Zuikakuyama

Regardless of how sorry or how corrupt the NHK is (and those points are debatable), the simple truth is that the NHK depends on the collections of fees for a substantial portion of their operations. And it is the only organization out there that is providing minute-by-minute coverage of sumo. The other issues are just red herrings. For those issues that needs to be solved, talk to your diet members to get them solved. For me it is rather simple, if you enjoy the program, then pay what is asked. Otherwise, if you are so holy and mighty, and refuse to pay based on your principles, then please do not watch a single minute of NHK program.

(putting on my morbid hat) (Tears forming...) Does the NSK have a policy of not putting rikishis on the same plane when they travel overseas (particularly on overseas Jungyos), or encoruaging rikishis not to take the same plane when traveling in their personal capacity? One bad plane accident, and the NSK will be taking several years to recover...

I think this warning is a bit of an over-reaction. Taiwan does not have an especially active "service industry" compared to other countries in the region, and certainly no one will come knocking at your door in 4- or 5-star international hotels. The only such exposure I had to these kind of activities was in the country side at cheap hotels where the bellboy would discreetly ask whether I wanted a "late night snack." I wonder if they got such a warning for the Las Vegas trip, where such "services" are eminently more easy to come by.

Sillypore is on the top of my list. It is run by Lee Kwan Yew (AKA Lee Con You) and his sons and daughter-in-law, and is the only modern functioning monarchy in the world. In a few years, it wont exist as a country.

For those that are terrible with Oyakata names (such as myself), Hatachiyama was formerly known as Hokutenyu. Here is a recent thread on sumoforum about his death. Hereis the link to his record on Hakkeyoi.

As I watch him in that position, he almost always appears to be leaning too far forward with his head too low. It seems he should be a prime candidate for a pull-down or push-down. The lower ranking sekitori do not appear to be able to take advantage of this, but I think it will become a problem as he advances up the ladder. We shall see. I agree he has a good future. I don't quite agree with this. Yes. He keeps his head low (and that is good) but he also keeps his eyes up (even better) so he always knows what his opponent is doing, and keeps his center of gravity low. His legs always have a very wide stance, so he has excellent balance. A prime example of his balance is one of his matches against (Tamakasuga?) where his opponent had him on the back of his neck and was spinning and spinning him, but could not bring him down. He is also know to be a very hard worker, and all the seniors in the NSK deeply appreciate his good training attitude. I also love his deep bows after every match. The other rikishis could learn a thing or two from him in that department.

I for the life of me cannot figure out why anyone who is 1-9 can continue to get matches. So who did he defeat? Some 3-foot midget fighter?

I am just dying to know who is the FIDE Master lurking amongst us..

Welcome back Moti.... This site would never be the same without your sense of humor and your sumo knowledge.

I subscribe to NHK and I also find Dale's site extremely informative as a library of past matches. There is just no way I could myself compile all the matches into easily digestible snippes like Dale has, and I appreciate his efforts very much. This way, I think I support NHK financially and do no financial damage to NHK by accessing Dale's library.

I think strictly speaking there is a violation of the copyright laws by posting the non-NSK stream materials (i.e., the NHK feed). That material is provided on a fee based system (for both Japanese resideents in terms of the TV license fee and for foreign residents in terms of the fees paid to cable/satellite operators), and they are being posted without permission. None of the "fair use" exceptions to copyright infringment apply, as far as I can see. And to be honest, they are a wholesale copying of all matches. Fair use usually involves taking small snippets for commentary purposes. It really does not matter that the poster is not getting any financial rewards from the copying. If the copying of the underlying mateial is itself a copyright infringement, the compilation does not have copyright protection. It would be like saying if I copied 10 movies and put them on a disk, then I have copyright of the material in that disk. The NSK material is probably safer to post since it is a public stream that the NSK gives open access to.

Kansai is eminently more interesting for me, as I like histrical sites and old temples.

holy, I thought of a red hammer too.

Around 10 years ago, I used to be a regular club player and had a rating around 1800 (class A). I dont play much since moving to Asia.

Can anyone shed any light on the choice of (煌山) (OZan) (brilliant mountain) as his shikona? I guess the 山 is a adoption of his original Yama surname.

A very big thanks for your analysis!!! (Applauding...) A question. The data you have here seems to be different than those on Here Are they different?

No for Hakuho and Yes for Miyabiyama. Hakuho has not gotten the (20 years old) tradition of 2 consequetive yushos. And he did not have enough prior yushos or long-term experience to come under the benefit of the 13 win yusho equivalent rule that had been applied to Kaio and Tochiazuma. I say let him prove himself like Takanohana over 10 years ago. I felt that circumstances outside of his control led to his non-promotion (whether it be the 5 ozekis currently on the banzuke or his prior bad ozeki stint). Looking at his numbers alone, he more than qualified. If the person having this record was someone like Wakanosato, Kotomitsuki or even a young gun like Baruto or Kisenosato, I dont think they would be denied.

My adoptee is Nakanokuni, the Chinese rikishi currently ranked at Ms. 42. He is an oshi sumo specialist, and at age 22, he is a reasonable juryo prospect. He is also the highest ranked rikishi in Minato beya. This basho he had a fine 6-1 record, so that should put him in the Ms. teens. About a year back, he was ranked at Ms. 11 due to a zensho yusho he achieved at high Sd., but he has since yo-yo back to Ms. 30s with a series of 3-4 records.

I predict some disappointed fans. Asashoryu will get his Zensho. Hakuho will get promoted, in the near future, not necessarily after this tourney, but it will take a few years before he can consistantly defeat Asashoryu. Do you know what you are talking about? Asashoryu still has to get a single win over Hakuho in 2006. So far Hakuho already is consistently winning with 2-0 this year, and I won't be surprised at all if he wins tomorrow too. It should be a good bout in any case. Only if you dont count the yusho-kettei sen win of shoryu in March (which in my book is more important than a regulation bout).

I thought Kisenosato is achieving quite a impressive basho so far. He is no longer losing at the edge due to carelessness like he used to, and his balance is generally good. He has beaten 2 out of the 5 ozekis, and if he gets KK as a shin-Komusubi against the softer opposition in the last 3 days, he will be in a very rare class indeed. So has the kid finally arrived?

Well, the talk this basho has always been 11 wins, and I thought that this was overly harsh. This is like requiring 35 wins, and I think someone has already done a hakke-yoi search showing that no one has failed to win promotion with 34 (or was it 33?) wins in sanyaku. Plus if he gets 10 wins, it will be all double digit wins in all 3 bashos, so I don't see how they can deny him.

I know he looked like he was hurting after his loss to Asashoryu, but I thought he put up a good fight against Hakuho today and didn`t notice any limp or looks of pain. Of course, I was playing TV tag with my 19 month old baby girl. She likes to turn off the TV when she feels she doesn`t have daddy`s attention. (Chucking salt...) Look again. Tochiazuma's knee totally collapsed against Hakuho without any real pressure.

Welcome to the forum!!

I dont know why you keep bringing up his non-ozeki record to support your Yokozuna promotion argument. It has absolutely no bearing on Yokozuna promotion. Nada. Zero. Zilch. It has only been in the last 4 basho where he has put up the really good numbers. If you look further back, his records are defintely not yokozuna quality (or even ozeki). Granted, his numbers in the last 4 bashos are impressive, but those are Ozeki numbers, not yokozuna. This is only his 2nd basho as Ozeki, his run of good form (i.e., double digit wins) is only 4 bashos, and by promoting him with only 2 ozeki basho, he is going to set the record for the least number of Ozeki bashos before promotion, so in my book, he really needs to earn promotion the hard way.

I would think that with a 13-2 jun yusho, the powers that be will probably not promote him. The quality of his sumo has not been that great up to now, and he has actually been lucky in several of his wins. He is also on his first run, (with only 1 yusho total), so they will not make a Kaio/Tochiazuma-esque break for him. The best he can hope for is to carry his result over to the next basho, where he must get a yusho or 14-1.