Yangnomazuma

So, looking at the Juryo banzuka at Nakabi, it appears there's going to be some really bad banzuke luck for some Juryo KKs and/or some really bad banzuke luck for Makuuchi MKs. There's literally very few places to maneuver around in there.

I was unaware that the measuring stick on whether or not someone was excited by ozumo was the number of comments they make on Sumo Forum during the bouts. :)

I watched his Day 2 bout over again and noted that his aite seemed to push right a little to deny that left-hand thrust across that often puts people off balance for Takakeisho. Perhaps it was a bit of circumstance, perhaps on purpose. Who knows. Day 3 he had things working pretty well against a game opponent. Just couldn't finish. We'll see him move on and I've got him winning on Day 4.

Ozeki Takakeisho will have won two yusho and two jun-yusho by next January. He may well amass a 12-bout winning streak.

Off the top of my head I can think of Akinoshima. A quick wiki search shows "27 tournaments, 15 at komosubi and 12 at sekiwake"

Accidentally hit the Closed Captioning button while perusing the Kintamayama vid. "What the nuggets slam"!!! I'm dying over here...

Hmm, so your stance is solely on your mistaken belief that the move Terutsuyoshi performed was "cheap". I simply cannot buy into the mindset that someone who is outweighed by such an amount need throw himself into a strength contest against the larger opponent with the alternative being called "cheap". Methinks that's a rather narrow-minded view on what is "acceptable" in a sumo contest.

Wait, what? We have a daily allowance of likes? Who knew?

There are two different Korean Hanja to denote "large". 大 is the kanji used in dai yokozuna. It is very common. 太 is used for situations where the largeness is even more substantial or unimaginably large. I don't know the Japanese pronunciation for this, but the Korean difference is "dae" for the former and "tae" for the latter. Perhaps we should go with "tai-yokozuna" :)

Agreed that Asanoyama seems to be blossoming even more. He'll be a good Ozeki, I believe and quite possibly the next Yokozuna. Takakeisho is a favorite of mine as I like a good strong oshi guy (a la Chiyotaikai), but he really doesn't seem to be able to get that strong left hand push that got him to Ozeki right now. Hopefully it will come back and he'll be a long term Ozeki. If he can't find that power, I fear he may be another kadoban-prone Ozeki.

Asanoyama had won the previous three meetings against that aite, now four. He had no 'psychological disadvantage' to overcome...

Losing overall record to Daieisho, but in the vein of "what have you done for me lately", I'd say he turned that tide a while back. He has won the last three, after all...

And clearly I need to brush up on my reading comprehension. Ozeki run indeed...

Oh..I found it! http://www.anasuya.com/sfi/ Doesn't appear to have been updated since almost the beginning.

Hmmm...seeing Leonishiki's kesho mawashi, I'm reminded that someone used to make those things. Anyone remember who? Would love to see my Yang-Gnome picture on a kesho mawashi. Would be quite hilarious to me. Oh, and welcome back Kashunowaka!

Apparently, you can go banzuke-gai on Sumoforum and return with tsuna intact! :)

On closer inspection, it appears to be stamped in, not carved. The stamp would be metal and would be placed on the location and hit with a hammer. Either way, I believe it still to be the "signature", if you will, of the artist.

The writing on the bottom appears to be a name stamp of some sort. The Koreans call it "do-jang" (Hanja/kanji = 圖章, Japanese pronunciation unknown) These stamps were used in many ways - dipped in ink to stamp a parchment, dipped in wax to seal a document, or even made of metal and used to burn the impression in wood. This appears to be carved and would then not be "do-jang" but simply the artists signature or "nak-kwan" (Hanja/kanji = 落 款, Japanese pronunciation appears to be "rak kan"). Might be someone out there with more insight to confirm or deny my expectation of exactly what the carving on the base is.

I like that you added the old "scgroup" type matrix when he quit doing that. I really like that feature. :)

I think, perhaps, that timeframe is Akebono's run? Akebono was promoted prior to Takanohana and was promoted, having his Ozeki run entirely after the intai of Asahifuji and Hokutoumi earlier in 1992. Takanohana was promoted after the November 1994 tournament in which he completed his second consecutive zensho yusho. The last victory was against Yokozuna Akebono. He did not fact the yokozuna in the two tournaments prior to that.

It has been ages since I last wore my dark purple mawashi. I hope it still fits!

Aoiyama had him in that deadly kime hold for a while-that's what caused the pain. I really thought Aoiyama had that in hand - literally. He just got a little too eager and got ahead of himself. He's showing good aggression and didn't temper it with needed patience today.

I've been quite impressed by young Kotonowaka II. He may well have a prosperous career ahead of him.

LOL, no. Ie-shima is located a nice ferry boat ride NW of Okinawa. Yes, I was stationed on Okinawa, but the airborne operations did, in fact, happen on Ie-shima. Right about here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ie,+Kunigami+District,+Okinawa+905-0505,+Japan/@26.7290256,127.7571173,3077m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x34e50dc0bdd56d15:0x48b841bb24b2ea4f!2sAwase,+Okinawa,+904-2172,+Japan!3b1!8m2!3d26.3188891!4d127.8326572!3m4!1s0x34e4e5a9fba0ff29:0x6ac89f11c9e11b38!8m2!3d26.7317311!4d127.7636253

I have fond memories of Ie-shima. Spent many days either jumping out of aircraft over the island or boating about the coast while other did.