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Kyushu Basho Day 14 Comments
The first 13 days of the tournament seemed to lack a lot of direction, but when you can enter the weekend with two Ozeki in the lead and a decent yusho record guaranteed, the Sumo Association has set itself up the best they could to end the year with at least an exciting yusho race on paper. The phrase "set itself up" was of course intentional because we wouldn't be at this point without serious bout fixing, but we're used to it after the last decade. The masu-seki were all the way full today, and it was a pretty good environment, so let's get to the day's bouts starting with the yusho race.

At the end of Day 13, it was mathematically down to two rikishi, Kotozakura and Hoshoryu, who came into the day with 12-1 records, so let's start there with the final two bouts of the day.

Up first was Kotozakura taking on Onosato, and the tachi-ai lacked any punch from either dude as they looked to hook up in migi-yotsu. One second in, Onosato put his head to the right of Kotozakura's head leaning it on Zak's right shoulder, and that totally allowed Kotozakura to grab the left outer grip. Onosato could have reached for his own left outer, but that was not his intent, and so he just went with a weak outer belt throw attempt from Kotozakura and walked back and across the straw.

You look at that pic there of the ending to the bout, and try and find uwate-nage as the kimari-te. The last two days Kotozakura has officially won by uwate-nage, but neither of those "wins" contained an actual throw. This was yet another great example of Kotozakura buying a bout, and Onosato was completely mukiryoku here. Kotozakura moves to 13-1 with the gift while Onosato falls to 8-6, and he's dropped four of his last five.

The final bout of the day featured Sekiwake Kirishima vs. Ozeki Hoshoryu, and Kirishima left both arms wide open at the tachi-ai giving Hoshoryu the gifted moro-zashi, and with Kirishima literally just standing there, Hoshoryu picked him up tsuri-dashi style and walked him over the edge and gently set him across. It looked impressive to the fans, but this bout was completely set up, and I was quite sure that the two Mongolians would mirror the result of the previous bout. In other words, if Kotozakura won, Hoshoryu would win, and if Kotozakura lost, Hoshoryu would have lost.

The result puts Hoshoryu in a tie for the yusho at 13-1, and because the two leaders will fight tomorrow, a 14-1 yusho is guaranteed.

I have no sense whatsoever what's gonna happen tomorrow. The last time the Japanese rikishi took four of the six basho in a calendar year was 2001 when Musashimaru was on the brink of retirement. I know that's what the Sumo Association would like to see happen, but the Mongolians have been known to rise up in these situations and spoil the party. I mean, you know these guys have to be rolling their eyes behind the scenes about what sumo has become, and from time to time, they love to make statements. But once again...I have no feel whatsoever what's going to happen tomorrow. I only know that Kotozakura cannot beat Hoshoryu in a straight up bout.

In other bouts of interest on the day, how can you not root for M11 Tamawashi?  Today against the injured and ailing M17 Bushozan, Tamawashi just stood straight up for him and allowed Bushozan to lightly push him back and across. It was just Bushozan's second win of the contest that moved him to 2-12 while Tamawashi falls to a harmless 8-6.

M10 Ichiyamamoto must have watched tape on M16 Takerufuji getting henka'd because he went for the move here putting his hands high around the back of Takerufuji's head before backing up for the do or die pull. He was able to pull Takerufuji down right at the edge as IYM camped atop the tawara with the right foot, but the ref ruled in favor of Takerufuji, and a mono-ii was not called. Replays showed that Ichiyamamoto clearly won the bout, and I thought watching live he won as well, but this was an example of the refs and judges having it in their noggins that Takerufuji is a rising star, and so they let it go. Pretty lame if you as me is Takerufuji is cheaply awarded 9-5 while Ichiyamamoto is robbed of kachi-koshi at 7-7.

M15 Onokatsu and M9 Takayasu squared up in hidari-yotsu where Takayasu was able to get the right outer grip after winning the tachi-ai, and Takayasu tried to attack with that outer grip, but Onokatsu was positioned too far to the inside with the left, and so Takayasu just couldn't get the needed momentum. Onokatsu's belt was also coming a bit loose and Takayasu only had one fold of the belt, and in the end, Onokatsu used his left leg nicely to pin Takayasu in place before forcing him across for the comeback win. I thought this was the best bout of sumo today as Onokatsu moves to 9-5 while Takayasu falls to 8-6.

Before we move on, isn't it refreshing to see sumo like this from time to time? We never get bouts like this that involve Kotozakura or Onosato. Why is that?

The tachi-ai between M5 Tobizaru and M7 Mitakeumi was extremely light, and with Mitakeumi unable to bully Tobizaru back, Tobizaru managed a left outer grip, and he used that to spin Mitakeumi around 180 degrees near the edge. The okuri-dashi from there was academic, but I think they should make a rule that if you're hugging your opponent from behind like that in the Brokeback position, you have to gaburu him across the last few steps. Tobizaru picks up kachi-koshi at 8-6 and enjoys some manlove in the process while Mitakeumi falls to 7-7. They are not going to stoop so low as to actually allow Mitakeumi kachi-koshi tomorrow are they?

M3 Abi greeted M3 Atamifuji with two hands to the face, and Abi wasted no time in slapping Atamifuji silly and driving him back, across, and down in like two seconds flat. I've never seen anyone bully Atamifuji around like that, and I had to rewind this bout three of four times and revel in the ass-kicking. Abi's easily one of he better Japanese rikishi on the banzuke as he moves to 11-3 while Atamifuji has fallen and can't get up at 7-7.


With a decent yusho race upon us, they no longer need M2 Ura to provide any excitement, and so he promptly let fellow M2 Wakatakakage win today. Wakatakakage's tsuppari attack against Ura was useless, and so a frustrated WTK went for a dumb pull, and Ura could have capitalized on the move if he had wanted to, but his response was to purposefully go for an equally dumb pull backing himself up to the other side of the dohyo where he waited for Wakatakakage to push him across that last step. In true Ura fashion he exaggerated his exit from the dohyo and rolled needlessly along the venue floor and into the first row. I mean he was walking out of the ring and then all of a sudden he took a lame dive. Anyway, Wakatakakage's 10-4 is so undeserved while Ura is a harmless 5-9.

M8 Gonoyama refused to take the easy inside position against Komusubi Wakamotoharu and then just turned and walked out of the dohyo of his own volition after about eight seconds. I mean, he was waiting for Wakamotoharu to do something, but WMH was so hapless that Gonoyama finally said, "I'm outta here." The Waka brothers both had someone pony up money for their wins today as Wakamotoharu "improves" to 9-5 with Gonoyama falling to 10-4.

And finally, M6 Takanosho must have owed Sekiwake Daieisho something in a bout that saw Daieisho easily move a listless Takanosho back a few steps with his tsuppari attack, and then as soon as Daieisho put a hand at the side of Takanosho's right shoulder as if to say, "Everything okay, son?" Takanosho just put both palms to the dirt and then stood right back up. Everything was not okay.  Daieisho is gifted kachi-koshi at 8-6 while Takanosho falls to 10-4.

Kyushu Basho Day 13 Comments
I check the sumo headlines twice a day...once when I get up in the morning which is around 11 PM in Japan, so the news articles from the day have already been written. I then check in my evening about noon or 1 PM Japan time just to see what they're saying before the bouts on the next day. This is how I glean the overall storylines the media is trying convey, and I look for articles that are beyond just the typical beat reporting. Up through Day 10 or so, the non-beat reporting articles were all focused on Onosato and Takerufuji, but it was probably 70-30 in favor of Onosato. When those two guys started dropping bouts in Week 2, you could tell that there was no real direction other than the usual beat reports.

Now that we're heading towards the final weekend, the yusho is sure to come from Kotozakura or Hoshoryu, but those two weren't receiving any attention the first 10 days despite their riding one loss into Day 13. The two biggest issues with these two dudes are 1) the aforementioned lack of news surrounding these two from the beginning, and 2) their 11-1 records don't feel like 11-1 performances. As for Kotozakura, he's of course bought all but maybe one of his wins this basho, and the content of his sumo has been terrible.

In Hoshoryu's case, he's showed flashes of brilliance, but he's also dumbed down his sumo on a lot of days just to appear vulnerable. As a result, we find ourselves with the following leaderboard that no one is excited about:

11-1: Kotozakura, Hoshoryu
10-2: Takanosho
9-3: Abi, Gonoyama

Those two-loss and three-loss tier dudes are inconsequential, but we'll play along just so we have more than two bouts to cover today.

Up first from the leaderboard was M3 Abi who was paired against M16 Takerufuji, and I like that pairing quite a bit. Not because Takerufuji can legitimately challenge Abi, but it brings greater focus to a bout that would have otherwise slipped under the radar. Okay, I spoke too soon. Abi henka'd to his left at the tachi-ai and put all of his weight into Takerufuji's right shoulder from the top, and he rode Takerufuji down into a heap in the corner of the dohyo. That was not a good visual for a bout that carried yusho implications as Abi oils his way to 10-3 while Takerufuji now finds himself at 8-5.

Moving forward about 45 minutes, M8 Gonoyama was paired against Sekiwake Kirishima, and this was a stinker of a bout as Kirishima henka'd very slowly to his left and just stood there waiting for Gonoyama to square up and push him back and across without argument. I thought the intent of a henka was to catch your opponent off guard and pull him down by surprise, but I guess Kirishima forgot that part. This bout was obviously thrown as Gonoyama is gifted 10-3 while Kirishima falls to 6-7.

Great optics here...two bouts with the yusho on the line and two henkas.

The next bout was Ozeki Hoshoryu taking on Onosato, and Hoshoryu caught Onosato squarely in the chest at the tachi-ai standing him straight up. When Onosato tried to duck back in, Hoshoryu caught him again with some stiff tsuppari, but instead of taking what he wanna to the inside or grabbing the belt, Hoshoryu backed up a few steps and literally just stood there waiting for Onosato to do something. Onosato rushed forward quickly, but as I always say, he didn't cause Hoshoryu's retreat, and so he wasn't prepared to capitalize on it. Hoshoryu actually stood there and gave Onosato one free shot, but Onosato's thrust attempt barely fazed the Ozeki, and so Hoshoryu said enough of this and slyly moved a bit left tugging Onosato forward and down tottari style by the extended right arm before Hoshoryu was forced back across.  Hoshoryu's technique at the edge was an absolute thing of beauty.

This was close, but Hoshoryu knew where he was in the dohyo at all times, and once again, he was leaving himself extremely vulnerable, but Onosato wasn't able to take advantage and score the upset. The win sends Hoshoryu to a 12-1 mark, and as I talked about earlier, it sure doesn't feel like this guy's 12-1. As for Onosato, he falls to 8-5, and I guess it's good he bought that kachi-koshi early as he may not win another bout.

The final bout of the day featured Kotozakura versus M6 Takanosho, and I was hoping for a straight up contest here, but alas...the powers that be thought it best that Kotozakura win. Takanosho dominated Zak at the tachi-ai standing him straight up and getting the right arm inside quickly, and you could see Takanosho flinch on a grab for the left outer grip, but then he brought that left arm high, and you knew at that point he was gonna throw the bout. As for Kotozakura, after Takanosho let him get established, Takanosho stayed on the balls of his feet and allowed Kotozakura to use a series of scoop throws with the right and then a throw with the outside left, and Takanosho went down without a fight. They ruled it uwate-nage, but Kotozakura didn't get that outer grip until there was one second left in the bout. This was more like uwate-dragdown, but whatever. Takanosho could have smoked Kotozakura from that tachi-ai, but politics was unfortunately in play here.



If you examine that pic above one second after the tachi-ai, you can see that Takanosho won the tachi-ai because the action is well on Kotozakura's side of the dohyo. You can see that Kotozakura is more upright than he should be, and then you can see Takanosho's left hand there in prime position to grab the outer grip. These guys practice this dozens of times a day, hundreds of times a basho, and tens of thousands of times over their careers, so to space off an uwate like that if you're trying to win the bout his impossible.

With the fake win, Kotozakura moves to 12-1 and keeps pace with Hoshoryu. Takanosho falls to a costly 10-3, and he is officially out of the yusho race.

Because Kotozakura and Hoshoryu will face each other on senshuraku, one of them is guaranteed to win, so regardless of what happens tomorrow, this is mathematically a two horse race.

As we look at the two matchups tomorrow that matter, Kotozakura is up first and will take on Onosato. Hmm...who has the advantage in a straight up bout here? I really don't know because the majority of these dudes' bouts are always fixed, so I'd have to say it's fiddy-fiddy in a straight up fight. I don't expect a straight up fight, and my guess is Onosato will defer to Kotozakura, but we'll see. If it is straight up, I expect both dudes to bounce around the ringing looking for pulls, and as soon as one dude tires out first, the other will pounce in for the win.

The final bout of the day features Kirishima vs. Hoshoryu, and they should just follow the result of the previous bout. If Kotozakura loses, I think it's a 90% chance that Hoshoryu loses on purpose. The one caveat in all of this is that Kirishima can beat Hoshoryu straight up if he tries. Hoshoryu could also beat Kirishima straight up, so I would love to see a real bout, but we rarely, rarely get one of those between two Mongolians.

Regardless of what happens, this is the leaderboard as we head into Day 14 noting that the yusho is guaranteed to be decided on senshuraku:

12-1: Kotozakura, Hoshoryu

In other bouts of interest, whenever they are propping Ura up with a bunch of fake wins, they're doing it to cover for a lack of other exciting rikishi or headlines, and I actually talked about this a few days ago when it was clear that Onosato was not going to take the yusho.

Today, M2 Ura was paired against M6 Nishikigi, and in an absolutely silly if not improbable affair, Nishikigi came with his arms pointed down not intending to get inside or get to the belt, and Ura easily worked his way into hidari-yotsu. In a straight up affair, the very last thing Ura would want here is to go chest to chest, and that's why he's always darting around the ring and trying to pick up dudes by the leg. Anyway, he was as fearless as a Yokozuna here going chest to chest with one of the biggest rikishi in the division, and Nishikigi didn't even bother reaching for an outer grip or pinching in from the outside, and Ura scored the cheap yori-kiri win in about five seconds. As effing if. Ura moves to 5-8 with the win, but the problem here is the crowd wasn't really buying it. The applause after the bout was quite tepid because this win was so unbelievable...even to the sheep. Nishikigi takes one for the team in falling to 4-9.

Two dudes fresh off of getting knocked from the leaderboard met today in M2 Wakatakakage and M15 Onokatsu, and Onokatsu just stayed wide at the tachi-ai gifting Wakatakakage moro-zashi, and as WTK went for the force-out kill leading with a right hand at the front of Onokatsu's belt, Onokatsu didn't even try and move laterally and counter with a tsuki into the M2's side. Onokatsu was so obviously mukiryoku here, and I was hoping to see him give Wakatakakage a good fight. I don't know why I always get my hopes up as WTK is gifted 9-4 while Onokatsu falls to 8-5.

Proceeding this bout saw M1 Hiradoumi taking on M5 Kotoshoho, and normally this wouldn't be a bout of interest, but it contained one of the worst dives the entire basho, and that's saying something. Both rikishi traded tsuppari from the tachi-ai and traded places in the ring for good measure, and it was a pretty spirited affair, but you could see that Kotoshoho was letting up. About five seconds in with Hiradoumi's back to the straw and Kotoshoho in the center of the ring, Kotoshoho looked in prime position to shove Hiradoumi across with some oomph, but then all of a sudden he went down to both knees and then flopped to the dirt.

If I had it my way, I'd add a fourth sansho prize for the best phony fall of the basho. Kotoshoho would be in first place for sure after today's dive.

Murray Johnson, who called the action live for NHK World, immediately said something to the effect that it's going to be one of those kimari-te where the guy slips. After watching the slow motion replay, which I was shocked they even showed, Murray said, "I don't know how you call that hiki-otoshi" as it was clear that Hiradoumi did not touch Kotoshoho whatsoever. With the obvious gift, Hiradoumi moves to 2-11 while Kotoshoho falls to 3-10.

For you trivia nerds, M11 Tamawashi became the fourth dude in history to pick up kachi-koshi after the age of 40. He was paired today against M17 Asakoryu, and after a light tachi-ai from both parties, Tamawashi finally got his tsuppari act going and easily pushed the rookie across in a few seconds. Tamawashi improves to 8-5 nabbing that kachi-koshi while Asakoryu suffers make-koshi in his Makuuchi debut at 5-8.

Finally, speaking of phony matches, Kitanowaka visited from Juryo to take on M16 Shishi in the first bout of the day, and after a lame tachi-ai from both parties, Kitanowaka went for a very light tap at the back of Shishi's shoulder. That gave Shishi the path to moro-zashi although he refused it, but he did maintain a left inside grip that was extremely potent, but instead of using it to force Kitanowaka back and across, he just held that left arm inside and waited for Kitanowaka to slap him down. Problem was it took like a full turn and a half around the edge of the ring before Kitanowaka finally pulled him over, and that whole time, Shishi could have executed the easy yori-kiri win had he wanted it. He took the money instead in falling to 3-10, and I'm pretty sure he's going to kick ass in Juryo next basho and then be right back up here in March to sell more bouts. Kid ain't dumb.

Kyushu Basho Day 12 Comments
Yesterday after Onosato suffered his fourth loss of the tournament, Hiro Morita, who was calling the action in English, said that Onosato would fail to become the first Ozeki to take the yusho in his debut basho since Hakuho last did it in 2006. His comment brought back a flood of memories from that time including my favorite Hakuho memory ever where as a Juryo rikishi he was doing Keiko with Yokozuna Asashoryu, and Hakuho actually had the balls (not to mention the ability) to defeat Asashoryu by tsuri-dashi in Keiko.

There's an old expression in sumo that's no longer applicable in today's version of the sport, and it's the word "kawaigaru." In everyday Japanese, kawaigaru means to pay favorable attention to someone like the way and grandfather would spoil his favorite grandchild. In sumo terms, that word was reserved for the circumstance where a Yokozuna, who was upset by a lower-ranked rikishi at a basho, would then specifically make it a point to visit that rikishi's stable and rough him up, or "spoil" him prior to the next basho.

Unfortunately, Yokozuna are never upset in tournaments anymore because they either throw the bout for political reasons (in the case of Terunofuji), or the Yokozuna didn't deserve the rank in the first place and anyone can kick his ass freely, so what would be the point of going to de-geiko and getting your ass kicked again by the same dude who upset you and took all the kensho money?  I mean, did you ever read an article about Yokozuna Kisenosato visiting the stable of someone who recently beat him in a hon-basho so he could teach the dude a lesson?

The answer to that is a firm "no," and you never hear about Terunofuji doing it either because all of Terunofuji's losses are yaocho.

You did read about Asashoryu practicing "kawaigari" all the time because back when Asa ruled the roost, yusho races and elite ranks on the banzuke hadn't become corrupted yet.

Anyway, the point is that Hakuho as a Juryo rikishi had the balls to tsuri-dashi Asashoryu in Keiko, and he did it without fear because he knew that Asashoryu couldn't kick his ass in keiko. Asashoryu smartly became allies with Hakuho instead of enemies, and those two would go on to win like all but two yusho for a span of five straight years in the second half of the aughties, and they were real yusho with 15-0 or 14-1 records.

Perhaps with the passing of a true legend in Kitanofuji, I am missing other aspects of the sport that simply don't exist anymore, and the practice of kawaigari was one of them. Zensho yusho, or a 15-0 yusho, would be another.

With that, things got fairly serious today in terms of the yusho race, so let's focus on the leaders first noting that the Sumo Association and NHK agreed that the leaderboard should go down two losses deep from the leaders as follows:

10-1: Kotozakura, Hoshoryu, Takanosho
8-3: Wakatakakage, Abi, Gonoyama, Onokatsu, Takerufuji

Up first on that list was M15 Onokatsu who was paired against M8 Roga, and these two put on quite a show of o-zumo that lasted well over a minute and a half. After jockeying for position from the tachi-ai, the two came away in migi-yotsu where Onokatsu had the left outer grip, and so time after time, Onokatsu attempted to force his foe out leading with the left outer, and time after time, he was rebuffed by Roga who stood his ground solidly using the right inside position. After about 90 seconds of great sumo, Roga finally cut off Onokatsu's outer grip, and you could see that Onokatsu was gassed at that point and unable to defend himself, so Roga grabbed his own left outer of his own and used it to force Onokatsu back and across. Whew. I guess Roga (5-7) also forced Onokatsu off of the leaderboard knocking him down to an 8-4 record.

You know, when you enter a day like today and focus on rikishi in the yusho race, this is exactly the type of sumo you'd expect to see. This was championship level stuff, so good on both of these guys for that show.

The next bout featured M8 Gonoyama taking on M10 Takarafuji, and we got another good bout of sumo here although lopsided in favor of Gonoyama. Gonoyama used his size and a nice tsuppari attack to keep Takarafuji away from the left inside position after the tachi-ai, and then the flow of the bout became Takarafuji moving left around the ring and Gonoyama staying square firing shove after shove into Takarafuji's chest. After a full turn around the dohyo, Takarafuji couldn't move fast enough and Gonoyama moved in and sent him down onto his ass with a very nice tsuki-taoshi. One of my biggest pet peeves is when they don't award a tsuki-dashi or tsuki-taoshi win properly, but this one was well-deserved as Gonoyama maintains leaderboard status at 9-3 while Takarafuji continues his freefall at 7-5.

A few bouts later, two three-loss rikishi met in M2 Wakatakakage and M3 Abi, and Abi put on a tsuppari clinic catching his foe from the tachi-ai with those long tsuppari, and then Abi used his lower body so well to apply real pressure, and Wakatakakage had no say in this one as he was driven back once, twice, three times a lady. Wow, great stuff from all three of these bouts as Abi stays in contention...sort of...at 9-3 while Wakatakakage is eliminated at 8-4.

M6 Takanosho drew a tough opponent in Sekiwake Kirishima IF Kirishima was going to fight straight up. Kirishima came with a hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the left hand, but before he could get to the inside, Takanosho was already moving left similarly to what Takanosho did to Onosato yesterday. Kirishima showed how a legit rikishi responds to that, and he squared up easily and quickly as the two traded a few slaps, and this was definitely the best sounding bout of the basho so far. Once one dude slaps the other in the face as Kirishima did at the tachi-ai, the other guy wants to get his licks in, and so sound sumo basics went out the window briefly as these two were trying to connect on slaps to each others' faces. Kirishima got in more licks for sure, and then a few seconds in he was able to get to the back of Takanosho's belt and force his foe to the edge where he knocked Takanosho across and then added a dame-oshi to send him to the venue floor. Good thing Takanosho was facing forward with his back to the dohyo, and that enabled him to land on his feet, but this was yet another great bout of sumo that featured a leader.

Sumo would be great if we had this all the time, but the problem is the top three or four tiers of the banzuke would be made up of foreigners, and sumo can't afford to go through that again. When the dust settled from this contest, Takanosho was knocked down to the 9-2 tier while Kirishima has evened his record up at 6-6.

Up next was Ozeki Hoshoryu paired against Komusubi Shodai, and Hoshoryu would have a hard time throwing this bout even if he wanted to. Thankfully, he didn't as the two struck fairly well with Hoshoryu unable to stick to the inside, and so they traded a few jabs before Hoshoryu easily got to the inside of Shodai with the right arm, and the force-out was swift and decisive. It was so swift in fact that Shodai (4-8) couldn't keep his feet, and ended up tumbling off the dohyo altogether, but he was just fine and there was nothing malicious from Hoshoryu who moves to 11-1 maintaining Storyteller status this basho.

The next bout featured Kotozakura taking on Sekiwake Daieisho, and Daieisho stood straight up at the tachi-ai keeping his hands wide and ignoring any tsuppari. As for Kotozakura, his feet were aligned at the tachi-ai as well, but he advanced towards the listless Daieisho with his insides completely exposed as well. Daieisho could have easily ducked in for moro-zashi, but he instead opted to pretend pull, which gave him and excuse to back up near the Tawara. Kotozakura still couldn't capitalize, however, against his mukiryoku opponent, and so they traded a few more slaps as Daieisho continued to ignore any offensive attack and camp out on top of the Tawara, and Kotozakura finally nudged him across for the cheap win. After watching the previous bouts, you could literally see the lack of force or skill in this bout, but it is what it is as Kotozakura is gifted 11-1 for doing really nothing. As for Daieisho, he falls to a harmless 6-6.

The day concluded with Onosato taking on M16 Takerufuji, and Takerufuji won the tachi-ai moving forward well into his opponent, and Takerufuji had the clear path to an easy moro-zashi, but instead of taking it, he just began backing up feigning a pull, and that was Onosato's cue to start advancing as if he was doing an oshi attack. He wasn't of course. The only force that caused Takerufuji to back up like that was himself, and they said this was oshi-dashi even though you can go back and watch the replay and note that Onosato didn't fire a single thrust or shove the entire way. In fact, Onosato ended up jumping down to the venue floor along with his opponent because there was zero resistance coming from Takerufuji, and so Onosato's own forward momentum caused him to exit the ring and dohyo as well. In a normal oshi-dashi bout, the victor doesn't even need to cross the straw, and he rarely does with maybe more than one foot, so to see Onosato jump down to the venue floor like this was further indication of a fixed bout and no counter force coming from his opponent.

I remember when these two fought back in March, and the tachi-ai was similar. In that bout, Takerufuji easily rushed Onosato back and across to pick up the win, and he could have done that here as well, but politics dictated that he let Onosato win for whatever reason, and that he did. A few days ago I talked about how the Association has seemingly put all their eggs into the Onosato basket the last two basho, and so when the dude suddenly started dropping bouts, the fans didn't know what to do or whom to root for. It still feels as if there's some confusion as both of these dudes finish the day at 8-4, and I can tell that there is no excitement for Kotozakura.

With the dust settled, the new leaderboard is as follows:

11-1: Kotozakura, Hoshoryu
10-2: Takanosho
9-3: Abi, Gonoyama

They are still generously taking it down to three rikishi deep, but that's because they need to generate as much excitement as possible with Onosato out of the mix hence Ura's fiery wins of late.

As for the two bouts that matter tomorrow, Onosato is paired against Hoshoryu, so we'll see what the Mongolian decides to do. I don't have a gut feeling either way.

The final bout of the day features Kotozakura vs. Takanosho, and Takanosho's tsuppari attack can easily overwhelm the former Baby Waka. I'm not gonna make a guess about this one either as to whether or not Takanosho decides to win.

I don't know that there were any other bouts of significant interest. The M2 Ura - M4 Ohshoma bout was obviously phony, and it wasn't even one of those close finishes at the edge that gets everyone excited. Ohshoma just bit the dirt in the center of the ring due to nothing Ura did drawing mild applause from the crowd.

We'll see what Hoshoryu and Takanosho decide to do tomorrow as they hold all of the yusho cards.

Kyushu Basho Day 11 Comments
I woke up this morning and saw the news announcing the death of former Yokozuna Kitanofuji. Kitanofuji retired long before I ever started watching sumo wrestling, but this guy was a staple on the NHK broadcast for decades. Kitanofuji was always in the booth for the big days of the broadcast, and people loved him because he was so candid in his remarks. I'm pretty sure all of the guys in the booth receive printed notes from NHK and the Association's PR department guiding the preferred dialog of the broadcast, but you could tell that Kitanofuji always went off script, and that's why sumo fans loved him.

He would occasionally tow the line and wear a conventional suit in the booth, but he often broke protocol by wearing outlandish leather jackets, kimono, and even tracksuits. He was one of a kind, and that is not hyperbole. There was nothing better than Kitanofuji providing color and Mainoumi sitting in the mukou-joumen chair talking about real bouts.

Mainoumi is going to be the next torchbearer in terms of chief analyst who isn't an NHK broadcaster nor a member of the Sumo Association, but Kitanofuji can never be replaced. He was also the last dude that kind of connected this era of sumo with some of the greats from the 70's like Taiho. It's a sad day for sure, and regardless of what happens at the Kyushu basho, Kitanofuji's passing is the biggest story hands down.

Turning our attention to the Day 11 action, I snapped this picture depicting a section of the crowd either right before or after the Ura - Hiradoumi bout:



Those masu-seki are designed to hold four people per section, and so if you buy a masu-seki, you have to pay for four seats essentially. There are a few of the masu-seki that contain four people, but the majority of them are maybe half full. People are either paying extra for more room, or people just aren't showing up.

The point is...that's a very casual environment depicted there, and the fans are not packed in like sardines to the see the sumos. And that's been the feel this entire tournament...everything just feels casual. I guess we have a yusho race forming, but I don't sense any real excitement over it, and my guess is that if you asked the fans what they think about the yusho race, the main answer would be something like, "It's not looking good for Onosato," instead of actually mentioning any of the rikishi by name who entered the day with just one loss as follows:

9-1: Kotozakura, Hoshoryu, Takanosho
8-2: Abi, Takerufuji

The day began with M16 Shishi taking on M14 Nishikifuji, and Shishi was soft out of the gate not even attempting to latch onto his smaller foe, and so the two rikishi traded defenseless tsuppari with Shishi slowly moving backwards. Because NFJ did not cause Shishi's backwards movement, he knew he didn't have momentum, and so he moved left sort of going for a pull, and instead of pivoting on a dime and squaring up, Shishi instead played along scooting to the other side of the dohyo as if a pull had occurred. As the two reconnected, Shishi accidentally got the right outer grip and left inside position, and with Nishikifuji's footwork sloppy as ever, Shishi could have ended it here, but the bout was fixed, and so Shishi stood there like a bump on a log and allowed Nishikifuji to set up a very weak outer belt throw with the right, and Shishi walked right into it slinging himself down and out. I mean, NFJ wasn't even close to a right outer the entire way, so for him to not only get that grip but then use it for a throw is nonsensical if Shishi was trying to win the bout. He wasn't of course, and his make-koshi fate is sealed at 3-8, but dude doesn't care a whit as he's already raking in the cash. As for Nishikifuji, he begs his way to 4-7, but he was never in control of this bout start to finish.

M14 Chiyoshoma henka'd to his right against M15 Tokihayate at the tachi-ai grabbing the cheap right outer grip, and he swung a clueless Tokihayate over to the edge where Chiyoshoma used the left inside position and that ill-gotten right outer grip to force Tokihayate down and out in one fell swoop. This was a classless move by Chiyoshoma who moves to 7-4 while Tokihayate falls to 4-7, but Tokihayate shouldn't feel too bad...he can't beat Chiyoshoma in a straight up bout anyway.

M17 Asakoryu looked to tug at M13 Ryuden's outstretched arms at the tachi-ai, and with Ryuden not even trying to latch onto the belt or get to the inside of his smaller opponent, he played along by skipping to the other side of the dohyo. From there, Ryuden kept his arms wide allowing the rookie to get the left arm deep inside, and Asakoryu quickly went for an inside belt throw. Ryuden could have countered with an outside right (had he bothered to grab it...he didn't) or even a counter kote-nage, but instead of a nage-no-uchi-ai, Ryuden just hopped forward on one foot and playing along and flopping down as if he'd been thrown. Another fake win here for Asakoryu who moves to 5-6 while Ryuden at 2-9 now will likely light up a cigar with Shishi when it's all said and done and laugh about all the cash they brought in this basho.

M10 Ichiyamamoto caught M13 Shonannoumi with some nice tsuppari at the tachi-ai standing him upright and forcing him to move to his right in an effort to counter, but Ichiyamamoto was moving nicely with the lower body, and he followed his foe along the edge and timed some perfect shoves to send Shonannoumi off the dohyo altogether. This was easily the best sumo of the day so far by Ichiyamamoto as both dudes end the day at 7-4.

M12 Sadanoumi reached for a right frontal grip of M9 Takayasu's belt, but he couldn't latch on, and so the two jockeyed for position and came way in hidari-yotsu where Sadanoumi finagled a right outer grip. The two weren't chest to chest, however, as Takayasu smartly angled his body inward just a bit to where he could use his left leg to keep Sadanoumi at bay, and so there the two stood for about 10 more seconds testing the waters. Takayasu wasn't in a position to attack, but Sadanoumi's feet were so far back, he didn't have great momentum either. After a brief stalemate, Sadanoumi attempted to swing Takayasu over and out with the right outer, but the move didn't have any steam, and it was clear that Sadanoumi was gassed at that point, and so Takayasu survived the attempt, wrenched his hips beautifully to break off Sadanoumi's right outer, and then he executed the perfect force-out of his exhausted opponent. This was great stuff from Takayasu today as he moves to 7-4 while Sadanoumi suffers make-koshi at 3-8.

Our first so-called leader stepped atop the dohyo in M16 Takerufuji and he was paired against M8 Gonoyama. Takerufuji's tachi-ai was awful as he came with his hands way too high exposing his insides, and as Gonoyama looked to move forward, Takerufuji quickly backed up to avoid going chest to chest. With Takerufuji's heels now against the Tawara, Gonoyama positioned himself for a pull, and that sent the momentum clear across to the other side of the dohyo, but Gonoyama put on the brakes before reaching the Tawara, and when Takerufuji saw his foe standing there well-grounded, he went for a dumb pull, and Gonoyama pounced on the move getting moro-zashi and forcing Takerufuji over and out quick as you please.

This was a bad start from both dudes, but as soon as Gonoyama got his bearings, he really steamrolled the M16 over, out, and into the lap of the judge sitting mukou-joumen West. When I watch Takerufuji's sumo, I see nothing but mistakes. His hands are too high; he can't establish the inside position; he can't fight at the belt; he has no tsuppari attack; and then worst of all...his footwork is terrible. Dude needs to spend 15 minutes at least every morning practicing suri-ashi and then using those suri-ashi during Keiko. He's simply a hyper-inflated rikishi who has no substance to speak of, and he suffers a costly loss here in terms of the yusho race as both dudes finish the day at 8-3.

M12 Hokutofuji offered a light right paw towards M8 Roga at the tachi-ai, but it had little effect as the two eventually hooked up in a soft hidari-yotsu. I say soft because Roga was shading back towards the Tawara the entire time, and Hokutofuji was not applying much force, and so the flow of this bout went to the edge where Hokutofuji finally got the cheap yori-kiri win with Roga not even thinking about a counter move. Just a soft, puff bout here where the fix was in as both dudes end the day at 4-7.

M11 Tamawashi drew M7 Mitakeumi today, and Tamawashi went very easy on his foe putting a soft right palm into Mitakeumi's neck while getting the left arm inside, and with zero resistance coming from Mitakeumi, Tamawashi lightly escorted him over and across in three seconds. Mitakeumi is seriously taking his life into his hands each time he gets on that dohyo, and his opponents obviously have enough respect for him that they aren't trying to kill him. Both rikishi ended the day at 6-5.

M7 Endoh extended his right arm at the tachi-ai fishing for a frontal grip on M11 Meisei's belt, and Meisei had the opening to get the solid left arm inside, but instead, Meisei just began a lateral retreat to his right where he skirted near the edge of the dohyo and for all intents and purposes just walked himself outta the ring entirely pretending to go for a pull against Endoh's extended left arm. They ruled it oshi-dashi (of course), but Endoh wasn't pushing here for sure. The palm of his left hand never made contact with Meisei's torso, but they had to say something. This was an easy yaocho call as both fellas square up at 6-5.

M9 Midorifuji also reached for a right frontal belt grip at the tachi-ai against M5 Kotoshoho, but Kotoshoho responded how a dude should if his intent is to win. He easily pushed Midorifuji away from the belt and back a full step, and then as Midorifuji hunkered down and ducked low getting the right arm lightly inside, Kotoshoho kept his wits about him and shoved Midorifuji upright and then a few steps up the hana-michi with a real oshi-dashi win. These bouts were so similar and I'm glad they came back to back because Kotoshoho did what Meisei could have done to Endoh. Kotoshoho moves to 3-8 with the nice win while Midorifuji falls to 5-6.

M6 Nishikigi kept his hands low as he lumbered forward towards M4 Churanoumi, and he was gifting Churanoumi anything that he wanted, but Churanoumi couldn't take it, and so he started running around the edge of the ring to his left, and he actually did a 360 right in front of his opponent to spin away. If a dude does a 360 and survives, you KNOW the bout is fixed in his favor. And it was of course. Still, Churanoumi was so hapless and weak that despite trying to hook up in yotsu-zumo near the edge, Churanoumi backed out of it and retreated to the other side of the dohyo, and with Nishikigi nudging him along, Churanoumi was being steamrolled out altogether, but just before Churanoumi stepped out, Nishikigi could see what was happening and stepped his left foot across the straw in ridiculously obvious fashion. At least they correctly ruled it isami-ashi and not some fake kimari-te like hiki-otoshi. I mean, Nishikigi's intentional step-out was blatant here as was his motive start to finish when he never latched onto his vulnerable gal. Both dudes end the day at 3-8, and this was everything that is wrong with sumo wrestling these days.

Fresh off of being booted from the leaderboard yesterday, M15 Onokatsu found himself paired way up the banzuke against M3 Abi today, and this was a total laugher as Abi stretched his arms forward at the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, but instead of executing any tsuppari, he simply backed up to the edge. And the dude wasn't even pulling on anything because Onokatsu was slow out of the gate, but after Abi set himself up at the Tawara, and the eventual push-out from Onokatsu was just academic, and this was a terribly orchestrated yaocho that was obvious for all to see. Abi put himself against the edge of the dohyo before Onokatsu had even touched him, but oh well. Sumos will be sumos as both rikishi finish here at 8-3.

The tachi-ai between M2 Wakatakakage and M10 Takarafuji was decent, and Takarafuji had the easy path to get the left arm inside, but he slowly brought that arm up high gifting Wakatakakage the uncontested path to moro-zashi, and as WTK executed the quick force-out charge, Takarafuji just backed up in kind leading to a soft bout of sumo here that was over in about three seconds. Wakatakakage is gifted kachi-koshi with this one at 8-3 while Takarafuji hasn't got a care in the world at 7-4.

M2 Ura and M1 Hiradoumi grappled well from the tachi-ai as Hiradoumi slowly moved Ura back to the straw, but this was still close to a fiddy-fiddy contest, and so Ura was able to tug at Hiradoumi's extended left arm and pull him forward and out just as Ura was being forced down. The ref pointed in favor of Hiradoumi who was the aggressor, but if there was ever a tie between two dudes, this was it.



In the do over, Ura charged low drawing a quick pull attempt from Hiradoumi, and as Hiradoumi sold out on the pull, Ura pushed him back and across, but once again, Ura spun around and crashed down just as Hiradoumi was stepping out of the ring. They pointed towards Hiradoumi yet again because Ura did touch out first but Hiradoumi's entire body though still in the air was across the Tawara, and so they ordered another rematch.

By this time, they had officially jumped the shark, but okay. In the rematch, both dudes struck well again and traded tsuppari in the ring while the action favored Hiradoumi, but Ura managed to tug at Hiradoumi's arm and get him off balance, and as Hiradoumi looked to recover, he stumbled a bit and that allowed Ura to bulldoze his way in and score the oshi-taoshi win. At least the fans were entertained as Ura moved to just 3-8 while Hiradoumi falls to 1-10.

I get irritated when I have to comment on 20 bouts a day, and now these two yayhoos are going to make me comment on 22.

Moving right along, M1 Ohho and M4 Ohshoma exchanged half-hearted shoves from the tachi-ai, and there they stood with neither guy going full bore. About four seconds in, Ohshoma went for this soft tap at the back of Ohho's right shoulder, and Ohho hit the dirt as quick as you please. Ohshoma tried to catch up with his foe's fall and make contact into his back, but this was just a quick dive after an ugly start to the bout leaving both guys at 3-8.

M3 Atamifuji and Komusubi Shodai struck well at the tachi-ai, and Shodai kept his arms in tight hoping not to give up anything to the inside, but Atamifuji eventually worked his right arm inside, and I think he had the left outer grip on the other side. NHK World never showed the replay from the reverse angle, but regardless, the force-out was swift and decisive in favor of Atamifuji once he established himself to the inside. Good stuff here from Atamifuji who moves to 5-6 while Shodai is about as weak of an opponent as you could hope to fight in falling to 4-7.

M5 Tobizaru did this little hop at the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Kirishima, and so Kirishima grabbed Tobizaru's extended right arm and then just lifted him over to the edge where he used a nice shove to Tobizaru's left side sending him down to the first row. Took about two seconds as Kirishima moves to 5-6 while Tobizaru falls to 6-5.

The final three bouts of the day all had yusho implications, so we'll start with Kotozakura who was paired against Komusubi Wakamotoharu. WMH won the tachi-ai and drove Kotozakura back a full step, and Wakamotoharu could have gotten the right arm deep inside coupled with the left outer grip (pictured at right), but he relented and simply let up allowing Kotozakura to move him back to the other side of the dohyo, and just near the edge before Kotozakura had forced his gal across, Wakamotoharu purposefully stepped his right foot out digging up a ton of sand just to make sure he lost the bout.

I think that's the first time I've ever seen a guy lose by oshi-dashi and still kick up that much dirt by moving his foot forward, but yaocho will cause you to see strange things.

Moving right along, M6 Takanosho put a quick paw to Onosato's neck as Takanosho moved quickly left, and Onosato had no idea how to respond to the henka. As soon as Onosato could square back up, Takanosho was driving that right paw into Onosato's throat again causing the dude to look to the rafters, and as soon as Takanosho threatened the right arm inside, Onosato went into complete pull mode, but Takanosho had all the momentum and easily pushed Onosato back and across without argument.

I suppose you could try and defend Onosato's loss today by pointing out the henka from Takanosho, but shouldn't a truly great rikishi be able to respond to that? Especially since Takanosho had made contact with that chokehold before he moved left? Point is...a strong tachi-ai from Onosato would have thrown Takanosho off his game, but it never ame. Onosato was simply outmaneuvered and outmatched in this one as Takanosho stakes his claim atop the leaderboard at 10-1 while Onosato's yusho chances are done now as he falls to 7-4.

In the day's final bout, Ozeki Hoshoryu came in high with his hands wide leaving himself vulnerable to Sekiwake Daieisho, but Daieisho's wasn't bringing the heat with his tsuppari attack, and so the two traded places on the dohyo grappling a bit and firing defensive shoves, and it was evident that Hoshoryu was giving his foe an opening. Daieisho couldn't take it, however, and ultimately positioned his hands for an early pull and that gave Hoshoryu moro-zashi. Still, after getting moro-zashi, Hoshoryu's force-out attempt wasn't definitive and he was leaving an opening for a counter tsuki-otoshi from both sides, but when Daieisho failed to capitalize, Hoshoryu finally pushed his foe across with some oomph. Hoshoryu was clearly leaving himself vulnerable here and signaling his intentions the final few days after moving to 10-1 while Daieisho falls to 6-5.

With the dust settled, the leaderboard now looks like this:



I knew they were going to go down to three losses just to keep more dudes on the leaderboard, but the yusho will come down to one of those one-loss rikishi. After watching Hoshoryu's antics against Daieisho today, I'd say that Kotozakura is the heavy favorite...emphasis on heavy.

Kyushu Basho Day 10 Comments
I'd be curious to know what the top-three streamed bouts are each day on the Sumo Association's YouTube channel. I'm positive that Onosato takes the #1 slot every day, but I'm curious about #2 and #3. I'm quite sure a day hasn't gone by where Takerufuji hasn't been in the top three, and it's a good example of the Association in conjunction with the media force-feeding rikishi to the Japanese public and telling them who to root for.  One problem with that strategy is...what happens when both of those dudes are non-factors during a basho?  Of course, that's never happened in either of their Makuuchi careers to this point, but I can tell you that the two are not being hyped up because of their good sumo.

In the past, dudes like Chiyonofuji and Takanohana became superstars because they had the sumo to back it up, so this is an interesting age of sumo where the stars are purely manufactured and show very little waza (technique) in their bouts start to finish.

Due to time constraints today, let's go into leaderboard mode and only comment on significant bouts from the day and/or other bouts I thought contained interesting aspects to them that are worth pointing out.

The leaderboard at the start of the day was as follows, so let's get right too it:

8-1: Kotozakura, Hoshoryu, Takanosho
7-2: Onosato, Abi, Takarafuji, Onokatsu, Takerufuji

Up first on the leaderboard was M16 Takerufuji paired against M11 Meisei, and Meisei wasn't committed to anything at the tachi-ai leaving himself vulnerable, but Takerufuji couldn't get to the inside and establish position. Takerufuji wasn't executing an oshi attack either, and so Meisei faked a light pull that was just an excuse to back up and then another fake pull that backed himself up some more, and then finally Meisei stood firm and erect (cool) like a toy soldier at the edge, and Takerufuji crushed him down hard and off the dohyo with a stiff paw to the chest.

Takerufuji immediately rushed down to help Meisei up, and that's what rikishi do in fixed bouts when they rough up their mukiryoku foes at the edge. That final jab from Takerufuji was really the only offensive move he connected on the entire bout as this was all Meisei setting himself up with fake pulls and retreating sumo for no reason other than to throw the bout. If you look at the pic at left, Takerufuji is way upright and Meisei has the clear path to the inside.  He of course didn't take it, but it's also worth pointing out just how vulnerable Takerufuji was here and how vulnerable he always is atop the dohyo. They just can't help themselves, however, as Takerufuji is gifted 8-2 while Meisei knows his place at 6-4.

Directly proceeding this bout was the M9 Midorifuji - M15 Tokihayate matchup, and that contest couldn't have been a bigger contrast to the crap we saw with Takerufuji and Meisei (go back and enjoy the bout if you have the means). Without having seen the rest of the bouts, I already know that Midorifuji (5-5) - Tokihayate (4-6) was the best bout of the day. That was real sumo if I've ever seen it. And I've seen it!!

Getting back to the pretend leaderboard, M10 Takarafuji was paired against M7 Mitakeumi, and neither dude established any inside position from the tachi-ai, and Mitakeumi's hands were up higher than they should have been, but Takarafuji didn't take advantage by getting to the inside. Eventually, Mitakeumi started worming his left arm to the inside, and Takarafuji just watched him do it, and as soon as Mitakeumi indicated he was moving forward, Takarafuji backed up as if to pull, but that move never came of course, the end result was a fake win in favor of Mitakeumi. Mitakeumi can barely stand up straight, and he's easily the most vulnerable rikishi in the division right now in his condition, so to see Takarafuji not even try against him tells you that the bout was fixed. Takarafuji is thankfully knocked off the leaderboard at 7-3 while the Mitakeumi camp will likely buy this dude a kachi-koshi. As of now, he stands at 6-4.

The next bout featured the one-loss M6 Takanosho against the two-loss M15 Onokatsu, and at the tachi-ai, Onokatsu reached for and got a frontal belt grip with the left, but instead of reeling Takanosho in and wrenching him upright, Onokatsu just stayed low with that belt grip. Takanosho went into pull mode, and when he lightly touched Onokatsu by the side of the head, Onokatsu just put both palms to the dirt. Wow, what great sumo from two supposed leaders!! Takanosho bought this one in moving to 9-1 while Onokatsu falls off the leaderboard at 7-3.

Up next was M3 Abi who was matched up against M1 Hiradoumi, and Abi exhibited his worst tachi-ai of the basho. Without attempting any tsuppari into his opponent's grill, Abi sorta henka'd left perhaps to set up a cheap pull, but he completely exposed himself to his opponent giving Hiradoumi the clear path the front of Abi's belt with the left and then the path to the right inside position. But Hiradoumi didn't take it, and you knew what was coming next. With Abi still out of sorts and no position whatsoever to attack, he backed up to the straw and started moving right, and as he did so, Hiradoumi was in the perfect position to fire a left tsuki into Abi's side and send him across, but Hiradoumi didn't even try. With the M1 standing there listlessly, Abi attempted a scoop throw with the right, and Hiradoumi just stood there with both palms open and not touching anything (pictured at right). When that poor scoop throw failed, Abi continued moving right and pulled a more than willing Hiradoumi down for the very soft win. I mean, Hiradoumi did most of the work in falling, but whatever. This was such a fake bout as Abi somehow stays on the leaderboard at 8-2 while Hiradoumi falls to 1-9.

Sekiwake Daieisho took on Onosato today, and the Sekiwake put two hands into Onosato's chest from the tachi-ai, but Onosato was bodying his way forward forcing Daieisho to retreat and put his heels against the Tawara. The problem with Onosato's tactic was that he didn't have a hold of Daieisho nor was he thrusting, and so Daieisho was able to put on the brakes and work his way into moro-zashi at the edge. From there, Onosato looked to hang on with a right outer grip over the top, but he was in no position to neutralize Daieisho's yori attack, and so after gathering his wits for two seconds, Daieisho executed the swift and decisive force-out win against a largely hapless Onosato.

Three words I never thought I'd type in succession in my life were "Daieisho gets moro-zashi" but that he did, and if you are some superstar and a future Yokozuna, how do you let a purely oshi guy whose lost a step beat you at the belt? And not only beat you, but force you back and across without argument? In watching the reverse angle replay, you could see that Onosato had his left arm to the inside and in great position at the tachi-ai, but he just muffed it and couldn't secure his gal in snug. All of Onosato's flaws were on display in this bout as he falls to 7-3 and off the leaderboard (gulp) while Daieisho picks up a nice win not to mention a sweet handful of kensho in moving to 6-4.

The proceeding bout was Ozeki Hoshoryu taking on M5 Kotoshoho, and Hoshoryu's tachi-ai was rather light as he didn't stick to the inside opting to move right a bit and trade places with Kotoshoho on the dohyo. From there, Hoshoryu secured the right inside position and then locked Kotoshoho up around his arm with the left. Hoshoryu never grabbed a left outer, but his left arm was pinching in so tightly against Kotoshoho's right that it was actually better to neutralize Kotoshoho from doing anything then letting him go chest to chest. After waiting a few seconds, Hoshoryu went for the yori charge leading with the right inside and a left tsuki to Kotoshoho's side, and the M5 had no answer. Slow start from Hoshoryu but a good finish as he moves to 9-1 while Kotoshoho falls to 2-8.

The day's final bout included Kotozakura vs. M5 Tobizaru, and Tobizaru was stuck in molasses at the tachi-ai standing up slowly and putting his palms forward, and that allowed Kotozakura to rush in and attempt to get the right arm inside. He was too hapless to get it straight way, and so the two traded places on the dohyo as Tobizaru let Kotozakura get the inside right inside position in exchange for a left outer grip in favor of the M5. Tobizaru was just standing there at Kotozakura's bidding despite having the better position, and Kotozakura tried to grab the back of Tobizaru's belt, but he whiffed, but Tobizaru was already leaning forward, and so Kotozakura touched him at the back of the right arm and Tobizaru dutifully flopped forward and down. Tobizaru (6-4) could have easily gotten moro-zashi after the tachi-ai, but he made sure to make no attempt whatsoever at an offensive move, and this was pure drivel as he threw the bout in Kotozakura's favor. Kotozakura moves to 9-1 with the gift, and what an ugly, unimpressive 9-1 it has been.

With the dust settled among the leaders, this is how the leaderboard shapes up at the end of the Chubansen:



We'll see if the Association panics now that Onosato is off of the leaderboard. I mean, Kotozakura is supposedly sitting pretty there in that first slot, but he's not the kind of rikishi who can really generate any buzz.  It wouldn't be too much to ask Hoshoryu to lose, but if either of those other one-loss dudes keeping winning, the leaderboard will continue to get thin with a fair amount of days to go.  We'll just have to see.

In a few other bouts of interest on the day, take note of M6 Nishikigi's sumo today against M3 Atamifuji. Nishikigi came hard at the tachi-ai establishing the migi-yotsu grip, and then he demanded the left outer grip against Atami the Hutt, and once secured, he began forcing Atamifuji back and to the side where Atamifuji was trying to set up a counter right scoop throw, but NG was just too good here neutralizing that counter move and dominating the younger AFJ. The subtleties of Nishikigi's sumo here were beautiful and worth mentioning, and this dude can do that to any Japanese rikishi on the banzuke when he wanna. He'd just rather sell a bunch of bouts and hoard cash in the process, and I can't blame him. Nishikigi is just 3-7 while Atamifuji falls to 4-6.

M17 Asakoryu moved to his left at the tachi-ai against M12 Sadanoumi, and the rookie wrapped his left arm around Sadanoumi's upper right and wasn't even in a great position to execute a kote-nage, but Sadanoumi played along and stopped, dropped, and rolled over to the edge and out. Fake bout here as Asakoryu limps to 4-6 while Sadanoumi falls to 3-7.

The entire shootin' match today began with M16 Shishi matched up against M13 Shonannoumi, and you can tell when Shishi throws his bouts because his tachi-ai are just puff performances. When he means business, he gets to the belt straightway, but today he was bought off, and so he stood upright timidly. Problem was that Shonannoumi wasn't pressing forward from the start, so it was a bad tachi-ai from both, so with neither dude at the belt and neither dude executing a push attack, Shishi went for a lame pull that of course didn't work, and then he just ducked his head and advanced towards his opponent as if to say, "Pull me down already ya dipshit." Shonannoumi whiffed on the first attempt, so Shishi stayed ducked low and went again, and the second time was a charm as Shonannoumi grabbed the back of Shishi's belt and tugged causing Shishi to flop forward and down. Nice try fellas as Shonannoumi buys his way to 7-3 while Shishi falls to 3-7.

I suppose Kotozakura is the favorite to yusho at this point, but there is little buzz surrounding him in the media and in the arena.

Kyushu Basho Day 9 Comments
As week two of the basho begins, we have eight rikishi on the leaderboard all within one loss of each other, but nothing is really going to move until Hoshoryu decides to lose again. With Onosato sitting at two losses already, you have to be careful about lowering the yusho line too quickly. There's a 95% chance or more of the yusho coming from the Ozeki ranks this time, and the dudes still need to fight each other, so that's another guaranteed three losses to be spread around.

To change the subject a bit, I've noticed as I've been looking for pictures of bouts on the wires, the only true action shots I'm getting are either of Hoshoryu or of guys who aren't going to win the basho. The dudes who are buying their wins (everyone on the leaderboard not named Hoshoryu or Abi) can't create those great snapshots at the end of their bouts because they're mostly puff bouts with mukiryoku sumo. You'll see what I'm talking about as we examine the bouts today.

Before we get that far, let's review the leaderboard heading into Day 9:

7-1:  Kotozakura, Hoshoryu, Takanosho, Onokatsu
6-2:  Onosato, Abi, Takarafuji ,Takerufuji

The day began with M14 Chiyoshoma fighting M17 Asakoryu, and the rookie came in way too high perhaps fishing for a quick pull at the tachi-ai, and that gave Chiyoshoma moro-zashi out of the gate. Chiyoshoma hurried his force-out charge more than was necessary, but Asakoryu had given up so much ground from the tachi-ai that Chiyoshoma was able to force him back and across before Chiyoshoma himself hit the dirt due to a late tsuki to the back of the shoulder from Asakoryu. Chiyoshoma moves to 5-4 while Asakoryu falls to 3-6.

M13 Ryuden and M15 Tokihayate hooked up in a loose hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai before switching places in the dohyo, and from there, Tokihayate grabbed a right outer grip against a defenseless Ryuden. Tokihayate paused for a second or two and then went for an uwate-nage, and Ryuden just stayed loose and went with the throw crumpling over and down giving Tokihayate the cheap, fixed win. If any bout should have gone to a nage-no-uchi-ai, it was this one, especially with the larger, better Ryuden on the wrong end of the throw. You can always tell when a throw is fixed because the guy who loses doesn't apply any counter pressure, and that's what happened here. Tokihayate oils his way to 4-5 while Ryuden falls to 2-7.

Our first "leader" of the day stepped atop the dohyo in M16 Takerufuji, and he was paired against M12 Sadanoumi. Sadanoumi was a bump on a log at the tachi-ai, but Takerufuji still couldn't blow him off the starting lines. Instead, Takerufuji panicked and put his hands high in order to set up a pull, but that gave Sadanoumi moro-zashi shoulder deep because Takerufuji was up so high. Now it was Sadanoumi's turn to panic because he knew the fix was in, but now in this moro-zashi position, his chances of winning were literally 100%. What happened next was obvious and frankly a travesty as Sadanoumi (3-6) tip-toed a bit forward and then dipped his right shoulder and knee to the dirt as if he had been pulled down. The problem was this happened as if it was in slow motion, and everyone could see how badly this bout was thrown in favor of Takerufuji (7-2).  You just look at Takerufuji's fee there...flat-footed, heels nearly touching, toes extending out.  That is NOT the position of someone who just executed a move.

How could anyone root for Takerufuji moving forward after watching this bout? The dude is a total fraud, and this was Exhibit A as to why I'm so disgusted with Sumo wrestling.

Moving right along, M12 Hokutofuji met M13 Shonannoumi, and Hokutofuji executed his usual harmless tachi-ai where he jabs quickly and moves left. Shonannoumi adjusted well, and the two traded a few shoves before Shonannoumi timed a lunge forward from Hokutofuji perfectly that saw Shonannoumi quickly dart right and catch Hokutofuji up and under the shoulder, and he was able to kata-squash him from there. That was a nifty move from Shonannoumi who improves to 6-3 while Hokutofuji falls to 3-6.

M16 Shishi faced M11 Meisei, and the Ukrainian stood upright at the tachi-ai as Meisei was looking pull from the get-go. You could tell from the tachi-ai that neither dude was going all out, and Shishi quickly ducked his head allowing Meisei to pull him over to the edge of the dohyo. Because they weren't going all out, Shishi still kept his footing, but he purposefully stood there with a target on his chest and waited for Meisei to push him across. With no counter pressure coming from Shishi, Meisei knocked his foe over rather harshly and then quickly ran forward to help Shishi up. These lopsided endings are a great example of fixed sumo, and that was we got here as Meisei moves to 6-3 with the cheap win while Shishi falls to 3-6 with more pocket change.

M11 Tamawashi was completely flat-footed and upright at the tachi-ai against M14 Nishikifuji signaling his intention from the start to throw the bout, but Nishikifuji wasn't firing on all cylinders from the get-got and so Tamawashi executed a few thrusts with no lower body behind the shoves, and then he grabbed Nishikifuji in the right kote-nage hold and flinched a bit on the throw, and Nishikifuji was off balance and in danger had Tamawashi decided to follow through on the throw. He didn't of course, and then when Nishikifuji looked to square back up, Tamawashi's muscle memory had him execute a counter tsuki with the left to Nishikifuji's right side, and that threw Nishikifuji out of sorts even more, but still Tamawashi held up and then abandoned any sumo altogether finally gifting Nishikifuji moro-zashi. Because NFJ hadn't created any momentum or earned his way into moro-zashi, he of course didn't have the strength to force The Mawashi back that last step and so Tamawashi just bent over backwards and fell down the side of the dohyo. Oh brother. This yaocho stuff is really annoying as Tamawashi falls to 4-5 while Nishikifuji limps forward to 3-6.

Two rikishi who undeservedly find themselves on the leaderboard met next in M15 Onokatsu and M10 Takarafuji, and this was hardly a bout that resembled two dudes in contention for the yusho. Onokatsu's tachi-ai was weak as he offered a right arm forward, and Takarafuji's response was to move left just a bit and wrap around the outside of the extended right arm, but instead of going for a kote-nage, Takarafuji sorta tapped at the back of Onokatsu's right shoulder, and Onokatsu just flopped forward and down about two seconds in despite the lack of contact. A nessen (heated contest) this wasn't as both dudes end the day at 7-2, which means they're still unfortunately on the leaderboard heading into tomorrow.

M10 Ichiyamamoto failed to blast M7 Mitakeumi off of the starting lines, and instead allowed Mitakeumi to move forward a step or so, but IYM righted the ship quickly with some nice tsuppari that set up migi-yotsu where Ichiyamamoto grabbed a left outer grip. From there, Ichiyamamoto gathered his wits for a second or two and then forced Mitakeumi back quickly. Mitakeumi actually countered with an inside belt throw at the edge to throw IYM off balance a bit, but Mitakeumi was already too far gone enabling Ichiyamamoto to score the nice force out win.

Considering Mitakeumi's condition, I'm surprised that Ichiyamamoto took this long to dispatch him. Oh wait, we're talking about Ichiyamamoto here. Okay, I'm not surprised as both dudes end the day at 5-4.

M7 Endoh reached for a frontal belt grip against M9 Takayasu, but the latter used two stiff arms into Endoh's neck to keep him at bay, and with Endoh completely neutralized, Takayasu stepped right, grabbed an outer grip, and then just kept up that lateral momentum by spinning Endoh around and down with that right outer belt grip. Not the prettiest uwate-nage you've ever seen, but I'll take it as both dudes end the day at 5-4.

M9 Midorifuji got an early right frontal belt grip against M6 Nishikigi, who didn't lumber forward at the tachi-ai, and there the two rikishi stood as Midorifuji held on with that right frontal grip and the left inside while Nishikigi forced his left arm to the inside of Midorifuji's right arm although Nishikigi didn't have any inside position. And there the two stood for a spell before Midorifuji tested the dashi-nage waters that sent Nishikigi near the edge, but the big slug recovered and forced another stalemate where Midorifuji stubbornly held onto that right frontal belt grip. Nishikigi never did try and latch on tight and apply pressure from the outside as we often see Terunofuji do, and so after another dashi-nage attempt from Midorifuji, Nishikigi calmly hit the dirt. I just didn't see any urgency from NG here, and so it's possible the bout was thrown, but who knows? Midorifuji did everything right after grabbing that early right belt grip, so credit him for the win at 4-5 while Nishikigi falls to 2-7.

Our next leader stepped forward in Takanosho who was paired against M8 Roga, and Takanosho offered two thrusts up high towards Roga's neck area, but they were largely ineffective, and so that allowed Roga to grab a left outer grip coupled with the right inside position. Normally, Takanosho would have been had at this point, but Roga promptly backed up instead of applying the usual force from the front. From there it was clear that Roga was not trying to win the contest, and so with Roga just standing there after backing up of his own volition, Takanosho went for this meager tug at the back of Roga's right elbow, and Roga dutifully put both palms to the dirt catching himself in the missionary position. Isn't it interesting how all of these so-called leaders are giving up lethal positions to their opponents only to pull the bout out with mouse-like sumo at the end? Takanosho is also a fraud at 8-1 while Roga knows his place in falling to 4-5.

M8 Gonoyama and M5 Kotoshoho both struck well at the tachi-ai looking to trade tsuppari, but Kotoshoho quickly went into pull mode circling around the ring to his right as he did so. Gonoyama was able to hang on after a turn around half the dohyo, and the two found themselves at this point in migi-yotsu with Kotoshoho having the left outer grip. KSH had the advantage here, but he forced Gonoyama a step towards the center of the ring, and then just backed up to the straw for no reason, and that backwards momentum allowed Gonoyama to plant two palms into his chest and send Kotoshoho tumbling backwards off of the dohyo.

Here's how you know this bout was fixed...well, aside from the fact that Kotoshoho led start to finish and threw away the advantageous position. Look at Gonoyama at the end of the bout when it was decided. Please scroll through the drawings of kimari-te on the Sumo Association's website and find me a picture of a dude who just won a bout of sumo and ended up in Gonoyama's position. I don't know what politics were behind this one, but Gonoyama bought this bout in moving to 6-3 while Kotoshoho settles for 2-7.

M2 Ura ducked low at the tachi-ai, but M5 Tobizaru was still able to get a right arm inside and hold that position for a bit...which is a miracle considering how these two fly all over the dohyo. Ura applied pressure from the outside with his left arm against Tobizaru's inside right, and then the two jockeyed for positioning on the other side. Tobizaru slowly nudged Ura back, but he wanted to secure him in place with the left arm before going for the kill, but he couldn't quite muster it, and so the two social distanced themselves and ended up pushing into each other's shoulders. As they were standing in this stalemate, from out of nowhere Tobizaru slapped Ura towards the face with a beefy right paw, and that shook Ura to the point where Tobizaru was able to rush him out from behind and into the lap of Ohho waiting below.

Wow, I think that slap from Tobizaru has to be one of my favorite highlights of the basho so far. It just came out of nowhere throwing Ura out of sorts, and we couldn't have asked for a better finish from these two yayhoos. Tobizaru moves to 6-3 with the win while Ura falls to 2-7 and that pic above strangely looks like the cover photo of the adult video I rented over the weekend...

Fresh off of his lap dance from Ura, M1 Ohho stepped into the ring against M1 Hiradoumi, and the two looked to get into the clinch from the tachi-ai, but they just couldn't stick and ended coming up out of the fray trading tsuppari. That type of sumo favors Ohho for sure, and he showed why by placing beefy thrusts into Hiradoumi's body that knocked him upright and eventually back. Good stuff here from Ohho who moves to just 3-6 while Hiradoumi falls to 1-8, suffering make-koshi in the process.

In the sanyaku ranks, Komusubi Shodai faced M2 Wakatakakage, and after a few bogus false starts called by the ref and head official, who were likely bored out of their skulls, the third time was a charm, and Wakatakakage struck well getting the right arm to the inside of SlowDai, and Wakatakakage forced him back and across in one fell swoop. This was a nice, easy win for WTK who moves to 6-3 while Shodai falls to 3-6.

Sekiwake Daieisho was matched up against M3 Abi, and the two treated us to a very good pushing contest as Daieisho's beefier thrusts moved Abi back a touch, but as Abi stood pat after moving laterally a bit, he used his length to keep Daieisho upright, and he connected on enough tough tsuppari that the Sekiwake had no answer and nowhere to go except backwards as Abi directed him out of the ring with the nice comeback win. Abi stays on the leaderboard at 7-2 while Daieisho falls to 5-4, and I believe Abi has already faced the dudes at the top of the banzuke, so he largely controls his own destiny moving forward.

Sekiwake Kirishima and M3 Atamifuji hooked up in the gappuri migi-yotsu position meaning both had right inside positions and left outer grips, but Kirishima just let go of his outer grip and let Atamifuji attack. Atamifuji tried to force the Sekiwake out, but Kirishima held on with the right inside position and danced around the edge of the ring, and Atamifuji got distracted trying to prance along the toku-dawara on the East side, and so he lost his grip of Kirishima, and the Sekiwake was able to turn the tables and push a now wobbly Atamifuji across. Kirishima definitely gave his opponent some chances, but Atamifuji couldn't sill the dill as we say in Utah falling to 4-5 while Kirishima makes up a bit of ground in moving to 3-6.

Ozeki Hoshoryu faced M4 Churanoumi, and the Ozeki thrust his foe upright with effective tsuppari and then grabbed a right outer grip and spun Churanoumi (2-7) around before throwing him out of the dohyo altogether with that right outer grip just as he did against Ohshoma yesterday. Hoshoryu moves to 8-1 with the easy win, and he maintains his storyteller status for another day.

Speaking of M4 Ohshoma, it was his turn to battle Kotozakura today, and I guess battle was not the correct word to use here. Ohshoma moved a bit to his right at the tachi-ai avoiding any contact, and then he just stood there. Problem was that Kotozakura didn't no how to respond, and so the two stood there kinda stiff arming into each other, and then Ohshoma began moving to his left and promptly tripped over his two feet giving Kotozakura the cheaper than cheap win.

In watching the slow motion replay, Ohshoma (2-7) actually swiped at Kotozakura's extended right hand as Ohshoma moved left, and then toppled over completely of his own volition. They ruled it oshi-taoshi, which was completely false, but this was just a perfect example of how politics steps in and makes calls that benefit the Japanese rikishi.

Isn't this what we all love? A dude ranked at Ozeki with an 8-1 record picking up these phantom wins left and right?? The problem is that over time even the Japanese fans can see through this, and there is no electricity in that building, especially after a farcical bout like this. Shame on the Sumo Association here.

In the day's final bout, Onosato was matched up against Komusubi Wakamotoharu, and Onosato's tachi-ai was soft and very ineffective, which happens when you mostly stand straight up and have no legs behind the move. That allowed Wakamotoharu to get the deep right inside position and left outer grip, but instead of burrowing under Onosato and forcing him back or doing what Hoshoryu did and pivot to the left in this case and swing Onosato over and out, Wakamotoharu just retreated to the edge of the dohyo as stood there completely upright waiting for Onosato to force him across. It took Onosato a bit to adjust, and when he finally applied some force, Wakamotoharu went out with no resistance, which was seen by how amicable these two were towards each other at the end. There was simply no substance to Onosato here, and once again, he loses the tachi-ai (badly in this case) and then relies on his opponent to back himself up to the edge of the ring so Onosato can finally dink him across. This is the Emperor with No Clothes if I've ever seen it as Onosato is babied to 7-2 while Wakamotoharu is paid some cash in falling to 5-4.

With the dust settled on a bland Day 9, this is our leaderboard as we close out the Chubansen tomorrow:

Kyushu Basho Day 7, 8 Comments
At the end of Day 6 and heading into Day 7, it really felt like this basho had lost any direction with Onosato's second loss and a handful of rikishi finishing the day 6-0. The success of sumo certainly doesn't depend on Onosato, but he's been built up so much the last six months that it was like the fans weren't sure how to process his falling to 4-2. The Nagoya Basho, which Terunofuji won, is really a wash. Nobody was paying attention to sumo because the Summer Olympics were going on and it was the height of the baseball season...both in Japan and with Shohei Otani here in the states.

So nobody was paying attention to sumo in July, and so you take this basho, the May basho, and then the March basho, and the only thing the fans were programmed to think about was the..uh..supposed dominance of Onosato and Takerufuji. At the end of Day 6 when it was clear to everyone that these guys weren't dominating at 4-2 nor were they even doing good sumo, the feeling was, "What happens now?"

Even two days later at the end of Day 8, that feeling still lingers, and I sure wish I had access to the Japanese broadcast and NHK News programs to listen to the spin.

Let's quickly highlight bouts of interest from both Days 7 and 8 in preparation for the release of the leaderboard with Day 9.

The first bout of Day 7 featured the 6-0 M15 Onokatsu vs. M16 Takerufuji who entered the day at 4-2. This is the second Makuuchi tournament for both of these guys, and both have bought the majority of their bouts, so I was interested to see what would happen here. Onokatsu kept his hands high and wide from the tachi-ai and literally just stood there waiting for Takerufuji to force him back. Takerufuji didn't blast Onokatsu back from the initial charge, and there really wasn't any contact so both dudes sorta danced back near the edge with Onokatsu's back to the wall, and in the end, the bout went to hidari-yotsu where Takerufuji had the gift right outer, and the force-out was just a joke as it contained no force. For some reason after the "win," Takerufuji hopped off the dohyo and ran up the hana-michi a few steps. How does that happen after a yori-kiri?? Onokatsu suffered his first loss in falling to 6-1 and nobody noticed, and the bout was obviously thrown in favor of Takerufuji who stood at 5-2 at the end of week 1.

After being taken out of the arena on a stretcher Friday, I was surprised to see M7 Mitakeumi compete on Day 7. His opponent was the one-loss M6 Takanosho, and what a gift for Takanosho! At the tachi-ai, Takanosho easily absorbed Mitakeumi's light charge and then got the right arm inside and began forcing Mitakeumi back with no resistance whatsoever...and the bout wasn't fixed. Mitakeumi looked to be in no shape to step into the ring as he fell to 5-2 while Takanosho skated to an easy 6-1.

Onosato drew M2 Ura on Saturday, and in this bout, Ura slipped to his left at the tachi-ai causing Onosato to completely whiff, but instead of trying to take advantage with a pull, Ura just backed himself up to the edge and then danced around the Tawara as Onosato tried to push him across. In the end, Ura (2-5) felt some light contact and just spun wildly across the dohyo and ran himself out giving Onosato the cheap win and 5-2 record.

Ozeki Hoshoryu was paired against M3 Abi, and the Ozeki walked into Abi's outstretched arms aimed at his neck, and he held that posisition for a second before reacting to an Abi swipe with the right hand, and Hoshoryu just put two palms to the dirt a second in. As if this wasn't premeditated. What a waste of a bout as Hoshoryu predictably takes his first loss to not only make the yusho race more interesting but to actually allow a yusho race to happen. As for Abi, he was rewarded with a 5-2 record with the gift.

The final bout on Saturday featured Kotozakura taking on M3 Atamifuji, and the tachi-ai was pretty good as the two hooked up in migi-yotsu with Atamifuji positioned perfectly to grab a left outer grip. He refused it of course and then lightly moved forward not applying any force to Kotozakura, and as Kotozakura went for a light tug with his left outer grip, Atamifuji just fell forward and down. They ruled it uwate-nage, but there was definitely no throw there, but that was as close as they could come due to the fake nature of this bout. Kotozakura moved to 6-1, but this dude is so hapless, he isn't even getting any run in the f unny papers. As for Atamifuji, he dictated start to finish and fell--literally--to 4-3.

At the end of Day 7, NHK World flashed this leaderboard:



You can see how important that loss by Hoshoryu (and Onokatsu) was because it keeps the only two rikishi fans seem to know anything about right now, Onosato and Takerufuji, on the leaderboard.

My personal highlight from Day 7 was actually snapping this picture of a dude in Kyushu who always sits in the suna-kaburi and wears Aerosmith shirts that you don't know are Aerosmith shirts unless you really know the band:



I first discovered this dude on Day 14 of the Kyushu basho last year when he wore the following gem:



I guess it shows you how bored I can get with things sometimes.

I'm pretty sure the Aeromith dude was rockin' more swag on Day 8, but I couldn't see what his shirt said due to the pale blue lettering against a black shirt and the crappy quality of the NHK World feed (no offense to Ross, Radja, Murray, and the boys).

Getting to the nakabi bouts, the day began with M15 Onokatsu taking on M17 Asakoryu, and Asakoryu was proactive using a light tsuppari attack to try and get to the inside of Onokatsu's defenses, but Onokatsu was too big of a load, and so the rookie mostly spun his wheels. After gauging the situation for a few seconds with some effective jabs that kept Asakoryu at bay, Onokatsu made his move getting the left arm inside, and as Asakoryu tried to spin away, Onokatsu caught him with a right frontal belt grip and easily hoisted Asakoryu back and across from there. This was like stealing candy from a baby as Onokatsu improves to 7-1 while Asakoryu falls to 3-5.

Up next was M16 Takerufuji taking on M12 Ryuden, and Ryuden actually henka'd a bit to his left, but he didn't bother going for a pull...which is kinda the purpose of a henka. Oh that's right...only if your intent is to win, but Ryuden obviously wasn't trying to win here. Takerufuji didn't handle the henka well, and as he looked to square up in hidari-yotsu, Ryuden had his hand right at the side of Takerufuji's belt. He of course refused to grab it and played along as Takerufuji mounted a very light force-out charge that was very upright and susceptible to a counter left tsuki-otoshi at the edge (see pic at right), which never came as Takerufuji is gifted a light 6-2 while Ryuden knows his place at 2-6.

As they showed the reverse angle replay of this bout, Ryuden's hand was in prime position to grab the outer grip the entire way, but he refrained for political reasons.

I now that M16 Shishi isn't in the yusho hunt entering the day at 2-5, but he showed how much of a fluke that five bout losing streak was today against M12 Sadanoumi. Shishi demanded the right arm inside at the tachi-ai and drove his legs hard forcing Sadanoumi back and across in two seconds leaving both dudes at 3-5.

Just compare Shishi's yori-kiri today with Takerufuji's yori-kiri. You could visually see the force applied by Shishi today, and you could visually see how soft and fake Takerufuji's force-out was against Ryuden. I think over time the fans subconsciously notice this too, and that's why there isn't this huge buzz in the arena after wins by Takerufuji or Onosato.

I was gonna mention how fake the M14 Chiyoshoma - M11 Meisei bout was where Chiyoshoma (4-4) spent the entire time faking pulls before doing the splits across the tawara due to nothing that Meisei (5-3) did, but then that bout was followed up by an even more obvious yaocho.

M10 Takarafuji fished for the left inside against M13 Shonannoumi who was just standing there, and less than two seconds after the start, Takarafuji swiped at the top of Shonannoumi's right forearm, and Shonannoumi literally did a 540 rolling across the dohyo after no contact whatsoever. I mean, really? That roll after a graze across the top of a forearm? I would be shocked at how low someone's IQ is who thought this was real as Takarafuji sorta stays on the leaderboard at 6-2 while Shonannoumi rolls to 5-3.

M7 Mitakeumi's continuing to fight this basho is pointless. M9 Takayasu has been awful this basho, but when these two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, Takayasu (4-4) easily grabbed a right outer grip and forced a defenseless Mitakeumi (5-3) back and across. What was entertaining about this bout was just how slow it was. I presume this is what it looks like when turtles are in heat.

Up next was M6 Takanosho who was paired against M9 Midorifuji, and Takanosho put two hands into Midorifuji's neck and choked him back and across in about two seconds. Midorifuji tried to counter with a swipe that caused Takanosho to bite the dust but not before Midorifuji (3-5) was pushed back and across with some oomph. Takanosho moves to 7-1 with the nice win, and we'll see how long we have to deal with him on the leaderboard.

M3 Abi used cautious stiff arms into M2 Ura's neck and shoulder area to keep him at bay before knocking him sideways and out with a right elbow. You'll noticed that Ura tired to stand in there today and go toe to toe; something he did not do against Onosato yesterday. Abi will stay on the leaderboard at 6-2 while Ura falls to 2-6.

In a pretty good bout of sumo, M4 Churanoumi reached for a left frontal grip against Kotozakura, and the latter responded by getting a firm right outer grip coupled with the left inside position, and that forced Churanoumi to duck low in an attempt to counter. With Kotozakura standing his ground, Churanoumi tried a quick dashi-nage that almost turned into a nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge, but the action flowed back to the center of the ring with Kotozakura still maintaining that stingy right outer grip. Churanoumi stayed low, but both dudes were running out of gas, and after about 30 seconds into the bout, Kotozakura toppled Churanoumi sideways and down with a slick uwate-hineri move. The highlight for me during this bout was seeing Aerosmith dude's girlfriend lean sideways to get a better view of things, and I was surprised how much she resembled Steven Tyler.

Anyway, this was the best sumo I've seen from Kotozakura in quite some time as he moves to 7-1 while Churanoumi falls to 2-6.

Before we move on, if a dude is truly an Ozeki, he needs to put a stamp on that bout after getting the right outer grip, not win with a gimmick move after you're 2-6 opponent is worn out.

Up next was Onosato who was paired against a gimmick rikishi in M5 Tobizaru, and Tobizaru put his right hand high at the tachi-ai and then backpedaled as fast as he could running nearly up the entire hana-michi from which he came. Onosato sorta caught him with a left forearm to the noggin' at the edge, but it certainly wasn't enough force to cause Tobizaru (5-3) to run 10 meters up the runway. This was a farcical bout for sure as Onosato is gifted 6-2, and it feels as if the world is right again with him only one off the pace now.

In the day's final bout, Ozeki Hoshoryu fished for the left inside position against M4 Ohshoma, and then he pivoted to his right grabbing an outer grip on that side, and he just kept up that momentum and swung Ohshoma over and down with a nice uwate-nage. Hoshoryu is still the standard bearer at 7-1 while Ohshoma falls to 2-6.

As we enter Day 9, NHK World is posting the following leaderboard, and all the right people are on there, so we'll continue to play along:

Kyushu Basho Day 6 Comments
It's been extremely rare to have the top three active guys on the banzuke lead the basho as we head into the middle weekend, but that's the situation we find ourselves in today. Sure, Onokatsu and Takanosho also entered the day undefeated, but those guys aren't going to be a factor. If you were to say whose got the best chance to take the yusho at this point, you'd have to say that it's one of the three Ozeki and none other. The problem is it doesn't feel as if all three Ozeki are carrying this thing. Hoshoryu looks great, and we know he can turn it on when he wants to, but it just feels as if a loss is on the horizon. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't have a feel yet for the yusho race. It's gotta be one of the three Ozeki, but it feels more like we're getting too much hana-zumo and too little o-zumo.

The attendance continues to be good but not great in Kyushu, and I've yet to really feel true electricity in the venue. I think it has a lot to do with the lack of truly great bouts to this point, so let's see what Day 6 brings.

The two rookies squared off today in M16 Shishi vs. M17 Asakoryu, and Shishi reached around grabbing the quick right outer grip, but he didn't bother getting anything on the left side and just stood there waiting for Asakoryu to counter with a left inside belt throw. The move was mediocre but not strong enough to topple Shishi, and so across the ring they went again where Asakoryu tried another left inside belt throw, and this time Shishi dipped his left shoulder and hit the dirt without trying to counter.

As for Asakoryu, he was slung clear off the dohyo due to the momentum, and in a true nage-no-uchi-ai, both parties his the dirt around the same time. Because Shishi was mukiryoku here, the end was a bit unorthodox. I've seen both these dudes fight for five straight days, and there's no way Shishi was trying to win that bout. Asakoryu one ups his partner moving to a cheap 3-3 while Shishi falls to 2-4 and fully understands a foreigner's place in sumo.

I mean, you look at that body and the sumo skills he's exhibited to this point, it doesn't make sense that he would be 2-4 if he was trying to win every bout. This dude and Kinbohzan are gonna be like Kyokutenho. They'll just milk the system as long as they can.

M15 Onokatsu welcomed a dude named Kayoh up from Juryo, and Kayoh stretched his right arm forward and underneath his foe from the tachi-ai, but he was just standing there and doing nothing, and so Onokatsu began a force out charge that ironically didn't contain any force, and Kayoh played along just waltzing back and across. Talk about a soft bout of sumo. Onokatsu buys his way to 6-0 here as Kayoh falls to 4-1.

M14 Chiyoshoma put a right hand near M16 Takerufuji's face at the tachi-ai, but he didn't quite slap as one normally would going for a hari-zashi. Instead, Chiyoshoma just stood there with his arms wide open gifting Takerufuji what he wanna. Problem was that Takerufuji wasn't bulldozing his way forward from the start, and so Chiyoshoma voluntarily backed up and to his left setting himself up at the straw for that final push out from Takerufuji. There was no force in this bout either, and that seems to be a common theme so far today as Takerufuji begs his way to 4-2 while Chiyoshoma settles for 3-3.

M17 Bushozan actually tried to win today by using a nice tsuppari attack from the tachi-ai, and it was successful in knocking M14 Nishikifuji upright and back a step, and with Bushozan continuing to apply the pressure, Nishikifuji went for an ill-advised pull, and that was the momentum shift Bushozan needed to finish his pal off for good. This was very sound sumo from Bushozan who picks up his first win at 1-5 while Nishikifuji falls to the same 1-5 mark.  After the bout, Bushozan was limping noticeably, and I just read in the funny papers that he has withdrawn from the basho.

M15 Tokihayate and M13 Shonannoumi never came chest to chest at the tachi-ai, and it was Shonannoumi shading a bit right and making Tokihayate give chase. Tokihayate attempted a few tsuppari, but Shonannoumi kept moving right, and so Tokihayate reached for a left belt grip out of desperation, and Shonannoumi simply grabbed the back of Tokihayate's belt and pulled him down with ease. Shonannoumi moves to 4-2 with the lazy win while Tokihayate falls to 2-4.

M11 Tamawashi and M13 Ryuden charged to a stalemate at the tachi-ai with Tamawashi not coming out of the gate with tsuppari, but the momentum favored The Mawashi as Ryuden couldn't get anything going, and as soon as Tamawashi began a tsuppari attack, he was able to force Ryuden back and across with a wicked ;aw to the throat. Tamawashi moves to 3-3 with the win while Ryuden looked a bit rattled after that chokehold in falling to 2-4.  I read afterwards that Tamawashi turns 40 tomorrow.  This dude's body has low miles on it, and he can easily go until 45.

M10 Ichiyamamoto caught M12 Hokutofuji with some soft shoves to the neck at the tachi-ai that caused Hokutofuji to move right and trade places with IYM in the dohyo, and then when Hokutofuji came forward again, Ichiyamamoto shifted right and then left pulling Hokutofuji out of the dohyo. While there was little force to that pull, Hokutofuji ended about three rows deep in the missionary position. Thankfully there was a cluster of empty cushions there to break his fall. This was sloppy start to finish from both parties, and I wouldn't be surprised if the fix was in here. Ichiyamamoto improves to 4-2 while Hokutofuji falls to 1-5.

M12 Sadanoumi and M10 Takarafuji failed to stick at the tachi-ai, and the result was a lot of movement and a lot of back and forth going from migi-yotsu to hidari-yotsu while on the move. It was unsound sumo for sure, but Takarafuji finally grabbed a right outer grip and used it to force Sadanoumi back to the edge where the two tussled again trading left insides and right insides, but Takarafuji was able to finally force Sadanoumi across. Takarafuji moves to 4-2 if you need him while Sadanoumi falls to 3-3.

M9 Takayasu looked to get a left arm inside at the tachi-ai against M11 Meisei, and so Meisei scooted to his right and grabbed an outer grip looking to dashi-nage Takayasu over to the edge. As Meisei looked to go for the kill, Takayasu tried a desperate tsuki-otoshi that barely connected, but Meisei dipped his right shoulder and made sure he touched down first. Both rikishi finished the day at 3-3, and Meisei threw this one.

M7 Endoh rushed in getting the right arm inside and left outer grip on M9 Midorifuji's belt, and then Endoh decided to just stand in the middle of the ring and not use his advantageous position despite a much smaller foe. The two dug in for a while in the center of the ring thanks to Endoh's refusal to attack, and you could feel where this bout was going. Finally, Midorifuji went for a desperate maki-kae moving laterally to get it and Endoh still didn't bother to press the action, so after gifting Midorifuji moro-zashi, Endoh just stood there and let Midorifuji force him back and across. Endoh did nothing to win the bout after taking such a clear advantage at the tachi-ai as this was throw in Midorifuji's favor leaving both rikishi 3-3.

M6 Takanosho put two hands into M8 Gonoyama's neck at the tachi-ai, but then he went for a dumb pull that didn't come close to working. Gonoyama wasn't the source of Takanosho's backwards momentum, and so he couldn't take advantage of his compromised opponent, but when Takanosho charged back forward, it was Gonoyama's turn to slip to the side and pull Takanosho forward and down. Pretty ugly bout of sumo as Takanosho suffers his first defeat in falling to 5-1...the same record now as Gonoyama.

M5 Tobizaru challenged M8 Roga by moving to his right in a henka move and grabbing a kote-nage position, but the execution was sloppy, so Tobizaru wasn't able to throw his foe off balance. Still, Roga wasn't trying to win the bout and so he just stood there and let Tobizaru get a left outer grip, and as he went for a light dashi-nage, Roga just flopped forward and down giving Tobizaru the cheap win. Tobizaru moves to 4-2 with the gift while Roga falls to 2-4 a richer man.

M5 Kotoshoho slapped M7 Mitakeumi in the cheek at the tachi-ai and got the left arm inside completing the hari-zashi tachi-ai, and from there Kotoshoho immediately forced Mitakeumi back to the edge...and then just stopped and stood there waiting for Mitakeumi to execute a counter move. Said counter was a rather weak tsuki-otoshi to the side with the right hand, and Kotoshoho dutifully went down. Problem was...because there was no counter pressure applied from Kotoshoho, Mitakeumi also went down to the venue floor and landed funny on his left shoulder. Because I don't have the live feed, I have no idea how long he was laying there, but I saw photos of them taking the dude out on a stretcher. Sheesh, as much as I make fun of these guys throwing bouts, you never want to see that happen. Mitakeumi improves to 5-1 with the gift, but it looks as if his basho is done if not his career. As for Kotoshoho, he falls to 1-5 and dictated this one start to finish.

M4 Ohshoma slapped at M6 Nishikigi with the right hand at the tachi-ai, but before he could put the sashi in hari-zashi, Nishikigi began driving Ohshoma back to the edge. Ohshoma was able to put the brakes on with the left inside, but Nishikigi was pressing in too tightly. After a maki-kae by Ohshoma, Nishikigi came away with the right inside and left outer grip, and he used that clinch to force Ohshoma back and across for good. Nishikigi picks up his first win at 1-5 while Ohshoma falls to the same mark.

M1 Ohho and M2 Ura faced off today and Ohho came with light tsuppari as Ura ducked down low, but you could see that Ohho never really tried to grab his foe or make him pay with beefy shoves. As a result, the action flowed over to the edge with Ohho still in the advantageous position, but because he wasn't applying pressure, Ura was able to move to the side of Ohho in an attempt to grab his left leg and lift him up, but Ura couldn't do it. Still, Ohho just stood there that whole time and finally let Ura shove him across. As if. Both rikishi finish the day at 2-4.

The Komusubi looked to do battle today in Wakamotoharu and Shodai, but it was hardly that. In a totally fixed bout, Wakamotoharu lightly put both hands to Shodai's neck at the tachi-ai but then backed all the way up to the straw. Because Shodai didn't cause that retreat, he didn't have the wherewithal to knock Wakamotoharu back that last step, and then Shodai went for this light tug at the back of Wakamotoharu's shoulder, and WMH's reaction was to just half somersault half cartwheel all the way across to the other side of the ring. I mean, it's obvious that these guys are throwing bouts to each other left and right, but you can't fake a fall like that at a hon-basho. Everybody in the arena knew it especially Shodai, and everyone looked sheepish and embarrassed after this as they should have. Inexcusable as Shodai "improves" to 2-4 while Wakamotoharu had room to sell at 3-3.

M1 Hiradoumi henka'd lightly to his left at the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Kirishima, and when the two squared back up, they were in migi-yotsu with Kirishima's left hand positioned right at the side of Hiradoumi's belt. But...the Sekiwake refused to grab that outer grip, and this went on for three seconds or so until Hiradoumi had the strength to force a willing Kirishima across the dohyo and to the edge, but Hiradoumi couldn't force him across, and so Kirishima lightly stepped to his side and pulled Hiradoumi down. I have no idea what Kirishima was trying to do here, but it looked as if he was giving Hiradoumi every possible opportunity to take control. When he couldn't, the Sekiwake ended the funny business and picked up win number one while Hiradoumi falls to that same 1-5 mark. Kirishima was limping after the bout as if he'd sprained his left ankle, and that's what happens when you dick around on the dohyo like that.

Sekiwake Daieisho was paired against M4 Churanoumi, and the Sekiwake blasted his foe back from the tachi-ai using a nice tsuppari attack, but then with Churanoumi near the edge, Daieisho just hopped backwards to the center of the dohyo letting Churanoumi back into the bout. Churanoumi threw some wild tsuppari that didn't connect, and it was clear that Daieisho wasn't trying to win, and so with the two slapping at each other wildly in the center of the ring, Daieisho anticipated a pull from Churanoumi that didn't come and the result was Daieisho's putting two palms to the dirt as Churanoumi looked to catch up with a late slap. Shame, shame, everyone knows your yaocho name as Daieisho takes the dive here in falling to 3-3 while Churanoumi oils his way to just 2-4.

In the Ozeki ranks, Hoshoryu was paired against M3 Atamifuji, and the Ozeki caught Atamifuji with a quick paw to the neck, but instead of driving forward or using that to set something up to the inside, Hoshoryu began to retreat for no reason. Well, I can think of one reason. Because Atamifuji wasn't the cause of Hoshoryu's backwards momentum, he wasn't prepared to force the willing Ozeki across that last step, and so as Atamifuji floundered with an offensive maneuver, Hoshoryu faked a tsuki-otoshi to his left as he backed his way outta the dohyo but Atamifuji's left big toe dug up a heap of sand across the Tawara causing the ref to point Hoshoryu's way.

They went to the tape and as Atamifuji's toe scraped the sand, Hoshoryu's left heel was still touching the Tawara, so they upheld the original call and gave the gunbai to Hoshoryu. I'm not sure if Hoshoryu was trying to lose or just make it look close, but I do know he wasn't trying to kick his foe's ass. The Ozeki moves to 6-0 with the sloppy win while Atamifuji falls to 4-2, and they ruled this one isami-ashi, or inadvertent step out, and so my opinion is that Hoshoryu was trying to throw the match but his foe couldn't finish him off. What's a girl to do?

Kotozakura drew M3 Abi today, and Abi won the tachi-ai using his tsuppari attack, but instead of moving forward, he retreated instead, and so this was the pattern: Abi using thrusts but moving back and around in the process. After about four seconds of this nonsense, Abi positioned himself near the edge, and when Kotozakura sorta went for a thrust, Abi just spun his way out of the dohyo and down for the clownlike ending. Kotozakura was gifted this one for sure as he moves to an ill-gotten 5-1 while Abi takes one for the team in falling to 4-2.

As I was checking the wires afterwards for pictures, I couldn't find any of Kotozakura, and so it doesn't feel as if he's on anyone's radar at the moment.

In the day's final match, Onosato took on M2 Wakatakakage, and Onosato was hapless at the tachi-ai as usual giving Wakatakakage the chance to get to the inside. Wakatakakage got the right arm to the inside, but he was hesitant to really go chest to chest, and just when you thought he was giving Onosato some ground, the faux-zeki went for a stupid-A pull and gave Wakatakakage the momentum he needed to push Onosato back and across. This was a really ugly bout start to finish, and neither party executed stable sumo, but this was the type of sumo you get from Onosato when the bout is straight up. Both rikishi end the day after this one at 4-2.

To me it still doesn't feel as if a yusho race is forming.  You have Kotozakura sitting at one loss but no pictures to be found, and now Onosato has suffered his second defeat in six days, so let's see where we stand in terms of a yusho race after the weekend.

Kyushu Basho Day 5 Comments
It feels like the novelty of this basho is starting to wear off for the Fukuoka faithful. I've been trying to gauge attendance the best I can with the limited video feeds I have access to, and to me it looks as if the attendance has slightly dwindled with each successive day. Kirishima has been doing a great job this basho purposefully sucking to make the Japanese Ozeki look better, and Terunofuji is sitting out so as to not project too much strong, legitimate sumo, but with Hoshoryu's hot start, I wonder if the fans see the contrast between Hoshoryu's sumo compared to that of the two Japanese Ozeki and realize the shenanigans that are taking place to maintain this banzuke.

That pattern would continue today as well with all three Ozeki closing out the day.

M15 Tokihayate began the day welcoming Shirokuma up from the J3 ranks, and the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu straightway where Tokihayate grabbed a shallow right outer grip, but Shirokuma wisely moved a bit literally and threw the M15 out of that grip with a scoop throw motion, and Tokihayate was off balance enough after the throw attempt to where Shirokuma bulldozed him back and across. Tokihayate falls to 2-3 in defeat while that was Shirokuma's first win of the basho.

M15 Onokatsu and M17 Bushozan hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Bushozan was pushing up into Onokatsu's right armpit instead of raising his foe up the traditional way. As a result, it was Onokatsu who grabbed the righter outer first, and he easily wrenched the hapless Bushozan back and across for the nice yori-kiri win. Onokatsu remains undefeated at 5-0 while Bushozan isn't exactly redefining the term "effort" in falling to 0-5.

M14 Nishikifuji came with a left kachi-age from the tachi-ai against M17 Asakoryu and quick tsuppari attack that had the rookie playing defense from the get-go, and Nishikifuji used his lower body well to drive Asakoryu back to the edge, and he was able to catch the rookie and shove him across as he attempted to evade left. Wow, three bouts and zero yaocho as Nishikifuji picks up his first win at 1-4 while Asakoryu falls to 2-3. And for the record, the rookie does not have a legit win yet in the division.

M16 Takerufuji was paired against M13 Shonannoumi, and Shonannoumi kept his hand inward and low at the tachi-ai keeping Takerufuji away from the inside, and with SNNU in that defensive posture, Takerufuji looked to body Shonannoumi back, but he didn't have the inside position or even a belt grip, and so Shonannoumi easily evaded to his right and showed Takerufuji the trapdoor with a nice slapdown near the edge. Both dudes finish the day at 3-2, and Takerufuji's lack of awareness and sumo skills today was quite apparent. That guy has a yusho?? Shows you what money and some orchestration can do.

M16 Shishi awkwardly went for a right outer grip at the tachi-ai against M13 Ryuden, and that allowed Ryuden to get the left arm easily inside and then he was able to pinch inwards nicely on Shishi's left arm with an outer grip. As a result, Shishi moved laterally trading places with his foe in the dohyo, and that action allowed Shishi to came away with a shallow moro-zashi position. Because it was shallow, Ryuden was able to dig in and pinch inwards with both outside grips, so you had two of the better rikishi in the division battling this way and that with Ryuden attacking with those outer grips and Shishi using his size to survive. The bout went on for about 45 seconds before Ryuden was finally able to nudge Shishi back and across in easily the best bout of the basho so far. Wow, that was a good one, and it's a shame that we can't get this kind of stuff from the guys ranked high on the banzuke as both combatants here end the day at 2-3.

M14 Chiyoshoma came with a hari-zashi tachi-ai, slapping M12 Sadanoumi's face with the right while getting the right outer grip and left inside position, and Chiyoshoma quickly drove Sadanoumi back near the edge, but he just stopped any forward momentum and waited for Sadanoumi to counter with a left scoop throw, and when it came, Chiyoshoma just dipped his left elbow down and out instead of taking it to a nage-no-uchi-ai, and this was the first fixed bout of the day. Chiyoshoma dictated everything here and even gave the hometown fans some excitement by having Sadanoumi win as both dudes finish at 3-2.

M11 Tamawashi forgot that he was a tsuppari guy against M11 Meisei, and so he came forward a bit at the tachi-ai and just stood there allowing Meisei to get the shallow left inside position. When Meisei was ready to go for the force out, Tamawashi happily backed up in kind, and this was a linear bout of sumo as Tamawashi didn't even bother to counter. When the attacker's position is that loose, he is extremely susceptible to a counter tsuki-otoshi at the edge, but that's only in real sumo. Meisei moves to 3-2 with the cheap win while Tamawashi quietly falls to 2-3.

M12 Hokutofuji and M10 Takarafuji exhibited a light tachi-ai that ended up in hidari-yotsu, but neither dude seemed to want to press in chest to chest, and so they danced around the ring for what seemed like an eternity all the while with Hokutofuji's right hand positioned to grab a right outer grip. When he never grabbed it, I know he was throwing the bout, and sure enough, when Takarafuji went for a light tap at the back of Hokutofuji's shoulder, the dude flopped forward and down landing on all fours. This was a waste of everyone's time as Takarafuji oils his way to 3-2 while Hokutofuji is 1-4.

M9 Midorifuji and M9 Takayasu hooked up in migi-yotsu where neither dude seemed to want to go chest to chest, and so Midorifuji quickly evaded to his right keeping that right arm up and under his foe's left armpit, and the quicker Midorifuji was able to execute a kata-sukashi and fell Takayasu in short order leaving both dudes at 2-3.

M10 Ichiyamamoto came with a proactive tsuppari attack against M9 Gonoyama knocking Gonoyama back a half step and forcing him to think pull, and that slight pull move from Gonoyama seemed to freak Ichiyamamoto out because he paused his attack and went for a dumb pull of his own, and that was the exact momentum shift Gonoyama needed to execute his own counter tsuppari attack, and it successfully drove IYM back and across with some oomph. Gonoyama moves to 4-1 after the nice comeback while Ichiyamamoto shoulda trusted that initial tsuppari attack in falling to 3-2.

M7 Endoh and M7 Mitakeumi made a decent slapping sound as they clashed at the tachi-ai where Endoh grabbed an early frontal belt grip with the right, but then Endoh just stood there and allowed Mitakeumi to drive him back and across leading with the right arm inside and firing these tiny shoves with the left into Endoh's torso. I have no idea if this was straight up, but it was unspectacular sumo that was thankfully over in under three seconds as Mitakeumi finds himself at 4-1 while Endoh falls to 3-2.

M8 Roga and M6 Nishikigi struck chest to chest starting in migi-yotsu, but NG didn't even bother extending his arm, and so the two rikishi traded places in the dohyo as Roga grabbed a left frontal belt grip and moved the listless Nishikigi back and across in short order. I don't want to use the word "force" here because Nishikigi was entirely mukiryoku start to finish in falling to 0-5 while Roga moves to 2-3.

M5 Tobizaru and M5 Kotoshoho looked to hook up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but instead of going chest to chest, they wrangled inside with their arms a bit before Tobizaru managed moro-zashi against a much larger opponent who was leaning into him. A long stalemate ensued with little action until Tobizaru was able to slowly nudge Kotoshoho back near the straw before going for a left inside belt throw against a right kote-nage from Kotoshoho. An average nage-no-uchi-ai ensued, and it was Tobizaru who was able to send his foe to the dirt first as Tobizaru improved to 3-2 while Kotoshoho's inability to establish anything at the tachi-ai proved his 1-4 downfall.

M6 Takanosho caught M4 Ohshoma by the neck at the tachi-ai and drove him back a step and half, but Takanosho's arms were extended too high, and he was susceptible to a counter right scoop throw form Ohshoma. It never came, and then when Ohshoma grabbed a left outer grip and did nothing with it, you knew something was up because he had Takanosho by the short hairs twice to this point. With Takanosho flailing near the edge with his back to the Tawara, Ohshoma stopped any hot pursuit and just stood there waiting for a pull attempt to come, and when it came--meager as it was, Ohshoma just flopped to the dirt on all fours in ridiculous fashion. Takanosho buys his way to 5-0 with the cheap win while Ohshoma falls to 1-4.

M3 Abi placed a right forearm into the side of M4 Churanoumi's neck at the tachi-ai as Churanoumi came in too low for his own good, and with Churanoumi likely seeing stars from that initial blow, Abi executed a methodic tsuppari attack pushing Churanoumi back and across with little effort. Great tachi-ai from Abi that earned him the win and a 4-1 start while Churanoumi falls to 1-4.

In the sanyaku ranks, Komusubi Wakamotoharu welcomed M1 Hiradoumi, and Wakamotoharu came with arms wide open allowing Hiradoumi to blast him back and across in under two seconds with a quick oshi attack. I'm not sure if that was intentional by Wakamotoharu, but this was as lopsided of a bout as you'd care to see. Hiradoumi picks up his first win at 1-4 while Wakamotoharu is humbled down to 3-2.

Sekiwake Daieisho was paired against Komusubi Shodai, and Daieisho made quick work of his foe striking him in the chest to keep Shodai upright, and then when Shodai tried to skirt to his right, Daieisho read the move and forced him back and across needing only two seconds. Daieisho moves to 3-2 with the nice win while Shodai is floundering at 1-4.

Sekiwake Kirishima faced M1 Ohho and came with his arms up high, but he wasn't looking to do any damage, and so when Kirishima came back down from that charge, he stood there and dared Ohho to try and connect on a few shoves. As Ohho shoved, Kirishima waxed it off, and they did this for a few seconds before Ohho lunged forward and Kirishima darted to his right and almost purposefully dove. I mean, you could see him start to go down, but there was no contact from Ohho, and so they resumed their schtick for another few seconds before Ohho went for a hapless pull that had nothing behind it, and Kirishima staggered around like a drunkard and then finally hit the dohyo as Ohho looked to catch up. I was just rolling my eyes throughout this one as Kirishima could have gotten inside any time he wanted, but it was clear that he was not trying to win this bout, and then that fall at the end was so fake. Whatever, as Kirishima drops to 0-5 while Ohho picks up the cheap win in moving to 2-3.

Kotozakura was matched up against M2 Ura, and Ura just stood there at the tachi-ai allowing Kotozakura to get a shallow right inside position, and once he had that, Ura backed up in tandem with Kotozakura's forward movement, and this one was as uneventful as it gets as Kotozakura is gifted the easy win at 4-1 while Ura didn't even try in falling to 1-4.

Onosato was paired against M3 Atamifuji, and Atamifuji gained the upper hand at the tachi-ai by getting the right arm inside and a solid outer grip with the left, but you could see him keep that right arm shallow instead of bringing his gal in snug, and then when Onosato looked as if he'd mount a charge, Atamifuji simply let go of the left outer grip and began retreating backwards and to his right with Onosato in tow. At the edge, Atamifuji turned to make it easier for Onosato, and then he also wanted to guarantee a soft landing. This was another one of those bouts where you weren't sure if Onosato was pushing (oshi-zumo) or whether he was bodying (yotsu-zumo) Atamifuji back, and the reason is because the bout was unfortunately fixed. Onosato has never shown the ability to come back from losing the tachi-ai like that, and he was had a half second in. But...the powers that be thought it best that he should win, and so he did as both rikishi end the day at 4-1.

In the day's final affair, Ozeki Hoshoryu was pitted against M2 Wakatakakage, and the Ozeki put two hands into WTK's neck before going for a reckless pull, and the move actually saw Hoshoryu with his foot against the Tawara, but Wakatakakage's tachi-ai was neutralized and he had no real momentum, and so Hoshoryu slipped to the left side of Wakatakakage, grabbed him around the outside of the arm in the kote-nage grip, and then Hoshoryu used his right leg beautifully to hoist Wakatakakage up, over, and down in spectacular fashion. Hoshoryu stays perfect at 5-0 with the win, and I wonder if Japanese fans ever think to themselves, "Why don't our Ozeki ever throw guys like that?" As for Wakatakakage, he licks his wounds at 3-2 in defeat.

This was the view of the stands as Hoshoryu and Wakatakakage stepped into the dohyo:

I mean, the turnout is decent, but there's still a lot of purple there (the color of the cushions in Kyushu). It seems like maybe a quarter of the masu-seki actually contain four people, and when you see people spread out a bit and sitting relaxed, they're taking over the empty seating.  If you've been there, ya know.

Anyway, we'll see how long the powers that be allow Hoshoryu to continue this run.

Kyushu Basho Day 4 Comments
I think the only story right now in sumo is Onosato. They tried earlier in the year to make Kotozakura a story as he was forced into the Ozeki rank, and then they changed his fighting name to that of his grandpa's, who was a popular Yokozuna, but Kotozakura is a big dud, and he reminds no one of the real Kotozakura from decades past. Since Kotozakura can't handle the load and with Takerufuji's serious foot injury earlier in the year, the weight of sumo has fallen to the shoulders of Onosato, and I think it's inevitable that he will be the sport's next Yokozuna. Knowing that, does anyone find it a coincidence that he hails from the same stable as the last Japanese rikishi who was forced into the Yokozuna rank?

Kisenosato was once a very good rikishi under the tutelage of former Yokozuna, Takanosato. When Takanosato died, however, early last decade, Kisenosato's sumo declined accordingly because he no longer had any leadership from a once successful rikishi. The Naruto-beya was changed to Tagonoura, and it was then led by the former Takanotsuru.  No, I don't remember him either (actually I do).

Anyway, sumo had fallen on desperate times and they needed a few Ozeki, and so they ram-rodded Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku into the Ozeki rank, and then they ultimately orchestrated Kisenosato's promotion to Yokozuna. Yesterday I posted some pictures of a very empty Fukuoka Kokusai Center from two years ago, and so it was evident that sumo needed some fresh blood in the Ozeki ranks and an eventual Yokozuna. Well, what stables do the current Japanese Ozeki, Kotozakura and Onosato, hail from? Yes, the exact same stables as Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku. Who will be the sport's next Yokozuna? The dude who hails from the same stable as Kisenosato.

Is it a coincidence?

The day began with M16 Shishi taking on Hakuohho visiting from Juryo. You may remember that Hakuohho was being touted as one of the next elite Japanese rikishi, but two significant events occurred since then. 1) He injured his shoulder badly knocking him way down the banzuke, and 2) the Hokuseiho scandal and Hakuho's seeming indifference to his apprentice torturing other members of the stable may have weakened the effort to make Hakuohho a star. Regardless of those two circumstances, Hakuohho received heavy yaocho in his favor prior to his injury, and the dude will need heavy yaocho to climb the ranks again.

As for the bout itself, Shishi just stood upright with feet aligned, and Hakuohho still couldn't make a dent in him. I mean, Shishi's sumo to this point has been very aggressive, and he's always gotten to the belt, but that was noticeably absent from the start here signaling his intentions. When Hakuohho couldn't take advantage from the tachi-ai, the two traded places in the ring, and Shishi positioned his hands up high as if to pull...another move he has yet to show this basho, so you knew he was gonna throw it.

Still, Hakuohho was hapless and Shishi instinctively grabbed a left inside belt grip, but he remained tall and vulnerable just begging Hakuohho to knock him off his perch. Eventually, the bout went to a nage-no-uchi-ai where instead of pivoting and throwing with that left inside, Shishi just dipped his shoulder down towards the straw and crossed one leg behind the other giving Hakuohho the cheap, uwate-nage win. As if. I mean, there really wasn't a throw here at all. It was more like a Hakuohho tug and Shishi's playing hop along Cassidy on one foot before he toppled over. Hakuohho did nothing to set that throw up, and it was all Shishi guiding him along to victory. Shishi's got two choices: play ball or go back to Ukraine. I'd take the 2-2 start too. Hakuohho advances to a cheap 3-1, and we will inevitably see him in the division next basho.

Up next was M16 Takerufuji facing M17 Bushozan, and I was pretty sure the fix would be in for this bout as well. And it was as Bushozan stood completely upright at the tachi-ai letting Takerufuji strike him, and then Bushozan moved laterally to his left all the way over to the straw. Takerufuji met him again with dual thrusts to the chest, but it still didn't knock Bushozan across. Shortly after that push attempt, Bushozan just turned 90 degrees and stepped way out with that right foot before Takerufuji could make contact again. It's one thing to make a bout look dominant for the victor by having it end in three seconds, but if there's no substance to the bout and no clear waza employed by the victor to explain the movements of the defeated, it's an easy yaocho call, and that was the case here as Takerufuji is an ill-gotten 3-1 while Bushozan falls to 0-4.

M15 Tokihayate stood straight up at the tachi-ai with his arms pointed downward allowing M17 Asakoryu to come in and strike him in the chest. The move naturally sent Tokihayate back a half step, and then when Asakoryu went for a quick pull that had no bite behind it, Tokihayate put both palms to the dirt and stood right back up. Pull shmull as this marked the third obvious yaocho in as many bouts to start the day. Asakoryu is a dirty 2-2 while Tokihayate gets paid to fall to the same mark.

M14 Chiyoshoma and M14 Nishikifuji both brought high kachi-age with the right hands at the tachi-ai, and then Chiyoshoma began moving back and to his left making NFJ give chase. After a few seconds of cat and mouse sumo, Chiyoshoma got the left hand at the front of his foe's belt, and he used that to finally force him over to the straw where he grabbed a right outer grip and forced Nishikifuji across and down yori-taoshi style. Hey, our first real bout of the day as Chiyoshoma moves to 3-1 while Nishikifuji remains winless.

M13 Shonannoumi offered a lazy slap towards M15 Onokatsu at the tachi-ai and just stood completely upright with his armpits exposed as they say. As for Onokatsu, he took advantage and forced a willing Shonannoumi over and out in about two seconds. Shonannoumi (2-2) was as mukiryoku as they come here in gifting Onokatsu the win and a 4-0 start.

M12 Hokutofuji looked to use just one arm at the tachi-ai to push into M12 Sadanoumi, but the latter was able to slip to his right, run a circle around Hokutofuji, and then come away with a right outer grip that he used to burrow up and under Hokutofuji as he bulldozed him back and across. That one-armed tachi-ai from Hokutofuji and his positioning himself early for a pull that never came were signals that he likely threw the bout, but who cares? Sadanoumi moves to 2-2 while Hokutofuji falls to 1-3.

M11 Meisei attempted to strike M13 Ryuden in the chest from the tachi-ai, but Ryuden wasn't moved back a centimeter even though Ryuden started out flat-footed. With Meisei frustrated, Ryuden offered a few light tsuppari that drove Meisei back to the straw, but you could see that Ryuden's heart wasn't into it. That allowed Meisei to skirt right, but he still didn't have a pot to piss in until Ryuden positioned his arms high and wide and started backing up across the entire length of the dohyo. That enabled Meisei to finally move forward and sorta get the left arm inside, but Ryuden was already backing his way across the straw. This bout was a great example of a force-out that contained zero force as Meisei moves to 2-2 and Ryuden falls to 1-3.

M10 Ichiyamamoto was proactive from the tachi-ai with a tsuppari attack keeping M10 Takarafuji up high and moving back, but there was no punch behind Ichiyamamoto's attack, and so with his back against the edge, Takarafuji moved left whiffing on a tsuki attempt, but that sudden movement caused Ichiyamamoto to lose his balance and flop forward. This was a good example of how useless an attack is without the lower body as Ichiyamamoto suffers his first defeat at 3-1 while Takarafuji moves to 2-2.

M11 Tamawashi kept his arms wide at the tachi-ai against M9 Takayasu who flirted with the left arm inside, but Takayasu quickly backed up from there going for a meager pull, and even though there was no force behind the move, Tamawashi just flopped forward and kicked his legs up high for added emphasis. Yeah, added emphasis that this bout was completely fake as both dudes end the contest at 2-2.

M8 Roga kept his arms low at the tachi-ai against M9 Gonoyama, and although it looked to me as if Roga could have worked his way to the inside, he just backed up sideways methodically working his way to the edge as Gonoyama offered some light shoves, and that was that as Roga turned around and walked across that last step. I mean, if a dude doesn't want to go near the edge of the dohyo, it takes some mighty thrusts to force him back against his will, but there was none of that here in a likely compromised bout that saw Gonoyama move to 3-1 while Roga falls to 1-3.

M9 Midorifuji attempted to thrust M7 Mitakeumi back from the tachi-ai, but Mitakeumi was too much of a load, and so Midorifuji was just spinning his wheels for a few seconds before assuming moro-zashi. From there, Mitakeumi pinched in tight from the outside in the kime position, and Mitakeumi was simply too heavy for Midorifuji to do anything, so credit Mitakeumi for the nice kime-dashi win that moves him to 3-1. Midorifuji falls to 1-3 in defeat, but he gave it a college try.

M6 Takanosho struck M6 Nishikigi in the neck from the tachi-ai, but NG stood his ground well and wasn't fazed, and so Takanosho backpedaled just a bit, and Nishikigi's response was to move forward with his hands out wide. That allowed Takanosho moro-zashi, and as Takanosho began his force-out charge, Nishikigi actually backed up and across faster than Takanosho could push him out. Takanosho buys one here in moving to 4-0 while Nishikigi is the inverse at 0-4.

M7 Endoh reached for a right frontal grip at the tachi-ai against M5 Kotoshoho, but he couldn't latch on, and so Endoh found himself backing up near the straw. Instead of using that backwards momentum against his foe and pushing him out straightway, Kotoshoho positioned his hands up high as if to pull. It never came and at the slightest resistance from Endoh, Kotoshoho just dove awkwardly to the dirt sorta doing the splits. Kotoshoho was expecting more force from his foe than actually came, and thus the intentional fall looked really bad. Yaocho all the way here as Endoh oils his way to 3-1 while Kotoshoho literally falls to 1-3.

M4 Ohshoma easily blasted M4 Churanoumi back a full step from the tachi-ai, but instead of taking advantage, he put his hands out wide and allowed Churanoumi to get to the inside. With Ohshoma willingly back pedaling at this point, Churanoumi went for a very light tsuki thrust to the side with the left, and Ohshoma immediately put his left palm to the dirt. Fake as it gets here as both dudes finish the day at 1-3.

M3 Atamifuji stood straight up at the tachi-ai not wanting to be fooled by any M5 Tobizaru shenanigans, and the result was Tobizaru creeping in close and Atamifuji not having any momentum. Instead of going chest to chest, they grabbed at each others' wrists and pressed into shoulders for a long time before Tobizaru finally tested the force-out waters with a shaky right arm inside. Atamifuji was able to stand pat near the edge and force the action back to the center of the ring. With Tobizaru ducking low, they still weren't chest to chest, but Atamifuji was able to maintain an inside right and wrap Tobizaru up with the left, and once he had him latched in place, the force out over to the side was academic. Atamifuji wins patiently here in moving to 4-0 while Tobizaru falls to 2-2.

In the sanyaku ranks, Komusubi Shodai was paired against M1 Hiradoumi, and Hiradoumi came in way too high extending his right hand near Shodai's shoulder and faking an attempt at the front of Shodai's belt with the left. He let that go straightway and kept himself exposed to an easy force out charge from Shodai. And the thing was...Shodai didn't have the inside position or a belt grip. He just started moving forward and Hiradoumi backed up just as fast lightly stepping off the dohyo in full control. When a rikishi does a perfect dismount from the mound, it's just one more clue that the bout was fake and that Shodai didn't actually force Hiradoumi back against his will. Shodai gets off the schneid at 1-3 thanks to yaocho in favor of the hometown favorite while Hiradoumi falls to 0-4.

Sekiwake Kirishima had the easy pathway to the inside against Komusubi Wakamotoharu from the tachi-ai, but he purposefully didn't take advantage and stayed upright allowing Wakamotoharu to eventually press the action. When he did, Wakamotoharu looked to by tied like a pretzel with the inside right and a left arm that was completely rendered useless by Kirishima. In fact, Kirishima could have grabbed the right outer grip and dispatched Wakamotoharu in short order, but he instead tucked that arm in between both rikishi's bodies rendering it useless and out of play (pictured there at right).  I mean, that's a move you never see in a real bout, but this wasn't a real bout.  After those shenanigans, Kirishima backed his way to the edge and purposefully whiffed on a right shoulder slap that was really an excuse to turn 90 degrees and step across the straw. I just shake my head sometimes at how fake these bouts are here, and this one was just that start to finish as Kirishima sacrifices himself once again in falling to 0-4 while Wakamotoharu is gifted a cheap 3-1.

Sekiwake Daieisho welcomed M1 Ohho, and the latter was passive at the tachi-ai allowing Daieisho to execute his usual tsuppari attack, and Ohho just played along keeping his arms wide and body exposed as he moved left right out of the dohyo with Daieisho in tow. There was no effort here from Ohho as he falls to 1-3 while Daieisho moves to 2-2.

Onosato was paired against M3 Abi, and Abi caught Onosato with a right hand to the neck causing Onosato to look towards the rafters, and after maintaining that chokehold for a second or two, Abi began backing up letting Onosato instinctively move forward, and as the faux-zeki advanced, Abi neat as you please moved to his right and used a scoop throw against the unsuspecting Onosato to hoist him over an down before he knew what hit him. Onosato's inability to win the tachi-ai and his lack of counter skills led to this lopsided win, and you could see here (as well as last basho) that Abi is simply the superior rikishi. Onosato suffers his first defeat as both rikishi end the day at 3-1. For those scoring at home, Onosato has had two bouts thrown in his favor and two bouts have been straight up.

Moving right along, Ozeki Hoshoryu was matched against M2 Ura, and quick as a cat, Hoshoryu fired dual shoves into the top of Ura's shoulders, tested the pull waters, and then grabbed the side of Ura's belt with the right and bowled Ura over and down before Ura knew what hit him. Hoshoryu moves to 4-0 with the easy win while Ura falls to 1-3.

In the day's final bout, Kotozakura was paired against M2 Wakatakakage, and WTK ducked in getting the right arm inside easily, and he had the clear path to a left outer, but he purposefully fumbled around with that left hand and then rested the back of his hand against Kotozakura's side as pictured at left...a clear sign of yaocho. At that point, Kotozakura's right arm was in the sukui position, but he moved the arm down fishing for a belt grip, and Wakatakakage interpreted that as an offensive maneuver, and so he darted to the edge and put his back against the Tawara and simply waited for Kotozakura to push him back that last short step. Another easy, easy yaocho call here as both dudes finish the day at 3-1, and Wakatakakage has had enough favors thrown his way that it was no surprise that he deferred to the higher rank today.

I'm trying to think back on the day to see if we really had a nice, contested bout from both parties, and the bout of the day was probably Midorifuji - Mitakeumi. It's still way too early to think about the yusho, especially with Onosato's loss today, but expect to see Onosato and Takerufuji on the leaderboard deep into week 2.

Kyushu Basho Day 3 Comments
One thing I always pay attention to is the number of fans in the seats. I haven't seen NHK release viewership numbers in quite some time for obvious reasons, but the number of fannies in the seats is also a good indicator of sumo's popularity. So far in Fukuoka, the attendance has been great. Day 1 looked to be a complete sellout, and for Day 2 the arena was probably 90% full although I don't really get the great angles as part of my broadcast that I used to get with the full NHK broadcast in Japanese.

Anyway, I specifically remember that two years ago, attendance at the Kyushu basho was abysmal, and so I went back through my archive of photos and found these two pics taken from Day 3 of the 2022 Kyushu basho. One is a photo from the NHK News 9 sports program's lead-in, and the second one is a pic I took of my TV during a break in the general broadcast:





You could probably argue that around 10% of reduced attendance was due to Japan still trying to get over the Covid scare. I mean, this basho did occur two and half years after the height of the lockdowns, but this IS Japan we're talking about.

Still, that empty arena was not due to the lingering effects of Covid. Rather it was due to the banzuke at the time, which looked like this:



Yokozuna: Terunofuji
Ozeki: Takakeisho, Shodai
Sekiwake: Wakatakakage, Hoshoryu, Mitakeumi
Komusubi: Tamawashi, Kiribayama (current Kirishima), Tobizaru, Daieisho

Mitakeumi had been knocked from the Ozeki ranks the basho before, and that left Takakeisho and Shodai as the two Ozeki. Then you look at the rest of the sanyaku and see the Mongolian rikishi plus Tobizaru and Daieisho, and people are like...what am I paying to go and see?

The easy answer is "nothing," which is why people stopped attending.

Now fast-forward two years and the stands are full again, so you ask yourself what's changed? For starters, Terunofuji has only finished three basho in the last two years (and he won all three of them), so his removal from the scene allows more coverage of Japanese rikishi.

Second, the completely useless trio of Japanese Ozeki in Takakeisho, Shodai, and Mitakeumi has been replaced by another useless crop of Ozeki in Kotozakura and Onosato, but the difference is that these guys are much younger, and the Japanese people think that these two are up-and-comers, especially Onosato.

You also have Takerufuji back in the division, and between him and Onosato, you already have 50% of the yusho this year with the high likelihood that Onosato is going to take his third yusho this calendar year here in Kyushu.

Perception is everything, and the Japanese people believe that there is a youthful resurgence happening in sumo among the Japanese rikishi, and so that's why they're coming back out to the sumos.

This has of course all been set up with copious amounts of yaocho in favor of the Japanese rikishi, and there will be no end in sight for the remaining future of the sport, so the question then becomes...what is the shelf life of obvious yaocho?

That remains to be seen, so let's get to the Day 3 action starting with M17 Asakoryu vs. M17 Bushozan. Both rikishi were looking to shove from the tachi-ai, but Bushozan was throwing his weight around well driving the rookie back easily, and really, Asakoryu didn't have a pot to piss in...until Bushozan suddenly retreated back and to his left stepping out and giving the rookie the cheap win in the process. Asakoryu tried to make it look real with an extended right arm that drew the oshi-dashi kimari-te, but this was as staged as they come, and when you looked at Asakoryu's expression afterwards, there was no elation or excitement after picking up your first Makuuchi win. Rather, he looked more embarrassed than anything. But...that's the way sumo works these days with Asakoryu buying his first win at 1-2 while Bushozan falls to 0-3.

Here come the NHK World taiko drums, which means that M16 Takerufuji stepped into the ring next to face Kagayaki visiting from the J2 rank, and how do you make an M16 rikishi with a 1-1 record a featured bout so early in the basho? Oh yeah, it involved a dude that is responsible for putting a lot of fannies in the seats so we'll play along too.

Kagayaki made damn sure to keep himself as exposed as possible at the tachi-ai, and so he stood straight up with arms positioned wide, and that gave Takerufuji the easy moro-zashi, and so both dudes worked in tandem with Kagayaki retreating to the edge and Takerufuji in tow exerting little force. I mean, at the end when Kagayaki purposefully stepped his right foot across the straw, Takerufuji didn't even know the bout was over because the two weren't in sync, but whatever. This was just a silly display of light sumo where they gave Takerufuji the uncontested win in under three seconds. He now stands at 2-1 while Kagayaki is a richer 0-3.

M15 Onokatsu faced a tall task in M16 Shishi, and Shishi was a bit slow at the tachi-ai allowing Onokatsu to get a right arm inside, but the Ukrainian recovered nicely getting his own right arm inside with a left outer grip to boot. Because Onokatsu gained the edge at the initial charge, he was also able to grab a left outer, and so we got the first gappuri-yotsu battle of the entire basho. The two wrenched and wrangled around for a few second of o-zumo, and then Shishi lost his left outer grip. I didn't see Onokatsu shake his hips to cut that outer off, but he took advantage forcing Shishi over to the edge, and then the Ukrainian awkwardly tip-toed along the straw with Onokatsu letting up possibly thinking he had won, but Shishi was still in the ring.

At this point, the ref stopped the action to re-tie Shishi's mawashi, which had come loose, and the o-zumo resumed with Shishi forcing his foe back to the other side of the dohyo. Onokatsu was able to get his left arm inside in the process giving him moro-zashi, and that allowed Onokatsu to put on the brakes and force the action now against Shishi, and during the fray, Onokatsu was able to grab a left outer grip and use the momentum of the bout to fling Shishi down uwate-nage style. Shishi didn't counter with a right scoop throw, and you can see him putting his left knee down there instead of planting with the right, but this was still easily the best display of sumo the entire basho as Onokatsu moves to 3-0 while Shishi falls to his first loss at 2-1. Even though this was fixed, it was still great sumo that you will never see from the likes of Takerufuji or Onosato or Kotozakura.

The tachi-ai between M15 Tokihayate and M14 Nishikifuji was extremely light indicating that something was probably up, and we got confirmation of that a second later as Tokihayate put a hand against Nishikifuji's back, and Nishikifuji took an obvious dive just like that. Tokihayate almost tripped over his opponent after he took the dive because he had no feel for the action whatsoever, and this was a great example of a pre-arranged bout where the loser takes a premature dive because he anticipates force that wasn't actually there. Tokihayate moves to a sheepish 2-1 while Nishikifuji falls to 0-3

M14 Chiyoshoma executed a quick hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping into M13 Ryuden's face before getting the left inside position and right outer grip. Ryuden countered with his own left inside position, but he didn't have an outer grip of his own, and so Chiyoshoma dashi-nage'ed him over to the edge and off balance setting up the easy force out win. Chiyoshoma moves to 2-1 with the nice display of sumo while Ryuden falls to 1-2.

M12 Sadanoumi reached for and got an early grip at the front of M13 Shonannoumi's belt, but before the Sadamight could get in close, Shonannoumi pivoted to his right countering with a nice kote-nage throw that morphed into a kata-sukashi at the end, and he was able to drag Sadanoumi forward and down before Sadanoumi could get firmly established with the left inside position. It was over quick and not the greatest display of sumo, but it was good enough for Shonannoumi who moves to 2-1 while Sadanoumi falls to 1-2.

M12 Hokutofuji shaded a bit left at the tachi-ai against M11 Tamawashi taking away a straight up tsuppari tachi-ai from Tamawashi, but Hokutofuji forfeited any momentum to his foe in the process, and so Hokutofuji's only hope was a pull as Tamawashi chased him around. At one point, Tamawashi went for a pull himself, and as Hokutofuji tried to squirt out of it, he lost his momentum and footing just as Tamawashi was coming in for the oshi-dashi kill. The result was an oshi-taoshi in favor of Tamawashi who moves to 2-1 with the average display of sumo. As for Hokutofuji, he took himself out of contention at the tachi-ai in falling to 1-2 (not that he ever had a chance in a straight up bout...)

M11 Meisei had the easy path to moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against M10 Takarafuji, but you could see Meisei refusing it. In particular, Meisei's left arm was right there to the side of Takarafuji with the latter playing no defense, so when Meisei refused to get the left arm inside, you knew it was fixed. And it was. As soon as Takarafuji offered a light tap going one way, Meisei bit the dirt going the other way creating an awkward ending to a fake bout of sumo. Both dudes end the day at 1-2.

M9 Midorifuji henka'd to his left against M10 Ichiyamamoto, but the taller IYM was able to keep his footing and square back up, and so as Midorifuji looked to sheepishly fight straight up, it was Ichiyamamoto's turn to move to the side and execute a pull, and Midorifuji went down in the process. This was ugly start to finish as Ichiyamamoto moves to 3-0 while Midorifuji falls to 1-2.

M9 Takayasu and M8 Gonoyama were slightly out of sync at the tachi-ai, and when they did actually go, Takayasu was completely out of sorts with his hands extended and way too high, and so Gonoyama burrowed in underneath and had the compromised Takayasu pushed back and out in under two seconds. I'm sure Takayasu would like that tachi-ai back as he falls to 1-2 while Gonoyama took care of bidness quickly in moving to 2-1.

M7 Endoh executed a pretty nice hari-zashi tachi-ai against M8 Roga slapping with the right and getting that right arm inside, but Roga was easily able to counter with his own right arm inside. As the two hunkered down, you could see the action shading in Endoh's favor, but it wasn't necessarily Endoh applying superior force, and then out of nowhere, Roga went for a kote-nage with the left that had Endoh completely off balance, but instead of flinging Endoh around and out, Roga just dragged Endoh into his own body toppling backwards and out giving Endoh the cheap win in the process. Endoh buys one here in going to 2-1 while Roga falls to 1-2 after controlling the pace of this bout.

M7 Mitakeumi henka'd to his left against M6 Nishikigi reaching for an outer grip, but the henka was bland and ineffective had Nishikigi wanted to make his foe pay. He didn't unfortunately and all but backed up to the edge near the corner of the dohyo and waited for Mitakeumi to rush forward. Mitakeumi did and got moro-zashi, but he still didn't have the strength to actually force Nishikigi back and across. Nishikigi actually flinched on a left tsuki-otoshi at the edge due to muscle memory, and the move would have worked, but he held up and literally stepped back with his left foot as Mitakeumi was so hapless.

Here's how you know this whole bout was orchestrated. When a dude is burned by a henka, he stumbles forward directly to middle of the side where is opponent came from. In this bout, Nishikigi flowed towards the corner of the dohyo without even looking at his opponent until he squared back up. All in all this was a very obvious, fixed bout in Mitakeumi's favor as he moves to 2-1 while Nishikigi pads the billfold at 0-3.

M6 Takanosho planted a nice forearm into M5 Tobizaru's neck at the tachi-ai driving him back a full step, and then he followed that up with a paw to the face that sent Tobizaru back and across without argument. Tobizaru hopped off the dohyo about four rows deep, but he didn't have to dodge any spectators because the suna-kaburi on that side only looked half full. Takanosho moves to 3-0 with the easy win while Tobizaru falls to 2-1.

M5 Kotoshoho came forward so lightly with his head ducked low, and he was just waiting to be slapped down by M4 Ohshoma. Ohshoma's execution was terrible, but the bout was fixed, so it didn't matter as Kotoshoho took the obligatory dive in under three seconds. I snapped the pic here at right at the end of the bout and how does the winner by hataki-komi end up in that position in relation to his foe? Easy. Yaocho. Both dudes end the day at 1-2 and the fans should be pissed for shelling out money to watch bouts like this.

In a similar bout, M4 Churanoumi reached for a frontal left belt grip from the tachi-ai against M2 Wakatakakage, but that's hard to latch onto when you're moving backwards. I mean, the backwards movement was intentional, and so Churanoumi backed up and to his left setting himself up near the edge for an easy pushout. Churanoumi even lifted his right leg bent at the knee making it easier, and the first real contact Wakatakakage made in this bout was the final push. The real tell here was just how nonchalant Churanoumi was able to turn around and lightly dismount to the floor below in full control. Ho hum, another lackluster fixed bout of sumo as Wakatakakage is 3-0 with Churanoumi falling to 0-3.

Komusubi Wakamotoharu established the left inside position and a right kote-nage grip against M2 Ura shortly after the tachi-ai, and the two dudes dug in from there for about eight seconds before Ura faked a tasuki-zori move that failed miserably, and it was really just an excuse for Ura to fall backwards of his own volition. You could tell from the start that Ura was not trying to win this thing as it was thrown in Wakamotoharu's favor. The Komusubi moves to 2-1 with the cheap win while Ura falls to 1-2.

In the sanyaku ranks, Sekiwake Daieisho welcomed M3 Atamifuji and tried to bully him around with his tsuppari attack, but Atamifuji was too large for the Sekiwake to budge. Course, the nearly 10 year age difference probably had something to do with it as well, but when Daieisho couldn't win in linear fashion, he moved to his right to throw a wrench in things, but Atamifuji stayed in his craw and shoved him across with ease. Good, patient sumo from Atamifuji who moves to 3-0 while Daieisho falls to 1-2.

M3 Abi put both hands towards Sekiwake Kirishima's neck at the tachi-ai, but didn't apply much force, and the Sekiwake's response was to wildly swipe down into thin air with his right hand, and that was really an excuse for the former Ozeki to turn his shoulder inside and leave himself completely exposed to his opponent. Because Abi didn't cause any of that movement, he wasn't ready to pounce, and so Kirishima just began backpedaling with C3P0 arms, and as Abi caught him with two hands to the gut at the edge, the Sekiwake immediately turned and looked for a soft landing on the floor below. Kirishima throws this one in falling to 0-3 while Abi is gifted 2-1.

Ozeki Hoshoryu was paired against M1 Hiradoumi, and Hiradoumi's feet were completely aligned at the tachi-ai allowing Hoshoryu to blast him back to the Tawara with dual tsuppari, and with Hiradoumi on the straw and the Ozeki pressing forward, Hiradoumi began tip toeing the Tawara to his right looking for a desperate pull, but Hoshoryu caught him with one more volley to send him across with some oomph. Hoshoryu moves to 3-0 with the easy win while Hiradoumi is the opposite 0-3.

M1 Ohho's tachi-ai was passive against Kotozakura as the faux-zeki looked to move forward, but Kotozakura wasn't kicking ass and taking names, and so Ohho went for a pull to change up the action and move back to the center of the ring. From there, the two looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu, but Ohho had Kotozakura's left arm pinched in tightly and rendered useless causing Kotozakura to escape to his left, and from that point, the two traded places in the ring a few times looking for opportunistic shoves and/or pulls, and Kotozakura just didn't have the stamina to move around like that, and so Ohho pushed him back and across at about the 10 second mark. I like to see behemoths like these two go chest to chest, and while we didn't get that here, it was an okay bout of sumo. It certainly wasn't Ozeki sumo from Kotozakura who suffers his first loss at 2-1 while Ohho picks up his first win at 1-2.

Here come the taiko drums, which means that Onosato stepped into the ring to finish off the day against Komusubi Shodai. This is actually an opponent that Onosato can beat straight up, and he showed it here executing a very good tachi-ai where he choked Shodai completely upright, and that was followed up with the right arm inside. As Shodai looked to escape to his left, Onosato was onto his every move and easily bodied Shodai back before firing a final left shove to move Shodai across for good.

I will always give credit when it's due, and Onosato legitimately kicked Shodai's ass here in moving to 3-0 while Shodai is a tough luck 0-3. Dude shouldn't be fighting at this level of the banzuke anyway, but having him appear in his hometown basho from the sanyaku was a necessary headline I suppose.

The venue looked about 80% at capacity today even though they're saying that all of the tickets are sold out. That may be, but there were quite a few nice seats that were empty today, especially on the East and West sides. We'll see if they can keep some momentum going here to last the full two weeks.

Kyushu Basho Day 2 Comments
As I watched the recording of the Day 1 bouts on my NHK World feed, they showed the entrance to the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, the venue for the Kyushu basho. That view always brings back a lot of memories, and I realized that it was exactly 30 years ago when I entered the building for the first time to see the sumos.

The term "white privilege" has been batted about the last few years politically, but if there was ever white privilege on full display, it was in Fukuoka Japan in the mid 90's for a white guy who was fluent in Japanese. Foreigners weren't quite yet as prevalent in Japan as they are today, so if you were white and you spoke fluent Japanese and you had a respectable job and you could sing Japanese songs on the karaoke machine, you had a lot of privilege.

One of my connections in Fukuoka, a dude name Hashimoto-san, always had prime seats to the sumos, and he liked to take me and then we'd go out on the town afterwards so he could show me off to the mamas that ran the snacks he frequented. Hashimoto-san had a niece who loved the Hawaiian rikishi at the time from the Takasago-beya (I can still name all of them...even the dudes down in the scrub divisions), and so she took me one morning to the Takasago-beya for morning Keiko, and it literally changed everything for me.

Konishiki was in his decline at the time, but there was an up-and-comer named Sunahama from Hawaii who spent a few years in the Juryo ranks throwing bouts, and then a dude named Koryu from sandanme who I became decent friends with when they were in Fukuoka. Azumazeki-oyakata (former Takamihana from Hawaii) would bring Akebono to the Takasago-beya all the time for morning Keiko, and they also had a dude named Daiki who spent a few years as a sekitori before ultimately going back to Hawaii where he was either murdered after his career or he committed suicide...I can't remember which now.

Anyway, a year or two later after I first met those guys, a Japanese tabloid published pictures of Sunahama and Sentoryu (a future Makuuchi rikishi) smoking marijuana, and they alleged that Koryu was the dude who procured the drugs for the foreign rikishi. I still remember the pit in my stomach after reading that article because I knew those guys so well, and I didn't want to read anything that tainted my image of sumo wrestling.

I had similar feelings in 1996 when the deaths of Onaruto-oyakata and one of his companions occurred in the same hospital on the same day after it was reported Onaruto was about to expose the prevalence of yaocho in sumo...something that Itai would do four years later.

Oh how far we've come from 30 years ago, and while those early foreigners escaped any prosecution or consequences for allegedly smoking weed, we know that a few of the Russian dudes a decade or so later weren't so lucky. As for Itai, he escaped the fate of Onaruto-oyakata after his tell-all news article although Itai did pass away a few years ago from natural causes.

Anyway, I have tons of memories about stuff like this because I was that close to sumo wrestling in the mid-90's, and as part of that journey of getting to know the guys and watching morning keiko pretty much everyday the two weeks prior to the basho, I think I've seen at least 10 thousand bouts of morning keiko. I can also say that I've now watched 180 basho in my life start to finish, and so I've literally seen it all, so when the broadcast starts with images of the Kokusai Center genkan in Fukuoka, it always takes me back to the good ole days.

As I watched the Day 1 bouts, which I won't report on, the main storylines I picked up on coming into the basho are:

- Terunofuji withdrew in order to increase the likelihood of a Japanese rikishi yusho by about 50%.
- Onosato is now an Ozeki.
- Takerufuji is back in the division at M13 and buying bouts.
- Shodai is coincidentally ranked as Komusubi again as he fights in maybe his last hometown basho (what were the odds?!)
- A rookie named Shishi from Ukraine has finally made it to Makuuchi

There are enough storylines at the start of the contest to keep the fans interested, but ultimately it comes down performance in the ring, and that's what has me worried.

Day 2 began with rookie M17 Asakoryu taking on Kinbohzan who was visiting from Juryo, and Kinbohzan overwhelmed the vertically-challenged rookie by winning the tachi-ai and using a decent shove attack to bully Asakoryu around and out. Kinbohzan used an awkward forearm at times as he pushed the rookie back across the straw, but there was no way that Asakoryu was going to win this bout if it wasn't arranged. Kinbohzan moves to an easy 2-0 while Asakoryu falls to 0-2, and I should note that Asakoryu totally threw his bout yesterday against Takerufuji.  Kid can't get a break.

Up next was another rookie in M16 Shishi, and he was paired against M17 Bushozan. Shishi did win his bout yesterday legitimately, and he was the heavy favorite here against Bushozan, and after a decent tachi-ai from both parties that resulted in their changing places in the ring, Shishi was able to work his way into the right inside position and left outer grip, and from there the yori-kiri was straightway. Must be really nice for Shishi to start out 2-0 and not have to pay for his bouts. As for Bushozan, he falls to 0-2.

M16 Takerufuji next stepped into the ring against M15 Tokihayate, and NHK World does this silly little taiko drum beat before they announce one of their so-called marquee matchups of the day. I know Takerufuji was gifted that yusho as a rookie earlier in the year, but is it really necessary to hype an M16 like this with such little game who has spent the last half year out of the division? Actually, it is. I mean, usually you have to earn your stripes, but NHK at the direction of the Sumo Association is clearly highlighting the bouts they're told to feature.

Anyway, Tokihayate easily gained moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against the defenseless Takerufuji, and Tokihayate simply wrenched him upright and form side to side as he easily backed him across the straw in like three seconds. Takerufuji was clueless here against a dude who was trying to beat him, and so the overly-hyped rikishi falls to 1-1 while Tokihayate improves to 1-1 as well.

M14 Chiyoshoma makes his return from Juryo this basho and today his opponent was M15 Onokatsu. From the tachi-ai, Chiyoshoma extended his arms lamely keeping himself wide open, but Onokatsu was clueless and so the two traded places on the dohyo before Chiyoshoma loaded on a kata-sukashi type move. He never followed through, however, and so you knew he was going to throw the bout. With Onokatsu still hapless as ever, Chiyoshoma maintained a left inside position and just stood there as Onokatsu executed the slowest maki-kae with the right arm you'll ever see, and instead of making him pay, Chiyoshoma just backed out of the dohyo with Onokatsu sorta in tow. This was an obvious yaocho as Chiyoshoma resumes his Makuuchi merchant ways in falling to 1-1 while Onokatsu is a cheap 2-0.

M14 Nishikifuji dominated the tachi-ai against a listless and upright M13 Shonannoumi, but instead of getting firmly to the inside or going for a shove attack, NFJ just stood there until Shonannoumi went for a pull. It was lame as ever and had little effect on Nishikifuji, and so Nishikifuji finally stood straight up and waited for Shonannoumi to execute a push-out. Even then, you had a completely mukiryoku Nishikifuji who had to largely back out on his own due to the lack of force from Shonannoumi. Pathetic stuff here as Shonannoumi buys his first win at 1-1 while Nishikifuji falls to 0-2.

M13 Ryuden charged forward well against M12 Hokutofuji at the tachi-ai but he wasn't shoving nor was he looking to get to the belt, and so the two traded a few useless shoves before Ryuden grabbed a right outer belt grip. Instead of working his way into the left inside, he ultimately let the grip go, which allowed the messy sumo to continue. Every five seconds of this bout, Ryuden had the advantage, but he simply wouldn't finish Hokutofuji off, and I must admit I was waiting for the fake dive, but after about 20 seconds, Hokutofuji was clearly out of gas and just backed across the straw of his own volition so he could finally catch his breath. Both rikishi end the day at 1-1 after this very unorthodox bout.

Two Kyushu rikishi stepped into the ring next with M12 Sadanoumi (Kumamoto) taking on M11 Meisei (Kagoshima). With neither dude obliged to lose to his opponent because it was both of their "hometown" basho, we got a fair fight here, and Meisei took charge striking well from the tachi-ai before going for an offensive pull/slap to his right that sent Sadanoumi off balance, and before the Sadamight could recover, Meisei grabbed a right outer grip and rushed Sadanoumi back and across in a flash. This one wasn't close as both dudes end the day at 1-1.

M11 Tamawashi was purposefully lethargic at the tachi-ai keeping his arms wide and stepping back a full step that put him nearly at the edge. From there, he laid out the welcome mat and played along as Ichiyamamoto pounced for the uncontested oshi-dashi win. Ichiyamamoto buys this one in moving to 2-0 while Tamawashi has plenty of room to sell in falling to 1-1.

M9 Takayasu caught M10 Takarafuji with two hands to the neck, but instead of using de-ashi, Takayasu moved to his right looking for a pull. As he did this, he left his insides completely exposed, but Takarafuji refused to take advantage, and so Takarafuji stood there for a second and then just backed up and across on his own anticipating an oshi attack from Takayasu that never came. I mean, there wasn't a detectable push from Takayasu that caused Takarafuji to back across indicating a clear yaocho here as Takayasu buys this one in moving to 1-1 while Takarafuji is a nonchalant 0-2.

M8 Roga got the right inside at the tachi-ai easily against M9 Midorifuji whose only option was to duck down low and perhaps look for a kata-sukashi. The problem with Midorifuji's kata-sukashi wins is that they are all arranged, but Roga was in this one to win, and so he pressed in tight for a few seconds before forcing Midorifuji back a step and upright, and Midorifuji's only chance was to move laterally but Roga caught him with a left outer grip and then smothered Midorifuji back and across in perfect yori-kiri fashion. Both dudes finish the day at 1-1.

M8 Gonoyama knocked M7 Mitakeumi upright from the tachi-ai, but he wasn't moving forward to take advantage in one fell swoop, and so Mitakeumi gave some return fire before Gonoyama forced his way into the inside right, and once obtained, Mitakeumi knew he was had and tried to escape backwards, but Gonoyama rushed in for the kill nicely with some oomph has he forced Mitakeumi back and across in mere seconds. This was good sumo from Gonoyama as both dudes finish at 1-1.

M6 Takanosho looked to take charge against M7 Endoh coming with a push attack, and Endoh's response was to try and latch onto Takanosho's outstretched arm and pull him off balance laterally, but Takanosho's momentum was too powerful, and so he was able to stay square with the fleeing Endoh and shove him clear off the dohyo all in about three seconds. Takanosho moves to 2-0 with the win while Endoh falls to 1-1.

M6 Nishikigi aligned his feet at the tachi-ai, stood straight up, and put his right arm up high as M5 Kotoshoho charged forward, and so of course the result was an uncontested win for Kotoshoho. This maybe took two seconds as Nishikigi sold this bout in falling to 0-2 while Kotoshoho "improves" to 1-1.

The M4 Churanoumi - M5 Tobizaru was a great example of a bout of sumo where neither did wanted to do forward-moving sumo. With both looking for pulls, the sumo here was awkward throughout, and just when you thought a dude had the momentum to score a nice oshi-dashi, they refused the push sumo in favor of pull sumo, so around and around they went before Churanoumi went for a reckless shove near the edge and Tobizaru was able to..uh..pull him across in wild fashion. I hate this kind of bout as Tobizaru moves to 2-0 while Churanoumi falls to 0-2. At least it was legit, but isn't that the problem?

M4 Ohshoma and M3 Atamifuji sorta bounced off of each other at the tachi-ai but then quickly hooked up in migi-yotsu with Atamifuji pressing the action. After seizing the momentum, Atamifuji grabbed a solid left outer grip and used it to pin Ohshoma in place before using a series of gaburi belly shoves to knock Ohshoma back and across for good. Very nice win here by Atamifuji who moves to 2-0 while Ohshoma falls to 0-2.

M3 Abi was a split second faster at the tachi-ai than Komusubi Shodai, and so before OldDai could even come out of his stance properly, Abi had two paws to the neck. Shodai tried to move to his left and evade, but Abi stayed snug and pushed the Kumamoto native back and across in under three seconds. They rightly ruled his one tsuki-dashi as Abi moves to 1-1 while Shodai gets his ass kicked again in falling to 0-2.

Sekiwake Kirishima moved forward against M2 Ura at the tachi-ai but failed to grab him despite Ura being very vulnerable. As for Ura's sumo...if you can call it that, he was focused on backing up wildly the first half of the bout. Once the two settled in near the center of the ring after a busy start, Ura kind of went for a pull, but there was nothing there, but it didn't stop Kirishima from doing a 360 in the center of the ring. I was rolling my eyes at this point of course, and in the next two seconds, Kirishima anticipated a move from Ura that never came, and so the Sekiwake flopped down and put both palms to the dirt despite zero contact from Ura. Ura tried to catch up and make contact, but everyone knew this one was fake. You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel when you have to come up with bouts like this to keep the fans excited. Ura moves to 1-1 with the gift while Kirishima falls--literally--to 0-2.

Sekiwake Daieisho didn't even move his feet at the tachi-ai against M2 Wakatakakage and instead offered a listless thrust or two before putting both hands square at the back of Wakatakakage's head. He of course didn't go for a pull and just stood there as Wakatakakage rushed him back and across in uncontested fashion. What pointless sumo as Wakatakakage is gifted 2-0 with Daieisho falling to 1-1.

Kotozakura was paired against M1 Hiradoumi, who threw his bout against Onosato yesterday despite getting moro-zashi easily from the tachi-ai. As Onosato backed up shading to his left, Hiradoumi just dove the opposite way knocking over the bucket of salt in the corner of the dohyo. It was an obvious yaocho in favor of the faux-zeki, so would Hiradoumi dish out a second gift in as many days?

Unfortunately, yes. Hiradoumi won the tachi-ai getting the right arm firmly inside, but instead of forcing his opponent upright and latching onto the belt with the left, he just backed over to the side of the dohyo for no other reason than to throw the bout. Still, Kotozakura didn't create the momentum so he couldn't capitalize on Hiradoumi's backwards movement, and so Hiradoumi backed up the other way spanning the entire diameter of the dohyo and letting his foot slide across the straw before Kotozakura could apply any force. Yet another farcical win for Kotozakura (2-0) whose grand pappy must be rolling in his grave watching this..uh..sumo. As for Hiradoumi, he's shown that he can squarely beat both Japanese Ozeki from the tachi-ai and have his way with them. Unfortunately, he allowed himself to be paid off in falling to 0-2.

Here come the taiko drums from NHK, which means another "bout of the day" that features a rikishi whose made it this far on hype alone in Onosato, and he was paired today against M1 Ohho. Neither dude really attempted a waza at the tachi-ai that affected the other, but it was Ohho who made the first move by getting his left arm inside, but instead of going chest to chest and knocking Onosato upright, Ohho continued to move left as if he was positioning himself for a pull, but he instead just backed up across the straw pulling Onosato squarely into his own body, and so the result was an oshi-taoshi that occurred well after Ohho had already backed himself across the straw and stepped out. Watching Onosato "win" these bouts is like streaming something online where the audio is like two seconds behind the video. Nothing seems to sync up with this guy and even that finish at left is off kilt with Ohho taking a knee well to the right of Onosato who is gifted 2-0 while Ohho gently falls to 0-2.

In the final bout of the day, Ozeki Hoshoryu was paired against Komusubi Wakamotoharu, and the Ozeki came out hard with some nice shoves that knocked Wakamotoharu upright, but instead of trying to get established to the inside, Hoshoryu waited for Wakamotoharu to come forward, and then he grabbed him in a kote-nage grip and wrenched Wakamotoharu over to the edge before pushing him wildly down to the venue floor. Hoshoryu moves to 2-0 with the dominating win, and we'll see what his intentions are this basho in the coming days. As for Wakamotoharu, his ass was handed to him as he falls to 1-1.

I guess the main storyline after two days is that the Ozeki are all 2-0, but there's still a lot of ground to cover.