Expert Sumo Analysis and Commentary

Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)

The big difference this basho from last basho is that last basho the players in the yusho race had already faced off against each other early in the tournament, and so there were no guaranteed losses by dudes on the leaderboard deep into the basho. This tournament, however, as the leaderboard formed early in week 2, nobody had fought each other, and as the dudes were paired against each other day after day, someone had to lose and thus fall off the leaderboard.

The leaderboard heading into Day 13 was quite thin, and there was no way they were going to orchestrate a yusho for Asanoyama, so by the end of the day there was very little to look forward to heading into the weekend.

To sumo's credit, they turned the fans out as well as can be expected this basho. I think I stated in March after the surprise Kiribayama yusho that sumo lacked any momentum heading into May. They did have the return of Asanoyama to the division, and I know that helped, but they had to have been ecstatic at the number of tickets sold.

Course, they were packing the upper tier with students the first 6 or 7 weekdays of the basho, and that's what enabled them to lower the man-in on-rei banners early on. There were at least a thousand students in attendance everyday, and there were so many white shirts in the upper deck, I thought the Mormon missionaries were in town for some convention or other.

I haven't seen any television numbers posted yet, and I don't expect to either. They'll only report on that when the numbers are good, and there were just too many distractions this basho on the TV side of things not the least of which was the crazy dude who killed four people in Nagano-ken, a story that will carry into weekend.

I noticed today that the general NHK feed didn't start until just before the Komusubi Shodai - Nishikigi matchup (which Nishikigi won with a great belt attack to move to 7-6), and I'm sure they were covering that Nagano incident ad nausea. But, they're going to show what's going to get them the best numbers and what's in demand.

And so...sumo's still got some work to do in preparation for the Nagoya basho, and I think that's why they were hyping the four Sekiwake the first 10 days. Hey, we have some young dudes making some noise, so the future looks bright!! Someone I also haven't mentioned but who has received quite a bit of hype from the Juryo ranks is another Hakuho prodigy, Ochiai. I saw the headline today that said, "Ochiai pick up his 12 win in his second basho in Juryo, just like his stable master." Course, this was the pic that was accompanying. Whew, talk about his opponent putting up a big fight.

Sheesh, it sounds as if the basho is already over, and PR wise it is. There is nothing left for the Sumo Association to sell here in May except maybe a kachi-koshi by Ura.

Let's start with the leaderboard today going in chronological order meaning up first was M15 Tsurugisho vs. Sekiwake Wakamotoharu. To my utter shock, when the general NHK feed started around 5:20 PM Japan time, they flashed a mini leaderboard with Tsurugisho on the third tier coming in at 9-3 on the day. The only reason they added the third tier line is because it would guarantee them at least one Japanese rikishi on the leaderboard heading into Saturday because the worst Asanoyama could finish was 10-3. Talk about dissing the Yokozuna.

Anyway, in a silly affair, the two hooked up in migi-yotsu whereupon Tsurugisho literally stood there and watched as Wakamotoharu moved left and went for an almost undetectable love tap into Tsurugisho's right side, and TS just stopped, dropped, and rolled all the way over to the straw. As if. It was more important that Wakamotoharu move to 9-4 here than to keep TS on the leaderboard as Tsurugisho falls to the same 9-4 mark...and right back off the leaderboard darn the luck!

M11 Hokuseiho took that long walk up the charts to meet Sekiwake Kiribayama, and Hokuseiho stood straight up from the tachi-ai as he is wont to do, and that allowed the Ozeki to get the right arm inside and firm left outer grip. Hokuseiho lazily reached for a left outer over the top, but Kiribayama sensed it coming and kept his hips way back denying the kid the left outer. From there, Kiribayama tested the uwate-dashi-nage waters and had Hokuseiho completely off balance and on the run, but he stopped short of winning outright and let the bout continue. After 10 seconds or so, Kiribayama went for a soto-gake that had Hokuseiho teetering, but Kiribayama kept him upright, and then finally at the minute twenty-five mark, Hokuseiho hadn't showed anything, and so the Ozeki felled Eeyore for good with another soto-gake. Kiribayama moves to 11-2 with the nice win, and he's a lock for Ozeki next basho.

The biggest thing that stood out to me watching this bout is how we never see Japanese rikishi execute controlled soto-gake like this. The Mongolians are so clearly on a different plane right now, and it's not because the Japanese rikishi can't execute soto-gake. The majority of them can. The issue is there is so much buying and selling going on everyday that nobody seems to be focusing on good sumo technique, and so we rarely see it other than a fine yori-kiri here or a good oshi-dashi there. Oh, and of course the zubuneri kimari-te from geniuses like Ura.

With Kiribayama keeping pace, we next head to the final bout of the day, Yokozuna Terunofuji vs. M14 Asanoyama. Terunofuji stayed put at the tachi-ai making Asanoyama come to him, and the M14 came forward and struck as well as could be expected, but the Yokozuna absorbed that volley and simply grabbed Asanoyama in a right kote-nage hold and then threw Asanoyama over and down as if he was a sack'a potatoes. It was just so methodic, but it did illustrate the huge gap between these two rikishi, and so when I came across that pic at lower right on the wires, I thought to myself, "That about sums it up."

With the win, Terunofuji moves to an easy peasy 12-1 while Asanoyama drops down to that manufactured third tier on the leaderboard as it wouldn't do not to have a Japanese rikishi on the leaderboard heading into the weekend. Tomorrow Asanoyama is paired against Shodai, and that should be an interesting match. It will kinda be like the midget wrestling matches they used to show decades ago as an undercard to the main event. Your guess is as good as mine as to whose gonna win that one.

The leaderboard would have contained no Japanese rikishi heading into Day 14 for the first time in years if they wouldn't have added that third tier, but they added for PR purposes, so here ya go:

12-1: Asanoyama
11-2: Kiribayama
10-3: Asanoyama

We already mentioned the Asanoyama - Shodai matchup, and then Terunofuji and Kiribayama are paired tomorrow. Terunofuji should win that giving him the yusho on Day 14, and if Terunofuji doesn't win leaving both Mongolians at 12-2 heading into senshuraku, it'd be a great opportunity for some of the Japanese rikishi to "have a say" in the yusho race. I think Fuji's gonna win tomorrow, but we'll see.

In other bouts of interest, Takakeisho executed one of the worst henka you'd care to see moving a bit left at the tachi-ai against M6 Meisei, and Meisei paused just a bit waiting for Takakeisho to swing that left arm as he is wont to do, and that was Meisei's cue to just run outta the ring from there. What a horrible bout this was, and it's just embarrassing not to mention insulting that this guy is still ranked as an Ozeki. The optics here were not good at all, especially sandwiched in between Kiribayama and Terunofuji's performances as Meisei (8-5) gifts Takakeisho kachi-koshi at 8-5 to no one's surprise.

Sekiwake Hoshoryu and M9 Hiradoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Hiradoumi grabbed a left outer grip, but before he could settle into the stance, Hoshoryu immediately went for a right inside belt throw that broke off the uwate and then sent Hiradoumi back and across in a few seconds. Good stuff from Hoshoryu who moves to 9-4 while Hiradoumi is still searching for kachi-koshi at 7-6. If Hoshoryu can win 10 this basho, they may tout him as an Ozeki candidate in Nagoya. We shall see.

Sekiwake Daieisho took an obvious backwards spill against M6 Mitakeumi today after pummeling Mitakeumi back from the tachi-ai before stopping that charge and bringing his arms up high gifting Mitakeumi moro-zashi. Mitakeumi still couldn't force Daieisho back and across with the gift, and so Daieisho just fell backwards like a tree falling in the woods. Good grief as both rikishi end the day at 8-5.

M5 Kinbohzan easily got the left outer grip from the tachi-ai against Komusubi Kotonowaka in a migi-yotsu contest. And then two seconds in, Kinbohzan just let it go, so you knew the bout was thrown at that point as they gifted Kotonowaka 6-7 while Kinbohzan falls to 4-9. Just bugs me, especially when they talk about how strong Kotonowaka was. Uh, he needed his opponent to just release a stifling outer grip and then stand there limp as he was forced back.

M7 Hokutofuji was C3P0 at the tachi-ai giving M1 Midorifuji moro-zashi, and after faking a kote-nage attempt, Hokutofuji sensed the wicked kata-sukashi was coming, and so he just dove straight down to the dirt before Midorifuji could even execute the move. Oops. Yaocho here as both dudes end the day at 5-8.

M2 Takayasu is a lame horse that needs to be put down. I have no idea why he came back if he's not going to buy his wins. He didn't today against M7 Tamawashi, and the Mongolian went easy on him offering a few shoves and a light swipe to the side, and Takayasu had had enough and just limped out of the ring to protect himself. He's now 1-12 and would be better served giving himself up to the glue factory while Tamawashi picks up the freebie at 7-6.

The rikishi that has stood out to me the most this basho is M11 Daishoho. The dude is an effin beast, and he's got great sumo skills. Like a lot of other foreign rikishi (and even guys like Kagayaki, Nishikigi, and Ryuden), his MO is to hoard as much money by selling bouts, but he's a very good rikishi and I've enjoyed watching him when he has fought straight up.

Unfortunately, he chose the money today against M4 Ura and did absolutely nothing form the tachi-ai except stand there as Ura got a shallow right arm inside and then took two or three seconds to execute what they called a kata-sukashi. It was simply Daishoho waiting for a move and then flopping to the dirt not to mention a 5-8 record. As for Ura, he's the most marketable dude they have left this basho as he seeks kachi-koshi at 7-6.

No sooner did I type that last statement before NHK showed the top three streamed bouts from yesterday, and for the first time in a very long time, Asanoyama was not number one. The number one guy from yesterday?? Ura.

Asanoyama was number two, and the Terunofuji - Wakamotoharu matchup was number three.

And finally, if you have the means, re-watch the M10 Ryuden - M15 Ichiyamamoto matchup and pay attention to Ryuden's sumo. He counters his opponent's tsuppari attack sufficiently before getting the left arm inside and right outer grip, and once obtained, he easily drove his foe back and dumped him across with a perfectly executed uwate-nage. I mentioned earlier that Japanese rikishi rarely show us sound technique anymore. Well, this was a great example of perfect sumo from Ryuden, probably the best Japanese rikishi on the banzuke (and most randy) as he finishes at 5-8 while Ichiyamamoto falls to 4-9.

And that's a wrap on Day 13. See ya sometime on the weekend.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
NHK has avoided the large leaderboard the entire basho, but they finally showed the large leaderboard at the start of today's broadcast that consisted of three rikishi:

10-1: Terunofuji, Asanoyama
9-2: Kiribayama

As I mentioned yesterday, we're down to just those three rikishi unless Terunofuji loses, and since none of them have fought each other yet, there are still three losses to be shared among that group assuming that they win their other bouts.

As for Asanoyama, he is at the complete mercy of his opponents, and the dude drew Daieisho today; he gets Terunofuji tomorrow; and then the speculation is that he'll be paired against Kiribayama and Wakamotoharu down the stretch as long as he's still on the leaderboard.

I really only see two options here the rest of the way. Either the two Mongolians run away with the yusho race, or Terunofuji brings the yusho line down a few notches. Let's revisit the Day 12 action touching on all of the Makuuchi bouts.

M13 Chiyoshoma and M15 Ichiyamamoto both came with shoves from the tachi-ai, but Chiyoshoma grabbed IYM's right hand early and pulled him off balance. Chiyoshoma could have won by oshi dashi from there, but he backed himself up into the center of the ring. Ichiyamamoto was oblivious at this point, and so Chiyoshoma pushed him to the edge again only to back up to the center of the ring for no reason a second time. At that point, IYM caught back up and went for a light pull, and Chiyoshoma just spread his legs as if to do the splits and then plopped over onto his arse. Great start here as Chiyoshoma throws it in falling to 6-6 while Ichiyamamoto "improves" to 4-8.

M11 Daishoho came with the C3P0 arms against M14 Myogiryu giving him moro-zashi, but Myogiryu was having trouble forcing the Hutt back, and so he moved right and lightly pulled Daishoho's belt with the right hand, and Daishoho just scooted over to the other side of the dohyo and kept his arms open again giving moro-zashi to Myogiryu yet again and the momentum he needed to score the cheap force-out. Two bout and two Mongolians selling them to Japanese counterparts as Myogiryu moves to 7-5 while Daishoho falls ot 5-7.

Two minutes into the M16 Mitoryu - M10 Takarafuji matchup (yes, two minutes!) I began to regret calling all the bouts today. In this one, nobody did anything literally until close to the 2:30 mark when Mitoryu went for a light pull bringing Takarafuji dangerously close to the edge where his only hope was to 360 out of there. I mean, Takarafuji was there for the taking as he pirouetted around, but instead of pushing his foe out decisively, Mitoryu offered a light shove and just stepped across of his own volition before Takarafuji stepped out.

The ref had no clue what had just happened and couldn't decide where to point the gunbai. I think he had been lulled to sleep like everyone else, and so he guessed in the direction of Takarafuji. They called a mono-ii and declared a redo probably because they couldn't make up a kimari-te to explain how Takarafuji had just won, but in the do-over, Mitoryu henka'd forward and two his right (yes, forward) pretending to grab the right outer grip, but all he did was run over to the edge behind Takarafuji and wait for the Japanese rikishi to push him out from behind. Make that three Mongolians in a row who bent over for their Japanese counterparts as both dudes here finished the day at 4-8.

M9 Onosho bullied M16 Ohho back from the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, and Ohho's only hope was to move laterally, so he tried to go left, but he was so slow that Onosho easily pushed him to the other side of the dohyo...but not quite out. The bout was fixed and so instead of driving his opponent back that last easy step, Onosho just ran himself out of the dohyo before Ohho could move left and counter. I'm not sure how they got the hataki-komi kimari-te, but they had to make SOMETHING up to account for the yaocho. Ohho buys his kachi-koshi from the M16 rank at 8-4 while Onosho had plenty of room to sell from the M9 rank in falling to 6-6.

M15 Tsurugisho and M8 Hiradoumi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Hiradoumi was able to slip into a left outer grip, but TS was just too fat for him to bully around, and so Tsurugisho used a right inside belt throw to break off Hiradoumi's outer grip and force the action back to the center of the ring. From there, Tsurugisho had all of the momentum, and so he lifted Hiradoumi upright with that right inside belt tug, and the force out was swift and decisive. Finally, a real bout of sumo after a terrible start, and Tsurugisho looked great here in moving to 9-3 while Hiradoumi is denied kachi-koshi at 7-5.

M8 Sadanoumi and M12 Kotoeko looked to hook up in migi-yotsu, but before the bout could get established, Kotoeko backed up left and went for a hurried pull, and Sadanoumi's reaction was to lock his knees and just go with the flow flopping over and down about two seconds into the mess. This bout was so out of control that Kotoeko took a bad spill backwards off the dohyo while Sadanoumi was barely untouched in the corner, but this is what you get with yaocho as Kotoeko buys his way to 7-5 while Sadanoumi falls to 5-7.

M7 Hokutofuji looked good from the tachi-ai against M10 Ryuden, but that happens when your opponent is mukiryoku. After driving Ryuden back a step, Ryuden had the left arm inside and a right outer grip, but he kept that inside position shallow and just let go of the outer grip, and at Hokutofuji's completely bidding, Hokutofuji pushed Ryuden over and down hard onto the venue floor. What a great example of how people can get hurt when someone's mukiryoku, but that Ryuden (4-8) was here as Hokutofuji is gifted the cheap win at 5-7.

M12 Aoiyama and M7 Tamawashi were a bit out of sync at the tachi-ai that saw both dudes stand straight up, and the two traded mediocre, half-assed tsuppari until Aoiyama started to back up a bit thinking about a pull. Before he could try it, Tamawashi lightly moved forward and had him safely back and across to where neither dude needed to shower after this one. Tamawashi moves to 6-6 with the light win while Aoiyama falls to make-koshi at 4-8.

M17 Kagayaki had M6 Mitakeumi on his heels from the tachi-ai not to mention the right inside position that had Mitakeumi completely upright with a clear path to a left outer grip. But...Kagayaki failed to take advantage ignoring an outer grip and agreeing to back up slowly while letting Mitakeumi recover from his horrible position. From there, Mitakeumi scored the uncontested oshi-dashi over his mukiryoku opponent. As if. There's been a lot of compromised sumo today as Mitakeumi is gifted 7-5 while Kagayaki retreats to 5-7.

M3 Tobizaru and M4 Ura did a whole lotta nothing for about 20 seconds pushing into each other's shoulders as Ura danced around the ring with Tobizaru occasionally pushing him back a step but not pursuing anything after that. After a rather boring and useless bout, Tobizaru had Ura ducked down at the edge and dead to rights, but instead of pushing Ura across, he ducked his head, dipped right, and put his left arm around Ura's neck from behind before flopping to the dirt. The ending was so awkward, Ura bounded over to the other side of the dohyo and fell over in as fake of a bout as you'd care to see, and they ruled this one zubuneri.

I'm not going to pretend I even knew what that winning technique was coming in, but the "zu" refers to the head, and according to the Association's website, the winner pushes his head into his opponents chest area or shoulder and then twists him over or you grab the opponent's head and elbow and twist him down that way. The description actually matches exactly what Tobizaru did, not Ura. Ura didn't instigate any contact at the edge, and his head (the "zu" in zubuneri) never touched anything as he was at the complete mercy of his opponent. But, there's a lot of things made up in sumo these days, and this was just another example. I guess the sheep in the crowd liked it, so that's all that matters as Ura moves to 6-6 while Tobizaru falls to 5-7.

M8 Takanosho caught M3 Nishikifuji with a right paw to the throat from the tachi-ai standing NFJ up briefly, but the latter was able to latch onto that outstretched arm and move left pulling Takanosho off balance and then dispatching him across the straw with a left outer grip and right hand at the back of Takanosho's head. Hey, a legit bout here where the counter sumo won out as Nishikifuji moves to 3-9 while Takanosho falls to 4-8.

M1 Abi henka'd to his left against M6 Meisei, and as Meisei tried to recover and square back up, Abi pounced pushing him over and down hard across the straw. It took a bit for Meisei to get up, and with him out of sorts due to the henka, it looked as if he hurt his right knee as he landed hard onto the dohyo. It took him awhile to get up and he limped out of the venue favoring that leg. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, right Abi?! It was a cheap move for sure as Abi oils his way to 6-6 while Meisei falls to 8-4.

M2 Takayasu was flat footed from the tachi-ai as he put two hands towards M1 Midorifuji's neck, but Takayasu was in no position (or condition) to push, and so he went for a stupid pull, and as he did, Midorifuji just burrowed under him and drove Takayasu back hard sending him down into the suna-kaburi where he nearly bowled a strike by knocking over a host of spectators. I mean, dude had no control over his landing, and they should make a rule that if you come back from a kyujo mid basho, you have to pay off your opponents so nobody gets hurt in a straight up bout like this. Midorifuji moves to 4-8 with the easy win, and he let off some frustration here as Takayasu now falls to 1-11.

Komusubi Kotonowaka and M4 Nishikigi hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but the Komusubi was higher than he should have been, and that opened up the easy path for Nishikigi to grab a stifling left outer grip. Except he didn't grab it, and it was obvious. Instead, NG stayed limp as Kotonowaka moved laterally to his left and then skirted the edge of the dohyo going for a dangerous pull of his willing opponent. Nishikigi crashed down beyond the straw, but Kotonowaka carelessly let his right foot step back and out maybe a fraction of a second before NG's knee touched down.

They ruled in favor of Nishikigi, and since it's mathematically impossible for two guys to touch out at the exact same time, it was the correct call I thought because Kotonowaka did step out first, but it was so close it warranted a mono-ii. Mono-ii decisions can be quite subjective despite the video evidence, and what really made this one stand out is Kotonowaka Sr. was in the chief judge's seat, so he was in charge of the mono-ii for the bout in which his son was just involved.

I thought they should have ordered a do-over, but they weren't going to with Kotonowaka's dad there as the chief judge, so to avoid any conflict of interest, they just ruled that Kotonowaka touched out first. And he did but it was only by a millisecond. Anyway, Nishikigi moves to 6-6 even though he was willing to throw it while Kotonowaka drops to 5-7 due to carelessness.

I think the main reason I commented on all of the bouts today is because I wanted to talk a bit about M5 Kinbohzan. It's been a quiet basho for him here in Natsu but only because his camp is suppressing him. He's probably the fifth best rikishi right now in all of sumo (behind Terunofuji, Kiribayama, Hoshoryu, and Tamawashi), and so I wanted to point that out. The dude is a beast, and his hair isn't even tied up in the formal oi-cho yet.

Today he was paired against Komusubi Shodai, a rikishi who had no business stepping into the ring against Kinbohzan to begin with. The two hooked up in migi-yotsu, and Kinbohzan instinctively grabbed a left frontal belt grip that he could have used to lift Shodai upright and walk him back just like that, but just like that he let the grip go and kept his right arm limp. A second after this, Shodai skirted left and barely touched the back of Kinbohzan's right shoulder, but the youngster dutifully stumbled forward and squared back up in order to give Shodai moro-zashi. The flow of the bout at this point and the lack of pressure coming from Shodai provided an opening for Kinbohzan to move left and counter with a tsuki-otoshi, but he stayed square and walked out that last step with Shodai in tow.

As if. Shodai is gifted 6-6 while Kinbohzan suffers his make-koshi fate at 4-8, and this is the kind of bout that just grates on me. As we saw yesterday with the Wakamotoharu - Hokuseiho bout, sumo has such great potential, but they've spoiled it and ruined it in exchange for propping up these useless Japanese rikishi.

Speaking of useless Japanese rikishi, at the start of the broadcast, NHK prepped us for the big bouts of the day by showing replays of the matchups from previous basho. In the case of Sekiwake Daieisho - M14 Asanoyama, for example, they showed the most recent bout where Daieisho won and the most recent bout where Asanoyama won. Both bouts occurred during the Covid days when there were no fans in the stands and before Asanoyama's suspension, and both bouts were nearly identical.

In the first bout, Daieisho drove Asanoyama back in two seconds and sent him down onto the lap of the judge sitting on the West side. In the next bout, Daieisho drove Asanoyama straight back only he paused at the edge and waited for a love tap from Asanoyama before Daieisho just flopped down and out of the ring giving Asanoyama the cheap win.

It was clear from those two bouts just as it has been clear this basho that: 1) Asanoyama is at the mercy of his opponents, and 2) Asanoyama can't defend himself from the tachi-ai (let alone attack from the tachi-ai).

And that played out again today as Daieisho drove Asanoyama back from the starting lines with a fluid tsuppari attack, and you have to give credit to Asanoyama in trying to wax on and wax off those thrusts as he moved right looking for a counter pull, but the dude just doesn't have it anymore, and as he skirted right, Daieisho was there to push him back forcefully that last step picking up the easy win in the process. The end result of the bout was Asanoyama's falling to 10-2 and dropping down a rung on the leaderboard. As for Daieisho, he moves to a cool 8-4 and showed just how it easy it is to defeat Asanoyama.

M11 Hokuseiho was his lazy old self at the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Hoshoryu who got the easy left arm inside with the right at the front of the belt to boot, but Hokuseiho proved to be more of a load than Hoshoryu expected, especially with his right outer grip. Hoshoryu tried to set his foe up for yori-kiri a time or two but knew he wasn't going to move the big load, and so he retooled his stance by putting his head underneath Hokuseiho's right armpit forcing Hokuseiho's right hand off of the belt, and that provided the momentum change Hoshoryu needed to yank his foe over by the belt and across from there. It wasn't easy (mostly due to the massive size difference) as Hoshoryu picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Hokuseiho falls to the same mark. If Hokuseiho wasn't so lazy, he's got legit potential.

Takakeisho gave Sekiwake Kiribayama his best shot from the tachi-ai attempting to faze his foe with tsuppari, but Kiribayama easily brushed it all aside, got the right arm inside, and then forced Takakeisho back and across without argument. The result gives Kiribayama 33 wins over the last three basho from the sanyaku, which is the unwritten requirement needed to seal promotion to Ozeki. With three days to go, I don't see how Kiribayama doesn't pad that record, so he's your next Ozeki. As for Takakeisho, he falls to 7-5 and like Asanoyama needs complete charity to win these days.

The final bout of the day featured Yokozuna Terunofuji vs. Sekiwake Wakamotoharu, and the two hooked up in hidari-yotsu after Terunofuji seemed to misstep at the tachi-ai. Hopefully it was because Wakamotoharu charged hard, but the end result was hidari-yotsu with both guys chest to chest. With Fuji not moving forward, that gave WMH some hope, and he didn't hesitate in going for the quick force-out, but near the edge, Terunofuji used a left inside belt grip to swing Wakamotoharu over and across despite WMH's right outer grip. This was a great effort from Wakamotoharu, but Terunofuji was never in danger as he becomes the sole leader now at 11-1 while Wakamotoharu falls to 8-4.

With the dust settled, the leaderboard reshuffles a bit as follows:

11-1: Terunofuji
10-2: Kiribayama, Asanoyama

With six bouts left on the day, NHK broke over to the news division to report on that dude in Nagano-ken who killed two women with a knife and then shot two police officers dead before holing himself up in his residence. After nearly every bout, NHK would break back to the news room, and then as soon as the Terunofuji bout ended, they went to straight news without showing any replays.

The reason I bring it up is it's yet another distraction that is going to take away from the final three days of the basho. NHK completely skipped the News 9 program in favor of live footage from the criminal's house during the standoff, and this will likely be the biggest non-sporting news event since Abe was assassinated last summer.

As we look ahead to tomorrow, Terunofuji draws Asanoyama, and it goes without saying that it is strictly a will-he-or-won't-he scenario for the Yokozuna.

As for Kiribayama, he's paired against Hokuseiho, and that's an easy win as well if that's what the Ozeki-to-be chooses.

Other than that, none of the bouts really matter other than dudes wrangling for kachi-koshi, so the tournament really needs another Terunofuji loss to maintain excitement.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As we enter the Joubansen, or final five days of the tournament, the moratorium on showing Asanoyama news highlights was finally lifted, and at some point if the dude is on the top tier of the leaderboard, you can't just ignore him completely. Today Asanoyama was paired against another dude on the leaderboard, Meisei, who entered the day fighting from the two-loss tier, and so there was no way they couldn't show their bout as part of the highlights. Before we get there, let's review the leaderboard as we entered the final five days:

9-1: Terunofuji, Asanoyama
8-2: Kiribayama, Meisei, Hokuseiho

Due to time constraints, let's just focus on the leaders and then one or two other bouts of interest. Going in chronological order, the first bout with any significance to the tournament was the Asanoyama - Meisei bout, so let's start there.

M14 Asanoyama is unable to defend himself at the tachi-ai, and M6 Meisei exposed that today easily getting moro-zashi while Asanoyama reached for a left outer grip, and once Meisei had moro-zashi, he wrenched Asanoyama's back to the straw quickly but then let up in his force-out attack waiting for Asanoyama to counter. Said counter move was a very weak right tsuki-otoshi from Asanoyama, and there was no power behind the stab and so Meisei dipped his right shoulder and flopped out of the dohyo altogether. The ending was so unorthodox that even Asanoyama toppled backwards off of the dohyo, which is a sign that he was not in control of anything during the bout, and he wasn't. You look at the photo of the ending there, and there's no continuity to it in regards to the flow of natural sumo. It's really just a hot mess, which is what Asanoyama's sumo has been the entire basho.

We had a dynamite lineup in the booth today (or not) in Goeido and Takekaze, and their explanation of the bout was "Meisei rushed his charge." As is usually the case, the focus was on the guy who lost and not on anything the winner did to set up his win. After a few slow motion replays from different angles, Takekaze did say, "It was good that he got the left outer grip," but then he just let that statement hang without explaining why.

The bottom line is that Asanoyama has purchased all 10 of his wins, and that fact in inarguable. I think everyone knows it too, and it's partly why they haven't focused on the dude so much. They had no choice today, but it was yet another poor display of sumo form Asanoyama who magically picks up the win at the end. The result is Asanoyama's moving to 10-1 while Meisei takes himself out of the yusho race at 8-3.

M2 Takayasu made his return from a kyujo to face M1 Abi today, and the bout was obviously fixed. Abi met Takayasu with two hands to the neck, but instead of pushing forward, he'd draw his hands back and then put them to the neck again, but he wasn't applying any force, and so Takayasu was able to skirt right and go for a meager pull, and Abi (5-6) just flopped forward and down. Takayasu needs to buy one more win to stay in the division, and I'm sure it will happen. As of now, he officially stands at 1-10.

Let's skip forward to the Sekiwake Kiribayama - M9 Hiradoumi matchup, and the two combatants hooked up in hidari-yotsu where neither maintained an outer grip, and as they jockeyed for position, Hiradoumi attempted a quick maki-kae with the right arm, but the Sekiwake was pressed in too tight on that side, and the momentum shift gave Kiribayama the opening to a stifling right outer grip. The bout was over at this point, but Kiribayama let his foe hang around like a cat toying with a mouse, and about 15 seconds later when Hiradoumi attempted another maki-kae, Kiribayama made it official with a textbook yori-kiri. You just compare Kiribayama's sumo to Asanoyama's sumo, and you realize there is no comparison. Kiribayama moves to 9-2 with the good win while Hiradoumi falls to 7-4.

M11 Hokuseiho has bought his status on the leaderboard for sure, and he was paired against Sekiwake Wakamotoharu, a dude who could not be bought today. Having said that, WMH has purchased a ton of bouts as well, but we got an outstanding bout from these two today.

From the tachi-ai, Hokuseiho stood straight up as he is wont to do, and that allowed Wakamotoharu to rush in and grab the deep left arm inside. Hokuseiho countered with a right outer grip, but Wakamotoharu pushed him out of it and had HSH near the edge, but he couldn't polish him off. As a result, the two squared back up in gappuri hidari-yotsu meaning simultaneous lefts inside and right outer grips, and from this point the chikara-zumo was on. Both rikishi were fairly gassed, and so they dug in near the starting lines for about a minute before Wakamotoharu tried a few gaburi bumps. That was the momentum shift Hokuseiho needed to attack, and he wrenched Hokuseiho over to the edge looking for the force-out kill, but Wakamotoharu arched his back and twisted Hokuseiho sideways as WMH fell and executed the perfect utchari across the edge.

Wowza, this as a great finish, and it rightly dominated the headlines afterwards. The crowd erupted at the result, and it was very organic unlike the reaction to Asanoyama's bouts where it's like, "Uh, we just watched Asanoyama get his ass kicked, but he did win, right?" Everyone's on edge until the ref points the gunbai towards Asanoyama's, and then it's followed by relieved applause.

This bout, however, was different. I mean, you can just tell the real sumo from the fake sumo, and I loved that we got to see this bout at this junction. There was a lot of shull bit going on today in the ring, but this one was worth the wait. Both rikishi end the day at 8-3, but they're technically knocked off of the leaderboard.

Takakeisho's stance was passive at the tachi-ai allowing Sekiwake Daieisho to execute bland tsuppari towards the faux-zeki, and I say bland because Daieisho's lower body was not into the bout. I mean, you could just see that Daieisho was going through the motions waiting for Takakeisho's first move, and it came a few seconds later in the form of a bad swipe down the front of the body, and Daieisho just flopped down in an instant when it came. Ho hum as Takakeisho is gifted his 7-4 mark while Daieisho agrees to fall to the same record.

The day ended with Yokozuna Terunofuji dueling Sekiwake Hoshoryu, and Hoshoryu shaded to his left a bit at the tachi-ai reaching for an outer grip, but Fuji the Terrible turned on a dime and wrapped the Sekiwake up quickly with grips around both upper arms. Hoshoryu tried to back out of the kime hold, but he had nowhere to go, and Terunofuji showed flawless footwork in staying snug and sending Hoshoryu back and across kime-dashi style in just a few seconds. Terunofuji was all bidness here in moving to 10-1 while Hoshoryu falls to 7-4.

NHK has not been showing the large leaderboard that takes up the whole screen, and after this bout, they showed the mini leaderboard in the lower right portion of the screen as follows:

10-1: Terunofuji, Asanoyama
9-2: Kiribayama

That's not gonna cream a whole lotta twinkies heading into the final four days, and it just feels like they need another shakeup on that leaderboard in the form of a Terunofuji loss.

The Yokozuna is paired against Wakamotoharu tomorrow, and politically, that's a prime matchup for Terunofuji to throw. It looks as if it's a given that Kiribayama is going to be promoted to Ozeki, and that means Japan will want another Ozeki to save face. Wakamotoharu is the leading candidate now after posting 11 wins last basho, so if Fuji is gonna throw one, tomorrow's bout makes the most sense.

Asanoyama draws Daieisho, and it goes without saying that Asanoyama has no chance to win that bout on his own, so we'll see what Daieisho does. As I said earlier, I do not think they're going to allow Asanoyama to yusho because it would just be way too fake and obvious, and I know the Association would get calls from people complaining.

And that brings us to Kiribayama, who is paired against Takakeisho. This is another bout where Takakeisho has 0% chance of winning on his own, so we'll see what the Kiribayama camp chooses to do.

They can't afford to let Fuji run away with this thing, so I think the leaderboard has to collectively drop down a loss in the next few days. I know they mentioned that the basho is a total sell-out, but there are gaps in the masu-seki all over the place where people aren't showing up. The upper tier is also not completely full, and then I think the general NHK feed began today after 5 PM. I know someone joined late because they showed the usual broadcast intro graphics and reintroduced the lineup of announcers on the broadcast after 5 PM.

That leaderboard is too thin to carry four more days of sumo, so expect a shakeup soon.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
This basho has had a lot of perplexing aspects to it so far not the least of which is the moratorium on showing Asanoyama highlights on the news programs. Maybe it's just an NHK thing, but even for the daily sumo broadcasts, they aren't hyping Asanoyama whatsoever in the intros, and it's strange because on paper, the most popular rikishi right now among the fans also happens to be atop the leaderboard. They'll give him some run when he steps into the ring and when they show the top three streamed bouts from the previous day (which list Asanoyama always tops), but aside from that, they're largely treating him as a pariah. My guess is that enough of the old timers (i.e. 3/4 of the sumo fan base) are complaining to the Association that this dude shouldn't be featured because he broke Covid protocol and then lied about it as an Ozeki.

Another possibility is that his bouts have been so obviously fixed this basho that it's a liability to show them on general news broadcasts. I mean, I talked earlier in the basho about the prized 18-54 year old male demographic that sumo struggles to appeal to, and when I was working in Japan, every time I'd try to excitedly talk to someone in that demographic about sumo, they'd look at me as if to say, "Wait, you don't know?" Japanese people were too polite to ruin my fun, but I remember those looks well.

And it may be a combination of the two. The old timers who actually remember Japanese rikishi with game could watch what they're handing to Asanoyama day after day and complain about it to the Association. Who knows the reason for the moratorium on Asanoyama hype? I just know it's happening.

Another perplexing aspect of this basho has been the de-emphasis on the leaderboard. They didn't show one until Day 9 and even then it was just the one-loss rikishi. I've never seen a leaderboard early in week two that didn't contain at least two tiers of rikishi based on number of losses, so I'm trying to figure out why that is.
I mean, we haven't had a legit yusho race among legit rikishi for a very long time, so I'm curious as to the policy changes this basho.

Speaking of the leaderboard, NHK did post two tiers of leaders early on in the Day 10 broadcast as follows:

8-1: Terunofuji, Meisei, Asanoyama
7-2: Kiribayama, Wakamotoharu, Hiradoumi, Hokuseiho

I'm not quite ready to just focus on the leaderboard in my comments, so let's visit all of the Day 10 bouts.

M17 Kagayaki stood M14 Myogiryu up nicely with a good tsuppari tachi-ai, and before Myogiryu was driven back too far, he darted right going for a quick pull, but Kagayaki survived and got the right arm inside. Myogiryu (6-4) ran out of options at that point and didn't put up a fight as Kagayaki (4-6) shoved him back that last step.

The best comment of the day was Tobe Announcer observing that the dohyo looked much smaller with both M12 Aoiyama and M16 Mitoryu crammed in there at the starting lines. This bout was straightforward as Aoiyama caught his foe nicely by the neck standing him upright, and Mitoryu was in no position from there to counter Aoiyama's tsuki attack, and they ruled this one tsuki-dashi Aoiyama was that decisive. Good stuff as both rikishi end the day at 4-6, and I actually had to make sure I was watching the correct day of sumo because the first two bouts were real.

The real sumo would continue as M15 Ichiyamamoto used a nice tachi-ai to tsuppari M12 Kotoeko up high and away from the inside, but he couldn't trust himself for more than two seconds, and so IYM reached over the top for a left grip at the back of Kotoeko's belt that only gave Eko the path to moro-zashi. Having gone from a push contest to a belt contest, the momentum favored Kotoeko and he nudged Ichiyamamoto back near the straw before turning the tables with a nice scoop throw that sent IYM back towards the center of the ring and down. Kotoeko is even steven at 5-5 while Ichiyamamoto (3-7) needs to trust in his size and oshi attack.

I knew it was too good to last. M10 Ryuden ducked his head down at the tachi-ai while leaning forward just asking M16 Ohho to pull him down. Ohho's not the sharpest tool in the shed, however, so he fumbled around in attempting a pull before Ryuden (3-7) just stood back upright at the edge and said, "Push me out already." Ohho (6-4) finally figured it out four or five seconds in and notched a win in the obviously fixed bout.

M13 Chiyoshoma attempted a quick hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping M9 Onosho in the face with the left and getting that same arm inside. As for Onosho, he came forward well looking to shove, but Chiyoshoma was in full control and agreed to go back a step in order to set up a nifty inside belt throw with that left, and Onosho had no chance as he sailed across the straw. Good stuff for Chiyoshoma who at 6-4 has plenty of room to sell more bouts. Onosho falls to 5-5.

The sudden disturbance in the Force meant that M14 Asanoyama stepped into the dohyo to face M9 Hiradoumi in our first bout that involved two dudes on the leaderboard. Asanoyama was wide open at the tachi-ai and standing upright to boot, and Hiradoumi had the clear path to moro-zashi, but he just held his hands forward in a defensive position, and when Asanoyama shaded left going for a bad pull (that contained a handful of hair to boot), Hiradoumi just went with it and literally jumped over to the side of the straw and put both palms to the dirt. From any angle, there is no physical way that Asanoyama's "pull" would have resulted in the trajectory Hiradoumi took.

Hiradoumi bounced right back up as no other part of his body touched down, and this was one of the worst flops we've seen this basho. According to the guys in the booth, Asanoyama's tachi-ai was good but his only option here was to go for a pull. I see. If that had been a Mongolian executing that pull, the hand would have gone up immediately so they could check to see whether or not an illegal hair pull occurred. The end result is Asanoyama buys his way to 9-1 and you can't really say "with terrible sumo" because there is no sumo coming from him. He's just out there reacting and at the mercy of his opponents. Hiradoumi falls off the leaderboard at 7-3 to no one's surprise.

M15 Tsurugisho executed a quick right hari-zashi against M8 Sadanoumi slapping with the right and getting that arm inside, and before Sadanoumi could really get established with the left outside belt position, Tsurugisho bulldozed him back and across in two seconds. Tsurugisho is a beast when he wanna in moving to 7-3 while Sadanoumi was blistered here in falling to 5-5.

M8 Takanosho just bounced off of M11 Daishoho at the tachi-ai, and that enabled Daisho The Hutt to rush in and get the right arm inside while wrapping around Takanosho's left on the other side. With Takanosho hunkering down, DSH went for a quick pull, and while that didn't fell Takanosho outright, he was off balance and bumbling from there, and so it was easy oshi-dashi pickins from that point as the Hutt scores another nice win in moving to 4-6 while Takanosho falls to 3-7.

I really am starting to question the year we're in because nearly all of the bouts on the day have been legit to this point. Even M7 Tamawashi got in on the action using a nice tsuppari defensive attack to keep M10 Takarafuji at bay from the tachi-ai, and with the latter trying to look for an opening, Tamawashi lowered his head and pounced about five seconds into the contest driving Takarafuji back and across without argument. Tamawashi moves to 4-6 with the nice win while Takarafuji falls to 3-7.

It sure didn't feel like the M6 Meisei - M11 Hokuseiho bout had yusho implications because the sumo from both of these guys had been just terrible. But there they were facing off today, and Hokuseiho henka'd to his right letting Meisei walk into a right outer grip, but none of the three characters in Hokuseiho's shikona contain the kanji for "speed," and so Meisei recovered and countered with the left inside grabbing a right frontal grip on the other side that he used to dashi-nage Hokuseiho off balance and more upright than normal. From that point, Meisei had moro-zashi not to mention Hokuseiho dead to rights, but Meisei comically refused to force the taller kid back. They went to the edge a few times with Meisei keeping his attacking left arm loose and away from Hokuseiho's body as he waited for a counter move to come, and it finally appeared in the form of a right outside belt throw, and instead of countering with a nage-no-uchi-ai, Meisei just stayed loose and let his legs go limp resulting in Hokuseiho executing an unnatural throw at the edge.

The fix was surely in here, and Hokuseiho is so unimpressive, but he's got a lot of money backing him, so we're going to have to put up with this nonsense for years to come I'm afraid. The result is both rikishi landing at 8-2, and we'll see which one stays on the leaderboard down the stretch.

M7 Hokutofuji caught M4 Ura with a right paw to the neck from the tachi-ai, but instead of pushing forward and lifting Ura upright, he hunkered down low and let go of the choke hold as both rikishi pushed into each other's shoulders with a single arm. They stood this way for about 10 seconds before social distancing and trading places in the ring, and as they hooked back up, Hokutofuji stayed high and wide giving Ura moro-zashi, but if you don't set the position up by your own sumo, you're usually not in the position to execute from there, and when Ura couldn't score the easy force out, he went for a lame pull to which Hokutofuji's answer was to put both palms to the dirt and nothing else. Both rikishi end the day 4-6 after the fixed contest.

M6 Mitakeumi and M4 Nishikigi struck head on with Mitakeumi actually scoring on a nice blow into NG's neck, but he wasted it by moving left and going for a pull, so with Mitakeumi having lost his momentum, Nishikigi touched foreheads with his foe signaling he was coming in close, and then he moved to the left pulling Mitakeumi forward and down by the back of the belt. Nishikigi (4-6) was just too much for Mitakeumi (6-4) to handle here.

M3 Tobizaru put two hands into M1 Midorifuji's neck at the tachi-ai standing him up before quickly swiping downwards as Midorifuji looked to duck down and shake off that initial choke hold, but the timing was perfect from Tobizaru as he had Midorifuji pulled forward and down in less than two seconds. The difference here was the tachi-ai, and even the Announcers had something legitimate to point to regarding the Tobizaru win. He moves to 5-5 with the quick display of sumo while Midorifuji falls to 3-7.

M1 Abi similarly caught Komusubi Shodai square into the neck with both hands standing Shodai upright, and instead of going for a cheap pull, Abi just drove his legs and followed Shodai as he attempted to move left, but Abi was right there knocking Shodai down to the first row below. Wow, this was one of the better ass kickings we've seen all basho as Abi moves to 5-5 while Shodai falls to 4-6.

Isn't it interesting comparing an Ozeki run by a legit Mongolian rikishi to an Ozeki run (or a kadoban basho) from a Japanese candidate? With the Japanese rikishi, it's how many bouts are they gonna buy? With Kiribayama this basho, it's how many bouts is the dude going to choose to lose? Today against fellow Sekiwake Wakamotoharu, Kiribayama went for his opponent's neck at the tachi-ai, but credit WMH for fighting off those initial thrusts although he wasn't able to mount an offensive in the process. This allowed Kiribayama to work his left arm inside, and Wakamotoharu tried to counter that with a right kote-nage. Kiribayama stopped the throw by wrapping his left leg around WMH's right, and as the dust settled, Kiribayama quick as a cat unleashed a right kote-nage that sent the startled Wakamotoharu down onto the top of his head and over somersault style. I enjoyed the chess match here, and Wakamotoharu (7-3) put up a good defensive fight, but he lacked the tools to mount an offensive that could defeat his opponent. Kiribayama picks up kachi-koshi in moving to 8-2, and he should stay close to Terunofuji down the stretch as those two dudes anchor the yusho race.

At this point they announced the withdrawal of M5 Kotoshoho (1-9) who reportedly injured his left knee. The result is a freebie for Sekiwake Daieisho who moves to 7-3. He'll take that.

Rounding out the Sekiwake, Hoshoryu reached for the back of M3 Nishikifuji's belt at the tachi-ai with the right, but his hand slipped off the cloth, and so Hoshoryu was completely exposed at that point. NFJ responded well by driving his body into Hoshoryu and looking to grab him around the thigh (fresh!), but Hoshoryu was too quick and managed to evade barely to his left dragging Nishikifuji down by the back of the shoulder before Hoshoryu himself crashed down. It was close but a decisive win in favor of Hoshoryu after a failed tachi-ai. Hoshoryu moves to 7-3 with the win while Nishikifuji suffers kachi-koshi at 2-8.

I thought for sure M5 Kinbohzan was going to defer to Takakeisho but not so. To Takakeisho's credit, he struck hard at the tachi-ai attempting to thrust into his opponent, but Kinbohzan barely got a left frontal belt grip that acted as a parking brake, and when Takakeisho felt that resistance, he immediately skirted left looking for a wild inashi or pull, but it never came as Kinbohzan just smothered him back and across oshi-dashi style. And the sad thing is...this wasn't an upset as Kinbohzan (a dude who can't even tie his hair into an oi-cho) moves to 4-6 while Takakeisho (a guy ranked at Ozeki) falls to 6-4.

Sumo's got a bit of a dilemma on their hands now with Takakeisho. Dude's kadoban, and his last five opponents would theoretically be the four Sekiwake who are all hot and Terunofuji. He's the underdog in all of those bouts for sure, but I expect them to be able to arrange two more wins for him. I think the Mongolians will cooperate more than Daieisho and Wakamotoharu, but let's see how it plays out.

In the day's final match, Yokozuna Terunofuji welcomed Komusubi Kotonowaka, and the Komusubi was very passive at the tachi-ai (think Hokuseiho) enabling Terunofuji to charge into him hard, but instead of forcing Kotonowaka back and across straightway, Terunofuji chose to grab a hold of Kotonowaka's sagari...a useless move in sumo if there ever was one. That and the inside right position from Kotonowaka enabled the Komusubi to stop Terunofuji's momentum or so it seemed, but Terunofuji wasn't going to be denied unless he chose to call off the dogs.

As the action resumed, Kotonowaka didn't have a pot to piss in even with Terunofuji's holding onto the sagari with his left hand, but then the Yokozuna went for a maki-kae with the left allowing Kotonowaka to take advantage of the momentum shift and body Fuji all the way back to the other side of he dohyo but not across. And again, Kotonowaka didn't set anything up, and so he wasn't able to finish. Terunofuji knew where he was and what he was doing the entire time, and even though his heels touched the tawara, he eventually forced Kotonowaka over and across leading with that right outer grip.

Fuji the Terrible was merely giving the fans their money's worth here. He coulda finished off Kotonowaka and that bad tachi-ai in two seconds, but everyone came away a winner after this bout. With the win, Terunofuji moves to 9-1 while Kotonowaka falls to 4-6.

With the dust settled on the Chubansen, the leaderboard heading into the final five days is as follows:

9-1: Terunofuji, Asanoyama
8-2: Kiribayama, Meisei, Hokuseiho

They won't disrespect a Yokozuna by posting a yusho board two losses down, so this is our motley crew as we head into the homestretch. I don't see how it doesn't come down to Terunofuji and Kiribayama, but we shall see.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The recent G7 Summit in Hiroshima has thrown the sumo broadcasts for a bit of a loop. Since Day 1, NHK was hyping a special broadcast on Day 8 where they would bring in a famous comedian, Koji Imada, and then he'd sit in the booth (along with Ota Announcer and Hakuho as it turned out yesterday) and they'd review all the intricacies of sumo as the bouts progressed. I suppose things started off well, but my broadcast was cut short about 2/3 of the way into the bouts, and so I saw up to near the sanyaku but then the feed never came back as they broke away for G7 Summit news from there.

I'm not sure what the Japan public was able to see because shortly before my feed cut out, they announced that the general public would join the feed in 10 seconds and the announcers went quiet and then they showed the intro graphics on the screen indicating that a new feed for someone had started, but all in all, it was a really disjointed day on Sunday for everyone trying to watch the sumos live.

I'm not going to recap any of the Day 8 action, but the one thing I noticed during the live feed I was able to view and then the highlight show later on (where I was finally able to see all of the bouts) is that they never showed a leaderboard all throughout Day 8.

It's the strangest thing, especially when you consider that Asanoyama was undefeated heading into Day 8, and I'm sure there's some kind of moratorium in place regarding the extent to which they can hype this guy considering his sins of the past.

Finally on the Day 9 broadcast, we got our first glimpse of the leaderboard, and they only went down to one loss as follows:

8-0: Terunofuji
7-1: Meisei, Asanoyama

There is no way that is going to hold in week 2, especially when you have all of the Sekiwake coming into Day 9 at 6-2, so let's just go in chronological order again for Day 9.

We begin with M16 Ohho vs. M14 Myogiryu, and Ohho's arms at the tachi-ai were so high and wide that Myogiryu could have easily assumed moro-zashi, but he instead just put his arms forward as if to move into thin air, and that enabled Ohho to easily move left and go for a soft pull that largely missed, but Myogiryu just dove across the edge landing on his palms and one knee. Fakery from the gate as Ohho moves to 5-4 with Myogiryu getting paid to fall to 6-3.

M16 Mitoryu struck M12 Kotoeko well from the tachi-ai with dual kachi-age, but then he just stopped his attack and shaded back a bit. Kotoeko looked as if he didn't want to get to close, and so the two pushed into each other's elbows and shoulders creating a stalemate until Mitoryu backed up for no reason other than to set himself up. Kotoeko wasn't quite ready to pounce and so they grappled a bit more before Mitoryu just fell backwards onto his arse with very little contact coming from Eko throughout the bout. Another one fixed as both rikishi rest at 4-5.

M12 Aoiyama came with dual kachi-age as well against M17 Kagayaki, and the two traded mild shoves from there before Aoiyama easily assumed moro-zashi against an unguarded Kagayaki. Aoiyama had more than half of the dohyo to force Kagayaki back and across, and as he did, Kagayaki didn't even think of a counter tsuki-otoshi or kote-nage. There was a bit of a tussle at the edge, but it was all for show and this bout was not fought straight up by both parties as both dudes end the day at 3-6.

M15 Ichiyamamoto charged a split second early into M11 Daishoho offering long-arm tsuppari, but they barely fazed DSH, and so he was able to move right and pull IYM off balance forcing the bout to migi-yotsu. Ichiyamamoto had a left outer grip, but he's not a yotsu guy, and Daishoho is simply too big for him to budge, and so Jabba-no-Sho easily broke off the outer grip and kept the bout chest to chest where the two dug in all the way to the two-minute mark. Daishoho was finally able to grab a left outer grip, and once he got it, he scored the easy force-out win from there. This was good sumo as both dudes settle on 3-6.

M15 Tsurugisho was busy from the tachi-ai against M10 Takarafuji who was largely standing there. Takarafuji had the pathway to the inside and he could have followed through on a few pulls, but he was there for the taking, and so Tsurugisho charged with a shaky left arm inside to which Takarafuji didn't bother countering even though TS was extremely vulnerable at the straw, but this was another fixed bout that sent Tsurugisho to 6-3 while Takarafuji falls to 3-6.

A noticeable disturbance in the force occurred at this point as the crowd excitedly welcomed M14 Asanoyama, and he was paired against M10 Ryuden...an extremely bad matchup for Asanoyama in a straight up fight. But straight up this wasn't as the two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the start where Ryuden had a stifling left outer near the front of ANY's belt, but instead of dispatching his foe shortly, Ryuden let the action settle near the center of the ring as both dudes ducked down. From this pose, Asanoyama didn't have a pot to piss in, and there was nothing he could do to attack, so it was up to Ryuden to get creative in throwing the bout.

Asanoyama attempted a maki-kae that failed miserably and that momentum shift sent both dudes drifting towards the edge where a normal bout would have ended up in a nage-no-uchi-ai with Ryuden's right scoop throw battling an Asanoyama left kote-nage, but the finish never formed as Ryuden just squatted backwards bringing his gal right on top of him in the perfect missionary position as soon below. Ha ha, what a doozy this finish was, but it was all Ryuden could do because he had cut off any means of an Asanoyama attack during the bout.

Ryuden (3-6) is such a superior rikishi, and it showed here as they couldn't break down anything Asanoyama did to win the bout afterwards. Asanoyama moves to 8-1 with the gift, and I can see why they need to continue the hype. While the Association said last week that all days are sell-outs, there've been at least a thousand students in the upper tier every weekday the entire basho. You can tell because everyone's wearing their white uniform shirts (boys and girls), so they've gotta do all they can to try and keep fannies in the seats.

Fresh off of his legit win over Asanoyama yesterday, M11 Hokuseiho was paired against M9 Onosho, and Hokuseiho exhibited his typical tachi-ai where he stands straight up and does nothing. I mean, with a guy standing tall like that, he's an easy target to push out immediately, but Onosho charged forward and then took his foot off the gas allowing Hokuseiho to grab a very shallow right inside grip, and so Onosho ran to the edge and turned his back to the straw as he waited for Hokuseiho to make it official. Hokuseiho was having trouble finishing his business because he didn't set any of it up, and so Onosho pretending to grab at the side of the youngster's belt with the left and then hopped off the dohyo altogether. And to think with all of Hakuho's money, he's going to finance this for years to come... With the fake win, Hokuseiho moves to an ill-gotten 7-2 while Onosho falls to 5-4.

In another fake bout, M13 Chiyoshoma's footwork was bad from the tachi-ai against M7 Tamawashi, but the latter conveniently forgot that he's a tsuppari guy, and so Chiyoshoma still got the left arm inside. From there, Tamawashi skirted to his right around the edge of the ring, and he was actually in position to attempt a right kote-nage, but he just stopped any attack and let Chiyoshoma set up an outside leg trip, and Tamawashi played along as he was toppled over and down in the center of the ring. Ho hum as Chiyoshoma moves to 5-4 with Tamawashi finishing at 3-6.

Sheesh, the NHK broadcast cannot seem to catch a break this basho. Shortly after 5 PM, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5 hit off of the coast of Shizuoka, and so NHK broke away for that and showed the same three or four 10 second video clips over and over for a full 15 minutes. I feel as if I'm more of an expert on that Shizuoka earthquake now than I am sumo.

The feed resumed during a mono-ii conference following the M3 Tobizaru - M3 Nishikifuji bout where they were checking to see if Tobizaru grabbed a fistful of hair. They ruled he didn't, and so he was declared the legit winner. The bout itself was lackluster. After Tobizaru missed out on moro-zashi from the tachi-ai, the two switched places in the ring where Tobizaru (4-5) connected on a wild pull attempt to send Nishikifuji forward and down to a 2-7 record.

They replayed the bouts we missed (or didn't?) during earthquake coverage, and so here's the summary:

M7 Hokutofuji walked into a slow developing pull attempt from M9 Hiradoumi (7-2) from the tachi-ai, and it took the latter a second or two to actually go for the pull but when he did, Hokutofuji (4-5) just played along putting both palms to the dirt and nothing else. Fixed.

M8 Takanosho struck M5 Kotoshoho well moving forward from the tachi-ai, and who knows what KSH was thinking because he sorta went to grab Takanosho's outstretched thrusts, but Takanosho (3-6) just kept driving Kotoshoho (1-8) back knocking him onto his arse backwards off the dohyo in about two seconds. I guess we didn't miss much with that earthquake coverage after all.

M5 Kinbohzan was too much for M8 Sadanoumi to push around at the tachi-ai, and the youngster grabbed a stifling frontal belt grip with the right arm, but at that point he suddenly remembered the bout was fixed, so he took that hand and moved it into a weaker right inside belt grip, and then he pulled it all the way to outside all within about three seconds gifting Sadanoumi moro-zashi. From there, Sadanoumi (5-4) had his cue, and so he went for the quick force-out charge which Kinbohzan (3-6) didn't bother to contest. Fixed.

The final bout we missed during EQ coverage was the M4 Ura - M6 Mitakeumi matchup, and Mitakeumi kept his arms in low in an attempt to keep Ura away from the inside, but it didn't appear as if Ura cared about anything here. In order to win legitimately, Ura's gotta move laterally, but he just chose to stay square with Mitakeumi, and when the former faux-zeki mounted a charge, Ura (3-6) did his usual squat at the tawara and said come wipe me while you're at it. And Mitakeumi did improving to 6-3.

Moving to the sanyaku, Komusubi Shodai was paired against M1 Midorifuji and the two struck rather well at the tachi-ai with Midorifuji flirting with moro-zashi, but instead of digging in deep, he pulled his left arm to the outside and backed up in kind thus creating the easy path for Shodai to move forward and score the uncontested win kime-dashi style. Midorifuji (3-6) let him win this one for sure as Shodai one ups him at 4-5.

M1 Abi henka'd to the side of Komusubi Kotonowaka but wasn't going for a quick pull, and so the two squared back up as Abi shoved his startled opponent back near the straw, but just before the edge, Abi whiffed himself into a 90 angle to his opponent allowing Kotonowaka the easy and gifted okuri-dashi win from there. Both rikishi end the festivities at 4-5.

NHK News 9 was all ga ga that the four Sekiwake not only entered the day at 6-2 but they were all paired against each other.

Up first was Wakamotoharu vs. Hoshoryu and this was just nonsense as Hoshoryu latched onto a quick left frontal grip that WMH couldn't shake, and so Hoshoryu did what any normal rikishi would do, which is go for a wild kote-nage and uchi-gake at the same time as if they were in the middle of a game of Twister. Wakamotoharu had no idea what was going on but it didn't matter. Hoshoryu somehow "slipped" out of his move and put both palms to the dirt as he lightly hopped off the dohyo in a very controlled dismount. Yeah, right. Wakamotoharu picks up the gift in moving to 7-2 while Hoshoryu falls to 6-3.

Kiribayama and Daieisho traded tsuppari a second or two from the tachi-ai, and then Kiribayama backed up almost to the edge, and as Daieisho gave hot pursuit, Kiribayama moved left and sent Daieisho down with a tsuki-otoshi to the back of Daieisho's right shoulder. The sumo here wasn't great either as Kiribayama wins this Sekiwake duel in moving to 7-2 while Daieisho joins Hoshoryu at 6-3.

I read in the funny paper yesterday where Takakeisho's MO is to get kachi-koshi and then go kyujo. That sounds like a manly strategy. Today against M4 Nishikigi, somebody forgot to pay the Isegaumi camp off because Nishikigi stopped Takakeisho's initial tsuppari charge cold before getting the right arm inside while securing Takakeisho in close with the left. They never did show an angle that confirmed Nishikigi's having a left outer grip, and I don't think he had it, but if not, he was going Terunofuji style where you keep your gal snug wrapped around the arm outside. Regardless of that, when Nishikigi went for his force-out charge, Takakeisho had no answer and was beaten soundly. Takakeisho's camp has to scrape together 2 million yen more to buy that kachi-koshi at 6-3 while Nishikigi improves to 3-6 with the easy win.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Terunofuji played the part of a practice dummy against M6 Meisei failing to even attempt to grab his foe while Meisei focused on a right sideways belt grip and paw at the back of Fuji's head to try and twist him around and down. That didn't do much and so as Meisei looked to square back up, Terunofuji just kept his arms high and wide gifting Meisei (8-1) moro-zashi and the uncontested force out was swift from there with Terunofuji not once trying to knock his foe off balance or latch on around from the outside, and that nonchalant pose by Fuji at the straw says it all.

It's not surprising that Terunofuji chose to lose this bout as it keeps the yusho race interesting, but at the end of the Day 9 broadcast, they only flashed the one-loss line as the leaderboard:

8-1: Terunofuji, Meisei, Asanoyama

Asanoyama is still not getting any run on the news shows, and so I don't think they're going to allow him to yusho. Meisei won't yusho either, so it'll likely be a three-horse race among the Yokozuna, Kiribayama, and Wakamotoharu although the latter two face off tomorrow.

Day 7 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Due to a women's gymnastics tournament NHK was covering that ran way late, the general broadcast for Day 7 didn't start until well close to 5:30 PM when M1 Abi and M1 Midorifuji were going through their pre-bout rituals. I only get the general feed here in the states, and it's not worth my time on a Saturday looking up the other bouts on the internet. Speaking of people posting the sumos on YouTube, I received notice from Google just prior to the Haru basho that my "channel" had received one strike against it because I was posting copyrighted material from NHK.

I didn't even know I had a YouTube channel, but I would use YouTube as a place to store videos so I could periodically embed them in my reports. So, yes, I guess I did have a channel, but I certainly wasn't a YouTuber. Regardless of that, I received notification after notification that I had videos posted on YouTube that violated their policy, and in the detail of each notification, they mentioned that NHK had requested that YouTube remove the videos and shut down my channel...which YouTube did over the course of about a week.

I don't care about that in the least, and if I ever want to post a video again, I will simply create a different gmail account, and they can track that one down and shut it down eventually too, but I've been watching to see if other people obviously pirating NHK copyrighted sumo content would be shut down as well. As far as I can tell, the sumo pirating landscape on YouTube is alive and well, so it appears that they were only coming for me as I was always posting videos that showed blatant yaocho.

So the moral of the story is...post all the sumo videos you want and play along as if it's all real, and you're fine. Post the exact same videos with titles and descriptions that describe the yaocho, and you'll be shut down.

Getting back to the bouts I had access to on the day, the Abi - Midorifuji bout was useless and scripted, and then the following bout was supposed to be Sekiwake Hoshoryu vs. M2 Endoh, but due to Endoh's withdrawal, Hoshoryu picked up the freebie in moving to 5-2. Hoshoryu is far away from the yusho race, but after posting 10 wins in March, another good performance here in Natsu could have him touted as an Ozeki candidate pending July's results.

The first bout we'll cover was just so telling about the entire sumo landscape and the way the media covers sumo. That bout featured Sekiwake Kiribayama vs. Komusubi Shodai, and Kiribayama put his arms forward towards Shodai at the tachi-ai before backing up two full steps to the edge. As I always say, since Shodai didn't cause that retreat from Kiribayama, he was in no position to capitalize, and so as he came forward, Kiribayama got the right arm inside easily only to quickly move to his left and go for a pull down against Shodai's shoulder that easily knocked Shodai to the dirt, but Kiribayama made sure to step out before Shodai touched down.

This bout was completely orchestrated by Kiribayama, and it showed in the commentary afterwards. I didn't catch who was in the booth today with Sanbe Announcer, but as they showed the first replay, Sanbe asked his color dude, "What was Kiribayama trying to do here?"

Color dude: "I think it was all mental for him today. His sumo was really light today because he was just trying to do the bare minimum to win."

Sanbe Announcer: "Elaborate more on what you mean by the bare minimum." (they used the word "kotesaki" which is a word that implies trying to get the job done with the least amount of effort possible)

Color dude: "The way he didn't move forward at the tachi-ai, his lack of power, and the way he didn't go for the belt. His sumo is usually more harsh than this. His tachi-ai was half-assed, and he didn't show any desire to demand the belt. It was kind of like he just didn't want it today."

Sanbe Announcer: "I see"

And that back and forth was spot on. The only words missing were "intentional," "purposefully," and "yaocho."

The one word they didn't mention after the bout as they showed the replays was: "Shodai." I mean, the dude did win. He did hand Kiribayama a tough second loss supposedly, so why not talk about how Shodai did it or how we've seen a resurgence in Shodai that last couple of days? The bout was an upset on paper, so how can you fail to mention the winner's name and how he managed to do it?

The reason Shodai's name wasn't mentioned is because he literally did nothing to win the bout. In fact, as they focused on...let's see...what's the name of the dude that won here again? Oh right, Shodai. As Shodai was standing there holding the power water for the next guy, and he had this huge dirt stain on his gut and left forearm.

A simple way to denote a rikishi losing in sumo is the headline: [rikishi name] ni tsuchi!! Tsuchi is simply dirt in Japanese, and it denotes the big dirt stain that Shodai had on his guy after this win. Whenever a sumo rikishi gets dirt anywhere on his body besides the bottom of his feet, it implies he lost, and so newspapers use the term all the time, especially when denoting a big upset. "Terunofuji ni tsuchi!" for example is a headline that would scream "Terunofuji loses!"

So here you have an obviously orchestrated bout. The analysis afterwards never mentions the name of the guy who won. And then the guy who won had a mammoth dirt stain on his gut not to mention his arms and legs, and the dude who lost just lightly jumped down to the venue floor not even needing to shower afterwards.

And this bout is sumo in a nutshell these days from the "action" in the ring to the analysis afterwards to the irony of the guy who won being covered in dirt while the guy who lost is clean as a whistle.

The result on paper here is that Kiribayama falls to 5-2 while Shodai limps forward to 3-4.

The tachi-ai between M3 Nishikifuji and Sekiwake Wakamotoharu was light with both dudes standing upright, but Wakamotoharu was able to use his length and get the left arm inside. Before he could grab anything or secure his gal in place, Nishikifuji moved left faking a pull, and WMH gave him one final push beyond the straw. Or so he thought. Nishikifuji was still a full step away from the bales, and there was this awkward moment of recognition from the Sekiwake that the bout was still in play. WMH rushed forward to finish off the job, but before he could make significant contact, Nishikifuji just baled to the side and out creating a strange finish. This one was obviously compromised as Wakamotoharu buys his way to 6-1 while Nishikifuji falls to 1-6.

Sekiwake Daieisho completely aligned his feet at the tachi-ai against Komusubi Kotonowaka and added the C3P0 arms to boot giving Kotonowaka full reign to do what he wanna. Unfortunately, Kotonowaka created no momentum from the tachi-ai, so while he was able to nudge a compromised Daieisho back a step or two, Daieisho dug in at the edge and remembered that he was a tsuppari guy after all, and so he used a nice thrust attack to shove Kotonowaka back across the entire dohyo and out with little argument. I'm not even going to speculate as to what Daieisho was doing with that tachi-ai and the positioning of his arms early on, but he did come back nicely and pick up the legit oshi-dashi win. He moves to 6-1 with the win while Kotonowaka falls below water at 3-4.

M4 Ura's tachi-ai today against Takakeisho was to align his feet, jump to the left, and squat at the edge waiting for Takakeisho to come and push him across. And Takakeisho did. What a waste of time and space this bout was as Takakeisho is gifted 5-2 while Ura defers to the banzuke in falling to 3-4.

The day's final bout featured Yokozuna Terunofuji taking on M5 Kinbohzan, and the two clashed in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Fuji just plowed forward and dumped Kinbohzan over and down with a left outer belt throw. Kinbohzan didn't even contest in this one as Terunofuji moves to 7-0 while Kinbohzan falls down a notch to 3-4. I couldn't help but notice the huge dirt stain on Kinbohzan's gut as he walked down the hana-michi, and that's how it's supposed to be in sumo. The guy who gets his ass kicked is the loser.

At the end of the broadcast, they had four minutes left, and so they showed replays of the M14 Asanoyama - M15 Ichiyamamoto contest and then the M6 Meisei - M8 Sadanoumi bout.

Ichiyamamoto (2-5) simply outstretched his arms at the tachi-ai and backed straight out of the dohyo with Asanoyama in tow gifting Asanoyama a 7-0 record. You can see in the pic at right that Ichiyamamoto's only concern is finding a soft landing on the floor below. And he did!

The Meisei bout was also fixed as Sadanoumi backed up from the tachi-ai as both rikishi were only looking pull although Sadanoumi never followed through on a slap down attempt, and about four seconds in, Meisei (7-0) didn't exactly connect on a pull, but Sadanoumi (3-4) flopped down anyway. In the pic below it looks as if Meisei is scoring a hataki-komi against a cadaver.

Curiously, with all that time left in the broadcast they never flashed a leaderboard, and I have to wonder if it's because people will complain if they see Asanoyama on top at 7-0.

We'll see what they do tomorrow and report accordingly.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The big news heading into Day 6 was of course the retirement announcement from former Ozeki Tochinoshin. The Georgia native was known for his strong yotsu skills, and he will most be remembered for achieving the Ozeki rank after suffering a knee injury that caused him to fall all the way to the Makushita division. That's quite a feat but it's hard to get too geeked up about it because Terunofuji reached Ozeki, fell off the banzuke altogether, and then made it all the way to Yokozuna. Still, Tochinoshin was always a formidable opponent for anyone, and he understood his place within the sport.

Tochinoshin took one career yusho in the process, but a dislocated shoulder suffered earlier this year led to his decision to hang it up. Tochinoshin never did obtain Japanese citizenship, so he's unable to remain in the Association as an oyakata, but he did indicate in his press conference that he loves Japan and would like to live here. Ya think? Georgia or Japan? Hmm...

M15 Ichiyamamoto attacked J3 Bushozan with a few tsuppari, and he had an opening to the inside, but he was really looking to set up a pull, which is a major weakness among so many rikishi these days. When IYM finally went for a pull at the back of Bushozan's belt, he didn't position himself enough to the side of his opponent, and Bushozan (5-1) used Ichiyamamoto's momentum against him to score the come from behind oshi-dashi. I don't wish IYM any ill will, but I was happy to see him lose here with that pull move so he can learn from the mistake.

M15 Tsurugisho came with a left hari-zashi from the tachi-ai that connected a bit against M16 Ohho, but TS wasn't looking to secure the right arm inside. With Ohho moving to his left from the start, Tsurugisho just went with the flow and kept moving forward enabling Ohho the cheap slap down, and as soon as contact was made, Tsurugisho stopped, dropped, and rolled just like they teach 'em in keiko where they roll over leading with the shoulder. This one was fixed as both dudes end the day at 3-3.

M16 Mitoryu got the right arm inside against M14 Asanoyama at the tachi-ai but kept his left arm limp, and Asanoyama quickly used his own left outer to execute a force-out move, and Mitoryu's response was to simply go back and across without bothering to counter. Dude coulda forced nage-no-uchi-ai with a right scoop throw attempt or even darted left going for a counter tsuki-otoshi, but he was upright and completely at Asanoyama's bidding. It was over in about two seconds, and it was clearly another thrown bout in Asanoyama's favor. At 6-0, the dude is getting very little run in the press as I've mentioned, and I'm positive the Association is getting calls from old-timers complaining about Asanoyama; otherwise, the fans and the media would be going ga ga over this 6-0 start...as fake as it is. As for Mitoryu, he knows his place in falling to 4-2.

M13 Chiyoshoma and M17 Kagayaki struck at the tachi-ai before bouncing off of each other and as Kagayaki looked to advance, Chiyoshoma grabbed his right wrist and yanked him forward a bit before offering a light tap at the back of Kagayaki's right shoulder, and the M17 just plopped forward and down. I don't know the politics here, but Kagayaki (1-5) owed Chiyoshoma (3-3) something.

Both M12 Aoiyama and M14 Myogiryu stood straight up at the tachi-ai in nonchalant fashion, and when this happens, the fix is usually in. Aoiyama offered some light tsuppari, but he wasn't driving into the thrusts, and with Myogiryu cautiously retreating, Aoiyama grabbed him in the clinch getting the right arm inside and keeping the left arm as far away from an uwate as possible. With Myogiryu in a pickle, Aoiyama reached for a left outer and fondled the hell out of Myogiryu's belt, but darn the luck...he just couldn't grab it. Or wouldn't is the better expression.

It was obvious who was going to win at this point, but Aoiyama had Myogiryu so smothered, the latter couldn't muster an attack. After a brief stalemate where Aoiyama made it clear he could have grabbed the uwate the entire way, he went for a kote-nage with both arms and had Myogiryu dead to rights, but he stopped the throw just short of the straw and allowed Myogiryu to hook back up chest to chest. Myogiryu was gassed and thoroughly overpowered, but as he finally attempted a force-out charge, Aoiyama just stepped back and across gifting Myogiryu a 4-2 mark. There was light applause here, and I think everyone knew what was going on as Aoiyama falls to 2-4.

M11 Hokuseiho's tachi-ai was terrible as the kid stood straight up against M12 Kotoeko, but Eko didn't make him pay firing useless tsuppari way too high in an effort to leave his insides exposed. Hokuseiho couldn't clue in, however, and so Kotoeko assumed moro-zashi and attempted a right scoop throw that he of course stopped short on, and it was just an excuse to move close to the edge and put his back against the wall. Because Hokuseiho hadn't set any of this up, he didn't have sufficient momentum, and so Kotoeko (2-4) faked one more scoop throw and then just backed across the straw with Hokuseiho (5-1) in tow. I'm trying to figure out whose sumo is worse: Asanoyama or Hokuseiho.

M9 Onosho charged hard into M10 Takarafuji who stood upright from the tachi-ai stiff as a board, and so Onosho easily drove him back near the edge. When Takarafuji finally came out of his coma and showed a bit of resistance, Onosho got the deep inside position, but before he could score a yori-kiri win, Takarafuji turned his body and just dove out of his own volition drawing the okuri-taoshi kimari-te. Both dudes end the day at 3-3.

M11 Daishoho came forward with a right kachi-age and just held that position up high enabling M9 Hiradoumi to get the right arm inside and a left outer grip, but Hiradoumi was too small to really bully Daishoho around, and so Daishoho went for a nice left kote-nage that had Hiradoumi on the brink, but he graciously stopped short on the throw. With Daishoho bringing the action back to the center of the ring, Hiradoumi still had the right inside but little else, and so Daishoho bullied his pint-sized foe over with another huge kote-nage but of course let up at the very end, and from there, Hiradoumi burrowed inside and forced a very willing Daishoho back and across. The yaocho today is so obvious it's silly as Hiradoumi buys his way to 4-2 while Daishoho focuses on cash at 1-5.

M8 Takanosho henka'd to his left against M10 Ryuden but really didn't do any damage, but it was clear early that Ryuden wasn't going to make him pay, and so without pause, Takanosho attempted a very weak force-out charge leading with a shaky right inside, but Ryuden (3-3) despite maintaining a left outer grip just stayed upright and backed himself across the straw in stride. I'm hoping the last few bouts save the day again because the middle part of the day is just unwatchable as Takanosho limps to 2-4.

M8 Sadanoumi kept his arms low and then brought them wide against M6 Mitakeumi, and so it was easy pickings for Mitakeumi who simply pushed his practice dummy back and across. I mean, Sadanoumi didn't attempt anything...even protective measures, and so he flew off the dohyo in the end as Mitakeumi buys his way to 4-2 while Sadanoumi falls to 3-3. After the bout, Futen'oh who was in the mukou-joumen chair said, "Mitakeumi is known for his powerful tachi-ai." He is? Exhibit A is which bout from his past? It's a good example of how these guys are just spouting gibberish as the sheeple nod along.

At the midway point, they broke away for a G7 Summit news update, and I should note that Joe Biden tripped going down the stairs that lead to Itsukushima Jinja (that floating shrine on Miyajima island...one of my favorite places in Japan), and so that brings his record now to 1-1. We'll see if he can muster a kachi-koshi when it's time to re-board Air Force I for the return flight home.

Moving right along, M5 Kinbohzan was rather upright at the tachi-ai against M7 Tamawashi, and Tamawashi came forward naturally, but his thrusts were soft and high, and so Kinbohzan was able to slip a right hand underneath Tamawashi's left arm and sorta go for a push, but it was mostly Tamawashi (1-5) just running himself right outta the dohyo and giving Kinbohzan (3-3) the cheap win.

M7 Hokutofuji caught M5 Kotoshoho with a nice paw to the neck from the tachi-ai knocking KSH back a full step, and as Kotoshoho looked to duck back into the bout, Hokutofuji shifted gears and pulled his opponent forward and down easy as you please. Hokutofuji moves to 3-3 with the nice win while Kotoshoho falls to 1-5.

M4 Ura tried to duck under M6 Meisei at the tachi-ai but it was more of an awkward squat, and so Meisei caught him hard with a shove to the top of the shoulder that sent him wildly off balance and to the edge, and Ura tried to wriggle away to his right, but Meisei never lost his momentum in forcing Ura over and down for the rare, legit win. Meisei moves to 6-0 with the win while Ura falls to 3-3.

M2 Endoh hopped forward awkwardly at the tachi-ai aligning his feet and completely taking away his own momentum against M1 Midorifuji, and while MFJ didn't make him pay straightway, Endoh couldn't attack, and so Midorifuji took charge threatening a pull, going for a few shoves, and then baiting Endoh into another pull that sent him across. This wasn't great sumo, but Endoh lost it at the tachi-ai in falling to 0-6 while Midorifuji picks up his first win at 1-5. The Endoh camp announced that he will be kyujo starting from Day 7, and that's no surprise. This feels a lot like Okinoumi, Chiyotairyu, and even Tochinoshin before they retired from sumo.

Komusubi Kotonowaka reached for a left frontal grip at the tachi-ai, but fellow Komusubi Shodai knocked him away and got the right arm inside for good measure. With Plan A foiled from the start, Kotonowaka went for a series of pulls, and Shodai stayed snug using Baby Waka's momentum against him shoving him out in about five seconds. Very rare win for Shodai who moves to just 2-4 while Kotonowaka is exposed a bit at 3-3.

M3 Tobizaru tried to keep Sekiwake Kiribayama away at the tachi-ai with a stiff arm, but the Ozeki candidate easily fought that off and got the right arm inside coupled with a right outer grip. From that point, Kiribayama dug in for a few seconds and then retooled his grips to a left inner and right outer as Tobizaru tried to escape, and Kiribayama used that momentum shift will to trip Tobizaru's left leg with his own right, and enabled Kiribayama to score the easy force-out win from there. Kiribayama moves to 5-1 with the nice win, and he can go 5-4 the rest of the way and still be promoted. It's his choice. Tobizaru falls to 2-4.

The problem with Sekiwake Wakamotoharu's buying all those early wins is that he gets paired with an unpredictable buzz saw like M1 Abi who has nothing to lose, and it shows just how unprepared Wakamotoharu really is. Abi greeted WMH with a face slap with the left, and that was enough to throw Wakamotoharu off balance to where Abi continued moving left slapping Wakamotoharu down by the back of the shoulder in one second. Abi moves to 3-3 with the good win while Wakamotoharu needs to solve a few things at 5-1.

Our final two Sekiwake met up in Daieisho vs. Hoshoryu, and Hoshoryu's MO from the start was to keep his hands high and wide, and Daieisho's sumo is good enough to take advantage of that, and it showed as he pummeled Hoshoryu this way and that with Hoshoryu just playing along and exiting the dohyo without argument. Akinoshima who provided color today described Hoshoryu's sumo as "amai" (the nuance there is he left himself open) and "bouzen," which is like being asleep at the wheel or dazed. And he was right too; he just stopped short of saying that Hoshoryu's act was intentional as he threw the bout in Daieisho's favor. The Japanese rikishi moves to 5-1 while Hoshoryu bows to 4-2.

M3 Nishikifuji and Takakeisho were out of sync at the tachi-ai, and even though Nishikifuji went a split second early, you could see that he wasn't looking to do any damage to his opponent, and he basically just floated into Takakeisho and allowed the latter to execute a tsuppari attack. Nishikifuji kept his arms wide and dipped his shoulders and shaded back the entire way, and this was a very methodical bout thrown in favor of Takakeisho. And there was Akinoshima correctly pointing out that "Nishikifuji's tachi-ai wasn't as sharp as it could have been." Takakeisho is gifted 4-2 while Nishikifuji falls to 1-5.

In the day's finale, Yokozuna Terunofuji and M4 Nishikigi hooked up in migi-yotsu, and the Yokozuna briefly thought about a pull before wrapping his left arm around the outside of Nishikigi's right. From here, the two grappled quite well, and it was enjoyable to see, but Fuji was just to big and terrible, and after nudging Nishikigi back a bit, he went for left kote-nage that sent NG down for good. Terunofuji is getting very little run at 6-0, and it's understandable as he's not gonna put fannies in the seats. He should prevail in the end, however, but let's see what he decides. As for Nishikigi, he falls to a quite 1-5.

Heading into the weekend, Terunofuji, Meisei, and Asanoyama are all undefeated, but the direct focus has not been on these guys from the start, and I expect that to continue into the weekend. Sumo really needs another Japanese Ozeki or two, and so the focus should remain on the dudes in the sanyaku.

Exhibit A is the lead into the sports segment on NHK News 9:

They only showed the bouts featuring those four guys and nothing from the three undefeated rikishi. It's just an interesting side story to the basho that I've noticed.

We'll see how things shake up heading into the weekend, and it will be interesting to see if they ever show an Asanoyama highlight on the news.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Five days in and you can see things shaping up to where the three Mongolians at the top are going to anchor things, and then the hope is that some of the younger Japanese rikishi like Wakamotoharu and Kotonowaka can keep pace. Meisei was another Japanese rikishi unblemished coming into the day, but he's not someone they can sell as a key piece of the future, and so he'll be a non-story. Asanoyama was also undefeated coming in, but he is still being ignored in the mainstream media meaning the shows like news programs where a general audience is tuning in and not people who only want sumo news.

The whole Asanoyama thing is quite a phenomenon because statistics (in this case number of views) shows that he is the most popular rikishi out there right now, but because of his recent past, the mainstream media has to focus on more proper rikishi.

As for NHK News 9 sports, the lead today was the retirement of ping pong player, Kasumi Ishikawa, and for a one time event like that, I get why that was the lead, but they dutifully went to sumo next before the baseball highlights. They only showed the bouts from Terunofuji and Kiribayama today, which I thought was interesting although their opponents were two dudes they love to hype in Ura and Kotonowaka.

We'll get to those bouts in time, but they had Chiyotaikai on to comment afterwards and of Kiribayama's Ozeki run, he said, "He's definitely on pace numbers wise," and then he let that hang a bit not wanting to come out directly and say, "but his sumo has been awful." It was such a Japanese moment, but Chiyotaikai also knows that Kiribayama could really turn it on if he wanted to and defeat all of his opponents decisively at the belt. What Kiribayama is doing here is mimicking the sumo of recent Japanese Ozeki (think Shodai or Mitakeumi) in an effort to make it all appear as if it was normal for an Ozeki to struggle with very loose, haphazard sumo.

Let's review all of the bouts again today because I know at some point it's going to feel too tedious to do so in the coming days.

Day 5 began with M16 Mitoryu taking on M17 Kagayaki, and Mitoryu was totally upright and limp from the tachi-ai meaning he was there for the taking if Kagayaki had wanted it, but he didn't unfortunately meaning the bout was fixed, and so they traded weak shoves before Mitoryu skirted right going for a meager shoulder slap, and Kagayaki totally sold it as he flew out of the ring. Think of the force it would take to get a big sumo like Kagayaki into that position at right with his foot pointing upwards, and such force absolutely didn't come from Mitoryu (sigh). Mitoryu buys one here in moving to 4-1 while Kagayaki is the inverse at 1-4.

At this point of the broadcast, they broke away for a live news clip of Joe Biden plane arriving in Hiroshima for the G7 summit. I think the biggest drama of the entire day was whether or not Biden could make it down the stairs of Air Force I in one piece, but sure enough, he did! So far it's Biden sitting at 1-0, but at some point he's gotta go back up those stairs.

We missed replays of the first bout and the M2 Tohakuryu - M15 Tsurugisho matchup altogether due to the breaking news, but when they did go back and replay Tsurugisho's match, it turns out we didn't miss anything. The J2 came with light tsuppari as Tsurugisho hurriedly waxed them on and off, and then about two seconds in Tohakuryu started a forward dive before Tsurugisho even went for the pull. Tsurugisho moved to 3-2 in the obviously fixed bout while Tohakuryu (2-3) showed impressive speed in hitting the deck so quick.

M15 Ichiyamamoto showed some decent tsuppari against M16 Ohho from the tachi-ai moving the fruit of Taiho's loins back a step, but then it was Ohho's turn to show some tsuppari of his own nudging IYM back from where he came, and after both rikishi had shown their wares, they immediately went into pull mode, and it was Ichiyamamoto flopping forward and down after a very light pull from Ohho leaving both dudes at 2-3.

I've seen better starts to a day of sumo for sure, so let's see what M14 Myogiryu and M12 Kotoeko have up their mawashi...figuratively speaking. Myogiryu was able to get his left hand up and under Kotoeko's right pit area, but the two dudes didn't want to go chest to chest, and so they both stood there for a few seconds before Myogiryu (3-2) moved left and pulled at the back of Kotoeko's head with the right, and Eko (2-3) went down without a peep.

M12 Aoiyama delivered weak tsuppari from the tachi-ai against M14 Asanoyama, but at least he was doing something. Asanoyama was doing nothing with his hands...not even trying to fight off the Happy Bulgar's thrusts, but no matter as Aoiyama just backed up and a bit to his right exiting the dohyo with no force whatsoever coming from Asanoyama. Just watch the slow motion replays and try to detect anything coming from Asanoyama that would cause a dude Aoiyama's size (6'3" - 414 lbs) to move a few meters in a few seconds against his will. It's all a farce as Aoiyama agrees to fall to 2-3 while Asanoyama's prolly sending the kensho Aoiyama's way in "improving" to 5-0.

M13 Chiyoshoma used a few stiff arms to try and force M11 Daishoho upright, but the latter is a huge mass to move around, and so Shoma was taking his time looking for an opening. He got it three seconds in by getting the right inside belt grip, and he lifted Daishoho upright enough to where Chiyoshoma could gaburu him about three times back and across the straw. This was the first real bout on the day as Chiyoshoma moves to 2-3 while Daishoho falls to 1-4.

M11 Hokuseiho stood straight up at the tachi-ai and was completely exposed against M9 Hiradoumi, and Hiradoumi kept his right arm up high at first, but Hokuseiho was so exposed there was no way that Hiradoumi couldn't grab two frontal grips. He got 'em easy as you please but then let them go after about two seconds drifting over to the edge where he waited for Hokuseiho to finally push him out. Wow, what terrible technique from Hokuseiho. Whose this guy's coach anyway? Does his stable master know the first thing about sumo?? Hokuseiho buys his way to 4-1 while Hiradoumi falls to 3-2.

M10 Takarafuji left himself wide open at the tachi-ai drawing dual shoves from M8 Takanosho into his foe's chest, but then Takanosho quickly pulled back despite a wide open opponent, and it was evident that neither dude was into this bout. They never did go chest to chest but they weren't thrusting either, and so after about eight seconds of inaction, Takarafuji had a light kote grip that he used to..uh..force Takanosho over to the edge where he knocked him across with no resistance. Takarafuji moves to 3-2 while Takanosho falls to 1-4.

At this point of the broadcast, they announced that all remaining tickets for the basho were sold out. There's always the thousand or so tojitsu-ken they reserve for the morning of each day, so the empty red seats in the second level we're seeing are probably unsold tojitsu-ken, and there are also noticeable gaps in the masu-seki, which are likely no-shows, but the overall positive interest in this basho has to be coming from Asanoyama's return to the division. It's a good example of how yaocho is so pertinent to sumo's survival, and that's why they can never get rid of it.

M10 Ryuden lowered his head charging hard into M8 Sadanoumi who wanted no part of a chest to chest bout (understandably), and so Umi moved back and to his right, but Ryuden was onto him like white on rice and easily had the Sadamight pushed back and across in a few seconds. Ryuden caught Sadanoumi in the jaw with his forehead from the tachi-ai, and I think Sadanoumi was still seeing stars from that initial charge as he climbed back onto the dohyo. Both rikishi finish the day at 3-2.

M7 Tamawashi kept his hands high and wide at the tachi-ai against M9 Onosho gifting him the path to moro-zashi. Onosho took a few seconds to secure the position to where he was comfortable using it, but once he attempted the force-out charge, Tamawashi just went straight back and out. I mean, you have the best guy on the banzuke and a great thruster in Tamawashi, and he doesn't bother to throw a single thrust against a non-yotsu guy like Onosho? And then the lack of a counter tsuki-otoshi at the edge was another telling sign. Another fixed bout in the books as Onosho limps to 2-3 while Tamawashi gets richer in falling to 1-4.

Okay, I stand corrected. After watching the M6 Mitakeumi - M5 Kotoshoho bout, I can firmly declare that there is no diving or flopping in sumo.

From the tachi-ai, Kotoshoho just stood there letting Mitakeumi do what he wanna, and Mitakeumi was proactive at first using some nice thrusts to keep KSH upright, but then Mitakeumi needlessly went for a pull that was so weak Kotoshoho could have easily used MTU's momentum against him to push him into a lap dance of Musoyama sitting ringside, but Kotoshoho refrained and let Mitakeumi back into the bout, but the youngster anticipated a pull move that never came and just buckled his left knee low and back before diving and flopping forward to the dirt all without no contact coming from Mitakeumi. Unbelievably fake as Mitakeumi is gifted 3-2 while Kotoshoho needs acting lessons at 1-4.

M5 Kinbohzan stood straight up at the tachi-ai keeping his hands out of harm's way as Hokutofuji put a right paw into Kinbohzan's neck and his left hand up and under his foe's right armpit, and with Kinbohzan still just standing there, Hokutofuji yanked him to the side and sent him out okuri-dashi style as Kinbohzan just went with the flow leaving both dudes at 2-3.

11 bouts in and only two have been real (Ryuden's win and Chiyoshoma's win).

I think there have been ebbs and flows regarding the percentage of fixed bouts on the day, but Itai said it was somewhere around 80% on any given day. We've certainly hit that mark here on Day 5 to this point. It's been noticeably awful.

And the fakery would continue as M4 Nishikigi left himself wide open gifting M6 Meisei moro-zashi, but NG is just too big for a small dude like Meisei to force him back (this is why the foreigners backpedal on their own). At least Nishikifuji was making Meisei work for it, and at one point as Meisei was exerting full pressure and going nowhere, Nishikigi actually maki-kae'd with the left arm getting the inside position while maintaining the right outer grip, and Meisei was had at this point. Except Nishikigi wasn't trying to win, and so he stopped his force out charge and waited for Meisei to attack with something, and said attack was a left inside belt throw, which should have drawn a right outer throw from Nishikigi in a classic nage-no-uchi-ai, but instead of setting up for the counter throw, NG just locked his knees and went limp falling prey willingly to Meisei's meager throw. Another clear yaocho here as Meisei has bought every win in moving to 5-0 while Nishikigi falls to 1-4 a richer dude.

M3 Nishikifuji put two hands towards M2 Endoh's face as if to push, but then he abandoned ship and moved back to his right going for a tepid pull, but that was Endoh's cue to just kneel to the dirt and catch himself with palms down. I'm just shaking my head at the mediocrity of this as Nishikifuji moves to 1-4 while Endoh is really playing nice these days at 0-5. I mean, Endoh is nearing the end of his career so why not hoard as much cash as possible?

M1 Midorifuji looked to have the path to moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Wakamotoharu, but he didn't want the chest to chest contest, so he moved right going for a shaky pull that did little, and so as WMH squared back up forcing the bout to hidari-yotsu, he used his superior length to easily grab a right outer grip. Once he had that outside grip coupled with the left inside, he easily forced Midorifuji back hurling him across the straw and down with some oomph. Legit bout here as Wakamotoharu moves to 5-0 while Midorifuji falls to 0-5.

M1 Abi henka'd Sekiwake Daieisho to his left taking away Daieisho's momentum and sending him forward a few steps, but he recovered quickly, and as the two squared back up, Daieisho's more seasoned tsuppari attack took charge as he drove Abi back quickly. Near the edge, however, Abi had just enough room to skirt left in desperation and attempt a quick pull, and that coupled with Daieisho's thrusting into thin air sent the Sekiwake off balance and stumbling out to his first loss at 4-1. Daieisho was pissed afterwards, but it was at himself for committing on the final shoves without having Abi sufficiently off balance. For Abi's part, the henka was lame, but this was a legit win and an upset as Abi finishes the day 2-3.

Sekiwake Hoshoryu stuck Komusubi Shodai with two fierce tsuppari driving Shodai back quickly and keeping him upright, and that enabled the Sekiwake to easily get the left arm inside and as Shodai tried to escape to the other side of the dohyo, Hoshoryu reeled him back in and grabbed the right outer grip. Before Shodai could gather his wits, Hoshoryu went for a nice uwate-nage using his right hip as a fulcrum to send the hapless Shodai (1-4) over and down. Hoshoryu moves to 4-1 with the textbook display that included a great tachi-ai, a few shoves, and then precise belt work.

Sekiwake Kiribayama fished for the front of Komusubi Kotonowaka's belt from the tachi-ai, but the larger Baby Waka blasted the Sekiwake back and smelled blood pushing Kiribayama near the straw, but Kiribayama knew where he was the whole time and easily evaded to his left, and as Kotonowaka looked to square back up, Kiribayama continued moving left and dumped Kotonowaka over and down with a nice left scoop throw largely using Kotonowaka's momentum against him. I really liked Kotonowaka's tachi-ai here, but it's like a golfer who hits one good shot on a par 4 hole but then follows it up with two bad irons to the green and a three putt. Kiribayama moves to 4-1 with the win while Kotonowaka falls to 3-2.

After the bout, they showed the records of the four Sekiwake as follows:

Kiribayama: 4-1
Hoshoryu: 4-1
Daieisho: 4-1
Wakamotoharu: 5-0

I can easily see three of those four occupying the Ozeki ranks next year at this time.

M3 Tobizaru came into his bout against Takakeisho riding a three bout win streak, and Tobizaru is the better rikishi, so the question today was would he go for four in a row? The answer was yes although the bout was not lopsided. Takakeisho showed good effort out of the gate using a few busy tsuppari, but you could see he really wanted the safe pull instead. That lack of confidence allowed Tobizaru to dart to his right and go for a hurried pull that was good enough to give the flying monkey the left inside position and right outer grip. From there, Tobizaru gathered his wits and actually went for a right uwate-nage. You can see why this guy isn't a belt dude because he was struggling as Takakeisho countered with a left scoop throw creating one of the worst nage-no-uchi-ai you've ever seen, but it was definitely legit. Tobizaru was just able to use his body to knock Takakeisho over and down before Tobizaru flew out of the dohyo, and they actually ruled in favor of Takakeisho, but it wasn't even close. They called a mono-ii and overturned it meaning Takakeisho is now saddled with his second loss at 3-2 while Tobizaru moves to 2-3.

In the day's final affair, Yokozuna Terunofuji was all business catching M4 Ura by the right arm (from the outside) and then the left a second later giving him the perfect kime grip. Ura dug in well and it almost seemed as if he was trying to become deadweight similar to a child who doesn't want to be held, but Terunofuji took 8 seconds or so to gather his wits, and then he scored the easy kime-dashi from there. This was a good bout to end the day, and Ura gave it his best shot despite falling to 3-2. As for Terunofuji, he's the 800 pound gorilla in the room at 5-0. Everyone seems to be focusing on the Sekiwake collectively, but Terunofuji is in full control.

I felt as if the day was salvaged with six straight up bouts to end the day, and it actually put a nice stamp on the Joubansen.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I've mentioned this before, but my daily routine during a basho is to watch the NHK News 9 Sports segment first before anything else. I just like to get the spin that's being put on the bouts and the basho, and then they'll always show the top two or three main bouts from the day. I see all of the Makuuchi results on the news segment, and there's no such thing a spoiler for me these days. A spoiler is when you record the Manchester City - Real Madrid game and then avoid all media until you can watch the match. With sumo it's all "what did they decide to do today?"

Beyond that, what's been interesting this basho is that NHK has made it a point to start off the sports segment all week with sumo, and that's by request from the Association. The majority of people are tuning in to see baseball results, and I think more people are actually following Rui Hachimura and the Lakers in the NBA playoffs than they are this basho.

What's been interesting to note in these segments, however, is that they are not showing Asanoyama's bouts from the day. Asanoyama has been the most popular rikishi by far since he returned to sekitori status, and his bouts have been the #1 streamed bouts every day...even when the dude was in Juryo, and I think he was making the top three fighting from Makushita as well.

So, isn't it interesting that the news is not showing his bouts as part of the highlights? The reason for that is twofold. First, Japan is not the most forgiving place towards someone who has committed a crime. Now, Asanoyama didn't break the law, but he did break the Covid protocol established by the Sumo Association and then he blatantly lied about it to Association officials during their investigation. And he did all of this as an Ozeki, and so they are not showing his bouts on the news (at least until the yusho race starts to form) because of his tainted past.

And second, the dude is ranked at M14, and it'd be a slap in the face to focus on him over the one Ozeki and the Japanese youngsters in the sanyaku. So...those two factors are keeping him out of the news, but the Sumo Association is riding the Asanoyama wave as much as possible to try and sell tickets and maintain interest in the sport. It's just an interesting dynamic that I've observed the first few days.

With that, let's get to the Day 1 action where M16 Mitoryu and J2 Azumaryu struck well coming away in the migi-yotsu pose with Azumaryu getting a left outer before quickly letting it go. With Mitoryu not really fighting, however, Azumaryu grabbed it again but didn't do anything with it in order to set up a win. To the contrary, he stayed limp allowing Mitoryu to break off the grip and easily get moro-zashi, and from there, Azumaryu (0-4) didn't bother to counter giving Mitoryu (3-1) the cheap and easy win.

M17 Kagayaki and M15 Ichiyamamoto traded light tsuppari from the tachi-ai with neither dude doing any damage, and with Kagayaki nonchalant, Ichiyamamoto was able to force the bout to migi-yotsu where Kagayaki just backed up in kind gifting IYM the uncontested force-out win. Ichiyamamoto moved to 2-2 while Kagayaki falls to a harmless 1-3.

M16 Ohho kept his arms wide open at the tachi-ai as he stood straight up allowing M14 Asanoyama to rush forward and get the right arm to the inside, but before the bout could really go to the belt, Ohho just backed to the side and out of the ring with Asanoyama in tow. Asanoyama at least looked the part today, and you can't find any fault with his sumo, but Ohho was limp from the start, and it was Ohho that dictated the flow of the bout to the side and out, not Asanoyama applying any force. The bout was fixed coming in giving Asanoyama a 4-0 start while Ohho falls to 1-3.

At this point, they showed the top three bouts streamed from yesterday, and of course the Asanoyama bout was #1, but I was a bit surprised by the next two:

#2 Shodai - Wakamotoharu
#3 Tobizaru - Hoshoryu

It just goes to show how much the elite ranks (Yokozuna and Ozeki) have been downplayed because none of the Japanese rikishi can shine at the top and Terunofuji has to lower the bar to compensate.

M14 Myogiryu's tachi-ai was weak against M15 Tsurugisho and saw the M14 keep his feet aligned and stand up straight. Good thing too for TS because Myogiryu could have easily demanded moro-zashi if he had wanted it. He didn't though and played along with the migi-yotsu contest. With Tsurugisho doing nothing, Myogiryu went for a mild pull in order to set himself up near the edge, but TS was too slow to react, and so next Myogiryu grabbed a firm left outer and could have easily forced the turtle back and across, but he relented and then just let go of that left uwate. It was clear at this point that Myogiryu was not trying to win, but Tsurugisho was doing nothing or his part, and so in the end Myogiryu went for a maki-kae whose purpose was to allow him to just back up and across the straw with his opponent in tow. Both dudes ended the day at 2-2.

M13 Chiyoshoma grabbed two early grips at the front of M12 Aoiyama's belt, but the Happy Bulgar was able to fight him off with some defensive tsuppari and force the bout back to the center of the ring. Chiyoshoma wasn't going to be able to beat Aoiyama with a thrust attack, so he secured the right outer grip sending the bout to hidari-yotsu, and as the two paused in the center of the ring with Aoiyama gassed, Chiyoshoma executed a nifty uwate-hineri move twisting Aoiyama down to his knees. This was a pretty entertaining fight as Chiyoshoma picks up his first win at 1-3 while Aoiyama falls to 2-2.

M12 Kotoeko henka'd lamely to his left against M11 Daishoho, but the latter wasn't coming out of the gate hot, and so they kinda slapped at each other as they circled a bit in the ring. Kotoeko finally got the right arm inside, but he seemed smothered by Daishoho's sheer girth, and he was having a tough time moving the big lug around, but when Eko switched gears and went for an inside belt throw, Daishoho didn't counter and just plopped to the ground. This one was paid for as Kotoeko moves to 2-2 while Daishoho falls to 1-3.

M11 Hokuseiho went for a quick slap against M11 Ryuden from the tachi-ai, but it had no effect allowing Ryuden to burrow into the right inside position and stifling left outer grip. Ryuden is the best yotsu-zumo guy on the banzuke for Japan, but he stayed limp allowing Hokuseiho to go for an ill-advised outer belt throw with the right. The throw did little other than to give Ryuden moro-zashi, but once again, despite having the highly advantageous position (not to mention experience), Ryuden failed to take advantage or even try and attack, so it was a simple wait and see game from there. And it took a long time to wait because Hokuseiho was literally standing in the ring doing nothing but holding onto his outer grip as seen at right. He couldn't attack and so Ryuden spent upwards of 30 seconds pretending to be trying to force the youngster across with the deepest of moro-zashi positions you'd care to maintain, but darn the luck...he just couldn't get him across. As if. In the end after Ryuden positioned himself to be thrown at the edge, Hokuseiho attempted an outer belt throw that took about three seconds to form, and when it did, Ryuden just dutifully fell over and down. Ha ha, what a laugher this was. If a bout ever warranted a nage-no-uchi-ai it was this one, but Ryuden (2-2) conveniently went limp at the edge giving Hokuseiho the ill-gotten win and 3-1 record.

M10 Takarafuji stood up like a big fat target from the tachi-ai keeping his hands wide allowing M9 Hiradoumi to push him back and across easy as you please. I mean, don't you have to at least try and counter?? In a sane world yes. In a fixed world, this was just the easiest path to the easy money. Hiradoumi moves to 3-1 with the cheap win while Takarafuji pads his retirement fund at 2-2.

M9 Onosho came forward nicely against M8 Sadanoumi from the tachi-ai, but he was pushing way too high for his own good, and so Sadanoumi retreated a step, grabbed a right outer, and showed Onosho the uwate-nage door using his own momentum against him. The Sadamight took a page outta Kyokutenho's book here in improving to 3-1 while Onosho falls to 1-3.

M7 Tamawashi kept his arms out wide at the tachi-ai against M8 Takanosho, and so Takanosho easily pressed the action, but he wasn't the cause of Tamawashi's retreat, and so the Mongolian easily moved right and had his right hand at the back of Takanosho's left shoulder with the latter leaning over the straw. I mean, there's no coming back from that if Tamawashi was trying, but he wasn't and so he let Takanosho tsuppari his way back into the bout where Takanosho went for this weird kata-sukashi with the right hand, but he lost his balance in the process (because he didn't set it up with controlled sumo), and as the two fell to the dohyo in tandem, Tamawashi quickly put his right arm to the dirt, but Takanosho hit down at the same time so they ruled it a do-over.

Before we even get to the do-over, can anybody watch a bout like this previous one and not be suspicious? Of anything? I'm reminded back when I was working in Japan in my mid-20's and I could never figure out why the guys in the office aged 24 - 54 ish didn't care about sumo. They loved baseball and soccer and tennis, and some would watch the NFL and NBA, and so I'd always ask them, "What about sumo? Don't you watch it?" And they'd always give me this look which I know now was their thinking, "Should we tell him?" They never did, but that demographic can easily see flopping and fake sumo when it occurs, and the first bout between these yayhoos was Exhibit A.

In the do-over, Takanosho was tripping over his feet literally as he tried to mount a tsuppari attack, but Tamawashi was just along for the ride and went down as soon as Takanosho attempted this little love tap at the back of Tamawashi's right shoulder. Both rikishi end the day at 1-3 and Terao actually said of this bout, "It's the kind of sumo that people are going to remember." Huh? The analysis is full of these little platitudes because there's not actual sumo to describe in the ring.

M7 Hokutofuji kept his arms high and wide at the tachi-ai allowing M6 Meisei to charge forward, but Meisei had no momentum, and so when Hokutofuji showed the least bit of resistance, Meisei went for a light shoulder slap, and Hokutofuji complied by darting to the other side of the ring. With Meisei looking to keep pace, Hokutofuji actually got a right arm deep inside and was in the perfect position to move a half step right and scoop throw Meisei across using his own momentum against him, but Hokutofuji just stayed square and let Meisei force him across that last step.

You listen to the analysis afterwards and they're saying things like, "Meisei showed his power start to finish, and then at the edge, he stayed calm and handled his business." There's zero analysis like what happened at the tachi-ai or what specific moves Meisei made to set up his foe or how Hokutofuji countered because it just didn't exist. This is compromised sumo at it's best as Meisei looks awful in moving to 4-0 while Hokutofuji falls to 1-3.

M5 Kinbohzan reached for a frontal grip against M6 Mitakeumi's belt from the tachi-ai but didn't quite get it, but he used his size to power Mitakeumi back with some thrusts and kachi-age, and as Mitakeumi looked to make a stand near the edge, Kinbohzan shifted gears going for a pull that really set up his grabbing the left outer grip, and from there he just swung Mitakeumi over and out before Mitakeumi could get a counter right scoop throw together. Kinbohzan dominated start to finish as both dudes end the day at 2-2.

Just to beat a dead horse, the analysis after this bout actually broke the bout down because there were legit moves to describe. It wasn't, "Oh, Kinbohzan is young and limber, and he's patient, and he made good decisions at the edge."

Moving right along, M5 Kotoshoho gave a really good tsuppari effort from the tachi-ai against M4 Nishikigi, but he just didn't have the power to force Nishikigi off of his perch, and so after a few seconds, the Big Fella got his right arm inside and then shifted back to his left slapping Kotoshoho down perfectly by the back of the right shoulder. Nishikigi's tough to beat when he's not selling bouts, and he fought this one straight up in moving to 1-3. As for Kotoshoho, he gave it a good effort, and I enjoyed his sumo even though he came up short at the same 1-3 mark.

M1 Midorifuji connected on a quick face slap against M4 Ura, but he didn't follow it up with an attempt to get inside, and so with his arms hanging in no man's land, Ura latched onto Midorifuji's outstretched left arm and used it to wrangle Midorifuji over to the edge and across with little argument. Hey, I'll call a legit win for Ura when it happens, and this one was totally legit here as Ura moves to 3-1 while Midorifuji falls to 0-4. It's strange how my attitude changes when the sumo is straight up. I'm like go Ura go!

Sekiwake Daieisho pulverized Komusubi Shodai back from the tachi-ai with a nice, consistent tsuppari attack, and Shodai did well to resist near the edge and move to his right, but Daieisho squared back up nicely and pushed Shodai across to the other side of the ring. Instead of trying to push him out, he shifted gears last second and pulled Shodai (1-3) forward and down hataki-komi style, but this was good sumo from Daieisho start to finish as he moves to 4-0.

M1 Abi put his arms forward as if the to thrust into Sekiwake Hoshoryu, but it was as if he hit a brick wall. The problem was that Abi had no legs behind the thrust attempts, and so the Sekiwake easily stood his ground before swiping Abi's extended arms to the side grabbing a quick outer grip with the right, and before Abi could square back up, Hoshoryu had him rushed back and across in a split second. Pretty straight forward stuff here as Hoshoryu moves to 3-1 while Abi falls to 1-3 with that only win being that joke of a bout against Kiribayama.

Speaking of Sekiwake Kiribayama, he continued his half-assed sloppy sumo, and today he henka'd to his left against M3 Nishikifuji without a purpose, but the move still befuddled NFJ to the point where he had no idea where Kiribayama was on the dohyo. As a result, Kiribayama rushed forward and latched both arms around Nishikifuji's left, and NFJ was easy pickings at this point except that Kiribayama purposeuflly whiffed on a kote-nage and then moved forward into thin air wrapping his right arm up and over the top of Nishikifuji from a 90 degree angle, but because Nishikifuji hadn't set that all up, he couldn't force Kiribayama across even though the Ozeki hopeful was begging him to do so. The end result was both dudes stepping out wildly and touching down at the same time.

They called a do-over, and in round 2, Kiribayama tried the same meaningless henka to his left, and Nishikifuji didn't have the wherewithal to make him pay, so there was wild movement and slapping until the bout looked to go to hidari-yotsu, but instead of settling in, Nishikifuji (0-4) went for a wild pull and tripped over his own feet falling to the dohyo without anything coming from Kiribayama. This sumo is just ridiculous, and it's amazing how Kiribayama keeps trying to lose his bouts by putting himself in these vulnerable positions, but his opponents are too hapless to take advantage.

The end result was Kiribayama's moving to 3-1, and I'm sure he's thinking "What do I have to do to lose a bout?" What he has to do is what he did against Abi, which is just plop to the dirt of your own volition. His opponents can't beat him even when he gives them huge windows of opportunity. Sheesh.

Every time I see Komusubi Kotonowaka up close, I think to myself, "Where can I get a set of double-tiered breasts like that?" Baby Waka's opponent today was Sekiwake Wakamotoharu, and the two treated us to a straight up fight. Kotonowaka caught Wakamotoharu with a left paw to the throat and a right ottsuke into WMH's side, but he didn't have the power or skills to just drive his foe straight back, and so Wakamotoharu was able to fend that off and force the bout to hidari-yotsu. Just like Kotonowaka couldn't finish off his foe from the tachi-ai, Wakamotoharu didn't have the power or skills to force Kotonowaka back and across in one fell swoop, so the two engaged in a brief nage-no-uchi-ai with WMH pressing on a right outer belt throw with one fold of the belt against a left scoop throw from Kotonowaka. The grips were two loose from both dudes to send anyone over and down, but Wakamotoharu had just enough momentum to where he was able to push Kotonowaka across before the latter could counter with a nice tsuki-otoshi attempt. This one was close, but Wakamotoharu proved to be the better rikishi.

This was an entertaining bout, but the actual sumo left a lot to be desired in terms of stability. The two still deserved the hearty applause they received afterwards, and it was Wakamotoharu one upping his fellow sanyaku partner in moving to 4-0 while Kotonowaka falls to 3-1. The basics here weren't great as I mentioned, but if all bouts were fought straight up like this, I think sumo could win back more fans.

Just as I get excited about the previous bout, Takakeisho stepped into the ring against M2 Endoh, and Takakeisho moved a bit to his left in a move that really wasn't a henka, but Endoh just went with it and put both palms to the dirt as he crab walked himself over to the edge and down. What nonsense this was, and it's so obvious that Endoh (0-4) took a dive here in gifting Takakeisho a 3-1 mark. It's no wonder they didn't show this bout on NHK News 9. You have two or three to choose from, so why waste that time showing garbage like this?

In the day's final bout, M3 Tobizaru completely aligned his feet at the tachi-ai standing straight up, but Yokozuna Terunofuji was moving forward cautiously suspecting shenanigans, and so the tachi-ai was bland as well as the sumo. Tobizaru didn't want to get in close understandably, and Terunofuji was intent on waiting for his foe to come forward so he could wrap around both arms, and he eventually got his desired position and sent Tobizaru back and across kime-dashi style. Terunofuji moves to 4-0 with the cautious win while Tobizaru falls to 1-3.

Overall, it was a poor day of sumo in terms of content, but the basho hasn't had a disastrous start, so I expect an exciting finish in week 2 even without good sumo.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The optics at the end of Day 2 were not promising. Of course the focus is always on the top of the banzuke, especially early on before a yusho race forms, and some of the key images at the end of yesterday were of Takakeisho limping through the back halls after his loss while all three of the Mongolian rikishi won easily. It will not do to have this pattern continue through week one with more and more gaps appearing in the stands, and so we saw some expected shakeups on Day 3 to help even things out a bit.

The day began with J1 Shonannoumi visiting from Juryo to take on M16 Ohho, and Shonannoumi got the left arm inside against a wide open Ohho, but the Juryo rikishi didn't want to take the bout chest to chest, so he backpedaled slowly with that left sorta inside. Shame on Ohho for not being able to apply any pressure, and near the edge, Shonannoumi (2-1) darted right going for a haphazard slap that sent Ohho down across the edge. Ugly sumo here as Ohho falls to 1-2.

M17 Kagayaki used a nice thrust attack to stand M15 Tsurugisho upright at the tachi-ai before getting the right arm firmly inside with what looked like a left outer. As Tsurugisho tried to wriggle away, Kagayaki parlayed that left arm into the moro-zashi grip, and Tsurugisho (1-2) couldn't answer from there. Kagayaki moves to 1-2 and ranked at M17, we'll see if he barely ekes out a kachi-koshi by Day 15.

M15 Ichiyamamoto looked to take charge against M16 Mitoryu with a tsuppari attack, but it was light and going nowhere and so Mitoryu was able to dart right and execute a slap that sent the shaky IYM forward and down. Mitoryu (2-1) is one of my favorite guys to watch these days while Ichiyamamoto was hapless here in falling to 1-2.

M13 Chiyoshoma henka'd lamely to his right paying attention not to inflict any damage against M14 Myogiryu, and after the latter easily survived, Chiyoshoma graciously backed his way over to the edge giving Myogiryu what he wanna, but before Myogiryu could even attempt his right kote-nage throw, Chiyoshoma stepped back across the straw. This was a farce if I've ever seen one as Chiyoshoma bows to 0-3 while Myogiryu oils his way to 2-1.

It's kind of sad that M14 Asanoyama is the best thing sumo has going for it right now. Today he was paired against M12 Kotoeko, and Eko didn't even bother coming forward at the tachi-ai. Problem with that was Asanoyama wasn't coming out hot either, and so Asa was off balance as he moved forward, but Kotoeko wasn't looking to make him pay. Kotoeko did get the solid right arm inside, and the natural flow of the bout would have been to move to the right and use Asanoyama's forward momentum against him by scoop throwing him outta the ring, but Kotoeko moved left instead thinking Asanoyama could easily push him out from there. Or not. The finish here was awkward with Asanoyama tumbling down just before Kotoeko stepped out.

This one was close, but Asanoyama touched his left elbow down a split second before Kotoeko stepped out, and the referee correctly pointed towards Kotoeko, but they quickly overturned the call and gave it to Asanoyama saying that "Kotoeko's foot was tonde-ori," or flying out. Huh? I've heard of the body being so far across the straw they give it to the other guy, but the leg was still in the air? Isn't that the point? Keep the leg in the air until your opponent touches down?

Before we get ahead of ourselves regarding this blatant bias in Asanoyama's favor, one important aspect here is that Kotoeko was meaning to lose in the first place. More importantly, though, was Asanoyama's hapless sumo. He had a dude trying to give it to him, and he still lost. When they showed the slow motion replays after, the comments were not on what Asanoyama did during the bout but what they wished he had done with the openings given to him. Pretty telling as Asanoyama is gifted 3-0 while Kotoeko graciously falls to 1-2.

M12 Aoiyama tried to lose the tachi-ai against M11 Hokuseiho by refusing to thrust and settling for a belt contest, and the two came away in migi-yotsu where Aoiyama had the stifling left outer grip. Aoiyama made sure not to establish anything with the right inside as he waited for Hokuseiho to make a move, and when said move came, Aoiyama just backed out and carelessly stepped out of the dohyo before the youngster could execute anything. Hokuseiho's "move" was sort of a dashi-nage but not really. Didn't matter though. It was Aoiyama's cue to just step out of the dohyo anticipating something that never came. Cheap win for Hokuseiho as both dudes finish at 2-1.

M10 Takarafuji was completely mukiryoku as M11 Daishoho plowed into him from the tachi-ai. Daishoho didn't have a grip of his gal, however, and so Takarafuji mawari-komu'd left getting the token right inside, but instead of digging in, he just went with the flow of the bout and backed out of the ring with Daishoho in tow. Soft, soft sumo here as Daishoho buys his first win at 1-2 while Takarafuji sells one in falling to 2-1.

M9 Onosho and M10 Ryuden failed to stick in close from the tachi-ai, and that was mostly due to Onosho's shading left after first contact. Ryuden cautiously stayed square with his foe as Onosho tried to shove his way into something, but Ryuden was just too big and threatening, and when the larger Ryuden sensed an opening, he pounced scoring the easy if not patient yori-kiri in the end. This was not a great bout, but it was noticeably real as Ryuden moves to 2-1 with Onosho falling to 1-2.

M8 Takanosho caught M9 Hiradoumi with a stiff arm at the tachi-ai completely befuddling Hiradoumi out of the gate standing him upright and back a full step, but Takanosho was not moving forward, and so Hiradoumi got pesky looking to get inside again and again as Takanosho played defense with tsuppari that had Hiradoumi on the brink a time or two. In the end, Takanosho allowed Hiradoumi to finally get the right inside position and solid left outer grip, and he made no effort to counter as Hiradoumi scored the gift force-out from there. Not sure of the politics here, but Takanosho (0-3) did nothing to win this one despite dominating the tachi-ai and having Hiradoumi (2-1) on the ropes with a fine tsuppari attack.

Speaking of dominating the tachi-ai, M7 Hokutofuji gave M8 Sadanoumi the business from the start and had him pushed back near the edge where Hokutofuji mysteriously stopped his attack and waited for the Sadamight to attempt a very weak tsuki-otoshi move to his right. It was a bad move for sure, but Hokutofuji's (1-2) fake fall was even worse as this bout was obviously thrown in favor of Sadanoumi (2-1).

As they watched the slow motion replays, any description of Sadanoumi's sumo was in the passive meaning that Hokutofuji did all the work, but in the end they did conclude that Sadanoumi won because of his flexible knees. I wholeheartedly agree. Those knees!!

M7 Tamawashi kept his feet aligned at the tachi-ai foolishly thinking that M6 Mitakeumi was actually going to be moving forward, and when he wasn't, Tamawashi realized he needed to dictate the pace, and so he began a weak tsuppari attack while purposefully spinning his wheels. With Tamawashi playing games and applying no pressure towards his foe, Mitakeumi finally darted right creating some social distancing, and as Tamawashi looked to square up, he offered a light face slap with the right and moved his body in that direction over to the edge squaring up just in time for Mitakeumi (2-1) to execute the final push-out. This was a great example of a rikishi who "won" by oshi-dashi even though he did nothing of the sort the entire bout. This was all Tamawashi (1-2) in yaocho mode start to finish.

M5 Kinbohzan similarly took charge in his bout against M6 Meisei bullying him around with beefy tsuppari but always stopping short of polishing Meisei off. All Meisei had to offer was a series of dart and pull moves that did nothing, and Kinbohzan could have steamrolled him at any moment, but after dancing around the ring for about 10 seconds, Kinbohzan (1-2) completely opened himself up with hands out wide allowing Meisei to score the inevitable oshi-dashi as he cheaply moves to 3-0.

M5 Kotoshoho fidgeted around at the tachi-ai failing to grab onto M4 Ura tightly even though his size advantage would have allowed him to smother the smaller Ura, and with KSH playing along, Ura lamely backed up and a bit to the right never really going for a meaningful pull, but Kotoshoho hit the dirt anyway. They ruled it kata-sukashi, and I guess that was close enough. I ruled it yaocho as Ura moves to 2-1 with Kotoshoho falling to 1-2.

Komusubi Kotonowaka and M3 Nishikifuji appeared to strike nicely at the tachi-ai, but neither guy tried to do anything with their forward momentum, and we quickly found out why as Kotonowaka (3-0) lightly moved to his right going for a light pull to which Nishikifuji just played along diving to the dirt and an 0-3 start. After so many bouts like this, they're going to have to retire the term "O-zumo."

Up next was Sekiwake Hoshoryu welcoming M3 Tobizaru, and Tobizaru went for the lamest henka you've ever seen stepping to his right, and Hoshoryu's reaction was to just flop to the dirt as he lightly brushed Tobizaru's left eg on the way down. It's just sad that they have to create a semblance of parity with garbage like this, but it is what it is as Tobizaru "scores" his first win at 1-2 while Hoshoryu agrees to fall to 2-1.

Whenever I laugh out loud while watching a bout, you know the acting is terrible, and Sekiwake Kiribayama managed to outdo Hoshoryou's act. Against M1 Abi, Kiribayama dominated the tachi-ai and was up and under Abi's outstretched arms methodically driving Abi to the edge when all of a sudden Kiribayama dipped his right shoulder into nothing and let his feet slide back as he put his right palm to the dirt for no reason other than to make it look as if this tournament is exciting. This really was laughable, and I can't imagine anyone believed it wasn't staged as Kiribayama falls to 2-1 with Abi asking everyone "what happened?" afterwards in moving to 1-2.

It's one thing to have Mainoumi sit there on the broadcast and lie to our faces after nearly every bout as he makes up his analysis, but then to have to watch sumo like this and be expected to believe it is just insulting. But...I'm used to it, so let's move on.

The tachi-ai between Komusubi Shodai and Sekiwake Wakamotoharu was upright and terrible, but the two did come away in hidari-yotsu with WMH eventually grabbing an unstable right outer grip. I say unstable because Shodai easily moved to the side working his right arm inside giving him moro-zashi, but the dude wasn't strong enough to take advantage, and so as Shodai thought about going for the force out, Wakamotoharu was able to spin left and execute a nice tsuki-otoshi near the edge that easily felled Shodai onto his back. This was an unstable bout start to finish, but Wakamotoharu did put a decent cherry on top at the end in moving to 3-0. As for Shodai, he's as hapless as can be in falling to 1-2.

M4 Nishikigi was lethargic at the tachi-ai keeping himself open and allowing Sekiwake Daieisho to get the firm left inside and right outer grip, and at this point I was like...wait, what's Daieisho doing abandoning his tsuppari attack in favor of yotsu-zumo against a bigger dude like Nishikigi? The easy answer is the bout was arranged beforehand, and so he just went with the flow. From the yotsu stance, Daieisho attempted a very weak uwate-dashi-nage, and it left him so vulnerable that NG could have easily turned the tables at that point, but Nishikigi did nothing to win and just kept himself wide open ultimately allowing Daieisho to shove him out in the end. Daieisho buys one where in moving to 3-0 while Nishikigi falls to 0-3, and what kind of stance is that from the big fella at the edge?

Speaking of keeping one's arms wide open, M1 Midorifuji did just that against Takakeisho, and it allowed Keisho to move MFJ back from the tachi-ai, but he didn't have the ability to win in linear fashion, and so Midorifuji moved around the ring playing along as Takakeisho gave chase. Takakeisho overextended himself throughout the bout, and Midorifuji could have easily gotten up and under and legitimately scored on a kata-sukashi, but his MO was to lose and he eventually set himself up at the edge lifting his left leg off the dohyo altogether and putting it forward, which allowed Takakeisho to finally score the awkward oshi-dashi in the end. Yet another yaocho the final 30 minutes of the day as Takakeisho is gifted 2-1 while Midorifuji finds himself at 0-3, and any time a dude lifts a leg off the dohyo and puts it forward completely taking away his balance, you know it's yaocho.

In the day's final bout, M2 Endoh bounced off of Terunofuji before the Yokozuna could grab him, and with Endoh skirting laterally, Terunofuji simply stayed square and kept his footing and Endoh did a 360 and backed up to the edge stepping out of his own volition before taking the kill shot from the Yokozuna. Terunofuji correctly stated afterwards that his sumo today was not good, and he's right, but it wasn't the fault of the Yokozuna. Endoh just didn't want a fight, and I can't blame him. Wasn't the best way to end the day, but Fuji the Terrible does move to 3-0 while Endoh is still winless at 0-3.

You can already see that Kiribayama and Hoshoryu are going to keep pace with Takakeisho while the Association has to hope that guys like Daieisho and Wakamotoharu can keep buying bouts.

Back at it tomorrow.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Sumo Association lowered the man-in on-rei banners today, but I thought it was a bit of a stretch. The sport is in a tough spot with baseball in full swing, and even Japanese baseball is taking a backseat to Major League Baseball where Shohei Ohtani is proving to be one of the best players in the world. You watch Ohtani hit, run the bases, pitch, etc. and you can see a world class athlete, and you know you're watching something great. You watch Takakeisho on the dohyo any given day, and it's like, "What the hell is that?"

I find it hard to believe that at least subconsciously people can't see the difference as well. Like pro wrestling, sumo is definitely a niche sport, and people who love it love it and are willing to look past its obvious flaws.

We'll see if there were any flaws today as we cover all of the Day 2 action.

I'm sure J2 Gonoyama wants to prove he belongs in the Makuuchi division, and he came with a decent tachi-ai against M17 Kagayaki, but the M17 stood tall and rebuffed his foe pushing him back to where he started from, but despite having the momentum, Kagayaki relented in his attack opting to back up for no reason. With Gonoyama following in kind, Kagayaki actually got his right arm inside and then backed up similarly to what Chiyoshoma did yesterday against Asanoyama, but the Juryo rikishi wasn't in position to score the force out and so Kagayaki sloppily stepped his right heel across as he went for a pull. Kagayaki (0-2) dictated everything here including the intentional step out that sent Gonoyama to a 2-0 start.

M16 Ohho stood up at the tachi-ai in a defensive position from the start as Mitoryu came out of the chute hot, and with Ohho already looking to back up, Mitoryu pushed him back and across once, twice, three times a lady leaving both guys at 1-1.

M15 Ichiyamamoto's tachi-ai was a hair better than Ohho's, but not by much as M15 Tsurugisho moved forward and brought one thrust towards IYM's face. From there, however, TS just began backing up waiting for IYM to catch him with some thrusts, but Ichiyamamoto was lost and so Tsurugisho backed up near the edge and just waited for IYM to go for a pull, and when it came, Tsurugisho put both palms to the dirt and plopped down in nice yaocho fashion leaving both of these guys at 1-1.

M14 Myogiryu won the tachi-ai against M14 Asanoyama getting the right arm inside, and he had an open path to get the left inside and thus moro-zashi against a defenseless Asanoyama, but Myogiryu brought that left arm to the outside and backed up a full step just for good measure. Now in a stalemate, Myogiryu stayed up high and waited for Asanoyama to grab an uncontested left outer, and once he got it, Myogiryu slapped at the back of Asanoyama's right shoulder and then just backed out of the dohyo to the side as Asanoyama followed in kind giving Asanoyama the cheap yori-kiri win. This was a very similar bout to yesterday's contest where Asanoyama was defensive from the start and reactive requiring his opponents to back up and across the straw in order to..uh..win. Two words that can't be used to describe Myogiryu's posture there at the edge are "oozing effort." Trust me, there's no forward thrust coming from Asanoyama who is gifted a 2-0 start while Myogiryu bows to 1-1.

After a wild tachi-ai between M13 Chiyoshoma and M12 Kotoeko, Shoma came away with the inside left position, but instead of bearing in tight and keeping his gal snug, he just stood there and watched Kotoeko monkey around with a right kote-nage. Eko hadn't set up the throw, so it went nowhere, but with Chiyoshoma not even trying, the bout moved to sort of a nage-no-uchi-ai with Kotoeko persisting with the right kote-nage while Chiyoshoma limply held his left arm near Eko's lower back, and with Kotoeko applying all the pressure, Chiyoshoma slapped his right palm down early giving Kotoeko the cheap win. All you have to do here is watch what Chiyoshoma didn't do with that left inside position as he falls to 0-2 while Kotoeko buys his first win at 1-1.

At this point of the broadcast, they showed yesterday's Top 3 streamed bouts, and it was no surprise to see Asanoyama at #1 again followed by #2 Terunofuji and then #3 Takakeisho.

M12 Aoiyama was so limp at the tachi-ai that M11 Daishoho blasted him a full step back from the starting lines, and with Aoiyama still limp and moving to his right near the edge, Daishoho just ran himself out of the dohyo. I'm not sure what was going on here, and I can't remember the last time these two fought, but once again we had a bout that did not involve a clean ending. Aoiyama moves to 2-0 after doing nothing while Daieisho either threw this one or was extremely hapless in falling to 0-2.

M10 Takarafuji got the right arm inside and used a left kachi-age to push against M11 Hokuseiho, and after being bested from the tachi-ai, Hokuseiho awkwardly moved to his left towards the edge attempting who knows what? From there, Takarafuji easily got the left inside and right outer grip scoring the quick force-out win against Hokuseiho who seemed intent on moving laterally or backwards the entire way. Takarafuji breezes his way to 2-0 while Hokuseiho falls to 1-1.

We finally got a straight up bout with sound sumo as M9 Hiradoumi stayed in tight from the tachi-ai against M10 Ryuden, and with both of Ryuden's arms forced to the outside, he used his length to grab two outer grips. Hiradoumi did have moro-zashi, but it was a defensive posture because he wasn't up and under Ryuden enough, and so the two dug in for a spell before Hiradoumi attempted a right inside belt throw, but Ryuden was latched on too tight, and so the two grappled this way and that from there before Ryuden's size proved the difference as he was able to force Hiradoumi back and across in the end. You can totally tell when a bout is fought straight up by both parties, and we got one here as both rikishi settle at 1-1. I think this was the best bout of the tournament to this point.

M9 Onosho and M8 Takanosho struck with the latter staying way too low, and as soon as Onosho skirted left going for the cheap slap, Takanosho just put both palms to the dirt and then hopped right back up with no other part of his body touching down. This was fixed going in for sure as Onosho buys his way to 1-1 while Takanosho falls to 0-2.

M7 Tamawashi caught M8 Sadanoumi with a right paw to the neck keeping the Sadamight up high, but he wasn't doing much with the left. That right nodowa proved to be too much, however, because even though Tamawashi wasn't going full boar, Sadanoumi had no room to attempt an offensive maneuver, and so Tamawashi moved laterally setting up a half-assed kote-nage throw with the right arm that spilled Sadanoumi over and down barely before Tamawashi stepped across the straw. Tamawashi was going maybe 50% here and still dominated as both dudes finish 1-1.

M7 Hokutofuji was purposefully limp at the tachi-ai agreeing to let M6 Mitakeumi charge forward, and while the former faux-zeki did catch Hokutofuji with a nice paw to the throat, he panicked and went for a wild pull instead. Hokutofuji really didn't connect on anything as Mitakeumi backed up whiffing on the pull, and the result was Mitakeumi's stepping beyond the plane of the dohyo before Hokutofuji touched down, but they called a mono-ii and ordered a do-over.

There was no way Hokutofuji didn't win that first bout, but they reloaded for round two, and once again, Hokutofuji was limp from the tachi-ai, and Mitakeumi was afraid to win moving forward, and so he went for a few lame pull attempts that Hokutofuji easily survived, and before you knew it, Hokutofuji had Mitakeumi completely upright with a right arm pushing up into Mitakeumi's left pit, but Hokutofuji relented of course faking a pull before these dudes sorta hooked up in yotsu-zumo, and with Mitakeumi pushing Hokutofuji towards the edge, Hokutofuji just fell across the straw in weak fashion. What a pathetic display of sumo from Mitakeumi who lucks his way to 1-1 as Hokutofuji graciously falls to the same mark.

M5 Kotoshoho was thinking pull from the tachi-ai as M6 Meisei plowed forward, but Meisei wasn't exactly kicking ass and taking names allowing Kotoshoho to move laterally to his left. As the two looked to square back up, Meisei went for a weak slap with the right and Kotoshoho just hit the deck. This was ugly as Meisei moves to 2-0 while Kotoshoho falls to 1-1.

M5 Kinbohzan was proactive from the tachi-ai knocking M4 Nishikigi back a half step, but Nishikigi's a lug to move around, and he stood his ground well forcing the youngster back to the center of the ring, and with Nishikigi applying ample pressure, Kinbohzan looked to pull skirting to his left showing Nishikigi the trap door ear the edge. This was an enjoyable bout of two powerful guys working their craft, but Kinbohzan was better today in moving to 1-1 while Nishikigi falls to 0-2.

M3 Nishikifuji stood Komusubi Shodai up from the tachi-ai looking to get the left arm inside, but instead of forcing the bout to yotsu-zumo, NFJ immediately backed up going for a half-assed tsuki-otoshi with the right. Shodai was hapless, however, and hit the deck before Nishikifuji touched out, but they called a mono-ii and ruled a do-over. Like the previous mono-ii bout between Hokutofuji and Mitakeumi, they were giving Shodai a second chance here, and so was Nishikifuji.

After winning the tachi-ai again, Nishikifuji let up a bit attempting to give Shodai a chance, but the latter was hapless and so NFJ ended up with the left arm inside and right frontal grip, but instead of burrowing in close for a yotsu bout, Nishikifuji just backed his way across the entire length of the dohyo and stepped across the straw before Shodai could trip over his two feet and lose by mistake. What an ugly bout here, and you can't measure anything Shodai did to..uh.."win." Pathetic stuff as Shodai moves to 1-1 despite getting beaten twice. As for Nishikifuji, he knows his place at 0-2. The explanation for Shodai's sumo is that he's "genki." I see. All you have to be is "genki" to win. I think the sumo gods were cursing me by making me comment on two Shodai bouts and two Mitakeumi bouts in the same day. Maybe I won't complain as much.

Sekiwake Kiribayama was looking to push into M2 Endoh from the tachi-ai more than he was looking to get established inside, and with Endoh doing little from the start, KBY caught him with a right hand to the side of the head that caused Endoh to shade to his right, and from that point, the Ozeki candidate rushed in grabbing the side of Endoh's belt with the right, and he used that grip to force Endoh (0-2) over to the edge before pushing him across that last step. It wasn't pretty as Kiribayama moved to 2-0, but it was easy.

M3 Tobizaru put his hands nearly straight up at the tachi-ai against Suckiwake Wakamotoharu, and with WMH plowing forward, Tobizaru just waltzed straight back squatting across the straw as if he was in the woods ready to burst, and the result was Wakamotoharu's wildly pushing him down to the venue floor by the neck. Tobizaru (0-2) was as mukiryoku here as you've ever seen a rikishi in gifting Wakamotoharu a 2-0 start.

Sekiwake Daieisho meant business against M4 Ura catching him from the tachi-ai with a nice tsuppari attack, and as Ura looked to move back and left, Daieisho was in his craw keeping up the tsuppari pressure, and Ura simply ran out of real estate as Daieisho thrust him across in about three seconds. Daieisho was a man's man here in moving to 2-0 while Ura was drubbed to a 1-1 record.

Sekiwake Hoshoryu was loose at the tachi-ai keeping his arms way wide in gifting M1 Midorifuji moro-zashi, but Midori-chan was too upright to do anything with it, and so Hoshoryu thought about a soto-gake but let up on it keeping the action going, and the two circled for another 10 seconds or so before Midorifuji tired to retool a grip at the front of the Sekiwake's belt, but that momentum shift allowed Hoshoryu to back up and slap Midorifuji down for good. Hoshoryu easily won here in moving to 2-0 while Midorifuji is the opposite 0-2.

Komusubi Kotonowaka can be a greedy sumbitch when it comes to winning kensho from the faux-zeki, and today against Takakeisho, Baby Waka easily absorbed Takakeisho's tachi-ai forcing the faux-zeki to quickly go for a pull, but Kotonowaka wasn't bearing down, and so the two hooked back up in the center of the ring with Kotonowaka fishing for the right inside while Takakeisho ducked low trying to cut it off. The problem from this position for Takakeisho was that he's completely incapable of fighting out of that clinch, and so at the first sign of movement from Takakeisho, Kotonowaka worked his way inside deep enough to score the easy yori-kiri with little argument from Takakeisho. They were chalking this loss up to a sore knees for Takakeisho, but how about chalking it up to ineptness? Takakeisho suffers a tough loss at 1-1, and the way this dude is moving, it's going to be tough for him to finish the basho. Kotonowaka moves to 2-0 with the win and picks up a wad of cash in the process.

In the day's final bout, M1 Abi extended himself way too far from the tachi-ai reaching for thrusts towards Yokozuna Terunofuji, but his legs weren't coming forward in tandem with his arms, and so a second in Abi's knee just hit the dirt with no move coming from Terunofuji other than his standing there across the starting lines like a badass. I don't know how they didn't rule this tsuki-hiza, but it was a poor ending to the day regardless. Terunofuji is an easy peasy 2-0 while Abi falls to 0-2, and Abi's posture from the start here was "just don't hurt me."

And that's a wrap on a paltry Day 2. We'll see if any of the Japanese rikishi besides the tired Asanoyama can generate formidable headlines in week 1.

Day 1 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The Natsu basho is struggling out of the gate to find a storyline that appeals to the Japanese fans. Of all the news heading into the basho, Asanoyama's return to the Makuuchi division is the only positive headline regarding a Japanese rikishi, but even that headline doesn't feel as if it has much energy behind it. Anybody watching Asanoyama's sumo can tell that the bouts are fixed, and what's the point of watching him rise back up the banzuke due to yaocho?

On Day 1, Chiyoshoma was masterful in the way he delicately guided Asanoyama inside (er...you know what I mean) backing up quickly and giving Asanoyama the two second yori-kiri win with the former Ozeki just trying to keep up with the Mongolian's movements. I mean, Chiyoshoma hopped back and outta that dohyo so fast, Asanoyama had no idea what hit him. Expect a lot of puff sumo from opponents paired against Asanoyama.

The biggest headline at this point of the basho is the pending promotion of Kiribayama to the Ozeki ranks. He only needs 10 wins to reach the 33 win mark over three basho from the sanyaku, and it's simply a choice of whether or not he and his camp will do it. There are maybe three rikishi who could stop him in a straight up bout (Terunofuji, Tamawashi, Hoshoryu), and so he can secure it if he wanna. Midorifuji was no match for the Ozeki hopeful on Day 1 where Kiribayama bullied his foe around a bit before ironically winning by kata-sukashi.

Perhaps the biggest headline of all was the sudden announcement by Ichinojo that he's retired from sumo. The Minato-beya officially announced it on May 4th saying they were unsure if there'd even be a danpatsushiki (there won't be), and the timing of May 4th means that the banzuke was already solidified for Natsu.

When a rikishi's retirement is coordinated, it will be announced prior to the next banzuke just so they can readjust the ranks before they officially release it. In this case, Juryo rikishi Gonoyama would have been promoted to Makuuchi if Ichinojo had retired a few days earlier, and then there'd be a cascading effect down the ranks. That this announcement came three days after the release of the banzuke tells you that Ichinojo planned it that way.

I remember a few months back reading about how Ichinojo and his stable master were communicating through lawyers, and then the Mongolith had been completely isolated from the other members of the stable. There were reports of an altercation between Ichinojo and the kamisan, but who knows what really goes on or went on? Media will never give you the straight up facts on anything, and so we can only speculate.

I think Ichinojo was tired of the politics surrounding sumo, and the dude had plenty of cash hoarded to move back to Mongolia and live a very comfortable life on as much land as he cares to buy.

Besides Ichinojo's retirement, Takayasu and Wakatakakage also announced their withdrawals days before the tournament. In WTK's case, they knew he wasn't going to fight, and so they announced it before they Day 1 pairings. As for Takayasu, it was a last minute decision giving Sekiwake Hoshoryu the cheap win on Day 1.

As for other headlines, there was a stretch in the media about a week ago where they were saying, "There are other exciting rikishi in the Juryo division besides Ochiai." Wait, there are? And I wasn't even excited about Ochiai, so go figure. That's just a ploy to create another positive headline that doesn't involve a Mongolian rikishi.

Terunofuji is back for the first time in four basho, and you can see why he's been sitting out so long. You have Terunofuji capping off the day and then right before that you have Japan's supposedly best rikishi in Takakeisho, and the difference in the mere presence of these two rikishi is so noticeable. Terunofuji easily handled Komusubi Shodai on Day 1 (seen at right) while Abi went completely limp in giving Takakeisho the awkward win.

Already at the end of Day 1, you had the three Mongolians at the top of the banzuke jumping out to 1-0 starts with nobody else making a statement win. I think the most buzz surrounding any of the bouts was Sideshow Ura who was given a win by Nishikigi exciting the sheep in the crowd.

The entire basho will hinge on the top three Mongolians and what they choose to do moving forward. Everyone else is at their mercy.

John Buchanan · May 31, 2023
I really enjoyed this Basho. So many great matches and was very engaging. Very disappointed though with youtube removing all the great sumo channels :(

Peraz · May 29, 2023
Great to get a 14-1 Yokozuna win and a new Ozeki who can win fights without paying for them!

wuli · May 29, 2023
looks like that is it for natsu '23
nice to see kiribayama coming up to ozeki

takakeisho seems to be on his last legs, gone soon
i hope terunofuji joins him, in his case stepping out on a high note

thanks for the coverage, and the forum, mike

Seisset · May 27, 2023
Well, after all these years watching sumo bouts on youtube it seems all the channels have suddenly disappeared, or closed down before the basho, so there goes my only way to watch the bouts as unbiased as possible myself. Feels like that after reducing the number of foreign rikishi as much as politically correct now they also reduce the number of foreign fans watching... great... make sumo japan again.

wuli · May 26, 2023
must turn out to be another yusho for terunofuji
with asanoyama still in penance, and kiribayama having just won one, winning another now would start yokozuna talk, probably not wanted yet

David · May 25, 2023
'You are so correct'

wuli · May 21, 2023
it has been getting harder to find, but if one clicks around searching, can still get it
for live sumo, i've been inputting 'sumo live stream' into youtube search, and finding it live for makushita/juryo/makuuchi

Anonymous · May 31, 2023
@wuli, Natto sumo is also streaming the sumo on Rumble

WP · May 21, 2023
I haven't watched sumo in a very long time. I was watching this basho thanks to Natto Sumo, but it seems like his channel was taken down, and I cannot find Kintamayama on YouTube.

KEE · May 21, 2023
@WP, Kintamayama has moved to Rumble.

Anonymous · May 21, 2023
@KEE, Thank you

David · May 20, 2023
I will miss Tochinoshin.

BC · May 19, 2023
5 days done and some thoughts:
1) What's Japanese for "I suck!"? Oho!!! This dude needs to be on the next bus to Juryo-Town.
2) Takakeisho and his fan club better have deep pockets because he needs to buy buy buy to save his Ozeki rank. Hasn't faced the Yokozuna or the 4 Sekiwake yet and it will cost a fortune to buy wins from any of those guys.
3) Kiribayama's new shikona should be Henkabayama. What a bunch of chicken-stuff sumo from this "next" Ozeki. I'm officially no longer a fan.
4) Sad, Tochinoshin is retiring. It's time but still sad to see him go out this way. WIll always fondly remember his Sky Crane moves, so awesome to watch.
5) Nice to see Shodai reverting back to his garbage sumo. Dear Sumo Gods, Please do not let this guy EVER again get close to the Ozeki rank.
6) The fraud from last basho, Midorifuji, has been layed bare. 0-5 so far and counting at Maegashira #1 West. Extending to last basho, he's on a 10 bout losing streak. Ouch!