Day 13 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The November tournament has come down to a three-horse race, and the Day 13 opening for the NHK broadcast was extremely interesting and telling as they broke down the three candidates. The producers displayed a graphic showing the three rikishi left in the yusho hunt with their schedules today, tomorrow, and then the best guess for matchups on Sunday, and the conversation kept coming back to Terunofuji. Specifically, they only mentioned the name of Terunofuji in the same sentence with the phrase "jiriki yusho." Literally translated that phrase means to "yusho with one's own power." A more broad and correct term would be "control one's own destiny" with the implication that a guy has enough power to win out and thus take the yusho. We substitute the phrase for "jiriki yusho" on ST with the term Storyteller, but in essence, what Ota Announcer and Kitanofuji were saying in their discussion is that Terunofuji is the one who controls his own destiny.

When Ota Announcer asked Kitanofuji point blank who he thought would win, the former Yokozuna hemmed and hawed quite a bit because on one hand, he knows that Terunofuji is indeed the Storyteller, but on the other hand, he knows the importance of having a Japanese rikishi in a prominent position on the banzuke fulfill his duty. At one point, Kitanofuji finally said, "I think you have to respect the banzuke, and in that case Takakeisho is the Ozeki so he's the favorite, but..." And then talk went right back to Terunofuji and his having the most ability to jiriki yusho.

A lot of this discussion was based on the assumption that Terunofuji will be paired against Takakeisho on senshuraku, but what was completely missing from the discussion was talk like this: "Well, Takakeisho has just been destroying his opponents all basho with forward sumo, so he's the absolute favorite. I mean, just look at his sumo, and he is a legitimate Ozeki." No, the only time Takakeisho was mentioned was in the context of, "He is the Ozeki, so we have to defer to him." It was such a telling moment, and it backs up my assessment that in order to save face, they can't afford not to have Takakeisho yusho. Everyone knows that Terunofuji was the favorite to yusho from Day 1, and judging by the sumo, everyone knows that Terunofuji can do what he wants out there, but sumo is not governed these days by a rikishi's jiriki. It's governed by politics to give the impression that the Japanese rikishi are legitimate.

There's no telling what Terunofuji is going to do or what's going on in his head, but the discussion at the start of the broadcast today implied "watch out for Terunofuji" because he can beat anybody if he wants to.

As long as we're on the topic of Komusubi Terunofuji, let's start with his match first against M10 Ryuden. Terunofuji grabbed the strong outer grip with the right from the tachi-ai while enjoying another outer grip with the left. This is a very precarious position for everyone except Terunofuji and Ichinojo because it meant that Ryuden had moro-zashi. Well sorta. Fuji's grips were so good and so close to the front of the belt that Ryuden's inside positioning was weak. Credit Ryuden for trying to wrench Terunofuji upright to break off his right outer grip, and he managed to do so on the third try, but he expended so much energy doing so that Terunofuji was able to use his left outer grip to dashi-nage Ryuden over to the edge before pushing him out in the end. This bout wasn't close, and as they do after every Terunofuji win, they discussed the bout in almost reverent tones because Terunofuji is that good. It's just a different feeling when the dude's on the dohyo, and so it's no wonder that they kept coming back to Terunofuji at the start of the broadcast when discussing the favorite to yusho. With the loss, Ryuden falls to 9-4 and out of the yusho race altogether.

So that leaves the other two yusho candidates in Takakeisho and M17 Shimanoumi. Takakeisho moved forward well from the tachi-ai thrusting as he went, but there was little power behind the move, and so Shimanoumi was able to stand his ground and force Takakeisho into pull mode. Normally a pull like that where the executer doesn't move laterally is a do or die situation, but Shimanoumi didn't make Takakeisho pay. Furthermore, Shimanoumi found himself up and under Takakeisho with the latter's left arm awkwardly extended too high and over Shimanoumi's right, but instead of making the faux-zeki pay, Shimanoumi continued to stand there and react to Takakeisho instead of mounting an offensive of his own. After a few seconds more, Takakeisho went for the inevitable quick swipe down the torso and pull at the top of Shimanoumi's back, and the M17 ran himself forward and then pirouetted right out of the dohyo with little contact from Takakeisho altogether.

In short, Shimanoumi did nothing to try and win this bout, and he had Takakeisho in a very dangerous position, but he failed to act.  Instead, he was defensive from the tachi-ai, he exhibited no de-ashi, and he didn't fire a single offensively-minded shove. If you do nothing to win a bout, chances are really good you're not going to win it, and my opinion here is that Shimanoumi was not trying to win. The tell was at the end how Shimanoumi just ran forward and then sideways out of the ring instead of trying to dig in and counter. Takakeisho did not apply that much force towards his opponent either in his shoves or in the pull attempts, but with Shimanoumi showing no urgency to win, it was a fairly easy day of work for Takakeisho. The end result is Takakeisho's taking the sole lead of the basho at 12-1 while Shimanoumi falls to 11-2.

NHK did show the leaderboard at the end of the day, and it looked like this:

12-1: Takakeisho
11-2: Terunofuji, Shimanoumi

Terunofuji and Shimanoumi fight tomorrow, so that guarantees the yusho will be decided on Sunday. I don't even need to bother pointing out that Shimanoumi cannot beat Terunofuji straight up, so we'll just see what the former Ozeki decides. While time was too short on the broadcast to interview any of the yusho candidates live after their bouts, NHK News 9 did play an interview of Terunofuji at night where he stated specifically, "I want to attain the Ozeki rank again."

If that's what he wants and he's allowed to do it, he's going to do it. My take earlier on in the week was that the Association does not want a real Ozeki who is a foreigner to be mingling with the three fake Japanese Ozeki, and so I think he's going to be discouraged from finishing strong this basho. I obviously have no insight into the exact politics that goes on in the back halls, but regardless of whether or not my predictions are correct, it doesn't change the fact that yaocho is being used to build up Japanese rikishi.

Having Terunofuji play a key role in the yusho race brings a certain nervousness and anticipation to the weekend. Everyone knows he's the best guy left, and everyone knows he can filet his remaining opponents. Whether or not he chooses to do so is anyone's guess, and so that's why we'll watch. If Terunofuji was already at four losses and out of the race altogether, nobody would be watching Takakeisho fight off his lone challenger of Shimanoumi. Having Terunofuji in this thing near the end is very good for television, especially if Takakeisho can conquer him in the end.

As for Takakeisho, he draws Mitakeumi tomorrow, and Mitakeumi is the better rikishi. I know that Mitakeumi lost four in a row coming into the day, and it appears that Takakeisho has momentum right now, but fake momentum is no momentum.

Take the first bout of the day...M16 Akua fighting Juryo rikishi Chiyomaru. After a very sluggish start, Akua began buying wins to the tune of a 7-5 record heading into the day. I guarantee you his stable was buying into the fake hype and thought that the rookie could easily dismantle Chiyomaru. Wrong. Akua got his ass kicked as Chiyomaru never let the rookie get a move in edgewise and beat Akua (7-5) by a legitimate tsuki-dashi.

So...I know people are going to assume that Takakeisho can beat Mitakeumi in a straight up bout of sumo, and maybe he can a few times out of ten, but Mitakeumi is still the better rikishi.

Speaking of Mitakeumi, he faced fellow Suckiwake Takanosho and gave up moro-zashi from the tachi-ai way too easily, and so Takanosho knocked Mitakeumi upright and back in mere seconds before slamming him down beyond the bales oshi-taoshi style. Mitakeumi attempted a weak kubi-nage throw near the edge, but kubi-nage only works when a bout his fixed. This one wasn't as Takanosho moves to 7-6 with the nice win while Mitakeumi drops his fifth in a row falling to a dangerous 6-7.

I'm not sure how badly Mitakeumi wants kachi-koshi, but he can't afford another loss. Does that factor into his attitude against Takakeisho? We'll find out.

I don't know that we need to cover any more bouts on the day in the interest of time (or lack of it on my part). I will mention that M11 Enho's drop to Juryo was sealed today when M16 Chiyoshoma (7-6) beat him handily. At 2-11 from the M11 rank, he's a goner even if he does win out.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have tomorrow, but I will at least cover the yusho race.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Kisenosato was in the booth today for Day 12, and the guy seriously makes me want to turn down the volume. He's got a high-pitched voice that obviously didn't receive enough nodowa in his career, and he talks non-stop yet manages never to say a single thing. Due to all of his experience in having guys let for him in the ring, it's as if he's trying to flood the broadcast with so much crap that people finally go, "Okay, okay. I'll take it all at face value if you'll just be quiet." Tochinohana was in the mukou-joumen chair, and I think they went to him twice the entire broadcast. Nobody could get a word in edgewise thanks to Kisenosato. Not that I value what these guys say; I just enjoy listening to the spin unless it's coming from Kisenosato.

That I had to open with this explains the lack of interesting storylines remaining this basho. I mean, there is just nothing going on to get anyone excited, and it appears to me that less fans are showing up in week 2 than we had for week 1. The final weekend usually ticks up starting on Friday, but we shall see.

Normally I wouldn't waste time on the M14 Kotonowaka - J1 Chiyonooh bout, but it's a perfect example of how a rikishi will throw a bout of sumo yet try and disguise it the best he can. The two hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and it didn't take long for Kotonowaka to grab the left outer grip. I haven't seen enough of Chiyonooh's sumo lately to tell if he was mukiryoku from the start, but he definitely was at the finish. With Kotonowaka pressing in for the kill, Kotonowaka went for a throw with the left outer grip, and instead of trying to counter that throw using his right arm, which was in perfect scoop throw position, Chiyonooh just pulled that arm away and went along with the throw putting both hands to the dirt in defeat. I always harp on the nage-no-uchi-ai because we should have seen one here. When we didn't and when Chiyonooh opted to put both palms to the dirt instead of at least attempting something, it's a classic case of intentional mukiryoku sumo, which in this case favored Kotonowaka. At 7-5, it looks as if he's bought another basho in the division.

Wow, talk about two rikishi on opposite ends of the spectrum as M13 Ichinojo stepped into the ring to face M11 Enho. There is no possible way that Enho can beat Ichinojo in a straight up bout, so this was simply a case of would he or wouldn't he. Ichinojo would as he chased Enho around as the smaller rikishi moved left at the tachi-ai, but Ichinojo caught up well unleashing a right kote-nage that threw Enho completely off balance, and so the follow up was an extra few shoves that sent Enho down tsuki-taoshi. I'm always amazed at how fast Enho pulls himself up off the ground, and today was another case of his toughness. Ichinojo moves to 5-7 with the win while Enho falls further at 2-10.

Before the crowd could really get settled, we had our first bout of the day with serious yusho implications between M10 Ryuden and M17 Shimanoumi. Ryuden completely neutralized Shimanoumi at the tachi-ai causing the latter to go for a quick pull, but Ryuden easily survived and got his left arm to the inside. Shimanoumi hunkered low and kept his can back, and the last thing this dude wanted was a yotsu contest against Ryuden. Well, if the bout was real.

This one was not, and so instead of wrenching Shimanoumi upright and looking to set up an outer grip, Ryuden just let Shimanoumi push his inside position away, and then the two grappled in the center of the ring with no definable position. At this point, the most excitement was whether or not the gyoji was going to dip in and grab Shimanoumi's sagari off the dohyo floor in the middle of the action, but alas he did not. With Ryuden failing to take charge and just standing there, Shimanoumi finally reached for an inside belt grip with the left, which was completely uncontested by Ryuden, and when the M17 went for an inside dashi-nage with that same left, Ryuden just flopped forward and down rolling to the corner of the dohyo for added emphasis. Trust me, the force exerted behind that dashi-nage would not cause a rikishi the side of Ryuden to go parallel with the dohyo. Ryu did that all on his own.

Onokuni was on the NHK News 9 program afterwards, and he described Shimanoumi's sumo this basho in one word: gaman. What?? You have a guy so close to the yusho and the word you use to explain his sumo is endurance? It's a perfect example of these guys trying to find cool sounding words to explain away pure passivity and mukiryoku sumo. What happened to the much ballyhooed "oshi-zumo" line from yesterday? The problem is Shimanoumi is not beating guys from the tachi-ai, and he's not using his brand of sumo to wield any sort of a beating stick. Endurance? How about something with a little bit more testosterone feel to it like bruiser or ass-kicker?

Whatever. The patient Shimanoumi improves to 11-1 now with the gifted win while Ryuden falls off the leaderboard at 9-3.

M7 Endoh got the left inside early at the tachi-ai against M16 Akua but then just stood there and let Akua force him back to the edge and down yori-taoshi style. A step into Akua's charge, Endoh grabbed a right outer grip showing just how exposed the rookie was, but he just went backwards with the flow allowing Akua to force him down. Sawataishi Announcer shouted "bariki!" at the end implying good horsepower from Akua, but he should have shouted "mukiryoku!" to describe Endoh's sumo. This bariki was nowhere to be found early on when Akua wasn't paying for bouts. He moves to 7-5 which means we have to talk about him next basho as well. Damn. Endoh is a quiet 6-6 but his billfold his fatter tonight.

M14 Chiyonokuni's quest for kachi-koshi is complete as M5 Myogiryu took charge the first few steps of the bout driving Chiyonokuni back to the edge, but he stopped his attack at that point and allowed Chiyonokuni to tsuppari his way back to the center of the ring. With Myogiryu flailing around waiting for the kill, Kuni went for a mediocre pull and Myogiryu just put both palms to the dirt with no other part of his body even close to touching down. It wouldn't surprise me if Chiyonokuni didn't win another bout this basho now that he's at 8-4. As for Myogiryu, he falls to 3-9.

M4 Hokutofuji picked up kachi-koshi thanks to M7 Tochinoshin's letting up for him. The bout began in migi-yotsu with Tochinoshin on the cusp of a right outer grip, but he purposefully refrained. Oh, he groped Hokutofuji's chastity belt three or four times but just couldn't get his fingers to stick...darn the luck. With Hokutofuji completely had and unable to attack, Tochinoshin went for a slow maki-kae with no repercussions from his opponent, and any time you see a maki-kae that isn't do or die, the bout is fake. Now in moro-zashi, Shin couldn't picked his kimari-te, but he did the wise thing which was to withdraw that right arm from the inside, back up for no reason, and let Hokutofuji force him straight back and out across the entire diameter of the dohyo. Kisenosato suffered severe diarrhea of the mouth after this one using the word "gaman" at least 15 times in describing Hokutofuji's sumo, and you notice how he didn't once mention an actual waza...because there weren't any employed by Hokutofuji. The M4 buys his kachi-koshi at 8-4 while Tochinoshin falls to 6-6.

Before we move on, I now know where Onokuni got the word "gaman" for the NHK News 9 program. Kisenosato probably used it 50 times today in an effort to explain rikishi who needed their guys to let up for them to win, and so now the Japanese fans are programmed to think "gaman" as a virtuous trait when watching guys make improbable come backs.

M4 Tobizaru got his ass kicked by M1 Wakatakakage who forced him back a step from the tachi-ai and fought off Tobizaru's weak pull attempt to secure moro-zashi and drive Tobizaru back and down slamming him across the bales. Both rikishi end the day at 4-8 and you can already tell I'm tired of Tobizaru's act.

Looks like we're going to have to put up with Komusubi Takayasu in the sanyaku another basho. Today M2 Daieisho's MO was to stand as upright as possible and see how fast Takayasu could dispatch him. The guy in the hair shirt connected on a nice choke hold, but his de-ashi were absent and so Daieisho was able to mawari-komu around the ring, and at one point, he had Takayasu standing completely up straight with his right arm up and above Daieisho's left shoulder as pictured at left. At this point, Daieisho could have easily assumed moro-zashi and driven Takayasu back or delivered an okuri-taoshi, but he anticipated a pull instead that really didn't come and so Daieisho stumbled forward but not all the way down only to have Takayasu slap him to the floor in the end. What an ugly bout of sumo here as Takayasu moves to 7-5. As for Daieisho, he falls to 8-4 and can bank some serious cash the rest of the way if he wanna.

Komusubi Terunofuji was paired against Sekiwake Mitakeumi, and as I stated yesterday, there is no way that Mitakeumi can beat Terunofuji unless the Mongolian lets him. Today was a perfect example as Mitakeumi was defenseless at the tachi-ai allowing Terunofuji to secure moro-zashi, and from this point Mitakeumi didn't have a pot to piss in as Terunofuji bodied him upright and forced him across in mere seconds. This was masculine sumo and bariki and everything they wish the Japanese rikishi had as Terunofuji moves to 10-2 while Mitakeumi is pounded like mochi at 6-6.  Though nobody is saying it, everyone's afraid to face Terunofuji in a straight up bout.

M6 Tamawashi struck Suckiwake Takanosho once at the tachi-ai and then put his right arm up and over Takanosho's left shoulder allowing the Suckiwake to just force him back in seconds. Of course, Tamawashi stepped out before Takanosho could finish, and this was a light bout of sumo that Tamawashi obviously threw in favor of Takanosho. Tamawashi was in the same position that Takayasu was in against Daieisho, and the same thing would have happened to Takayasu if Daieisho was trying to win. Regardless of that, both dudes end the day at 6-6.

The final bout of the day was Takakeisho welcoming M6 Takarafuji, and Fuji played the part of a doormat standing straight up at the tachi-ai and allowing Takakeisho to just thrust him back once, twice, three times a lady. It looked good for sure and credit Takakeisho for going through the correct motions, but if your opponent is just standing there upright with his arms out wide, you better be able to dismantle him like that. With the gift, Takakeisho clinches the Nenkan Saitasho award at 49 wins and counting, but more important than that is his moving to 11-1 and keeping pace with Shimanoumi. As for Takarafuji, he settles for 8-4 in listless defeat.

At the end of the day, the leaderboard is as follows:

11-1: Takakeisho, Shimanoumi

Those two happen to face each other tomorrow, so at the end of Day 13, we'll have a sole leader. If the bout is straight up, Shimanoumi will win easily. Either scenario can be hyped, so the drama here is what will Shimanoumi choose to do.

See ya again tomorrow.

Day 11 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I think it's important in my commentary to not only focus on the bouts themselves but to also touch on how the media is covering the basho and what storylines they are helping to narrate. That's why I often include elements of the NHK broadcast in my comments and not just the bouts themselves. There's a certain culture that exists in the way that sumo is treated in the Japanese media, and so it's important to understand that culture in order to see the eyes of sumo the way the Japanese people view it. In short, I know of no other people who are as gullible as the Japanese, and I don't mean that in a derogatory fashion. They never question authority, and they accept anything that's reported in the media as gospel. Understanding that is key because knowing how the media is treating a basho helps explain a lot of what is transpiring in the dohyo.

My Day 11 broadcast did not start out with a particular theme, so I'll open here with the way NHK News 9 featured the day. Most of the focus was on Shimanoumi and his "strong oshi-zumo" this tournament. Strong oshi-zumo? That's certainly not the impression I've had of the dude. I mean, I think he's scored a few legit wins this tournament, but stronger dudes lik Chiyotairyu and all of the foreigners he's faced have let up for him. Even Chiyomaru visiting from Juryo let up for him, but if "strong oshi-zumo" is the term News 9 uses to describe Shimanoumi's sumo, then that's what the Japanese fans immediately program into their brains.

Beyond the strong oshi-zumo reference, News 9 went onto explain that this is the year for the Maku-jiri yusho. "Shiri" is literally the word for arse, and so Maku-jiri basically refers to the last spot on the Makuuchi banzuke or the caboose, and in the case of this basho the Maku-jiri is Shimanoumi. Tokushoryu took the yusho from the Maku-jiri position in March and then Terunofuji did it in July, and so News 9 is using it as another storyline to help hype the current basho.

Just because NHK News 9 brought the Maku-jiri yusho story up, it doesn't mean it's going to happen, and I'm convinced there's no way they'll allow anything other than a Takakeisho yusho this tournament, but it's an interesting storyline that they can use to help maintain interest and justify the leaderboard in an otherwise boring basho.

They also added the human element by suggesting Shimanoumi is making this run because of what his stablemate, Tokushoryu, pulled off in March. They showed Shimanoumi alongside Tokushoryu in the car that drove Tokushoryu around for the yusho parade, and then they focused in closely on Shimanoumi's facial expression and slowed down the video suggesting that Shimanoumi was inspired at that moment to work for the same goal...his own Makuuchi yusho. Ha ha, whatever. Why didn't he make the run then in July or September if he was so inspired? Or did he have to wait until he assumed the Maku-jiri rank to then be inspired?

Anyway, understanding this fluff and spin helps explain why Sumo can put such a terrible product on the dohyo and still skate by with fans actually accepting it all and believing it. Judging by the attendance today, it actually looks as if it's decreasing, and you know I'll continue to keep an eye on that.

Okay, let's start with the yusho contenders, and that means first up is the born again M17 Shimanoumi who was paired today against M13 Hoshoryu. Hoshoryu came with hands to the neck of Shimanoumi at the tachi-ai and drove him back two steps close to the edge, and usually a guy will use that attack to set up the yotsu position, and Hoshoryu actually had his hand in the perfect location for an outer grip a few times, but he refused to latch on and instead let the action flow back to the center of the ring ignoring any sort of inside position and yotsu-zumo altogether. From there the two traded jabs a bit and looked to hook back up at the belt, and with Hoshoryu doing nothing to get established, Shimanoumi went for the lightest of taps to the back of Hoshoryu's right shoulder, and the Mongolian complied by stumbling forward, turning 90 degrees, and waiting for Shimanoumi to rush in and dump him off the dohyo from there.

As is usually the case when a dude purchases a huge run in the division, you can't point to his offensively-minded sumo because it isn't there. Think Tobizaru last basho. Every bout was Tobizaru on defense and then at the end he was magically able to slip behind his opponent and rush him out for the victory...similar to this bout today, but there was no offensive momentum or any other legitimate technique that Shimanoumi employed to win this bout. It was fixed from the start, and hey, the winning technique goes down in the books as oshi-zumo!!

The end result is Shimanoumi's moving to 10-1 and keeping himself on the top rung of the leaderboard, and yes, the Maku-jiri dream is still alive for now. Hoshoryu bows to 6-5 and looked like the better rikishi out there today.

The next bout with yusho implications on the day featured M6 Takarafuji vs. M10 Ryuden, and the bout went to hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Ryuden secured the early inside position and had his foe upright enough to grab a wide open outer grip. He never grabbed it, however, and instead let Takarafuji grab the inside belt with the left and a right outer grip. As Takarafuji attempted a force-out charge, Ryuden finally grabbed a right outer, but it was just on one fold of the mawashi, and that fold slipped up way high decreasing the effectiveness of Ryuden's position As weak as it was, the grip was good enough to halt Takarafuji's charge and force the action back to the center of the ring, and as Ryuden began to throw his size advantage around, he broke off Takarafuji's outer grip and looked to gain control, but that right outer was just too weak. About 1 minute and 15 seconds into the bout, Ryuden went for a slick dashi-nage that threw Takarafuji over to the edge and upright, and from there Ryuden was able to push him down from behind. This was a very good bout of sumo and my opinion is that Ryuden let it happen this way because early on he purposefully refused the outer grip and let Takarafuji assume a good fightin' position. Regardless of that, Ryuden stays on the leaderboard at 9-2 while Takarafuji is out of contention--for the moment--at 8-3.

Komusubi Terunofuji was the next leader to step atop the dohyo to face M5 Myogiryu, and Fuji established the right arm early before getting his left arm at the side of Myogiryu's belt in perfect position for a stifling left outer, but instead of grabbing the belt--something he could have easily done, he opted to come away with a handful of sagari. From this point he lifted Myogiryu upright but just let his foe go creating a bit of separation in the ring. As Myogiryu rushed back in, he was able to secure moro-zashi, but that means nothing against Terunofuji if he intends on winning, and he did today by squeezing in tightly around both of Myogiryu's arms from the outside before executing his signature kime-dashi. The win was easy in the end, but Terunofuji was leaving himself vulnerable early on. Is that signaling another loss on the horizon? That was the case in his Day 7 win over Wakatakakage when he was sloppy early but ended up winning, so we'll see.

Terunofuji draws Mitakeumi tomorrow, and there is no way that Mitakeumi can beat Terunofuji in a straight up bout, so we'll just have to see how it plays out. For now, Terunofuji moves to 9-2 and tallies 30 wins over the last three basho with four more days to go. I realize that 13 of those wins came from the M17 rank, but if Terunofuji was Japanese, they'd already be talking about Ozeki promotion. I still think that Fuji will fade in the end with no more than 11 wins. As for Myogiryu, he falls to 3-8.

And that brings us to Takakeisho who was paired against M5 Kotoshoho. Both dudes pushed into each other from the tachi-ai bouncing off only to go for another simultaneous volley, and then on the third attempt, Kotoshoho knocked the faux-zeki back a full step, but instead of using good de-ashi to follow up, Takakeisho moved left going for his signature left inashi move, and Kotoshoho (6-5) just dutifully walked right into it flopping to the dirt and giving Takakeisho the easy win.

Takakeisho moves to 10-1 with the gift and has to be the favorite to yusho. You know how they always do that talk when someone withdraws leaving a guy as the lone Yokozuna or Ozeki? "Oh, he must feel such a big responsibility now shouldering the weight of the basho as the only one left." Bull crap. That's just more useless talk that everyone believes of course, but the point is...if you have one elite rikishi left on the banzuke and he's Japanese, it looks really bad if the dude isn't able to yusho. For that reason, I think Takakeisho is the clear favorite to yusho here, and it of course has nothing to do with the content of his sumo.

The result is the following leaderboard at the end of the day:

10-1: Takakeisho, Shimanoumi
9-2: Ryuden

For the second day in a row, NHK did NOT show the leaderboard after Takakeisho's bout. They did update the graphic I introduced yesterday regarding the Nenkan Saitasho. With Takakeisho's win today, he's now in a tie with Shodai at 48 for most wins this calendar year, which means Takakeisho is a lock to win the award this year.  Most of the news rags are also trumpeting this feat helping to reinforce the faux-zeki's position on the leaderboard.

In other bouts of interest on the day, Sekiwake Mitakeumi and Komusubi Takayasu looked to hook up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, but neither guy pulled the other in close, and so it was a very lightweight bout out of the gate. A few seconds in, Takayasu went for a weak pull leaving himself vulnerable, but Mitakeumi just flopped around never looking to defeat his opponent. After Takayasu recovered from his pull attempt, he caught the listless Mitakeumi with a nice tsuki with the right arm and that stood the Suckiwake upright, and then it was an easy push-out from there with Mitakeumi all too glad to exit dohyo left. This bout was as mukiryoku as they come leaving both guys at 6-5.

M4 Tobizaru offered a right hari-te at the tachi-ai against Sekiwake Takanosho, but the Sekiwake bested that with his own right choke hold standing Tobizaru upright. From this position, Takanosho could have done what he wanna, but he just stood there and waited for the Flying Monkey to make a move. Said move came about five seconds in with a light tap to the back of Takanosho's right shoulder, and Takanosho just put two palms to the dirt with no other part of his body close to touching down. No question this bout was fixed as Tobizaru buys his way to 4-7 while Takanosho falls to 5-6.

M14 Chiyonokuni is fading fast, but he only needs to pony up for one more win to earn kachi-koshi. Today M10 Meisei executed a nasty tachi-ai henka jumping left and putting both hands at the back of Chiyonokuni's head before riding him down with both hands at the base of his skull. It was quick and dirty as Meisei moves to 6-5 while Chiyonokuni is long gone from the leaderboard at 7-4.

M11 Enho got up really slow today and walked back to the dressing room gingerly after taking a yet another terrible spill backwards off the dohyo. M11 Sadanoumi showed just how easy it is to grab Enho even after the little guy henka'd to his left. With a stifling inside left grip and right outer grip both at the back of Enho's belt, the Sadamight just dove off the dohyo with Enho underneath him. I'm seriously worrying about Enho's long term health as he falls to 2-9. When that dude turns 40, nearly every joint in his body is going to crack with every step he takes. Sadanoumi improves to 3-9.

And finally, after a rough start in the division, M16 Akua has realized that he's actually got to pay for his wins (who'da thunk?), and he did that today against M12 Kaisei. Kaisei actually had moro-zashi from the tachi-ai when Akua shaded left without doing anything, but he let the rookie maki-kae with the left arm and then Kaisei just took his left arm to the outside now giving Akua moro-zashi. Then for no reason, Kaisei turned his body just a bit allowing Akua to easily force him out from there. Akua is now 6-5 and has figured out the Makuuchi game. As for Kaisei, he had room to sell dropping to 5-6.

Back again tomorrow as we hone in on the yusho race.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
A stat that always gets attention the last basho of the year is the Nenkan Saitasho, or most wins in the calendar year. Today they showed the top 5 and here's how it reads:




 Shodai 48

 Takakeisho 46

 Asanoyama 44

 Mitakeumi 42

 Takanosho 42

Because one of the basho this year was canceled due to Covid, those numbers are going to be lower by 9-11 wins, but this is exactly how the Sumo Association drew things up at the start of the year. Obviously missing are Hakuho and Kakuryu, and I'm guessing the top five hasn't excluded a foreign rikishi since just before Konishiki first entered the division. It's just part of the long range plan to phase the furreners out of sumo.

Back in the day when the venue was largely empty and the Mongolians ruled the roost, the highest number was usually in the 80's or at worst the 70's. A decade ago Hakuho posted an 86, and he did that two years in a row. In fact, the Yokozuna won the award for nine straight years from 2007 to 2015, and his average number of wins that stretch was 77.3.

Last year's "winner" was Asanoyama at 55 for an average of less than 10 wins per tourney, and since 2014, the number has never touched 70. If you think back to 2014 what was occurring?

Endoh was just cutting his teeth in the division and became a sensation...all for achieving exactly nothing. Kotoshogiku and Kisenosato had been ram-rodded into the Ozeki rank two years before and Goeido would join them in 2014, but with those three floundering around, the Sumo Association gambled by building up rikishi using fixed bouts to see how it would play. The media never called them on Endoh or the Japanese Ozeki, and when nobody questioned Kotoshogiku's yusho in 2016, they ultimately sold their soul.

With the foreign rikishi keeping themselves in check, the result was a packed venue each baho largely up until the virus hit earlier this year. I had been noticing cracks in the seams as Kisenosato was exposed more and more late in his career, and now this Corona Virus business has devastated more than economies and people's lives. I just don't see how sumo can recover from it because they're putting such a poor product on the dohyo these days that there's no reason for the casual fans to come back.

Yes, they may have flipped the Nenkan Saitasho award so that it's dominated by Japanese rikishi, but it's been at the expense of quality sumo.

Ironically, we had our best day of sumo this tournament quality-wise, so let's get to it starting from the bottom up.

M16 Chiyoshoma knocked Juryo rikishi, Midorifuji, back from the tachi-ai with a stiff right kachi-age, and as Midorifuji looked to duck back in, Chiyoshoma executed a perfectly-timed hataki-komi slapping Midorifuji down a few seconds in. I do believe I misread Midorifuji's shikona earlier in the basho and called him Kotofuji. Chiyoshoma moves to 6-4 with the easy win.

M17 Shimanoumi looked to keep pace on the leaderboard against M14 Chiyonokuni, and if there's one word to describe Chiyonokuni's sumo this basho it'd be "pull." I know, the first word that entered my mind was "yaocho" too, but no...it's "pull." It's been his bread and butter throughout, so after a thrust or two Shimanoumi's way at the tachi-ai, Chiyonokuni went into pull mode and Shimanoumi was ready easily forcing him over and out just like that.Shimanoumi guarantees at least a share of the lead heading down the stretch moving to 9-1 while Chiyonokuni falls to 7-3.

M14 Kotonowaka came with both arms low and forward at the tachi-ai against M16 Akua, and the rookie walked right into moro-zashi at the hands of Baby Waka, and not even Kotonowaka could screw this one up as he kept his gal in close as Akua tried to mawari-komu around the ring, but he only got a fourth of the way before Kotonowaka just leaned into him and toppled him back to the edge of the dohyo. Kotonowaka dangerously put down the right hand to break his fall, but the judges ignored it and rightly so I think. Kotonowaka moves to 6-4 while Akua falls to 5-5.

At this point of the broadcast, they posted a graphic of Gagamaru and announced the Georgian was retiring from sumo. Fujii Announcer actually read the information as it came across the wires at the start of the broadcast, but they waited until this point to show the official graphic. Apparently, Gagamaru's mother is not doing well in his home country back home, and with the former Komusubi and current Jonidan rikishi not having fought in a year due to knee injuries, it was time to head home. Hopefully the dude has not squandered too much of his cash.

M11 Sadanoumi and M13 Hoshoryu hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai with both dudes grabbing left outer grips, but without really pressing in chest to chest, Hoshoryu took a step back in order to plant his foot and go for an outer belt throw that wasn't even contested. I mean, Sadanoumi had his arm in perfect scoop throw position to counter, and had he pulled the trigger it would have led to a nage-no-uchi-ai. Instead, he just sort hopped on one foot and fell back onto his arse across the straw. Tatsunami-oyakata (former Asahiyutaka) in the mukou-joumen chair said it best when he immediately offered, "kantan ni toraseru," or Sadanoumi just let him do what he [Hoshoryu] wanted." Another term for it is yaocho as Hoshoryu moves to 6-4 while Sadanoumi falls to 2-8.

M15 Chiyotairyu and M11 Enho both stood straight up at the tachi-ai making no contact whatsoever. With half a meter separating the two, they sorta made gestures with glad hands before Enho circled a bit left. At this point Chiyotairyu moved in with two right slaps that were light enough that Enho was able to move left a bit more and offer a mini-tsuki into Chiyotairyu's right side, and of course the larger Chiyotairyu went down like a house of cards. Chiyotairyu's either got a severe glass jaw or the fix was in here. Hint: it's the latter as Enho limps his way to 2-8 while Chiyotairyu falls to 6-4. You watch Enho just get his ass kicked all basho, and then he offers a light slap like that with no legs involved while still moving laterally, and it fells a dude who weighs in at 170 k? Uh huh.

M10 Meisei got the left arm inside early against a defenseless M9 Tokushoryu, and Meisei immediately went for an inside belt throw. As for Tokushoryu, his left arm was right there in the kote position, but the counter kote-nage never came signaling his intentions to throw the bout. Meisei's inside belt throw moved Tokushoryu over to the edge but not quite out, so Tokushoryu squared back up and allowed Meisei to get moro-zashi and force him back that last step. Tokushoryu was completely mukiryoku in this contest as both rikishi end the day 5-5.

M8 Aoiyama and M12 Kaisei were not fully synced at the tachi-ai, and they both stood up thinking it was a false start, but the gyoji said go and so they went. Sorta. Aoiyama sputtered with a few tsuppari before going for en early pull, and once he did, Kaisei moved in getting the right arm inside with a left outer grip, and Aoiyama made no effort to defend at the edge giving Kaisei the easy yori-kiri. As is usually the case, bouts between two foreign rikishi are rarely hotly contested. Kaisei moves to 5-5 while Aoiyama falls to 3-7.

At this point of the broadcast they showed a different view of the arena, and I'll just post it here. You can see the top third of the masu-seki is empty and then nobody is up in the rafters. Usually a basho gains momentum as it enters the second week, but not this time.  Sumo as allowed to fill every other seat up there, but there' no demand for the duckets.

In the useless trivia department, this is actually the 500th basho since the modern era of sumo began back in the year Meiji 42, so who will hoist the cup at the end of this memorable tournament?? I didn't bother taking a picture of the graphic but Tochiazuma won tourney 400, Hokutoumi won tourney 300, and Takamiyama won tourney 200. I can't remember which dude won 100.

M12 Yutakayama refrained from his usual tsuppari tachi-ai against M8 Terutsuyoshi just keeping his arms in low, and that gifted Terutsuyoshi the easy left frontal belt grip. Yutakayama's defense was to wrap both arms around Teru's right wing, and the two dug in a bit from there. After a quick keta-guri attempt from Terutsuyoshi that didn't connect, Yutakayama was able to latch on with a right outer grip over the top, and Terutsuyoshi was stuck at this point in terms of a forward attack, so he attempted an uwate-hineri move with him on the run, and that sent Yutakayama over to the edge but not quite out, and Terutsuyoshi was gassed at this point succumbing to a quick pull attempt from Yutakayama. This was a very unorthodox bout of sumo as Yutakayama limps to 3-7 while Terutsuyoshi falls to 2-8.

M13 Ichinojo shaded a bit left at the tachi-ai against M7 Tochinoshin grabbing the cheap outer grip, but his right inside position was shallow as Shin dug in with his own right inside. As the two settled in, Ichinojo was able to shore up that right inside position, and with Tochinoshin pinned in tight, he used his body well to wrench Shin upright and keep him there just enough to where he was able to score the force-out win. This was a surprisingly good bout between two foreigners, and the win moves Ichinojo to 3-7 while Tochinoshin falls to 5-5.

M7 Endoh neutralized M9 Kotoeko well at the tachi-ai getting the left arm inside and driving Eko back a step, but then Endoh just paused not making an effort to grab the right outer grip. I was suspicious at that point because he had multiple opportunities to grab it and even grab a grip towards the front, but he just kept that arm away so that when Kotoeko went for a weak kote-nage, Endoh just walked himself outta the dohyo. I mean, the dude didn't even hit the dirt despite the kote-nage move, which is technically a throw, but whatever. Both rikishi end the day at 6-4 as Endoh throws this bout.

M6 Tamawashi kept his tsuppari high and largely wide allowing M10 Ryuden to work his left arm inside after a few seconds, and from there Tamawashi just backed up to the straw and waited for Ryuden to stand him upright and push him across that final step. Tamawashi was as mukiryoku as you please here falling to 6-4 while Ryuden keeps himself on the NHK leaderboard at 8-2.

M4 Hokutofuji came with his usual tachi-ai getting the left choke hold against M6 Takarafuji's neck while pressing with the right hand, and this drove Takarafuji back a full step and a half. Takarafuji was befuddled, and Hokutofuji had the easy path to drive Takarafuji out, but he didn't bother to drive his legs forward. At this point Takarafuji went for an ill-advised pull that had no effect other than to allow Hokutofuji the perfect position to drive T-Fuji back and out, but he refrained yet again. With Takarafuji still befuddled, it was Hokutofuji's turn to go for a pull, and he set it up nicely but didn't follow through all the way, and my opinion was that he was leaving himself open for a Takarafuji attack, but the older Fuji just couldn't do it. They finally set up in migi-yotsu, a position that favors Takarafuji, but he was already gassed and so the two stood in the center of the ring for nearly a minute. The bout finally ended up in a nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge where Hokutofuji threw with the right inside and Takarafuji countered with a left kote-nage. Takarafuji touched his right hand down first, but unfortunately...they ruled it a tie, so we had to do this all over again.

In the do-over, Hokutofuji won the tachi-ai again, and all Takarafuji could do was go for an inashi swipe at the back of Hokutofuji's arm, but Hokutofuji survived and finally drove his compromised opponent back and across. Hokutofuji moves to 6-4 with the win, and he definitely gave Takarafuji his chances, but the latter just couldn't get it together falling to 8-2. When you stop and think about it, how in the hell does a guy come into the day at 8-1 and look like that in the ring? I do believe I have called all of Takarafuji's wins this basho as fake, and his performance today certainly backs that up.

M3 Okinoumi made no effort to get to the inside or pull M2 Daieisho into the clinch, and so Daieisho just tsuppari'ed Okinoumi upright and knocked him back wham bam thank you ma'am. This bout was definitely arranged in favor of Daieisho even though I really like both of these guys and they are very capable. Daieisho moves to 7-3 while Okinoumi falls to 5-5.

M1 Kiribayama shaded left against M3 Kagayaki at the tachi-ai, but he didn't do anything and so Kagayaki got the right arm deep inside completely lifting Kiribayama upright. As Kagayaki executed his force out charge, Kiribayama just went with the flow and walked his way back as fast as Kagayaki could force him back. I mean, at least fake a counter kote-nage with the right, but Kiribayama was 100% mukiryoku in this one. Kagayaki moves to 4-6 with the uncontested win while Kiribayama falls to 1-9. What a useless bout.

At this point of the broadcast they (Fujii Announcer and Kitanofuji) started giving Asahiyutaka in the mukou joumen chair guff for the kesho mawashi he sported back at the 1997 Haru basho that had this big gold gourd and gay orange tassels hanging from it. I mean, the thing was literally a 3D kesho mawashi. Both Fujii Announcer and Kitanofuji were laughing as they asked Asahiyutaka how embarrassing it was to wear that, and you could just see it on Asahiyuaka's face. Even the old guy in the Jedi master vest (pictured below) there in the front row was laughing, and I only bring this up because it was the true highlight of the broadcast to this point. That was also the time when I lived in Japan, and I remember visiting Asahiyutaka's stable often for morning keiko to watch him practice. And yes, I still know how to properly use the term gay as we used it in the 70's when I was a child.



Moving right along, M2 Onosho and M1 Wakatakakage hooked up in migi-yotsu where Onosho looked to take control by using a scoop throw motion to throw Wakatakakage off balance. Wakatakakage hunkered down low trying to take away Onosho's momentum, but Onosho grabbed the left outer grip and wouldn't let go as Wakatakakage tried to throw his opponent off this way and that and break off that grip, but Onosho held tight and forced Wakatakakage over and down beating him yori-taoshi style across the bales. Wow, this was the best bout of sumo I've ever seen Onosho fight, and it's one of the top five bouts of the entire basho. Good stuff here as Onosho moves to 4-6 while Wakatakakage falls to 2-8 in defeat, and that Asahiyutaka bit must have brought this bout some good karma.

And that brings us to Komusubi Terunofuji who stepped into the ring against M4 Tobizaru. Terunofuji has purposefully introduced a decline in the quality of sumo the last three days, but these guys have their pride especially when facing a goofball like Tobizaru with no street cred in the division whatsoever. Curiously, Terunofuji suddenly remembered the importance of latching onto his opponent from the tachi-ai, and so he easily grabbed the flying monkey tightly around both arms and plum lifted him clear off the dohyo and walked him over to the edge before setting him down as if he wasn't even there. Normally when Tobizaru loses, he has this big grin on his face or he'll lightly bite his tongue through his teeth as if to say, "Wasn't that funny?" Today, however, the dude was completely humiliated, and I've never seen him want to exit the arena and get off camera so quickly.

As for Terunofuji, he shows once again that he is a man among boys here in moving to 8-2, an as I've been talking the past few days, I think Fuji's gonna intentionally fade down the stretch, but that was an awesome display today, and I don't remember the last time we saw a tsuri-dashi like that. The bout didn't quite clip Harumafuji's tsuri-otoshi of Goeido in the latter's second basho in the division, but it was in the same league. Tobizaru falls to 3-7 after the ignominious defeat.

Suckiwake Mitakeumi failed to make any impact against M5 Kotoshoho at the tachi-ai, and so Kotoshoho simply shaded right and went for a sweet pull that dragged Mitakeumi clear over to the edge where he drove the final nail in the coffin with a right tsuki to Mitakeumi's left side. Both rikishi end the day at 6-4 and that was an embarrassing loss by Mitakeumi considering his rank and status as one of the Japanese elites.

Sekiwake Takanosho has been worked the last few days, and so it wasn't surprising to see him go all out against Komusubi Takayasu. He got Takayasu with a nice right tsuki low enough into the Komusubi's gut that he used to pinch Takayasu's left inside attempt useless. From there, Takanosho persisted in lifting Takayasu upright and using some effective shoves to knock Takayasu across the straw with little argument. Both dudes end the day at 5-5, and it was impressive sumo from Takanosho today.

The last four bouts were all legit and contained solid sumo, so would the trend hold with M3 Myogiryu stepping into the ring against Takakeisho? Unfortunately no. Instead of trying to rush into his opponent at the starting line and establish the inside, Myogiryu stood completely upright opting to lightly swipe downward at Takakeisho's chest. Two seconds in, Myogiryu got a right hand at the back of Takakeisho's shoulder turning the faux-zeki just a bit, but Myogiryu did not continue with that shoulder push. Instead, he traded a few more shoves and pulls with Takakeisho, and when Takakeisho went for the lightest swipe at the back of Myogiryu's head, the M3 just put both palms to the dirt along with a knee in as easy of a fake finish as you'd care to call. Takakeisho is gifted a 9-1 mark while Myogiryu literally falls to 3-7.

As the taiko drums started at the end of the broadcast, NHK didn't even bother showing the leaderboard because it is absolutely abysmal. If you care, here you go:

9-1: Takakeisho, Shimanoumi
8-2: Takarafuji, Ryuden

I'll see ya back here tomorrow in some form or another.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Due to news coverage of the IOC Chairman, Thomas Bach, visiting Japan today, my NHK broadcast didn't start until a few bouts in the Makuuchi day. They did go back and replay the ones I missed, but I completely missed the introduction which usually provides a good feel for where they want to spin the narrative. Judging from the headlines heading into the day, the majority of the talk is still on Kotoshogiku's retirement, which isn't surprising because there's little happening in the ring to give anyone a stiffie. I'm of course also interested in attendance, and there was a noticeable drop with today being a Monday. I look at the leaderboard NHK has started posting, and it's going to be tough sell to get anyone to come out who hasn't already purchased their tickets.

On that note, the day began with M16 Akua grabbing an early right outer grip against Juryo rikishi, Akiseyama, but without anything to the inside, Akua couldn't really attack. He repented of his ways and got the left inside thanks to no defense from Akiseyama, and from there Akua was able to execute the textbook yori-kiri win. This was a nice bout of sumo and a good way to start the day as both rikishi stand now at 5-4.

M14 Kotonowaka came with a light moro-te-zuki at the tachi-ai as M13 Hoshoryu easily fought it off and established himself inside with the right inside belt grip. Instead of going chest to chest, however, it was more top of shoulders to top of shoulders as Hoshoryu did not want to give up the left outer grip. With Hoshoryu not making a move, Kotonowaka easily grabbed it anyway and tried to wrench Hoshoryu over and out, but the Mongolian countered nicely with an inside belt throw keeping himself in the ring. Kotonowaka went for another left outside belt throw inviting a brief nage-no-uchi-ai in the center of the ring where neither dude wanted to commit on the throw, and so they squared back up. At this point Kotonowaka maki-kae'd with the left going for a scoop throw as Hoshoryu countered with a right outer, and this time the two hit the dirt with Hoshoryu's mage touching down before Kotonowaka's body. This was a very good display of sumo and counter sumo from both parties, and this type of sumo is possible from all rikishi in the division. It's just a shame that we rarely get to see it. Both of these dudes stand at 5-4 as well.

M13 Ichinojo and M12 Kaisei hooked up in migi-yotsu from the tachi-ai with Ichinojo coming away with a left outer grip, but as he tried to press forward, he enabled Kaisei to grab a left outer of his own close to the front of the belt, and so the gappuri yotsu bout of sumo was on. Ichinojo tested the force out waters early, but Kaisei's left grip was too powerful, and it allowed him to counter enough to stay alive. Close to a minute into the bout, it was Kaisei's turn to go for the force out, and Ichinojo really did nothing to defend it giving Kaisei the nice win. I don't know if Ichinojo was gassed here or what, but there was no defense at the end. Regardless, it was another very good display of sumo, and that's three bouts in a row where the crowd got their money's worth. Not sure what they laced the chanko with this morning in the various stables, but I'm impressed as Kaisei moves to 4-5 while Ichinojo is 2-7.

M17 Shimanoumi lost the tachi-ai yet again to M12 Yutakayama who used his superior height and skills to bully Shimanoumi around a bit. Yutakayama had Shimanoumi on the ropes with the left arm up and under Shimanoumi's right and a nice choke hold with the right arm, but he wasn't going for the kill and so it allowed Shimanoumi to spin out of harm's way 360 degrees and turn the tables on a mukiryoku Yutakayama pushing him out from behind. This was an obvious fixed bout that Yutakayama dominated from the start, but at least the acting was believable to the sheep. Shimanoumi buys his kachi-koshi at 8-1 and stays safely in the division for next January, so he should start getting his kicked shortly now that he doesn't need to buy anymore wins. Yutakayama is trading cash for kachi-koshi at 2-7.

For the first time this basho, M15 Chiyotairyu treated us to his freight train sumo where he blasts his inferior opponent off of the starting lines and drives them back once, twice, three times a lady. In this case, M11 Sadanoumi was the victim as they awarded Chiyotairyu the deserved tsuki-dashi kimari-te. Good stuff here as Tairyu moves to 6-3 while Sadanoumi falls to 2-7.

M14 Chiyonokuni had a nice tachi-ai putting both hands into M9 Tokushoryu's neck, but the good sumo ended there. As Kuni dropped his hands, Tokushoryu had a myriad of openings for him including the right arm to the outside of Kuni's belt, a pull, the left arm to the inside with Kuni in pull mode, a tottari...you name it. Through it all, Tokushoryu purposefully never took the opportunity and so Chiyonokuni was ultimately able to work him over and out. It was sacrilegious to award the tsuki-dashi winning technique for this effort from Chiyonokuni, but whatever. He buys this win moving to 7-2 while Tokushoryu had room to sell at 5-4.

M16 Chiyoshoma henka'd to his right at the tachi-ai grabbing the back of M8 Terutsuyoshi's belt and sending him over and down in one second flat. At least the superior rikishi won here as Chiyoshoma moves to 5-4 while Terutsuyoshi falls to 2-7.

Okay, yaocho is tough to predict, which is why I rarely do it, but as stated yesterday...M11 Enho threw a bout in order to get enough cash together to buy his first win the next day. M8 Aoiyama will take that action any day of the week, and the Happy Bulgar whiffed up high with a fake slap at the tachi-ai enabling Enho to slip left and grab Aoiyama by the back of the right leg, and with Aoiyama doing nothing to latch on or plant his feet, Enho just ran him clear across the dohyo and out to the delight of the crowd. Damn, why didn't Enho figure this out sooner? Sell a bout and then buy a bout the next day. It'd at least keep him at 7-8 every basho. In the meantime, he stands at 1-8 now while Aoiyama falls to 3-6. If only life were so easy as this bout.

M10 Meisei was completely flat-footed at the tachi-ai against M7 Endoh, and so Meisei's tsuki were utterly useless as Endoh cautiously charged forward pushing Meisei back to the edge where the smaller rikishi then squatted over the bales as if he had an emergency in the woods. Endoh was nice to him and lightly knocked him off of the dohyo from that position, and it was a very awkward finish to an awkward bout of sumo all around. The result is Endoh's picking up the easy win as he moves to 6-3 while Meisei falls to 4-5.

M7 Tochinoshin came with dual kachi-age high into M10 Ryuden, but Shin wasn't trying to do any damage with the move, and so Ryuden easily assumed moro-zashi. Tochinoshin latched on with two grips over the top, but he wasn't looking to counter in order to win the bout. He made Ryuden work, and at the edge when Ryuden attacked from the left inside position, Tochinoshin could have done a nage-no-uchi-ai with a right outer, but he just let go of the grip and allowed himself to be thrown lightly to the dirt putting that left palm down early just to make sure. It was actually an enjoyable bout even though Tochinoshin let Ryuden win. The result puts Ryuden now at 7-2 while Tochinoshin has plenty of room to sell at 5-4.

M6 Tamawashi showed his true colors today blasting M9 Kotoeko off of the starting lines and thrusting him back and out in maybe three seconds. There was nothing Kotoeko could do here, and it's always good to see from time to time what Tamawashi is capable of. I know there's a lot of focus on Terunofuji right now, but Tamawashi is the #3 guy on the banzuke behind Hakuho and Kakuryu. Tamawashi breezes to 6-3 while Kotoeko gets humbled here falling to 5-4.

M6 Takarafuji and M3 Okinoumi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai, and Okinoumi's right hand was in perfect position to grab the outer grip, but you could see Okinoumi clearly holding back. I mean, Okinoumi is long and lean and Takarafuji's got the crocodile arms, and so the true flow to this bout would have been Okinoumi's grabbing the right outer grip and executing the easy force out or a nice throw. Instead, the two dug in chest to chest with Okinoumi continuing to refuse the outer grip although he instinctively got close to it time and time again while Takarafuji's arms were too short to even entertain the thought. And so the two were stuck in this position. The bout was obviously arranged in favor of Takarafuji, but he was in no position to clinch it. After a minute or so, Okinoumi finally grabbed the right outer grip and marched Takarafuji over to the edge, and you could see him just standing there as if to say, "Go for a counter move ya dumb ass." Takarafuji's right arm was touching Okinoumi's left side, but there was no tsuki from Takarafuji. Still, Okinoumi just flopped across the bales in fine fashion as if having been pushed in the side. Takarafuji's footwork was not established for a tsuki-otoshi, and so he fell down awkwardly with Okinoumi landing on his shin. You look at Okinoumi's legs locked at the knees and flowing gently behind him, and he clearly took the dive here in a joke of a bout as Takarafuji is gifted kachi-koshi at 8-1 while Okinoumi falls to 5-4. Unbelievable.

M3 Kagayaki got the nice position with the right arm up and under M4 Hokutofuji's left at the tachi-ai, and he had quite a few options open to him including moro-zashi. Kagayaki opted for a light tsuki into Hokutofuji's right arm causing Hokutofuji to 360 out of there, and that was the sign of, "Here we go with another fake bout." When Hokutofuji's pirouette was done, Kagayaki had him in a choke hold with the right and could have finished him off easily, but he let him go and from that point offered methodic defensive tsuppari waiting for Hokutofuji to seize the day. Problem for Fuji was he never had any momentum or positioning to speak of, and so he was having difficulty getting inside, but in time, Kagayaki showed him the C3P0 arms, and that allowed Hokutofuji to get inside and push Kagayaki back and out for the cheap win. Obvious thrown bout here as Hokutofuji moves to 5-4 while Kagayaki falls to 3-6.

M2 Daieisho blasted M1 Wakatakakage upright from the tachi-ai and had the youngster pushed back and across before Wakatakakage could even think of countering. Really good stuff here, and this was my favorite bout of the day to this point as Daieisho moves to 6-3 while Wakatakakage falls to 2-7.

M1 Kiribayama kept his hands high and wide against M2 Onosho from the tachi-ai, and with Onosho not having made an impact from the initial charge himself, Kiribayama went for a weak pull, which was really an attempt to just retreat over to the left near the straw and leave himself vulnerable. Because Kiribayama actually didn't pull Onosho off balance, Onosho had plenty of room to just shove his self-compromised opponent back that last step in a pretty ho-hum affair that maybe lasted three seconds. Kiribayama falls to 1-8 while Onosho is just 3-6.

Up next was the duel between our two Komusubi, Terunofuji and Takayasu, and I'm sure the MO for Terunofuji at this point is to keep his win total this basho low enough to where they're not forced to consider him for Ozeki promotion. As far as the sumo goes, these are two guys going in opposite directions, but when bouts are compromised, none of that matters, and that was on display today as Terunofuji had countless openings against the hapless Takayasu yet gave up on every one.

From the tachi-ai, Terunofuji put his left hand on Takayasu's right thigh, and while there's a time and place for that between two dudes, the sumo ring ain't that place. Terunofuji next grabbed the good ole sagari with that left hand, and that should have been everyone's cue at that point. With Fuji doing nothing, Takayasu shaded to his right executing a decent inashi, and Fuji actually played along fumbling over to the edge, but Takayasu wasn't quick enough to push him out and instead opted to go for a terrible pull. Just like the bout yesterday, Fuji could have rushed Takayasu back and out from this point...or at least gotten an arm inside, but he opted to lightly rest his right arm against Takayasu's side and then keep the left completely away from an outer grip that was there for the taking. With Terunofuji holding back, Takayasu went for a series of pulls that were so weak it was embarrassing, and yet Fuji just stood there waiting around. At this point, Takayasu grabbed a left outer grip forcing Terunofuji to comply with the right inside, but he kept his left away again on purpose and danced a bit more until finally Takayasu went for a weaker than weak dashi-nage, and the Mongolian just ran himself out of the dohyo from there the last two steps.

This was one of the greatest displays I've mukiryoku sumo I've ever seen, and simply put, Terunofuji ain't that obtuse. He purposefully refrained from five or six opportunities and then finally ran out of the dohyo when the lightest of offensive moves came from his opponent. This was obvious to anyone who has a clue, and it's the reason that I kept Terunofuji off of my leaderboard yesterday. He's taking himself out of play and while he still is 7-2, there's no point considering him as a yusho candidate, and so I won't. As for Takayasu, he didn't buy this one...it was mandated from the Isegahama camp, so he picks up the freebie moving to 5-4.

M5 Kotoshoho and Suckiwake Takanosho engaged in a brief oshi-ai from the tachi-ai, and with neither dude taking the clear advantage, Kotoshoho moved to his right and tugged Takanosho forward with a right hand at the back of Sho's triceps, and the move knocked the Suckiwake all the way over to the edge with his back turned to his opponent. It was easy peasy Japanesey from there as Kotoshoho rushed forward and knocked Takanosho across before he could square back up. Not sure where the tsuki-otoshi kimari-te came from since Takanosho never left his feet, but whatever. The main takeaway from this is how weak Takanosho is when left to his own power and devices. What an embarrassing loss as Kotoshoho moves to 5-4 while Takanosho falls to 4-5.

Suckiwake Mitakeumi shaded left at the tachi-ai in an effort to grab a cheap grip on M5 Myogiryu's belt, but the move was so poorly executed that Myogiryu seized the right inside position and used his opponent's momentum against him to rush him back and across in two seconds. Myogiryu shows time and time again that he is one of the better Japanese rikishi on the banzuke. He's way caught up in the buying and selling game, but in straight up bouts he usually embarrasses the so-called Japanese elites. That was the case today as Mitakeumi is dropped to 6-3 while Myogiryu moves to 3-6.

And that brings us to the day's final bout that featured Takakeisho vs. M4 Tobizaru. Both rikishi were weak at the tachi-ai with Tobizaru being nudged back maybe half a step, and instead of moving forward for the kill as an Ozeki would do, Takakeisho actually backed up as if to set up a pull. The pull never came, but it was a clear indication that this bout was real. When Takakeisho is forced to fight straight up, he looks pull or inashi first and push after that, so with the faux-zeki completely upright and cautious after having his opponent turned a bit two seconds in, the oshi-ai was on. Now, neither of these two have any oshi attack to write home about, and so it was a very light display of pushing and slapping in the center of the ring, and frankly, I've seen better girl fights than this on the playgrounds at school. With neither rikishi wanting to take charge for about five seconds, Tobizaru timed a lateral move to his right as Takakeisho went for a shove, and that completely threw the latter off balance, and from there Tobizaru easily slapped Takakeisho down and scooped up a nice wad of kensho for his trouble.

First and foremost, this was a lightweight bout of sumo between two lightweight guys. The quality was poor and Tobizaru admitted as much in his post-match interview, and the bottom line is that the Takakeisho camp thought they could beat Tobizaru straight up, and so nothing was pre-arranged. Oops.

It doesn't matter though. Takakeisho is still the heavy favorite to take the yusho, and I'm sure that this was just a blip on the radar. Takakeisho's hapless sumo ability is exposed as he falls to 8-1 while Tobizaru moves to a harmless 3-6.

The surprising loss by Takakeisho does add a few more bodies to the leaderboard, which now looks like this:

8-1: Takakeisho, Takarafuji, Shimanoumi
7-2: Ryuden, Chiyonokuni

Wow, I can just see the fans lining up tomorrow for this one. I know I'm losing sleep.

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Former Ozeki Kotoshogiku held his official press conference today announcing his retirement, and the dude had a hard time getting through it. As I sifted through all of the news articles, a few things popped out to me that fall in line with my analysis yesterday of Kotoshogiku's improbable yusho back in 2016. First, Kotoshogiku is the third oldest rikishi to have ever won a yusho. Second, he is the slowest Ozeki to have ever achieved the feat requiring 26 tournaments from the time of his promotion. Whenever you have a dynasty in sports--in this case the foreigners' grip on the yusho for 10 straight years, the last person to come along and break up the dynasty is an old, broken-down guy.

Completely changing the subject, the very first thing that I noticed today when my Day 8 broadcast started was the change in the upper decks. All basho, I've been commenting on how empty the upper decks have been, and I've even posted a picture or two here or there. Well, somebody or something must have gotten to the Sumo Association regarding the poor optics of having empty upper decks because starting on Day 8, they taped white signs on every other chair indicating that fans were to space each other at least one seat apart. The seating was still largely empty, but at least the eye was able to focus on the pattern of the signage and not the solid red of empty seats. I took a picture of the arena prior to the Takayasu bout, and attendance has remained quite consistent the first eight days of the tournament.

There were a few more fannies in the seats today as Sundays are the most popular days, but they are only drawing the base fans in Tokyo and little else.

The reason for the lack of excitement is of course the lack of talent exhibited by the Japanese rikishi in the elite ranks. They are going through the motions and the correct person is going to take the yusho this basho, but there's just no substance to it and subconsciously, people know it.

Because it's the weekend, let's just briefly touch on the bouts of interest and then resume
full reports on the weekdays.

We'll start with Komusubi Terunofuji taking on M2 Daieisho, and from the start, Terunofuji had the chance to grab Daieisho and pull him in close with the left inside. Instead, the only thing the Mongolian grabbed was a handful of Daieisho's sagari with that left hand, and he kept his useless grip on those strings for a few seconds as Daieisho looked to spin out of harm's way. There are certain signs of yaocho that when you see them, it's indisputable and one of them is when a yotsu guy persists in grabbing his opponent's sagari.

Despite Terunofuji's failure to establish himself in the yotsu position, Daieisho had zero going for him, and he spun away from the center of the ring going for a terrible pull. The dude was totally exposed with hands high, and Fuji was right there in the attacking position, so did the Mongolian take advantage and drive his compromised opponent back and out? Of course not. Instead he used a left kachi-age high into Daieisho's throat area as the latter continued to spin away, and from there, both dudes traded shoves to the neck before Terunofuji continued to thrust from the outside in...while backing himself up in the process. Daieisho followed in tow and Terunofuji set up himself up for defeat just like that.

This was a great example where the guy whose defeated does all the work, and that was the case here as Terunofuji throws his first bout of the basho. This one was so lopsided in Fuji's favor, it took Daieisho a bit to gather his wits after the win and climb back on the dohyo. Then end result is Terunofuji's falling to 7-1 while Daieisho--a guy I really like--moves to 5-3.

As I was watching the slow motion replays of this one, I thought it ironic that Terunofuji was pushed out the ring directly in front of his shiso (stable master) sitting ringside as one of the judges. It was that guy who ordered Fuji to lose today.

I stated yesterday that Terunofuji was intentionally signaling vulnerabilities in his sumo against Wakatakakage, and that set up today's loss. It's also not a coincidence in my opinion that Terunofuji had these two average days over the middle weekend. Sumo's best ratings and the most focus come on the weekend, and then you have the weekend sports shows that can focus on Fuji's vulnerabilities and mistake-riddled sumo.

So with Terunofuji's supposed weaknesses being exposed, into the ring stepped Takakeisho in the day's final bout to face M4 Hokutofuji. Hokutofuji actually latched onto the front of the faux-zeki's belt with the left hand, but he let it go thanks in no part to anything Takakeisho did, and after Hokutofuji let that belt go, he was a lame duck just standing there and waiting for Takakeisho to pull him down. And that he did just a few seconds in swiping at Hokutofuji while Hokutofuji (4-4) did his part diving down forward to the clay. There was very little force or pressure coming from either dude in this puff bout of sumo that leaves Takakeisho as the sole leader now at 8-0.

When you think about it, you have two Yokozuna and two Ozeki out of the basho, so how can they allow the only remaining Ozeki not to take the yusho...especially when he's Japanese? I really think they gotta save face here, and so at this point I don't see how Takakeisho doesn't take the yusho.

You have the aspect of not allowing a Japanese Ozeki to fail when he's the last elite rikishi standing on the banzuke, and then you also have the dilemma of what to do if Terunofuji were to yusho again or post 33 wins over three basho. If Terunofuji was Japanese, a yusho or 33 wins would propel him to the Ozeki rank, but the last thing sumo needs right now is a real Ozeki from a different country fighting alongside the frauds that they have slotted there now. Politics is definitely in play this tournament, and it will likely lead to a very unspectacular finish to the basho.

With those two bouts out of the way, let's focus on other bouts of interest from the day.

In a rare straight up bout the last few minutes of the day, M5 Myogiryu crushed Suckiwake Takanosho back from the tachi-ai, and Takanosho's only response was the weakest of downward swipes against Myogiryu's extended arm. All that did was compromise his position even further, and so Myogiryu used two more satisfying shoves that sent Takanosho clear off the dohyo and into the suna-kaburi. The fraud that is Takanosho was completely exposed in this one, and how does a true Sekiwake lose to a one-win rikishi from the rank and file like this? The answer is he doesn't as Takanosho falls to 4-4 while Myogiryu is just 2-6.

M4 Tobizaru executed the perfect hari-zashi tachi-ai slapping with the right and getting both arms inside against Suckiwake Mitakeumi for moro-zashi. Despite the advantageous position, the Flying Monkey just backed up going for a weak right inside scoop throw in the process. He tried one more as he scooted to the other side of the dohyo, but what he was really doing was waiting for Mitakeumi to make a move. Said move was an outer belt throw with the left, and the two counter inside scoop throw attempts were curiously missing now as Tobizaru just flopped to the dirt. I mean, this was the perfect place for a nage-no-uchi-ai especially after Tobizaru showed twice that he was willing to throw with the inside right position, but in a fixed bout like this, any counter move disappears like a fart in the wind. Mitakeumi moves to 6-2 with the win, but when you have to pay Tobizaru (2-6) off, that says something.

I pointed out one of the obvious signs of a fixed bout was an opponent focusing on his opponent's sagari. Another clear sign that we see all the time is when a dude loses by hataki-komi when simply putting both palms to the dirt with no other part of his body touching down. A prime example was the Komusubi Takayasu - M2 Onosho matchup where the latter did nothing but wait for a pull attempt to come from his opponent, and once it did after a few uneventful seconds, Onosho (2-6) just put both palms to the dirt...ironically in the same position at the shikiri-sen from where here started the bout. Takayasu moves to 4-4 with the gift.

M8 Terutsuyoshi (2-6) gave one of the faker falls on the day losing to Kotoshoho (4-4) in maybe one second as pictured at left.

Not to be outdone, M6 Tamawashi (5-3) put both hands down and took a knee against M9 Tokushoryu (5-3) after a brief tussle where Tamawashi had the upper hand throughout.

M9 Kotoeko's tachi-ai today against M6 Takarafuji was a prime example of a rikishi intentionally waiting to get his ass kicked. Eko stood straight up with feet aligned and exposing his inside (waki wo hiraku), so when Takarafuji bumped into him, it actually sent Kotoeko back in such a fashion that you could tell Kotoeko wasn't moving forward whatsoever. With Kotoeko standing there with his tail between his legs, Takarafuji secured the left inside and right outer grip and then just forced Kotoeko over and across with no resistance whatsoever. Takarafuji moves to 7-1 with the win, but it'd sure be nice to see him have to earn a win, especially against a guy like Kotoeko. This one was unfortunately arranged as Kotoeko falls to 5-3.

M14 Chiyonokuni continued his focus on pull sumo, but what a difference it makes when the bout isn't fixed. Today M7 Endoh easily survived Kuni's mediocre pull attempts, and once Endoh got the left arm to the inside, it was ballgame as Chiyonokuni lamely stepped across the straw in defeat. With Chiyonokuni falling now to 6-2, they're going to have a tough time forming a leaderboard as we head into week 2. As for Endoh, he's a cool 5-3 following the ridiculously easy win.

M10 Meisei's superb yotsu skills that allowed him to easily manhandle Ichinojo yesterday in a chest to chest affair were curiously missing today against another gaijin beast in M7 Tochinoshin. Meisei (4-4) couldn't come close as Tochinoshin (5-3) just swatted him away and down hataki-komi style like an annoying fly.

Any time we get a legitimate tsuki-dashi win, it's worth pointing out. Today M8 Aoiyama actually moved forward from the tachi-ai knocking M11 Sadanoumi (2-6) back and across once, twice, three times a lady. Aoiyama (3-5) could do this at least 11 days a basho if he wanna.

It's not often that you see a fixed bout where M11 Enho loses, but that's what happened today against M16 Akua. The rookie grabbed an early right outer grip from the tachi-ai, and Enho just stood there flat-footed not looking to get deep inside or to dart laterally or anything. With Enho standing there flat footed with feet aligned, Akua gave a slight downward tug of the belt causing Enho to just spin around onto his back. The curious thing here is that the direction of Enho spin implied an uwate-hineri (inward twist from an outer grip), but there was no hineri whatsoever in Akua's belt work. Akua moves to 4-4 with the gift, and hopefully Enho made enough money from this to buy his first win tomorrow. Wouldn't surprise me.

M13 Ichinojo gave up moro-zashi to M13 Hoshoryu from the tachi-ai and made the youngster work for the win, but in the 30 second bout, Ichinojo didn't try a single time to defeat his opponent. He had kote-nage open to him and either outer grip followed by a throw open to him if he wanted, but the fix was in here. Notice how Hoshoryu (5-3) can't do this same kind of sumo against average rank and filers. As for Ichinojo, he's making serious bank so far at 2-6.

And finally, Chiyomaru visited from Juryo today to take on M17 Shimanoumi, and Maru employed defensive tsuppari pushing high into Shimanoumi and focusing on mawari-komu-ing around the ring. The tactic actually worked pretty good and frustrated Shimanoumi for a spell, but the problem was Chiyomaru wasn't trying to defeat his opponent, so around and around they went and at one point when Shimanoumi touched the back of Chiyomaru's belt, Maru did a 360 and came away in great shape. Still, he was not looking to win here and eventually Shimanoumi shoved Maru back and across with no resistance in the end. This was a classic bout where the guy in defeat does all the work as Shimanoumi is gifted a 7-1 start.

It's usually at this point of the basho where they introduce the leaderboard, and while I didn't see it today from NHK, if you take Terunofuji out of the mix, this is what it looks like:

8-0: Takakeisho
7-1: Takarafuji, Shimanoumi

Hooboy.

Day 7 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The dominating news on Day 7 was the announcement from the Sadogatake camp that Kotoshogiku decided to retire. Demoted to Juryo for this basho, the former Ozeki started out just 1-6 and decided that enough was enough. The announcement gives the basho a major storyline over the weekend to grab people's attention, and Kotoshogiku will now be known as Hidenoyama-oyakata whose first order of duty will be to don a drab navy jacket and gray slacks and sit on a cheap folding chair guarding one of the entrances that leads to the hana-michi.

With three rikishi still in the Makuuchi division from the Sadogatake-beya--and two of them young, there just wasn't enough cash flow to go around to keep the Geeku alive. Kotoshogiku will best be remembered for snapping the 10-year drought of a Japanese rikishi taking the yusho. That yusho was choreographed of course, and it let the Sumo Association know that they could indeed corrupt the yusho race and still put fans in the stands.

Statistically speaking, Kotoshogiku entered professional sumo during the Hatsu basho in 2002. From that basho to the 2006 Hatsu basho, a Japanese rikishi would take the yusho 25% of the time. That stretch was when we actually had the last trio of legitimate Japanese Ozeki in Kaio, Tochiazuma, and Chiyotaikai.

After the 2006 Hatsu basho, Japanese rikishi would take the yusho 0% of the time for 10 whole years, and since Kotoshogiku's only career V in January of 2016, Japanese rikishi are now taking the yusho at a 35% clip. Nobody predicted this sudden resurgence because there was no noticeable wave of Japanese rikishi on the cusp of the yusho. Prior to 2016, they were trying to pull Kisenosato across the finish line time and time again, but the dude could never finish. The three Ozeki then--Goeido, Kisenosato, and Kotoshogiku--were a complete laughing stock, and there was frankly no hope of a Japanese yusho for many years to come. Until Kotoshogiku in 2016.

For the Japanese rikishi to go from 0% yusho over 10 years to a 35% clip over the last four and a half years or so is directly related to the drop in quality of the overall sumo, and the foreigners lowering the bar so the Japanese rikishi can appear to be fighting on an equal plane.

On Day 4 of this basho, the theme of the broadcast was an Ode to the Kyushu basho. They highlighted rikishi from Kyushu, and then they showed famous bouts over the last few decades that occurred in Kyushu. A noticeable bout was the Kaio-Asashoryu matchup on senshuraku in 2004 where Asashoryu actually let Kaio win. Kaio had taken the yusho the basho before, and he was up for Yokozuna promotion in Kyushu. He finished the basho with a 13-2 record that included that "win" over the Yokozuna, but he was NOT promoted.

Can anyone imagine such a scenario today? Heck (as we say in Utah), they would have promoted Kaio to Yokozuna just because he took the 2004 Aki basho yusho from the Ozeki rank if it was today's standards. The last time a Japanese rikishi won 33 bouts or more over the span of three basho was Miyabiyama in 2006. He actually won 34 bouts starting from the Komusubi rank in Haru 2006: 10 wins in March, 14 wins in May, and 10 wins in July. Ironically, he was NOT promoted for such a feat even though the unwritten rule is 33 wins over three basho from the sanyaku or above.

So why was Kaio not promoted to Yokozuna in 2005 and Miyabiyama not promoted to Ozeki in 2006? The simple answer is that the Sumo Association still had standards. It still had pride in the content of a rikishi's sumo, and so they really made the guys earn it. Just look at the ease with which they are promoting Japanese rikishi these days to Ozeki and Yokozuna.

It's an absolute joke what they're letting the Japanese rikishi get away with now. Not only are they promoting them with substandard results when compared to rikishi of a decade or two ago, but the content of their sumo is just awful. The Sumo Association no longer has any standards, and the last pin to fall in my opinion was allowing Kotoshogiku to take that yusho back in 2016. When the yusho and the elite ranks are corrupted, there's nothing left, and that's why the quality of sumo has been so poor the last little while.

Turning our attention to Day 7, the two rikishi receiving the brunt of the headlines are Takakeisho and Terunofuji. There's mediocre excitement surrounding Takakeisho, and in Terunofuji's case, it's simply acknowledging that he's a real presence. I mean, can you imagine the hype that would be surrounding Terunofuji if he was Japanese? There would already be talk of him as the next Ozeki and likely Yokozuna, but because he's Mongolian, I think he's going to start fading by basho's end.

Last basho, he purposefully dropped his first two and then he withdrew from the tournament after picking up eight wins even though he wasn't injured. In my opinion, Terunofuji is holding back (is being held back?) so as to not steal all of the spotlight from the Japanese rikishi. That's all well and good, but you just watch this dude perform in the ring, and nobody whose actively fighting this basho can compare to his sumo. Well, Ichinojo, Tamawashi, and Tochinoshin have the tools to come close, but like Terunofuji they are purposefully lowering the bar to give the Japanese rikishi as much of the spotlight as possible.

I get why it has to be this way because I remember empty arenas when a pandemic was nowhere to be found, but I find myself laughing at the shenanigans going on the ring far more than I come away impressed by anything.

Let's go top down today touching only on bouts of interest.

Takakeisho drew M3 Okinoumi, and from the tachi-ai, Okinoumi was already in back-pedal mode allowing Takakeisho to execute his tsuppari attack from the get-go. As is usually the case, there was no contact from Takakeisho that made Okinoumi go backwards; he was just leaning that way from the start. With Okinoumi focusing on a retreat, he executed that really effective move in sumo of putting one foot against the straw and then lifting up the other leg into mid-air. I mean, in sumo it's all about balance and grounding one's feet to the dohyo, so when you see a dude's foot leave the dohyo--not to mention a half meter off the dohyo during a retreat, it's a sign of yaocho.

Just consider the suri-ashi exercise in keiko. The purpose of the exercise is so that rikishi can advance forward across the dohyo WITHOUT lifting their feet off the ground because once you've lost your balance, you're done. So to see Okinoumi lean back at the edge with that right leg lifted up so high was just a joke, and Takakeisho easily took advantage of it shoving Okinoumi across for good that last step. Takakeisho moves to 7-0, and do you ever notice that his signature inashi move with the left is always absent in the fake bouts? When the dude's in a pinch, he goes to that move early, but when his foes just back up for him as Okinoumi did today, it's easy does it linear sumo that doesn't pack a punch. As for Okinoumi, he takes his lumps today falling to 4-3.

M1 Wakatakakage stayed low and far away from Komusubi Terunofuji at the tachi-ai, and with Terunofuji waiting for his opponents to come to him, he allowed himself to be knocked back to the edge from an early flurry at the hands of M1 Wakatakakage. The former Ozeki wasn't driven back to the edge by solid blows from the youngster, however, and so Terunofuji easily retooled his position getting the left arm inside and grabbing Wakatakakage's right arm from the outside as he is wont to do. From this position, Terunofuji easily marched his foe across the ring before felling him with a left scoop throw, but the former Ozeki did find himself with both feet on the straw early on in this bout. I think he was intentionally signaling in his sumo today that he's going to lose soon but for now he keeps pace with Takakeisho at 7-0. As for Wakatakakage, he falls to 1-6 but he's actually one of the better Japanese rikishi on the banzuke in my opinion. He's just caught up in too much politics right now at this level of the banzuke.

Suckiwake Mitakeumi moved to 5-2 today after M4 Hokutofuji went easy on him. Mitakeumi didn't take advantage at the tachi-ai. Rather, it was Hokutofuji executing an early pull backing up and moving to his left setting himself up for the easy push out loss at the hands of Mitakeumi. I know the pull move is often ill-advised, but there was no urgency on the part of Hokutofuji when that pull attempt didn't work. He's a quiet 4-3 and still a decent Japanese rikishi.

M1 Kiribayama was in perfect position to defeat Komusubi Takayasu in their hidari-yotsu affair, but the Mongolian actually just let go of a perfectly good right outer grip and then waited for the former faux-zeki to turn the tables. Takayasu moves to 3-4 with the gift while Kiribayama has plenty of spending money at 1-6.

M6 Takarafuji moves to 6-1 after defeating M9 Tokushoryu by yori-kiri. The only thing worth mentioning here is how a maki-kae attempt is a one and done move. If you watch a bout where there are multiple maki-kae going on in the ring, the bout is fake and that's that. Today these two hooked up in the classic hidari-yotsu stance where Takarafuji had Tokushoryu (4-3) raised up higher than he wanted to be with the left arm inside. Tokushoryu's only chance was a maki-kae with the right, and as soon as he attempted it, Takarafuji pounced ending the funny bidness a second later.

M11 Enho actually survived for about 10 seconds today in a legit bout, but that's because his opponent was M9 Kotoeko. Enho never could fight off Kotoeko's tsuppari attack to the extent where he could get inside and not allow his opponent to just latch on over the top and ride him into the ground from there. He made Kotoeko work for sure, but the Eko finally got a hold of a kote-nage grip and knew what to do. Enho is now a stinging 0-7, and it seems he's taking more and more time to get up from the dohyo after getting his ass kicked. As for Kotoeko, moves to 5-2 with the rare legit win.

I've never seen anyone work so hard NOT to grab a right outer grip when it's there for the taking, but that's exactly what M10 Ryuden did against M16 Akua in their hidari-yotsu affair. I mean, you can count three or four moves that Ryuden didn't make, and with Akua still unable to do anything, Ryuden just walked into a dashi-nage and took a dive with the rookie trying to keep pace. Akua buys this one for sure at 3-4 while Ryuden has plenty of room to sell at 5-2.

You know the Apocalypse is upon us when M13 Ichinojo is manhandled in a chest to chest bout against M10 Meisei. The Mongolith (2-5) just gave Meisei moro-zashi and then made no effort to counter as Meisei (4-3) drove his opponent out yori-kiri style. The bout was fake of course, but it looked real to the sheep.

We can't say as much for the M16 Chiyoshoma - M11 Sadanoumi matchup. After spinning Sadanoumi 90 degrees and grabbing the back of his belt, Chiyoshoma literally waited for Sadanoumi to get his bearings with a right arm inside, and then the Mongolian just let go of his left outer grip and dove to the dirt when a weak scoop throw attempt came at the edge from the Sadamight (2-5). I only bring this up because it was the worst acting on the day as Chiyoshoma falls to 3-4.

M17 Shimanoumi would have had his hands full against M12 Kaisei if the Brasilian was looking to win, but that last thing Kaisei was trying to do at the tachi-ai was get to the inside. It was there if he wanted it because Shimanoumi's tachi-ai was so weak, but Kaisei just stood there and then over-reacted to a weak right inashi from Shimanoumi spinning around 180 degrees and allowing Shimanoumi to rush in from behind. Kaisei lamely reached backwards and over the top grabbing the back of Shimanoumi's belt, but it was all for show as Shimanoumi was gifted the easy okuri-dashi win. At 6-1 now, Shimanoumi is going to buy a few more before fading away in Week 2. As for Kaisei, he's a richer dude at 3-4.

And finally, the only other undefeated rikishi coming into the day, M10 Chiyonokuni, was unable to budge M13 Hoshoryu with his tsuppari attack from the tachi-ai, and so he went for an early pull that Hoshoryu read perfectly driving in low and shoving Chiyonokuni back and out with some oomph. Hey, it's a rare legitimate win for Hoshoryu in the Makuuchi division, and while the dude has been unimpressive to this point, he can easily beat guys like Enho and Chiyonokuni. Hoshoryu moves to 4-3 while Chiyonokuni falls to 6-1...a record that has largely been purchased.

I may be back tomorrow, and if not, I'll do a full report on Day 9. The basho doesn't really start until the Storyteller loses. Peace out.

Day 5 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Through the first five days, it's obvious that the 800 pound gorilla in the room is Terunofuji. It's one thing to have a rank in sumo like Terunofuji's current Komusubi rank and Takakeisho's Ozeki rank, but when it comes down to sumo content in the ring and mere presence, the misrepresentation of the current banzuke is manifest. As I scanned the wires for pictures today, it was evident that any high profile rikishi left fighting are few and far between, and if you list up the Japanese rikishi that are currently being hyped, you have just one, Takakeisho. That dude is a house of cards because his rank and status have been manufactured instead of earned, so Sumo has a long 10 days to go in order to somehow drag Takakeisho over the finish line.

I'm watching attendance to see if I can notice any changes, and once again the arena has way too empty seats for sumo's own good. Of course there's a limited number of fans that they can let into the arena, but they're not even coming close to that limit. As estimated last basho by a news outlet, they're guessing around one thousand people per day, and that seems consistent with this basho.

I'm seeing the Tokyo regulars scattered here and there in the suna-kaburi, but the last two days have been very bleak in terms of fannies in the stands. One thing I am certain about is the attendance numbers are not increasing day after day, and that means that sumo is drawing its base audience from Tokyo and little else. At this rate, I doubt they'll venture out of Tokyo until at least 2022. Yes, Covid is a factor here, but the numbers are not increasing as the restrictions have been loosened.

Focusing our attention to the bouts, M17 Shimanoumi showed the importance of establishing oneself to the inside first in a bout of sumo. M14 Kotonowaka was looking for moro-zashi (dual insides) from the start, but Shimanoumi used his experience to slip out of it and force Baby Waka to give chase a bit. When the two settled into yotsu-zumo, it was Shimanoumi's right inside vs. Kotonowaka's left outer. Shimanoumi never did let his foe get to the inside, and he easily forced Kotonowaka over and across leading from the right inside. Good stuff here as Shimanoumi moves to 5-0 and Kotonowaka falls to 3-2.

M16 Akua could do nothing to defend M13 Ichinojo's grabbing the inside right position and left outer grip, and there was no cash exchanging hands here as Ichinojo easily forced the rookie back, across, and down. At the edge, Akua made the mistake of trying a sneak counter attack in the form of a right inside throw, but it was set up too late, and the result was Ichinojo's falling on top of him in the end adding insult to injury. Both rikishi end the day at 1-4, and this was the first bout this basho that Ichinojo chose to win.

M16 Chiyoshoma completely schooled fellow Mongolian M13 Hoshoryu striking well at the tachi-ai and then timing a perfect hataki-komi move slipping to his right and slapping Hoshoryu down in about three seconds. Both rikishi here end the day at 3-2.

M15 Chiyotairyu came into his bout against M12 Kaisei having lost 13 in a row to the Brasilian, but some money changed hands prior to the bout because Kaisei just kept his left hand high while pulling his right arm away from the inside at the tachi-ai giving Chiyotairyu moro-zashi, and no effort was made from Kaisei to counter as Tairyu walked him straight back and across with zero argument. Yaocho was in play here for sure as Chiyotairyu moves to 3-2 while Kaisei is 2-3.

They showed M14 Chiyonokuni's bout from last basho where he clinched the Juryo yusho, and it was one of the worst acting jobs I've ever seen from his opponent. It just goes to shows that yaocho has it's roots firmly planted in the Juryo division as well.

Today against M11 Sadanoumi, the Sadamight made no effort to capitalize on an early pull attempt from Chiyonokuni where he shaded slightly right and back signaling the obvious hataki-komi. Sadanoumi dutifully just stumbled forward and down giving Kuni plenty of room to work with at the edge. Even if this bout was real (it wasn't), I hate to see a 5-0 guy hyped for winning by hataki-komi. Then there was that silly bout against Kaisei yesterday. Whatever. Chiyonokuni moves to 5-0 while Sadanoumi falls to 1-4.

The worst acting of the first half came in the M12 Yutakayama - M10 Meisei bout. After a brief tussle at the tachi-ai, Meisei skirted left and barely connected on a weak inashi move to the back of Yutakayama's shoulder, and Yutakayama just ran himself to the edge putting both palms down and then hopping off of the dohyo altogether...never once completely touching down other than those hands. Meisei buys his way to 3-2 while Yutakayama falls to 1-4.

As the NHK announcers analyzed the bout, they used insufficient keiko as the excuse for Yutakayama's performance here. Blaming things on keiko is a copout. How often do you watch a professional sport and continually hear the announcers talk about the importance of practice. Okay, we had that one Alan Iverson blip all those years ago, but the definition of being a professional athlete is that you work as hard as you can off the field or someone's gonna replace you. Keiko shmeiko.

M10 Ryuden has started bobbing around at the tachi-ai shaking his butt and committing more false starts than usual. It's just annoying, and today against M11 Enho, he committed two more early jumps. Not that it really mattered because his intent today was to win and so he easily read Enho's henka to the right and followed the smaller Enho to the edge sending him off the dohyo altogether with an outstretched left tsuki. Ryuden moves to 4-1 while Enho falls to 0-5.

M9 Kotoeko obviously owed M8 Terutsuyoshi a favor today because after a bad tachi-ai where neither dude wanted the inside, Kotoeko slowly nudged Terutsuyoshi close to the edge before Teru darted right going for a pull move at the back of Kotoeko's head that largely missed, but Kotoeko just stumbled forward and put both palms to the dirt as he crashed across the bales. Kotoeko falls to 4-1 in defeat as Terutsuyoshi moves to 2-3.

M9 Tokushoryu henka'd lightly to his left against M7 Tochinoshin, but Tochinoshin didn't stumble forward whatsoever. The result was that Tokushoryu was there for the taking, but Shin kept his left arm way too high in a useless kachi-age position while getting the right arm to the inside...lightly. Tokushoryu capitalized by grabbing the right outer belt grip, and from there he lightly forced Tochinoshin back and across with no resistance coming from the former Ozeki. Tochinoshin was complete mukiryoku here falling to 2-3 while Tokushoryu buys his way to 3-2.

At this point in the broadcast they showed Ura's bout from Juryo where he defeated Kyokushuho by izori. Not to shat on anyone's parade, but Kyokushuho was completely mukiryoku and let him do it. Just sayin'. I mean, you can see Shuho more worried about putting that right hand down to break his fall then he was about breaking up Ura's momentum.  The fact that Ura was able to post the izori win made all the nightly news programs, and the publicity just from that was worth letting him do it. Trust me, everyone would rather see Ura work fake magic than Takakeisho posting fake wins.

M6 Tamawashi knocked M8 Aoiyama back from the starting lines with his long arm of the law tsuppari, and Aoiyama didn't even attempt to counter seemingly happy to help walk hisself across as Tamawashi pushed him back. Useless bout of sumo here as Tamawashi moves to 3-2 while Aoiyama falls to 0-5.

In a complete sham of a bout, M7 Endoh grabbed the early right frontal belt grip against M6 Takarafuji only to let it go despite zero pressure from his opponent. Endoh would flirt with that right inside off and on the rest of the way, but he kept withdrawing it even though Takarafuji could get nothing established of his own. After some non-chest to chest grappling for about 10 seconds and Endoh just extending that right arm forward low into thin air, Takarafuji went for a weak swipe that caused Endoh to just turn 180 degrees, and it was an easy escort out from behind at that point. Both rikishi stand at 4-1 but you wouldn't know it from the content of today's sumo.

In an ugly bout between two dudes who have received a bit of pub lately, M5 Kotoshoho went for an early pull of M4 Tobizaru shading right and pulling up high. Tobizaru stumbled near the edge and just when you thought he was going to recover and take advantage of Kotoshoho's compromised position, he stumbled one more time allowing Kotoshoho to finally recover and score the easy if not ugly push out win. Bad sumo all around as Kotoshoho ekes to 2-3 while Tobizaru is 1-4.

Hooboy. M4 Myogiryu looked to take charge against M3 Kagayaki getting moro-zashi from the get-go, but he held up his charge after knocking Kagayaki back a step. With Kagayaki completely cuffed and stuffed, Myogiryu just backed out of moro-zashi and hit the deck falling backwards due to no movement from Kagayaki whatsoever. The explanation was of course that Myogiryu's feet slipped. Yeah, sounds good to me. He falls to 1-4 while Kagayaki moves forward to 2-3.

M3 Okinoumi has silently built up a nice record the first five days, and today against Komusubi Takayasu the two hooked up in a classic bout of yotsu-zumo both getting left arms inside early and then pressing in tight as they battled for the coveted right outer grip. Takayasu was close early on, but you could see him refrain from moving in that last half step out of fear in giving up the right outer to Okinoumi as well, and so the two settled in for close to a minute where Okinoumi slowly but surely nudged Takayasu upright and then quickly turned the tables with a right tsuki-otoshi instead. At least it was real as Okinoumi moves to 4-1 while Takayasu falls to 1-4.

The Komusubi Terunofuji - M4 Hokutofuji was the most anticipated matchup coming in on paper with both dudes posting 4-0 starts, but the anticipation stopped there as Fuji the Terrible demanded the right inside from the tachi-ai before grabbing a left outer grip, and Hokutofuji was had at this point. Fuji gathered his wits for maybe two seconds before lifting Hokutofuji off the ground with that left outer grip and then dumping him over after a desperate hop on one foot from Hokutofuji. This one was completely one-sided and there was nothing Hokutofuji could do as Terunofuji officially reaches beast status at 5-0 while Hokutofuji falls to 4-1. Before we move on, this was a similar scenario to the Terunofuji - Asanoyama matchup early on that knocked Asanoyama out of the tournament, and the difference today was that Hokutofuji was applying enough pressure towards his foe that he was able to land safely instead of just getting thrown down hard like a sack'a potatoes. Standing over your opponent as Terunofuji did today is the true sign of an Ozeki or Yokozuna.

Moving right along, M1 Kiribayama henka'd to is left against Suckiwake Takanosho and purposefully whiffed on grabbing the left outer grip that was there for the taking. After letting Takanosho fully recover and fire a tall tsuki into Kiribayama's grill, the Mongolian moved to the side again and this time briefly grabbed a left outer grip. But he of course let it go straightway and just backed himself up to the other side of the ring. Takanosho's response was a very weak hataki-komi that was poorly set up and left him completely exposed, but instead of taking advantage, Kiribayama completely whiffed on a pull of his own and set himself up at the edge for Takanosho to finally--and thankfully--push him out. Easy yaocho call in this one as Takanosho is gifted 3-2 while Kiribayama settles for 1-4.

At this point of the broadcast they announced Shodai's withdrawal that gave M2 Onosho the much-needed win at 1-4.

M1 Wakatakakage came with a tsuppari attack against Suckiwake Mitakeumi, but instead of moving forward, he just back pedaled for no apparent reason. Well, actually the reason was he was throwing the bout in Mitakeumi's favor, and he just stood there letting Mitakeumi get the right arm inside and then force him across with little fanfare in the end. What an anticlimactic bout here as Mitakeumi is gifted 3-2 while Wakatakakage falls to 1-4.

In the day's final affair, M2 Daieisho predictably let up for Takakeisho doing largely what Wakatakakage did in the previous bout, which was to fire a few thrusts but to do it backing up. That allowed Takakeisho to move forward and execute his own tsuppari attack, and with Daieisho up against the edge, he showed no resistance when that final shove came. To watch in slow motion, Takakeisho is not connecting on anything that would cause Daieisho to actually move back or stand so upright, and this was just a harmless yaocho that could easily be explained. At the end of the day, Takakeisho is safely through to 5-0 while Daieisho falls to 3-2. 

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
This morning as I scanned the news wires prior to Day 4, the biggest theme by far was the disappointment with the performances by the two remaining Ozeki. Referring to Takakeisho, Oguruma-oyakata went as far to say as we don't need Ozeki winning by tsuki-otoshi because that is a counter move and implies that the rikishi executing it is on the brink of defeat. There was a lot of focus also on Shodai's ankle. I didn't notice it as part of the broadcast yesterday, but apparently the faux-zeki left the Kokugikan and went straight to the hospital for treatment on his left ankle. Both faux-zeki were dominated yesterday and pushed to the edge only to have their opponents let up for them and dive out of the ring. The problem that creates is one of the first adages I ever learned in sumo, and that's "let up in the ring and someone is going to get hurt."

It's like when you're going down a flight of stairs and you think there's one more to go. You hit level ground and it sends a jolt through your body because you're prepared for movement one way and then something unexpected happens leaving the muscles vulnerable. Whiplash after being rear ended in a car accident is another example of the body not being prepared for the impact coming. You have these obese individuals dueling on a hard rock mound raised nearly a meter off of the dohyo, and accidents surely will happen if someone is not prepared for the expected impact.

We'll keep a close watch on Shodai now as the basho moves forward, but I can also promise you that people will keep letting up for Takakeisho. Regardless of all that, how about the prospect of getting straight up sumo bouts from every rikishi that actually look meaningful and hard fought from both parties? It's no wonder why early on I always admired the Makushita jo'i bouts. They're the most hotly contested and most enjoyable because they're never fake.

The day began with M17 Shimanoumi taking on rookie M16 Agua as my Spanish friends like to call him. The bout looked to go to hidari-yotsu early on after a good tachi-ai, but Akua couldn't resist going for the early pull, and when he did, Shimanoumi easily drove him back a few steps and then reversed gears felling the rookie with an easy swipe to the back of the left shoulder. On the brink of demotion to Juryo, Shimanoumi's gotta get those eight wins fast, and he's halfway there now at 4-0. Akua falls to 1-3 in defeat.

After a sloppy tachi-ai between M16 Chiyoshoma and M14 Kotonowaka where the Mongolian could have gained moro-zashi with Baby Waka's hands up way too high, Chiyoshoma relented and guided the two into the gappuri hidari-yotsu position. After a few seconds, Chiyoshoma looked to instigate some action, and he did so by wrenching lightly on a left inside belt throw before immediately sending himself to the dohyo with his right leg extended and right elbow touching down. It happened before Kotonowaka could even react, and so when they showed the replay from the backside, you could see Kotonowaka's right wrist actually bent awkwardly...in a manner of following a downward motion and not executing a throw. Even Sakaigawa-oyakata in the booth commented that Kotonowaka's right outer was too far to the back of the belt for him to do proper sumo. I mean from Chiyoshoma's refusing to grab moro-zashi to that fake fall where he was allegedly thrown into the splits with one elbow touching down, this was as fake as they come. Kotonowaka buys his third win while Chiyoshoma pockets more cash at 2-2.

M13 Hoshoryu owed M15 Chiyotairyu a win this basho as the latter deferred to Hoshoryu in September, and so the Mongolian came with light tsuppari up high against Chiyotairyu allowing Chiyotairyu to just back up and slap his foe down in mere seconds. Now, Chiyotairyu is the superior rikishi of these two, but this was just puff sumo from both parties with Hoshoryu returning the favor. It is what it is and if you read Itai's description of how it all works, bouts like these make perfect sense. Hoshoryu is now 3-1 while Chiyotairyu moves forward to 2-2.

The ending to the M14 Chiyonokuni - M12 Kaisei bout had me laughing out loud. I mean I knew it was fake the instant Kaisei refused to grab the front of Chiyonokuni's belt with the right hand after a sloppy tachi-ai where Kuni moved laterally a bit. Kuni's mild henka had no effect whatsoever on the Brasilian, and the compromised Chiyonokuni was there for the taking. Like the Chiyoshoma bout before, Kaisei gently forced the action to migi-yotsu giving Chiyonokuni the left outer grip. Kaisei coulda secured it on the other side for himself, but he purposefully kept that left arm up over the top of Kuni's shoulder to give his foe the advantage. From this position in the center of the ring, you could tell that Chiyonokuni was not comfortable because he's not a yotsu guy and here he is chest to chest with a beast. Still, the position dictated that Chiyonokuni go for an outer belt throw, and he complied but there was no power behind it whatsoever. As for Kaisei, his right arm was in a very loose scoop throw position, but he just hopped on one foot waiting for the force of the throw to come. It never came and so Kaisei sheepishly tapped his palm to the dirt, withdrew it quickly, and then put it to the dirt again as a bit more force came from Chiyonokuni. There wasn't one element of this bout that made sense if you were judging it as straight up, and this was clear yaocho with Kaisei playing along start to finish. Chiyonokuni buys his 4-0 start while Kaisei needs acting lessons at 2-2.

The poor acting would continue with M13 Ichinojo deferring to M11 Sadanoumi. From the tachi-ai, Ichinojo secured the right inside position and firm left outer grip and instead of going in chest to chest and bringing Sadanoumi in tight, he let the Sadamight grab his own left outer leaving the two in the light gappuri position. I say light because Ichinojo couldn't let go of that outer grip fast enough (Sadanoumi made no effort to cut it off), and when he did the natural reaction was a left outer by Sadanoumi. There was no force behind the throw because it wasn't a throw. Rather, Ichinojo just waltzed to the edge of the ring of his own volition where Sadanoumi nudged him out the last step from there. Up to this point of the broadcast, nobody needed to hit the showers there was that little exertion from anyone as Sadanoumi moves to a sheepish 1-3 while Ichinojo is a gracious 0-4.

M12 Yutakayama came with a nice tsuppari attack from the tachi-ai keeping M10 Ryuden away from the belt, but the shoves weren't potent enough to keep Ryuden from threatening to get to the inside. A few times Ryuden got the right hand close, and you could see that he wanted to get that hand to the belt or inside. With no real legs behind Yutakayama's tsuppari attack, Ryuden just bided his time and kept Yutakayama on the move until he could get in close for the clinch, and once he did, he used the right hand at the belt to drag his foe over and down for a nice dashi-nage win. Ryuden moves to 3-1 while Yutakayama falls to 1-3.

M10 Meisei exhibited a cautious tachi-ai against M11 Enho waiting to see what the pint-sized rikishi would do, and ultimately Enho moved to his left but was unable to catch Meisei off guard or latch onto his belt, so from there it was cat and mouse sumo with Meisei attempting to score the lethal blow. With separation between the two, Meisei offered a few shoves and then finally scored on a pull that sent Enho near the edge, and then a solid shove sent Enho off of the dohyo altogether into a backwards summersault. I can't believe Enho bounced up so quickly after landing on his back on the arena floor, but we once again see that Enho can do nothing in this division unless his opponent allows it. Enho falls to 0-4 while Meisei improves to 2-2. Before we move on, it should be obvious by now that anytime Enho looks to be doing great sumo, it's because his opponent is letting him do it.

I knew the instant M9 Tokushoryu came prancing forward with both hands up high against M10 Kotoeko that his intent was to the throw the bout. For Kotoeko's part, his tachi-ai was terrible, and so it was up to Tokushoryu to stay busy in the ring going for fake shoves and looking to set up fake pulls. This created a bit of separation in the ring, and with Tokushoryu doing all the work, he lightly got his left arm inside as if to go for a force out charge, and wouldn't ya know it? Right at the edge Kotoeko unleashed the lightest of tsuki-otoshi moves which of course sent Tokushoryu flying off of the dohyo. What an utter waste of time as Kotoeko buys another one at 4-0 while Tokushoryu is a harmless 2-2.

M7 Tochinoshin came with a left hari-te attempt against M8 Terutsuyoshi that largely whiffed because Terutsuyoshi ducked to his left out of the way, but Shin latched onto the left outer belt and forced his way into the right inside as well...which happened to be a sweet frontal grip. From there, Tochinoshin did what you're taught to do and lifted his opponent completely upright and scored the easy peasy Japanesey force out from there. At one point, Terutsuyoshi lifted both feet off the ground, but Shin wasn't going for the tsuri-dashi, and it was just added fluff to this bout dominated by Tochinoshin. It's so easy to detect when Tochinoshin fails to do this kind of sumo because he's throwing bouts, but whatever. He's now 2-2 as Terutsuyoshi falls to 1-3.

M8 Aoiyama struck M6 Takarafuji with two beefy paws at the tachi-ai, but he wasn't moving his feet forward. when Aoiyama doesn't cross his starting lines or the midpoint of the dohyo, you know the fix is in. And it was. With Aoiyama refusing to move forward, it was easy for Takarafuji to just stand half a step back and fend them off, and finally when Takarafuji went for the lightest of tsuki to Aoiyama's right side, the Happy Bulgar just stumbled forward and dived down while Takarafuji tried to keep up with a light pat to the butt. Easy yaocho call here as Aoiyama literally falls to 2-2 while Takarafuji buys his way to 3-1.

Ditto for the M6 Tamawashi - M7 Endoh matchup. Tamawashi came with both hands high and wide just gifting Endoh the left inside, and at that point Tamawashi pivoted to his right as if to set up a kote-nage, a move that was clearly there; the Mongolian just chose not to execute the throw. The bout was a given at this point with Tamawashi still dictating the pace by mawari-komu'ing around the ring faking pulls and then near the edge, Tamawashi went for a left swipe before just backing himself across the straw. There wasn't even any contact from Endoh whatsoever. He went in for the kill, saw that Tamawashi was backing out already, and so he just stopped and let it happen. The slow mo replay here was quite damning, but whatever. No one seems to care or call the sumos on it, so it stands...Endoh is a "perfect" 4-0 while Tamawashi falls to 2-2.

M5 Myogiryu easily got the right arm inside against M5 Kotoshoho, and the latter wanted no part of the yotsu contest, and so Kotoshoho evaded laterally to his right, but Myogiryu was right there in tow catching Kotoshoho with a nice left tsuki to the torso that sent Kotoshoho over and down all in about three seconds. Myogiryu simply dominated this one, and there was no sumo from Kotoshoho to be found as both rikishi rest on 1-3.

What a difference a basho makes when M4 Tobizaru ain't payin' for his wins. Today against M3 Kagayaki, Kagayaki took full charge at the tachi-ai thanks to awful footwork from the youngster, and with Kagayaki pressing him back, Tobizaru went for his signature move: slip to the side and somehow magically come away with a hand at the back of his opponent's belt. When the cash isn't in play, however, as soon as Tobizaru moved right with a weak swipe, Kagayaki was right there to square back up and resume his tsuppari attack which pushed Tobizaru upright, across the dohyo, and finally out giving Kagayaki the dominating win. That "run" last basho from Tobizaru was completely manufactured as both rikishi end the day at 1-3.

Komusubi Terunofuji is the obvious Story Teller once again this basho, so it's just going to be a matter of waiting for him to choose to lose. Didn't happen today against M3 Okinoumi as Terunofuji nearly got moro-zashi from the tachi-ai securing the left arm in tight and then flirting with the right arm. It's almost as if Fuji the Terrible prefers to fight with one arm inside and then the other on the outside because he settled for straight up hidari-yotsu where Fuji enjoyed the right outer grip. Okinoumi actually used his long arms to grab a right outer himself, and once obtained, he went for a quick dashi-nage, and I thought it was a sweet move. The problem was that he executed it against Terunofuji, and while the Mongolian was thrown off a half step, he squared back up and easily forced his compromised opponent back from there. It was a do or die move from Okinoumi, but I respect that he at least tried it. Terunofuji is a man among boys here, and the only active guy on the banzuke who can beat him straight up is Tamawashi. We'll see what Fuji's MO is moving forward as he now stands at 4-0. As for Okinoumi, he's still a respectable 3-1. Great bout of sumo.

M4 Hokutofuji executed a perfect tachi-ai completely neutralizing Komusubi Takayasu's charge, and from that point it was all Hokutofuji pushing Takayasu back to the edge, switching gears and tugging him by the right arm across the dohyo, and then pounding him across the straw as Takayasu attempted to square back up. This is as one-sided of a bout as you'd care to see and props to Hokutofuji for making it real. He's 4-0 if you need him while Takayasu falls to 1-3.

M1 Kiribayama has been bowing to Japan's softies the first three days, and I'm sure part of the kensho money that goes to the victor ends up in Kiribayama's billfold at the end of the day. Today against Suckiwake Mitakeumi, the Mongolian easily got the left arm to the inside, and he also had the path to the right outer, but he paused a bit in the hidari-yotsu position before moving to his left and tugging Mitakeumi down with th a slap to the back of Mitakeumi's shoulder. It looked to me that Mitakeumi's fall was anticipated, and I'm not sure if he knew he was defeated or if Kiribayama was calling in a favor from a previous basho. It's Kiribayama's first official win at 1-3 while Mitakeumi falls to 2-2.

M1 Wakatakakage henka'd to his right against Suckiwake Takanosho, but he made no effort to use his opponents momentum against him to pick up the quick and dirty win. Wakatakakage did have his hand right there at Takanosho's belt, which would have set up an easy dashi-nage, but he refrained from grabbing the belt doing any further damage. As a result, he let Takanosho completely square back up, and then when Takanosho advanced, Wakatakakage wrapped both of his arms around Takanosho's extended right arm and backed out of the dohyo straightway. There is no way Wakatakakage was trying to win this bout as he gifts Takanosho a 2-2 start. As for Wakatakakage, he takes his lumps and falls to 1-3.

Shodai stepped atop the dohyo with his left ankle heavily taped, and it was obvious that M2 Daieisho was not playing nice. With Shodai only able to just stand there, Daieisho knocked him upright and then executed a swift tsuppari attack that Shodai could not defend. Now, if Shodai was completely healthy, Daieisho is still the superior rikishi and would beat Shodai ten times out of ten, but Shodai could not move whatsoever, and so in concert Daieisho picked his spots wisely knocking Shodai back but not trying to injure him further. I don't see how Shodai continues as he looked even worse than when he's healthy...and that's saying a lot. He falls to 3-1, and he'll likely give it a go for a few more days before going kyujo. Who knows? Even if the fix is in, it doesn't look to me as if today's Shodai can do much. Daieisho moves to 3-1 with the easy win.

In the day's final bout, Onosho bested Takakeisho at the tachi-ai knocking him back a few steps, and Takakeisho's first attempt at a sideways inashi with the left had zero effect. At this point Onosho was in complete control, but for no explicable reason, he pivoted over to the edge intentionally whiffing on a pull and thus putting his own back to the straw with Takakeisho between him and the center of the ring. With Onosho's intentions known at this point, Takakeisho fired a few shoves in Onosho's direction that still had little effect, and you'd think that an Ozeki would be able to bully a small guy like Onosho back and score the easy oshi-dashi win here. Instead, Takakeisho went for another mediocre inashi and this time Onosho played along running to the other side of the dohyo where Takakeisho then pushed him out. Going back to Oguruma-oyakata's comments in my intro, why do we need an Ozeki whose signature move is the inashi...a sideways swipe that's used more as a counter move then an offensive maneuver? It's all nonsense as Takakeisho is gifted his 4-0 start while Onosho knows his place at 0-4.

This basho has taken a difficult turn because you have both Yokozuna sitting out from the start; Asanoyama is kyujo; and now Shodai has been neutralized. Speaking strictly in terms of rank, the only "pillar" left is Takakeisho, but the content of his sumo has been underwhelming at best and doesn't give the fans any satisfaction at the end of the day.

Day 3 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The news heading into Day 3 was the early withdrawal of Asanoyama. I guess there was a reason why it took so long to pick himself up from the dohyo after Terunofuji threw him down. The injury was reported as a deep bruise to the right shoulder, and normally I would think a dude could still fight with a bruise, but whatever. The takeaway from that bout is that an Ozeki should have never be done in like that by a Komusubi. Furthermore, where was the protection in the form of a counter move like a nage-no-uchi-ai? Asanoyama did not have to get thrown down like that. He could have shown some resistance to lessen the force behind Fuji the Terrible's throw, but he just gave up. Just as we'd expect from someone ranked at Ozeki, right?

Asanoyama's withdrawal means that the two hopes are now Takakeisho and Shodai. Takakeisho has been in the spotlight now for about two years, and he still hasn't been able to deliver since that first gift yusho, and it wasn't like Shodai earned his yusho either, so we have two hapless dudes who are supposedly in charge of leading the yusho race. Which leads me to the next topic.

Attendance continues to dip the further we get into this basho, and I get it that a Tuesday is not supposed to be as well-attended as a day on the weekend, but it goes back to an article I reported on in September where mid-basho the Sumo Association was given permission by the gumment to increase attendance from 2,500 per day to 5,000. The news outlet pointed out that despite that declaration, attendance didn't budge for sumo whereas sports like baseball and soccer saw an immediate increase in their attendance after the easing of the regulation.

Watching from the usual shomen angle, it looks as if attendance is healthy considering the regulations, but when they show glimpses of the entire arena from different camera angles, there are huge chunks of masu-seki empty. At least the masu-seki contains fans because the upper deck looks as if it's been entirely roped off. Okay, maybe you can spot a dozen people on each side up there, but those are the seats where the casual fans sit. As I was scanning the wires for Day 3 pictures, I came across this file photo from the September basho:



I know that's from September because there are zero fans in the suna-kaburi whereas this basho they are selling a few of the suna-kaburi seats again. Regardless of what's going on in the lower deck masu-seki seating, note the upper deck seats.

Now look at this pic I took today from the general broadcast about 15 minutes prior to the end of the day:



The masu-seki looks about the same, but the upper deck is all but deserted. The angle I'm showing in the second pic is equivalent to the side shown in the top pic in the upper right section, or the shomen section.  Here and there, you can spot a few people in that bottom pic, but it's mostly red. In short, the casual fans are gone, and how can you blame them?? Even I'm embarrassed at the type of sumo they're allowing to take place among the Makuuchi division.

If M16 Akua is any indication of the kind of rikishi who will be coming up from Juryo moving forward, we are doomed. After a terrible start to the basho, the rookie clearly paid the Sadogatake camp to have Kotofuji (visiting from Juryo) take a dive today. Akua whiffed badly with a left hari-te at the tachi-ai allowing Kotofuji to burrow in low and hump Akua's left leg, and from there Kotofuji just dove forward and down as Akua leaned on top of his back. It was ruled hataki-komi, but that kimari-te is a slap down. There was no slapping going on here whatsoever. It was as unnatural of a sumo bout as you'd care to see and the Sumo Association should seriously consider hiring a few choreographers. Akua buys win number one to sit now at 1-2.

M16 Chiyoshoma intentionally let his right leg slip back at the tachi-ai making himself vulnerable to an M17 Shimanoumi attack. The problem was that Shimanoumi wasn't attacking and so Shoma recovered and fired a few tsuppari, but everything from his tachi-ai to his tsuppari to his pull attempts was entirely half-assed, and so Shimanoumi was finally able to mount an oshi attack and push the compromised Chiyoshoma back and across. I mean, at the end Chiyoshoma was practically mounting Shimanoumi over the top leading to a ridiculously easy push out. Chiyoshoma sells his first bout of the basho falling to 2-1 while Shimanoumi is an undeserved 3-0.

Speaking of buying bouts this basho, M14 Kotonowaka came in on a two-day buying streak but M14 Chiyonokuni wasn't cooperating today. Kuni leaned right at the tachi-ai and then pivoted left catching the youngster with a nice left tsuki to the right shoulder sending Kotonowaka off balance. Waka did a decent job in recovering, but he was on his heels from that point trying to defend himself from Chiyonokuni's nice tsuppari attack which ultimately dispatched Kotonowaka in about eight seconds. I thought Kotonowaka fought well today, and if he was actually forced to fend for himself straight up every day, he could turn out to be a decent rikishi. Regardless of that, Chiyonokuni improves to 3-0 while Kotonowaka falls to 2-1.

M13 Ichinojo had the easy path to the left frontal belt grip, but he intentionally grabbed M15 Chiyotairyu's sagari instead uselessly ripping those away from the belt and leaning forward as Chiyotairyu easily moved to his left offering a weak slap down at the back of Ichinojo's right shoulder. Normally such a move wouldn't face the Mongolith, but this bout was bought and paid for, and so Ichinojo just put both palms to the dirt without any other part of his body touching down...a clear sign of yaocho. Both parties knew it too as Chiyotairyu buys his first win at 1-2 while Ichinojo is pocketing cash at 0-3.

M12 Yutakayama caught M12 Kaisei by the neck at the tachi-ai and attempted to parlay that into a smooth oshi attach, but he couldn't budge the Brasilian, and so as Kaisei mounted pressure, Yutakayama was forced to fight defensively searching for a pull. In the meantime, Kaisei was establishing his right arm to the inside, and when Yutakayama went for the last gasp pull at the edge, Kaisei was able to force him across watashi-komi style leading with the right inside and getting fresh with the left arm wrapped around Yutakayama's right thigh. The ending did make me blush, but Kaisei scored the win moving to 2-1 while Yutakayama falls to 1-2.

M11 Enho was able to duck low and sneak left getting his left arm deep at the back of M13 Hoshoryu's belt, but the Mongolian easily pivoted to the left and countered with a mammoth right kote-nage throw that spun Enho down and out across the edge. Hoshoryu offered a nice dame-oshi for good measure sending Enho off the dohyo for keeps, and the move was all in good fun as Hoshoryu moves to 3-0 while Enho falls to 0-3.

M10 Ryuden was unusually loose at the tachi-ai bobbling back and forth, and when he did charge with M10 Meisei, Ryuden shaded to his left getting the left arm to the inside latching onto Meisei's belt. The footwork was backwards from both parties and so with Ryuden ducking low and Meisei far away from the belt, the two engaged in a long stalemate about 20 seconds until Ryuden finally went for a light inside belt throw that felled Meisei back into the center of the ring far too easily. I mean, Meisei's back was against the edge, and then this very light twist sends him onto his backside back to the center of the ring? Bad sumo and acting all the way around here as Ryuden moves to 2-1 while Meisei literally falls to 1-2.

M11 Sadanoumi and M9 Kotoeko hooked up in the early migi-yotsu contest where Sadanoumi let Kotoeko grab the left outer grip. I was suspicious at that point because Eko isn't the kind of guy who can just demand that advantageous yotsu position...especially against a yotsu guy like the Sadamight. Sadanoumi quickly countered with a left outer of his own, and they were technically in the gappuri yotsu position, but they weren't chest to chest in tight. If you watch the slow motion replay, you can see that both rikishi have their feet perfectly aligned, and this resulted in the lightweight contest. Near the edge, Kotoeko was not applying proper yotsu pressure, and Sadanoumi coulda moved left scoring on a counter dashi-nage throw or he could have moved right for a counter tsuki-otoshi. He did neither opting to just walk back and across awkwardly gifting Kotoeko the uncontested win. Another rigged bout as Kotoeko buys his 3-0 start while Sadanoumi falls to 0-3.

M8 Aoiyama lamely put both arms forward at the tachi-ai against M8 Terutsuyoshi, but the Happy Bulgar wasn't moving his legs forward whatsoever. Instead, he spun slightly to his left after a light slap on the wrist from Terutsuyoshi leading the announcers to call it an inashi. Whatever. It gave Terutsuyoshi the clear and easy path the right side of Aoiyama's belt, and once obtained, Teru used a series of dashi-nage to spin Aoiyama around and to the edge before sending him across oshi-dashi style. Through all of this, Aoiyama made no attempt to defend himself, and that's not surprising considering he gave Terutsuyoshi access to his belt one second in. Aoiyama throws this one as he falls to 0-3 while Terutsuyoshi buys his first win at 1-2.

M9 Tokushoryu shaded to his left at the tachi-ai against M7 Endoh, but Elvis was having none of it getting the left arm in deep and forcing Tokushoryu into immediate defensive mode. Tokushoryu first tried some shoves to the neck to knock Endoh away from the belt before moving out right in an attempt to set up a counter tsuki-otoshi, but Endoh was way too quick for him forcing the off balance Tokushoryu back and across with ease. Endoh moves to 3-0 after dominating this one, and it was mostly thanks in part to Tokushoryu's horrible tachi-ai as he falls to 2-1.

M6 Tamawashi struck M6 Takarafuji well at the tachi-ai knocking Fuji back onto his heels, and Takarafuji thought about a pull attempt, but Tamawashi was already in his craw and so Fuji just backed out as fast as Tamawashi could shove him out. This bout was totally one-side and uncontested as both rikishi end the day 2-1.

The best bout of the basho so far was fought between M7 Tochinoshin and M5 Kotoshoho. The two hooked up in migi-yotsu after an awkward tachi-ai where Shin thought he may have been able to slap Kotoshoho over early, but when the youngster recovered with a left outer belt, the yotsu contest was on. It took a few seconds to get established after the awkward tachi-ai, but when Tochinoshin latched onto a stiff outer grip with the left, you knew two things: 1) we were going to gappuri yotsu, and 2) this bout was going to be real. Both dudes tested the force-out waters early, and it actually looked as if Tochinoshin was looking for a tsuri-dashi, but Shoho's too big of a load for that from the gappuri yotsu position. And so the two settled into the center of the ring, and I thought I'd take a pic of their footwork at this point.



You can see how their feet and legs mirror each other. This is the proper positioning for a bout of yotsu-zumo and when you see the opposite like both right legs forward and both left legs back, you know it is a bad bout of sumo and usually one that is fixed.

Anyway, from this stance, the more experienced and stronger Tochinoshin gathered his wits for a few seconds before lifting Kotoshoho upright and then executing the force out charge. In a real bout, you expect the guy on his heels to counter, and Kotoshoho did just that going for an inside belt throw, and this created a nage-no-uchi-ai at the edge, but Shoho was already too far gone giving Tochinoshin the powerful uwate-nage win. Great bout of sumo, and it's such a contrast to 90% of everything else we are seeing in the sport these days. Both rikishi end the day at 1-2, and a bout of sumo like this still gives me hope.

M5 Myogiryu and M4 Tobizaru engaged in a light tsuppari affair from the tachi-ai, and you could just see Myogiryu holding back. Myogiryu had the clear path to the inside, but he refused to take it and just battled Tobizaru with his feet aligned. For Tobizaru's part, he could do nothing, and about four seconds in Myogiryu thought about getting the right arm inside. It was there for the taking and you could see him thinking about it, but instead of just demanding it, he reacted to a light push from Tobizaru into his right shoulder by putting both palms to the dirt quickly before taking a knee. Obvious yaocho here giving Tobizaru his first win while Myogiryu falls to 0-3. The only word they could use afterwards to describe Tobizaru's sumo was "genki." Talk about a meaningless statement.

M2 Daieisho struck M4 Hokutofuji well at the tachi-ai and then just jumped straight up in the air as if to go for a pull. What a stupid move, and I'd make fun of the dude but it was clearly intentional. Nobody can recover from such an awful move, and Hokutofuji was able to easily push the compromised Daieisho back and out from there. Hokutofuji obviously bought that bout moving to 3-0 while Daieisho falls to 2-1 a little bit richer. Remember when I said that the Association should consider hiring a few choreographers? This is exactly the type of fake sumo I'm referring to.

In the sanyaku, Komusubi Terunofuji survived an early onslaught from M2 Onosho thanks to getting his left arm inside early, and after a very nice charge from Onosho, Terunofuji kept that left inside steady while he wrapped his right arm tightly around Onosho's left in the kote grip, and instead of going for a throw, Terunofuji just wrenched Onosho over to the edge before sending him back for good. That's a man among boys right there and it shows in the sumo as Terunofuji moves to 3-0 while Onosho put up a good fight falling to 0-3. The only question is...how long are they going to let Terunofuji do this?

M3 Okinoumi used a right kachi-age into Sekiwake Takanosho while the Suckiwake persisted too long in a choke hold with the right arm that left him too high and vulnerable. Okinoumi was able to easily stave off that neck thrust, work his way around the edge to his left, and easily pull Takanosho down by the back of the shoulder. Now that's a real slapdown move unlike the crap we saw from rookie Akua early on. Okinoumi moves to 3-0 after the easy win while Takanosho showed very little here in defeat as he falls to 1-2. Mainoumi rightly criticized Takanosho's early nodowa stating that he tried to stick with it too long for his own good.

M3 Kagayaki briefly looked to have Sekiwake Mitakeumi stood upright at the tachi-ai, but instead of moving forward, Kagayaki retreated keeping his arms out wide completely exposing himself to the Suckiwake. Mitakeumi used the right arm inside to drive the defenseless Kagayaki back, and at the edge, Kagayaki actually began a counter tsuki-otoshi with the right that would have worked, but he relented and went completely mukiryoku at that point giving Mitakeumi the easy oshi-dashi win from there. Kagayaki is the king of bout selling these days, and it was obvious here as he falls to 0-3 while gifting Mitakeumi a 2-1 start.

At this point of the broadcast, they announced the withdrawal of Asanoyama, the result of which gave M1 Wakatakakage his first win of the basho at 1-2.

And that brings us to the remaining faux-zeki. Can you believe that the two pillars of the basho now rank-wise are Takakeisho and Shodai? Yeah, that thought is rank alright.

First up was Takakeisho against M1 Kiribayama, and the Mongolian actually stepped left at the tachii-ai grabbing the quick and dirt left outer grip. Takakeisho was completely hapless and he could do nothing to defend Kiribayama's right inside position as well, so the faux-zeki was had at this point if Kiribayama wanna. Unfortunately he didn't, and so he lightly forced Takakeisho back to the edge and just waited for the counter tsuki-otoshi to come. At least Takakeisho was able to execute it, and it's the most basic counter move at the edge in all of sumo, and Kiribayama played along just throwing his body parallel to the dohyo and tumbling off of the clay mound with his opponent in tow.

Normally when you have an oshi guy stuck in the prime yotsu position like that, you try and pin him in close with the legs, lift him upright, etc. but Kiribayama just stood there with his feet aligned waiting for Takakeisho to make that move. Easy yaocho call here as Takakeisho is dominated yet again but allowed to win as he moves to 3-0 while Kiribayama falls to a gracious 0-3.

The day's final bout featured Shodai vs. Komusubi Takayasu and I'm not sure "featured" is the proper word here as that implies real sumo. What we got here was more like a mess that's really hard to describe in words. If we must, the bout looked to go to hidari-yotsu from the start where Takayasu was flirting with a frontal belt grip, but the guy in the hair shirt refrained and waited for Shodai to execute a kata-sukashi with the right hand. Normally an Ozeki with the left arm inside would attempt to grab a right outer grip...not go for a pull move, but we all know Shodai ain't no Ozeki, and so he went for the light move causing Takayasu to rush forward near the edge as if stumbling out of control. Unfortunately he didn't go down and so the two squared back up still in migi-yotsu...sorta. For the next five or six seconds, the two traded shoves with Shodai mostly looking to set up another pull, but during the melee, Takayasu caught Shodai square with an open palm to the left side of his face, and it caused Shodai to stumble back to the edge completely vulnerable. Instinct dictated that Takayasu move forward and go for the kill, but all he managed--intentionally--was to put a left forearm at the base of Shodai's neck and wait for the counter move to come. Said counter was a very weak tsuki-otoshi with the right hand, and of course Takayasu dutifully crashed beyond the straw from there. I mean, Shodai was seeing stars and backpedaling like a guy who drank too much Wild Turkey, but darn the luck...Takayasu wasn't quite able to finish him off. Shodai was so out of control that he almost stepped out first, but whatever...gunbai to the faux-zeki in a bout that was competely unnatural at the edge.  A dude is not an Ozeki when the best thing you can say about his sumoafterwards was, "he went for a few pulls."  He moves to 3-0, but it is ill-gotten while Takayasu falls to a quiet 1-2.

Who knows what I'll conjure up tomorrow?

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Sumo is sadly dying a slow death, and I suppose Sumotalk isn't too far behind. When I saw a few days before the basho that both Yokozuna had withdrawn yet again with more fake injuries, it kinda took the air outta my sails. I've been saying for close to two years now that the Mongolian Yokozuna are/were intentionally mirroring Kisenosato's ineptness, and it's still the case. On one hand, it helps having both Yokozuna gone because there's no other elite foreign rikishi (ranked Ozeki or Yokozuna) to steal the spotlight. On the other hand, having Kakuryu go kyujo for six of the last seven basho now puts him on par with Kisenosato's futility. Eventually, Japan is going to conjure up another "homegrown" Yokozuna, and when it happens, the bar needs to be set low enough by Hakuho and Kakuryu to deflate everyone's expectations. I mean, the Sumo Association will gladly pay the salaries for Hakuho and Kakuryu not to have them compete because it helps them keep the spotlight on the three stooges: Takakeisho, Asanoyama, and Shodai.

I must say, the quality of sumo the first two days has been horrible. There have been henka galore and the usual amount of bout fixing making this sport all but unwatchable. It's gotten so bad that the Sumo Association has now resorted to a raffle at the end of each day where after the yumi-tori-shiki (bow twirling ceremony), they have an oyakata come out with a box of ticket stubs and he picks a stub from each of the four sections in the Kokugikan: East, West, North, South. One lucky fan from each section wins a paper bag full of useless knick-knacks handed out at the door as the people exit, and even the marketing folks from minor league baseball clubs were heard to say, "Now that's cheesy."

As for the fans in the stands, the Association has changed the rules a bit this basho where they are now allowing two people to occupy a masu-seki instead of limiting them to one per masu-seki as they did last basho (masu-seki normally seat 4). As for the upper decks, they are now requiring only one seat in between fans instead of three seats that they required in September. By watching the broadcast on Day 2, you would have thought the rule was one person per 200 seats because that's about all that bothered buying a ticket in the upper decks.

The Association has also upped the allowed attendance to 5,000 per day from 2,500 per day, but they aren't pulling in any more fans than the Aki basho. In fact, I think they're pulling in less this basho, and if they're lucky, they're getting 1,000 paying fans per day. They are wisely not announcing attendance figures because they are so low and they are clumping a lot of fans right behind the dohyo so the section looks full there, but when they pan around the arena from time to time, there are giant gaps in the masu-seki all over.

My point is not to just come out and bag on sumo day after day. What I've been trying to say for years is that the fans are gonna stop paying money for crap sumo in the ring, and we're seeing that manifest here. Covid is not helping, and I talked about that last basho, but when the virus finally does subside, there's no reason for the fans to come back. The sumo just sucks right now, and even if you do think it's all real, there's no arguing that the quality in the ring is at an all-time low.

There was nothing to inspire me to write a report on Day 1, and there was little on Day 2 as well, so I'm only going to cover the final bout of the day that featured Asanoyama vs. Terunofuji (it's pointless to assign these guys ranks any more). Asanoyama was a wet rag at the tachi-ai as the two hooked up in the quick migi-yotsu pose, and with Asanoyama unable to defend himself, Terunofuji easily grabbed the left outer grip. From there, Terunofuji used his right inside to lift Asanoyama completely upright before switching hands and throwing Asanoyama down hard with that left outer grip. I mean, a guy could get hurt being thrown down as hard as Asanoyama was today. It took him close to 10 seconds to compose himself and get back up, and when he did, he had to rise to one knee first, and then lift his body up from there.

And so you watch a bout like this and go whose the Ozeki and whose the Komusubi? It was interesting to hear them break the bout down afterwards, and Fujigane-oyakata summed it pretty well when he said, "Asanoyama just got sucked right into that outer grip, and there isn't a single good thing to say about his sumo."

When they did get to the slow motion replay, Shibatayama-oyakata (former Onokuni) pointed out how Asanoyama's footwork was completely backwards. Instead of putting the left foot forward, he needed to keep that back and put the right foot forward to mirror Terunofuji. Asanoyama eventually adjusted his footwork in the end, but it was too late at that point because he was thrown shortly thereafter. The reason I bring up the footwork is because it happens all the time on purpose when a dude throws a yotsu bout. I guess some could say, "Well, was Asanoyama letting up here by screwing up his footwork on purpose?" and my answer would be, "If the roles were reversed and Terunofuji purposefully screwed up his footwork, would Asanoyama have thrown him down in the same manner?"  No way. It would have been a light fall from the Mongolian who would have had to do all the work to set up the loss in the first place.

The point is that Asanoyama is hapless, and when a truly elite rikishi intends to beat him on the day, it turns out to be an ass-kicking that should never happen to an Ozeki at the hands of a Komusubi.

As they continued the slow motion feed of Terunofuji walking back to his corners, the announcers were almost in awe describing the sheer power and presence of Terunofuji. Counter that with the reaction after any "win" from Asanoyama, Takakeisho, or Shodai and it's a lot of blubbering and fidgeting and grasping at straws trying to justify the result in the ring. I mean, the only reason I'm writing this report and not starting with Day 3 is because there was just so much to read from the final bout on the day.

Terunofuji actually committed a Freudian slip in his interview afterwards. When asked how he felt his sumo was today, he replied, "I was all in." He used the word "honki" which can literally be translated as "I took things serious today." What...so you're not serious in your sumo every day? The answer to that is obvious, and while you have to understand the nuances in the Japanese dialog from the interview, it was definitely a Freudian slip from the Mongolian. We often hear the opposite from Mongolian rikishi when they'll use the word "yudan," which literally means to let up. "Yeah, I let up out there today." As long as they don't say mukiryoku I guess we're fine.

Editor's Note: After typing the entire report, as I went to the wires to find pictures from Day 2, I noticed the top headlines were announcing Asanoyama's withdrawal due to an injured right shoulder.

As for other rikishi, both Takakeisho and Shodai have been gifted 2-0 starts. I thought Takayasu's just turning and walking out that last half step against Takakeisho on Day 1 was embarrassing all the while with the NHK announcer screaming, "Dominating sumo!!"  Dominating?  His opponent just turned around and stepped out.

Both Sekiwake (Mitakeumi, Takanosho) are 1-1 after getting their arses handed to them at the hands of Daieisho. Daieisho actually went easy on Mitakeumi at least giving him an opening, but the Suckiwake was too hapless to capitalize on it.

M4 Tobizaru is 0-2, and his bouts haven't been contested. The sophomore is obviously returning the favor to his opponents the first two days because his falls have been fake so far. Who knows when we'll get to see the real Tobizaru?

M11 Enho (pictured at right a meter off the dohyo) is being thrown around like a rag doll again and if they want to keep him in the division, they're going to have to start buying some wins. I wonder if they rely a bit on Hakuho's kensho money to buy Enho's wins, and with the Yokozuna gone...

M13 Hoshoryu is still buying wins as is Makuuchi returnee M14 Kotonowaka. I've never seen more standing around in sumo in my life than what's occurred these first two days.

Finally, rookie M16 Akua who has curiously chosen an Aqua color for his mawashi has just looked terrible in his 0-2 start. The funny thing is, I haven't gotten the impression that the dude has gone all out yet. Who knows?

My intention tomorrow is to cover every bout and then the drill will simply be: when I have time, I'll do a full report. When I don't, you'll be lucky to get a half report.