? The answer is nothing, which is why he couldn't finish Terunofuji off even though the Yokozuna was leaning back at the straw at one point. The problem is that too many people read headlines such as this and listen to the analysis and just take it at face value without ever bothering to really scrutinize what happened before their very eyes. It works because the Japanese people don't like to question authority, but what it really leads to is bad sumo. The Kotonowaka - Wakamotoharu bout from Day 4 ran rings around the Terunofuji - Ura contest in terms of Ozumo and a great match. The Terunofuji - Ura bout was just theatrics, a word that could be used to sum up Ura's entire Makuuchi career.

I thought it was very telling today that when Yokozuna Terunofuji was paired against M2 Ichinojo, the two hooked up in the exact tachi-ai that Fuji and Ura did yesterday, only in today's version, Terunofuji actually bothered to pull Ichinojo in close and then grab that right outer grip in the process. With the two in the hidari-yotsu position, the Yokozuna wasted no time in loading up an outside belt throw and dispatching Ichinojo in about three seconds.

It has to be said that Ichinojo was fully mukiryoku here. If you watch the way he uses his left arm to the inside, you can clearly see that he doesn't use that arm whatsoever. He leaves it in no man's land and just prepares to land properly from the throw he knows is coming. Was Ichinojo mukiryoku in order to give Terunofuji an advantage? No. He was mukiryoku for the same reason that Chiyotairyu or Okinoumi will go mukiryoku against better foreign rikishi. They know they can't win, and so they're just resigned to their fate and they don't bother trying.

I actually think Ichinojo could give Terunofuji a straight up battle, but Ichinojo is not about that these days. He's arguably the third best rikishi on the banzuke behind Tamawashi and Terunofuji, but he's just out to make money. Of his last six basho, he's only been ranked as high as Komusubi twice? Give me a break. This guy runs circles around dudes like Meisei, Takanosho, and Daieisho not to mention the two crap-zeki and Mitakeumi. Ichinojo's living around the M2 rank basho after basho tells you all you need to know about how compromised sumo is these days in order to favor the domestic rikishi.

If someone would bother to go back and analyze Terunofuji's last two bouts, you would see him destroy Ichinojo in mere seconds and then supposedly struggle with Ura for 12 seconds. It's just implausible, and all I can do is shake me head at the prospect that people really buy into this. With the win over Ichinojo, Terunofuji moves to an expected 5-0 while the Mongolith falls to 2-3.

As for M2 Ura, Komusubi Meisei pummeled him back from the tachi-ai with a tsuppari attack and drove the little guy back and across in less than two seconds. Ura didn't even have time to escape here, and this is what we're used to seeing in straight up bouts that involve Ura. The first three days against the faux-zeki and Mitakeumi, Ura actually had to let up for THEM. Then yesterday, Fuji tried to make things interesting and kept Ura in the bout by refusing to grab him and reel him in, but things finally got back to normal today as Meisei destroyed Ura (1-4) in moving to 3-2. To think that Terunofuji couldn't have done to Ura what Meisei did to him today is just plain silly.

With that, let's cover the rest of the bouts from the day starting from the bottom up. Kagayaki made an appearance from Juryo to take on M18 Ohho, and the two presented us with a very good bout of oshi-zumo for 10 seconds or so. Ohho's sheer size obviously presented a problem for Kagayaki and his tsuppari attack, but Ohho's own shoves were on the defensive side, so it was only a matter of time before Kagayaki's persistence and better shove attack forced Ohho to think about a quick pull, and at that instant Kagayaki drove him back and across for good.

I've actually enjoyed Ohho's sumo the last two days. Yes, he lost both bouts but you can at least see potential. I mean, compare Ohho's sumo to Takakeisho. There isn't even a comparison. With Ohho, you can actually see physical sumo being performed whereas with Takakeisho, it's a ton of useless movement with the hands and then an outcome based on the opponent's movement. Night and day here as both Ohho and Kagayaki end the day at 3-2.

M16 Aoiyama blasted fellow M16 Tsurugisho back from the tachi-ai and had him shoved back to the edge in two seconds. As for Tsurugisho, he was so overwhelmed he could only resort to meager pull attempts, and yet, you have a purely oshi guy in Aoiyama halt his effective oshi attack and force the bout to yotsu-zumo for no reason. Aoiyama's domination was so prolific, he easily secured moro-zashi and could have continued his forward momentum forcing Tsurugisho back and across, but he instead pulled the action back to the center of the ring, allowed Tsurugisho to maki-kae with the left arm, and then completely complied with a left counter throw from Tsurugisho that was Aoiyama's cue to just walk backwards across the straw. Wow, that was quite the yaocho there as Tsurugisho buys his first win of the basho at 1-4 while Aoiyama will take the sweet mullah at 2-3.

M17 Kotoeko backed up a half step at the tachi-ai seemingly afraid of M15 Tochinoshin, and the latter showed why getting the right arm inside and securing the left outer grip straightway. As Tochinoshin looked to shore up his grips in preparation for a tsuri-dashi, Kotoeko desperately tried to cut off Shin's left outer, and in the process the movement of the bout appeared to favor Kotoeko, but Tochinoshin knew he had sufficient real estate to set up the move, and in the end he hoisted Kotoeko over and across tsuri-dashi style. Tochinoshin moves to 2-3, and you look at his strength on display here and it's easy to see when he's letting up. It's also easy to see that guys like Shodai or Mitakeumi cannot even scratch the surface in performing o-zumo like this. Does anyone besides me think about such things? Tochinoshin ekes forward to 2-3 while Kotoeko falls to 3-2.

M17 Kaisei and M14 Kotonowaka hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where it was Baby Waka grabbing the early left outer grip. He got the outer before he was really established to the inside with the right, and so that gave plenty of time for Kaisei to burrow in with his own right inside belt grip. Kotonowaka tested the force out waters first as he should have done with that left outer, but in the process, he brought his hips too close to his opponent, and Kaisei grabbed his own left outer grip to halt the charge. After this first volley, Kotonowaka expended quite a bit of energy, so Kaisei had time to retool his grip on all folds of the belt, and Kotonowaka's next force-attempt didn't get as far. After that failed, Kaisei took a few more seconds to gather his wits before cutting off the youngster's outer grip and scoring the textbook yori-kiri win.

What's up with Kotonowaka and these very good bouts of sumo the last few days?? His contest today against Kaisei and his battle with Wakamotoharu yesterday have been two of the better bouts the entire tournament. I'd much rather see Kotonowaka earn his keep with sumo like this even if he has to lose. If you remember Terunofuji's debut in the division, he struggled like this early on, but he eventually found his groove and then shot up to the Ozeki ranks. Kotonowaka has the body to do the same, but we'll see if he can shake off the penchant for too much yaocho. Both of these rikishi end the day at 3-2.

M14 Ichiyamamoto and M13 Yutakayama engaged in a tsuppari affair from the tachi-ai, and the more experienced Yutakayama was having his way, and so IYM went for a quick pull that left him very vulnerable. Yutakayama refused to pounce, however, so he was signaling his intentions to throw the bout at that point. After letting Ichiyamamoto try and shove his way back into the bout, there was little pop behind his thrusts, and so Yutakayama instinctively moved laterally going for a tsuki to IYM's right side with the left, but it was intentionally weak because he had Ichiyamamoto stumbling all over the place at this point. After letting Ichiyamamoto survive a second time, the two squared back up but Ichiyamamoto was too tired to really fire off any more shoves, and so Yutakayama went for a weak pull just backing himself against the straw and giving Ichiyamamoto the momentum shift necessary to finally push Yutakayama back and across, and even then, Yutakayama coulda countered with a right tsuki-otoshi had he really tried, but he just stepped out early making sure he lost. Clear yaocho here as Ichiyamamoto buys his way to 3-2, the same mark as Yutakayama at the end of the day.

M13 Chiyomaru and M15 Wakamotoharu struck at the tachi-ai before Maru committed completely to pull sumo. He had the rookie on the run just enough to where Wakamotoharu couldn't deal that lethal blow against his retreating opponent, but he hadn't set up the pulls very well, and so around the ring they went a time or two before finally settling in the hidari-yotsu position. From there, Wakamotoharu attempted a force-out, but Maru kept him at bay with a counter scoop throw with the left, so across to the other side of the dohyo they went with Ichiyamamoto attempting a dashi-nage, but Chiyomaru used his experience to dig in, and I think Maru sensed he wasn't going to win at the belt so he created separation and retreated to the other side of the dohyo where he barely caught IYM with a left tsuki-otoshi that sent Ichiyamamoto out of the ring for good. It was real, so I'll give Chiyomaru that at 4-1 but you could see that the veteran clearly did not want to fight Ichiyamamoto (2-3) in a straight up affair.

M11 Terutsuyoshi henka'd right at the tachi-ai in an effort to grab M11 Sadanoumi's left leg, and he did grope the stump for sure, but he purposefully failed to grab it although it was wide open. With both rikishi moving right thanks to the initial henka, Terutsuyoshi whiffed on the ashi-tori attempt and then just began slumping over waiting for the slapdown to come from Sadanoumi. The Sadamight really didn't make any contact, but Terutsuyoshi went down anyway in this fixed affair. Sadanoumi moves to 3-2 with the cheap win while Terutsuyoshi was just dinking around here at 2-3.

M12 Chiyotairyu knocked M10 Akua away from a frontal belt grip attempt at Tairyu's belt, and with Akua having been tsuppari'ed too upright for his own good, Chiyotairyu immediately switched gears on a dime and pulled Akua forward and down before he knew what hit him. Classic Chiyotairyu here as he picks up his first win at 1-4 while Akua falls to 0-5.

After a series of false starts from both M10 Myogiryu and M12 Ishiura, Ishiura decided to henka to his left when they finally went for reals. Ishiura's wild swipe with the left arm as part of the henka was useless, but Myogiryu was out of sorts enough to where Ishiura dug in with the crazy deep left inside position. Myogiryu knew he was in a jam at this point, and so he attempted a counter kote-nage with the right while retreating, but Ishiura was just too crafty and too fast for him, and so Ishiura was able to score on a do-or-die push out attempt and knock Myogiryu beyond the straw before he crashed down to the dohyo himself. Ugly stuff here as Myogiryu gets saddled with his first loss at 4-1 while Ishiura moves to 3-2.

M9 Chiyonokuni and M9 Shimanoumi emerged from the tachi-ai not quite trading tsuppari and not quite going for the belt. After bouncing off of each other, Chiyonokuni signaled his intention to go for the pull, and so he retreated near the edge while Shimanoumi gave chase. Shimanoumi came close with a right tsuki into Chiyonokuni's left side, and that caused Kuni to flee to his right, but Shimanoumi caught up with him and easily forced him across in the end. This wasn't sound sumo, but Shimanoumi will take it in moving to 3-2 while Chiyonokuni is winless at 0-5.

M8 Tobizaru put two hands into M6 Hoshoryu's chest at the tachi-ai, but it was a defensive posture as if to say don't hurt me. Those hands did keep Hoshoryu away from the belt, but Tobizaru blew his momentum by whiffing on a crazy ke-kaeshi trip attempt. That allowed Hoshoryu to apply some pressure, but Tobizaru kept backing away with arms extended, and it actually worked for a spell. Ultimately the fighters came in close with Tobizaru maintaining the right inside position, but there was nothing he could do with it. At this point, Hoshoryu tried a suso-harai trip with the right that failed, and now socially distanced, Tobizaru connected on a solid right hari-te to the face. Hooboy. Hoshoryu kept his cool, however, and dispatched Tobizaru shortly after with a slapdown, but it felt like Tobizaru got the best of Hoshoryu today even in defeat as Hoshoryu moves to 3-2 while the Flying Monkey is one back at 2-3.

With Myogiryu one of the undefeateds going down today, M5 Onosho stepped into the ring looking to keep his hat in the yusho race, but M7 Takarafuji wouldn't be bought. Onosho's magical linear tsuppari attack suddenly vanished as he couldn't budge Takarafuji from the tachi-ai, and when Fuji attempted a left belt grip, Onosho retreated going for a haphazard pull and then a tsuki-otoshi to his left as Takarafuji advanced. As the two squared back up, Onosho had an arm to the inside, but you could see that he didn't want to take the bout to the belt, and from Takarafuji's perspective, he was looking pull all the way. Takarafuji allowed Onosho to advance and move Fuji clear across the ring, but at the edge Takarafuji darted right and felled Onosho with an easy tsuki-otoshi to his right leaving both dudes at 4-1. Onosho is obviously a completely different rikishi who lacks confidence when his bouts aren't compromised.

With Myogiryu and Onosho having fallen from the ranks of the unbeaten, it was up to M6 Abi to keep the pressure on Terunofuji (as if). Abi came with his usual unorthodox tsuppari attack while Hokutofuji thrust with the right while moving back and left and that backwards movement allowed Abi to advance, but he wasn't sticking jabs into Hokutofuji's torso that were forcing the dude back. Near the edge, Hokutofuji purposefully whiffed on a pull and then just backed himself right out of the ring before Abi could even catch up. It provided a very awkward ending to this fixed bout that saw Abi advance to 5-0 thanks to someone bank rolling his return. As for Hokutofuji, he'll take the cash at 2-3.

M5 Chiyoshoma moved right against M3 Endoh grabbing the cheap outer grip, and before Endoh could really defend himself after the henka, Chiyoshoma got the right left arm inside taking full advantage, and with Endoh had at this point, Chiyoshoma spun him around and down with that ill-gotten right outer grip obtained through the henka. I mean, Chiyoshoma can beat Endoh 100% of the time without the henka, and that's what I would have preferred here as both dudes end the day at 2-3.

Komusubi Daieisho struck against M4 Okinoumi with his two hands to the torso, but he backed up looking for a pull instead of mounting a tsuppari attack moving forward. Okinoumi went along for the ride but never tried to get to the belt. In fact, has Okinoumi tried to get inside or a belt grip this entire tournament?? He didn't today as Daieisho moved left going for a quick pull before finally going forward as he pushed Okinoumi back with a paw to the neck. Okinoumi was lethargic throughout this one, and as he attempted a half-assed tsuki-otoshi/pull to his right at the edge, Daieisho easily knocked him across the straw. Okinoumi falls to 0-5, and he has been mukiryoku the entire basho. As for Daieisho, he improves to 2-3.

M1 Wakatakakage put two hands forward at the tachi-ai as if to fish for the inside against Suckiwake Takanosho, but the M1 was content to go backwards instead of forward. Luckily for him, Takanosho doesn't have a great attack, and so as the Suckiwake pressed forward, Wakatakakage caught him with a left tsuki to the back of the right shoulder and forced the Takanosho over and down a few seconds in. Wakatakakage picks up his first win rather easily at 1-4 while Takanosho falls to 2-3.

M1 Kiribayama knocked Suckiwake Mitakeumi off of the starting lines easily with a tsuppari attack, and then for no reason, the Mongolian just ran over to the edge as if he was gonna pull, but the move never came. Still, Mitakeumi couldn't take advantage of the gift, and so Kiribayama darted to the edge across the dohyo and there waited for Mitakeumi to push him out that last step. Once again, Mitakeumi finds an opponent with his back to the edge and just standing there even though the Suckiwake didn't deliver a single blow to warrant the situation. Is it too much to ask for a bout like Kotonowaka has been involved in the last two days? Um, actually it is, and so we continue to get this fluff sumo where the loser does all the work and Mitakeumi gets all the glory. Pathetic as the Suckiwake moves to 5-0 while Kiribayama knows his place at 1-4.

The final bout to cover on the day saw M3 Tamawashi use an effective tsuppari attack to stand Shodai upright and then bully him around the ring for five or six seconds before finally dispatching Shodai without argument. This same result would happen to Mitakeumi every day if his opponent's intention was to beat him. Tamawashi obviously wasn't paid off today, and that stack of kensho is just the icing on the cake as The Mawashi moves to 4-1 while Shodai falls to 3-2.

It's still way too early to seriously talk about the yusho race, but yet again, both Ozeki have been eliminated. I'm sure it will come down to Terunofuji and Mitakeumi, and who knows...Terunofuji could choose to drop a few and give Mitakeumi the cup, but the contrast in sumo and outright ability is night and day between these two.

We'll see what tomorrow brings, and I'm sorry that all of the drama comes down to will they or won't they and not the actual sumo in the ring.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The big news heading into Day 4 was the announcement that Takakeisho submitted his kyujo papers citing an injury to his pride following that humiliating performance against Ura on Day 3. Oh wait, they said he injured his right ankle, which of course is not the case, but it's the right of a Yokozuna or an Ozeki to fake injuries in order to withdraw and that's what happened here. There was some speculation in the media that Takakeisho could possibly return later on in the basho to try and salvage eight wins, but I read another report where Tokiwayama-oyakata said he would sit the rest of the basho out (zenkyu). Regardless of that, this withdrawal is simply cover for Takakeisho's pathetic performance against Ura yesterday, and the faux-zeki will not be missed.

I was very curious coming into Day 4 as to how the Yokozuna Terunofuji - M2 Ura would play out, so let's start there today. The two clashed at the tachi-ai in what looked to be a very straight up migi-yotsu contest where Fuji got the right arm inside while he used the left arm up to sorta wrap around Ura's right limb, but you could tell that Fuji was not pulling his gal in snug. That allowed Ura to move right and go for a light pull that barely fazed the Yokozuna, but he chose not to take advantage of the momentum shift and pounce. He also used the movement to bring his right arm to the outside, and he was still clearly not trying to reel Ura in close. Ura didn't not want to go chest to chest for obvious reasons, so he refrained from the free moro-zashi position offered by Terunofuji and kept his hips way back only to go for another pull that sent him to the edge.

Once again, Fuji could have used this negative momentum shift to knock Ura into the second row, but he refrained. With Fuji not pressing, the Yokozuna went for a faux left kote-nage, which gave him an excuse to move to the other side of the ring with his back dangerously against the straw, and at this point everyone got a huge stiffie thinking Ura had the Yokozuna on the ropes. The problem is...Fuji didn't end up in that position due to any offensive maneuver or any counter sumo on the part of Ura, so of course Ura didn't have the ability to finish off the job even though Fuji was supposedly teetering on the edge. That was all for show and completely set up by the Yokozuna, and as Terunofuji staved off the "attack" that really wasn't there forcing the action back to the center of the ring, Ura was completely gassed, and as he tried one more pull attempt, Fuji caught him with a quick shove that sent Ura down landing on his arse while straddling the tawara.

The bout was an example of the Isegahama camp easing the pain a bit surrounding Takakeisho's lousy performance this basho and ultimate withdrawal after being humiliated by Ura the day before. The Mongolians have covered for the inept Japanese "elite" rikishi for years now, so the theatrics of this bout should have been no surprise. Isegahama-oyakata is a very prominent leader within the Sumo Association, and he understands the importance of helping Takakeisho save face a bit, and so having Terunofuji "struggle" takes the sting off of the Takakeisho situation for now. The dude is still useless in the ring, so the can gets kicked down the road to another basho, but I guess we'll just deal with it then. Terunofuji moves to 4-0 with the win while Ura falls to 1-3.

Let's hop back down to the bottom of the ranks and then work our way back up. M16 Aoiyama and M18 Ohho clashed at the tachi-ai with nice tsuppari attacks, and with neither dude really driving forward hard, Aoiyama gave up some ground as he baited the rookie into a trap. As the two neared the edge with Aoiyama's back to the wall, the Happy Bulgar suddenly went for a pull as he moved right, and before Ohho could fully recover, Aoiyama worked his way into moro-zashi and scored the easy force-out from there. This was obviously the first real bout that Ohho has been involved in this basho, and he didn't look half bad. We'll just have to see a few more of these contests before we can properly gauge the fruit of Taiho's loins. For now, he falls to 3-1 while Aoiyama moves to 2-2.

M16 Tsurugisho got the left arm inside at the tachi-ai and had M17 Kotoeko standing so upright the right outer grip was there for the taking, but instead of persisting, Tsurugisho just let up and pulled that left arm to the outside giving Kotoeko moro-zashi. As Kotoeko looked to turn the tables, Tsurugisho faked some resistance in the form of weak left kote-nage attempts as Eko forced him back and out. Kotoeko moves to 3-1 with the gifted win while Tsurugisho falls to 0-4.

M17 Kaisei and M15 Tochinoshin hooked up in gappuri migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and after gathering their wits a bit, Kaisei tested the early force-out waters leading with his left outer grip. He only had one fold of the belt, however, and so he retooled that grip and then forced Tochinoshin upright, across the dohyo, and out for the nice yori-kiri win on the second try. As for Tochinoshin, he attempted briefly to break off Kaisei's outer grip, but it was nothing doing as Kaisei picks up a very nice win in moving to 2-2 while Tochinoshin falls to 1-3.

I think something was wrong with my feed at this point of the broadcast because M14 Kotonowaka and M15 Wakamotoharu also hooked up in gappuri yotsu from the tachi-ai in another real bout. In this case both parties had the inside left positions and right outer grips, and Kotonowaka used his big gut perfectly to hoist Wakamotoharu up onto his tip toes before forcing him over to the edge. But the rookie would not go easily. Just when you thought Kotonowaka had silled the dill, Wakamotoharu managed to barely move right and go for a last gasp utchari throw leading with the right outer that almost worked. This was a great finish and more textbook sumo from both parties as they crashed down off of the dohyo altogether, but Kotonowaka was correctly ruled the victor.

It's interesting that these guys are fully capable of fighting this way. It comes from the keiko ring, and I think the reason I have the eye for sumo that I do is that I watched thousands and thousands of keiko bouts, so when I don't see that same sumo translate over into a hon-basho match, it stands out like a sore thumb. I'll take this kind of sumo any day as Kotonowaka picks up a very good win in moving to 3-1 while Wakamotoharu has still not won a legit bout at 2-2.

M13 Chiyomaru caught M14 Ichiyamamoto with two hands to the throat before quickly going for a pull and moving to his right, but the move didn't fell Ichiyamamoto straightway, and so the latter grabbed a left outer grip while Chiyomaru looked to counter with the right inside position near the edge. Chiyomaru's scoop throw was enough to throw IYM off of his game, and so the action spilled to the other side of the dohyo where it looked as if Ichiyamamoto had Maru by the short hairs again, but Maru managed to move left this time and score on the second of two pull attempts. I thought Ichiyamamoto went down rather lightly here has he caught himself with two palms to the dirt, but who knows what was going on behind the scenes? The end result is Chiyomaru's moving to 3-1 while Ichiyamamoto falls to 2-2.

M12 Ishiura moved a bit left at the tachi-ai against M13 Yutakayama and then just stood there as Yutakayama slapped him down by the back of the shoulder less than two seconds in. Ishiura exaggerated his fall a bit, and who knows what was going on here as well, but it wasn't a fully contested bout. Yutakayama wins a laugher in moving to 3-1 while Ishiura settles for 2-2.

M11 Terutsuyoshi was knocked back to the edge by M12 Chiyotairyu a second into their bout, but then Chiyotairyu suddenly whiffed up high on his tsuppari attempts allowing T-Yoshi to force the action back to the center of the ring. From this point the two touched the tops of their heads in the grapplin' position before Terutsuyoshi sorta went for a left tsuki to Chiyotairyu's right side, and Chiyomaru toppled over like a house of cards. There was no way Terutsuyoshi's position would have warranted that fall from Tairyu. There's also no logical explanation of why Chiyotairyu would have suddenly stopped his initial tsuppari charge only to whiff up high and wide. Terutsuyoshi buys one here in moving to 2-2 while Chiyotairyu sells another one (and why not?) at 0-4.

M10 Akua bested M10 Myogiryu at the tachi-ai getting two hands to the neck and yanking Myogiryu forward hard. As Myogiryu looked to square up, Akua had his foe completely upright with the right arm in perfect position to eliminate Myogiryu from the dohyo with a final shove, but he let Myogiryu completely off the hook and then just backed up to the center of the ring practicing proper social distancing in the process. As Myogiryu came forward, Akua gifted him the left inside position and then positioned his own right arm for a kote-nage that he never fired on. Instead, Akua just dipped his left shoulder and made sure he hit the dirt first. They called a mono-ii here because it was so close, but Akua dictated this one start to finish...in defeat of course. The gift sends Myogiryu to 4-0 while Akua settles for 0-4 a richer rikishi.

M11 Sadanoumi looked to go to migi-yotsu with M9 Shimanoumi from the tachi-ai, but Umi wasn't demanding that right arm inside so that was the first red flag. Once Sadanoumi got the right inside for reals he was easily able to drive Shimanoumi back near the edge where the Sadamight grabbed a right frontal grip, but instead of moving forward and finishing Shimanoumi off, Sadanoumi backed his way to the center of the ring and waited for Shimanoumi's next move. Said move was a light dashi-nage with the left, and Sadanoumi just bowled himself over and down in as fake'a fall as you'd care to see. Lightweight stuff as Shimanoumi buys one here leaving both dudes at 2-2.

M7 Takarafuji looked for the left inside position at the tachi-ai, but M8 Tobizaru ultimately skirted to his right creating a bit of social distancing. As Takarafuji moved forward, Tobizaru next darted left going for a quick pull that nearly worked, but Takarafuji kept his balance. From there it was a cat and mouse affair as Tobizaru stayed on the move trying to push or pull Takarafuji down or out, but he never connected on anything decisive, and so in the end, Takarafuji was able to grab a left outer grip and use it to wrench Tobizaru over to the edge where he finally shoved him across for the busy yori-kiri win. A good effort from both rikishi as Takarafuji moves to 3-1 while Tobizaru falls to 2-2.

M6 Abi's tsuppari were once again all over the place like an unmanned fire hose on full blast as he attacked M9 Chiyonokuni, and Kuni was looking pull from the start. I suppose Abi had his hands placed well as he fired a few tsuppari into Kuni's neck and jaw area, but his lower half was quite unstable. As for Chiyonokuni, as he tried to stand in there, he backed up and to his left as if to go for a quick swipe but he just stepped out of the ring giving Abi the quick and dirty win. As Abi was going in for what he thought would be the final tsuppari, he noticed Chiyonokuni's foot on the other side of the straw, and so he just stopped creating a very awkward finish. My opinion is that Abi is buying this 4-0 start while Chiyonokuni falls to 0-4.

Speaking of buying a 4-0 start, M5 Onosho was lively against M6 Hoshoryu who was content not to grab anything to the inside and just stand there playing defense. After ineffective tsuppari from the tachi-ai, Onosho went for a weak swipe to the side of Hoshoryu's right shoulder that barely fazed the Mongolian, and then Onosho was right back at it looking for more shoves. Hoshoryu was just toying with his foe here, and then the key to the bout was Hoshoryu's wrapping his right arm around the back of Onosho's head while bringing his left arm up high and wide, and that finally gave Onosho the inside position and allowed him to quickly force a defenseless Hoshoryu back and across. If you had to describe Onosho's sumo, you'd say he's an oshi guy, and yet, he couldn't solve Hoshoryu whatsoever with his shove attack. It was only until Hoshoryu just gave him the entire inside that he was able to score the win, and it looked legit to the sheeple, so I guess that's what counts. As stated previously, Onosho buys his way to 4-0 while Hoshoryu settles for 2-2.

M5 Chiyoshoma henka'd wildly to his right against M4 Hokutofuji, but he wasn't trying to pull him down or grab the outer grip for that matter instead firing a few light face slaps. As the two hooked back up, Hokutofuji grabbed a right outer grip and tried a quick dashi-nage, but Chiyoshoma shored things up with the left inside while Hokutofuji didn't have anything with his own left. From here, Chiyoshoma refused to grab a right outer that was wide open and instead just moved his body lower and lower until Hokutofuji slapped him down by the back of the shoulder while tugging at the belt. Clearly an intentional fall here from Chiyoshoma who's now 1-3 while Hokutofuji picks up the gifted win at 2-2.

M3 Tamawashi caught M4 Okinoumi with two hands up high, but he wasn't really firing the tsuppari. With Okinoumi completely lethargic, Tamawashi went for a quick pull before getting his right arm so inside that he had Okinoumi completely upright with his back to the edge. With Okinoumi still doing nothing, Tamawashi grabbed a left outer grip and easily forced the listless Okinoumi back and across for the uncontested win. Tamawashi moves to 3-1 after the laugher while Okinoumi didn't even try in falling to 0-4. It reminded me a lot of Chiyotairyu when he faces the furreners. Why even bother? Save yourself to peddle more bouts another day.

M2 Ichinojo offered a lazy hari-te with the left against Komusubi Daieisho at the tachi-ai while standing straight up with feet aligned. This allowed Daieisho to drive him back to the straw with his tsuppari attack, but Daieisho's shoves didn't have much pop, and so Ichinojo easily moved right throwing a wrench into Daieisho's attack. As the two squared back up and resumed a shove affair, Daieisho moved laterally fishing for a pull that never came to fruition, and just like that he positioned himself too close to the edge, and so Ichinojo finished him off with a final shove for the victory. What a lazy tachi-ai from Ichinojo and lazy sumo throughout, but he still easily defeated the Komusubi in moving to 2-2. As for Daieisho, he's plum out of luck this basho at 1-3.

Komusubi Meisei struck Suckiwake Mitakeumi with nice tsuppari at the tachi-ai but then just backed up for no reason. Mitakeumi moved forward out of obligation, but he was doing nothing, and so Meisei moved right grabbing the right inside belt grip, and then he just flung Mitakeumi right out of the ring with it. Problem was that Meisei was sloppy with his footwork--intentionally. Instead of planting his throwing foot (the left), he just went with the flow and let that foot drift over the edge of the dohyo and down to the venue floor as Mitakeumi was thrown out of the ring. You look at the pic at right and whose in control and who has zero control?  The ref ruled in favor of Mitakeumi supposedly because Meisei's left foot disappeared below the plane of the dohyo before Mitakeumi landed, but they called a mono-ii and ordered a do-over.

Before we get to the do-over, it is worth noting that Mitakeumi did nothing the entire way this bout. It was all Meisei including the sloppy footwork at the edge.

In round two, Meisei made sure it wasn't close, and after an identical tachi-ai where Meisei struck with his tsuppari, he backed up a bit to his right straight out of the ring while Mitakeumi gave chase. This was very similar to a Takakeisho linear "win" where he never really makes contact, but his opponent moves back so fast it looks like forward-moving sumo. Before Mitakeumi could even follow through on the first shove that connected, Meisei was already out of the ring and turning to look for a soft landing. Pure yaocho in both bouts as Meisei dictated everything sending Mitakeumi to an ill-gotten 4-0 while Meisei settles for 2-2.

M3 Endoh reached for a frontal belt grip against Suckiwake Takanosho, and while he did come up a bit short, Takanosho was charging too high for his own good. As a result, Endoh rushed in tight getting the right arm so deep his hand was at the back of Takanosho's belt beyond the knot. Takanosho moved laterally in an attempt to escape and then used a right leg in kake-nage fashion to counter Endoh when he'd move in for the kill, but once he had shown Endoh all of his cards, Endoh adjusted and next anticipated the kake-nage move stifling it with his own left leg before throwing Takanosho over and down with an inner belt throw. Endoh led this one start to finish as both rikishi end the day at 2-2.

M1 Kiribayama and Takakeisho were scheduled next, but Takakeisho's withdrawal gives Kiribayama his first win of the basho by default. Both rikishi end the day at 1-3, and Takakeisho will of course finish 1-14 assuming he doesn't attempt a comeback.

Since we already touched on Terunofuji - Ura, the final bout for today was M1 Wakatakakage vs. Shodai. Wakatakakage took a page out of Meisei's book leading with tsuppari at the tachi-ai but backing up in an attempt to give Shodai the advantage. When Shodai couldn't take it, however, WTK next moved laterally making Shodai give chase, and Shodai couldn't get a single lick in edgewise, and it was all Wakatakakage shoving Shodai around and then out in dominating fashion. Except that WTK purposefully set his right foot across the straw before he had Shodai pushed out, and of course they were going to call this one and reverse the decision. Whatever. We're so used to Shodai getting his ass kicked and still miraculously coming away with the win, and that's what happened here. WTK putting his toe over the line as seen at right was calculated.  Shodai is so inept in moving to 3-1 while the Wakatakakage camp knows its place at 0-4,

It's just amazing to me what they have to do to try and keep things interesting. We're not quite five days in and already it should be a race among the Yokozuna, Shodai, and Mitakeumi on paper. In examining the sumo, the two latter guys have been nothing but hapless, but that's just the way sumo goes when you have to please the fan base.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I was pleasantly surprised when I flipped on the NHK News 9 sports segment and saw that Ura actually showed up for his scheduled bout against Takakeisho. After they whisked him away in the wheel chair yesterday, I thought he was done for sure this basho, but there he was looking like he always does. I suppose we may as well start with that bout today because Ura's bouts are always so telling. Up until this basho, an Ura bout was going to go in one of two directions. 1) His opponent would just come out and kick his ass leaving Ura in a heap at the edge of the dohyo, or 2) His opponent would completely let up for him and you'd have this puff bout of sumo where Ura would pull supposed magic out of his hat and defeat a much larger rikishi.

The two extremes between Ura's "wins" and losses have been like no other rikishi, and it's easy to tell each day whether his bout is legitimate or fake. I maybe call one legit win for him each basho, and it does happen on occasion, but the bottom line is that Ura is not a legitimate Makuuchi rikishi.

And so we fast forward to this basho where his schedule the first three days has been: Mitakeumi, Shodai, and Takakeisho. Ura actually let up in obvious fashion for his first two opponents, and to me that speaks volumes to the haplessness of Mitakeumi and Shodai. I'm a bit meaner than the NHK Announcers, but even they cannot find anything positive to say about those two because proper sumo technique is never on display.

Well, we can now add Takakeisho into that mix as well because he was soundly dominated by M2 Ura today...twice. In the first bout, Takakeisho's tsuppari attack was harmless, and he could not budge Ura back a centimeter...which shows you just how fake a four-second win in linear fashion against Ichinojo would be. Ura isn't Mr. Offense himself, and so he shaded right looking for an opening to the inside and Takakeisho continued to flail away with a combination of useless slaps and swipes. Ura finally latched onto the front of Takakeisho's belt with the right, and he followed that up with the left inside giving him moro-zashi, and there was nothing Takakeisho could do as Ura moved him over to the edge as if to score the easy yori-kiri win, but Ura stopped two steps short of the straw and just dove to the dirt as if he didn't dare win the bout. Because Takakeisho had no position whatsoever, the move knocked Takakeisho across and down around the same time Ura touched down, and the gyoji correctly ruled in my opinion Takakeisho's way. I thought the replays showed that Ura did touch down first, but they ruled it a tie and ordered the do-over.

In round two, Ura knew he had it, and so he struck quickly at the tachi-ai, darted right firing a tsuki into Takakeisho's shoulder that sent him off balance to his own right, and before Takakeisho could fully square back up, Ura rushed forward and knocked him over onto his arse oshi-taoshi style. Unbelievable. A dude who they consider an Ozeki was just dominated twice by Ura...the same guy who was whisked out of the arena the day before in a wheel chair. As much as the crowd loves Ura, they really weren't sure what to think after this one. Surely they know that when Ura loses, he really gets his ass kicked, but here they just witnessed a guy whom they consider as an Ozeki get his ass-kicked twice by someone who frankly doesn't belong in the division.

When I watched round 1, I thought that Ura was deferring to the Ozeki by falling prematurely at the end. In round 2, Ura smelled blood and he capitalized on the situation. It's been awhile since a basho has felt like a funeral on Day 3, but that was the feeling after this one. There was no buzz in the arena as it was confirmed to everyone that yes, Takakeisho is a fraud. He falls now to 1-2 while Ura picks up his first win of the basho, and hey, I get to call a legit win for the little guy!!

What a devastating set of circumstances for sumo in general, but they created this mess and so they need to deal with it. Unfortunately, the fans are forced to deal with it on a daily basis, and there's no way that the crowd doesn't now what's going on subconsciously, but belief bias is sumo's best friend.

Moving back to the bottom of the ranks, M17 Kaisei and M17 Kotoeko hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Kaisei grabbed the easy left outer grip against a defenseless Kotoeko. Instead of a straight up yotsu charge or an outer belt throw--something Kaisei was completely capable of, you could see Kaisei hold up as Kotoeko attempted to wriggle out of the hold like a hooked fish. Kaisei slowly worked Kotoeko over to the edge, but it was evident he didn't want to beat him. Instead of pulling his gal in snug, Kaisei kept his right inside position loose, and that finally allowed Kotoeko to move to his left and perform a desperate counter tsuki-otoshi, and that was Kaisei's cue to just hit the dirt and roll over onto the venue floor. What a laughable start to the day this was as Kotoeko moves to 2-1 with Kaisei falling to 1-2.

M16 Tsurugisho offered a half-assed hari-te attempt with the left against rookie, M18 Ohho, but the latter was still unable to do anything from the tachi-ai, and so the bout went to hidari-yotsu with Tsurugisho moving Ohho back methodically. Just like the previous bout, you could see that Tsurugisho wasn't going for the kill, and so he let up allowing Ohho to move him back to the center of the ring where the rookie then grabbed a right outer grip. Ohho attempted a quick force-out charge that was so weak, Tsurugisho was easily able to move left, and a dude would normally fire a counter tsuki at that point, but Tsurugisho refrained and just continued moving weakly left allowing Ohho to move forward and eventually shove the compromised Tsurugisho back and across. What a lame finish from the rookie that was, and Tsurugisho walked back of his own volition more than Ohho forced him across. The rookie's 3-0 start has been financed for sure, and this dude's a weakling despite his record. As for Tsurugisho, he quietly falls to 0-3.

M15 Tochinoshin's tachi-ai was light and he pulled both arms to the outside gifting M15 Wakamotoharu moro-zashi, and instead of moving laterally to try and counter or put up a fight, Tochinoshin just started shading backwards allowing Wakamotoharu to force him out in linear fashion in about three seconds. As if. Obvious yaocho here favoring the rookie as Wakamotoharu now buys his way to 2-1 while Tochinoshin falls to 1-2.

M16 Aoiyama ignored any tsuppari attack against M14 Ichiyamamoto as the two hooked up in migi-yotsu, and Aoiyama came high enough that IYM easily grabbed a left outer grip. Aoiyama had the chance to counter with a scoop throw with his deep right position not to mention size, but he ignored that and just hunkered down waiting for Ichiyamamoto's attack. Ichiyamamoto couldn't do much but fortunately for him, Aoiyama was just standing there refusing to counter with his inside position, and so IYM went for a quick dashi-nage that actually gave Aoiyama the path to moro-zashi, but instead of seizing on it, the Happy Bulgar just backed up to the edge letting Ichiyamamoto score the easy force out win...that ironically contained no force. Watching these foreigners let up for the youngsters is getting tired fast, but oh well...I get why it needs to happen. Ichiyamamoto moves to 2-1 with the gift while Aoiyama falls to 1-2.

M14 Kotonowaka and M13 Yutakayama looked to hook up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but Yutakayama shoved his way out of it while backing up a step, and as Baby Waka advanced, the two next hooked up in hidari-yotsu and hunkered down in the center of the ring. Neither dude had a right outer, and you could tell that the bout was legit as finally we had two guys going chest to chest and bearing into each other. The two dug in for 20 seconds or so before Yutakayama grabbed a right outer grip, and he immediately tested the force-out waters, but Kotonowaka rebuffed him with his sheer bulk although he was no closer to a right outer of his own. After digging in again, this time Yutakayama used his right leg nicely against Kotonowaka's left to pin him in place before leading with the outer grip and scoring the ultimate yori-kiri win. Isn't the contrast amazing between a real bout like this and the crap we usually see? Examine the first four bouts of the day, and none of them looked close to this contest. This is how sumo should be done, and when it doesn't happen, it's so obvious. Great bout here as both rikishi end the day at 2-1 and I hope the NSK doesn't fine these two for engaging in a straight up bout.

M12 Ishiura and M13 Chiyomaru gave us another real bout although this one wasn't even a contest. Chiyomaru destroyed the smaller Ishiura with two powerful shoves to the neck from the tachi-ai that sent the M12 back near the edge, and Maru had the de-ashi working, and there was simply nowhere for Ishiura to escape as Chiyomaru finished him off with two more shoves to the torso. This was wham bam but didn't even get to thank you ma'am it was over that quick. Both rikishi end the day at 2-1.

M12 Chiyotairyu struck M11 Sadanoumi well from the tachi-ai with two palms to the chest, but he wasn't driving with his legs. Sadanoumi can't budge Chiyotairyu in a straight up fight, and so he went with the flow backing up, and as Chiyotairyu advanced he just kept his arms extended allowing for Sadanoumi to grab the left arm and use it to tug a willing Chiyotairyu forward and to the edge. Chiyotairyu still had room to escape, but just like Obi-won, escape was not his plan, and so he just stood there with his rear end exposed as he waited for the Brokeback finish. Another compromised bout here as Sadanoumi moves to 2-1 while Chiyotairyu is still winless at 0-3 but a richer dude.

M11 Terutsuyoshi ducked down low against M10 Myogiryu at the tachi-ai causing Myogiryu to come over the top a bit, but Myogiryu managed to get a left arm hooked up and under Terutsuyoshi's right shoulder while applying downward pressure with the left. Terutsuyoshi was had at this point and attempted to quickly back up and go for what looked like an ushiro-motare attempt with his back facing Myogiryu, but Myogiryu was too bulky to push around, and so he easily shoved Terutsuyoshi across from behind. Myogiryu moves to 3-0 with the okuri-dash win while Terutsuyoshi falls to 1-2.

M10 Akua looked to gain the advantage at the tachi-ai against M9 Shimanoumi striking him well and getting him upright with a right palm to the jaw, but then Akua just brought his hands down and uselessly grabbed Shimanoumi by the right arm pretending to pull him toward the edge. Just when I thought we'd get a replay of the Ura - Shodai bout, Akua actually turned 90 degrees as if to go for an ippon-ze-oi, but the move was just for show and allowed Shimanoumi to place a soft hand into Akua's right side, and Akua just flipped over and down in exaggerated fashion. There is no way Shimanoumi had any momentum to cause that fall, and this was Akua's dictating the pace start to finish. He falls to 0-3 but opts for the cash while Shimanoumi bought one here in moving to 1-2.

M7 Takarafuji was not quite in sync with M9 Chiyonokuni at the tachi-ai, and that allowed Kuni to knock Takarafuji back a step, but Chiyonokuni was afraid to commit to a push attack from there as Takarafuji kept threatening an arm pull while patiently waiting for an opening to the inside. The bout went on like this with Chiyonokuni firing hesitant thrusts and Takarafuji playing defense while looking for an opening to the inside. After about 10 seconds, Chiyonokuni was close to the edge, and so Takarafuji just put a left shoulder into his body and knocked Chiyonokuni back for the nice win. Takara Boom De Aye moves to 2-1 with the patient win while Chiyonokuni is floundering at 0-3.

M6 Abi fired some busy tsuppari M8 Tobizaru's way from the tachi-ai, but they weren't really connecting as Abi was shading back a half step. About two seconds in, Abi's right arm brushed Tobizaru's neck, and that was Tobizaru's cue to just flop over onto his shoulder and roll for show. They ruled it hataki-komi, but there was no downward slap to be seen. This bout was compromised as Abi now moves to a terrible-looking 3-0 when you analyze the sumo content while Tobizaru had room to bargain at 2-1.

M6 Hoshoryu came with a tsuppari attack against M4 Hokutofuji who moved back a step to his left as he is wont to do, but the Mongolian was too quick for Hokutofuji to get anything established. On his heels from the get-go, Hokutofuji looked to defend a decent tsuppari attack from Hoshoryu, and then about eight seconds in, Hoshoryu reached for the inside position. As Hokutofuji threatened with a right outer grip, Hoshoryu switched gears and backed up quickly dragging Hokutofuji down by the back of his right shoulder in the process. Speed won out here for Hoshoryu who moves to 2-1 while Hokutofuji falls to 1-2.

M5 Chiyoshoma caught M4 Okinoumi with a left paw to the throat and drove with his legs forcefully, and Okinoumi didn't even bother to counter as Chiyoshoma scored the easy oshi-dashi win in maybe three seconds. Chiyoshoma picks up his first win at 1-2, and there's no question he could do this against the majority of his foes every day. As for Okinoumi, he falls to 0-3.

M3 Endoh methodically reached for the left frontal grip against M5 Onosho, but Onosho struck him well keeping him upright. Having gained the momentum from the initial charge, Onosho plowed forward as Endoh just stayed upright with his hands wide allowing Onosho to score the easy oshi-dashi victory. You can't take anything away from Onosho's sumo today, but Endoh was not fighting at 100%. Onosho moves to 3-0 as Endoh drops to 1-2.

In the sanyaku, M2 Ichinojo kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai allowing Komusubi Meisei to get the solid right arm inside where he threatened moro-zashi. Before he could get it, Ichinojo moved right as the two flailed in the ring a bit. Ichinojo coulda gotten to the inside had he wanna, and he had an opportunity to make Meisei pay for an early pull attempt, but he was nonchalant as he made Meisei work hard for the win. And Meisei did. Just like the previous bout, you can't really fault Meisei's sumo here, but it was clear that Ichinojo was not trying to win. In the end, Meisei got moro-zashi again, and Ichinojo did nothing to counter agreeing to just back his way across the straw giving the Japanese Komusubi the win. Meisei moves to 2-1 while Ichinojo takes one for the team at 1-2.

Speaking of taking it for the team, M3 Tamawashi finally relented today against Suckiwake Takanosho. From the tachi-ai, Tamawashi was spinning his wheels on purpose pretending to struggle with a tsuppari attack although Takanosho was doing nothing to cause it. Despite going half-assed, Tamawashi was still dictating the pace, and so Takanosho moved to his right going for a weak pull that Tamawashi reacted to by lightly putting both palms to the dirt. This was an easy yaocho call as both rikishi end the day at 2-1, and one of my biggest problems with the banzuke is the supposed Japanese elites are always on defense when they "win."

M1 Wakatakakage moved left at the tachi-ai grabbing the early outer grip of Suckiwake Mitakeumi's belt, and WTK coulda dashi-nage'd him out of the ring at that point, but he let up and allowed Mitakeumi to get back into the bout. From there, they hooked up in migi-yotsu where Wakatakakage had the left outer grip after his dominating tachi-ai, but WTK wasn't pressing the issue. Mitakeumi did manage a right inside belt throw that moved Wakatakakage over and near the edge, but from there the M1 just grabbed that left outer and pulled Mitakeumi towards him as Wakatakakage walked across the straw. After the bout, Asahiyutaka who was in the booth reiterated the fact that Mitakeumi is the next Ozeki candidate, and I don't know what the point of that is. It's bad enough that we're dealing with two hapless dudes in Takakeisho and Shodai, so why add a third? Mitakeumi is gifted his 3-0 start while Wakatakakage knows the senpai-kohai system in falling to 0-3.

Komusubi Daieisho stopped Shodai in his tracks from the tachi-ai with two hands to the chest, and then he drove Shodai back in linear fashion once, twice, three times a lady. An Ozeki should never be beaten like that, but it was ridiculously easy for Daieisho who picks up his first win at 1-2 while Shodai suffers his first loss at 2-1. The only word the NHK Announcer could use to describe this bout was ippo-teki, or one-side...a word that also should never be used when an Ozeki is defeated by a lesser guy (according to the false banzuke).

As my redneck co-worker would say, sence we've already covered the Takakeisho - Ura matchup, let's move to the end of the day where Yokozuna Terunofuji welcomed M1 Kiribayama by latching onto the M1's right limb from the outside while also containing Kiribayama in close on the other side, and with Terunofuji's legs churning forward, Kiribayama had no answer as the Yokozuna used a final thigh into Kiribayama's body and a left belt grip to send him across the straw in about two seconds.

Going back to my comments on the Takakeisho - Ura matchup, how do you process Takakeisho's flailing around like that and then also watch Shodai get dominated by Daieisho the bout before only to see the Yokozuna perform real sumo and dispatch a very good rikishi in Kiribayama? To me, it's easy to process because I'm not afraid to accept yaocho's pivotal role in sumo these day, but how can anyone not know what's going on?

Beats me, but we'll be right back here to break it all down again tomorrow.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
It was a pretty quiet news cycle overnight, but the biggest story so far from Day 1 was the win by Taiho's grandson, Ohho. Wakanohana, who is the chief propagandist for sumo these days, focused on Ohho in his column, and it's clear that everyone would like to see the youngster move quickly up the ranks. We'll just have to see how it all plays out, but as mentioned yesterday, this dude started in the same class as Hoshoryu and Kotoshoho, so to see him be the third guy from that group to reach the division doesn't exactly reek of "top of the class" status. Maybe the dude's just a slow starter, but as long as he's got big money behind him, the sky is the limit I suppose.

We may as well start with M18 Ohho who began the day paired against M17 Kotoeko, and Kotoeko easily won the tachi-ai getting moro-zashi as the rookie advanced with arms wide open, but instead of burrowing in deep and knocking Ohho upright, Kotoeko made sure to keep his two insides just forearm deep. Still, Ohho couldn't do anything offensively and was on his heels throughout, and so with his feet near the edge, Ohho went for a weak slap down against Kotoeko's right shoulder, and the M17 just put both palms to the deck with no other part of his body touching down. Typical yaocho finish here, and it's interesting how they tout Ohho as an oshi/tsuki guy, and yet he didn't fire a single offensive thrust the entire bout. Easy yaocho call here as Ohho is gifted 2-0 while Kotoeko pads the billfold in falling to 1-1.

In the booth today was Kisenosato with Kotoshogiku in the mukou-joumen chair, and so I watched with the sound turned off. They did post some graphics of the two rikishi each of the oyakata had high hopes for this year. If you had to make such a selection, who would you choose?

Accounting for the fact that the Mongolians are generally lying low, I think the two default picks are Hoshoryu and then Wakatakakage in that order. Kisenosato picked Wakatakakage and then his other pick was Meisei. Huh? Meisei? I remember well when they did this last year and Kisenosato picked Kotoshoho, and we haven't heard from the kid since. As for Kotoshogiku, he picked Hoshoryu (someone had to) and Hokutofuji. Hmm.

M17 Kaisei and M16 Tsurugisho looked to go to migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but Tsurugisho worked his left arm inside forcing Kaisei to fight with two outers. Problem for Tsurugisho was that Kaisei won the tachi-ai and was already bodying his foe back, and so the Brasilian grabbed two outer grips and easily forced Tsurugisho back and across for the easy win. Can you imagine if Kaisei would have fought like this yesterday against Ohho? The difference in effort and intentions is night and day as Kaisei moves 1-1 while Tsurugisho falls to 0-2.

M16 Aoiyama put both arms forward against M15 Wakamotoharu but then just backed up looking to give the rookie the easy win. The problem was that Wakamotoharu couldn't keep up with Aoiyama's retreat, and even though his arms were extended forward, Wakamotoharu couldn't connect on a single thrust, and so as Aoiyama hit the straw with his heels he moved a bit right going for a very weak pull, and Wakamotoharu just put his hand down quickly to break his fall. It was clear that Aoiyama was trying to let Wakamotoharu win, but the rookie went down so fast they had to call a mono-ii, and sure enough, Wakamotoharu put his hand down before Aoiyama stepped across. This was pure haplessness on the part of Wakamotoharu. Aoiyama was handing the bout to him, but he couldn't adjust whatsoever and falls to his first loss. And it was an ugly loss at that as both rikishi end the day at 1-1.

Before we move on, both rookies look terrible and lost to me. They do have a collective 3-1 record, but the sumo content has been shockingly bad.

M15 Tochinoshin caught M14 Ichiyamamoto's extended left arm at the tachi-ai, and really had the youngster exposed, but instead of demanding the inside position with both arms, he just held that arm in place for a few seconds. Ichiyamamoto was trapped and couldn't move, and so Shin pushed him back a bit by that arm finally sending the bout to yotsu-zumo. I'd normally say "forced" to yotsu-zumo, but Shin was doing all he could not to force anything. He kept his right arm shallow to the inside, and he refused to grab a wide open left outer on the other side. From this position, it was clear Tochinoshin was letting Ichiyamamoto win, but the kid was so befuddled he couldn't make a move. After a lengthy pause in the center of the ring, Ichiyamamoto finally mounted a shaky yotsu charge leading with his left outer, and Tochinoshin just complied backing up across the entire ring before faking a soft counter scoop throw and then hopping to the arena floor so he could break his opponent's fall. What a laugher.

In a real bout, Tochinoshin would have planted at the edge and forced the bout to a nage-no-uchi-ai. Actually, in a real bout, Tochinoshin would have gotten the right inside left outer and won in four seconds, but this wasn't real. Obviously. Ichiyamamoto is gifted his first win matching Shin's record, and you can see this pattern of soft sumo where the veterans dictate everything before they take a very controlled dive at the end giving the younger guys the win.

M13 Chiyomaru and M13 Yutakayama engaged in a light tsuppari affair that saw Maru back up a bit, and as Chiyomaru stepped to his left looking for a pull attempt, Yutakayama anticipated the move too quickly and just dove out of the ring landing in a heap at the corner of the mound and then rolling off in controlled fashion. What a fake bout this was. You didn't even need to watch the replay to see that there was absolutely no contact instigated by Chiyomaru that would have warranted that crazy fall. That was stop, drop, and roll before calmly landing on your feet on the venue floor below by Yutakayama. Both dudes end the day at 1-1.

The fake sumo would continue as M14 Kotonowaka and M12 Chiyotairyu stepped into the ring engaging in a tsuppari contest from the tachi-ai with Chiyotairyu flat footed on purpose. When Baby Waka couldn't muscle him back, Chiyotairyu shaded back and to his left setting up a beautiful tsuki-otoshi move...that he of course never bothered to execute. Instead, he waited for Kotonowaka to recover and then go for a very meager pull, and Chiyotairyu did what he does best and just flopped to the dirt. This was so awkward because Kotonowaka didn't have any footing, and so he ended up falling off the dohyo altogether, but it fit the pattern the entire way so far...the loser landing softly in full control with the victor off balance and taking the harder falls. Kotonowaka buys his way to 2-0 while Chiyotairyu is hoarding cash at 0-2.

The M11 Sadanoumi - M12 Ishiura bout actually made the 9 o'clock news. The story was that Ishiura turned 32 years old today, so could he pick up a win on his birthday? What a snoozer of a storyline, and Sadanoumi fully complied staying put at the tachi-ai and lamely offering one palm forward. With no pressure coming from the Sadamight, Ishiura easily forced the bout to hidari-yotsu in the center of the ring, and with Sadanoumi literally keeping his right arm dangling there and gripping nothing, he played along as Ishiura set up an inside belt throw with his left hand at the back of Umi's belt, and then he just bowled his foe over and out in quite spectacular fashion. That's exactly what happens when one guy is completely mukiryoku, but Sadanoumi magically rolled off of the dohyo and landed on his feet in the perfectly controlled dismount.

The sheep were wooed by this one, but it was such obvious one-side sumo you didn't need the slo-mo replay again to see how limp Sadanoumi kept that right arm. Good night, this has been a horrible basho so far with more yaocho than normal. Ishiura is presented win #2 while Sadanoumi falls to 1-1, and seven bouts in...only one of them has involved both parties going at it full throttle (Kaisei vs. Tsurugisho).

M11 Terutsuyoshi henka'd to his right at the tachi-ai ducking down low in an attempt to grab M10 Akua's left leg. He didn't quite grab it fully, but the henka threw Akua enough to where the two squared back up a bit with Akua up way too high for his own good. With nothing else to do, Akua executed a sloppy pull attempt, but Terutsuyoshi read the move enough to where he was able to push Akua back before he fell hard to the dohyo floor. Bad sumo, but I guess I'll take it as Terutsuyoshi moves to 1-1 while Akua is 0-2.

M9 Chiyonokuni aligned his feet at the tachi-ai allowing M10 Myogiryu to stick a few jabs and then move to his right as Kuni fumbled his way forward off balance. As he looked to square back up, his hips were too high and that allowed the crafty Myogiryu to get the right arm firmly inside and execute the quick, uncontested force-out win easy as you please. Myogiryu moves to 2-0 with the easy win while Chiyonokuni falls to 0-2.

M9 Shimanoumi's tachi-ai consisted of his standing largely upright with hands floating to the outside, and so M8 Tobizaru was able to stick a quick jab before pulling, and Shimanoumi walked right into it stumbling across the dohyo before Tobizaru pushed him out that final step. This one was arranged as Tobizaru moves to 2-0 with Shimanoumi falling to 0-2 a richer dude.

M6 Hoshoryu sorta reached for the right frontal belt grip against M7 Takarafuji, but he only got halfway before drawing the arm back and keeping both hands non-committed on either side of his foe. As for Takarafuji, his tachi-ai was very passive, and there's no reason Hoshoryu couldn't have demanded prime position, but he chose not to and instead backed his way up and around the ring with Takarafuji in tow, and Fuji eventually dispatched the Mongolian for the easy, uncontested win. Not sure what was going on behind the scenes for this one, but it was not 100% effort from either guy as they both land at 1-1.

Watching M6 Abi's sumo so far this basho has reminded of good ole Harvye branding this guy's movements as fire hose sumo. His body is so contorted and out of control, it's a great analogy that still applies. Today against a compromised M5 Chiyoshoma, Abi put both hands to Shoma's throat in more of a defensive fashion, but Chiyoshoma just latched onto the left arm and pulled Abi forward and into Chiyoshoma's own body as the Mongolian exited the dohyo with Abi trying to keep pace. Whenever you see the Mongolians grab the other dude's arm and pull him into their own body as they quickly rush backwards and out, you know the bout is fixed and that was the case here obviously. Abi is gifted a 2-0 start while Chiyoshoma graciously falls to 0-2.

M4 Okinoumi stood straight up against M5 Onosho and kept his arms wide and out of harm's way allowing Onosho to spin his wheels a bit on a tsuppari attack before going for a quick swipe, and Okinoumi just played along the entire way putting both palms to the dirt and kicking his legs up in the air for added effect. Okinoumi laughs all the way to the bank at 0-2 while Onosho moves to 2-0 after the compromised win.

M3 Endoh reached for the left frontal grip at the tachi-ai against M4 Hokutofuji, but Endoh didn't latch on as Hokutofuji quickly moved to his left looking to set up a pull. It would never come to fruition, however, and as the dust settled, Endoh came away with moro-zashi. Instead of using that advantageous position to lift Hokutofuji upright and set up the force out, he just stood there and waited for Hokutofuji to execute a very shallow uwate-dashi-nage with the right hand, and Endoh's response was to quickly put his right palm to the dirt giving Hokutofuji the cheap win. Endoh had quite a few chances in this one but refused them all as Hokutofuji is given the cheap win leaving both dudes at 1-1.

M3 Tamawashi hasn't been bought yet this basho, and today he brought his usual tsuppari attack against Komusubi Daieisho, and the Komusubi had no answer. As Tamawashi began nudging Daieisho back, Daieisho looked to evade quickly to his left, but before he could really go into full mawari-komu mode, Tamawashi caught him with a push to the shoulder and Daieisho just hopped outta the dohyo instead of standing his ground at the edge only to take another beating. It was decisive but not pretty as Tamawashi moves to 2-0 while Daieisho falls to 0-2.

The most tired story out there these days is Suckiwake Mitakeumi, and today he was paired against a very willing M2 Ichinojo who actually turned his right hip inwards at the tachi-ai as if to say, "Grab the outer grip ya dumbass." Mitakeumi couldn't, however, and so the two circled a bit with Ichinojo throwing a stiff arm at one point before just lowering his arms and waiting for something to come. Said something was very weak, and Mitakeumi didn't even have a belt grip or anything to the inside, but there he was scoring the yori-kiri win without argument. They had to rule it oshi-dashi because there was no yotsu position involved, but there was no contact that would have caused Ichinojo to be forced across the ring. It was all the Mongolith just backing up of his own volition with Mitakeumi looking lost the entire way. Mitakeumi is so bad I'm embarrassed for him, but there he sits now at 2-0 while Ichinojo falls to 1-1.

If the Sumo Association's MO is to get Mitakeumi to the Ozeki rank, I sure don't see the point. The dude is useless.

M1 Kiribayama ruled the tachi-ai against Suckiwake Takanosho getting the right arm in position for an inside grip before moving left and setting up the path to the outer grip on that side, but the Mongolian refused to capitalize on either move. Problem was he dominated so much from the initial charge, he came away with the left kote-nage position while his opponent had nary a pot to piss in. Instead of going for a throw, Kiribayama just stood there humping Takanosho's right arm, and as Takanosho moved to his right looking to set up a tsuki, Kiribayama anticipated a move that didn't come, but he put his right knee to the dohyo anyway and that was that. They ruled it kata-sukashi, which is funny because Takanosho didn't touch the back of Kiribayama's shoulder until the dude had both palms and that right knee touching the clay, but they gotta make something up.

Is it just me, or has the sumo been awful these first two days? I mean come on fellas, I know bouts are meant to be thrown, but try a little bit harder in the acting department. Takanosho buys his first win at 1-1 while Kiribayama falls to 0-2.

Takakeisho's tsuppari attack had its usual little to no impact today against Komusubi Meisei, and so Meisei easily backed up from the tachi-ai and then baited Takakeisho into a pull that saw Meisei move right and easily slap Takakeisho down by the back of the shoulder. If you watch the slo-mo replay, you can see that Takakeisho's only offense consists of his putting a left hand into Meisei's torso, but it's more of a defensive posture than it was an actual tsuppari. There is just no bite to Takakeisho's tsuppari attack, and even in the bouts he's allowed to win, there is very little contact between his hands and his opponent's torso. The faux-zeki didn't buy his opponent off today, however, and so Meisei showed just how easy it is to beat Takakeisho without really even trying. Both dudes end the day at 1-1.

Up next was Shodai vs. M2 Ura, and this has to be the worst two rikishi to ever face each other in the penultimate bout of a hon-basho. Just like yesterday, Ura had to let up again this time in order to give Shodai the victory. Shodai's only move from the tachi-ai was putting his left arm forward lamely, and so Ura just grabbed it and then moved to his right pulling Shodai forward and right into his own body as the two crashed out of the dohyo and down to the arena floor with Shodai completely out of control. Ura fell first onto his back, but boths feet were still resting up on the dohyo, and so as Shodai fell, all of his weight fell into Ura's left shin area causing the leg to bend awkwardly. Ura was obviously injured there as Shodai tried to help him up, and the dude did indeed need help to get back atop the dohyo. He was able to walk to the corner of the venue floor with yobi-dashi on either side of him, but the Pawn Stars fellas were there with the wheelchair waiting ready to whisk him off to the hospital.

Ura is obviously done this basho, and at 0-2 he will finish up with an 0-15 record. Hge just isn't capable of handling the weight class of the Makuuchi division. As for Shodai, shame shame everyone knows your name. You needed Ura to go mukiryoku for you in order to boost your record to 2-0. Pathetic.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Terunofuji looked for the right inside against M1 Wakatakakage, but WTK moved laterally trying to latch onto that extended arm and pull Fuji forward (and no, not into his own body as he crashed off the dohyo). The M1 was able to mawaru-komu around the ring quickly using his speed, but Fuji finally caught him back in the center of the dohyo with his left wrapped around WTK's right inside position. From this position, as Wakatakakage tested the force out waters leading with that right, Fuji slipped left and executed an easy kote-nage with the left arm that sent Wakatakakage to the dirt. Fuji is safely through to 2-0 while WTK is the opposite 0-2 mark.

The sumo can't get any worse tomorrow can it? I'm holding my breath.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Welcome to another year of sumo where my resolution this year is take the sport as seriously as Kiribayama. The pre-basho hype really didn't start until after the New Year holiday, which meant the first significant headlines appeared on January 4th. The dominating news from that day was that the entire Tagonoura stable would go kyujo after four rikishi tested positive for Covid. The biggest blow from that news (on paper) was that Takayasu would be forced to sit out the festivities. In my opinion, that's just one less guy for me to comment on his fake sumo, so I welcomed the news.

Another common pre-basho theme is that the basho has produced a different yusho rikishi the last six years, so we can expect more excitement in 2022. Or not. The last six winners of the Hatsu basho starting with 2016 are: Kotoshogiku, Kisenosato, Tochinoshin, Tamawashi, Tokushoryu, and Daieisho. You don't have to be a sumo expert to realize that 2022 will produce yet another new rikishi to win the Hatsu basho, so I guess there's that.

I'm still puzzled why everyone loves Mitakeumi, but he garnered quite a bit of pre-basho hype presumably because he's the next likely candidate for Ozeki. That is not based on actual sumo content of course, but that hasn't mattered for years now. Mitakeumi just turned 29 at the end of December, so similarly to what we saw with Kisenosato and his hyped promotion as a Yokozuna candidate, the speculation is can Mitakeumi achieve the Ozeki rank before he turns 30? Maybe achieve isn't the right words. More like "buy."

With these fluff pieces of news heading into the basho, the sport received a bit of a gut punch the day before the basho when it was learned that the Saitama Police Department is investigating two sekitori and whether or not they will be charged for illegal gambling activities. Exact details have yet to emerge, and the Association is of course deferring the matter until after the basho, but the two rikishi in question are Hidenoumi and Juryo rookie, Shiden. Both rikishi hail from the Kise-beya, the same stable that was caught giving suna-kaburi seats to members of the yakuza 15 years ago or so. Gambling, yakuza, and sumo in the same sentence? I've never heard of such a thing.

The Sumo Association obviously has some agreement with the Saitama Police to hold off on further action until after the basho, but from what I am reading, there is very concrete evidence against the two rikishi. Kise-oyakata voluntarily submitted kyujo papers for both rikishi, but they'll put a lid on things until after the fortnight.

Moving to the Day 1 broadcast, the first four minutes or so of my feed was blacked out due to technical difficulties, and so I missed the lead in, but by the time the broadcast was restored, they had a graphic displayed of the last time a rikishi won his first three basho as a newly-promoted Yokozuna.

First was the 22nd Yokozuna all time, Tachiyama, who was promoted way back in 1911, and the second name was Tochigiyama, who was promoted in 1918. In others words, we may see something this basho that we haven't seen in over 100 years. To me it's a useless statistic because Terunofuji can yusho if he chooses, but it's a great nugget of information for the trivia-starved Japanese viewers, and if the basho fails to produce any favorable headlines early on, they can always fall back on this topic.

After it was determined that Terunofuji is indeed the favorite to yusho, they next presented the obligatory interviews with the two Ozeki: Takakeisho and Shodai. After the interviews they displayed the records from both Ozeki in twenty twenty-one as follows:



For those of you scoring at home, that's 42 wins from Takakeisho and 45 for Shodai. When you examine Terunofuji's total wins of 77 from the calendar year, it's easy to see that Terunofuji is on the historic run because nobody else has the ability to yusho. Mainoumi said as much in his comments after the interviews. Of Shodai, he said, "He's in no condition to yusho based on his sumo from last year," and then of Takakeisho, he said, "He's too one-dimensional with his tsuppari sumo." Immediately after that, he concluded, "Contrast that with Terunofuji who prefers migi-yotsu, but he's strong at hidari-yotsu as well, and then he can also use his tsuppari attack well."

Mainoumi didn't even mention how effective Terunofuji is from the outside with both arms wrapped around his opponent's arms, so anyway you slice it, Terunofuji can win using any style while the only technique Mainoumi could offer regarding the two Ozeki was Takakeisho's tsuppari attack. And that tsuppari attack ONLY works when Takakeisho's opponent agrees to back up.

Seven or eight bouts into the broadcast, they spent some time hyping Mitakeumi who managed to win 55 bouts last year all from the sanyaku, but it sure doesn't feel like it. They showed some clips from a rengo-geiko session that included who knows how many sekitori, but all of the guys were letting up for Mitakeumi...in the practice ring. After the supposed dominating session, Ota Announcer asked Kitanofuji for this thoughts, and Kitanoumi seemed caught off guard by the question, and after an embarrassed laughed he admitted, "I wasn't really watching it." Classic moment from the broadcast. Who was watching it brother, who was?

And so that's the back drop to a new year of sumo. Terunofuji can dominate when he wants to, and there are no Japanese rikishi who can legitimately threaten for the yusho. None. Before we touch on a few bouts of interest on the day, I love Mainoumi's analysis when he isn't forced to cover for fake sumo.

The day began with our first Makuuchi rookie, M16 Ohho, stepping into the ring against M17 Kaisei. Ohho is a tsuki-oshi guy, and he came from the tachi-ai with a tsuppari attack that had little to no effect against Kaisei. Ohho led with his right arm up high in Kaisei's neck area, but his left side was completely exposed to the right inside position from Kaisei had he wanted it. He didn't of course leaving his right fist in a ball before drawing that right arm away from the inside to the outside altogether.  As he did this, Kaisei moved to his left for no reason other than to expose the right side of his body to a left tsuki from the rookie, and it was easy peasy for the Japanesey from there who bought his first Makuuchi win against an opponent who willingly turned himself sideways 90 degrees.

Bet that feels good. I mean, they panned in close after the bout and there was no emotion or sense of satisfaction on Ohho's face. Dude bought the bout and he knew it, and so we'll see how he fares in straight up contests moving forward. Ohho does have two things going for him: youth and size. At 21, he stands 191 cm tall, so he may actually have some game. It just wasn't on display here as Kaisei showed no interest in winning the bout and did most of Ohho's work for him. Second, the dude is young. I'd much rather have high expectations for a guy like Ohho than Mitakeumi.

Before we move on, Ohho is the grandson of legendary rikishi, Taiho (and the son of legendary gambler, Takatoriki). The guys in the booth made sure it was well known that this dude has Taiho's blood in him, and Mainoumi stated how big it would be for the sumo world in general if Ohho could rise to the upper echelons of the banzuke. All the pieces are in place...except of course the legit sumo, but let's give this guy a chance. As Ohho left the arena, Ota Announcer stated that his grandfather won 12 wins in his Makuuchi debut to which Kitanofuji quickly groaned and offered the Freudian slip, "I don't see that happening." He based that comment on the sumo he just witnessed in the ring, and for a better context on things, Ohho entered the sport at the same time as Kotoshoho and Hoshoryu. I need to watch a few of his bouts that are real because the rookie's Day 1 contest was fixed through and through.

Our other rookie was M15 Wakamotoharu who was paired against M14 Ichiyamamoto who is making his return to the division. Ichiyamamoto won the tachi-ai pushing into the rookie's neck and keeping him up high with a stiff left arm to the throat, but he didn't follow through with sound de-ashi. As Wakamotoharu looked to swipe with the right arm, Ichiyamamoto just reacted moving to his right as if to pull, but such a move never came. All Ichiyamamoto was doing was setting the rookie up to the inside, and Wakamotoharu complied getting the easy left arm inside and right outer grip while Ichiyamamoto just left his hands floating in mid air and avoiding any touch of the rookie's body. There was a lot of bark here but little bite as Ichiyamamoto allowed himself to be forced over and across with little argument. I liked the speed of the bout here, but there was little contact or actual force and counter force going on as both rookies buy their Day 1 bouts.

M6 Abi garnered a bit of pre-basho hype after his jun-yusho performance last basho, and today against an intentionally flat-footed M7 Takarafuji, Abi struggled with his tsuppari attack. I mean, Takarafuji was just standing there the entire time with knees locked while standing upright, and Abi couldn't drive him across from the tachi-ai, and so to the other side of the ring they went where Takarafuji was still mukiryoku as Abi finally "pushed" him across. As he did so, Abi flew forward off the ring himself managing to knee Takamisakari ringside in an awkward moment that we see in fixed bouts like this. It's goes back to good ole Isaac Newton's laws of motion. With Takarafuji applying zero counter pressure against Abi, Abi had no choice but to fly out of the ring because he was exerting pressure as if there would be that counter force. What an ugly bout of sumo here as Abi obviously buys win number one.

When they went to comment on the bout, they focused on his record and performance from last basho because there was nothing to talk about today. It was weak, ineffective sumo with a terrible ending. The winner of a sumo bout should never fly off the ring with his opponent standing on the venue floor completely composed as he tries to break the victor's fall.

Perhaps the most anticipated bout on the day for the Japanese fans was the Suckiwake Mitakeumi - M2 Ura contest, and it sure failed to deliver. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe I just witnessed Ura let up for the Suckiwake. I mean, how low do you have to go in order to pay off Ura? From the tachi-ai, Ura had no drive whatsoever, and he politely stood pat looking for nothing as Mitakeumi sorta got both arms inside, but before Mitakeumi could get anything established, Ura just backed up to the edge for his foe and stood upright with his back arched waiting for the final force-out. They actually ruled it oshi-dashi, but it was nothing of the sort. Mitakeumi didn't fire a single shove, and his hands were to sides of his opponent and not leading the charge. Whatever. They had to rule it something and so they chose oshi-dashi, but this was a very mukiryoku Ura and Mitakeumi so bland they had to make up the winning technique.

M1 Kiribayama exhibited an awful tachi-ai where he hopped forward like Frogger and aligned his feet, but the hapless Shodai couldn't even take advantage. Kiribayama stood there waiting for Shodai to attack, but when nothing came, the Mongolian moved to his left and accidentally got moro-zashi. He promptly forced Shodai back to the edge but then waited for Shodai's counter move as he leaned left, and I guess you could say it came in the form of a weak kote-nage, but Shodai did not set up the move for sure, and this was more of Kiribayama just running sideways outta the ring and off the dohyo headed towards Takamisakari again. Sheesh, Takamisakari was a glut for punishment as an active rikishi, and he got beat up worse today as an oyakata than the actual rikishi themselves.

After this one they used two words to describe the sumo: mottainai (or what a waste) for Kiribayama and abunai (or dangerous) for Shodai. And that's pretty much how it goes. You can't describe anything positive about Shodai's sumo because it doesn't exist. If it did, they'd hype it to no end as they do with Takakeisho's tsuppari attack. I mean, with Takakeisho you can at least point to an actual waza even if his opponents do back up of their own volition for him, but with Shodai, there's nothing there. What a hapless rikishi, and it was all Kiribayama could do to keep from laughing as he went back to his side of the dohyo and then exited the arena. Anyone who believed this outcome needs their head examined.

Takakeisho looked to move forward with a tsuppari attack against M1 Wakatakakage, but this was more of WTK just backing up from the tachi-ai and waiting for his opponent to push him back and across. When Takakeisho couldn't, Wakatakakage had his left arm hooked up and under Takakeisho's right elbow in the perfect position to counter with a tsuki-otoshi, but instead of attempting the move, WTK just moved left a few steps and waited again for the faux-zeki's next attack. This time Takakeisho managed enough contact to send the M1 across, but this was another obviously fixed bout in favor of the Japanese Ozeki. If you watch the replay, you can't detect any significant blows from Takakeisho that would have caused the M1's retreat. This was Wakatakakage dictating the pace concluding with his willingness to be pushed back that last step.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Terunofuji drew last year's yusho winner in Komusubi Daieisho, and the Yokozuna was passive allowing Daieisho to connect on a few tsuki, and then Fuji's reaction was to alternate lifting up his legs in useless fashion. That gave the crowd a huge stiffie, but it looked as if Daieisho was gassed two seconds in. With Terunofuji refusing to get inside and latch onto Daieisho, it was up to the Komusubi to push him back and across, but he just couldn't do it. The two danced around the ring a bit with Terunofuji in perfect position to hataki-komi, but he never attempted the move nor did he bother to try and grab a hold of his foe. With Daieisho unable to mount any sort of attack, Terunofuji fired a few effective shoves, but didn't finish off his bidness backing up and letting Daieisho get to the inside again. When it looked as if Daieisho had an opening with Terunofuji up high, the Komusubi was completely out of gas, and so that final tsuki attempt never came. Instead, Terunofuji slapped down at the back of Daieisho's right shoulder and the Komusubi hit the dirt out of pure exhaustion.

This one definitely drew a buzz from the crowd, but like most of the Day 1 bouts, it was pure theater. In fact, I'm trying to think of what was the best bout from the day? I guess you'd have to say the M6 Hoshoryu - M5 Chiyoshoma contest where Hoshoryu won in nifty soto-gake fashion. Otherwise, it was a very poor start to the basho in my opinion, and all they're trying to do here is generate enough headlines that will keep the fans interested for two weeks.

We'll examine all of the Makuuchi bouts tomorrow, but don't get your hopes up.